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stalksbyakuyatogami · 4 years ago

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Oh my god, successfully summoning an ancestor with the V3 boys was amazing! Thank you so much! Could you do the same thing with the V3 Girls (exept Kaede because she is in your Blacklist)?

Summoning An Ancestor With V3 Girls!

aaaaaaaaaaa!! thank you anon!! im glad you liked it :))

warning: might be a long read

Himiko Yumeno

•You thought you'd excite her? The opposite. Sure, she always bragged about her magic, but she's actually all bark no bite. Just when you thought her magic would finally be put into use. She even refused doing it when she heard the ancestor part. There's no way in hell that she'd want to witness a phantom in this school. Especially at the third floor. But by some miracle and bribery, you managed to drag her in.

•She was slightly quivering just by the ambience of the room. It was a bit dark, just lit up by a few candles that barely even did their job. Although, she was curious of all the things that you had laid out. She would take a few glances on it every second, not sure if to feel fear or curiousity.

•When the spirit appeared, all she could do was tearfully and fearfully watch the ascending spirit. She was frozen in place. She might be fearing it, but she also thought that it was awesome. If she was a mage, she could do this all the time.

•She just stood there the whole time you talked to your ancestor. She ahd questions of her own, but she's just trying to bottle them all up, hoping that you'd miraculously ask them. As if channeling her thoughts you.

•After you were done, she was speechless. She was trying to process everything that just happened. She asked you if she can ask some questions too next time. Let her ask please xD.

Kirumi Tojo

•She's intrigued. It's the first time that she's having this request... but it's more like a favor. Same thing right? She'd like to see a spirit too. She might use this information someday, who knows. She agreed.

•She looked at all the things you had on the floor. Very dangerous. So she would guide you on how to use it properly. You might mess something up, but she's there to help.

•She was on alert when you started chanting unfamiliar words, but she remained calm and rational. Her hand will be ready to grab yours in case you had to flee. Your ancestor appeared earlier than you expected. She took just a step back when the spirit emerged. Intimidated by the spirit, she suggested that you two get out. But when the spirit spoke that you two can stay, she calmed down, but of course she's still on guard.

•While you conversed with your ancestor, she was observing it. Trying to identify which century they came from. She was trying to figure out if she would know how to serve them if they were still alive. Disregarding that, she's behaved and formal towards the spirit. She kept quiet the whole time and had her hands on top of the other, listening to the whole conversation.

•When you ended the session, she exhaled a breath of relief and congratulated you for doing a great job handling the spirit. There was something bugging her mind and you couldn't figure out what that was. But she reassured you that it was nothing. She agreed to come again the next time you perform another summoning.

Angie Yonaga

•This actually piqued her interest. She might be an artist, but she also takes interest in occult. So obviously, she's agree with you right away. She's excited, to be honest. But first, you'd hold a prayer to Atua. Pray for it to be successful. You couldn't escape her, so you just joined her, or you waited until she finished.

•She was humming while you two were heading for the room. When she saw your materials, her interest shot up. She even asked you if you needed a pint of blood because she'll get it right away. You tell her that a pint is not needed. In fact, you didn't need anything that was out of this room. Everything necessary is already here.

•She was a bit disappointed when no spirit appeared 8 seconds after you called it. And she presumed that maybe Atua didn't like this time and day fir the summoning. She would take her words back when it finally appeared. Amazement was glossing her eyes. How amazing Atua is.

•She was the one to ask questions first. What can you do? She's hella curious! The phantom was overwhelmed with the questions and eventually stopped answering them. She promised to keep quiet while you asked for advice but only if you'll let her ask more questions when you finish. She hummed while you communicated so it was kinda distracting. She's just excited give her a break xD.

•When you two were finished, she gave you her insight and told you that it was an amazing experience! She would love to do it with you again. She might just summon Atua next time!

Maki Harukawa

•Maki gave you a questioning look. What? A summoning? You seriously believe in that? That's nothing but a wishful thinking. But seeing that you insist so bad, she had no choice but to come with you. She just wants your mouth to shut up, so she agreed.

•The materials you had were pretty unfamiliar to her considering she's an assassin. She thinks this is all just bullshitry, nothing more. She has to put up with it though. She actually helped you do the methods, correcting whenever you get something wrong.

•Maki got tired of waiting after 10 seconds. "I already told you. This is not working." Which she'd immediately take back. The phantom loomed over you two. She creased her eyebrows. She still can't believe. But she had no choice but to suck it up. She nervously swallowed and grabbed something that wasn't there; a weapon.

•She stood there, despising the phantom a bit, but still listened to what it said. She didn't have her personal questions; regarding the killing game that is. She had all the questions on her mind. Who? What? Why? How? HOW?! She was making a weird face that slightly disturbed the spirit.

•When you finished the session, she told you how weird that experience was. But she's relieved that you got some advice from them. Might not go with you the next time. Not because she's terrified of the ghost. She thinks it's hella weird and it sends a shiver up her spine.

Tenko Chabashira

•"S-s-summoning?! Thats kinda... new..." She's a bit creeped out. Just the thought of seeing a ghost is enough to make her cringe. She asks you if you're sure. Just in case you change your mind, she'd still be supporting you.

•You led her up to the third floor of the school. She was a bit fidgety and she always asks you if you'd change your mind right now. She was shocked of all thr items in the room. She was alarmed and posed defensively. She had no idea how all of these work, so she read the instructions on the book and helped you even just a little bit.

•She was actually relieved that your ancestor didn't appear... yet. The relief immediately went away when the translucent spirit came to... life. How ironic. She was actually terrified of the spirit now. She hidea behind your back, promising to defend you if anything happens.

•She was behind you the whole time you talked. She wouldn't dare utter a word. But maybe she'll sneak her catchphrase in when your ancestor is male. She watched the spirit with anxious and confused eyes.

•She was extremely relieved when you were done. It was like getting rid of the thorn on her side. She felt easy again. I doubt that she'd go with you the next time... That was terrifying. Who knew spirits were real?

Miu Iruma

•She's quite disgusted of the thought. You still believe in those things at your age? Pathetic. Believe in technology instead! Now come here and let me test this new invention of mine! Its functions are—! She agreed to join you. But just for research purposes and future references. Decided to make an impromptu camera to tape the summoned spirit. That might just be a breakthrough.

•She was full of complaints during your trip. She held her camera to where all the necessary objects for the ritual was placed. Istg she might be doing a documentary. Bad commentator I would say. She dissed all the objects that you had laid out. What the hell, man? She didn't help you. She just picked these up and observed it through the camera. She filmed your process.

•She was impatiently waiting for the ghost to appear. She was about to turn her camera off when she heard the phantom's booming voice. She cowered in fear, almost dropping her camera. She hid behind your back, whimpering.

•She watched your ancestor fearfully while you asked questions. She would mutter unholy things under her breath and you would be distracted by that. Like, do souls have pps or something of the sort.

•She only filmed half of the thing. Let's just hope that that ghost and the audio show up in the recordings. She wouldn't accompany you ever again. That shit was terrifying.

Tsumugi Shirogane

•She was excited. But of vourse, she evaluated everything before she agreed with you. Summoning was both heart-throbbing and curious for her. So obviously, she wouldn't back out.

•She was quiet during the trip to the third floor. But she certainly had a smile on her face and stars for eyes. She was intrigued with all thr object you had laid out. She even grabbed one and tried to run it across her skin. But for safety purposes, yo told her to stop as it would ruin the ritual. She gladly obliged. She still observed the objects very closely though.

•She was starting to sigh as 8 seconds rolled by and nothing came out of your ritual. Just as she was about to leave, she squeaked at the spirit's frightening voice. She went back to her place and quietly apologized while she had her head down.

•She was just there... with her sparkling eyes boring into the summoned soul. She had all sorts of questions, and her face was turning pink. Probably from excitement. She had to bottle up all those questions too.

•After the session, she was too awestruck to utter a single word. She had sparkles in her eyes and her hands were merged together. She grabbed yours and enthusiastically said, "Let's do it again next time, S/O!"

I'll fix the errors later. Thank you for requesting, anon.

-Mod Toko [Maki Shift]♡

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mcatra · 5 years ago

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AU where Catra works at burger king

Catra works minimum wage at burger king, Adora comes in every day as the world’s worst customer.

AO3

‘I am being HARASSED.’ Catra groans, sprawling on her side of the register. ‘I’m begging you, just kill me.’

It was another slow afternoon at Burger King, or as she likes to call it the absolute shithole she only got minimum wage for. Catra could be out there living her life as a youthful teenager, instead she was serving chicken nuggets to her worst enemy- Adora. It didn’t help that said blonde was currently sitting in the corner, laughing obnoxiously with her friends she had replaced her with.

‘Aw I’m sure Adora isn’t here to harass you, she probably just likes our food! I do cook these to perfection you know.’ Scorpia says conversationally from her spot in the kitchen as she flame broils another patty.

Catra scoffs, her eyes trained on her most hated customer.

‘There has to be some sort of law against coming to one’s workplace every day! No one likes Burger King that much! NOBODY!’

Suddenly she sees Adora sit up from her chair, that makes a horrific screeching noise on their unmopped floor.

‘Oh god she’s coming.’ Catra whispers, trying to duck into the kitchen. ‘Scorpia! Hide me!’

Her friend shoves her back to the counter, as Adora approaches. ‘You’re the only one on this shift who is allowed to use the register-’

‘Do not make me serve her I swear to god-’

‘Hi Catra.’ Adora smiles, and Catra’s eyes narrow.

‘Whatchu want, princess?’ She sneers, avoiding her piercing blue eyes that reminded her of still lakes. Or swirling oceans. Or the fluffy white cloud bath bombs from Lush. Wait, no.

‘Mmm, can I get a strawberry sundae?’ Adora chirps, looking above her at the menu.

‘Can’t.’ Catra drawls, looking at her black painted nails. ‘The machine’s broken.’

Adora’s face falls in disappointment, and Catra cheers inwardly at her small victory until Scorpia’s voice cuts through their conversation.

‘That’s not true, the soft serve machine is fine.’ Her traitor friend says, pulling down on the lever and swirling a perfect sundae into the cup. She adds the syrup before handing it to Adora.

‘That’ll be $1.50.’

‘Thanks Scorpia.’ Adora smiles, rummaging through her purse to collect her coins.

Catra rolls her eyes.

‘What a cheap ass. Little rich girl can only afford a dollar-fifty ice cream? No wonder we’re running out of business.’

Adora frowns at this. ‘Did you want a tip or something?’

‘What? FUCK no. I don’t take charity.’ Catra scoffs, snatching the coins from her old childhood-friend-to-enemies palm. She swiftly jabs in the total and throws the coins into the drawer. They’re forced into silence as the receipt slowly prints, and she tries to ignore the way Adora is staring at her.

Suddenly Adora leans in close, and she can hear her murmur close to her ear.

‘I’ll see you at student council.’

Catra flushes at the proximity, every hair standing on end. Before she can stutter out an insult, Adora rips the receipt from the machine and is sauntering back to Bow and Glimmer.

The brown haired girl deflates, her nails scratching on the old countertop. All that mental damage, for $1.50? Life was not fair.

Adora always had the perfect grades, the perfect family and friends, the most cushy and royal upbringing. After their falling out involving a scholarship to a private school, they hadn’t spoken until the merger.

It filled Catra with sick pleasure that the private school had lost their prestige to embezzled money, and now had to be government funded. However in consequence of this, they had decided to merge the public and private school so they could sell off the land to build skyrises or something.

This meant Catra lost her position of School Captain to Adora after a fierce election, and had been demoted to Vice Captain. Not to mention no matter how hard Catra tried, she could never beat her in the school rankings. She couldn’t work to support herself and study 6 hours a day, like rich privileged Adora.

So now here she was, forced to interact with the one person she could’ve gone her whole life without seeing on a daily basis.

Ever since Adora had discovered Catra had been working at Burger King during a late night drive-thru run, her ex best friend had made it her life’s mission to make her life hell.

Of course she had done her best to make the experience awful to drive her away. Catra knew Adora hated pickles, so she would threaten Kyle to slice up an entire pickle’s worth in the blonde’s Whopper before giving it to her with a sweet smile. She is filled with glee watching Adora picking them out one by one in disgust.

This doesn’t stop Adora from coming though. Not even when they had made it into some sort of competition to see how many pickles could physically be crammed into a bun. Or even when she had put every single condiment including the salt and pepper into an unholy liquid concoction and served it in a cola cup. Not even when she gave Adora food poisoning when they got too carried away trying to stack as many patties as they could to recreate Sky Burger.

No matter what she did, the girl never went away. Even though she had so easily disappeared from her life when she had needed her the most. But she didn’t need Adora, she had gotten this job herself, she had gotten a roof over her head with her own power. She had worked so hard to become independent from Shadow Weaver, and no matter what, Adora will not jeopardize it.

‘I’m doing, what exactly?’

Catra stares dumbly at her manager, a sinking feeling dawning on her.

‘Adora ordered a birthday party at Burger King.’ Lonnie drawls, ignoring the look of complete horror on Catra’s face.

‘No, you can’t do this to me! Roster me for any other day. I cannot psychologically take this.’ She begs.

‘Sorry dude, the deposit has already been paid for. We’re short staffed, and it seems like Kyle has gotten fryer oil burns from your last burger experiment with Adora.’ Lonnie whaps Catra with the birthday catering pamphlet.

‘Stupid Kyle.’ Catra hisses, clenching it in her fist. Curse this damn place that can only afford to hire teenagers.

‘Anyway, just set up the tables and decorations after school on Thursday. Should be a good day for business, with Adora and her posse being rich kids and all.’

‘Can I at least get time and a half?’

‘Are you gonna be paying Kyle’s medical bill?’

Catra pouts. ‘Not my fault you guys don’t provide gloves. This place is an OSHA violation haven.’

WE do the PLANNING, YOU have the FUN! The bold font emblazoned over the small child’s smiling face mocks her from the pamphlet. Catra clenches it in her fist.

‘Also why the fuck did she book a kid’s birthday party package when she is like 17, and not 6 years old?!’

Lonnie rolls her eyes. ‘Do you still want a job or not? Just read the rest of the form, counting on you to organize it.’

Catra squints at the crumpled paper in her hand.

GOLD PARTY PACKAGE

-Themed birthday cards!

-Party bags!

-Birthday gift for the celebrant!

-Jumbo birthday cake!

-Pinata!

-Special birthday songs!

-Dedicated hostess!

Catra can feel her soul physically leave her body. This was gonna be a long week.

It was terrible.

Adora had handed these obnoxious Burger King birthday invitations to all her friends, so now she had all these RSVP’s to the worst birthday of all of human history. In between working shifts until midnight, dealing with Adora at student council and not eating, Catra was on edge.

‘No, you can not write ‘Die Adora Die’ on her cake.’ Scorpia chides, slapping Catra’s hands away to pipe the icing.

‘It’s what she deserves.’ Catra seethes. If she couldn’t eat it, she could at least ruin it, right?

‘They’ll be here soon, so try to take that dying grimace off your face.’ Scorpia replies, and Catra rolls her eyes before adding the finishing touches to the cake.

Suddenly the door opens, interrupting her decorating. The once quiet establishment was now full of loud chatter as their classmates piled in one by one. All of Adora’s old private school friends were here, all unironically celebrating their school captain’s children’s birthday party at the worst fast food restaurant in their state.

She plasters her fakest customer service smile she can muster. Dignity at the door.

‘Hi, you must be here for the Birthday Girl’s party.’ Catra says, approaching the group. Just treat it like you don’t know them.

‘Aw you don’t have to be so formal with us, Vice Captain.’ Glimmer teases, and Catra almost snaps from her facade. Almost.

‘Let me show you to your table.’ Catra grits out.

She had chosen the ugliest poop brown balloons she could find, and had deliberately made the HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner lopsided on the wall.

‘Thanks Catra!’ Adora grins, bouncing past her to admire the decorations.

Catra imagines Adora’s face on the pinata and smashing it into a million pieces. She forces herself to take a deep breath. It was just the one shift, and she really needed this job. Plus after the party was over, she could probably nab some leftovers for her trouble.

All of the girls (plus Bow and Seahawk) sit around the table, and Catra marches over with the laminated menus.

‘Ooh, we all get hats!’ Perfuma says, placing her Burger King cardboard crown on top of her head.

Frosta squints at the menu. ‘I’ve never eaten fast food before. Looks disgusting.’

‘I think it’s fine! Adora wanted to eat here.’ Glimmer says in a sugarly sweet tone that just came off as passive aggressive. ‘Even though I had suggested my penthouse by the ocean and we go here nearly every day.’

‘I much rather would be at the ocean beach house thank you very much.’ Mermista retorts, swatting Sea Hawk off her shoulder.

Yeah me too, Catra thinks bitterly. She stomps off with their orders, cursing them inwardly the entire way to the kitchen.

Adora’s friends start playing with the so-called ‘entertainment’ they had haphazardly set up.

It was ridiculous, seeing grown teenagers lining up to try to smack the shit out of a glittery pinata. They squabble over who gets to hit it first, Catra feeling very much like a glorified babysitter to her most hated enemies.

After a while, she sees Scorpia emerge from the kitchen. ‘Happy Birthday to you,’ Scorpia sings with Adora’s birthday cake in her arms. ‘Happy Birthday to you~’

The others join in on the song, Catra only mouthing the words in silent rebellion. The cake is emblazoned with a crude doodle of Adora’s face with HAPPY BIRTHDAY written on her enormous forehead.

‘Oh my gosh, I love it!’ Adora’s sky blue eyes light up, and she’s practically sparkling. Catra huffs, she wasn’t supposed to like it. Didn’t she see the drawing was supposed to make fun of her five-head?

Adora catches Catra’s eye, beaming. ‘Did you draw this for me?’

‘She did!’ Scorpia tattles, and her enemy’s smile increased tenfold. Catra can feel her cheeks grow warm. Dammit.

‘Whatever.’ Catra bites out, unable to meet her gaze.

Luckily no one else seemed to be paying attention to the weird atmosphere between them, as they were split between eyeing the cake and pinata wrestling.

‘Get over here Sea Hawk, we can do the pinata later!’ Mermista chastises, watching Bow spin her blindfolded boyfriend.

‘Let me just get one good hit in, and I’ll join you!’ He crows, swinging the bat in random directions as Bow ducks the blows, laughing.

Just for anything to do, Catra takes it upon herself as hostess to snatch up the knife and start cutting. She cuts into the cake to start portioning out the slices, but as the knife touches the bottom Glimmer lets out a shriek.

‘What?’ Catra deadpans.

‘If you cut to the bottom of the cake, you have to kiss the person closest to you!’ Glimmer says, a demonic look in her eye. Adora elbows her, embarrassed.

‘Excuse me?’ Catra’s never heard of this tradition. Though to be fair, she had not been to many parties in her lifetime.

‘Oh, that’s right!’ Perfuma claps her hands together. ‘Adora’s closest right? Go ahead Catra!’

To her horror, Glimmer starts pushing Catra towards the blonde. She digs her heels into the linoleum, only to find that she was sliding from the newly mopped floors.

‘Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!’ The girls start chanting, like they were her friends and that she wasn’t their damn server.

‘What the hell- fuck no, let go of me!’ Catra finally snaps, wrenching herself from Glimmer’s grip.

The momentum sends her stumbling into Sea Hawk, who was still attempting to hit the pinata.

‘Ack!’ He squawks.

The bat goes flying straight out his hand and into their double doors. There’s a huge crash, and everybody winces at the noise.

The glass pane shatters, and so does Catra’s sanity. She was so fired.

Sea Hawk lifts the blindfold.

‘Did I get it?’

---

It was nearly closing time, and Catra was still sweeping up bits of glass from the floor. This had been one of the worst days of her life, and she had been beaten and homeless before. To make it worse, Adora was still grovelling when she should’ve gone hours ago like the rest of them.

‘I am so sorry Catra, I’ll pay for everything, I’ll take full responsibility so you don’t get fired-’

‘Stop it.’ She was too tired to even argue with Adora like she usually did, wishing Adora would just go away already so she could grovel over the phone to her regional manager without an audience. Catra always pretended to hate her job, but she couldn’t afford to lose it. She could barely make rent with her Burger King wage.

‘Please, let me help clean. It was my fault anyway.’

There was hardly any money left over to feed herself most days, that’s why she was skinny as a rake as opposed to the toned, buff, well fed Adora. She had only been functioning on a few nuggets that Scorpia snuck her yesterday. Did Catra still have those food coupons? How long until the bank charged overdraft fees?

‘Catra are you listening-’

‘I said stop it!’ Catra snaps.

Adora has the audacity to look stunned.

‘Why do you insist on harassing me at work everyday? Is it fun? Forcing me to play servant to you rich girls, to sing and dance for you? You already beat me in everything at school, you’re already School Captain, you have all the money and a loving family you need, so can you stop rubbing your privilege in my face just for one second so I can THINK?’

‘I...I just…I’m sorry.’ Adora starts and aborts a few sentences. Catra can’t even stand to look at her face.

‘This party at your work. It was the only way to get you to celebrate my birthday with me.’

‘.....’

‘Um, I-’

‘Whatever.’ Catra retorts, trying and failing to pick up the last shards with her too long fingernails. She hisses when the glass nicks her finger, cutting into skin. Drops of blood fall to the floor.

‘Are you okay?!’ Adora gasps, rushing to her side. Catra slaps her hand away, she needed to go find the cleaning supplies. Blood was a biohazard, there was some protocol for it but she was having trouble remembering.

She goes to stand up, but the fatigue rushes to her head and her legs give in underneath her. Instead of smacking her head against the floor, she feels herself land on something soft instead.

Adora hooks her around the waist, gently placing her into the booth. She grabs a napkin from the dispenser and wraps it around Catra’s hand. She can feel Adora’s warm hand squeezing her own.

‘I’m just applying pressure to the cut.’ Adora says quietly.

Catra just closes her eyes. It’s well past midnight and she should be locking up the store, but she can’t bring herself to move.

#she-ra #she ra #spop #catradora #catra #adora #burger king au

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thecreaturecodex · 4 years ago

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Daemonic Harbinger, Shagrath

Image © @tredlocity

[Commissioned by @crazytrain48��. Shagrath the Red Moon Spyder was first mentioned in the original Arduin Grimoire but never got much elaboration, beyond being Chaotic and Evil and having a holiday devoted to him. The 90s “Compleat Arduin” edition misspelled his name with 2 Gs, and that’s what I have used previously in the spiga entry. The Arduin Eternal version from the 2000s made him a creator god, but that information never made it into any of their published books, and their website is only available via Wayback Machine. So this version merges him with another spider-themed archfiend from Arduin, Calyandagg, but incorporates some of my own personal interests in making evil deities based on real-world evils. The idea that conspiracy theories are authored by a giant spider who lives on the moon sounds like a conspiracy theory in and of itself.]

Daemonic Harbinger, Shagrath CR 22 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This immense creature looks vaguely arachnid, with thirteen legs and thirteen eyes. Its carapace is a metallic red, with a mantle of bristling fur on it. Alien runes decorate its legs and abdomen.

Shagrath The Red Moon Spider, The Second Opinion Concerns alternate history, misinformation, torture Domains Darkness, Destruction, Evil, Knowledge Subdomains Daemon, Moon, Thought, Torture Worshipers conspiracy theorists, interrogators, spiga Minions crucidaemons, fiendish giant spiders, piscodaemons Unholy Symbol a ring of twelve red moons showing the lunar cycle Favored Weapon heavy pick Devotion Spend one hour promulgating an alternative version of a commonly held idea or belief. It does not matter whether you believe what you say, or if it is true, only that the information is spread. Gain a +4 profane bonus to saving throws against confusion effects and mind-influencing effects that deal damage (such as mind thrust). Boons: 1: web 2/day; 2: freedom of movement 2/day; 3: extended true seeing 2/day

Shagrath the Red Moon Spider is an ancient being, the first of the race of fiends known as spiga. When first formed, Shagrath lacked magical power, but he realized that belief was a strong enough force to shape the cosmos. By viewing himself as a god, he gained the ability to cast divine spells, and eventually forced his way into the courts of the daemonic harbingers through sheer force of will. His ultimate goal is to achieve full divinity, and his primary means to accomplish this is to expand his cult—if enough mortals believe him to become a god, he will be one.

As part of this agenda of apotheosis, Shagrath tells outrageous falsehoods: that he wove a planet out of his webs; that he can see everything that transpires in moonlight; that he knows literally everything. It matters not to him that the majority of his lies do not stick. If repeated forcefully enough, to enough people, they will take root and become history. His worshipers gleefully create and distribute “alternate facts”, particularly those that demonize a vulnerable group or that promote selfishness and disunity. Of course, Shagrath does enjoy inflicting pain in a more direct sense as well. He is a master of torture, and is especially interested at how the application of pain can cause mortals to weave extravagant falsehoods or completely change their beliefs.

Shagrath has all of the abilities of a spiga, and uses them in similar fashion in combat. He enhances his combat prowess with divine magic, entraps foes in his webs, and then paralyzes them with his claws and venomous bite. Shagrath can create new spiga by implanting eggs inside of paralyzed victims, which he keeps helpless but alive long enough for the spiga to grow inside them. Shagrath has access to many powerful clerical abilities, which he uses in combat as much to impress upon enemies his divine powers as much as to injure and kill.

Shagrath is about thirty feet long and weighs ten tons. He spends little time in Abaddon, perhaps because his interests in divinity make him distrusted by the Horsemen. He typically lairs on a moon of the planet in the Material Plane he is currently interested in. From this vantage point, he descends earthward to spread lies and torture, and returns to his airless abode to avoid retribution.

Shagrath CR 22 XP 615,000 NE Gargantuan outsider (daemon, evil, extraplanar) Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +39, tremorsense 120 ft., true seeing Aura fear (30 ft., Will DC 33), unholy (DC 29) Defense AC 38, touch 18, flat-footed 30 (-4 size, +7 Dex, +20 natural, +1 dodge, +4 deflection) hp 420 (24d10+288); fast healing 10 Fort +30, Ref +21, Will +30 DR 20/good; Immune acid, death effects, disease, electricity, fire, mind-influencing effects, paralysis poison; Resist cold 30; SR 33; Weakness vulnerable to cold Defensive Abilities freedom of movement Offense Speed 50 ft., climb 40 ft.; air walk Melee bite +33 (2d12+13 plus poison), 3 claws +33 (4d6+13 plus paralysis) Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (80 ft. cone, Ref DC 34, 20d10 piercing plus entrap, 1d4 round), entrap (hardness 10, 30 hp, 1 hour), implant, paralysis (DC 34, 1 round), rend (2 claws, 4d6+19), tortuous rend Spell-like Abilities CL 24th, concentration +35 (+39 casting defensively) Constant—air walk, true seeing, unholy aura (DC 29) At will—greater scrying (DC 28), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), harm (DC 27) 3/day—glibness, empowered greater shadow evocation (DC 29), plane shift (DC 28) 1/day—interplanetary teleport, mind blank, power word kill, summon (9th, 100%, any CR 20 or lower daemon) Spells CL 20th, concentration +32 9th—energy drain (DC 31, x2), mass heal (DC 31), shades (DC 31)D, quickened slay living (DC 27), quickened wall of stone 8th—quickened blessing of fervor, quickened cure critical wounds (DC 26), demand (DC 30)D, discern location, quickened divine power, fire storm (DC 30) greater spell immunity 7th—blasphemy (DC 29), quickened blindness/deafness (DC 24), destruction (DC 29, x2), disintegrate (DC 29)D, greater restoration, repulsion (DC 29) 6th—banishment (DC 28), blade barrier (DC 28), dreamD, greater dispel magic (x2), heal, quickened owl’s wisdom 5th—cleanse, quickened divine favor, dispel good (DC 27), quickened entropic shield, flame strike (DC 27), greater command (DC 27), shout (DC 27)D 4th—cure critical wounds (DC 26), death ward, dimensional anchor (x2), moonstruck (DC 26)D, sending, spiritual ally (+36/+31/+26/+21, 1d10+5 force), tongues 3rd—bestow curse (DC 25), contagion (DC 25), cure serious wounds (DC 25), deeper darkness, prayer, protection from elements, seek thoughts (DC 25)D, stone shape 2nd—bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, death knell (DC 24, x2), make whole, pain strike (DC 24)D, silence (DC 24), spiritual weapon (+36/+31/+26/+21, 1d8+5) 1st—cure light wounds (DC 23, x3), detect good (x3), faerie fireD, sanctuary (DC 23) 0th—detect magic, guidance, read magic, stabilize D = domain spell Statistics Str 36, Dex 25, Con 35, Int 35, Wis 34, Cha 32 Base Atk +24; CMB +41; CMD 63 (73 vs. trip) Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Empower SLA (greater shadow evocation) Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Quicken Spell, Spring Attack, Stand Still, Whirlwind Attack Skills Acrobatics +34 (+42 when jumping), Bluff +38, Climb +53, Diplomacy +38, Intimidate +38, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, engineering, geography +, history, local, nature, nobility) +31, Knowledge (planes, religion) +35, Perception +39, Sense Motive +39, Spellcraft +36, Stealth +22, Use Magic Device +35 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 300 ft. SQ daemonic harbinger traits, expert climber, no breath Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abaddon) Organization unique Treasure double standard Special Abilities Aura of Fear (Su) A creature that fails its save against Shagrath’s aura of fear is panicked for 1 minute. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to Shagrath’s aura of fear for the next 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma based. Daemonic Harbinger Traits (Ex/Su) Shagrath is a daemonic harbinger, a powerful unique fiend. This grants him the following traits:

Immunity to acid, charm and compulsion effects, death effects, disease and poison

Resistance to cold, electricity and fire 30

Telepathy 300 ft.

Shagrath’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons he wields, count as evil and epic weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction

Shagrath can grant spells to his worshippers.

Expert Climber (Ex) Shagrath can climb on any surface. Treat this as a non-magical spider climb effect, and this ability doubles its racial bonus on Climb checks to +16. Freedom of Movement (Su) Shagrath is constantly protected by a freedom of movement effect as a supernatural ability. Implant (Ex) As a standard action, Shagrath can implant an egg inside a helpless or paralyzed creature. This creature must succeed a DC 34 Fortitude save or the egg begins to grow inside its body for 1d4+1 days. Every day a creature has an egg incubating inside it, it takes 2 points of Constitution drain. Attempts to remove this larva require a DC 30 Heal check, or any magic that removes disease with a successful DC 34 caster level check. Once the duration elapses, the egg bursts free as a squirming larva, dealing 10d10 points of damage as it goes (Fortitude DC 34 halves). The larva is treated as a giant maggot with a spiga’s immunities, spell resistance and defensive abilities. It grows into a full-sized spiga in 13 days. The save DC is Constitution based. Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 34; duration 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d6 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution based. Spells Shagrath casts spells as a 20th level cleric. Shagrath gets a bonus spell prepared each day for his domains, and can choose between all of his domains and subdomains for that spell. He does not gain the ability to spontaneously cast inflict spells. He treats his own body as a holy symbol for the purposes of spell components. Torturous Rend (Su) A creature affected by Shagrath’s rend ability must succeed a DC 33 Fortitude save or be overcome with intense pain, suffering a -4 penalty to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, skill and ability checks for the next 1d4+1 rounds. Multiple failed saves cause the duration to stack. The save DC is Charisma based.

#shagrath #spiga #arduin #pathfinder 1e #commissions

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bluerosesburnblue · 4 years ago

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It’s been months and I’m still trying to grapple with the concept of what the entity of Darkness is and what the actual shit Vanitas was talking about in Re:Mind, because that still makes almost no sense at face value

Before the fight

Ventus: “We’re not brothers. We’re the same.” Vanitas: “You believe that? Then you really are naive. This may shock you, but we’re not the same like you think. I was just hidden deep inside of you for a really long time. All Xehanort did... was tear me right out of you.”

Literally five minutes later

Vanitas: “I’m the piece of Ventus that was taken away. ...you define me, Sora, the same way that Ventus does. We are brothers who, together, make a greater whole.”

So he claims that he’s both a separate entity that was inside Ventus, and yet at the same time he’s still part of Ventus’s being. I presume he has to be related to Darkness at this point. The Vanitas speaking those lines was a time traveler from the past and an entity calling themself “Darkness” exists in Ventus’s present-day heart, after he re-merged with Vanitas in BBS, so there’s a chance that they could be the same character, though it’s possible that Vanitas’s existence is more complicated than just being a form of Darkness. He consistently regards himself as a separate existence from Ventus, and yet, a piece of him

And all of the TWEWY news got me started thinking about cordyceps, which freak me the hell out but might have gotten me onto something that makes sense (what does the horrifying cordyceps fungus have to do with TWEWY? For some unholy reason, it’s one of Josh’s more liked foods and I have never managed to get that fact out of my head)

Cordyceps is a parasitic fungus; the most famous species of it infects insects, getting into the brain and forcing them into positions prime for the fungus’s growth, then slowly consuming the insides until its taken its hosts essentially zombified body as a vessel

And this got me wondering if perhaps Darkness function the same way in a heart, the core of a character’s “self” in Kingdom Hearts. It worms its way into an unsuspecting host’s heart, possibly influencing their behavior (i.e., Ventus’s possibly killing of Strelitzia), and “consumes” the natural darkness in their hearts, using it to anchor itself in there. In that way, it could incorporate a part of a normal person into its being, becoming something that is both parasite and host, which would resolve the seemingly contradictory statements from Vanitas where he claims that he both is part of Ventus and yet something else entirely

This could, perhaps, also tie into the Master of Master’s cryptic statements about the form the darkness took in the past:

Luxu: “And the darkness? Were there monsters like there are now?” ... MoM: “To answer your question, if I had to call them something, “monsters” would be pretty accurate. But they looked like us.” Luxu: “Oh, so they were human?” MoM: “I didn’t say that.” ... MoM: “Darkness is constantly changing shape. It can even hide among humans. That’s the reason the war was never able to end.”

Now, maybe I’m reading into this too much and the Master’s just talking about how entities that once appeared human devolved into the Heartless we know as the series goes, but the way that the Master describes darkness as “changing shape” and that it can “hide among humans” sounds far more like what we’ve heard of the entity know as Darkness instead of the elemental concept of darkness that we’ve been familiar with (and I haven’t written off the idea that it could be doublespeak; referring to both “Darkness” and darkness at once). I think it’s very likely that Darkness took the form of Ava to trick Ven into becoming a Union Leader (”changing shape”) and then booked a ride inside his heart into the future (”hide among humans”)

And what was the tagline from Verum Rex again?

“Reclaim your heart” with a line below referring to “the ‘KARMA’ that sleeps in humans will accelerate further.”

Could the KARMA be, in actuality, seeds of the parasite that is “Darkness,” sleeping in the hearts of humans, getting ready to awaken again and start parasitizing their hearts, that they would then need to “reclaim” from its grasp? But that might be taking it a little far. It could tie into theories about Verum Rex actually being the distant past and Luxord being the driver from the Limit Cut ending, which would make Verum Rex part of the “ancient Keyblade legacy” that Xemnas mentioned and resolve the disparities between Luxord and Demyx not once showing up during KHUx despite it being in its “final chapter” and there not being enough Arks/Lifeboats for them and yet still being included in that legacy... buuuuuuut that’s a little too much compounded speculation for me and isn’t necessary for the crux of this musing, which is on how everything we know about Darkness fits together

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts re:mind spoilers #liz's secret reports #this is long but the read more cut is specifically in case people want to avoid talk of cordyceps #because that shit freaks me out so i can imagine it might seriously mess up someone else if they came across it accidentally #if real life parasites freak you out maybe skip the next paragraph under the read more #my knowledge of cordyceps is like 45% because of pokemon 45% because of twewy and 10% cultural osmosis from the last of us #also on twewy both josh and beat hate ice cream and i am APPALLED #shiki's the only one who actually LIKES ice cream #neku's just neutral #what is WRONG with the twewy kids?

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thebibliomancer · 5 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #209: The Resurrection Stone

July, 1981

“The Resurrection Stone: will it save the universe -- or destroy it?”

Well, the universe hasn’t been destroyed, at least circa the comics I read this morning. But it hasn’t really been saved either.

Still, pretty intriguing tagline. Pretty intriguing cover.

And written by J.M. DeMatteis. One of the Kraven’s Last Hunt guys. He doesn’t seem to do a lot of Avengers.

Let’s see how he do Earth’s Mightiest Team of Specifically This Four On the Cover.

We start with some silent intriguing intrigue as an alien ship crashes into Nevada and an alien crawls from the alien wreckage. Instead of distributing rings to people, he gets shot by a green guy who likes purple. I sure can’t think of several people that this applies to.

The shooter checks some possibly alien PDA but then beams up as the ship explodes.

How baffling.

Ok, J.M. DeMatteis. You have my interest.

So we start chapter one-

Chapter one? What is it with fill-ins and putting chapters in Avengers books. That three dooms one from a while back also did this.

Anyway, chapter one of this normal length Avengers adventure: “Love... and Death!”

So on specifically April 10th, 1981 2:17 PM (a fact which we must firmly ignore in these sliding timescale days), Beast has brought an old flame to Avengers Mansion to meet Wonder Man, Vision, and Scarlet Witch.

Presumably all of the other Avengers couldn’t make it. Or Beast didn’t want them meeting Vera.

Oh, and she’s not a new old flame.

Vera Cantor goes back to X-Men #19 in 1966. She knew him before he blue it! And she was the one who got away because mutant biz kept getting in the way.

But they had a chance meeting in a Soho bar and they’re giving it another shot!

I guess Beast is finally settling down from his wild party dating multiple women at a time days.

And y’know what? He and Vera are cute together.

Beast is exuberantly in love with her. He’s apparently been talking about nothing else for weeks.

Scarlet Witch: “Vision -- just look at the Beast’s eyes -- I’ve never seen them sparkle so. He must be in love.”

Beast is so excited he’s bouncing on the couch and jumping all over the place and bumping into Jarvis. Knocking the tea tray out of the butler’s hands.

Beast, pls. Reign in.

He does manage to catch the tray in his feet though. No spilling.

Its a bit weird that Jarvis is here to be bumped into. He’s supposed to have one of his days off to visit his mom and get some of that “near-mythical Yorkshire pudding.”

But he brushes off the question with concern over the bad impression all of this is giving the guest.

Vera doesn’t mind though. She’s used to his obstreperous (“noisy and difficult to control”) nature and finds how energetic he is to be part of why he’s so cute.

The blue fuzz surely does not hurt!

Oh. And then Vera takes a sip of the tea Jarvis brought and immediately keels over dead.

The butler did it??

Jarvis. You made it too strong!

No, no. Surely not. Jarvis would never make such an error or miss out on Yorkshire pudding.

“Jarvis” is actually... A SKRULL!

Beast wastes no time slamming the Skrull into the wall but said Skrull says ‘hey you want the woman to live again maybe keep your hands to yourself.’

And Beast backs off, sensing some truth in the Skrull’s tone.

The Skrull: “Ah -- that’s a bit more like it. Even in this vile atmosphere, I do so value my ability to breathe!”

By the by the by, this guy goes unnamed until 2008 in a Secret Invasion infobook but I’m not about that. His name is Jaddak.

Jaddak channels his inner-Darkseid and sits in the comfiest chair provocatively and begins on THE TALE OF THE RESURRECTION STONE!

Seems that millennia ago there was a space civilization in space that merged high science and high sorcery to bring an epoch of peace and plenitude to all then known worlds.

The epoch of peace and plentitude looks a lot like someone jammed Medieval knights and castles into rocket times.

Which I guess fits the whole union of science and magic thing.

And then the greatest scientist-wizard, Tus'Au, invented the Resurrection Stone and ruined everything.

The stone, as the name implied, could bring life back to the dead. And while that doesn’t seem too impressive by today’s standards where plot devices to resurrect the dead are so numerous (including just teleporting out of heaven) that it doesn’t bear counting, remember that this was an earlier, more innocent time. A filler time.

Everyone wanted this Resurrection Stone and a great war ignited that eventually ruined a thousand, thousand planets.

Amidst that nonsense, the stone itself was lost forever.

Until an Anthigorite archeologist named Krru, like, did some serious research. Around about 5,000 years worth of research. And thanks to all his book learning, he eventually found the stone.

Which was unfortunate because Jaddak had been stalking him this whole time, sure that he’d eventually find it.

He chased Krru over twelve solar systems, finally blasting him out of the sky over Earth. But when Jaddak searched Krru’s ship and checked the recorder-log, as we saw in the opening two pages, he learned that Krru had decided that the Resurrection Stone was inherently corruptive and should have remained lost.

You know an ancient magical stone is bad news when an archeologist goes ‘actually you don’t belong in a museum.’

So when Krru was shot down, as a last ditch effort, he broke the stone in two and sent both halves into Earth’s past so they’d be lost forever.

I have so many questions.

If they were sent to the past then they’d be in the present now unless destroyed in the past. That’s how time works.

Two, dick move, Krru. You think this thing is inherently corruptive and you drop it into Earth’s past, possibly altering the timeline? Fuck you.

But with the stones in the past forever inaccessible clearly, Jaddak decided, hey this should be the Avengers’ problem and not mine.

Jaddak: “I knew then that I needed... pawns. Powerful pawns.”

Wonder Man: “Pawns... as in -- Avengers. And that’s why you struck down an innocent woman?!”

Jaddak: “It seemed a splendid idea at the time!”

Pffffffft.

Ok, I know. I know. This is a terrible situation in-universe but also out of universe because they brought back Vera only to immediately stuff her into the fridge.

But this skrull going ‘look it seemed like a good idea at the time’ cracks me up.

Seemed like a good idea doesn’t cut the mustard with Wonder Man who just hauls off and punches Jaddak into the bookcase.

Vision even verbally pats him on the back for it.

Vision: “Well played, Simon. -- There was no need to listen to this madman's rantings any longer.”

But as the Avengers congregate to stomp on Jaddak’s head a few times, I presume, Beast stops them.

Cradling Vera’s body he says he’ll do anything to bring her back.

;__;

And that brings us to chapter two: “DOOM in the DARK AGES!”

Let me just get ahead of any hypothetical questions I wouldn’t even be able to hear until after the fact anyway. Tragically Doctor Doom does not show up.

Whoof, a lot of exposition at the beginning of chapter 2. Because a lot of stuff happened off-panel, between pages.

Real Jarvis had been contacted to make sure he’s okay. The four Avengers took a Quinjet to the Fantastic Four and told Reed Richards what’s going on. Reed went ‘sure I’ll lend you Doctor Doom’s time machine and send you to the coordinates a SKRULL gave you.’ And Jaddak went to go wait in his spaceship with Vera’s body.

So now the Avengers are in September 16, 1348, England. Prompting Vision to start giving a lecture on the bubonic plague.

Scarlet Witch: “Darling, please. Not now.”

Save it for the bedroom, Vizh.

The locals respond, understandably enough, with hostility to the people that just appeared in thin air dressed like clowns. They call the Avengers demons and unholy creatures and tell them to tell a wizard Devlunn to fuck off and that he can’t have any more of their dead.

Wanda decides that explaining time travel and superheroes from the FUTURE is more trouble than its worth. Instead, she plays along.

Scarlet Witch: “Devlunn? We are far greater than that upstart! He is a mere wind -- we are the storm!”

And then she fires off some of her bolts to cow the villagers so she can ask if anyone wants to take her to “this weakling Devlunn.”

See Wanda figured out based on the one comment that someone toying with the dead might be linked to the half of the Resurrection Stone they’re here to find. Or one would hope someone toying with the dead has a dumb magic reason for it!

One of the villagers does volunteer to take Wanda to Devlunn.

Villager: “I pray you four are as powerful as you appear -- for it will take great magicks indeed to best this lunatic child.”

Because, yup, Devlunn is a ten-year old child.

And yup, he has half of the Resurrection Stone.

He also has a big crowd of locals begging him to return their dead since they did promise to follow him and give him all that they own. Really, that’s a fair trade for some moldy old corpses, right?

Devlunn: “Why should I listen to you? When this talisman fell from the sky and whispered to me -- I knew then it could make me a god! And gods do as they please!”

Welp.

Beast: “No one should play god, Devlunn. -- Least of all obnoxious little boys! C’mon guys -- let’s get this over with!”

And Wonder Man punches the tower Devlunn is standing on and Vision SOLAR BEAMs it and a ten year old child falls off a tower.

And then he just stops in midair and floats.

Not sure why the Resurrection Stone also has flying powers. That seems beyond the scope of what it was designed to do.

That’s like if you had a scroll of fireball that also did your taxes.

Yes, that would be amazing. But the two things aren’t related things.

Anyway, Devlunn takes these four weirdos in stride.

Devlunn: “Ah -- so I’ve impressed you with my little trick! Good! For, you see, I know who you are! You are spirits from heaven to test me to see if I’m worthy of godhood -- to see if my talisman can do more than merely hold me on high like some wingless bird! You wish a show of strength -- a little play! And what you wish -- Devlunn-the-god shall grant!”

And then he sicks a horde of zombies on the fearless foursome.

The four realize the truth of Devlunn’s half of the Resurrection Stone. Because this is a cool magic artifact that conceptually splits in half instead of just physically or in terms of output or whatever.

Devlunn’s half gives life to the dead but only life without the spark of the soul. Aka, zombies.

Also, not very impressive zombies. They’re more pitiable than formidable. And Devlunn isn’t much of a necromancer.

The Avengers fight them. Well, except for Vision. Vision just lets them flail against him ineffectually.

Beast rushes through the pack of zombies, even grabbing one with his thighs to toss out of the way?, towards Devlunn and then takes the 1/2 Resurrection Stone like candy from a baby.

Revealing Devlunn to not be a great and powerful wizard but rather a very sad child.

Devlunn: “My stone give it to me! Give it back, I say! I was... nothing until it came to me! My family -- my friends -- all died! But the stone made me important! It gave me control over death! It made me safe! Please give it back! Please -- I want to be a god! I have to be a god!”

And then he collapses to the ground and starts crying while the Avengers are whisked away into the future by Reed.

So, that’s sad.

And I don’t imagine chapter three (“Rosenblatt’s Dance!”) is going to be any cheerier.

It’s now April 13, 1945. Dachau.

So. Yeah.

The Avengers blink into existence right in the middle of some Allied troops chasing some Nazis. And not being ones to miss a chance to go ape shit on some Nazis, Wonder Man goes ape shit on some Nazis.

Unlike the dark ages peeps, the Allied soldiers see some random people with superpowers wearing bright clothes and go ‘ah, superheroes’ and ask if they’re with the Invaders or the Liberty Legion.

Wonder Man: “Right. I’m... uh... Captain America.”

Phew. Timeline secure.

Anyway, they’re glad to see some superheroes because they’ve got a messy situation at Dachau. And its nothing that punching Nazis can fix.

So, yeah this is set at a concentration camp so its not going to be particularly happy.

The one who has the other half of the Resurrection Stone is a man named Rosenblatt. And this half of the stone also has half the power of the full stone. But in this case it returns the soul to a lifeless husk.

And Rosenblatt has used it to revive his dead wife and daughters and he’s joyfully dancing with their lifeless bodies while they beg him to let them go and free them of this existence.

It’d be really messed up if the usual superhero methods had to be applied here but thankfully the less employed but still common superhero empathy is in the quiver.

Beast approaches the guy and just talks to him.

Beast: “You have to set their souls free.”

Rosenblatt: “Are you the devil, come to take them? Well -- they’ve been in hell long enough. They’ll never be yours!”

Beast: “Look at them, my friend -- they will never be yours either. Not the way you knew them. The way you cherished them. Give me the jewel. P-please...”

And his words get through to the man who hands the half Resurrection Stone off to Beast.

And as before, the instant they have the stone, Reed yanks them forward in time.

Y’know. This only occurred to me on my second read. Maybe if Reed hadn’t instantly pulled them out of that time, it would have occurred to Beast ‘hey wait I have both halves now, I could combine them and bring this guy’s family back to life for real and not in some cursed half existence.’

Doesn’t really work with how the book goes, but it’s a thought.

And now for the thrilling conclusion: Chapter 4 The Cost!

April 10th, 1981, SPACE.

So we’re back in the then present.

A Quinjet flies into space, as Quinjets can apparently do, to meet with Jaddak’s spaceship. Jaddak contacts them over the space Zoom and tells Beast that he’ll have to teleport over alone with the Resurrection Stone.

The other Avengers think this is reeeeeaaally fishy and don’t really like the idea of letting Jaddak get the Resurrection Stone but they can’t tell Beast what to do. This is his weird fill-in issue quest and it has to be his decision.

So Beast teleports over alone. And finds himself in a chamber with a video screen. Skrull ain’t taking any chances.

He’s hidden behind an unbreachable wall. Through the video screen he tells Beast to deposit the stone in a portal which will send it over to the skrull who will test it for authenticity.

Then, he’ll use it to revive Vera. Swearsies.

Beast: “And why should I trust you?”

Jaddak: “Because I am a Skrull. Treacherous and savage as my people are -- we value honor more than life.”

Doubt.

Beast pauses to consider the power of the Resurrection Stone. Thinks about Devlunn and his zombies and Rosenblatt’s dance.

Beast: “Vera... I’m sorry. But this power is too much for any man to hold. I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do -- and I hope I can forgive myself!”

And then Beast slams the two halves of the Resurrection Stone together, KRUNCHing them into dust.

Jaddak: “Y-you crushed it! But that is... impossible! My plan was perfection! The vagaries of human love should have assured me victory!”

Wonder Man: “There are higher forms of love, Skrull -- but don’t strain your brain trying to figure out what they are!”

Because, yes, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, and Vision are also here now.

Vision intangibled onto the ship while Jaddak was distracted and used Jaddak’s own teleporters to bring the other two aboard.

As for that unbreachable wall?

Nah. Totally breachable. Wonder Man peels it open like nothing.

Jaddak tries to use Vera’s dead body as a hostage but Scarlet Witch blasts the gun apart in his hands with a SQUAKK.

So there may be a bird that used to be a gun loose on the ship.

And that just leaves one thing to take care of.

Beast jumps at Jaddak and starts slamming him around.

Scarlet Witch protests that Beast is going to kill Jaddak but Wonder Man tells her that Beast has to left off some steam.

Wonder Man: “He has to vent some steam or he’ll really snap! Besides you know Hank as well as I do -- that Skrull will get some much-needed lumps -- but that’s all!”

Beast: “Yeah. That’s our Beastie. A hero to the end. Can’t even bring myself to play the old ‘eye for an eye’ game. Not that it would do me one stinking bit of good. I’ve lost her -- forever.”

AND THEN AN EPILOGUE. Later that day at the Baxter Building.

Reed has been involved between panels this whole story and now he gets exposition exposited to him to fill in the gaps and in return he’s going to exposit too.

Wonder Man explains that he, Wanda, and Vision always intended to destroy the Resurrection Stone if Beast went through with the deal with Jaddak. Not that they thought he would. Knowing Hank McCoy and all.

But its a subversion of the ‘this is something he must do himself’ trope. Where they left the decision in Beast’s hands but also planned to go over his head if he made the wrong decision and put the scary power of phoenix down in the hands of the Skrulls.

Gotta keep your friends honest or something.

So now Reed has news. Weird news about Vera.

The poison that Jaddak used was super rare, so rare that Jaddak didn’t even know how it worked. He just had to be a murder hipster and goofed up.

Its actually a slow-acting poison that takes days to fully kill someone so Vera is technically only mostly dead. She could theoretically be cured one day.

So Reed has thrown her into a suspended animation tube and hopes to come up with an antidote eventually (which he doesn’t but Vera ends up cured anyway in Defenders #105 about a year later in another story by J.M. DeMatteis).

What is it about weird filler stories and having someone end up in a freezer tube to be maybe cured later?

Reed Richards: I know it’s not much of a chance, Beast -- but at least there’s hope.”

Beast: “There’s hope -- !”

Follow @essential-avengers because one day I’ll be up to date on that blog and it’ll have Essential Avengers stuff and no miscellaneous reblogs of other stuff. Wouldn’t that be nice? Maybe? Also like and reblog if you like to reblog.

#Avengers #essential avengers #Beast #Wonder Man #Scarlet Witch #the Vision #skrulls #essential marvel liveblogging #geez beast's focus issues are always so weird

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arlakos · 5 years ago

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An akuma/Villain idea: Megawatt/Ion

Ok. I’ve had this idea for a while now and I finally wanted to unveil it. Show-out to @twin-books for helping me with the idea on discord, I’m really glad they helped me flesh out the idea.

-So i got this guy that goes to Marinette’s school but is in another class. I don't have a name for him so ill call him Dave.

-Dave gets akumatized (called it) after someone in his class pisses him off, and becomes this dangerous electricity-based Akuma called Megawatt.

-So typical stuff happens, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrive, fighting and puns, ‘give me your miraculous’ being said at least once like we already don't know what they want.

-That is, until Megawatt tries absorbing a bit too much energy.

-He overloads, stunning him long enough for Ladybug to break and purify the Akuma. Cue typical Miraculous Ladybug, stuff returns back to normal, right?

-WRONG

-See, Dave was akumatized and overloaded with energy, it messed with the energy of the butterfly inside the object. So while the akuma has been dealt with the echoes of the energy dwell within Dave.

-Cue Dave absorbing some electricity from his phone, which causes his Akuma personality to reawaken.

-Daves Akuma's side is a total dick. Aside from communicating with Dave at the worst of times, he gradually drives Dave insane, both in his day to day life and in his dreams. Initially, he covers it up well, but eventually, it starts to wear on him. But its not like anyone notices, because in Miraculous Ladybug, everyone has the awareness of a goldfish until someone gets akumatized.

-He also develops a hunger for electricity, to the point where he can often be sustained on electricity alone. He can basically feed off anything electric, but he refrains from doing so, as it causes the Akuma personally to become louder. As days go on, it becomes harder to manage his cravings

-Cue a school trip to a science facility, where one of the projects they unveil is a new electricity generating device.

-Pressured by both his newfound hunger for electricity and the voice of the Akuma inside his head, he loses it. Charging through the crowd and overpowering the guards with insane strength, he throws himself at the generator.

-At the center of the device, all the electricity courses through Daves body, illuminating his skeleton from the inside. Naturally in this case, he should have died, but by some unholy miracle, it causes the echos of the Akuma's powers to become activated. As the electricity becomes neon violet in color, the suit of his akumatized identity envelops him.

-The generator explodes from the overload, and the smoke clears to reveal Megawatt, no longer an akuma, but his own villain.

-Megawatt grins, and yells ‘I’M BAAACK’

-Megawatt figures that his former akuma name sounds lame, and renames himself...Ion

-Chaos ensues, the villain, escapes into Paris, and Ladybug and Cat Noir arrive.

-Cue the most dangerous villain the heroes face yet, as this time Ion is no longer bound by an object, and with Hawkmoths influence gone, he is actually smarter with his powers. It's a tough battle, and Ion almost manages to win

-Luckily, Chat Noir (for once) manages to figure out he’s vulnerable to water, and with Ladybugs Yoyo, they manage to expose him with enough water to short circuit him. Ladybug uses her yoyo to purify him again and manages to remove all traces of the Akuma psyche. This doesn't, however, affect the powers, however, as they have successfully merged with his body

-Dave goes to the hospital and he manages to recover.

-Dave returns back to school. He returns to normal, but with his new powers still causing hunger for electricity, he has to manage his newfound diet, carrying batteries around to supplement himself and wearing gloves when he’s not ‘feeding’. He also has to make sure not to absorb too much energy, as although he is no longer affected by the Akuma psyche, too much energy will drive him insane to the point where he could go on a rampage. Despite all this, he goes back to a normal life. Despite people wondering if he could become a hero, Dave is happy to just have a normal life again, and leaves the superheroism to the Miraculous Heroes.

-Also small tibit at the end, his favorite video game series is InFamous. Go figure.

On another note, I realize that as I finished writing this post, this is really similar to @not-so-lucky-charm‘s Akuma AU where former Akumas keep their powers. Shoutout to them as well, because I think their AU is awesome and deserves more praise (and fanfiction prompts).

#Miraculous Ladybug #Akuma Idea #Season 1 #Season 2 #Season 3 #No salt here for once.#InFamous reference #i love references

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aftermathdb · 5 years ago

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Ghost Rider vs. Lobo

Two badass bikers have one hell of a fight!

Ghost Rider′s Preview.

If one were to take a look at Johnny Blaze, you wouldn’t really expect much out of the son of a famous stuntman who had died in a stunt gone wrong. But, you’d be surprised. Johnny’s new dad, Crash Simpson, got cancer.

So Johnny turned to the one man who could fix the problem: The Devil.

It worked… Until Crash crashed.

From that day forward, Johnny became merged with Zarathos. A being of power that scared Mephisto. And together, they became: Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider possesses your typical powerset for a bounty hunter for the devil. From your typical Superhuman strength and speed, with a side of insane durability and an extra large healing factor.

And to top it all off, Ghost Rider’s signature weapon of choice is fire. But not just any kind of fire. Hellfire (Insert Hunchback of Notre Dame reference here).

Hellfire burns, but not in the conventional way you might think. Hellfire burns away at the soul, bypassing any defenses that would normally protect against typical burn damage. It’s like Salazzle’s Corrosion ability, only with fire.

But, if you’re going to be on the hunt for bad guys to make them pay for their sins, you’re going to need a toolset to match. From your typical hellish chains to soul manipulaton, Ghost Rider is one hell of a guy to fight…

Real talk: Lowkey disappointed that there weren’t more hell puns like this in the episode proper.

But if there’s anything that Ghost Rider is known for, it would be his Hell Cycle. Which we get a Wiz and Boomstick animation for the explanation.

Moving on, Ghost Rider’s other signature move is his Penance Stare. A Bloodcurdling gaze that burns the victims with the agony of their sins. Every life they’ve ruined, every person they’ve killed, all of it comes hitting you at once. Basically, it’s the “I’m not mad, just disappointed” phrase weaponized to the point that it burns. If you’re a truly sinful being, your soul goes bye bye. It’s like the Dark Hado, only with a less complicated button input.

And since the hosts neglected to mention it here (or even in the list of feats (Though, it is shown)), this stare once brought Galactus to his knees. Here’s the video link.

With all that power, Ghost Rider has taken on some insane opponents.

From the likes of Thor, to World War Hulk, to Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider has taken on a great slew of opponents, both good and bad.

However, Johnny doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with the Ghost Rider.

In fact, Johnny’s relationship with Ghost Rider is similar to Bruce Banner’s relation to the Hulk. Johnny suppresses Ghost Rider’s full potential, and the two often clash.

Also, since I forgot to bring it up earlier, The Penance Stare doesn’t work on the blind, those without a soul, those who draw power from pain, or masochists.

However, plot twist, Zarathos is actually an angel of vengeance, not a demon.

And similar to the Hulk, when Johnny opts to let the reigns loose, Zarathos. becomes so powerful, that he scares Doctor Strange.

For reference to Zarathos’ power, he’s equal to the divorce judge Mephisto, who in turn, once battle Galactus. The fight was so intense, that the entire universe was at risk as a byproduct of the battle.

Zarathos himself can eat souls. As for Johnny himself, the guy is still a mortal man, so he’s vulnerable to any kind of conventionally lethal attack. The Rider himself is vulnerable to holy weaponry, and is killable through it.

And even if he’s not too keen on being the Devil’s bounty hunter, Johnny’s doing alright. He even overthrew Mephisto… Does this mean that Peter and MJ’s divorce is null now?- I’m pretty sure that it’s null on the grounds of it being filed under duress, but still.

However, should you be walking out on your own, hearing a feint sound of a chopper drawing near, and see a glow on the horizon getting closer, you better hope that it’s not you that the Ghost Rider is after.

And you better pray to whatever deity that you believe in for mercy.

Because Ghost Rider won’t be giving it.

Lobo′s Preview.

It’s the 1990s, and the world of comics entered a darker age. After the success of such books like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, comic book companies started to churn out gritty anti-heroes by the dozen.

From the time-traveling mutant Cable, to the darker and grittier Azrael, and Overkill. It was an… interesting time, to say the least. They were certainly cool-looking, but at some point, it just got ridiculous, that the world needed someone to take these guys down a peg.

The world needed a hero- no. A parody.

Enter: Czarnia. A planet that was known to be the most peaceful place in the universe… “Was” being the keyword there. The planet was. ravaged by a biological lifeform that left only one survivor: The guy who killed them all: Lobo.

For the record, Lobo’s name roughly translates to “He who devours your entrails and enjoys it.”

(So, he’s basically the NRA).

Lobo’s birth caused so much destruction, that pretty much everyone around him died out. Hell, some theorists think that the universe made Lobo just to balance out the peacefulness of Czarnia.

Lobo strives to be unique, and what better way to be unique than to be the last of your kind?

Lobo has left destruction in his wake. Which is possibly why he became a bounty hunter, as it’s the only profession that legally lets you kill people… Not that it stops him from killing you illegally as well.

Lobo is so insanely durable, that his healing factor is stupidly powerful. And his strength is off the charts. He’s like the unholy child of Superman and Deadpool. Speaking of which…

Oh, Taka… You never fail to make us laugh.

Anyways, not only can Lobo regenerate from a single drop of blood, he can also basically clone himself from it.

If you haven’t guessed by now, Lobo is stupidly hard to kill. He’s taken on the likes of Superman and other high-level fighters to the point that he’s basically invulnerable. And if that’s not enough for you, he’s also pretty smart capable enough of doing complex equations to be able to tag the Flash.

Lobo can even deduce the weak points of any opponent he faces.

Of course, you don’t get to be an infamous bounty hunter unless you have the tools for the job.

Lobo’s ride responds to his whistle, can fly fast enough to escape a black hole, comes equipped with numerous machine guns, and has numerous other add-ons to boot.

And he has numerous firearms to deal with anyone who gets in his way. Even better: He’s also a fan of chain weapons.

Lobo also likes to ignore some things too. Like how he can sing “Born To Be Wild” while in the vacuum of space.

If that’s not physics-breaking enough for you, Lobo also once did this:

He pulled down Solaris despite it being physically impossible. Not, physically like his physique is inadequate, more like… It breaks physics. Meybe he and the Flash can bond over that.

For reference, this is how much strength Lobo would be exerting to pull Solaris down, assuming that Solaris has a mass similar to our sun.

Lobo also once crushed an entire city to fit in the palm of his hand. And then he ate it. There’s not a laxative in the world that can make that easy to digest.

And thanks to his rambunctious attitude, and constant heavy metal playing, Lobo has been banned from the afterlife. As in, his soul is not to be collected by death. Once the universe ends, he doesn’t go with it.

Lobo has a bomb that wiped out the dinosaurs, allegedly murdered Santa Claus (Who could bypass Apoklips’ defenses to give Darkseid a lump of coal), and has even walked through literal willpower.

However, despite his many claims, Lobo isn’t perfect. He can still take damage, and while his spirit can fight on without his body, he’s not exactly invincible.

He also has a… fondness for dolphins… Apparently. But, he’s also a man of his word, and will follow things to the spirit too. So, he’s basically the exact opposite of the NRA.

And unlike guys like Doctor Fate, the Green Lanterns, and Darkseid, Lobo isn’t immune to retcons.

This new Lobo is a dark and tortured soul. Literally the thing that the real Lobo was meant to be a parody of.

Thankfully, some of the writers at DC had a sense of irony, and decided to shelve the new Lobo… Literally.

And with all that, Lobo is one fighter that you don’t want to mess with. Because when the Main Man gets a contract…

The Battle Itself.

Zack, Luis, and Jerky are heading this animation. Ghost Rider will be voiced by Steven Kelly and Lobo will be voiced by Jason Marnocha. ), sprite artists, Ride to Hell by Brandon Yates. Audio is led by Chris Kokkinos.

The fight starts off with Lobo collecting a bounty, only for the Spirit of Vengeance to show up and give Lobo what’s coming to him.

Lobo, being Lobo, doesn’t take too kindly to someone telling him what to do, so he just runs over the Hell Cycle to get away.

Ghost Rider, understandably mad as hell, gives chase, and even fries Lobo’s bounty while doing it. So now even the Main Man is mad too.

After a brief battle of chains, Lobo does a Scorpion impression and grabs Ghost Rider to give him one hell of a headbutt.

But Blaze doesn’t take this lying down, so the battle gets forced to a city… Hopefully abandoned.

And now it’s Ghost Rider’s turn to do a Scorpion impression as he uses his hellfire to give Lobo a nasty Burn.

This being Lobo, he powers through it to get to Ghost Rider to eat a building.

This being Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance bursts out, spilling blood everywhere. But, this is Lobo.

Or rather, Lobos (Note the plural). They dogpile on the burning skull head, forcing Ghost Rider to unleash Zarathos.

Lobo, pretty miffed at the moment, blasts Ghost Rider with a massive gun.

So, with the battlefield fragged, the finishing blow (Yes, this wasn’t the finishing blow) is coming up in 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Hot damn…

Verdict + Explanation.

Okay, so… This being Lobo, it was a pretty intense fight. Lobo doesn’t die easily. And Lobo also takes many of the physical advantages, like strength. But Ghost Rider wasn’t a slouch in this area either.

Given the insane durability and amount of pain that each fighter could take and dish out, it was hard to say for sure as to who would win out. But, Lobo doesn’t have any specific weaknesses that are obscure, and he wasn’t equipped to have anything to really kill Ghost Rider.

Now, you might be thinking “Who cares about Holy Weapons when you can crush and eat a whole city?” While that’s a good question, and it’s also a good question to ask if Lobo could just overpower Johnny.

However, Remember: Zarathos = Mephisto, and Mephisto = Galactus. Given that the fight between Mephisto and Galactus put the whole universe at risk, it’s reasonable to say that Zarathos could do the same.

Now, given Lobo’s own speed, he couldn’t really run from the Ghost Rider either. Recall that the Hell Cycle could outrace Mjolnir, and Mjolnir could move over 100 Billion times the speed of light. So, even if Lobo could figure out Ghost Rider’s weaknesses, he can’t exactly get away to find a holy weapon to work with.

Essentially, Lobo could handle the Ghost Rider, but once Zarathos was unleashed, his means of victory started diminishing fast.

But now, for the big elephant in the room: How do you kill a person who’s banned from the afterlife?

Well, this is where you need a lawyer, because there’s a small little loophole that Ghost Rider can exploit:

Lobo’s soul can only not be collected, there’s nothing saying that his soul can just go poof. And Ghost Rider has three ways of just ending Lobo’s soul.

His hellfire bypasses normal defenses, his Penance Stare can deal damage to Lobo since he’s got trillions of dead people on his hands, and Zarathos could just straight-up eat his soul. Lobo has no defenses against attacks that target the soul.

Essentially, Lobo was toast.

The winner is Ghost Rider.

Overall impression.

This fight was cosmic. In essence, it takes some of the most intense fighters and pits them against each other. This fight has a lot of hype behind it, and it’s one

hell

of a fight.

However, the lack of “Hell” puns during Ghost Rider’s rundown is somewhat disappointing. But the fight is awesome. It also helps that the music is intense in the good way that it makes it really feel like a battle straight out of hell.

The fight’s awesome, the explanation makes sense, and the music is a banger.

8.666/10

Next Time…

A friend of mine on Deviantart is doing reviews of these Kaiju Movies and a few Power Rangers episodes too. I’m feeling that this fight might interest him.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Robo-Kaiju Rumble.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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cookiedoughmeagain · 6 years ago

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Haven DVD Commentaries; 3.12 - Reunion

Commentary with Gabrielle Stanton (writer for the episode) and Brian Millikin (on set for filming)

GS discusses how sad it is that Claire is dead: Audrey liked Claire quite a bit and it was really sad killing that character; a really fun character. BM: It was sad because we created her to die. We knew that she was going to die at this exact part of the season. GS: She did a great job in this scene. BM: I actually really like Evil Claire. I’m sad that we didn’t get to use more Evil Claire.

BM: This was the very first scene that was shot for this episode [As Claire has a gun to the back of Audrey’s head] because we had shot what this scene follows in episode 11 the night before. So they left everything as it was so we could shoot this.

GS: So we realised this season that Nathan’s preferred manner of entry is to shoot the lock off a door. BM: He does it again later in this episode and I think several times this season. GS: I think next season, he’s not even going to check if it’s locked. He’s just going to shoot it. BM: I just would love to see an episode where we’re just in a room just talking and suddenly ‘bam’ and then Nathan flies in just… GS: … just like, Hey who wants coffee?

BM: This episode is where we really start to say ‘the barn’ at least every other line. GS: If someone tries to make this and the next epsiode into a drinking game around that, they will not make it through the episode.

BM [As we see the guy running into the gym and hiding under the bleachers]: I should say, this was an incredibly difficult scene for us to shoot. GS: I was amazed they found those telescopic bleachers. When I wrote it I was worried we’d never find it. BM: Well, the didn’t work as well as you might think that they would. What you can’t see here is that just off screen there is an army of grips, PAs, myself, everyone we could get, pushing them. They weighed about seven million pounds and wouldn’t go anywhere. GS: Well you guys did a great job because that looked very scary.

BM: We shoot a lot at an elementary school that’s near our sound stages, but this was actually a high school that’s about ten minutes outside of town, where a lot of our crew had gone to high school. So up and down the walls, actually just outside of this gymnasium, are the class photos and prom photos for a lot of the crew.

GS: I love the idea of high school reunions because they are great and awful all at the same time. And we thought wouldn’t it be fun to see a little window into Nathan that we don’t normally get to see. Although I can’t really see him having been friends with any of those people. But I think we decided he was probably a bit of a loner as a kid anyway. BM: You can see from the reunion sign there that we were very careful not to say which class they were actually in, or what year this is taking place. Because when we figured out the timelines we realised this would be like their 17th year reunion. GS: Which is kind of an odd year for a reunion. But then Haven always does things a little differently. BM: But I think the reunion idea works well as well because we wanted Nathan and Audrey to have this little special moment, so there was the idea of, What if they danced together?

[As Duke asks the others where Claire is, there is another comment that it’s sad she’s dead] BM: It might have been nice to mourn her a bit longer GS: There’s no time! Things move quickly in Haven.

BM: But what they’re doing here [with the facial composite that show’s them Arla] is super-exciting because this was one of the first ideas we had for the season. GS: With the skinwalker arc, this season is kind of the first season that we’ve had an overall bad guy to run through the entire season. BM: A big bad. GS: A big bad, so to speak; in Buffy parlance. BM: And we always had this idea of the stiched face. GS: I thought that morph [where Arla puts the face on] worked out great. BM: It did. She actually had a body double who was actually in the make-up to make it look like she had no face, and they both took turns putting that mask on and then they merged it all together. GS: We kind of knew what it was going to look like because Nick Parker, our intrepid writers assistant, is also an excellent artist and drew this representation of how it would look, and we actually have it on the wall in our writers’ room. BM: That is something that we should have put on the DVD.

BM: But this was so exciting because we had been waiting all year to get to the Arla Cogan reveal. We even seeded it back in episode 7 in the wedding photo they found in Colorado. And also seeded back into episode one with the kidnappers voice telling Audrey she wasn’t the only one who loved the Colorado Kid. And in fact I think the reason her name is Arla is because the name was Arla in the book, right? GS: It was. The Colorado Kid’s wife in the book was named Arla. We thought that would be nice for fans who had read the book, to do a little call-back. And actually when you think about it, getting back to the Colorado Kid this season was kind of exciting too because it’s the premise the whole series is based on. And we’d moved away from it for a while, but he’s always there in the background. BM: Yeah we hadn’t touched on it much in the second season so I think that was the goal for this season.

GS: I thought this actress [Jeanine] was great; I loved this character. This was fun to do someone who has a Trouble that is not something you’re going to build a whole episode around, but just kind of a fun Trouble. Because not everyone can have a shoot-lightning-bolts-out-of-my-fingers Trouble. BM: I like that she hits on Duke in this scene. GS: I like that big fruity drink. I can’t imagine that being something that Duke would normally serve. BM: This is a good time to mention the director for this episode, as her name comes up on screen, Lee Rose who has done a number of episodes for us. GS: Yep, she is always fantastic. As we are doing this commentary we are shooting season 4 and she just finished an episode for us.

GS: So this is the first time that any of our characters actually talk to the real Arla. BM: He’s surprised that she looks like Supergirl. She is actually Laura Vandervoort, who is one of the nicest people on the planet by the way. GS: She was great. Because it can be fun but also very hard to play the villan. BM: She was good. And she totally got it. I don’t think she had played many villans before, so I think she was excited about that. And that this wasn’t a typical psychopath because … GS: … she is doing it all for love.

GS: That actually looks like it’s sunny out there. Or is that just lighting. BM: It was - this was late august, which is one of the brief periods of time when it’s not raining in Chester, Nova Scotia. All the crew were in shorts and t-shirts and would go swimming in between setups.

BM [As Laura and Duke are talking at the table in the Gull]: This is an example of how great Laura was and how excited we were to have her. I think it’s a common thing that when you’re not on camera [or only the back of your head is] that you often don’t act quite as much. But she would do it every time. And I remember at one point someone said to her; You know you can take it easy, you don’t have to go for it when you’re not even on screen. But she was like, No I’m doing this. GS: Yeah it’s true because that gives the actor they’re playing with so much more to work with. If someone’s just sitting there phoning it in, it’s really hard to give the best performance you can give. GS: So here Arla is trying to create an unholy deal with Duke. And as we know, Duke can be a shady character, we’re not always sure what he’s going to do. BM: That’s true, and this was a big deal set-up because we play this again in a big way in the season finale, when we’re not quite sure what Duke’s going to do.

BM: This was a big deal episode for Vince and Dave too in that they thrust themselves into the middle of the investigation and we get to see them out and about. With a gun! They werre pretty excited about that. They were actually a bit too excited, Richard and John the two actors. But in the same way when they got to be tortured earlier this season; they were excited about it. BM: While Laura Vandervoort might be the nicest woman on the planet, Adam Copeland is the nicest man on the planet. GS: Absolutely. BM: And this episode he said he realised that something about his role in this episode, he was like; I just come in and tell someone something they need to know about the Guard - and then I leave. Which wasn’t necessarily true but it was because we ended up cutting out another scene.

BM: [As we see Denise lying in the pool of oil from the deep fat fryer] That was actually not real grease. It was some clear plastic that they had to lay down on the floor because they weren’t allowed to spill something there. It was just this one solid piece that they clicked this poor actress into. It was pretty hardcore. And it’s not actually really a kitchen either, it’s a kitchnette in the corner of this room, because the actual kitchen in the shool was too small to shoot in. GS: It’s funny you say that about the grease because when Matt McGuinness and I were doing the commentary for 3.04, when the guy was bleeding out we were commenting that there wasn’t as much blood as we remembered, and now that you say that I remember it was because we were leasing someone’s house to do the shot and we couldn’t put too much ‘blood’ on the concrete because it would soak in and stain it. All these little production things you never think about when you’re watching TV.

BM: That was an important conversation [between Audrey and Nathan in the kitchen] that we just talked through I think. Because we had to justify why they were still investigating this case when Audrey is about to go away in a day or two. So she had to tell him that this is actually what she wants to do. GS: She wants to work. She wants to help people. Audrey’s thing is always; My job is to help the Troubled, so I think she would do that up to the very last minute she was in Haven. BM: And I feel like this one [about not cancelling the dance] was also a super-controversial conversation because they decide to go through with the reunion despite the fact that two people have died. GS: Yeah, but I think we did justify it, because if the killer is after people going to the dance, then … BM: We’re using them as bait. GS: Yeah, basically. BM: We’re endangering the lives of everybody. GS: But it is the only way to draw out the killer. And it is also high-stakes for Nathan because he was a classmate. And I think that’s another reason Audrey stayed with the investigation because she was afraid they would go after Nathan.

[As we see Duke walk up to the locker by the water] BM: This was super-exciting because we had one shot at this. Because as soon as he goes in the water, his hair is going to be wet and we can’t do another take. We had one take. So we had to rehearse, and with the position where Teen Duke comes up in the water so that he comes up in the exact right spot. GS: So did Eric have a wetsuit or anything on under his clothes? BM: No. GS: Good for him! BM: I know. Method actor. Also a really great guy. GS: And no snake was harmed in the making of this show.

[About Nathan’s yearbook photo] BM: By the way, that is a real photo of Lucas Bryant as a kid. GS: Really? BM: I thought for months that he was pulling one on us. But it was really him.

[About the Teen!Duke actor] GS: I thought this guy did a fanatstic job. I totally bought it BM: He was great. GS: And if it hadn’t been episode 12 or whatever, couldn’t you see like two or three episodes where we just had a young Duke walking around. BM: Maybe we could bring him back. Some sort of time travel thing. GS: Oh that’s cool. BM: When we cast him he’d never met Eric before, but they spent like half an hour together, and Eric showed him some of Duke’s mannerisms. GS: Yeah I talked to Eric about that. He called me to suggest it and it was a fantastic idea. It was so nice of him. And it helped to get the mannerisms, the body language, to get the speech patterns right - it really made a huge difference. BM: But there was one huge crisis. We were sending people all over the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Because that time when he and Eric first met each other was a Friday (having cast Jake as Teen Duke earlier that week) and we were due to start shooting on the Monday. And Eric was the one who noticed this, he was like; “Jake’s great, it’s going to be great - one problem; our eyes are not the same colour at all”. Jake’s eyes are not the brown colour that Eric’s are. And so everyone decided that we needed to get contact lenses. And we needed to do it fast and the problem was that it was already 6pm on a Friday and everywhere was closed. So it was a case of telling everyone on the crew to stop what they’re doing and asking if they know an optometrist. And someone’s best friend’s college roommate’s dentist worked at a glasses store once or something, and so they got into this place on the Saturday afternoon to get Jake fitted for contact lenses. And Jake had never worn contact lenses before. And they got made and arrived on Monday only a couple hours late so we had at first to shoot not on his eyes. It was pretty crazy; we almost had to stop production. Or we would have had to VFX it in afterwards. GS: Yeah, paint his eyes in in post - that would have been a nightmare.

[As Jeanine tells Nathan about her Trouble} GS: I love this scene. I love the cake of it all. And yes, part of me wishes I had that Trouble. BM: But it’s what you were saying; we have so many Troubles that we would love to do, but we can’t because … GS: Because they’re fun or silly, or not big enough or not stakesy enough, or we can’t get enough story out of it. BM: Well can we spoil some of those, that we know we’re never going to use? What about the guy who is always feeling light-headed, or seasonal disorder guy …. GS: Wait wait wait - how do you know we’re never going to do that? What, who is seasonal disorder guy? BM: Well I can’t tell you now. Or what about starfish-hands. GS: Oh yeah that I think we will probably never do; the Trouble where all of a sudden someone’s hands turn into starfish. In the writers’ room when we need a temporary curse, that’s our go-to; starfish hands.

BM: I love that Jeanine and Robert end up together at the end, but do you think that they’re just going to eat a lot of cake for the rest of their lives? GS: Well, my thinking of it was that once she actually cut into her own wedding cake, that her Trouble would go away. BM: How did we not get that concept in here? GS: That’s for the sequel.

[As Nathan talks to Teen Duke] BM: This is one of my favourite scenes, because like you wrote in the script, there’s this idea that they start to fall into their old high school pitter-patter of talking and the speed they’re going back and forth. They were great, they got super into it. They got a little too into it and Lee had to tell them that we couldn’t understand what they were saying any more.

GS: Ah, the Teagues! I like that they both have these old Clint Eastwood revolvers. BM: And coming up here is a stunt that Richard Donat had to pull off where he gets clubbed over the head by Dave at the end of the scene. He really did it; there was a mat on the floor for him to fall onto. People were a little concerned, not so much about the fall but because John Dunsworth, who plays Dave, was hitting him with such reckless abandon, with the prop which I think is supposed to be a brass vase, and is made of rubber but is still pretty tough. There, like I’m not sure that was a fake sound effect. But Richard was fine. GS: I thought that moment was fun because I don’t think, hopefully, that anyone saw it coming. BM: No. And we paid this scene off in season 4. GS: We do!

[As Jeanine demonstrates her Trouble] BM: This was very tough to shoot. We had to replace the plate in her hand; she had to stand there holding plates of first carrots and then cake for like 20 minutes.

GS: Audrey looks great when we dress her up.

BM: We filmed too versions of this [where Audrey asks Nathan to dance] and this is the more romantic version where he holds out his hand to her, and I’m really glad this is the one we went with. GS: And that line there was a callback to what Sarah said to Nathan, which is the final decision-making thing for him to go dance with her. BM: Great callback BM: You remember how much we had to go through to get this song? To find a song that worked and that we could get cleared to use. We listened to song after song after song. GS: Yes, we listened to a lot of mid-nineties dance songs here in the writers’ room.

[As we see Robert talking to two others in the corridor] BM: These guys were great. And one of the reasons they were so great together is that all of these actors had worked together in a bunch of plays in Toronto. So they had an instant raport.

BM: You’re about to see one other surprise we had which is that the kid who play Robbie was great, but was also ever so slightly taller than Robert. GS: Ah no one noticed.

BM: This was shot in the actual boiler room of the school. GS: This is much bigger and brighter room than I had pictured. BM: And so this boiler that shoots her in the face, we built ourselves. It was all cardboard.

GS: It would have been fun if Audrey wasn’t immune to the Troubles. We tried to figure out some way that she would turn into a teenager because we thought that would be so fun. But it was not possible. BM: Sometimes the immunity really helps us and sometimes it really hurts us.

BM: There was some controversy as we shot this [the injured Robert lying on the floor] because originally he was on a stretcher, and the EMTs were there, and then someone realised that would mean the EMTs would have to be in on the Troubles because they were going to see all this stuff happening. So that’s why he’s just on the floor here. GS: Oh good point. Although, let’s be honest, the EMTs in Haven have probably seen a lot of stuff.

[As Jeanine is talking to the injured Robert] BM: Ah this is really touching. GS: Yeah I liked this story. Finding true love after all this time.

GS: We spent a long time trying to work out a specific soda, because some of the initial suggestions we then realised hadn’t come out yet in the 80s.

[As Duke turns back to normal] BM: They were very careful there; he was wearing the exact same size wardrobe so that his clothes didn’t change when he did. GS: Yeah I remember we had a lot of wardrobe talks about how that was going to work. BM: And about this scene too [Audrey, Nathan and Duke talking in the Gull] because they’ve all changed clothes. And this obviously is going to be the wardrobe that they are wearing throughout the next episode. GS: Right because there is a lot of running around in the next episode, and so the question was, do we want Audrey in a cocktail dress to have to do everything she has to do in the next episode? BM: And also this is the last moment of calm before the storm so this scene was really heavily scrutinised. Like, what are you going to do if it’s your last night on earth? Like, maybe they would just stay and hangout; play board games. GS: That’s not what I would do on my last night on earth. BM: But they would also want to try and do anything they could to help Audrey.

GS: This was tricky because we don’t do a lot of direct pick-up episodes that are back-to-back time-wise. But this was 11, 12, and 13. And that’s part of what you were talking about earlier, about how we can’t really talk about when the reunion was, because sometimes 9 months will go by when the show is airing but maybe only 5 or 6 days has actually happened across those episodes. BM: Yeah, and there’s almost no time between 10 and 11 also. Which was why we always had to plan from the start of the season how long it was going to be until we got to the Hunter meteor storm. So we had the big board and the season mapped out with the number of days, and we had to keep changing it to make the dates line up. GS: Writers don’t like doing math. We did a lot of math on this season. And if we got any of it wrong, don’t send a letter.

[As Audrey finds Arla in her apartment] GS: This was a tricky scene for them because it was very long, a lot of exposition going on here. And it had the potential to drag. But I don’t think it did. BM: It was a four or five page scene and it’s almost all Arla talking, which is pretty hard to do. This was Laura’s first scene that she shot; we did Claire’s last scene, and then Nathan showed up, and then we did this. She never autioned for the role because she’s a very successful actress so we just asked her if she would do it. So she came in, no one really knew how it was going to go, we were a bit behind that day so there wasn’t any time to even rehearse. So, we shot the first rehearsal and - everyone applauded. She got every single line right, every single word right, and she was phenomenal. I think Emily might have actually hugged her. People were high fiving each other. GS: It’s not easy. I think one of the hardest things for guest actors coming into a series especially is that you’re shooting everything out of order. So, coming in, your first day; you get off the plane, someone puts you in wardrobe, sends you to the set and this is the first scene you have to do. That seems a little daunting. BM: Yeah. And she was struggling even with the hair extensions they put her in. That’s not all her real hair. And she said that every single thing she’s ever done, the first thing anyone ever does is just staple a ton of hair on top of her head. GS: This story of Arla’s Trouble is horrible. But we purposefully constructed it so that, she’s done all these terrible things but you hear the story behind it and you feel a bit sorry for her. BM: Yeah and we had had this in mind since before the season started. We had always been working towards this. And that she would blame Lucy, that she would mistakenly believe that it was all Lucy’s fault. GS: And she has good reason to believe that. BM: Absolutely.

BM: Laura came up to me right before her first take to ask about the scene. And I wasn’t surprised because it’s this 6 page scene and this crazy story, so I was like; Anything, what do you need? And she was like, “It’s just this one line.” So I thought this was going to be a problem because we had carefully parsed out all these details through this scene. But her point was that Arla referred to James and said she loved him, and Laura said she thought Arla would say “love him” because she’s crazy and she still loves him and thinks that he’s out there. And I almost started crying, I was like “You’re my favourite person on the planet.”

GS: The other thing here is that although that is obviously a prop gun and hollowed out, those are heavy. To hold that up for this whole scene. BM: She was great. GS: The best villans are the ones where you can see their point of view. You don’t agree with it, but you can see where they’re coming from.

GS: I love that effect where the barn appears! And every time you see Howard, you know that something huge is going to happen.

GS & BM: Thanks for listening!

#haven syfy #haven dvd commentaries #3.12 - Reunion

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necrolux · 4 years ago

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Epiphany.

mildly inappropriate. viewer discretion advised.

There are two lazy bodies moving with the music; dim lights pour from the window and cascade from the ceiling to the floor, a light glow that allows you to see them, but just enough; you realize suddenly that you'd have them in any position possible. Maybe having them on your lap, giggling lazily to the entire bottle of wine you both shared, though, would be the perfect view for you at that moment. You're whispering sweet nothings to each other, talking about theories of nothing and everything; discussing religion, discussing the universe, discussing sex and what attracts people to one another and it dives into "I'll show you what attracts me" and kissing slowly, and kissing deeper, and hungry hands and hungry stares, clothes that come out all too slow for your liking. A mess of tangled limbs that ended up stumbling to bed at a point, too hot and sweaty by now—because of the wine, you tell yourself, but it's pure lust dripping there and you both know it in more ways than one.

More kissing entails, a trail of sin lower, lower, too close to right where heat pools at your lower belly and too far from where you want. Of course, it's too far for a tease but not for too long. There are moans filling the echoing room, crave pouring from both lips, hair pulls that are too rough for soft and too soft for rough. Sex dichotomy; too much and never enough.

"So hard." Their voice is suddenly your high; it's like aphrodisiac being shot straight up your brain, and from there to right between your legs where there's a set of skilled lips that are too hot and too tight on you for the sake of your own sanity

The high builds up, and it's almost getting to a point of no return, but then suddenly there's cold and you're hissing "fuck, don't stop" but, where soft gagging should be there's only a teasy chuckle. "You didn't think only you were gonna get pleasure tonight, did you?"

It's selfish, you know you're selfish, you don't wanna risk that mood so you bite back on mild frustration to the promise of more and you groan needily. "Hurry up then." There are soft mumbles, lazy conversation—how do you want it? Top or bottom? Yeah whatever you prefer just /get on with it holy shit/—it's desperate and all you want and need at the moment.

They end up straddling you; steadying themselves with a hand on your shoulder that suddenly feels addictive, it's like that single hand is steadying your whole world, and you dare look up. Eyes accustomed to the darkness by now, you see the silhouette like you've dreamed it. Your hands roam through curves and lean muscles, through imperfections and flaws that you can't not admire; you could gauge their soul out from the intensity of your stare, and it burns them sweet.

They move. Oh, God, they move and there are galaxies in your brain. Is it still the wine? Maybe. You don't think so. You're swimming in feeling now, your body moves by itself and now you're feeling everything like a doll, the way they move making heat spread through you like you're taking shot after shot of expensive liquor—maybe whiskey. It's your muse. Your inspiration, your own private amazon to take.

Their skin shines almost unnaturally, eyes like the dawn fluttering shut so fast as they start moaning themselves. There's that heat again, but it's less hungry now and more like you just want them to linger on your lips forever—it's unlike anything you've ever tasted. Your body shakes and shudders shamelessly, and you don't have one regret about it.

Wrapping a hand around their neck to pull them in is easy as breathing and your lips connect, magnets, made to be; the kiss is more of a mess of tongue and teeth than an actual kiss and it's messy, and it's sloppy, and it's the way both of you have to say "I want you, I want you, I want you."

They move faster on you, swallowing your moans as fuel. There are no words needed when the unholy noises you're making could be a book by now, lewd and guttural from the back of your throat, matching high pitched needy moans. Symphonic. It's too much, too much for the both of you.

Getting a high like that could come from nothing else, no one else, suddenly; the world stops spinning around its axis, and you both merge into one. Body shaking, hands clasping at each other's skin, there's no proximity that can be close enough for you, for them, for your perfectly imperfect duo. You shake, moan, you kiss and, below your heavy lids for a good minute—that feels like a decade but also a second—all you see is ivory white.

Coming down from the high isn't so bad, either; they're still shaking. Although your state isn't much more under control, hardly any at all, you help them lift their Godly hips just enough. God, the poems you'd write about that skin; the art that could be painted would not be comprehended by the most skilled painter, Michelangelo and DaVinci wouldn't dare replicate. It's everything. It's never been everything before, you didn't think that way before, but now it is.

It's so good that you still feel it hours after they fell asleep. It's rich and tasty at the mouth, and poisonous, it seems. You'd gladly die by their hands, and maybe it wouldn't feel so bad. Closing your eyes, wrapping your arms tighter around them, you can only think it wouldn't feel so bad; licking your lips, their taste lingers and maybe... Just maybe, this time you could get used to it.

#mine #writing

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johnbunkerart · 5 years ago

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It’s Show Time! John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre 2013

Written by John Bunker. First published at the since discontinued abstractcritical.com 16 May 2013

Installation view of John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre, photo credit Paul Raeside

Those interested in abstract art who are after some kind of essential visual truth from singular art works, who don’t give a flying urinal for Duchamp and his legacy should probably click and move on. But if you have been genuinely perplexed, annoyed or interested in debates centring around notions of how abstract art sits now in wholly new, complex realms of culture, history and politics then Armleder’s show at the new Dairy Art Centre just might be for you.

The best musicals are always the ones about putting a musical on and Mr Armleder certainly knows there’s no business like show business! One gets the feeling that we are getting the full force of ‘The Show About The Show’. This suits the opening of a new art space that celebrates the owners’ collections and their upbeat approach to showing ‘contemporary art’. But be ready for a visual/aural assault – an assault which is an important aspect of the installation art born out of a particular lineage of abstract art… See ‘The Legacy of Jackson Pollock’ by Allan Kaprow.

Installation view of John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre, photo credit Paul Raeside

It could be easy to forget that Armleder has been around a long time in terms of contemporary art. Fluxus haunts this show. Imagine a history lesson with Duchamp at one end and Warhol at the other. But it’s the ghost of Beuys that gives this exhibition a deeply unnerving aspect; a dose of anarchic venom missing in much 90s art (think Koons) or later so called ‘slacker art’. From reading the convivial text on the hand-out, it is notions of popular culture and the everyday objects that litter our world which are celebrated here. But there is a deep uneasiness and jarring lack of slickness to the whole ambience. And it could be said (whether this was the artist’s intention or not) that Armleder has found an interesting way of turning an aggravated dystopian eye on what has happened in art since the late 60s. Make no mistake: this show is a real roller-coaster ride through the clashes and coagulation of high art, the commercialisation of culture and the mechanics of the entertainment industries.

Installation view of John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre, photo credit Paul Raeside

That brings me on nicely to what you might meet when you enter the gallery. We are confronted with a large sculpture. But is it sculpture that has become social furniture (a bar with stools) or furniture that has become ‘social sculpture’? Then we get the glitter balls (!) – emblems of Disco and 70s hedonism, overt symbols of kitsch. Armleder has suspended 12 of them, at around head height, straight down the middle of a largish but oddly shaped room leading into other spaces. If you stare long enough into the rotating balls they become strange vision enhancing machines. The thousands of tiny mirrors shatter and fragment the already strained sense of space. The ‘gallery’, the objects, the sculptures and paintings become atomised, ready to be reconfigured by the viewer.

Installation view of John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre, photo credit Paul Raeside

It is difficult to get a sense of the real dimensions of the Dairy. Armleder has split, cut and cropped off oddly shaped spaces. Disco lights run riot in one roped off enclave. Harsh white neon tubes hum in uncomfortable piles on the floor or in strict alignments on the walls of another room. In a larger space shelving units, sometimes boxed off by various shades of coloured Perspex, contain a few stuffed animals and wilting flowers in vases. Cartoonish figurines squat beside TV screens that run footage of old B Movies. They all sit in their own little worlds amongst piles of art books and magazines. It’s as though the collected fragments of a domestic front room have found themselves in a disheveled Mondrian inspired shelving unit, itself languishing in the far corner of an Ikea warehouse. In contrast much harsher, almost clinical spaces contain CDs and album covers neatly arranged in glass cases. Christmas songs produced by a record label created by Armleder blare out. Yet again, apocalypse might only be one cubicle away! I can’t possibly cover all the surprises to be found here so I’ll finish up with the paintings on offer.

Installation view of John Armleder at Dairy Art Centre, photo credit Paul Raeside

You would think that abstract painting would be the art that would suffer most in this strange realm but it’s surprising how Armleder’s paintings assert themselves, how they seem to suck up the order and the chaos around them. Take, for example, two strands of paintings by Armleder on show. We have paintings liberally laced with glitter that give us a taster of time honoured staining, dripping and pooling from the history of abstract painting. Then we see others that are harsh, hard-edged and stylised. Cartoon splats are mechanically repeated across empty dry white canvas à la Pop. Once upon a time an artist may have spent an entire career plumbing the depths of one aspect of these painterly approaches. But here Armleder forces these divergent themes into the harsh new world of the Dairy. For a start these canvases hang on walls painted as halved diagonals split between a white top half and coloured lower sections, echoing the design of the entry doors and roofing supports that crisscross the ceiling. The paintings are visually forced off and back on to the wall via this simple optical tug of war. Maybe because of this I feel pushed into the paintings – always looking for some kind of anchor in painterly space that the gallery space will vehemently not provide. As colours merge with the glitter on the long journey down the upright canvases, a yellowy, brown mud glistens through the chaos. This unholy combination of glitter and paint reminiscent of fecal matter feels very Beuysian. Beuys famously used fat and felt as the materials most apt for physical and perceptual transformations. Is Armleder suggesting that kitsch could somehow act in the same way? There’s no business like show business indeed...

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davidmann95 · 8 years ago

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So....Did you hear the news about Superman's new costume change? (The red boots are back! :D But....I don't think the red trunks will ;-;) How do you feel about that?

I got feelings.

First feeling? That is a GOOD COSTUME. After 6 years of trying and failing and trying and failing and trying and somehow failing even harder, they finally figured out how to redesign him in a way that doesn’t look ridiculous. No seams, no weird cuffs, no collar, no blue boots, the belt’s fine. I’ve been a big “the real suit will return” partisan, but if this had been the costume in 2011 I don’t think there would have been any problems, and if they don’t redesign this for the sake of doing so in a year or two (which is absolutely a possibility now that they’re in the habit of it), it has a real chance of sticking around and supplanting the classic look, and I’d even be pretty much okay with that.

The problem is we were supposed to get the real thing back.

The Superman formed by the interlocking Reborn covers, showing the big Ultimate Superman hovering over them all that seemed to be indicating the guy we’d get on the other side? Take a look at the belt. He was supposed to be wearing the real suit again, but instead they had the temerity to pull one final bait-and-switch and spoil what should have been a pleasant surprise. What a damn shame. Hopefully he’ll still keep the old one in the Fortress, but what we’re seeing makes it seem as though it’ll be even retroactively out of the picture. Speaking of which:

So the real question with this was if the Superman line was going to move from “good by comparison to the Superman line for the last near-decade or so” to “actually really good”, and the answer is most definitely no. Dan Jurgens is still leading the pack with Action Comics - probably up through #1000 now, because why the heck would we want a writer who’s still any good on an industry and genre milestone like that - and not only that, but it seems he gets to retell the origin and background for this new-ish Superman, which at best means some unholy worst-of-all-worlds mishmash of the New 52 and the current setup, more likely a full return in spirit it not letter to the dark days of Byrne’s Superman.

To top it off we can still see the graves for Lois Lane and Clark Kent on the covers for that months’ Superwoman, so it seems my most cynical projection for the outcome of this was correct: no merger, the older Superman is just going to be merged into the current timeline, and there’ll be a period where New 52 Superman was around, with “Hey, why did Superman and Lois think they were in a parallel universe for awhile while completely unexplained dopplegangers of the two of them ran around for years until they died shortly after the former was exposed as Clark Kent?” almost certainly falling into the same memory hole of “What do the inhabitants of the DCU remember about Crisis, given they don’t know the Multiverse existed?”. All with the terrible caveat even I never saw coming that he never wore the classic costume. In fact, he seems to be wearing a variant of the New 52 suit in most of the flashback images above. Oh Jesus god, is it going to be Byrne Superman who only wore the New 52 suit until recently? I clearly think poorly of DC’s treatment of the character, but that would be almost too cruel for words.

So no, while it’ll be nice to have all the continuity ducks almost in a row for a change, this isn’t going to ‘fix’ Superman in any way that matters. It’s even in question how consistent across the board this’ll be, given he still seems to be wearing the Rebirth suit in that months’ Supergirl and Trinity. At least we still got Tomasi and Gleason on Superman proper, and Supergirl will probably only get better once it moves past the likely editorially-mandated Cyborg Superman arc (which has still been a hoot, if you only pick up one Superman-line book get that). And that is a nice new suit.

#Superman #Superman's Suit #DC Rebirth #Superman: Reborn #Opinion

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officialotakudome · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, And More

New Post has been published on http://otakudome.com/first-look-harbinger-wars-2-0-quantum-and-woody-1/

First Look: HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 & QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1

Valiant has released first looks at HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 & QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1:

First Look: Matt Kindt & Doug Braithwaite Declare HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Shipping in December!

As first revealed at Newsarama, Valiant is proud to debut your first look inside HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – an exclusive, limited-edition prelude to the publisher’s powerful 2018 crossover event that will only be made available EXCLUSIVELY to fans that redeemed mail-away coupons in HARBINGER RENEGADE #1-4! This December, the march toward the biggest and most ambitious Valiant event ever attempted starts right here with a standalone introduction from New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O MANOWAR, DIVINITY) and explosive artist Doug Braithwaite (X-O MANOWAR, ARMOR HUNTERS) that will set the stakes for next summer’s seismic comics conflict!

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For the rare and immensely powerful subset of humanity known as psiots, their unique abilities have come with an enormous cost. Once, their existence was known only to a select few. Now, the revelation that thousands of these latent telekinetic “harbingers” secretly live among us…with the potential to become active any moment…has led the American government to a dramatic tipping point…

Armed with new extra-governmental authority, the deep-black military contractor known as OMEN has been authorized to identify, evaluate, and, if need be, eliminate all super-normal threats to the homeland. H.A.R.D. Corps units have been deployed into cities and towns across the United States to enforce their orders.

In the east, one of the most powerful minds on Earth, Peter Stanchek, is leading his band of Renegades across the country, activating any potential psiots willing to join them, and building an insurrection force of ultra-powerful and unwieldy new powers that will soon bring war to OMEN’s doorstep…and the unstoppable force known as X-O Manowar raging back to Earth…

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HARBINGER WARS 2 #0* Written by MATT KINDT Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN $3.99 | 18 pgs. | T+ | Shipping DECEMBER 2017

*Available only to fans who submitted the four mail-away coupons included in HARBINGER RENEGADE #1-4

HARBINGER WARS 2 #1 (of 4) Written by MATT KINDT & ERIC HEISSERER Art by TOMAS GIORELLO & RAUL ALLEN Cover by J.G. JONES $3.99 | 48 pgs. | T+ | On Sale MAY 2nd, 2018

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Cover by Clayton Crain

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #1 (of 4) – Cover By J.G. Jones

Valiant’s QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1 Adds Even More Excess to THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! Due to Popular Demand! Now with Extra-Added Glow-in-the-Dark Goat Action!

Oh no, look at what you made us do!

Valiant can hardly believe it’s announcing that THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! – an unholy and experimental combination of comic book history’s most noted, notorious, and obnoxious cover gimmicks adorning one highly-limited edition of December’s QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1 – is adding yet another classic to its record-setting battery of comic-book enhancements!

That’s right… For the first time anywhere, Valiant can now confirm that QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1’s THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! will now feature a fully GLOW-IN-THE-DARK rendition of the one and only Goat, officially merging NINE OF THE MOST POPULAR COVER ENHANCEMENTS EVER PRODUCED onto one collection-busting variant cover that will forever live in infamy!

They said it couldn’t be done. More importantly, they said it shouldn’t be done. And, every step of the way, we refused to listen. Now, there is no turning back…and the variant cover to end all variant covers will adorn select copies of the FIRST ISSUE of the ALL-NEW and UNTRUSTWORTHY ONGOING SERIES from rising star Daniel Kibblesmith (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and explosive artistKano (Daredevil) once and for all time! Featuring cover artwork by Valiant superstar Clayton Henry (ARCHER & ARMSTRONG) and a cabal of top-secret special guests, THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! will be the first-ever embossed, lenticular, die-cut, individually hand-numbered, chromium-enhanced, and (now) glow-in-the dark comic book cover – all before being hand-stickered with a randomized fourth Valiant hero, and printed with two unique foils and iridescent fifth ink!

Attention retailers: One copy of the QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time! may be ordered by retailers who place a qualifying order of 250 copies or more. The QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time! is strictly limited to one copy per qualifying store. For instructions on how to qualify for the QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time!, please refer to the Diamond Retailer Site under order code: OCT171908.

But, hey, there’s an awesome story inside, too! (Crazy, right?) The most heartfelt, most eye-popping, and most punching-est superhero-action-family-drama-buddy-comedy throwdown of the year starts right here on December 20th when all-star creators Daniel Kibblesmith and Kano throw the comic book industry’s sense of propriety straight into the wood chipper for QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1!

Sometimes…you embrace your destiny. And sometimes…you and your trouble-making adopted brother find yourselves trapped in a scientific lab explosion that grants you $@&%ing awesome super-powers. As a result of their accident, Eric and Woody Henderson – aka Quantum and Woody – must “klang” their wristbands together every 24 hours or both dissipate into nothingness. Which makes superhero-ing pretty awkward when you’re not on speaking terms at the moment. See, Eric has been keeping a pretty big secret: He knows who Woody’s birth father really is…and where he’s been hiding all these years.

PLUS: In honor of Quantum and Woody’s upcoming overthrow of comic shops everywhere, each of the new series’ first 12 issues will also feature “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS — a dynamic, new(ish) cover treatment featuring artwork by superstar artist Geoff Shaw (God Country), EMBOSSEDand ENHANCED with AUTHENTIC COMICS FOIL FROM THE ‘90s!

Available at the standard cover price with no minimum order qualifications for retailers, relive the face-melting radditude of the era that gloriously birthed Beavis and Butthead Ren and Stimpy Quantum and Woody into comics history as Valiant’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS kick nostalgia in the nards!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Fans and collectors can get their chase on with Valiant’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL CHASE VARIANT subset! Each month, in the tradition of comics’ most highly sought-after oddities and error editions, Valiant will produce a single, STRICTLY LIMITED-RUN VARIANT of Geoff Shaw’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL artwork with A RARE, SPECIALIZED and SUPREMELY WACKY ‘90s FOIL!

On December 20th, big trouble is coming to a comic shop near you in QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – featuring covers by Julian Totino Tedesco (Original Sin), Geoff Shaw (Thanos), Nick Pitarra (The Manhattan Projects), Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow), and Clayton Henryalongside every gimmick known to man, now including state-of-the-art GLOW-IN-THE-DARKtechnology!

For more information, visit Valiant on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and ValiantEntertainment.com.

For Valiant merchandise and more, visit ValiantStore.com.

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Cover A by Julian Totino Tedesco

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Cover B by Geoff Shaw

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Pre-Order Coupon

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