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kuro-ousama · 4 years

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What do you think of Season 0 Yami vs DM Yami? Do you like one more? Like them in different ways? Like one’s role in the story better?

Oops, I'm so sorry... I wasn't online for these past days due to irl stuffs. Boy, you're in for a ride.

To answer this, I would assumed you were talking about their anime version and not the manga, so to be honest, I like DM version better, because Toei's anime only focused on the slice of life/ supernatural thing rather than plot progression, so there was no death-T, Shadi's game toned down, Bakura's boardgame was, um, well... Anyway, because the episodelistic (was that the word?) nature of ss0, Yami was more like a wraith that only appeared when Yugi's friends was in danger, rather than a foreshadow that he's an imprisoned spirit.

I don’t get why people misinformed that “Yami Yugi was only an alter ego before Kazuki Takahashi decided to add Egyptian plot", and it annoyed me. The ancient plotline was already in planning, just probably in a different direction, but the intention of making Yami Yugi a ancient pharaoh was right there from the very start. This is a page from chapter 14, for example:

Here, what Shadi said was “まるで古代エジプトの王「フアラオ」の墓のようだ。。。！！！”, basic translation is “As if this is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh's tomb”

The English translation cut out a couple of words, but eh, the foreshadow intention is still the same:

While SS0 had a different maze design, and Shadi had a different impression:

I mean Toei had a habit of adding filler and changing scenes (not that Gallop wasn't guilty of the same) but these little changes really made an impact on the storytelling. Compare it to DM version:

I mean, DM had loads of issues but at least they didn't butcher this foreshadow, thank goodness for that.

Like, I'm sure the author wanted you, the reader to connect these little dots and odds together before the big revelation:

“If Yugi and Yami are the same person, why is there two soul rooms?”

“One soul only have one soul room"

“But there are two soul room of two Yugis, because they are two completely different souls”

“If Yami Yugi is Yugi, his room must've been a darker version of Yugi's game room(if different personality counted as a different soul) , or he supposed to lurked in the shadow of Yugi's room (only one soul room per soul, established rule), but instead, it's a tomb/maze hybrid, with ancient designs that is unnatural for a simple modern alter ego”

“So, Yami Yugi came from ancient Egypt, not a dark personality that Yugi created on the spot when solving the puzzle"

Gallop's DM was more guilty of changing stuffs and filler arcs to add more duel in it, but Toei's series was specially guilty in taking stuffs out to add more comedy/slice of life fillers, examples are most of their anime: dragonball, sailormoon, one piece, saint seiya, must have been an 80-90 trend...

So when people said they liked ss0 Yami more and he should be that way in DM, and all of their reasoning was the same old “because he's a psycho murderer that burns people alive”.

And?

AND?

What else do you like about him? So you only liked ss0 for Yami’s memetic murderous status (Not to mention how terribly misinformed that was because there's only two chapter that involved fire out of 53 chapters of the first seven volumes, chemical explosion doesn’t count.)? Did you know Yami was only acting out on Yugi's anger? Did you know he didn't even aware he's a separate person? That's why he didn't react when Yugi got beat up, only when Yugi got angry at what ever villain of the week that he came out, like the Hulk.

No, he also doesn't “protect" Yugi, he's Yugi's judgement stand-in, punish whomever hurt Yugi's friends, or himself, on Yugi's anger/ behave/ demand. Even in SS0, his attitude is soften over time, but it's not as apparent as the manga, due to them skipping or altering important arcs.

Death T is an example, Yami's first character development, and the basis for Kaiba’s too, for that matter. When Yami's at the losing end, he was scared, he was lonely, and start distrusting himself, but the voices of encouragement from grandpa and Yugi's friends help him to continue the duel, to have trust, have faith, to believe.

The penalty games were supposed to make the victims reform, “you shouldn't do this anymore" kinda way, but it didn't work well with Kaiba, who had embraced Gozaburo’s teaching to heart. That's why Kaiba's chosen punishment was Mind Crush, to mend his own heart, and remember what he had discarded.

Yami Duelist Kingdom was “I want to save Grandpa, whatever it takes" (willing to sacrifice Kaiba in the process, aka what I coined the “Kiritsugu's ideals", means kill to save)

Yugi was “I want to save Grandpa, but I don't want someone else to die" (Unwillingness to let others die to complete his goal)

Their conflict of interest was suppose to be one of Yami's character development, and help him see beyond his choices, not just do or die. If Death-T and Bakura's game was about trust, then Duelist Kingdom was about trust and choices. Yami always believed he had no other options, so he had to do what he must. Yami didn't know that Mai would show up to repay Yugi’s star chips, so losing to Kaiba will be the end, and his grandpa would stay soulless for good, Yami also didn't think about asking Yugi for his help against Pegasus, since the loser's soul would be imprisoned in a card, etc. If Yami was to look up, he'd had seen that he has options, not just one choice, but he didn't, that's why he had to learn it.

His fears kept him down, limited on what choice he can have, and in my headcanon, it's probably what made him sacrificed himself and seal himself in the puzzle, because he didn’t get to see any other options. DM anime did toned down a lot of Yami's character development, but well, at least it's better than what we got in SS0.

And so on so forth...

If you only have to compare the two anime, I like DM Yami better, ss0 is just a loose adaption that doesn't truly explore Yami's characterisation, or anyone else, really, for that matter. SS0 is entertaining to watch, if you need some slice of life/ supernatural/ monster of the week type of show, but characterisation wise, it's not good.

“Yeah but in SS0 Yami murdered people left and right, he's so evil I love it"

#yugioh #Yami Yugi #kuro's thoughts #yugioh dm #ss0

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itsbenedict · 3 years

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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 11

Horse On First

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Last time, our heroes made contact with the Deathseekers, and opted to accompany them back to Barley to take care of some unfinished business. While the high-level adventurers take care of the dragon, the party goes to deliver a book and pick up some clothes from the tailor. No drama here, probably!

In the morning, the party is woken by a visitor to the inn. Looseleaf... acquires a new bit of background thanks to an excellent History roll.

The maid is here to retrieve the party, as the Deathseekers are about to set out. One thing that's somewhat surprising is that the deathseekers aren't riding giraffes, like normal people- they're riding these weird, hulked-out short-necked hornless giraffes that- and there must be some mistake here- are apparently called "whoreses"? It's weird. The best their Nature rolls can get is that they sort of resemble an exotic striped creature called a "zebra", maybe.

Lady Greatholder is there, with two of her maids- one of whom is an elf, who's staring at Oyobi in undisguised horror. To non-elven eyes, Oyobi might look normal, dressed sort of sporty, even- but to an elf's keen sense of propriety, she might as well be wearing an ahegao t-shirt and hammer pants.

Traveling conversation is light.

Looseleaf: "What are these things, anyways? They look like recolored zebras." Benedict I. (GM): You must've misheard something, because Doon says "What, you've never seen a whores before?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...pardon me?" Looseleaf: "Is this- this is a pun, right? Like, I'm supposed to ask why you call them whores, and you'll answer, 'because we're riding them'? Is that the joke?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: Oh, god, this is an elaborate gaslighting prank. They are going to try to convince Saelhen to call this thing a whore, and then they will laugh, and she cannot even blame them, because that would be hilarious if she did it, probably. Benedict I. (GM): "Is there something wrong with the whoreses, ma'am?" the human girl asks. Looseleaf: "No, like, you're calling these animals whores, and despite the fact that I wasn't allowed to look at those magazines when I was younger, I'm relatively sure that the Common word 'whore' refers to a lady of ill repute of a brothel- I'm making this worse, aren't I." "I didn't learn the wrong word did I. Oh gods I totally learned the wrong word didn't I. The books that taught me Common were messing with me weren't they." Benedict I. (GM): Lady Greatholder and Doon absolutely lose their shit, as does Oyobi, who's been grinning ear to ear this whole time. Kevin speaks up. "Ah, no, it's- H-O-R-S-E. Hor-suh." "They're from up north." Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen covers her faint smile (read: shit-eating grin). "How novel." Looseleaf: Looseleaf emits a quiet buzzing sound not unlike the sound previously emitted by John Human. This is moth for 'quiet screaming'.

The party doesn't really withhold any details about Arnie and the tower- they just make an appeal for Arnie to be treated with as much mercy as they can muster. Doon implies that he was in a similar place when Lady Greatholder found him, so she reluctantly agrees to stay the hand of JUSTICE.

On arriving in Barley, the Deathseekers go over their plan, in the broad strokes: they're going to post up in the tower, and lay a trap for the dragon using Arnie as bait. By Arnie's reckoning, it'll take a little over a week before the dragon's next visit, so the party has some time to kill in town.

Their first order of business is to visit Chitch, a local lizardfolk farmer who was kidnapped by Lumiere:

Chitch seems surprised that they didn't get kidnapped or tortured- and even more surprised when they claim to have information on his missing daughter's whereabouts.

They hand him CHOSS BOOK, the diary of the girl who was raised in Lumiere's tower as his apprentice. He starts reading it, and his tears of joyful disbelief turn to anger as he reads through the contents- which describe an evil torture wizard raising his daughter as his own, and using her as a test subject.

When he's about halfway through, he puts it down, grabs his pitchfork, and starts strapping on his armor- intent on heading for the tower to kill Lumiere. The party has to hastily explain the situation and exhort him to finish reading the diary, please- Lumiere is already dead, and Choss is safe in Wheat.

Chitch thanks them for the information, and presents them with a reward- apparently, before fleeing to Barley to settle down with his infant daughter, he was a lieutenant commander in the fleet of one Umidono Kaiden, an elven naval commander attempting to take control of the lawless Cutthroat Isles. He gives them his jeweled badge, which could sell for a decent chunk of cash or potentially be useful if they ever need to deal with Kaiden in the future. Orluthe is the one to pocket it, as the rest of the party hems and haws over accepting such a gift.

SNext, they head to visit Kensa Kanthalga to pick up Saelhen's torn kimono- and after a lot of paranoid second-guessing re: heading directly for the Kanthalga house via the grass, go through the Temple of Diamode in front of it first, to update Malath on the situation.

They find her continuing to train the town militia in spearwork, in preparation for what she assumes is an impending assault from Wheat.

They... do not mention Arnie, because mentioning the culprit is Arnie could potentially fan the flames with Wheat. Instead, they mention that the murder weapon was found there, as was evidence of a dragon. Malath seems skeptical that a dragon would stealthily kill with a tiny weapon, and somewhat perturbed that Deathseekers are in town, but agrees to notify the town that the Deathseekers are at the tower handling the dragon issue, so no one does anything dangerous like going over there.

(Incidentally, Vayen has vanished, and Looseleaf's bugged medical kit has indicated that he's gone over to the tower. Hm.)

So, they pass through the temple and visit Kensa in her home. Kensa answers the door, wearing...

...ah.

See, Kensa assumed that after they went to the torture tower and didn't come back for several days, that they were dead or torture-enslaved- and like, the dead or torture-enslaved don't need a stylish kimono, right?

So she is suitably mortified when Saelhen shows up at her door, not dead in the slightest.

Benedict I. (GM): Kensa's down pretty quick, wearing the pink dress from before (if somewhat more disheveled), holding a folded kimono. To her credit, it looks very well-repaired- you can't even tell it was damaged. "I- my apologies! Here you are, ma'am!" Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen takes it. "While I have you here, would you like to hear a secret about this dress?" Kensa Kanthalga: "I- er, of course! Thank you!" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "When I was of an age comparable to yours..." She leans in conspiratorially. "I hated this thing. I fell down in it in front of a ballroom full of people and I very honestly wanted to take a scissor to it." Kensa Kanthalga: "N-no way...!" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "I keep it because it was a gift and because I sometimes need it. But if it gives you pleasure to wear it, then it is accomplishing far more with you than it ever did for me." Kensa Kanthalga: Her eyes widen. "R-really?!" Saelhen du Fishercrown:"I do still need it, to be clear. I, ah, don't mean to get your hopes up." Kensa Kanthalga: "...Oh." "No, of course..." You totally got her hopes up. Looseleaf: Not only did you get her hopes up, you even got Looseleaf's hopes up. Saelhen du Fishercrown: To be fair, "prove that elves can be assholes too" is right there on her character sheet.

And as far as payment- Saelhen just implied that Kensa would be allowed to cut out a swatch or two of the silk during repairs, which Kensa immediately jumped on without discussing further payment. Except...

Then Saelhen... gives Kensa some advice.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Now, in your shoes, considering that I might have been still alive, what I would have done was this: cut out squares, maybe handkerchief-sized, here and here. 'One or two,' as I specified." The places Saelhen indicated on the kimono are... not great places for there to be handkerchief-sized holes. They would render it pretty much unwearable. "I didn't ever specify where the swatches should be cut out, true. And so you could certainly chalk up the issue to youthful enthusiasm and indiscretion." "A lady like myself could never do something so crass as ask you to pay for a dress you'd taken time out of your busy schedule to repair, working to the bone over long hours. And I certainly wouldn't have had use for something I couldn't wear or repair myself." Kensa Kanthalga: "I- wh...?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "And so you would have had the swatches -- and, shortly, the entire dress with it." Benedict I. (GM): She is so confused. Is this lady trying to give her advice on how to grift her??? "That's- but that'd be...!" "I couldn't do that!" Looseleaf: oh my god is saelhen trying to recruit an apprentice is THAT what this is, Looseleaf thinks Saelhen du Fishercrown: "You could, dear."

Saelhen is trying to recruit an apprentice conwoman.

Saelhen retreats, at this point- they'll be staying for a week or so! There's time to lay groundwork!

Next time: some downtime in Barley, before the night of the dragon fight and the execution of Saelhen's master plan.

#tfj log #twofaced jewel

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wavemasterryx · 7 years

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All the writing projects i’ll probably never finish. i don’t know why anyone would want to hear about them, but i guess if you’re /that/ bored, enjoy. Oh, right, there’s also going to be massive spoilers in most cases, if that’s something you’d worry about.

Also, don’t worry about how much progress i might have made on actually working on one of these instead of writing up all of this. The answer is “none”, because this is not writing, it’s depression-fueled babble.

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01) Sunny Hoof: Thy Music Too

Small story continuing the series with amputee Blackjack and nightmare Glory, attending the Nightmare Night festivities in Chapel. i think Blackjack’s costume was going to be Bowser, so that she could conveniently disguise her wheelchair as his flower-copter thingy, but i don’t remember who Glory was going to be. It was either going to end up being the two of them sneaking off to bang in the haunted house, or a not-lewd double date with LittlePip and Xenith; i never did decide.

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02) Sunny Hoof: TBD

Another small story taking place during Chapel’s Running of the Leaves festival (admittedly, not nearly as much running as old Equestria, considering at least half the population has some sort of disorder or disability). Rather than Blackjack, this one would actually be centered on RedEye and Ilaris having a very casual walk (wagon ride) through the orchards, pure silly fluff.

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03) Project Horizons the First Movie

Something of a difficult position, this idea takes place after the events of Chapter 77, but before the Epilogue is set in motion. I mean, in anime it’s very common for movies to happen that are completely non-canon to the show but take place withing a specific time-frame relating to the show, i guess that’s what i was really banking on.

Anyways, the basic idea is that as rebuilding is finally getting underway, a well-intentioned alicorn happened across (or was given by someone...) a document leading her to an ancient shrine of phenomenal power. Using this power, she wishes “all the good people who were claimed by the Wasteland, within the memory of the living” to be returned to life. The spirits warn her that she should bring back the not-good as well, but she insists on not undoing everyone’s hard work saving the world, to which the spirits concede, leaving her with a warning that there will be a price.

This price comes in the form of four “Aspects of Suffering”, pure evil taking the form of the (very common in anime) four celestial beings, and seeking to bring pain and misery back to the world.

In essence... it’s just a series of excuses: to bring everyone back to life that deserves to have a happier ending; to have a series of cool, flashy battles, without the potential for everyone dying; and to get some particular scenes that i really want to happen... like Primera threatening / trying to seduce Pip with a choking Homage (something about “i’ll beat her record and make you scream 33 times” ), P-21 and Rampage returning to Equus via rocket, which they land on top of one of the big bads, and Cuarta being all smug and mocking everyone right before she (and the building she’s standing on top of) gets tagged ‘it’ by Puppysmiles.

The story would end with the aspects being defeated somehow... and then a hard “defeat equals friendship”, with Blackjack giving them a chance to do better, much to /everyone’s/ dismay.

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04) Project Horizons the Second Movie

Taking place shortly after the first movie, things would seem to be going pretty well with the rebuilding. It would be pretty slice-of-life for the first few chapters, with gradually more hints that something else was going on as certain ponies begin mysteriously disappearing for increasing lengths of time; including Dawn.

A search would reveal they’d fallen into a trance and in some secluded location had begun building some kind of portal. Either the work would be just finishing as it was found, or letting it proceed so they could find out what was behind it... the portal would lead Blackjack and a large strike force to one of the other planets in the Equus system, where they would find themselves in a mechanical nightmarescape, created by fragments of Cognitum.

Naturally, they would need to stop her resurrection, and wipe her blight from existence for the final time.

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05) Project Horizons the Third Movie

Compared to the other two... this idea is more of the pure silly fluff that should be expected of me. i don’t recall if i had decided how or why, but the basic idea was that something had happened to shift the world to an alternate reality where a large portion of the population is foals. There would be kindergarten shenanigans, shopping trips and cooking with mama Boo, and all kinds of likewise absurdly and unnecessarily cute things. Also unlike the other two, i have no conclusion in mind for this one... maybe there could be two versions, one where they go back to normal and one where they don’t?

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If i somehow had enough money to commission Somber to write these... i wouldn’t... cause there’s no way he should have to write stories with ideas as bad as these. Not that i wouldn’t be tempted anyways... out of morbid curiosity i do wonder how much it would cost for him to consider it...

Unfortunately, they’re definitely too complex for me to be able to handle on my own. i know, it will be hard, but you’ll have to struggle through the disappointment.

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06) Boo Quest: the Chrysalis Building

A slight re-imagining of the story i had intended to have behind my farce of an attempt at running a “choose your own adventure” thing on Boo’s tumblr. i’m sure some people were curious what was waiting on the top floor...

It would definitely not involve any voting for this incarnation though, it would just be a straightforward story to be told of what happened on her adventure.

---

07) Fallout Equestria: Botsunyu

The first of my ideas for a full-fledged independent side-story, directly ripped off and or a homage to Resident Evil... 5. i think. It would feature a 3-person squad of NCR recruits investigating the hulk of a ship which had been sent on an exploratory mission to Neighpon, only to drift back into Manehattan bay after several months without contact.

On reaching the ship, they find the remains of some of the crew, but mostly a large amount of strangely fleshy tumorous cocoons (or possibly crystalline, if i want them to be less horrifying). In the course of attempting to salvage the ship, the team would encounter and try to deal with the hatchlings of the colossal nautilus / parasitic wasp starspawn which attached itself to the underside of the vessel.

The story would end with the destruction of the ship, but how many of the team survive, and if they actually manage to defeat the starspawn or not, i’m not certain.

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08) Fallout: Neighpon

More of an exercise in world building than anything, this idea was a to be centered around the daily life of a ninja scout in training and her hunter-tracker best friend. Both are orphans, their home villages having been almost totally wiped out by the massive starspawn monstrosities that inhabit the island nation.

i had also considered a variant of this same idea but with more generic characters, to emphasize the world instead of my bad character designs. Not that the world design is really all that much more remarkable.

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09) Fallout Equestria: Deepest Dark

Probably the idea i’ve talked about the most before... centered on a structural engineer living in a vault dedicated to deep core mining operations. The idea is based on Dead Space, Alien: Isolation, and other such horror games... that the stable’s mining runs into something as it progresses deeper... never quite pinned down what. Some kind of primordial evil, monster from another dimension... i’d vaguely considered it actually being Sombra’s horn, but thinking about it more now, that actually seems like the least threatening of the ideas.

This story would involve a lot of violence, and potentially end with the entire stable, including the protagonist, being wiped out.

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10) A Bleach Love?Story: EIRS

The only large story project i’d ever actually finished, and then i had to go and extend it... It’s probably the story i would like most to complete, if just because my mom really wants to find out how it ends... She’s literally the only one though; my other two “fans” disappeared when the [Adult Swim] forum died, and there’s no way i could reach them now... If i ever did manage to finish it though, there would be an issue of what to do with it... since posting it here wouldn’t really accomplish anything other than making another post for people to scroll past. The only other places i really frequent only service furries, so even if written works were more valued there, i wouldn’t be able to post it.

Anyways... the story itself... i actually know more or less exactly what i want to happen, but i’ve completely lost pace with the style that i wrote it in, so it puts me somewhat on edge about how big the difference in styles is.

The villain of this season is borrowed from Digimon, and is slowly eating the entire multiverse, erasing anything it consumes from time, so that it was like it had never existed.

i actually had the next chapter halfway done when i stopped writing... It was going to be the big hint of what’s going on... Then the chapter after that the D-Reaper was going to make its first big attack on the Enterprise away team, allowing me to bring in a cameo from the first season that i was really hoping to use (redeemed villains for the win), and letting them just narrowly escape. Third chapter it would attack the Enterprise, and then only Data would be left to find the answer in the final chapter. Which there is one, i actually have the scene almost entirely planned in my head... except that it’s kinda... a really controversial idea, that i don’t know if it would come across as too disrespectful, even though i don’t mean anything bad by it at all...

The ending i had in mind was Data (ironically played by a Jewish actor, which i didn’t remember until way after i planned this...) retrieving the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis, and then using it to politely ask God (played by Lelouch Lamperouge) to restore the multiverse.

To me... it’s a perfectly logical and thematically appropriate way to end the story... actually the only ending that really makes sense... But i don’t want to insult anyone with it, it’s just supposed to be silly fun with a small side of heartwarming, and i know religion can be a super sensitive issue... so that’s a big problem for me.

It’s so close to being finished, which makes it really quite sad...

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11) TBD: Mercenary Pony Adventures

Really the most ambiguous of all my ideas... it’s something of a catchbasin for all my failed RPG character ideas... a seven-element wizard, a slime wizard, a combat maid, and possibly the two (prospective) main characters from Fallout: Neighpon. It would requite a lot of inter-personal interaction to drive it, between quests...

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12) Space-Thriller

Super casual space exploration and possibly light adventure fluff, centered around a young alien slug-girl.

Based on an RPG system i’ve tried a few times to create, but it’s never worked out because i am terrible at balance. In this same general idea, i would also love to do a story about the adventures of the HMLV Destiny or the smaller and much more reasonable HMCV Raven (101 and 20 pony crews, respectively), but i don’t have any more confidence in writing their stories than i did in running the campaigns that they were part of...

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13) Pokemon: Milk & Honey

i have spent an unnecessarily large amount of time creating my own ‘version’ setting within the Pokemon world; this story reflects how events in the game would take place if the NPC (Red, Ash, etc) were playing rather than the player. Or if it were an anime instead of a game.

i’ve been told that stories of Gym challenge journeys and fighting against a region’s evil team are some of the worst fanfiction you could possibly do for Pokemon (maybe second only to running a scarf shop), but i mean... it’s kinda an important step in establishing characters, isn’t it?...

So yes... the story would follow the two protagonists as they travel through the region, battling, training, and growing closer as they reach for their dreams together.

With all the planning i’ve put into it already, i probably have a reasonably serviceable outline for the potential story... but actually writing it is another matter entirely...

Plus there’s the added problem that... the plan is supposed to be for the female protagonist to be incontinent as a result of her quite meager psychic power interfering with her body’s natural development. i really want it to be a super casual part of the story, like not a big deal at all so that it doesn’t interfere with anything... but then i’m an idiot and go tying it and her mental health to several key plot points and well... i don’t know how many times i need to say i’m a bad writer before people believe me.

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14) Pokemon: Milk & Honey, TBD

Following a rather large battle at the end of the main storyline... the two protagonists are invited by the Pokemon League to take a job in it as special investigators. While they patrol the entire region regularly, they are also responsible for keeping an eye on the “Dreamers Network” a vast virtual reality system that is growing steadily more popular since its debut.

When users start turning into Pokemon, and coming out of the VR sleep acting like they are still those Pokemon, it’s up to the protagonists to track this brainwashing back to its source; a small clinic on a private server, and find some way to put a stop to it.

Oddly enough... this side-story is actually based on a dream i had way back when i first started plotting out and working on this world. Most of it has faded, except for one very strong scene... The male protagonist staring up at his partner on a floor above, being wheeled away by a nurse as she’s begging for him to shoot her [with a special gun that would disconnect her from the network and potentially completely wipe her memory], because she doesn’t want to risk the treatment making her do anything wrong. It still plays quite vividly in my head, even nearly 6 years later.

i believe my intention was for it to be a human-form Sableye or Espeon behind everything, trying to extract vengeance for someone (probably their trainer) who they had cared about greatly and lost... Or maybe a Mesprit draining away positive emotions in order to feed them into their close friend who only exists as a remnant on the network. Or something like that.

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15) Pokemon: Bunkatsu Village

A version of the Pokemon world without humans, this story takes place a decade or two after a comet / space ship carrying an alien virus crashed into the planet. The virus infested and altered everything, the only pockets of normalcy being small villages like Bunkatsu that are surrounded by a powerful barrier; the result of part of the “Legendary Heroes” final effort to save the future. Pokemon in these villages are trained to be adventurers and head out into temporarily stabilized pockets of the outside world to search for resources, treasure, and (hopefully) the eggs of the fallen heroes.

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16) Build a Perfect Blitzle

This story would have been the first in a potentially lengthy series of dirty stories, serving as something i could finally use as an outlet for everything i enjoy that makes me a bad person. It would entail someone being held by “Build Corp.” (voluntarily or otherwise) and being put on a livestream feed where every day the viewers would vote on a set of options put forward by the stream’s “sponsors”.

While actual voting would have been nice, i decided that using a dice to choose randomly would work fine, and so using a list of all the things i like, i could come up with a satisfying simulation of adding torment after torment to whatever poor characters ended up being chosen.

This seemed like a really nice idea at first... but it started getting to me that there’s literally no one i could share it with... so there was no reason to write it, since it could only turn out worse than it exists in my head already. i actually even finished some of the first trial with Kino, and it didn’t seem half bad (as much as it wasn’t long enough to be bad yet), but yeah...

The idea really had some potential... so many different things that could happen, and the ways options might interact with each other... and new and different kinds of volunteers... It really could have been fun.

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17) Other

A few other random ideas i’ve considered at one time or another, but would be significantly less likely to attempt than anything listed above:

Something with my ponies from World of Warcraft. Perhaps a history, or travel journal to be serious... or lacking that... more silly slice-of-life stuff. There’s also some potential for naughty things with a few of the characters (seems to be a running theme with this section), but some would be too tempting to involve certain NPCs, which is a big “no no” according to tropes...

A fetishy but possibly not explicit story involving an alchemist zebra of mine and a friend’s pony, as part of an ongoing series they’ve been writing for them.

Or.. trying to write the exceedingly inappropriate story ideas i’d wanted to commission of my dumb bunnies.

#ryxstories #fallout equestria #project horizons #project horizons the first movie #bunkatsu village

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jacobtmcelroy-blog · 7 years

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Marvel Films Ranked (1998 to 2016)

Comic book films. In my opinion, they are their own genre now. Why is this? Well, look how many are coming out in a year nowadays. A good portion of the summer blockbuster season belongs to the superhero genre alone. Over the past twenty years, there’s been a superfluous amount of Marvel films. Many of them meh, some of them good, and others flat out atrocious. So, I have compiled a list of my personal rankings on the matter. Let’s knock this out.

Also, I will be discussing spoilers at a few points, so beware.

THE ATROCIOUS TIER

43. Man-Thing (2005)

Want to know how bad Man-Thing is? The entire test audience walked out of the theater before the film was even done playing. True story. Because of this, the film was relegated to become a Sci-fi original movie instead of being released in theaters. Yikes. At least one of the film’s stars, Rachael Taylor, would go on to do much greater things in the Jessica Jones Netflix series as Trish Walker.

42. Hulk (2003)

No, that’s not an early development picture of Shrek. Ang Lee’s Hulk has a cult following who love the psychological approach he took to the film. That is cool and their opinion. However, this film harms me psychologically. From the lack of smashing things (It’s a Hulk film!), to the ludicrous plot, to the zombie dog fights, and the part where the Hulk flew on a plane to space, 2003′s Hulk is a boring mess that is not even fun for laughs.

41. Fantastic Four (2015)

What do you get when you combine a group of young, talented actors and a somewhat promising director with a studio that is desperately trying to hold the rights to their non-X-Men Marvel properties? A really, really bad movie is what. Fan4stic, as many call it, is an unorganized train wreck from the production issues down to the person who decided to film every scene in the dark The mid-2000′s films look great compared to this mess.

40. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

This movie did not even need to be a thing honestly. We got enough backstory of Wolverine in X2, and he is the main character in the first three films. Anyways, Origins is a flat out mess. Memory wiping bullets? Special effects worse than the first X-Men? (seriously look how bad his claws look) The Merc with a mouth missing his mouth?! This is just a bad movie. No wonder there were not any other Origins films like originally planned.

39. Blade: Trinity (2014)

Before being booked into a jail cell for tax evasion, Wesley Snipes and his new allies imprison the unlucky viewers of this film into a sentence of 113 minutes of pure boredom. Blade: Trinity is dull, forgettable, and takes away most of the fun the first two films had (even with Dracula as a villain!) It is hard to believe director David S. Goyer, writer of the Dark Knight Trilogy, directed this blood-reduced suckfest.

Still Pretty Bad Tier

38. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012)

Ghost Rider and the sort of sequel that nobody asked for should be the real title. While Nicolas Cage gives a better, and much loonier performance here, the storytelling and execution really came up short here. Spirit of Vengeance cannot decide what it wants to be. It goes from dark and serious, zany and erratic, to mid-2000′s Nicolas Cage mode at a dizzying and confusing rate.

37. Elektra (2005)

In all honesty, Jennifer Garner isn’t a bad Elektra. Not as good as Elodie Yung’s recent version, but Garner does the best she can with the awful script. The film takes itself WAY too seriously and does not have any sort of fun. Some of the plot twists are ludicrous too. The biggest flaw of the film though is the fact it focuses more on some random girl and her dad almost more than Elektra herself.

36. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

The second modern stab at Fantastic Four was unfortunately worse than the first. While I still actually like the casting, (especially Michael Chiklis as The Thing) no one can save the film from the deranged screenwriters who turned Galactus into a giant hungry cloud. The plot and execution also leaves some to be desired. At least it is not as frustrating as the Silver Surfer NES game.

35. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

If we are ranking the worst adaptations of actual comic book story lines, then X3 would probably take the top prize. Brian Singer’s departure from this film for the snorefest better known as Superman Returns tanked both films at the same time. Here, Magneto flat out looked like an idiot after his infinitely stupid plan back-fired. Cyclops died after five minutes of screen time and somehow did as much as he did in the other films. Mystique lost her abilities... for some plot reason. Angel did pretty much nothing after being the focus character in the opening tease. X3 is just a massive disappointment.

Tier of Mediocrity

34. Ghost Rider (2007)

How do you make a badass anti-hero a lot less cool? Give him the most generic origin story in history. Ghost Rider is honestly not an awful film, it just feels like a tired retread of every other superhero origin story. Oh, but that is not the only problem with the film. Some of the humor is really oddly timed and does not hit a lot. The villain is mostly unmemorable. Sam Elliott is really good when he is on screen, but the most the writers let him do is ride a firey horse in a straight line.

33. Spider-man 3 (2007)

I am actually surprised I ranked this as high as I did. Spider-man 3 is one of my biggest movie disappointments in history. The plot is over-bloated with WAY too many characters (3 villains?!) and subplots, Uncle Ben’s death is downgraded to an accident, and every scene Emo, Cool Peter Parker is in makes my facepalm and cringe at the same time. Yeah, that piano/bar scene is absolutely painful. Venom is absolutely wasted too. If there are so many problems, why is this film not lower? There are good scenes hidden inside this waste dump of a film. The scene in the tower where Peter rips off the symbiote is good. Another is the scene after the Sandman gains his abilities and struggles to pick up the locket. The first fight with Sandman is pretty good too. Overall, Spidey 3 is a disappointing, bloated mess.

32. Fantastic Four (2005)

The Mediocre Four return! The first modern Fantastic Four movie is complicated by a lame plot where the heroes are trying to get rid of their powers rather than use them. Also, the mis-fired plot is not executed very well as the scenes feel like somewhat connected moments patched together into a finished project at times. Although, not all is bad here. While the scenes feel all over the place at times, some of them are pretty fun. I personally like the entire cast, particularly Chris Evans’ Human Torch and Michael Chiklis’ The Thing.

31. Thor: The Dark World (2013)

This film is so forgettable and mediocre I almost forgot it existed. Not much else to say. Time to move on.

30. Iron Man 3 (2013)

All I really need to ask here, is why whose brilliant idea was it to turn the Mandarin into... whatever on earth he is in the finished product?! Late 2000′s M. Night Shyamalan? Seriously. It is kind of like when they were adapting the Harry Potter movies, if the director decided to turn Voldemort into a comic relief villain with Wormtail as the true villain of the franchise. Ugh. Besides that major error, I guess there is some fun action scenes in the film and Robert Downey Jr. is as good as always.

29. DareDevil (2003)

DareDevil is my favorite Marvel hero, so this film may be higher than a lot of other people put it. The casting of this film is pretty good as I think Ben Afleck’s Matt Murdock actually is pretty good. His DareDevil is decent in comparison.Jennifer Garner’s Elektra lacks some of the edge of the original character,but she’s not bad either. The problems here begin with execution. The scenes, like Fantastic Four, feel patched together and do not flow well at several points making the film feel a bit all over the place. It almost feels like an entire story line is missing. Hmm.....

Hey, These Are Decent Tier

28. X-Men Apocalypse (2016)

Instead of making Magneto looking like a dumbass, 2016′s X-Men film forces that label on Professor X. However, the film’s main problem is that the whole world takeover plot is really forgettable. Mixed in with all of the mediocrity are some good performances and memorable scenes. A couple of these include another ingenious Quicksilver rescue and when Magneto destroys Auschwitz. Otherwise, this X-Men film feels like eating Days of Future Past two week old leftovers.

27. Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2: Filler Man. Seriously, Iron Man 2 almost feels like an anime filler episode. At the end of the film, the characters and the plot do not advance at all from where they were at the beginning of the film in the Expanded Universe. Mickey Rourke’s meh Whiplash did not really help much. However, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and newly added Don Cheadle are all really good here. Additionally, Sam Rockwell gives a really fun performance as Justin Hammer, making him one of the better pseudo-villains of the MCU.

26. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

First off, The Amazing Spider-man is definitely not a bad film. Actually it is a pretty decent film. The film’s downfall is it feels like a complete retread of the 2002 film, and even the most talented cast cannot save that. I actually laughed last time I heard how hard Uncle Ben tried to rephrase, “With great power comes great responsibility.”. The Lizard is a decent villain, but he’s nowhere near as good as either villain from the first two Raimi films. Basically the TASM is a lower quality version of a movie that already exists. The lone big improvement I can think of is the love story and Garfield’s Spider-man.

25. Thor (2011)

Chris Hemsworth was the perfect cast as Thor, as was Tom Hiddleston as Loki. The scenes in Thor in which the two interacted were a blast to watch. However, everything else was just decent. There were some comical scenes, such as when Thor screams “Another!” and breaks the glass on the floor, but everything else in the real world did not really leave a lasting impact on me. Not a bad film, but not near Marvel’s best effort.

24. Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Some of you reading this are probably shaking your heads in disgust or absolute confusion. How on earth did this commercial and critical failure rank this high on my list? War Zone is probably one of the most entertaining films I have ever seen in the ridiculous, over-the-top action movie genre. Ray Stevenson is a good Punisher. More importantly, Dominic West’s Jigsaw along with Doug Hutchison’s Loony Bin Jim are so over the top and cartoony that they make Colin Farrell’s Bullseye look down to earth. Everything is so overly violent, completely stupid, and laughable in this film that it entertains every time I re-watch it. That is why War Zone ranks this high.

23. The Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014)

Similarly to the last entry, some may question the higher rank of TASM 2 and the fact it is higher ranked than its generally better received predecessor. TASM 2 definitely has a web of problems, but not all is bad. The chemistry of Garfield’s Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is really, really believable and well done. While many others did not, I actually liked Dane Dehaan’s Harry Osbourne due to his different approach to the character. Despite these positives, tone uneveness (Jamie Foxx’s Electro for instance) and a general lack of direction at times really brings TASM down from the better film it could have been.

22. Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange is really uniquet. As one may expect of an actor of his caliber, Bennedict Cumberbatch is a really nice fit as the title character. Also, the soundtrack kicks some major ass. However, the villains of the film are really mediocre and some of the most forgettable in the MCU, which is saying a lot. A good film, but just midpack in a solid library.

21. Blade (1998)

The first of the modern Marvel films still holds up pretty well today. Well, for the most part. As I have stated before in another list, Blade’s opening scene is one of my personable favorites to any film. It is scary, gross, and sets the perfect tone for the rest of the film. Wesley Snipes was a perfect casting choice as Blade, and the rest of the casting was pretty solid as well. However, a mediocre ending, some laughably bad dialogue, and some silly concepts (vampires wearing sunscreen?!) hold Blade back form being as good as its sequel.

We’re Starting to Get Pretty Good Films Tier

20. The Punisher (2004)

I feel as if Thomas Jane’s Punisher movie is one of the more underrated gems in Marvel’s cinematic history. Jane had a really nice performance as the title hero as he captures both the vengeful vigilante and tragic hero complex of the comic book character. Many of the action scenes are tight, and the film contains several memorable scenes. (The ripping out piercings scene, for one) However, I feel like the film is almost holding back and playing it safe at points. Solid film, but definitely could have been one step greater.

19. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Age of Ultron is a film that almost lands with a thud, sort of like the city that fell from the sky. The Avengers sequel is a good film, but feels underwhelming. The great James Spader is never given enough to do as Ultron, the plot is almost too over the top, and it feels underwhelming compared to Cap 2, which came out a year prior. However, the cast chemistry makes the film fun to watch as you can see they are having a great time making it. All of the action scenes are well done as well. Also, giving Hawkeye a personality was nice touch.

18. Blade 2 (2002)

Blade’s second adventure on the big screen took the impressive fight scenes from the first film and gave it a better story to go along with it. Adding Guilermo Del Toro to the mix helped out the cause too. While the film is far from perfect due to some questionable plot twists, Blade 2 is an enjoyable in a unique way.

17. The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine’s story is pretty forgettable, but wow does it have some of the best action set pieces of the X-Men franchise. The setting is super cool, maybe it is because of my Japanese culture bias, but I love the atmosphere and locations in this one. Not much else to say. An entertaining watch even if other X-Men films are better than it. It is a Hell of a lot better than Origins at least. *shudders*

16. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Wow, 2008 was a fantastic year for superhero movies. DC released The Dark Knight and Marvel had Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk got lost in the mix a bit, but the reboot of Bruce Banner’s rage monster was another thoroughly entertaining superhero film. The movie gets a little generic near the end with its giant monster CGI fight, but 2008′s Hulk is a pretty nice picture. This Hulk ALMOST makes me forget about Ang Lee’s atrocity.

15. X2: X-Men United (2003)

To many fans of the superhero genre, X2′s placement on this list may seem pretty low. Honestly, I have always felt that X2 was a bit overrated. However, that does not mean that X2 is not a great film. The story-telling is mostly tight, the characters’ motivations are realistic for the most part, and it utilizes flashbacks well. (a rare occasion) One of my grievances from the first film still remains in the sequel: Cyclops does absolutely nothing. Oh well, he gets killed in five minutes in the X3 anyway.

Exceptional Film-making Tier

14. DareDevil: Director’s Cut (2004)

Okay, now this could be borderline cheating. However, the director’s cut version of DareDevil is so much better than the theatrical cut that I had to put it on this list. The box for the Director’s Cut says the version adds a “Devilish new subplot”. I think it should just say it adds a plotline that connects everything and makes the film make a lot more sense. Matt doesn’t stay on the rooftop with Elektra, The Kingpin murders an employee of his to show how scary he can be, and the court plot receives nice depth. Coolio is actually pretty good in his role in this cut as well. This version still does not fix the asinine decision of not killing The Kingpin or erase the odd playground fight scene, but give this one a watch if you have not seen it.

13. X-Men: First Class (2011)

First Class stopped the bleeding from the last two awful X-Men films. Most importantly, it brought us Michael Fassbender’s fantastic version of Magneto. (James McAvoy’s solid Prof. X as well) The scene where Magneto forces the coin through his mother’s killer’s head is one of the best in the X-Men franchise, at least in my opinion. While First Class is a solid film, it still feels like a prologue for something to come. Also, it was “outclassed” by its sequel...

12. Ant-man (2015)

This high of a position may surprise people for Ant-man, but Ant-man is just too fun not to enjoy. Paul Rudd was a perfect cast for the title hero possessing the necessary humor and right amount of emotion to carry the role. The rest of the supporting cast of heroes is also really well cast anchored by a sterling performance by Michael Douglas. However, much like many other MCU films, the villain is just pretty meh. Just an evil bald guy with a similar suit to Ant-man.... sound similar to Iron Man at all?

11. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

If one stops and thinks about it, Cap: The First Avengers plot is pretty average and extremely safe plotwise, but the Captain’s likability factor is so high that it carries the movie’s plot through a lot of its,,, shortfalls in originality. The First Avenger takes an old-fashioned film and gives it the perfect pinch of new age style to make it about a perfect blend. Evans’ Steve Rodgers and Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter also have top tier on screen chemistry, which makes the main couple of characters even more likable.

10. X-Men (2000)

With help from 2002′s Spider-man, X-Men was the major catalyst that kicked off the modern superhero era of film. Guess what? X-Men stands up pretty well today. There is good action, fun characterization, and a couple decent twists. Guess what else though? Cyclops does not do anything here either besides be an asshole to Logan. The directors really neglected his character for some reason.

CLASSSICS Tier

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

After First Class dragged the X-Men films out of the pits of Hell, Days of Future Past took the franchise even deeper into its past’s glory. Get it? Past? Anyways, much of the stellar cast from the prior film return along with the best members of the original trilogy films.The end result is a film that combined the best of both time periods. Oh, and Quicksilver’s few minutes of screen time were amazing. Not much to knock here.

8. The Avengers (2012)

Thought this would be number one didn’t you? Well, some annoying plot holes and hype caused it to fall a little bit here. Those problems withstanding, The Avengers is terrific film that most comic book enthusiasts hoped for since childhood. All of the heroes finally group up and take on one of the worst baddies of all. In this case, it was Loki, by far the MCU’s best villain. Containing excellent scenes, such as the Hulk tossing Loki around in the room , and clever dialogue, The Avengers is just a pure fun film.

7. Spider-man (2002)

For a long time, this was my favorite film. Period. Nowadays, I still really love the film that kicked off my love for Marvel superheroes. Sam Raimi seems like an odd fit based on his past work looking back now, but it ended up being a solid match. To this day, Spidey is one of the better superhero origins story due to its mix of heart, humor, and fun. The Green Goblin is still one of the better Marvel movie villains. (even though I still do not understand why exactly Gobby hates Spidey so much after the halfway point of the film after accomplishing his original goal...). Even without the webshooters, Spider-man is a top tier Marvel film to this day.

6. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

After massive lead up and hype of one Marvel’s most famous story lines, Civil War delivered on most fronts. The main flaw was the plot relies on conveniences. While the villain’s plan is cool and different, it would NEVER have worked in retrospect. Besides over-critiquing, Civil War was pretty much all I wanted it to be: a battle royale between two balanced teams. (although Iron Man definitely had a strength advantage...) The airport scene, the Black Panther street chase, and the final fight are all some of the best in the MCU. Good job not letting us down here Marvel.

5. Guardians of Galaxy (2014)

The men and women behind the scenes at the MCU are geniuses. They took an almost unknown property and made it into a cultural phenomenon. GoG was a huge sleeper hit for Marvel and myself, admittedly. I did not really think much of it during the trailer phase, but after seeing the finished product, I was beyond pleased. Guardians of the Galaxy is high octane from beginning to end and is a blast to watch. I am eagerly awaiting to see the continuing adventures of Star Lord and crew this next week.

4. Deadpool (2016)

I dreaded a Deadpool movie being made. I read and read the comics during my high school years and fell in love with the character. After seeing the Ryan Reynold Origins version of the character, I was furious. Why would you sew his mouth shut?! Anyways, I was luckily wrong in my doomsday theories for a Deadpool film. In fact, it is exactly the type of Deadpool film I wanted. It had hilarious jokes and scenes, fourth wall-breaking, ultra-violence, and Ryan Reynolds’ absolutely nailed the character. Not much more I can say that has not been said.

3. Iron Man (2008)

I feel sorry for this film. It was completely overshadowed by The Dark Knight that came out a month later. What a lot of people forgot was that Iron Man was a fantastic film that broke the chain of mediocrity from Marvel the past few years before. Robert Downey Jr. revived his career even further by playing a character he was born to play. However, I believe the best part of the film was the way it combined realism of the current conflicts in the Middle East to the fantastical technology of Tony Stark. Obadiah Stone was a decent villain, even if he is sort of forgettable now because most MCU villains have been clones of his. Despite that, Iron Man is stellar.

2. Spider-man 2 (2004)

For a long time, up until The Dark Knight’s release to be more specific, Spider-man 2 was the best superhero film of all time. (in my opinion at least) However, one surpassed it in Marvel land a few years back. Spider-man 2 has all you want in a Spider-man movie. A terrific anti-villain, a well-written inner main character conflict where he has to choose between two paths, and a plot that makes sense almost the entire way through. The train scene and the reveal of the lair behind the mirror are still two of my favorite Marvel scenes to this date. Once again, not much more I can say. This movie still rocks.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

A surprising choice to some people I bet to some people, The Winter Soldier is an almost perfect superhero film. Cap’s sequel is a fantastic film in about three genres I can think of, including spy thriller. Kind of reminds of a 60′s Bond film with A LOT better special effects. The plot of the film is modern and well thought up and avoids the common problem of being trendy with current event plot ideas. That is a bigger feat than most films of the kind can say. Besides the modern, appropriate and politically astute plot, the best parts of this film are the fight scenes. In the first Cap, he didn’t get to show off his fighting skills very much. But here, he kicks some major ass. Oh, and Black Widow does too, in what I believe to be her best movie as well. Add in Falcon for a flatout kickass trio. Overall, Cap 2 is fantastic from beginning to end and never lets up. Way to to go Marvel.

#marvel #mcu

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ganymedesclock · 7 years

Note

By the clues about how the Weblum Galra acts alone, what do you think some of Lotor's key personality traits are?

I’ll just link one of my earlier analyses here, but, basically, my read so far based on Weblum Galra/Black Helmet, if that is Lotor:

More shrewd than honor-bound, but with a creed of his own

BH stands out to us at this point because in contrast to a lot of the Galra we’ve seen, who are (or at least purport to be) sticklers for honor that will follow their mission to the grave- for good reason, as that’s a philosophy Zarkon enforces with death as we’ve seen in s1e1- BH operates very pragmatically. They compile resources with Keith and Hunk, and watch their backs/fight beside them very readily.

While they don’t have any qualms threatening Keith with their weapon, they also don’t do anything to prevent him from taking his, much larger share of scaultrite, or doing anything to harm him. Keith is hurt by it, but I find it funny he comments “So you’re just like the rest of them” when BH’s retreat and the indifference it betrays are very uncharacteristic with the empire’s response to Voltron. Which, the team is not exactly being subtle about with the large color-coded “V”s on their chests and helmets.

If this is Lotor, this is going to be very interesting with Lotor tasked to pursue Voltron, since it tells us 1. Lotor already has some kind of agenda he’s acting on, and 2. he’s pretty dang blase about things that don’t relate to that agenda- which is a pretty dang far cry from Zarkon, where… consider Zarkon’s response to Altea. If you cross him, Zarkon will personally kill your entire family, salt your fields, and then set a few things on fire for good measure. He literally destroyed every planet in Altea’s solar system and we don’t even know if those planets were all inhabited.

Lotor, conversely, is perfectly willing to let basically Public Enemy Of The Empire make off with a staggering amount of scaultrite provided that doesn’t stop him from leaving. Considering how quickly he was willing to turn around and protect Keith from the Weblum microbes, it also suggests that he has his own sense of honor- Keith helped him by getting him out of his ship, and even if that was immediately followed with stealing his weapon and trying to shoot him with it when Lotor tried to get it back, Lotor still specifically shot the microbes and not Keith.

It’s not exactly chivalry as much as “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” in that if there is a kind of implied debt, Lotor would prefer to try and pay that back- and then go back to complete neutrality.

Again, Zarkon holds grudges with an incredible passion and intensity, but Lotor, it seems, is much more changeable and views interactions more as a give and take. It might suggest he’s of a rather cynical persuasion, though, if he’s that motivated to not feel like he owes someone any favors.

That all said:

Calculating personality clearly has limits

Lotor was egregiously unprepared for the Weblum. He doesn’t even have his own bag to put the scaultrite in, filching one of Keith’s instead. He has no one watching his back and a single ship that not only got stuck, but he got trapped inside of.

Part of it might be that he can’t exactly go grab a full-staffed cruiser if he’s trying to do this quietly behind Zarkon and Haggar’s back- any potential drain of resources would go noticed, and if he brings any backup, they’re likely to talk. But it betrays that as good as Lotor is at thinking on his feet and responding to things quickly?

He has a thread of recklessness.

His entire survival was basically contingent on Keith and Hunk happening to need Scaultrite- which is rare and not seemingly something most modern civilizations mine or use- and happening to hunt down the same Weblum he was stuck in, and all of this happening in a window before he starves or, assuming his ship even had some kind of life support function, before that ran out or the Weblum mucked that up.

No amount of meticulous planning would ever consider that a viable contingency. So basically, Lotor didn’t plan or arm himself nearly enough- and charged into the situation anyway.

This would absolutely have historical precedence if we consider both Force and DotU’s incarnation of Lotor have basically waltzed up to the entire Voltron team and gone “Come over here and put up your dukes, I can take you.” in contexts where he, abundantly, cannot take them.

Hell, Force Lotor basically did the equivalent of shotgunning magical red bull, immediately travelling to Arus, and trying to fight the entire Voltron team in his underwear.

(being fair he didn’t like… strip down specifically to fight Voltron, he’d just hulked out on magical red bull, but it bears mentioning that he had an abundant amount of time to find some other clothing or armor, space suit, anything, and didn’t.)

The exploits of BH would suggest to us that Lotor is very versatile and perceptive- and much keener on exploiting literally whatever can be an asset to him than Zarkon is (certainly Sendak would, I think, turn up his nose at the idea of working with the Voltron Paladins, but for Lotor, swallowing his pride doesn’t even seem to be an issue)- basically, Lotor plays a hell of a game of improv and is less predictable than Zarkon.

This could mean very bad news indeed, since while some of Zarkon’s predictability meant he was able to wear the team down (his incessant pursuit of them) they were also able to exploit that to escape; for example, Shiro was able to use Voltron, and the Black Lion, as bait to draw Zarkon away from the Castleship in Eye Of The Storm. Lotor being a less dogged opponent means the team would have more room to breathe- but it also means they can’t count on Lotor being predictable or chasing a singular vendetta. He might go from completely dragging his heels and having no interest in fighting the team to throwing everything he’s got at them with very little warning.

On the other hand, it tells us that Lotor’s games of improv are rooted in the fact that Lotor is at least some degree of either cocky, or just impulsive. Either could be the case- he might simply be arrogant enough to take riskier leaps on the assumption that he can handle it, or he’s a bit more like Keith, in the sense of he just sees what needs to be done and tries to go for it, and the ensuing tunnel vision can leave him caught off-guard by details he’s overlooked.

I personally like the idea that Lotor is cocky, because that does fit in with prior reads on his character. At the same time, it also sets him up, as I’ve discussed before, similar to Lance, where he paradoxically has both threads of arrogance, and self-deprecation.

Because as I’ve said, BH uses anything he can get his hands on and doesn’t turn up his nose at help, even from his mortal enemies. That suggests another big difference between Zarkon and Lotor:

Zarkon fights like the emperor of the known universe. He considers his opponents’ defeat inevitable and is willing to be a slow, inexorable predator. He has so many resources and has gone unchallenged for so long, it’s massively gone to his head. Even as his opponents continue to escape him and gain in power, it’s difficult for Zarkon to consider them worthy successors even. In Space Mall, he acts as if Shiro’s bond with the Black Lion is basically just a fluke, and is both literally and figuratively blindsided by the idea that Black would actually take Shiro’s side.

If Black Helmet is Lotor, then Lotor does not fight like someone who’s had a cushy life in the lap of luxury. He fights like someone who is used to having almost nothing, and barely squeaking by. He is not too good for any resource or help that affords itself to him even if he doesn’t like it, or they make it very clear they don’t like him- he doesn’t even really acknowledge Keith and Hunk’s rather unguarded doubts or barbs at him.

It’d suggest Lotor is cocky in his own abilities, but in practice, does not view himself as the decisive or even favored victor.

Personally, I’ve really liked the idea that this means Lotor is going to be a more expressive and even comedic villain compared to Zarkon- because again, part of why you don’t see Zarkon taking a lot of comedic falls is because his pride would never tolerate that. He lashes out aggressively at being so much as second-guessed.

But if Lotor is a thrifty, calculating antagonist- a lot of the thrifty solutions that team Voltron has pulled together have been completely absurd, like the time all of the paladins had to go stand in the teludav holding cookies, and then Coran had to smear his disease mucus all over it so they could wormhole properly.

So I’m enamored with the idea of Lotor as an antagonist who is not above undignified solutions that actually work, and thus Lotor actually getting in on a fair amount of the comedy and exasperation- not only us as an audience being treated to it, but Team Voltron witnessing it as well.

One of my personal favorite scenarios to imagine is Lotor successfully taking over the Castle of Lions at some point but being increasingly stressed out by Kaltenecker who’s just, in the way that cows are very good at, completely indifferent, and on Lotor’s end… he’s a space prince, he doesn’t know what cows are. All he knows is that Team Voltron just inexplicably has a good-sized alien animal roaming their base and so the entire time he’s trying to threaten/blackmail/posture at the team he’s just getting increasingly stressed by this cow in his space.

Potential relationship to Zarkon and Haggar

I think there’s something very interesting if Lotor is Black Helmet- well, a lot of interesting things as the multiple lengthy posts would suggest- but as mentioned, BH tries to be very pragmatic, and is seemingly very used to managing with far too little, to the point that it might feed some of his recklessness; he’s okay going into situations under-prepared because he’s just always under-prepared.

This is very interesting if Lotor’s parents are Zarkon and Haggar- because both of them are people who command an incredible number of resources and generally operate with no expense spared. We’ve seen in their relationship with their subordinates that they will even deliberately waste resources, in terms of personnel, if they don’t think that person is doing exactly what they want.

So why would the child of people like that come away with an attitude that you have to use whatever you’re given and there isn’t really any use in complaining or considering something beneath you?

It suggests that very little of Zarkon and Haggar’s ambition and empire has actually benefited Lotor. That there’s basically no room in their scope of things for him.

Now, that conjures the image of like… a tragic unloved orphan out in the rain, but Lotor would seem to have ambitions of his own, in contrast to and possibly in spite of Zarkon’s utter lack of help. I do see Lotor as someone in a sad place, because neither Zarkon nor Haggar are great company except towards each other- but I also see Lotor as posing a genuine threat to the team. He isn’t just going to be a kitten that runs to them as soon as they prove to be better people than his parents- if BH is Lotor, then it tells us he has an agenda, and we don’t know at this point how dangerous that agenda is to the team.

So with that element of unpredictability, there might be situations where Lotor and the team can work together. Belly Of The Weblum may be establishing that dynamic specifically- that sometimes they can count on each other, and Lotor can be a powerful ally (the trailer for season 2 prominently features Black Helmet under “New Allies” even though the new allies the team actually gains are the Blade of Marmora, who as far as we know BH has nothing to do with) but also that just as quickly Lotor might just take what he came for and leave them in the lurch- or outright endanger them.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Lotor #weblum galra #black helmet #readmore #'stop falling in love with characters that you've barely seen on screen'#'they could be nothing like what you think they are'#listen you can pry this from my cold dead hands

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alexteltevskiy · 7 years

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Vintage russki camera review - Zenit-B w/ Industar 50-2 f/3.5

Intro

I have a modestly sized family and most about every in it is/has been crazy about photography at some point in their lives. My father, in particular, has been in the cozy company of cameras since, like, forever. I've got a picture of him somewhere: a cheerful little lad, no older than a year, crawling around right next to my grandpa's trusty little rangefinder...

What does this have to do with anything? Well, today I'll be reviewing one of my dad's many old cameras - his trusty Zenit-B with an Industar 50-2 50mm f/3.5. He used this one as his 35mm camera of choice after his FED rangefinder, having abandoned it much later after moving on to Japanese SLRs. I actually accidentally bumped into this camera about a year ago in my older brother's attic. Turns out, my dad gave the camera as a present to my bro, who used it for a bit but ultimately forgot about its existence, having moved on to more modern snappers.

Imagine my surprise when I unearth the leather-case-clad tank-of-a-camera with a big bold Made in USSR stamped onto it. The thing was lightly used, lens had no malices typical of a subterranean attic-dweller (haze, fungus), nothing was seriously loose or wrong... until I popped it open to check shutter operation...

Design & build quality

The thing is built like a tank. Mass produced from 1968 to 1973. Rugged and over-engineered, and that is even before I tore it down to get inside and fix it. Inside it looked like it was built to withstand a nuclear blast. A Tchaikovsky Overture of heavy duty gearing, solid steel parts, heavy gauge springs, all tightly wedged against each other with thick flat head screws.

All the more baffling why, oh WHY did they bother to use simple glue to keep together the rubber-coated cloth shutter??? The most important piece of the puzzle, the cornerstone, the heart of the system... why was it made to be so weak? And it's not like there was a large amount of redundancy built into the mechanism - a little bit of glue going undone and the whole curtain self-destructs. Just don't get it.

Anyway, I had to hunt down a spare body with a functioning shutter on eBay to kindly act as a donor. As soon as the box touched down on my front porch the organ transplant was underway and not long afterwards my neighbors probably heard me go on a creepy "it's alive" howl. Frankenzenit was ready for action.

Apart from the shutter glue drama, the camera is a brick, chiseled out of the Terminator's spare parts. And there's just something about that Soviet design aesthetic that gets me every time. Like an old friend you'd sometimes like to forget, but can't. An eclectic mix of extreme cases of forms following function and the necessity for every single object in the country to be fixable with a skeleton toolset of dull screwdriver and hammer. Heck, most of the time even just the hammer was necessary.

Tech specs

Under the covers it was all business and no frills. Barebones feature set, all manual, nothing extra. Shutter goes from 1/30 to 1/500 (the accuracy of which I can't attest to after seeing the mechanism up close and personal), has Bulb. Shutter knob has twist-proof mechanism, reminded me of something you'd find on a T-34 instead of a camera but it has a charm to it, adding an extra step to process.

Winder/shutter button combo with a built-in hand-resetable frame counter and provisions for a standard cable release. A rewind button and rewind/ISO memory wheel. Oh, and a self-timer. Mirror slap is not too obnoxious but don't expect to pull a ninja with this camera - loud and clunky. Next to zero foam in the body, the only seals are made of felt that are still going strong after 45+ years.

The lens is a copy of a Zeiss design, M42 mount, opens up to 3.5 and stops down to 16. Filter thread is, wait for it, 35mm in diameter. Good luck finding a pinch lens cap for it. More details on image quality further down the review.

In use

Armed with a meter and a trusty roll of Ilford HP5+ @400 (I ran out of Tri-X at that moment), headed out Downtown with Kris from 43 Stories to see the sights and sounds of the Big City. From the sun-soaked vantage point of a 12-floor parking garage all the way down to chilly pale breeze of the distant skyline from the shores of Navy Pier, the 7-mile 6-hour walk took us all the way from Printer's Row, through the Loop on the L and onto River North, crossing the Magnificent Mile and into Streeterville. Crash at Navy Pier then back home.

Right from the beginning you get a sense that this will be a no-nonesense camera. Everything is roughly where you expect it. The gears are less ergonomic than its peers and the levers dig a little deeper into your skin, but the classic layout was a breather from some of the other cameras I've tested lately. Compact, easy to hold and grip, even with gloves. Aggressive knurling on the controls made fine manipulation easy. Everything clicks solidly.

In addition to the Victorian-Era steely thunderclap of a shutter, the camera has further handicaps that keep it back from being a street-smart photoninja. The shutter speed can't be set blindly, as there are no indicators of what speed you're on anywhere else but the knob. And to change speeds, you have to raise the knob, rotate it and plop it back into the correct setting. There are no physical clicks or stops when you rotate it, so unless you have super-dexterous fingers and a built-in angle meter accurate to the degree, you have to take the camera off of your eyes to readjust exposure.

Same goes for aperture, but this time it's even worse - camera needs to be focused wide open as the finder is too dim. And after you focus you'll most likely have to stop down the aperture. This cannot be done without peeling away from the camera and looking down at the aperture ring. It's clickless, so unless you have a sixth sense for degrees, you will need to look down. Forget quick turnaround time on the streets - this camera is a methodical shooter that requires planning ahead and patience, both from you and any animate object in front of you.

The viewfinder is pretty dim and features a regular ground glass - no fresnel circles in the center or any other focusing aids. With a f/3.5 lens it may not make that much of a difference, but any other lens with a larger aperture may require you to hunt quite a bit to nail that f/2 or f/1.4. Another minor (major, actually) annoyance is that the ring around the viewfinder is, just like most else on this camera, made of metal. Yours Truly Four-Eyes over here needs to first focus with glasses on, making sure not to have direct contact with the metal ring, then slide the glasses over to zoom the eye closer in to compose. The viewfinder optics are recessed deep into the body and it's impossible to see the entire viewfinder area coverage with glasses on. Haven't been able to dig up specs on viewfinder coverage but I have a hunch it's around the 80%-90% mark - I always saw extra features on the negs that I thought were long gone from the frame.

One final note about the viewfinder is that in the camera that I have, the viewfinder is misaligned horizontally, with a couple degrees of rotation to the right. Plain English: when the horizon is straight in my viewfinder, it's actually crooked in the actual photo. I haven't tested this with a bubble level yet, but people call me "human horizon" for a reason - I'm usually very, very careful with that. You hear horror stories about little irking details like this all the time with Soviet cameras, guess they've got some validity behind them, eh? Looking inside, I found no way of adjust the mirror or the ground glass. After peaking into the donor body, that one was misaligned as well, this time leaning to the opposite side.

The winder on this camera is an absolute beast. Quite literally. Be very, very gentle with it. Treat it real slow, nice and easy. The winder sprocket cams inside the body are born from a crude metal cast with razor-sharp edges on the teeth. I consider the Ilford HP5+ film base to be on the pretty durable side, yet even it has had ripped sprockets along most of the length. The winding lever has virtually zero feedback compared to modern cameras and Hulk-like leverage. The only way I was informed that I'd gotten to the end of the roll is when I heard a loud rip of the film from it's canister. Removing it required a dark changing bag. Apart from that expect to get 37-38 shots per 36 exposure roll. Film spacing is pretty consistent and film gate is at a slight angle but at least with no major light leaks (pressure plate still good after all these years).

Image quality

So what do the images look like? They're pretty good, actually. I was expecting it perform a lot worse, but it is a knock-off of a Zeiss design, so that probably helps. First, the numbers. 3.5 is predictably soft, with decent center, medium vignetting and mildly mushy corners. Modern pixel peepers would consider this atrocious, but that's not what film aficionados are after, and to my eye it actually appears pleasantly vintage looking. I found the lens sharpest in the center by f/5.6, with f/8 improving the corners but starting to lose a bit in the center. F/11 exhibits a uniform image from center to corner, that's as in "uniformly soft", and f/16 starts looking like somebody took the photo and printed it on a rug made of low-denier fabrics.

Bokeh is minimal and can get quite busy unless you get REAL close to something. Wide open the bokeh is also quite swirly (couldn't find a more technical term), reminiscent of many vintage lens, where it looks like time and space itself are being bent around your subject matter. A look I actually quite like and one that is currently being revived thanks to Lomography's efforts with lens based on ancient optical formulas.

Flaring can be an issue, but the way the lens handles it is by dissipating the flare across the entire field of view, unlike some other lens where the flare affects the image only partially. I would assume this is because minimal, if any coating was used on the elements. I actually prefer this.

I was also quite surprised by the copious amounts of barrel distortion I noticed when photographing objects close up. I mean, come on - it's a 50, not even a 35! At infinity though, distortion is gone and buildings don't look like they're binging on burgers.

Conclusion

So, what do I think about a camera that has more misalignments than a knocked over vase that was superglued back together? The camera has a lot of sides the modern snapper would find archaic, impractical and irritating. It's a menace to film rolls and close ups of straight brick walls. It's an exercise in patience and meticulousness. And it's a lottery of settings and angles plagued by inconsistency and vagueness. But despite all this it still works, and works solidly. I am still surprised by the engineered heart failure on these cameras, but at a dime a dozen, there's no reason one should stay away from these exotic relics from a bygone world order.

PS: Did I mention that it's a conversation starter? "Hello sir! May I make a portrait of you?" "What kind of camera is that?" "It's almost 50 years old, shoots black and white film and was made in the USSR!" (eyes bulging in surprise) "No way! Sure man, take as many as you like!"