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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 4 years

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Psycho Analysis: Jason Voorhees

(WARNING! He’s back! THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK!)

...ki ki, ki, ma ma ma...

The slasher subgenre of horror has plenty of villains, but the key to any great slasher movie (aside from quality kills) is having a memorable slasher who sticks in the mind of those who watch the film. You can’t just have some generic evil guy and expect the killer to be cool and memorable; you need to give them a fun gimmick. And in the scores of slashers who populated the 80s, there are few out there who are quite as legendary and iconic as Jason Voorhees. Jason is one of those few villains who, even if you’ve never seen a single one of his movies, you’d know on sight.

Even now, with him being absent from cinema for over a decade at the time of this writing due to legal disputes (though not from other mediums such as video games), Jason is still a household name, still remembered as one of the coolest, creepiest horror villains to come out of the 80s. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say Jason might be the greatest slasher villain of all time. So let’s take a look at the man behind the mask and see what we’ve got here.

Motivation/Goals: Jason as a villain is motivated by two main factors: a desire to make his mother proud, and a desire to get vengeance for how he was treated. The first few movies are all Jason taking out his anger over his mother’s death on anyone near Camp Crystal Lake. In earlier movies, he’d really only kill anyone who invaded his territory, but later sequels had him expand his killing range by going to Manhattan, Springwood, and even outer space. Basically, Jason is motivated by revenge against a world that persecuted him, and a desire to impress his mother. The simplicity of his motivations is actually a great strength, because it means there doesn’t need to be constant time in each new film adding on to Jason’s lore like they do with Freddy, Michael Meyers, and so on. Jason kills kids who have sex, that’s it. Simple, clean, effective, and a vehicle for cool kills.

Performance: There are a LOT of people who have put on the hockey mask throughout the franchise, but perhaps the most well-known name is Kane Hodder, the hulking actor who portrayed Jason in the seventh through the tenth films. He’s certainly the Jason that will spring to mind when thinking of Jasons, but he’s the obvious one. His actor in Freddy vs. Jason, Ken Kirzinger, was chosen because he had kind eyes and could tower over Freddy, and amusingly he actually appeared in Jason Takes Manhattan as a huge chef Jason tosses aside. Then of course we have Ari Lehman, the man who cameoed as Jason at the end of the first film in the Carrie-esque jump scare, most notable because he is so proud of his role that he named his punk rock/heavy metal band First Jason.

And these are just the few I wanted to highlight here; the original continuity is ten movies worth of actors playing Jason, and he even has multiple actors in some films.

Final Fate: It depends on the movie. His mortal life is ended by a young Tommy Jarvis in The Final Chapter, but then he comes back in Jason Lives as a zombie, a zombie who is only incapacitated until Jason Takes Manhattan where he is seemingly killed off for good by the nightly flooding of the Manhattan sewers with radioactive sludge (likely a safety measure against C.H.U.D.s). But then he comes back in Jason Goes to Hell where his original body ends up obliterated for most of the movie until the ending, but soon after he’s dragged right down to, you guessed it, Hell. But then comes Jason X, and he’s brought to space where he finally ends up obliterated for real by falling through the atmosphere of a planet and burning up. And this isn’t getting into the numerous deaths from games, comics, and so on; Jason is a man who is very hard to kill.

Best Scene: What does one pick for the best scene? His sleeping bag kill from VII? The liquid nitrogen kill from Jason X? The numerous amusing scenes he has when he actually reaches Manhattan in Jason Takes Manhattan? It’s a tough choice, but honestly. I might just have to go with his corn field rave massacre in Freddy vs. Jason. It’s just so damn cool.

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Final Thoughts & Score: Jason Voorhees is one of the great early slasher villains and, most impressively of all, he managed a remarkable level of consistency until the very end, at least compared to some of is peers. Compare to Michael Meyers, who had to constantly be rebooted because filmmakers kept trying to find ways to humanize and explan his motivations to the point that franchise has a fractured timeline to rival the Zelda series, or Freddy Krueger, who deteriorated from a terrifying psychopath who treated killing like a game to a non-stop quip machine that spent more time slinging one-liners than kills. Jason, while certainly going through some odd phases – recall the time he was a weird demon worm that could surf between bodies, or the time he went to space and became a cyborg – never really lost sight of the things that truly made him effective as a character.

Yes, Jason is a silent antagonist, but he says a lot with his deeds and actions. He’s a killing machine, but he certainly isn’t mindless, and he usually seems to have some sort of ethics that perhaps we don’t understand, but Jason certainly does. For instance, in later films Jason does not hurt animals, and once he’s a zombie he doesn’t kill children either. A lot of this likely stems from Jason essentially being a child in a deformed man’s body, and this goes a long to making him an interesting, tragic figure. Jason almost certainly doesn’t understand what he’s doing is wrong, and if he does, he’s almost certainly too blinded by rage to care, especially after becoming a zombie.

I think the underlying tragedy of Jason simply being a monster who only wanted to please his beloved mother and violently lashes out at those he sees, through his warped perspective, as the ones to blame makes him an interesting and complex character… and here’s the great thing! Unlike other slasher villains, this is all established very early on, and rather than continue piling on more and more backstory, the series decides to throw Jason into interesting situations. This is a problem that befell his slasher sibling Freddy; as cool as Freddy managed to be, every new film added more and more convoluted backstory rather than trying to put Freddy into an interesting scenario he could have interesting kills in. And the less said about Michael Meyers, the better. But Jason? They gave him all he needed in the first two movies, made him a zombie in the sixth, and then spent the rest of the series getting weird and creative. Jason is a villain effective because his simple characterization and motivation means he can slip into any sort of situation, be it fighting a telekinetic girl, going to Manhattan, fighting Freddy Krueger, fighting Ash Williams, slaughtering camp counselors en masse, or going to space.

It should be incredibly obvious Jason is an 11/10. He’s a testament to what makes a slasher villain great and memorable: he has a simple yet flexible mindset that allows him to be thrust into a variety of situations, he has an iconic outfit, he has an awesome weapon of choice, and he is parodied, referenced, and known throughout the world to this day. He has killer video game appearances in the likes of Mortal Kombat X and his own Friday the 13th game, he has tons of comics including ones where he takes on Freddy, Ash Williams, Leatherface, and even Uber Jason, and despite the obnoxious legal battles currently keeping him from appearing in any media to any great extent, you’d be hard pressed to find a person without even passing knowledge of Jason.

Here’s a few interesting notes, though – a lot of shout outs to Jason have characters using a chainsaw, which as we all know is the tool of Leatherface. Jason uses a machete for the most part but is very versatile, but even so the closest he ever came to using anything remotely like a chainsaw was in VII, where he used a weed whacker. Jason also didn’t gain his iconic look until the third film; in the second movie, Jason wore a burlap sack over his head. And finally, there’s a bit of trivia I’m sure most are aware of by now: Jason was not the killer in the first or fifth films. In the first film, the killer was actually Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees, and the fifth film Jason was still kind of dead so a copycat killer named Roy Burns took his place. So hey, while we’re here, let’s talk about these Jason adjacent killers:

Pamela Voorhees is one of those rare female slasher villains, and the fact she is so absolutely amazing makes you wonder why there aren’t more. She’s basically to Friday the 13th what The Boss is to the Metal Gear Franchise – an all-important female figure whose actions completely and totally changed the course of history. Her quest to avenge her son’s death led to her slaughtering people at Camp Crystal Lake, which led to her death… but then it turns out her son had lived all along, and her death served only to make him into a violent, vengeful monster. Add on the fact that Pamela was using the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis on her son to empower him (supported by Jason Goes to Hell and Freddy vs, Jason vs. Ash), and Pamela is indirectly responsible for every murder in the series. Or perhaps even directly, if it really is her voice Jason hears in some of the movies and the Friday the 13th game. Betsy Palmer absolutely kills it in the role (pun intended), and it’s a shame she was annoyed by the role for years, though she apparently did eventually come around and embrace it. As one of the great ladies of horror, Pamela definitely earns a 10/10.

But now let’s take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum with Roy Burns. The idea of a Jason copycat killer is not entirely without merit, and for the most part, the movie is incredibly solid, with good kills on Roy’s part. The issue comes with the ultimate reveal of his identity, which turns the entire movie into an utterly convoluted mess that makes absolutely no sense. The lack of buildup of any kind, save for two brief scenes prior to his unmasking, makes the twist lack any sort of punch, and his reasoning for killing people is just absurd. Hell, he isn’t even targeting the one person responsible – that guy gets away with a jail sentence while Roy butchers innocent people!

Basically, Roy fails at being an engaging replacement for Jason due to the film’s finale, which goes out of its way to undermine him and everything you just watched. It should come as no shock that he’s a 1/10. Still, unlike most villains with this rating, he does have a little bit of redemption due to being playable in the Friday the 13th game. You’re just controlling him as he kills without any worry about stupid backstory, so hey, I’ll give Roy that at least, and I can’t deny his mask is pretty sick.

UPDATE: Ok, I was way too hard n Roy. Yes, his motivation is stupid and poorly explained, his killings are absolutely ridiculous and make no sense with his motivation, I still stand by all that... and yet, I’m watching this movie for creative kills, right? And boy does our boy Roy provide. He slaughters his way through these oneshot characters with gusto! I think I’m just still bitter he’s not Jason, but I like Season of the Witch even if Michael Meyers isn’t there, so maybe I’m just too harsh on Roy and his movie in general. I think his dumbass motivations hold him back, but I think the correct score for him is a 6/10. He is most certainly not abysmal enough for a one and I was really foolish to issue a score like that. Sometimes even I have trouble overcoming my biases.

It’s interesting, though, that both of these characters tend to be forgotten, overshadowed by Jason. In the intro of Scream, Drew Barrymore’s doomed character accidentally says Jason is the killer of the first film, rather than Pamela. And I think that while that is likely a common misconception, it’s less because Pamela is forgettable but more that Jason is so overwhelmingly cool that he overshadows anyone else in these films with few exceptions. Jason may very well be the greatest slasher villain of all time, and if you disagree, well, who won in Freddy Vs. Jason again, hmmm?

And more importantly, what slasher villain has an Alice Cooper song dedicated to him?

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I rest my case.

#Psycho Analysis #Jason Voorhees #Kane Hodder #Friday the 13th

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nejiiree · 6 years

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Uraraka is the Traitor Part 2

Back with Part 2! Which- sorry to say- is probably going to be even longer than part 1 but it can’t be helped. So in this we’re gonna look more into Uraraka’s name, her place in the story of My Hero, and her parallel with Toga. So let’s dive in!

Uraraka’s Name

If you’re a fan of the manga, you’ve probably noticed Horikoshi has a really cool naming system for each of the character’s through their kanji symbols. For example, Izuku Midoriya’s (緑谷出久) name is a reference to him being the 9th OFA holder and his signature green locks & Bakugou’s name (爆豪勝己) can mean something along the lines of “explosion victory” which I don’t even think I need to explain how that relates to his character.

Uraraka’s name in Kanji is 麗日お茶子 which can mean “pretty day”, which suits her bubbly, cute personality, right?

Well... not exactly.

You’ll also recall that Horikoshi deliberately writes character’s names a certain way sometimes so as to not spoil something about them. Take, for example, Himiko Toga whose name was written in katakana instead of kanji (because in kanji her name literally means “to put on someone else”) to hide her quirk until the big reveal during the hero license exam.

An interesting thing about Uraraka’s name is that she only uses the “Ura” part for her hero name “Uravity”. Another interesting thing is what the name “Ura” can be turned into when written differently in Kanji.

Take a look at this:

It would make sense for Horikoshi to use this genius play on words. While we think he’s calling Uraraka a “beautiful day”, he might actually have been hinting at her treason from the beginning, right in front of our faces.

Here’s the official Viz translation of Uraraka’s character page:

Why would Horikoshi feel like a “true genius” coming up with Uraraka’s name if it truly means what it appears on the surface as opposed to Bakugou or Deku’s (whose, honestly, fit their character more) unless there’s more to it.

Toga & Uraraka

I find the dynamic between these two to be really interesting for some reason. Probably because they seem like such opposites but actually have a lot in common, like their shared crush- *cough* obsession *cough*- on Midoriya.

It all started during their fight during the Training Camp Arc. Tsuyu’s pinned to the tree and Uraraka has Toga down thanks to her training with Gunhead (as opposed to, I don’t know, floating her up into a tree so she couldn’t escape or knocking her out or something other than just sitting on her, c’mon girl) when Toga starts to mess with Ochako a bit.

She’s obviously comparing them highkey, and Uraraka doesn’t even seem offended by it or like “this bitch is nuts.” Instead, she thinks back to when she wanted to win just like Deku at the sports festival, while making a face that says, “she’s got me figured out,” y’know? It’s almost like what Toga is saying makes Uraraka come to a realization about herself.

And then the two are pitted against each other again in the Hero License Exam, when Toga literally becomes Uraraka in order to trick Deku, who figures it out after she doesn’t float when knocked off a high rock ledge. It wouldn’t be anything noteworthy (I mean, Uraraka’s is the only blood Toga was able to snag, of course she’d be the one she’d imitate) except for the parting words Toga- masquerading as Camie- gives to Uraraka:

It’s almost like she’s saying it ironically. “Ha, it’s really funny that he trusts you so much.” I think Toga knows more about Uraraka than she’s letting on.

Do I think the villains know her on a personal level? No. She probably communicates with them exclusively through her phone or something. But Toga’s mocking makes it pretty obvious she’s on to her about something.

Aoyama

Our encounters with Aoyama in the story so far have been... interesting (?) to say the least. He’s kinda a mysterious guy that we don’t know much about.

But a particular scene with Uraraka makes it apparent he’s also very observant.

Like seriously how did he figure it out and not, I don’t know, one of the girls (who btw still don’t know. They just suspect it’s either Iida or Deku because those are the two she hangs with the most). He’s not really around Midoriya or Uraraka enough to know this unless he’s been watching one or both of them closely.

But why?

And then we have ch 167 & 168. Random chapters that seemingly came out of nowhere that gave us some really strange encounters between Aoyama and Deku.

For example:

He’s clearly trying to open Deku’s door at 1 am. Like what the actual fuck??? And the explaination we get for this is subpar at best. “He was trying to tell Deku that he knew how he felt having a quirk that hurt his body.” Like what??? That literally does not explain why he’s trying to slide open his bedroom door in the middle of the night. And the message he leaves him is weird af too.

I don’t buy Aoyama’s pitiful explaination for this. I don’t think “I Know” means what he says it does. I think he’s trying to warn Midoriya, in his own way. “I know who the traitor is.”

My theory is even further backed up later in the chapter when Aoyama carves this for Midoriya into a rock:

The writing is a French phrase which roughly means, “Don’t trust even the calmest of waters” or- according to the unofficial translation- “still waters run deep”.

We get absolutely no explaination for why Aoyama does this, but I have my own thoughts about it.

This was another warning.

“Don’t trust someone who appears the nicest, the friendliest. Their intentions aren’t what you think. It’s deeper than you think.” Because what’s a risk you take getting into water that appears calm? You could be swept under.

The only person that this warning could even remotely apply to is Uraraka, as she’s one of the only people to show Midoriya continuous kindness and calmness. I think Aoyama is watching Uraraka closely. He probably already suspects her, but needs some sort of definitive proof. And that’s where our favorite Lord Explosion Murder comes in.

Bakugou

Idk why, maybe it’s the inner writer in me, but I think the foil between Bakugou and Uraraka is too good not to exploit.

Like I mentioned, Aoyama is probably looking for some kind of definitive proof to the traitor’s identity, whether he be working with school to figure out the traitor’s identity or just working on his own. And who do we know who seems to be able to figure out complex situations better than anyone?

Katsuki Bakugou.

He figured out the complex truth of Deku’s power all on his own, he was able to read Yo Shindou’s eyes to determine he wasn’t as nice as he was pretending to be (“your words don’t match your eyes.”) Bakugou is smart.

How would he find out? Not really sure, but I do think it’s interesting that they’re on the same dorm floor.

And if she was the traitor, then she was probably responsible for telling the villains the training camp location, thus resulting in Bakugou’s kidnapping, which then resulted in All Might’s fight with AFO.

If Bakugou figures out who’s responsible for that... I don’t think it’ll be very pretty, especially if she tries to give him some bs excuse. Unlike most of the boys, Bakugou’s quite aware that Uraraka is capable and strong. He wouldn’t buy that she was manipulated into this or a weak girl was taken advantage of. Hell, he’s said as much himself:

Just saying, Horikoshi pits the two of them against each other a lot in his sketches as well. They rarely interact in the manga anymore, separated in almost every arc.

In conclusion, I refuse to believe that Uraraka will remain a one-dimensional character whose only major plot line is a crush on a boy she’s known for a few months. (Once again, I am not hating on her character. Quite the opposite. I think she has so much potential that it would be a shame to waste it.) Thanks for reading this trainwreck! I’d love to hear your thoughts as well! I’m gonna be doing some more theories soon (not traitor-related) :)))

#bnha traitor theory #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #all might #midoriya izuku #deku midoriya #mha #ochaco #uraraka ochako #tsuyu asai #toga himiko #shoto todoroki #tenya lida #manga #anime #bnha spoilers

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kayoiwritingarchivies · 6 years

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TITLE: Slipstream

WARNINGS AND RATINGS: Rated T for swearing, Major Character Death

FANDOMS: Overwatch, My Hero Academia

SUMMARY: “Can I become a hero, even if I’m like this?” Izuku asks the woman with orange leggings, a glowing blue chest and spiky hair. Lena smiles, and places a hand on the green haired boy’s shoulder and says, “You know, the world could always use more heroes.”

Izuku has Chronal Dissociation. So did Lena Oxton. Somethings change. But most things remain the same.

It starts in summer. On a training camp, to be exact.

Izuku understands what it’s for. To train their quirks, because the world has gotten so much bigger, and they are just ants compared to the big world that hold things that are unfair.

(Lena Oxton watches the timeline move forward, and she waits, and she listens.)

So, they go to a training camp, 2 years early.

(This reminds Lena too much of the Omnic Crisis. Kids being forced to survive…it’s just not right)

-LINE BREAK-

They are thrown off a cliff. Izuku considers recalling back to the top, but decides against it, blinking safely to the bottom.

(It’s thanks to Lena that he reacts so calmly to this. After all, it’s not the first time any of their incarnations have been thrown off a high ledge)

Then the ground shakes, the earth rises, and Izuku wishes he had his pistols, but he has to instead settle for the pulse bomb settling at the small of his back.

(Lena places a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and says “Go.”)

-LINE BREAK-

They make it out of the forest alive.

Izuku sinks to the ground, dragging Katsuki with him, muttering “I’m tired…”

Katsuki doesn’t even bother with a response, and instead leans against Izuku with a non-committal grunt.

The others are in similar states, tired and dirty as the two of the four members of the Wild Wild Pussycats Mandalay and Pixie Bob praise them, and Izuku spots a small boy standing off to the side.

“Um…I don’t mean to be rude, but whose kid is that?” Izuku asks, pointing at the boy.

“Oh, this is Kota. He’s my nephew and I’m taking care of him for the time being…” Mandalay says, gesturing to him. “Why don’t you say hi Kota?”

Kota looks away. So Izuku gets up, ignoring the twinges of pain coming from his legs after hours of fast sprinting and hard landings and walks up to Kota, squatting down so that he’s level with Kota’s line of sight and says “Hi. My name is Izuku Midoriya, it’s nice to meet you.”

(Lena Oxton has always been good with kids, even if she didn’t have one. She wonder’s how Emily is doing.)

Kota glares at him, before taking the offered hand and shaking it slightly. “I’m Kota Izumi.”

-LINE BREAK-

After an incident in the baths, Izuku learns about the death of Kota’s parents, the Water Horses, and how that had changed Kota into a boy who hated heroes.

(And maybe…Lena thinks, thinking back to the final days of Overwatch before the Recall, he not entirely wrong. There’s an old memory of when Pharah learned of her mother’s death, and was angry for months).

Izuku looks at the unconscious Kota on the couch, and can’t help but see a bit of “I want to save the world.” In him.

-LINE BREAK-

Izuku stands in front of the pro heroes, who are looking at him and back at the paper.

Izuku can’t really blame them. How do you train a quirk like Chronal Dissociation? A quirk that ends up being more like a medical disease?

Izuku ends up shooting moving targets down made by Pixie Bob, while the teachers brainstorm on what to do.

-LINE BREAK-

Izuku goes off to find Kota, holding a plate of poorly made curry in his hands as a peace offering.

Kota doesn’t want the curry, and yells at Izuku, and tells him why he hates heroes so much, and why he hates anything to do with heroes.

Izuku frowns, sets the curry on the floor, and walks away slowly, head turned ever so slightly to keep Kota in his lines of vision.

-LINE BREAK-

They hold a test of courage for those who passed the exam.

Izuku has his pistols strapped to his arms, bouncing up and down as people draw to select their partners. He doesn’t have a partner.

(For Lena, this is not the first time she’s been without a partner, but she does thinks it’s a bit unlucky to draw such a short end of the stick.)

Izuku sighs, and waits for his turn, when all the sudden, the forest catches alight and villains come out of the shadows of the trees.

-LINE BREAK-

Izuku blinks into the forest, skidding on the dirt to see Kota being cornered by the villain Muscular, the same villain’s that took away Kota’s parents and left him all alone.

Izuku charges, grabs Kota, and sprints away, ducking under arms and punches, with Kota sending a splash of water from his hands in panic at the villain.

(Lena has never figured out how to blink with another person. Izuku’s the same.)

Izuku deposits Kota behind a rock, blinking away at the right time to avoid another punch from muscular, drawing the villain closer and closer to the edge of the cliff.

Right when Muscular is on the very edge, Izuku flips over him, sticks a pulse bomb between his feet and dodges away, the explosive sending Muscular careening off the cliff, and Izuku goes back and scoops up Kota, and sprints into the forest, hoping that Muscular is unable to recover from the fall.

(They sprint, because people bigger than them have ripped them from the flow of time, not matter their intentions)

-LINE BREAK-

Izuku leaves Kota with Aizawa, shoots spinner’s sword and delivers a message, and blinks into the undergrowth to find Katsuki.

(He’s the league’s goal, which seems to be a constant in every timeline.)

Until a shadow reaches out to Izuku, before stopping at the very edge of the ring of light around Izuku that’s caused by his chronal accelerator, and recoils.

He’s immediately pulled aside by Shoji, and he explains what’s happened, including the fate of Tokoyami.

Izuku bites his cheek, and says “I have an idea…”

-LINE BREAK-

Shoji sprints out of the undergrowth, Izuku hanging onto his shoulders and Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow following behind.

They run into Katsuki and Shoto, who watch as Dark Shadow disposes of Moonfish and then use their quirks to incapacitate him, returning control back to Tokoyami, who gets his breathing under control.

They breathe, begin their escort of Katsuki out of the forest.

(Escort Missions, Lena thinks, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly, are the hardest missions to do. There are too many ways things can go wrong.)

-LINE BREAK-

It goes wrong.

They are ambushed, and Tokoyami and Katsuki are taken as a result.

Shoto sends a wave of ice at the villain, Mr Compress, and he laughs, saying something among the lines of “You missed!”

“I didn’t” Shoto says, and Izuku blinks up the ice, appearing right behind Mr Compress and landing hard onto his back.

“Right on target!” Izuku says with a grin, and Compress is sent crashing to the ground.

But not before Izuku is forced to dodge, when a ball of blue flame comes crashing into the space where he just stood.

More villains emerge from the shadows, and Izuku clenches his jaw in determination.

-LINE BREAK-

Katsuki gets taken.

(Another un-avoidable event of the timeline, even if Izuku managed to hinder Compress’s escape.)

Izuku wishes he could have tried to save him, he was fast enough, but he just…couldn’t move, no matter how hard he tried.

(Lena Oxton knows this feeling far too well.)

-LINE BREAK-

Izuku comes and helps rescue Katsuki with Kirishima, Shoto, Iida, and Yaoyozoru.

(Lena’s reminded of the Recalled Overwatch. A ragtag group of heroes that are going to save someone, no matter the law.)

-LINE BREAK-

They rescue Katsuki, whisking him away from the danger.

Now, all they can do is watch as All Might defeats All for One, the last dregs of his power fading away as All for One falls to the ground, defeated.

-LINE BREAK-

They are moved into dorms. They hold a contest.

Izuku’s room has All Might merchandise scattered across the room, but also a charging station for his Chronal Harness in the corner.

He doesn’t win, but he really doesn’t care. He’s having fun with his friends, and that’s all that matters to him.

-LINE BREAK-

When they take the first half of the provisional license exam, Izuku keeps the group together, until Shoto goes off on his own, and Katsuki, Kirishima and Kaminari disappear as well.

Then the ground rumbles, the ground shakes, and the Earth splits as they all are forcibly split up.

(There is a girl impersonating people, and Lena recognises her and Izuku does too, and they blink away before she can do any lasting damage.)

Izuku manages to reunite with Uraraka and Sero, and together, they pass the first half of exam. The rest of Class 1-A does as well.

-LINE BREAK-

The second half is a rescue mission. Izuku has been given the job of scouting and searching, blinking across the map to find the people trapped beneath rubble, with injuries. He picks them up, and carries them to the relief area, and helps defend the place too.

When Gang Orca and his men attack, he teams up with Yo Shindo to defend, while Shoto and a boy from Shiketsu High School argue and are paralysed, before they work together to trap Gang Orca, giving Izuku enough time to plant a Pulse Bomb onto Gang Orca’s back and recalling back to Shindo.

The Shoto and the boy from Shiketsu High School don’t pass. Neither does Katsuki.

-LINE BREAK-

They go back to UA after that, tired and drained.

(Katsuki does not resent Izuku in this timeline. Izuku does not have a power passed from generation to generation in this timeline. Katsuki never asks Izuku to talk with him. They never fight each other. The two just sleep the night off, thoughts and doubts clouding their minds.)

-LINE BREAK-

They meet the top three students of U.A.

Mirio Togata, Nejire Hado, Tamaki Amajiki, U. A’s “Big Three”

(Lena looks at them and sees Overwatch’s top agents.)

They introduce themselves, and they discuss Work Studies, and Miro challenges them to a fight.

-LINE BREAK-

It’s less of a fight and more a massacre.

Miro is fast, and his quirk is unknown, and he takes down the long-range fighters first before going towards the close combatants.

(Lena looks at his fight style, and it’s like a mix of Reaper and Genji. Disappearing, quick strikes, it all very familiar.)

(Izuku makes the same connection and a plan begins to build in his head.)

Miro is fast, but Izuku is faster.

Miro appears at the back at the group, and is ready to take Izuku out when Izuku disappears. Miro looks around, and then feels a weight slam into his back as Miro is forced to the ground, and Izuku blinks back, wishing he had his pistols, and instead clenches his fists.

They still lose anyway, but that was expected, in the very least.

-LINE BREAK-

They talk about the Work Studies, and how villains are becoming more numerous, and Izuku can’t help but frown.

(Lena frowns too, because it’s far to early to be making kids into fighters, and yet, the world keeps on turning, and there’s nothing she can do to stop it.)

#fanfiction #fanfic #bnha #my hero academia #tracer #midoriya izuku #slipstream #slipstream AU #Overwatch #chapter 3

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fucking-zawa-sensei · 7 years

Text

After Effects - erasermic

Title: After Effects

Pairing: Erasermic – Shouta Aizawa|Eraserhead/Hizashi Yamada|Present Mic

Categories: hurt/comfort, light angst, M/M

Description: POST CHAPTER 159 - Aizawa gets his shoulder bandaged up and reflects on the events that transpired with the eight precepts mission. He tries to deal with all the guilt that’s piling up. Hizashi pays him a visit, vents some frustrations, and things get fluffy.

OR: Aizawa is tired and needs a break and that’s perfectly clear, but sometimes everyone forgets about how emotionally draining it is to see people you love get hurt.

Warning: Spoilers up to manga chapter 159

Notes: I’ll put this on AO3 once I get my account up and running. Also, I use Aizawa and Yamada for actions and Shouta and Hizashi for when they’re talking to each other. I hope this isn’t too confusing.

Read it on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12885594

AFTER EFFECTS

The effects of Kurono’s quirk finally worn off, Aizawa feels very much like he doesn’t want to move now that he has the capability to. He sinks down into the pillows he knows he’ll have to vacate soon. The nurse is nearly done tying up the bandages around his shoulder. He looks out the window, tries to imagine all the other students safe in their dorms, completely unaware of what’s just transpired. He slides further down again, leaning his head back.

“You have a bed at home, you know,” the nurse chides. It reminds him of Recovery Girl, but not quite as forceful or laced with the touch of warmth he’s used to from her. The nurse finishes taping off the bandages and gives her handiwork a light tap; her fingers linger there for a moment.

Aizawa recalls the last time he was at Shuzenji’s office and she gave a similar light smack to his shoulder after she’d finished healing some light bruising he’d incurred from the camp attack.

“This has to stop,” she’d said. Aizawa wasn’t quite sure what she was referring to, getting the kids senselessly involved with dangerous villains, Midoriya’s continued lack of self preservation skills, his own self sacrificing tendencies, or maybe his inability to punish these kids properly for all their stupid rash decisions under the flimsy pretense that they’re learning something about perseverance and courage. Maybe she was referring to all of them, he figured. No, she was probably referring to all of them and more, if he’s being honest.

“I know,” he’d whispered, at the time, but back in the present he’s feeling an awful lot like he should have meant it more.

The nurse starts cleaning up her instruments. Little metal clangs ring throughout the room as she places her materials back onto the tray she’d used to carry them over.

With each sound another horrid image comes creeping to the forefront of Aizawa’s brain.

He thinks about the way Midoriya was screaming in pain as his body was tearing apart, the way Uraraka tried to calmly report the situation, but it all came pouring out in a panicked voice, the way Asui’s hands trembled where they held his face up so he could stare at Midoriya and stop the madness.

Stop the madness.

He grips the sheets next to his leg, scrunches his eyes shut. Images quickly flash in this mind: Kirishima’s bandaged body lying on a stretcher, Nighteye impaled, barely holding on, and Fatgum exhausted, deflated, nothing left to spare.

They’re just kids. This is too much. He should have turned back. They all should have turned back. He should have stopped it the second the villain alliance was involved, he knew it, he knew it, he knew-

The door slides open.

Aizawa opens his eyes, sees the nurse is at the sink, neatly putting away her supplies in the cabinets with a frown on her face. She pauses and turns toward the door. Aizawa follows her glance, sees his husband’s head poke through the gap, scanning the room before his eyes land on Aizawa. Yamada’s bun is looking messier than usual, pieces falling out around his face and down his back. He’s got his plain glasses on, some baggy black sweatpants, and a red and grey raglan t-shirt that says NOISE in a distressed black font. Aizawa recognizes it distinctly as one of his many go-to lounging outfits. Yamada’s eyebrows are pulled together and he’s biting his lower lip, hand gripping the door frame.

“Hizashi,” Aizawa whispers. That’s all it takes. Yamada practically runs over to him, throws his arms out, drops onto the bed, and pulls Aizawa into his chest, making sure to avoid the bandages on his left shoulder. The nurse’s mouth is still open and her hand outstretched as if she’s prepping to throw Yamada out, but she lets it drop and shakes her head instead.

“Hey,” she says with a weak sternness in her voice.

Aizawa breathes into Yamada’s shirt as Yamada’s hands rubbing up and down his back. Aizawa can smell their lavender scented laundry detergent and Yamada’s tea tree shampoo. He’s also pretty sure a piece of cat hair just went up his nose, but whatever, it’s not like that hasn’t happened before.

Yamada’s shaking a bit, his breathing unsteady.

“Hey,” the nurse repeats.

Aizawa looks up, but Yamada keeps his face buried in his good shoulder.

“Look, I’m not going to kick him out, but I have to go see about the other people who were brought in with you. Make this easy on both of us and don’t go wandering off, okay?”

Aizawa nods, watches her collect some papers and head for the door, pausing at the last second.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes with some discharge papers. Do not leave,” she says again, eyes narrowing. “I or someone else will give you updates on the others’ conditions as information becomes available. Stay put.”

On that note, she walks out and slides the door shut, apparently very familiar with the concerned, meddling hero types.

Yamada nestles into Aizawa’s shoulder further, sniffs a bit.

“It’s just my shoulder,” Aizawa reassures him, “I’m fine. It’s not even that deep of a cut, just a few stitches. Recovery Girl can heal it when I get back to U.A.” Yamada loosens his grip, pulling far enough away that they’re still touching but he can look into Aizawa’s eyes. Aizawa knows the bags under his bottom lids have probably tripled in size.

“Shouta…”

“It’s just been-“

“A long day,” Yamada says, finishing Aizawa’s sentence, dropping his chin softly atop Aizawa’s head, and pulling him into his chest again. Aizawa sighs, nodding.

“I’m so tired, Shouta,” Yamada whispers. Aizawa feels his chest tighten, remembers, for not the first time, that there are so many other people hurt by all of this besides just the police, couple of kids, and pros who were there.

His grip tightens on Yamada’s shirt. He wonders about the kids again. He knows Kirishima and Midoriya and Eri are all at the hospital, but what about Uraraka and Asui? Are they still with their pro hero, reporting to the police? Are they sat in a hospital waiting room chair? Did someone drive them back to U.A.? Are they locked inside their dorm rooms, holding this all in, or frantically spilling to all their classmates? If he can barely process what’s just happened, how can they?

He pulls out of Yamada’s grip.

“I need to go to the dorms,” Aizawa says.

“No.”

“Hizashi,” he starts.

“No!” Yamada’s voice is a little too loud and he instantly shoots an apologetic look towards the door and, presumably, the general population of the hospital at large. Aizawa pulls back a bit at the noise.

“The nurse said to stay here,” Yamada says, his voice now corrected to a normal volume.

“I meant later, after everything is settled here.”

“I want to go home later,” Yamada says, quietly. He pulls Aizawa’s hands into his. “Please.”

“I need to check on Uraraka and Asui, at least.”

“They’ll be fine. They’ll probably just go to sleep. I’ll ask whoever is on duty to check, okay?” Yamada gives him a small, gentle smile, but Aizawa thinks his eyes still look worried, maybe even a little shinier than usual. He looks like he might cry. His smile is unsettling, almost creepy with how it’s too big and quivering around the edges.

“Fine, we’ll go home,” Aizawa relents. He pushes up off the mattress, but Yamada’s hand clamps down on it.

Aizawa sighs, “I didn’t mean now. Jeez, Hizashi, I’m just readjusting.”

Yamada’s tense. His smile is still too big, his eyebrows too high, his grip too tight, and his back too straight.

“Promise,” Yamada starts. “Promise not to wind up back here for at least a week.”

Aizawa feels Yamada’s arm quivering a bit from where his hand is holding his shoulder still. Aizawa shrinks away from the grip.

“I can’t do that,” Aizawa says, staring into Yamada’s eyes. Yamada closes them, nods a bit, and lets his hand drop from Aizawa’s shoulder.

Yamada reaches out to grasp Aizawa’s hand instead, pulling it between both of this, running his thumb over the back of Aizawa’s hands. Aizawa feels how gently Yamda’s thumb rubs across each of his knuckles and feels a small mountain of rocks start building in his stomach.

It had indeed been a long day and it’s still morning. He squeezes Yamada’s hand a bit.

Aizawa feels like he should apologize, but he’s not sure what for. He did his job. He was, mostly, perfectly fine. While things had gone less than ideal, they had accomplished their objective.

Mirio flashes into his head, passed out, costume tattered, newly quirkless.

His grip tightens again around Yamada’s hand. Yamada pauses briefly in his hand massage before resuming, parting Aizawa’s fingers to rub at the skin between each.

Aizawa thinks about teaching class tomorrow. How many of the intern students will actually be there? Surely Uraraka and Asui would be there, probably even Midoriya since he hadn’t actually taken much damage with Eri’s quirk working overtime. What will they say when their classmates start questioning them on what he can only assume will be an obvious emotional nosedive?

Maybe internships weren’t such a good idea after all.

Maybe he should pull them all out.

Did Midoriya even have an internship left to go back to?

Nighteye’s arm, severed.

Nighteye’s stomach, impaled.

Aizawa jams his eyes shut. He knows Yamada heard the sharp intake of breath he just took, but Yamada doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he keeps rubbing circles into Aizawa’s hand. That is, until said hand curls into a fist.

“Stop thinking so much,” Yamada says.

“Right, sure, that’s easy. If only I’d thought of that.”

“Har-har.”

Aizawa opens his eyes, looks up to Yamada.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. Yamada’s hand pauses and he bites his bottom lip.

“For what?” he asks.

“For…”

Yamada looks at him, eyes still sad but gentle, like he’s talking to a child.

“For…” Aizawa tries again. Yamada shakes his head, dissapointed. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t apologize if you don’t even know what you’re saying sorry for.”

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Yamada looks away, starts bouncing his leg. It shakes the whole bed. Yamada drops Aizawa’s hand, pulling both of this into his lap, folded together like he’s at some kind of meeting.

“That’s a bullshit thing to apologize for,” Yamada says quietly. “I’ll never stop worrying. You could be a gardener and I’d worry about you cutting your fingers on weeding scissors or something.”

“That’s dumb. I’m not a gardener.”

“Yeah, I know. Neither am I. We’re heroes and we get hurt and that’s fine, Shouta, I’m not upset because you’re hurt. I mean, well, I am, but…I mean, I worry, I just…” Yamada rambles.

“I can’t do this right now,” Aizawa says, pulling his arms defensively around himself. He’s tired. God he’s so fucking tired. Aizawa thinks about covering his ears, not to be rude, which is how he knows Yamada will take it, but because suddenly his head is killing him and his body is killing him and his stomach is killing him and if they keep talking he’s sure he’s going to throw up or pass out or both.

“We need to do it!”

“Do what?!” Aizawa’s voice rises to match Yamada’s. “What are we doing!?”

“Talking!” Yamada’s on the brink of crossing over from normal yelling volumes to Present Mic yelling volumes.

“I’M talking, YOU’RE yelling!” Aizawa accuses, except he knows full well he’s also raised his voice in response to Yamada.

“YOU’RE YELLING!”

“You’re SCREAMING!”

“NO, I-” Yamada breaks off mid shout when he realizes the drawers in the counter by sink are all shaking.

Yamada’s face cracks, he laughs a bit, then snorts and laughs for real. Aizawa smiles, runs a hand through his knotted hair beside him.

Now Yamada’s shaking his head, sighing. He rubs at his face, lifting his glasses up.

“Shouta, I’m sorry. I just…I’m worried about the students too. I’m worried about the villains. I’m worried about how your class is constantly caught up in all of this. I’m worried about how you’re always caught up in this. I’m worried about the traitor. I’m worried about…fuck…I’m worried about everything.”

Yamada takes in a deep breath. He stares at his lap for a long time.

“I’m mad,” Yamada continues. “Not at you, really, but at everything. I’m just mad. I’m scared and worried and angry and…pissed. Shouta, I am pissed. I am pissed at everything.”

Aizawa nods, though he knows Yamada isn’t looking at him.

“Same.”

Aizawa reaches over and taps Yamada’s hand. “Do...”

Yamada looks up at him.

“Do you…want to…I don’t know, lie down? Nap?” Aizawa proposes. Yamada laughs a bit.

“Didn’t the nurse say she was coming back to discharge you?”

Aizawa shrugs, wincing a bit as his fresh stitches pull with the motion.

“She also said not to leave.”

“Okay, fine,” Yamada says.

Aizawa scoots over, making room for Yamada as he crawls atop the bed. Yamada lies down, pulling Aizawa into his chest. Aizawa wraps his arms around Yamada’s waist. Yamada starts rubbing circles into Aizawa’s back again.

“I love you,” Aizawa mumbles into his chest.

Yamada pauses. He pulls back a bit to look at Aizawa.

“I love you too.”

Aizawa sighs, closes his eyes, and shoves his face under Yamada’s chin.

“Would you kill me if I apologized again?” Aizawa asks with his eyes still closed.

“Mmmm, it’s hard to say,” Yamada answers, humming as if he’s actually considering it.

“Guess I shouldn’t risk it, then.”

“Smart move.”

Yamada’s eyes fall shut and he scoots a little closer, wrapping his leg around Aizawa’s.

“I love you,” Aizawa says again, bringing his arm up and around Yamada’s shoulders.

“I heard,” Yamada pauses. “I love you too.”

“I...” Aizawa starts, “will come home more.”

Yamada nods, chin moving Aizawa’s hair.

“I will tell you more, if I am able, about what’s happening with the villain league.”

Yamada nods again.

“I will try to stop getting hurt…”

“Okay.”

“I don’t know that I can promise much else.”

“That’s fine,” Yamada says.

Yamada pats Aizawa’s back, “Just…just…be safe.”

“Okay.”

Aizawa’s mind feels blank and numb and foggy. He’s stopped thinking about the morning, about the students, about Nighteye, and what they’re going to do about the villains. He’s stopping thinking of anything at all, really. He pulls his fingers lazily through Yamada’s hair. He listens to Yamada’s breathing above his head.

“Thank you,” Aizawa whispers.

Yamada tilts his head up, kisses Aizawa’s chin, and says, “You’re welcome.”

Aizawa leans in, connecting their lips for a soft, simple kiss. When he pulls away, Yamada is smiling.

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supercultshow · 4 years

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Hello Supercult West! This is Supercult South Bad Movie Professor Cameron Coker (BS in “Hebrew Rock Musicals” with a minor in “Only Hippies Go To Heaven”) and I’m reaching out to you from across the country to help hype tonight’s screening of the 1980 sci-fi musical comedy, The Apple!

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The year is 1975 and Coby Recht, a successful Israeli rock producer, is signed to Barclay Records, led by French producer Eddie Barclay. However, the upstanding Recht was so put off by the villainous business practices in the music industry and his personal experience with Mr. Barclay that he and his wife Iris Yotvat spend six weeks in Paris writing a musical about conformity and rebellion while making use of biblical allegory. In the film, Alphie and Bibi take part in the 1994 Worldvision Song Festival, but despite their superior skill, are defeated by the underhanded tactics of Boogalow International Music and its leader Mr. Boogalow. The duo are then approached by Boogalow and enticed into the seedy underworld of show business and must work together to resist temptation and escape Boogalow’s evil clutches. Recht said it was “supposed to be 1984, but with music.”

It’s like 1984, but with music…and also 10 years later.

Triangles are in this year, darling. Get with it or get out of our way.

OH NO! TRIANGLES!

A large number of the extras and background artists appearing in this musical were cast from the American High School in Berlin. They were reportedly paid about 50 marks per day.

Corporate fascism has never looked so good!

Psst! I think that’s the Apple thing they’ve been talking about this whole time!

“Am I the devil, no, absolutely not. Am I a symbol for the devil? Here, take this pill and stop asking silly questions.”

Um, I prefer my God allegories to be a little more…ya know…lion-y.

THE APPLE IS TEMPTATION! DO YOU GET IT??

Wait, there’s martial arts in this film? Is choreography a martial art??

Let that be a lesson kids. Don’t take drugs. You’ll become a pop star.

Now ask yourself: Is the devil gay because gays are evil or because Satan is in showbiz? Pick your poison, baby, you’re homophobic no matter what.

Recht and his wife created their story for the stage, but the show was too expensive to produce. Recht then heard that his childhood friend Menahem Golan, cousin of Yoram Globus, the very same Golan and Globus that bought Cannon films and with it created such Supercult Classics as Enter the Ninja, American Ninja, Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo, Bloodsport, and the original Highlander, was going to be visiting Israel. One face-to-face meeting later and suddenly The Apple was going to be a movie directed by Menahem Golan himself. Except, perhaps not the movie Recht had originally invisioned. Almost immediately Golan began rewriting the script to add more action and comedy. Yotvat said that Golan was turning the script into “something that was kind of corny,” and Recht stated Golan was making the story “out of touch” and “out of date.”

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Over 1000 singers and 200 dancers auditioned for the film, including a dancer who had heard about the auditions from her fellow students, Catherine Mary Stewart. Recht gravitated to Stewart and even lied to Golan about her singing abilities in order to caster he as Bibi. Meanwhile a film that Recht and Yotvat had expected to cost about $4 million was ballooning to $10 million due to Golan’s wheeling and dealing. Film locales in West Berlin kept getting bigger and more elaborate and Golan was shooting hours of extra footage that would eventually have to be organized and edited. The sequence for the track “Speed” was filmed at the Metropol nightclub, which held the Guinness World record for the biggest indoor laser show at the time. Even though Recht was spending most of his time in London recording the songs, Golan kept demanding that Recht attend shoots in Berlin. Recht recalls arriving on location to a prologue sequence that was suddenly costing $1 million alone to shoot. “He was shooting this part that never ended up on the screen because it was terrible. It was terrible. There was like 15 dinosaurs on the set. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” Nearly everything that could have gone wrong during production did including but not limited to animals getting loose on set, poor singing and dancing being dubbed over or edited together with stunt dancers, Golan nearly getting into a fist fight with the editor Dov Hoenig, and Recht and Yotvat abandoning the production to return to Israel.

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Eventually, however, the film was finished. Catherine Mary Stewart recalls Golan predicting great success for the film, citing the many elements he believed were necessary at that time. After all, it was the 80s and a new wave of elaborate film musicals like Grease, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Fiddler on the Roof, and Supercult classics like Tommy, The Wiz, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were very ‘in’. Unfortunately, Golan’s predictions didn’t pan out. During the premier at the 1980 Montreal World Film Festival, attendees received vinyl records of the music from the film. By the end some watchers were throwing the vinyl records at the screen. A distraught Golan once said afterward, “It’s impossible that I’m so wrong about it. I cannot be that wrong about the movie. They just don’t understand what I was trying to do.”

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The Apple has been the subject of many a scathing review and bizarre conspiracy theory since. Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick served as choreographers for the Apple, who later went on to produce reality shows like American Idol, Pop Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance prompting some to theorize that The Apple’s Worldvision Song Festival contest predicts the horrors of reality song and dance competitions. At the 1980 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, The Apple was considered to be one of the worst films the critics had ever seen, but, just to add insult to injury, the film was considered too low profile to be nominated.

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However, the Apple’s 2017 Blue-Ray release the world might have come around to just how so bad it’s good The Apple truly is. Austin Trunick of Under the Radar honored it as “the perfect sort of cult film – unintentionally campy, with an insane premise, great production value, and memorable songs – that most people, once they’ve seen it, spend the rest of their movie-loving lives trying to get it in front of as many other people as possible.” and the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards eventually revised their award listings awarding the Apple wins for worst director and Least “Special” Special Effects and nominations for worst picture, worst song, most intrusive musical score, and worst screenplay.

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The Apple is truly a unique implosion of a film. A simple idea about the corrupt touch of show biz corrupted by the touch of one of the most infamous men of show biz there ever was. A film too ambitious and over-the-top for the people attempting to execute on it and simultaneously too unimaginative to hold an audience. It’s irresistibly camp yet repulsively inept. It’s been called not only the worst disco musical ever made, but possibly the worst movie ever made, period, and it comes in at an unremarkable (at least for our crowd) 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Are you ready to taste the forbidden fruit Supercultists? I certainly am.

The power of rock… The magic of space! Supercult West is proud to present, The Apple!

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The Apple Hello Supercult West! This is Supercult South Bad Movie Professor Cameron Coker (BS in “Hebrew Rock Musicals” with a minor in “Only Hippies Go To Heaven”) and I’m reaching out to you from across the country to help hype tonight’s screening of the 1980 sci-fi musical comedy, The Apple!

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morceauoleander · 7 years

Text

Hey so...... I finish my essay about Ford Cruller and his disorder. Took a while because i was busy but, its here.

Anyone is allowed to me to ask questions about this, I’m all ears. You can also read it on google docs.

So I will start this off by saying this is a very informally written essay- I’m not writing this like I’m turning it into my teacher or something. I just love talking and analyzing stuff (this is also me saying that i love answering questions/talking about Psychonauts stuff….so feel free to ask me questions about this or just talk to me in general) so this is kind of why i decided to do this. I have talked about this before in the past i believe, but on a much smaller scale. So i want to use this essay to explain all my thoughts. I hope that aside from educating readers, that it may also help people with writing their own characters and considering certain things. So let’s get to it!

....

Quick summary on who i will be talking about, Ford Cruller: A well known Psychonaut agent who after having his psyche shattered after an intense Psychic battle, was shunned by the Psychonauts organization as they deemed him unstable and not suited for the job anymore. Ford remains underground in the Whispering Rocks Summer Camp near a large Psitanium deposit, which keeps him mostly stable, allowing him to work in secret. What I will be talking here is Ford’s “disorder” or what we assume to be Dissociative Identity Disorder (previously Multiple Personality Disorder). This is a very controversial disorder for media to explore in characters and story, but Psychonauts’ take on it is different than most. As a person who’s been diagnosed with this disorder for almost three years i wanted to pull apart the writing of this character and go over what is good and what is bad. However I want to make it clear that when i go over the “bad” in no way do i hold the writers of the character up to those facts today, nor do i despise them for it in anyway. This game came out in 2005, information was even more scarce than today and regardless this disorder is painted over with so much misinformation today that I only wish for people to be open minded to learning things.

First i want to quickly go over the comparison of Ford Cruller’s situation to an actual person with DID. The game (as far as i can recall and can find by searching through clips and quotes) never explicitly names a disorder as “Multiple Personality Disorder” or “Dissociative Identity Disorder” but it does refer to Ford’s different selves as “multiple personalities” and let's be real, the description of what Ford goes through is basically describing the disorder- from memory loss to different “personalities”. It is just seen as an effect of the psychic battle Ford went through and is vaguely just called a “disorder”. I would not be surprised if the disorder was kept vague on purpose by the writers. What makes Ford’s writing unique to other media with characters that have DID is that Ford isn’t a villain, or he doesn’t have an “evil” alter who is the main focus of the story. With that alone i give Double Fine my personal thanks for not going down that path. Ford has three alters- a janitor, a chef and an admiral. They are all basically him but as if he was only living under that occupation. Like, instead of being a Ford who had gone through all those Psychonauts adventures, he’s just a Ford who went and got a job as a chef or a janitor. Between all these parts, Ford’s alters do not remember anything between them. However, the psitanium underground is what keeps Ford as stable as possible- without he would lose himself to these other identities and never be able to come back to himself. They seem to exist physically… until he switches to another self, but at the same time this allows him to exist in multiple places. The way Ford’s whole story sounds doesn’t seem bad, to me its probably the best attempt at writing this disorder that i have seen. But there are small things that are immediately incorrect.

Some of the things that are done right though- let’s talk about this first. Major points about the disorder that need to be done right is 1) memory loss 2) definable but not outrageous alters 3) describing it to come from a source of trauma. Memory loss is one key symptom of DID and surprisingly many descriptions found in media don’t capture it well at all. Ford’s memory loss is clearly defined in his experiences, he literally has no memory of his switches. I think that many writers don’t want to focus on it, because it’s not super obvious or important. I guess when your main focus isn’t some serial killer alter you gotta focus on something else. On that, the choice of personalities for Ford’s alters isn’t the worst i have seen but i guess that because I’m so used to seeing that evil no good bad boy alter. It is a bit cliche for them to only be centered around their occupations though, but the way they act isn’t drastic from Ford and none of them change physically from their host’s body. But the idea that an alter suddenly knows how to do a job or all these alters can manage some different/totally unique job is quite false. In the setting of the game, it makes itself more plausible as the alters act as complete separate physical entities from Ford rather than one single body, which is the only reason why it works in this setting. The final plus i can name is that the game gently brought it up as an actual disorder that is caused by trauma. It does get some points wrong, which i will talk about, but it named it as a disorder and its description wasn’t totally inaccurate. Most media fails to look at it at all as anything other than a crazy mental disorder, because much of it starts off by saying such a person is evil or dangerous. However Psychonauts brings up for shortly and says its a disorder that simply made him too unstable to work and was shunned for it, nothing extra and nothing about being dangerous.

As much good as Psychonauts did compared to many other stories there’s no doubt that it’s fictional setting allowed some not so accurate symptoms of the disorder to come into the story. Let’s start with probably the most important thing that was messed up, and messed up by countless other people through the years. Ford was traumatized as an adult/a later age, or well. Not exactly “traumatized” in a traditional sense. The fact that this game used the actions of “psychic abilities” to “break” Ford’s mind kind of cancels out the idea that Ford was traumatized in a way that would make the disorder appear. And while in the game’s context it makes sense, the age range for this disorder is very important for that. A person must be traumatized from ages 5-9. An ongoing abuse/trauma or one time event can cause a young child’s mind to not form a definable personality properly and instead have pieces of identities form in order to cope with specific traumatic situations. In the case of the game, Ford is not that age and it happens with fictional concepts that take the “breaking identity” to a more literal sense, and theres nothing else to say than it’s not accurate and can’t be seen as correct at all. It isn’t as easy as saying they could’ve called it something else and been okay with it…… DID is very specific and its obvious what it is even what the writer avoid saying it specifically. There’s no details that could be silenced in this story that would make it seem like it wasn’t DID without changing it completely, thats just fact.

I believe this is the end of what i have to say-- I had a few more breaks between writing this than i expected, but I think i got across what i wanted to say. As i mentioned none of this was writing to hate on what Double Fine made back in 2005. Its more to explain the disorder next to the game so those who have played the game can maybe understand it in real life a bit more, and possibly educate those curious about writing this disorder.

#psychonauts #ford cruller #long post #mine

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cryptoriawebb · 7 years

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Baywatch Review:

So I caved and went to see Baywatch. There was one final showing and darn all, I have a horrible crush on Zac Efron. What can I say? He grew up unfairly fine. Wow.

Anyway…I heard this movie wasn’t good, didn’t expect much from it but a part of me hoped it would still be somewhat entertaining. In any case, I had hope for the Rock. He’s like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

Coming out of the theatre I can honestly say I wasn’t sure what to think. I felt…confused, more than anything else, because the movie itself seemed confused. Was it an action piece? A comedy? A parody? I didn’t know. There were so many awkward tonal shifts throughout the entire thing, and yet…they weren’t as glaring or as clunky as other movies I’ve seen. You could recognize these moments for sure but instead of cringing, which I have been known to do, I’d sort of stare and wonder to myself: am I supposed to laugh? Is this character being serious? Are they reciting their lines satirically? What is happening?

It’s hard to react to a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be. I’ve never seen the original show—my only association with it is through Friends, but that was enough to kind of clue me into its content. 80s—90s camp and slow motion, with sex appeal to boot. You think there’d be a lot of great parody material there; as my one friend put it, this movie seemed like it was trying to be 21 Jumpstreet and just did not succeed. The opening credits were the cheesiest thing I’ve ever seen, but something in the direction didn’t give off an immediate “THIS IS WHERE YOU LAUGH” signal. I did anyway, of course; it was just…strange. My friend and I actually wondered aloud if we were supposed to take this scene seriously. That’s unusual for an opening sequence. It certainly felt like a comedy, the intensity, slow motion and outrageously poor CGI title seemed like glaring clues. However, those extremes lingered as the movie progressed.

There was a lot of fourth-wall-breaking too. Particularly, at least that I can recall, references to the slow-motion. Hypothetically, a humorous situation; I like content that pokes fun at its source material. However, these blips of humor arose in otherwise serious sequences—not dramatic or upsetting ones so much as character challenge and progression. The first instance, for example, is the recruitment tryouts. Ronnie and Summer discuss why CJ always looks like she’s running in slow-motion. Delivery of that line felt so isolated compared to the determination projected throughout the rest of the scene, it didn’t translate well at all. I don’t need to take my emotional cues from a movie but I feel a bit uncomfortable when I can’t determine something that should otherwise be obvious.

Another example that comes to mind is the constant headbutting between Mitch, the police officer whose name I’ve forgotten and their boss whose name I’ve also forgotten. They are lifeguards, both authority figures stress, they don’t investigate and they don’t solve crime. I really feel like this had potential to be funny, and because of the repeated reminders I get the feeling it was supposed to be. However, most, if not all of these instances played like a drama instead. Like I should stay quiet and empathize, rather than giggle…except the former didn’t feel right either. Don’t get me wrong, there were several genuinely humorous moments in the film, they just seemed few and far between, and not enough, at least I don’t think, to brand the overall product a comedy. Or anything comedy. More like a tempered action B-movie with humorous moments.

If that’s the case, and I really think that’s kind of where the movie ended up…what the heck was up with David Hasselhoff appearing out of nowhere? Like…what place did that have? Even if this was a comedy there was no build-up to it at all and not enough fourth-wall-breaking to excuse how out of place it felt. I mean did I laugh? Of course, it’s a David Hasselhoff cameo. That does not, as I said, excuse clunky writing.

On the flip side, I actually liked all of the “good guys” if you will. The opening sequence, slow-motion diving and titles aside, set a pleasant feel-good tone that promised what it unfortunately couldn’t deliver. I loved Mitch, his stubborn determination and dedication, as well as the charming, super-hero persona he’s established around the Bay. His chemistry with Efron was also a highlight. Personally, I thought all of the lifeguards maintained a balanced and believable chemistry with one another—even Alexandra and Zac, which, while expected, doesn’t always translate well in these kind of movies. That is, I’m stubborn and get tired of subplots but I really liked the approach to their relationship. Ronnie and CJ’s relationship was a bit unusual for the type of movie I thought this was going to be but I liked it as well. I did feel the kiss was a little surprising but maybe the directors meant to play their relationship as mutual crushing without Ronnie being aware of it. Either way, I liked it. CJ was really attractive but maintained a down-to-earth personality I also feel like I don’t see enough of in these sorts of movies. Then again, I don’t watch a lot of this genre so that might be why. I also can’t remember the name of the Rock’s main female costar, the other female lifeguard (Victoria?) but I liked their chemistry as well. It was almost…not quite a romantic kinship, but maybe between that and friendship. An understanding comradery perhaps.

My favorite relationship, as I said before, was between Brody and Mitch. I love the pop-culture nicknames, it reminded me a little of the TV show Scrubs, and the relationship between Doctor Cox and JD. Mitch and Brody didn’t have the same underlying fondness (although I’m really not sure that’s the right word) but I actually liked watching what they did have develop. The blatant disrespect for one another that did kind of grow into a mentorship and honesty in Brody, it was strangely heartwarming for such a messy movie. Which is odd, considering how formulaic Efron’s character and character arc felt. As I said, I’ve never watched Baywatch; I don’t know how much this new film borrowed from the original Brody’s story, but I kind of felt like I was watching one of many Zac Efron films of late. Unfortunately, because he definitely has talent. I’ll also say I think the turnaround happened sooner than I expected, which was…slightly different, so points for that?

The last thing, although it really refers back to the tonal problems, is the overall villain. I can’t for the life of me tell if she was supposed to embody the typical ‘Bond’ caricature, despite denying so on-screen, or if the writing was really that bad. I can’t imagine it was, only because it seemed really—really—cliché. That, and the script was solid in a lot of other areas. I’d like to think she was a poorly articulated parody; she didn’t start out that way upon introduction but…it was almost like as the movie unwove it got sillier and sillier but wasn’t allowed to be at the same time. So the end result makes little sense, and you get a villain you’re not sure if you should take seriously until she’s literally blown to bits. (What kind of villain meets their end that way unless featured in a comedy/satire??)

Overall thoughts: …this movie is a mess, but it’s not a bad enough mess I wouldn’t watch it if it were on TV. It would not be my first choice at all, in any way shape or form, but I could sit through it without bemoaning my existence. I was pleased by the content, tone aside: I thought I’d be headed into two-and-a-half hours of gross sexual innuendos and content but there weren’t as many as I thought. Speaking as an asexual, I appreciated that.

Two final thoughts I forgot to add elsewhere: 1) the CGI during the boat scene did not look real at all. Like, if computer graphics are going to cause that much trouble, just use real fire or write in some other tragedy. Don’t place B-movie graphics in a Hollywood film. It reflects poorly. Unless, again, that was intentional but I don’t think so.

2) The swimsuits. I definitely think they were designed based around the reputation following Baywatch, and was addressed briefly at one point in the film. Unfortunately, the humor fell flat because again, this movie did not know what it wanted to be. To sort of go along with that I also thought Efron was a little too muscular…

Truthfully, I’d probably watch a sequel if one ever materialized. I know there was talk but given the ratings, it remains anyone’s guess if we’ll actually see it come to fruition. Which is too bad; a little more editing, perhaps better communication I think this movie might’ve been a lot of fun. Or more fun than it was.

Oh well. At least Zac Efron is pretty.

#baywatch #zac efron #dwayne johnson #the rock #priyanka chopra #alexandra daddario #kelly rohrbach #jon bass #david hasselhoff #mitch buchannon #matt brody #returnedtothecrypt

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skaylanphear · 7 years

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Voltron Season 4

A continuation of this! Because I can’t get these ideas out of my head, but I haven’t actually gotten around to writing any of it yet.

I wrote my version for season 3, so now I’ma just keep eventually going through all 6 seasons, lol. Which means we’re getting into my personal headcanon territory as well as original ideas, so read at your own risk (people who have read Serendipitous Fate know what we’re in for here).

SO ANYWAY! The team is all back together following season 3 and so we’ve got to change our direction a bit. The characters that got the most focus in season 3 were Hunk, Lance, and Keith, with a bit of Allura and Pidge on the side. So season four is going to revolve more generally around Shiro, Allura, and Pidge, with the other three doing things more subtlety in the background. What does this do? Well, mostly it allows for a way to address the issues between Keith and Lance without making them center stage. Hunk—following his development in season 3 and his want to keep the team together—will act as a kind of middle man as these two get their shit together in the background of the main narrative, as I think Hunk has mainly been only in Lance’s corner previously.

So, the season will open up following the battle with the Galra. Everyone is finally back together and with the stress of the situation no longer weighing on them, the actions they took last season will begin to trickle in. There will be implications that everyone is basically caught up on what everyone else was doing, so we don’t have to view that summary. Keith and Lance will, at some point early on, address the rift they created at the beginning of season 3 with apologies and the decision to try and listen/understand one another better. It will be kind of a sweet moment, but then be interrupted by Hunk or Pidge and it won’t last. Why? Because Keith and Lance, though they be trying, will still struggle to get along and so we can’t have the moment be too heavy. Lance is aware of his insecurities and that he projects those onto Keith, and Keith is aware that his tendency to go off on his own and make solo decisions tends to grate on the others. They both struggle to control these things however, and so still argue, but are making clear attempts to get along better. Hunk, now feeling more comfortable in his position as the rock and the one bringing others together, is less dependent on Lance for validation and making efforts to get to know Keith as well, which results in him making a good middle man between the two when they fight and a good voice of reason in pointing out the mistakes both are making. This is kind of their status quo throughout the whole season and we see in the background as they make slow steps toward better relations with one another, like gradual building blocks. This also makes a better opening for Keith to connect with them, as Hunk taking a more active role opens doors to Keith that weren’t there previously. It’s also important to note that, as a result of season 3, Keith is now also making better efforts to connect with the other paladins just generally.

So that’s the background story. Up front we have Shiro, Allura, and Pidge. Shiro has been trapped in the astral plane, basically, and as a result, was both kind of helpless as well as able to better recall all of what happened when he was captured. Not in the strictest sense, but more like the effects of the astral plane (which we will learn more about later) have made things more accessible to him. Which means Shiro is going to be suffering more heavily from PTSD with more frequent flashbacks to his time as a prisoner. Which is important because it will not only help us gleam more of his character, but of the Galra as a whole. As well as their technology and the effects if has.

During this beginning time, we’re also going to be getting hints of Allura learning more about her magical abilities and what that means/the connotations that come along with having the ability to use magic (there’s a lot of negative stigma). This was something that was kind of ignored in season 3 because, well, Allura was ignoring it, but because of some battle or rescue, it comes to the forefront and Allura has to confess that she has these abilities and that she basically doesn’t know how to use/manage them.

The driving plot point for the beginning of the season, however, will be Pidge and her father. Her father (his name is Sam I think?) explains that after Matt was injured by Shiro, he was sent to the same work camp and they were reunited. Gradually, rumors of Voltron came in and out with prisoners and Matt was able to, as a result of Shiro’s sacrifice for him, inspire a revolt within the work camp. They managed to escape and basically started a kind of underground resistance movement of their own, where they flew around to prison camps and started freeing others, mostly in attempts to find Shiro on Matt’s end.

Sam and Matt got separated at some point, however, and that was when Keith found Sam and brought him back to the Castle of Lions. The team, probably in episode 1, decides that locating and forming an alliance with this resistance movement, which Sam explains has become quite organized, is a good move to make. So they set their sights on that, which Pidge is grateful for because of her brother, obv. It’s in the following character building/filler eps that we get the Shiro flashbacks and the Allura magic issues, probably while they’re answering distress calls and learning more about the resistance.

Lotor is also causing problems. He’s abandoned his battle, which basically makes him a traitor, and so he can’t return to the Galra. Yet, for how much he hates his father and the Galra, he still wants to be a part of them (it’s his home, after all) and so we get a little bit of Zuko behavior in which Lotor basically harasses team Voltron every once in a while. This is also what leads to Allura’s magic outbreak, as Lotor is also a magic user and it’s him that somehow inspires her own magic (likely during battle) to show itself. In this way, Allura and Lotor become very clear foils for one another (more so than the obvious already makes them). Basically Lotor figures that if he can capture Voltron, he can regain his standing in the Galra empire and the luxuries that come with it.

So all these stories are kind of working together, unlike in my season 3 where everyone’s arc was very clearly divided (symbolism!). So we’re into episode 3 or 4 when they manage to come across some of this organized resistance that Sam spoke of. Matt’s not with them, but they raise some issues of their own in how they’re dealing with the situation. Maybe they’re trying to recuse some prisoners and are a little dramatic about how the sacrifice of a few to save many is worth it and Shiro and Allura have to kind of step in and be like, no, that’s not how this needs to work. Maybe Rolo and Nyma are there and it’s through them, because they’re more willing to listen to team Voltron, that they get through to the resistance that they need to correct how they’re doing things if they want to do things “right.” They end up saving everyone, of course, but both Pidge and Sam are uncomfortable with how the resistance seems to be functioning. Especially since Matt was supposed to be in charge (maybe there’s a nice Shiro comforting Pidge moment).

So we let that plot point lie for a little while and turn our focus back to Shiro. A lot of what inspired Matt to start the resistance was Shiro’s actions, and so The Champion has kind of become a beacon of hope/inspiration/hero to the resistance, thus making Shiro feel guilty for the relative mess it’s kind of become as a result of what is interpreted as his brutal actions. He also feels guilty over the fact that team Voltron fell apart while he was gone, so he’s just generally down on himself. He’s had more and more of his memories as The Champion coming back and he’s more and more displeased with what he’s finding out he did. Turns out he was actually pretty brutal in some respects, even if it was just to survive, and so some of what the resistance thinks of him is justified. Basically this episode will lead to Shiro being more introspective about what happened—as painful as that may be—which leads to considerations about his arm and its mysteries.

The Galra technology is something that takes the life force of other living things and turns it into fuel (sounds like FF7), so it’s logical to assume that Shiro’s arm, to a certain extent, is infused with this life force to function. As it turns out, it’s his arm that acts as the key to the astral plane and is what allows him to access it (what Hagger meant when she said he could have been the most powerful weapon she’d ever made). He probably finds this out during some kind of tense situation in which he disappears by accident and then reappears again.

Which leads to Allura and Coran explaining what, exactly, the astral plane is (probably in a following episode). Turns out it’s kind of like another dimension where quintessence shifts in and out with the death and creation of planets/life/etc. It’s also where magic is said to come from, as those who use magic have a link to the astral plane (which is kind of why it’s frowned upon). However, magic users can’t access the astral plane directly as Shiro can, which is why he’s so vital. It’s one thing for one’s “essence”—as Shiro and Zarkon had done in the past—to shift between realms, and quite another to be able to physically go there, as Shiro can do.

Allura determines that Shiro’s ability must have been a rare breakthrough for Haggar and is why he’s considered so dangerous. Someone with direct access to the astral plane could, logically, have unimaginable power. Good thing Shiro doesn’t want unimaginable power, unlike certain villains who are probably recovered following season 2’s finale.

In this way, however, Allura and Shiro’s stories begin to overlap a bit, though that fact won’t become totally clear till later seasons. Lotor comes back into the picture, probably, and ends up taking on Allura one on one or something. We learn some about their past together—how they probably grew up together or something and how Lotor turned evil alongside his father. He likely taunts Allura for her weakness, as they’re battling using magic and she’s at a clear disadvantage due to lack of training. And while I’m all for Allura being able to take care of herself, I do want Shiro to step in here and redirect Lotor’s power to the astral plane with his arm. Which likely shocks Lotor and sends him fleeing, again (until next time, hu hu hu, team rocket style).

Maybe we’ll get a heart to heart between Shiro and Allura at the end, where Allura expresses her sorrow at her abilities as well as her weakness in using them properly, and Shiro tells her something about how it’s not the power itself that is evil, but what she chooses to do with it, just as he’s turned his curse of an arm into something useful, or how Keith uses being Galra to their advantage. Which helps her put a more positive spin on her situation and shows that, as a result of using his arm for good, Shiro is dealing with his own issues.

Next episode (we’re probably into the later side of the season by this point), we’re back on focus with Pidge and Sam. But the Blade of Marmora is back as well and they’re pissed because the resistance isn’t tactful at all and they think they’re making things worse all around. Which puts some tension on Voltron as they do have alliances with both factions. It quickly begins to escalate, as Sam—despite having grievances with how the resistance is functioning—is willing to defend it, and so there’s some arguing to be had between him and Kolivan. The Castle of Lions is already headed to the resistance’s home base (it moves all the time, which is why Sam didn’t know where it was), and so they calm Kolivan a bit by promising to talk to the resistance leader about what’s happening. They think the leader is Matt.

Well, they’re wrong. When they get to the resistance’s base, they aren’t greeted warmly. They’re actually attacked and asked to leave. When hailed to speak with the group on the ship, it’s made clear by some alien dude (who’s apparently in charge) that they’re just fine without Voltron and could care less about the alliance made previously with the other chunk of resistance members. They’re convinced they can deal with Zarkon on their own. Sam makes it quite clear that a lot of members of the resistance don’t agree with this stance and that leadership appears to have been taken over by a group of extremists set on destroying as much of the Galra as possible without much consideration for how many lives they actually save. He probably knows the leader alian dude due to previous problems caused within the resistance or something.

So, obviously, this is not good. The resistance doesn’t want anything to do with Voltron and so it’s become dangerous to approach. But the base will be moving soon and Pidge doesn’t want to lose it, not so long as there’s a chance that her brother is aboard. Thus, we get Pidge sneaking out in order to then sneak aboard the base and search for her brother. She gets caught, however, by Keith, who quickly learns of her plan. It’s at this point that he makes it clear he’s going with her, so we get some Keith and Pidge bonding time. He probably explains that he understands why she has to do what she is—he did the same for Shiro in season 3—but that he learned from experience that going off alone isn’t the best option. Pidge agrees and they set out together in the green lion (because invisibility). They probably also share in some discourse about why Keith isn’t angry she’s more focused on her family than the big picture, and Keith admits that maybe they’re not as different as he initially claimed. Shiro is like a brother to him, like Matt is Pidge’s brother, and so he’s more sympathetic to her situation now that he’s basically done the same thing she’s aiming to do. He just doesn’t want her to make the same mistakes he did. It’s all very touching, blah, blah.

Anyway, they sneak into the base, there’s some tip-toeing around, and they eventually find Matt. He’s not exactly a prisoner, but he certainly doesn’t have the freedom he did when he was leading the resistance. He was basically booted from being leader because the extremists said he wasn’t acting decisively enough, as “The Champion” would have done. And while Matt admits that he wants to find Shiro, he’s not quite in line with what the new leadership has in mind for getting rid of the Galra and finding Shiro, who they basically want to be their leader once they find him. Pidge explains that Shiro is with them—that he’s a paladin of Voltron with her—and that he wouldn’t agree with what the resistance was doing either (which Matt obviously knows). Keith soon interrupts the reunion, explaining that if they’re going to get Matt aboard the Castle of Lions, they’d better leave soon.

Matt objects, however. He can’t leave because all his work and research is aboard the resistance base. He explains that he’s working on a project that will make it possible to intercept satellite waves all over the universe and broadcast messages, giving him a way to communicate with potential allies as well as warn ignorant planets (like Earth) about the threat of the Galra. He’s also planned to use it to find Shiro. And seeing as this is a pretty important project, Keith and Pidge ultimately end up leaving without him, much to Pidge’s distress. She’s afraid that if her brother stays, he’ll eventually be put in danger by the extremists. And so she and Keith sneak into a control room where she downloads all the resistance intel before they escape back onto the Green lion.

Shiro is not pleased once he finds out what they’ve done, but the intel does prove valuable. Not only does it further illuminate just how much the extremists worship Shiro (much to his discomfort), but it also reveals a plan within which the resistance plans to rally their forces and take their base directly to Zarkon in a move that is both deadly and direct, just as “The Champion would do.” Clearly, team Voltron knows this is a suicide mission—the resistance has no idea what they’re up against and aren’t nearly big enough to take on Zarkon alone. Many lives that could otherwise be useful will be lost to a leader that is too disillusioned by power to know what he’s doing.

Which means it’s time to Voltron to step in, which the Blade of Marmora is more than happy about. Upon Voltron approaching the resistance base, however, they’re attacked (as expected). They have the aid of the Blade of Marmora, however, who agreed to sneak into the base and capture the leader while Voltron provided a distraction. Naturally, however, things don’t go as planned and Voltron, the Castle of Lions, and the Blade of Marmora end up in an all-out firefight with the Resistance.

And things only go from bad to worse when, lo and behold, Lotor shows up too. There’s a reason he knew where they were, I just haven’t thought about it yet. Anyway, he shows up and sets his sights on getting to Allura, who he views as Voltron’s biggest weakness—put her in danger and Voltron comes running. It’s important to note that he and his magic have been bothering the team for the past two seasons, so he’s a pretty dangerous/annoying threat.

So everyone’s focus is scattered, things look shitty, Lotor is being a dick. Maybe this is a three episode finale or something, or maybe only two. Either way, this ep ends with everything in disarray, Lotor probably aboard the Castle of Lions, and at the very last minute, a giant Galra force shows up (probably Lotor gave them a clue or something). Things only go from bad to worse.

Final episode. Voltron has been separated. Keith is with Pidge aboard the resistance’s ship looking for Matt. Lance and Hunk are on the battlefield. And because it’s the season finale and everyone deserves their moment, we get to really see why Hunk and Lance work so well together. Lance uses what he learned in season three to inspire the resistance—maybe against their leader’s orders—to side with Voltron and the Blade of Marmora against the Galra (who are attacking by now), while Hunk—being an awesome lieutenant—keeps it all together and organized. They’re the ones that kind of deal with the battle.

Shiro has gone back to the Castle of Lions upon learning from Coran that Lotor is aboard. We’ve seen by now that Lotor and Allura are facing off again, but know that Allura can’t really compete. Shiro knows this as well and also knows he’s the only one that can stop Lotor. Which is why he’s going back. There might be a bit of time where he notes that Lance is doing well at being in charge while he’s gone, or maybe it was at Lance’s encouragement that he go back to help Allura in the first place. But it’s a very small piece of development.

Meanwhile, Pidge and Keith are still aboard the resistance’s ship. They meet up with the Blade members who were there and make a plan. Basically Pidge goes alone to find Matt while Keith goes with the other Blade members to find the leader. Pidge finds Matt, but he still refuses to leave, even at the threat of the ship being potentially destroyed. Which infuriates Pidge and they get into an argument in which Matt accuses her of not seeing the big picture. The argument escalates, Pidge makes it clear to Matt just how much she does understand/how much she’s grown. He’s surprised and we get a more blatant reference to all the development Pidge has had. Matt agrees to go with her, despite how unfortunate it is that he has to leave his research, and they make an epic escape in which Pidge does some awesome, smart, impressive things.

Keith, meanwhile, is fighting through the ship with the few blade members to the leader. They get there, but it proves challenging. The leader alien is no one to take lightly and Keith eventually ends up in a desperate situation (after a sick display of his combat prowess, of course). Which when, out of nowhere, a kind of wormhole/portal opens up and out comes the Galra Keith saved inside the weblum in season 2. It’s also the same teacher type that Lance met during season 3, but only the viewers know this, not the characters. The mentor didn’t come with Lance to save the Castle of Lions in season 3, because reasons, and so no one but Lance knows them, which is why this miscommunication works.

They basically come in and disarm (kill? Or is that too much?) the leader, saving Keith. There’s an important moment where Keith loudly questions the person, wanting to know who they are, but they’re still masked and refuse to answer. Instead, they both get distracted with what’s going on outside the ship’s windshield. Namely, with Lance, Hunk, and the Castle of Lions.

Hunk and Lance are still out fighting, leading the charge against the Galra, but something happens and both Hunk and Lance know that the castle—which is too busy with Lotor to be focused on the battle—is in danger. So they head in to protect it.

Aboard the Castle of Lions, Shiro has reached Allura and Lotor, probably in the control room. Coran has probably been injured/disabled. Sam too maybe. Allura and Lotor are struggling against one another’s magic. There’s lighting, it’s intense. Shiro tries to step in the same way he had before, but Lotor is ready for him this time and manages to keep him at bay/blast him back/injure him before he can intercept the magic and divert it to the astral plane.

Allura is on her own and, while she’s doing a good job of staying on her feet and fighting back, it’s clearly inevitable that she’ll go down. There’s probably some words shared between her and Lotor that make her look like a boss going down, as she should. Shiro, meanwhile, is struggling to crawl back toward the fray. He can’t really get to Lotor, but he gets to Allura. Just as she’s about to go down, he touches her—maybe he gets to his feet and manages to place his robot arm on her shoulder or arm.

Which is when things get interesting. Together—with Allura’s power and Shiro’s ability to access the astral plane—they become a sort of unstoppable force of power. There’s a very impressive display of Allura’s power, maybe some glowiness, and Lotor basically doesn’t stand a chance against her with Shiro’s support. In fact, Lotor tries to escape, but Allura’s power overwhelms him and keeps him prisoner. All the magic is sucked right out of him and he ends up passing out right there in the castle.

Both Shiro and Allura are weakened by the exchange as well, but they don’t have time to be thinking about it, as things outside the castle have gotten worse. Maybe the castle jolts to the side or something and they look out to see that the yellow lion has just pushed them out of the way of a tractor beam (after all, the black lion was seen going into the Castle of Lions, so why not take the whole thing?). Lance is trying to distract the main ship, while the Blade of Marmora and the resistance beat back the Galra forces.

Keith is still watching from the resistance ship, as the timeline makes it so it’s only been moments since the leader was disarmed.

Pidge and Matt are in the green lion, headed in to help, but they’re too far away to do much.

Lance, in his efforts to distract the main ship, gets caught in the tractor beam intended for the Castle of Lions. Hunk, who’s the closest lion, tries to get to him, but he’s too slow. In Lance’s attempts to protect the Castle of Lions, he’s kidnapped by the Galra, who know they’re losing. Basically, the commander has settled for one lion and manages to escape as soon as Lance is on board.

We’re left floating in the silence of space, all the members of Voltron shocked and horrified to realize what’s happened. Especially Shiro, who gets the last scene. He knows what’s in store for those captured by the Galra, after all, and his fear and horror is the last thing seen before credits role.

#me stuff #voltron #season 4 #voltron legendary defender #vld #fanfic idea #i guess #shiro #allura #pidge #hunk #keith #lance

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the-master-cylinder · 4 years

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SUMMARY Two teenagers come upon an apparently abandoned military installation at night. They take advantage of what appears to be a swimming pool to skinny dip. The teenagers are attacked by an unseen force in the pool and disappear under the water.

A determined but somewhat absent-minded skiptracer named Maggie McKeown is dispatched to find the missing teenagers near Lost River Lake. She hires surly backwoods drunkard Paul Grogan to serve as her guide. They come upon the abandoned compound, which functioned as a fish hatchery before being militarized. They discover bizarre specimens in jars and indications of an occupant. Maggie locates the drainage switch for the outside pool and decides to empty it to search the bottom, but the moment she activates it a haggard man appears and tries to stop her until he is subdued by Grogan. The two find a skeleton in the filtration trap of the empty pool, and learn it was filled with salt water. The man awakens and steals their jeep, but crashes it due to his disorientation, and is taken to Grogan’s home where they spend the night. They take Grogan’s raft down the river, where the man wakes up and tells them that the pool in the facility was filled with a school of lethal piranha fish, and that Maggie has released them into the river. They are skeptical until they hear a dog barking and they come across the corpse of Grogan’s friend Jack, who has bled to death from an attack on a fishing dock.

The man reveals himself to be Doctor Robert Hoak, lead scientist of a defunct Vietnam War project, Operation: Razorteeth, tasked with engineering a ravenous and prodigious strain of piranha that could endure the cold water of the North Vietnamese rivers and inhibit Viet Cong movement. The project was shut down when the war ended, but some of the mutant specimens survived, and Hoak tended to them to salvage his work. Grogan realizes that if the local dam is opened, the school will have access to the Lost River water park resort, and the nearby summer camp where his daughter Suzie is in attendance. They encounter a capsized canoe with a boy whose father has been killed by the piranha. Hoak rescues the boy, but suffers mortal injuries when the school attacks him; he dies before he can reveal how to kill them. Blood from Hoak’s corpse causes the piranha to tear away the raft’s lashings, and they barely reach shore. Grogan stops the dam attendant from opening the spillway and calls the military.

A military team led by Colonel Waxman and former Razorteeth scientist Dr. Mengers feed poison into the upstream section, ignoring the protests that the piranha survived the first attempt. When Grogan discovers that a tributary bypasses the dam, Waxman and Mengers quarantine them to prevent the agitated pair from alerting the media. After they escape, Waxman alerts law enforcement to capture them. The school attacks the summer camp during a swimming marathon, injuring and killing many children and Betsy, one of the camp supervisors. Suzie escapes due to her fear of water, and aids her camp mates in escaping.

The school continues downriver. Waxman and Mengers arrive at the water park to intercept Grogan and Maggie, but the piranha attack the resort and kill many vacationers and Waxman. Grogan and Maggie commandeer a speedboat and rush to the shuttered smelting plant at the narrowest point of the river. Remembering the empty facility pond, Grogan realizes the fish can survive in salt water; if the school passes the delta, they will reach the ocean and spread over the world. He intends to open the smelting refuse tanks, hoping the industrial waste will kill the piranha. They arrive at the plant ahead of the piranha, but the elevated water level has submerged the control office and Grogan must go underwater; he ties a rope around his waist and instructs Maggie to count to 100 before pulling him out. Grogan struggles to move the rusted valve wheel when the school arrives and attacks him. He manages to open the valves just as Maggie pulls him to safety. Maggie takes Grogan back to the water park, where a massive MEDEVAC is tending to the victims; his injuries are severe and he is seen in a catatonic state.

Mengers gives an on-site television interview, providing a sanitized version of events and downplaying the existence of piranha. Her voice is heard carrying out over a radio on the shore of a West Coast beach. As she says “there’s nothing left to fear”, the piranha’s characteristic trilling sound drowns out the waves on the beach.

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DEVELOPMENT When a former producer’s assistant named Jeff Schechtman and a onetime Japanese movie star called Chako Van Leeuwen approached the exploitation maestro with a script about folks getting eaten by piranhas, he was all ears. “I had been working for Warner Bros. for a number of years,” says Schechtman. “And as everybody else does in Hollywood, I struck out on my own, and tried to put some projects together. Piranha was one of the earliest things I produced. Originally, I developed the script, with a screenwriter named Richard Robinson (author of the Kingdom of the Spiders), then shopped that around. Chako van Leeuwen provided a bunch of the development money, and that is how she came into the picture.”

“Schechtman already had a script by Richard Robinson, but it needed work,” Dante continues. “There were piranhas in this lake, and when people found out about them, they wouldn’t go in. So there had to be a bear to chase people into the lake. Then there had to be a forest fire that chased the bear that chased the people.”

Frances Doel, then Corman’s assistant, was on the lookout for new talent. She’d read John Sayles’ novel Pride of the Bimbos, and concluded that the realist Sayles was the perfect writer for a horror thriller about fish eating people. “Doel hired him to write the script for $10,000,” Davison recalls. “He reportedly wrote the first draft on the airplane from Los Angeles to New Jersey-he’s the fastest writer I know.”

Sayles set about writing a tongue-in-cheek script in which mutated piranhas menaced a riverside entertainment park. “The thing I tried to bring was a little bit of self-consciousness,” he says. “Some of the fun is: ‘Okay, this is a dollar ninety-eight version of Jaws.’” According to one of the many legends that surround the making of the first two Piranha films, Sayles also wrote a “shadow” script in which the military—who could hardly be more villainous in the finished movie—are the heroes of the piece. Supposedly, this script was sent to the appropriate authorities at the National Guard who agreed to lend soldiers and equipment to the production. “I think what happened is they showed a different version of the script to the military,” says Sayles. “Certain things may have disappeared.”

There’s a legend that Corman offered Alan Arkush and Dante their choice of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and Piranha to direct. The story goes that they tossed a coin and Joe Dante lost, so he had to helm the fish movie. A talented cartoonist, Dante drew his own storyboards for Piranha. “I was more interested in the science fiction aspects of the story,” he says, “so I wanted to goose those up. John Sayles was more interested in the political side, so he turned it into a pseudo-science fiction-cum-political allegory, where fish that were developed for use in Vietnam have come home along with the rest of the War to roost in America. These were atom bombs coming home and eating campers.”

The locations were scouted by Dante himself. “I was at the Telluride Film Festival, and Roger said, ‘Why don’t you stop in a few states on your own time and see where you would like to shoot?’ There was a drought that year, and there weren’t any rivers in California, so we ended up making the picture in Texas, a right-to-work state, which meant we could make it non-union.” Production began in Los Angeles, however, and the night after we shot our first scenes, Roger canceled the movie. He looked at the budget, and felt there was too much money for 2nd unit,” Dante says.

“Chako broke down and cried in Roger’s office,” Davison adds, and she cried so long that the only way Roger could get her out of there was to promise to make the movie.” The picture was a co-production with United Artists, and Davison reveals, “Roger always made sure that the pictures were somewhat cheaper than United Artists thought they were, which was about a million-one. But there was no way to make it quite as cheap as Roger wanted and have it be any good. I ended up calling Barbara Boyle, Corman’s business affairs person, and I think I cried on the phone for more money.”

Sayles’ script called for a state-of-the-art water park, but Aquarena Springs was a rather more quaint complex. Its chief “attraction” was a pig named Ralph that swam and performed tricks. Dante persuaded Sayles to come down to Texas and play the small role of a soldier so that he could perform unpaid surgery on the script to accommodate the somewhat antique nature of the resort… and an appearance by Ralph. “Ralph the swimming swine had been an attraction at Aquarena Springs for years,” chuckles Sayles “I went to a Mexican market in the town and they were selling whole pigs heads. And I tried to convince Joe that at some point we should see the pig’s head floating around after the piranha attack. He said, ‘People will put up with humans being eaten, but not pet animals!’”

So why then, did you—the king of capitalizing on a profitable idea—take so long to greenlight Piranha? Was that film made to ride the coattails of the same year’s Jaws 2? Roger Corman: No, someone brought me the script for Piranha and I liked it, so I hired John Sayles to do a rewrite. That was Sayles’ first screenplay, and Joe Dante, who had just made Hollywood Boulevard with Allan Arkush, was hired to direct it. I was very aware of the success of Jaws, but if I was really planning to capitalize on it, I would have worked right away to do so and not have waited a few years. Because really, the idea of Jaws was similar to my first film from 1954, Monster from the Ocean Floor. It wasn’t that Jaws was original, it was just really well-made.

Can you recall the first time you met Dante? Roger Corman: I met Joe because of Martin Scorsese. We were about to do the film Private Duty Nurses, and Marty was a teacher at NYU and I asked him, out of his students, who would be best to direct it. Marty said Jonathan Kaplan. So Jonathan came out, and with him came Dante, Allan Arkush and Jon Davison, and I hired them all on the spot in various capacities. Joe, I hired as a trailer editor originally.

Today, a Joe Dante film is immediately recognized for its sense of humor, evident in even Piranha’s most intense and violent sequences. Was the film always intended to be a romp? Roger Corman: Yes, I always thought about it as a serious picture with a great deal of humor. It was not intended as a parody, however. It was simply a science fiction/ horror film with lots of humor.

And it was a huge success. Roger Corman: Yes, it was. An enormous one.

PRODUCTION

Meanwhile, Davison was proceeding with casting: Mike Medavoy, then president in charge of production, sent him a list of suggested leads, with actors indicated as 1s, 2s and 3s, apparently in order of desirability. Davison still has the list among his Piranha souvenirs. “The ls were Nick Nolte, Peter Fonda, James Caan, Robert Shaw, Joe Don Baker, Peter O’Toole and Michael Sarrazin,” the amused producer reveals, “but I don’t think anybody ever took those very seriously. We basically had two cast lists-one of dead people who were not available, and people who were still living that we wanted to put into the picture. I remember that we had Richard Deacon for only one day, and promised we would use him only until noon. We couldn’t afford him, so Joe and I paid for Richard.”

Dillman, the biggest name in the cast, says, “I was very impressed by the screenplay John Sayles had written. He came to my home in Santa Barbara, and we sat down and talked about it a little bit. I had done other horror-type films-Bug, The Mephisto Waltz, The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, Chosen Survivors, that type of thing,” so he had no problem with the script’s content.

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Another little-known fact, Dante says, “is that Kevin McCarthy’s part was originally played by Eric Braeden. I was a fan of his from Colossus: The Forbin Project; I thought he was great-still do. He came down to the set at the swimming pool, and saw us kids and our jerry-built effects. He may have seen Belinda Balaski getting fake piranhas attached to her. He did his work for that day, which involved floating in the pool while the piranhas came after him, while we see him from underwater.”

“We managed to convince Kevin McCarthy to do it, somehow,” Dante continues. “He was in New York when his agent offered him the part. We called back, and the agent said, ‘Well, he’s walking around Central Park thinking it over.’ For whatever reasons-he wanted to go to Texas, needed money for an ex-wife-he decided to do it. I never met him until he showed up on the set.” McCarthy, of course, has been in many of Dante’s movies since.

When he was first approached about Piranha, Kevin McCarthy was leery. “My vanity had something to do with it,” he admits with a smile. “Joe admired my work. I didn’t want to work on these cheap little Roger Corman things. I’m an actor. I wouldn’t want to be in a non-union situation. The only union he pays is the Screen Actors Guild. The cameramen work under assumed names. But Corman gave many of these people, like Dante, their break. He helped them get started, develop themselves and find their own answers.

“So, when Dante told me how much he wanted to work with me, it was flattering. He sent me a script which sounded like something I might like to do: play a mad scientist, an ichthyologist who’s working on some sort of crazy fish which would eat up most of North Vietnam. I had some interesting scenes in the film and I got to swim the river in Austin, Texas; have karo syrup released underwater as my blood and all.”

McCarthy pauses a moment to consider making the fish fear film. “Joe was open to suggestions. “What if I do it from here or turn around?’ He would say ‘Sure.’ When you get that feedback from a director, it’s great.” film-otherwise, I don’t want to do it, and he doesn’t want to do it. So, it has been a great relationship.”

“Keenan Wynn was hired for one day, one of those color parts that give you a name for television, the director recalls. “I had suggested John Carradine, but Keenan had more of a TVQ. He showed up the day before his scene, and started intimating that he might forget his lines if he didn’t get an extra day, that he really should have been hired for two, that it’s a lot of work to do in one day, that he just couldn’t guarantee he was going to remember anything. So we paid him for two days.

“It also turned out that he was deaf as a post from riding motorcycles,” Dante continues. “Most of the stuff he did was sitting on a riverbank with a dog, while we were out in the water. He was screaming, ‘You better yell “cut” pretty loud! He didn’t suffer any unprofessionalism gladly. I never saw a crew work faster than when Keenan was working. And woe betide the unlucky crew member who happened to be in his eyeline when he was being dead and looking anywhere. He was a cantankerous old fellow, but a great guy, full of great stories.”

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Steele, of the pale skin, big eyes and great Italian horror movies, played a scientist in Piranha. “It was a dream come true to be making a movie with Barbara,” Davison claims, and she is almost as weird offscreen as she is on, but interesting, and real smart.” Davison pulls out the contract • he wrote himself for Steele’s services. “There was obviously some sort of thing where she was trying to get a little more money, so in order to get her to agree to be in the movie, we had to hire her to also be a still photographer. I don’t know if I ever saw any photos she took, but the contract does say, ‘Piranha Productions agrees to engage player as location still photographer for not less than one week consecutive with her employment. Piranha Productions will pay film and processing and the munificent sum of $200 per. She worked for a week and a day, with two of those days probably used for travel.”

“The trouble with Barbara,” Dante adds, “was that she had a habit of wandering into scenes she wasn’t in. We’d be shooting and suddenly, ‘Hey, that’s Barbara! What’s she doing there?’ She had her little boy with her, and they would just be wandering around. If you brought up her Italian movies, she would laugh and say, ‘Ohhhhh my God!’ and that would be just about as much as she wanted to talk about them, but she did say some nice things about Mario Bava.”

You started off working with Roger Corman and wrote the screenplay for “Piranha.” What did you learn from Corman about the economy of independent filmmaking? John Sayles: One of the things that Roger did that was interesting was he would test market titles. “Piranha” was a title that test marketed very well. And within the genre, he might test market a couple science fiction titles. Another movie I wrote for him, “Battle Beyond the Stars,” marketed very highly. With “Piranha,” it was obviously capitalizing on the success of “Jaws,” and so it rated very high. So he felt that, generically speaking, there’s an audience that wants to see this movie. They don’t even know who’s in it or any of the details about it, but they like the genre. So if we delivered that, there was enough of an audience for us to make the movie.

How did the challenge differ for the movies you directed? John Sayles: With independent movies that are just straight dramas, you just don’t have that. Occasionally maybe there’s a movie about vampires or something, so you have a little bit of a genre going for you, but usually you’re selling a totally new product. If you were a low-budget production, you used to rely on getting lucky and getting some great reviews.

When we started out, Siskel and Ebert had a TV show and one of the great things for independent filmmakers is they would review those movies. They only reviewed the ones they liked, whereas the Hollywood movies, they always wanted a dog of the week — I think “Piranha” got their first dog of the week, ever. They would unload on those movies, but they weren’t going to bother to say bad things about an independent movie. So you got a national show, and you got free national publicity, and there was just no way you could pay for that.

SPECIAL EFFECTS “We shot some stuff at a summer camp in Griffith Park,” says Dante, but the underwater scenes were shot at the Olympic-sized pool at the University of Southern California. “We happened to luck into a conglomerate of really great (FX) guys, the top of their profession-Phil Tippett, Jon Berg, Rob Bottin, Chris Walas-all these guys who were about to work on big movies.” Actually, as Tippett reveals, most of them had just come off another film made for less money than the director wanted, also shot under arduous conditions by people who were simply in love with the idea of making movies. That film was Star Wars.

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“We looked at other movies that had piranhas in them,” says Dante, “but there weren’t very many. And the few that did were things like Pirates of Blood River, where it was all done on the surface–you never really saw anything under the water. They just sprayed buckshot to disturb the water. The most interesting footage was something Bill Burrud, or someone like that, had of real piranhas eating a cow. The interesting thing was that they moved very, very fast.

Rob Bottin making up Paul Bartel

“We came up with these piranhas on sticks that, when photographed at eight frames a second, could look like they were moving through the water quickly, the way piranhas really do. Coupled with prosthetic limbs and pieces of flesh that could be bitten and float around in the water, it started to look pretty promising. So we did a number of days of shooting, and brought in naked girls and had piranhas try to eat their breasts. We also had prosthetic breasts with nipples that pulled away.” Dante sighs. “The things you do when you’re younger that you’d never do now…”

The fish in the movie are all rubber, and don’t entirely resemble the genuine article. For one thing, you can barely see real piranhas’ wedge-shaped teeth; mounted ones sold in novelty shops have had their lips pared away to expose the dental work. The fish in Piranha were modeled on such stuffed specimens. “The only thing we couldn’t figure out how to do,” Dante admits, *was to get masses of fish together. We could do great shots of three or four of them at a time, but to get them to come toward the camera, go away or do right and left shots, chases, was really difficult. Pete Kuran ended up doing these scenes on a stage, dry, with smoke and silhouettes and stuff, keeping the piranhas still and moving the camera past them.”

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Dante shot some water footage with future Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden, who had been cast in the role of the scientist responsible for breeding the movie’s strain of genetically engineered, super intelligent, mutant fish which are accidentally let loose into a river. They all took this dive course, which was a lesson for a couple of hours. Dressed the pool put tarps on the bottom, and added all these plants, built sets and sunk them, and dumped in lots of Fuller’s earth and dirt. Dante and his special effects team dumped so much foliage and fake blood into the pool they themselves brought to life a new creature of sorts. “We created this fungus that was apparently hard to classify,” says the director. “They had scientists down from Sacramento to try to figure out what it was. It was apparently some sort of new life form. It was in the water—and of course in our lungs as well. They had to sandblast the pool to get rid of it.” Given this, it is not surprising that Braeden decided to back out of the film. “I think Eric was just horrified by the primitive conditions we were shooting under,” says Dante. “He called me one night very politely and said, ‘I’m sorry, I just can’t do this.’”

Rob Bottin on the Piranha set adding some extra gore to actor Keenan Wynn

Finally, Dante had around two hours of footage featuring fake piranhas, and gory mayhem. “We [planned] on showing it all to Roger in a mammoth session,” says Dante. “About 15, 20, minutes in, he said, ‘Okay, it’s not bad. We’ll do it.’ He was about to leave the screening room and I said, ‘Roger, don’t you want to see the prosthetic breasts getting eaten?’ And he looked to me and he said, ‘Do I have to?’”

After Dante and Davison visited Berg and Tippett at Tippett’s home-he didn’t have a studio in those days—they were hired for the majority of the piranha FX. “We had some excruciating hours in that pool,” Tippett recalls. In addition to the diatomaceous earth and Karo syrup, he says, “we used milk and cream. I think when we started, there wasn’t enough time for the heaters to work, so the water was something like 50 degrees. Jon (Davison) ordered wetsuits that were a size too small, so we all ended up getting terrible diaper rashes. There was a stray dog we adopted who would shit in the changing room every morning, so it smelled like dog shit. We were too poor to afford dryers for the suits, so they were wet as well as too small. And because of the concoction that sat in the pool for something like three and a half weeks, it turned into this vile soup that gave everyone horrible ear infections.

“A lot of this came from us just being stupid kids and not knowing any better, and trying to make up stuff we thought would work,” he continues. “There’s one scene where Belinda Balaski gets pulled into the deep with piranha all over her. We figured the way to fasten the fish to her was to grip-tape them all over her body. Then she had to sit out in the hot sun, and the tape just adhered to her body. She was covered with yards and yards of the stuff; getting it ripped off was very painful.”

“Phil Tippett and his lovely wife Jules ran the fish factory in downtown LA,” says Davison. “They sculpted a clay model and made molds, and together with Jon Berg they made lots of fish, and were in charge of the effects. I think it was Rob Bottin’s first professional job; he sculpted the head that bobs up in the water. He would do it only if he got to be the 2nd unit director, and went on and on about this. So we let him be 2nd unit director for one day, as it turned out. We didn’t have any sound for the 2nd unit, which is not unusual, so he shot a scene on the beach about deaf-mutes being eaten by piranhas. That was the end of his directing career for a while.”

“We tried a lot of things that did not work.” Tippett admits. “We had these elaborate rigs of fish on wires between two gantries that were strung up. Then we had people on shore who pulled the lines, and the fish would run underwater. There were so many fish!” he sighs in amazed tones.

Phil Tippett Lab Creature

“Also, I had fish on poles with little triggers that made them snap and bite at the fake flesh. We had other rigs that Jon Berg built, big garage door springs with pieces of metal welded to them that could be adjusted underwater so the fish could break the surface and disappear.”

The laboratory sequence has several strange creatures in jars and tanks built by Walas, shot later in inserts. Dante was amazed by the chances everyone took. “Jules Tippett was underneath this fishbowl with her hand in this puppet with the water dripping out and pouring all over her, while other people filled the tank so it wouldn’t drain out during the shot. She was totally drenched, and could have been electrocuted.”

Phil Tippett Lab Creature

“I did some stop-motion on it, too,” Tippett adds, “a little creature in the lab. We wanted another ending for the picture, where the little Ymir-ish creature has reached the ocean and grown to 30 feet high. He was supposed to come out eating a surfer. But the executive producer didn’t want to pay for it, so we didn’t do it.” When Dillman was brought in to loop some dialogue, he saw the stop-motion beast (which may have been animated by Bill Hedge in place of the very busy Tippett), and was surprised, feeling this would harm the movie—that the audience simply wouldn’t buy it. Later, Dillman saw the finished movie in San Francisco, and sent Dante a very nice letter,” the director recalls. “He said he saw it with an audience, and now understood how it was supposed to work. He said he was very happy to be in it, and that it worked out great.”

This was your first movie with Joe Dante. What was he like, and what was your initial reaction to John Sayles’ script? Belinda Balaski: Working with Joe was a joy! First of all, he allowed everyone their creative freedom. I had just finished doing Cannonball! with Paul Bartel, and here we were on the Piranha set together in San Marcos, Texas. Paul and I had no scenes together, and we were joking around with Joe, saying we wanted to be in a scene with each other. Joe said, “OK, just write one.” So that night, I wrote the lakeside bit with Melody Thomas, Paul and I, and the next day! gave it to Joe, who loved it and we shot it! That’s actually one of my favorite scenes in Piranha. As far as John Sayles and his writing, I consider him an absolute genius. He told me on the set of The Howling that he loved my Betsy character from Piranha so much that he created my Terry Fisher role based on her! That was the day we shot the morgue scene, where he got to be in it as the mortician. John is a great writer, who had all these wonderful scripts up his sleeve just waiting for a break! I’m a playwright and screenwriter myself, and John taught me to write screenplays ”

What were one of the most fun and one of the most difficult scenes to shoot on Piranha? Belinda Balaski: The underwater scene, where it looks like the piranha are pulling me down. There were 10 crew guys at one end of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, holding onto a rope tied around my waist. They pulled me across the pool underwater, and it looks like I’m going down deep!

What do you remember of Rob Bottin’s nasty fish mockups, and did you get to keep one as a memento? Belinda Balaski: They used gaffer’s tape on my skin to tie the rubber piranha to. Then I’d get underwater and the fish would bobble around me, and I would push them away and because they were tied to me, they’d come right back! All this was good and fun till they went to take the gaffer’s tape off-ouch! And sadly, I didn’t get to keep one to remember it all by!

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PROMOTIONAL/ADVERTISING Davison also wrote the film’s pressbook, the advertising and promotional brochure sent to theater owners and newspapers. For the most part, it’s the usual material phony “news” stories, biographies of the leading players and so forth. But in the suggestions for promotion, which include what you might expect-tanks of piranhas in the lobby, goldfish-swallowing projects, tie-ins with sporting goods stores-Davison offered an idea that was probably not meant to be taken too seriously: “Create some exciting pre-publicity by leaving dead piranha at various strategic locations along the banks of your local lakes and streams…Give enterprising kids in your area a few bucks to make themselves scarce for a couple of days. Watch your grosses soar!!

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RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION But the movie was released in 1978 during a newspaper strike, and there were very few reviews and chances for advertising. “It did better in Europe,” says Dante, “and in places like Rio de Janeiro, it played tremendously-faraway places where people don’t speak English. Roger was a little upset that it made more money overseas, but United Artists’ campaign there was so much better than his.”

SCORE/SOUNDTRACK Piranha (1978) Pino Donaggio

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CAST/CREW Directed Joe Dante

Produced Jon Davison

Screenplay John Sayles

Story Richard Robinson John Sayles

Bradford Dillman as Paul Grogan Heather Menzies as Maggie McKeown Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Robert Hoak Keenan Wynn as Jack Barbara Steele as Dr. Mengers Dick Miller as Buck Gardner Belinda Balaski as Betsy Bruce Gordon as Colonel Waxman Paul Bartel as Mr. Dumont Melody Thomas Scott as Laura Dickinson Barry Brown as Trooper Shannon Collins as Suzie Grogan Shawn Nelson as Whitney Richard Deacon as Earl Lyon John Sayles as Sentry

Special Effects Rob Bottin Douglas Barnett … mechanical effects (as Doug Barnett) Jon Berg … special effects Dave Morton … mechanical effects Robert Short … special properties Chris Walas … special properties

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY indiewire.com ew.com Fangoria#187 Fangoria#296

Starlog#79

Piranha (1978) Retrospective SUMMARY Two teenagers come upon an apparently abandoned military installation at night. They take advantage of what appears to be a swimming pool to skinny dip.

#70sFilms #NewWorld

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quality-chaos-and-other-qcs · 4 years

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Just finished Shield

Aaaand now we have the news about the DLC stuff. So, that’s a thing.

Some thoughts:

Positives

* Marnie is definitely the best of the ‘rival’ characters in this generation, both in terms of design and in terms of character.

* Sadly, that’s not because she’s a really excellent character- she’s alright, don’t get me wrong. Just.... Bede is an arrogant jerk and.... that’s it. Hop is an enthusiastic fool and.... that’s it. There’s really not much character there.

* I like the variety in the gym leaders and other character designs. It’s especially noteworthy that they’re definitely actual different ethnicities/phenotypes from one another- Kabu is clearly intended to be Japanese (Kantonian? Whatever the equivalent in-universe is), Milo’s a big triangular goof, and off the top of my head I can’t recall seeing any characters in the Pokemon games ever who’re soft chubchub like Melony is. The closest you get is the ‘middle-aged mom’ trainers from some of the earlier-gen games.

* THE WILD AREA OMFG

* Wow this game is British. I don’t know if it’s just the translation or what, but it feels a lot more British than, for instance, the Unova region felt American or the Kalos region felt French. Some of the pokemon really helped with this too.

* Corsola/Cursola. Corsola has always been just a tad on the weak side to use reliably when you get to the late-game, so having an evolution for it is nice (even if it’s restricted to the Galrian version), and the relation to coral loss in the ocean works really well.

* Most of the Galarian variants in general, really. Not only are there some really neat references but there are type-mix coverages and evolutions to things that needed them badly (cough farfetch’d cough) and so on.

* The ability to modify Natures and to Vitamin past 100 EP in a given stat. The ability to play mostly casually but still be able to squeeze out some extra strength for battling with friends or overcome an unfortunate Nature or save a little time training Effort Values is great.

* HMs didn’t return. I hope they never come back. They never really bothered me too much- Surf, Strength, Fly, and to a lesser extent Rock Smash are all perfectly usable, Cut is alright as a backup move, though I have no use whatsoever for Flash, Defog, or Whirlpool- but it feels a lot better to have overworld use of PKMN moves be completely optional.

* Some of the visual design for the various areas is really great. I loved the neon mushroom areas, for instance.

* Paid DLC rather than a third game or second set of games is a much, MUCH better way to go. I think the only generation where it was really worth it was B/W, because it was a whole later storyline and you could do things like have the stuff you did in B/W affect B2/W2. If you can’t do that level of development on the latter part of the generation, there’s no sense bothering with a whole extra game, nevermind two (looking at you, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon).

* Camping and making curry is fun. I’d really like to also have the ability to interact one-on-one like in the Sun/Moon generation, but it’s fun nevertheless.

* All the Max stuff- from the Gigantamaxes on down- is generally pretty great, with one major and one minor exception. I even like most of the derpy forms because of the references (Long Meowth is long, gen1 sprite Pikachu....).

* A lot of the stuff for the DLC looks great. Galarian Zapdos may become the third Legendary ever that I like the design enough to actually use (the first two being Articuno and Terrakion.)

* TMs and TRs. I love this. This is really good. So many moves that can be taught via them. Keep this forever please.

* Team Yell is not trying to take over the region/world/universe/etc., nor working with the Head Villain. They just really really like Marnie. I like this. Maybe we can start adding more Teams, both non-villainous and villainous, maybe even make it a mechanic or something, I don’t know. Team Yell aren’t as fun as Team Skull, but I don’t think there’s an organization in the PKMN world at all that is more fun than Team Skull... nobody else will ever be your boy Guzma.

Negatives

* You can’t turn off the EXP Share effect. I get it, you don’t want people to have to grind, but this doesn’t feel really like it was thought through- I finished the game and some of my team members who’d been on team for the whole game had only fought in maybe twenty or twenty-five battles outside the E4/Champion battles. I really, really hate the permanent EXP Share and I want the ability to turn it off. Having it is fine, I don’t care if anyone else uses it or not, but I want to be able to not. Please can I turn it off?

* The major Max exception- the assortment of NPC assistants for Max Raids is awful. It’s kind of hilarious to see a Magikarp actually use Hydro Pump, but the NPCs who team up with you are generally just awful. They never Dynamax even if you don’t Dynamax at all, their move pools are really crummy, a lot of them get wiped out in one shot by Gigantamax ‘mon, making it incredibly difficult to capture Gigantamaxes without several friends in the room with you, when they don’t get oneshot it’s often because they were carrying Focus Sash and for no other reason, you’ll often get horrible random selections (every time I fight a Dynamax ghost I get that guy with the Throh and he literally can’t do anything at all).... the Dynamax Raid battle ally selection just wasn’t sufficiently refined. You can do better than this, come on.

* The minor Max exception- Gigantamax Charizard. FFS, why? I get it, Charizard is kinda popular because dragon and because way back when the TCG started it was a heavy bomb in any Fire deck, but.... it just really rubs me wrong. It’s the only starter from any gen to get a Gigantamax, and the work being done on Gigantamaxing the Sword/Shield starters for DLC barely makes up for it. I’m tired of Pikachu- especially the voice clip it uses for a cry- but I’ll live with it because Pikachu’s the mascot. But I’m SO FUKKIN TIRED of Charizard and only Charizard getting extra bennies. I think I’m starting to actually hate Charizard.

* There’s only one Wild Area, it only connects three actual locations (two hub cities and a train station), and most of the routes are virtually just straight lines. Next time, just make the entire region Wild Area please.

* Some weather types (and therefore some ‘mon, both Galarian and not) are not available until completing the storyline. I don’t like this, and it doesn’t make sense to do it. Cut that out. I’m fine with locking the time of day to the storyline outside of the Wild Area until the storyline is complete, but the weather locking is dumb and bad. Don’t do that again.

* The story is..... uh..... How to put this. If the stories of all the Pokemon games were breakfast, the story of this game would be a scrambled egg sandwich with soggy limp bacon and burnt eggs on white bread that wasn’t even toasted. It’s not completely bland, but it’s really, really limp and hasn’t been made the right way. Honestly, I found most of it outright annoying. Hop’s alright, but he doesn’t do anything- doesn’t even have a vague attempt at a character arc- a lot of what should have been exciting events either took place offscreen, were horribly bland, or came so far out of left field with so little explanation that I mostly just went ‘oh okay I guess I’m doing this now until I can get back to trying to become champion.’

* Player trainer is customizable, but no moreso than in Sun/Moon (I think maybe even less so?) Where are the body types, Game Freak? Where are the long skirts? The kilts? Long hair for boys? Varied hairstyles? Why are there only three bangs options? Only three eyelashes options? The selection here is pitiful.

* OH YEAH THE LIE ABOUT REDOING THE MODELS AND THAT BEING WHY POKEMON WERE BEING CUT

Overall.... eh. I’d give it a 6, maybe 6.5 out of 10? If anyone likes Pokemon and hasn’t got Sword or Shield yet, I’d say wait until it’s on sale. It’s not a full-price Pokemon title right now, and with the pass for the DLC set at $30 American, the overall pricing is... not okay.

They really should have taken the extra time on it, instead of shoving it out this winter.

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one-of-us-blog · 6 years

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Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, the eighteenth James Bond adventure. Breaking news! A media mogul has set his sights on expanding his news empire, but sources indicate there’s some seriously unethical journalism going down! You’ll never believe what happens next! Can Bond stop the presses in time to save China? Wait a second, what the hell does China have to do with any of this?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, you’ve done it again! Twice! Both of your latest recaps were fantastic, and I completely agreed with your thoughts on both of them. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot (Less) Like Christmas” is very forgettable, and you were very generous with your rating. You’re the personification of Christmas generosity! But on a more serious note, “Camp Town Races Aren’t Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be” (this show has got to cut it out with these long titles) was the episode I was least excited for you to watch, because I really just hate most of it. Like you said, they make Blanche be awful so she can learn a lesson, but it still sucks to see her act that way. I can’t help but think of “Mixed Blessings” from the original series, which had Dorothy act like a racist in sacrifice of the plot despite that completely going against her character. Episodes like this suck, and I’m glad it’s behind you. There are still a few bumps in the road ahead of you, but I can’t wait to read your next couple of recaps! God bless us, everyone but Oliver!

Buttocks tight!

Screenplay by Bruce Feirstein, Nicholas Meyer & Daniel Petrie Jr., film directed by Roger Spottiswoode

We start off very specifically in A Terrorist Arms Bazaar on the Russian Border, which MI6 is spying on. M has her boys identify the terrorists in attendance and they do good work, but then she’s informed by Admiral Dickhead that this is now a military matter and they’re going to bomb the bazaar to hell and back. M protests, stating that she still has a man on the ground (I wonder which one?) but the admiral tells her says she’d better hurry up and get him out of there because these bombs ain’t stoppin’. The man on the ground tells them it’d be a bad idea to blow this popsicle stand, because one of the jets up for sale at the bazaar is equipped with nuclear torpedoes and hitting those sorts of things with a missile is usually a bad idea. M tells the admiral to call off the bombing, but his boys say the missile is already out of range and can’t be recalled. M is used to cleaning up the messes of men in power, so she takes charge and tells Bond (he’s the man on the ground, in case you hadn’t guessed it) to get out of there. Bond can’t just leave these nukes lying around, though, so he stirs up some trouble at the bazaar, steals the jet and flies it out of Dodge before the whole place gets blown up by that pesky missile. Aside from some trouble from the terrorist copilot sitting behind him trying to strangle him and another terrorist trying to shoot him down in a jet of his own, it’s a pretty smooth getaway! Bond takes care of his last few problems by ejecting his copilot into the other jet and we head into our opening credit sequence.

Woah, I must have just jacked into the Matrix, because these opening credits are futuristic as hell! Streams of numbers, x-rays and lasers abound! Sheryl Crow belts out “Tomorrow Never Dies” while computer chip ladies wiggle around and CGI bullets fly out of computer screens hanging all over the place. Did this movie come out in 1997 or 2097, amiright?

After that trip to the future we cut to the H.M.S. Devonshire which is tooting around the South China Sea. We cut back right as things hit up, because the Devonshire is targeted by Chinese jets. The jet pilots say the Devonshire is in Chinese water and they’re gonna get some trouble if they don’t leave, but the Devonshire’s captain insists they’re in international waters and don’t have to listen to nobody. But, uh-oh, a sudden cutaway to the Carver Media Group Network in Hamburg lets us know that somebody’s messing with the Devonshire’s GPS, making them think they’re in international waters when we’re they’re all up in China’s business. We then cut to a sub, where a handily expositional crew lets us know that they’re going to send a stealthy little drill to donk up the Devonshire the next time the Chinese jets get close. The crew goes so far as to let us know the intention here is to make the British think the Chinese sank the ship, which is very helpful to me, a dumbass. The plan goes off just like these supporting characters just told us it would, and the captain of the Devonshire radios HQ to let them know they were sank by the Chinese before abandoning ship. These Carver goons aren’t done, though, as they blow up one of the Chinese jets with British missiles. I got no expositional warning that this was going to happen, so you can imagine how flabbergasted I was by this development. The Carver goons retrieve some missiles from the sunken Devonshire, and they gun down all but 17 survivors.

In Hamburg, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) himself is typing up his headline for this international incident in real time. So, wait, all of these people have been killed so that Carver can get a scoop on a story? Holy smokes, this might be the dastardliest villain we’ve come across since that guy who was just really good at shooting people. Carver has Skype calls with various people, literally saying out loud that the Carver Media Group is causing chaos all over the world. I’ll say one thing for this movie, having every single detail spelled out to me like this sure is handy. Carver releases buggy software, blackmails the President and causes all sorts of trouble like the little devil he is. He has a little powwow with his buddy Henry Gupta (Ricky Jay) and his henchman Richard Stamper (Götz Otto) and they all agree that everything is going just swimmingly. Carver lets his minions know that the South China Sea incident will be the premier headline for their satellite news network. Carver is going to dominate the news cycle, and, hot damn, just like that, we’ve got our villain’s plot spelled out for us! Man, I’m not gonna have to think for a second while watching this movie!

Meanwhile, Bond is fucking a French professor when he’s called by Moneypenny, who tells him everybody’s in a tizzy over this South China Sea incident. We get a hilarious Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell bit from Moneypenny and M, and then M and Admirable Dickhead get into a shouting match over the missing Devonshire. The admirable is rock-hard to start retaliating, but M wants to know what the hell’s going on before fleets start getting deployed. I guess she missed the first 20 minutes of the movie, because everything’s crystal clear for me, baby! MI6 discovers that Carver’s rag is already blabbing about the incident, and now the admiral’s not the only one hot for retaliation. M is given 48 hours to find out what happened and then China’s going to get a calling card from the British Navy.

M isn’t a dumbass so she thinks it’s a little suspicious that Carver got a headline about the incident out literally right after it happened. We’re told Carver’s got Szechuan beef with the Chinese because they’re the only country who won’t broadcast his media network. Say no more, M, we already know he’s the bad guy! Bond is being sent to Hamburg to attend an event at the CMGN HQ, and M gives us another tasty little morsel of exposition by letting us know that Bond used to date Carver’s wife, Paris (Teri Hatcher). M and Moneypenny are still polishing their comedy routine, and we get a great bit about Bond pumping Paris for information. Bond arrives in Germany, where Q, who’s just a regular man about town these days, gives him a new car with all the usual Q Branch bells and whistles. He also gives him a fancy new cellphone that has a taser, a fingerprint scanner and a remote control for the car.

Bond arrives at the apparent rave going on at the CMGN and is introduced as a banker to Carver. Carver is distracted by the arrival of Wai Lin (the incomparable Michelle Yeoh) from the New China News Agency. Lin wasn’t invited, but she admits to sneaking in so she could meet Carver. Carver is delighted by this, and Bond goes off to meet up with Paris. She gives him a good slap, and we find out that Bond dipped out on Paris and she still holds a grudge. This exposition train just don’t quit! Paris informs Bond she won’t be helping him investigate Carver, but when Carver slinks over she doesn’t blow his cover. Bond can’t play it cool for a second and immediately starts letting Carver know he’s suspicious of him, and Carver lets Stamper know he wants the supposed banker taken care of.

Stamper takes Bond away while Carver makes a big speech about the South China See incident. Carver’s goons beat up Bond in a back room, but he gets the better of them. Bond decides to be an asshole and cuts the power to Carver’s broadcast just for the fun of it. He’s gone before Stamper can get to him, and Carver throws a real hissy on stage. Carver’s pissed when other news networks gloat about his big broadcast getting cut off, and he wants Paris to tell him why Bond acted a fool like that. She tries to keep up the act that she barely knows him, but he sends her to Bond’s hotel room to pump intel out of him. Watch out, M and Moneypenny, I’m snatchin’ up your routine!

At Bond’s hotel, Paris plays him like a fiddle and gets into his pants without having to break a sweat. Carver has Gupta look into Bond’s alias and they figure out he’s a spy. Gupta also caught a snippet of dialogue revealing Paris knew Bond wasn’t a banker, so Carver wants both of them killed. Oh, also, turns out I was an idiot to assume Paris was playing Bond. She’s actually just still in love with him and tells him all about Carver’s secret lab. Bond sneaks into the lab and finds the encoder Carver used to control the satellite that misled the Devonshire. Before he makes it out of the lab he runs into Wai Lin, who’s doing a bit of snooping of her own. Lin trips an alarm and Bond has to deal with a bunch of goons while she uses some Q-esque devices of her own to zip around. Bond makes it out, but then gets a call from Carver. Carver knows Bond has the encoder and that he banged his wife, so Bond heads to the hotel to get Paris out of there. Stamper is monitoring the hotel, and as soon as Bond is out of his car he calls for some more goons to get the encoder.

Bond finds Paris dead in the hotel room, and a CMGN anchor on TV is already broadcasting a story about her body being found alongside the body of an unidentified man. Uh-oh, now Bond knows how the dude from Early Edition felt! Carver’s assassin, Dr. Kaufman (Vincent Schiavelli with a bad German accent), decides to have a little chat with Bond instead of just shooting him, and reveals that the news story is a tape that’s going to be broadcast in an hour. Carver’s goons try to beat their way into Bond’s car while Kaufman keeps talking instead of just taking the damn shot. The goons radio Kaufman and tell him to get Bond to unlock the car, and Bond tricks him into tasering (thanks for letting me know tazing isn’t a word, Google) himself before executing him with his own gun to avenge Paris or whatever.

Stamper spots Bond sneaking out of the hotel, and Bond uses the remote control to steer the car away from the goons. He hops on board and remote controls himself away. He retrieves the encoder from the glove compartment and bails before driving the car off a ledge, causing enough of a distraction for him to sneak away. We cut to an air base in the South China Sea, where Bond meets up with, my god, Jack Wade himself. If I’m forced to see Joe Don Baker in one more movie, I don’t know what I’ll do. Bond finds out that the encoder was tampered with to mislead the Devonshire and figures out where the ship sank. He skydives down into the sea where the Devonshire went down, and I shudder as watching Bond scuba dive through the wreckage of the ship gives me vivid flashbacks to Thunderball. In the wreckage Bond once again runs into Wai Lin, and the two have to make a quick exit before the Devonshire slips off its perch and falls deeper into the sea. On the surface Lin signals for her buddies on a boat to pick them up, but her friend gets a harpoon through the chest and it turns out Stamper is here for some reason. Bond and Lin are captured and handcuffed together on a helicopter that takes them to yet another of Carver’s building. Lin recognizes a Chinese general leaving as they arrive, but then they’re brought before Carver as he’s typing up an obituary for the two of them. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a dose of exposition, but luckily Carver’s there to inform us that Lin is a Chinese spy. Thank goodness, if I’d had to figure that out on my own this recap might have taken me months to get through.

Carver asks Stamper to torture Bond and Lin a bit while he goes off to meet with one General Chang, but Bond and Lin make a dream team and they easily escape despite still being handcuffed together. If there’s one thing this series loves more than exposition it’s a chase scene, so we get a nice scene of Bond and Lin on a motorcycle being chased by Carver’s goons. They eventually escape and manage to get out of their handcuffs, but then Lin gives Bond the slip by handcuffing him to a post. She works alone, by gummit! Bond catches up to her just in time to see her ambushed by another squad of goons, but she hands each of them their asses with a bow on top. This is a James Bond movie, though, so of course Bond has to arrive at the last minute to save her from being shot by the one goon she hadn’t gotten to yet. Bond deduces that General Chang is working with Carver and wants Lin dead.

Bond and Lin deduce that Carver is going to use the missile he stole off the Devonshire against the Chinese, and they decide to radio their respective governments and let them know about Carver’s schemes. Lin is amazing at her job and figures out that Carver’s stealth ship from the first scene is hidden in Ha Long Bay. Lin and Bond head that way while joking about how Britain is a corrupt western power and communism sucks, because everybody in this movie’s got jokes. They find the stealth ship as it’s heading out at nightfall and plant some bombs on it. Inside the ship, Carver once again explains his plan to pit the British and Chinese forces against each other and starts firing off missiles. Carver spots Lin and sends Stamper to collect her, knowing Bond must be nearby. Bond tricks Stamper into thinking he’s dead by throwing the body of a henchman offboard, and Carver calls for Lin to be brought to the bridge so he can gloat to her about his wicked machinations and do a racist parody of martial arts moves.

Back in jolly old London Town M finally got Bond’s message and lets everybody to know about Carver’s schemes. Carver really drives home his plot by laying out step by step how General Chang is calling a meeting of Chinese government officials, only he’s not going to be there and the meeting will have an unexpected guest in the form of that pesky missile from the Devonshire. We been knew, y’all! Once the government officials are taken out Change will seize power while the British and Chinese fleets destroy each other. What is Carver actually getting out of this? Why, exclusive broadcast rights in China for the next hundred years, of course.

Now, I know at this moment you’re probably asking yourself, “你在跟我开玩笑吗？”, but I promise you, Carver really is doing all of this so he’ll be allowed to broadcast his dumb news network in China for the next one hundred (100!) years. Will Carver be alive in one hundred years? I’m famously not a scientist, but all available evidence points to a solid no. Will anybody give a shit about printed or televised news once the internet takes off in about five years? Some dweebs will still get The New York Times delivered to their houses so they have something to feel smug about, but, I mean, c’mon. Nobody’s going to care about CMGN once news is only a few keystrokes away, and if they’re anything like me they’ll be constantly up to date on all the important world happenings thanks to the reputable and reliable reporting found at Infowars.com (my only trusted news source). Carver’s plan is as shortsighted as it is dumb, which is to say, approximately, ‘as hell’. Now that I’m done roasting this Steve Jobs lookin’ nerd, let’s get back to the show.

Bond holds Gupta hostage and lets Carver know he’s still alive. He proposes to trade Gupta for Lin. Carver doesn’t actually care about Gupta, though, so Carver just shoots him to take away Bond’s bargaining chip. Bond had a backup plan, though, and he sets off a grenade with a Chinese spy watch he stole from Lin’s headquarters earlier. Rude, but effective. The explosion allows a British ship to detect Carver’s stealth ship, and Lin and Bond are able to get away. The British try to shoot Carver’s ship out of the water, but he’s still intent on firing that missile. Lin gums up the ship’s work, making it a sitting duck for the Brits to blow up while Bond tries to blow up Stamper with a rocket launcher that was inside the ship for no reason. It still takes the Brits a few tries despite Carver’s ship not moving anymore, but they finally land a hit and Carver’s goons prepare to abandon ship.

Stamper thinks Bond was killed in the British attack, so Carver sends him off to the engine room to deal with Lin. Bond sneaks over to disarm the Devonshire missile, but Carver gets the drop on him and we get one last bit of sweet, sweet exposition as Carver describes how the missile can’t be disarmed and the Brits are destroying all the evidence of his involvement in all this. He’s going to get what he wants and still get off Scott free! Only, of course he’s not, because Bond turns on the drill that killed the Devonshire and feeds Carver to it. Bond gets to work stopping the missile, but Stamper threatens to kill the now-captured Lin if he doesn’t back off. Lin tosses Bond a handy gadget that will stop the missile from launching (but not exploding) and Stamper drops her into the water to drown while he and Bond tussle. Bond traps Stamper next to the missile and dives down to save Lin as the missile explodes inside the ship, killing Stamper.

M is informed that Carver’s dead but that Bond’s not, and M tells Moneypenny to spin the story to make it seemed like Carver killed himself. M’s just chock full of humor today! A rescue ship looks for Bond and Lin, but they choose to make out instead of being rescued.

The End

~~~~~

Hoo buddy, my sources are telling me this was a bit of a stinker! Maybe it’s just that this is the follow up to the spectacular GoldenEye, but there was a lot going on here that just didn’t work for me. As much as I appreciate having the movie’s plot spoon-fed to me, I think it might have been a good idea to show rather than tell at least once over the course of two hours. There was just so much exposition in this one! And I’m absolutely flabbergasted by how lame Carver’s plot was. We’ve had some stretches in logic from villains in the past, but usually they at least want to get rich or take over the world in something. Carver just cared about being able to broadcast in China! I’m sorry, but a memorable villain this scheme does not make. Michelle Yeoh can’t help but be fantastic in everything she’s ever done so of course I loved her as Lin, and while there were still a few moments where Bond got to save her I still think she held her own much more than most Bond Girls are allowed to. It felt like we were getting a crash course on fridging with the whole Paris thing, but honestly she was so inconsequential to the plot that I’d pretty much forgotten her until I happened to catch her name a second ago while I was proofreading this very recap. As corny and out of place as it was, I actually loved M and Moneypenny constantly trading quips and jokes, and while I can’t say for sure I think this M is getting a lot more screen time than any of her predecessors (which you won’t catch me complaining about). This movie was cheesy and the plot was incredibly silly, but there were still some fun fights (i.e. the ones where Michelle Yeoh got to beat up a bunch of dudes) and as much as I was rolling my eyes I still came away from this film feeling like I’d had a good time.

Overall, I’m giving Tomorrow Never Dies QQQ on the Five Q Scale.

News flash, we’ve got some more wonderful recaps for you to enjoy coming soon! First Eli will be back to cover “Rose and Fern” and “Runaways”, the next two episodes of The Golden Palace (can’t WAIT to read Eli’s thoughts on both of those for [very different reasons]), and then before you can blink I’ll be back to cover the next James Bond movie, The World is Not Enough.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for contemplating ethics in game journalism and thank you for being One of Us!

#one of us #007 #james bond

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daleisgreat · 7 years

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2016-17 TV Season Recap Part Four: Bonus Summer TV Edition

Previous TV Season Recaps – (2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 2016-17 TV Season Recap, Part 1 (Gotham, Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow) 2016-17 TV Season Recap, Part 2 (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Legion, Riverdale) 2016-17 TV Season Recap, Part 3 (24: Legacy, South Park, Horace & Pete, Stranger Things)

I did not anticipate there being so many new shows to keep up with this summer, and the last summer shows just wrapped up over the last few weeks in time for season premieres of the shows I am currently following. When I reflected back on the summer, there ended up being six seasons of shows I wound up devouring throughout the summer, and it felt like plenty to warrant a quick blog with my thoughts of the summer of television. A few of these shows I covered in prior TV Season recaps, but their premieres got pushed back a few months to the summertime instead of their usual spring debuts, and a few other shows caught my eye too, so let’s get to it! Glow - For those unfamiliar with GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) it was a edgy women's wrestling league that ran from 1985-90. The Netflix series focuses on a new cast of fictional characters with some based on personas of the former wrestler's in the promotion. Glow centers on one Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie) who has been looking to catch her first break in Hollywood and took up a role in GLOW because it was the only thing available. The 10 episode season introduces the cast of the dozen or wrestlers and builds up to the season finale which is the shooting of the pilot episode. Obviously, the wrestling nut in me is really biased on this, but I feel safe in saying it is a legit good show and you do not need to be a wrestling fan to dig it. Only about 30% of the show deals with wrestling while the rest is fleshing out the rest of the cast. Wrestling fans will dig a few cameos from former WWE/Impact stars peppered throughout the show. The episodes are roughly a half hour each and with only 10 episodes it made for a quick and entertaining watch. Grade: B+

Defenders - This is the equivalent to the Netflix Marvel Universe to what the first Avengers was to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Defenders is the team-up show of the four heroes introduced in past Netflix Marvel shows over the last few years featuring Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). I loved seeing Daredevil, Jones and Cage back again and kicking ass, especially once they all start teaming up in the back half of the show. Another positive is this season is only eight episodes compared to the usual 13 of previous Marvel Netflix series so there is a lot less fluff. On the negative however, Defenders doubles down on nearly everything I loathed on the Iron Fist show. I am not a fan of the villains known as ‘The Hand’ at all as they come off as meaningless cannon-fodder, but Marvel went all in on them this season by unleashing Elektra (Elodie Yung) as their leader. She kind of gives The Hand a smidge of an edge, but I was never much of a fan of Elektra either so that did not really help. Like most of the Internet, I was not big into Iron Fist also and it is unfortunate that Iron Fist is the primary focus of the four heroes in most episodes as he plays a pivotal role in trying to vanquish The Hand. By the end of the show I still was not swayed to be a fan of either Iron Fist or buying into The Hand as a formidable antagonist, but at least I can take solace in enjoying how Daredevil, Cage and Jones all played off each other along with each show’s periphery characters in each episode so the season was not a complete waste. Grade: C-

‎American Grit - The first season of American Grit was a guilty pleasure of mine and I am glad it returned along with host John Cena for a second season. It is a Survivor-esque reality show where a bunch of people are divided into four teams in a military themed camp with a former military veteran as their leader and compete in challenges each week that leads to someone going home each week until there is one left to win a million dollars. This season mixes things up a bit by having a 50/50 mix of contestants consisting of athletic builds and everyday Joes/Janes and all have a theme of trying to find their grit. That means a part of each show features a little bit of everyday drama of the competitors having a big personal moment revealing their past personal struggles and why they entered the show. There is also a little bit more of a focus on the team leaders this season too and watching their turmoil bubble over throughout the season resulted in some entertaining animosity. I usually try and avoid most reality TV but naturally I made an exception for this show because it involves the charismatic beast that is John Cena and I got a kick whenever he appeared to shed some wisdom to the entrants or gossip with the military veterans. The challenges are also fun to watch for the most part and consist of a unique boot camp style variant so I was always looking forward to what challenge they cooked up each episode. The ‘finding your Grit’ theme resulted in several emotional moments throughout the show of the cast spilling their guts about their past and for a handful it looked like they legitimately came out of the show changed and finding out something new about themselves. Grade: A-

Ballers - The Rock continues to impress as sports financial manager extraordinaire Spencer Strasmore. I always relate Ballers as a sports-themed version of Entourage for those not familiar with it. The theme of this season is Spencer’s agency trying to expand and make it big by landing a deal to be the owner group in charge of moving an NFL team to Las Vegas. Rock continues to play off well with coworker Joe (Rob Corddry) as the two continue to party way too hard to impress potential clients. I also dig the athletes on this show as they face popular NFL controversies such as dealing with concussions and suspensions over failed drug tests. I will also give a shoutout to the Dolphins scout, Charles (Omar Miller) and Dolphins GM Larry Siefert (Dule Hill) as I have always dug their love/hate dynamic and they continue to steal the show with a few unforgettable scenes including a dinner scene that goes all kinds of wrong just like the average WWE wedding. There are a couple clunker episodes, but for the most part this was another must-see season. Grade: A- Leftovers - I have no idea where to begin on this show that deals with living in the aftermath of the Rapture. The first season had a little bit of a standard plot structure, but last season and for this final third season, The Leftovers went off the rails in all kinds of unpredictable ways where I stopped trying to guess what happened and went along for the ride. The primary plot point for this episode is the cast worrying about a second, far greater Rapture occurring and the cast going to insurmountable lengths to prevent it. Some of those lengths feature crafting a new version of the Bible, the wildest boat ride in TV history and finally getting the payoff to what happened to the 2% of the population that vanished in the original Rapture.

It is hard to recommend this show as I stopped questioning what they were doing early on in the second season and am just accepting whatever they throw in my face, except for almost anything relating to the Guilty Remnant cult. It appears the writers heard our dissatisfied pleas and the Guilty Remnant are laughably written off early in the season with a throwaway line of dialogue and have a minimal presence this season. I take that back, I do like Guilty Remnant member, Liv Tyler getting her overdue comeuppance this season in a glorious manner. The series finale delivered like few other series finales before it and I will never forget conversing with a friend for nearly a half hour breaking down the entire season in a way I do with no other TV shows. Grade: A+ Game of Thrones - After many brief teases and minor skirmishes this is finally the season of Game of Thrones that goes all in on white walkers/zombies. It is impossible for me to give this show a fair breakdown in just a paragraph or two because it has such a huge cast and I am awful at remembering almost of all their names. I will say I liked the setup to capture a living white walker and bring it to Castle Black. Those two episodes really stood out the most where Jon Snow and his motley crew put their lives on the lines into the icy wastes to capture a white walker. The confrontation with the walkers surrounding Jon Snow on that island lead to him and his men laying it all on the line in a EPIC showdown that had me buying into their fates until an unexpected ex-machina transpires and had me popping huge at the TV.

I loved how Game of Thrones built up the big negotiation session between Snow and the Lannisters as a dramatic TV event for the ages and that episode delivered in a big way with meaningful payoffs. I do echo what a majority of the online feedback that the pace of travel is amped up far too fast compared to previous seasons. I recall prior seasons where certain characters spent an entire season getting from one location to another, but in this shortened season characters would leave one location, appear on another side of the world later that episode and make it back to their home region by the end of the same episode. I get it, the show is winding down with one more season to go so they need to fast track some of these story arcs, but after setting a precedent for the five prior seasons it is difficult to make that adjustment. There is still so much more I want to touch on including Arya being a badass assassin, dragons, zombie dragons, that grayscale-sickness seeming to be a little too convenient to cure, the awesomeness of Hot Pie and the cowardice of Theon, but I am already pushing 2000 words here and need to wrap this up. Suffice it to say, Game of Thrones continues to amaze, and I am gratified that I am finally caught up and cannot wait for the final season next year. Grade: A Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Angry Videogame Nerd Volumes 7-9 Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television

#tv/web series #glow #game of thrones #leftovers #ballers #defenders #american grit #liv tyler #the rock #john cena #allison brie #rob corddry #charlie cox #krysten ritter #michael colter #finn jones #omar miller #Dule Hill

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god-hunter · 7 years

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Secret Empire #4

Alright guys! This is where things actually turned around for me in this event, believe it or not. [For now].

So... If you can’t tell who that is on the cover with Iron Man and Steve, it’s Ultron toting a very familiar Hank Pym half-face. It’s interesting and different, but why is he there? And where has he been all this time?

The answer amazed me, and I actually found this issue to be brilliant.

This issue is more expositional and conversational than anything, but the dialogue was so juicy and enthralling that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There are some major developments that occurred too. You get to see Black Widow teach her Red Room camp kids a lesson, and the overall deal is the great cosmic cube fragment hunt.

So without further adieu, let’s dive into this.

[SPOILERS]

We start with Mysterious Rogers still wandering in the woods. He gets triple teamed by a few random villains in masks that I don’t recognize. But then he finds help in two strangers. A grown black and white man that are reminiscent of Sam Wilson and Bucky.

[But wait... How is that...? This is yet to be explained.]

Similar to Steve, they don’t really know why they’re there, but they were more than happy to help him.

Steve decides to join them in setting up a camp when the reminiscent Sam tells him that they could all use friends.

Then, in Baltimore we get a follow up on The Punisher. Kraken visited him and tried to chew him out for not reporting back with any intel on what he found. [Perhaps, that’s a good thing?]

“I don’t answer to you, Kraken.”

“What about me, then?” A hologram of Cap gets in the room.

Frank instantly salutes and fesses up. “...I came close in Newark, brought home solid intel. We’ll have her in our sights soon.”

[So I guess that means that Boomerang hid Maria Hill long enough for her to escape or something...]

Then we cut to Black Widow who is fucking up a random Hydra goon tied to a chair. The kids can’t take it. They feel for the lackey. He isn’t much older than them. And it seems that he clearly doesn’t have the information that she’s looking for. But she is insistent. She tells them there is no other way.

Nadia Pym insists that she stop hard enough for the goon to reveal that he just worked in the mess hall.

This made Black Widow even more vindicated. “Yes, Nadia-- The Mess Hall at the Southern Virginia Hydra Installation... The same one whose staff has been charged with catering the Rebuilding Ceremony at the Capitol. He was given a tour of the site--logistics were discussed...”

The long-short of it is that Riri steps in with a plan of her own to let him go and use a quick memory wipe thing so that he could forget about this traumatic event.

He thanks her, and Widow actually entertains this for 3 seconds.

Then once his foot is untied, he immediately goes for his dagger and comes after her. “HAIL HYDRA!”

He is shot without warning.

The kids are Shocked! That could’ve been it.

“Wonderful. Now we have to switch Motels.” Black Widow says as she walks away from her pack.

[What’s important about this scene is that her kids are naive. They’re children. And Spencer is really giving them firsthand experience that this Super Hero gig has some hard calls to make sometimes. Do they have it in them to take on this War...?]

Cap continues his conversation with The Punisher as we see Nat and her pack get in a van. He basically needs Frank to trail Nat, just in case things get rough.

But then we dive into the focus of our issue. This is where things really wake up for me.

Our Underground team of Tony, Sam, Hercules, Ant Man, Quicksilver and Bobbi fly to Alaska. Which is established by Tony A.I that this is Ultron Territory.

“They’re calling them the Ultronic Territories... Basically, not long before the Planetary Defense Shield went up, Ultron returned from the stars. But instead of trying to destroy the World... he set up shop in a remote bit of Alaska and started building cities... full of more Ultrons.”

[Ooooh man. Something way bigger is going on here! This I could get behind.]

For the next set of panels, we get to see Tony A.I and Steve plan the same thing. They’re both aiming to go to the same place at the same time for the same reason. They want that Cosmic Cube Fragment and they need it now.

Then we get to see Ultron, who is wearing half of Hank’s face get to excited that they’re all coming to visit him. He talks to Jarvis about it who tells them that they’ve arrived.

He gets really excited about this and exclaims that, “...Hank Pym is going to save the Avengers!”

[Whoa. That’s interesting. What happened to Ultron here? Did he actually fuse with Hank Pym??]

When our Underground Team lands, Sam stays in the ship. Bobbi runs in, Iron Man flies, Quicksilver stands by with Hercules and Ant Man is the first to encounter ‘Avenger’ Black Ant.

[This is where I really got excited.]

A little fight breaks out with them, just as Bobbi is encountered by Task Master. [Yes!]

“Danger’s afoot. Thank the Gods,” Hercules says. My sentiments exactly. I love see an Avenger x Dark Avenger brawl. [Even if they’re not calling them that.]

Quicksilver finds Wanda and this is the first glimpse that we get of why she’s evil at all. Her eyes are completely blacked out. It looks like this is a curse. [Which actually is hopeful. It means that it’s possible that she could break out of this and come to her senses. Vision too, for that manner.]

Speaking of. Vision catches Sam in the ship and bashes his head right against the dashboard. [I actually have a bad feeling about this, but I’ll explain later.]

We also get an awesome pairing of Hercules vs. Odinson.

Iron Man sighs that this was supposed to be a Stealth Mission. We get sweet panels of fighting between our teams.

Tony A.I meets Steve and they are just about to battle, before Ultron-Pym intervenes.

“No, no, no--This won’t do--”

He uses some sort of massive beam to knock all of them out. It seems to have come from the ceiling or something.

“I’m sorry it had to be this way... but please know I have missed you all so dearly-- And it’s so good to welcome you home again.”

They all black out and wake up with their hands bound by some sort of hexagonal tech. The surroundings are familiar. They’re all sitting at a table in a room that looks a lot like Avengers Mansion.

At this point, both teams are forced into a conversation with Ultron-Pym who really puts it on that they’re here for dinner. He’s got an apron and everything that reads “Kiss the Overlord.” That’s a bit campy, but it’s fun.

So anyway. This conversation commences and they all talk about everything that went wrong. With everyone. Tony A.I points out the obvious problem with Steve’s team. “He’s had his reality rewritten by a Cosmic Cube, she’s possessed by a demon, he’s infected by some A.I Virus--and this one just wants his hammer back, I think.”

Ultron Pym brings up his side of the table and asks what happened to Tony. [Not once referring to his A.I state.]

Steve mocks that Tony A.I is too drunk to pilot his newer models.

[...I’m sorry, but how does that work... Because last I checked his A.I was just a light form with basically All Human Qualities and understanding, except for the actual physical ability to actually be on this plain. Now.. Spencer has gotten away with giving him a glove to interact with things, or even toting his old armor... but you mean to tell me that he can’t rock the new armor because there’s some sort of A.I joy juice out there that he’s drinking??]

Hercules brings up brief beef with Thor, Quicksilver interjects that he doesn’t care about any of this, he just cares about his sister.

Then Ultron Pym berates them for always bickering so much. Then he reveals why Ultron built this city. He speaks in the third person here, which is very important. And this is where I was floored with astonishment.

“It’s because he didn’t have to [come after you again]. It’s because he looked at you and your war, Tony, and... your scheming, Steve--and he realized he wouldn’t have to destroy anything. Because you were already doing it for him.”

[Whoa!]

So that explains why, if Ultron was here the whole time, why he never came out and attacked, and instead focused on building his own corner of the World and making it his own. Eventually he would branch out after his problem sorted itself out.

When our brainwashed Cap brings up that Hydra is going to change all of the corruption and fix everything, I loved Ultron’s reaction.

“Oh, of course it will, Steve... Just like Tony’s grand plans for Superhuman Registration made everything so much better. Or perhaps you mean like when Wanda here tried to fix everything-- That got a bit messy as I recall...”

He drives a point home, here. “You always have such big ideas for solving all the World’s problems. Funny, then, how you just keep making everything worse.”

Cap diverts the conversation to the cube. A little more bickering ensues, between when Sam Wilson shouts at Steve to not talk to him. Especially like they’re friends.

Ultron-Pym loses his patience with them and yells about how he’s trying to help them. He brings up how Steve can say “Assemble” and everyone will dive into a fire head first, and how when Tony has a crazy idea, half of the Hero Community will be down with it. Then he gets all upset and says, “What about me?! I’m a Founding Avenger! I deserve some Respect! I deserve to be taken seriously!”

At this point, Tony’s A.I cracks up. He says that’s “The most Hank Pym thing I have ever heard anyone say.”

He continues to belittle and instigate Ultron-Pym further, and at this point we’re a little unsure if it really is Hank or not. But either way, even Cap in his Hydra state is sounding like his old self, warning Tony not to push too far.

Sam Wilson starts to agree with Steve on this.

[It’s all so brilliant. Ultron-Pym, in this very moment is actually unifying them, by giving them all something to hate. Or at least to worry about.]

...It goes on. I’m at the point where I can’t give EVERY detail. But believe me. The conversation is GOOD.

Maybe Tony A.I believes that this is really Pym after all. And he brings up where it actually went wrong. Why it’s not a Happy Family any more with all of their dinners and pool parties.

“It’s because they got to be too awkward. Too uncomfortable. It was hard for people to act like everything was still okay... after what you did to Jan.”

“HOW DARE YOU?!”

Ultron-Pym enlarges and grabs Tony A.I read to crush him. The table is destroyed and, Hank explains his huge mistake for seemingly the thousandth time.

“Every day I live with this, and I save the World a hundred times over! But I made one mistake-- ONE MISTAKE!!! Years ago! And it’s all any of you will ever remember me for...”

He loses it and is about to kill Tony A.I claiming that it will give everyone something Else to remember him for.

This is where Scott Lang has a ‘be cool’ moment and manages to diffuse the entire situation, by completely relating to his situation and stating that he was an inspiration to him. That’s why he became the 2nd Ant Man.

He ends up asking, “What would Janet...do” and almost like the flip of a switch, Pym just decides to let everyone go.

All of their bonds are released and Ant Man gets a cube fragment on his plate.

Immediately they bolt the fuck Out of there man. While, Pym nearly manically yells, “FAREWELL! SAFE TRAVELS! Enjoy the cube fragment, Scott! I’ll make sure you’re heading in the opposite direction from you-know-who...”

He also bears some foreshadowing predictions about Tony’s A.I. “...a conflict like this...can have a cleansing effect. ...Help you face your demons. Say hello to all your ghosts for me, Tony!” He bids him farewell, in this almost taunting fashion.

That’s when Steve stands by Pym confused. “We had a deal, Ultron”

Ultron Pym states that their deal is still on. “I won’t be invading your little country. But the cube fragment is its own issue.”

So... just to move on from this. Both teams leave the premises.

We cut to six hours later, when we see our Underground Team celebrating their victory a bit. But then there is news about Amor arriving in D.C. to deliver an important announcement.

Sam tells them to turn that up.

Steve is already back home, in full General Hydra garb... [Something makes me wonder if that encounter made him want to hang up his stars and stripes for good. Probably not though.]

Anyway, Namor is there to not only shake hands with Steve, but also to give him his very own cube fragment, as a sign of their newfound alliance.

Namor is clearly doing this for the survival of his kingdom. Against the will of his people, it would seem.

And now our guys are upset. Because they went through all that emotional toil for one fragment. Meanwhile, Steve just got one handed to him a quarter of a day later “without even lifting a damn finger”, as Sam would say.

At D.C General Steve stands by Baron Zero and talks about how their draw doesn’t matter. Soon they’ll get the fragment that the Underground Team has too... “After all--we have someone on the inside.”

-To Be Continued!-

Aw COME ON!!!!

This issue was great, but now that last bit of news worries me.

I don’t know why, but my first instinct is that it’s Bobbi Morse.

I feel like she, out of all of them is the most that would have it in her. She’s S.H.I.E.L.D., they’re known to do Double-Agent/Triple-Agent stuff... It would just suit her. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Although... Quicksilver did outwardly state that he doesn’t care WHO wins. He just wants his sister to be okay. And Bobbi did comment on his questionable motivation for the cause.

But then there’s that little thing that worried me, regarding The Vision knocking out Sam in the ship, just like that.

Taking it back to the very beginning of this issue, Mysterious Rogers bumps into a reminiscent Sam & Bucky. [As I’m referring them]

Well, if Mysterious Rogers is indeed real... Does that mean I’m right about the other two, or are they just very capable strangers that resemble his closest friends?

...Beyond that. It’s almost Mystery Novel formula, that the one you least expect.. the one who wants NOTHING to do with anything, is the killer. In this case, the mole.

...it could be possible. He was taken out of the fight immediately, by Vision. Blind-sided.

Then, he wound up at the table. Those reactions to Steve were genuine though. They didn’t seem put on.

...and the layers might be complex. They might be actual genuine disgust, but he might have his own personal reasons for staying out of it. Buried guilt and hope for Steve to snap out of it and all that.

[There’s also even a clue from that Underground #1 tie-in I reviewed the other day. Sam mentioned to Scott, or Hercules I think, that he wasn’t sure if everyone on this team was trustworthy. Or.. who they said they were...]

In that light. He’s either genuinely getting a hunch about one of them, or he’s planting the seeds of mistrust himself, because He’s gonna surprise us.

Ah man. I dunno.

And I haven’t read Secret Empire #5 yet! So I’m very much looking forward to doing so. I wonder who it’s going to be. But I’m also very interested in seeing what happens to Nat & the others. Will Frank Castle end up finding them and if so, how will an encounter like that really go? Would they come to blows, or find a middle ground and trade information?

And then there’s the rest of the Underground camp. The cover of that issue. Clint looks like he’s getting meeeesssed up. So I’m very curious about what happens next.

Can’t wait to read Secret Empire #5!!!!!

#Secret Empire #Issue 4 #Nick Spencer #Marvel Event

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