#Star Wars Miniatures Battles | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

betabites · 1 year

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(Image descriptions in alt-text)

A wide selection today. More blending experiments with the sunrise wings of the pegasus - I think I definitely had the room to keep a transition into/through a rosy pink, but I'm happy with the result.

B1-Ps (Battle Droids mark I, polar model) to oppose my clone troopers of the 133rd. These are still very early in the production run - still in the mid 400s. There's also a recon command model, #80. I definitely understand everyone's comments on B1s being fiddly to assemble. They're not bad in comparison to fully modular kits like Victoria Miniatures, but they're a big step up from all the other Legion kits.

And lastly, the first of the fighting uruk-hai of Isengard. My color scheme for these had a couple of sub-thoughts.

First, though I do love the movies, making the uruk-hai dark-skinned (even if it is more gray or purple) and all the heroes white is, well... It's not inauthentic to the original text, but I'm not obligated to carry forward old hatreds, so I changed it. Tolkien expresses the idea* that both sides of a war have orcs, so I decided to use the same skin tones I'm going to use for the Rohirrim and the Dunlanders. Likewise the hair (albeit without the drybrush to make the color pop).

Second, I've got a long-standing beef with 'Light as Good'/'Dark as Evil' as a trope, owing largely to Darkness, Darkness being my cradle-song. So I wanted these orcs to be bright and shiny, servants of the White Hand. Unfortunately, Saruman's grasp of logistical realities is... shaky, and orcs (and grunts) as living forces of entropy are not to be underestimated. So they had nice shiny plate armor and white tunics when they left Isengard... and now they've got rust spots and filthy tunics. The plan is for the captains to still be bright and shiny, though (possibly with a multi-colored crest).

*Letter 71; don't have the full text, so I'm working from secondary sources (forums). The quote that I thought Tolkien said, 'We were all orcs in the war.' is not, apparently, authentic. "In real (exterior)* life men are on both sides: which means a motley alliance of orcs, beasts, demons, plain naturally honest men, and angels." is the actual quote from letter 71, which just goes to show that pithy is not Tolkien's typical mode.

(Sidenote: did you know that tumblr reads 'ctrl-z' as 'revert to last draft'? I learned that today! Because it reverted my changes three times and then immediately saved! I want to chew glass!)

#painting miniatures #ME:SBG #Tolkien #Uruk-Hai #Star Wars Legion #B1 Battle Droid #pegasus

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dead-end-draws · 2 months

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Tribe Banner concept art:

Folks seemed to enjoy my WOF WIPS, so here’s more concept art for y’all! My favorite thing about WOF is the potential for world building. I thought it’d be cool to see a tribe emblem represented on a banner/flag of sorts:

Read below for some of the thought process / headcannons behind the design choices: 👇

Skywing Banner:

Skywings pride themselves on 3 things; treasure, fire, & their enormous, soaring wingspan which steals the sky.

As such, portrayed on the banner, the fabric (often made with dyed cow or goat leathers) resembles draped dragon wings. Two Skywings embrace a goblet, which is spewing golden fire.

The banner is often held aloft with iron or gold poles, signifying to other tribes their wealth and pride.

Mudwing banner:

These banners are fashioned with leather hides from cow or crocodile skin, held aloft with bamboo, and painted with a Talon-print & Reed crest.

The talonprint symbolizes community and the strength of Mudwing sibling bonds. The reed border unifies all Mudwings regardless of their relationship to home; the swamp. Bigwings are often seen carrying these into battle, signifing their status and making it easier for a sib to locate them in the flurry of a fight.

Sandwing Banner:

Sandwing flags are made with camel skins and dyed cactus leather.

A crest shows a Sandwing coiled around a beaming sun, a reminder that despite the revered 3 moons, Sandwings are born to thrive in sunlight.

The fabric is cut in a way to mimic the swooping dunes of Sandwing territory. And the poles of the flags are equally intricate, with scorpion tails and golden ropes which frame the banner.

These flags make prominent appearances in parades, festivals, and markets, and even miniature version are often displayed in homes or as tapestries/carpets.

Seawing banner:

These banners are often seen displayed in royal quarters or councils, or above land to mark territory.

A nautilus shell crest on front echoes the swirl-pattern associated with royal Seawings: The banner’s borders resemble waves and a dragon swimming beneath their surface.

These are crafted with rich materials, strung with seashells, pearls, silver dollars, and deep oceanic color fabric. There is severe penalty for Seawings found plucking treasure from the banners, as they are a direct symbol of royalty.

Nightwing Banner:

These banners emphasize the Nightwings’ relationship to the moon, their source of power and praise. The material, a contrast of white stitching against purple velvet showcases moonlight and night, black scales against stars, magic and mystery.

They are seen decorated with 3 moons at the top and a centered dragon reaching up into the night sky.

These banners were often used during the war as secret code by spies to deliver to other tribes. Prophecy scrolls often came attached, delivering cryptic messages or secrets in the night. These banners all helped add to the secrecy of the Dragonet Prophecy, and kept tribes on their toes around Nightwings.

Rainwing banner:

Rainwing banners are not used for battle purposes like other tribes, most are mere decoration, location indicators, and have no unified design.

However, It is said back when Rainwings left the rainforest to trade pre-war, this particular banner design was often raised above Rainwing merchant tables, and showcases the coiled tail of a Rainwing with leaves, vines, and other sights from the rainforest adorning a bamboo pole. Bright color combinations accentuated the flag to entice curious customers.

Now, only one tattered version of the original Rainwing banner remains, displayed proudly in Queen Glory’s quarters, a reminder that building the Rainwings’ community is their most important goal.

Icewing Banner:

These banners reflect the same standards Icewings hold themselves to.

Like a visual of the rankings themselves, each banner is cut perfectly from an Icewing’s trained, serrated claws to resemble icicles, and crafted with fine blue stitching.

Flags are often held aloft with perfectly polished narwhal horn or bone, and can be inlaid with sapphires or diamond.

Icewing soldiers are often gifted these during ceremonies, and perform training exercises with the flags to test their stance/attentiveness. The crest showcases the swift sharpness of ice through a flying dragon, and a snowflake toward the bottom reminding Icewings that even minuscule snowflakes, small things, should be perfect in form.

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detydia · 5 months

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Imagine Dean Winchester x You

You and Dean decorate the Bunker for Christmas.

The holiday season had arrived, and with it came the annual tradition of decorating the Bunker for Christmas. You and Dean, despite your usual banter and occasional disagreements, found yourselves immersed in the festive spirit as you unpacked boxes of ornaments, lights, and a rather questionable-looking Santa hat.

Dean eyed the Santa hat with skepticism. "Are you seriously gonna make me wear this thing again?"

You laughed, holding it out to him. "Come on, Dean, it's tradition! Besides, you make a pretty convincing Santa."

He sighed but took the hat anyway, placing it on his head with a mockingly serious expression. "Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas, I guess."

As you began untangling strings of lights, your eyes gleamed mischievously. "You know, the lights would look great on the Impala. It could be our very own Christmas-mobile."

Dean shot you a glare. "Don't you dare touch Baby with those lights. She's not a Christmas tree on wheels."

You chuckled, draping a strand of lights over your shoulders like a festive boa. "Just trying to spread some holiday cheer, Dean."

The banter continued as you moved through the Bunker, adorning it with twinkling lights and festive decorations. You had a penchant for unconventional ornament placements, and Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes as he discovered a miniature reindeer hanging from a weapon rack.

"Really, Y/N? A reindeer on the arsenal? Very festive," he teased.

You grinned, unfazed. "It's a guard reindeer. Gotta keep the holiday spirit safe, you know."

As you tackled the tree, Dean found himself in a battle of tinsel with you. You playfully draped it around each other, engaging in a tug-of-war that resulted in laughter echoing through the Bunker.

"You're gonna turn me into a Christmas tree at this rate," Dean quipped, trying to extricate himself from the tinsel web.

You smirked. "You'd make a fabulous Christmas tree, Dean. Just imagine the presents under those rugged branches."

The decorating took a turn for the competitive as you argued over the placement of the star atop the tree. Dean insisted on precision, while you favored a more carefree approach.

"It's not straight," Dean grumbled, adjusting the star for the tenth time.

You pouted. "Who cares about straight? It's a star, not a math problem."

The playful bickering escalated as you continued to deck the halls. Dean discovered a stash of mistletoe and couldn't resist holding it above your head.

"Looks like we're caught under the mistletoe, Y/N. Tradition dictates you owe me a kiss."

You rolled your eyes. "You just want an excuse to get kissed, Winchester."

Dean grinned. "Guilty as charged."

///As you stood back to admire the handiwork, you bumped Dean's shoulder. "Not bad, Winchester. We make a pretty good decorating team."

He smirked. "Well, I do have an eye for detail."

"Detail and stubbornness," you added with a playful wink.

#dean winchester fic #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester imagine #dean winchester x reader #fluff #supernatural dean #dean fluff #dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean x reader fluff #supernatural #spn

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jewishcissiekj · 9 months

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Asajj Ventress merch/thing I need (I went down a merch and figures rabbit hole)

Also rating some of them and giving them funny names. I should sleep

Starting off strong: This specific Star Wars: Halcyon Legacy #3 variant cover. I don't the way she looks in the comic itself but this. This drives me insane. 9/10

Funny haha Legends book with realistic Asajj edit on the cover. Because. You see. Obsessed with the way she looks here. Star Wars: Jedi Trial btw. 7/10 I don't like Anakin (I've never read this book)

Star Wars: Hyperspace stories #5 but this variant. She's such a wet cat in the comic itself and that's why I need it but this cover is a whole separate other thing I need because it stops my breathing for a moment. 11/10 bc Dooku my bestie ever is here

Ventrego from Set 75087 apparently is pretty self-explanatory I think

Sideshow Collectibles Star Wars Asajj Ventress Lords of The Sith 1/6 Scale, aka the astatue She looks so polite

Star Wars Clone Wars Action Figure Comic 2-Pack Dark Horse: Republic #69 Asajj Ventress and Tol Skorr, the one involving gay sex, not sure how. 15/10 and 5/10 because of the number and because Skorr is there and I hate Skorr

2010 Asajj Ventress Skate Finger Board McDonalds Star Wars and this one has Cad Bane and Grievous too but specifically the Asajj one and I don't know how I don't have this already/Ventresskateboard 3452261/10

Star Wars Clone Wars 2010 Asajj Ventress CW15, Love just how many figures they made at the time TCW was coming out, and she's just cool, I love her skirt, and it comes with a Dooku 12331/10

Star Wars The Black Series Clone Wars Asajj Ventress 6-Inch AF By HASBRO, Best figure quality, and I need to know if she can pose with her legs bc that skirt looks tight

Star Wars Asajj Ventress 3.75” Figure 2005 Jedi Vs Sith Battle Pack Clone Wars HER SKIRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT Ventresstrillion/10

Star Wars The Clone Wars Asajj Ventress Loose 2003 Hasbro, and it's the cloak she's so perfect

Give me Star Wars Galactic Heroes Clone Wars Sith Asajj Ventress or give me death at this point honestly she's just too perfect Ventressbazzilion/10

Best one and one I can least realistically get my hand on on this list, Asajj Ventress Mythos Statue - Star Wars sideshow. Forever jealous of anyone that will have this. It should've been ME.

Star Wars Clone Wars Asajj Ventress Cartoon Network Hasbro 2005, because, again, Skirtress excellence and I think about this specific figure a lot 18/10

STAR WARS Micro Galaxy Squadron Light Armor Class ASAJJ VENTRESS’S GINIVEX Starf is a 10/10 because the ship itself is gorgeous but you can also put Asajj IN the ship what more can you ask for (had a dream about this one. didn't end well but I need this one)

Not sure why this Star Wars The Clone Wars Asajj Ventress Bust is sleeveless but I kinda like it idk 9/10

Older Ventrego with the Lego Clone Wars face aka I'm obsessed with Lego Asajj aka she's from set 66395 I'm 99% sure No skirt but it's still a 8/10

Star Wars Legion Asajj Ventress Operative Expansion, I love buying figures for games I don't play. She would never see real action with me.

Shoutout to Star Wars Miniatures Asajj Ventress 27 Clone Strike with Card WOC Mini I can not believe how many figures this cat has. 7/10

Back to comics, Star Wars: Obsession #5 because this cover is about me and I'm also in love with this comic 11/10

Star Wars: Republic #60. The most beautiful girl in the world. Ky Narec. Obi-Wan and Alpha-17. Origin story issue. big fan 1424354/10 but you can't get it for a normal price as a single issue you gotta look for the collections

Lastly, Star Wars Unleashed 7" Inch Statue Figure ASAJJ VENTRESS Hasbro 2005. This woman never had a good day in her entire life. I need her. Skirt 10/10

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daughter-of-melpomene · 1 month

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𝐑𝐄-𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆… 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝐃𝐄𝐕 𝐊𝐀𝐇𝐓𝐑𝐈

❝ If there was one thing Dev had never thought would happen, it was finding out he was a mutant. Not to say that he had anything against mutants, he’d always thought they were really cool and impressive, but he knew of no one in his family who had possessed an active X gene and so hadn’t thought that he would either. But there he’d stood, at thirteen years old, shortly after having to shave for the first time, staring in wonder and mild shock at the miniature tornado swirling in his open palm.

If there was another thing Dev had never thought would happen, it was making friends with Captain freaking America, but that had happened as well. Many years after that afternoon when he’d discovered his mutation, Dev had wound up a perpetually tired high school English teacher who’d welcomed the famous Star-Spangled Man with a Plan into his classroom to give a presentation on civic responsibility to his students. Amazingly enough, the Avenger had deigned to have a conversation with Dev after the presentation, and the two men had struck up an unlikely companionship, with Dev being one of the first people Steve had texted on the new phone that Dev promptly spent countless hours trying to teach him how to use.

If there was another thing Dev had ever thought would happen - honestly, he was starting to think his life was just a never-ending string of events he’d never thought would occur - it would have been two of his best friends getting together to take down an evil Nazi offshoot that had been infiltrating a powerful government agency since the end of World War II. Dev had first met Sam Wilson when accompanying his cousin, who was a veteran, to one of the man’s therapy sessions at the Washington VA, and the two of them had become friends almost instantly. Dev knew about Sam’s history flying with Pararescue, of course (as much as Sam was legally allowed to tell him, anyway), but he’d never imagined that his friend’s qualifications would come in useful when Steve and the freaking Black Widow had shown up on his doorstep shortly after he’d finished dragging Dev on a torturous run around DC, telling Dev and Sam that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised by a group that Steve thought had died with the Red Skull when he went into the ice.

Now, more than a few years after two Avengers showed up on Sam’s doorstep and Dev had been sent home to wait the battle out while two of his friends fought for their freedom and their lives, Steve is dead, and Sam (who Dev is now dating, which he’s still amazed at every day), has given up the Captain America shield their friend bestowed on him. Dev is more than willing to support his boyfriend, of course - but now a violent and determined group called the Flag Smashers is waging their own personal war on the world, and the government couldn’t even wait five minutes before appointing a total asshole as the new Captain America in Sam’s place.

For most of his life, Dev has relegated his powers of air manipulation to a well-kept secret at worst and a party trick at best. But now Sam, along with Bucky Barnes, another one of Steve’s dear friends - who is deeply attractive and just emotionally stunted enough for Dev to be interested in - are desperate for help in taking down the Flag Smashers, and no matter if Dev has any proper training or not, he’s never been one to refuse people in need.

So now Dev, who has never had more than the most basic self-defence training from his boyfriend, is travelling around the world hunting and fighting against a crew of misguided supersoliders, breaking the man responsible for Sam ending up in a floating prison out of his own jail cell, trying to keep his cool about being thrown in with two of the most attractive men he’s ever seen in his life… and doing his absolute best not to punch John Walker in his smug, stupid face.

Honestly, Dev thinks, he should just stop thinking things aren’t ever going to happen. Because so far in his life, that just seems to be an indicator that things are going to happen.

Except that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t have it any other way. ❞

General Taglist: @hiddenqveendom, @foxesandmagic, @artemisocs, @reyofluke-ocs, @endless-oc-creations, @stanshollaand, @ginnystilinski-reblogs, @luucypevensie, @ginger-grimm, @arrthurpendragon, @fakedatings, @impales, @claryxjackson, @dancingsunflowers-ocs, @eddysocs, @lucys-chen, @ocappreciationtag.

#my ocs #reintroducing my ocs #ch: dev kahtri #oc: dev kahtri #fic: superheroes #queerocs #fyeahocsofcolor #ocapp #ocappreciation #ochub #allaboutocs #fyeahmarvelocs #marvel oc #mcu oc #fyeahsuperverseocs

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oldschoolfrp · 2 years

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Star Wars Miniatures Battles, Man-to-Man Combat in the Star Wars Galaxy, by Stephen Crane and Paul Murphy, West End Games, 1991, compatible with WEG’s original D6 Star Wars RPG, featuring Grenadier Models’ Star Wars miniatures by Bob Charrette and Julie Guthrie; winner of Best Miniature Rules at Origins 1991

#Star Wars #Star Wars Miniatures Battles #SWMB #West End Games #wargame #Star Wars D6 #D6 Star Wars #Stephen Crane #Paul Murphy #Bob Charrette #Julie Guthrie #WEG #storntroopers #rebel fleet troopers #imperial naval troopers #1990s #miniature wargame #miniature wargaming

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ariesgamesandminis · 1 month

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Restocks for BattleTech are up from Catalyst Game Labs!

A Time of War BattleMat - Alpha Strike - Aero Base 1 BattleMat - Alpha Strike - Aero Base 2 BattleMat - Grasslands Alpine BattleMat - Grasslands Desert BattleMat - Grasslands Lunar Interstellar Operations Alternate Eras Mechwarrior Destiny Miniature ForcePack - Clan Ad Hoc Star Miniature ForcePack - Clan Fire Star Miniature ForcePack - Clan Heavy Star Miniature ForcePack - Clan Striker Star Miniature ForcePack - Eridani Light Horse Hunter Lance Miniature ForcePack - Inner Sphere Heavy Battle Lance Miniature ForcePack - Inner Sphere Heavy Lance Miniature ForcePack - Inner Sphere Support Lance Miniature ForcePack - Kell Hounds Striker Lance Miniature ForcePack - Northwind Highlanders Command Lance Miniature ForcePack - Snord's Irregulars Assault Lance Miniature ForcePack - Wolf's Dragoons Assault Star

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teensywars · 8 months

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Why Tiny-Scale Wargames?

For me, a wargame succeeds or fails based on how it makes me think. When I look down at the pieces on the table, am I thinking about strategy? About the drama of my little guys? Or am thinking about little plastic toys on a table?

The default scale for miniatures games is just close enough that you can see your individual figures doing things. That makes sense. The companies want to sell toys, so you want to make a game where the toys do cool things.

But, once you zoom out far enough that individuals no longer matter, something amazing happens. Your perspective shifts, and you begin thinking of your little tabletop battle in the same way you'd think of a real battle. The game is no longer about individuals, but lines of battle, flanks, and C&C.

Space Marines in Epic Armageddon don't win because Lieutenant Ironpecs is really good at hitting things with a sword, they win because they follow orders when other armies would be struggling with morale.

Battles in Drop Zone Commander aren't won on shooting, they're won by seeing ways to use the terrain to create a place for your transports to land.

Darth Vader may be terrifying, but in Star Wars Armada, he's one guy in one TIE Fighter among hundreds.

That's something you can't get from squad-scale wargames, and that's why you should care about games with tiny miniatures.

#wargaming #epic 40k #legions imperialis #Dropzone Commander #star wars armada

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harrisonarchive · 1 year

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Photo by Eli Reichman.

“My dad’s favorite number was 7, and a lot of things that he did were according to the number 7, whether he meant it or not. That was the highest honor I could have given a track on the album [Brainwashed], to put it track 7.” - Dhani Harrison, Brainwashed EPK

Track no. 7 series: “That Which I Have Lost” —

“That Which I Have Lost comes straight out of the Bhagavad Gita, which I was reading at the time and then I turned it into this little country and western tune. The Gita is all about the struggle against the forces of darkness — limitation, falsehood and mortality. It sounds a bit like Star Wars, but life is a battlefield. People think life is all about having fun, and if the fun gets taken away we get upset. But life isn’t fun, it’s like being in prison — ‘I sentence you to life.’ You have to go and fight your battles with duality. And that’s what this song’s about.” - I Me Mine — The Extended Edition (2017)

“If you ask questions like: Why the Beatles? you run into difficulties, because you make it sound like these four people are special agents or something. The simplest explanation for it is to get into a bit of philosophy, the reincarnation theory. We accumulate credit and debit in our life just as we do in our bank, through our own actions. Bob Dylan said it like this: Look out kid, it’s something you did/God knows when, but you’re doing it again. So, whoever Hitler was, he was a nasty bastard. And The Beatles, whoever they were, were the result of what they’d done before. We sentence you to a life imprisonment, but the prison is actually The Beatles. You’ll be famous and rich, but you’ll be imprisoned in that concept, Beatlemania.” - George Harrison, VOX, September 1992 (x)

About the jewelry seen here...

“When I met Heyoka Merrifield in 1975, I was taken by his art and jewelry. The pieces he has made for me have become part of my life and travel with me wherever I go, especially the miniature shrine to Lord Ganesha. Not a gem nor precious metal passes through Heyoka’s hands that is not instilled with a spirit of its own in the process of being transformed into a work of art and beauty." - George Harrison, The Book of Shrines (2013)

"[Heyoka Merrifield] was a lifelong friend of George Harrison of the Beatles, designing [George and Olivia] Harrisons' wedding rings and several traveling altar pieces for meditation and spiritual renewal." - Missoulian, September 16, 2006

"I dedicate Painted Earth Temple to my friend and medicine brother George Harrison, for he joined the world of spirit as the last few chapters were being written. George was a calm center in the hurricane of misplaced archetypal mythic images with which our society seems to resonate. Living in this most difficult environment, he was able to find peace while striving to walk in balance and embracing life as a quest for spiritual understanding. Although our paths on this quest differed, our hearts understood that the path is really only one. As I write this dedication, an eagle flies past my window toward the mountains, disappearing into the west. In the ancient Earth traditions, this is seen as a gift from the Sacred Powers and it tells me that my friend is close by. May his spirit always soar with the eagles." - Heyoka Merrifield, Painted Earth Temple (2007) (x)

#George Harrison #quote #quotes about George #Harrisongs no. 7 #Harrisongs #Harrison songwriting #Harrison spirituality #That Which I Have Lost #somewhere in england #Olivia Harrison #et al #Heyoka Merrifield #1970s #1980s #fits queue like a glove

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no-not-without-you-blog · 2 years

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Whumptember

Okay, so I have decided to participate in Whumptember. I have so many other stories to post on here and didn’t want my first writings to be these little drabbles, but I wanted to participate, so here we go.

Divider Graphic by @firefly-graphics, Whumptember Prompt by @comfortcap

September 1st: Nervous to meet them.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” You felt as if your heart was going to beat out of your chest and you were sure you were going to be sick. Steve stood beside you, holding your hand. “It’s going to be fine, sweetheart. I promise.” He laid a gentle kiss on your temple.

“It’s been five years, Steve. Five… I’m sure he doesn’t even remember me.”

“That’s not true. We talked about you all the time… He never forgot, I wouldn’t let him.” He squeezes your fingers and gently pulls you into the apartment. He set his gear down in the foyer closet and walked in a bit farther.

“Jamie? Where are you pal? I have a surprise for you.” You heard his voice before he made his way down the hallway.

“Dad! Your home! Can we do a movie night tonight? I wanna watch the next Star Wars with you. Maybe we could get some Chinese too?” The young boy that stood in front of you brought tears to your eyes. Here, before you, was a tall, lanky, sandy haired miniature copy of Steve. The only difference between the two was their size and the color of his eyes, which mimicked your vibrantly green eyes. He was just over ten years old and came up to your shoulders. He had paused when he saw that his dad wasn’t alone.

“Jamie…” You said, although your voice was little more than a whisper. Swallowing hard as your nerves skyrocketed and you weren’t sure what to say.

“M-Mom?” He asked in disbelief, tears now forming in his eyes. He looked up to Steve for affirmation and Steve nodded his head yes. He stood there for a long moment, trying to process what was happening. Then, all of the sudden, he ran and fell into your arms. “Mom!” He let out with a cry as he held you tight and cried.

You were sobbing at this point and looked up at Steve who was also crying. He wrapped his large arms around you both and held you tight as he saw his family finally being reunited after so long.

Life hadn’t been easy the last five years. He went on a mission that ended up being so much larger than anyone could have imagined, leaving his wife and young son safe at home. They had failed that mission and he had raced home to see if his family was still there, only to find that his wife had been dusted. Luckily, his wife had been with Pepper during all of this and when she was dusted, Jamie wasn’t home alone.

Steve’s heart was shattered at the loss of his wife, but he was so grateful that he hadn’t lost Jamie as well. He wasn’t sure what he would have done or who he would have become if he had lost both of them. He did everything he knew of to bring her back, and then when those options exhausted themselves, he poured himself into being the best father he could. He had made sure that Jamie never forgot his mom, they would constantly talk about her and share memories of her. He never gave out hope that one day, they would be reunited again. When this mission came, he didn’t want to get his hopes up too much, but the only thing he could think about during that final battle was getting back to see if you were finally back home with him.

Seeing you again was like a wave of emotion washed over him. After the battle, he ran to where you and Pepper had been five years ago and found you there, confused and scared. You had just been there with Pepper and your son and all of the sudden they weren’t there and the whole house seemed different. You were freaking out and tried calling Steve but his number went straight to voicemail. You tried calling other friends but they either didn’t answer or their number was somehow out of service now. What was happening? You were about to start venturing away from the house, when Steve arrived on his bike and jumped off of it, not caring that it crashed onto the driveway. He was yelling your name as he ripped open the front door. You stood there in the kitchen, scared and unsure of what was happening and you saw him look at you as tears streamed down his face. He ran to you and scooped you up, holding you as tight as possible.

“St-Steve. Too tight. What’s going on? Where is everyone? I was here with Pepper and Jamie and now… now they’re not here. Where did your beard go? What’s happening???” Steve pulled away slightly to allow you to breathe better, but he instantly pulled you in for a searing kiss. You momentarily got lost in the kiss before your brain caught up with you again.

“Steve. What’s happening?”

“Sweetheart, I-I don’t know how to explain this. The mission… the mission I was on didn’t go well. We lost. You and half of the world were just… gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” You asked him, confused as to what he was saying.

“Thanos. He wiped out half of the universe. We had tried to stop him, but he was too strong at that point. We tried…”

“Steve… You said I was lost, but I’m right here. I don’t understand.” You were so confused. None of this made any sense.

He looked at you with apprehension in his eyes, hesitating as he tried to find the next way to tell you all of this. “You-You’ve been gone for a while, love. We tried to bring you all back but we didn’t know how. It-it took a while to find a way.”

You thought for a moment before you asked the question you were terrified to know the answer to. “How long?”

Steve bit his cheek, trying to reign in his emotions. He needed to be strong for you in this moment as he knew it would be hard. “Five years, sweetie. It’s been five years.”

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat but it wouldn’t go down. Your breath picked up and you felt yourself panicking. You felt like you were going to vomit and you quickly ran into the bathroom to empty your stomach. Steve was right behind you, holding your hair and rubbing your back. After you had thrown up all you could, you turned your body and sat with your back on the cool surface of the tub. Steve sat down beside you, holding you gently and kissing your head. Tears were streaming down your face constantly now.

“Five years? I’ve been gone for five years? W-Was Jamie gone too?”

Steve shook his head no. Which caused you to feel both relief for him not having lost both of you but also the realization that you had lost five years with not just Steve but with your son as well.

“F-Five years? That would make him…”

Steve nodded his head yes. “He just turned ten last month. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m so so sorry.” Steve was now crying hard, holding me tight as we both mourned the loss of the time we should have had together. After a while, you both just sat silently together, having cried out all the tears you had.

“What’s he like?” You hesitantly asked.

Steve smiled softly while he thought. “He’s so smart. He got that from you. He loves to build Legos and he draws, actually pretty well for his age. Oh and god, he’s funny. He cracks me up all the time, even when he doesn’t try to. He just has this way about him that makes everyone laugh.” You listened quietly with a sad smile on your face. You knew the question you wanted to ask but were too afraid to ask it. Steve could tell what you were thinking though and he saved you the heartache of having to ask it.

“Yes, sweetheart. He remembers you. Even if he didn’t have the serum to help with his memory, we made sure to keep you alive at home. We told stories, and watched old videos, and had pictures of all of us up all over the house. You may not have physically been there for it all, but I promise, you were there.”

You nodded while tears once again fell down your face. A slight sense of relief that you hadn’t been erased completely. He stood up and reached his hand out to you, gently pulling you up off the floor.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you home. You’ve been gone for far too long.”

#steve rodgers x reader #whumptember

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miss-peanut-butter-cups · 3 months

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i also found you through catboybiologist :3

can you tell me about warhammer 40k lore please maam

So.

Warhammer 40k is a table top miniature game, set in a semi-satirical, grimdark sci-fi universe. For reasons lost to mankind, people decided to write 500+ books about it.

It takes place in the year 40,000-ish.

The Imperium of Man, encompasses a million worlds spread across the galaxy. United in worship of the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, who has ruled from the Golden Throne of Terra (Earth) for 10,000 years, humanity has claimed the stars as their own.

It is the cruelest and bloodiest regime imaginable.

It is a fascist, totalitarian empire, that worships a corpse, kept barely alive by the sacrifice of 1000 souls a day. It strives to kill every alien, mutant, or critic out there. It does not care for the individual, who toils their whole existence to feed the hungry beast that is the Imperium. After all, the cheapest and most abundant resource in the 41st millennium, is a human life.

Mighty battle fleets cross the stars, carrying the endless regiments of the Astra Militarum, the rank and file soldiers of humanity. The bioengineered super warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines lead every counter offensive and spearhead. Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanics uncover lost secrets from the dark age of technology, in reverant praise of the Machine God. Inquisitors carry the authority of the Emperor to root out heresies and conspiracies that threaten the Imperium in secret. Ultimately, everything is in service to war. Only war.

For all that, there is worse.

The Imperium is besieged on a thousand fronts every day. Orks coalesce in ravaging, warmongering hordes, intent on fighting purely for the enjoyment of it. The more they fight, the stronger, smarter, and more well equipped they get. Ancient Aeldari use their natural psychic might to cling to the last vestiges of their fallen empire. Their dark mirror, the Drukhari inflict unimaginable tortures on moral souls to sustain their own. Hive-minded Tyranids arrive in the galaxy in greater and greater numbers every year, each of their nightmarish bioforms fashioned by an immeasurably vast intelligence to strip the galaxy of all biomatter, and feed its hunger. The Necrons, the undisputed synthetic masters of science and technology, awaken for the first time since the War in Heaven (a 65-million year old conflict that shook reality to its firmament), intent on reclaiming their place as rightful rules of the galaxy. The T'au, a young upstart empire, seeks cooperation and unity among species. They're actually ok, but they're naive.

And then there's even worse.

Let's talk about FTL travel. Most ships in 40k achieve this by taking a shortcut through a dimension where time doesn't flow normally called The Warp. While the galaxy exists in a material universe, The Warp is an immaterial one. It's a realm of emotions, ontology, ideas, that sort of stuff, all of which are a reflection of the souls in the material universe. Enough people feel strongly enough about something? It might just exist in the Warp. Naturally this proves challenging for ships travelling through the Warp. Firstly, it will drive a mortal to insanity. Secondly, it's full of Daemons.

The Warp is Hell

Quite literally. Negative emotions tend to have a stronger presence in the Warp, and can form into living entities. These entities grow in strength as their feed off more emotions/souls, eventually being able to influence the Materium (the physical universe). This creates a feedback loop, where Warp entities (Daemons) corrupt people into doing more and more things that empower them. This is usually some form of murder/violence/betrayal/ritual. This malevolent Daemon-Warp synergy is called Chaos, and is often considered the arch-enemy of mankind.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there are gods in the Warp. Supremely powerful aspects of Chaos, they are in a state of near-perpetual conflict with each other. Most Daemons are also a part of one of the Chaos Gods. There are some minor gods, but I'm only gonna talk about the main 4. Briefly, Khorne is the god of blood and skulls. Nurgle is the god of disease and decay. Tzeentch is the god of change and fate. And Slaanesh is the god of excess and pleasure in all things.

As long as humanity will exist, the threat of Chaos will remain present. Chaos cults are extremely common across the Imperium, and it's not uncommon for entire planets and subsectors to fall to Chaos corruption and turn Traitor. The last and most persistent of all the Imperium's enemies.

How did things get this bad?

In the year 30,000-ish, the Emperor of Mankind wasn't dead yet. Humanity had crashed and burned into a 5,000 year long galaxy wide apocalypse called the Age of Strife, caused by the birth of the Chaos God Slaanesh. Having been around since the dawn of civilization, the Emperor decided to take the reigns of humanity and lead it Himself.

After unifying Terra, and reuniting with Mars, He launched the Great Crusade. A multi-century endeavour to reconquer the galaxy, reunite the scattered remnants of humanity, and kill all Aliens, Mutants, and people who politely declined.

To achieve this, the Emperor created 20 incredibly powerful sons (in a lab), called Primarchs. They each lead a legion of Space Marines, which were also invented at the time, to conquer the galaxy with. All was going well that The Emperor decided to put his favourite son, Horus, in charge of the entire crusade, while He went back to Terra to work on a secret project.

Unfortunately, the powers of Chaos corrupted Horus, inciting him to turn against The Emperor along with half of the other Primarchs and legions. This caused a 7 year civil war known as The Horus Heresy, and culminated in Horus dying in a duel with The Emperor. The duel practically killed the Emperor too, forcing him to be interred on The Golden Throne, an arcane mechanism capable of sustaining Him in a state between death and life. With the Emperor silent, the ideals of rationality and science he instilled in the early Imperium faded away, in favour of paranoia and theocratic rule that would define the Imperium for the next 10,000 years.

The Emperor's dream was dead, damning humanity to an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

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

And now you know about Warhammer! I feel like I've barely scratched the surface though. Each of the bold topics could easily have their own essay, but I am not well informed enough to write about all of them.

#warhammer #warhammer 40k #i can be normal about 40k i promise #196

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kamenstranger · 29 days

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Review: The Bullet Train (1975) AKA Shinkansen Daibakuha.

I went back and forth on if I wanted to do this as a bluesky post or a review. I tend to prefer only using tumblr for longer more detailed reviews like Ultra Seven, Black Sun, and Minus One.

But this ended up longer than 300 characters so… here we are.

The basic premise is a train gets wired with a bomb and if the train dips below 80kmph it'll go off. Guy makes demands, cops try to figure out who/how many are involved, things continue to unfold from there. Sound familiar?

Bullet Train is a curious watch in the modern era, mainly in how clichéd it comes off. I don't mean that as an insult, merely an observation. In much the same way Whale's Frankenstein popularized and even originated many tropes of the mad scientist archetype, Bullet Train will be familiar thanks to all the various parodies and homages over the years, even if through more indirect ones i.e. parodies of "Speed." The premise, various plot points and twists; they're all likely to be things you've seen referenced, if not done in other thrillers. That's not a deal breaker per se, but chances are you're going to know some if not most of the twists and contrivances sprung upon the audience due to that pop culture osmosis. You can read a synopsis and immediately have a surface level idea of the film. This leaves The Bullet Train with a bit of an uphill battle when there are so many others that have done similar things. But I think with the right mindset and framing, there's plenty of merits to the film today.

The most obvious of course is the astonishing effects. I was about 40ish minutes into the film wondering as what point they would make more prominent use of the miniatures. There were clearly some used for an explosion scene involving a steam engine, and I was aware there had been a massive 80 foot long model built. But I hadn't realized how much footage was the scale model, and only occasionally inter-cut with wide shots of a real train. Even today the scale stuff looks incredible. The composites and rear projection on the other hand… yeah, they're rough, but that's expected.

The special effects were handled by Shozo Konishi; former TsuPro and Ultraman/Seven designer, Toru Narita; and Gunji Seisakusho. Narita is of course the most well know of the group, but it was Konishi who I see credited for acquiring one of the most advanced pieces of equipment at the time, a snorkel camera, allowing for very up close shots of the models. Star Wars would more famously make use of this 2 years later.

The other big draw is that the film is directed by Junya Sato. He had been doing films at Toei since the early 60s, and in the 70s he started to get bigger pictures, notably 1973's Golgo 13. But it was here when Sato truly entered Block Buster territory and would open up opportunities like The Go Masters and Silk Road. Sato wrote the screenplay along with Ryūnosuke Ono, who you may know as one of the writers on the Crying Freeman OVA series. The result is something that even today feels a bit more unique than you might expect given all the other familiarizes.

One thing that might come as a surprise is that unlike many films following in the same wheelhouse, we don't actually spend all that much time on the train. It's hard to knock them for that given the locked in nature of a rail. Outside a sequence about needing to slow the train down and just missing another train during a rail switch, they kinda spend most of the train's dramatic bits in the first 45 minutes, at least until the last quarter. There are occasional cuts to passengers getting more restless, and the most un-pregnant woman I've ever seen going into labor. But there's little that threatens the speed of the train, which is the far more exciting element. In fact, they actually use one twice, that being the brakes engaging if an external door is opened. You're simply more limited than say a bus in terms of what can stop the movement, so the Train is used as more of a bookend set piece with sporadic check ins.

Instead, the film is primarily a procedural drama about the police solving the case and learning details about the antagonists. We also have a lot of conflict with The National Railway in how disastrous the Police operations are throughout, as well as internal conflict regarding the safety of the passengers vs. cutting their losses. Sophisticated might be too strong a word given the film is still an Action Thriller full of contrivances, but it's certainly less schlocky than other films within the same genre. Think of something more than Airport, but less than The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Bullet Train wants to have nuance and a tiny bit of social critiquing.

This is most true with our primary antagonist, Tetsuo Okita (Ken Takakura) who is by far the best part of the movie. It's never tiring seeing him plan, adapt, and escape multiple times throughout the film. The script treats the character incredibly sympathetically, to the point where you're kinda rooting for him. Part of that is how great Ken Takakura is in the role. Ironically outside Japan the film gets hailed as a Sonny Chiba movie, it even appeared in a compilation by BCI Eclipse. Chiba's great as always and he has a starring role, but make no mistake, Takakura is top billed for a reason. He brings a lot of complexity to Okita, his experience playing a wide range of Yakuza no doubt being a great boon to that end.

Aside from Takakura's performance, there are some elements delving into Japan's economic and environmental disasters of the 70s, the exploitation of rural areas, and allusions to the Zengakuren (which Okita is implied to have been affiliated.) Some of that is likely to missed given the lack of relevance nowadays, but for those aware of the movements and political turmoil of the mid 60s followed by the mid 70s burnout, I think you'll have a better appreciation for what the film is doing with Okita's character.

Conversely, where the film feels most antiquated in a detrimental sense is the heavy reliance on flashbacks and narration to fill in character details. The problem isn't even so much the flashbacks on a base level, but sometimes their placement and their execution feels disconnected from the rest of the film, if not dated even at the time. Rather than appreciating the nuance it's giving to our antagonists and their plight, I'm thinking about how weird the pacing is, how Okita reminiscing about his comrades often lacks the emotional impact it's looking for by just a tiny bit. It wasn't unusual in this era for films made in Japan to be finished just three-four days before release, so it wouldn't shock me if this was a compromise. That being said… I was more invested in these characters than the last movie I watched. Which is kinda depressing, but makes sense the more I think about it.

Something I'm more down on is the run time. The JPN cut of The Bullet Train is surprisingly long, really fucking long. Two and half hours. That's longer than The Shining. By the hour and fifty minute mark, I was starting to notice. If it was 2 hrs. even, maybe 2:15, I think it'd be easier to swallow. For what it's worth, it's hard to imagine the film without its many methodical shots of Okita running through his tasks… but they probably could've shaved a bit off. I've heard there was an even longer 2:40 cut just before release, and if that's true, it's impressive they were able to cut a good 10 minutes out.

All the same, the run time does make it slightly difficult to recommend to just anyone, even Toku fans. I mean this is barely under the umbrella of what I typically cover here. There's plenty of reasons to still watch it of course: The incredible cast, stunning special effects, and being a notable entry in a directors career-- run time be damned. If you're in the right mind set and have an interest in branching outside the typical Kaiju/Kyodai/Kaizo Ningen fare, then I highly suggest it. Maybe even look into the Sanrizuka Struggle to help contextualize the film. For everyone else, the film might come off as a victim of its own formula being so well known and done to death as to instill contempt, not helped by being a tad long in the tooth. But I'd still give it a fair shot if the opportunity arises.

A word of warning, the film is streaming on Tubi, but unfortunately they only have the dubbed version and it looks like garbage. It's not just a bad transfer, it's pixelated as shit. I'm not convinced they didn't badly rip a DVD or possibly a Youtube vid and just shove it on there, which they have done before. Although this one is really weird because it has a Shoreline Entertainment logo, and I can't find any info on them ever being a distributor for any release. All this skeeviness is actually why this is yet another review free of screen grabs, as I watched the very nice Bluray from Discotek and can't rip those.

Tubi also made a shitty Al poster, but I repeat myself. Check out the mysterious third rail, the dropping of "The" from the title, "Sony" Chiba, and the completely wrong train that isn't even a Shinkansen. How embarrassing. Why didn't they just use an official Poster? Unless of course they're not supposed to have it and think Toei might notice. That place is worse than Kissasian while pretending to be legit, I swear.

Speaking of posters, I want to point out the Bluray by Discotek, which brilliantly uses the second release poster "Super Express 109" as the slip cover, and the original "Shinkansen Big Explosion" poster for the case. Love when releases do that. Sadly, committing to a purchase is your best bet if you simply want to check out the film, at least until Mubi or some other niche service picks it up. You can't even rent it digitally. But it is a damn nice release with both versions of the film in gorgeous 2k, new subs, plus a 24 minute interview with Sato. For the UK, Eureka Entertainment did a release with the same transfer and a ton more special features including commentary and several more interviews. So get out there and check out some classic Japanese thriller.

Hopefully you enjoyed taking a look at something different as much as I did. Doing these smaller quicker reviews is nice, and I'm going to see if I can get more done while still doing the deep dives. I've got a few things still in the works, so we'll see what next time brings. Might even do another book review. As always, you can find me on BlueSky and my Ko-Fi here.

#tokusatsu #review #toei #Shinkansen #bullet train #sonny chiba #ken takakura #Ken Utsui #Junya Sato #Super Express #discotek media

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