#when I have INSANE backstory for them and the institute as a whole

[perfectlypreservedpie]

MacCready Fanfiction Recs (Fallout 4)

hey everybody, nobody asked for this but in the midst of writing fallout fanfic I was feeling a special kind of love for my favorite fo4 fanfics and wanted to recommend them in case you hadn't read 'em. Because they are VERY GOOD and writing fanfic is hard, so you gotta give props to those who sweat for your comfort fics.

I'm gonna recommend my top three finished fanfics, and then two more bonus fics that are being updated rn. As a clarifier, these are all Maccready fallout 4 fics. so. keep that in mind.

im tagging the authors and also anybody who wants to join and share their favorites too!

3. THE FATHER(S) AND THE SON(S) on ao3 by @sirmanmister

I'm going to preface this rec by saying this: there is Fanon MacCready. There is canon MacCready. And then there is ascended!whatBethesdawishesitWAS MacCready, which exists solely in this fanfiction. The characterization of Mac is so well written. He is snarky, he is vulnerable. He desperately wants to grow up but doesn't know how. He has the most sick character arc in this story!!!

It's not a romance but instead a coming of age story where the sole survivor becomes a de-facto parent to Mac. The heart of the story is about how to raise a child while you're still trying to grow up yourself. The apocalypse setting lends itself well because the Wasteland is a place where NOTHING is beautiful, but the way that M!Sosu and MacCready care for their sons is beautiful. Which makes it special and worth fighting for.

As a fun fact, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy for class a week after finishing this fic and I was thinking about this fic the whole time because the themes of fatherhood during an apocalypse hit a lot of the same beats. Maybe my professor would kick me in the teeth by comparing fic to McCarthy, but @sirmanmister YOU ARE MY CORMAC MCCARTHY <3

2. WORKING CLASS HERO on ao3 by @bluegrasskitty

This is the kind of fic you take with you to toilet, to work, in-between classes. It will suck you in. AND THERE'S A SEQUEL TOO YOU GUYS‼️

The sole survivor in this story is the model for the Nuka Cola girl. You know the hot lady in the spacesuit? SHE HAS A BACKSTORY. AND YALL IT MADE ME WEEP. During some point of the story, I sort of stopped rooting for MacCready to be the narrator and just wanted Nora Cabot to take the reins. When I tell you I think of this oc every two to three business weeks. She's an incredible leading lady. I can't look at Nuka Girl posters in the game without thinking of Nora Cabot, my beloved.

the sequel IS SO FIRE. It's the best reimagining of 'what happened after the institute blew up' that I've ever read. im gnawing at the bars of my enclosure actually.

A VERY GOOD PLOT TWIST I CANNOT MENTION TO NEW READERS BUT IF YOU'VE READ IT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND. AND IF YOU UNDERSTAND DM ME I HAVE TO TALK TO SOMEBODY ABOUT IT. HHh.

The amount of world building that @bluegrasskitty puts into this story is insane. They ARE Beth Esda.

As a fun fact, I didn't know that radchickens were canon in fallout. I thought it was a plot device made up by this author to excuse the ability to make cake in this book, but radchickens ARE real. When I was playing Far Harbor last year, I found radchickens and thought that @bluegrasskitty manifested them into existence because they had that kind of power.

that being said, I still think this author has that kind of power.

1. Atom Bomb Baby on ao3 by @starlightwrites

I think you dropped something....my jaw.

fellas. fellas. this is my comfort fic. You ever had a comfort fic? Something you come back to at least once a year to reread to feel something? the fiction equivalent of chicken noodle soup? this is what Atom Bomb Baby is to me. this is peak literature actually. if I ever figure out book binding, im doing this one first.

Plot wise, it's a retelling of Fallout 4's main story through the perspective of MacCready. But (and im wheezing as I say this) it's also so much more THAN THAT.

this fic author understands that MacCready is not a womanizer but is in fact a touch starved loser. and they are CORRECT.

MacCready spends the entire fic like 'uuuhhhh I dunno about this one, boss!'

ITS BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS RAHHHHHH

it also has a nostalgia feel to me too, because reading it gives me the same feeling as what it was like to play the game for the first time, years ago. maybe it's because I've read it so many times over the years, but reading it feels so satisfying.

The author spends 10 chapters at the end solely dedicated to an epilogue. I wish more stories did this. They go through the wringer in this story, and it's so deeply satisfying to see how cleanly everything gets wrapped up. MacCready and the Lola work really well together as a couple, so it's awesome to see how they work together after the battle is done.

6 out of 5 stars.

BONUS FICS !! aka fics that are still updating! I squeal with joy when I get an ao3 email about these: 1. Best Laid Plans on ao3 by @druidgroves - Georgia Tate is an incredible character and sole survivor! She was a teacher prewar, so it's really fun to get her perspective on the world. She cares a lot about education and libraries and I find her really relatable and endearing. It's a cool thing for a character in an apocalypse to care about! It also makes for fun tension with Mac, who's written as a pragmatic survivor. A great take on familiar characters and their dynamics. - And It's a great slow burn! I'm really enjoying reading it. 2. Long Time Running on ao3 by @twosides--samecoin - If you've ever thought that Med-Tek was too convenient an option for Duncan's cure, this fic was written with you in mind. - RJ goes to Canada and im obsessed with it. - If you're interested in fallout lore, specifically the bit where the U.S annexed Canada and wished that there was more info about that, I would highly recommend this fic. Twosides--samecoin put in THE WORK. The world building they do to explain Canada's side of the Great War is so fun!!! its genuinely such a thrill to read!

I'm tagging the authors who I mentioned, if you all have favorite fics (fallout or otherwise, I'd love to hear em!) Thank you for making good art!

[a-hypnos-v]

Re-imagining of Creepypasta AU/Concept idea.

So! So! Thanks for reading- and I’m not as well-versed in creepypasta lore as I once was, but! I’ve got an idea, sure it might’ve already been done but: might as well get the idea out there.

So: a bunch of the og characters (Tobi, Jeff, Clockwork, Jack, Ben etc) and instead of…becoming murders? They get caught and sent to a sanatorium/therapy institute for teens since their not of age of criminal responsibility (I don’t know much about that stuff, sorry) and they’re all less edgy in this version I guess, re-writes of the og backstories, less bat-shit insane I guess?

They all need to spend time with each other (unwillingly) and stuff for therapy and socializing reasons when (probably) Tobi/Jack, starts trauma-dumping about all the weird slender-man shit they saw. And in this au, everyone has ties to slender. And they go on this huge paranormal conspiracy since they all went insane and killed (almost) all their family (I’ll get into that maybe another time) they were basically being semi-possessed by slender after kind encountering him in the woods.

also a bunch of other stuff I’m brainstorming as I write this: The institution they go to is one of the actually good ones instead of the crappy abusive ones. Lou, Jeff’s brother survives but doesn’t become a murderer or targeted by slender man, just has some issues with the whole “my brother tried to murder me in my sleep” but he still really cares about him.

X-virus is in this, him and Tobi meet after the authorities find out that that… well they’re basically the only family each other has anymore. Cody isn’t a murderer, and is actually sane, just has psychopathy and empathy issues to work out. His dad died in a weird lab accident and he got injured during it: and he’s also the science/maths guy of the group, like the idea, got no idea how to execute it.

Jack had a girlfriend relationship thing going on, the girl and him got caught up in a cult. He looks normal at the start of the story, also he has glasses- not really that important but the side effects of the cult stuff they did make his eyes fill up with dried blood and turn black, turn his skin blue takes place after the paranormal investigation stuff. Jeff is a severe insomniac and Somniphobic, this happens after re-accruing slender man encounters, I mean it is fucking CONSTANT, slendy’s been stalking the poor fuck since he’s been a kid. when slender can’t reach him in real life he haunts his dreams. Came up with this from the “Go to sleep” motif.

Sally is also here, she kept getting bullied by kids in other institutions so she got sent here to avoid that. Ya know cus, why would teenagers with issues even target a trauma-ridden 7 year old? Like non of them have p#dophilic issues so it was seen as the best option, also she’s not affected by all the slender man hocus pocus. I want Ben to be in this but I have no idea how to do that- also I’m not sure if I should make the proxies (masky, hoodie) part of the group or ‘traitors’ or something. Or maybe their the doctors??? Since their adults??? I thiiink?

also Jane is only lightly mentioned, she”s like a re-accruing mentioned character no one sees, just a random ex of Jeff. Their backstories kinda clash so sorry about that. Also slender man and zalgo are kinda merged together in this version, mostly slender man but there’s a bit of zalgo mixed in for flavor.

Where did all these ideas come from? No idea! Feel free to tell me what you think trough comments, or reblogs! Not sure if I’d be able to write all of this but if any of you want to: go ahead and chat me up!

[infinite-xerath]

Runeterra Retcons 9: Shaco

The time has come to discuss League’s resident killer clown… Or killer jester, I suppose. There is a difference, not that it really matters because even the lore doesn’t ACTUALLY know what Shaco is. To be frank, Shaco is a weird character because he’s NEVER had a proper place in the story, even from his conception.

Shaco’s original lore paints him as a complete and utter mystery. Nobody knows who or what he is, where he came from, or what he really wants. All anyone has ever known is that Shaco loves killing people because he thinks it’s funny. He could be a demon, a rogue weapon, or just a homicidal madman who’s really good at what he loves. That’s where his character begins and ends, so there’s really not much to actually analyze here. Shaco’s second lore attempts to give us a little more detail but all it really does is say the exact same thing with more words added in.

Of course, Shaco’s first two lores were written at a time with the Institute of War and Summoners were still canon, so after the retcon back in 2015 Riot opted to give him a new backstory to make him fit in with the new world of Runeterra. That backstory, as we can see, is ultimately little more than a placeholder. I mean, his extended bio doesn’t even match the blurb on his Champion page!

In summation: Shaco is a haunted doll who belonged to an unknown prince of an unknown kingdom and was transformed by unknown magics for unknown reasons. This backstory now feels especially redundant with the introduction of Gwen into the game, a living doll with a similar backstory albeit far less evil. To be frank: there’d be room to have some interest thematic parallels between Gwen and Shaco if Riot had written these two in such a way that they were creations of the same person or belonged to the same kid but wound up becoming wholly opposite of one-another.

For example: perhaps in an alternate version of the lore, Gwen comes to embody the childlike innocence and hope of her maker/owner and seeks to spread joy and cheer while Shaco is a corrupt and perverted manifestation of those desires who seeks only to amuse himself in the suffering of others. This, I think, would have been a fantastic way to go about it, but given that Gwen is already so heavily tied to the Shadow Isles plotline and Viego is set up to be her primary enemy, I feel like it would be kind of difficult to work Shaco into that dynamic at this point.

Besides, it’s clear that Riot DOES have plans for Shaco: namely, that they aim to retcon him into being a demon. This is somewhat evident by his champion title, the Demon Jester, as well as his relationships are listed as being Nocturne and Fiddlesticks, the demons of nightmares and fear, respectively. There’s also that branch on the demon family tree labeled “Delirium” which would fit a murderous jokester pretty well.

To be honest, I was initially hesitant to even bother doing an episode for Shaco given that Riot clearly has at least some vague idea of what to do with him, but since reworks are coming out a lot slower now and Shaco’s not even on Riot’s priority list as far as we’re aware, it’ll probably be a WHILE before we actually see them do anything with this particular concept.

So, given what we know about Riot’s current plans, the general direction of this rewrite is simple: make Shaco a demon. Admittedly, though, that’s a little easier said than done. Demons in League are creatures who feed on mortal pain and suffering, but each of them has a different way of going about it. Fiddlesticks mainly uses paranoia and trauma to drive his victims mad while Nocturne takes a more Freddy Krueger approach of just invading dreams and turning them into nightmares. Tahm Kench likes to make Faustian Bargains by giving you everything you want and then tearing it all away from you, while Evelynn lures you in with seduction and then proceeds to tear you apart piece by piece.

Every demon takes a different form and has different ways of going about things, but all of them share a core concept: they feed on suffering and misery, be it physical or emotional. That said, there’s a bit more to demons in Runeterra than just that. See, back when Fiddlesticks was released, Riot went and released what the community has dubbed the “Demon Family Tree,” which appears to be a chart displaying the hierarchy of demons and different emotions that different kinds of demons can prey on.

Now, admittedly, there’s a LOT about this chart that we don’t currently understand, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Riot doesn’t either. There’s a key that resembles the one around Zoe’s neck in the top-left, a bunch of circles in the top right we don’t know the meaning of, and a whole bunch of text written in what I think is supposed to be Old Noxian that we can’t currently decipher. There have been theories and discussions about this already, so I’m not going to get too deep into it, but the main takeaway, I think, would be the words on the chart that we CAN read: Fear, Delirium, Nightmares, Secrets, Bliss, Frenzy, and Obsession. There’s also the term “Azakana” at the bottom, though we know thanks to Yone that this basically just refers to a demon that hasn’t fully matured yet.

Tying the chart back to the demonic Champions in the game, it’s easy to piece together the connections that they each have: Fiddlesticks is fear, Nocturne is Nightmares, Raum (the demon bound to Swain) is Secrets, Evelynn is commonly believed to be Bliss, and Tahm Kench is most likely Obsession. That leaves Delirium and Frenzy untouched, which leaves us with two spots to fit Shaco into.

Now comes the hard part: the decision. Delirium refers to a state of mind in which one’s awareness of their actions or environment is significantly reduced, whereas frenzy is a sudden burst of frantic, uncontrolled emotion, typically rage or aggression. Either one of these could work well for a killer jester, but I personally think that delirium would suit Shaco better in terms of how his personality is portrayed in game. So, with that said, let’s dive deep into the realm of demonic and see what can be done to turn this cursed puppet into a proper Demon of Delirium.

It is often said that misery and comedy are but two sides of the same coin. Laughter often comes at the expense of others, and one person’s despair may be another’s delight. Most entertainers would tell you that walking the line between humor and malice is key, but to Shaco, such distinctions are a joke for which he himself is the final punchline.

The demon known as Shaco has stalked Runeterra for ages, spreading his twisted influence far and wide. There’s nothing Shaco loves more than to bring joy to those who need it most, often appearing to mortals who have experienced great loss or tragedy. Those coping with grief or misfortune may find themselves unexpectedly visited by a grinning jester, who assures that his only desire is to take away their pain with the power of laughter.

At first, Shaco’s antics are innocent enough. Some cheesy jokes to lighten the mood, some harmless pranks to lift the spirits of the downtrodden, all with an unyielding smile that one cannot help but start to imitate. Soon, those enthralled with Shaco’s antics are invited to play games with the jester to help distract from their worldly worries. Those who accept are whisked away to partake in a day of fun and merriment, playing all manner of pranks on friends, family, and even innocent bystanders.

When the games end, Shaco leaves his playmates cackling insanely in the aftermath, often surrounded by bodies and covered in blood. None laugh louder than Shaco, however, who delights in watching his playmates slowly regain their sanity and come to realize all the atrocities committed at his side. Some cry out in despair, while others break down laughing or crying harder than before. Some go mad, others are executed for their crimes, and some even opt to take their own lives. All outcomes are equally hilarious to Shaco, who soon sets out in pursuit of his next playmate.

Stories of the Mad Trickster exist all across Runeterra, often told as children’s tales to teach valuable lessons: don’t trust strangers, never give in to sadness or despair, and always be mindful to never take a joke too far. Few truly believe in Shaco’s existence, but those who fail to heed such warnings may find themselves to be his next playmate, as well as the butt of his joke…

So, this one was a bit shorter than normal, but I think it serves to get the point across. As the embodiment of delirium, I wanted to give Shaco a set-up sort of similar to Tahm Kench: he appears to offer help to those in need, only to end up ruining their lives in the long run. The difference, of course, is that Shaco lures people in to help them forget their troubles with fun and games, only to escalate to full-blown murder and mayhem.

In essence, Shaco drives others to delirium, making them believe the carnage is all just fun and games until his spell is broken and reality sets in. I’d like to think he particularly likes preying on the downtrodden because those who are suffering mental anguish already are easier for him to cast his spell on.

This is just my take on Shaco, though. Who can really say what Riot will do with him in the future? Who knows, his rework might end up even better than what I have here, but of course, anything is bound to be better than his current, non-existent lore.

[writesology]

edit: fuck it i'll just do the rest. beware of my long ass answers

5. i am caught up on jp story despite only playing en! this includes events too and i'm going feral over the current jp one

6. like four?? five?? idk i've read most of em

7. MY BEAUTIFUL BOY GROOM ACE i am a sucker for boys in suits and also this is The ridoace duo card (my brainrot is strong). it had to be mine LMAO it also helps that he's absurdly powerful and now that spell 3 is a thing in en i use him in practically every battle

8. bday riddle!! i had to get my son and this is also the first banner i went to pity for. in hindsight it was a dumb move considering how i'm only finally recovering from it now but yea tis what it is.... he looks sooo cute in his groovy tho

9. after years of playing gacha games i have become a gacha saver,, resisting temptation

10. CMONNN it has to be heartslabyul. these five silly guys give off such found family vibes they drive me insane

11. ace...??? deuce....??? ortho....????? idk i love them all they are the friend group of all time

12. riddle HAHAHDJFKSDF but beside him i think i'd have to go with jamil! he's so relatable (don't question it)

13. continuing the trend of picking relatable ones idia. or cater or malleus (please don't question it /lh)

14. despite the fact that i hate pe i would actually do flight. smth abt flying like that seems awesome

15. oh fuck i'd probably beef with vil. i splash my face w water in the morning and i turn out fine so

16. book 6 by FAR i loved that book. spent months building teams for it and then proceeded to destroy everything even w half built cards LMAO but on the relatable side book 1. when i say i bawled IN AP LANG CLASS when riddle's backstory came up

17. uhhh i wanna say groom ace. again bc smth abt that pose is just. hm. deuce's wish upon a star was nice too and so was groom idia. i have more but in the spirit of not spoiling anyone i will stick to en cards,,

18. ah fuck where to start. dorm ace, groom riddle, tsum riddle, starry deuce, fairy gala ace, fairy gala ortho. do i have more? probably

19. i play project sekai and cytus ii. i'm GREAT at them sdfjsldf

20. ooh crewel,, he's cool but so is sam. and trein for that time he [redacted] [glorious masquerade spoilers even tho we're probably getting the event soon] with his wife and also i like his cat

21. i am riddle's exact height. 160 cm i am a short ass bitch

22. i Was saving for hw silver and union riddle but then silver came home in 28 and riddle came home in 7. so ig now i'm saving for glomasq and union ace

23. will i get sent to a mental institution if i say riddle and jamil and idia and cater. yes all 4

24. board game maybe? i'm not good at sports but i've always wanted to try riding a horse,, ooh or pop music. or mountain lovers!! i love hiking (person who despises bugs)

25. HEARTSLABYULLL no question there

26. i'm stuck between ignihyde and scarabia but i'm leaning more ignihyde i think

27. GHOST MARRIAGEEEE literally wild from start to finish. idia steps out of his room ONCE and is immediately kidnapped by a ghost princess and the plan to get him back so ortho doesn't blow up the school is to seduce the fucking ghost. and as we all know everyone in nrc is queer so u can guess how that goes /hj /lh

28. lab riddle. tsum riddle. pe ace. dorm ace. groom riddle. starry deuce. fg ortho. hw cater. silk jamil. dorm floyd's surprisingly cause it's so funny. and- (i am shot for listing too many)

29. hw riddle in his bedroom!! once the hw event is over tho i'm switching it back to tsum riddle

30. personally i don't see the hype behind yuusonas and self-inserts,, to me yuu is like a whole nother person if that makes sense? even if it's inherently implied that we Are yuu idk i just don't feel it,,

that's not to say i don't appreciate them tho!! ppl who do make yuusonas are incredibly creative and talented and they're all super diverse! i love seeing em but they're not for me personally

also some of the popular ships (cough cough malleyuu) are overrated. your ship is not the only ship please let's not act like it is

also also some ppl in the fandom just have zero reading comprehension. i can get being ooc for like a comic or a fic, i mean hell i do it all the time, but sometimes ppl have such terrible takes that it makes me question whether they actually played the game or not.

and let's not get started on the toxic ppl...... we are all in this dumb little disney anime game together?? why are u being so toxic. just enjoy the silly little guys and have fun smfh

IF U READ THIS FAR,, I'M SORRY /j thank u for scrolling all the way thru my rambles i have hyperfixated on this game so long now sdkflnsdf

found this on the tl and i thought why not except twitter scares me so i'm putting it here instead

one answer per like,, let's do this (please don't let this flop. vibrating)

[dangerousyako]

i wasn't warned about critical role 125 and the incredible discussion about Beau's backstory and institutional accountability

"You know when you didnt know something was wrong until someone told you, and you just lived with it your whole life?"

i dont know how to express how emotional it made me - Beau's trauma was validated AND acted upon by the people in charge, who investigated it and dealt with the corruption without making excuses for the culprits, and then gave her the option to be involved or not in the trial

It's just so good you know? Matt and Marisha gave the topic the weight it deserved

What kills me is how Beau didnt even know what happened to her wasn't normal and that's so realistic to how abuse happens : the people who arent aware of it dont outright mention the good practices because of course it should be obvious we dont take bribes and kidnap children! but the people it happens to also dont mention it because, from their experience, that's just standard practices

It's so good that Beau mentioned to Dairon (all the way back to ep4 according to the wiki!) what to her was just an example of the Cobalt Soul being shitty and Dairon went "hm. that's not right" and instead of putting the burden of proof on Beau, investigated it offscreen (while also investigating a war!), got other people involved, and those other people also agreed with them and it all went far enough for them to arrest the Head Archivist of an entire city!!! Zeenoth's position of power within the institution did not exempt or protect him from justice!!!!!

they did the right thing and they chose self-proclaimed problem child Beau over one of their old guard

And Yudala Fon apologizes to Beau and it's fantastic because they've already arrested Zeenoth and she gets to choose whether she wants to be involved with it or ignore it, they apologize but they dont ask Beau to forgive them; in fact they dont demand anything from Beau, they dont put any more burden on her than the trauma she's already experienced; there's no threat or reckoning to Beau's status or position within the Reserve

Beau tries to crack a joke about how Zeenoth had to deal with her and that's was already a sort of punishment for him and Yudala Fon chuckles but then spells it out "You were abused by someone in power"

And of course Beau is in shock because it's so insane to have to recontextualize a whole part of your life, to have your trauma acknowledged and validated, to have someone say "What happened to you was fucked up and you didnt deserve it", when youve been dealing on your own with your trauma

[titleleaf]

3, 4, 9, 11 for "curious meat" !!!

Curious Meat @ AO3 (The Terror AMC, Cornelius Hickey/William Gibson)

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

If the crew should never return — if they never return to England, then his father will never know what has happened to him, he'll never know what his son has become. Gibson knows what his father is and what he will be; he will never be anything but a debtor and a failed husbandman, just as Gibson will never be anything greater than a lesser steward. The pair of them have brought nothing but shame to one another in all their years, father and son—

Gibson getting really into his familial feelings.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

"There were other boys, and we walked the treadmill alongside the men, and slept beside them when there were too many. There are silent prisons these days, and there are separate prisons; in those days, the New Bailey was properly neither, but a look at your fellow man would bring the screwsmen down on you like hellfire. Every prison is silent at night, and the sounds men make that fall short of speech—" [...] "—you can imagine, Billy, lying in your hammock aboard ship and hearing the groans, what I heard that first night. I heard the other boys bawling, myself all unmoved, and I thought I'd have the running of the place before the month was out."

It seems unlikely Hickey would have been directly familiar with the two dueling philosophies of prison organization in the 1830s-1840s but you try not talking about the separate and silent prison systems once you’ve read about them. I did a lot of early Victorian prison research for this fic, though I never feel good about saying that because it’d be hard to say if it ever shows in a positive way, and it’s really interesting stuff to dig into -- I don’t think I could set a whole fic in that milieu, but institutional life has a big impact on how I write and conceive of Hickey. 

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not really! I considered making the undertone of assisted suicide more explicit, in line with Hickey’s killing of Gibson in canon, but I think the kind of pathetic ambiguity in the text is a better fit.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

SAD HICKEY BACKSTORY SAD HICKEY BACKSTORY. I have insanely elaborate Hickey backstory headcanons but there is fuck-all reason for Hickey to ever share anything about himself except in extremis, and I’m always feeling the tension between my desire to have Hickey disclose juicy spicy nuggets of Hickey content to other characters and the obvious characterization reasons why he is unlikely to do that unless he’s 5 minutes away from getting ripped in half by a spirit bear.

[femalechibiblogger]

My Top 10 Most Tragic Villains

1. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Anakin Skywalker is one of the most important characters in the Star Wars franchise. In the first movie, Anakin is only mentioned and is described as being a skilled Jedi Knight, a good pilot, and was also a good friend. Even in the prequels and cartoons that came years later, Anakin is shown to be kind, caring, and determined to save those closest to him. However...no one would have expected a great Jedi and friend to become the most infamous villain in the series. Anakin’s darker feelings, such as anger and jealousy, made him vulnerable to the Dark Side of the Force. When he has visions of his pregnant wife, Padme, dying in childbirth, Anakin is determined to do anything that he can to stop his vision from coming true...including betraying his friends, killing children, and helping a Sith Lord conquer the galaxy. However, Padme still dies, and Anakin becomes the Sith Lord: Darth Vader. Anakin had lost everything...his friends, his wife, everyone...and now all he had left was Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. But for many years, Anakin was unaware that his children had survived: His son Luke, and his daughter Leia. In the end, Anakin chooses to save Luke from Palpatine, and dies knowing that his son never gave-up on him. 

Despite Darth Vader having been a villain, he is only a villain because he was deceived and tormented until he lost everything and everyone who loved and cared about him. For many years, Anakin was haunted by his past actions, and lived in great regret of what he had done. But in the end, we see that he still had some good left in him, as Palpatine could never destroy Anakin’s love for his children. 

2. Arthur Fleck/Joker (2019)

Arthur Fleck is the main character of the original DC Comics story in the movie, Joker. Arthur is shown to be a mentally ill man who suffers from uncontrollable laughter due to a brain injury, who lives with his delusional and emotionally disturbed mother. Arthur worked as a clown, but his dream was to become a comedian. However, Arthur had been mocked by many people in Gotham, which caused him to kill three men who were harassing both him and a woman on a train. Arthur’s actions cause an uproar consisting of people who are either poor, unemployed, mentally ill, or all of the above. As the story progresses, Arthur discovers from shocking truths about his life: His mother had lied about him being the illegitimate son of her former boss, billionaire Thomas Wayne... His mother was actually his adoptive mother, and that he allowed her boyfriend to abuse Arthur...abuse that had caused him his head injury which is the reason for his uncontrollable laughing. Tired of being lied to and ridiculed all his life, Arthur kills his mother, dresses up as a clown, and kills people on live television. Not only that, but the protests that Arthur had unintentionally caused resulted in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, whose murders were witnessed by their son Bruce. 

This is one of the few stories that actually features Joker’s backstory. This movie is not based off of any comics, and is therefore an original story. While Joker is one of Batman’s most dangerous villains, this may be one of the greatest portrayals of his former self. Arthur Fleck had suffered his whole life, until he snapped and would become one of the Gotham’s greatest threats.

3. Simon Petrikov/Ice King

The Ice King was the main antagonist of the cartoon, Adventure Time. Throughout the series, Ice King would attempt to kidnap princesses, especially Princess Bubblegum, and would often fight the two main protagonists: Finn and Jake. However, Ice King’s past was unexpectedly revealed in the episode, Holly Jolly Secrets. At first the episode is comedic and shows videos of Ice King’s hilarity...but it all becomes serious and sad near the end. Ice King is revealed to have once been a human named ‘Simon Petrikov’, who specialized in mysterious, supernatural artifacts. Simon had a great career, and was madly in love with his fiance: Betty. But one day, Simon found a mysterious crown buried in ice and snow. When Simon put it on his head, it gave him visions that made him act insane without him even realizing it. This drove Betty away, and Simon began to slowly change physically, emotionally, and mentally. In the end, Simon was driven completely insane and lost all memories of his past. His obsession with princesses is because he used to call Betty his ‘princess’...though he did not remember calling her that. In the series finale, Simon is freed from the crown’s power and is returned to his old self.

While Ice King was introduced as a comedic villain, and was the main antagonist for most of the series...he is still a tragic villain do to him once being a sane man with a good life, but began to lose his mind because of the crown’s magic. At least he was transformed back into his old self, in the end. 

4. Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze is one of the most famous and tragic villains in the Batman universe. Mr. Freeze is, of course, a villain who uses the cold in his crimes. But in the past, Mr. Freeze was a scientist named ‘Victor Fries’ who had a loving and caring relationship with his wife: Nora. Victor loved Nora more than anything in the world. But at some point, Nora was diagnosed with a fatal disease with not long to live. Desperate to save her, Victor had Nora cryonectically frozen in order to keep her alive until a cure for her illness was found. Unfortunately, however, the equipment malfunctioned, causing the lab to explode in ice with Victor in it. Victor survived, but the explosion caused his body to only be able to survive in extremely cold weather. Nora had also survived...but her condition was even more serious than before. Victor created a suit to help him live, and began to commit crimes so he could continue keeping his wife alive.

Mr. Freeze’s motive for his crime spree is his wife’s life. He would go to extreme lengths to save her life...even if it meant becoming a bad guy.

5. Zack Foster and Rachel Gardner

While number 5 on the list consists of a duo...Zack and Rachel make one heck of a team. Zack and Rachel are the two main characters in the anime, Angels of Death, in which all of the characters are, in fact, mentally unstable individuals who like to kill people. 

As a child, Zack had lived with his mother until her boyfriend set him on fire for his own enjoyment. While Zack survived this attack, his mother abandoned him at an illegal orphanage, where many other orphans were mistreated and starved by the couple who owned the orphanage. Zack was forced to bury the bodies of the orphans who died there, and was treated as a pet by the couple. One night, Zack watched a slasher film, which gave him the idea to stab the couple to death while they slept. Afterwards, Zack left the orphanage and was soon taken in a blind, homeless man who was the first and only person to ever show him kindness. However, the man was killed by a couple of sociopaths. Zack found out and killed them. For many years...Zack would kill people who were ‘happy’ and lied to him, thus earning him the title of a serial killer. 

Rachel had lived with her parents before the start of the series. Rachel’s father was a cop who had a drinking problem, which resulted in several fights between him and his wife. Both of them blamed each other for Rachel’s lack of emotions, but only stayed together because of Rachel. Rachel’s father saw her as an insane girl, and her mother hated her and would even beat her. One day, Rachel found a stray puppy and wanted to keep it, but her parents wouldn’t listen to her and just kept on fighting with each other. But later on, she went back to where the puppy was and it bit her. This caused Rachel to blackout, but when she came to...she saw that she had killed the dog without even remembering what she had done. She then “fixed” the puppy by sewing it back together, thus “making it her’s”. When Rachel returned home with the puppy that night, her father snapped and stabbed her mother to death. Rachel witnessed it and ran back to her room, with her father chasing after her with the knife. Rachel took out a gun that her mother had hidden from him, and shot her father in self-defense. Rachel then sewed her parents’ bodies together, as her way of “fixing” them and creating her “perfect family”. A week later, the police arrived at the house and saw Rachel with the sewed up puppy and her parents. The police thought that Rachel was a surviving victim who was in shock, and was sent to a mental institution for treatment. 

Zack and Rachel are quite complicated, as they have both protagonist and antagonist qualities. They both kill people and use each other to escape a building full of death traps and killers...but they also care and understand each other, as they have both suffered years of abuse to the point of developing murderous instincts.

6. Dr. Doofenshmirtz

Dr. Doofenshmirtz was basically the main comedic-antagonist of the cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. Doofenshmirtz is the arch nemesis of Perry the Platypus, and is always making some kind of ‘inator’ device to conquer the Tri State Area...though many of his “evil” plans backfire and are not really THAT evil. Though the reason why Doofenshmirtz is an evil genius, is because of his bad childhood. 

Both of his parents neglected him, he always lived in the shadow of his younger brother, his only friend was a balloon, no one ever came to any of his birthdays, he was forced to wear dresses after his brother was born, and he was even disowned at one point and was forced to live with ocelots. So, yeah...it’s no wonder he turned to a life on crime. 

Doofenshmirtz is quite hilarious and not very evil...but his terrible childhood makes you wonder how he hasn’t killed anyone! At least his arch nemesis and teenage daughter care about him. 

7. Denzel Crocker 

Denzel Crocker is one of the main antagonists of the cartoon, Fairly Odd Parents. Crocker is a fourth grade teacher who is obsessed with catching fairies...which makes the people around him see him as crazy. Of course, there is a reason for his obsession with fairies.

When Crocker was a child, his single mother worked two jobs and left him with an abusive babysitter. Because of this, he had fairy godparents...just like Timmy Turner. His life with his fairies was the only time in his life when he was happy. However, after Timmy went back in time and accidentally revealed that Crocker had fairies, his fairies were taken away from him and his memory was erased several times. People even forgot all of the good things that Crocker had done with his fairies, and was now hated by the townspeople. Because his memory was erased more than once, his appearance changed...but he still did not forget the existence of fairies, only forgetting that he himself had fairy godparents as a child.

Crocker’s obsession with proving the existence of fairies has caused him to become a laughing stock, to the point where he was expelled from Harvard, was denied funding for his fairy research, lost his girlfriend, and he never moved out of his childhood home. Crocker is capable of building extraordinary machines and is quite smart, but he wastes his talents on trying to prove the existence of fairies. If only Crocker had never became obsessed with fairies, he may have been able to live a normal and decent life.

8. Wellies

Wellies are the residents of Wellington Wells in the game, We Happy Few. Wellies are known to be decent citizens in Wellington Wells...but their minds and emotional states are from from decent. They kill or throw out anyone who becomes a Downer (a person who either won’t take Joy, or cannot take Joy due to having a bad reaction towards it). But their villainous characteristics are all caused by denial and drug usage. 

In an alternate timeline, England surrendered to Germany during WWII and the citizens of Wellington Wells were forced to send their under 13 children on a train to Germany. The children never returned, even after Germany lost the war, and all of the townspeople were so traumatized by what had happened that they now rely on a drug: Joy. Joy is a pill that makes people forget the past, and put them in a state of constant happiness. The Wellies are addicted to this drug, as they cannot bear to remember what had happened to the children. To make matters worse, their whole civilization is now on the verge of collapse due to many problems caused by them always being on Joy: Broken machinery, plagues caused by pollution, towns beginning to collapse due to poor maintenance, starvation due to lack of food production, and a government who cannot bear to face the reality of their situation and would rather be on Joy than solve the problem. 

Because of their reliance on Joy, Wellies are completely unaware that the town is collapsing, and would rather be in denial than face reality. 

9. Mary

Mary is the hidden antagonist in the game, Ib. At first, Mary appears to be an innocent girl who claims to be trapped in the Fabricated World like the main protagonists, Ib and Garry. However, it is revealed that Mary is actually a girl from a painting who wants to escape the Fabricated World by replacing either Ib or Gary in the real world. 

Depending on the game’s ending, Mary either replaces Ib or Garry in the real world by leaving one of them behind in the Fabricated World, or is defeated by Ib and Garry and remains trapped in the Fabricated World. 

Mary was the last painting made by the artist: Guertena. She saw him as her “father”, because she was created by him, and was devastated by his death. Mary is very lonely in the Fabricated World, and wants so desperately to exist in the real world. Mary would do anything to become real and have a friend and family of her own. Years of loneliness can make a person desperate and insane.  

10. Zombies

Zombies are always the villains in anything zombie-related. They are undead humanoids who eat human flesh, and drive survivors to do questionable things and fight for survival. 

However, there is something that some people seem to forget: Zombies used to be normal, ordinary humans who did not become zombies by choice. They were turned into zombies either because of a mysterious virus, or a nuclear weapon that mutated them into creatures of the undead. 

Zombies do not remember who they once were, and some even end up killing and eating their own loved ones without even realizing it. They have basically been ripped of their humanity and are now walking shells of their former selves.

[chucklestheechidona]

Freedom Fighters - An Unceremonious Death

For the love of god let them die

Look, I like the Freedom Fighters. More the reboot than the preboot, they have less baggage, but still, I respect what they did. But if you’ve read my other dumb things you also know I think Red Dwarf USA had a real chance of working, so maybe I’m just insane.

Either way, this whole Rally For Sally business has been going around and disturbing the usual culprits from their dens and I feel I should say something.

“The American Canon“

This is a stupid sentence and yet thrown around as you like. There is no American canon, there is just “The Canon” and “Non-canon.” Believe it or not, the people who make the product get to decide what’s done with it and what is canon.

If you made something and then in France they made an entirely different story with concepts and themes you didn’t want to explore, you’d be hesitant about including or acknowledging it. Same with Sega of Japan.

But then why did Sega allow this to be made?

Well, I think this needs a tad bit of history behind it.

We’re going to the 90′s

Denim was in, the future was here, everything in 2000′s would be chrome and the Y2k bug was on the horizon.

Ohno

But Sega of Japan had an issue. Their arcade machines were selling like nobody’s business but they wanted that sweet console piece of the pie, but had no winning mascot. Alex Kidd, unfortunately, wasn’t moving as many consoles as they had hoped, god knows not enough to rival Mario.

They needed something cool, something different, somethi- It’s Sonic. You know it is, I know it is, I ain’t dragging this on.

It did well enough in Japan, but Sega was focusing on international markets with this game. It had a somewhat universal design, helped by the basis being Felix and Mickey Mouse which were popular around the world, with catchy songs based on both Japanese and American releases from the past.

It was going to be a hit.

Or... was it?

Did they need to do more?

Well, Sega doesn’t just have Sega of Japan. It had SOE and SOA as well. Europe and America respectively. Others too I’m sure but my memory’s off.

SoA and SoJ had a somewhat shaky relationship with each other, but then again, so did other companies back then. It was a new foray into public relations. Japan built the consoles that actually sold, America had to sell them, but there was a big gap between the countries, how things were interpreted, different values, and let’s not forget, American pride and greed.

AMERICA in the 90′s

SOJ needed this thing to sell big. Sonic was going to be a global success if they could help it. And let’s be honest, it was.

America had it’s own plans on what Sonic should be, and SOJ actually listened to some of them. Madeline Schroeder, product manager at the time for Sega in the US, actually went to Japan to say what she thought Sonic would be. As of this, they removed Madonna and Sonic’s tie-in with a band, as well as changing certain design traits in the US because “Sonic looked too Japanese.“

And then had the gall to call herself the “Mother Of Sonic”

Again, in a world where shitting on other people’s culture is a big no-no, and for good reason, how that managed to be fine is insane.

It’s a Japanese fucking product, Madeline.

Alongside this, as SOA hadn’t had much access to the Japanese backstories (although, the manuals should have been fine enough), when it came to marketing the games as an ongoing story (and ready in time for the cartoons they wanted to push) SOA made their own Sonic Bible, for use outside of non-Japanese territories.

This would have the seeds of what most people know, Freedom Fighters, Eggman once being good, Sonic being part of the good fight, etc.

[Astoundingly, when they made the cartoons and everything, Fleetway would be the one to actually stick closer to this than Archie/Satam/Underground/Aosth ever did so who’s talking about canon now huh]

Japan didn’t really notice nor take heed. One could make a good case for their complete obliviousness to what SOA was doing. You can tell because absolutely nothing from the bible/comics/magazine ever appeared in a Japanese Sonic game. Spinball was Sega Technical Institute, an American Division. Not Sega of Japan.

On top of this, as I see a bunch of people who go “Sega is disrespecting the American canon”, interesting fact. In Europe and Japan, the manual for Sonic CD clearly states Amy Rose is in the game. Sega of America actually edited this to say Sally, despite not going through and changing the sprites. If that’s not disrespect towards the creators of the games I don’t know what is.

The Canon

The problem I find with this is that, let’s be honest, if we had to look at this from an objective viewpoint:

Japan released a game.

America sought to profit off it, but didn’t like it was very much Japanese, not American.

They changed the story to be more American themed, changed the art design to look more American drawn, and ignored the Japanese additions to the games by editing out the Japanese characters in the manuals.

Because they wanted to profit off a different culture’s work by changing it wholesale so it didn’t resemble the culture it came from.

Nothing about SatAm’s premise or creation says anything about the original material it came from, just heavily adapted without any input from it’s creators to resemble a more American product.

You know how Japan saw Sonic?

This cute lad who acted more like a cartoon Felix the Cat type figure.

Now I get it, especially in the 90′s, everyone was localising. The markets weren’t as much the same, god knows they gave Ratchet attack eyebrows to be appealing etc.

But this was so anti-Japanese that the fact they were profiting at all from a Japanese product is insane.

Adventure

Ha

Back in Japan in the 90′s, they didn’t really have much of an idea what they were doing with the canon. They had plans but they seemed to be not as stable as they would have liked. The amount of games they were pumping out with different Eggman attacks and characters and if the GG games fit in with the MD games-

They needed something a bit more stable.

So when it was their time for their biggest game yet, they started to reign things in. In Japan. In Europe.

In America.

Sonic Adventure would be the basis for the stories for the next decade or so, with some revisions on what came before, what was mainline, what have you.

At this point, SOA’s cartoons had all died and the only thing remaining in the Sonic canon from that time was the Archie comic, still ongoing. But yet America still pulled this stuff off.

In the original script, Eggman is still Eggman. None of this “I AM DOCTOR ROBOTNIK, GENIUS OF THE WORLD” schtick.

No changing the manuals this time at least, so they’re getting better.

Over time, the only surviving things to come out of the canon, which Sega was nice enough to do considering, was

- Chilli-dogs - I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG - Robotnik being Maria’s surname

Didn’t you have something to say about the Freedom Fighters?

Why yes I do.

So, the Freedom Fighters for me, as much as I like them as , represent an American centrism. Not only was America not a Sega dominated market, for Nintendo did better and Europe was buying Sega consoles like candy, but the characters and show weren’t that popular outside the country anyway.

Ask someone in Europe in the 90′s who Sally Acorn was and unless they had access to a specific channel they wouldn’t have the first idea. Amy Rose, for sure, she was in the games. 

I didn’t know who Sally was until Mega Collection Plus came out, and the UK STILL manages to get Sonic games in the top of the charts when they come out.

Aosth was shown more abroad with more appeal, the comics weren’t sold internationally, let alone in Japan.

To be all “But these characters cemented the Western fanbase” is mental.

The comics sold somewhere in the tens of thousands in their hey-day. At the same time, Sonic games were selling millions. The comic and show are so old that unless you were part of the 20,000 buying the comics recently or pirated them, you don’t even know who they are.

Fleetway was the only Sonic comic we got in the UK, and there’s more fans that have grown up with Sonic Adventure being the basis which had absolutely no inspiration from the Western products.

These characters are relics of America taking the mick out of a Japanese product in order to make more money and produce shows.

To say they’ve made a big impact on Sonic in the world is really stretching it.

F.A.Q

But you said you liked the FF’s!

I do, but in the same way I like AU’s. It was interesting, of it’s time and it said a lot about the culture it was made in. Like, comparable to Tails gets Trolled or Fleetway

B-but I really like the FF’s!

Good for you, don’t let me stop you. Again, I like a bunch of the stories.

Are you a Japanese purist?

Fleetway is cool and I liked the Boom show, and I liked Robotnik better than Eggman as a name.

I heard that some Japanese fans actually liked the FF’s though...

And more power to them. Again, Red Dwarf USA does a lot to shit on what made the UK version so good but I respect what it tried to do. Again, even I like the FF’s to an extent.

Why did you write this all out?

Seeing all this Rally for Sally has brought out all the insane people who shout at SOJ for being gits for not respecting the American canon despite the American canon being born from a disrespect to the Japanese creators.

What about IDW?

Ironically I actually liked Reboot more but also I was younger when I read them.

What do you think of Tangle and Whisper getting in?

I need to read more of IDW but they’re good enough. As for getting in the games, these designs were vetted and passed through SOJ first and the comic is overseen by them. On top of this, T+W don’t come from a place of SOA taking the mick.

But Sega has used these characters before and ESTABLISHED this as canon why are they changing it now-

I see this a lot, usually with certain people. Dobson’s a good example of why this is stupid. When the Japanese revert changes made to characters like Mario/Zelda/Samus by the West, they didn’t radically change their personalities, they just reset them to what Japan intended.

Japan never intended for the FF’s, the three heavily contrasting cartoons and Knuckles is Jesus Christ Superstar.

They just reverted him back to the sole guy on Angel Island.

Do you think Sally should get in to Sonic Dash?

No more than I think Tekno or Sonia does. They’re old, irrelevant, gone. If they do get brought in for a cameo I’d be happy enough, I like dumb nods to non-canon things.

However, there are crazy people out there and you give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. Best to leave it.

Hotel?

[sassytrickster666]

Fiesty : Part Two

Nothing is mine but the plot.

Please message me if you notice any mistakes! I tend to overlook ‘em sometimes. Also, probably not safe for work. Will add more chapters if anyone’s interested :3

It had been a little over a month since the whole incident. A month full of people feeling sorry for you, people thinking you were completely traumatized, people finding it weird you didn't go to the funerals of the girls that didnt like you the slightest anyaways. But also a month full of thoughts about the person that held you captive. About Hedwig, about Patricia, about Dennis of course and about the Beast. What exactly did he mean? And why did he think it necessary to taste your skin?

¨See you soon….¨ he had promised you.

In the meantime you had learnt about him having not four but twenty-four personalities! How in the world is that even possible? You had been up full nights trying to get your hands on as much information on DIS and you captor as possible.

Your captor had initially been Kevin Wendell Crumb. A man with an incredible backstory. Incredibly sad and painful that is. Hell, if you were him you´d run off to try and find some peace as well. The poor thing. If you could go back in time and save him from his faith you would.

What also happened is that he was caught! Together with the Overseer, who was trying to stop him. They were caught when fighting, and the authorities were boasting about a certain use of lighting to control him. To contain him. To force him to change personalities.

To say you were obsessed with the news after that was a bit of an understatement. More and more details were released as time passed. His dad did not leave him at all, no, he was killed in the same traincrash that ´created´ the Overseer. And the person guilty for that was the one pining him and Dunn against each other. How ironic. What a plot twist.

Oh and he´d died. Everybody died, actually. Another thing you had´nt seen coming. Is it weird to still be curious about the promise the Beast had made you? Is it weird to wonder if the other personalities knew what he´d said? Thought about things the same way as he did? So many questions and no one to answer them.

No one to ask them either. To your luck, you were forced to weekly see a psychiatrist. Police´s orders… Or whoever was in charge. You didn´t dare ask anyone honestly. Especially them. You weren´t really keen on being declared insane and spending the rest of your life in a mental institution, thank you very much.

So, all you could do was torment yourself with all these thoughts. Fantasies. Reflections. Speculations. It was all over, yet there was a little nagging voice at the back of your mind. One that did not shut up saying ´this isn´t´ over.

Once again you were mulling over your thoughts in bed. It was late in the evening. The streets were dark outside and the lights were on. People were happy again, not scared anymore since they believed all ´baddies´ were gone. Fixing your pillow for the last time and turning off your bedside lamp you got comfortable under your blankets. Hoping to fall asleep quick, so tomorrow you can start your day of overthinking and contemplating everything all over again nice and rested.

And it almost worked. Your eyes felt heavy, you felt yourself drifting off, slipping out of consciousness. When the last thing you saw before falling asleep was a shadow, a figure standing in the frame of your bedroom door. A frame you´d recognize anywhere, anytime. But how is that possible? It can´t be?

Standing there, straight up. All neat and tidy and wearing glasses.

´Hello dear (Y/N).´

[aion-rsa]

Warrior Nuns Through TV History

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

TV nunning is a broad church. Sometimes, it’s all gunfire, demon-dissolving punches and running through walls, as in Netflix’s latest comic book adaptation Warrior Nun. In that show, a mystical artifact gives a non-believing teen superpowers passed down the generations from holy sister to holy sister. Defeat the demons, protect the world, praise the Lord, and so on.

Other fictional TV nuns lead quieter, more cake-focused lives, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also fighters. You might say that like superheroes, not all warrior nuns wear capes. You’d be wrong – nuns definitely wear capes. They’re called mantles and though roomy and practical, likely represent a significant time commitment with regard to ironing.

Warrior Nun‘s superpowered teen follows in the echoey footsteps of a whole conventful of fictional TV nuns remembered here – some good, some bad, some inordinately fond of biscuits, but all, in their own way, warriors.

Sister Mary Loquacious in Good Omens (2019)

Played by: Nina Sosanya

Allegiance: Satanic nuns of the Chattering Order of St Beryl

Warrior level: Novice

Weapon of choice: Infantilising baby talk of hoofikins and widdle demonic tails

Specialism: Biscuits with pink icing

Most likely to say: ‘Fancy me holding the Antichrist! Counting his little toesy-woesies!’

Getting into heaven? Absolutely not

Demon Crowley and angel Aziraphale may have been Good Omens’ major players, but Sister Mary Loquacious kicked off the whole mess by accidentally confusing the infant Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Prince of this World and Lord of Darkness with the human child of a couple from the Oxfordshire village of Tadfield. Easily done.

Sister Agatha in Dracula (2020)

Played by: Dolly Wells

Allegiance: The Army of the Faithful, St Mary’s Convent of Budapest

Warrior level: Intellectually? Top Tier. She’s Dracula’s ‘every nightmare at once: an educated woman in a crucifix’

Weapon of choice: Wooden stakes and double-barrel wit

Specialism: Scientific rigour and one-liners

Most likely to say: ‘A house of God is it? Well that’s good, we could do with a man about the place, eh sister?’

Getting into heaven? Ja, if she cared to grace it with her presence.

Unfazed, brave, funny and intellectually curious, Dutch-born Agatha put both her faith and folklore to the test when she took on Count Dracula, meticulously gathering research on his powers and learning the rules of the beast to try to use them against him. A true scientist and quite a woman.

Sister Michael in Derry Girls (2018)

Played by: Siobhan McSweeney

Allegiance: Our Lady Immaculate College/Rawhide

Warrior level: Untested in battle but doubtless lethal

Weapon of choice: Apathy, withering sarcasm and eye-rolls

Specialism: Judo (on Fridays)

Most likely to say: ‘Sweet suffering Jehovah’

Getting into heaven? I wouldn’t be the one to stop her.

You won’t find an ounce of sentiment beneath this wimple, Sister Michael’s dry disdain for the pupils at Our Lady Immaculate is expressed only through cutting remarks and declarations of boredom. Not a fan of priests, the French, love songs or… most things, she’s an authority figure for the Derry Girls. Every so often though, like when she turned a blind eye to Erin and co. distributing their banned lesbianism-focused edition of the school magazine, she’ll surprise you.

Sister Jane Ingalls in Orange is the New Black (2013)

Played by: Beth Fowler

Allegiance: Catholicism

Warrior level: Basically nil as she’s a committed pacifist, though she does punch Gloria in the mouth at one point for PR

Weapon of choice: Civil disobedience and the Good Book

Specialism: Activism

Most likely to say: ‘I was afraid nunning was going to be boring!’

Getting into heaven? Sure

As a young novice in the 1960s, Ingalls fell in with the bad nuns and got a taste for non-violent activism. A bunch of protests and a memoir later (full points for the title: Nun Shall Pass), and the church didn’t want anything to do with her, neglecting to cover her legal fees after she handcuffed herself to a nuclear facility, landing her in Litchfield.

Sister Harriet in Hunters (2019)

Played by: Kate Mulvany

Allegiance: Anti-Nazi, Pro-Quip

Warrior level: Top level. A highly capable operative.

Weapon of choice: Gun, blowtorch, you name it

Specialism: Threats of extreme violence delivered in the voice of a Downton Abbey marchioness.

Most likely to say: ‘I will set you aflame, child’

Getting into heaven? There’s some intrigue as to her real deal but she certainly seems to be on the right side of history.

This MI6 agent/Nazi-hunting nun from Amazon Prime’s Hunters is something of a Scary Poppins. She does an excellent line in death threats and action-movie quips. She’s deadly, has a shady backstory, speaks in a cut-glass English accent and is fond of biscuits. In other words: our kind of nun.

Matron Casp in Doctor Who ‘New Earth’ (2006)

Played by: Doña Croll

Allegiance: Sisters of Plenitude

Warrior level: Merciless eugenicist

Weapon of choice: Cat claws and science

Specialism: Incinerating conscious and begging-for-help human cloning experiments without a spark of fellow-feeling.

Most likely to say: ‘Who needs arms when we have claws’

Getting into heaven? Nah. Space prison more like.

The Sisters of Plenitude, healers on New Earth, may have called their work ‘the tender application of science’ but ‘the incredibly painful application of bastard cruelty’ better sums up their human cloning farm. This order takes a lifelong vow to help and mend, but clearly not to do no harm. And their hospital doesn’t even have a shop.

Abbess Hild in The Last Kingdom (2015-)

Played by: Eva Birthistle

Allegiance: Uhtred of Bebbanburg/the Lord

Warrior level: Advanced (but retired)

Weapon of choice: Dagger

Specialism: Throwing buckets of cold water on a sleeping Uhtred and sawing through the necks of dead Danes

Most likely to say: ‘I have killed, and I will kill again I’m sure, but hopefully not today’

Getting into heaven? Big yes.

Hild’s journey in The Last Kingdom took her from nun to warrior and back again. Rescued from attack by Uhtred, Leofric and Yseult, she swore to become a fighter and more-than earned the title. Eventually, her vocation called her back to the church, where she now remains as the Abbess with whom you don’t mess.

Sister Jude in American Horror Story: Asylum

Played by: Jessica Lange

Allegiance: Catholicism and the teachings of Monseigneur Timothy Howard

Warrior level: Complicated

Weapon of choice: Forced commitment to an insane asylum,

Specialism: Guilt

Most likely to say: ‘All monsters are human’

Getting into heaven? Bad things happened under her watch but she does try to atone

The head of Briarcliff, an institution for the criminally insane, Sister Jude is a complex character with a complicated trajectory. She mistreats, but is also also gravely mistreated.

Sister Monica Joan in Call the Midwife (2012-)

Played by: Judy Parfitt

Allegiance: Raymond Nonnatus, patron saint of childbirth

Warrior level: Yoda

Weapon of choice: Forceps and fey literary quotation

Specialism: Sniffing out and emptying hidden cake tins

Most likely to say: ‘My first responsibility is to ensure the consumption of this cake’

Getting into heaven? Hundo P

AKA the best Call The Midwife nun, and an OG resident of Nonnatus House ever since the BBC One series began. Owing to her advanced years and developing dementia, Sister Monica Joan is now retired from midwifery, but in her prime there wasn’t a birth canal in Poplar that hadn’t welcomed her up to the elbow. She’s highly educated and extremely well-read with an instinctive love of beauty, poetry, cake and Doctor Who, which makes her the patron saint of all our hearts.

Sister Sybil in Camelot (2011)

Played by: Sinéad Cusack

Allegiance: Shady but ultimately loyal to Morgan

Warrior level: Witch

Weapon of choice: Dark magicks

Specialism: Child sacrifice?

Getting into heaven? Nah.

When Uther Pendragon banished his daughter Morgan in Chris Chibnall’s 2011 Camelot, she was raised in a nunnery by a sister who was no stranger to the dark arts. When Morgan (played by Eva Green) returned to claim her birthright, Sister Sybil was the one whispering poison in her ear and teaching her how to channel her powers.

Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun (1967)

Played by: Sally Field

Allegiance: El Convento San Tanco in San Juan

Warrior level: Negligible

Weapon of choice: Not so much a weapon, but her flight-enabling cornette was the big thing.

Specialism: As the title suggests, flight

Most likely to say: ‘When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, anything can fly.’

Getting into heaven? Si señor.

A creation of Tere Ríos’ book The Fifteenth Pelican, Sister Bertrille was the fresh-faced nun-next-door whose cornette combined with the Puerto Rico coastal winds allowed her to fly in the 1960s TV series. According to Sally Field’s excellent memoir In Pieces, the whole experience was more drag than take-off.

Miss Clavel in Madeline (1988-2001)

Voiced by: Judith Orban & various

Allegiance: An old house in Paris/the Catholic church

Warrior level: more sentry than prize fighter

Weapon of choice: Education! (Read: day trips to the circus)

Specialism: Waking up in the middle of the night with a nagging sense that something’s off kilter with her young schoolgirl charges, then singing a song about it.

Most likely to say: ‘Vite, vite mes petits’

Getting into heaven? Mais oui

The headteacher at Madeline’s Parisian boarding school in the Ludwig Bemelmans’ books and their various TV and film adaptations, Miss Clavel is a kindly sort. She gives her young boarding school pupils warm moral instruction and generally manages to extract Madeline from the mouth of whatever tiger she’s crawled inside that week. Not ferocious, as warriors go, but kind and dependable.

Septa Unella in Game of Thrones (2015)

Played by: Hannah Waddingham

Allegiance: The Faith of the Seven

Warrior level: High Bastard

Weapon of choice: Wooden spoon and ignominy

Specialism: Torture and bell-ringing.  

Most likely to say: ‘Confess!’  

Getting into heaven? Not in one piece she won’t after what Cersei did to her

The Geneva Convention didn’t reach the Seven Kingdoms. If it had, then the supposedly holy Septa Unella wouldn’t have beaten Cersei Lannister with a water ladle and made her drink from the floor like a dog before parading her naked to jeering crowds around the city. Not a nun to mess with, unless you’re a Lannister.

Also-Nuns

Sister Assumpta in Father Ted (1995)

Sister Boniface in Father Brown (2013)

(Briefly) Olive in Pushing Daisies (2007)

Mother Superior in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

Kassia the Byzantine nun in Vikings (2019)

Warrior Nun is available to stream now on Netflix.

The post Warrior Nuns Through TV History appeared first on Den of Geek.

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

[wandercr-arc]

SKY’S BIAS LIST.

hiya! so, i don’t know how common these bias lists are anymore, but it’s been quite awhile since i’ve done one. (probably since 2016?? damn.) but i have a lot of amazing people that i follow, and i feel like you all deserve a little recognition. now, one thing that i enjoy doing with these bias lists is to not only point out the blogs i love, but to tell you all why i do. i feel like it makes these bad boys a little more personal, and can hopefully bring a little brightness to someone’s day. so, without further ado, here’s the list: (in no particular order; i’m just going through my following list)   //   under a cut for length. apologies in advance for typos. 

@fromlandtosea   /   @longthoughtlost   ---   RIN. there’s so much i could write here. you’ve been my friend for so long, and have put up with all of my nonsense for so long. i adore laura and every other muse that you write. you bring such a different life and voice to each of your characters, and i admire your ability to come up with unique and intertwined backstories for them. i will always love all of the threads, verses, and headcanons we’ve come up with together. you have absolutely made my time in the fallout community worthwhile, and i feel so very fortunate to call you my friend. (and also that you only show slight disappointment in all the stupid stuff that i do and tell you about lol)   ♥

@betterhealing   /   @sanguinariis   /   @psychotheory   ---    i love every character that you write. you’ve been willing to write with me on all of my blogs pretty much since the day i joined the fallout rpc, and your consistent support has meant the world to me. you clearly put a lot of time, thought, and effort into your characters, and it shows in their multitude of well-developed verses, relationships, and headcanons.

@iinxsearchofxisolde   ---   we haven’t had the chance to interact much, but you and tristan are always a joy to have on my dash. i think that your choice to write a brotherhood outcast is extremely unique and interesting. they’re a faction that was kind of lost in the fray, and i love seeing your headcanons about them and how tristan fits in. he’s also a very intriguing, multi-facted character with a distinct voice, and it’s been great to watch you develop him over the past few years.

@disciplc   ---   lainey !!! we haven’t been friends for very long, but i am so glad we are. i adore all of our discussions about nisha and el, and i appreciate how supportive and kind you always are towards me. i’ve followed your nisha for a long time . . . technically . . . and i’ve always loved how you write her! hell, i always appreciate people stealing side characters from bethesda and making them their own, and you’ve truly done that with her. she’s a perfect mix of danger and softness (emphasis on the danger ;-0). 

@pinkmanipulated   /   @hydrophobiic   ---   victoria, oh my god, we have written together for what feels like ages, and your writing, art, and dedication to your muses never ceases to amaze me. i’ve already mentioned this, but seeing how you write jesse has made me actually want to watch breaking bad, which is something i thought i’d never say. (and i promise i’ll get to giving it a go eventually ;w;) i can tell how much you care about his character and how much effort you’ve put into your characterization, and i love every bit of it. it’s the same amount of pride and dedication you’ve put into all of your muses, canon or oc, and you know for a fact  that i’ll follow and interact with you on whatever blog you choose to write on.

@fictitioussouls   ---   not gonna lie, i enjoy every character you write, original or canon. i’m so glad to see you back and active on the dash again, and that you still have the same love for all of your muses + a bunch of new ones. :’)) you create such unique and detailed backstories for your original characters (emily, diana, and sophia still have my whole heart tbh), and you keep them very consistent. i also enjoy reading the threads you have with rin, and hearing about the headcanons and worlds you guys have built together! overall, i’m very happy to see you on my dash again.

@america-redefined   ---   eliana might hate having enclave blogs on the dash, but i sure don’t! :’) we haven’t interacted (yet), but i’d definitely love to. i think you do an excellent job writing nathan, and capturing the attitude and aura of the enclave with the way you’ve created him. it’s clear that he has a lot going on beneath the surface, and that you’ve put thought into what kind of character you want him to be. i really like the way you’ve brought him into the fallout 4 timeline, too, and how his life changes once he’s no longer with the enclave. (i was scrolling through your blog the other day, and saw the post about all of his goals in the enclave, and then how those all disappear within the institute and might have chuckled a bit at the “mighty have fallen” trope vibes that gave me)

@adxmortem   ---   the amount of development you’ve done for harlan is just wild to me, i’ve got to be honest. you’ve taken him in his very own, unique direction, and i really admire that! (and it also reminds me that we really need a new orleans based fallout, stat.) he has a very strong voice, and you have an incredible grasp on his character. i’ve enjoyed the threads we’ve done together, and i hope we get to write more in the future! i also very much appreciate you for the immense kindness you’ve shown me in the past when it comes to my personal life. that will always mean the world to me.  ♥

@gwinnetts   ---   oh gosh, you are such a fun and prominent addition to my dash! the funny content and interactions you bring to the dash aside, i’m in awe of the amazingly detailed write-ups you post about your muses as well as the fallout lore. like a lot of the people on this list, you are someone who puts in a lot of thought to your muses, and really brings them to life in a distinct manner. i’ve also greatly enjoyed the ooc chats we’ve had!!

@shellheadtm   ---   we haven’t had many chances to interact, but i think your portrayal of tony is top notch. you capture his voice perfectly, and like gwinnetts above, always bring funny conversations / interactions to the dash, and i think that just makes it a brighter place for everyone! you’re an insanely talented writer, and your expansion of tony’s characterization and verses is fantastic.

@primeacumen   ---   viv is one of those really amazing, multi-faceted ocs that i would highly recommend anybody follows. we haven’t interacted a ton (mostly because i’m slower than molasses), but, from what i’ve seen of her, she’s wonderful. fandomless ocs often don’t get the love they deserve, so i want you to know that i see you and viv, and i am here supporting you 100%. people take for granted the amount of work that goes into building an oc for multiple verses, and it’s obvious you’ve done that work for her.

@not-completely-human   ---   i honestly knew nothing about alita when i first followed your blog; i just knew that you were a friendly and lovely person who i was willing to write with, and so here i am! i enjoy all of our threads together (and i will def enjoy the ones that my slow self needs to write starters for lol). i enjoy how you write alita, and the enthusiasm that you have for her. your writing has a nice flow, is easy to read, and i love all the little details and background you fit into it. and, you, of course, are such a nice person to talk to, and i’m very glad we follow each other!

@remnantrecruit   ---   another enclave oc for eliana to despise and me to love! we haven’t written together in awhile (which we should totally try and change soon :’0), but i enjoy seeing abner on my dashboard as much as i did when we first followed each other! enclave ocs are so rare as it is, but abner really stands out as a character even without that. his background is so sad but good. i also just appreciate your interaction with my posts, irl and character related. (your comment on my post when i was anxious about doing something dumb when i was driving still means a lot to me. it’s always nice to be reminded that we’re all human and capable of doing stupid things with two ton moving contraptions.)

@persistentflower   ---   what is there to say except i love violet ,,,, neutral karma lone wanderers are pretty rare in my experience, and i think you do a good job of capturing what it means for violet to be that. she and eliana contrast well, and i love their relationship, and how they support each other, no matter what verse we write in. (and the fact that we’ve essentially created a mini self-contained verse for our muses). i enjoy our chats ooc, too, and i look forward to us writing and interacting more !!

@miss-moreno   ---   we haven’t gotten to flesh out kay and eliana’s friendship, yet, but i see so much potential for them in what we’ve got going so far. kay has the sort of spirit that eliana loves, and i’m so excited to see where our threads take the two of them! in general, i like how you write kay, and how her life pre-war seems to haunt her quite a bit, and also how she knows she’s playing double agent for the railroad pretty early on. 

@ninesis   ---   i’ve seen quite a few portrayals of rk900, but yours is definitely one of my favorites! i like that your nines is very job-oriented, but still soft and sociable and overall just a Good Boy. he comes across as very likeable, and you write him as a consistent and well thought out portrayal!

@intelligentmiinds   ---   i love all of your blogs, but since this is your main atm, this is where you’re getting love. :’)) bailey, i enjoy each of your characterizations. you bring a unique and accurate voice to each one. based on what i’ve seen from your ooc posts lately, i know you’ve been going through some rough times, and i hope you know that you are so important ! and loved ! and even if people are shitty and don’t understand you, you always have people who care about you, too. (and i hope you can get your ferret soon! small animals are the best. i have two bunnies and can vouch for them. :’)) )

@contrariian   ---   i have been lucky enough to interact with two of your muses so far, but you should know that i adore what i’ve seen of all your muses. you write such a wide array of characters, and each of them has a personality that comes across in how you write them. your writing style is so gorgeous and nice to read, too. 10/10 would interact whenever

@vocaliist   ---   i followed you on your previous blog for magnolia and the one you had for des, and what continues to knock me off my feet about all of your blogs is your style. i always admire people who can write in a way that is somewhat poetic and very pretty without making it impossible to understand, and you do just that. plus, who doesn’t love magnolia?? i look forward to writing with you some more!

@synthesan   ---   i’ve already jumped into your ims to yell about how cute ode is, but here i am again, anyway. we haven’t followed each other for long, but gosh i love what i’ve read from you and ode so far. i’m a sucker for synth ocs, and she’s such a fun one with an amazing backstory. you are also so great to talk to ooc, and i hope we can yell about our muses and videogames more in the future :’))

@synthmama   ---   okay, i can’t lie, your blog is one of those that i admired from afar for a long time because i was a bit intimidated by it. not in a bad way, but in a ‘holy cow this person is an amazing writer and creator’ kinda way. you and quinn have been around for a long time, and you’ve grown her character a lot in that span. it’s so cool to see how you fit her into other universes, and how she interacts with the fallout world. institute sole survivors are also very seldom seen around here, and so i appreciate that quinn took that route, and that you had her do it in a way that doesn’t entirely conflict with her morals. 

@neomacaught   ---   you are absolutely one of the sweetest muns i’ve ever interacted with, tbh. your enthusiasm for threads and the wellbeing of your fellow roleplayers is such a lovely thing to see on my dash!! and neoma is such a cute character. i think she and el’s interactions have just been incredible. i like that she’s a bit awkward, yet very straight-forward, and that she upholds high morals. she fits in with el pretty damn well, and i think they’ll be very good friends!! plus, i can tell that you’ve put a lot of work into neoma purely by taking a peek at your blog; you have so many verses and ideas for her. she definitely deserves a lot of love

@voiceofmany   ---   we haven’t followed each other for very long (or interacted, which is my bad for being slow to talk to people about threads lol), but i wanted to mention you on here, regardless. i honestly am not familiar with a whole lot of your muses, but the way you right them, and your writing style, tends to draw my eye so much that i often find myself reading through your threads as i scroll the dash. the way you change dialogue to fit your characters is pretty damn great, and it’s always obvious you’re writing for/in a different voice for each of them

@theirsalvation   ---   we also haven’t followed each other for very long, but i enjoy the content that i see from your blog!! you have a wide range of muses that all come across as very different and distinct in the way that they’re written. when i read your reply from josh this morning, i was awed by how well you captured his voice and mannerisms, tbh. so, yeah, i hope we can interact a bit more sometime soon!! B)

[catvicddlm]

Grenetine D’Chessur

(Riku: So, yeah, as this blog deputy, it’s my job to introduce this girls to their respective fandom... Sorry for those who may find me unbearable, but this is how the blog works. Anyway, since D’Chessur here is the one who has the most complete paperwork, she’ll be first)

Name: Grenetine Dioica D'Chessur Manjary (though she mostly goes by Grenetine D’Chessur)

(Riku: Thankfully)

Name Meaning: Grenetine comes from grenetina (Gelatin). Dioica is meant to be the Pimenta dioica (Allspice).  Manjary= Mangiare (Italian)= Eat.

(Riku: What does D’Chessur stand for?)

(Grenetine: I thought it was obvious)

(Riku: Well, no)

(Grenetine: Then we’ll leave it for them to investigate!)

Nicknames: 

Greenie (family and Dahlia)

My Lady (Jolly and servants)

Strawberry Shortcake (Mudira)

Heartslabyul's Little Duchess or the Little Duchess (Reappina, Suha and several others)

(Riku: How original...)

(Grenetine: In my defense, you don’t get to chose how others nickname you)

Twisted from: The Duchess (Alice in Wonderland)

Affiliations:

D’Chessur family

Manjary family

Lilyaceae family

Night Raven Collage

Heartslabyul Dorm

Dormitory: Heartslabyul

Year: 2nd

Age: 17

Birthday: October 6th

Likes: Sweet treats, savoury foods, literature: poetry, novels, etc, puns, puzzles, getting references.

Dislikes: Bland foods, the noble court, people messing with her things, open endings, being called pig, being mocked for the curse.

Hobbies: Reading (especially mystery), writing in her diary, baking, playing the violin and the piano, gardening, anti-stalking: learning about other persons routine to avoid them (guess why)

(Riku: You need more original hobbies)

(Grenetine: And do you have better hobbies?)

(Riku: Touche)

Occupation:

Student

Competition judge (informal)

County heiress

Personality: 

Most of the time she’s a calm person that tries to be polite as much as she can. Truth be told, most of the time she comes off as rude. This is because most people only deal with her in class wich is...not the best. Grenetine is the type of person that thinks that is crucial for one to make things by themselves. So she not only rathers to work alone but also doesn’t offers a lot of help. She also is the type that takes very seriously responsabilities and duties... and she will always insist on them. She has a really strong determination. Always keeping a regal like posture.

The only exception is if she notices that the others are hopeless, in wich she’ll be more sweeter and helpful. Right now she has a soft spot for the “poor things” that are the Heartslabyul first years.

Those who talk to her outside academic situations see a different side: a more laidback girl who likes to have really long talks about anything. Some are even surprised of how easily she can change the topics. They also notice how she overanalyzes everything and how much she mutters. She’s a much more curious person and is willing to more things. This doesn’t mean she’ll do anything, she quickly realises when they are trying to take advantage of her.

Again, this is not easy to reach, so many consider appeal to the “duchess” as a last resort. This plus her cute looks gained her certain fame.

Alligment: Lawful Neutral

Skills:

Disappearance and appearance.

Hide presence and amplify presence.

Stunner spells.

Transformation spells.

Weapon summoning: The Pepper Grinder. This weapon has two forms: a hidden form that looks like a key and the other, the true form, a pepper grinder shaped gun. It also has three modes:

Non-lethal: the target weakens phisically but the proyectiles don’t actually harm them (they do hurt though)

Magic piercer: affects only to magical manifestations (force fields, magic levels, enchanted objects, etc). Magical beings can be harmed.

Lethal: self explanatory. Acts like a normal weapon but magical.

(Riku: I just checked a picture of this...You have a fucking machine gun?!)

(Grenetine: It is not a machine gun)

(Riku: It looks like a machine gun, it behaves like a machine gun, IT’S A FUCKING MACHINE GUN! How are you even allowed to summon this?!)

(Grenetine: A lady has her secrets)

Backstory: 

Grenetine was born as the second child from the duke D'Chessur and a noble lady from the infamous Manjary family. They have curse wich would turn them into pigs at some point of their life. Grenetine and her siblings knew from an early age what was coming for them as a lot of nobles excluded them, sometimes outright mocked, for “ruining” their family. She was the biggest target as she was the one that more resembled their mother (and also was very fat). 

Out of all her siblings, she was also the one that showed more magical potencial and more learning capacity. She was a very lonely child so she spent the time reading and developing a more analytical mind. 

One day, her grandmother, the last of the Lilyaceae line, decided to educate her to make her the heir to her county. During this time, Grenetine got fed up of the humilliations and decided to end the curse that ruined her life. 

She, along with her father, spent years finding several clues of the curse’s origins. Then, they discovered that all of them lead to Night Raven College. So when she recived an invitation from the institution, she didn’t think it twice.

Theme song: “Fairytale”- Alexander Rybak

Relationships within the dormitory:

Riddle: It’s complicated. He doesn’t like her very much due her noble status, but at the same time, he kinda wants the approval of an actual noble. He’s also annoyed by the fact that she spends zero time at the dorm yet somehow became quite popular. On the other hand, she avoids him as much as she can. She thinks he hates her guts and it reminds her too much to the court at home. Still tries to please him, she has better thing to do than to face the leader’s wrath.

Ace: Not friends but not total strangers. He likes her better when she’s sweet and willing to help, especially on school problems. She thinks he’s quite likable but doesn’t trust him too much. They usually have long conversations.

Deuce: Similar to Ace’s. They do bond a lot more due their similar interests. He’s impressed by her and is very curious about the whole curse investigation. She also prefers her on her sweeter side but understands and respects her work mood. This is why Grenetine prefers him a little more over Ace.

Trey: Just like the rest of the dorm, Grenetine trusts Trey as a deputy. Surprisingly, he seems to prefer her more serious side, as she’s one of the few that can get work done right. However, they do clash a lot, mostly due to her “stay out of the dorm troubles” policy. He’s one of the responsable to drag her back.

Cater: Also complicated. Cater likes to tease her everytime he gets the chance, wich she dislikes. Nevertheless, they actually enjoy each other company, as they surprisingly discuss more mature themes. Grenetine considers their interactions as necessary break. She allows herself to be sarcastic and intentionally rude with him. Along with Trey, Cater is the other responsable for bringing her back.

Jolly: Her cat companion, her family adopted him along with his siblings when Grenetine found the abandoned as kittens. Jolly is more than a mere pet for her, is a dear friend. She’ll constantly demand respect for him. She’s one of the few people who Jolly likes to talk to as she likes to listen him.

Relationships outside the dormitory:

Dahlia (another OC): They are bests friends. They met due to a similar interest in flowers and haven’t separated since then. Dahlia is one of the few who can influence her and usually dissuades her from her more unhealthy habits. Grenetine is one of the few who knows Dahlia’s complete backstory.

Idia: Even less than acquaintances. Since she’s friends with Dahlia, she has spent a lot of time at Ignihyde. He kinda reminds her of her older brother in personality. He thinks she talks too much but sometimes makes very interesting questions.

Chausiku (another OC): Not really friends but they get along and hang a lot together. Chausiku likes that Grenetine isn’t a princess like girl or a rich spoiled brat. Grenetine admires her determination but doesn’t share her goals. She also kinda wishes to have Chausiku’s imposing presence.

Ruggie: They have a relationship totally based on favors (Grenetine pays him to do some simple jobs for her, usually in form of either money or baked pastries). On ocasions, they have worked together to keep order. They interact mostly through Chausiku. Ruggie is actually disgusted of how insanely rich her family is, but doesn’t reject being paid. She thinks he’s competent enough and a little greedy but doesn’t blame him for that.

The Tension Quartet (again, OCs): Grenetine serves as some kind of judge for them. This often translates to keep them out of trouble. Even though they hang a lot, she mostly keeps herself professional.

(Riku: Take a shot for everytime “one of the...” appears.)

Phrase: "You can't spend a day doing nothing! There's always something to do"

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Noid

In the annals of history, there are few villains as twisted, depraved, and evil as the Noid. The Noid is almost more than a simple villain when you really stop to think about it; the Noid is representative of the cruel, uncaring fate, crushing failure, disaster, and worst of all, the ruination of a perfectly good pizza. Could there be anything more terrifying?

Frankly it was only a matter of time before I covered the Noid. From his sickening modus operandi to his utterly nightmarish design to the fact his name sounds extremely similar to “void,” it’s only natural I would want to cover what is easily the most compelling and fascinating villain in all of fiction. Looking at the Noid will make you wonder: Did the Russo Bros. get  inspiration for Thanos from him? Did Geroge Lucas try to write Vader’s backstory to mimic the Noid’s downfall? Is the Noid the inspiration for Lisa from The Room? 

Perhaps these questions and more will be answered beneath the cut, but make sure you are eprepared, for the Noid is a villain unlike any other.

Actor: The Noid was given his distinctive voice and look from actor Pons Marr, who was the suit performer for Theodore Rex among many other interesting roles and puppeteering jobs in 80s films. There was truly no better man than the one who had to stand beside Whoopi Goldberg in a dinosaur suit to voice the manifestation of evil.

Motivation/Goals: As the physical embodiment of all the challenges in getting a pizza in thirty minutes or less, the Noid has one of the most heinous motivations of all time: to prevent your pizza from arriving hot and fresh. There really are few villains so vile and depraved as to try and deprive people of the joys of fresh food, so the Noid truly stands out among the serial killers, dictators, supervillains, and psychopaths I’ve previously analyzed as a truly despicable being. I mean, it’s one thing to commit numerous war crimes, raze entire countries, blow up planets, and commit genocide; it’s another thing entirely to ruin someone’s PIZZA! 

Personality: Considering the above description, it should be obvious that his personality and goal are intertwined. The Noid exists solely to ruin your meal, and so his personality is cold, cruel, and grating to reflect that. He truly is the avatar of ruination, the embodiment of your worst fears for your takeout, the scion of doomed dinners. And everything he does, he does with a sinister cackle.

Final Fate: So this is actually the interesting part of the story, as there are numerous factors that played into the eventual demise of the Noid. The first factor is the decline of the “30 minutes or its free” guarantee, which was eventually changed to three dollars; many drivers would drive recklessly to avoid having to hand out free food, and so death and injury resulted on a few occasions. Lawsuits came in, and so the “30 minutes or its free” was soon discarded, and the Noid, as the physical embodiment of that honor, received his first major blow.

On January 30th, 1989, the second factor came into play: Kenneth Lamar Noid, a mentally ill man who thought the Noid ads were targeting and mocking him specifically. Noid held a domino’s hostage for five hours, demanding money, a getaway car, and a copy of The Widow’s Son, and even forcing the hostages to make him pizza and a salad; eventually he was captured with no one injured. Police Chief Reed Miller was quoted as saying “He’s paranoid” in regards to Noid, seizing on one of the greatest opportunities a man was ever given. 

Noid was declared not guilty by reason of insanity in court, and spent time in institutions before finally killing himself in 1995. Though the company has denied this incident has anything to do with the Noid vanishing from advertising, this is blow number two in my book, because let’s be honest here, there’s no way they could easily live down that connection in the mind’s of the general public.

And as for blow three? Adam West killed him. Truly Mr. West was the greatest hero America ever saw if he could defeat such a monster with nothing but his bare hands.

While the Noid has had a few cameos in Domino ads in recent times, he is certainly not quite as prominent as he once was in their advertising.

Best Scene: Adam West killing him, obviously. Not only is such a menace finally being put down so satisfying to watch, but it’s classic Family Guy funny moments material (as anything related to Adam West on that show was, he was consistently good).

Of course, if you really want to go with the official Noid canon, you can really just pick and choose any of his commercials. All of them have very similar structures, and all feature ethe Noid’s cartoonish brand of mildly inconveniencing supervillainy. They’re all 30 seconds or less, so I’ll cheat and lump them all together.

Best Quote: After that one-two punch with Adam West winning the day, let’s give the quote to him: “Perhaps it was the Noid who should’ve avoided me.” Not only is it absolutely badass, especially coming from the mouth of a former Batman, it’s kinda a given I’d give it to someone who could talk seeing as the Noid is a babbling, voiceless weirdo. I mean, unless you really want me to say the best quote is “[incoherent Noid giggle].”

Final Thoughts & Score: I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that this is an April Fool’s joke; the Noid is a pizza mascot from the 80s, for crying out loud! What is there even to analyze here? Well, actually, you’d be surprised. While the Noid himself is a pretty stereotypical mascot character, he did have something of a cultural impact, not to mention there’s no denying that something animated by Will Vinton’s studio has to carry some sort of charm to it.

The most interesting aspect of the Noid is probably his downfall more than anything, especially since he took down the “30 minutes or it’s free” notion with him. That whole guarantee in the first place is easily one of the most disturbing and soul-crushing capitalist society guarantees imaginable, and considering it could only lead to rushed work on everyone’s part to accomplish and disappointment all around no matter the outcome, it’s shocking it stuck around for such a long time as it is. It’s really not all too shocking the Noid vanished after that went away. And while the company has said otherwise, it’s hard not to believe the whole incident with Mr. Noid actually did lead to the character being absent from advertising for decades.

But all controversy and downfalls aside, the Noid is a cute, weird, quirky mascot character through and through, and even with all the joking aside, a malevolent little gremlin who exists solely to ensure your pizza is ruined is kind of amusing as far as incredibly petty villains go. I have to say I have a soft spot for this weird little guy.

The Noid earns himself a nifty 6/10, which is three fourths of your average pizza, which is pretty cool. I really can’t justify any lower because his history is too fascinating and it’s not that he’s awful or anything, but I also can’t justify higher because, well… he’s an advertising mascot with very little personality to speak of.

While I think it is utterly bizarre that such a character was used to advertise pizza, his quirky design combined with the downright strange history to the character really help make him an interesting figure. His cartoonish antics in the commercials only help endear me a bit more to him; he has an old-school Looney Tunes vibe to him. I kinda wish Dominos would bring him back, especially in a day and age where mascots seem to be less important. I think the world would appreciate some more Noid zaniness.

[karpear-blog]

Beyond The Black Rainbow, 2010

Release Date: May 18, 2012 (USA)

Director: Panos Cosmatos

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWF0bBKhe6o&t=1s&frags=pl%2Cwn

Beyond the Black Rainbow, also known as the worst film to ever watch while tripping on any type of hallucinogens, will go down as one of the strangest, yet insanely visually stimulating movies of the 10s. It’s safe to say that this sci-fi horror film did not fall short in regards to its genre, as it is filled with science and an amped up perspective on the normal level of unnerving horror. To this day Beyond The Black Rainbow is either hated or strangely loved by its viewers. After reading this review you will soon understand why...

Based on the strange and unsettling time period that the year 1983 fell under, Beyond the Black Rainbow is a film based off of the feeling of having completely no control over your senses. From the characters themselves experiencing this traumatic feeling of being held hostage in the most literal sense. As the protagonist, Elena, finds herself being held captive by the young protege of Dr. Arboria, Barry Nyle. A charming, yet psychotic scientist who has been keeping Elena under his constraints due to her psychic abilities. A power in which Dr. Nyle has the power of controlling with a glowing prismatic device. 

In an effort to understand Elena and her powers, Dr. Nyle conducts daily therapy sessions while she is either heavily sedated or on the fine line of being so. Furthering his knowledge on her telekineses in order to use her abilities for himself, as he frequently subjects them onto others throughout the movie, Ultimately leading to most of their demise. 

It is within the middle portion of the film that emphasizes Elena’s desire to escape Dr. Nyles firm grasp. Other advances such as the reasoning behind Dr. Nyle being the psycho that he is are also displayed. The backstory behind Nyle being as posessive as he is over Elena lies within his own journey towards reaching what his mentor, Dr. Arboria’s, main goal was for his institute... transcendence. In order to reach this level of superiority Arboria had put Nyle  through a procedure that would in a sense open his third eye. 

It is within this flashback that the truth comes to the forefront and all things begin to finally make sense. Given that the whole reason Elena is stuck under Nyle’s control is due to her father actually being Dr. Arboria, and she too had succumb to the same procedure Nyle had gone through. Making them connected, yet at the same time making her the one with the stronger powers given how young she was when this all went down. 

From this point on the overall theme of the movie takes a very dark turn and is then based around hallucinations, unearthly looking creatures, Dr. Nyle being one of them. 

However, Elena eventually ends up being able to finally escape out of the institute that up until then was the only thing she knew. It wasn't long before Nyle would come chasing after her, just to meet his own downfall, as Elena is finally able to break through his control and use them for her own benefit. Which could only be Nyle’s monotonous death. 

Overall this movie was filled with disturbing visuals, along with eerie scenes that could keep the mind up for days on end. Although the plot was slowly developed thanks to the lack of dialogue at the very beginning, the end result was still in fact shocking and worth the watch. I can assure you that I have never experienced a movie such as Beyond The Black Rainbow.

Some of the overall themes depicted can be subjective for the viewer. However, the ones dually noted are the social control mechanisms, internal controls, and the effect of religion has on our perspective on society. Given that the film expressed deep interest in making sure that the viewer felt uncomfortable while having no control over what they might have thought to happen next within each and every scene, as well as what horrifying imagery they’d see next. Along with the constant repression and lack of control one could feel while sympathizing with the protagonist, Elena.

[giffingthingsss]

Obligatory Chucky Movie Ranking

Based mainly on what I genuinely enjoyed the first time/what I would watch again. 

Also keep in mind that this is 30 years after the fact. I have no nostalgia connected to anything. Was not afraid of Chucky as a kid. Didn’t know anything about any of this. And I’m not a horror movie buff in general. 

This is a list that will likely be an abomination to some. But oh well. 

1. Cult of Chucky

The first one I saw, and was genuinely surprised to find that I enjoyed.

The one I keep going back to just because I find it so... pretty. It’s like a painting on the wall I randomly found and just keep going back to and staring at. 

I also liked that this is the tying together of all these threads from the whole series. And that it sets up infinite possibilities for the future. I walked into the movie expecting to think it was stupid, and afterward I immediately needed a sequel.

2. Child’s Play 2

I struggled between Curse and 2, because I would be more likely to watch Curse again, because I really do like the full story of Nica. But I definitely thought 2 was the best one of the first three. 

I enjoyed the character of Kyle. I felt like it moved along pretty well. And the end scene was hilariously weird. Who on earth sets up their doll factory like that? lol

3. Curse of Chucky

This movie is kind of a mixed bag for me. But I love how when you watch it a second time, you start seeing how all these little throwaway lines actually play into this Charles Lee Ray backstory.

The loss of the father. The mental health of the mother. Nica’s everyday life in a wheelchair. The relationship between the sisters. All of it has a long Chucky-shaped shadow cast over it in a way that you don’t realize until the end, and don’t fully appreciate until you watch it again.

Every aspect of Nica’s life has been saturated by this insane psychopath.

Also dat soundtrack.

4. Bride of Chucky (the first half)

I liked human Tiffany. I can’t say I liked any of the other humans in the movie. And once she died, I kind of lost interest, tbh. 

5. Seed of Chucky

Believe it or not. 

I knew going in that this movie was insane. It made me laugh. There were like three things I didn’t like. But I saw it as mainly a quest to regain Human Tiffany, and I was totally on board with that. Also Jennifer Tilly mercilessly poking fun at herself was fun.

Not a fan of the Glen doll though. I don’t mind Glen as a concept, and I definitely appreciate the multiple Pyscho references, but eesh. I was relieved when they transferred into people in the end. I can deal with the humans.

6. Child’s Play

There were things about this movie that I liked, especially the scene where Andy is in the institution afraid that Chucky will come kill him. I totally believed that kid thought he was gonna die. 

I also liked the beginning with Brad Dourif, just cuz he’s super fun. And the end where the burned up doll kept coming. 

But overall, honestly, I was bored. It’s just not my usual kind of movie. 

But don’t feel bad, original movie. With the exception of a few scenes, I wasn’t crazy about the first Psycho either.

Psycho II is my bag. 

7. Child’s Play 3

I didn’t dislike this movie. It had some moments/scenes that I liked and might skip to and rewatch on their own. But I can’t really see myself watching the whole movie again. It was just one movie too many of the same basic plot.

Update: So I revisited this some time later, and my ranking still mostly holds. I don’t get into all the specifics of my issues with the last two, mostly because I have no desire to ruin them for the people who love them. But, I switched the ranking of the last two after further consideration. Yes, I originally said I was probably least likely to care to rewatch the first one. Hence the anathema. I know, I know. But I’ve changed my mind and it moved up a slot. So yay. 

[mamasgonecrazy]

Mental Illness and the Monster You Don’t Want

Hello Internet! 

I want to talk about something serious today. I guess that is no surprise coming from me, but I do think it is a very important subject to talk about. As many people can become triggered easily, I will give a trigger warning. I really hope however that you can take a moment to prepare yourself, and continue to read, because this is important. This post will talk about a tragic murder that happened 9 years ago, and about mental illness. 

Back in 2008 a tragic incident occurred in Canada. While riding a Greyhound Bus, 22 year old Tim McLean was tragically murdered by 40 year old Vince Li. The young man was stabbed multiple times while frightened passengers fled the bus. Li then continued to behead Tim, and started to consume parts of his body. Many were witnesses to this, including some RCMP officers who would later suffer from PTSD due to the horrifying nature of what they saw. The whole country mourned for the young man, and our hearts went out to his family.  During the time of the trial, Li was seen by psychiatrists, and pleaded insanity. His mental health was brought to the foreground, and it was revealed that Li suffers from extremely bad schizophrenia. He was unmedicated at the time and had no supports in place to help him cope with his condition. At the time of the killing, he had heard “The Voice of God” who told him that the young man beside him was a force of evil who was about to execute him. Fearing for his life, Li committed the heinous actions that ended Tim’s life. He was declared NCR (not criminally responsible) and sent to a mental institution, where he spent the next 9 years. During his time there, as he continued to work on his mental health, he was slowly granted more and more allowances, until very recently when he was released all together- being granted Absolute Discharge. 

Now, that is the backstory for anyone who hasn’t heard any of this in the news. Since his release there have been countless people on social media who are outraged. They call Li (who now goes by Will Baker) a monster, danger to society, and call for him to be locked up for life. I have even seen some people who call for his execution (because you know, we totally believe in Capital Punishment in Canada). I would like to take a moment to state on record that I am not talking about my personal feelings over the murder of Tim. It was tragic, and that fact is indisputable. By writing this post, I am not trying to insult any friends or family, and I am not trying to disrespect this young soul. I am simply going to talk about mental illness, and rehabilitation. I am talking about the present, and not the past incident.  Recently social media celebrated Let’s Talk Day, in which most people identified themselves as an ally to those who suffer from mental illnesses. Some even identified as someone who personally has a mental illness. However, from the comments I have read recently, they should have identified as an ally to people who have illnesses that are not super scary but enemies to those who are scary.

Schizophrenia is as important of a mental health issue to acknowledge as depression and anxiety. It is categorized as abnormal social behaviour, and a failure to understand what is or is not real. Suffers could have false beliefs, unclear thinking, and even see or hear voices that others do not. With the inability to tell that this voices are not real, they believe in them, and experience them as reality. It is not a “curable” condition, however can be managed through means of medication and therapy. At the time Vince Li was not on medication and was not seeking therapy. He was living life with this horrible condition and experienced everything around him as completely real. To him, God spoke to him and warned him that he was about to be hurt. That conversation happened to him as much as the conversation you had with the cashier at the grocery store happened to you. Once he was hospitalized, and started understanding and working on his mental disorder, he understood what he had done was wrong. But more than that, he felt remorse. He even begged to die, because it was so hard to live with the act that he committed. With doctors help, he has worked himself to a point where he understands what needs to be done to stay safe. Now, let’s look at a couple of the legal mumbo-jumbo that we need to understand here. First, NCR. Here is what the Canadian Criminal Code has to say about NCR. “No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing that it was wrong.” It does not take away responsibility from the guilty party, but rather lessens the responsibility if they were not in a healthy enough state of mind. Someone with schizophrenia as extreme as Li’s was not mentally capable of understanding that he was committing a crime at the time that he committed it. He did not go free either, but was locked away for almost 10 years.  Next, Absolute Discharge. To receive a discharge from a crime, there are a large number of criteria that must be met. It is not a decision that is taken lightly, and is only done in cases where it is deemed appropriate to do so. In the case of Li, he was rehabilitated and released (which has nothing to do with the Absolute Discharge), however with the criminal record over his head would find life impossible to continue. Now, many people would say “Justice!” for his life not being easy, but remember that he did not ask for this mental condition, he showed remorse for what he had done, and he spent 9 years rehabilitating himself.  “Well, no one can force him to take his medication now!” Yes, that is true, however it also doesn’t mean that he will stop taking it, or stop working with doctors. All that it means is that he no longer has to deal with the legal system in regards to this crime. I would like to draw a parallel about the issue of taking medication. I am on a very large amount of anti-depressants at the moment. The last time that I was off of them, I decided that I was going to take a pill every time that my boyfriend-at-the-time insulted me, because I couldn’t live with the way he was making me feel about myself. I was close to killing myself. Since getting medicated, I have realized that all of that was my mental illness talking. The medication helps me not want to harm or kill myself (or others), but without it I am in danger. I do not want to be in danger, therefore I will keep taking my pills. It is really that simple, and can be that simple for Will Baker (fka Li). He doesn’t want to hurt people. The last time he was not on medication he killed someone. Therefore, he will stay on his pills.  The last thing that I want to talk about is the difference between “justice” “vengeance” and the ability to rehabilitate people. Justice, from a legal standpoint is defined as “n. 1) fairness. 2) moral rightness. 3) a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/ her/its due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal.” The system did actually give Vince Li his “due”. He was declared NCR (by the system), spent 9 years in a rehabilitation centre (by the system), and was deemed to be no longer a threat to society (by the system). So when you scream for “justice”, justice was actually served.  Vengeance is the word you are actually looking for here. First, it is worth noting that vengeance does not have a legal definition. So we will look at the standard definition: “noun1.infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge:But have you the right to vengeance?2.an act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble: to take one's vengeance. 3.the desire for revenge: a man full of vengeance.4.Obsolete. hurt; injury.5.Obsolete. curse; imprecation.” The desire for revenge. It is understandable for the family members of Tim to seek vengeance, however the rest of us citizens have no right to do so. Once we start seeking out or committing acts of vengeance we are really no better than the criminals themselves, and are in fact trying to live in an anarchy.

Our current legal system works to rehabilitate people. It is why there is a system of parole. Funnily enough, had Li not been deemed NCR, he would have been sent to jail for 2nd degree murder; in Canada that means life in prison with chance of parole between 7-25 years. Parole is granted based on a number of conditions, including chance to reoffend. Li’s doctors have released him based on the collected agreement that he is extremely unlikely to reoffend. So, he could have been released sooner if the “justice” system that people call for worked in their favour. 

TL:DR time: Unless you have a medical degree and have worked with Li for a long enough time that you know his condition, how it affects him, and his chances to reoffend, you do not have the authority to speak about whether or not “justice” has been served with his release. You also cannot claim to be an ally to people with mental conditions, and then treat someone the way that you are all treating him. He committed a terrible crime, but was suffering from a terrible illness that he did not ask to have. He has worked towards rehabilitation, and deserves the chance to live a life, however filled with remorse it is, as a mentally healthy man. 

Please, think before you judge. Research before you get angry. Think about how all aspects of this case are affected. Be an ally to everyone who suffers from any condition, regardless of the stigma attached to it. And until next time, stay crazy <3 

PS: Some of my sources for this post are listed below.  https://web.archive.org/web/20150716091637/

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca:80/eng/acts/C-46/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs397/en/

https://web.archive.org/web/20080810005604/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080805.wbus06/BNStory/National/home

http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1086

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Canada