#undertaker is the villain for now

[plague-of-insomnia]

I don’t know why this is such a difficult concept for the fandom to grasp.

[danwhobrowses]

You know, as much as I would've loved a massive catharsis-led triumph over Athion Zathuda in battle, possibly left at the mercy of the vibrant flames of Fearne's Titan form reiterating herself with aplomb as Fearne Calloway, I actually kinda love how the narrative chose to defeat him. In many ways it is just hilarious, but also ironically in-character. Man talked all about wanting to prove himself, had a grandiose title of 'Sorrowlord' and was looking to be both a physical and mental adversary after threatening to torment Fearne into becoming Exaltant by targeting her loved ones. But then when he is pit against Bells Hells he barely does a thing; he tries to talk his way into turning Fearne again, gets jumpscared by Ira, the 'farm girl' he mocked to Fearne commandeers his dragon, he loses a leg and is thrown off his dragon, and the Hells even opt to keep him alive for some reason in 107 before kinda accidentally offing him in 108.

He thought he was the shit, but enemies of true threat like Ludinus, Otohan and Liliana (a threat before she was turned) looked down on him, and thus his attempts to prove them wrong - while also falling into the same trap as Ashton's father in seeking out a personal destiny and being willing to see their child as a tool to do it - bore no fruit at all, he was practically an afterthought through and through, his dragon really being his entire threat level. In the end, he got killed running (well, hobbling) away, and while Gloamglut's keening was a little sad in a way that a pet cannot fathom the moral complexity of having to kill their owner he still had it coming, plus following his eternal torture in the Tiki Bar of Ligament Manor, the last sorrow he wrought was his own; he achieved nothing, everything he hints he did to get to his position was for naught, and for all the fear and danger he tried to make himself possess he truly had no power over anyone, especially not Fearne - who can only pity him and, as further proof of being better than he ever was, hope that he takes the time to reflect on his sorrows.

[autumnmobile12]

7 Ways to Introduce the Villain.

1. The Shadow

A lot of series go with the classic 'ominous shadowy figure in the background.' Here's Silco in Arcane. Sinister voice, sinister dude, sinister intent. Boom, you have your villain.

2. The Slow Reveal

Other variations of the 'shadowy figure' in which the series draws out the reveal of the villain. Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't reveal the Firelord until the final season, but his presence is felt throughout the series. He's always this looming threat whose will is carried out by his underlings. (General Zhao, Azula, etc.)

3. The Fabulous Entrance!

Okay, so we do hear Ragyo on the phone a couple times before they actually show her face, but goddamn, this entrance. It is impressive and terrifying and, it perfectly suits the utter psycho that she is.

There is no normal expression this woman makes when she's 'happy.' She's always smug or angry or annoyed, but this face with her staring, manic eyes and smile still haunts me. Send help.

4. The Sudden Entrance

Shigaraki kinda comes out of nowhere in My Hero Academia. For the first few episodes, its all lighthearted and fun and dealing with Bakugo's BS and then the class heads off on a field trip and suddenly,

"Oh, shit! Plot is happening!"

This series started off with kids learning to be heroes, and now its tragedy and social upheaval and people's lives are in danger.

5. The Incognito Entrance

This is when some random nonthreatening dude/lady just kinda sidles into the plot the be the butt of a joke and later turns out to have been one of the villains.

This scene was so weird. Tyki is just minding his own business, scamming people at cards. Then Allen and Lavi show up looking for their friend (the guy currently being scammed), and even though he recognizes them as exorcists and his enemies, Tyki has to sit there and play it off like he doesn't know jack cause if he does anything, he's gonna blow his cover in front of his human buddies. And then he suffers the indignation of being stripped in a poker game in broad daylight because the main protagonist is absolutely evil with a card deck. And then he just walks away from this like it's a totally normal thing, not even really taking vengeance for it. (He went after Allen, sure, but that was more of a job than any personal vendetta.) He's not the main villain, but I couldn't resist pointing out how bizarre this is.

For those who haven't seen D. Gray Man, the guy in the center is one of the main antagonists, and though this is technically the second time you see him, the first encounter was so short it was practically a cameo and he was a Victorian-era, Dorian Gray dandy gentleman, not this hobo riding a train.

6. The Traitor

Since the Undertaker was more of a neutral party in Black Butler, I don't think he really counts as a traitor. Still, I don't think too many of us were suspecting the morbid jokester Grim Reaper was going to turn out to be a major antagonist later on.

7. The Protagonist

And sometimes the protagonist is the villain!

[afreakingdork]

Weak Spot Donnie Ref Sheet

Y'all genuinely have no idea how happy I am right now. With many, many years of work, the Weak Spot Donatello ref sheet is finally done and @garbagemilkshake is truly one of the greatest people to ever grace this planet. I say with full honesty that WS would not have near the same visual impact without their art. Now that this treasure is finally a reality, I'm holding nothing back. Below I breakdown all kinds of detail about what you see above and all I can say before that is thank you to each and every one of you who've been kind enough to read my work! This one goes out to you!

Villain's Mark Reference Sheets:

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. - Donatello - Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael

PREFACE TIME!

Now it may seem like way overdue from the outsider perspective, but let me tell you, I have been trying near non-stop to get this damn thing done. Interest in getting WS Donnie's ref sheet made dates all the way back to around Chapter 9ish of Weak Spot, but very technically to April of 2023. An artist was commissioned to make it and all I will say on that matter is that they decided they could not continue. Thus began my new search. There was a ton of criteria: Someone willing to make a ref sheet of this size, someone willing to associate with NSFW content, and someone willing to do mechanical props.

Unfortunately, I would fruitlessly search until eventually I had Garbage on as a chapter artist. I eventually asked if Garbage was up to it (they totally were) and we decided to test out the other turtle's ref sheets first. It may not seem like it, but a ref sheet of this size is an ENORMOUS undertaking. I seriously cannot praise Garbage enough. As you all know, the other turts ref sheets were stunning. We planned out what was needed for Donnie's and starting May 2024, work began. Garbage would routinely take time off of doing chapter art or what need be (I'm too discombobulated to remember when their vacation was). Their happiness and life takes top priority in my book and after all the time I'd spent searching for someone just to do the ref sheet, I did not mind it getting sidelined in the slightest. Garbage was doing me a huge favor after all, commission or not!

BUT WHO CARES!! WE'RE HERE AND IT'S DONE!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Let's get into it with the turnaround!

The turnaround! Finally we have the definitive collection of Donnie's scars! it was tricky and we ended up needing to label him like some anatomical model to get all the mentions in. Some scars will look a little familiar to you and other's might not, but dang, I sure did a TON of scar research. From hypertrophic (raised scars) to atrophic (scar that don't have enough scar tissue to heal and are sunken in comparison) to how sharp blades versus dull ones cut skin raise what kind of scars. I have a bunch of gorey references for all that, but I doubt anyone wants to see that. Instead let's go into inspirations and the like:

First off, in spot 4, Donnie's electrical scars!

You probably think I ripped them off from Replica or Unknown and that wouldn't be totally wrong, but it wouldn't be right. Obviously I'm a huge fan of both artists (go support their patreons), but my thoughts were always more in the camp of getting Villain Donnie from A to B. I was planning alongside a canon timeline and my thoughts were he would have definitely created himself a pair of show goggles, but there was no way, with what he went through, that those would make it to adulthood. When I considered where he was mostly likely to lose them and that I wanted him to give himself laser eye surgery (again, show accurate, he had glasses once!) that I could knock both out if he were to have damaged the goggles, rendering him deaf and needing cochlear implants.

Now spot 2, the body augmentation, reaches outside the fandom and to Megalo Box of all things!

I only watched an episode or so, but the way Joe scrapped together gear was something that stuck with me. When I was conceptualizing WS Donnie and came to the conclusion he didn't have ninpo, I thought a lot about what he would do when the others got there. The logical conclusion was turning towards his tech and Megalo Box was right there with the idea.

Donnie's body augmentation gear has not been depicted as of yet, but it absolutely looks like something out of Megalo Box. I additionally did research into other wearable tech and came across the ExoArm.

Studying their information on what nerve points and muscles needed to be hit was what helped me ultimately decide where the extraction points on Donnie's arm would be. The starbursts on Donnie's arm are where the pins for the device were forceably torn out when they 'failed' him. The lines between them are where the wires that connected pin points were similarly torn out. They created finer scars.

I want to highlight the barely seen spot 7, Neural Implant, with an extreme close up:

It may seem like just the curvature of his noggin, but it's actually Donnie's one clean scar. It was his only surgery he was truly careful with as it chanced his brain stem and spine if he messed up. Without his ninpo, he implanted a chip to coordinate with his tech more seamlessly. It's inspired by the fic Switch by unorthodoxx, which shout-out! Again, if someone comes up with a neat concept, that stuff sticks with me!

Spot 6, Mystic Chains aka where Donnie got his foot ripped off and it might not be for the reason you think. I wanted to make mention here, that you might remember the chapter art from chapter 43 of Weak Spot and that Donnie did not have a port sticking out back then. That's growth kids because it took me until after to realize that he would need something inserted to connect to a working prosthetic.

Finally, it was tough to figure out how best to depict all of Donnie's shell damage. It's reveal is such a huge moment in Weak Spot and I knew he would have what was basically insurmountable damage to have made it a specific weak spot to him (if you know what I'm saying 😏) The number 8, spike holes are just that, Donnie hit some spikes. Think of him having been shut in like an iron maiden or maybe trapped by a spike wall that was reminiscent of the ones in the Maze of Death in the Minotaur Maze episode of canon.

As for spot 10, Shredder, we see this Donnie suffered for not having a bulkier battle shell. When he was attacked by shredder in this moment:

His shell took that damage directly.

The last spot I want to touch on is 9, the Odachi marks, the larger blob one is when Leo attempted to, but held back from severing Donnie's spine and the other is from Leo trimming Donnie's spines (aka from being a Spiny Softshell). I made this extremely helpful infographic to explain to Garbage at one point exactly what was trimmed off in the latter:

Moving on to outfit variants and expressions!

I hope this section is pretty self explanatory, but I did want to make a note: Donnie wears his wraps as seen in Lounge Looks around his arms and neck under all his clothing and at most hours due to his constant pain. Also, the examples of Donnie's emotions are something that only came around during Weak Spot. He hardly emoted before he met reader.

Last, But Not Least we got prop close-ups!

The prosthetic shown here is specifically Donnie's comfiest, aka the one he uses at home. I didn't bother adding any other prosthetics because his others are either shoe prosthetic (aka the shoe is fit so it directly attaches to is port) or a prosthetic that is made to perfectly replicate what his foot looks like (which visually looks like he just has his real foot). His prosthetic is actually a straight rip off of a real one!

When researching prosthetics, I found this one and it struck me as so similar to the turtle's actual feet (with the 'two toes' and heel) that I thought this had to be Donnie's prosthetic.

We get a good look at Donnie's glasses. As a reminder, the arms (temples) of Donnie's glasses attach to his head via magnets. He's got a little metal in his head from the electrical burns and cochlear implant so he made use of it when he made a facsimile of his goggles. The whole point of his glasses is they mimic the vision specs/knowledge he needs to access without them being a danger to his person. They are meant to be easily removable and they do not have lenses. The color projected in them is just that (a projection) and it only works if it's close enough to Donnie's neural implant and he wills them to be turned on.

Our final order of business is WS Donnie's battle shell! This is the first time it's ever been depicted! I always knew he was going to have a different sort of battle shell when I was created this version of Donnie. His show shell is just too bulky for what this Donnie could afford. Since he dabbled a lot of easily concealable tech, I took a lot of inspiration from Iron Man. The battle shell, as we know from Weak Spot, can grow and resize to its user. I specifically had this gif in mind whenever I thought about how the battle shell grows on one's back:

I did a ton of research into body armor itself, since that is what Donnie would specifically need it for and found this specific piece that I thought fell perfectly in line with both the Iron Man idea and utility of a realistic battle shell for this Donnie.

and that's just about everything! Again, thank you to anyone who made it this far. Thank you for reading my works! Thank you for literally everything! Round up thanks to my betas, to Garbage, to everyone dangit!

[deus-sema]

Having read these thought provoking posts in a row by @neyafromfrance95 and @anetherealpoetess , I racked my brain to remember when and how exactly did this drama over villain/heroine pairings start and how did it aggravate to such an extent?

But, before I begin, I want to get this out of the way: The intent of this post is not to generalize. Haters who hate everything fun without discrimination, those who aren't hypocrites, this post is not for you. You are the real deal. Hate and vent away and unless this hatred affects creators and fans adversely, which is when we would need to have serious conversations, we are good to go.

Where were we again? Yes. The heroine and the villain. The good girl and the bad guy. The M/F ship where the male character is not 100% morally upstanding and/or age appropriate. This dynamic goes by many names. Call it whatever you wish to.

Why this dynamic is enjoyed by many has been discussed often. Why it is disliked is also known. To each their own. Anyway, let's get straight to the point. This particular dynamic can result in the female character getting hurt at some point. Be it physically, mentally, or emotionally. It isn't mandatory but the possibility is always there. The villain/adversary with whom she shares a complicated entanglement that may or may not be 'officially' romantic is a challenge she must overcome. Be it by beating him, killing him, fixing him, smooching him or screwing him.

Preferences are one thing. But this vehement pushback specifically against stories that explore such a dynamic as well as against those who enjoy them is rather strange.

Now, why is it easier for some to separate fiction from reality when it comes to toxic m/m pairs as compared to similar m/f pairs? Aren't all these characters fake anyway? Maybe the belief that women are inherently fragile and, thus need to be protected and sheltered from any and all harm, genuine or perceived, still prevails. They aren't allowed to face so much as the slightest adversity or discomfort. They must be kept safe within the boundaries of propriety. If they are to have a partner then he must be a properly vetted 'green flag' who is safe for them in every aspect. Chemistry be damned. While it often stems from genuine, albeit misplaced, concern, it leaves the arcs of these female characters with limited scope.

Strangely enough, the characters in question can belong to any background: Human, demon, alien, witch, elf, warrior, zombie. Their natures might differ. They can all have different backstories, undergo varying experiences, follow rules and belief systems distinct from one another. But, when placed in an equation with a man who has been dubbed 'unsafe', they are all clubbed under one umbrella of victimhood. As long as the link between them and the unsafe male character exists, victims they must remain. Until that connection is severed and they are taken back to safety, all other identities cease to exist. Any conversation with respect to that equation must abritrarily categorize them as victim and the men as their victimizers and there should be nothing more to it. Not even if the narrative wills it. Fans who have different readings of the relationship are to be silenced with slutshaming, accusations of romanticizing abuse, not getting the plot, yada, yada. And, in certain cases, when the female character happens to be a WoC, her entire existence gets overlooked.

As a side effect of this approach, the  commercial creatives who are in the business for the paycheck and want to avoid unnecessary hassle, do not bother to put in effort or  undertake risks while creating female characters, let alone put them in a relationship with the bad guy. They know all it will take to calm the online pearl clutchers with pitchforks is to keep the female characters secure on the sidelines to play a supportive role leaving them free to focus and work hard on male characters who move the plot. The female characters are remembered only when the men have to be depicted in a better or worse light. Afterall, someone needs to be the scapegoat to help move the male character's arc forward.

The general audience, most of whom are in for the entertainment, must definitely notice the difference in importance that female characters hold as compared to their male counterparts but do not give it much thought. Meanwhile, in the online realm, puritantis and incels pat each other on the back after belittling real people who disagree with them for female characters in 'safe' and, possibly, passive roles is what both parties ultimately seek, albeit with different intentions. If a fictional woman doesn't toe the line, then the narrative is expected to set her right by 'humbling' her. As for the real ones deemed 'improper', the Internet is always ready with their pitchforks like we see here in this case highlighted by @problematic-faves-appreciation) concerning the Brontës.

Patriarchy truly is no different from the Hydra. Cut one head off and two more appear in its place wearing faux progressive hoodies.

[seraphinitegames]

The Wayhaven Chronicles - Update 08/Sept/2023 Phew, doing draft after draft of plan is a lot!

I know that putting in all this effort now will pay off  when I actually come to write it (though I may have already loosely drafted a couple of scenes because I can’t help myself… :D) as well as make it a lot smoother when I get to it…but knowing what is coming is making me SO eager to write already, hehe! :D

This week, I spent some time looking at how to add in the villain romance. It’s definitely got a much different feel than the romance-y Unit Bravo ones, lol! But then I want it to be unique with it’s own feel, so it definitely works.

The more I plan in, the more I think it’s a definite that I’ll be adding it.

But I also want to make sure there are points where you can end that romance if you want to, especially because it might get too intense for some people. Definitely want that exit option in there at multiple places!

Planning this romance also means a very different shift in mindset from the vampires’ romances, not only because they’re a not a good person, lol, but also because it is a one book romance. I need to switch from thinking about the romance as a long term thing that can grow over multiple books, to something that needs to start, get involved, and then end in one book! It’s not that it can’t be done, especially with the intensity that’s burning between the MC and the villain if the character goes this route, but I don’t want it to feel like it’s rushed :D

I also spent last weekend, and will be spending all weekends, on starting the spruce up of Book One! That’s been seriously fun to read back through that! It’s not going to be anything major, catching any remaining bugs and spelling errors, matching things up better to later events, etc. But I did realise just how much Book One feels like a different style than Two and Three, so I want to update it to feel more like how I write now, which is a bit of an undertaking. My plan is to make it not too obvious but make the whole series feel more cohesive!

Just shows how much our styles can adapt and change as we evolve as creators!

Hope you all have the most amazing weekend! We’ll be offline as usual, but I’ll talk to you all again on next week!

[therobotmonster]

I'm bringing Hexy back.

Good visual reference on Hexadecimal (And Reboot in general) is shockingly hard to find, so when I found a guy who had done 4k upscales of the series on YT, it was time for some screencaps.

It's a pity the first(ish?) truly all-CG cartoon was probably not preserved in a state that would let it be re-rendered at higher resolution. What was at the time a massive technological undertaking could be rendered real-time on a mid-tier computer now.

Her whole mask-swapping gimmick was, itself, a way of turning tech limitations into an interesting feature. Save time on facial animation and lip synch while making her more memorable.

Every action cartoon series needs a villainous femme fatale, and Hex dispenses with most of the subtlety. She's a dominatrix-witch with a, uh, sprite-tight red leather bodysuit and latex or possibly black painted metal gloves and thigh-boots.

None of us should have been surprised by Blackarachnia is all I'm saying.

And like any good villainess, she's got a full on murder-mode.

And this is going to take more than one post.

Hexadecimal, from Reboot (1994, season 1, Mainframe Entertainment)

[b-skarsgard]

Exclusive Interview: Bill Skarsgård On Making Orlok His Own In NOSFERATU

Bill Skarsgård has been in the Nosferatu loop since writer/director Robert Eggers first began conceiving it almost 10 years ago. This was before Skarsgård had his horror-star-making turn as Pennywise in It, so initially, he auditioned for the part of Friedrich Harding, friend of central couple Thomas and Ellen Hutter. Then he read for and landed the part of Thomas before the project fell apart. Nosferatu, in fact, went through a few stops and starts before finally coming to fruition, with Skarsgård ultimately taking on the titular role of the hundreds-of-years-old vampire Count Orlok.

Eggers’ reimagining of the 1922 silent landmark gives Orlok a new look but the same goal: to possess Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) and drain the life from those around her. The film, which also stars Nicholas Hoult as Thomas, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Harding, and Willem Dafoe as occult expert Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, presents Orlok as a resuscitated, centuries-old nobleman driven by obsession as much as bloodlust. (You can read more of this interview in FANGORIA #26, on sale very soon.)

read at the link or under the cut

Do you happen to know what Eggers’ change in thinking was, from seeing you in one of the heroic roles to playing the villain?

I don’t know if there are any heroic roles in the movie [laughs], apart from Ellen, in a way. I don’t know what changed in him, but that’s just how it ended up. At one point I was devastated because when it did finally look like Nosferatu was coming around for the third time, he was looking into other actors for Thomas, and then I heard that Nick got the part, and I was like, OK, what about the Harding role?

I also once read for that one. And then Aaron got it, and I was like, OK, I have to divorce myself from the idea of being part of this movie now, even though I felt so, I don’t know, destined to be a part of it. So it was a surprise and shock to me when he approached me with Orlok. In a lot of ways, it was a much more daunting task to undertake as an actor. It was as terrifying as it was exciting.

This is obviously a very different Orlok than we saw in the previous versions of Nosferatu. How did you view the character when you first took the role, and how did you develop him with Eggers?

Robert had obviously done a lot of thinking about what his Orlok would be like. And when he reached out to me about the possibility of playing him, I think he was a lot more confident that I could do it than I was [laughs]. But I was so thrilled for the opportunity, and I told him, “OK, now we’ll have to convince everyone”; we had to submit to the studio and whatnot.

We had this kind of 10-day workshop where he shared with me a lot of the material he had used for inspiration—different performances in different movies, what Orlok would have been like when he was alive, all that kind of stuff. And also how he saw Orlok’s look, which was quite specific. Then I started working on it.

I began with voice memos, and then I would send little clips of myself doing certain things. This was all before the actual screen test; it was all during COVID. Those 10 days were a very deep dive into the process of developing this guy, and proof for myself that I could do it. It was a great sort of dating phase with Robert as well, to see how we would collaborate. Auditions are usually horrible, but with this particular way of doing it, it was quite creative.

Then the movie fell apart again, so when we actually got to shoot it, I believe it had been two and a half years since I did the tape. So I almost had to restudy what I did for the tape in order to start re-prepping for the movie because, at that point, I was at the same place of, how the hell did I do this, or can I do it? I had to go through all that again, you know?

What were some of Eggers’ specific inspirations for Orlok that he shared with you, and were there any you came up with yourself?

There were a lot of different things. There was a Bulgarian movie called Time of Violence—a great movie, over four hours long, set in Bulgaria in the 17th century. And there’s this guy, the antagonist of the movie, taking over a village and forcibly converting Christians, and it’s incredibly violent and horrible. That performance was something Robert talked a lot about in terms of who Orlok could have been when he was alive. We talked about that one a lot, and various different things—little snippets from here and there.

But that was during the very early stages. Once you start delving deeper into a character, hopefully, you start getting inspiration from whatever it is you’re actually working on, and that creates seeds that come out of it. Robert also wrote a backstory for Orlok, just a few pages, that he shared with me, which was also very helpful.

You said before that there aren’t many heroes in Nosferatu except for Ellen. Would you consider Orlok a villain, or do you see him more as a tragic character?

He’s the romantic lead, isn’t he [laughs]? Yeah, it’s tricky. Is he a villain? Yeah, of course; I mean, he’s Nosferatu, he’s Dracula, he’s one of the most, if not the most iconic horror villain there is. But I think the script has nuances that make it more complex, more layered, in the sense that the movie is sort of a love triangle with Ellen in the middle. She’s torn between a good, stable, benevolent, loving husband and something that is very powerful, very destructive, but also very alluring to her, and you watch her being torn between these two forces.

How was it working with the heavy prosthetics that transformed you into Orlok?

David White did the prosthetics and the design, and he’s incredibly talented. And Stuart Richards and his wife were the ones who applied it on me every day. You tend to become very close to those people, because they’re the ones you spend the most time with when you’re playing a character like this. Just immensely talented, and very, very sweet.

And then there’s the process of getting it on for the first time and you’re like, OK, what works and what doesn’t work? How do my face and my expressions translate onto this new face that they’ve glued on top of mine? It becomes a whole process where you need to familiarize yourself with how your performance is being translated through the prosthetics. But I never felt like Orlok without the makeup, so the prosthetics and the costume were all pieces that I needed to perform him.

Since you were attached to the role for a few years, did the concept of Orlok change at all from the beginning to what we see in the final film?

Actually, not too much. Robert shared with me, when I was being considered for the role, a digital drawing he had made of Orlok, and that was pretty close to what he ended up looking like in the actual movie. Obviously, there were little changes here and there, but the essence of it, the mustache and so forth, stayed pretty close.

A lot of the character’s look is, what did a Romanian or Hungarian nobleman look like in the 16th century? As you probably know, Robert does extensive research and tries to be as historically accurate as possible in anything he does. So, the look is a representation of that. It’s a historically accurate Romanian nobleman [laughs]. And the same with the costumes. It was pretty specific, and what Orlok looks like in the movie is pretty close to what Robert initially envisioned.

Can you talk about working with Lily-Rose Depp?

It was an absolute pleasure working with Lily. I haven’t seen many people with such raw talent as she possesses, and how much she gives to the movie. It’s not an easy role at all; it was so emotionally demanding, and the way she could just turn it on every single time, take after take, was awe-inspiring.

The first few scenes I did with her, I wasn’t even acting; I was just a shadow hand behind the camera. And I could just see how gifted she was, and the nuances she brought. Then once we started doing scenes together, I couldn’t appreciate it as much because I was also performing, and we were dancing together. But she’s incredible, and an undeniable force in the movie. •

[bumblekastclips]

KYLE CROUSE: We are back with a question from Scurvy Piratehog! “The world in Sonic has had many different names over the years, and now it's settled on Earth. But… just for fun’s sake, what if all the leaders of the world decided to rename the planet ‘Sonic's world’ as a way to show gratitude to all Sonic has done? How does the Sonic cast react to the fact their planet is now literally called ‘Sonic's world’?”

IAN FLYNN: Knuckles starts a club that refuses to acknowledge it. Shadow and Eggman are the first to join. KYLE: [cackles, then as Eggman] “The hedgehog conquered my planet?!” IAN: [chuckles] I mean, it’s not gonna sway Eggman. He’s just even more driven to conquer it and rename it. KYLE: Exactly! IAN: Shadow and Knuckles are a little more restrained. [as Knuckles] “We’re not calling it that.” Which, Sonic will absolutely needle them about. KYLE: [chuckles] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. IAN: Everyone else, I think, would be kind of charmed and amused by it. Sonic especially. Just, like, [as Sonic] “Heh, okay. If that’s what you wanna commit to. I’m still gonna run around it.” KYLE: [as Sonic] “Bunch’a weirdos.” [laughs] I think that’s what Sonic would think. IAN: Surge is actively trying to blow up the core of the world. Just destroy all. [as Surge, with desperation] “Dark Gaia, wake up! You got work to do! Come on!” KYLE: [laughing] IAN: Starline rises from the grave. [as Starline] “Oh HELL no!” KYLE: [laughter escalates to wheezing hysterics] Why is that so funny?! IAN: Like, just straight up, one-handed lifts the rock up. [as Starline] “Mm-mm! No, no, no, no, no!” KYLE: [wheezing, barely coherent] Why? Why is that so funny?! IAN: [chuckles] KYLE: [through tears?] Why can I so easily envision it?! IAN: [laughs] KYLE: Oh no… [makes himself laugh again thinking about it] IAN: [as Starline] “Zavok, all is forgiven. What do you need?” KYLE: [laughing] Starline waking— IAN: [unintelligible, then as Zavok] “I didn’t know we were on speaking terms.” [as Starline] “They’ve called it— they’ve renamed the planet Sonic’s World.” [as Zavok] “Oh hell no!” KYLE: [more laughter] This is like the Undertaker waking up in the coffin! IAN: [laughs] KYLE: All the villains, “aw, hell, no!” Nobody’s happy! IAN: [laughs] KYLE: Oh, outstanding. [chuckles] Oh, wow. Jet would be pissed. IAN: [cackles] KYLE: Everyone’s mad, like— every villain is just- just absolutely losing their crap. [laughing] Oh, man. Thanks, Scurvy. 

—– TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: Please remember that nothing that is said on BumbleKast is canon! It’s just some guys and their opinions occasionally spitballing ideas. If you don’t like an answer, you don’t have to take it as Word of God or anything like that. It’s all just for fun!

[goodstuffhappenedtoday]

10 years ago, Batkid was battling bad guys and cancer — now he's 15 and healthy

Today, Miles Scott is a healthy teenager with a passion for baseball. He plays catcher for his high school in Tulelake, Calif. "I wear all-black in baseball," Miles said. "So the dugout's always screaming 'Batkid! Batkid!'" Ten years ago, the then-5-year-old Miles won hearts both in his hometown and around the world when he transformed into the black-clad superhero Batkid for a day, becoming an instant media sensation. The Make-A-Wish Foundation, a non-profit that grants wishes to children who are seriously ill, partnered with the City of San Francisco to organize the adventure for Miles, who had been battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia since he was just 18 months old. According to the Yale School of Medicine, the disease is the most common type of childhood cancer. Survival rates used to be low, but these days children with the disease have up to a 90% chance of going on to lead a healthy life. Granting the wish Make-A-Wish went to elaborate lengths to make Miles' dream of becoming Batman's sidekick Batkid true. The foundation enlisted the help of The Mayor of San Francisco (the late Ed Lee), the San Francisco Police and Fire Departments, the San Francisco Giants and many other individuals and entities. San Francisco was re-dubbed "Gotham City" — Batman's fictional home — for the day. Clad in his Batkid costume and accompanied by a grownup Batman (played by Eric Johnston), the pair zipped around in their Batmobile thwarting villains — they prevented The Riddler from robbing a bank vault — and undertaking daring rescues, including freeing the San Francisco Giants' mascot Lou Seal from The Penguin's clutches.

Thousands of people descended on San Francisco to cheer Miles on. He earned a key to the city. The San Francisco Chronicle published a special edition of its daily newspaper to mark the occasion. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama sent Miles words of encouragement via a video message on social media. "The feeling was palpable; you could just feel the positiveness and how the community came together," said Miles' mom, Natalie Scott. "People flew in from everywhere and it just gave everyone some sense of peace almost." The event was covered by many mainstream media organizations, including NPR. And millions of people around the world followed the #Batkid hashtag on social media. Batkid lives on Batkid's legacy didn't end on that day.

The wish was the subject of the 2015 Warner Bros. documentary, Batkid Begins. Media organizations have revisited the story over the years. "He plays Little League, attends fifth grade, helps on his family's farm and sold his first market goat at the fair over the summer," reported his hometown California paper, The Siskyou Daily News, on Batkid's fifth anniversary in 2018.

And Miles himself has been free of cancer for the past few years. "Every year he goes for a checkup, and everything's been on the straight and narrow, so, we hope to keep it that way," said Nick Scott, Miles' dad. Miles has grown out of his Batkid costume. But his kid brother Ben donned it last Halloween. Miles is now in high school and is looking ahead to the future. "Right now, he's dead set on going to Alaska and being a 'pack mule' for his cousin's husband's guide business," said Natalie Scott. "And he has a lot of interest in welding. So we'll see!"

[monstersdownthepath]

How do you feel about the new Rakshasa lore in 2e?

------

I... I don't know, to be honest. In 1e, Rakshasa were the results of mortals binding their souls to totems and nature spirits, living on the world as parasites. Whenever they died, through violence or through time, they would push a newborn soul from its vessel and take its place, being reborn again and again. It exemplified how terribly selfish they were, so awful and twisted that it physically twisted their bodies. A good rakshasa is practically unheard of, because the ritual to become one is so vile and the method to remain one so terrible that no soul with any goodness in it would dare to undertake it! Much like with Hags, a rakshasa isn't evil because it's a fiend, it's a fiend BECAUSE it's evil, its monstrous behavior transforming it into a literal monster.

But in 2e, this is no longer the case at all. In 2e, Rakshasa are primordial spirits born at the moment the gods decided what was Good and what was Evil. They were born, created by the gods, to specifically fulfill the purpose of enacting Evil in its every form, to give solid and unambiguous definition to the question of "what is Evil?" They do evil because they're supposed to exemplify it, to serve as an example to mortals of what not to do. They literally exist to be evil until good rises to stop them! They're directly compared to actors forced into their role, with some Rakshasa even growing to detest it (though most revel in it), but performing it nonetheless because it's all they've known to do. They rise, they act the part of the villain, they perish at the hands of heroes risen to stop them, and then they are reborn to do so again and again and again.

It's a cool idea, certainly, but with so much solid and interesting lore already dedicated to them, it feels... bad? to just throw it all out? Rakshasa felt special in that they all used to be a mortal who was willing to perform the ultimate profanity in order to secure immortality. That each one, from the lowly Raktavarna to the highest of the Immortals, was born because someone was terrified of what death held for them. Now they just... literally exist to be the villain of whatever story NEEDS a villain. It could be good, but I wish that doing it didn't come at the cost of everything else before it, which was ALSO good.

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Finwe in the third age part iii

Finwe could tell when information was being kept from him.

To be fair to Elrond, the lord of the valley was not trying very hard to hide that there were secrets. Glorfindel had given history up to the rising of the Sun with only a few obvious elisions - Glorfindel had apparently walked to Middle Earth, but Feanor had gotten there years earlier with his sons. Feanor and Argon had "died fighting Morgoth's servants", while Elenwe and Amrod had died in "accidents". The capture and rescue of Finwe's eldest grandson was covered in two sentences as if Glorfindel hoped that Finwe would miss it. (Though how could he - capture by the Dark Hunter had been the greatest fear of his youth, and one that he had thought his kin safe from in Valinor!) The summary had lacked some details, but it had seemed like a reasonable first pass at history.

Glorfindel casually saying "Gondolin was isolated and I died when it fell, so I didn't witness much of the first or second ages. I was sent to aid Rivendell and the elves around two thousand years of the sun ago..." though was incredibly blatant. "Not much" was far from "none", and the fall of a city seemed newsworthy as well.

Finwe asked outright how Gondolin had fallen, and Glorfindel had said "it's a distressing topic let's wait until you've recovered". Glorfindel said that a lot, and after an hour left the room for his guard duties. Finwe was sadly too weak to follow him and demand answers.

He would just have to listen, and bide his time while he recovered. Whatever terrible thing had happened to his family, a few more days would not make much difference after the decades or centuries that had passed. (Finwe was not sure he believed that it had been Ages, but such a great undertaking as the Sun was not the work of a year even for the Valar, and Elladan was undoubtedly both his descendant and a fully grown adult. So it was at least fifty years since Finwe had been in Formenos, given none of his children or grandchildren has been expecting a child when Morgoth attacked.)

_____

Over the next week, Finwe learned more. What Feanor had done at Alqualonde was a tragedy, and it sorrowed him that such a great city was known now only for the pain and evil that had been done there. He shared stories of the city as it had been with his great-great-grandsons when they came to visit, and they listened eagerly even though Artanis-called-Galadriel could have told them just as much. Elrohir was unguarded enough in his speech for Finwe to learn a little bit more about the years immediately after his death, though the topic was quickly redirected to the present.

Finwe asked for more people to talk to and to fill his days, but was told that few in the city spoke Quenya, and none spoke Gnomish as he had in his youth. Instead most spoke Sindarin, which Finwe was not enough of a student of languages to follow along with in conversation. Elrond provided him with a Sindarin language history of the so-called Last Alliance to practice reading (written in Feanor's tengwar rather than Rumil's script, he noted), along with a dictionary obviously designed for those fluent in Sindarin reading older texts. That the word "kinslaying" and "unbreakable vow" were each given a paragraph of cultural context was concerning, but it was still a useful exercise. (While figuring out that his old friend Elwe had taken the title Grey-cloak, Finwe skimmed past the word "Therinde" and noticed his own name. He deliberately did not read that entry, as he was gaining plenty of reasons for new pain without reopening old wounds.)

The War of Last Alliance was not easy reading, but it was very informative, and not just about the years described. Finwe learned that even two Ages after his death, he was still seen as the standard for royalty and the authority by which later Noldorin kings derived their title. Elrond was Turgon's great-grandson, but had been taught by Maedhros, who was seen as both a villain and a powerful warrior opposed to Morgoth. (Finwe paused for a moment to boggle at his descendants have children with each other. It was not particularly strange after a few generations, but he did not feel nearly as old as Tatye or Imin!) The Secondborn and Aule's children had been found, and things had not always been easy but they became allies in time. Geography had changed some in these lands since Finwe's youth, both in ways as small as the course of streams and in new mountain ranges to the south.

Oh, and there was Sauron. Morgoth's second in command who had taken on his master's mantle and much of his army. The Valar had apparently not learned from letting Morgoth walk freely in Tirion, as Sauron had the run of a whole continent for many years. And even at the conclusion of the battle, Sauron was only beaten back, due to the difficulty of truly unmaking Maiar by incarnates.

Finwe asked Glorfindel if Sauron was still around, and got the unreassuring answer of "probably yes, but he's still building power and we aren't certain where."

Difficult was not impossible, though. And though Finwe could not get vengeance against Morgoth personally, it was clear that Sauron had done much harm to his family. If Sauron dared show his face again, Finwe would be ready.

[idkfitememate]

Tired of normal guy readers, where are my fucked up little guy readers? Where are my psychopaths and yandere readers? My monster readers??

I’m tired of being the damsel in distress I wanna be the one who kidnaps the princess- I don’t give a shit if I win I wanna be a silly little guy who killed millions just so a silly man in overalls can come beat my ass!

I want to be the villain!! I wanna be the bad guy!! Wanna write some crazy readers…

In the same vein, better insane rep! Sure the crazy psychopathic laugh this is always great, a tried and true method, but what about my quiet crazies? The ones who use pretty privilege to get away with stuff? My calm crazies? I want more variety!!

Let the inane have no sad backstory, let the crazies do their stuff while knowing full well that what they are doing is perfectly wrong, POS (pieces of shit) who do the things they do just because it’s fun! I’m gonna write readers like that one day just you wait… just gotta stick with chaotic ones for now - ease into it…

And before anyone says anything, I love BSD - Nikolai is BBG, Danganronpa was one of the first fandoms I was truly in - Junko/Monokuma are two of my highest kins, Mahito is my favorite character in JJK, Toga and Twice were the only things keeping me with MHA, I would die for Undertaker in general, Dottore & Douma, Beam from ChainsawMan was one of my first introductions to that franchise. I know my crazies and I’d push them into oil fires. I love them very much.

Now if you excuse me I’m gonna go nurse my insane and psychopathic readers until the time is right to release them into the world. Also I need to go to sleep-

[zackprincebooks]

Golden Hour Snippets

I did some snippets of Golden Hour, the first in my Messmer-Maedhros transmigration fic series for a challenge on Discord and I decided to share them here!

Tag list:

@wyked-ao3 @chaoticfallenangel @lizurich @the-golden-comet @crashedrocket12750

@burntblanc @katenewmanwrites @glasshouses-and-stones @lorifragolina

@nczaversnick @thatuselesshuman @phoenixofthegreenwood @mushroommanchanterelle

@ilovevewritingfanfic @t0ul0ser @jev-urisk @villain-lover7899 @rivenantiqnerd

Want to be added to or removed from the tag list? Click here!

“This, Nelyafinwë, is the forge."

Messmer walks into the forge, briefly closing his eyes as he's hit by a blast of heat. Taking the initiative, Fëanáro stands in front of him to protect him from the blast. "You'll get used to the heat in time. The fire is your friend, Nelyafinwë, and it will drive your creativity just as it drives mine."

Fire is your friend. How long did Messmer fight against the fire that threatened to consume him? How long did he use it to burn and destroy?

And now he was being told to create with it?

……..

The path in Prince Ingwion's garden is made of white stones so highly polished, they gleam under the gentle light of the crystal lanterns hanging from the fence posts. Yellow flowers climb up the walls, made of the same polished stone, and fill the night air with their fragrance. A fountain in the middle sends its water into the air, and the tinkling sound as it splashes into the pool mixes harmoniously with the sounds of the evening.

Sitting in the middle of the garden is Prince Ingwion himself, adorned with the circlet of his station. Confusingly, though his circlet implies a business meeting, his attire suggests an intimate meeting between two close friends: a soft white robe with yellow lace trim and a deep green sash. The emeralds in his ears match the emerald comb holding his golden braid into place.

Messmer has misread his invitation entirely.

........

"I became aware of my existence around the time of my first begetting day, though I know not the reason why," Messmer explains. "The name of my first self was Messmer the Impaler." Even saying his old name makes Messmer shudder, but Nerdanel squeezes his hand. "I was born the son of Queen Marika the Eternal. I died undertaking a crusade under her command. When she no longer needed me, she abandoned me to my fate."

There is silence as Nerdanel absorbs the information that the fëa occupying her son is that of a stranger. But she does not let go of his hand.

"Ever you have been my son, even if I have not always been your mother," she speaks. Messmer dares to lift his head. "And if your mother has abandoned you, then let me be your mother forevermore."

........

"You're holding your breath again. Keep up your breathing rhythm. In and out."

Messmer forces himself to take in a shaky breath as Rog moves his new arm back and forth. He's laying at an angle on a padded bench with Rog behind him, bracing himself with one hand on Messmer's back. Messmer's new arm is stretched behind him, his fingers twined with Rog's free hand.

Part of the healing process, he said. They needed to make sure Messmer's new arm had the same elasticity as the old one, which was always tricky with metal limbs no matter how finely wrought they were. This involved Messmer coming into Rog's workshop multiple times a week to bend and stretch his arm in new positions. He was getting better each day and found himself using his new limb with greater ease. Soon he'll be able to wield a spear again.

But now all Messmer can focus on is Rog's hand, big and firm, pressed between his shoulder blades. He whimpers as Rog presses harder, and Rog's murmured, "you're doing so well" is not helping.

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Hey! I love ur blog sm; also I'm sooo happy that u talked about undertaker having mental illness( even before his death) because I've seen a lottt of people seeing him as this doucebag who kills thousands of people on a ship and treats the twins awfuly cause he is this evil mad scientist or something( I think othello fits the mad scientist trope much better) but they've forgotten that all the reapers that we've seen until now have committed suicide when they were still alive, and then forced to continue living and work for centuries so they can be forgiven!?? For what? Wanting to die?😐 like ofc they are not OK. and I'm not talking only about ut but all of them; I really wished we could one day have a glimpse of the reapers past human life( even tho I know it will never happen cause its not relevant to the main story). at the end I don't see ut as a psychopath but as a person who Is utterly shattered. And it was NOT Claudia's death that made him like this but her death made it worse* in some way; and I say it again I love ur blog sm💗

Hi! You're very sweet - this message made my day.

I'm glad people seem to be resonating with my discussion of Undertaker and mental illness. Undertaker is so near and dear to my heart, he means so much to me as a character - so does o!Ciel, and it never fails to boggle my mind when people call either of them evil or a villain. Especially the traumatized 13 year old orphan - like, are we even watching the same show here lol????? Undertaker's motivations are complex, but I think you've hit the mark in calling him "utterly shattered" - he certainly isn't a psychopath. I think people underestimate what living through what he's been through would do to a perfectly well-adjusted person, let alone one who is already struggling with their mental health. I find the reapers both fascinating and heartbreaking - and I appreciate that Yana included characters like Grelle, William, Ronald, etc. They're all extremely different people who ended up committing the same final, desperate act. The idea of being punished for that is unbelievably cruel, and yet so many still label it a sin.

Don't you think it's possible we will get at least a glimpse of some of the major reapers' human lives? I'm sure hoping we will. At the very least if we don't get an extended Undertaker flashback I do intend to riot. I'll meet you on the street with a torch and pitchfork if that happens.

Thank you again for your lovely message and for reading my theories (and hopefully laughing at my memes) ❤️

[abybweisse]

I'm starting to hate undertaker after this chapter,like is he behind all of this? Doing this to innocent children just for the sake of blood? I know he is bad because of the campania and all,but this just pure evil( I really hope he is not behind this and it turns out that someone else is doing all of this)

This was also originally submitted in August of 2023 (sorry!), so it's from many chapters ago.

Behind the curtains

He and real Ciel do seem to be behind it all, as far as the orphanage is concerned, though what Sebastian says brought the place to his attention was a donor associated with the Aurora Society. I wonder who that is, though it might not matter too much right now -- it's likely someone Undertaker dupes into helping, just like with Stoker, Ada (to an extent), and Heathfield.

It's not just about blood, even though that's what we mostly expected. Now it's blood and organs... and potentially their somewhat malleable souls.

I don't call him evil. Yana-san has said Undertaker isn't the villain. I call him misguided and morally grey.