amleke

[inquisitor-apologist]

Kinda funny that the Jedi are baselessly accused of everything the Inquisitorius actually does. Like, they’re right there. They even steal babies!

[bonesy-doodles]

(Asking on anon bc my ghost blog is my side blog LOL) but I was looking at your post about Copia learning ballet when he was younger and I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. Do you think any of the other Papa's had any other kind of artistic hobbies? I like to think Primo may have really enjoyed painting, when he had the time [from sacred-coffin]

Hiiii! Glad you liked Copia knowing ballet, I'm glad my years of suffering through the Nutcracker Ballet has come in handy (my cousin was a ballerina). But yeah, I took your question to my council (my two wives), and we all came up with several ideas for each of the other Emeritus brothers! Not all of these are exactly artistic, just kinda became general hobbies or things the papas liked to do.

Primo

I am one of those people that does enjoy Primo as a gardener, but not in the traditional sense. His knowledge pertains mostly to poisonous and carnivorous plants, but he also does know how to make a lot of natural remedies because he just finds herbal medicine practices fascinating. Although, only some members of the Ministry actually trust him and his tinctures.

Primo has “accidentally” poisoned a Bishop once. When asked if he knew that he put something he wasn’t supposed to into the bottle, he said “oh Satanas, my vision must be going”. He definitely did on purpose cause the Bishop took a nasty tone with him once.

In his personal book collection, I feel like he has a lot of vintage plant encyclopedias and anything like that for his garden obsession.

Definitely a purveyor of classical music compared to the other Papas, but in the sense he prefers scores that are evil in vibes. Also, definitely can play the violin. He’s not like, perfect at playing, but good enough not to annoy those that can hear it.

I would love for him to have an electric violin, but Primo is the type to always prefer classic string instruments over electric ones. Definitely has like an ebony stained wood violin.

Primo also has a fascination with insects, probably goes along with his plant fascination. He’s definitely into insect pinning and has frames filled with different moths, butterflies, beetles, and downright terrifying insects within his office.

Secondo

This man is a drinks connoisseur, in several ways. Secondo is big into coffee and alcohol. He’s never been the biggest morning person and coffee has basically been his lifeline since he became of Priest in the Ministry. Has all the shit needed for steaming milk and making espresso and all the jazz. I feel like he can even do that milk art and shit, but only spooky or sexual designs. For alcohol, he’s big into mixology. Grade A mixologist here.

Within the Chapter House, where most of the high ranked and important people of the Ministry have their rooms, some of their offices, and big important meetings, there’s also like recreational rooms for them. One of them has basically been claimed by the Emeritus bro trio for their game nights (Uno and other shit), because it has the bar that Secondo has stocked himself. He always mixes the drinks for himself and his brothers.

When he was Papa, his Papal office also had a personal bar.

I feel like this man is big into suits, reminds me of the way NBC’s Hannibal was big into suit fashion. He knows how to look refined and exactly how to pair a suit to tie and pocket square for every occasion. He’s had an extensive closet ever since he was younger. As Papa, he took every chance he could to be out of his Papal robes and Mitre and be in one of his many suits.

In terms of an instrument he knows, I’m not exactly certain, but I’m feeling a big instrument, maybe a cello, string bass, or something else, but its gotta be a deep and thuddy instrument, but I don’t think he plays it anymore. Left it behind as he went up the ranks of the Ministry.

Terzo

This man is a certified film buff. I mean, look at all his music videos. They reference so much. It’s all 1920’s Art Deco, with German expressionism like the Cabinet of Dr. Calgiri, Faust, and Nosferatu, as well as all the early 1900s horror movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, etc.

From that era of horror movies, hands down, his favorite movie is Frankenstein, and loves the Bride of Frankenstein.

Alongside that, I feel like Terzo is very into that era of fashion, considering his second stage outfit and the ghoul outfits. Also just fashion in general. Man likes fancy clothes, it’s just unfortunate Sister Imperator didn’t give his version of the Ghost Project for funding.

Another thing Terzo did when he was younger is theater. Musicals, plays, talent shows, you name it. He always loved being on stage, being the lead of the show, its what helped him be such a charismatic Papa.

I feel like his favorite production he ever stared in was Cabaret.

Terzo picked up the guitar when he was younger as well, plays it every now and again, but not as often as Primo plays his violin. (This is so sad, Terzo play Wonderwall).

Totally didn’t fall in love with both his guitarists (totally doesn’t admire their abilities to play the guitar, totally didn’t pretend to be bad at playing guitar so that they would teach him, totally not).

Also, so good at playing the kazoo.

Bonus, Papa Nihil

He picked up crocheting when he was older to try and make gifts for Sister Imperator.

Unfortunately, Copia would have to be a whole other post as there’s a lot I could say about him as he’s my bestest guy.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Darlings, let's do this again, properly this time. Less you forget what I'm about

Do you vote for the one you like best or the one you hate most? Yes

Propaganda under the cut, provided by your local bastard politician fanatic

Nova Prime: Served under Prima as Nova Major. The only one in this list that held the real Matrix, but he didn't become Prime because of it, he became the leader of Cybertron when he united it after the 13 Primes break up during the First Civil War (not to be confused with the Autobot-Decepticon Civil War). His reign was supposedly the most prosperous but it had all the seeds that would later make Cybertron get worse. He actually had a hand in ruling and did things like gettting the Cold Contruction program going. He fucked off to do expansionism and went MIA, returned 6.2 million years later to try to merge this universe and the evil universe he got sucked in. Is defeated but comes back again some years later and is stopped again.

Nominus Prime: He somehow became Prime after Nova dissapeared around the same time the Functionist Council was established. Notorious bigot whose reign was characterized by social disparity. However by the time of Chaos Theory he's more of a figurehead with the Senate being the ones that really do the ruling, but before that, it's said that it was the Coucil who called the shots, so for good or bad, I don't know what this dude ever actually did besides looking pretty. His contribution to the narrative is to be put in a coma and then dying, he has no spoken lines. His own Senators sent an attack on him to try to get to his matrix and dispose of him to put their own puppet Prime when they figured the thing was fake. In the alt timeline, the is the Council that kills him alonside the rest of the Senate. This guy just doesn't seem to have anyone on his team. But hey, he actually stays dead. Doesn't have any good shots in the comic so I had to use his reference sheet for this poll.

Sentinel Prime: The aforementioned puppet Prime that Proteus put on the job after killing Nominus. Also doesn't seem to do any legislation, but he does lead the Cybertronian Security forces, so that's something. Got Orion's boyfriend empurated and shadowplayed. The Council lost even more influence during his time. Megatron kills his whole senate and then him. He didn't really die and was wearing a suit the whole time, because he's really a servant of Onyx Prime that was waiting for his return. So it's revealed in an executived mandated-event in a plotline that you could erase and wouldn't really change the overall plot, but it allowed us to learn that he things romance is for people who are deranged.

Zeta Prime: Was friends with Shockwave who tought him such a trustworthy guy he left his boyfriend in Zeta's care. When Orion was this close to turning against the establisment, Zeta somehow becomes Prime after Megatron "kills" Sentinel and gets Orion to stay on his side only to constantly manipulate him and use him for propaganda. Pretends to be all cool and progressive and did technically do away with official functionism, but didn't fix Cybertron's inequality and secretly brainwashes people and other nasty stuff, but he is rulling. When he couldn't deal with the Decepticons he lost it and became worse until Orion got fed up and joined Megatron in killing him. Also actually stays dead. Pretty sure he only exists bc they killed Sentinel too early in the timeline. I have to constantly remind people who he is because they forget about him or get him confused with Sentinel.

[thesunfyre4446]

Rhaenyra even enjoys antagonizing Alicent (episode 6, council chamber scene, smirking and caressing that damn rock at Alicent’s visible annoyance)

In their lives they are each other’s antagonist. This is how rivalries work. They mutually throw shots and sling mud but only one of them had the protection and validation of the King. Had a Dragon. Had adult aged Dragon riders at their disposal. It’s not Alicent.

In Driftmark, Rhaenyra sees a child’s face slashed open and his eyeball in a dish and chooses violence FIRST (just like her son). She asked to have Aemond tortured in hopes that he names Alicent. She wants something to happen to Alicent. She also takes pride in the fact that her father doesn’t care about his wife and his other children who are actually underage at the time (“Thank you, Father!”)

It comes back to the empathy thing, Rhaenyra lacks it and Alicent has too much of it.

Alicent is going home with a son who has a missing eye, who will feel pain for the rest of his life, who has to relearn how to do so many things. She doesn’t get justice for this or even sympathy from her “family”. Yet we see that Alicent regrets her actions that night immediately, before she even gets on the boat it’s eating her up. While we see Rhaenyra never ever show an ounce of regret or remorse or concern that a child her son’s age lost his eye forever due to her own sons. She never even acknowledges it. Just goes on to plot a “murder” and a marriage so people will fear her.

Alicent should have been more vengeful and nasty. She has reason to be.

THIS!!!

i have nothing to add anon. this is perfection.

rhaenyra was gloating in driftmark. she didn't give a single shit about luke cutting aemond's eye, she literally offered to have him tortured, try to get his mother killed and was enjoying the fact that viserys clearly didn't give a fuck about alicent and his other children with that "thank you father" line.

rhaenyra only cares about herself and her children. and that's fine. but the TB stans pretending like she's this great person is just laughable. like this woman had sex with a man on his wife's funeral (laena was still her cousin, they grew up together. it's messed up), wanted to have laenor killed and was talked out of it by daemon, and married him the next day. how can you watch ep 7 and still think that she's a good person is honestly beyond me. [ and i'm not saying that she's evil, but she's def not the saint her stans want her to be. ]

[scatterghosts]

Oh my gosh ok my gay people my favorite in love exes not canon but so real . I'm so insane about them idk where to begin okay uhhh....

to preface they are from the adventure zone: ethersea and on here we call em oksamber.

So they're both like 40+ year old women living in an underwater city that was built to survive the apocalyptic storm. I will start off explaining them as individuals then get into their story and dynamics ig

One of them is sort of a washed out hero, like 25 years ago back on the shore she discovered she has these astral arms when she went to fight these nasty sharks, and has been vigilant ever since even though the threat is gone. She kinda hangs around a club house slash diner (called the cloaca) until she goes out adventuring again. Um she has -1 charisma and is kinda brash and doesn't love butting heads with authority she'd rather stay out of all that, she buys a cabin for their ship just for her and when she gets a fancy jacket she rips the sleeves off and she is a great fighter but is also thinking 0 steps ahead and as such pissed her pants on purpose to ambush a guy. I'm in love with her. Her name is Amber Gris.

Okay the other one. She is the head of defense for the city and is essentially both on city council and the leader of a big battleship (called the biggest baby) with the defense force of the city.. they're kinda like cops but kind of not. And she has this strong connection with this war god whose bones the ship is made out of. Like part of leading and piloting that is communicating with him. But she has this heavy duty she takes on, and she is rather prim n proper and a little awkward but doesn't take shit from people, she's rather confident and she's strong as hell and um I love her. Her name is Kodira.

So we are first introduced to Kodira in a flashback except her name at the time is Oksana. And she's asking Amber for help getting something and they banter about it and Oksana goes "I've seen you climb trees y you're slick" and amber goes fine..". They're friends back 25 years ago on the shoreside, basically.

The next time we see this character, she is walking into the diner, in uniform (formal plate armor) and learn her name is Kodira, but amber used to know her as Oksana,, n she is almost unrecognizable because she's aged a lot under her position but also because they don't see each other a lot.... And then they banter and Kodira takes a danish and interrogates her about how she killed some of her men and then after they resolve that amber asks her to stay for coffee but Kodira is like no I have to go but then offers her a job working with her on the battleship and they're just... They're sweet, there's clear tension but there's also a clear familiarity...

Anyways I'm trying to not be a plot summary out here but uhh they just have such a chemistry together that is sharp but sweet? It isn't canon that they're like in love or whatever but the characters just are so compelling in that way? Like you can tell from the way they interact that they have a history.

They end up bringing Kodira along for some of the missions they go on, and the last one near the finale is.<3

Shit happens they banter they have serious conversations, Kodira stays in Amber's cabin🤨,they get to the final place which is like a coral tower. And Kodira stays behind on a floor just in case whatever comes up from behind and then amber and her crew are in a boss fight,, but eventually amber hears battle from downstairs so she rushes down at inhuman speed

And she finds Kodira there, but there is a glowing eye indicating the god has taken over, and he has some evil or morally grey plans or whatever but amber has to fight her and there's a moment when Amber has her from behind in a bear hug, says shshsh I'm not gonna fuckin fight you, and ends up punching her in the stomach just to see if there's any of her in there, and the god goes, wow she... really... Doesn't want me to fight you blah blah etc fight more amber jumps through a portal and Kodira jumps through too

They end up in a new world, on a beach, and realize they are gods in that world. And they chat, have some emotional vulnerability (which neither have really shown to other characters), asking if they did the right thing, and the god in Kodiras head dies. And then she refers to herself as Oksana, and we realize like oh she's no longer this version of herself commanded by this god she doesn't have that responsibility anymore,, and then they joke a little bit and they're just really really sweet with each other in a sort of rough way

What makes me insane about them is the tension of course but the ease with which they just are with each other... And I'm obsessed with exploring these different ideas of who they were vs became, the change over the years, what happened in those 25 years we didn't see,,, and honestly the fact that there was never any specific conclusion with their relationship or any like specific mention of them dating or whatever,, works rlly well for me here? Because they would have no reason to bring that up in the story especially bc those people don't like talking about their personal lives or pasts or anything and like if you've ever had that homoerotic female friendship that ends poorly like... They remind me of that a bit but after the healings happened.

. If u want to see me be insane about them more or unpack more specifics of what their deal is or what entices them to me (?) the #oksamber tag is literally so full of brainrot. I love them a lot. There are so few people who are crazy about them but the ones who are are truly mad alongside me<3 we may be few but we are mighty.

Anyways um that was a lot of words .. hope it helps. Good luck best wishes!

I'd never heard of this ship before but I love it so much!! Thank you!!!

TMG song this reminds me of: Twin Human Highway Flares

Highlights: "On the day that I become so forgetful / That all of this melts away / I will burn all the calendars that counted the years down /To such a worthless day"

Notes: I love how you described the history between these two women and how it lends an unspoken weight to every interaction they have. This song has a similar feeling to me. Even in desperate situations, they cling to each other. It's not a young romantic fling so much as a deep and intense and abiding love. They can't forget each other and they haven't forgotten each other. They will always matter to each other, no matter what happened, no matter what will happen. There will always be love there.

[secretariatess]

Fairy Tale was my very first shonen anime but I haven't kept up much! Last I remembered of Jallal he was being pretty nasty to Erza, but I've heard he gets better? Do you mind lettin me know what happens? Also do you like him and Erza together?

(If not, feel free to ignore ^^)

Okay, I haven't finished Fairy Tail, but GIRL

DO I EVER

Yeah, he was absolutely nasty to Erza, and pretty much nasty to everyone- though I have a weak theory that he was strongly manipulated by Zeref and intentionally yet unintentionally opened himself to being defeated because somewhere inside him there was indeed good . . .

But I'd have to really look into that to give a better explanation. It's really just headcanon because I love Jellal.

But at the end of the Tower of Heaven arc, he does actually technically die. I have to go back and rewatch it, but I'm pretty sure it was a mixture of being defeated by Natsu and also making sure that the group survived to get off the island where the Tower of Heaven was.

But! He comes back! He's revived because he knew the location of one of Zeref's things, but when he was revived, he forgot just about everything. Except Erza's name. And he also went to deactivate the thing, which was the opposite of what he was revived to do. All the evil seemed to have died and then he was just kind of neutral.

He did commit a major crime against the Wizard Council, so he had to go on the run because even though he died, they're very upset with him, and want to arrest him. From there on out, Erza will see snatches of him here and there and slowly rebuild their relationship.

There was a point where they almost kissed, but then he pushed her away and said "I have a fiance" WHICH NO HE DID NOT THE JERK LIED so he didn't break Erza's heart again.

Anyways, I'm completely normal about them. Totally normal. I don't fangirl over them possibly being the strongest couple in the show, no, see, I'm normal.

[necarion]

The Female of the Species by Kipling is a really funny poem. In shortened form, it reads as a "Hell yeah women are awesome" song, and that's what you get from Leslie Fish in her song:

WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside. But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail. For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

But Kipling was actually writing to oppose women's suffrage because women can't be trusted to not act on their crazy instincts to protect their children. And more, all the important things like law and justice and faith are male things because the ladies have better things to do.

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

(Oh, the song is also racist with stuff about how the "squaws" were scarier than the warriors because they'd do all the nasty torture.)

Within the decade, Kipling had come around on the suffrage movement. In part because this poem is really funny, in that it (a) ignores basically the entire history of warfare. But also (b) it was written in 1911 and World War 1 happened within 3 years.

Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,— Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise. Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act. Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low, To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe. Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex! But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same; And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail, The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

I don't think there are many conflicts that make this passage dumber-seeming. At least World War 2 had an enormous moral weight to it (both good and evil). World War 1 was overwhelmingly based on the logic of alliances being pushed to a catastrophic "unmitigated act".

I think Kipling knew it aged badly...

The Leslie Fish song is great tho.

[writingsofwesteros]

Cersei goes crazy after Myrcella's marriage in Dorne is announced. Her daughter is too young, too sweet for the harsh people of Dorne. She fights with her father and the council but it's a done decision. Her grief and anger is kinda understandable and like her scene with Tyrion in the show.

Tywin doesn't listen and tells her Myrcella has her duty. That she'll learn to be happy in her marriage.

And Cersei gets real nasty and snaps at him. "Of course it's duty that makes you men think young girls are horses to be brought, broken and bred. Nothing else! Truly you only fuck your pretty little girl bride only for heirs. Otherwise you good and honorable men wouldn't even look at young girls right?!" For all her evil, she has tears in her eyes as she says this. "It's always us women who have to find something small to be happy about and be content with it."

Her words seem to have no effect on Tywin but he is secretly bothered. Truly Robyn had been 16 when she married him. Did her duty diligently and tried to please him and serve her people. She was everything the world expected her to be. But was she happy?

why is this so sad - poor cersei and Robyn :( :(

I think they might have a moment together, Robyn and Cersei; just before Myrcella goes or after

[toreii]

Glorious Masquerade Spoilers #24

Noble Bell College - Bell Tower Upstairs

Malleus, Azul, and Idia climb through the secret passage, and finally reach the top floor of the bell tower. They have finally arrived. Azul comments that the Bell of Salvation stands before them, shinning brilliantly by the moonlight. Idia says they’ll clear the game by ringing the bell, and erasing the Crimson Flower. It’s been such a troublesome emergency quest. However, before they can do that, Malleus says he has to say hello to the organizer of this banquet.

Rollo steps out to greet them, saying that they finally made it to the top. The more villains like them, the more stubborn they are. It’s deplorable. Malleus tells Rollo Flamme he came out after all. Idia mockingly asks if anyone heard that? The number one villain has something to say. Malleus mentions to Rollo that is a nice night. He asks if they crashed his party. Malleus certainly thought it was a mistake to have dropped them underground.

Rollo replies that they are uninvited guests, but it does not matter. He will treat them respectfully, even if they are rude guests. Suddenly, the top of the bell tower is consumed by the Crimson Flower. Idia comments that the nasty plant has finally reached the top floor. Malleus says it has been following their magic. Rollo comments that watching everyone flee from the Crimson Flower has been truly comical. Why fear this beautiful flower? Is magic really that important?

Azul tells Rollo not to ask such obvious questions. It’s a waste of time. Magic is the power each of them has cultivated, therefore it is an asset. Does he believe people would be happy to be robbed of it? Rollo questions magic being an asset. That belief is a mistake. MAGIC IS EVIL! IT’S A DANGEROUS FORCE THAT SEDUCES PEOPLE!

Composing himself, Rollo continues by saying that magic is an ugly thing mages are fascinated by, dependent on, and indulging in the pleasures of evil power. He calls the trio monsters. But, he is not. Rollo says he isn’t afraid of losing his magic. Malleus tells him that he knows. Not just himself, but the other mages of the world will have their magic lost forever. It’s what Rollo wants.

However, Malleus tells Rollo that no matter his reason, he will not let him do as he pleases. For those who have fallen, for those waiting at school, and for Briar Valley, and personally, Malleus adds that he has a very strong grudge against him. They will eradicate the Crimson Flower, and fix everything. With the power of the Bell of Salvation! Rollo says that even if he is a housewarden of Night Raven College, a mage who has exhausted all of his magical power and is tired is nothing to be afraid of. He tells them to come. Rollo will make a beautiful bed of Crimson Flowers with the trio as the offering.

You get to battle Rollo now! This initial battle is pretty easy. Of course, I had a bad load out, so it took like three rounds to beat him. But, I’m here to enjoy the look of defeat on Rollo’s face.

Im sorry, but…it’s so cute~😭💗

Anyways, after the battle, Rollo laughs saying the NRC trio is all bark and no bite. The Night Raven College that everyone envies, and Malleus Draconia, whom everyone fears, are nothing! Malleus mutters that the only power is Rollo’s bragging. Azul concurs. As expected of the student council president of Noble Bell College. Azul adds that he had already exhausted his magic by the time they made it to the top of the tower, but he didn’t expect to struggle as much just now.

Idia says the biggest problem is that they’re giving everything they got. Rollo isn’t bothered being surrounded by the Crimson Flower. He just keeps shooting bang after bang of magical power. Azul mentions that Rollo had to have felt the pain of having his magic drained afterwards, and comments that he has a terrifying sheer will. Malleus says that if he hits an unexpected blow, it will open a means to survive.

Rollo chuckles. He tells them it’s unslightly of them, who fear the Crimson Flower, to run around. Now they see. He declares that this is the end of those who rely on evil power such as magic. Their resent is not enough. Satisfaction leads to arrogance. Then, there will be no eternal rest. It’s ugly…oh, so ugly…

Idia deeply sighs. He tells Rollo that he’s been listening to him for a while now going on about how “magic is evil” and “magicians are villains” while dissing them. So, why is he taking their anger out on them? Rollo is like “What?” Idia tells Rollo that he really resents himself, right? He was weak and useless, and couldn’t help the “brother” who suffered in front of him. This seems to strike a nerve with Rollo who is suddenly surprised.

To be continued…

Of course, Idia would be the one to confront Rollo with the “brother” issue. He’s walked that same path himself. Aaaaaahhhhh…😭😭😭

[iamafanofcartoons]

Ah, c'mon. Female characters are only ever hated when they're poorly written. If they were male, they'd be just as hated. Calling anybody sexist is such a reach.

I mean, you really think that the likes of Team RWBY would be more liked if they were guys? Qrow? Ironwood? Got any solid examples? All I see from you lot is a bunch of accusations and hypotheticals.

C'mon. The FNDM's maddening but real bigots are few and far between.

Let me give you three examples of sexism from the RWBY Critics. And let me remind you that both men and women can be misogynists. The Republican Party of the USA is sure proof of that.

Now that we have the proof of RWBY Critics being nasty sexists out of the way. Let me go over Yang Xiao Long, since most straightshippers and rwby bashers love to hate on Yang.

Critics gnoring the fact that she losed a arm, got PTSD for like 3 volumes, saving the world from a immortal being. Edit: She's just not 24 hours all happy girl anymore like in the volumes 1-3….nobody is anymore after everything that happened. Because taking world ending stakes seriously, and not constantly being quippy doesn’t mean that someone is no longer fun. No, no, don't look at Yang pranking Nora during their arm wrestling match, making jokes about getting reward money for Weiss, or doing stunts on a hover bike. Giggling about Adrian? Pranking Penny with her arm? Joking about crashing the Schnee Party? RWBY Critics: Yang is no longer fun, she’s a Karen! Basically, critics have to ignore/forget/deny ANYTHING that disagrees with their negative views of women. If these people can't even understand a character after showing all his background, trauma and way of thinking, imagining understanding a real person you know nothing about. But seriously, things are less fun in general. Like, yeah V1-3 were school fun-times where the characters weren't even aware of the world ending threat working behind the scenes. Now they are, and they're trying to stop it, things are going to be less fun. Want an example of how Critics pretend to be blind and deaf? Adam Taurus: Introduced trying to blow up a train of passengers. Blake Belladonna: Introduced trying to stop him, and then joins Beacon, hoping to change the system from within. Volume 2: Adam literally tells Cinder that he finds his followers expendable. Blake is opening up to Yang and becomes more and more happy. RWBY Critics: Blake manipulated Adam, Blake is the reason Adam is evil, Blake should have saved Adam, Adam should have killed Blake. Yeah, I’d call that sexism. Let’s cover Robyn Hill

I’ve got some memes just for this But somehow Robyn is an evil terrorist? And Ironwood is somehow the savior? Ironwood, who constantly demands trust and talks about making difficult decisions while : A) repeatedly forbidding penny to have any friends and having her as a project done behind everyone’s back? B) Holding more government power than any other Council Member, and forbidding anyone not part of his military from being allowed to defend themselves or carry weapons (volume 7 chapter 2, clover ignoring Qrow’s license) C) Going behind Ozpin’s back to get the council to fire him for not giving James what he wants? D) Threatening Jacques and telling him to get on James’ good side while declaring closed borders WITHOUT the council’s permission? Threatening a civilian while declaring HIMSELF the council? E) That mech was put in Argus WITHOUT the people’s awareness or permission. Ironwood then installed a racist megalomaniac because she was fanatically loyal to him.  But any woman standing against is immediately considered a war criminal? So yeah, the hatedom? Is misogynistic.  I keep seeing men and women talking about how they want the female characters in RWBY to suffer. I keep seeing them throw slurs at fictional characters and towards the writers. If you don’t have anything respectful to say about the show unless it involves pushing cis white male OC/MC fanfics and talking about how your ideas are superior? Or you wanna talk about porn? Then you have nothing to contribute but Hatred, and you shouldn’t contribute at all.

[ospreyeamon]

palpatine’s xanatos gambit

For a long time it confused me why Palpatine revealed himself as the Sith Master to Anakin in the opera scene of Revenge of the Sith. It seemed contrived. Palpatine has proven himself capable of hiding in plain sight indefinitely. He spent years meeting with the Jedi Council without any of them gleaning an inkling of his true nature. Why would he suddenly give up the advantage of secrecy? But now I think I understand.

Palpatine is a consummate politician. His methods in the pursuit of power are primarily legal political ones, with his work as Darth Sidious serving to provide leverage for them. Any good politician knows you should never let a crisis go to waste, but it takes a special kind of politician to be able to generate crises on demand.

Senator Palpatine would like to be elected Supreme Chancellor; Darth Sidious baits the Trade Federation into blockading Naboo and Palpatine plants the idea that the only way to force the Republic Senate to act is calling for a vote of no confidence in the current Supreme Chancellor. Chancellor Palpatine would remain in office beyond the end of his term limit; there is a string of unfortunate destabilising incidents that make keeping the Republic's current head of state rather than calling an election more attractive, none of which are ever linked back to the Sith. Chancellor Palpatine would like more power and also not to have to deal with the fact that he has now repeatedly overstayed his term of office; oh look, it’s a war.

But now the Clone Wars are all but over. The Delegation of Two Thousand is pushing for him to relinquish his emergency powers. Palpatine needs another crisis – and he has just the crisis in mind. The Jedi Order is going to attempt a coup to seize control of the Republic.

There are two ways the plan could go after Palpatine admits to Anakin he is a Sith. The safer one for Palpatine is if Anakin willingly embraces him as his evil mentor and agrees to go along with the plot. Anakin can use his position on the Jedi Council to "discover" the other members of the Council are plotting to launch a coup, giving Palpatine cover to move against the Jedi. Alternately, if the rest of the Council isn’t careful enough Anakin might learn of the real discussion they’ve had about the possibility of removing the Supreme Chancellor by Force – unlikely since Yoda and Windu are already concerned that Anakin is effectively Palpatine’s spy on the Council.

Instead, Anakin – freaked out – runs to the Council to share what Palpatine has just told him. However, that still serves Palpatine’s plan. While the Jedi know he is a Sith and can deduce he must have been playing both sides of the war, they don’t have hard evidence of either of those things – just Anakin’s word that Palpatine told him, which Palpatine can easily deny. So, the Jedi Council doesn’t take the accusation to the Courts or the Senate or the Press because all those groups would want evidence that the Jedi can’t give them and because they believe Palpatine has sunk his claws too far into those institutions.

What Palpatine succeeds in doing by spilling the beans to Anakin is provoking the Jedi into coming after him half-cocked, before they place his office and associates under heavy surveillance that might reveal communications with the Separatists and before the Delegation of Two Thousand can raise their petition in the Senate. It makes the Jedi look guilty as hell. I think that, because they lack credible evidence for their charges, it might technically be an actual attempted coup.

So Palpatine has his crisis. It’s dicier than he might have liked; I think he underestimated Mace Windu and coming up against a duellist better than himself was a nasty surprise. He still has what he wanted though; the security footage that shows the Jedi subduing his guards and entering his office, and the eye-witness testimony of the people who saw them come to the Senate Rotunda. That’s all he needs to justify activating Order 66 and "reforming" the Republic into the Empire.

The timing of the gambit is interesting because I wouldn’t have picked that it was significantly worse for the Jedi to act against Palpatine immediately rather than to bide their planning and waiting for an opening or more information if Palpatine hadn’t thought it necessary to trick them into striking at him. It must be because of the approaching threat posed by the Delegation of Two Thousand. If the Delegation lodges their petition and Palpatine doesn’t relinquish his emergency powers and call an election then that gives the Jedi Order a legitimate reason to charge him with, say, breach of the Constitution. It’s extremely likely they would do that, too; the Council has woken up to the fact that Palpatine is a threat to democracy, and if they can’t identify the Sith Lord in the Chancellor’s office then forcing out the Chancellor should draw the Sith into the open as he tries to keep hold of that position of power.

Mace Windu is probably aware of this. Being aware that there is a threat to the Sith Master looming in the near future means being aware that the Sith Master has a pressing motive to cement the Supreme Chancellor’s grip on power by any means necessary. When Anakin comes to him with the information that Palpatine just tried to recruit him as his new apprentice, Mace concludes that Palpatine would have only make such a risky move if he were on the verge of enacting a plot to destroy the Jedi. That means the Jedi have to go after Palpatine right now; no time to gather evidence, no time to contact potential allies in the Senate, no time to think of a job to give Anakin so he has something to distract him from stewing in his turmoil like waiting until Mace’s team has reached the Senate Rotunda then relaying a warning that Palpatine is the Sith Master to the Jedi in the field.

It’s not that Mace Windu doesn’t understand that bursting into Palpatine’s office on mass is a bad idea that could go horribly wrong. It’s that, by this point, the Jedi Council only has bad options. There is no safe path, no optimal third option, no neat legal solution. The Council has made unforced errors in earlier instalments – hiding the fact they had only just discovered the clone army from the Senate and the public at the end of Attack of the Clones was stupid, Yoda, as was letting the investigation into the origins of the army fall by the wayside – but not in Revenge of the Sith. After all, Mace is right in assuming that Palpatine is in the process of enacting his plan to destroy the Jedi Order. His failure is only the failure to divine what that plan is.

[apricuscity]

Catching You Up!

“Hey everybody! It’s your old pal Morely here. I’d like to take a few moments to address YOU. Yes you, the mun behind the muses. See I’m going to break the fourth wall just this once.”

“I know many of you have been real busy and as such may not fully understand everything currently going on in the world of Apricus. So that’s where I step in. I’m here to catch everyone up a best I can so you all have a good idea where everything stands when you decide to return. So sit back, grab some tacos, relax, and enjoy.”

“So ya’ll remember that nasty bit of busy with the Checkmate group right? Then we had ourselves a Tacorific time skip, one year passed by and I can’t tell you how many new menu items Tacos ‘N More came up with!”

“As we entered into the new “season” things weren’t exactly what they seemed. See the notorious Mr. R from Paradise Entertainment started making more appearances than that fella ever did before. He even tried to get himself on the council! Offerin to help the city with it’s lingering repairs.”

“He’s got himself somethin cookin but nobody really knows what his game is yet. Speakin of problems, the Church sure does have it’s fair share! See Sister May activated the Ascension Protocol which let the Templars elect a temporary First Templar. Considerin the old one up and vanished. Some folks don’t believe they were ever even real.”

“Brother Julius got elected and some church folks were none too happy. The High Priestess however didn’t seem to mind one bit. Julius is still the acting First Templar as no one has had enough votes to replace him yet.”

“Brother Julius is still searchin for that secret underground cathedral and thinks he has a few leads so more and more expeditions have been taking place. I imagine they are gonna find somethin sooner than later. But there’s still a lot of internal conflict goin on!”

“Now for the first time in a long time the secretive nation of Crepusculum agreed to trade relations with Apricus, and some other nations out there! They were even allowed to set up some shops right here in Apricus! Some people are real excited over that but others still don’t trust em. Doctor Xanthos, Lord Merek, and High Priestess Lucianna were the “no” votes on the council when lettin Crepusculum in was put to a vote.”

“Mr. Eckerman announced the Hecaball World Cup which kicked off, attracting teams from all over the world. It’s about to wrap with only the semi-finals and the finals left to go. Needless to say this has meant Apricus has gotten A LOT of tourists.”

“We’ve also got ourselves a race to the hidden sea goin on! Some of the pirate lords have claimed they found the entrance and now it’s everyone for themselves. We got the pirate lords, the navy, and every amateur treasure hunter you can shake a stick at all headin out to sea lookin to find some hidden booty!”

“We’ve also learned a lot about what once was in the hidden sea. A super cool civilization ahead of it’s time, a bunch of pirate vaults, a rock made of special metal that fell from the sky, and some creepy intelligent bug monsters.”

“Ya know yours truly has a movie coming out soon! Morely & Friends: Enter The Tacoverse is hittin theaters end of August! Don’t miss it!”

“Finally some more fun facts and history was recently revealed! Including a talk about the Emperors, the most powerful people said to exist! What kind of menu items do you think they’d like? We learned about some incredible troops the empire made near the end of the war, we finally heard some details about the nation of Völsung, and it seems that that evil mastermind Janus Windsor is up to somethin!”

“I think that about catches you up to where we are right now! Plenty of folks are currently visiting Apricus including some world leaders here for the Hecaball games! There’s never been a better time to jump in and get in on the action!”

“That’ll do it for me! Have a Tacorific Night!”

[diazuk-legacy]

My life is filled with regrets. The worst of them is my failure of being a Jedi Master, a mentor, a student and a close friend. It is only now that I have taken my seat on the Jedi Council that I started to reflect on my decisions that led me here. But perhaps I should start from the beginning and try to understand where things went wrong. 

It was many years ago when I was recruited into the Jedi Order and taken to Tython. I didn't know where I originally came from. But I think it’s for the best that I rather not know. I became the padawan to Master Yuon Par who I had grown to admire. Maybe that is where things started to go wrong. As a Jedi I shouldn't let my emotions cloud my judgment. But Yuon par was like the world to me. I know the Jedi Order has let go of their past prejudice and have only now started to welcome in more Sith bloods. But during my time I was the only one of my kin to join. And I was only a hybrid. I was shunned, disgraced and even looked down upon due to my heritage. But Yuon Par was the only one that took me as her student. I imagine she saw my potential and wanted to train me. I am eternally grateful for her. Which is why it saddened me when she passed. But that was part of a much bigger issue. 

A Sith lord named Lord Vicicar had spread a terrible plague among the Order, infecting Jedi with the “coming darkness” as they would call it. During my time on Coruscant I had learnt the shielding technique that was originally practiced by the first Barsen’thor. I used the shielding technique to protect jedi victims from the plague. But each time I use it it costs me my strength. My mentor was hit badly from it. I could feel her strength fading as I held her hand, but I couldn’t let her down. 

But of her own choosing she decided to sacrifice her sanity to found Lord Vicicar. She asked me to drop the shield and so I did. The madness brought her to her knees and she begged me to kill her. But I refused. I wanted to save her. But I was too weak to reuse the shield and Yuon Par died from exhaustion. I was so angry. I wanted to kill Lord Vicicar. I wanted him dead. And I did. I killed Lord Vicicar. But at the cost of so many lives. All those I had saved died in an instant the moment Lord Vicicar fell to my blade. The plague was over but in the end I had failed. And that's how I got the title of Barsen'thor, surprisingly. 

Then after that I help reunite the Rift Alliance to the Republic by being their representative and doing chores for them. And that is how I discover the “Children of the Emperor” A group of force wielding sleeper agents that have infiltrated the Republic. All created by the Sith Emperor and his nasty goons. 

It was my role to stop these children since the Hero of Tython was currently out of commission. But first I need to address the elephant in the room. I’m sure some of you are aware of my fall to darkness. Yeah at some point during my career I had reached my lowest point. Consumed by my grief and my anger and my depression and coated with the responsibility of being the Barsen'thor, plus with all the voices in my head, I had slowly succumbed to corruption. But that whole turning evil thing didn’t happen until I got to Voss. I did mention it was slow progress which was the most frightening thing about all of this. 

It all started at Nar Shaddaa. Nar Shaddaa was an experience. Not in a very bad way I mean I did enjoy my time there. But there was an unusual feeling about it. It felt like there was someone watching me. Stalking my every movement and waiting for me to lower my guard. I guess it was also that place where I started to make some questionable decisions. That was when I first heard the voices. 

The more planets I explored the stronger the voices got. They began to overwhelm me and I began to listen to them more and more. I onced called it wisdom. But now I know it was a deception. My deepest darkest thoughts bloom like flowers. And the worst part is that they smelled good. That led me down a terrible path. 

As wise as I was, I didn't understand it. But I now know that the whispers were caused by my sith heritage. Sith purebloods were naturally attune to the dark side. Rejecting it would be like rejecting nature itself. As a sith blood hybrid there is no exception for me. The Dark Side was calling out to me. It wanted me to use its power so I would become a dark lord of the sith. But I resisted, and I resisted for as long as I could until I was forced to make a choice. An evil darkness threatens to consume the planet of Voss. Sel-Makor would have unleashed chaos and millions possible billions would die. The only way to stop Sel-Makor was to embrace the dark side. So I sacrifice myself to darkness and I become Darth Venomics.

It’s also ironic. My mentor sacrificed herself in a similar fashion, except she didn’t live long to become a sith. I fought Sel-Makor and I obliterated him. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more bloodshed. I needed something to calm this eternal hunger that I had awakened. Then I remembered my real quest. I was going to kill those bastard children now that I was free from my chains. But I was stopped by my friends. Qyzen Fess, the loyal Trandoshan hunter. Tharan Cedrax, the humorous scientist. Zenith, the twi’lek rebel. Felix, the honest soldier. And Nadia Grell, my padawan who I had let down. I don’t remember how It ended but I do know that the reign of Darth Venomics came to a short end. 

The Voss was so impressed by my bravery that not only did they offer me the army I needed but they also offered me a cleanse ritual that would make the dark influence go away. 

So I accepted their gift and I did the cleanse ritual and I was returned back to my original self, but now twice as strong. 

I  traveled to Corellia to deal with the children of the Emperor once more and retake the Guardian holds that were stolen from us. The Leader, the first son, reveals himself to be Syo Bakarn. Guess you could say my reaction to this news as devastation would be understatement.

One by one with my army we retook the Guardian holds. The First Son had fled to an Imperial fleet with the full intention to escape the destruction that would soon fall upon Corellia. I chased him to the fleet and I confronted him. 

I tried to convince Syo Bakarn to fight back against the darkness as I had. But I soon realized that Syo Bakarn was murdered by the First Son. I had no other choice but to kill him. With his death the children of the Emperor were revealed to the Republic with their shield having been destroyed. The Rift Alliance was welcomed into the Republic and I was granted a seat on the jedi Council. 

Although the battle was over, the children were defeated and I had overcome a great darkness, I did not count this as a victory. The loss of so many lives lay on my shoulders. But as the new Barsen'thor it is my responsibility to not let their memories go in vain. I will honor my master's legacy and I will continue my role as the keeper of knowledge, despite what I was and what I had been before

Also on ao3 (Link)

[thousandbuns]

Since you read horus heresy how much Imperium apoligism is in it. Just wondering sorry

So far I'm only at book 4 (minus "A Thousand Sons" which I've read out of order), and here are my impressions:

"Horus Rising" does a good job setting up the grounds for an extended critique of the Imperium. Lots of small "makes you think" moments culminating in the encounter with Interex - a peaceful, prosperous human-xenos alliance which is aware of Chaos being a major threat - and Horus openly asking during the war council: "perhaps the Emperor's model [of human civilization] is too stringent". Future traitors except Erebus are written with care and feel like people who'd fit in an Astartes Legion, even the more... "gun-happy" ones aren't cardboard cutouts with an angry face. Erebus has bad vibes, but isn't doing anything overtly evil (outside of secretly stealing the cursed Warp dagger from Interex and sparking a conveniently timed conflict that prevents the Imperials from learning too much about Chaos).

"False Gods" doesn't really talk about the greater Imperium outside of the subplot about the (for now secret) God-Emperor cult, because it's too busy murdering the character writing from the previous book. Everyone is an idiot, a caricature, or both. Ignace Karkassy, a poet who (after surviving a lynching by Imperial soldiers angered by his drunken nihilistic rant about the Imperium eventually having to come to an end) ends up under captain Loken's "protection", gets repurposed into a writer self-insert to creep on women and occasionally snoop around the growing anti-Imperial/Chaos-driven conspiracy - but his subplot doesn't go too far. People like to meme about Horus' complaints about Imperial taxes and bureaucracy wasting his time, but he actually rebels because of plot convenience. And also because Erebus and his pet Chaos cult show him several psychic visions, including a vision of a future Imperium's shrine world where his father and (loyalist) brothers are worshipped, yet he is forgotten, I guess. Erebus' vibes are now so rancid even Loken starts picking up on them. Overall the book still makes an "Imperium bad" statement - a very flat, weak and unconvinced one - but also deploys fascist dogwhistles (for example avantgarde/modern/abstract etc. art being seen as worthless) without a hint of irony, doesn't really follow on what "Horus Rising" set up, and makes everyone on Chaos/traitor side blatantly and downright cartoonishly evil with next to no buildup or explanation. Horus wakes up from the Chaos dagger nap and is now a total asshole. So are Abaddon and Aximand, for some reason.

"Galaxy in Flames" and "Flight of the Eisenstein" (so far) suffer from having to follow up on "False Gods" and not having 1-2 books that'd elaborate on the Legions joining Sons of Horus in Istvaan system, forcing them to either squeeze in some last minute character buildup or just not elaborate on the Legion past superficial impressions ("Galaxy..." expands a little on EC, but largely skims over WE and DG aside from bringing up Garro). They also start falling into the mold of writing heroic loyalists - Loken, Torgaddon, Saul Tarvitz and Nathaniel Garro are all brave, kind, loyal, fighting for the good of mankind - vs. nasty traitors with little to no redeeming qualities - Eidolon is an arrogant and barely competent jerk, Lucius is a jealous narcissist, Abaddon is a bloodthirsty sadist, Aximand is an obedient tool, World Eaters are only here to murder things, Typhon feels like a rehash of Erebus (bad vibes, quietly sows anti-Imperial dissent and riles up others against the pro-Imperial faction of the Legion), and Grulgor is a rude arrogant asshole and a bully. "Flight..." has me especially worried so far because it centers the conflict between "Emperor-loyal" Terrans like Garro and "Primarch-loyal" Barbarossians while making it painfully binary and lacks mortal characters who can question Garro on his belief in the Imperium being a "force for good" like "Horus Rising". "Galaxy..." isn't too far behind though because of how it frames the fast-growing Emperor Cult and its "saint" as a good, holy force standing against the "darkness" of Chaos. There could be something to be said about religion giving people hope and relief, but sadly what we end up with lines up a lot with how Imperial faith in modern 40K gets framed in marketing and codexes - as if it's a wholly separate "sacred" anti-Chaos power and not just Catholic-flavored psykery.

It's been a while since I touched "A Thousand Sons" and I'd have to read it carefully again to separate my headcanons and early impressions from the actual text of the book. Unfortunately so far my attempts were squandered by either the story beats accidentally touching some personal sore spots (Council of Nikaea), hitting me with a wave of anxiety when I was already a frayed bundle of nerves (buildup to destruction of Human Webway and Burning of Prospero), or McNeill continuing his trademark Heresy novel habit of creeping on fictional women - and in ATS it specifically sets off a major trigger for me. Anyway, from what I remember the book is kind of... mixed on that front - on one hand Thousand Sons are fighting a losing battle to appease the Imperium which despises them on principle ("the more they know about us, the more they'll hate us") and many of Magnus' flaws are also the Emperor's flaws, but on the other I got the impression that the book is a little too happy to slam TSons for "abuse of power" and arrogance in a kind of... fash-dogwhistle-y ways. Like "your reliance on your powers makes you weak and soy, you should be a strong violent macho soldier who detests convenience and only cleans his gun with his hands", or "knowing too much about psykery is bad because you may as well be dabbling with Chaos and consorting with daemons without realizing it". The same kind of narrative that people will invoke to unironically claim that human spirit is so weak and easily tempted that it needs a dystopian tyranny and aggressive propaganda to be kept "strong" against "corruption". Y'know, another fash dogwhistle.

Tl;Dr: it starts off good enough, but then "False Gods" hits the second tower and everything falls apart. It may get better later, but I'm not going to read all the Heresy books. I also hope Graham McNeill grew and changed a lot since 2006-2009 because Jesus fucking Christ.

[random-movie-ideas]

Supergirl (Movie Outline)

This movie is part of the same series as the Superman trilogy I laid out earlier, thus part of the same cinematic universe, and would fall shortly after Superman: Son of Krypton, after Superman and Supergirl defeated Brainiac and freed the citizens of Kandor.

The story would open with an "old folklore"-like telling of the Tragedy of Siobhan MacDougal, otherwise known as the Silver Banshee, an evil spirit that haunts an old manor in Scotland. The tale tells that the manor was once owned by a cruel and ruthless baron who had two children, Siobhan and Bevan, both as nasty and mean-spirited as their father. As they grew, Siobhan, being the oldest, believed she would inherit ownership, but her father, a traditional man, chose to give it to her brother instead. Siobhan turned to dark magic for answers, and planned to cast a spell to destroy her father and brother and take the manor for herself. Her father and brother tried to stop her in the deed, but she succeeded in killing her father, turning him to dust with a deathly screech. Her brother, by sheer dumb luck, managed to move one candle out of place and threw off her spell. The demon she had been drawing power from grew angry, and so dragged Siobhan's soul down to hell.

Bevan, believing he had seen the last of his sister, carried on with his life. He married, and had children, and lived in the moor into old age. Then one night, the spirit of his sister returned, bathed in silvery light, proclaiming vengeance upon him and all of his descendants, decreeing that every first born of his line would die a cruel death at the age of twenty, unless they sacrificed their mortal body to her so that she might live on the Earth once more. This happened first with Bevan's daughter, who refused to sacrifice her body and was thus found emaciated in a pond nearby on the day of her twentieth birthday.

In the present day, Kara Zor-El is living both in Metropolis and on board Brainiac's former vessel, where the citizens of Kandor live while they search for a home. Kara has come to love the Earth, as Clark does, and wants her family and friends to stay with her, but many are not so eager, some fearing the intense powers Earth's sun gives them, while others see the rampant prejudices on Earth, and feel they will always be viewed as outsiders. Kara pleads with the city council, and the council gives her an ultimatum. Find them a place where Kandor can be placed, with a dome of protection from the Earth's sun so that the citizens can live normal lives if they so choose, and they may decide to stay.

Kara becomes determined by this and sets out to seek a place, Clark helping her a bit by getting her in contact with people like Amanda Waller, Batman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman to see if they know any place. It ends up being more complicated than she thought, and she ends up returning to Metropolis and stewing in the park for a little while.

While there, a teenager sits down beside her and offers her a smoke. Kara turns her down, but introduces herself as Supergirl. The teen already knows her: "One of those friendly Kryptonians, right?" The teen introduced herself as Linda Danvers, and the pair become friends. Kara talks with Linda about her concerns, about finding a place for her people. Linda makes a suggestion.

Linda tells Kara how she had an aunt that died at a young age, and left her a manor up in Scotland, with a fairly sizable plot of land that nobody wanted to touch. Linda says she has no interest in it, but if Kara and her people were interested . . .

Kara takes her up on her offer. Inviting a couple of her friends from Kandor, she and Linda travel out to this manor in Scotland, a huge run-down castle with lush fields and forests and lakes all around it, just big enough for at least some of the people of Kandor to live. Kara feels excited enough to almost say she'll take it, but almost immediately, she feels a chill down her back, like an intense presence is watching her.

We get some standard horror movie stuff throughout the middle of the movie, she and her friends staying there a few nights, while strange and mysterious things happen here and there, even one scene where one of Kara's friends is scared so badly she loses control of her powers and does a lot of damage to the grounds. Linda is evasive every time Kara tries to talk to her about any of it, and a lot of the staff and local villagers seem to be watching them. During this, we also do see Kara bond with Linda, Linda mentioning she'll soon turn twenty.

After a recurring nightmare of a silvery skeletal woman, and a couple more incidents occur, Kara and her friends go searching the grounds for answers. They come across an ancient tomb with an underground chamber that they can see with their x-ray vision and go down inside it, discovering a circle drawn on the floor, a strange book apparently of magic, and a scroll written by Bevan MacDougal, detailing the history of his sister and the curse she laid on their family.

As they read, Kara and her friends find themselves surrounded by Linda and the staff and villagers, dressed in robes. As Kara tries to escape, the villagers reveal little amulets made of green Kryptonite and force them onto the Kryptonians, knocking them out.

Kara comes to, strapped to an altar, in the middle of a large room with the kryptonite amulet around her neck. Linda stands over her, looking genuinely apologetic. Kara shouts at her for her betrayal, but Linda says its the only way. The Banshee has never been able to last long, inhabiting a human body, and the hosts that have sacrificed themselves to her have withered and died after only ten years or so. But the cult believes that a Kryptonian body like Kara's just might be able to hold the Banshee's power and allow her to live again on Earth.

Linda walks away, and the ceremony begins. The cultists chant, summoning the Banshee. Siobhan looks over Kara, admiring her body and saying she's heard of her and her Kryptonian kind, admitting to lusting after the power that she holds. Siobhan reaches out to touch Kara and take her soul, when one of her friends breaks free, their amulet having come loose somehow. The friend breaks the others free, including Kara, and takes out the cultists. Siobhan turns on them, unable to be hurt by their powers. She casts a spell at them and ends up striking Kara, hurting her badly. Both the Banshee and the Kryptonians are surprised to learn that Kryptonians are weak to magic.

Encouraged, the Banshee throws spell after spell of dark magic. She ends up grabbing one of Kara's friends, nearly draining the life out of them completely, when Kara chooses to make the sacrifice, telling her she'll let her take her body. Siobhan smiles, and reaches out with her finger to touch Kara's chest. She immediately erupts in flames, howling in pain, kryptonian power turning out to be a bit too much for her soul. She screams something about "That stupid girl!" and bursts, disappearing back to hell.

Their one friend badly wounded, Kara lowers her head as her friends all agree that they won't be staying here, and will go with the rest of Kandor to the small planet far away the Green Lantern Corps has located. Kara confronts Linda, who says nothing, but hands back Kara's things, all packed up, and apologizes for being a bad friend.

Kara returns to Brainiac's ship, where she is comforted by her father and mother. In her bag, she finds a letter from Linda, explaining that, hoping to save her own life, she had struck a deal with the Banshee, offering to find her a body that would last her more than ten years. Naturally, she had selected the Kryptonians. However, when it came down to it, Linda had come to care for Kara and couldn't bring herself to go through with it, cutting the amulet from Kara's friend's neck. Kara remembers details about how Linda's aunt had died at a young age, and how Linda had been about to turn twenty. In fact, she realizes that Linda's birthday was that very night.

Kara races back to Scotland, to the manor, where she finds Linda in the ritual chamber about to be sacrificed to the Banshee. She knocks out the cultists, and breaks Linda free. Linda is confused, but Kara says she wouldn't abandon a friend to die. It is too late, however, as the Banshee rises again, going after Linda's soul. Linda says that it's hopeless, but Kara asks her if there's anything in the spell book that can get rid of her forever. Linda says she can't do magic though. Kara tells her she needs to try, or else she's dead tonight or ten years from now.

We see Kara do battle with the Banshee, doing her best to avoid her magical attacks while keeping her away from Linda. After her first experience, the Banshee is hesitant to touch Kara, so this helps a bit. Just as Kara takes a serious hit and is about to be killed by Siobhan, Linda finds the strength within herself and casts powerful magic (momentarily showing her with angel wings as a reference). This ends up blowing Siobhan back and subduing her. Siobhan lashes out at them impotently, enraged. She reveals that she is in constant agony, as her original demise left her in a state of limbo, tethered to both worlds. Kara and Linda choose to take pity on her and Linda finds a spell to free her soul, letting her finally rest.

After the battle, Linda apologizes again to Kara, saying that she just didn't want to die. She tells her that the land should be curse-free now, and the land belongs to her people, if they want it. Though many choose not to, and leave to the other planet, including two of Kara's friends, enough do choose to stay, convincing the council to let her place half of Kandor there. Kara brings down the bottle, opens it, and the city is restored to its full state, taking up the lands of the manor with the castle in the center.

A post credits scene shows a little imp looking through a small looking glass at Kandor, giggling to himself that Kryptonians are weak to magic of all things, stating that he'll have such fun with them.

What do you think? Next time, Kara finds herself in an alternate universe, courtesy of a little imp.

[zirhlikuzgun]

Sean Allison's classic experience: A classic saga of Sean Allison's good-old adventures (prior to the Pokémon experience) - Part 12 = {Driving Ib and Ib - Part 12 🠊 The Triss team's sitcom show - Part 12 🠊 Parody adventures with Luffe and Sjanne - Part 12 🠊 The Angora guys by night - Part 12 🠊 Fritz and Poul (ft. Split) records their livestream commentary for "Sean Allison and co.'s hero-brave sad-to-fab quest thru their hero-brave journey from sad to fab" - Part 12} ▶ [Mr. Müller's audio/video commentary for "Sean Allison and co.'s hero-brave sad-to-fab quest thru their hero-brave journey from sad to fab"] Sean Allison's hero-brave journey from sad to fab - Part 12 = [Mr. Schüster's audio commentary for "Sean Allison and co.'s pre-historic quest"] Sean Allison and co.'s pre-historic quest - Part 12 = The devil gets suspicious / Dr. Waterfield Jr. crashes the party / Princess Sara gets kidnapped / Sean Allison gets abducted / The creation of the Aytien universe / Negotiations - Part 1: Verdict on the planet Altitude

And now, back to the show.

...so he apparently retreats it to the top of the castle, by discovering that the sounds of clanging metal are weaking the creature, and to an unexpected surprise, he suddenly hacks the symbiote, by glitching it up, and then, suddenly, at another unexpected surprise, he suddenly becomes the symbiote's new host, as he suddenly splits into an suspicous villain named Dr. Waterfield Jr., and are at the same time getting corrupted and glitched up by the symbiote that are suddenly creating an evil emperor of darkness named Lord Aytien. Lord Aytien invades the village, by littering the landscape with fireballs and petrifying the village's citizens in stoneblocks, and he gluttonously invites Sara to his creation of his evil universe (that are going to be named as the Aytien universe), and are thoroughly distinguishing the entire village from its foundations, though using a giant flying saucer, by burning the whole village down the grounds. Dr. Waterfield Jr. gets angry, as he violently scratches Sean Allison on his face, and he suddenly scratches Sara on her face, by knocking her unconsciously down in the chest, as Lord Aytien flatters her by flattery, and are suddenly scratching Sara on her face, at an violent way, and to yet another unexpected surprise, Lord Aytien are suddenly getting very nasty, as he suddenly kidnaps Princess Sara, by abducting her far away into outer space, and then, Dr. Waterfield Jr. are suddenly getting nasty, cause he suddenly shits on Sean Allison, by knocking him out again, and he therefore takes him prisoner, by abducting him, thru therefore setting course to an evil universe known as the Aytien universe, well due to that, the Aytien universe are about to be created, because of the start of an evil uprising, so suddenly, due to Sean Allison's kidnapping, we're unexpectly setting course to Planet Altitude. We're suddenly getting zoomed into outer space for the lengthy sequence of the creation of the Aytien universe, which is shown as a forward journey through outer space. While seeing the creation of the Aytien universe, we're apparently watching an opening crawl which tells about the Aytien Republic, and then with that, we're arriving at the Aytien star system, where we arrive at the Aytien Republic. The Aytien Republic contains its bloated, corrupted bureaucracy, as well as its economy which deteriorates thru entering a decline by preventing the Aytien Senate from truly representing its people, and because of that, the Aytien Republic are lying somewhere far far away from Earth, well there however, we're arriving into the planet Altitude that are in danger of imminent destruction, and here on the planet Altitude, we're heading inside a shiny crystal line base, as the viewer gets taken inside the dome, where the ruling council uses testimony from its eminent praising member Haded Slater of the Aytien's high council, though it is subsequent to the trial, who are surrounded by holographic images of the other councillors, and are going to give his closing arguments against three criminals.

And we’ll continue on…

7914.7914.7914.Sali gets kidnapped

7915.7915.7915.Sean Allison gets into big trouble, though being blown away by a typhoon

7916.7916.7916.Lord Aytien crashes the party and kidnaps Princess Sara

7917.7917.7917.Sean Allison gets abducted and taken away by Dr. Waterfield Jr.

7918.7918.7918.Entering the Aytien universe

We're continuing where we had left off.

The planet Altitude has its ruling council using its testimony from its eminent praising member Haded Slater of the Aytien's high council, though it is subsequent to the trail, who are surrounded by holographic images of the other councillors, are about to give his closing arguments against these three criminals: "This is no fantasy… no careless product of wild imagination. No, my good friends. These indictments that i have brought you today… specific charges listed here in against the individuals… their acts of treason, their ultimate aim of sedition." [Haded Slater lifts up his crystal staff] "These are matters of undeniable fact. I ask you now to pronounce judgment on those accused: on this… this mindless aberration, whose only means of expression are wanton violence and destruction; on the woman Grurses, whose perversions and unreasoning hatred of all manking have threatened even the children of the planet Altitude… and finally, General Ghord: once trusted by this council, charged with maintaining the defense of the planet Altitude itself… chief architect of this intended revolution, and author of this insidious plot, to establish a 'new order' amongst us — with himself as absolute ruler! You have heard the evidence. The decision of the council will now be heard." Haded Slater turns to the image of the senior councillor who proclaims "Guilty", as the others concur with the verdict, because the vote has to be unanimous, and the final decision falls to Haded Slater, as he too casts his guilty vote, not orally but by illuminating his staff. At this, Haded Slater provides to use some evidence, for exiling, banishing and sentencing three treasonous, insurrectable criminals Ghord and his followers Gron and Grurses to be isolated into an eternal imprisonment for an "eternal living death" the phantom zone for their failed totalitarian rebellion as well as an uninstalled dictatorship, but after this, Ghord swears his vengeance, as well as his revenge against their chief accuser, Haded Slater and the evil forces, by offering him a chance to reconsider that action, only to angrily swear vengeance when Haded Slater refuses. After Haded Slater leaves, the dome opens and the criminals are swept away into the Phantom Zone, which quickly leaves the planet. As the three criminals are being carried into interstellar space by the Phantom Zone, although the council widely respects him, the foremost Haded Slater, despite his eminence, attends a council meeting, as he tries again, as he has in prior recent affairs, to convince and persuade the planetary high council that the planet is about to explode within the space of 30 days, but the once more, it refuses to accept his findings, as they refuse to believe it and forbid him to speak of it, fearing a widespread panic, so however, they threatens to have him also imprisoned in the Phantom Zone unless he remains silent. Haded Slater are unable to convince the council of his belief that it disagrees with his claim to which he believes/discovers that the planet, however, will soon be destroyed when it drifts out of its orbit towards its red supergiant sun that will explode, thru going supernova at the same time. Despite his insistence, especially his eminence, they dismiss his theory as "outlandish", as he fails to convince the other council members who dismisses his claims, and the council warns Haded Slater that should be attempt to go public with his information — which could incite a panic among his fellow allies — he himself would be charged with insurrection which presumably would also mean exile in the Phantom Zone. Haded Slater reluctantly relents, and declares that he reassures the Council members that neither he or his ex-ally will leave the planet, but however, in response, the Aytien Repbulic begins to tax outlying star systems to try to raise funds, but this has led to a trade dispute with the greedy aI-Te-eN Federation, a large corporation that can afford to field its own private armies, composed of robotic droid-soldiers. However, in repsonse to taxation on trade routes in...

We'll be right back after the break...