#while we were reading the play I was able to naturally draw comparisons between characters and situations

[spineless-lobster]

I miss creative writing in english class I don’t wanna write a fucking comparative paragraph about existentialism in two damn near unrelated pieces of media I want to write about silly little guys doing things

[improbabledreams900]

Maybe it’s because I read Murderbot at the same time I’m watching Star Trek TNG, but there are some fascinating comparisons to be made about the nature of personhood re: Data and Murderbot.

Both Data and Murderbot begin their stories legally classified as equipment. Data is considered an asset of Starfleet's and is able to be seized by a random scientist interested in running a (deadly) experiment on him. Murderbot is rented out by its company to clients, who often shoot it for fun and torture it with no repercussions, because it is considered property.

Data wins his personhood in a court case where Picard & co. argue on his behalf. Murderbot has to be effectively bought out of slavery by its human friends, but even in their liberal-minded system, it has to have a human guardian (owner).

During Data’s court case, Picard makes an argument that, when you think about it, humans are just organic computers. At a fundamental level, what difference is there between neurons and logic gates? And that wonderfully fuzzy area is where Data and Murderbot sit: not human, but perhaps still people. Where do you draw the line of personhood in relation to machine intelligence?

Exhibit A: The impossible distinction between instinct, habit, and programming. Murderbot has stock phrases loaded into its buffer that it says when it’s too busy to properly respond—how is that different from humans responding “on autopilot” to customer questions? (we even use a computer term to describe it!) Data justifies his ability to be friends with the Enterprise crew because he simply spends time with them and his visual sensors get used to them being there and miss them when they’re gone.

Exhibit B: The role of emotion, and the impossibility of an outsider to determine what another being feels. Murderbot feels plenty of emotions, most of which it hates experiencing, and even low-level bots in the series have enough emotional capacity to feel worried or relieved. Meanwhile, Data denies the ability to feel any emotion. Yet he says he is incapable of love while naming his daughter “beloved” and doting on her. He romances a woman by writing a custom program tailored for her, bringing her flowers, and spending time with her. He denies feeling anxiety while nervously tapping his fingers. Even if these behaviors were programmed, how does that make them any different from humans “faking it til they make it”? How is the performance of love different from love itself—especially where aromantic characters are involved? How can Data know that he feels no emotion, except because outside individuals have told him so?

Going back to neurons and logic gates, on a larger level there are still so many direct analogues between human and machine functions. Murderbot’s performance reliability drops and involuntary restarts are equivalent to a human passing out. Data can be turned off, which does much the same thing. We use the word “sleep” to describe a suspended computer, like we suspend our own consciousnesses. A computer that’s restarted, like a human who’s had a nap, performs better. Both can be overwhelmed by too many tasks. Both perform functions and communicate, and Murderbot and Data can even create and adapt! Murderbot can creatively hack any system it encounters, and Data paints and plays the violin in his spare time.

The biggest difference between Data and Murderbot is that Data wants to be human, and Murderbot wants to be itself. In that regard, Murderbot is more like Spock, who suffered the presence of annoyingly emotional humans but never believed that there was anything wrong with him for being different.

The biggest similarity between Data and Murderbot is that they are fundamentally kinder than other sci-fi robots, which tend towards world domination. And consider why that might be. Statistically, most humans don’t want world domination, and androids and constructs are human creations. Is it so much of a stretch of the imagination to think we would create robots that are a reflection of ourselves? Humanity, who famously packbonds with anything it encounters, from roombas to Percy the Mars rover. In the Murderbot series, the crew of the Perihelion call it Peri, and Peri loves them to pieces. Murderbot, after some soul-searching and trauma recovery, realizes it just wants to hang out with its friends. Data becomes a Starfleet officer because Starfleet officers were the ones who saved/discovered him, and he wants to be able to help others the way he was helped.

Murderous sci-fi robots are a reflection of the idea of humanity as fundamentally violent, but Data and Murderbot reflect the full spectrum of human nature—from Data's grief over losing Tasha to Murderbot's desire for alone time to watch its favorite media—and that is what makes them fundamentally people.

[tiramisiyu]

Thoughts on Xia Yan’s Anniversary/Kiss Date

Not a translation, but rather an unleashing of the many thoughts I had for his date because it made me feel so many emotions and think so many things;;

Wordcount: 2.8k

Date Translation

Preamble

Tears of Themis’ 1st anniversary features one of the most significant in-story events you can view within an otome game - the confession event between MC and respective male leads. The gravity of this confession event, however, is intensified with respect to the ML Xia Yan, as their emotions towards each other is not the only focus of said confession - he must also reveal the heartbreaking truth that his life is likely to end in three years. 

In the below sections, I will discuss the significance of various components that comprise Xia Yan’s anniversary date. My primary focuses will be on Xia Yan’s internal struggles, his care for MC, and the nature of the confession, and I aim to ultimately express why this date had such a major effect on me and whoa if you’re still reading this rambling part, I applaud you. I’m really just doing a fancy thoughtdump here.

The Nature of the Confession Event

From the beginning, XY never intended for the confession to be full of pomp and circumstance - and this was out of concern for MC, fearing that she would be too swept up in emotion to make it. Based on how the other guys’ cards look (them being outside and MC’s all dressed up), I assume that there was some ceremony-like aspect to their respective confessions, and I think that this draws a stark contrast to XY’s (who staunchly refused Yang Xiao’s offer to help make his confession just as ceremonial). In XY’s, MC’s not dressed up the way she is for the others, and both have been drenched in rain and are dissolving into tears of sadness as they speak. In addition, their desires are conflicting (rather than a situation where both parties confess and get together, and thus have coinciding interests) - despite what XY has said before, he does not want MC to be with him, while MC wants the exact opposite. It’s not a beautiful or gorgeous scene by design - instead, it’s very raw, very 狼狈 as the two lay bare their own painful emotions, discuss/cry about heavy topics, and show very vulnerable sides to each other, trying to get through to the other person. 

Speaking of showing vulnerability, the fact that Xia Yan is so anguished by what he has to say that he has to sit down and cry hits particularly hard because he has always, always tried to put on a strong face in front of MC. Whenever his illness strikes and MC sees it, such as in aquarium date or Neruda poem date, he’ll smile and/or joke about it after. When the two were talking about his posthumous letters during the RRG date, he still had a calm smile on his face. Even when he talked about being shoved into a car trunk to be “disposed of”, he was still calmly smiling. As MC noted, his job has taught him to have extreme control over his emotions, so it’s almost overwhelming, trying to imagine how much sadness pushed him to that point.

Pathetic fallacy also plays a part in increasing the impact that the confession event had. In the days leading up to the last part of the date, storms keep striking suddenly, such that it’s even described as “strange”. Storms are, of course, generally associated with less-pleasant things, such as conflict, anger, depression, difficulty, and so on. The meaning behind why they appeared suddenly or frequently is a little harder to understand, but my assumption for the frequency of the storms (rather than an ongoing storm or gloom) reflects how things could not completely “clear up” (despite uplifts in emotion from time to time) until they confronted each other with their feelings. During the confrontation, not only is the storm still going on, but they’re also harshly drenched in the cold rainwater. It is only after the kiss, after their interests finally coincide, that the storm lifts and the beautiful starry sky casts its light on Xia Yan, who was holding the majority of the conflict/sadness/depression between the two of them. (This is also highlighted in how MC notes that Xia Yan feels slightly cold (during the kiss), and she tries to transfer her warmth over to him, trying to alleviate that heavy emotion that’s wrapped itself around him.) 

The Location

The attic of their old home remains an important location for these two, and I pretty much can’t think of a better choice to set the confession. It contains their childhood memories, and it also came into play during Xia Yan’s first birthday after his return (i.e. the idea of continuing to make memories there). It’s also interesting to note that Xia Yan, from his rational mindset, did not intend to see MC… yet he still came to this place - a place that was equally meaningful to both of them, and a place where he’s likely to get lost in emotion. He may be restraining his emotions for MC’s good, yet they still show in small places. (At least, there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason for him to be there, since he wasn’t setting anything up there…)

The Humanizing and Internal Conflict of Xia Yan

I call it “humanizing” because I’ve done some commenting before on how Xia Yan has felt a little superhuman - so many skills everywhere, and rarely a moment of weakness. Now, this date really drives home that he is just human too, with the harsh reality of imminent death hanging over him (especially since we also learn a few more concrete details on exactly what his illness is). This point is brought into attention when he talks about how he’s neither able to be as brave as Schumann (who acted based on emotion) nor as silently strong as Brahms (who acted based on reason). He’s pulled in so many directions for all the things he wants - a desire to stay by MC’s side and do so much with her, whether as family or as something more, versus his rational mindset that tells him to not see her at all, to disappear from her life after, or to push her away even after her confession. There was also his “rationally” created plan in which he would give her the letter and let her decide, yet he still tries to convince her to not be with him. 

The Schumann/Brahms comparison shows how he keeps getting pulled back and forth between reason and emotion. He reveals his feelings to MC (Schumann), but wants her to make the optimal decision, which he believes is to not be with him (Brahms). He then kisses her after hearing her conviction (Schumann) and then gives her the gift that’s linked to Brahms. In realizing that he’s not able to stick to either path, he calls himself a coward - but he doesn’t need to be like either person. As MC says, his restraint is a part of his own background, and his emotional wavering is because of his care for MC - all in all, his motivations are because he is Xia Yan, not Schumann or Brahms. 

Personal Story Chapter 2 Parallels

In Xia Yan’s personal chapter 2, Yang Xiao sets up the story of 零/Zero and 玛丽薇莎/Marivisa to mirror MC and Xia Yan (respectively). The mention of what will bring Zero and MC happiness is starkly similar in these two situations:

⊳ Personal Ch.2-9

Xia Yan: 因为...这样，零会更幸福... 她不是在牺牲，她只是用自己的方式让零能幸福。Because this way, Zero would be happier… She wasn’t sacrificing herself. She was only using her own methods to make Zero happy.

MC: 但零的幸福就是她啊。But Zero’s happiness is her.

Xia Yan: 她已经无法给零幸福了。 It’s already impossible for her to give Zero happiness.

⊳ Date

Xia Yan: 如果你选择别的男人。。。只要他能给你幸福。我只会带给你不幸，我没有时间了。。。If you choose another man… As long as he can make you happy. All I can bring you is unhappiness. I don’t have much time left…

MC: 你怎么可能带给我不幸，你怎么可能做不到给我幸福。你在我身边，你的存在本身，就是我的幸福。How is it possible that you can only bring me unhappiness? How is it impossible for you to bring me happiness? You being by my side – your very existence – is my happiness. 

Yes, the Zero/Marivisa story was intentionally made to parallel these two, so it might feel moot to compare them like this. However, I still really appreciated that they brought this discussion of what brings MC/Zero happiness back, especially since XY’s chapter 2 was very major in developing his character. Back then, MC is vehement in that Zero would have been happier spending all the time he could with Marivisa, as well as even having the choice to spend that time with her. I think that this part was instrumental in Xia Yan eventually deciding to tell her the truth and letting her make her own decision (as he explicitly stated to Yang Xiao in part 1 of the date). However, he still wasn’t fully convinced by what MC said back in chapter 2, so we satisfyingly see this discussion of happiness come full circle by the end of this date, when Xia Yan finally trusts MC to make the best decision for herself. 

Xia Yan’s Considerateness

Xia Yan’s enduring consideration for MC displays itself in nearly every single action within this date. 

The flashback, when he thinks about MC potentially having to go through what the widow is now experiencing, and how his own happiness for three years isn’t worth that

His conviction to give her the right to decide in this matter that involves both of them, because he can’t be the one to decide everything

He insisted on not making it a romantic event, because he wants MC to make the best decision without having a mind clouded by emotion. He’s also made peace with the idea of not being with MC, for the sake of her long-term happiness. All he wants is for her to know the truth of his feelings and illness.

His decision to still make MC a gift to retain some aspect of the romance in the confession (but he only gives the gift after MC has made her decision, again to ensure that her mind isn’t clouded). I think the concept of the gift is particularly beautiful - the little, happy holograms of them inside the glass, as if ensuring that he will always be by her side in some way; the music that brings back their childhood memories and alludes to an enduring, quiet, and protecting love that puts the recipient first (i.e. Brahms to Clara); and the rainbow, which has its childhood memories and treasure implications that are already mentioned in the date, but it also reminded me of the miraculous double rainbow in his Lost Gold date. That double rainbow was the trigger for Xia Yan to proactively seek out a future with MC, when he took the initiative to ask MC if she could be with him to seek out more miracles. Overall, there are a lot of beautiful memories and implications wrapped up in that music box/snowglobe. 

The little comical segment where he worries about the optimal time to deliver the letter, worrying about MC’s sleep or if she’ll be able to eat well.

His stress over what he should’ve done after the letter was delivered, and how he immediately answered MC’s call out of pure worry, despite being so resolute about not answering her calls that he’d turned on airplane mode before. 

Their ensuing discussion in part 3 is just full of Xia Yan’s consideration for MC at its peak - 

Rather than being ecstatic about MC’s confession, his first instinct is to tell her to take a few days to think about it logically. (But really, emotions aren’t logical to begin with, so it’s not like MC would’ve stopped liking you after mulling it over for a few days, haha)

His immediate apology after yelling that he has to mention his death

His worry about how MC will cope after he’s gone, going so far as to saying that she would be better off with another man 

I think that this particular (above) line got a particularly visceral reaction from Xia Yan fans, including myself. Because like MC, our initial thoughts fell along the lines of “How could I ever choose someone else when the only person I like is you? There’s just no way someone else could make me happier…”. Another reaction that I’ve seen among Xia Yan fans (yep, including myself) is how we originally viewed the story in third-person, seeing “MC” in the story, but this date (and this particular scene, where MC says nearly everything that I myself would want to say) dragged us into a first-person position. 

The heartbreaking scene where Xia Yan cries from being unable to give MC the happiness that he wants to give her (or so he thinks). 

He’s just so painfully selfless. I also really like the line during the kiss where MC tries to transmit her warmth to him, trying to balance things out between them and have him feel better, when he had already written himself off by thinking that his happiness is better off sacrificed for hers. 

Jin Xian’s Voice Acting

Jin Xian’s voice acting deserves a whole section to itself, because I think that he did an amazing job of portraying the intense emotions Xia Yan feels during the date. Just going to list some lines that really hit hard - both because of the content, and because of the voice acting that really considered how Xia Yan would be feeling then. 

我可以去追她，我甚至可以和她结婚。我可以把最后的三年过得很好，过的毫无遗憾，但是然后呢？她一个人要怎么办。。。谁陪她走出来，谁来照顾她。。。(“I could pursue her. I could even marry her. I could live my last three years happily, without the slightest of regrets. But what about after? How will she cope on her own… Who will be with her as she handles this? Who will take care of her…”) The ups and downs of this section’s voicing really hit hard.

The gentleness with which he speaks about what he plans to tell MC, especially the line 她从来都是这样 (“She’s always been like that.”)

He’s so cute in Part 2!! The tone’s a lot happier and relaxed and it’s really nice to see and hear. 

In part 3, the vehemence with which he talks about how the risks of MC’s work aren’t comparable to his established time limit, which then softens into something sadder when he talks about how Yang Xiao’s efforts haven’t extended his time by much. 

The intensity when he says 我必须说 ! (“I have to say it!”) (when MC reacts to him using the word “death”), and how he immediately softens his tone after. But then his voice starts to rise again as he worries for how MC will bear his death… and then he takes a break to calm down, and then makes the suggestion of MC finding another man with a near-inflectionless tone that gradually slips into a whisper

His whispering voice makes the impact of 我在乎。。。！(I care…!) hit even harder because it’s suddenly loud, and you can clearly hear the tears in his voice. Once again, he takes a breath to calm himself down and quiet his voice. But even as he keeps talking in a voice that descends into a whisper again, you can tell that he’s still on the verge of crying…

Also the 我也。。。好喜欢，最喜欢你. (I also… like you. I like you the most) line left me screaming with how it was whispered but really strong and adamant-sounding aaaaa

Anyways I could list more but at that point I might as well list Jin Xian’s entire script lmao. He did such a good job!!!!!! 

Sound Effects 

I’m laughing at myself for including this section - if you turn off the music that accompanies Xia Yan’s card, you’ll… hear some very interesting sound effects [狗头]

They’ve got to make the most of their limited time together, after all, and this is the only date out of the set of four that’s indoors… it makes sense…

Other Thoughts 

Two kisses!!

What sort of treatment would leave Xia Yan infected with drugs with prohibited components? What were they even trying to do? 

The date was short relative to the other, super-long Themis dates, but I’m personally alright with that because it places focus on the confession itself. It hit all the points that I personally was expecting for Xia Yan’s confession, including his past struggles with the idea of staying with MC, his confession about both his feelings and his illness, and how resolute MC is about staying with him vs. how hard he tries to get her to understand the implications of being him, considering that he doesn’t have much time left. 

I think now’s a good time for the two of them to get married if they’re well aware that Xia Yan’s time is limited, so Xia Yan, where’s the ruby ring? 

I wonder what implications this will have on the main story - e.g. will the rest of NXX find out about Xia Yan’s illness in Chapter 7.2? Or will they never know? Actually, I wonder if they’ll have MC be aware of his illness in the main story because… that implies his confession happened, which might anger fans of the other boys. 

Conclusion

I love Xia Yan and I love this date. 

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review ch (76 & 77)

So, I decided to read the manga mainly in search for a more natural balanced female presentation than the idealistic, shallower, savior depiction of tohru in the anime.

I’m intentionally skipping all the chapters of her as a (mother figure) in yuki’s life & won’t read them or even visit them for comparison with the anime. I love yuki’s growth story & the unique depiction of his platonic relationship with tohru, but if his mother-tohru phase was a drink, then the anime has force fed it to me till it came from my nose! So, for yuki, I’ll be reading his growth past-his mother confession.

I’ve consulted my lovely manga readers friends & thy recommended starting from ch 90 since the content in that chapter was completely cut! but some recommended checking kyoto chapters first since they contain a nice glimpse of the author’s style & artistic vision. Kyoto ep in the anime isn’t focused on “mom-tohru” so, i like the idea! I’ll jump to ch 90 right after ch 77.

- Subtle growth of a woman ( Clash of visions & presentation between the manga’s “ Loosing the wallet with mom’s photo vs the anime’s fractured photo frame):

I really love the underlined connotation of tohru loosing her “mom” unknowingly! In the anime, this scene played without any reference to kyoko & tohru’s attachment to her. We saw tohru the teenage girl confused as she experience romantic love for the first time. Nothing more than that. But the manga says “ Main female MC is way deeper than a (mom-figure) or a (girl in love), In this panel, tohru chases after kyo & unknowingly looses her famous wallet containing her mom’s picture. Here’s what this subtly indicates:

 Normally, tohru would notice right away that her wallet is missing, here she never even notice until kyo suggest they hang out together. Subtly indicating that tohru is moving further & further from her phase of “ an afraid, grieving, abandoned child clinging to her mom”.

Normally, tohru would panic, say “ mom is missing” & everyone around her goes into search mode to make tohru at ease (hiro’s ep). Here once she notices, she says “ my wallet is missing” & kyo relaxed & laughingly gives her her wallet back. While he goes to bring the wallet, tohru instead of thinking “ oh nearly lost mom!” is musing over the fact that “it’s strange that kyo can make me happy or sad with one word only”. Subtly indicating that tohru is replacing her mom with kyo as part of growing up from the child she was to the woman she will be.

Tohru calling kyo “mysterious”, subtly explains that tohru is in the uncertain phase of understanding her feelings as a woman & hence, pave the path for upcoming trauma exploration & psychological depth.

The entire scene in the manga is depicted to convey different layers: romance, upcoming growth, & unexplored traumatic issues of abandonment, grief, & human weakness. “ Accepting human Weakness & change” IS the manga’s vision.

In the anime, the fractured picture worked simply becuz no issues of any traumatic experiences with tohru were ever hinted. Nothing abt tohru being a young woman moving away from a traumatic childhood was ever implied beside the weakly sharply cut & forgotten few scenes of her mysteriously going “ im okay” while remembering her dad’s shrine. Was there ever anything abt replacing her mom with kyo? Nope!. Was there anything abt tohru reluctance of loving kyo? Nope! to fix that, let’s shock the audience with empty photo frame! It’ll make the viewers confused & if we play the climax right & give tohru a tearjerker speech confronting akito, all is good. It worked in the anime as it served the purpose it was created for: shock value & drama. ppl bought it. But in the long run, it cemented tohru as the “savior angel” never the “ weak human”. But not many will have issues with that. Having yuki with his impressive story of growth & kyo with his shocking story of pain is enough to distract from the rest. The director must think: What does the audience want?

a woman who’d save the prince with her motherly care?“ Done!”.

a woman who’d love the monster? “ Done !”. 

a woman who has her own deep story? no one will miss that~ skip!

-Yuki’s next stage of growth: Friends:

I like how smoother the scene played here. Yes, yuki thinks back to his gratitude to tohru, but it plays subtly & more emphasis is on his friendship with kakeru. No added scene of him waving back to tohru after kakeru which brought the focus back to mom-tohru again. No. Here is way less shoved in your throat. Yuki says how he felt in the moment, moved on to the next stage, thought abt his life & choives, moved on to school. Clear lines that makes yuki more dynamic & way less “ living in his head” character.

Side Notes:

The manga’s art is pretty but expressive! I was afraid it’ll have that weird eyes bigger than the moon & too much sparkles & bubbles like the usual old shojo manga art!

Yuki is way more expressive than the anime & less pretty & sparkly! I welcome this with flowers & songs! lol.

Tohru has “low” pigtails instead of the child-like high pigtails! YES! it is crazy that this trivial change adds so much to tohru’s presentation to the viewers’ eyes. In real life no big deal but in an artistic medium such choices send subliminal messages to viewers minds, that’s why artists spend a lot of time choosing their characters default appearance. It means a lot for the character’s overall path & sends messages. High child-like pigtails: make her look like innocent & naive child since viewers usually associate such hair do with children & toddlers. Low pigtails: are cute girly style that we associate with teenagers & young adult women, it’s practical & cute.

Kyo’s looks as youthful & handsome as the anime but less angry, annoyed & more versatile in his expression! It always bothered me that the anime just go with kyo’s default frowned face, hands in pocket looks unless he should express a key emotion. Also, kyo without an undershirt in his uniform! interesting change from the anime.

I missed kyo’s two buddies! T_T. Why they weren’t in the anime’s finale.. could’ve at least put them in the underwhelming graduation ceremony ~

I really appreciate that yuki’s fanclub are one page, less annoying.

That awkward moment when a manga panel drawn by one person can depict a crowded city more than an anime with a huge team. Like the anime didn’t even need to zoom out for a huge wide shot that showcase its weakness in depicting a crowded city. If you can’t draw that, just zoom in to lessen the effect of emptiness. kyoto isn't a deserted area especially not during a school trip!

The teachers checking on the sneaking vs sleeping students scene is a welcoming sight! XDDD

Hana met kakeru before? saw him & tohru together? weird!!

Kakeru is more focused on tohru here.

I really love the photos taken for everybody. It indicates real good time! Hana eating, yuki around girls, arisa annoyed, kyo teased with playing card: did the play “rich man poor man” again? XD

I’m starting to love yuki more in the manga than the anime!

Kyo having short inner thought abt not being able to tell tohru a girl confessed to him & deciding to say “ none of ur business” is doing wonders to the scene!!! it makes him less mean to tohru & more balanced character. I mean I guessed so in the anime, but what could've prevented making the VA say this short line of inner thought?! Yuki’s VA says essays & essays in nearly every ep abt nearly every character?!.

I liked the way kyo held tohru’s hands when he turned to her, the way he held her hand in the anime is a bit weird. lol. Also, in this scene, tender gentle kyo is so well-done both in the anime & manga. The manga wins for the zoom in & focus on emotions, tho.

Next is chapter 90!

[pi-cat000]

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (4)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters:  Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START  / PREV / NEXT

Doctor Wada makes an unscheduled appearance the same morning. Kakashi has the doctor’s schedule memorised and knows the man usually spends his first work hour in his office before checking in with various patients. The change is not unexpected.

“Ms Iori finished her rounds, marked everything as normal and handed the ward off without incident.” Wada and one of the floor’s morning shift nurses talk, voices lowered, too quiet for a regular person to pick up.

“It was called in around 4:15 am. We confirmed it as a burst blood vessel behind his quirked-eye, but we don’t know what triggered it. Without examining the eye itself it is hard to draw any definite conclusions. Since we don’t know what his quirk does, we didn’t want to risk staff safety without a specialist on hand.”

“Nothing else? No other symptoms?” Wada asks.

“No external bleeding. No signs of irritation around the eye socket. Clear, coherent verbal responses from the patient. Vitals are stable.  The dressings on the eye were changed yesterday, and nothing was flagged then either.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Depressed at the thought of what amounted to a forced long-term infiltration mission, Kakashi’s attention drifts away from the hushed conversation. Kakashi has never been assigned to any extended infiltrations. Long, tedious things that they were. Jōnin were usually too valuable to waste on them. Even before he had made jōnin, his skillset lent itself to tracking, assassination, ambush and one on one combat not undercover assignments. It was just his luck -or maybe it was karma-that he had been shunted into one. Three years of ‘mingling’ amongst these soft-acting civilians, waiting to build enough chakra for an attempt at a technique he wasn’t even sure would work. It was enough to make even the most battle-hardened shinobi depressed. 

Maybe he should run off and hide somewhere. He would skulk around for three years avoiding the locals. Less of a hassle that way. Kakashi lets out a weary breath.

“See if you can bump up that MRI. We need to make sure this isn’t anything serious,” Wada’s voice breaks through his musing as the doctor starts in the direction of Kakashi’s bed. The nurse he is talking with nods and leaves.

“Well, you have certainly had an eventful night,” Wada greats when he draws near, leaning in to visually scan Kakashi, “Let’s see what we have going on. Can you close your left eye for me so I can unwrap it?”

 He habitually pushes down his natural discomfort at having a stranger close to his sharingan as the doctor reaches to tilt Kakashi’s head to the side for better access. If he was going to be stuck here then he should maintain his complacent, harmless persona. At least, until he leaves the hospital. Besides, if they had wanted to hurt him, they would have done it while he was unconscious.

“No swelling around your quirked-eye and the bleeding has stopped, that’s a good sign. We’ll run a few tests and get to bottom of this, not to worry.”

“Yeah. About that,” Kakashi rubs the back of his head to look sheepish and apologetic, “I might have tested out my, eh, quirk. You know…I wanted to see what it would do…”

There is a beat of silence, the older man drawing away, too surprised to respond.

“I think it lets me memorise things it sees?” Kakashi continues. Even if he wasn’t 100% sure about what he would do next, he is not about to abandon his shaky amnesia cover story.

“Of all the reckless, irresponsible decisions!” the doctor snaps out of his surprise moving straight into anger, “I expressly told you to wait and not to mess with it. You had no idea what sort of quirk it was! What if you had injured someone or yourself.” The concern seems pretty genuine and Kakashi almost feels bad for manipulating him.

“Young people these days…honestly. No patience.”

Young? It had been a while since anyone has called him that. Kakashi is practically ancient by shinobi standards. The response prompts a semi mournful, almost amused sigh from him, “I know, I know. I just wanted some sort of clue as to how I got here.”

The doctor takes a frustrated breath, calming “Yes. I know it’s frustrating, being restless and hold up in this bed for three straight weeks, but there is a procedure to these things. You got lucky that the only side effect was a burst blood vessel. Next time you want to test your quirk we’ll make sure it is in a controlled environment with an expert on hand. I don’t care if you have some sort of passive regeneration, quirks can be dangerous. The hospital has offsite testing facilities for a reason.”

“Yes. I understand. I won’t do it again,” he says dutifully and gets a huff of disbelief and a head shake.

“You better not.”

A pause.

“So.”

“So?” Kakashi raises a brow.

“So what did you discover? Explain it to me again.” Wada motions, impatient, repositioning a nearby chair so he can sit comfortably beside the bed.  

“It lets me remember things…” Kakashi had given a lot of thought to what he wanted his fake ‘quirk’ to do without giving too much away, “I’m pretty sure I remember anything it looks at perfectly.”

A somewhat true explanation, in that recoding information and prefect recall was one facet of the sharingan; a side effect of its primary function which was to copy ninjustu and taijustu. The explanation also played into the diagnosis Wada had already written into his medical files, making it more believable.

“Then, lucky for you, something good came of your reckless behaviour.”

Kakashi just smiles which elicits the beginnings of another lecture. “Not that you should ever take quirk safety lightly. Quirk licenses exist for a reason. People can’t go about throwing their quirks around willynilly. A licence, I might add, that you don’t have.”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

After witnessing several televised reports on police arresting people for quirk misuse Kakashi knows the people here, for whatever reason, are leery when it comes to using their abilities. To the point where they actively outlaw it. He is banking on Wada being sympathetic enough not to push the matter.  

Wada sighs again, “I’ll write it up as accidental use this time. Now. If your quirk lets you remember everything perfectly then what about your past memories. Any change on that front?”

“No. Still gone.”

“I see. That might mean the part of the brain linked to its memorisation function was damaged, disrupting the memories stored by the quirk,” Wada rubs his chin thoughtfully, “We’ll have to run a few more tests…a lot easier now that we know what it does I suppose.” Good. That was the conclusion he wanted Wada to come to.

“Alright, before we get to testing, were there any other side effects. Aches, pains, fatigue?”

Even as the man asks, he is pulling out a familiar penlight to shine in Kakashi’s regular eye.

“No. Nothing.”

What follows is his standard check-up routine. His vitals are recorded, his head checked over, the area around his sharingan examined thoroughly. Again. Well, as thoroughly as it could be examined without uncovering it. Next is an inspection of the chest wound he now knows is from Obito alongside a glance over his shoulder, arm and leg. Wada nods to himself as he goes, signalling that all is well.

“Your blood pressure is a little high for my liking. I’m guessing you didn’t sleep much last night what with how you were messing around with your quirk. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight,” Wada instructs as he fits Kakashi with a padded eyepatch instead of the usual wrap of bandages. He pauses to wait for a nod of confirmation.

“I will,” he blatantly lies. Kakashi hasn’t had a proper night sleep since waking up the first time, dozing for shortened intervals only. With so many squishy doctors around he doesn’t want to accidently hurt one of them should he be woken from a nightmare. It did put additional strain on his body.

Doctor Wada peers at him, “We’ll give you another week of monitoring then get some authorised quirk testing done. A brain scan as well. Depending on what we find, we’ll see what we can do about getting you a diagnosis and then discharged.”

“Hmm,” he answers, noncommittally. Not like he has anywhere else to go until then. If this were Konoha, he would have taken off long before now and seen to his remaining injuries alone. This would be the first time in a long while that he is waiting for an official discharge. 

Guess he would be finding out how the hospital dealt with amnesiac patients after they healed. In Konoha, a displaced citizen would be given a menial labour job as part of the village’s many reconstruction projects and sent on their way. But this wasn’t Konoha and he should really stop with the comparisons.  

He needs to decide what he wants to do: Take off, find somewhere secluded and wait the years out. Or hang around to try and salvage the situation. This world did have a lot of interesting technology so there might be value in getting a better feel for the society here. Maybe he would find something useful to take back as an apology for abandoning everyone…

What a mess this all was.

...

...

...

The following week has Kakashi splitting his time between gathering supplies for a chakra storage seal and reading through Wada’s patient files to get a sense for his upcoming quirk tests and ‘brain-scan.’

He also takes the time to read through everything else Wada has in his office - mainly medical journals - to better understand the biological differences inherent in a place without chakra. Primarily, the people were physically weaker. However, there were a lot of mutations or ‘secondary quirk factors’ which reinforced the body to better deal with the stress of the primary quirk. All interesting and potentially relevant information to remember when he got into fights. Once he knew a person’s quirk he would be able to guess how their body was reinforced and act accordingly. A fire quirk would make someone naturally heat resistant but not impact resistant, is what Kakashi concludes as he re-reads the profile of current number two hero ‘Endeavour.’ The magazines gifted to him by Iori all contain a statistical breakdown of the top 10 heroes, their strengths, weaknesses, and their criminal apprehension and crime prevention rates. It is a list that rarely changes between issues. He commits it all to memory, idly planning out combat strategies that didn’t involve obvious ninjutsu or chakra use. It helps pass the time when he is not trying to make sense of what he sees on television or stalking various people around the hospital. 

At the end of the week, he steals Wada’s fountain pen, adding it to his growing pen hoard which he stashes in a vent on the roof. The storage seal he wants to make is complex and would need ink to complete.  A mix between a chakra-draining-seal-trap and a storage scroll, it is well on its way to completion. 

The seal would drain his chakra at a consistent and manageable rate, store it efficiently,  and give him a way to turn the chakra drain off and on at will. Also, as a precaution, he includes an emergency stop in case his chakra levels became dangerously low, so it didn’t accidentally kill him if he fell unconscious.

The seal would need to be positioned somewhere on his body in a spot where the doctors wouldn’t immediately notice. He doesn’t what to explain why he suddenly has a tattoo.  If he had had access to properly made fūinjutsu ink, the seal would be invisible. Alas, he would have to make do with chakra-infused pen ink.

Kakashi manages to keep himself busy enough that he expertly avoids making any concrete decision on what he wants to do with the next three years.

.

Note: this is slowly turning into a medical drama

NEXT

[katyatalks]

Mob Psycho 100 Interview Translation - Character Designer Kameda Yoshimichi - Otome Visual 2017

Summary-style translation for Character Designer Yoshimichi Kameda’s 4 page interview from Otome Visual 2017, regarding elements in the creation of Mob Psycho 100 such as: what inspired this cover art, the influence of fan art in the anime’s creation, Tsubomi’s design, the process behind the package art for the DVDs, and more. Includes some genga. Under read more;

[TN: The reason why I elected to summarise this interview rather than do a full write up is because a lot of the information given gets covered in December 2016′s Animestyle010, in “The Making of Mob Psycho 100.” I typed that one out in full over on twitter but that’s a long interview, and I don’t have the time or energy to reformat it for Tumblr, but if you’re interested in a very in-depth look into how Mob Psycho 100′s anime came to be I’d really recommend checking it out. Direct quotes are given in “” here. Enjoy!]

---

*~The genga illustration for Otome Visual’s cover~*

“With the recent popularity that Skating Anime has had, what’s this - a Shouwa idol collab?! It’s all in the little details in their clothing - their wrinkled shirts, white trousers, black belts - both around their waists and arms.”

*~Kameda’s comments~*

“Can you heaaaar me!! I am currently speaking directly into your braaaain!!! What I’m grateful for with this commission is I was able to design the cover in any way I’d like!! A cover is a reflection of current times, so, of course, I went for ice skating! You wouldn’t be able to find this kind of amazing content in any time period other than now! That’s what I first thought! Like, Mob Psycho 100!! If there’s not a certain Mob Psycho 100-ness present in the art then what’d be the point, so, the characters are being very serious but they’re also pretty laughable. I tried to create a piece of art from which you could hear their voices!!! What’s with it being Shouwa-esque?? Being lame is incredibly cool!!! Huh? Does that describe Mob Psycho 100?? Can’t answer that if you ask!!!! Please feel the amazing Paradise Ginga x Mob Psycho 100-ness here!!!!!!”

---

Kameda describes how he wasn’t sure how best to adapt the manga into an anime format at first, since from the art he was shown he immediately knew it to be very unique - the idea of using Flash to animate the show was raised but quickly shot down

Originally, upon being asked about the show, he based his thoughts on what a web image search for Mob Psycho 100 gave him rather than having the actual manga in hand. “For the most part, the results that came back would be fanart (laughs). It’s a bit strange -  at that time, it was difficult to find art uploaded from the manga. If you could find anything, it’d just be art from the covers. So for the most part, an image search of Mob Psycho 100 would just bring you back fanart. A lot of that fanart would be… a shounen in a cool pose wearing a school uniform with smooth bobbed hair & sharp cat-like eyes, sort of like Hiei’s eyes (from Yu Yu Hakusho). Very different from the manga’s art. But when I looked at that art, I thought; this could work. Fanart is, fundamentally, ‘fans drawing what they like’, so I thought, ‘the anime having this kind of art would make the fans happy.’ Well, it didn’t work out that way, obviously. I was told the anime’s art should resemble that of the manga. (Laughs)”

He hadn’t read the manga so all he had for reference was art from volume 1 and the fanart he found online. “But I like things like spirits and urban legends, so seeing Dimple - a floating supernatural fiery ball - and being told the manga touches on the occult caused my interest to soar.”

Says that Teru is the easiest character for him to draw. “He’s overflowing with confidence, so it’s easy to put him into some cool poses. Mob and Ritsu in comparison, not so much. [...] With Reigen, he has a lot of poses that are like, he’s trying to look good. He takes a solid stance. I suppose Spirits & Such has such a shady air to it, and you have to hide that somehow, right? So, Reigen injects confidence into how he presents himself. A model-like stance.”

“The anime is faithful to the manga… ah, actually, Tsubomi-chan was changed with a ‘let’s make her more like a heroine’ conversation. So, I did so, but reading recent events in the manga I can’t picture her in her anime form (laughs). The manga’s Tsubomi isn’t much like a heroine, so I’ve found myself wondering, if we animate up until this part… just how will we approach it? The anime’s Tsubomi is so bright and sparkly, so she wouldn’t have snot hanging from her nose (vol.13 of manga), would she…? (Laughs). Perhaps we went a little too far with making her a heroine. Maybe, if we do season 2, we’ll turn her back into a normal girl (laughs). Well, Tachikawa-san is clever; I think he’ll find a way to make do with her current design.”

---

Picture text: "This is Mezato's first appearance, so I decided to make her cute!! Thank you in advance!!"

Picture text: "That girl was telling me such a stupid story this morning... aidzuchi* isn't easy, you know... I'll just ignore her tomorrow..." [* sounds made to indicate that you're listening to someone speak]

---

Asked about his favourite characters; “I love Mezato Ichi from the Newspaper Club. When I drew her in her character sheet in that pose where she’s holding her camera, I came to see her as being quite cute. So now I focus on her a lot; in fact, when I draw genga I sneakily choose the cuts that have her in them (laughs).”

“I also love Mob. Reigen stands out the most so your eyes naturally jump to him, but I love the balance that Mob has. His heads tall ratio... or rather, his face, and the way his body is proportioned? It makes him lovely. Ritsu is around the same height as Mob, but, how can I put this - the cuteness that Mob has, is lacking in Ritsu… due to the latter being quite standoffish, I suppose (laughs).”

Ritsu’s hair changing through the first season is discussed, and how it is purposefully shortened during the latter half. “I paid attention to making sure his hair was long especially while he was being possessed by Dimple. So it’d resemble thorns.”

“I feel Teru-kun is the most ‘yang’ of all the characters. The rest are more ‘yin’ in nature. Because of this, it’s easy to play around with his expressions - he’s fun to draw. Speaking in terms of Dragonball, he’s kind of like Mob Psycho 100’s Vegeta (laughs).”

“In episode 9, Dimple possesses one of Claw’s security guards, right? I don’t really understand why that security guard is so popular.” Q: What do you mean? “Because he’s just some middle-aged dude (laughs). He doesn’t even appear for long…”

After discussing the huge amount of SG!Dimple commissions received: “Unlike SG!Dimple, I don’t really get asked to draw Shou-kun. With this commission I thought to myself, I /have/ to include him here, and so I added him in. The initial brief excluded him.”

Asked about moments that stuck with him; “When Teru chokes Mob in episode 5. [...] Mob’s pained expression as he’s being choked is good, but Teru-kun’s face shows us… envy, jealousy, distress, anxiety.”

“Also, the ‘super real Reigen’ sequence from episode 12. The tension between Reigen and Sakurai is funny, but the art itself has had me laughing since production. It’s funny no matter how many times I look at it!”

Kameda’s idea to have the characters make number shapes for the volume art came from him watching ‘Tonneruzu no Minasan no Okage deshita’, specifically the ‘Mojimoji-kun’ segment of the show (where they try to make numbers from their bodies)

Volume 6’s cover art was first planned to have a whole ensemble of characters, but Kameda changed his mind on this - “if we do a second season, we can leave that for volume 12 (laughs).”

Volume 4's cover was originally planned to feature only Onigawara and Gouda, but Kameda found himself wanting to include the rest of the body improvement club

Regarding the pose we see on vol 6’s package art, “My original thoughts for that cover were to have Reigen and Mob in a ‘hell wheel’ pose, like, Mob pulling Reigen’s legs and arms… but that wouldn’t be very fitting for the final volume.”

His message to the readers; “Thank you for your support! With sales, the ‘this is popular!’ message gets conveyed, and the more support you give us, then there’s no doubt we’ll be able to produce season 2 and season 3!! Season 2 relies on your support. It’s in your hands - thank you!!”

---

Crossposted on twitter here.

[thepictureofsdr]

I know when they first came about TMT were compared quite a bit with the marauders (though I didn’t join tumblr until a few months after ChoG) but I’ve been reading Harry Potter and looking on it actually:

James - James

Matthew - Sirius

Thomas - Remus

Christopher - Peter

Because: Sirius being charming & headstrong but not always in a good way (like his ongoing rivalry with Snape) screams Matthew, just like comparisons with James & James are fairly straightforward (although JH is more judgmental than arrogant? if you know what I mean?). (& Lily/Daisy??) And the loss of James in relation to how he hasn’t been himself for years plays similarly to the loss of JP so young?

But. Thomas knowing what some of his friends (& himself) do is wrong but not stopping them & being clever & kind is very Lupin behaviour. And this is nothing against Kit - none of TMT are exactly like the marauders - his obliviousness to the worse parts of the friendship, & not quite understanding everything that goes in between them reminds me a lot of Peter. (cough Kit being a Slytherin discourse)

In many ways I see the potential for all these characters to overcome flaws in the ways some of the hp characters weren’t able to: Tom standing up against his friends, Kit and his talent being recognised, Math/Alastair ending their rivalry, etc. They could be the marauders with a happy ending

(Sorry this is so long :/ it’s fine if you ignore it because it’s fairly rambly - I just wanted to say I love reading your posts!)

THIS IS SO SMARTTTTTTTTT YESSS ABSOLUTELY

okay first yes absolutely, both the james kinda being the leaders in some way of the group, and sometimes being the only voice of reason. and i think we could draw a comparison to james herondale losing his youth to grace, but potter also loses his youth the war that started when they were all young (not exactly the same time period of youth but still) and i def see what you mean about the arrogance vs judgment, id say its bc potter is more the extrovert so his haughty emotions come out more exuberantly as a loud arrogance, whereas herondales quieter nature has them manifest as more subtle emotions like judgment

SIRIUS AND MATTHEW my lil tortured gay artist assholes. they 100% have that detached coping mechanism, where they both care almost too deeply about things but only let it out as a borderline annoying disattached mindset from the world that comes off as that careless aloofness ie, both of them being seen as the more prominent jokesters in the group while literally dying inside, as well as the deep set family trauma they both have. also chronic flirts.

w the recent marauders renaissance, i saw someone point out that james is actually the mum friend not remus, james is more likely to tuck you into bed while remus is more likely to pull an all nighter doing something stupid, he just seems to have his life together and that fits thomas so well 😭 they’re both the good boy that everyone assumes to be the most sensible and mature when in reality they are absolutely unhinged under the surface its quite beautiful, they somehow manage to be the most mentally stable AND unstable ones of the group, along with the shared love and exasperation for their friends, they’d get along so well

and yes 100% kit and peter being the underappreciated slightly out of it besties who don’t fully follow what the group is doing but are just happy to be there (and everyone else is equally happy to have them along for the ride) i know i started the 2021 alastair ravenclaw discourse but im not deep enough into kits characterization to make a strong case so i just tag along with headcanons of how everyone else’s ideas fit into my sacred ravenclaw!alastair and something!kit friendship 😭

tmt healing marauders trauma? absolutely beautiful i don’t fully trust cassie but all i can do is hope

(I LOVE LONG ASKS i’ve gotten my life under control so now i can answer everything properly >:) smooches and hugs to you anon mwah <3)

[linkspooky]

Synonyms or Antonyms: Dazai and Dostoevsky

From the moment they meet within Bungou Stray Dogs, Dazai and Fyodor are set up as foils. 

Foil Definition. In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character.

That is to say from the moment they are drawn in panel together, the audience is naturally meant to compare and contrast them. Their entire first scene plays their similarities and differences up. First, Dazai dresses as Fyodor not only as a joke but to draw the eye to how similar they are, both of them dark haired skinny males with pale complexions who wear overcoats. 

Dazai explains he was able to predict where Fyodor would end up, because if he were in the same situation it was what he would do. When he says that, Fyodor shows Dazai the same smile he showed him earlier, like Dazai is looking in a mirror. 

Dazai and Dotsoevsky are able to read each other so well, knowing the other like they know themselves. Which allows both of them to continually one up the other and predict the other’s movements. However their relationship extends far beyond ‘Being the same’, or just the fact that they’re both highly skilled manipulators who are able to pull off complex plans. It’s even much more than Dazai and Fyodor are just smarter than everybody else in a way that isolates them. They are each other’s inverse in almost every way while appearing to be exactly the same. I’ll elaborate in detail beneath the cut.

1. No Longer Human

First off, while Fyodor’s character, such as being referred to as a demon and his ideology for crime and punishment draws from Dostoevsky’s novels, the relationship between Dazai and Fyodor is a direct literary reference to No Longer Human. 

The character Yozo (who Dazai is in part based off of due to his tendency towards buffoonery to use as a mask for his feelings, and his ability is directly named after the book) in the fourth Memorandum of No Longer Human discusses the antonym of crime with his ‘friend’ Horiki. Already from the way the narrator describes his friendship with Horiki you can see parallels in how Fyodor views his connection to Dazai. 

The conversation starts when Horiki refers to Yozo as a criminal. Don’t be so cheeky, I for one have never been tied up like a common criminal the way you have.” After that the conversation turns into an antonym game between the two of them. Yozo turns it into a game to distract from the serious accusation that he is actually a criminal and he got away with not only committing double suicide with a lady who amounts to a stranger to him, but he’s lived his life so far stealing money from the other women he’s been in relationship in. The “joke” of the conversation is that while it sounds deep, the two of them are just playing a game.

Any of these two words could be set up as antonyms as long as you give enough justification. It’s a joke of binary opposition and dualism. In short, you can give justification that things are opposites, or you can give justification that things are actually the same, there is no universal truth there is only differing justifications. 

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

At the end of the conversation Yozo relents to this point, he tries to think of antonyms of crime but they are all synonyms. Crime, and god, Crime and repetance, Crime and confession, Crime and punishment  he finally questions whether the last is synonym or antonym but before he can finish the thought he’s interrupted. Just before then though, he believes himself having come to an understanding of the chaos of Dostoesvski’s mind. 

Hence the relationship between Dazai and Fyodor. We are meant to question, are they synonyms, persons with similar meaning, or are they antonyms absolutely incompatible ideas as irreconcilable as oil and water. Note that in the original novel Yozo does not really come to a conclusion on this thought, and in all of my thinking this over I don’t think we are meant to see them as all the way one way or the other just yet. 

Either way this conversation has already been referenced several times in Bungo Stray Dogs. “God, is the antonym of crime”. Then you have Dostoevsky who positions himself as the opposite of crime, and therefore sees it is his responsibility to become God. 

However, the antonym of God is posited by Yozo not to be crime, but rather satan. Therefore we have Dostoevsky not only taking on the role of God, but also of a demon. Despite being referred to as “Demon Fyodor” several times, Dotsoevsky actually positions himself as both at once, he is both God and his Antonym the devil, and therefore they are synonymous because they are both him. 

Horiki at one point in the conversation even references, that while talking philosophically about crime Yozo is also a criminal. What does Fyodor do, but get Dazai arrested and separated from the rest of the Detective Agency for the crimes he committed in the past, because despite which side Dazai is on in the eyes of the law he is just as much a criminal as Dostoevsky is. Even if they are on opposite sides of a conflict (antonyms) they will still be seen as the same in the eyes of society (synonyms). 

Then there’s of course the scene from the movie Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple which directly references not only this conversation with Horiki, but at the same time the novel Crime and Punishment.

Therefore in the original text Yozo may see them as antonyms, but Fyodor makes the argument they are synonyms. While he does so, both him and his shadow (his ability removed from him by the fog) are standing in juxtaposition of each other holding contrasting objects. A skull, and an apple. Apples can literally symbolize so many things, but here it’s just a symbol of binary opposites life and death. Or rather what is perceived as binary opposites. Life and death perceived as antonyms can also be seen as synonyms as Dazai explained to Chuuya. 

Death can be viewed as something opposite and entirely alien to life. That is life cannot possibly exist within death, because death by its nature kills life, or death can be viewed as a natural part of life. Therefore it is impossible to understand the value of life without contemplating it’s perceived opposite death. 

Poison and medicine can be seen as opposites, one kills and one saves, but if you overdose on medicine its easy to poison yourself with it. The more closely you examine them, the lines between supposed opposites begin to blur. 

Then you have Dostoevsky, crime and punishment are seen as opposites. Crime is unjust, and harms. Punishment is justice, the opposite of crime, it’s foil and prevention. Except, Justice can harm too, it just harms criminals. Except criminals can just be innocent people falsely accused. It’s never as black and white as it seems to be. Therefore, Dotsoevsky’s belief that they are not enemies but rather friends, it’s impossible to punish crime without thinking like a criminal. To punish crime, Dotsoevsky becomes a criminal. 

The apple, and the skull while seeming like opposite symbols can actually be the same thing, hence the title of the movie Dead Apple. 

2. Dead Apple

As the movie is canon material I also think it serves as a great introduction to the psychology of Dostoesvky’s character especially in comparison to Dazai. There are two subtextual psychological components to the movie, drawing from both Freud and Jung. 

In a brief summary of the movie itself, ability users are separated from their abilities due to a fog which causes their abilities to take form and attack them. This is really obvious Jungian shadow symbolism. Their abilities which always exist as a part of themselves and therefore a subconscious part of them are brought to the surface and they are forced to confront them. 

In Jungian psychology, the "shadow", "Id", or "shadow aspect/archetype" may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself, or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. In short, the shadow is the unknown side.

Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects that may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem, anxieties, and false beliefs).

For example among the three main characters of the movie each of them are confronted with a shadow version of themselves, Rashomon for Akutagawa, Demon Snow for Kyoka and Beat under the Moonlight / The Tiger for Atsushi. There are several Jungian symbols associated with this process already, for one it’s specifically a fog that allows these shadows to manifest. The fog of the mind is what allows us not to be aware of the subconscious. When abilities are stolen they manifest with crystals that appear on the forehead, which also happens to be where the brain is. Neither of the three main characters are able to win their ability back until they accept something repressed about themselves.

(Pictured literally a tiger in shadow, two Jungian symbols the beastial instincts that represent the unconscious mind, and also the shadow which obfuscates). 

Kyouka that she does not want to hate Demon Snow even though the ability is responsible for killing her parents and also making her a murderer. Atsushi is the slowest of all to regain his ability back, due to the fact that he subconsciously rejects being an ability user. We see his flashback in the movie, first he blames the Tiger for his miserable life, he sees the tiger as the opposite of himself beast rather than man, an out of control monster. Then, when he realizes the tiger also protected him during life, despite being violent, Atsushi comes to the realization that his relationship is more complex than light and shadow, complete opposites.

People tend to deny their shadows, but the shadow is not necessarily the true self or more right than conscious mind, at the same time its still a part of yourself that needs to be acknowledged. Atsushi’s ability is even named “Beast under the Moonlight”, the moon is a classic symbol associated with Jung, because it represents the unconscious mind, the time of dreams, illusion, and when shadows are the longest. 

In the climax of the movie they literally ascend a tower, directly underneath the moonlight. 

Then there is Fyodor whose ability never separates from him and attacks him during the fog, and why is this? It’s because Fyodor already knowingly, willfully embraces his own shadow. He has no reason to deny what everybody else represses, because crime and punishment are friends. 

In other words Fyodor already is his own shadow. He’s a walking Id. 

The id, ego, and super-ego are three distinct, yet interacting agents in the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche.

The three parts are the theoretical constructs of how the activity and interaction in our mental life is described. According to this Freudian model of the psyche, the id is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego.

Why are both the protagonists and antagonists assembled in trios in dead apple? It’s because both of them are representative of the trio of the psyche. Fyodor, Dazai and Tatsuhiko are deliberately grouped as a trio, because they are Id, ego, and superego. 

Id, or I desire is uncoordinated instincts similar to the shadow. Reading the movie through this lens, it paints an interesting psychological portrait of Dotsoevsky. Of the trio he’s the most straightforward with his desires, he’s the one who seems to be ‘evil’ only for the sake of indulging in it and enjoying it. 

He plays the part of laughing villain the entire movie, and yet he also makes it clear this is an act to him. Therefore, when he claims that this is all for a laugh that’s not a statement that can be taken as a direct truth. 

As the symbolic Id of the movie, as the one who embraces his shadow he also plays the role of bringing the repressed truth that Tatsuhiko hides. He’s the one who encourages Tatsuhiko to rampage at the end of the movie. 

As he gives this speech Fyodor and his shadow overlap, because Fyodor is his own shadow, a walking shadow, he deliberately indulges in the worst of himself. That is why he sees himself as a demon, that is why he acts out on his god complex. That is the methodology which he chooses to bring forth his ideals, a world without Ability Users. 

Therefore his actions in the movie make perfect sense with his established motive in the manga, to commit a purge on ability users. Dazai even asks if Tatsuhiko will be saved by an angel or a demon before Dostoevsky introduces himself as a demon. 

It’s more binary opposite symbolism and the intention is clear. Dotsoevsky views himself as soemone who becomes a demon to save others, in line with his actions in his major introduction chapter in the manga. 

Demons are also in the bible, the creatures in charge of punishing sinners. Despite the fact that they are seen as rife with sin themselves. Another contradiction, for Fyodor a demon is something he has to become in order to punish crime, therefore he walks side by side with his shadow, therefore he indulges his id. 

Then, you have the other two serving as the opposing roles of the mind. Tatsuhiko is superego. Not only is he capable of controlling others to such an extent that he can make their abilities manifest against their will, but the extreme control he has makes him an utterly joyless existence. 

The balance between the two, the ego Dazai is the only one of the three of them who seems to have found any reason to live at all. His reason being the opposite of Fyodor. [Death] and release of the yoke of sin saves the soul. In comparison to Oda’s words. People live to save themselves huh, how true...

Dazai is the only one out of the three who has any semblance of control or purpose to his own life, and it comes from following Odasaku’s words. 

Ango’s summary of the three of them at the end of the movie shows that he does not quite understand Dazai, which makes sense as to why they never quite became friends. Demon Fyodor, Dazai “Disqualified from Humanity” and Tatsuhiko (turns into some kind of weird dragon) all three of them may seem inhuman but the moment you refer to them as aliens you fall for their illusion. All three characters are still undeniably and painfully human. They want to be seen as aliens to avoid being confronted by this, that’s the game all three play. 

Here’s the thing, Dazai is the only member of the trio who is not alone and part of that is because he had a friend who just saw him as he was, a flawed human being. 

3. The Demon Fyodor

For this final part I could list all the similarities and differences between Dazai and Fyodor, but that would just be a boring list so instead let’s analyze Fyodor who is currently the more mysterious character as to his motivations, using Dazai as a reference point. 

Before anything else, I’m going to use Oda’s words on Dazai as a reference point, because Oda had the best read on him. 

"Listen. You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed. You won't find it. You must know that already. Whether you're on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear. Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander the darkness for eternity. (...) Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, become a good man. Save the weak, and protect the orphans. Neither good nor evil means much to you, I know... but that'd make you at least a little bit better. (...) Of course I know. I know better than anyone. Because... I am your friend."

So, let’s define Dazai as a character who good nor evil means very little to, and is on the side of saving others simply by choice. He’s not motivated by lofty ideals. He’s not even a particularly moral person, willing to indulge in the unsavory sides of himself if it gets the results of ‘saving others’. 

He’s someone who can commit crimes with little foibles. Though I would not say he does not feel any guilt at all because there’s a clear difference between his mental health when he was in the mafia killing people, and when he was on the side of the Armed Detective Agency. He also has the ability to feel attachment to others, because he was clearly sad over Oda’s death. He’s not empty of all emotion, but at the same time a lot of Dazai’s life is spent in contemplation of his own emptiness. 

While Dazai moves pieces on a chess board and can see the bigger picture, I would argue that his motivations are much more personal and selfish than Fyodor, even though Fyodor is a cackling demon of a villain. Dazai is motivated by human beings and their individual stories, he leaves the Mafia not because of the hundreds of people he killed but because his one friend died. He is pushed to becoming a better mentor, because both Atsushi and Akutagawa need him to be. I’m not saying selfishness is bad, or selflessness is good the entire point of this essay is to deconstruct that simple black and white thinking. 

Let’s say simply put, Dazai is a selfish character, lacking in ideals but still motivated to save others. He contemplates life and death similiar to Fyodor, and the same way that Fyodor finds punishment for criminals in crime, Dazai tries to find a reason to live in pursuing death.

Even that, is a personal motivation. 

So then in comparison, Fyodor is impersonal and acts against his self interest. If Dazai is on a path of salvation, living to save himself, then Fyodor’s path is marked for self destruction. 

Starting with his formal introduction in chapter 42, Fyodor is introduced as a soulless man, lacking sympathy for anybody else. However, I would argue the opposite the chapter clearly shows Fyodor sympathizing with the child he spends most of the chapter talking to.

Remember the entire chapter Fyodor is playing Ace for a loop, he’s only letting Ace see him as he wants to be seen. Therefore everything he’s described as to others “Something more awful, and heinous than a villain” is the act he puts on. 

In the chapter we see a child honestly encourage and try to connect with Fyodor, only for his attempts to fall on deaf ears by the end of the chapter when Fyodor chooses to kill him as a witness. Fyodor gives the impression that he was not listening to the boy the entire time.

Yet, if Fyodor was ignoring him, if Fyodor did not feel a thing about the boy and was not sympathizing him in the least then why did he take the time to explain things and talk to him before sending him off at the end of the chapter? If Fyodor is able to kill him so easily so as to not see him as human, why does the boy feel like he is understood? 

Rather than just ignoring him and treating him like a piece on the board, I argue that Fyodor did see the boy as a person. The panel shown afterwards does not display the emotion of a remorseless slaughter. The entire panel is shown as empty. Fyodor regrets this action, killing the boy in such a way. 

At the same time he feels like he must do something he personally does not want to do. In order to punish evil he must become something even worse than evil. 

Therefore you have Dazai, living to save himself, attempting to be a better person than himself when he’s really just kind of a self obsessed person, and you have Fyodor, who lives to save not himself but the whole world and therefore he must damn himself to demonhood and become the worst version of himself. 

Dazai searches for life in death, hence why he constantly attempts suicide. In its own weird way, his suicide attempts, his getting involved with death, murder, it’s all him looking for a way to live.

Whereas Fyodor genuinely believes with all of his heart, that death is something that cures the sickness of life. Not only do we see him have the opportunity to save someone only to kill them as a witness, denying himself the possibility of redemption. We also see him manipulate a child into suicide in front of Kunikida. 

Because as he currently believes it, the world as it is will never bring salvation to those children. His act of manipulation is just a symptom of what is currently wrong with the world. After all, Dostoevsky pretty easily got this man to agree to arm his little brothers and sisters to the teeth and put them into danger. A child who exists in this world as it is cannot be saved. 

Every character who ideologically alligns with Fyodor is looking for freedom from the world, in some form. Fyodor’s style of manipulation itself is a paradox, he controls their every action even resorting to blatant mind control in some places, and therefore he frees them from the burden of making their own decisions. 

Then, if Fyodor is actually an idealist who genuinely does want a better world, and not just a laughing demon then why does he specifically target Kunakida the idealist of the detective agency? It’s because he’s an idealist, that Fyodor wants to crush him. In other words he wants to break weak and faulty ideals that cannot save the world. 

Yet, it’s also an act of self loathing. It’s not that Fyodor is necessarily evil, but rather someone who becomes evil for the sake of his ideals. The reason for that is ideals are so high and mighty he needs to become god to enforce them, he desires a world much better than this one therefore he carries the weight of the world of his shoulders. As a person, just like Kunikida, Fyodor is constantly being crushed under the weight of his own ideals. That is why he seeks to crush Kunikida, to prove that Kunikida is weak, and therefore he is strong.

If what he seeks is paradise, then it makes complete sense that he would see it necessary to become god in order to achieve that. However in the end, Fyodor is not a demon, nor god, nor alien, he’s infallibly human. He’s so completely obsessed with the bigger picture, with providing salvation to all, that he will never be allowed to moved by personal motivations. 

He sympathizes with the child who is wearing Ace’s collar, but cannot allow him to live even if he wants to. 

It’s not that he will never allow himself to be moved, it’s not in Fyodor’s own mind he cannot. If he were to cede to one personal bias then he would never be able to accomplish his goals that are so lofty that he would need to become god in order to accomplish them, therefore it’s better to become an inhuman monster rather than be tripped up by personal feelings.

Whereas Dazai is motivated towards good and saving others, almost exclusively by the fact that there are people in his life who he is personally invested in. 

It shows finally even in the difference for how they use people. Both Dazai and Fyodor rely on trickery and manipulation to move people, and sometimes it can seem like they only view others as mere pieces on a board. They have a tendency to also assume they know what is best for other people and move them without their consent. 

The difference being that at the end of the day Dazai still sees others as individuals. He always leaves the element of choice. While Dazai pushes Atsushi and Akutagawa together even though they hate each other, because he believes the two of them are what’s best for each other he always leaves Atsushi with the choice of how he wants to proceed. 

Therefore they remain individuals, therefore they are still people in his eyes. Even if Dazai always plays with his cards close to his chest, his plans fundamentally rely on trusting others, and others trusting him. Even in Dead Apple, his plan involved knowing Chuuya would use Corruption and that Chuuya would trust in him to stop him. 

So, let’s say Dazai is someone who generally needs other people to carry out his plans. This is in contrast to Fyodor who once again, takes the burden entirely on himself. 

Fyodor’s allies are more akin to slaves who worship him. 

He literally messes with their brains to free them from hardship. Which goes along with again the binary opposition, his brain is modified to feel unhappiess, therefore he is happy. Because by that black and white logic, unhappiness only exists as the opposite and antagonist to happiness. The extension to Fyodor’s extreme logic, that the absence of crime will therefore bring peace to the world. All of Fyodor’s direct subordinates are liberated in this way, if he takes on all the decision making for himself, takes on all the burden for himself, then they are freed. 

Goggol explains what are probably Fyodor’s own viewpoints via foiling, and being allies very well. That it is easier to imagine all of them as inhuman monsters who cannot possibly have a reason behind their actions. It’s more comforting, it’s freeing. 

To do what he needs to do to change the world, Fyodor must become an unfeeling villain and he does the same to his subordinates, he actually modifies them and removs them of their emotions. 

So therefore it’s a paradox, his allies and servants see themselves as completely free in their devotion to him, yet at the same time Fyodor’s manipulation is the opposite of Dazai’s. Rather than leaving it to choice and trust, he removes their ability to choose, he removes their ability to disobey him. It’s as if the only way he can think of for people to be righteous, is to remove their ability to sin in the first place. 

It’s even apparent in their joke question and answer session. Dazai tells Fyodor to just inspire his subordinates to be better people the way he does with Atsushi and Aktugawa, and it seems like the idea did not even occur to Fyodor. Fyodor tells Dazai the way to win a woman is to cut off everything else to the point where she becomes completely dependent on you. 

So, in conclusion it seems a lot of Fyodor’s mindset is a result of him purposefully taking on the burden of saving the entire world on himself, because he cannot allow himself to view others as equals. In order to continue justifying himself, he needs believe that he is the only person capable of doing these things and therefore he knows better than anyone else. 

Dazai and Fyodor are both smart enough to be aware of not only the emptiness of life, its lack of purpose, its senseless cruelty. Their reactions however are opposite, Dazai decided to live in spite of being unable to ever find meaning whereas Fyodor decided to dictate that meaning to everyone else and decide it for them, like his words are the word of god. 

Bestowing sins is the work of god. If god god does not Exist, I’ll become him. 

[monkey-network]

An Unfortunate Critique of Spiderverse Part 2 (of 3)

Want Part 1? Here you go. Otherwise, enjoy the show.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse was a fun award-winning 2018 animated film with a basically unanimously positive fandom, regarded generally as both a masterpiece Spider-Man film and a remarkable animated film overall. And while I do not disagree with that, it definitely earned its spoils, it pains me a bit to bring up the reason(s) why I can’t call it the masterpiece that many claim. I like this film, but I don’t love it as much as others and I wanted to express why. And I will see to be critical, not cynical. Fair enough?

Part 2 ~ The Spiderversal Stakes

To get a little personal real quick, I’ve been at this whole reviewing/analyzing for plenty of years now and I say the hardest part of doing these type of critiques, aside from not coming off as a cynical bitchlet, is conveying yourself properly. You don’t want to give people the wrong idea about what you want to get across.. Which is why this part is hard to express because there’s a lot to mull over and I don’t wanna bore ya. So with that said, I got a problem with the plot, but first lemme talk about my favorite Spidey film, Spider-Man Thre-

Sorry but we gotta talk about this

When you think about how the storyline of 3 plays, you’ll feel exhausted by of how much was thrown in (Venom, Sandman, the New Goblin, Emo Peter, etc.), the movie had to seriously juggle a lot in a little over a couple hours. Then again with all that, it never felt like the movie was inconsistent with the focus. It’s campy as hell but I felt it still had that good modicum of serious that Raimi’s 1 and 2 pulled off just as well, a quality balance. You grasped everything it threw at you by the end. Now Spiderverse, minus the credits, is an hour 45 minutes and it felt like the two points of the story, setting up the multiverse and Miles’ uprising as a heroes, were at rubberbanding odds with each other.

When I see Spiderverse, Miles’ story mostly overshadows the tension that came in the multiverse getting fucked up, and that the final fight of Miles and Kingpin is the only time where I felt shit got serious. Otherwise, the whole aspect of the Spidermun slowly dying because they weren’t in their realities and the multiverse colliding felt much of an afterthought for most of the film. Narratively, it has a good pace of doing what it needs to do, but on the look back the journey didn’t stick with me as well as I thought. 

If I can bring in some previous examples, the likes of Kung Fu Panda and The Lego Movie had better stakes because it felt like the two storylines (the protagonist’s upbringing and the villain’s scheme) were prominent throughout the films once they got going. Po wasn’t just training because he wanted to be better and found the ways to do it, he was training hard because the villain was on his way and the defeat of the Furious Five showed he meant business. The Lego Movie takes a step further by having Emmett and the gang be on the run, we see the villain’s increasing impact as we go along, giving us on the fly experiences that provides Emmett’s “leap of faith” type breakthrough while the villain finally goes all out with his scheme. It helps make the stakes and optimistic breakthrough of overcoming them both escalate and converge naturally.

You know, not doing what Kingdom Hearts 3 did

Not saying Spiderverse doesn’t naturally converge its two storylines well, everything about it was clear, but the effects of the Super Collider come off as very infrequent and thus made the escalation disjointed. The whole “cellular decay” bit with the Spidermun could’ve been a great way to add some tension, like “Oh shit, this could be disadvantageous in the fight at Aunt May’s house. Put our heroes on the ropes.” It doesn’t happen, in fact the fight felt like it disappeared the moment Aaron and Miles were on the roof. It felt like a slight inconvenience than a matter of winning or losing everything, even in the climax. Same with the whole “reality warping” idea, it would’ve been very cool to see reality start to deteriorate or change around our characters, make the news media go “Oh shit, what’s happening?” or put the Spidermun on a little edge instead of them just solemnly waiting for a little anime girl to heely her way in with the flash drive to save the world. As great as the scene was, the “leap of faith” felt disconnected where I say a scene of Miles noticing the glitches from the hotel after he was living in the moment for once would’ve been a great transition to the climax. Show that he’s ready and amped to be the new Spider-Man, but knows there’s no time to lose. Have the life-threatening factor be more of a looming presence. If not that, might as well not add it in, especially at the last minute. I mean it’s possible.

Like what happened to Liv? We don- we don’t see her after everything is over. Is best villain just gone now forever?!

I talked previously of how Peni, Spider-Noir, and Spider-Ham were wasted in the film, but they were but a fraction to the whole idea of the quantum warping and how it felt like an afterthought until near the end. And as I mention Doc Ock, it mostly felt like the villains just come and go. Prowler is the exception, but I completely forgot Kingpin fucked with reality to get his family back. Shit, I forgot Scorpion and Goblin were in the movie. I’m not saying we needed the know how of everything, but I figure better time to conveying their stance in the film would make them more memorable. Spider-Man has great villains, and most of the films knew how to mix their presence in with our hero’s life fluently. If the major world ending threat wasn’t much, it didn’t help that most of the villains here supporting that threat were flash in the pan at best.

like a majority of blockbuster villains

Now off the bat, as I mentioned before, I am not a fan of movies that notably wink and nudge that a sequel is around the corner. I’m okay with things being open-ended but I draw a line at a film being forced to feel lacking because it’s relying on a sequel to pick up the slack. There are exceptions to this of course, but great films should be able to stand on their own and not be codependent on sequels to make them better. With my talk of the B-team and the whole reality warping aspect of the film, the Spiderverse part of the title feels like setup for the sequel and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it doesn’t help when half the 1st film feels minor and somewhat forgettable in my case. Miles’ story was great but it’s like we had to flip flop between his story and the setting up for more. And it’s that story rubberbanding that leaves a less satisfying note to me compared to not only other films in general, but other Spider-Man films where even when a lot is thrown at me, each of the Raimi trilogy felt conclusively satisfactory as both a whole and individually.

It honestly makes this ending pretty mixed in my eye

But on this note, I don’t wanna end on a sour grape, not when the 3rd part is gonna end this whole critique off more optimistically. So as much as I harped the whole setup Spiderverse aspect, the silver lining is that this felt like the first few hours of Kingdom Hearts 2 with Roxas. This is a weird comparison but it does feel like Miles is at the twilight of his life in this film. We get some great action but his involvement in the film is kept at arms length while the other Spidermun are stepping well. It’s only after Aaron’s death, the dejection, and Jefferson’s uplifting words and this shot in particular where we can finally say...

Spider-Man has Awaken Again

I can step on anything in this movie but it’s where Miles gets his groove and is there for the other spidermun in the climax when I say that it’s a give and take. This movie isn’t perfect, and I can’t say it is my favorite Spider-Man film ever, but it definitely knows what it wanted to do and I can’t give them enough credit. I said before, but this film certainly has its ambitions and while not everything lands well with me, what they get right is what they handle in spades. The best about it all is where part 3 is gonna pick up. Stay tuned...

Otherwise, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your day.

[alj4890]

Love Prompt

(Thomas x Amanda x a distraction from a certain Mr. Chris Evans) as prompted by @pixieferry 😉 with jealousy coming into play.

(Thomas x Amanda) taken from the regency era None But You storyline.

A/N after laughing over another prompt, the need to see Thomas jealous over Amanda's attention to Chris Evans came about. Unbeknownst to Mr. Evans, he will be set in regency England. Of course, because my mind loves to overthink everything, there will be two parts to this. And possibly another situation with these three in one of my modern AU’s. 

@graceful-popcorn @krsnlove @alleksa16 @hopelessromantic1352  @pixieferry @emceesynonymroll @buzz-bee-buzz @hopefulmoonobject @cora-nova @rainbowsinthestorm @lxaah11 @dr-nancy-house @friedherringclodthing 

Masterlist

Flummoxed Part 1

It had only a week since she left London. Only a week since he had last seen her smile. A week since they had discussed literature. A week without peaceful walks through fashionable Hyde Park. A week without those deeper emotions being brought to mind whenever she appeared in the candlelight of crowded ballrooms.

"Thomas Hunt you are a damn fool." He muttered to himself. The carriage rocked along the English countryside edging ever closer, mile by mile to Lady Amanda's country estate in Doncaster.

He could practically hear the laughter from Lord Ryan Summers and Sir Chris Winters when they received their notes that he would not be joining them for dinner Tuesday evening. Once they realized he was journeying to a certain lady's home to simply deliver a book he thought she might enjoy, there would be no end to their teasing.

___________________

A few days later...

Hudson entered into the drawing room at Snowfield Abbey and bowed. "Forgive me, my lady, but there is a gentleman here to see you."

"Oh?" Amanda took the card from the salver and a surprised smile formed on her lips. "Please show him in Hudson and then ask Mrs. Timms for a tea tray."

He nodded and stepped back out into the hall. Amanda stood and nervously smoothed her dress. If only she had been given more time to change her dress! Aunt Lucy would be devastated to know she entertained a visit in such a simple, old dress. With a final glimpse in the mirror to smooth a stray curl behind her ear, she turned with a calm expression.

The dark blonde haired gentleman walked in and bowed. "Lady Amanda, it has been too long since I last saw you."

She held her hands out in a warm greeting and smiled. "Welcome back to Snowfield, Mr. Evans. I had heard from your aunt that her favorite nephew was returning to Doncaster."

He sat down across from her, his dimples deepening. "Aye, well I had a need to revisit all I counted dear before leaving again."

Amanda clasped her hands together. "Are you truly going on another adventure so soon?"

His sapphire blue eyes twinkled with excitment. "I have a little over a month before returning to my duties with the East India Trading Company."

Amanda's smile dimmed at the distance and time he would be away. "Still searching for your buried treasure?"

His own smile faltered at the childhood memory. He reached over and took her hand. "I will always return home. I shall never leave for good. How could I possibly stay away?"

Amanda pulled her hand away when Hudson entered with the tea tray. He left quickly when he heard the front door bell ring and returned with a gentleman she had not expected to see at Snowfield.

"The Viscount of Kirkwood, my lady." Hudson announced before bowing out again.

"Lord Hunt! This is a surprise." She stood and curtsied.

His steps paused when Chris stood up beside her. Amanda smiled warmly at the viscount. "My lord, allow me to present Mr. Evans."

The two eyed each other and reluctantly nodded their heads in greeting. After another tense assessment, he presented the book to Amanda. Her joy at the fact he had not only thought of her when he saw this but had also made a special trip to bring it to her touched his heart and brought a slight smile to his lips. She set the book on a side table to read later and motioned for the gentlemen to sit down.

Amanda asked Thomas if he would care for tea and rang for a fresh pot. She prepared their cups while the two men continued to study the other in curiosity.

"Mr. Evans was telling me of his plans with the East India Trade company." Amanda offered a plate of biscuits toward each man.

Thomas took one and sipped his tea. "Oh? Where will you be placed?"

"It is undecided at the moment. Perhaps back to the West Indies or even to a new outpost in Singapore." Chris answered, eyes narrowing at the times Thomas's gaze remained on Amanda. Her cheeks turned a rosy shade too when she noticed.

"I'm sure your family and friends will be sad to see you go." Thomas remarked.

"Some more than others hopefully." Chris countered, looking at Amanda.

The conversation continued with the gentlemen discussing their plans while both hinted at a closeness with the lady between them. Neither seemed to have a definite claim upon Lady Amanda, yet both appeared to be teetering on the brink of making her their own.

Thomas frowned as he set his cup back on the tray. "Thank you Lady Amanda for the tea. I believe I should return to the inn and settle in for the night."

Amanda stood when he did. "I shall walk you out. Excuse me, Mr. Evans."

Chris heard the mantle clock chime the hour and stood too. "I'm afraid I also must leave. Aunt Prudence is expecting me for dinner."

Amanda rang for Hudson to let the stables know of their departure. Both men began to offer their arm to escort her. Thomas managed to beat Chris to it. She slipped her hand into the bend of his.

They stood on the front steps of Snowfield when Chris's horse was brought out first. He bowed over Amanda's hand, pressed a kiss to her knuckles, and promised to see her again before he left. "Perhaps if the weather is fine tomorrow, we could revisit our childhood haunts. Go fishing."

Thomas cleared his throat. Something deep within him felt the need to not allow this upstart to have a special moment alone with her. "I haven't fished in ages."

Amanda looked up at him and smiled. "Then you must join us tomorrow. I can prepare a picnic lunch and we shall make a day of it."

His dark eyes took in the hopeful happiness on her face and he agreed to come. Chris exaggerated clearing his throat to break whatever trance the Viscount had Amanda in and said goodbye once more.

She smiled while waving goodbye. Thomas noticed its sudden disappearance when he rode off. "You will miss him a great deal when he is sent away."

She looked up at him and slowly nodded. "I have known him for most of my life. It is difficult to imagine him being so far away. I worry for his aunt and cousins. They practically worship him. His time in the Caribbean was with multiple visits from his family. They won't be able to do that easily if he is sent to Singapore."

Thomas looked out at the rolling green hills of her home while fighting against the question of did this adventurer hold her heart. He seemed a hopeless dreamer to Lord Hunt, one that did not think of those that cared about him. Thomas didn't want to hear how heartbroken she might be nor did he relish the thought he knew was true about himself. If she were in love with Mr. Evans, he would do all he could to see her happily settled with the devil may care gentleman.

Amanda noticed his pensive expression grow darker. "Lord Thomas? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head and nodded toward a garden to the side of her home. "Walk with me a moment."

"Of course, since you asked." She teased, taking his arm again.

His frown eased some. Thomas covered her hand with his as they walked in companionable silence. "I've missed this." She said softly. Her cheeks turned red when his eyes immediately turned to her. "Our walks." She quickly explained, praying some monstrous gopher had dug a hole she could fall into.

Thomas squeezed her hand. "I've missed them too. Summers isn't as quiet as you are when walking."

Amanda's laughter brought a smile to his face. "No, I imagine he is quite different."

"That is putting it lightly." His frown returned when she removed her hand to cup a rose to smell.

"I meant to thank you for the book. Ever since you recommended Persuasion, I have wanted to read more of the late Ms. Austen's works."

Thomas bowed his head. "I thought you would enjoy Northanger Abbey. Catherine seems to have an imagination similar to yours in the story." The viscount lost his train of thought as he focused on the lady. He wished he were an artist to capture the loveliness of Amanda at this moment.

Surrounded by a variety of flowers, her white dress highlighted the abundance of nature's colors around her. Amanda's creamy skin, hazel eyes, and dark hair added to the contrast. The smile on her lips at his comparison of her and the main character was one of his favorites. It was one he noticed she had for no one else but him. All mine.

Ignorant to the tortuous thoughts and strong feelings the viscount was consumed with, she walked over to a bench and sat down to watch the sun set. Thomas joined her at her invitation.

She settled her gaze on him when his attention was drawn to the swans in the pond, turned golden by the brilliant orange sky. She thought he was quite possibly the most handsome man of her acquaintance. His looks though were not his only redeeming quality. He showed his kindness in so many small ways that seemed much more enduring than some grand gesture. She knew what a true friend he was from comments Sir Chris and Lord Ryan had made and she had witnessed it herself. As her eyes traced his stern profile, she wondered if he would ever come to see her as the lady of his heart. Most likely not.

He turned to her and stilled when he realized she not only caught him about to stare but he found her doing the very same. They looked at one another silently before turning in wordless agreement back to the sunset. Thomas glanced down at her hands loosely clasped in her lap. He reached over and took one to hold as the last of the sun's rays touched the horizon. The peacefulness of the shared moment was broken by the horses of his carriage clomping along the drive.

"I should take my leave." His deep voice ruffled her senses in the purple of dusk.

She stood and took his arm as they made their way slowly back to his carriage. Thomas bowed and pressed a lingering kiss to her hand. "Enjoy the book, my lady. I look forward to hearing your thoughts."

She smiled at him and promised to begin it tonight. "Are you staying long? I know my aunt would enjoy a visit with you before you return to London."

He didnt know how to tell her he had made no plans beyond this point. "I am free of responsibilities for a week or so?"

Her smile made him nearly promise to come by each day. She invited him to choose an evening to dine with them. "Aunt Lucy should be back home tomorrow evening. Shall we say the day after for dinner?"

He nodded. "That would be agreeable."

"Wonderful! Oh! Do feel welcome to come by and ride over the land. There are some marvelous trails that lead to travel. I shall be more than happy to point them out during our fishing adventure tomorrow." She added.

His lips curved at her gentle friendliness. "I might very well take you up on that, my lady. Perhaps if you are not too busy, you would care to join me on these jaunts?"

"Of course." Amanda tried to keep her voice even though she wished to squeal in delight.

With another goodbye, Thomas climbed in his carriage and observed her through his window. She stood by herself, watching his carriage until it turned a corner and disappeared on the road to town.

[kalliejupiter]

Some LEWKS from fashion illustration, or rather a fall capsule collection that I would wear myself if I were an intergalactic space provocateur (thus the inclusion of pants and a sensible heel). My partner and I debated the practicality of a drop-crotch pant I. The cockpit of a spacecraft—I and my instructor agree that the drop-crotch is totally fine, and fabulous. Besides, I’m not taking design advice from a guy who still dresses like he’s in junior high (JK, I ❤️ my partner). I tend to write long posts, and I like talking about and documenting ideation. So, I headlined each segment for easier navigation. Just some details on concepts, design process, and such. I will post more sketches, line drawings, fabric swatches, and maybe color comps later. The Assignment: Create a ten piece collection. Decide the season, demographic, include at least five different types of garments (trousers, dresses, at least one coat, etc. I also had to draw out the flats and include swatches and stuff. In the end I had to edit down from at least 20 initial sketches. Designing wearable sci-fi LEWKS comes easy to me, but self-editing does not. Take note toxic masculinity in geek culture, a girl can still be sexy in pants and a sensible heel and drawing something from the female gaze doesn’t mean a dude can’t appreciate it... I used my sensibilities as a starting point—although, in the end the collection skews a little younger than my demographic (I can get away with it as a woman of color because a WOC could be anywhere between the ages of 25 and 45 without a stranger being able to tell the difference. I’m still a little punk rock at my age, but if I had more time, I would create a companion collection that’s a little more stately and tailored for a more professional lady in my demographic (while maintaining the visual cohesion with the collection I eventually made). The instructor initially thought I was joking, because I actually submitted a market plan that said my target demographic was an intergalactic space nomad, political double-agent, listed the median income in space credits, and made several references to lasers and cyborgs. Spoiler alert, I got an ��A’ on the final. I prefer fall to any other season, so too is my collection for fall. Fall, as a whole, has a wide range of potential garments, mostly because fall weather is so drastically varied (in spite of this, it is usually the BEST weather of any given place, IMHO). I also like fall color palettes best (as a suburban teen I spent my adolescence wearing all black, listening to Morresey, and writing really terrible poetry, like every other suburbanite teenager). Dark colors are slimming and hide a myriad of sins, accidents, and the bloodstains of your slain enemies. I wanted to include both a short and long coat/jacket, day wear, one formal piece, a jumpsuit of some kind, a mini and maxi silhouette, a work outfit, something to work as loungewear, something to work as activewear, and something that would look cool on a robot. I also wanted to strike a balance between bodycon silhouettes and easy to wear volume—which is probably why the collection ballooned into something as large as this one did—there were so many variations of single pieces that it was hard to choose which of them to include. The piece variations themselves were compelling on their own and also in comparison to its counterpart that it became more interesting to present looks as side-by-side options. Each look was multilayered, highly detailed, and designed to be physically adaptable/changeable anyway, so assigning a single croquis to a look seemed like a wasted opportunity. References and Ideation: I got the ideas for the collection from real life. One of the weird things I picked up from the military was from Basic, and it’s the idea that you are issued all of these pieces with utilitarian properties at first that encapsulates everything you’d ever need, apparel-wise (from underwear to formal wear, and for all weather and situations) and all of it can fit in a single seabag. It was fun trying to imagine what shenanigans one could experience as an intergalactic scene-girl, and what kind of clothes she might want. The concept of a sea bag (or “space bag,” in this case) jives with the idea of a capsule collection (stylish staple pieces that can be worn over many seasons with smaller, less expensive pieces that can be altered or replaced by trendier items as the seasons progress). All the pieces can be mix-and-matched and are adaptable in many ways—there is something gender neutral about a lot of it (I wish I designed the bodysuits with more variation in the briefs: make some with compression shorts, leggings, and such—I didn’t really consider these separate LEWKS, per se, but layering pieces, because some part of my underpants are always showing under my garments, and if you are going to have exposed bra straps, make it look like you did it on purpose). Also, the tailored structure and details of military clothing are really are really cool design elements to explore. I also used Middle Eastern references to balance out the designs—mostly because I thought it would be thematically appropriate/ironic to combine the two style sensibilities (non-Western cultures have so many more interesting silhouettes in any case—it might be appropriation, but in the neutral sense of the term). The concept of armor and utility informs every piece. Those concepts also the reason I referenced (or resurrected) less common clothing items and styles. For example, the quilted leather snood, a pleated leather bolero, spats over the boots, and a molded, hooded, cuirass (leather is a good material, it adapts to the wearer like a second skin and because of that, the material plays into the theme of personalizing a basic uniform to make it one’s own—90% of the swatches for the collection are organic or natural fibers because I would think the artificial environments and materials of space might make one long for something more “natural,” especially with something as intimate as the clothing that separates a persons skin from everything else. It’s also luxe and sometime more durable). Aesthetically, details like cording, high waisted pants, draped tops, high necklines, and asymmetrical hemlines reoccur as a design through line in the collection. Utilitarian features, like zippers and velcro closures, do double duty as both functional and aesthetic elements. A practical zipper on a detachable long sleeve becomes the decorative beam on the short sleeved version. Velcro tans on an exaggerated drop-crotch pant transform the garment from a maxi silhouette into short and leggings combo. I admit, this comes from my unironic love of those weird convertible bridesmaids dresses that people always end up lazily tying around their neck. Look Details (the Coverall): That’s why there is a “fashion coverall” in this collection—I know from experience that those are the comfiest work pajamas, ever, and even though this collection is supposed to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did want to reference some contemporary trends and needed a non-catsuit jumpsuit, and tailored coveralls seem very classic in a way that could be stylish beyond the current moment. I wanted to use design to solve actual practical problems. For example, instead of the traditional buttoned cuffs and collar, I chose to use a ribbed knit on both the neck and 3/4 sleeves. It is more comfortable and easy to wear, works just as well in a hot engineering space or in the colder climate controlled server spaces and Officer decks of a ship, and prevents the clothing from getting caught on equipment and becoming a liability on trouble calls or planet-side laser melee. The knees have built-in padding, and Velcro patch details, so our girl can switch allegiances fairly easily. The only thing is the lack of pockets. A cargo short is an amazing idea. In the abstract. I have never seen one in public that did not look like an Eldrich Abomination. If someone needs to Cary so much stuff in their pockets that their pants look like they are hiding the legs of Yogsheggoth, perhaps it’s time to consider carrying a bag. I’m looking at you, Dudes. Also, the belts and harnesses of the collection were designed with detachable pockets and specialized equipment in mind. I kind of wish I designed the piece with a jodhpur or cigarette leg silhouette instead of a boot cut. Both the jodhpurs and cigarette leg would have been more interesting, especially if I had also designed a short, romper version of the piece. Final Thoughts (for now...): I don’t expect anyone to have read all the way through this, and if you have, thanks! Feel free to contact me with any questions, requests, random musings, like, share and follow. I’ll try to be less wordy in the future. A Word of Thanks to the Fashion Illustration Class: I really enjoyed that class. Everyone of my classmates had different skills, experience, and came from a lot of different disciplines (for example, I make comics and work in advertising, some were animators, some fashion students, and one was an editorial photographer who didn’t draw well in the conventional sense of it, but drew croquis that had the character of a Mondiglioni and could convey not only the sense of the garments, but the personality of the girl who wore them). We talked about everything, asked a lot of good questions, and hyped each other up for fashion in general. I will say that out of the many years of studying various art disciplines in various classrooms and open critiques, this was the first time I experienced colleagues as open and giving as these classmates were. I’m used to a lot of pushback and blank stares during critiques (especially when I give them—I obviously talk a lot, and connect ideas to a lot of obscure references—“consider the jodhpurs,” “you seem really into minimal geometric patterning—write down ‘Ainu’ and look up their textiles and mouth tattoos,” “there is something very vaporwave about this non-binary collection, I see a lot of pastels and navy,” “I know exactly who the girl is that wears this collection—she converted an Arizona ranch into a minimal art gallery in the middle of nowhere, collects antiques from the late 1950’s and Kieth Harring prints, and makes excellent margheritas...”—and then they would use my suggestions by the next critique! WHAT!!?!), but people really listened and we all tried to understand each others point of view and encourage one another. I loved that class.

[phoenixmarks]

Typing form

It's been suggested by @mafiyaxiii that I fill out this typing form and post the results. Here you go:

Note: I'm on mobile, unable to go on desktop, and difficulties with mobile mean I can't complete the final scenario on the form.

Scenario 1

FOCUS ON YOUR FEELING PROCESS HERE

Your significant other just ended your 2 year relationship quite suddenly and with no apparent explanation. Up until this point you had both been talking about marriage and last week you even went to look at rings together. Now he/she won't even return your phone calls or texts. After talking with his/her family you find out that he/she has just been diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cancer.

Describe how this scenario would make you feel as well as what sort of influences and motivations lie behind those feelings. Why do you feel the way you do?

First I'd feel numb and would have difficulty understanding - I know she's probably trying to spare me pain, but I'm not sure if it's any better to just be cut off. Once I've processed, I'd feel awful imagining how it must be eating her up inside, and what a sacrifice it must have been for her to give up my support rather than let me see her suffer. I'd feel wounded. Not by her, but for her...for what she was cutting herself off of.

I'd have to try to find a way to get her to let me back in. Our future may not be what we hoped but the future is like that. I'd rather be there for her.

In this scenario what would you honestly say the primary focus of your feelings would be?

My partner. How she must be feeling, already knowing her life is coming to an end with everything she was expecting unlikely to ever happen, and now also feeling like she has to spare those she loves and needs support from the burden of sharing in her suffering.

Scenario 2

FOCUS ON YOUR FEELING PROCESS HERE

You are in college and this semester both you and your roommate end up in the same class together. You and your roommate get along fairly well and the living situation works but you aren't particularly close. You both typically do your own thing and are rather indifferent to each other. As the semester progresses you excel and become one of the top students in the class whereas your roommate is struggling significantly to grasp the material. The professor assigns a fairly challenging take home test that is a significant portion of your grade. He/she makes it clear that while it is open book, students are to work alone. Later your roommate comes to you begging for help after struggling with the test most of the weekend. You have already completed the assignment and he/she isn't asking to copy your answers, just to help tutor and mentor them as they struggle to complete the test, so there is no way your professor would ever know. However, this is the first time your room-mate has asked you for help this semester. He/she makes it clear that how they do on this test could mean the difference between passing and failing this class.

How do you respond to your roommate's request and why?

I help. I don't see that it would harm anyone, and anyone asking for help from a virtual stranger must be at their wit's end. Besides, if it weren't for the distance between us my roommate would likely have asked for help before - this is just doing what I'd have done anyway, only a bit late.

What sort of things in this scenario stand out to you as far as having a strong influence on your decision making and why?

My roommate and I get along. That means I respect them - they're probably rather sharp and not overly disruptive of others' lives.

My roommate tried on their own first, and doesn't make a habit of ot. They're not coming to me because I'm good and they're lazy, but because I'm in the best position to need help and they do need help.

I've completed the assignment. They're not disrupting me, and probably made a point of not doing so.

I'm in control of what information I pass on. I won't be disadvantaging anyone by helping my roommate.

Describe the flow of your decision making process.

First consider that they tend not to disadvantage others for their own benefit.

Then that I wouldn't have to disadvantage anyone​.

Then that it's not like it's something I wouldn't have done if asked earlier.

So I've decided to help.

Scenario 3

FOCUS ON YOUR LOGIC AND THINKING PROCESS HERE

Your boss calls you into his/her office in order to assign you to a new project. He/she gives you a choice between two. Project 1 is a rather broad, expansive project covering multiple areas of company operations. It has the potential to have a very significant impact on company operations but it would require a collective effort and an extensive amount of group work where you would be logically thinking through the project together with the group of individuals your boss has also assigned to it.

Project 2 has a much more specific and narrow focus and would require a significant amount of in depth individual analysis to work through the problem. You would be working alone and the completion of the project may or may not have much impact on company operations. However, after complete the process and problem you were working on will be streamlined and fundamentally understood.

Which project appeals to you the most, as it relates to the way you prefer to logically process information? Why?

Project 2 no doubt. I hate group work, I love spending time analysing information and I don't care about the impact of what I do, but I love to learn, to understand.

What sort of things in this scenario, across either project, stood out to you as having a strong influence on your decision? Why?

Group work in project 1. I prefer working by myself, people exhaust and distract me, especially at work.

In project​ 2 I have the opportunity to use my knack for analysis and I'll be learning while doing so.

Scenario 4

FOCUS ON YOUR LOGIC AND THINKING PROCESS HERE

Your college professor has assigned you to a group project with 3 other individuals. All 3 of these individuals have a good strong work ethic and desire to contribute to the overall success of this project. You are at the first meeting of your group and the other members are tossing around valuable ideas as to the nature and direction of this project.

Describe your behavior in this situation as you process and think about the ideas they are presenting.

When an idea is suggested I'd try to think how it would work out, attempt to identify problem areas that are poorly thought out or likely to be unnecessarily difficult or may be counter productive. I'd try to expand on ideas or find alternatives that may achieve the same goals without those problem areas. After hearing all ideas, I'd try to consider them all in comparison to one another to consider which offers the best opportunities​.

Describe what major influences drive this behavior.

I'm good at considering ideas, identifying their flaws and thinking in terms of "cause and effect" - I can see how things may pan out. I'm very good at building on concepts and coming up with related ideas. The best I could contribute to the project is to offer these abilities to help develop ideas.

Scenario 5

FOCUS ON THE SOURCES YOU DRAW NON-PHYSICAL ENERGY FROM HERE

It has been a very long week and you feel mentally and emotionally drained, but good news! It is Saturday and you have nothing significant that needs to be done. You FINALLY have some free time to yourself to recharge your batteries and do whatever you want.

Describe what sort of activities would help you to recharge. What would you enjoy doing after a long week and why?

Playing video games, specifically RPGs, allow me to escape life and use my mind in a manner that is not soul-crushingly boring.

Reading does the same, but heavier on the escape part.

Writing... likewise, but more focused on using my mind.

Spending time with a close friend or my girlfriend allows me to relax and enjoy life for what it is.

What sort of things do you feel you draw non-physical energy from doing?

Thinking. Using my imagination. Solving problems gives me a rush of energy. Mostly just being alone (or with select people) and able to do what I want will give me energy, though.

Hit the character limit, rest in reblog.

[cyrelia-j]

The Case for Jack

(*pats self on the back for not titling this "You don't know Jack"*)

So working on "For the Glory of Morning" resulted in doing a lot of research/character study into Jack which was challenging. Outside of the two episodes where he appears on the show we know precious little about Jack (as well as Lauren and Patrick) so I really had to spend a lot of time rewatching and thinking about his character. I wanted to share a few thoughts that were bouncing around my head on Jack as well as "make the case" for why he's such an incredible and tragic character and why I've come to love him so much. (And by extension why you will be seeing more Jack stuff here along with writing/drawing more Jack/Julian themed things - Jack/Parmak too as of May 2018-  when Garak/Bashir will always be my biggest love).You can take this with a grain of salt because these are just my own thoughts and possibly projections but any discussion is welcome!

This got long...

The first time I saw Jack (and read the description of him as a "violent, anti-social and aggressive" man) I didn't give him much of a thought beyond those basic descriptors. He comes off as he's meant to be as one of a few foils for Julian to see just how bad off he could have been with his enhancements or as he says "there but for the grace of God go I". We see Jack's antagonism, and while he's interesting to watch he's not easy to "like".

According to wiki he's been at the Institute for 15 years and going by his appearance and the age of the actor portraying him he's roughly the same age as Julian which means he's been at the Institute his entire adult life and likely part of his teenage years. I think it's safe to assume that he likely had a childhood and adolescence full of doctors/therapists/counselors leading up to that point. The reason for his enhancements is never explained but from his comments to Julian about his parents not being able to "afford the full overhaul", his knowledge of 15th century poetry, and [to me] his manner of dress speaks to someone with a monetarily privileged upbringing. 

So you have a child starting out whose parents have paid for a genius and despite the happy portrayals on television, imagine being a child that far above not just your peers but adults as well. It's hard to talk to people that don't understand you- we naturally talk to people starting out with a subconscious expectation that their intelligence will match ours until otherwise indicated and we adjust. For most of us we have a mix of people more and less intelligent than us. Jack never finds anyone he can relate to. People constantly disappoint him. He tries to relate to people. He doesn't understand as a child that other children and adults aren't on his level. He can't comprehend why they don't understand things that he does and his responses come off as condescending. 

You see this when he's talking to Julian. "You had to have known that.""Why would you bring it up" etc. This gets played off as paranoia as part of his personality but here Jack is meeting someone he's told is the same as him, who can understand him so he expects the same unabashed mental shortcuts in speech and thought. Children don't have patience, and Jack never was able to learn that he needed to have patience. He kept finding himself constantly frustrated, disappointed and isolated. Money will only get you so far with friends and Jack may not be able to read people well but eventually, he could see children only wanting to hang around him for his money. They didn't like him. Coming from that much money, I think it's possibly that his parents didn't put the same attention to him as Julian's did or that any attention was in the form of trophy status shit. I'm sure he was an incredibly lonely and isolated child.

Then add in that unlike Julian he has greater enhanced physical abilities. Julian may have an unfair athletic advantage but Julian isn't capable of the same damage as Jack. We can see where Jack threatens to snap Sarina's neck that he's stronger than the average human is. Despite what movies show, snapping a neck is incredibly difficult. One could argue he's bluffing but everyone in the room behaved as if he could absolutely do it easily. So now you have a child who not only comes off as arrogant, rude, and cold, you have a child who can easily hurt others without meaning to. I'm sure that he has. 

Children with those physical gifts respond to hurting others with differing degrees of empathy some [like I imagine Julian would] feel that very strongly and their reaction is to try and never hurt anyone even to their own detriment. They become afraid of their own strength and sometimes even end up bullied. Others don't understand they're stronger. Their guilt becomes frustration and resentment that someone should be hurt so easily. They don't have the tools to understand they need to exercise more care and they lash out even more. This only gets worse when he gets older and you add in puberty to all these feelings of isolation. 

He starts wanting to have friendships, romantic relationships but everyone either hates him, is afraid of him or both. His parents are largely absent and he's smart enough to get good marks even if he is a discipline problem. They throw more money at his school and at counselors. No one knows he's enhanced and he's likely spent his whole life having to keep this to himself letting everyone think he's just an asshole freak. His counselors don't understand. He resents them. He feels like no one wants to help him. They keep telling him that if he doesn't "get it together" he's going to be locked away. He's terrified because he doesn't want to be put away. He has no one he can confide in. He hates himself and he hates everyone else because it's better than feeling desperately lonely and hopeless. I'd be amazed if he's never made one suicide attempt in his life.

He keeps trying to fit in but he's even more angry, older, stronger, and he gets into fights where he hurts people. He's resentful that he has to hold back his strength because others are weak, that he has to hold back his intelligence because others are stupid. His parents finally have to confess after one incident too many and it's easier to put him in a place where he can "get help" and they can wash their hands of him.

I can see him being skeptical of Dr. Loews and not believing she sees him as anything other than a freak. She treats him differently than she does Lauren and Patrick and this isolates him more. Lauren is free with her attraction to everyone but him and just how big of a blow is that to someone's sense of self worth whether they're really into someone or not? I don't imagine he's ever been able to be intimate with anyone else ever and may not even have desired to. He isn't like Lauren and Patrick who lack a certain level of self awareness. You can see when he's ranting about being locked away how little they seem to be affected in comparison. He's trapped in a cage and he knows he's going to spend the rest of his life there and he hates it. It's a torment. His constant agitation, nervous tics, expressions are an expression of that anguish, of that energy, that being having no where to go and no outlet. 

I don't honestly know what Dr. Loews was thinking in introducing him to Julian. To me it almost seems cruel- I can see why they have such an antagonistic relationship even if it is misunderstanding from Jack. He hurts her with the broken PADD but she's the one with all the power in that relationship- she controls his life and to him these are all nothing but a series of taunts, of cruelties, of poking at him. I see him caught between not wanting his failure as a person rubbed in his face and wanting to taste just a hint of freedom. 

Jack looks at Julian and doesn't see a "goal" but rather fifteen years of his life that he's spent trapped that he's never going to get back. He sees a man with friends, who people like, who's attractive. No wonder from the outset everything Julian does and says seems combative, arrogant, and condescending. Jack can't read people well but even he can see the way Julian looks at him. Julian makes him feel like less which is why we constantly see him jumping on furniture to put himself in a position of dominance. He wants to be liked, he wants to be free. He wants everything Julian has and at the very pit of him he's incredibly kind. We can see that in the way he wanted to help Sarina even though he gets no benefit from it and loses one of his "pack".

As for the brief mention of Jack/Julian, I think that Julian would be incredibly good for him if they met under different circumstances. Or even if there was some big moment of truth, some baring of souls between them. We have no idea of Jack's sexuality as far as whether or not he's bi or straight. Jack himself may very well not know. I had a lightbulb moment when talking it over and he seemed to me to be likely completely asexual or demisexual. Julian when he has reason to be is endlessly patient. Jack wants to experience things, experience the world, and he and Julian can do that together. I imagine a world where they both find themselves in the Institute sharing grand dreams of exploring space and Julian finding Jack's wild ideas and mania contagious. I like the ideas of universes where they grow up together and fall in love. I can see Julian helping Jack learn to cope, learn to live in the world and to be his biggest cheerleader and pillar of support which Jack needs and I can see Jack being fiercely loyal to him like no other once that trust and relationship is established.

Edited to add May 2018 Jack/Parmak: Yeah this is a total oddball one and actually goes off my own non canon Parmak. I think there are some intersections. To start I think Cardassia as a whole would be a place where he'd adapt well. I think he'd find it fascinating to be with a people who are combative and argumentative with everyone as a culture. He can see they treat him just the same as any other and no one would give a damn about his being an augment. I think he'd find himself crazy mentally stimulated and acclimate well. He's had a regimented life as it is so I can see him taking to the routine and customs with interest. 

For me Parmak is also a character with an insane capacity for forgiveness and compassion. He's patient, but also won't just roll over and enjoys a good debate and I imagine him to be pretty brilliant in his own right. He's not unbending, and this is the guy screwing his former torturer. I think Parmak's pretty impossible to intimidate at this point in his life with all he's been through. I could see him finding Jack a fascinating puzzle especially seeing how very different he is from any human he's ever encountered before. Reaching a bit but Parmak strikes me at this point in his life as not shying away from danger or confrontation and I would love to see how this plays out. There are totally alternate reality possibilities and believe me I'll be messing with some of these too!

So in closing, yeah, I love Jack and will definitely be writing more adventures and fun romantic angsty things for him so hopefully this may get some others on board or thinking as well :) Believe me I have a lot of plans for this man! Also as an aside, one of the ST authors didn't feel the "scary" side of Jack came across well but I think Tim Ransom's incredibly portrayal gave Jack more depth than the "menacing" figure they were clearly trying to create.

[knightbird]

Frankenstein (1930) - John Balderston

Frankenstein (1930) is a curious play.  I came across it at the end of Steven Forry's "Hideous Progenies" along with the other scripts.  This play was an adaptation of another Frankenstein play by Peggy Webling, and the 1931 James Whale film was loosely based off of it- a bit more on that at the end of the post.

The play swaps the roles of Henry and Victor, with Henry Frankenstein as the mad scientist and Victor Moritz as the literary-inclined childhood friend.   Dr Waldman also gets a much larger role and is there throughout the play.

[id: Victor:  (Forgets in his enthusiasm that he was going, comes down stage toward Waldman).  I know nothing of science.  The best I can hope is to write his biography when he’s famous, if he doesn’t kill himself with overwork.  Waldman: (amused).  And what will you say?  Victor:  I’ll tell how we played together beside the lake at Belrive, how he was always looking for the philosopher’s stone, read books on alchemy when he was thirteen and talked about turning base metal into gold.  Waldman: He has deserted his alchemy for the new facts, new experimental truths.  They fascinate me as a man of science, though sometimes they terrify me as a priest.  end id]

[id:  Victor: No, it was Amelia.  We had been engaged since we were children - last year she - well she said she loved Henry.  Waldman: (Gently).  Are you giving up everything to your friend?  Victor: (Vehemently).  No.  Why shouldn’t she want him?  He has brilliance, he has strength, he will be a great man.  I am a weakling-  Waldman: He has some uncanny power-  (Noise of bolt shooting in door R, door opens.  Enter Henry.  Young, thin, nervous, good looking but now at the point of hysteria.  He crosses rapidly to them.)  end id]

The play's creature is much less eloquent than his novel's counterpart, though he's not a mindless animal.  He learns and is capable of basic speech, and understands far more language than he is capable of formulating himself.  He is also shown to have learned how to read.  The creature is drawn to and appreciates beauty, and is shown to like the sight of nature, the sun, women, domestic white doves, and shimmering water.  He has difficulty understanding some concepts such as death, and the different ways to cause death, and has trouble controlling his own strength.  The creature is actually referred to by the main characters as "Frankenstein," and there is an explanation given for this in the text.  

[id: (Frankenstein gets up, goes to window, holds out arms again, draws deep breaths).  Henry: That is my garden.  Say it!  Garden!  Frankenstein:  Gar-den.  (Frankenstein points, eager questioning in his motions and his grunts).  Henry: Trees.  Frankenstein:  Trees!  Henry: Flowers.  Frankenstein: Flow-ers!  (Looks up, pointing above, with similar gesture).  Henry: Great soft fire, the sun.  Sun.  Frankenstein:  Sun.  Henry:  The blue Heaven, the sky.  Frankenstein:  Sky.  (He continues to gaze, panting, excited, enraptured.)  end id]

[id: Frankenstein:  No man touch Frankenstein - fear.  Hit Frankenstein.  Master beat - not now.  I kill!  You woman, you not hate?  Katrina: You mean people hate you?  Frankenstein: Hate Frankenstein.  All people.  Hurt Frankenstein.  Katrina: I don’t hate you, my poor friend.  Frankenstein:  Friend?  Katrina:  Don’t you know what friend is either?  Somebody one’s fond of.  I should like to help you.  Frankenstein:  You woman, you beauty like... like garden.  Like sky.  No pain like... like other woman.  Katrina:  I don’t understand you.  end id]

Upon creating the creature, instead of abandoning him, Henry locks him up in his lab and treats him cruelly.  The creature eventually escapes and, like in the novel, is rejected by society, goes on to commit multiple murders, and eventually arrives at the house of Frankenstein where he asks his creator for a female companion.  While he is at the house, he accidentally kills Henry's sister, Katrina.  Out of fear for the safety of his fiance, Henry agrees to make a second creature and sequesters himself in a hut in the mountains, where he sets up a lab.  The ending somewhat differs to the novel - Henry's friends find him in his hut, and there is a final violent conflict in which both the creator and the creature die.  However, both Victor (the childhood friend) and Amelia (the fiance) survive the story, unlike in the novel.  

I found the change in ending interesting.  Henry's character by the end does not have the loneliness and haunted aspects that novel Victor's did, and his hatred of the creature did not seem to initially be born from fear, though he did feel disgust towards his creation.  Though the creature has killed people, the only person he's harmed by the end of the play who Henry knows personally is his sister.  Henry does not go on the final chase for the creature in the end, but dies at his creations hands.  The creature has some sort of religious revelation and is killed by an act of god, being struck by lightning after calling upon him.

[id: Waldman: Pain - that kind of pain is not felt by animals, it comes from the soul.  Even when you killed him, you felt pain - (points to corpse on the floor).  Yet you - I do not understand.  Frankenstein: Soul - what is soul?  Waldman:  It is the part of God he gives to every man who lives.  It is the part of man God calls back to himself after man dies.  (Frankenstein murmurs: not man.)  That’s why I’m not afraid to die.  You can kill the body, but not the soul.  Katrina is with God; I think that after all he suffered, Henry’s spirit is with God too.  Frankenstein: Where is God?  I thought he - (points to Henry) God - my God.  Waldman: (Holds crucifix up).  No - God is here.  Here - everywhere.  Frankenstein:  Your God hate - Waldman: God loves the birds, the beasts, as well as men.  Frankenstein:  Love Frankenstein?  Waldman: Yes.  Whatever you are, you have taught me, a priest, something about God.  He loves you.  Frankenstein: He - friend?  Waldman:  Yes. end id]

Like the novel's Victor, this Henry is self-interested, arrogant, and snubs his friends and family without thought, but is also more prone to fight over flight, unlike the other Victor.  I found him more flat and less relatable, but I think part of it is the format - characters in a play tend to be more one dimensional compared to a novel, because a play lacks the ability and run-time needed to deeply immerse the reader in the character's rich inner thoughts and details.  Because the play starts soon before the creature is brought to life, we did not get to experience Henry's early life or truly understand his reasons for creating the creature.

[id: Henry: (Wildly).  You see how impossible it is.  I know I oughtn’t to hate him, Dr Waldman, but he’s part of me and I hate myself.  He oughtn’t to exist.  It would be no sin, no sin I tell you, and it’s the only way... (Grasps Frankenstein’s throat from behind, chokes him).  (Screams).  He’s worse than a corpse, a corpse mustn’t walk and talk, a corpse mustn’t think - (Victor from window, Waldman from fireplace, rush on Henry, shouting, but before they reach him, Frankenstein grasps his wrists, throws him off and almost to the floor and rises - fully erect for first time.  Henry staggers to feet).  His hands are like steel, he could kill us all.  Frankenstein: (Fiercely, questioning but questioning triumphantly).  Kill?  Kill?  Kill!!  Henry: (Recovering himself, picks up whip, strikes Frankenstein violently with butt).  Slave; dog!  How dare you throw me down?  (Frankenstein steps back, shrinks a little but does not cringe as before).  end id]

The play contains much more heavy-handed religious references than the novel, usually relating to Henry's transgressions and the creature's existence.  Because Victor and Waldman learn about the creature early on, they are able to have multiple onstage discussions about it, often entailing arguments on the nature of life and souls and their relationship to god.  I believe part of the heavy-handedness can also be attributed to the format as well - the play doesn't have very long to deliver its key themes and cannot use long-winded and nested narratives like the novel, and it must deliver almost everything through dialogue.  Therefore, like the characters, the play's themes are also shallower in comparison to the novel.  It could be that the writer shifted the focus of the play more strongly onto religious themes to make up for this, though it could also be because of the time in which it was written. I admit, thematic analysis is not my strong suit and most people could probably pull more to analyze out of this play than I could.

[id: Waldman: Impious!  A century ago the Church would have burned you - Henry: Is he who saves a dying man impious?  This young man was dead.  If I could give him life, would men regard me as a criminal, or as a saviour?  Waldman: The doctor does not interfere with the will of Heaven, Henry Frankenstein.  He restores the sick before their souls have gone to God, not afterwards.  Victor:  Your studies have been too much for you, Henry.  I will help you rebury the corpse.  Henry: You need not bother - I reburied it.  (The men are terrified).  Why are you so horrified, Dr. Waldman?  I merely let his life run out.  I was simply not interfering with the will of Heaven!  (They remain speechless, Dr Waldman crosses himself).  end id]

[id: Waldman: Enough of this.  Henry: (Hysterically).  You can’t have it both ways, priest!  If this thing that I made has no soul, is not human, it’s a beast, and a beast can be killed without sin!  Waldman:  Who am I to know what relation God has decreed between you and this thing that you and the Devil, your rays and your Elixir brought into the world?  But it is linked to you more strongly than son to father.  And this I know, that it is part of yourself and that you cannot destroy the unholy life that you have dared to breathe into that body.  Henry: then it will destroy me.  Waldman: (Turns away, Henry’s remark strikes him deeply and he seems to agree, as he turns back to Henry).  This is in God’s providence.  end id]

Authorship & history

The play is written by John Balderston, published 1930.  According to Hideous Progenies, this is an adaptation of Peggy Webling's 1927 "Frankenstein: An Adventure in the Macabre," and was meant for Broadway. The rights to it and to Webling's script were purchased by Universal Studios and after much revision, it resulted in the script for Frankenstein (1931).

I have not been able to find Webling's script and therefore cannot specifically identify what in Balderston's script is from Webling's work and what is his own. According to Hideous Progenies, the names Victor Moritz and Henry Frankenstein are from Webling's play, as well as Dr Waldman's extended involvement, and the creature being called "Frankenstein."

I was not able to find anything else online about this play except for brief mentions on some Wikipedia pages, so if anyone knows of other sources on either of them or knows of where I could read An Adventure in the Macabre, I'd be glad to hear it.

Sources:

Hideous Progenies: Dramatizations of Frankenstein from Mary Shelley to the Present - by Steven Earl Forry (1990)

Wikipedia pages for John Balderston, Peggy Webling, and Frankenstein (1931)

[thegeekerynj]

An Occasional Attempt to Read, Discuss and Review the Wonders of Comics

By: John Rafferty, cranky old man, and Fan of All Things Comics

Riding the IND

Designed with the intent to acknowledge the Immense Contribution of the Independent Comic Press, and  highlight a more unique stable of products

==========================================

Short Hops on the IND

Quick looks at books from the Independent Press, when the reviewer has too much on his plate

———————————————————————————-

Seven Secrets #2 (Boom! Studios)

Writer: Tom Taylor   Artist: Danielle DiNicuolo

‘You know, being a Leader, I really expected my decisions to be undermined less.

Really? That’s cute.

Why do I keep you around?

Mainly to hold this. I suspect you have unusually weak arms.’

——————————————————————————————————————————

So, Caspar has been born, and shipped off to be trained, becoming another Secret in the Order of Secrets…

And he comes back. At 9 years old, trained in the martial arts, Smarter, more inquisitive and much more driven than any Initiate before. Training with Keepers and Holders, to become one of them.

And more importantly, to discover his roots.

Taylor’s scripting is tight and fast. He packs a great deal of story into 24 pages. More importantly, he brings Caspar’s story fully around, to the point of Sigurd’s departure. 

The artwork from Danielle DeNicuolo is simply beautiful. I know… I waffled on about how pretty her pencils were last time, but Jeebus, this issue is prettier. It’s almost as if last issue was a test balloon, to see if she had the hook she wanted, and now… well, she’s fishing the pond dry!

This issue ends on a terrific cliffhanger line, one I will not repeat. 

More importantly, one which can mean many things, depending where the story goes.

Suffice to say, I am determined to follow this book. I would suggest you do so also.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

======================================================================

Locke & Key ‘…In Pale Battalions Go…’ #1 (IDW)

Writer: Joe Hill   Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez

‘Where did Father find you? Be honest, I shall have the truth soon enough. I best not learn he hauled you out of some sordid immoral hole.

No. Worse. Canada.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Locke & Key.

The story of Key House, on Lovecraft Island, has spanned years, for Key House, itself is older than the Americas. 

The Lockes have forever been the guardians of the Keys to Key House, guarding them against the Evilthat wants to use them… for the Keys are Weapons. Not weapons like guns, and rifles and knives or spears. But Weapons.

Those which have the Power to Destroy. And the Keys DO want to be used.

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez have taken it upon themselves to bring us another tale in the History of Key House. Thank Gods!

The year is 1918, and the Great War is raging in Europe. Jonathan Locke is 14 years old, and wants to fulfill his destiny, for the Lockes have been represented in every war. As the only son, this is his right, and with the Keys of Key House, there’s no telling what he can do…

Gabriel Rodriguez seems to have decided to leave everything on the battlefield with his artwork. His pages are so expressive, and capture the feel of the World War One era. If the closing splash is any indication, the actual war pieces will be fantastic.

As far as Mr. Hill, what can I say? There has not been a miss, even remotely, in his portfolio… and this latest edition of the Locke Family chronicle is no exception.

My only complaint, it relies on a conceit that the Reader knows the story already, and gives little information about the Keys in play… Now, this is a minor dig, for if the Gentle Reader perusing this truly wants to find the history of Key House, and its family of Guardians, they would merely have to purchase the prior volumes of Locke and Key, and read to their heart’s content.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

A Man Among Ye #1 & 2 (Image / Top Cow)

Writer: Stephanie Phillips    Artist: Craig Cermak

‘You might try using the eyes that head, Jack, unless you fancy a new breathing hole. Still I do love the smell of gunpowder in the morning…

——————————————————————————————————————————

Well, this is a pleasant surprise…

A comic about pirates. Not any pirate, not a ‘Jack Sparrow’ type of pirate.

No, this is a look at Captain John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham, and more importantly, his first mate, Anne Bonny.

The stories of Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and Mary Read are almost as extensive, and fantastic as those of Blackbeard, William Kidd and Bartholomew Roberts.

What makes Anne Bonny and Mary Read so special is their being successful Female Pirates in a male dominated world. Every bit as strong, independent, and batshit crazy as all the others of their time, Bonny and Read ran the British Navy ragged throughout the Caribbean, while doing so an all-male crew, an amazing feat for the 18th Century.

Stephanie Phillips has certainly done her research, taking this story from the sinking of a British frigate by Rackham and his crew, to the British Governor of the Bahamas, and his plan to capture all the pirates, and execute them. 

Cermak’s art is nicely complementary to the story, however I find it a little trope-y… The Heroes / anti-heroes are pretty, the ‘Villain’ is an ugly brute, and things are a little to clean… This is a pirate story, on the High Seas, there is nothing clean and pretty about this…

But, I digress.

With two issues in, and the British on their tail, Rackham, Bonny and Read have their hands full. Knowing a little of the history here, I am looking forward to seeing how much legend Phillips mixes in with the facts of the raids on the Barbary Coast, the Tortugas, and the shipping lanes.

It’s really nice to see a non-Super, strong Female Led Book. Here’s hoping it gets legs, and readers!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

Bomb Queen - Trump Card Part 1 (Image - Shadowline)

Creator - Jimmie Robinson

‘Why the FU*%ing rush? *cough - cough* He’ll be gone like every asshole politician. They’re all the same.

Not this time. Trump changed the Constitution by repealing the 22nd Amendment. He’ll make himself President for Life if he wins this election.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Sweet Jeebus. As if Jimmie Robinson hasn’t fed the zeitgeist enough with cut-off shirts and tiny, tight skirts, now he feeds the fears of America, outlining an America with a lunatic trying to rewrite Democracy… And the need for Bomb Queen to run against him!

This is my introduction to Bomb Queen, the ninth mini-series, each of the earlier ones a titillating wonder of humor and over-sexed action. At this point in her world, the anti-hero has had her own country for Super-Villains, and is now on the run, having beset upon by the World’s Heroes.

Captured by her Clone / Sire (these things are never clear), Bomb Queen is offered a choice, as it were. Run for office against the Orange Horror, or well, you know, because heroes aren’t really heroes…

His artwork is pretty, simple, and clean. There’s a certain elegance about the characters he draws. They’re not overmuscled, although the ladies do have exceptionally large ‘lungs’, which are emphasized by uniform cutouts (a’la Power Girl)…

This book is full of hoots, giggles, belly laughs, and unfortunately, the harsh reality of the 2016 Election. There’s a two page spread which harkens back to the CNN / MSNBC / National Television Network ‘Man on the Street’ interviews, with paraphrased quotes I heard about Trump over his opponents, and over Clinton. The idea that Robinson could make it fit so easily, and fluidly… well it both makes me ill, and gives me pause to want to read much more.

As I said, Jimmie Robinson has grabbed the National Zeitgeist by the shorthairs with this storyline, not because he’s rich, and just can, but because it’s just too soon, and no one will be able to deny the ugly nature of what they are reading.

This is worth a read to see where he takes it, to see if he has the stones to finish what he started, and to see HOW THE HELL Bomb Queen WALKS IN THOSE FRICKIN BOOTS!!!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

Cyberpunk 2077  Trauma Team #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

Writer: Cullen Bunn  Artist: Miguel Valderrama

‘Everyone’s resentful of how little money they make. Doesn’t change anything.

We get the call.

We do the job.

—————————————————————————————————————————

As I read this book, and watched the flashes of color race across my eyes, my first thoughts were ‘godsdamn, this guy makes Frank Miller look good!’

Gentle Readers, in my introduction to this book, inside the first 5 or six pages, I was making comparisons between the artist of this book, and the master of dark, splatter mayhem.

Miguel Valderrama has a very special touch to his pencils and inks, maybe he buys them from the same place, perhaps they are fashioned from the same tree and graphite quarry… whatever the reason, the cause, I want MORE!

The biggest difference is the lightness of touch, the fine lines, there are many more, much more elaborate detail than the broad strokes Master Miller uses, however, this is not a complaint. Rather , the observation is more of a wistful longing for a, well, a ‘What if Frank Miller Drew Everything The Way He Drew His Crowd Scenes?

The answer might be found in this book

Cullen Bunn’s story reads like a reality television story. This is a look into the psych eval of the lone surviving member from a Medical Evac Team. This Trauma Team has medics, and soldiers to act as guards, as the areas they are sent into aren’t exactly Beverly Hills, unless the 90210 has been overrun by the Crips and Bloods, and they are eating the shop owners.

As Nadia is running through her memories of the events, we are seeing it in real time, along with the interviewer’s requests for clarification. She appears to be a solid medic, her only concern being getting back in the field. She has a job to do…

Now, at first glance, this could be seen as pretty derivative… like Judge Dredd / Anderson as a Guard / Medic team… BUT… and this is a Big One, the comparison ends with the big helmets and firefights. 

There’s none of the cynicism, or the poking fun at the Government / Branches / Cabinet Offices. Rather, there’s what feels like a genuine look at how being a survivor has effected this character, and how she is going to handle getting back out into the field.

I liked this. I have to say, I went in to this book with some preconceptions, and was happy to see them dashed.  The interactions between the Team characters come across as real, there’s little stilted, unnatural dialogue… and that was a great thing to see.

The twist Bunn slams at the reader on the last page of the book, well, I want to see Issue 2, just to see how this plays out.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶.5

======================================================================

HEAVY #1 (VAULT Comics)

Writer:  Max Bemis    Artist: Eryk Donovan

‘I’ve got fifteen Hitlers to do away with before the end of the night!

They’re throats aren’t gonna slit themselves!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Have you ever read ‘The Punisher’?

Seen R.I.P.D.?

Put the two together, you’ve pretty much read this book. 

Hyperviolence, set to a redemption arc, while saving the Multiverse from the worst iterations of the Famous (both good and bad… Leonardo DaVinci as a bisexual foot fetishist who uses his genius to become Dictator of the World, and build weapons that are sexual torture devices???!!!???)

The redemption part?? To get to the Other Side, and redeem yourself, you have to partner with, and train the jerk who killed you and your girl, and make sure he doesn’t get killed when you are on the job!

Unless this is what you are into… HARD PASS!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #1  (Boom! Studios)

Writer: Al Ewing    Artist: Simone De Meo

Boss, tell me if I’m out of line here, I don’t mind not knowi—

— But what IS this between you and Richter? What happened?

Oh, it’s quite simple, Jason.

She killed my PARENTS.

—————————————————————————————————————————

I was hooked on this book before I got to these lines of dialogue.

I don’t know if it was the absolutely wonderful artwork, the beauty of the layouts, the detail, the ——Oh Hell, Simone De Meo’s artwork grabbed me and held me for the three readings I gave this book. I couldn’t get over the visuals, her place ts of panels, the character sketches… Hell, some of this was downright cinematic.

There are panels, and pages, that made me think of James Gunn’s vision of Knowhere… and that is high praise from me.

Al Ewing, what is there to say. After reading his work on Judge Dredd, i sought out his work wherever I could find it.. This is tough for me, not being a big Marvel Fan, since almost everything he has written has been for the House of the Iron Mouse…

The story, is simplicity. Explorers in Space find the corpses of the Gods. Well, that is as close as they can come to what they are. 

There is a market for their meat, the materials which clothe them, certain parts of their organs, both a legal and a Black Market.

Once a Godcorpse has been identified, the Sutopsy Ships descend upon it, to stake claims. these are monitored by Escort Ships, in place to enforce Government Regulations concerning what can and cannot be stripped from the Godcorpse.

Violate protocols and die.

This is the story of the Vikaam Two, her captain, Georges Malik, his crew, and his plan to find a Living God.

I can’t wait!

Eight Bells… All is well…

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

Grendel, Kentucky  #1  (AWA /Upshot)

Writer: Jeff McComsey  Artist: Tommy Lee Edwards

‘You believe what Pap said about Clyde?

How he died?

Do I believe a bear killed my Daddy?

No Fuckin’ Way.

——————————————————————————————————————————

1976. Junior Year of High School, my AP English class was assigned ‘Beowulf’ as an Advanced Placement Test read. In the Olde English translation. 

It was an attempt by my teacher, a wonderful elf of a nun, to get her literary stunted students to stretch, comprehend, and recognize themes once they see them, in preparation for the exam and the expectations of college.

2020. As is my wont, I picked up all the First Issues of the Indy Comics at my local purveyor of Four Color Sequential Art, The Geekery.

While running up my near National Deficit weekly Comics tab, my eyes slid across the title, and the gritty cover… Hmmmmm, too much of a draw not to at least give a look, add it to the pile.

In the opening pages of this book, Clyde Wallace has dressed himself in catcher’s mask, chest protector and knee / shin guards (poor man’s body armor), and strapped on enough real and makeshift weaponry (baseball bat with spikes driven through the business end to an M-60 grenade launcher) to make Rambo, Negan and Max Rockatansky run screaming into the night.

Clyde marches into the mouth of a mine…

WHOA! By Hrothgar, King of the Danes… This is Beowulf… In Kentucky!!??!!

Set in 1971, the Beowulf character, Denny, is a veteran of the Viet Nam Police Action, his warriors, well they are an all female biker gang, led by Marnie, a woman his father raised from childhood. The King, Pap, is the Town Elder, and he knows something he isn’t talking about.

Yeah, this is already good, one issue in.

Jeff McComsey has written an offbeat take on the Beowulf epic, taking some very severe literary license with the story lines. The epic heroes and warriors, well, not so much. Relatively amoral, criminal for support, ahhhh lets face it, these guys are all anti-heroes, at best. 

If this were today’s America, I’m not sure I wouldn’t be rooting for the monster.

But I digress.

The artwork by Tommy Lee Edwards is gritty, hard on the eyes, and, well appropriate to the story. His artwork HURTS at times, you can feel the violence, the intent, through the eyes. America in 1971, it was not a pretty place.

As a miniseries (1 of 4, so far), this is worth the read. Too much more, and it would feel like I was prepping for a test again… but I digress.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

======================================================================

Inkblot #1 (Image Comics)

Creators: Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd

‘Sweet Suckleberries!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Her Name is KUBERT. As in Joe, and Adam and Andy and Katie.

That alone earns her the right to a viewing.

The fact that this is a fun little book she co-created with Rusty Gladd, well, that’s a gallon of whipped Italian Sweet Cream on top of the cake!

Give this a shot! Buy it for your little ones, if you have any!  Lie about having little ones, and buy it for yourself! You won’t be disappointed!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

======================================================================

Spy Island #1   (Dark Horse Comics)

Writer: Chelsea Cain   Cover / Designer / Supplemental Art: Lia Miternique    Artist: Elise McCall

‘Some people are afraid of the ocean. There’s a word for it: ‘Thalassophobia’. A fear of the open ocean and what lies beneath its surface.

Not me.

I think the ocean’s great*.

*except for the Kraken.

——————————————————————————————————————————

SO. That happened.

There is an area of the Atlantic Ocean, delineated by vertices at Miami, Florida, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Bermuda, which has been the source of many stories concerning the disappearance of airplanes, ships, crews of ship, and unusual activities. This area, lovingly referred to as the Devil’s Triangle, or the Bermuda Triangle, is the source of this tale.

Spy Island is located somewhere inside the Triangle, and it plays host to spies, bad actors, scientists, etc from all nations, some other worlds, and all times.

It’s the story of Nora Freud, Agent for an unnamed country, possibly the USA, possibly not. She is a spy, and so much more. She is also a woman of action, who can perform any assignment given to her.

Including assassination.

Lia Miternique and Elise McCall have put together an artistically gorgeous offering in this book. Between the inserts for the fish, maps, the advertisements and covers, this a visually wondrous.The underwater scenes in and of themselves are masterful, offering a view of the ocean one might actually see off t a Caribbean island.

The story, well it is OK. Lots of self exposition, not much action (the best stuff is in the first 4 pages), this is setting up like a spy thriller, of sorts. DUH, bimbo!!! Look at the title!

It is a first issue, and seems to be tagged for a longer run, so, I’m willing to give Ms. Cain the benefit of the doubt here. She had to have given the artists the perspective to draw from, and I am cautiously optimistic, based on Mockingbird, and her NYT Best Seller Status…

It’s worth a shot, just for the eye candy…

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶.5

[aion-rsa]

Raised by Wolves: Jordan Loughran on Bodily Autonomy and Tempest’s Loss of Faith

https://ift.tt/3hY0iEv

Jordan Loughran has been preparing for her role on Raised by Wolves her whole life: A science fiction fan since childhood, the London-born actress is very comfortable with futuristic worlds, having starred on recent SFF series Emerald City and Evermoor. When prepping to play Mithraic teenager Tempest on Ridley Scott’s far-future series, then, Loughran turned to an unusual but invaluable piece of reading material: the book Betrayal (on which the film Spotlight was based), which helped her dramatize Tempest’s loss of faith and subsequent losses of identity and community.

Tempest’s plotline is one of the series’ most sensitive, combining sexual assault (by a Mithraic cleric), teen pregnancy (on the planet Kepler-22b, no less), and pro-life issues—the last because android caretaker Mother (Amanda Collin) will not allow abortion to even be considered. Traumatized and disillusioned by the church that was supposed to protect her, Tempest is forced to embrace her approaching fate as a mother, often clashing with Mother’s own brutal parenting style. Yet Tempest is never a passive character on Raised by Wolves, whether pushing her quasi-siblings to question their surroundings or, in a truly harrowing scene, killing a wounded subhuman creature—only to wind up channeling Daenerys Targaryen’s infamous Game of Thrones horse heart scene by digging out what she discovers is its fetus.

The character, carrying the potential first human child to be born naturally in humanity’s new home, would seem to draw comparisons to key Christian figures like Mary (mother of Jesus) or even Mary Magdalene. Yet rather than match Tempest to a specific Biblical analog, Loughran instead envisions her embodying a whole population of “people who aren’t given full autonomy or agency over their bodies”—acknowledging contemporary issues even in the far future.

With two episodes remaining of Raised by Wolves’ first season, Loughran spoke with Den of Geek via email about where Tempest’s loyalties lie, unlearning a lot of her own internalized biases as an actor, and her hopes for the future.

DEN OF GEEK: Did you watch or read any particular science fiction works to prepare for the role of Tempest and for this kind of futuristic setting?

JORDAN LOUGHRAN: I didn’t watch or read any particular piece of science fiction, but I have been a fan of the genre ever since I was a kid, so I was very familiar with those kinds of worlds and was excited about jumping into the world of Raised By Wolves.

How does Tempest compare to past roles you’ve played on other SFF/speculative series like Emerald City and Evermoor?

I don’t tend to make that many comparisons between the roles that I play as I kind of see each of them as their own person. Thinking about it, I feel like Tempest shares some common ground with Tip (from Emerald City) in that they both are made to grow up before their time and they share a desire to make their voices heard. Playing Tempest has been one of my most intense and emotional acting experiences I think, so while shooting I set aside time to check in with myself. I don’t think that was something that I’d consciously thought to do on a job before; it really helped.

Read more

TV

Raised by Wolves Review (Spoiler-Free)

By Natalie Zutter

TV

Raised by Wolves: Mithraism and Sol Explained

By Juliette Harrisson

Tempest’s plotline is one of the series’ most sensitive, combining sexual assault, teen pregnancy, and pro-life issues (i.e., abortion is never an option). How did you approach all of these aspects of the character’s journey?

Going into the role, I wanted to focus on Tempest being in a process of recovery. In that way, I looked at each aspect in how it now affects her worldview and her journey towards healing. These are highly-sensitive issues, so I always made sure that Tempest remained at the heart of everything I was doing.

Did you draw from personal experience or draw inspiration from elsewhere for your performance of Tempest questioning her Mithraic faith and its corrupt figures like the cleric who raped her?

To prepare, I read the book Betrayal, which the film Spotlight was based on. I felt it spoke most to the story I was telling as Tempest. How her loss of faith is also linked to a loss of identity and to a certain extent, a loss of community. It also helped me get some insight into the complexities of interacting and maintaining a relationship with people who are still a part of the faith/community that you’ve had to walk away from because of the trauma that’s been caused.

What was it like shooting the scene with Tempest killing the creature, only to discover its fetus inside?

That scene felt split into two parts for me. The first part felt like an action sequence; so it was very physical in that way. The second half of the scene was then incredibly emotional, so the only way I can describe it is like doing a very sharp turn in a fast car.

Do you see Tempest as an analogue to Mary (mother of Jesus), or Mary Magdalene? Or if not, some other religious figure (maybe a saint) and/or historical figure?

I haven’t really thought of Tempest in that way. In some way, she could potentially be seen as a representation of people who aren’t given full autonomy or agency over their bodies.

Of the various conflicting groups—Mithraics, atheists, Mother and Father, creatures—who do you think Tempest feels the greatest affinity with?

I think Tempest feels the greatest affinity with Mother. She’s who Tempest confides in the most. The promise Mother makes to look after Tempest and help her work through and heal from her trauma, and the fact that Tempest can see her trying, is a big factor in why Tempest feels a strong connection to Mother.

Can you tease what to expect from Tempest’s story for the last two episodes of the season?

That’s tricky, I don’t want to give too much away! I think over the last two episodes you see a lot of Tempest’s vulnerability; she starts to take down some of the walls she’s put up for her own protection.

Your essay for iC4RE was really moving, as you candidly shared your experience as a woman of mixed heritage and how when you were starting out as an actor, most of the roles that were available for you to audition for perpetuated negative stereotypes. You end the essay by exhorting people to “keep talking, keep questioning, keep challenging, keep learning, keep un-learning, keep doing”—how have you found these goals and actions reflected in your work? What are your hopes for the future?

I had to unlearn a lot of things that I’d internalized over the years. I had to ask myself why I would mentally view myself as a long-shot when I’d read various descriptions like “English rose” in the character breakdown. If I was removing myself from those types of roles because “that can’t be me,” who else was I removing? Ultimately, when I was doing that, I was just reinforcing a very damaging narrative, and that was something I no longer wanted to do. 

I’ve been very lucky to work as a part of some diverse casts, including Raised By Wolves; as a result, I feel that you’re able to have a more rounded view of the world as you become and make yourself aware of other people’s experiences. It gives you a better perspective on how you fit into the world and what you can do to make it a better one. My hope for the future is that the world that exists will be an equitable one and that we as humans will be able to acknowledge the mistakes that have been made and the harm that has been done, and make active, positive change as a result.

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

Raised by Wolves is available now on HBO Max.

The post Raised by Wolves: Jordan Loughran on Bodily Autonomy and Tempest’s Loss of Faith appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3kH7JAM