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Michael Bay And Predator
I'm not kidding with that title and I by mistake was typing Michael at first in the info. But please hear me out.
Weirdly this idea is basically a joke idea I've had in my head. Especially being a ex Transformers fan and looking back on the franchise. Including the Bayformers series.
But me and others are wanting a hard reboot of the Predator franchise. Yet just imagine and this is a what if situation.
Michael Bay was hired to direct.
Let me be honest, Michael Bay as a director when I think about his influence and those Bayformers films because those aren't his only films. He's like a meme in a way yet he's weirdly unique. His directing and whoever he has a writer could make a difference. Yet again his directing style is weirdly insane. Or just the way he makes action and his impact that when people wanna describe a certain movie they dislike they compare it to the Bayformers. Which is just so fucking weird because those films are in a league of their own.
Yet seriously imagine his style of directing for a Predator film, a legitimate reboot whoever gets the Predator property. I mean just it would be kind of insane
I mean he would probably get some insane action right totally would. Yet it be fucking bat shit insane. Especially I wouldn't trust him to do serious scenes like that final act of the original Predator but I don't know.
If we get away from the Bayformers and it also depends on the writer possibly. I've seen Pain And Gain not the biggest fan of that film, seen stuff of Pearl Harbor(mainly nostalgia critics review and I don't like him), Armageddon (the infamous and funny honest trailer), but haven't seen 13 Hours but it got mixed reviews. Also I've seen parts I think of the first Bad Boys but don't know if I've seen parts of the 2nd one.
Michael Bay's directing style is just insane in a way or just I feel with the Transformers live action movies he went all out on that shit or just...I don't know.
I just find the combination of Michael Bay and Predator to be honestly hilarious and I wonder how the hell would that turn out. Especially imagine the reactions to that news like on AVPGalaxy the people running the site and the users on there saying is this an April fool's joke but guess what it's not.
Yet for some stupid reason I might weirdly trust him with the Yautja creature itself if handled with respect. But still I don't know and it's Michael Bay.
Just get another director even Zack Snyder. Because Michael Bay again is like this director his style is just so different or just he goes insane or I'm being stupid. I was watching clips of Dark Of The Moon and Age Of Extinction on YouTube this morning mostly the big final battles especially the Dinobot charge.
I mean seriously just imagine Michael Bay handling a Predator reboot featuring this iconic creature.
I wanted to put a Predator gif on this.
But also all the jokes about the explosions in the film. Okay I just laughed I mean wow....also he might get some good actors whatever I'm on the last paragraph.
Yet seriously this is mainly a what if idea that would be funny. Especially before this I literally looked on Google Images if anyone made this combination I really wanted to know.
I found this amazing gif that really fits this post. Especially I searched Michael Bay Predator without the caps at the start of the words. But I found this gif where it mentions Predator handled by Michael with lighting done by J J Abrams.
God that's beautiful it made me laugh just God that is art there. Especially one of the best scenes in the entire movie. LOOK AT IT JESUS!
Tags dealt with anyway wanted to share these funny thoughts. Tell me what you think or even the jokes you can think of if you wanna message I'm all ears please.
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"PROMETHEUS" (2012) Review
"PROMETHEUS" (2012) Review When I first saw the trailer for director Ridley Scott's 2012 science-fiction thriller, "PROMETHEUS", I had no desire to see it. For me, it looked like another "alien in the spaceship" thriller that I have ignored for years. But after some persistent urging from a relative of mine, I finally saw it in the theaters.
According to Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan and cultural hero who is believed to be responsible for the creation of man from clay. He also is also responsible for the theft of fire for human use, which enabled the latter to enjoy progress and civilization. Zeus punished Prometheus for the theft by sentencing the Tital to eternal torment. Zeus bounded Prometheus to rock, transformed to an eagle each day to feed on Prometheus' liver. The latter would grow back and the eagle would feed on it again . . . day after day after day. What does this have to do with the movie, "PROMETHEUS"? Honestly, I do not know. I am not of the intellectual variety. Then again, I hear that Prometheus' story is supposed to be a metaphor for human striving and quest for scientific knowledge, at the risk of unintended consequences. Hmmm. Now I understand why the filmmakers used this name. Set in the late 21st century, "PROMETHEUS" is about the crew of the starship Prometheus that follows a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. Led to a distant world and an advanced civilization, the crew seeks the origins of humanity, but instead discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race. Although some members of the cast claim otherwise, it has been confirmed that "PROMETHEUS" was developed as far back as the early 2000s as a fifth entry in the ALIEN franchise, with both Scott and director James Cameron developing ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film, "ALIEN". The project remained dormant until 2009, when Scott again became interested. A script by Jon Spaihts served as a prequel to the events of the ALIEN movies. However, Scott chose a different direction for the movie, in order to avoid repeating the storylines of the past films. He recruited "LOST" producer/writer Damon Lindelof to co-write a new script with Spaihts. They created a story in which Scott claimed is not directly connected to the ALIEN franchise. The movie began with a humanoid alien drinks a dark bubbling liquid, and then starts to disintegrate. As its bodily remains cascade into a waterfall, the alien's DNA triggers a biogenetic reaction. The story jumps to the year 2089, when archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map among several unconnected ancient cultures. The pair believes the maps are invitations from humanity's creators or "Engineers". Peter Weyland, the aging CEO of Weyland Corporation, funds the scientific vessel Prometheus to follow the map. The ship's crew travels in stasis while the android David monitors their voyage, until they arrive at Moon LV-223. Mission director Meredith Vickers orders them to avoid making contact with any of the "Engineers" without her permission. The Prometheus lands near a large artificial structure, which a team explores. The expedition team manages to find an alien corpse and believe it to be an "Engineer". Their expedition takes an ugly turn they discover that the "Engineers" and other life forms on the moon prove to be a lot more dangerous than they had imagined. After my family and I watched the last reel of "PROMETHEUS", the relative who had convinced me to see the movie leaned over and offered her apologies. She even offered to reimburse me for my movie ticket. Why? Because I discovered that my original reluctance to see the movie had been justified. I disliked "PROMETHEUS". Wholeheartedly. It turned out to be the kind of the movie that I usually dislike. Not only did it turned out to be the typical science-fiction horror film that usually turned me off, I found the movie's intellectual aspects of the plot pretentious and incomplete. Were there any aspects of "PROMETHEUS" that I liked? Well . . . the entire cast gave solid performances, aside from some questionable accents from at least two of the cast members. I cannot deny that Dariusz Wolski's photography was breathtaking. Or that Pietro Scalia's editing was first rate. And Ridley Scott did a great job in maintaining a steady pace for the movie, despite its 124 minutes running time. Other than that . . . there was nothing else about this film that impressed me. I have few questions. Why did Elizabeth Shaw assume that the aliens who had created the star maps, were creators of mankind? How did she come to this conclusion? Because she had "faith"? Who was she supposed to be? A second-rate John Locke? Or a metaphor of the Titan Prometheus? And how did she come to the conclusion near the end of the movie that the "Engineers" were out to destroy mankind, after . . . uh, creating them? And what is it about this crew that they make such stupid mistakes that end up endangering them? A good example would be the geologist Fifield and the biologist Milburn, who lacked the good sense to run for their lives after spotting the snake-like alien. And could someone please explain how Shaw managed to walk and run around both Prometheus and the moon so soon after giving herself a brutal abortion to rid herself of her alien spawn? I have one last question. Why on earth would Elizabeth (the crew's lone survivor) even bother traveling to the aliens' homeworld at the end of the movie, now that she believes they are out to destroy humankind? Was it so important to her to learn about the aliens' motives that she was willing to risk her life in such a stupid manner? Moviegoers raved over Michael Fassbender's performance as the android David. I was too busy feeling confused about the character to consider any accolades for the actor. Exactly how are we supposed to regard David? As another Data from "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION"? Or as one of the replicants from another Scott film, 1982's "BLADE RUNNER"? At first, David seemed to be in thrall over human culture, Elizabeth Shaw and the moon in general. Yet, a reason that is never fully explained, he decided to spike Charlie Holloway's (Elizabeth's love interest and fellow archeologist) drink with a dark liquid he had found from one of the moon's stone cylinders. Why did he do that? Again, the movie failed to explain. Some critics were also in thrall over Idris Elba's performance as Prometheus' chief pilot, Janek. I was too busy wincing at his attempt to re-create some kind of African-American accent. He had managed to do this successfully in the 2010 movie, "THE LOSERS". What in the hell happened? As for Rafe Spall's Southern accent . . . frankly my dear, it sucked. I wish I could say that I liked "PROMETHEUS". But if I did, I would be lying. I did not like it one bit. The movie tried to be some kind of profound tale that would leave many moviegoers asking questions. And in a way it did. But my questions about the movie only reinforced my disenchantment with it. What is really sad about "PROMETHEUS" is that it is the first Ridley Scott movie that has disappointed me since the 2001 movie, "BLACK HAWK DOWN". Pity.
#prometheus#prometheus 2012#ridley scott#noomi rapace#Michael Fassbender#Charlize Theron#sean harris#idris elba#guy pearce#rafe spall#benedict wong#patrick wilson#post-apocalypse
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so how about The Last Knight huh
HECKO I totally forgot to make that post about what I thought about Transformers 5 after I watched it whOOPS
so here they are now!! :0 it’s kinda long though. Sorry about that. Unlike my post about GOTG Vol. 2 that one time, for this one I just kinda wrote down some erratic notes about thoughts and reactions I had as I watched the movie, and then I kinda summed up my opinion about it overall down at the end?? so yeah. That’s how this one is gonna play out lol. Generalized running commentary style.
(fair warning: this WILL contain spoilers!! Like I can’t,,, , talk about it without giving stuff away lmao. If you haven’t seen the movie, and still want to and plan on doing so, I don’t recommend you read this!)
alright u made it past the spoiler warning so here we go!!
- Quintessa gave me a lot of G1 Unicron vibes with the whole "I made you, you are mine to command" thing
- "Why do we tell these stories, besides the fact that dragons are wicked" girl same lmao
- I literally cannot. CANNOT. Take Barricade seriously. With those ridiculous "punish" and “enslave” branded brass knuckles. Buddy. My dude. Please chill. You're literally trying to be so edgy man just. Turn it down a notch lmao - Optimus literally didn't sound at all like himself at first?? It sounded like he had a different voice actor for those first few lines he spoke?? That was weird. It wasn't until the second time he appeared on screen where Quintessa was telling him about where the staff was hid was I like "oh wait yeah there's Peter Cullen" - the "Cybertron is coming" shot looked sUPER fake and green screened to me for whatever reason?? like idk I think it was the lighting they had on him but it was reALLY FUNNY PFFFFTT
- Bee swinging his legs on top of that roof was sUPER CUTE THANK U IM BLESSED
- Mohawk. Um. Who thought turning Junkrat into a Transformer was a good idea bc that’s literally all this dude is lmao
- What kind of name is Nitro Zeus. Im cryin. PRETTY SURE HE HAS THE SAME VOICE ACTOR AS THE ONE TIGER ALIEN FROM BEN 10??? I DON’T REMEMBER HIS NAME BUT HE WAS THE ONE THAT ALWAYS WENT "LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHIN". WHY DOES HE HAVE SHOCKWAVE'S FACE. IM SO DONE
- I like how they had the whole holoform bike thing going on?? like how Prowl's was in TFA and Arcee’s was in TFP that was neato - I WILL NEVER GET USED TO HEARING BUMBLEBEE SWEAR I S2G but the Siri voice thing was pretty funny ngl. I saw that in a trailer on instagram and didn't actually think it was actually a real scene that they kept I thought it was just made for that specific ad but nOPE IT WAS REAL LMAO - Megatron musing over Starscream's decapitated head oh my god liSTEN MAN PUT HIM DOWN DONT BE LIKE THIS COME ON - HI CAN WE TALK ABOUT COGSMAN I LOVE COGMAN A LOT I LOVE HIM HE WAS REALLY GREAT EASILY A BIG FAVE HE WAS SO ENJOYABLE TO WATCH I love how,,, ok heck I don't know this guy very well bc I didn't watch Age of Extinction but it's the green dude with the trench coat built into him,,, Crosshairs?? I think it's Crosshairs yeah but the fact that he called him a C-3PO rip off was fUNNY MAN that also got a good laugh outta me and he totally rekt his heckin finger lmao. He was rlly short?? that surprised me kinda like from the trailers it looked like he was pretty average human sized but nope he’s super short - BEE'S DOUBLE CHEST POUND FINGER GUN "ayyy my dude" THING WAS ADORABLE THANK U - THEY ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH WITH THE WHOLE EARTH BEING UNICRON THING HOLY HECK now that,,, that was really interesting. Didn't expect that. AND the whole Nemesis Prime deal?? OP getting brainwashed?? THAT'S why he's heckin evil nO WONDER MAN GEEZ I didn't think OP would willingly do all that to the earth just because. That makes me feel a lot better actually lmao - Soundwave!! Shockwave!! u guys are famous!! wow way to go im so proud of u!!!! - Hot Rod tho,,,, , oh boy he was a mess lmao. I only really know Hot Rod through MTMTE and the 80s Transformers movie so,, , not too too much to go off of, but he just was so incredibly DIFFERENT and off-putting from what I was used to that I honestly didn't like him so much?? I mean he was alright. Grew on me a bit more as the movie went on I think. He was ok. That time warp weapon thing he had was cool tho!! nice!! seemed kinda overpowered a bit but cool!! - COGMAN SPINNING AROUND IN A CIRCLE WHILE HE WALKED THE DOG WAS ADORABLE THANK U - you know that movie trope where he background music will become like a song on the radio and then a character comes and switches it off?? YEAH THEY DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN THIS MOVIE WITH THE EPIC WORLD-CHANGING ORGAN MUSIC AND I JUST. COGMAN GOING HAM ON THAT ORGAN HAD ME CRYYYYYYYIIINNG HE WAS SO INTO IT MAN OH MY GO D. I LOVE COGMAN THANK U THAT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE TROPES AND IT WAS HILARIOUS GOD BLESS - HE CAN SING OPERA TOO IM CRYYYYIINNNG MAN JUST. PLEASE LET HIM HYPE UP THE MOMENT HE'S DOING HIS BEST!!!! - THE TABLE WAS WRITTEN IN OLD CYBERTRONIAN yknow if you could get Cyclonus down there he could probs read that for you no problem. Or don't actually. Please don't drag him into Bayverse oh I s2g nevermind nevermind - HEY MAN I LOVED THAT ROBOT HYDRA WOO BOY THAT WAS COOL and it's like?? a Combiner?? but not really. Burton just said the twelve knights combined into the dragon but I doubt they can all unfuse from that form lmao it was probs just a one time thing. So not a Combiner. Still cool tho. Robot dragons. SICK!!!!!! - HEY they did the whole Unicron's a planet-eating god thing this time around too wow. Neat. Listen man all I'm saying is I glad I watched TFP and bits of G1 and that 80s movie bc if not I woulda had no idea why Unicron was important lmao. That was pretty neat tho!! Interesting. Interesting. - OK BUT COGMAN LAUGHING AND SINGING "MOVE B!TCH GET OUT THE WAY" WHILE DRIVING 200 MPH DOWN THE ROAD WAS HILARIOUS WHAT A BLESSING THANK U - Surprisingly Bee seemed to be ok in that open water??? Hanging on to the side of a submarine?? I mean. Salt water man. Buddy watch out ur gonna rust plEASE BE CAREFUL
- speaking of which didn’t they say there was gonna be a submarine transformer in this movie?? like didn’t they say that in interviews before the movie came out?? I mean. We never saw that. It might’ve been that the submarine WAS a transformer but it never spoke, never transformed, nothing. Didn’t give any indication that it was uniquely Cybertronian aside from Vivian’s magic touch thing. Idk. That wasn’t explained so I mean. Hmm.
- Cogman can make sushi!! dang!! wow!!! bravo!!! - OP'S HECKIN INTERDIMENSIONAL BOOB POCKET OH MY GO D dang wish I had one of those lmao - THAT FINAL FIGHT WITH OP AND BEE THO AAAAAAAA OH MY GO S H HECKO MAN!!!! OPTIMUS RIPS OFF BEE'S DOOR WINGS MAN!!! GEEZ!!!! what I wanna know is like since when did Bumblebee have a hammer lmao. Like,, , is it supposed to the the Forge of Solus Prime?? When did he get that?? How and why?? I don't know and it was never explained but I mean. Why tho. - OH MY GOD BUT BEE'S VOICE!! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!! DANG!! WOW BUDDY!!! AAAA!! IM GLAD HE'S OK!!! and that's all it takes to snap Optimus outta his brainwashed phase lmao ok then. Cool. Wasn’t what I expected him to sound like either but then again I really don’t know what I expected in the first place lmao - I feel a LOT better knowing Optimus didn't willingly wanna destroy the earth like. He was brainwashed. And when he snapped outta it he felt absolutely awful about what he did. I mean it felt like that whole plot point was rushed, a lot of this movie felt very rushed, but it makes me feel better at least lmao. Optimus I'm sorry man can I,,, , give u a hug or something man it rlly looks like u need a hug - "YOU CHOSE THE WRONG SIDE" OOOOOH BOY FLASHBACKS TO THAT CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR BIT IN PRI.ME(3) LMAOOOO - CADE. BUDDY. YOU CANT JUST BLOCK A SWORD LIKE THAT. THAT WAS A KILLING BLOW DEALT BY A GIANT ALIEN ROBOT I DONT CARE HOW SPECIAL THAT MEDALLION THINGY IS U CANT JUST DO THAT LMAOOOO. And then as soon as he whips that sword out the rest of the knights are like "oh wait yeah let's stop killing this guy we're chill now let's all point out swords together" lmaooooo - Crosshairs' "Love that guy. Goosebumps every time" line after Optimus gives his mandatory speech lmAO DUDE SAME - "You were by far the coolest" alright Cogman you ruined the moment a lil bit but man I still love u hecko - OK THIS IS GONNA SOUND REALLY STUPID BUT LISTEN MAN I'M GLAD THERE WAS,,,, , a lot of hand holding going on towards the end. Like fr. Cogman to dying Burton and Vivian and Cade as they were gonna jump outta that plane onto the Cybertronian tendril whatevers. Just. Small bits of physical reassurance and comfort in times of real great distress. I appreciate that a LOT more than like, watching two characters make out right before the big climactic final showdown lmao. Thank u movie wow I really didn't expect that - SO THERE WAS A COMBINER TEAM!! A COMBINER MINOTAUR!!! DANG NOT EVEN GONNA LIE THAT THING WAS NEATO!!! - Ok forget what I said about Hot Rod at the beginning he redeemed himself at the end. I didn't like him and first but now,, , now we chill. Granted I still can't see him as being HOT ROD bc he's just so different from what I know him as Rodimus but I can still appreciate him as his own character. Cool cool. - OPTIMUS RIDING THE ROBOT HYDRA INTO BATTLE AND BLOWING EVERYTHING UP WAS GREAT. MAN THAT WAS GOOD. "DID YOU FORGET WHO I AM" WOOOO BOY CHILLS MAN!!!! - OH COME ON they still made out. Lmao. Dangit. It was inevitable but I mean come on man. Alright. They kept it short and quick thank you tho if u had to put in a make out scene at least u kept it to a minimum. Thank you. Can we get back to the robots now pls. - AAAAA BUMBLEBEE'S "STING LIKE A BEE" LINE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - that ending was pretty sudden lmao. A lot of this movie was sudden and fast. They just jump cut STRAIGHT to those credits man not even an ending panorama or clean slow zoom out shot or anything lmao - AND OH BOY THEY TEASED UNICRON’S GONNA ACTUALLY COME BACK AND APPEAR IN ANOTHER MOVIE AAAAAAA OH NO OH BOY NOT AGAIN GOSH DARN IT LMAO
All in all, surprisingly, I actually ended up kinda enjoying it!! Like it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!! Tbh for me it might even be second best in the series!! (First being the first movie from 2008 lmao) Honestly I was really REALLY surprised at how much I didn't hate it. Like. I still dislike it to a degree because it's still Bayverse, and I probably won't watch it again unless I'm with friends (like I do with the rest of the transformers movies) but it honestly wasn't too too bad! It really exceeded my expectations as far as plot, and I wasn't hardcore cringing for most of the movie so hey that's a plus!! The movie had a lot of genuinely funny moments, especially with Cogman, which got some pretty good laughs outta me like I was really having fun at those parts!! Optimus’ absence for most of the movie didn’t sit well with me for some reason. Like it just felt strange. But it kinda had to be for the story to move forward so I guess I can forgive that lol. The pacing was REALLY whack and way too fast though. Like they were REALLY trying to cram a whole lotta stuff into a relatively short amount of time. The movie's almost two and a half hours long but it really didn't feel like that because of how fast the pacing was. Some of the dialogue felt really forced because of this issue too. It didn’t feel genuine sometimes. But that has to be like, pretty much my only specific issue with it?? surprisingly?? wow. I'm honestly super shocked lmao dang man I didn’t think I’d like this movie at all but I was very much proved wrong!! I hated those old ladies tho and their obsession to get Vivian a boyfriend and the whole innuendo thing. Yeah. No. Don't do that. Stop. I'm too ace for this.
anyways yeah those were my thoughts sorry that was so long lmao whoops
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2018-03-17 01 MOVIE now
MOVIE
Birth. Movies. Death.
SXSW 2018 Review: TAKE YOUR PILLS Shines A Light On An Alarming Problem
Is Denis Villeneuve Still Making a DUNE Movie? Nope! Now He’s Making TWO Of Them
FIRST MATCH Trailer Takes A Girl’s Troubles To The Mat
Wes Anderson And Bill Murray: A Cinematic Rapport
Book Review: S. Craig Zahler’s HUG CHICKENPENNY Is A Touching Gothic Parable
CineVue
Film Review: The Square
Banking on a box office hit
DVD Review: The Barefoot Contessa
Film Review: A Prominent Patient
Film Review: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Cinema Blend
Did One Game Of Thrones Actor Just Reveal Their Character Survives To The Series Finale?
Queen Elizabeth Has Officially Given Her Blessing For The Royal Wedding
To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Tomb Raider Ticket
The Pacific Rim Characters Who Were Cut Out Of Uprising
How Much Time Has Passed Between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War
Cinema Scope
Madame Hyde (Serge Bozon, France/Belgium)
The Green Fog (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, US/Canada)
Cocote (Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic/Argentina/Germany)
The Uses of Disenchantment: Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water
3/4 (Ilian Metev, Bulgaria/Germany)
Comicboook.com
'Avengers: Infinity War' - The Evolution Of Thanos' Look
'Avengers: Infinity War': Russo Brothers Troll Fans on Soul Stone Location
'Avengers: Infinity War' Trailer: Funniest Internet Reactions
Iron Man Meets The Guardians of the Galaxy In 'Avengers: Infinity War' Trailer
'Black Panther' Passes 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' To Become 19th Highest-Grossing Movie Ever Worldwide
Film Comment Magazine
SXSW Interview: Lauren Greenfield
Deep Focus: Tomb Raider
Queer & Now & Then: 1932
The Film Comment Podcast: Tell Me
Festivals: Berlin 2018
Film Inquiry
RED SPARROW: A Sultry, Seductive Star Vehicle
THOROUGHBREDS: Nothing New, But It’s Still Snarky Fun
ALLURE: A Disturbing Story But An Impressive Debut
LOVE, SIMON: Parity Through Mediocrity
SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Trailer
Film School Rejects
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Trailer Breakdown
Ava DuVernay Will Direct ‘The New Gods’ for DC’s Extending Universe
James Mangold’s ‘The Force’ Will Be a ‘Logan’ Reunion
Ridley Scott Might Return to the Spy Genre With ‘Queen and Country’
Killer Cons, Flesh-Eating Aliens, and a Sexy Deal With the Devil
Reddit Movies
'Avengers: Infinity War' Poster
Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War - Official Trailer
Irrfan Khan, Indian actor who starred in Life of Pi, Battling Rare Neuro Endocrine Tumor
Ready Player One is filled with nostalgia, but Disney said no to using Star Wars
Can we talk about Disney and their business practices?
Roger Ebert
Tomb Raider
Netflix Docuseries "Wild Wild Country" is Fascinating Entertainment
Love, Simon
7 Days in Entebbe
Journey's End
Screen Rant
10 Actors Who Don’t Wear Makeup (And 10 Who Wear Way Too Much)
Tomb Raider Lifts A Huge Plot Twist From Uncharted
Gamora (Not Nebula) May Be The Key To Stopping Thanos
Avengers: Infinity War Poster Confirms Peter Dinklage
Infinity War Trailer Promises Thanos’ Most Iconic Moment
Slash Film
‘Brothers’ Nest’ is a Merciless Australian Thriller Cut from Coen Brothers Cloth [SXSW]
‘Ready Player One’ Almost Had Another Classic Movie Reference, But Spielberg Axed It
Everything We Learned from the ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Commentary by Rian Johnson
Abandoned ‘Star Wars Battlefront 4’ Concept Art Twists the Entire ‘Star Wars’ Saga Timeline
‘Tomb Raider’ Review: Alicia Vikander Kicks Ass, Even If the Film Does Not
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Seaweed, DMCA & Transformers
Professor and DJ are back to talk about billion-year-old seaweed found in China. This seaweed is older than the combined ages of all our listeners, but doesn't complain when you say "OK Boomer". It also has no thoughts on how you should live your life. Not many thoughts on anything, really, it's extinct. Professor summarises the development of life to DJ, but since DJ is a robot, he just doesn't get it.
Activision are trying some legal tactics to close some leaks while ignoring their own incompetence revealing the new Warzone game mode to the world without the efforts of a leaker. Are they just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: Modern Zombies Ops 8?
This week it's DJ's turn to rant about a missing voice actor. #NOTMYOPTIMUS. A new Transformers series without Michael Bay is in the works from the same people who made the recent Godzilla anime trilogy. Who joins the ranks of the NA wall of wasted cast?
Of course, the Nerds talk about games and have some remembrances for some big names this week, Katherine Johnson and Kazuhisa Hashimoto.
Stay healthy, and we'll be back next week.
Oldest green plant fossil ever found…..billion year old seaweed found in China
-https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-25/billion-year-old-chinese-seaweed-discovered-by-scientists/11998720?fbclid=IwAR2MYKIY8PyA_3uPFz1TBtIk3kpa7NM9k6Sq4HIROEu95VDNU5jLttBwNUo
Activision’s modern warfare tactic….DMCA takedown
-https://torrentfreak.com/activision-subpoenas-reddit-to-identify-call-of-duty-warzone-image-200221/
New Transformer anime series coming soon on Netflix
- https://ew.com/tv/2020/02/22/transformers-war-for-cybertron-trailer-netflix-anime/
-https://comicbook.com/anime/2020/02/25/netflix-transformers-war-for-cybertron-trilogy-siege-plot-synopsis/
Games Played
DJ
– Genesis - https://www.genesismoba.com/
Rating – 3.5/5
Professor
– Kingdom - https://store.steampowered.com/app/368230/Kingdom_Classic/
Rating – 3/5
Other topics discussed
Why programmers hate time (Reddit Link)
- https://www.reddit.com/r/programminghorror/comments/5x5ql0/this_is_why_programmers_hate_time/
Dugong’s diet (When eating they ingest the whole plant, including the roots. Although almost completely herbivorous, they will occasionally eat invertebrates such as jellyfish,sea squirts, and shellfish.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugong#Feeding
Wakame (a species of edible seaweed, a type of marine algae, and a sea vegetable. It has a subtly sweet, but distinctive and strong flavour and texture. It is most often served in soups and salads.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakame
Sea Lettuce (The sea lettuces comprise the genus Ulva, a group of edible green algae that is widely distributed along the coasts of the world's oceans.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lettuce
Cyanobacteria (also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum consisting of free-living photosynthetic bacteria and the endosymbiotic plastids, a sister group to Gloeomargarita, that are present in some eukaryotes.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
Great Oxidation Event (sometimes also called the Great Oxygenation Event, Oxygen Catastrophe, Oxygen Crisis, Oxygen Holocaust, or Oxygen Revolution, was a time period when the Earth's atmosphere and the shallow ocean experienced a rise in oxygen, approximately 2.4 billion years ago (2.4 Ga) to 2.1–2.0 Ga during the Paleoproterozoic era.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event
Timeline of the evolutionary history of life (This timeline of the evolutionary history of life represents the current scientific theory outlining the major events during the development of life on planet Earth. In biology,evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Life_timeline
Oxygen Cycle (The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical transitions of oxygen atoms between different oxidation states in ions, oxides, and molecules through redox reactions within and between the spheres/reservoirs of the planet Earth)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_cycle
Stromatolite (layered mounds, columns, and sheet-like sedimentary rocks that were originally formed by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a single-celled photosynthesizing microbe.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite
Cyanobacteria found in Australia
- https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html
Prototype iPhone left in a bar
- https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/19/prototype_iphone_was_left_at_bar_by_apple_software_engineer
Rob Cantor – "Shia LaBeouf" Live
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI
LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner - HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaBeouf,_Rönkkö_%26_Turner#HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US,_2017_%E2%80%93_present
CNN vs Reddit over Trump meme
- https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/04/politics/kfile-reddit-user-trump-tweet/index.html
Decepticon (main antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers multimedia franchise.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decepticon
Roosterteeth Shows
- Camp Camp - https://roosterteeth.com/series/camp-camp
- RWBY - https://roosterteeth.com/series/rwby
- Gen:Lock - https://roosterteeth.com/series/gen-lock
- Haunter - https://roosterteeth.com/series/achievement-haunter
Cybertron (Cybertron is the home planet of the Transformers and (usually) the body of their creator, Primus.)
- https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Cybertron_(planet)
Vector Prime (Vector Prime is Primus's appointed guardian of time and space.)
- https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Vector_Prime
Crocubot (Crocubot is a superhero and a member of The Vindicators. Crocubot is basically part crocodile and part robot, which technically makes him a cyborg.)
- https://rickandmorty.fandom.com/wiki/Crocubot
SwitchBlade (5v5 vehicle game)
- https://www.switchbladegame.com/
Greed (The Greed are the grey, faceless creatures who swarm and attack the Kingdom at night.)
- https://kingdomthegame.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Greed
Other Kingdom games
Kingdom: New Lands - https://kingdomthegame.fandom.com/wiki/Kingdom:_New_Lands
Kingdom: Two Crowns - https://kingdomthegame.fandom.com/wiki/Kingdom:_Two_Crowns
Konami Code (cheat code that appears in many Konami video games, and some non-Konami games.)
↑↑↓↓←→←→BA
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code
Johnny English (2003 spy action comedy film directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_English
Aum Shinrikyo in Banjawarn station
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-10/doomsday-cult-aum-shinrikyo-sarin-gas-tests-at-banjawarn-wa/9401216
Aum Shinrikyo Anime Recruitment Video
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UIyKJwRgaI
Scared Shitless (TNC Podcast)
- https://thatsnotcanon.com/scaredshitlesspodcast
Shout Outs
24 February 2020 – Katherine Johnson passes away - https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/24/us/katherine-johnson-death-scn-trnd/index.html
Katherine Johnson, an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist." Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the ApolloLunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson as a lead character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. In 2019, Johnson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Johnson died at a retirement home in Newport News, at age 101. Following her death, Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, described her as "an American hero" and stated that "her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten."
25 February 2020 – Kazuhisa Hashimoto, Japanese video game developer, best known for having created the Konami Code passed away – https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/26/tech/kazuhisa-hashimoto-konami-code-dead/index.html
Hashimoto is best known for inventing the ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A hack found in multiple video games that has become a geek touchstone in the gaming community. The cheat code gives you different perks, depending on the game. Hashimoto had inadvertently created it while bringing the arcade version of Gradius to the NES in 1986. Hashimoto knew the arcade version of the game was hard and he would likely not finish it, so he added a sequence of button presses that he could easily remember that gave the ship he controlled in the game the full range of power-ups so that he could easily complete the game for in-house testing purposes. He had intended to remove the programming code for that sequence before the game was shipped, but the game had shipped with the code included. Since then, the Konami code is not only used across other video games from other developers and publishers in similar manners, but as Easter eggs in other forms of media. His death reported by both Konami and by Hashimoto's friend Yuji Takenouchi , a composer and video game sound designer, who tweeted that the code creator died.
22 February 2020 – 81 year old man became the oldest man to sail around the world - https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/bill-hatfield-oldest-person-to-sail-solo-around-the-world/11991436?fbclid=IwAR0r50t6ZI5eHnBuMxqkmgfPTlUiarwhHzVFFPZo5OrKRR4aI95ezGw6Ll0
After four attempts, Bill Hatfield has become the oldest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. The 81-year-old completed his eight-month journey on Saturday morning, sailing into The Spit on the Gold Coast in his 38-foot yacht L'Eau Commotion. The former fisherman from Bundaberg said he'd been dreaming of this achievement since he was seven years old. Mr Hatfield said he lived on strict rations while at sea. "For fresh water I had a desalinator that pumps through a membrane, and my daily diet was a third of a tin of beans, a tin of tuna, 100 grams of rice and flour and oats, and 150 grams of milk powder." The achievement is all the more impressive considering he sailed west, battling against the prevailing winds and currents.
22 February 2020 – Michael Hughes popularly known as "Mad" Mike Hughes passed away - https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-22/bill-hatfield-oldest-person-to-sail-solo-around-the-world/11991436?fbclid=IwAR0r50t6ZI5eHnBuMxqkmgfPTlUiarwhHzVFFPZo5OrKRR4aI95ezGw6Ll0
Hughes, a self-styled daredevil, flat-Earth theorist and limousine-jumping stuntman, died Saturday when his crudely built contraption propelled him on a column of steam, spiraled through the air and cratered into the sagebrush. The rocket’s green parachute tore away moments after takeoff, sending the crowd of 50 or so people into a panic. In March 2018, Mr Hughes propelled himself almost 600m into the air before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert. After professing his belief in a flat Earth later that year, Hughes gained support within the flat-Earth community. His post-flat-Earth fundraising campaign made its $7,875 goal. He had said he intended to make multiple rocket journeys, culminating in a flight to outer space, where he believed he would be able to take a picture of the entire Earth as a flat disc. He died in Barstow, California at the age of 64.
Remembrances
27 February 1887 – Alexander Borodin -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin, Russian chemist and Romantic musical composer of Georgian ancestry. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as "The Mighty Handful", a group dedicated to producing a uniquely Russian kind of classical music, rather than imitating earlier Western European models. A doctor and chemist by profession, Borodin made important early contributions to organic chemistry. Although he is presently known better as a composer, during his lifetime, he regarded medicine and science as his primary occupations, only practising music and composition in his spare time or when he was ill. As a chemist, Borodin is known best for his work concerning organic synthesis, including being among the first chemists to demonstrate nucleophilic substitution, as well as being the co-discoverer of the aldol reaction. Borodin was a promoter of education in Russia and founded the School of Medicine for Women in Saint Petersburg, where he taught until 1885. He died from heart attack at the age of 54 in Saint Petersburg.
27 February 1936 – Ivan Pavlov - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning. Inspired by the progressive ideas which D. I. Pisarev, the most eminent of the Russian literary critics of the 1860s, and I. M. Sechenov, the father of Russian physiology, were spreading, Pavlov abandoned his religious career and devoted his life to science. Pavlov won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904, becoming the first Russian Nobel laureate. Pavlov's principles of classical conditioning have been found to operate across a variety of behavior therapies and in experimental and clinical settings, such as educational classrooms and even reducing phobias with systematic desensitization. Pavlov also contributed to many areas of physiology and neurological sciences. Most of his work involved research in temperament,conditioning and involuntary reflex actions. This research served as a base for broad research on the digestive system. He died from natural causes at the age of 86 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR.
27 February 1980 – George Tobias - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Tobias
American film and television actor. He had character parts in several major films of Hollywood's Golden Age, but today he is probably best known for his role as Abner Kravitz on the TV sitcom Bewitched. He came to Hollywood in the late Thirties and quickly became a fixture in films of all genres, primarily at Warner Bros. He was a frequent foil for James Cagney and played everything from comedies to dramas and musicals. He died from bladder cancer at the age of 78 in in Los Angeles, California.
Famous Birthdays
27 February 272 – Constantine the Great – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
Known as Constantine I, was a Roman Emperor who ruled between AD 306 and 337. As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social and military reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses) and garrison troops (limitanei) capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favour the Christian Church. He was born in Naissus, Moesia Superior.
27 February 1869 – Alice Hamilton – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Hamilton
American physician, research scientist, and author who is best known as a leading expert in the field of occupational health and a pioneer in the field of industrial toxicology. Her scientific research focused on the study of occupational illnesses and the dangerous effects of industrial metals and chemical compounds. Hamilton's best-known research included her studies on carbon monoxide poisoning among American steelworkers, mercury poisoning of hatters, and "a debilitating hand condition developed by workers using jackhammers." In addition to her scientific work, Hamilton was a social-welfare reformer, humanitarian, peace activist, and a resident-volunteer at Hull House in Chicago. She was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, most notably the Albert Lasker Public Service Award for her public-service contributions. She was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York.
27 February 1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow
American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the Fireside Poets from New England. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized by some, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses. He was born in Portland, Maine.
Events of Interest
27 February 1980 – “I Will Survive” wins first and last Grammy for Best Disco Recording
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/i-will-survive-wins-the-firstand-lastgrammy-ever-awarded-for-best-disco-recording
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave disco their stamp of approval, deciding to give a Grammy award for Best Disco Recording, just as the musical style was preparing to die. As popular as the music was on the radio and in the clubs, disco had failed to produce many of the kind of dependable, multi-platinum acts that the industry depended on for its biggest profits. The Best Disco Recording category, recognized by the Grammys for the first time, was summarily eliminated from the following year’s awards.
27 February 1994 – TekLab was aired - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111387/
On this day in 1994, TekLab aired as one of the telefilms launching William Shatner's TekWar SciFi series. The film starred Greg Evigan and Eugene Clark, and here's the plot summary compliments of IMDB.com: "The actual sword of Excalibur has been stolen in London, and futuristic detectives Jake Cardigan and Sid Gomez are assigned to track it down and to find out who is trying to block the British reign from its rightful heir.".
27 February 2004 – Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_subway_sarin_attack#Aum/Aleph_today
Asahara was sentenced to death by hanging on 27 February 2004, but lawyers immediately appealed the ruling. The Tokyo High Court postponed its decision on the appeal until results were obtained from a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, which was issued to determine whether Asahara was fit to stand trial. Asahara and twelve other Aum cultists were finally executed by hanging in July, 2018, after all appeals were exhausted. The group reportedly still has about 2,100 members, and continues to recruit new members under the name "Aleph" as well as other names. Though the group has renounced its violent past, it still continues to follow Asahara's spiritual teachings. Members operate several businesses, though boycotts of known Aleph-related businesses, in addition to searches, confiscations of possible evidence and picketing by protest groups, have resulted in closures.
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Samantha Allan Park Ch. #17
Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.
Chapter #17
*Sunday June 22nd* *Theme: Porter Robinson and Madeon-Shelter*
“Whoaaa!” the turtles said as they watched Optimus prove his strength to Grimlock. Sam knew that the movie theater they were at closed early on Sundays, so she showed the guys how she usually snuck in and now for the first time the four brothers were watching a Hollywood movie up close on the big screen, and they couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first film: Transformers Age of Extinction. Out of her peripheral vision, Sam could see all the guys jaws drop when the Dinobots came charging in, literally crushing all the man-made Decepticons that crossed their path.
It was 10:00 when the movie ended and the entire mall was now closed, so Sam thought it would be a fun idea to go on a walk with the guys, who obviously had never been to the mall before.
Sam was currently with Leo in another antique store. He liked to look for antiques that represented Japanese culture, but him being the only ‘mature’ one, no one else wanted to look around the store (or any of the others he had chosen) so she joined him once again so that he wouldn’t be alone. At the moment he was looking at a tea set with Japanese Cherry Blossoms on them, but after so long he couldn’t stand Sam constantly staring at him. “Why don’t you just take a picture?” he said sarcastically. “Sorry I know it’s not funny, but you totally look like a grandpa who’s trying to pick out a traditional gift for his wife” she said with a smirk. “Is that why you keep following me around in these stores?” he asked as he placed the tea cups down and continued walking throughout the store. “Well I was trying to be nice and not have you shop alone, but I see that I’m not wanted” she pouted. Leo rolled his eyes. “Ahh, so you’re not trying to be annoying on purpose.” “You enjoy my company, don’t deny it!” she said as she pointed at him with a smile. Leo shrugged, but they both knew that this was very true. He had a feeling that his younger brothers would either complain or joke around too much in a store like this, so it was nice to have Sam around. She was someone who knew when to be serious and when to crack a joke, someone you could actually talk to without them teasing you when you share your thoughts. He looked over and saw her laughing while holding a wooden umbrella with a paper top. “What am I missing that’s so funny?” he asked as he picked one up and looked at the stripped design when it opened up. “I was thinking of my older brother Brian. Everyone teased me about being Asian at heart since I’ve always been interested in Asian cultures. My other blood siblings were interested some, but never as much as I was. Before he even became my brother he would take me to places like this all the time, it kind of became this tradition between the two of us. I was thinking of this one time where he was holding umbrellas like this over his head and making the dorkiest faces” she said as she laughed. “Oh my god I’m literally laughing at things only I know about, I’ve become that person” she said with an embarrassed expression. Leo smiled at her as he thought back to what Donnie had said the other night. It might have just been a coincidence, but she said that Brian ‘would take me to places’ rather than saying ‘Brian takes me to places like this.’ Now that he had been looking out for this, he noticed that she definitely talked like this a lot. He decided to test this out. “Does Jay bring you to places like this?” “Sometimes. He never used to though. I think he saw that it was a fun little tradition between me and Brian, so I don’t think he wanted to interfere, but I don’t see Brian as much now, so I think that’s why every once in a while he’ll bring me to places like this.” “Ahh, I see.” She did it again. She said ‘it was’ and ‘he wanted’ as if this was all something of the past, rather than saying ‘he sees that it’s a fun tradition’ and ‘he doesn’t want to interfere.’ He wondered what all this meant, or if it meant anything at all. He wondered if it was something they all should be concerned about, but Sam seemed happy and content, so he decided that it was best to leave the subject alone until Sam brought this info to light on her own.
They walked around the store for another ten minutes and then headed out. They passed by a few stores and found Donatello in yet another electronics shop. “What did you find this time dorkatello?” Sam teased. He playfully glared at her. “I found donated phones. I’m looking at which ones are damaged really badly and which ones can be saved. I read online that the donated phones that can be saved are sent to U.S. troops overseas, so I don’t want to take those, I’m not that selfish. However, I will take the ones that are smashed up and can be re-wired so that I can use them for various things.” “Look at you. Not only looking out for the state, but also for the country” she said as she saluted to him. “That’s actually a cool idea” Leo said as he looked at some of the phones throughout the bin. “Find anything for Sensei?” Donnie asked as he looked up at his eldest brother. “Nah, nothing that he doesn’t already have.” “Gotcha. Well, I think I’m done with this store. I’m ready whenever you guys are.” The three then walked out of the store and found the remaining two brother’s at a cologne shop on the other side of the mall. They walked in and saw Mikey and Raph looking at various glass bottles. “Pfft.” Sam covered her mouth and tried not to laugh out loud. She thought it was hilarious seeing these two who usually acted so macho now testing all these colognes on the sample strips and discussing which scents they liked best. These two trying on cologne was the equivalent of two feminine sisters testing scents at Bath and Body works. The two boys looked over and glared at her, that’s when she turned towards Donnie. “Donatello! Don’t laugh at your brothers!” she said as she shoved his arm. “You know I’m taller and stronger than you, right?” he said as he took a step so that he now towered over her. “Is that a threat?” she said as she as pretended to be taken aback, though they both knew she was joking. He nodded and said “yeah” with a sincere smile, joining in on her joke. “Well, this is how I respond to threats!” she said as she leaped onto his back. Leo just stared at the two of them as they backed out of the store as they goofed off. “You’d never know that she was just looking through an antique store, or that she’s older than us.” Mikey laughed and Raph smiled, both at seeing Sam continue to show her true colors, and also at their nerdy brother let loose and have fun. Leo began looking at some of the bottles that lined the shelves. He had absolutely no idea what the scent of each liquid was since, well, no scent was stated on the front of the bottle. Curious, he picked up a bottle with light blue liquid inside, shrugged his shoulders, and sprayed a small amount in front of him. He took a sniff and then made a face of disgust. “Oh god, this stinks as bad as when Mikey found that Axe body spray pack and tried on each one at the exact same moment” Leo said, waving his hand in front of his face. Just then, Sam and Donnie had walked back in. Donnie began looking at bottles on the opposite wall and Sam had meant to walk past Leo to see what the other two had picked up, but she also stopped and made a face of disgust. “What did you do?” she asked, facing him with wide eyes. “Sprayed whatever this is” he said as he held up the bottle. Raph inspected the bottle in his brother’s hand. “You guys don’t like this? This is brand new!” “Well tell them to take it back” Sam said as she coughed. “You’re a girl, right? Aren’t you supposed to like when guys wear stuff like this?” Raph asked. “Sexist much?” He paused and then turned his head. “Donnie?” “Totally sexist dude” he said as he continued to look at bottles on the opposite wall. “Oh, heh, my bad” he said with an apologetic smile. “No problem” she chuckled with a smile. “Well I’m going anywhere that’s not here” she said with a wide smile. “I second that” Leo said as he followed behind. “Tch, they don’t get it” Mikey said as he nudged Raph, who nodded in agreement as they pulled on Donnie’s shoulder so that he would walk with them as they all followed Sam. They passed a few stores until Sam stopped, waiting for the guys reactions. “Ohhhhh!” “Whoaaaa!” each of them said as they all ran inside GameStop. “You’re welcome?” she said as she stared at the jaw dropped brothers. They all quickly turned towards her, said “thanks Sam!” and then continued looking throughout the store. Donnie was the closest, so she walked over and looked at the game he was looking at. “Awwwww I can’t wait until I get a copy of this” she said as she looked at the case for Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark with a huge smile. “Only two more days and then I can start hacking systems to access this game” Donnie said, a huge smile also displayed on his face. “I’m still pissed Bumblebee doesn’t have a voice in the movies though. They should just leave the job to Johnny Bosch, for the games and the films. Like, he’s incredible when it comes to voice acting, and I’m not just saying that because he voices characters from some of my most favorite anime.” “I wouldn’t mind that, his voice actually had a nice fit. Plus that would be a huge opportunity for him which he totally deserves.” Sam then turned around and saw Leo looking at a demo screen in the front of the store which was currently advertising a trailer for Titanfall. Leo’s eyes were glued to the screen as he watched a pilot battle his way through the Frontier and then begin commanding a Titan. “Gee Leo, sucks that you can’t take the game home, doesn’t it?” Sam smirked. “Right…I can’t take the game…because that would be stealing…yeah” Leo said as he slowly started backing away, but then was pulled back towards the screen. “Look what that Titan can do” he said in a calming voice as he smiled and started walking back towards the screen. That’s when Sam knew she had to interrupt his line of sight. “Okay, why don’t you go look over there?” she said as she fought to literally turn him around. “I’m gonna look over there now” he said calmly as he also fought himself to finally turn away from the screen. He walked over to Raph and looked over his shoulder at the game in his hand. “Daylight?” Leo asked. “Yeah. It’s a survival horror game where you have to find object’s that explain the history behind the haunted hospital that you wake up in. I heard it got some negative reviews, but it sounds interesting.” “I didn’t know you were interested in horror games” Leo said. Raph shrugged. “I’m not interested in them, but this one sounded interesting. What do you have Mikey?” “BAM! Look at this beaut!” he said as he held out a copy of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. “Oooh!” Sam said as she ran over. “I remember seeing the trailers for this! I can’t wait to get a copy.” “Let me know as soon as you do!” “Well duh, I can’t play multiplayer by myself” she said, receiving a playful shove from her friend. “Well, I’m done looking at games, time to go play” she said as she walked out of the store. The guys watched her as she walked across the walkway to the other side of the mall, down some stairs, and then walk back over to the store that was below them. Mikey was the first to act as he walked over and jumped over the railing and from the second floor down to the first (for them this jump was nothing serious.) The remaining brothers decided that he must have enjoyed wherever it was that they went since he never came back, so they did the same thing and landed in front of the shop below the gaming store. Instantly they knew why Mikey hadn’t come back to signal them to come down, he was already running around throughout the arcade in front of them. All four brothers looked around at all the different games inside the rather large space. It seemed small from the outside, but once inside, spectators could see that the room continued to travel further and further back with more and more games. In order to prevent a lot of loud noise, the five decided to only turn on whatever game it was that they wanted to play at that time.
Donnie ventured out to find some speed games. He first found a game called Pop the Locks where a dial spins around and you have to press a button when the dial stops on the lock, and if you press the button after it’s moved past or before it hits the lock then you’re out. Sam and Mikey first moved to a game called The Shocker where you have to hold onto two handles as the vibration becomes stronger and stronger, and you lose if you let go. These two played this game until they momentarily couldn’t feel their hands, and then they convinced Donnie to play, and then they convinced all of them to play until everyone momentarily lost feeling in their hands. Sam and Mikey then freaked out when they saw Transformers and Walking Dead themed shooting games and both rushed over and immediately started playing, and while they played this, the other three brother’s found some pinball machines to play. Once the shooters completed their missions, Leo, Raph, and Mikey moved on to play more of the sporty games where they took shots on goal, threw basketballs through hoops, bowled to knock down pins, or threw baseballs and footballs in their hole. Sam didn’t care for games like these as much, so she stuck around with Donnie for a bit who went back to speed related games. The two played the electronic jump rope game, had to stack 3-D towers, (both by pressing buttons or by moving a square controller from side to side) had to use their fingers to maneuver through mazes, and had to land lights on the right spot to get wheels to spin. When the group came back together as a whole, they decided to play all the games that were based on apps. They pressed buttons to avoid green pipes when playing Flappy Bird, rolled a sphere controller when playing Temple Run, launched back their controllers to launch birds in the latest Angry Birds game, and swiped their hands across the screen when playing Fruit Ninja. They continued to split up and play various games, but the last two hours were spent with each other as a group of five. They found as many games as they could where they could all compete against each other in tournaments: air hockey, skeeball, racing games, back to sporty games, and even multiple rounds of DDR.
Most would see this as such a simple night of watching a movie at the theater, going shopping, and playing some games at the arcade, but for their own reasons, this was one of the best night of all five of their lives.
*Wednesday June 25th, Madison Square Garden’s Arena, the Jumbo Tron* *Turtles POV*
The final buzzard went off and the game was over. The four turtles were cheering for the Knicks who had just won another game that season. “You know what a victory means?” Mikey asked. “Gee, what could that mean?” Donnie asked sarcastically, knowing exactly what his younger brother was about to say. “MORE PIZZA!!!” he shouted. “Ugh, how can you eat anymore? We ordered so many to begin with, and you even had some earlier before we left” Leo said as he held his stomach. He was full and wouldn’t be hungry again until sometime tomorrow afternoon, so how Mikey could still want food he would never understand. “I told you, his stomach is a black hole” Raph teased. “That or he’s an alien or something.” “Then Sam must be one to! Seriously, sometimes she can eat as much as I can!” “Doubt it.” “As scary as it is to admit, it’s true. I’ve seen it happen” Donnie said with a shudder. “Guys” Leo said as he nodded his head over towards Sam. The whole time they had been talking, Sam had been looking at something down below. Leo tried to follow what she was looking at without making it obvious, but he couldn’t figure out what her attention was focused on. She hadn’t moved, she hadn’t even blinked, she just stared down at something without any movement, like it had shocked her so much that she was now paralyzed. Without saying anything, she turned and swung herself back up to the walkways above their spot in the Jumbo Tron and she took off. “Sam, wait!” Mikey called. “Do we chase her?” Raph asked, concern and fear in his tone. He had no idea where she was going and if whatever she was about to do would risk either hers or their lives. “Don’t worry I can track her” Donnie said as he pulled out a small handheld GPS system from one of the pockets on the straps running down his chest. His fingers went to work and within seconds he knew where Sam was. “I tracked her by her cell phone, but…this shows that she’s still in the building…” “Mikey? Any idea what’s going on?” Leo asked as he faced his youngest brother. Mikey shook his head with a grave and somber look on his face. “I wish I knew.” “She’s on the move, and so are we” Donnie said as he started climbing back up to the walkways above them. “Where we goin?” Raph asked as he trailed behind Donnie. “She’s heading back outside, if we get to the roof then we might be able to spot her.” The four turtles rushed back up and through the walkways and then back up to the roof where they were walking along the sides of the top of the building. “Arghhh, there’s people everywhere! How are we supposed to find her?” Raph asked in frustration. “It says…she should be this way” Donnie said as he pointed towards the front of the building. There were crowds of people all over the place, both because of the game letting out, and also because this was New York during the summer. “FOUND HER!” Mikey shouted and pointed at a girl who had just run across to the other side of the street. They saw her run over to a group of six guys and then pull on the arm of a young Asian male within the group. “Mikey-” “I don’t know, she’s never really mentioned any guys outside from her soccer team. I mean, there were a few from dance and different clubs, but he doesn’t match any of the faces from any of the pictures. There were five main Asian guys she told me about and he’s not one of them.” “Is he the brother?” Donnie asked. “She said she had another Asian brother who was younger than Jay.” “That’s true, she said that he was far away and that’s why she could never see him” Mikey responded. “Unless that’s what she wants us to think. That or someone doesn’t want her to know the truth herself and those were the lies she was fed” Leo stated. “I don’t like this, feels like she’s still hiding things from us” Raph said in a bitter tone. He knew there were things she hadn’t told them yet about her family, and she had her right to her privacy, but this sneaky act worried him. If that was her brother, couldn’t she have just said that before she ran off? They watched Sam hug the man, and the group of guys walked off in one direction while she walked off in the other direction. She walked off towards a street that was oddly silent and vacant compared to the hustle and bustle outside the stadium. “Now where’s she going?!” Raph yelled. “Something’s wrong, we need to get to the sewers and get over there” Mikey said. Leo let his brother lead the way. Whenever Donnie or Raph knew more information about a criminal they were all chasing, or whatever the situation may be, he would let that brother take control and lead if it meant better chances of them completing their mission, but this was the first time Mikey had EVER taken the lead in a chase. This proved to Leo how serious this was and he followed Mikey in whatever directions he gave.
It took about twenty minutes for them to travel underground after tracking Sam’s movements. Once they caught up to her location, Mikey didn’t hesitate to climb up, toss of the manhole cover above him, and rush over to Sam. “Sam!” he shouted as he ran over to where Sam was walking. She didn’t respond. He quickened his pace and as he was about to lightly grab her arm and talk to her, Raph had already caught up to him. “HEY SAM. Remember us?!” Now that there was a 6 ft. turtle in front of her, Sam stopped walking. Raph’s expression softened as he stared at the girl in front of him. Her eyes looked so frail and glassy, and her hands were shaking like he had never seen before. “…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad” she said with the fakest smile. Usually only Mikey could tell when her smiles were sincere or fake, but her acting was so off point that all the brothers knew something was wrong. “Did that guy do something?” Raph asked. “No” “…that’s it?” “…what?” The boy’s worry continued to grow. Even though she was standing right in front of them, it was like Sam couldn’t hear a thing. Something was obviously on her mind, but getting her to explain what exactly that something was would be the hard part. Right as Leo was about to ask if the guy she chased after was her brother, Sam cut him off. “It’s late, so I’m gonna head home, alone.” At this point she spoke without using her fake smile, and she went back to displaying her glassy eyed and twitchy expression. She had already started walking off before the guys could speak, and they weren’t really sure what to do in this situation.
“So, do we ignore this as a girl thing? Or do we look into it and assume it’s a Sam thing?” Raph asked. “We call April. She’s the only other female we know, and one of the three humans we know, plus she’s a reporter and is trained to read people’s expressions. Hopefully she can help us figure out what to do. We’ll go back underground while we call her.” Leo said. Donnie and Raph started heading back towards the sewer hole, but Leo had to go over and wake Mikey up from his daze. “Mikey? You alright?” “No” he replied bluntly. Leo put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’re going to figure this out, okay?” Mikey paused for a moment. “Should I have gone after her? Should any of us have gone after her?” he said as he continued to face forward. “I wish I knew. I’m just as new to girls and humans in general as you are bro. But if she needs someone to go after her, then you’ll be the one” Leo said with a small smile. This also lead to a small smile forming on Michelangelo’s face as well, and the two turtles then walked back towards the sewer hole to hear what Donnie and Raph had been discussing with April.
*Sam POV* *Themes: Linkin Park-Nobody Can Save Me Linkin Park-One More Light Trading Yesterday-Shattered Skilet-Would It Matter
She happened to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, but now she lost him. The guys continued to cheer as the game continued on, but Sam and her thoughts were long gone. She saw him, she knew for a fact that she just saw Brian. It had to be him, the boy she saw looked exactly like him at the age of 17. THERE. She found him and continued to keep her eyes on him. “Bzzzzzzz,” that was the final buzzard. No, it couldn’t be the end of the game now, not yet, not when she had finally found her brother. He left four years ago and finally she had found him. She watched him head to the exit on her right and without hesitation she darted out and up through the walkway they used to enter the Jumbo Tron. She sprinted to a point along the walkways that led to a ladder that lead to the top floor where the highest seats in the arena were. She climbed down the ladder and then ran through crowds of people to the right side of the building where she had seen the boy exiting the arena. She had seen him in the upper level seats, but now he was nowhere to be found, so she ran to the staircase and sprinted down the steps. She made her way to the lobby and walked as quickly as she could all over the place. Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest because of everything that she was feeling and thinking. Emotions that she had finally pushed and shoved under the rug were now forcing their way back out and flying up and hitting her like a brick. Her hands were shaking like crazy and for the first time she heard how loud she was breathing. She felt like she was running around in circles and she didn’t know what to do. After what felt like years of searching, she caught another glimpse of him and his five other friends. Once again she was on the move as she chased after the boy. She thought of nothing but catching up to Brian and asking him questions, so many questions. Why did he leave her? Why did he do what he did? Why had it taken him four years to visit her? Her heart beats increased as her breathing grew louder and louder. She ran out of the building and saw him head for the cross walk. “Brian!” she called out. A few heads turned since it was a common name, but not the head that she wanted to. “Brian! BRIAN!” She slowly got closer and closer to where he was walking, but he never turned towards her. She couldn’t understand why he was ignoring her, but now was the time to find out. She finally caught up to the boy and yanked on his arm, forcing him to turn around and look at her. “Whoa! What the hell is your problem?” the boy said as he and his friends turned around. “My problem? I’ve been calling you for the longest time! You didn’t hear me calling your name?” she asked in an enraged tone. “All I heard was some girl calling after some guy named Brian, so sorry if I couldn’t hear you over that.” She paused and gave him a confused expression. “So you did hear me? Why were you ignoring me then? Explain yourself!” “Explain what?” the boy asked, looking both nervous and confused. “Why did you risk your life for me that night? And I’ve been waiting for a sign from you, from all of you! Why did it take you so long to contact me?!” “Look crazy lady you need to back up! I don’t know who Brian is but he’s not me” he said as he put his hands up in defense and as his friends began to lightly laugh at the strange girl standing in front of them. “What are you talking…about…?” And that’s when she realized, it wasn’t him. Everything made sense and reality slapped her in the face harder than the forced out emotions she had just experienced mere minutes to seconds ago had. She realized that this man had blue eyes instead of brown. She realized that this man seemed as tall as Jay, whereas Brian was about a foot or so shorter. She realized that this man had visible muscle, whereas Brian had natural muscle that could only be seen when he flexed. She realized that, when seen up close, this man had a light brown tint to his hair, and Brian had never made any changes to his natural black hair. She realized that their hairstyles were different, she realized she had never seen this group of friends, she realized his clothes stated he was rooting for the wrong team. Sam realized that this couldn’t be Brian, because Brian was dead.
Her jaw slowly dropped and she felt so stupid and embarrassed. “Oh my god…I’m…I’m so sorry. Um, can I explain myself before you all continue to think I’m crazy?” she asked. “Uh sure, go for it.” “I have a few adopted siblings, one of them being an Asian male obviously named Brian, and um���he passed away about four years ago. So from afar, you really, really, look like him. Up close I can now see the differences, but from afar you looked like his twin. I just…I haven’t seen him in so long” she said as a choked sob slipped out as she spoke. “I’m so sorry for chasing you like this-” “Stop” the boy said. He walked up to her and gave her a sincere smile. “For one, I’m honored that I look like your brother, I’m sure he was a handsome man.” This got Sam to give a small smile as she sensed that he was trying to lighten the mood and lessen the awkward tension from before. “And two, I’m so sorry that you lost him, and the next time someone comes running up to me the way you just did, I’ll be a lot more considerate as to why they’re doing it. Sorry for calling you crazy.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize, I’m sure I would have been weirded out if a stranger came running up to me like that as well. That’s the first time that’s ever happened actually.” “I wish I could answer all your questions. What did he do anyway, did he save you in a car accident or something?” the boy asked. “Yeah, something like that.” It wasn’t exactly like that, but he did risk his life to save hers, they all did. Jay just got lucky and so did she, unlike the others. “If it means anything,” the boy continued, “the fact that you saw someone who looks so much like your brother might still be a sign from him. Maybe there’s something he wanted to you think about when seeing me, well him, you know? Or maybe he’s trying to test you somehow.” “Yeah, maybe so.” Her small smile grew a bit more on her face. That actually sounded like Brian who was always testing her and finding ways to playfully trick her. “Thanks for this, I’ll leave you guys be.” “Wait” he said as he reached his arms out. “I know I’m not your brother, but I can hug you like I’m him, unless that’s weird.” She gave a small laugh and hugged the boy. “Is there anything we can do to help you? Even a ride home or anything?” some of the other guys started asking with sincerity in their tones. Sam pulled back from the hug. “No thanks, besides I need to go catch up with my oldest brother.” “Hope you find your brother’s meaning” the boy said with a smile, and Sam and the group of boys parted ways.
As soon as she knew she was alone, her smile quickly faded back to her cold frown. She noticed that her hands were shaking again, and now that she was by herself, dark thoughts started racing through her mind. The memories she had been fighting for so long to forget were all coming back. She had to get home, she wanted no one other than Jay who knew and understood what she was feeling because he was there the night that everything happened. She couldn’t tell anyone about the Foot attack that night. It was too hard to talk about and it was too personal, and she had to truly 110% trust someone with her life in order to tell the full truth about this. She also just wanted to be alone. The world had cast her out after what happened. When she needed people most, they all vanished. Her closest childhood friends separated themselves from her and left her all alone. She was alone, and that’s how she had taught herself to deal with her problems. She would bottle things up within herself and she wouldn’t talk to anyone, since no one wanted to hear about it anyway, and knowing that no one wanted to hear about it, this was why she could only tell someone that she trusted her life with, and that person was Jay. He was never around though, so that lead her back to keeping everything to herself, back to her being alone. Friends were gone, and since Jay was basically always working, her whole family was gone. Everyone was gone and she was alone. Always alone, and that’s how it would always be. “HEY SAM. Remember us?!” Sam stopped once she realized that there was a 6ft. turtle yelling at her as he stood in her path. She wondered how they knew where she was when she remembered that she was with them at the game before everything happened. “…I came to the game with you guys…right…my bad” she said as she fought her hardest to fake a smile without crying, but she could tell they all knew just how fake her expression was. “Did that guy do something?” Raph asked. “No.” “Leave me alone” she thought. “…that’s it?” “…what?” “I want to be alone. Just let me leave” she thought to herself. Ever since that night, she was always alone, especially when she was upset. When people ditched her because she was broken, she learned to handle anything that upset her on her own. She didn’t want to be around anybody but her brother, and as much as she loved these guys, they weren’t her actual brothers. They didn’t know the things that Jay knew and she wasn’t ready to tell them. She knew they would want to ask her questions about what just happened and she didn’t want to answer those questions, so she bailed before anyone else could speak.
“It’s late, so I’m gonna head home, alone” she said bluntly. She couldn’t fight any longer and she felt the tears in her eyes, so she walked away and prayed that they would leave her alone. She rounded a corner and she didn’t hear anything behind her, so she knew she was okay. She felt guilty for keeping secrets from them, especially from Mikey, but…she just wasn’t ready. She loved that she wasn’t trapped inside her room anymore and that she actually had somewhere to go with people that cared about her, but it was still so soon. She had dropped some hints about her past with her siblings, which was huge for her to do even that, like how she told Raph that the sais belonged to Chuck. Jesus talking about Chuck at all was a huge deal for her. And that was the thing, her four green friends, April, Splinter, without knowing it, they were all pulling her out of a deep well that she had fallen into and had been trapped in for years. Within each of them she had found pieces of a puzzle that she had lost for so long, but seeing Brian like that was the equivalent of knocking that puzzle to the floor and shattering it into a million little pieces. She felt herself falling back into that well that she had taken so long to climb out of.
She felt that no matter who came along, no matter what changes or gains came into her life, she would never be able to escape from the horrors of the past. She could see clones of Brian every day, but that didn’t change the fact that he was gone. It didn’t matter that she taught Leo and Raph to cook the way Brian taught her, it didn’t matter that Leo liked antiques like Brian or that Donnie quizzed her the way Brian did, or that Mikey played videogames with her the same way Brian did, he was and always would be gone. It was the same for all of them. No matter what qualities her new friends had that reminded her of her family members, they were all gone. And as she thought of this, their final breaths played over and over again in her head. She saw all of them, remembered where they were and what they were doing before the events that lead to their deaths. She could hear their conversations and could see their smiling faces before they turned into teary eyed expressions that screamed in terror. She remembered everything, including how they died. The sequence of events stayed on replay. Over and over she mentally watched the horrors of that night.
Sam collapsed against the side of the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. She couldn’t do anything about it. No matter how happy she had become, one small moment had broken and destroyed her, and now she would have to start back over from scratch. She was scared, and alone. At this point she didn’t care if a criminal came and attacked her in any way. She was lost in the darkness of her thoughts and nothing could pull her out, at least that’s what she thought.
“Sam?” she heard a gentle voice ask. She thought she was imagining things and sat still, until she felt someone hold her shaking hands. “I’ve never seen your hands shake like this before” the voice said as it took her hands into his. She slowly turned her glassy eyes towards the voice and saw none other than her best friend kneeling down next to her. “I told you I wanted to be alone” she mumbled, choking out her words in her sobs. She hadn’t even realized she was crying with tears streaming down her face because she had been so lost in her thoughts. In fact, she didn’t even know where it was she had been walking. These thoughts halted once she realized Mikey was there, and she could now tell that her cheeks were soaked from her tears. “I know, but I really wanted to go after you, though I wasn’t sure if it was a girl reason or a Sam reason that you were acting the way you were. But regardless I didn’t like that you were heading towards a lone street by yourself at this hour. Anyway, we called April and she said that when girls say they want to be left alone, then usually they want to be chased after by someone they care about. She also said that in general that someone should at least watch over you to make sure you were safe, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m sorry if I’m making you more upset by being here…but I couldn’t leave you alone.” Sam stared at him, just straight up stared at him for the longest time. She had a hard time processing that someone actually gave a shit. Not because she asked them to and not because they needed something, but because they truly and genuinely just gave a shit about her. She wanted to be alone because everyone had left her that way and she believed that that was how she handled these situations best, but…was that what she really wanted? Or had she forced that thought into her mind because everyone had left her by herself for so long? She thought that she would hate it if someone followed her and that she needed to handle this alone, but she was wrong about herself. She was happy, and for the first time ever, she had begun to cry happy tears along with the sad ones. “Thank you” she said as tears streamed down her face. Mikey gave her a light smile and gently pulled her over. He sat cross legged as Sam now sat in his lap, the back of her head against his chest as he lightly rested his chin on the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged her, and she held onto the hands wrapped around her even tighter. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. It’s your life and your business, so you talk whenever you’re ready. If that’s never, then so be it.” For the first time ever, Sam wanted to talk. She wanted to tell him everything, but she was also very scared. She had never talked about these things with anyone without being forced to do so. She decided that she would reveal some of the truth, and that gradually she would start revealing things to Mikey when the time was right. No one had ever cared until he came along. She felt like her presence was wanted when he was around and that he truly cared about what was wrong with her. “I thought I saw my brother tonight, but it turned out to be someone else. From afar that guy really looked like my brother Brian.” “So you chased after him thinking he came home without telling you?” “Yeah, but it wasn’t him…I just miss him so much” she said through sobs. “I understand. If Leo had disappeared for such a long period of time and then I caught him casually hanging around town, I know I’d lose my cool. I’d have so many questions to ask him, so many things I would just want to scream at him.” Sam smiled a bit and turned her head some towards him. “Can you take me to my house?” “Of course” he replied with a smile. “Can you spend the night?” she asked. “Sorry, I don’t sleep over on the first date” he teased. “Asshole,” she said as she rolled her eyes and chuckled, something she never thought she’d be able to do in this situation. But that was the power of Michelangelo. Whether she was hurt, hyper, confused, scared, angry, or even hungry, no matter what her attitude was and where her thoughts were sending her, he always brought her back down to earth. It was like he attached a bungee cord to her back and made sure she bounced back up after falling into her well of emotions. Whenever her puzzle pieces broke, he just glued them back together again. Even now at her lowest and weakest moment, he was there. She thought he wouldn’t be, and yet here he was, proving her wrong. Now that she realized just how much she wanted and needed to have him by her side, and as she jumped onto his back so that he could carry her home, she mentally vowed that she would never let go of their friendship and that she would keep him as close as possible until she finally felt ready to tell him the complete and honest truth. Not only because of her feeling comfortable enough to do so, but because at that point she would feel safe enough to know he wouldn’t leave her alone ever again, not even after hearing of the horrors she had experienced in the past.
*Monday June 30th, Donnie’s Lab* *Theme: Skrux-Escapade*
Donnie couldn’t believe all the equipment Sam had helped him get his hands on. She had asked Jay if he could help her get her hands on any and all old medical equipment that any of his friends could give away because it had broken or had malfunctioned, and her reasoning was that it was for her friends older brother who needed it for some projects because he wanted to become a future medical student himself (which in certain senses was true). Because of this, Donnie had received tons of different equipment that he could only dream of getting his hands on. He now had various medical monitors that could monitor a person’s vital signs, lab equipment to analyze things like blood, genes, dissolved gases, etc. He had diagnostic medical equipment, therapeutic devices, the list of devices he had and their uses went on and on. That night Donnie had asked Sam if she wanted to help him set up the med lab now that he had enough equipment to actually get a work station set up, and of course she agreed to join him. As they set devices up around the room, the two talked about multiple different things that Donnie was never able to talk to his brothers about. The two discussed a variety of topics: physics, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, biology, psychology, astronomy, microbiology, statistics, sociology, neuroscience, economics, philosophy, history, the list went on and on. Donnie was able to discuss many of these topics amongst his brothers and April, but he had never talked about them quite as in depth as he was now. It had been made obvious numerous times that Sam wasn’t as intelligent as Donnie, but she was definitely close and overall very open-minded. After hours had flown by, the topics switched away from math and sciences to social studies, and then to religion, and then to literature, and then to music, which then lead them to start talking about more media related topics like modern music, movies, games, etc. They went from talking about video games to then talking about their favorite You Tube gamers. “See what I love most about Vanoss is that he’s comical like the rest of the guys in the group, but he’s also the most strategic. For example, whenever he plays Gmod Hide and Seek or Gmod Prop Hunt, he always finds the best hiding spots that people would never think of, but then he messes with their heads when he does things like ‘operation bigfoot’” Sam stated as she worked on the wiring of an infusion pump. “It’s hilarious when he does that. Oh, I love when he literally hides in the walls. He takes advantage of every glitch he can find” Donnie said as he closed a drawer filled with carefully cleaned and maintained surgical instruments. “After Vanoss, I’d have to say that Nogla and Delirious are my favorites. I love that they get picked on by their friends in literally every video, but they just roll with it. They can take a joke, and because of that their friends are able to tease the heck out of the two of them, and honestly that just makes the videos even funnier. Do you actually plan on using those tools?” she asked curiously as she glanced at a table with some tools used when performing serious surgeries. “God I hope not! I’ve watched a ridiculous amount of videos on what they’re used for and how to use them, and I’ve had some minor experience-” “When did you have experience using surgical tools?” Sam cut in, her eyes wide. “Ummm, you have to keep it between us, okay?” “Got it! Your secret is safe with me!” “For the past…I want to say the past 6 years, if I ever found some really beat up strays on the streets, I would do my best to save them. I mean, no one else was going to try and help them, so I thought my help was better than just leaving them to rot in the streets, and I actually helped save each animal that I found.” Sam titled her head to the side. “Why do I have to keep that a secret?” “Because stray animals could have diseases or could be rabid, that and where I found them wasn’t always exactly in the shadows. Those two things equal danger, and because of that I knew my brothers and Sensei would never have allowed me to do what I had been doing, so I’ve been hiding this from them for 6 years now. Yup.” Sam dramatically held her hand to her chest. “Why Donatello! You, you have a secret that you keep from your family? You’re not the innocent nerd that everyone thinks you are?” “Ha ha” he said dryly, “I’m still a person. Everyone has secrets, even the good kids” he said as he held his hands when quoting ‘the good kids.’
Joking aside, he was happy to see Sam cracking jokes again. It had been 5 days since Sam’s emotional episode after the basketball game and none of them were sure how to handle the situation. They all wanted to know what had happened, but they knew that coming straight out and asking her questions would get them nowhere. April had told them that letting her talk when she was ready and just acting like everything was normal was the best way to react to the situation, so that’s what they did. For two days Sam stayed away from the lair and only left her home when she needed to. The only person she talked to outside of her home was Mikey, and that was only to respond to his occasional updates to make sure she was okay. On day three Sam had asked Mikey to come over to her apartment to hangout that night, and by the next morning she had tried visiting the lair. The boys followed April’s advice and acted normally and successfully hid their worry. Because of this, Sam was quickly able to return to her regular routines and habits when hanging out with the guys, including now where she was making sarcastic comments and teasing Donnie.
As the two continued to work and set things up throughout the med wing, Donatello’s attention was pulled away from the machine he was working on and was drawn to the small television he had set up in the room (in case anyone were ever so badly injured that they might have to spend a few nights in the room) as the screen displayed a commercial about the latest exhibits at the Natural History Museum. Sam noticed that Donnie had stopped working, and as she looked over at him to make sure that he was alright, she could see in his expression how badly he wanted to visit the museum. “What’s wrong E.T.? Troubles phoning home?” she moved on to fixing a smaller x-ray device. “*sigh* I would love to go there” Donnie replied. “Well you’ve imprinted, so go” she replied, still working on the device. He turned towards her and gave her an odd look. “To the museum?” “Your precious” she said as she faced him with wide eyes as she ran her fingers against each other. “I volunteer you as tribute.” She then turned back towards the device. “Pfft, not possible” he said as he pouted and flopped down in his swivel chair. “What? You lost your invisibility cloak?” “Heh, no. I just wish we there was a way where I could buy tickets even as a 6’8 turtle” he chuckled. “I find your lack of faith disturbing” she said with a serious tone as she looked at him with a disappointed and dull expression. “And I think you watch to many movies” he replied with a smile. “That is extremely true, but not the point! If you want to go to the museum, then let’s just go” she said as she started walking towards the exit. “You know a way to sneak in?” he asked. “Do you know me?” she asked sarcastically. “Do you know breaking and entering is illegal?” “Do you know how annoying you are?” “That’s my line.” “Well I beat you to it which means I win! So FIELD TRIP! C’mon Erudite! Let’s escape this maze and find your cure!” she exclaimed as she practically skipped out of the lab. “You have way too much time on your hands if you’ve watched every major movie series” Donnie announced with a laugh (which earned him a playfully shove) as he followed the girl. He liked that there was never a dull moment with his new friend and was interested in how their ‘field trip’ would play out tonight.
Everyone else was in their rooms at the time, so the two just walked out of the lair and up to the rooftops of the buildings above. Of course, since Donnie was one of the more mature of the group, he made sure that he had his shell cell with him in case there was an emergency and his brothers needed to contact him, though he’d be a liar if he said that checking his phone periodically was on his mind once he got to the museum. After they had completed all their needed hacking so that they could sneak into the building, Sam had exposed an entrance from a vent on the roof that lead to the attic storage of the building, and once they had cleared this part of the break in, they were free to explore all the current exhibits that the museum had to offer.
Donnie wasn’t sure where to start. They had exhibits on dinosaurs, the latest studies on health and the human body, missions from Earth to other planets, looking through the eyes of Einstein, and so many more. Donnie wasn’t sure where to begin, but his choice was determined by the teen who was mentally a five year when she wanted to be. “Dinosaurs. Let’s go to see the dinosaurs. I want to see dinosaurs” Sam said over and over again until finally her friend agreed, and within seconds Sam was rushing over to see the exhibits about the dinosaurs with Donnie following behind her. They learned about how studies have shown that some current bird species may have come from dinosaurs that changed and evolved over tens of millions of years (and of course Sam had to take pictures in the giant modeled nests because Sam was Sam). The two then moved to the interactive exhibits that discussed the microbiome-where bacteria is living in and on us, how the bacteria’s are obtained and how they can offer new perspectives on how to deal with health problems like allergies, asthma, and obesity. Afterwards, they moved on to the next exhibit about foods from around the world. The two learned about how various foods were grown, traded, prepared, etc. They read through some of the first made cook books throughout history and even got to prepare their own virtual meals at the interactive cooking table, and of course the two had fun coming up with the weirdest dishes they could think of.
The two moved on from exhibit to exhibit, looking at everything and participating in every interactive activity they could find. Since they were the only two there, they moved through each exhibit rather quickly, and after a few hours they were ready to leave the museum. Since the two had been talking about scientific research for the past few hours, they decided to talk more casually on their walk home, and while doing so, Donnie noticed Sam staring at his left shoulder. “Why don’t you take a picture?” “…what?” Sam asked with a smile. Donnie rolled his eyes. “What are you staring at anyway?” “I’m trying to find your tattoo, and I’m failing at doing so.” His eyes widened a bit. “You know about that?” “Yup!” “Let me guess, Mikey?” “Yup again!” “Tch, you tell each other everything, don’t you?” “Well, yes and no. We talk about a lot of things, and I think it’s safe to say that he knows more about me than anyone else, but we both have our boundaries. He told me there’s certain stories about all four of you that will forever stay only between you four. He’s made that very clear.” Donnie laughed. “Well it’s good to know he’s still the best at keeping secrets and people’s private lives private.” He then looked over and squinted his eyes at his friend when he heard her try to hide a small laugh. “What’s so funny?” “Nothing” she said as she quickly shook her head and smiled, “just, of course I’m curious as to what happened to you guys that you’ve all sworn to secrecy that you won’t ever tell anyone about it…oh but that could also mean moments where your lives were in danger and that’s why you’re keeping it secret. Just kidding it’s not funny anymore” she said as she made a serious face. “Honestly it’s a mix of both, but more so things you would find funny, so you’re good.” “Oh? Are you going to be the one to spill the details?” she teased as she nudged him in the side. “Heck no! Especially since they’re not all about me. All three of my brother’s would kill me if I gave away even the smallest amount of information.” “I guess tattoos aren’t part of those secrets then, since they’re all extremely visible on all of you, well except for you, but you get the point.” “Oh, I can show you mine, if you want.” “Yes. I need proof, especially since you don’t seem like someone who would let anything pierce and possibly damage your body.” “Oh no I hated getting this thing with a burning passion, but I liked that this was a symbol that linked our family together, so I agreed to let Raph make a small print on my shoulder.” As he talked, he took off his brown shoulder pad on his left shoulder, revealing a black inked tattoo of a turtle shell that looked to be about the size of his hand. Sam chuckled. “Yup, yours is definitely the smallest print” she teased with a smile. “Hey! At least I have one! I can take credit for sitting through the pain of getting one!” “Did it hurt that bad?” “…no, but it makes me look cooler if it seems that I sat through something painful. You know, like I was macho enough to deal with the pain.” Sam laughed. “Okay one, don’t say ‘macho’ if you want to act cool. Two, I’m pretty sure you were mentally being tortured the entire time you were sitting there, so you still own that badass image from putting up with your own thoughts.” He nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, I’ll take it. So, do you like tattoos?” he asked as he put his shoulder pad back on. Sam quickly shook her head. “Oh, really?” “Yeah, I mean there’s nothing wrong with them, and I don’t have anything against people that like and have them, I just personally don’t care for them. I feel like they can be dangerous if you go somewhere sketchy, and unless I have a specific meaning behind the tattoo I’m getting, I don’t think it’s worth the pain or the risks of getting one.” Donnie decided to take a risk when asking his next question. “Do you think you and your siblings would ever get matching tattoos? You know, like how my family has a symbol that unites us. Would you and your siblings ever do that?” Sam paused, but Donnie could tell by her facial expressions that her pause was to think about what he had just asked rather than her spacing out from her emotions like she had nights before. “Honestly, I can’t see ALL my siblings being interested in something like that. We’ve had matching accessories though. We all had necklaces with an initial pendant attached to the chain. The pendant was black and the initials were in whatever our favorite color was, so my ‘S.A.P’ was green over black, and it looked awesome!” she exclaimed with a smile. Donnie noticed it again, that she was talking about her siblings in the past tense. He so badly wanted to ask her why she had continued this habit, but he saw how happy she was as she talked about her siblings and he didn’t want to rob her of her happiness, so instead he continued on with the conversation.
As the two walked back to the lair, they continued to talk about their families and what it was like to have so many siblings. They found it interesting how they had shared so many similar experiences since they were both the second to youngest out of all their siblings. They both experienced being treated as the baby of the group and everyone felt the need to look over them even though they were capable of taking care of themselves, and how even though people treated them like kids (at one time) they were still expected to act like adults at the same time because they had another sibling who was younger than them. They swapped stories back and forth until they got back to the lair, and when they returned to their familiar territory, they decided to keep working on the med lab since they both still had so much energy left. They worked for another couple hours until Sam was so tired that she started losing control of her balance. At that time, Donnie helped her walk back to his lab where he had his spare bed. He didn’t have to worry about her being comfortable since she collapsed on the bed as soon as she saw it, and within seconds she was sound asleep. Donnie covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep.
As he walked back to his room, he reminisced about everything he had learned at the museum, but then suddenly his mind reminded him of the night that Sam had entered his lab when, at the time, he didn’t want her taking one step in his lab aka his sacred space. He remembered how furious he was that she had snuck into the lab and how he acted towards her, and how upset she was because she thought that he hated her (and at that time, she was almost right in assuming that.) The memory dropped a lot of guilt on the turtle’s shoulders. He felt horrible that he ever treated her that way, especially after days like today where she was the only person who could connect with him in ways that the rest of his family couldn’t. There was one thing that cheered him up though, and that was how his attitude and actions towards the girl had changed over time. The night of his memory where he stated that he didn’t hate her, those words were the first ‘nice’ things he had ever said to her, and that same night he vowed that he would at least attempt to treat her better, not only for her sake, but also in respect for Mikey since Sam and Mikey had obviously become very close friends even that early on. Donnie smiled as he thought of all the happier moments that not only he, but that all his brother’s had shared with Sam. He was glad that she didn’t give up on them and that she kept finding ways to get them to talk to her, like the night she had tricked Leo into getting upset and making her fight with Raph, and he was glad that he and his brother’s had all eventually tried to get along with and try to get to know the girl as well. As time went on, she became more like a sister to the boys rather than just a friend, and Donnie was grateful to have her around as the newest addition to their family.
*Wednesday July 2nd*
It was around 1 a.m. when Mikey felt a presence enter his room. He had been sleeping on his right side and was facing the wall, so he couldn’t see who it was that had entered his room and shut the door, but he had a good idea that he knew who it was: Sam. He continued to lie still though, just in case it wasn’t her. He couldn’t list how many times his brother’s had snuck into his room to pull pranks on him at all hours of the day and night, but it was okay since he had done the same to all of them, but he was also staying still in case it happened to be a burglar from the Foot clan. Ever since the Foot had found their first home, the boys were always on edge when they heard noises at times when it was completely silent.
As he lie still and thought of who it might have been that entered his room, he felt the motion of someone crawl into bed with him. They didn’t touch him or move around much, they just got into the bed and lie still underneath the covers. At this point he was pretty confident that it was just Sam who had fallen asleep on the couch earlier, so he paid no mind to this, not until he heard a light sob. It was silent after that, but a few minutes later he heard it again. It sounded like she was crying but fighting her hardest not to let it be known.
Mikey quickly turned on the small lamp next to his bed and turned over to see that it was Sam who had crawled into his bed. She was laying on her left side so that he was now facing her back. “Sam…Sam, why are you crying?” he asked gently. She didn’t speak, but instead shook her head to show that she didn’t want to talk. Mikey knew that was total bull and knew that there was something she wanted him to know, or else she would have gone somewhere to hide and be alone rather than come straight to his room. Knowing this, he carefully pulled her towards him. He lay down and held her from behind, his arms wrapped protectively around her. “Does it have anything to do with you thinking you saw your brother the other day?” She paused and then slowly nodded her head. “I had a dream about him. It felt real, and then I woke up…” she couldn’t speak since tears had begun to pour out from her eyes again. Mikey held onto her a bit tighter. His heart hurt as he listened to his friend quietly cry for the longest time. She was always so happy and full of smiles whenever they were together, which made seeing her this way, so broken and emotionally torn down, so difficult and heartbreaking for him. “I can’t say I understand what you’re going through, because I’ve always had my brothers by my side, but I can say that I know I’d be lost without them. Having the people that have always been a room away suddenly disappear for so long would emotionally and mentally kill me. I’m so, so sorry you’ve been alone for so long, but we won’t let you feel that way ever again, I’ll never let you feel that way ever again.” As soon as the words left his lips, Sam turned over and lay down facing him, her face now buried in his chest. A small smile appeared on Mikey’s face as he continued to hold his friend close, one hand resting against her back and the other gently running through the girl’s hair. He let his chin lightly rest on top of her head as he heard her sobs slowly fade out. He held her close until he knew for sure that she had drifted off to sleep, and once he knew that she was okay, he finally allowed himself to fall asleep as well.
He knew that he could never replace her brothers that were now living far away because he knew that no one would ever be able to replace his brothers if they ever moved far away. Still, he wanted to do everything he could to see Sam smile instead of frown, to see her laugh instead of cry, to see her fall asleep because she had had an exhausting day of fun activities instead of falling asleep from her tears. He vowed that he would stay by his best friend’s side as much as he possibly could, not to replace her brother, but to help bring back the fun and joyful memories that she had of spending time with him, and to create new memories that would help tuck away the all the bad ones.
#tmnt#teenage mutant ninja turtles#tmntmovie#TMNT2014#tmnt leonardo#tmnt raphael#tmnt donatello#tmnt michelangelo#romance#tmnt fanfiction#tmnt fandom#fanfiction
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'Transformers: The Last Knight:' Has Pandering to Chinese Audiences Hurt 'Transformers 5'?
http://styleveryday.com/2017/07/02/transformers-the-last-knight-has-pandering-to-chinese-audiences-hurt-transformers-5/
'Transformers: The Last Knight:' Has Pandering to Chinese Audiences Hurt 'Transformers 5'?
Friday, 5.00 p.m. somewhere in central Shanghai
It’s raining heavily outside. Big fat water droplets are falling vertically from the murky gray sky. They call it ‘plum rain’ in these parts.
Right now, there’s no better place to be than indoors and as coincidence would have it, it was opening night for Transformers: The Last Knight, perhaps the most hotly anticipated Hollywood release in China this year. Thus, the multiplex beckoned.
I purchase a ticket for a 5.10 p.m. 3D showing at the Premiere Cinema in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, and the cost is a princely $23.50 (RMB160). Yes, you read that right, it can be over $20 for a 3D ticket for Hollywood movies in central Shanghai these days. In China, this is not a cheap night out.
I had been a little worried that I wouldn’t get a seat on opening weekend, or if I did, it would be at the sides or right down in front of the screen. Given the time of day and the hard-to-miss fanfare for Transformers in China, I imagined Shanghai’s youthful middle class would be rushing from work to grab the earliest glimpse of giant robots smashing each other to pieces for the fifth time.
I needn’t have worried as the box office clerk gave me my pick of seats. (In China, as in most of Asia, movie theater seating is assigned, and you pick your place from a screen as you buy your ticket — which is actually quite nice.) A quick glance at the box office seating chart seemed to confirm that well over half the theater was still to be sold with the screening due to start in minutes.
Still, I figured the theater would fill up as the trailers rolled. But once we were getting underway, very few extra people walked in.
(I don’t think I need to say much about The Last Knight itself, beyond that it’s a Michael Bay movie — if you’ve seen one, you get the idea. I actually found myself enjoying most of the runtime by observing the crowds’ reactions. Click here if you’re curious about the film but not so much to actually go and see it.)
The opening minutes of the film, set in Arthurian England and featuring a number of sight gags involving a drunken Merlin seem to leave both me and most of the audience unmoved. Indeed, throughout the film, the intentionally comedic moments don’t seem to elicit much reaction from the audience. Instead, their biggest laughs are almost universally reserved for the moments of blatant product placement by Chinese companies.
And boy, is there a lot of product placement.
With the audience quickly learning to play spot-the-brand, giggles start rising in the cinema as the Chinese dairy drink Mengniu makes an appearance at Mark Wahlberg’s very-much-in-America scrap yard. Smartphones from LeEco, the financially strapped Chinese tech company, seem to be the brand of choice in the film. And the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is for some reason everywhere. The biggest laugh, however, arrives at the most unsubtle piece of pandering: the moment when the Autobots and their American friends are looking up ‘car porn’ on a Chinese used car website.
An hour in, and glancing around the theater, I can see the low glow of mobile phone screens dotted around in the darkness. My neighbor to my left is diligently checking his WeChat, the Chinese social messaging app that’s a cross between Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. He’s clearly much more absorbed by what’s going down in his social grid than Anthony Hopkins’ admirable (though ultimately futile) attempt at explaining the convoluted history of the Witwiccans, an ancient secret society tasked with protecting the Transformers from the wider world.
Though the Last Knight is shorter in length than the last two entries, the film is still well over two hours, and as the movie finally starts edging towards its explosive, climactic ending, some people begin to leave. A few at first, just as Unicron and Cybertron begin to crash and collide together, then a fairly steady stream are straight-up walking out of the cinema just as the final battle is taking place.
Well before the credits role, the theater is almost empty, although my phone-absorbed neighbor (I suspect he’s avoiding the rain outside at this point) and a few other hardy souls have stuck around to see the mid-credits scene. [Spoilers ahoy!] He looks on impassively as we see the villainess of Last Knight, Quintessa, reappearing in the body of British actress Gemma Chan. Despite her Chinese ethnicity, Chan isn’t much of a name in mainland China, so one wonders if her appearance, like much of the rest of the film, was lost on those that stayed till the end — it certainly seems so.
—-
One week later, the figures for Last Knight’s China opening are in and the numbers will have Paramount sweating. The headline figures, of course, make for impressive reading, with Last Knight opening at no. 1, with a $123 million weekend, a record for the franchise and topping the $92 million Age of Extinction made its first full week in 2014. The China tally also is almost double the film’s disappointing $69.1 million North American opening.
The film’s seven-day total has now ticked past $166.7 million according to Chinese box office data company Entgroup. Yet, there’s a feeling that Last Knight is shaping up to be a disappointment and instead of bettering the $320 million haul of Age of Extinction, the film is likely to fall well short.
When it came to marketing Last Knight, Paramount covered all the bases. Transformers may be about “robots in disguise” but a few hours spent in any major Chinese city and the robots are in plain sight, with posters, billboards, TV adverts linked to the movie at saturation levels. A particularly popular promotional tool in China has been the life-size replicas of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that menacingly stand outside movie theaters and shopping malls across the country.
Moreover, Paramount mitigated a lot of its promotional costs in China by partnering with Wanda, the leading theater chain, as well a number of other Chinese companies including Le Vision and Weying. And of course, there are the plethora of Chinese companies pushing their products prominently in the film.
Ultimately, Last Knight hasn’t ignited the same critical love or word of mouth Age of Extinction enjoyed in spades. The last movie became a genuine phenomenon in China, with several wacky stories of farmers building their own robots. By tapping into the zeitgeist in China, Age of Extinction was able to smash box office records.
Last Knight, on the other hand, has been pilloried on Chinese social media, particularly for the product placement and the confusing plot, and this audience kiss of death is what is likely to dash any hopes the film had of beating Age of Extinction‘s box office score.
On Sina Weibo, one of the larger social media platforms, user Lu Lihao RS summed a general feeling about the confusing nature of the film, writing that “I didn’t understand anything except advertisements for all the brands.”
Another Sina Weibo user named Wang echoed the issue with product placement. “Even though it is normal to add Chinese elements into the Hollywood blockbusters, it still makes the audience uncomfortable when there are too many Chinese brands,” Wang wrote.
On review site Douban, Last Knight had an average rating of 4.8 on Wednesday and was dropping fast. The influential site’s consensus is overwhelmingly negative on Last Knight, although if there is a small consolation for the producers, there was some praise for the special effects, if not for the humor or plot.
Still, for some, and not necessarily Paramount and its Chinese partners, Last Knight’s box office travails shouldn’t prove a hindrance to making money. Despite the tepid critical response to the fifth film, Transformers merchandise, both official and blatantly unofficial abound in China. Everywhere, from the airport to the shiny new malls, the theaters and street vendors at major tourist attractions, all manner of Transformers merchandise (yes, fidget spinners too) seem to be selling briskly suggesting that, in the end, the greatest product placement in the Last Knight was the robots themselves.
Transformers: The Last Knight Shanghai Film Festival
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#Audiences, #Chinese, #Hurt, #Knight, #Pandering, #Transformers
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