#*to the point he appeared more in the rebuilds and is all over in merch. ANYWAY SORRY FOR RANTING IN THE TAGS I GOT PASSIONATE OK
Text
Half-Empty, Half-Full (FE3H Fic)
hey hi what’s up lads, so I like, 100% forgot I could post my piece for the @threehouseszine Beneath The Banner (also available on Twitter under the same name) and as such I’m like ten years late. :) But the zine has been sent out, and I finally noticed like the fool I am that others have posted their pieces, and thusly, I too will post mine! Because I can. And I want to.
My focus was on the Golden Deer post-skip, specifically in some nebulous point during the war. Being part of this zine was really, really cool -- I can’t wait for all the books and merch to arrive with everyone!
(will reblog with links because we all know tumblr likes to break things.)
A beat of something nice, amid the fragments of harder times.
In the spaces between war — between scattered supply checks and ration distribution, bandit skirmishes and long watch nights — Hilda finds the time she needs to breathe.
It came easier, back in the academy. She could simply step back and let the world move around her, steadfast in her belief that it would still be standing when she returned. Nowadays she steals the air in her lungs from glances at the sky and quick delivery walks, from the chip of chisel and steel against stone and wood, from the sensation of gems and petals inlaid on clothes, chains and hooks when she can afford to lay down her axe. Infrequency makes the beats between battles all the more precious.
With the professor around she can afford more pauses still, but Hilda watches herself. She knows, all too well, just how young she is. Claude lies at one year her junior and the professor, with their five year hiatus, sits at two. It wouldn't do for her stubborn leaders to find someone they can’t believe in among their ranks, now.
She’s on the run for errands when she spots a hint of not-plant green and wood not far off the beaten path, and she wastes no time following that tried and true Deer instinct to take a peek. Ignatz is there, as expected, easel propped on a patch of flat land, what she can see of the canvas a tasteful blend of browns and golds. He leans in, fingers dabbed in the same off-white his paintbrush dusts onto his scene.
Now, Hilda doesn’t paint, but she does understand the stress and struggle of art, different forms aside. Which is why she waits until he leans back before she steps forward and taps his shoulder.
“Hey, Ignatz.”
Ignatz yelps, almost drops his brush and earns himself a stripe on his palm for his troubles. “Hilda! Hi. I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you there.”
“Don't worry about it.” She clasps her hands together. “What’re you painting?"
"I wanted to capture the cathedral, while it's still under repair." He gestures to his piece — the white forms the glint of sunlight off patches of rubble, steel and glass, along with the robes of monks and priests as they shift and sweep aside what debris they can. "A lot of artists depict places in their prime, or utterly destroyed, or after they've been restored to their former glory. I thought it would be nice to show the in-between for once. People from every background imaginable, coming together to rebuild for the future. A little different from what I usually paint, but sometimes a little variety is nice."
"And you're doing it all the way out here because…"
"I didn't want to be in anyone's way, and I come out here a lot. I've got plenty of references with me, so it's not a problem." Ignatz shifts and Hilda catches sight of a stack of sketchbooks, some more worn than others, half-spilled from a bag. The top one gets plucked up and held between them as he flips from page to page. Statue busts, the altar and rows of pews among pillars rendered in charcoal and sleek pigment lines. Sometimes, she catches glimpses of green and blue and other colors, or shapes that don't quite match the church art he focuses on, but Ignatz flips too fast for her to see.
Or, almost. "Go back two pages," Hilda says. A grin tugs at her lips. "Was that Claude?"
"Oh! Uh, yes." Though Ignatz learned to leave embarrassment and nerves about his art behind, something in his chest still squirms, just a bit. An image of their leader in the library, face cast in candlelight and more at peace than he ever is during daylight, stares up at the duo. "It's easier when I’m with a person, but sometimes I'll do studies on my own. Practice makes perfect, after all."
"It's beautiful." She reaches out, pauses. "May I…?"
He passes it over. "Here. You can look at the others, too. I don't mind." Then he turns back to the easel and reaches for his paint. "Anyway, I thought this was as good a spot to work as any. There's a field down that way you can see best in the spring, and I like the view of everything from here."
"You'll have to show me when it's in season."
Her eyes flicker over thick paper. Statues. Flowers, trees, forest paths. Distance shots of people, strolling towards town. Swirls of filigree and patterns fill whole pages in patches, tiny stylized animals and the occasional dragon tucked into the empty space. Silhouettes crowd around the pews, and even if she recognizes clothes, many of these smaller figures are faceless.
But she finds a loose sketch, hair popping blond against black ink, of Raphael and a young girl with the same square jaw and broad shoulders. Claude himself appears once more, this time in wireframe form, ordinary steel bow drawn all the way back and arrow pointed to the left. When she plucks one of his other books from the stack it follows a similar trend — renderings of the cathedral, inside and out, stuck in among horse-drawn carriages and sunlit grass patches and clothes and people, both familiar and unfamiliar, faceless and defined. A few drawings are from the past few months: Sylvain in his armor, Baltie with his open-chested shirt, Leonie and her long hair, the monastery scaffolding.
Most of his drawings are from the academy days.
Lindhardt, leaned against a tree, the shadow of leaves mottled on his lap. Herself and Marianne seated in the dining hall. Lysithea, with a book in one hand and a swirl of magic in the other. Claude and Lorenz mid-argument. Felix as he trains blade blurred and bent as he lunges. Dimitri and Dedue bent over a table in their classroom. Edelgard as she strides across the courtyard, Hubert one step behind. Busts of the professor and Jeralt, side by side, the faintest quirk in their lips.
Hilda looks up and pauses. Ignatz presses so close to the canvas he’s peering over the wire frames of his glasses rather than through, brow furrowed and jaw set. She shuts an eye as the sun slips out from behind what’s left of Garreg Mach’s spires. Greyscale flowers peer up from the pages, a reflection of the few asters scattered around their feet. Mountain monastery air goes down sweet and full in her lungs.
"I gotta say, Ignatz,” she says, the edge of her thumb smudged in stray charcoal. "These are amazing. How long have you been doing art?"
"Since I was little." He leans back, considers his work, then leans in again. "My parents are merchants, so we delivered paintings and statuettes to a lot of noble houses in the Alliance. One day I found some extra supplies lying around so I just… picked it up and gave it a shot."
"Well, I'm glad you did. Even these plain sketches look much nicer than anything I could do, and don't even get me started on painting. No offense, Ignatz, but no thank you. Definitely not my wheelhouse."
Ignatz pauses. "None taken, and thank you. You draw?”
"Not much." She waves a hand. "My talents lie in accessories. I like to plan before I start working, figure out how it should come together and doodle in the margins a little sometimes, that's all."
"You're always wearing beautiful jewelry, but I didn't realize you made them yourself." A smile breaks out across his face. "That's amazing, Hilda!"
A blush rolls across her cheeks and she can't stop the tug of her lips into a matching grin. "Oh, stop it. Really?"
"Of course! The colors and shapes you use match your hair, complexion, and the clothes you tend to wear quite beautifully." His brush plunges into a cup of water by the foot of his easel and faces her fully. "When did you start?"
"A long time ago, now – I'm not even sure exactly how long, anymore. I used to make flower crowns and necklaces with my big brother, and it just spun out from there." The book lies closed in her hands now. Her finger runs up and down the paper, feels the grooves between unaligned pages. "I could make them as pretty or ugly as I wanted, so long as I was happy in the end. No one ever expected anything more or less. Not that I ever made something ugly, mind you."
Ignatz hummed. "Have you ever considered selling them?"
"Not really.” Hilda tilts her head. “Do you think it'd be a good idea?"
"Absolutely! You should consider it, once the war is over. I bet people would love them."
She taps her chin. “I’ll give it some thought. What about you, Ignatz? What do you plan on doing once this whole mess is behind us?”
“Well… Ideally, I’ll keep painting,” he says. “Even if I have to do it between my duties as a knight. It might make it hard to find a household to serve, but I don’t want to just stop.”
“Why are you aiming to be a knight? How come you’re not just going off to be an artist or something like you want to?”
“My parents sent me to the academy since my brother’s taking over the business. They didn’t really approve of the whole artist thing.” Ignatz shrugs. “I don’t really think I’m all that cut out for it, to be honest. Fighting’s never been my strong suit.”
“Well that’s a shame,” Hilda says. “Have you ever spoken to them about it?”
He shook his head. "Not much recently, at least."
“You should. Maybe you can convince them, after all this. And if you can’t, then just come to House Goneril, okay? I’ll let you paint as much as you want.”
“That would be nice.” He smiles, then bends to reach for his bag. “Thank you, Hilda.”
“Any time.” She holds the sketchbook out. Ignatz takes it, tucks it gently alongside the others. Before he can put his brush away, he pauses.
“If you have time,” he starts. "Would you like to join me out here again tomorrow? We could work on our projects together, if you have any."
Hilda smiles. "I'd love to, but I'm on stock duty tomorrow. No shuffling off the responsibility for that."
"I see. That's too bad. Maybe next time?"
"... Sure. I'd like that."
#Fire Emblem Three Houses#FE3H#FE3h Fic#FE3H Zine#Beneath The Banner zine#Blacknovelist Writes#long post#(in case readmore breaks tho it shouldn't really)
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
konnichiwa, and welcome back to the classic “Matpat video notes from hell” series
yup we’re doing this again lol. just imagine noodle from gorillaz typing this up instead of alex and it’ll almost be just like last time! today (June 10, 2019) we’ll be watching “Game Theory: FNAF, You Were Meant To Lose (FNAF VR Help Wanted).” please note that in the thumbnail it says “don’t trust the tapes!” so you too can be mad at how he’s slandering tape girl like that. and, of course, THERE WILL BE SOME (MOSTLY MINOR) SPOILERS! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. okay, video time!
-alright, starting off strong with a compilation of Poor Matpat (/s) and all the times he thought he’d made his last fnaf theory video (man i wish fnaf 4 was his last theory vid too)
-not even a minute in and we’ve already got some avengers endgame references smh
-jokingly calls fnaf vr “matpat insanity simulator” and MAN i WISH
-calls the game “an ~inflection~ point” like we get it you can use fancy words okay relax
-thinks there’s more games to come
-vr game supposedly is gonna lead us into “FNAF: The Next Generation” (bro if you’re gonna come up with a name for a list games we don’t even know are gonna exist, at least be creative with it come on)
-”the meatiest game in the fnaf library” with I SHIT YOU NOT an awful graphic of freddy’s head over a disgusting pile of “ground meat” with a big yellow sun-shape with red text that says “NO FAT!” JFC MATT WHY!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!! also y’all are welcome, i definitely took that bullet for you
-i’m only two minutes into a 23:39 video why did i sign up for this i’m gonna die
-oh joy he actually played it on gt live /s
-BRO WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT VOICE HE DID FOR THE PUPPET
-experience of the game is to “recreate the brand” and “clear its name” or w/e
-OMFG HE LITERALLY WAS TALKING ABOUT ALL THE MONEY SOCK COTTON WAS MAKING ON MERCH ONLY TO STOP AND TALK ABOUT HIS OWN FUCKING MERCH SEND HELP GET ME OUTTA HERE IM GONNA GO F E R A L
-he’s really going out of his way to say “THESE shirts are for the LADIES and THESE shirts are for the MEN” SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I KNOCK YOUR TEETH OUT
-seriously man we already knew you were a Gender Binary Cop but this is ridiculous
-there’s game theory underwear. apparently. if i had to suffer through that fact so do you.
-”if you’re a fan of all the hard work we put into each and every one of our videos” WOW matt i had know idea how hard it was to steal other people’s work and ideas for your half assed theories!!!1!!11!!!
-god he makes it sounds like his theory gear is like donating to a charity absolutely unbelievable
-by the way, that ad for his own merch was from 3:32-4:18 and that’s almost a full minute (though trust me, it felt like so much longer)
-quiero matar ese hombre (translation: i wanna kill that man)
-OH. OH HE DID NOT.
-[insert stream of cursing in multiple languages that i cannot be bothered to type out here]
-this little white bitch really just said that there was only one important character missing in the vr game–golden freddy
-“noodle!” i’m sure you’re saying. “there’s nothing wrong with matt saying that!” oh no, that wasn’t the bad thing he said. ohhh no.
-and i quote: “i mean, ballora isn’t around here either, but you know i said ‘IMPORTANT’ [voice saying “buh-buh-baom!”, explosion sfx, air horn sfx]”
-気持ち悪い！(disgusting!)
-me parece que el quiere ser un hombre muerto (it seems to me that he wants to be a dead man)
-anywayyyys back to golden freddy: she’s not in the game because she’s chillin in hell with william afton APPARENTLY
-あの、ちょっと・・・(um, not really…)
-oh excuse me, she’s in hell with william to torture him, not chill with him
-also like how we’re still assuming a lot of things /s
-man this is taking a while
-cassidy (golden freddy) never gives up her soul, proves along with scrap baby plush that help wanted takes place after pizzeria simulator
-franchise is trying to rebuild itself after yknow, a dude going on a child killing spree
-talks about the following malhare ending
-yeah we aint gonna talk about what he calls malhare
-third appearance of the name “jeremy” in the games
-says he’s put the tapes in a “cohesive narrative” order (hah, how much do we wanna bet he’s wrong?)
-lol doesn’t say the order so he can’t be called out on his bullshit (i’m too tired to try and actually piece this shit together)
-this mf really 1) called jeremy crazy 2) or maybe that he’s “just a fnaf youtuber” and 3) PUTS UP A GRAPHIC OF HIM AND MARK GIVING EACH OTHER A HIGH FIVE. bold of you to assume you deserve to be near him mister patthew.
-[GORE WARNING] his take on the jeremy incident (you know the one, it was mentioned in the tapes) is that the ink is blood and jeremy DID cut his face off with the paper cutter. if you’re here from the fnaf discord server, you were probably around when we all discussed that this was unlikely.
-oh wow he really just tried to tie that in with the bite of 87 huh
-he’s convinced jeremy dies (spoiler: we don’t–and neither do a fair bit of people)
-really blaming tape girl for the fact that she didn’t warn about not collecting the tapes until the fifteenth tape huh
-talks about all cassettes collected endings, and how you “lose” no matter what in any of the three endings
-thinks the player is destined to lose the game
-mentions inconsistencies and oddities in the tapes
-i.e. how tape girl introduces herself twice—in tape one and tape fifteen
-how she says in tape sixteen that she knows there’s a way to kill malhare when she can’t possibly be sure, because she clearly hasn’t done it herself (malhare wouldn’t exist otherwise.)
-as in, she’s secretly trying to get you to release malhare instead of killing him
-thinks malhare melded with her conscious after she tried to delete the audio files and then attempted to escape by making the next playtester release malhare
-meanwhile the player is stuck while malhare takes over their body
-thinks that maybe the player waits until the next playtester comes along and loses their consciousness, which lets the player out
-says that putting together the tapes is like putting together the petscop lore
-wonders how many williams are out there--could the ai be replicating itself into multiple people--but admits yeah probably not
-”but that’s just a theory.. a game theory” or w/e the fuck he says
-insert ancient meme about fnaf storyline here bc he was too lazy to make a graphic or w/e
-oh wait no he wants to talk about jeremy haha still gotta sit through this for another minute or so
-random appearance of shadow freddy he found, malhare has three toes (ffs sake not the toe theories again i thought we were done with that crap) like the footprints outside afton house in fnaf ps midnight motorist minigame
-lovelyyy he’s gonna make another video after “thinking” shit over
-”scott cawthon is the villain in his own game” OKAY WHATEVER IDGAF
-i hoped you enjoyed these because they were legitimately the second or third worst experience of my life and i’m really not exaggerating
#fnaf vr#fnaf vr spoilers#fnaf hw spoilers#fnaf hw#matpat video notes from hell#part 2#はい、私は怒っています#ヌード���.txt
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Merchandise Predictions!
(Time for something different!)
Since the New York Toy Fair is coming up this week, I wanted to put together a quick list of guesses of what we might be able to expect and what I would personally like to see because I’m very excited about this. I can imagine a lot more focus on the secondary characters this time around with some first wave characters returning.
Standard Figures:
There were six packs last time and the characters came with two accessories that reflected something they did on the show.
Mrs. Beakley wasn't included in the first wave, so maybe she’ll get one this time. She might come with a cleaning tool like a feather duster and a spy device. Perhaps a grappling hook of her own? Maybe a tray with tea?
It seems like Gyro is getting more involved this season, so a standard figure for him could be an option. I can definitely see Lil’ Bulb as one of his accessories. Maybe the other could be something like a notepad, a phone, or his shrink ray?
If Gyro gets merch, Fenton has a good chance of get his own too. Could he come with a binder? The light ray he was using in “Shadow War”?
Lena was a Money Stack figure last time and is expected to return at some point this season. She might come with the friendship bracelet Webby made for her, a spell book or Webby’s doll.
I think Magica could end up getting a standard figure; there might be a pattern going on where at least one villain is in each wave. One of her items would definitely be her scepter. Maybe another can be Scrooge’s Number One Dime with her face on it? They’d probably have to enlarge it. I’m probably asking for too much here, but it would be cool if her feathers were color changing; like at room temperature, they’re green, but when cold, they’re white.
Darkwing Duck was a Money Stack figure last time and it’s hinted that the show isn't done with him, so it would be really great if he got standard figure. He’d definitely have his gas gun; maybe converted to a grappling hook, and a saxophone like the one he was playing in “Last Crash” would be a fun addition.
I believe Della is a possibility since she too is becoming more apparent this season, but I feel like it’s still too soon for her to have a standard figure or much merch in Wave 2 at all. She’s being talked about more yet she’s still elusive. Maybe PhatMojo & Disney will hold back on her until next year to give people more time to watch her mystery play out. If she does end up having a figure, maybe it’ll be a tool and removable goggles. Or maybe her entire flight cap will be removable.
Mark Beaks is another possibility, but the demand for a standard figure might be kinda low, though.He would, of course, come with a phone and maybe a snow cone too.
Playsets:
I think the next playset based on a building could be Scrooge’s mansion because both his home and The Money Bin are locations of extreme importance. Having them be the first would be the most expected.
The PhatMojo announcement article from last year seemed to imply that there will be many more vehicle sets to build in upcoming waves. Perhaps one of those could be the Gizmosuit? It’s a machine with pieces that connect together when activated. It’s a little hard to imagine Gizmo getting his own standard figure without a Fenton one and vice-versa. I feel like both of them wouldn't end up having standard figures; PM might want to do something special for Gizmo. If Fenton gets a standard figure, he could be placed into the robotic suit like Launchpad can be placed into the Sunchaser for the first wave. Maybe with a removable helmet you can snap on. However we get Gizmo, I hope he comes with a good stand/base to keep him from toppling over.
I suppose another possibility for a future vehicle playset could be Scrooge’s limo with a more chauffeur-looking Launchpad figure.
Another vehicle concept that could work is The Spear of Selene since it crashed into pieces (Haha oof) and Della’s trying to rebuild it(?) Maybe it’ll come with a long-haired Della figure too.
Mini Figure Set:
LP, Mrs. B and Donald were missing in the first batch so they have a high chance of appearing in the next installment if one is planned. Others I could see being included are Gyro, Fenton, and Lena.
Money Stacks:
Mrs. B, Gizmoduck, Fenton, Gyro, Mark, and maybe it’ll have Della as rare figure in a similar manner that Darkwing was. Maybe Storkules, Selene and...Manny(?) could appear too. I feel like there might end up being character repeats from the first wave, but the poses will be different. Blind Bag figure waves tend to have multiples.
Talking Plush:
LP, Mrs. B and Donald since they weren't included in the last set. Gyro? Fenton? Lena?
Other Merch Things:
While I’m at it, more girl-aimed apparel, accessories & etc. with Webby on it along with more gender neutral stuff with all the cast together would be nice. A lot of those type of items that were released last year were only aimed at boys and there wasn't an effort to even things out. Which is really weird because while there are a lot of male characters in the cast, the reboot was never solely aimed at a boy demographic. Webby was surprisingly snuck into a couple of those items, but like...if you’re gonna separate, give us some girl stuff too.
Moving on from Target, it would be cool if the shopDisney came out with plush toys of Scrooge, Launchpad, Donald and Mrs.Beakley. We...we just need more Launchpad and Beakley merch; they tend to get kicked out of a lot of things. Adult apparel & accessories of the reboot to go alongside the classic styled stuff would be great to see too.
As much as I would love to, I won’t be able to attend the toy fair to see what we’ll be getting in person, but I’ll make sure to embed or reblog any coverage that ends up online...if we’re allowed to. Last year, it was asked for attendees not to take any photographs from PhatMojo’s display, but that request was ignored...hopefully things will be ok this time.
In the meantime, here’s a list of additional links:
PhatMojo’s Website
Target’s DT Collection
shopDisney’s DT Collection
JCPenney’s DT Collection
#ducktales#ducktales reboot#ducktales 2017#disney#disney merchandise#phatomojo#target#target stores#jcpenney#disney duck merch#disney channel#ducky thoughts#misc#theories#misc theories
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
Archer Season 12: Casey Willis On Sterling And Cyril’s Emotional Breakthrough
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
This article contains spoilers for Archer season 12 episode 5.
Archer has a fascinating relationship with change. Major elements like the show’s genre have transformed, but a constant through the years are the characters and their relationships with one another. The series has made it clear that these character dynamics are quite toxic in many ways, some of which have left the characters looking for ways to grow. The most recent seasons have prioritized the cause and effect nature of Archer waking up from his coma and returning to work, which has left everyone feeling very raw and vulnerable, including Sterling Archer himself.
Archer’s latest episode, “Shots,” dresses itself up as a playful night of liquor and laughs, but it becomes a deep look into Archer’s poisonous effect on his friends, specifically Cyril. Archer EP Casey Willis and producer Pierre Cerrato deconstruct the emotional entry and its significance in the season, putting together the glorious “Pampage” sequence, and if those were really the origins of “Sploosh.”
Archer Season 12 Episode 5 – “Shots”
Written by Matt Roller
“Sex, drugs, and monster trucks! Archer and the gang celebrate another barely successful mission.”
DEN OF GEEK: With this being the half-way point of the season, were there any sort of goals or expectations in check for this point in the season, or was it not thought about in such a precise way?
PIERRE CERRATO: We are definitely thinking about how we are telling the story across the entire season. It may feel like a standalone episode, but I can’t really slot this episode anywhere else in our season. We needed to feel that the gang had been on a few missions and could use a break. We also needed to expand on Lana and Robert’s relationship a bit. And we really needed to Weekend at Bernie’s two different characters. That was a must.
There’s a bit of a bottle episode mentality with this installment when it begins and a lot of the entry is contained to the bar. What was the agenda in scaling things down here and was it ever smaller in nature?
PIERRE CERRATO: For the first half of the episode it may feel like there isn’t a ton going on narratively and we are just hanging out at a bar, but there are some nuggets in there that will come into play later in the season. While those early scenes may feel small in scale, hanging out in a populated bar comes with its own difficulties. We have to design and layout every individual character that is present at the bar and make sure they are engaged in just enough activity to feel natural, but not enough to take your attention away from our main action. Once we enter the rave, the scale of the episode gets pretty big.
There’s a self-aware nature to this episode as the characters reflect on the rut that they’ve found themselves in and the predictable nature of their dynamics. Why did this feel like the right time to ask these questions?
CASEY WILLIS: This episode was always planned to fall in the middle of the season. It was a great time for the characters to reflect and take stock of their situations. We also planted a lot of seeds for stories that will pay off in the second half of the season. And it was great to have Sandra, with her outside perspective, act as a cheerleader for the team at the start of the episode. However, by the end of the episode she realizes the team is a mess.
The brewing personal drama and stress with Lana and Robert continus to carry over and be present. Talk on that a little and why having that as a throughline through the season rather than them being entirely broken up or on healthy ground?
CASEY WILLIS: We wanted Lana and Robert’s relationship to get more complex and a bit messy this season. Is it because Archer is back in the picture, or is Archer just shining a spotlight on some behaviors Lana ignored in the past? This is a season long storyline and we are very excited for everyone to see how Lana and Robert handle these hiccups.
Lana seems to regress in some ways in this episode while she searches for clarity. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
CASEY WILLIS: We wanted Lana’s story to contrast Archer’s in this episode. We also wanted her and Sandra’s story to connect to the previous episode and just show Lana having some fun. So many times Lana has to play the “wet blanket” role in an episode and it’s nice to see her cut loose. In fact, it’s Pam of all people who tries and fails to stop Lana from partying with the Prince! When Pam is the voice of reason, your party is off the rails.
The most moving material from this episode is Archer’s resolve to “fix” Cyril. This is a major aspect of the previous season, but why did it feel important to readdress it here and go so far as to resolve the problem?
CASEY WILLIS: Last season we saw the decline of Cyril and while Pam tried to rebuild him, Archer and Cyril’s relationship was much more contentious. Archer and Cyril had some great moments though, especially in last season’s Aleister episode. We wanted to show Archer’s growth and him realizing that he does care for Cyril in his own twisted way. Also, we wanted to show Archer having fun in situations we normally don’t see him in, while also showing a glimpse into Cyril’s free time.
Where is Archer’s head at during the end of this, does he actually feel remorse, and will he be closer with Cyril moving forward at all?
CASEY WILLIS: I think he grew a bit, but he isn’t emotionally mature enough to share that with Cyril. We purposefully had Archer undercut all the progress he made when Pam called him. Then we further rubbed salt into the wound when Archer used Cyril as a step-stool. It’s just Archer’s way of showing affection.
The neon visuals during the “Pampage” dance party look gorgeous and are a serious highlight. Was it difficult to construct that scene?
PIERRE CERRATO: Our team went above and beyond to answer the call of the “Pampage.” It was a very complicated sequence. The script outlined four different areas in the warehouse that Pam takes the gang to. We needed to figure out what it would look like if there was a rave, a bare knuckle fight and a punk band playing while a monster truck is crushing cars in the back. Everyone did a fantastic job with that specific scene, and it took us a long time to get through it. If you take a closer look at the whole episode, you’ll realize just how many beautiful set pieces there are throughout. For example, the game store, the planetarium, Ding Dong’s strip club (the logo is my personal favorite), etc. Our artists, designers and animators are pretty incredible across the board.
CASEY WILLIS: Just a quick side note. We never really promote Archer merch because we are so focused on producing the show, however, when creating the “Pampage” shirts that Pam and the gang wore in this episode, we thought it would be great if FX would sell them. For anyone interested, they’re available soon via https://shop.fxnetworks.com/collections/archer.
This episode also seems to provide the origins of “Sploosh.” Did it feel time to provide some context there?
CASEY WILLIS: Is it the origin or did Lana just think it might be the origin? I am of the opinion that “Sploosh” has an organic origin from deep in Pam’s past. Sploosh, the bouncer, was probably bestowed that nickname by Pam, but I doubt he is the origin of the word.
It’s not just specific to this episode, but there’s some really nice staccato jazzy music that’s present throughout the season. How did this season’s sound come about?
PIERRE CERRATO: We can thank our amazing composer, JG Thirwell. He has been working with us since season seven and prior to that, we used needle drop for all our music. It worked well, but you can’t beat having an original score and developing a musical language with someone as talented as JG.
We had a phone call at the beginning of season 12 to go over our plans and share some musical ideas. We knew that Fabian was going to be a season-long villain, so we made sure to give him his own themes. We usually temp the music in our edit and when JG gets it, he’ll put his spin on it. If we use something that he has composed for another episode, he’ll tweak it to match the new timing, add extra instrumentation or anything else he feels would work for the scene. We don’t really go back and forth too much. We’ll generally do a round of notes and we’re good.
cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });
Our writers’ room walkthrough for Archer’s 12th season will conclude with this season’s eighth and final episode.
Our breakdown of Archer’s 12th season premiere and previous writers’ room walkthroughs on earlier seasons are also available.
The post Archer Season 12: Casey Willis On Sterling And Cyril’s Emotional Breakthrough appeared first on Den of Geek.
from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hActJe
1 note
·
View note
Text
Trending Topics: That's too much money for John Carlson
John Carlson is good, but not $8 million a year good. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
You knew for sure the Washington Capitals were going to re-sign John Carlson when they got Colorado to take the Brooks Orpik deal off their hands.
That decision — likewise inevitable the day it was signed, just like 60 percent of all Day 1 “oh they shouldn’t have signed that” contracts in the league today — freed up a ton of money and the Caps certainly always intended to spend the cash on Carlson, coming as he was off a career high in points and a key role in his team’s Stanley Cup win.
But eight years and $64 million? That’s a lot of money even for an elite defenseman; it ties him for second in the entire NHL, in fact, even with Brent Burns at an $8 million AAV, and just short of PK Subban’s $9 million.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson has reportedly agreed to an $8.25 million AAV that can’t be signed until July 1, but even still, Carlson is a top-three defender in terms of the actual cap hit he carries. That number will probably change again next summer when Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty get new contracts.
But let’s even say, OK, John Carlson is now being paid like a top-five defenseman in the NHL. Does that strike anyone else out there as being absolutely off the rails? You have to pay for talent, sure, and Washington wasn’t about to let the guy who they think was their best defenseman (he wasn’t) walk in free agency. You pay to keep guys. But boy, they sure do like paying premiums for their own players.
Let’s take, for example, the T.J. Oshie deal, another one of those contracts where everyone said it would be a problem a few years down the line. They gave a 30-year-old eight years at $5.75 million after he shot 23 percent over 68 games and tacked seven goals onto his all-time career high, set the season before. Then this year, huh, he shot a lot closer to his career average and, despite playing six additional games, also scored 15 fewer goals.
You can defend it now, because they won the Cup and Oshie was pretty damn good in the run-up to that championship, but three years from now, when Oshie’s 34, what does that contract look like? Probably not great, right? Which is not ideal, because that puts you only halfway through the deal.
And that doesn’t mean Oshie is anything resembling a bad player at his position. He is, in fact, very good, and moreover that $5.75 million AAV is kinda team-friendly right now. Not so much three, four, five years down the line, but absolutely team-friendly right now even if 18 goals in 74 games is fairly disappointing.
But the thing with the Carlson contract is that it is in no way team-friendly, and even if you’re a big believer that Carlson is a great No. 1 defenseman (he’s not) there’s little to suggest he can ever live up to the terms of this deal.
Again, he’s coming off a career year, but one that is so far outside the realms of what he’s been able to do in the past. Carlson is a few years younger than Oshie was when he signed his deal (which is probably what helped keep Oshie’s AAV down) so he got the full benefit of being able to max out his value. Forget about three, four, five years down the line. This contract is an overpay on Day 1, and it doesn’t begin to make sense from a practical standpoint.
That’s not to say I truly don’t understand the impulse here if you’re Washington. First, this is a win-now team, because its ability to be competitive ends when Ovechkin, Backstrom, and certainly Holtby hit a wall. That’s definitely going to happen well before this Carlson deal comes to an end, and there’s probably going to be someone dumb enough to take it of Washington’s hands in 2023 because the cap will be like $89 million by then and the rebuilding Capitals will retain salary. Who cares!
Second, even if you don’t think Carlson is worth this money (he isn’t!), if he hits the open market and goes elsewhere, that creates a vacuum on the blue line that needs to be filled. Not that I would ever say winning the Cup is a curse for any team, but it does create something of an expectation of competition, and you absolutely couldn’t sell your fanbase on letting Carlson walk when you’d still need to find a replacement for him; the next-best UFA defenseman on the market come July 1 is, I dunno, Toby Enstrom? You can get him for way less than $8 million but you can’t sell that to people who just bought $150 worth of Stanley Cup Champions merch from shop dot nhl dot com.
Third, maybe, is that you can easily sell yourself on a guy who eats big minutes (even if he doesn’t do as much with them as he maybe should, based on reputation and now, his take-home pay) if you are also bringing back his partner from that Cup run. Michael Kempny has, as of this writing, received a multi-year offer from Washington and is weighing it. If you can keep a pairing that effective together, and also keep Kempny’s AAV down, that is probably a little more palatable. But that depends on a lot of factors outside this contract, which again, was not particularly advisable.
Let’s put it this way: Of the 57 guys who have played at least 5,000 minutes over the past three seasons, Carlson’s ability to contribute goals above the replacement level is a little above the middle of the pack — 23rd in the league — at 2.52 per 82 games. That puts him in the same neighborhood as Anton Stralman (who’s a very good defenseman) and Dmitry Orlov (also good, but certainly not regarded on the same level as his teammate).
It’s hard to argue Carlson isn’t a top-30 defenseman in the league, which is to say he’s a clear No. 1. But he’s certainly on the lower end of that top 30, and he’s no longer being paid like it. Moreover, if you were looking for a Carlson replacement — and this was something I said during the playoffs — Orlov might reasonably have been someone worth trying in that role. (This is to say nothing of the fact that Matt Niskanen was the Capitals’ best defenseman the last two seasons, but it’s definitely worth noting that he, uh, was.)
Carlson appears to contribute more than those other two guys in his GAR neighborhood because he has the benefit of playing on arguably the best No. 1 power play unit in the post-cap NHL, though I would certainly also hear arguments for the Sharks four or five years ago. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Carlson joins Oshie as guys who are good players but happened to have insane-production seasons the year they were going RFA when they got a good chunk of their scoring from being on that power play. Nearly half of all Carlson’s points came on that man advantage this season (32 of 68), and while being a guy who can produce on the power play has value, it’s also important to contextualize these things when assessing a player’s actual value.
Again, the Caps really weren’t in an enviable position here. Someone was gonna pay Carlson a ton of money and there were no other good replacement options on the market except, perhaps, via trade (which would have been difficult to pursue). Just like Chicago a few years ago when they overpaid for Kane and Toews, they couldn’t afford to just let those guys walk, for a litany of reasons.
But also like Kane and Toews, it’s hard to be sure they could really afford to keep them either.
—
Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.
All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.
#_revsp:21d636bb-8aa8-4731-9147-93a932d2b27a#_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL#_author:Ryan Lambert#_uuid:5d771d1d-cc80-3bcc-a024-db141a28d764
0 notes
Text
7/7/17
While the last few years of Warped Tour have, to varying degrees, seemed to course-correct the festival’s reputation for chasing the latest trends, 2017 may have hit a high water mark. While different regions had some bands jump on and off (West = Goldfinger, Midwest = The Suicide Machines, for examples), Camden’s lineup was certainly packed with a load of heavy-hitters. There was some of the expected fare for the younger crowd (Attila, New Years Day, Beartooth and personal favorite Dance Gavin Dance, among many others) but veteran acts may have outnumbered the newer ones, which is a shocking change.
Having different experiences at the show, we decided to share both JJ and Henry’s experiences here. Sometimes they’ve crossed streams, and sometimes they were at different parts of the venue.
JJ: On a side note, this was my first time seeing the event at this location as Scranton is my usual location of choice. While that location has its advantages (my familiarity with the layout, easy and free parking, short lines to get in, and just a generally laid-back experience) this location had its own appeal. After getting the layout figured out (which did take a little while), the navigation here was easier than Scranton as stages were less spaced apart.
Henry: I’ve been to Camden a number of times. In fact, the first few Warped Tours were held at the parking lot of what was Wachovia Spectrum. I think they moved it to Camden back in ’97-’98 and have been setting up here ever since.
JJ: Anyway, after figuring out where the Hard Rock Stage was, I knew it was where I was going to largely camp out. I made it into the venue in time to see Bad Cop/Bad Cop, one of the bands I was most excited to see, take the stage. They plowed through their set which had a ton of new material from their just-released album Warriors. The new material really blended nicely with their older songs and, if anything, upped the intensity. If you didn’t pick up the CD at their merch tent for only $5, it’s time to start kicking yourself. As good as they are musically, they are even better as people.
Henry: Bad Cop/ Bad Cop was a band I definitely wanted to see. I’ve become a fan ever since seeing them play with Masked Intruder on the 25th Anniversary Fat Wreck Tour. I’ve even forced a few of my friends to watch their set and they loved every second of it!
Henry: I headed out towards the Mutant North Stage to check out Silent Planet. They’ve been a band that has played a bunch of shows here locally for years but for every chance they were in town, I’d end up missing their sets. I was happy to see that they’ve blown up over the last few years.
JJ: I wandered inside to the Skullcandy stage to see War On Women as they shouted their message of equality and making concerts safe spaces for everyone. This was followed by Save Ferris next door at the Journey’s Right Foot Stage (the stage placement is one bone I have to pick with this venue). Anyway, SF put on a tight, energetic performance that made everyone in the crowd move even if a lot of them weren’t even alive during the band’s initial run. Now THAT is how you come back bigger than ever. This seemed to an even peppier show than when I saw them in a club earlier in the year. After they finished, I had enough time to get my bearings and plan my next move which was right back to the Hard Rock Stage for….
Municipal Waste! I had never seen them before but it was everything I hoped for with maybe 15 songs being played in 25 minutes. You really get your money’s worth with them. It was nice to see drum-deity Dave Witte in person. A recent addition on second guitar, Nick Poulos really bolstered their attack and maybe it was because I was closer to his side of the stage, but his leads really were highlights of the set. It didn’t hurt that I was able give him a thumbs up and a fist bump later.
Henry: Inside, to tried to cover Memphis May Fire. Literally ever since they’ve been appearing at Warped Tour, for some reason, they always end up playing inside. I hate shooting inside. It’s dark. Very dark.
After a few feeble attempts, I gave up and decided to try and catch The Ataris on the Hard Rock Stage.
Henry: It’s been ages since I’ve seen The Ataris live let alone listen to any releases beyond ‘So Long Astoria’ (sorry, ‘Welcome the Night’ just never did it for me.) The band had just released a new record and is selling it at Bad Cop/ Bad Cop’s tent. No doubt was I curious. One of the highlights of their set was when they finished with the Don Henley cover of “Boys of Summer” and they replaced the line “Out on the road today I saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac” with “…Dickeys sticker on a Cadillac” in reference to the band that stirred up controversy earlier on the tour.
Henry: The entire point of Warped Tour is to check out the bands that you’ve never heard of. Going with that notion in mind, I decided to run back inside to check out a Manchester, UK band that was pitched to me called Sonic Boom Six. They had an upbeat ska sound that you can totally skank to (do people even know what “skank” even means anymore!?)
JJ: After walking around some more, I came back to the Hard Rock Stage to see Sick of It All and….wow. Being familiar with their recorded material forever but never seeing them, these guys may have won the MVP award for the day. Despite being in the game over thirty years, their energy is beyond compare. They have a tight, loud, massive sound live that the early records, for all of the quality of many songs, don’t really capture. It’s hard to imaging them being able to keep that intensity up for an hour, but maybe they can or maybe they just go all out and make the most of their 25 minutes. No matter what, it was impressive and I got to shake frontman Lou Koller’s hand afterward and express my gratitude.
Henry: I’ve been a huge Sick of it All fan ever since I picked up a copy of ‘Scratch the surface.’ It’s weird to think that I was 13yrs old when I bought that. But music has been a rather huge part of my life. The last time I saw them live was literally 20yrs ago at Warped Tour 1997.
Henry: While walking around, I noticed my friend Sean up on the Full Sail University Stage with Courage My Love. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been clueless to the fact that I’ve been conversing with Mercedes Arn-Horn off and on in FB comment threads for a while now. I’ve always just figured she was a friend-of-a-friend amongst my other music industry friends. It was actually rather cathartic to see her on stage performing with her band since I only knew her from chat threads.
JJ: I ventured over to the Journey’s Left Foot Stage (see what I mean about the layout?!) to see CKY. They are local favorites and the entire Margera family came out to introduce the band. After watching them on TV for years, it was a little bit of a thrill. Bam even came out late in the set to sing a G.G. Allen song. The real story is how the band has recalibrated with the departure of frontman Deron Miller. It’s Chad Ginsberg’s voice at the forefront and…the approach is different. Instead of Deron’s smooth croon, Chad has the vocal approach of a stoner-rock dude who just rode into town and is looking for a fight. After a few spins, the new album The Phoenix is a short and sweet tour of a lot of what the band does just with a slightly different approach. They only played one track off of that “Replaceable” but mostly stuck to tracks from Vol. 1 and Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild. Everything was enjoyable and the crowd was into it but the performance seemed a little listless. The band and their layers of sounds are probably best-suited to an intimate club.
Henry: I killed a little bit of time right after CYK. I needed to reorganize myself after all the running around I’ve done. I managed to catch up with a few tour friends along the way. Most were complaining about their lack of sleep (something I knew too well after my short stint a few years back). I caught New Years Day‘s performance over at the Journey’s Left Foot Stage. It’s funny. I can recall a time before they became a household name, when the band would hang out in the press area simply out of boredom and would sit-in during interviews.
JJ: More wandering ensued before circling back to the Hard Rock Stage for the Adolescents. Even though they’ve been at it longer than I have been alive and influenced even the mighty Bad Religion, they were still sharp live. Sure, it’s basically Tony and Steve bolstered by some younger musicians, but those two were always the engine of the band anyway. They had a great new album last year (Manifest Density) and showed that they can keep going as long as they want.
Henry: The Adolescents were one of those bands I didn’t bother photographing. I just wanted to be able to stand back and enjoy their set. I think the only song any of the younger crowds recognized was “Amoeba” made famous by Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 game that we all obsessed over.
Henry: Back inside, one of the acts I was looking very forward to was William Control. I’ve seen him perform a number of times and in different configurations. Starting off with “Monster” and “Kiss the Girl”, he addressed the crowd “I know a band with synths is probably the last thing you’d expect to see here today at Warped Tour. But think of us as a bit of repreive. First we’re going to romance you, and then when Beartooth comes out after us, they’re going to fuck you all in the ass!” According to a few old-school Warped attendees, William Control was one of the new acts that they saw and fell in love with. Also worth mentioning was that ‘Revelations: The Red EP’ just came out today and is available at their merch tent for only $5 and is worth every penny!
Unfortunately, I had to run as the band was starting to launch into “Beautiful Monster” as blessthefall was about to start at the other end of the venue.
Henry: After fighting my way through hordes of Warped attendees, I finally made my way to the Mutant North Stage. The sun was starting to set and “golden hour” was upon us. As the band took the stage, frontman Beau Bokan sprayed the crowd with a bottle of Monster’s Mutant soda. I managed to dodge most of the spray but my camera wasn’t so lucky.
JJ: After this, I made my way over to the Mutant South stage to catch a little of Silverstein’s set. They had gotten a shipment of their new album Dead Reflection in a week early (it was officially released on July 14th) and were selling it at their merch tent. Don’t tell anyone. A few songs in, Beefcake The Mighty “killed” Billy Hamilton and took over on bass for a few songs. I wasn’t able to stick around long because….
Strung Out took the stage at the Hard Rock Stage! I’ve been crossing paths with them a lot over the last few years and as always, good stuff. Vocalist Jason Cruz’s voice sounded stronger than it had the last few times I had seen them and they can really do no wrong in my book.
Henry: By the time Silverstein came on, I was beat. I knew JJ had to run to catch Strung Out but he totally miss the greatest part of the set when GWAR’s Beefcake The Mighty “killed” Billy Hamilton and took over bass for “Retrograde” and “Still Dreaming.”
JJ: It was at this point in the day with clouds threatening and giving way to sun for so many hours before, that the rain finally delivered on its threat. A drizzle became a full downpour with gusty winds creating havoc as I tried in vain to put on my poncho. If it was just me, I wouldn’t have minded, but I had signed merch with me and was already down a backpack and pair of earplugs that evening. It was with a heavy heart that I had to miss the band’s last song as I ran inside for shelter to dry myself and assess the damage. Once solving this and realizing my poncho was torn and therefore mostly useless, I looked out to see the rain even heavier than before. It must have been an experience for those at the Mutant Stages who saw Hatebreed and GWAR through that.
Henry: I was caught in the rain during Hatebreed and GWAR. I tried to photograph Hatebreed’s set but by the time they took the stage, the clouds were overhead and it looked like it was night to my left, and still daylight to my right. I watched as production staff tried to keep the stage together as strong gusts of wind kept knocking over banners and they hastily tried to cover up speakers before the onslaught that we were about to receive.
JJ: I waited it out inside at the Skullcandy Stage again and was happy to realize this detour brought me right to the Street Dogs, one of the bands I wanted to see anyway. They burned through some familiar numbers including a cover of Joe Strummer’s “Coma Girl”. The crowd in front of their stage which included me, was modest but frontman Mike McColgan worked hard to win everyone over. In fact, he worked so hard, he spent just as much time if not more so in front of the crowd waiting in front of the Journey’s Right Foot Stage next door. They may have been there for Never Shout Never but they got a healthy dose of Street Dogs and I could see a lot of people in that crowd also really into it.
After the Street Dogs closed up shop, I headed back outside one last time to happily see the rain had ended. I took the walk back to the Hard Rock Stage one final time and was able to see all of Anti Flag.
There was something appropriate about them closing things out, especially given the state of the world.
Henry: I had to make a choice. Go see Anti-Flag, or stay and see GWAR. I decided to stay and watch GWAR. Words just aren’t enough to describe their clash of comedy theater/ rock show. It’s one that everyone has to experience first-hand to comprehend it. Like if I were to say to someone that I had a great time getting blasted in the face by Blothar’s four penis’s, I’m pretty sure I’d be met with confusion and disgust. Still worth it!
JJ: All in all, it was an odd experience for me not being consumed by press and only able to get a sampling of performances. This is the exact experience a normal Warped Concert-goer would have and while different, was nearly equally enjoyable. I had already interviewed most of the bands I was there to see (in some cases multiple times) anyway, so with a few elusive exceptions, I was fairly up to date with a lot of them, anyway.
Henry: It was a marathon for me to try and cover as many acts as possible. But overall I was happy to see fans young and old showing up and actually having a good time together. I watched as men in their late-40’s/ early-50’s throwdown in a circle pit with kids half their age during Sick of it All. I saw concert goers in their mid-30’s develop a new love for new acts. Acts that they’d never be exposed to on their own accord if it weren’t for what this tour was built on: comradery and unity. I saw numerous collaborations on stage that made me scratch my head (Big D and the Kids Table with American Authors, GWAR and Silverstein were the two big ones that came to mind) but they’ve made it all work.
JJ: Let’s also applaud the tour itself as it managed to strike an impressive balance of old and new which should make it a viable, relevant festival for even more years to come.
Written by: JJ Ellis and Henry Chung
Photos by: the unstoppable Henry Chung
Warped Tour 7/7/17 While the last few years of Warped Tour have, to varying degrees, seemed to course-correct the festival's reputation for chasing the latest trends, 2017 may have hit a high water mark.
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
hannibal-angerman-blog
il Dovak art
rubel-nazmun
Untitled
theblackmoonlightt
Aleyna
unboundmagic
ᴬᶰᵈʳᵃˢᵗᵉ'ˢ ᵏᶰᶤᶜᵏᵉʳ ʷᵉᵃˢᵉˡˢ
aintnobody
Untitled