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cheriladycl01 · 4 months

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My love, is mine all mine - Max Verstappen x Norris! Reader x Charles Leclerc Part 2

Plot: Norris' Twin sister is also a driver in the 2021 line up and is in her rookie era. Not only do the commentators struggle to now talk about the pair in the race, but they also struggle to talk about talent. What happens when two drivers find her eye-catching.

Credit to countingstars-17 for the GIF

After you'd spent the week at home you travelled to France, you asked McLaren to set you in a different hotel from the other drivers. You found one that was cheaper and still within a decent distance from the race track.

Your sisters in your groupchat that didn't have your bothers in, had texted you telling you Lando was getting worried you wouldn't be showing up for this race. It was Thursday and normally drivers would come to the paddock for media duties but when he came it was just him doing stuff for the F1 YouTube and being pestered by the McLaren social media teams for content.

"Zac where is she, you guys wont tell me and I'm worried she wont be here for practice which starts in 20 minutes!" Lando asks Zac whose in sat in hospitality having a pre-race coffee.

"As far as I'm aware, she's already in her car getting ready for the practice session ... so I'd get yourself down there now so you can get a good time Lando" he smiles, Lando rushed to the garage Zac slowly trailing behind him, wanting to get to the garage to get a set of headphones and sit with the race engineers.

"Y/N can you hear?" you hear through your in ears.

"Loud and clear, let me know when i can leave the pit" you say shuffling down in your seat to test the pedals.

"Nico, the pedals are feeling a little stiff, its like there's no traction" you complain as your directed out onto the pit lane.

"Okay, just do a slow lap, testing the breaks and make sure the throttle is all okay. Then we'll see if we need to bring the car in quickly before a flying lap.

As you'd gone round on a normal lap, it was determined that there was an issue with the breaks, the minute you'd tried to do the flying lap your car had major under steer. You'd managed to keep it out the gravel but you had spun out. You were called back to the pits and only placed P16.

You slammed your wheel onto the bonnet, and the engineers all immediately started to work on your car. You talked with them helping them out.

You spied Lando's car in the corner of your eyes being pulled into his half of the garage.

"Y/N hey" he says jumping out the car pulling him helmet off.

"Kinda busy trying to fix this trash can of a car right now Lando, later" you say not even sparing him a glance. Grumbles come from the mechanics making you whisper an apology as they jokingly scowl at you.

Was it petty that you weren't speaking to your brother, yes.

Was it petty that you were trying to get him to have a spoon of his own medicine for the way he'd treated you in Azerbaijan, yes.

Were you going to stop right now? Nope!

"Oh, erm okay well I'm going to go grab something to eat before the next practice" he smiles.

"Cool" you nod a smile, before kneeling down pointing something out to the mechanic that didn't look quite right.

"I'll be back in a bit, will the car be ready for FP2?" you ask.

"Should be, just needs some greasing and tightening. Trust us you'll be flying out there in no time!" the head mechanic says and you smile nodding softly before walking out towards the rest of the motorhomes.

You walked past, shyly waving to the drivers she encountered. Sky had seen her but were already busy interviewing Christian Horner and Toto Wolff who were currently talking about the championship this year and Mercedes rough start to the season in Bahrain.

"Y/N?" a voice asks from a table outside the Red Bull hospitality.

"Oh! Max, hey how have you been" you exclaim crossing over the Sky cameras who unbeknownst to you followed you for later review. You pull him into a hug, happy to finally see someone on the grid who hadn't upset you in the last few weeks.

"I'm good but i think the actual question is, are you okay?" he asks rubbing up and down your arm.

"Yeah, I just don't really know how to even talk to Lando about all of this, he's never not been there for an achievement of mine up until now. The team's strategy was shit, and I got us more points passing Lando, i was on the fresher tires, I had DRS i don't understand why they wouldn't want me to overtake" you complain, you really genuinely couldn't understand it.

It wasn't like this in Formula 2.

"You'll come to learn, that people don't like being my team-mate because im golden boy. I was the hot shot that Horner took a gamble on and he won jackpot. It's never easy being the second driver on a team to a golden boy" he advises, making you look down tears in your eyes.

Is that all Zac thought of you? The secondary to your golden boy hot shot brother.

Well that just wouldn't fly, you'll show them that your made of more and that you are worthy of sharing the seat with your brother.

"You know, keep it up Schat, Horner's been keeping an eye on you. So have Mercedes and Ferrari" Max whispers leaning in and holding your waist. You gasp as he leans back looking at you nodding before wandering off and into the Red Bull motorhome.

You check your phone for the time seeing that you really should make your way back to the McLaren garage to see if your car is ready.

"We didn't talk" you hear from behind you and a hand grabs your wrist and pulls you back to them.

Charles

"I don't want to talk to you Charles" you grunt shrugging his arm off.

"Why not?" he asks looking over you.

"I think you know why, just concentrate on FP2 Charles" you say, for the first time you see a sort of desperation in his eyes. It's almost as if he came here with the intention to say something to you, but he also doesn't want to admit it.

"Y/N... wait" he starts again but you continue walking. You manage to get back to the motorhome and see Lando sat in the hospitality, he was with his personal trainer Jon and then the performance engineer Jarv.

You walk past them and here Jarv say something to your brother.

"Go follow her, you need to sort this out before the race"

"She doesn't want to talk to me, I've tried" he groans as you wait behind the door just in earshot of them.

"You call earlier in the garage trying? Jheez man" Jon laughs before getting up and discarding of his food tray.

"Your right!" Lando sighs before jumping up to come and find you. You start to walk away so it didn't look like you were listening in to their conversation.

"Y/N, please can we talk" Lando says stopping you right by the coffee cart.

"Mmmmm"

"Look, I was terrible the other day. Your my twin and we've shared everything together. I- I'm sorry i wasn't there to celebrate with you. It's just annoying when Jon's telling me that you've been told not to go for the overtake and then you do. I see now that you taking over worked better for the team but i cant help but be upset" he tries but you look at him in shock, why on earth was he making this moment, this apology about him and how he was affected.

"How are you still making this about you?" you scoff.

"What what do you mean, I'm explaining why i wasn't there..."

"By saying that I've upset you, when I'm the person you've affected. Do you even know what they have been saying about me in articles because of this whole thing with you and Charles? I'm being told I'm a shit driver and i shouldn't have my seat and that my own brother and multiple other drivers agree... I'm being told im a danger to the sport and that I wont have a seat come next year!" you sigh, knowing that he had a right to be upset about you overtaking him, but it shouldn't be at you.

"I'm sorry, I know I ruined it. I should've celebrated with you! Its my fault" he says, before pulling you into a hug. You hug him back, your shoulders sagging into it. Your brother was always your other half, you guys were two peas in a pod. It broke your heart when he left you behind in F2 before going to F1 in 2019. So this year, being the first year that you were back driving with your brother it was special for you.

"It's not like I wont have other podiums to celebrate this year" you jab him making him laugh.

"Oh yeah, not if i have anything to say about it!" he jokes as you both start walking back to the garage.

"I'm still upset though, just so you know. But I forgive you" you smile as you both get back to the cars.

"Hey, how's the car looking?" you ask the people around your car.

"You'll be good to go, breaks are sorted and its looking good!"

And that was true, you came P3 in FP2.

You didn't have a good night sleep, thinking about Charles and how he's tried to talk to you today, how you'd made up with Lando, and you kept asking yourself if it was too quick. But what was in your mind the most was Max and what he'd told you and how he'd been so nice to you over the last few months.

FP3 the next day was worse and you came P10, which then set the mood for Qualifying, where you finished P10 which would mean that your are in the middle for starting the next day.

Lando was in P8 meaning he was directly in front of you, you were hoping you could get a slipstream from him, and overtake Fernando on the start.

By the end of the French Grand Prix you and your brother both simultaneously moved up 4 places ending with him in P5 and you in P6, Zac was happy as you'd managed to stir Ferrari and get ahead both of them.

You were walking to your car, when you notice a sleek Ferrari next to your McLaren and a familiar man leaning against it.

"Charles I really cant deal with this, the interviews have tired me out. I'll see you in Styria!" you say, clicking the keys to open your car.

"Y/N please I need to apologize" he says grabbing at you wrist again turning you round.

"Charles, look. I forgave Lando for not being at my podium and yelling at me, but you actively told me I didn't deserve my seat when i've had to work twice as hard for it than anyone on the grid. So to be told that its undeserved is horrible because this is all I've ever wanted..." you say tears brimming your eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm so so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'll think I'll regret this forever if I don't do this" he says before grabbing your cheeks with his hands, one sliding down to your neck before leaning in and placing his lips against yours.

You kiss back, it's more out of anger, you weren't sure why you actually kissed him back. After the initial shock you pulled away, your hand slipping in between you too to push him away.

"Charles what the hell" you shout, looking at him eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, but the reason I get so annoyed with you is because I've had a crush on you for years. At first I hated that you always were better than me, I got more aggressive and you were the safer driver back then, so you'd give me room let me pass. I knew I'd never have a chance with you, getting you attention was easier when I teased you, but i guess as i got older i got more sour at you, and how everyone seemed to adore you and grab your attention apart from me" he reasons now holding her wrist again.

"Charles, you cant, you cant do that" you cry.

"What, I cant admit what I've been feeling for you for years. Y/N please" he begs, the puppy eyes looking down at you as you shrunk yourself.

"What's going on over here" Max asks coming over looking between you and Charles, you turn away so that he doesn't see the tears in your eyes, wiping them with the sleeve of your orange McLaren rain jacket.

"Nothing Max" you say before turning back round smiling at the both of them.

"Come on Y/N. I know you better than that" Max said but you decided to stay silent.

"Is he bothering you again? Charles, just leave her the fuck alone. We spoke about this after Azerbaijan..." Max says pushing him away from you.

"Max don't! Its fine I promise, I'll see you both in Austria okay?" you say getting into the car. You sit there for a second, contemplating what the hell just happened before you realize both the drivers are still stood there watching you.

What. The. Hell.

A/N: I don't know if i like this, it feels like I made her and Lando make up too quickly, and Charles felt kinda quick. But for future ideas in this series, her and Lando making up now means room for more angst in the future *wink,wink*

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic

#f1 imagine #f1 x reader #formula 1 x you #formula 1 #formula one #formula one fanfiction #charles leclerc #charles lecrelc x reader #max verstappen x you #max verstappen #lando norris imagine #lando norris #f1 fandom #max verstappen fanfic

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local-x-reader · 7 months

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Hello, how are you doing? Hopefully great.

If it's alright with you - and it's up to you to turn it down - Can i request platonic genshin impact HCs of Fem!reader?

Plot about Reader who if she had friends who's shorter then her or look younger, she immediately consider them her little siblings and try to take care/protect them because she's usually the oldest in her family and used to take care of others?

I have multiple characters to follow the same plot but if you only do a character per request then i want it to be Wanderer please and thank you!

I do infact do multiple characters~! So if you’d like to send in another ask with a few of the other characters, go right ahead Lovie! I picked Freminet as a little extra.

I can’t guarantee that either of them will be super in character since I’m still figuring them both out, and I’m not quite sure if this is what you meant as well!! I apologize if its not to your liking!

Being coddled. He hates it so much.

You seem to constantly be there. Scraped his knee? (Can he even scrape his knee? Wait hang on… Did not get an answer for that. I do not know: for the sake of it, yes.) You’re there, appearing out of seemingly nowhere, with a bandaid and a popsicle. Pushing it gently into his hands before putting the bandaid on.

He can’t even stop you, you just appear whenever he’s hurt.

The more annoying thing? That he’s finding himself to actually like the attention you give him, slowly getting less angry and oh man do your ears thank you, since he’s no longer yelling at you to leave him alone, he’s pouty but quiet, realizing he can’t stop you.

Now… the real issue is, when you start willingly throwing yourself into danger to protect him.

He’s fighting a few vermin, no major thing for him, swift bursts being thrown out until he’s knocked down, Mitachurl managing to take him by surprise, making you step in. All he can think is how stupid you are for doing such a thing! You don’t have a vision, Archons! He’s not even sure you even know how to wield a weapon!

He has to quickly push you away before you get yourself killed! A burst of anemo thrown at the Churl before it can actually harm you and your fragile body, although he’s not quite quick enough, leading to you getting a bit scuffed.

Its, for once, his turn to tend you…

“You idiot!” His voice is sharp, glare even sharper as you lie in the warmth of the bed, legs tucked beneath the cover while Wanderer rather roughly patches up your broken arm, glaring at your arm as if it has done great atrocities and broke on its own.

“Why did you do that?!” Wanderer hisses, his glare finally curving to meet your gaze, sharp as he gives a light squeeze to your arm, making you wince with pain as you falter to find words, mouth opening and closing as you look at him, before looking away, his tightened grip softening as he sighed, shaking his head.

“You’re an idiot, you don’t have a vision, I’m not even sure if you know how to use a weapon…. you could’ve gotten killed…” His voice, now softer, murmurs, quietly working to patch up the break, frowning as his glare softened slightly. He didn’t know why he found himself worried over you, why the thought of you dead bothered him so much. “Explain, explain your actions.”

“I… don’t know,” You shrugged, chest rising and falling with a soft sigh, eyes casting away, voice soft and filled will a small bit of fright… although he seemed to see right through that, his glare sharpening.

“Don’t. Lie. You know why, spit it out.”

“I just… don’t want to see you hurt…” You murmured, shrugging softly as you fiddled with your sleeve, looking away.

“Why?”

You remained quiet, lips locked shut. Gaze refusing to meet his, making him huff with annoyance, giving a tug to the bandages, making them tighten around your arm, sharply wincing before Wanderer gave a small move to untighten it, raising an eyebrow, “Why? I want answers.”

…

“I… I guess I view you as a little sibling…?”

That made Wanderer completely pause, confusion completely over taking his face as he attempted to register what you had just said meanwhile you refused to meet his gaze, looking down, grip tight on the blankets while he computed this strange new information he had received.

“You… view me as a little sibling?”

“Mhm… I don’t know… exactly why—“ Ep ep ep, that raised eyebrow. That stupid raised eyebrow and that look that said “you sure?” that stupid look you were so familiar with receiving from your siblings. “…Okay… maybe its ‘cause… ‘m the oldest in my family… ‘m supposed to care for my siblings… but they aren’t here… but… you just… remind me of them, remind me of my little siblings, even down to strange sibling communication looks…”

“Ah.”

…That was it?— You thought too soon, proceeding to get a light bonk on the head, a sharp glare from Wanderer, “Don’t do something dumb like that again, I can take care of myself just fine in battle!” He snapped, before his eyes softened slightly, looking away with an attempted “I don’t care” look, it made you smile, vaguely remembering that look from your little siblings. “Don’t do something dumb like that again, can’t aaalways be there to save my dumb sister.”

He isn’t sure… how to feel…

Freminet doesn’t tend to get himself into a lot of situations where he’s injured or in danger, the most danger he’s usually in is possibly drowning but he can breathe in the water, thanks to his vision. So really, the highest danger? Getting scraped by a rock, or ending up in a tight space… or attacked by one of the sea creatures— okay maybe there are more then a few things to be worried about…

It doesn’t mean he doesn’t value what you do… but he’s more worried its a waste when you put a little bandaid on his scrapes and scratches. They’ll come off… and the injuries don’t hurt too badly but you insist… and he can’t stop you, really…

He just quietly sits, patiently watching you patch him up, fidgeting with Pers while you apply cute bandaids to his arms, listening to your soft hums.

Now, he’s not usually one to get into fights… but for Pers safety? He’ll certainly try to defend the little clockwork penguin, his little companion managing to wander… straight… into a treasure hoarders camp…

He could’ve handled it fine on his own, he had a few moments where he faltered… and on one moment where he was convinced he was about to receive a shovel to his legs to knock him down? You came in, quick and taking a strong hit to your ankle, a small crack noise heard, making Freminet fight quicker as you fell to the ground, arms wrapping around Pers while Freminet fought.

Then, as swift as he could, he picked you and Pers up, running for it.

He was quiet, worry lacing his face as he quietly wrapped your ankle in a brace, frowning at it while you gently held his clockwork companion, watching it instead of Freminet. Oh he was trying to be so gentle, it was so clear with each movement, carefully wrapping it so it’d work but wouldn’t be too tight, worriedly looking at it for a moment, before his gaze landed on you.

“Why did you do that…?” His voice was soft, like gentle ocean waves, the worried look on his face gaining even more worry as he finished, able to look at you and Pers.

“I… the hoarder… was gonna hurt you…” You chirped, your voice matching his softness, the way he looked like a kicked puppy making you feel guilty, eyes focusing on Pers, the little penguins movements slowing as it settled down… “I couldn’t let you get hurt…”

“I would’ve been okay… I’ll heal…! You… really shouldn’t have taken that hit for me…” Freminet whispered again, voice wavering as he looked away, guilt lacing his own eyes. It was like someone yelling at a child for breaking into the candy jar, both of them looking guilty and refusing to meet any gazes but the floors.

“I’ll heal too.. I’ll be okay, Freminet… promise,” You murmured softly, still looking away.

The silence was deafening, the soft noises of Pers movements being the only noise in the silence… “Why… why did you… take the hit…?”

“I told you…—“

“I mean like… the actual reason… like why you’ve been talking care of me… every time I get hurt… is… you really shouldn’t be wasting so much for me… is there… some catch…?”

“Some catch..? No! No way! Never! There never be a catch for my little brothe—” You managed to catch yourself a little too late, wide eyes blinking at you from Freminet as Pers finally settled down on your lap while Freminet blinked at you several times, “What?”

….

“…There’d never be… a catch for my little brother…?” You gave such a nervous smile, while Freminet blinked even more, like a startled cat, trying to figure out if you had actually just said what escaped your lips, “Little… brother?”

“I’m… sorry if you’re not comfortable with that… I… I don’t know what causes me to view you as a little brother… maybe its just cause… I’m like… the oldest of my family… and you’re… I don’t know…” You chirped softly, folding the blanket a few times like a fan before letting it flop back into place, aware of Freminet’s wide eyes locked on you

“What???”

God the silence was back, louder then before, ironic saying it was silence but there was no noise, just soft inhales and exhales from the duo, not even the soft clicks of Pers.

“I just… feel inclined… to protect you… you… remind me of my siblings… in some ways… and… I don’t know… it makes me… just… want to protect you from harm… I guess…?”

“Oh…”

You decided not to carry on the conversation, shuffling carefully to lay down, putting Pers back on to the nightstand for Freminet to grab while you sidled back into bed, unaware of just how many emotions Freminet went through hearing that.

“Goodnight… uh… sister…?” He whispered softly, shuffling out the door and turning off the lights, leaving Pers under your protection, your eyes wide.

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house-of-mirrors · 11 months

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I was waiting till the official launch to post my Thoughts TM on mask so far, so here we are. There are no plot spoilers under the cut but spoilers nonetheless, I know I'm someone that likes to go into a game knowing absolutely nothing so. Disclaimer this is just my opinion, etc. TLDR I had very mixed feelings.

I want to like it. I love FL and the universe, been fixated on it for 3 years now. Genuinely though, I hate the pacing of mask. I've only had the game 3 days and have only completed 1 run, but I already feel burnt out from it. The time limit stressed me out, and the process of having to restart everything from scratch is grueling.

The story moves so fast that I barely have time to catch my breath. It reminded me of the anxiety of playing Majora's Mask. (And even that game lets you keep stuff unlocked between runs!) About 16 in-game days go by, and bam over. I'd appreciate if there were more days per season. The time skips didn't really make sense to me either because why does the player just do nothing for a few weeks? I would have liked enough time to complete at least one main quest, two side quests, and two relationships (two friendships, a friendship and a romance, whatever) per run, and I was only able to manage one of those. Sure, I could have explored more, but a character I cared about had his life on the line and I couldn't think about anything else.

The third act of the game is supremely cut short, like, no spoilers but there was a Major Event involving a character I was pursuing a romantic relationship with, and I didn't even get to interact with the character afterward and the whole thing was brushed over. The third act is where I got the feeling of, "ah, I'm getting used to this, the Game is finally beginning!" but NOPE that's the credit reel. Was left kinda feeling… huh, that was it? I know you're meant to replay a lot to get the full experience but that leads to my next point...

Spending a lot of time in each playthrough just to get to the places and items you need is a slog when you've already unlocked them before. And I hate to say it but... I have almost no ambition to pursue relationships because I know they'll be over very soon, there's no time to develop a real bond. Maybe I'm too aspec but it doesn't make sense to me how your character would decide to date someone at your first meeting. So like, in sskies or ssea, you can't complete every quest in one run, but some stuff carries over. Keep some locations and items unlocked between runs to make it easier on the player.

From a technical standpoint the game is fascinating and a lot of work went into it, but an innovative engine doesn't impress me when the most important part, the story, lacks immersion. As it stands, I can't bring myself to play more until a patch that fixes some of these issues. My disappointment is palpable.

#the hour of complaining #fl negative #motr response #motr #motr spoilers #mask of the rose

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redinbluee · 1 year

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The development of Chainsaw Man and Tatsuki Fujimoto's writing (part 1)

Tatsuki Fujimoto is an talented mangaka who has written some of the most amazing works I have ever seen. A lot of people seem to undermine the complexity and seriousness of part one, most likely due to the fact that the story itself contains a lot of straightfoward humour and questionable sexual content that is difficult to be taken seriously... and also how a large portion of his audience are horny emotional trainwrecks who only read his manga to see Makima's ass.

Fujimoto is unafraid to be true and completely honest in his works, creating complex characters and a plot that defies typical shonen stereotypes. The general idea of Chainsaw Man is undoubtedly very shonen, but he has managed to warp his story into something that resembles more of a character drama which I think is refreshing and influential. I sometimes like to think that Fujimoto forced himself to insert the action into Chainsaw Man just to please the majority of the younger manga community while also labelling it as Shonen so it could be published onto a magazine as influential as Jump to recieve worldwide attention. But personally, I feel like Fujimoto does not excel at creating a plot that revolves mostly around fighting, action and adventure which are some of the typical shonen elements that are highly appreciated. In fact, I feel like the pacing and panelling in some early Chainsaw Man chapters weren't executed well. I especially have minor issues with the overly rapid pacing of, for instance- the beginning of Bomb devil arc (where I personally believe that Reze could have become a more fleshed out character despite the fact that she was putting on a facade for most of the arc- extending the period before her reveal by increasing the amount of interactions between Denji and her would heighten the tension even further, allowing her character reveal to be more dramatic and shocking. Not only this, although I love the idea behind the International Assasins arc - it wasn't executed as well as it could have been. It was just too chaotic and fast paced in my opinion, it leaves the reader very confused on their first read due to the lack of explanation and the constantly shifting of perspective in the panelling. Some of the earlier fight scenes in csm were also drawn messily, making it difficult for the reader to visually understand the ongoing action. Finally, I also think that some of the characters were just killed way too early, so early to the point where possible character development was unable to be executed.)

Despite these minor setbacks, Chainsaw Man part one remains to be one of my favourite mangas, not because it is flawless, perfect or anything like that. It was because of the characters. Makima and Aki were remarkable characters that are three dimensional and complex, and was- in my opinion, the characters that were the most interesting and fleshed out. Denji is a character who was meant to be laughed at, but underneath this lies a boy who has lived such a tragic life, you can't help but sympathise with him. I love Chainsaw Man because I have formed a deep emotional connection with it, a feeling completely separate from liking a story due to it's masterful writing and art. Writing characters is an area that Fujimoto excels at, he creates addicting, relatable, beautifully written characters that you simply fall in love with. This is an area that is in desperate need for improvement in works that fall under the shonen demographic. Fujimoto writes great female characters, he surely loves writing women haha. A lot of Shonen works have terribly written female characters who were only made to please the male gaze and add "diversity' to the cast- while female characters in Chainsaw Man are portrayed in a realistic manner, actually driving the story forwards and making impact. After Chainsaw Man part one, the popularity of this manga just continued to skyrocket. Fujimoto went on hiatus, producing Look Back and Sayonara Eri in the process. Below is a section of what Fujimoto wrote in his author's notes in "before csm" addressing his feelings while writing Look Back along with noting down some details explaining his struggles in pursuing art during his early years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

"I went back to volunteer one more time after that. Then I stopped. This was because I was doing oil painting, which gets expensive, and I had to draw manga in order to pay for it. From age 17, that sense of powerlessness has always been following me around. Every time there was another tragedy, my sense that my pursuits serve no purpose at all grew bigger"

"Recently, I drew a manga called Look Back to try and finally vent those feelings. Oddly enough, once I drew it, I think I was able to process them a bit. Looking at this collection of one-shots now, In that state of mind, I remembered a lot of things. Not just that I would draw while feeling powerless, but also that I would draw while really hungry, and how I was always practicing art with my friends. It brought back memories so fun that I have to wonder why I'd only been remembering the dark things. Now I feel glad that I got to have not just Look Back collected in a book, but these one-shots too."

I assume that Look back and Sayonara Eri are works that Fujimoto have always wanted to write- stories that he wrote for himself, not to please his audience anymore (after his immense success in csm, there was no need for him to gain further attention) I'm so proud of him lmao. Part 1 of Chainsaw Man is influential, iconic and an amazing piece of work- but did Fujimoto really like his story? Did he force himself to write Chainsaw man? Part 1 felt rushed, a lot of the story was improvised and messy at times as a result of his crazy work schedule. I sometimes like to think whether the end result of Chainsaw Man was really something Fujimoto wanted to create? What would have happened if he didn't have to please his audience and work under this terrible schedule that influenced his ability to fully express his best work? Fire Punch was a less successful piece that is quite different from Chainsaw Man (which actually appears to be more conventional when comparing it to the obscurity of Fire Punch). Did he try to create a piece of work that appeared to be shonen just so it could be attractive?

"All mangaka wanted to do this job because they love sharing stories and drawing, but when you actually become a mangaka, you realize you need to handle everything alone. When working for weekly magazine, you just don't have enough time. The schedule is too intense, and you need to work as fast as possible. I always end up improvising some things during the inking phase to save time. I'd like to do both the characters and backgrounds myself, but this is so difficult I need to ask my assistants to handle the backgrounds".

This was what Fujimoto said when someone asked whether the suffering of Chainsaw Man's characters actually reflect his feelings:

"I never thought about it, but it's all definitely inspired by my own feelings. It might be the reflection of my daily routine. I work alone for a weekly magazine. It's incredibly difficult, and I don't want my series to get canceled, so I work non-stop".

After Chainsaw Man part 1, we had the opportunity to see two oneshots that were not created under the pressures of time and success. Works that once again, had such lovable, remarkable and raw characters that reflected Fujimoto's talent in character writing along with art that was noticeably more refined, clean and beautiful. In my opinion, these two oneshots exceeded the quality of the entire first part of Chainsaw Man, you don't have to agree- but Fujimoto's development as a mangaka surely is prominent.

This is all for now, follow me for more content like this, I'll upload a part 2 to this where I begin talking about Chainsaw Man part 2!

#csm #chainsaw man #denji #asaden #Chainsaw man #Asa #csm analysis #tatsuki fujimoto #goodbye eri #manga #asa mikata #manga analysis

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nikolai-alexi · 8 months

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“Animal”

Tags: modern uni au, secret musician James, late night radio host Regulus, James keeps sneaking into a recording booth when he thinks Regulus is gone for the night, regulus thinks he’s lost the plot until he investigates

Regulus is pretty sure he’s going crazy. Well — no, he’s already pretty sure he’s gone crazy, but now he thinks he might be haunted.

He typically gets off work around three in the morning these days; he’s been running the university’s nighttime radio station for the last few months and he really does enjoy it. It’s a perfect gig for an insomniac business student who hates his major and wishes he could change to musical theory but has no choice in the matter.

However, the last two weeks have been testing his patience. Every single morning when he’s closing up the studio, the light in one of the back recording rooms is on. Which wouldn’t be an issue, if he didn’t know for fact that he turned it off. So when he sees it back on again, he growls under his breath and works his way back through the shelves of records and CDs and radio equipment to deal with it once and for all.

His key slides into the lock and he twists the knob, only to open the door and see someone inside. Someone who is not only very much alive and not a ghost, but someone who is also unfortunately very, very familiar to him.

Lo and fucking behold, James Potter is standing with his back to Regulus in the doorway, clunky headphones over his ears, soundboard in front of him on the table, mic by his mouth, and a bring red electric guitar slung over his shoulders.

He has no idea how the hell James managed to get in here, and he knows he should kick him out, but his curiosity is boiling in his veins. He absolutely has to hear this. His brain refuses to accept that James bleeding Potter has any other talents than being an annoying prick that steals people’s brothers.

Regulus can hear James humming a melody he doesn’t know under his breath as he sets up, occasionally picking at his guitar strings, but not plugging it into the amp yet. He checks his watch for some unknown reason, then whatever he sees seems to spur him into actually plugging everything in. Regulus ducks out of the door and goes into the soundbooth where he might be able to hide a bit better. He flips the sound share switch and raises the volume inside the booth so he can hear what James is doing.

Finally, James hits the recording button and starts.

He starts with the melody from earlier. B F# E G#m and F# chords are looped with the soundboard. Then a soft beat gets laid down behind it. There’s a beat up notebook laying open beside the soundboard that James peers at while the simple loop plays in his headphones and inside the booth. He has to admit, he’s already somewhat impressed. He wouldn’t have expected James to get even this far around a sound board. The melody is quite catchy so far as well.

He watches as James steps to the mic and waits for the loop to start again. He’s wholly unprepared for the slightly raspy, sweet voice that comes out of his mouth.

“It’s an empty shell I’m livin’ in,

The doors are always closed,”

The riff he does on the word “closed” makes Regulus smile a bit, it’s not overly showy, it doesn’t quite feel like a “James Potter” type of thing. He’s strumming the same chords softly over the looped ones, but using them as singles. Regulus likes the effect they make. It almost sounds retro-ish, tinny in a way.

“And I spend my weeks,

Losin’ my head, restin’ my bones,

And they say that nothin’s given,

So I guess I’ll get nothin’ at all,”

The lyrics make no sense to him coming from James Potter. He should be talking about how great his life is, or how he “rescued” his best friend from his shit one, or something of the sort. Regulus doesn’t understand where these lyrics are coming from.

“And I’ll accept defeat,

Cause you can’t swing,

When the fight’s lost,”

A matching riff on “spend” and “accept” and Regulus likes the choice he makes there. The beat he laid down earlier comes in, and the music is deceptively upbeat for the lyrics so far.

“You know,

Can’t see the grass getting greener, cause

out here ain’t nothin’ but blue, and your eyes

Blood red, the high helps a little, but

Everyone you meet’s just passin’ through,

White lies take all of the colour from you,

Most nights you don’t sleep at all,

And you black out blind and hide,

Is there any wonder no one ever really tries to call?”

Regulus hates to admit it, but he’s a bit awestruck with the way James’ lyrics flow. The use of colour analogies in reference to, what Regulus assumes, emotional states and reactions. The lyrics and backing music are so diametrically opposed, it almost makes no sense, but it feels like the song is almost speaking separately from James singing it. Like it’s almost mocking the happy person singing it with its helplessness.

“And you say,

Ooo, sometimes I feel like an animal,

Ooo, I climb so high,

Just to feel the fall,

And let it go,

So,

Look me in the eyes,

Am I someone else?

Ooo, sometimes I feel like an animal, an animal, an animal,”

And that strikes a visceral pang deep in Regulus’s chest. How often has he felt the same way? Licking his wounds from behind the bars of his gilded cage, feeling like he has no more bodily autonomy than that of a pet. He wonders why James knows that same feeling.

The beat phases out with a push of a button on the soundboard. James is back to strumming single chords like he did in the beginning, and the second verse rolls off James’ tongue.

“And I always have a vision,

But I always let it go,

And then I feel too weak,

And it’s too much,

And it’s too close,”

The beat comes back again, but this time James adds some snare into it. He’s bobbing along with the beat with his entire upper body, bending over his guitar. The loop petal gets pressed and he’s back on his guitar as the pre-chorus rolls in again.

“Can’t see the grass getting greener, cause,

Out here ain’t nothin’ but blue, and your eyes,

Blood red, the high helps a little,

But everyone you meet’s just passin’ through,

White lies take all of the colour from you,

Most nights you don’t sleep at all,

And you black out blind and hide,

Is there any wonder no one really tries to call?

And you say,”

Regulus finds himself nodding along with it, humming the melody under his breath as he goes into the chorus. James is somehow dancing around the booth, still strumming, still singing, and managing not to trip over the cords on the ground. Regulus can’t help but grin at the silliness of it all.

“Ooo, sometimes I feel like an animal,

I climb so high,

Just to feel the fall,

And let it go,

So look me in the eye,

Am I someone else?

Ooo, sometimes I feel like an animal, an animal, an animal,”

This time when he goes into the pre-chorus, the beat and melody stays, but he brings the volume down on it, and slows it down to the same tempo and cadence of the first and second verses. Regulus can feel that this one means more to the song, like the first two allowed the listener to get caught up in the upbeat vibes, but now they had to come back to Earth and hear what he was saying.

“Can’t see the grass getting greener, cause,

Out here ain’t nothin’ but blue, and your eyes,

Blood red, the high helps a little,

But everyone you meet’s just passin’ through,”

There’s a up stress on “meet” in this one, and it pulls at the raspiness in James’ voice. Makes it sound raw and exposed, despite being in the studio. Regulus refuses to acknowledge the gooseflesh rising on his arms at it.

James cuts the beat entirely, holding his guitar and getting closer to the mic guard. He strums slowly and quietly, letting his voice hold the remnants of the melody. It’s soft and slow and quiet.

“You say,

Ooo sometimes I feel like an animal,

Ooo I climb so high,

Just to feel the fall,

And let it go,”

James builds the beat back up with a slow slide of a leveller, then let’s it cascade back in.

“So, look me in the eyes,

Am I someone else?

Ooo sometimes I feel like an animal,

An animal, an animal,”

James plays the recording back, listening intently to it, before nodding and beginning to pack his stuff up. Regulus makes like a bandit and rushing out, barely remembering to lock the door to the building behind him. He wants to stick around to see where the hell James is managing to get in from, but he doesn’t want to get caught snooping around business that is decidedly not his own.

As he’s walking back to his dorm, he realises he’s humming James’ song under his breath. The lyrics leave his lips in little puffs of white air in the cold night. He knows that song is going to be stuck in his head for at least a week. He wishes he could play it on the station on his next shift. He’d probably indulge himself and play it a few times.

He thinks nothing of the scene he’d witnessed the night before during his classes, spares no thought of being caught in his observation, convinced he’d been quiet and quick enough to avoid detection. But when he sits down at his station, ready to start his 11pm broadcast, a redbull, blueberry muffin — his go to snack for work from the student centre — and a flashdrive with a note sits on his desktop. The handwriting is sloppy, but undeniably familiar from the letters Regulus had seen sent to his house over the years before Sirius left.

Regulus, it reads.

Seemed like you enjoyed this one last night. You can play it if you want, Track 4 is the one, just don’t mention it’s me who made it, if you don’t mind. There’s a couple others on there if you’re curious. Come out of the booth next time.

- JFP

P.S. text Sirius back, would you? He’s driving us all mad with all his whinging about you hating him again.

Regulus can’t help but laugh at the post script. He wasn’t aware that his brother’s friends were even aware of his existence, let alone his reemergence into Sirius’ life now that his parents aren’t aware of his every moment and breath. Nevertheless, he shoots a quick text off to his drama queen of a brother before he sets up to air.

As the “LIVE” light flicks on, his radio persona slips over him like a second skin, “Good evening, everyone,” he says quietly into the mic, “Welcome to Hogwarts University’s late night radio channel. My name is Leo and I’ll be your host for the night. Whether you’re headed to bed, up late studying, or trying to avoid the inevitable doom of exams coming up by starring into the void, we’ll have something for you.”

He can pretty much see Evan and Barty rolling their eyes at him from their dorm room, both of them some of his daily listeners along with the rest of their friend group, but he thinks he’s clever. At least he finds himself funny.

“I’ve got a bit of a treat for you all tonight. A new indie artist on the block to get us started, this is “Animal” by The Deerest Marauder. You’ll have to let me know if you like it as much as I do. As always, leave your feedback, song requests, and late night brain rot on the Instagram at HULateNight_Leo,”

It had taken him a bit to come up with a clever artist name for James. JFP was too obvious, Prongs was a dead giveaway seeing as Sirius wouldn’t know what an inside voice was if it hit him in the face and the entire campus knows James’ nickname. Regulus remembers Sirius calling their little band of chaos “the marauders” back in year ten. So from there, he’d come up with his own stupid pun. Again, at least he thinks he’s funny.

Flashdrive inserted into his laptop, Regulus clicks on Track 4, realising belatedly that he’d accidentally named James’ song for him, and presses play.

If he plays “Animal” and the other four tracks on the flashdrive several times throughout the night, and leaves the light on to the back recording booth before he leaves that night, it’s no one’s business but his own.

#regulus black #james potter #evan rosier #barty crouch jr #marauders era #jegulus #barty crouch junior #sirius black #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #might do another part to this idk

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crispy-ghee · 16 days

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I did think the show was at it's best when it was pushing the rivalry between bird and johnson, and I think the making him more of an asshole in season 1 would have worked better cause it could be from magic's perspective, then he gets fleshed out in season 2, but even then he still didn't get fleshed out as much as he could have been. Also the way they cut that episode where it goes from him seeing his dead dad, to buss romancing the new girlfriend was such a bad tonal shift. They could have cut that and had his mom appear, instead of holding her until the last episode. You don't introduce her with less than five minutes of screen time and then give her a 10 second big emotional payoff, you don't do that with an audience who isn't familiar with the real life people.

Another major issue for me was how they focused way more on the managerial side than the players, to the point that they would cut out a lot of the playing moments to focus on what buss and his family are doing. We know way more about the managing staff than most of the guys who are actually on the team playing basketball. And I think that's best exemplified by the fact that the final episode doesn't end on magic and the team, but on buss and his daughter.

Another thing I noticed, and I don't know if it was just me, but they seemed to continuously undercut the serious tone of moments if they were for characters that weren't the main focus, like that scene I mentioned with larry, them playing good vibrations over jeff mckinney's accident, which are just the ones that I remember really standing out to me as weird to do for actual real life tragedies.

I just think it was badly written overall.

All that said, I do like rewatching all the larry bird scenes.

I think these are all super valid points, and I agree with basically all of it. I understand them trying to focus on Buss because it was about the building of a dynasty, but that doesn't mean that it was compelling at all and it felt like they were interrupting the more interesting parts of the story. Especially in cases like, yeah, cutting from Larry's father's suicide to Buss and his girlfriend. I definitely felt like I had to sit through almost all of the family and business drama stuff just to get to the stuff I actually wanted to see.

Their approach to Larry's mom was really frustrating to me bc it diminished her role in his life a little bit in exchange for the dramatic punch of his father's death, but the fact that she wasn't seen *at all* during the episode they set aside for his backstory was baffling. I think maybe they were trying to have it be like they were saving seeing Larry's soft side to juxtapose it against when he was at his most "villainous" to the Lakers, but that didn't mean having to cut out his mother completely until that moment. Especially since she got so little screen time even then.

Part of me wonders if it was supposed to be just a taste of seeing her influence before presumably showing her hand in Magic and Larry's eventually friendship in the next season (which is now not happening), like they were trying to foreshadow something, but to be honest, I think it's largely the fact that there was too much shit happening in the second season. Literally too many plot threads. So all this stuff got relegated to only a few minutes.

I do enjoy the times when it actually is about Larry and Magic, because that's the most fleshed out/interesting thing that they had, though I do think that there's some interesting stuff about the politics of the team if only they'd approached it right. But they really wanted to make a show about the business drama first, it feels like, which sucks bc it means that the big charismatic people, the players, are second banana to the team owners and the coaches. Also again, I just...I did not care about the family drama. At all. I'm sure other people loved it, Buss is undoubtedly an interesting man, but I wanted to pull my hair out every time it cut to it.

I think they were trying for something that could've been interesting stylistically/presentation-wise, but also it came across as really messy and half-baked at a lot of points. There were moments where it really shined though, but it didn't always work. It's definitely disappointing.

I'm with you on the writing hahaha a lot of deep sighing and frustration on my part while watching. The pacing was so weird, a lot of moments that were supposed to hit felt entirely unearned or out of place.

And also liking rewatching the Larry Bird scenes. As weird and exaggerated as it was, I think you could tell they were having fun with him. If only they'd gotten better wigs and the actor didn't feel like he had to make his own mouth smaller by pursing his lips all the time ahahaha (I still think about how that was gonna be Bo Burnham and I get sad)

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stylincheetah · 1 year

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Trigun Stampede: A Multi-Part Critique

To preface this very long and passionate, multi-part essay: I am a massive fan of Trigun. I have loved the series since I was a kid, and the manga has always held a very special place in my heart. The initial announcement of Stampede had me so, so excited, but my skepticism set in as soon as I saw the first trailer. I gave the show a fair shake, and watched it to the end.

Ultimately, I have a lot of issues I want to address, starting with this first part! Here, I expand on my thoughts regarding the overall plot, side characters, and one poorly adapted organization in particular. More to come, if anyone cares to hear the rest of my thoughts in the future.

Part 1: Side Characters, World Building, and Cardboard-Flavored Nonsense

[Spoilers for Trigun Stampede and Trigun Maximum follow.]

-PLOT: A Mile a Minute-

Let’s start simple: the plot and pacing were all over the place. Sequences came and went in the blink of an eye, and none of the characters left a lasting impact. Episode 5 was, in a lot of ways, the end of my hope for the show. The cuts between the past and future scenes were so confusing that my friends and I were having a lot of difficulty keeping track of the plot at large. So much was shoved into every single episode that the show was constantly primed to burst, yet most scenes felt like little more than hot air to pad out the runtime. There was no room to build lasting connections with the characters, plot, or any aspect of Gunsmoke’s world. Interesting story beats were picked up and tossed aside without a single care (looking at you, Eye of Michael). And it was all in service of a (very bombastic and disjointed) finale, and the announcement of a Season 2. Somehow, that only makes me more upset. I’d understand if Stampede’s creators were trying to make the most of a 12-episode run by throwing in as much fan service as possible, but by making it clear that they did have more time to work with, the entirety of Season 1 gets chucked out the window as a ploy to set up future story arcs. By the time Episode 12 reaches its conclusion, not a single character is graced with anything beyond surface-level depth. Meryl, Nick, Knives, Rem, and worst of all, Vash, have nothing compelling to bring to the table. They’re caricatures of their manga–and even 90s anime–counterparts, and lend very little to the paint-by-numbers story set in place for them. Speaking of characters…

-Legato, Livio, Elendira: The Gun-No-Guns-

Talk about character assassination.

There was one solitary interesting idea established by this show with Rollo’s inclusion. Sure! Tie Monev the Gale to Vash, that’s a fun and interesting way to re-establish the character. Not that the concept’s very original, considering there were other Gung-Ho’s (like Leonov) who already had their grudges against Vash in the source material. But fine, so be it. Then we get Legato, Livio, and Elendira. Oh boy. Let me try to make this quick.

Legato “I don’t understand Love and Emotion” Bluesummers

Who are you? Aside from the fact that Legato appears for a fraction of screen time as a minion of the Eye of Michael (more on that later), his character serves absolutely 0 purpose in the grand over-arching plot of the story. No grudge against Vash, no adoration for Knives–not even a fun and horrifying on-screen murder spree! I kid, but not really. For how tremendously threatening his other versions are, this cameo of his was a major letdown that only gave way to more and more disappointment as the show went on. I have very little to say about him, other than the fact that his inclusion was as forgettable as his reworked “pretty boy” design.

Livio

Well-animated backstory aside, Livio was as flat as paper. His introduction in the manga is fast, punchy, and immediately menacing. He fights Nick with agency, and at the very least manages to stand by his convictions, however misguided they are. He fights because he believes in Chapel, and buys into the Eye of Michael wholeheartedly. He says little, but at least he has the capacity to do so at all! He’s not a mindless zombie–he’s Livio the Doublefang, and has the bite to back up the title. His new design is interesting, but fails to capture the looming weight of his manga counterpart, and, again he serves as little purpose to the story as Legato. He’s inserted as a temporary distraction, and acts a cheap vessel for the show’s lame attempts to squeeze out some extra characterization for Nick. Not that it leads to anything, but oh well. At least we got Razlo–for one frame. Wasn’t that neat?

Elendira…oh boy

If I had the mental fortitude, I would write an essay twice as long solely on how poorly they messed up Elendira as a character. Point-blank, the show’s portrayal of her is transphobic, and a far cry from what made her so interesting to begin with. In the manga, Elendira is a trans woman, the strongest member of the Gung-Ho’s, and one of the strongest humans alive period—a true force to be reckoned with. She’s witty and introspective, and plays off of Legato and Knives in very captivating ways. Her arsenal is unique and doesn’t require an explanation or forethought–she’s just cool, like a lot of Trigun is when it’s doing everything right. Antagonist or otherwise, she’s an interesting and refreshing member of the cast, and a relatively grounded portrayal of a trans character considering when her source material was released. Not to mention, she’s got her own perspective regarding the world at large that lends to some pretty cool scenes between herself and other members of the cast. And then, Stampede strips her of all of that. Not only is she no longer trans (which, why??? Why was that so hard to keep in?) but she’s also severely aged down, and transformed into some sick plant-human hybrid that serves no greater purpose than to throw a tantrum and kill off Roberto in one of the most contrived scenes of the show (RIP King). Not to mention Nick calling her a “monster”, “creep”, etc. Trans erasure is bad enough, but to link the only trans character to the idea of being a non-human freak isn’t just bad writing; it’s downright offensive.

Zazie, at least, was pretty close to their original version, and got a really neat redesign. I dig it! So boom, there’s a positive. But hey–they’re not even called the Gung-Ho Guns here. Which makes sense given the prequel spin on the story, but then why were Monev and E.G Mine tossed in? Oh right. “Fanservice”. Can’t wait to see how they skirt around this major plot thread without tripping over their own feet.

-Conrad: A Lesson In Humanity-

I liked Conrad in the manga. He was a bit player in a much grander story, but at least he served a purpose beyond exposition. His first introductory scene with Knives made for a really tender moment, which contrasted well with their eventual reunion. His presence by Knives’s side was fascinating, and I enjoyed the peeks into the inner turmoil of a man who had once devoted himself to the study of Plants, ethics be damned. Volume 6 has a really great scene where he and Knives come to a Plant on its last legs, and Conrad comments on how terrifying it feels to walk through a city while effectively leashed to a sentient atom bomb. While Knives watches in horror and disgust as his sister’s life is snuffed out for “one last run”, Conrad falls to his knees, begging for Knives to forgive the human race. Sounds familiar, right? Because Stampede rather shamelessly lifts elements of these pages for its mini-standoff in Episode 9. What the anime fails to recognize is that Conrad is not, in fact, some bland monologuing evil scientist hell-bent on filling the world with lots of overzealous plant babies. He’s a human, one who stands by Knives out of fear, pity, and an inherent guilt that drives him to atone in service of a boy he no longer recognizes. He does not approve of Knives’ actions, and still has strong convictions that give him hope that a future beyond his own exists for humanity. When the events of Volume 6 come to a head, he’s bold in his assertion that even a lone, insignificant human can know something Knives doesn't. And still, he offers help, and offers to keep his place by Knives’s side, presumably to dissuade him from harming anyone else. It’s a futile effort, but serves as a very strong and memorable moment that leaves the reader with a firm impression of his character. Stampede Conrad is a boring coward who likes to monologue, and whose motivations barely make a lick of sense. He’s as generic as the rest of the tropey collection of caricatures filling in the secondary roles. Seriously, I was waiting for Meryl to finally show some agency and shoot the guy, but that would’ve been too much to ask for.

-The Eye of Michael: Goodbye, Worldbuilding-

The Eye of Michael, as a cult, is a really cool and well-implemented idea…in the manga. The 90s anime doesn’t touch on it much, and Stampede puts too much of a spotlight on it in order to tie up loose ends that really didn’t need tying up.Everything circles back to them in one way or another, even if it translates to utter nonsense. Legato’s cool powers? The Eye of Michael! Monev and E.G. Mine? The Eye of Michael! Knives and Legato’s newfound proclivity for bible thumping? Boy howdy!

The Eye of Michael worked because it had a very strong identity and iconography that made its forces immediately recognizable. Clad in black, draped in Christian allegory, and touting slick cross-shaped weaponry, its members were well-defined and given ample time with which to make themselves known. They were an organization independent of Knives and his agenda, built by human hands for human means. By making every bad guy one of Conrad’s failed experiments within the cult, the threat of the organization has been effectively neutered. Once Conrad’s gone…who’s left to keep it running? What makes this crapshoot of a science fair worth a damn? If it’s not one of the many human-led organizations shown to be perpetuating destruction on Gunsmoke, thereby lending credence to Knives’s perspective, what’s even the point of keeping it around? I’ll touch on Stampede’s overall disrespect for the original’s compelling religious undertones in a future post, but I do think it’s worth noting that the Eye has been reduced to little more than a backdrop in Stampede, and has no purpose beyond its function as a spawn point for supplementary enemies. Trigun is not a story that needs a pretty bow plopped atop every unanswered question. In fact, the world feels a lot more intriguing and realistic because of how much goes unsaid, giving its weird cast of characters plenty of room to breathe. From puppeteers and saxophone players to Catholic assassins-for-hire, Gunsmoke features a whole cavalcade of killers from all walks of life. Knives hand-picks each one like he’s building a deck of cards, however nonsensical, because it suits his needs. The world is terrible with and without his influence, because there’s never going to be a perfect world without some form of strife. Where’s the fun in delving deeper into such a cool concept if the end result is cheapened by its over-explanation? It’s like the writers were trying to lift the curtain and yanked the cord so hard , it broke the mechanism altogether. What we’re left with is the hollow remnants of a planet that can barely keep its aesthetics straight, and a plot whose antagonists lack independence and motivation.

Thus concludes part 1 of my very tired, saddened rant. I’m coming hot off the heels of episode 12, and I definitely need a bit more time to collect my thoughts on the rest of Stampede’s hot mess. Look forward to that, I guess!

#trigun #trigun maximum #trigun stampede #really hope this reaches the right audience and it's not just me because I'm going stir-crazy #vash #knives #legato #livio #elendira

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thegayhimbo · 7 months

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Stranger Things Darkness on the Edge of Town Review (Part 1 of 3)

Warning: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from both the book and from Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews. Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are regarding the show or the upcoming season! :)

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Synopsis: When El discovers a box containing information about a 1977 case from Hopper's time with the NYPD, Hopper is forced to confront his past as he recalls his hunt for a dangerous serial killer with connections to the Occult......

Observations:

When I was in middle school, I remember writing a story that had a similar structure to this book: It started out as a normal case-of-the-week mystery usually found on Police Procedurals or even in detective novels like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Later on, said mystery would turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg to a far more insidious conspiracy that threatened the protagonists lives and everything they cared about.

Looking back years later, I have enough writing experience now to recognize my story was juvenile and riddled with plot-holes and other elements that didn't make sense. Still, I was a fan of escalating things in a story to make the villains threatening, and I still get a thrill whenever I see that element in movies, or read about it in books. In a way, Stranger Things is like that: What once was a mystery regarding the disappearance of Will Byers has now evolved into a battle between the main characters and a deranged psychopath who's leading his army of monsters to destroy the world.

Darkness on the Edge of Town is similar: It starts out as a case about an unhinged serial killer, only to take a hard left turn about a fourth of the way in and reveal that the threat posed is greater than Hopper could have imagined. The pacing for this book is brisk, the suspense is tight, and I managed to re-read the entire book in two days.

Like my previous reviews, this will be split into several parts regarding characters and social issues covered in the book. There's also a potential gold-mine here for theories about Season 5 (particularly in relation to the main antagonist and his possible connection to the Upside Down), and I plan to discuss those in-depth.

Part 1: El and Hopper

The narrative structure for this book is similar to the movie The Princess Bride in that the main story (Hopper's time with the NYPD in 1977) is within another story (Hopper celebrating Christmas with Eleven in 1984). Like the Grandfather from the movie who reads to his grandson, Hopper tells El about living in New York City, and a case he worked on back then. However, unlike the Grandfather, Hopper is initially reluctant to talk about it because of how violent it was, and it's only from El's prodding that he finally does.

Multiple times, the books cuts between Hopper's memories of the case in 1977 and his conversations with El in the present. El usually inquires about certain events that happened during the case, and tries to learn more about Hopper himself. There's even a scene where (at El's insistence) Hopper spoils a part of his tale to inform her that someone he personally knew from the story survived. It's a lot like when the Grandfather from The Princess Bride reveals to his grandson that Buttercup doesn't get eaten by the shrieking eels before the audience gets to see that scene for themselves. Cheeky! 😂

The passages between El and Hopper work because they help give insight into how Hopper views El, and they also allow El to get to know Hopper a bit better. Take for instance when El questions Hopper about Vietnam and Hopper's reasons for not wanting to talk about it:

Or the reasons why Hopper became a cop, and El piecing together what that entails:

El knew about Hopper's job as a cop (as evidenced by what she tells Kali in season 2), but I don't think she ever truly thought about what that meant for Hopper and the danger he subjected himself to on multiple occasions. In this story, she's getting a better picture of what Hopper's experienced in his lifetime. She's also beginning to realize how much Hopper sacrificed when he took her in despite knowing it could cost him everything.

On top of this, El demonstrates an emotional intelligence about certain situations Hopper talks about. One example is when Hopper discusses his partner, Rosario Delgado, and the sexism/racism she faced initially when she joined Brooklyn's 65th Precinct. El initially doesn't know the words, but she understands immediately that they way some of the men treated Delgado was wrong:

I remember a few years ago receiving a profoundly stupid comment from a Billy stan trying to justify Billy's bigotry by claiming the reason El didn't grow up bigoted is because she didn't know words like racism, sexism, abuse, and so on. Putting aside the brain-dead logic behind that statement, just because El didn't know those words doesn't mean she was incapable of understanding on an emotional level when people were being mean and prejudicial to others. El's greatest trait is that she's empathetic (even towards people like Vecna who don't deserve it) and she can pick up quickly when others are being mistreated and recognize that it's wrong. She did it with Mike in season 1 when Mike tells her about how he's been bullied, and she even had empathy for the kids at the lab who were slaughtered by Vecna despite the cruel way they treated her. That is not something Brenner or anyone else had to teach her. She already knew on an intrinsic level what bigotry was, and implying that El is too stupid to understand that because she doesn't automatically know certain words is insulting beyond belief.

Same principle applies for the fans who make asinine excuses for all the bullying Angela and her friends engaged in by claiming they're children who don't better and need adults to supervise them:

Unlike Hopper's daughter Sara, Angela is NOT a 6 year old who needs mommy and daddy to hold her hand and explain to her the difference between right and wrong. She knew perfectly well that her treatment of El in season 4 was vicious, and she chose to do it anyway because she could get away with it and felt justified in doing so. She is absolutely responsible for what she does, and claiming that she isn't is not only an idiotic take devoid of reason, it's that kind of mentality that leads to people enabling the worst of someone's behavior to the point they becomes narcissistic, self-righteous bullies. Angela lacks empathy. Same with Billy. They know their behavior is hurtful and wrong, and they don't care.

If someone like El, who was raised as a laboratory experiment with the intention of being molded into a weapon against the Soviets, was brutally bullied most of her life, and got manipulated by two different psychopaths who were using her for their own ends, is still capable of being empathetic towards others after all of that, then there aren't any excuses for how Angela and Billy behave. They are terrible people who deserve to be held accountable for their actions, and I have no patience for those who choose to make apologies for them.

Adding on to this, I know there's a perception that because El got bad grades in school when she was in Lenora, it meant she wasn't as intelligent as her peers. There's even a scene on the show where El's math teacher is dismissive of her after she gets another F in class and condescendingly tells her they'll talk after break while offering no means to help her. I also see fans apply this logic to characters like Eddie (who also got bad grades) and Steve (who wasn't able to get into college).

I could do an entire separate post about how the U.S. Education system is a poor measurement for intelligence in an individual, but I will say that just because the three of them struggled in school doesn't mean they weren't smart. Eddie simply didn't care about grades, and put more energy into learning D&D lore and playing guitar because that's what interested him (look at how quickly he learned "Master of Puppets" by Metallica on his guitar between the time the album came out and the night of his concert in the Upside Down). Steve isn't brushed up on certain topics, but he does make connections that other people miss (like the music he hears in the Russian recording in S3, or him questioning why Vecna stopped killing after 1959 and only started again recently). El by comparison is capable of learning, but because of her upbringing in the lab, it takes a little longer since she's stunted. Hopper acknowledges this in the book, and privately expresses his disgust for what Brenner did to her:

This is why, for all of his flaws, I like how Hopper teaches El: He works with her in the ways she needs to be able to develop. She learns at her own pace, and Hopper never makes her feel dumb for doing so. Regardless of whether this was unintentional, the book (and the show to some extent) make an inadvertent argument in favor of homeschooling as a better means of teaching someone compared to the school system's method of expecting everyone to be on the same level and punishing those who aren't.

Getting back to Hopper and El, at this point in the story, following the events of season 2, they have a better understanding of one another. Hopper trusts that El will be able to handle how graphic his backstory was, and El trusts Hopper to be honest with her and support her.

I also like how they referenced the game of Hungry Hungry Hippos that Hopper got El for Christmas, as well as the walkie-talkie her friends bought her. It's something that's depicted in the Winter Special, and I'm glad they kept track of that continuity nugget.

I also appreciate the acknowledgement in-universe from Hopper that, as much as he misses Sara, he recognizes El is a different person from her. She reminds him of his daughter, but he's trying not to project his idea of Sara onto El while he raises her.

I know in past reviews I've talked about characters who may die in season 5, but I doubt Hopper and El are on that list. They've already done two fake-out deaths for them (once for El in S1 and once for Hopper in S3), which gives the impression that if the writers wanted either of these characters dead, they would have killed them off already. They will likely survive to the end.

El's story in season 5 will likely be about stopping Vecna, but I'm curious if they're going to bring back the Russians again and Hopper will be stuck dealing with them at the same time as Vecna's invasion. There's a lot of unresolved questions surrounding this arc (like how the Russians found out about the Gate in the first place, how they were planning to weaponize the UD monsters, etc), and it's likely the KGB aren't going to let the damage at Kamchatka go unpunished. They'll either come after Hopper and his loved ones for retribution, or they'll try to restart their operation in Hawkins now that Vecna's gate is wide open for the time being.

On top of that, I'm curious what El's future looks like post-Vecna and the UD. Now that Hopper is back in her life, will she go back to being home-schooled by him? I can't imagine she's in a rush to return to Lenora with how viciously she was treated by her peers there, and she arguably might develop better without having to attend public school. There's also the question about her powers: Will she still keep them by the end of the show, or will something happen that will cause her to become ordinary again? I know they've already played that arc out in season 4, and they might avoid going there again for the sake of repetition. Still, if my theory is correct about the UD being connected to the powers El and Vecna have, and that the death of Vecna means the death of everything in the UD because of how he's used the Mind Flayer to intertwine himself into the hive mind, it could end up having an effect on El's powers going forward.

But this is all speculation. Whether they'll go that direction remains unknown as of now.

Part 2: Hopper's Case

When Hopper's case occurs, it's been 5 years since he moved away from Hawkins to New York City. This happens after Hopper came back from serving two tours in Vietnam, and was looking for a new purpose in his life. Quiet suburban Hawkins didn't sit right with him at the time, and he ended up convincing his then-wife Diane to move their family to the Big Apple.

In many ways, this is reflective of Hopper's character on the show: When he doesn't have some kind of purpose driving him forward, it's like he doesn't know what to do with himself. When I first saw Stranger Things, I thought that the less appealing aspects of Hopper's character (sleeping around with multiple women, constantly drinking, gaining weight from eating junk food in S3, etc) were just personality quirks of being a jaded washout. Having rewatched the show again (and read this book), I'm starting to see how those elements are symptomatic of PTSD and depression on his part. It's like he has to have something (or in the case of his family and friends, someone) to anchor to in order to have stability in his life. He even discusses this with Enzo/Dmitri when they're being held at Kamchatka:

From "The Nina Project" (Season 4, Episode 5):

Hopper: After that, I was just...I just hid myself in drugs and alcohol. And then people started coming into my life. This girl, El, and Joyce just happened, and I told myself they needed me. But that wasn't true. That's a lie. They didn't need me.............I needed them.

NYC is where he wanted to be at the time, and this case ended up being his big break.

The case itself begins as a simple hunt for a serial killer: Three victims (Jonathan Schnetzer, Sam Barrett, and Jacob Hoeler) who are stabbed in a way to form a five-pointed star on their chests while the killer leaves a calling-card behind:

Each of the murders are done in a ritualistic way, and the cards are later revealed to be Zener cards, which were created for use in experiments related to clairvoyance:

Things get complicated when the FBI (led by Agent Gallup, whom Hopper has a contentious relationship with) take over the investigation. Upset over this, and believing there's more they can learn from the case, Hopper and Delgado go behind their superior's back to find out more about the circumstances regarding the deaths of these men.

However, everything takes a sharp left turn when a gang-member named Leroy Washington comes to Hopper and promises to give him information about a cult leader in exchange for protection and getting his sister, Martha, safely out. He then gives Hopper a Zener card, similar to the ones found at the crime scenes, causing Hopper to realize that said cult leader (named Saint John) is behind the killings, and is planning something terrible:

I'm not spoiling much here by revealing who the killer is since the book unveils it within the first 110 pages. The remaining 300+ deal with Hopper working to stop Saint John before he enacts a plan that threatens the safety of NYC and its citizens.

When I discussed escalation in a story at the beginning of this review, this is what I was talking about.

Saint John acts as a cross between Charles Manson and Jim Jones. I wouldn't even be shocked if the author, Adam Christopher, drew inspiration for Saint John from these real-life cult leaders. Saint John prophecies an apocalypse, where Satan will come to New York City, sweeping darkness over the land, to claim his throne. To this end, he begins to build an army of followers by assimilating the various gangs of New York City into one organization called the Vipers, and having his acolytes poach various support groups (AA meetings, Veterans groups, etc) to recruit more followers.

At one point, Hopper is forced to go undercover as a cop on the run to infiltrate Saint John's organization to find out what his master plan is so the FBI knows how to stop it. When he actually meets Saint John for the first time, it becomes apparent to Hopper how both of them are uncannily similar:

Both men served in Vietnam, and both came back looking for a purpose in their lives. Hopper found his as a cop. Saint John found his as the leader of a cult.

The creepiest part is that, for all of Saint John's planning, his organization, his recruitment, his stockpiling of weapons and rations, his coordinated attack, his ideology.......................he actually believes what he's preaching. Hopper eventually realizes something happened to Saint John in Vietnam that made him this way. He is correct, but not in the way he thinks.

Part 3: Saint John's connections to the Upside Down

Towards the end of the novel, Saint John drops a bombshell about his time in Vietnam and what he was doing there:

While the book doesn't ever mention Dr. Brenner by name, it's possible the experiments done to Saint John in Vietnam were similar to the ones he did at Hawkins Lab, from the psychedelics he gave Terry Ives and other test subjects, to orchestrating El's birth and the creation of the other special children who were bred as weapons against the Soviets. Brenner may not have even had to be in Vietnam at the time. This could have been another branch of the U.S. government conducting similar experiments on soldiers to make them more efficient in the Cold War.

In any case, the insidious implication is that whatever they did to Saint John, it gave him a glimpse of the Upside Down and may have put him in contact with a malevolent force from the other side:

I've proposed a theory several times in my reviews of Six and Suspicious Minds that, in addition to the Upside Down being linked to the powers that El and Vecna have, the psychedelics given to the test subjects in the experiments may act as a telekinetic gateway between this world and the Upside Down. If Saint John was being experimented on in a similar way to the test subjects at Hawkins Lab, he could have seen the Upside Down in its original form (similar to how Vecna saw it when he was first sent there) and believed the place was Hell. It would explain why his entire cult is centered around the idea of Satan coming and darkness spreading across the world. There's also the bit he tells Hopper about hearing a voice that he attributes to Satan, but may have been some otherworldly force from the UD.

I know this book was written and published in 2019, two months before season 3 premiered, and that this book takes place 2 years before El would banish Vecna to the UD, but it should be noted that this book was overseen by Paul Dichter, who has been a writer for the show since season 1. If he's willingly giving information to the authors who pen these tie-in books about the mythology of the show and its characters, then it's likely these are ideas that have been discussed in length in the writers room. One of those ideas might have been a malicious force that powers and operates in the Upside Down which can influence people.

It makes me wonder if that same force reached out to Henry/One/Vecna as a child at the Creel House, did something that activated his powers, and acted as an influence on him (I say this not as a way to excuse all the terrible things Vecna has done, but to give one possible explanation as to how he became as psychologically messed up as he is).

On top of that, Saint John's killings and ideology is eerily similar to Vecna's: Both of them gruesomely murder selected people as part of a grander ritual. Vecna kills four teens (Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, and Max) to open a huge gate in Hawkins and invade with his army of monsters. All four teens are referred to as "sacrifices" by Vecna, and there's even been theories drawn by other fans (such as @itsanotheridiot and @dis-a-ppointment) that the victims chosen by Vecna each represented one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. By comparison, Saint John goes after 5 different victims to "summon the veil of shadow over the earth" and tells Hopper that Satan (or whomever was speaking to Saint John) showed him how to prepare the rituals:

Unlike with Vecna, it's ambiguous if Saint John's ritual would have worked, or if this was a part of his psychosis. If it's the latter, it still doesn't deter from how he had enough of a grip on reality to organize an army under his command, cause a city-wide blackout, and unleash destruction that cost lives. If it's the former, it makes me question if Vecna has a similar voice in his head, directing him like a puppet in part of a greater conspiracy, with that voice coming from somewhere the Upside Down. And unlike with Saint John, this voice succeeded with Vecna, and now has the means to unleash destruction upon Hawkins and beyond.

I'm sure Vecna will continue to act as the main antagonist in season 5 because of how integral he is to all the terrible things that have happened to the main characters, but there's still more about the Upside Down (and Vecna himself) that needs explanation, and there are probably far worse monsters in there than Demogorgons or Demodogs.

To Be Continued In Part 2............

#stranger things #jim hopper #el hopper #vecna #number 1 #henry creel #stranger things darkness on the edge of town #stranger things reviews #stranger things meta #tgh opinions #tgh reviews #angela stranger things #anti billy hargrove #the upside down #paul dichter #saint john #leroy washington #rosario delgado #adam christopher

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langernameohnebedeutung · 3 months

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Hi, I recently got into izombie (probably from you putting it on my dash) and figure you’re the right person for this question. While I love majority of the show, somewhere in the S3-4 range, it didn’t seem as good - not sure if the plots were weaker but the brain-effect on Liv seemed way stronger than before in a way that was less enjoyable to watch (and based on some fourth wall jokes, I’m guessing the network was neglecting them in S4?). On the other hand, I love both “good guy angsts about learning to bend morals without going too far” characters and “unrepentantly fun bad guys” so having both Major and Blaine(&company) in one show is amazing. I’ve finished S4 and it ended in a solid enough way to be a finale and I’ve heard that the end of S5 was bad so my question for you is… Is season five worth watching?

Heyo! :>

I love hearing that people watch izombie!! (especially if I play a role in that).

Hmm...my nuanced, honest opinion?

The issue of the brains becoming really dominant is a common criticism of season 4/the later episodes, so you're definitely not alone with that feeling (personally, I mostly dislike it in the way that we don't see how things actually affect Liv as our main-character for a lot of the times. But overall, I do like season 4 as the one where they were the most silly with their premise and had a little fun and we get some new dynamics, new characters, the whole Filmore Graves situation, Liv's whole Renegade gig, Ravi's part-time zombie thing, Blaine and Don E doing their silly little basement antics and also sad things like the Isobel arc - I won't lie, I had a good time with season 4 and it's definitely one I like to rewatch for the stand-alone episodes. I don't often rewatch a lot of season 5, it has to be said. But I generally tend to avoid finales. I am biased against final seasons).

And yeah, they had issues with the budget and management though I never really looked into the details. This is also something that can be felt in season 5 and the finale.

Season 3 has (I think?) a bit of a reputation as the weakest season of the show because it's kinda disrupted plotwise and some of the characterisation issues - so yeah, a lot of people share the sentiment.

When it comes to season 5: WELL. yeah. It's definitely not in the race for "best finale of all times". It's not going out with a bang, I'm honest (a lot of which is due to the budget issue, to be fair). BUT I also didn't hate it. There are some fun episodes, some answers to questions, some stuff is resolved.

If you want my honest opinion: If season 4 was a total drag for you to get through, season 5 (at least the first half) has a very similar tone. I don't think it's as over the top with the brains as they were e.g. with "Blue Bloody" (Liv on snobby old lady brain). But if you really don't want to relive that, I would also recommend you stop at the season 4 finale. With the season 4 finale, you're ending on a high note with all the characters being happy and successful and basically running Seattle.

If you want to know how the show really ends without investing a lot of time in season 5, I would recommend you watch "The Scratchmaker" (and perhaps "Death Moves Pretty Fast") and the finale and you will get the gist of it. On the other hand, another strategy might be to ignore the show-finale/over-arching plot and let the s4 finale be a spiritual finale for the show itself. That way, you can still enjoy some of the good season 5 episodes that are fun on their own, like the noir episode, the dancing episode etc. Those are pretty fun. I think most of the reason people say season 5 is bad is because of the finale and the plotlines that lead to it, not so much the per-week stuff.

Though, I admit I didn't hate season 5 It's by no means a work of art but honestly, izombie is not a show that I love particularly much for quality - I don't think it's some forgotten magnum opus - I mostly really love the characters and the ideas and dynamics. And I also still enjoyed those things in season 5.

As I said, first half of the season is close to season 4 in tone and style - then it reaches kind of a tipping point where you can tell it's taking the big steps towards the finish line. I think that's my biggest actual issue with that season. Because towards the end, they kind of rush it and introduce a lot of stuff in a really quick time. It's like - you should be resolving stuff now, not create more plotlines. I feel like the final 2 episodes should at least have been 3 but you can tell that this was also a budget issue.

Some of the strong points are that we get some resolution to older arcs, especially where Liv is concerned (I don't want to spoil). Peyton gets a bit more to do than in season 4 which I also liked though there are..................some more instances of a certain pattern of tropes I noticed they do with her character that once again happened in season 5. (Maybe I'll make a post about that one day but I don't want to be negative)

I think if you enjoyed Major and the whole Filmore Graves ethical quagmire in season 4, you will also enjoy him in season 5 because a lot is happening there. I do miss Chase a lot though. Don E gets a lot more character development and higher stakes in season 5 and we (and Blaine) get to meet his mother and learn more about him, which made me really happy. I really had a good time with Don E in that season. We even get a pre-Boat Party flashback with him and Blaine and Scott E.

As far as Blaine is concerned, a lot of people say that season 5 is his darkest, most evil season. It's a lot less "silly antics" compared to season 4 and a lot more "dude is really fucking losing it" and this is where a lot of fans say he really lost a lot of the compassion bonus he had with them. Though, personally I think it's all pretty on-brand and in character and there is a lot of call-back to his season 1 stuff. Also, having him narrate an episode was fun.

There are some new villains too, one character you already know from s4 becomes the main-baddie. And though while they don't replace Chase or Rita or Vaughn for me I did enjoy that character getting to go nuts a little.

#but yeah in short: if you want to end on a high note regarding everyone's storyline season 4 works #the actual show finale ends on more thoughtful tones #OR you can just watch the finale OR everything but the finale #depending on how invested you were in the murder of the week plots or the character dynamics - i don't think those were the issue #izombie #fandom

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discet · 1 year

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So, would you say Owl House did a better job in managing to balance out Luz, Eda, King, and Hooty as the main characters while still giving pretty solid stuff with the second tier major players like Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter than Amphibia did with balancing Anne and the Plantars as main characters with Sasha and Marcy as second tier major players and why?

Hmmmmm... interesting. So, despite a lot of the parallels the two shows have, I think in this regard it's a bit apples and oranges. I would argue that the Owl Crew get roughly the same amount of attention and development as Sasha and Marcy. That's not the reason Sasha and Marcy's arcs feel unsatisfying (imo ymmv)

Luz's friend group she develops in the B.I. are all great characters. They bring fun perspectives, dynamics, and variety to a lot of episodes, but they ultimately aren't essential to the main plot. They are important supports for Luz's development and arc, but when the crucial plot moments happen. That's Luz's time to shine. In the season 1 finale they are completely absent from Luz's rescue attempt (though Gus and Willow do drum up a rally in favor of Eda, her escape isn't really dependent on them). In the season 2 finale while they are there for the big boss fight they aren't there when Luz tricks Belos and aren't the deciding factor in the day being saved(?) That honor goes to King for getting the Collector out and convincing them move the moon. The show is better for their inclusion, but if they were removed the main plot the central conflict would still stand

The reason why I think Sasha and Marcy's arcs feel off is because they aren't secondary characters. They are both plot crucial gears on the main plot and not just Anne's arc, but the core to understanding her character.

Sasha is the main antagonist of the season 1 finale. Anne fighting back against years of toxicity to defend her new family is a huge turning point for her character. It's easy to infer that some of Anne's issues with self confidence and her general reckless behavior can be traced back to her friendship with Sasha, both of which drive many a plot in season 1. But also Anne's willingness to fight for the people she cares about I think can also be something she emulates from Sasha's more admirable characteristics pre-development.

Marcy's motivations and actions cause almost the entire plot to happen. She's the one who brings them to Amphibia starting the whole story. Her hiding this fact and desire to stay with her friends gives Andrias the leverage he needs to acquire the charged box. Marcy getting Anne and the Plantars out of true colors unscathed (physically) allows Anne the chance to live long enough to finally Andrias. Marcy is also the source of some of Anne's other insecurities. Being constantly compared to her genius friend probably wasn't easy. You can see echoes of Anne's protective streak we see in season 1 in her dynamic with Marcy pre-Amphibia. Marcy's dynamic with Anne and Sasha also lets us infer that there was a very powerful friendship at the center of this murk of toxicity that Anne and Sasha's dynamic is embroiled in.

If you removed Sasha or Marcy from the narrative, you would need massive rewrites just to get the plot to work. Their removal would make Anne's history pre-Amphibia feel a lot less rich and her character less nuanced.

They are treated like secondary characters but they don't feel like secondary characters. It's why so many people latch onto the trio So when their arcs were rushed or dropped it leaves myself(and many it seems) unsatisfied.

So. Yeah. Apples and Oranges. It's three am gonna tag this and sleep.

#amphibia #anne boonchuy #sasha waybright #Marcy Wu

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datrb · 4 months

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2023 art review!

Even if this year wasn't the biggest on art, due to my physical condition (especially in last couple of months), it would still be nice to look back on what i did as an artist throughout it!

This is gonna be a fun ride...

So, let's dive straight into it, shall we?

Continuation under the cut

January

2023 started on a high note, with me just having finished the King piece, and moving on to the next big thing, being an AvA3/5 double piece.

Sadly, during the process i messed up big time which led to me being unable to finish the piece the way i wanted to, rendering this project an eternal WIP. However, i still cherish the idea and do wish to either redraw, or complete it.

February

Doing 2 big projects one after another did end up affecting my overall drive, so i spent majority of that month just making sketches.

First one is a little redraw/redesign of my old character - Derek, whom i used for a roleplay with my friends like 3 or 4 years ago, and second one is Deach, a character from my fantasy setting.

Also, back then i joined a new fandom, people in which have reminded me of my admiration for SCP, after which me and my friends proceeded to make OCs for it. Was a fun time! (Also this access card was sold by me as a YCH, sadly i couldn't really find buyers, so yikes)

March

By march is slowly started recovering from january's disappointement and was a bit more productive already. One of my friends really helped with it too.

A musician friend of mine reached out to me, asking to develop a design for a villain character in the plot he was working on. After listening to the theme song i couldn't resist. This ended up being one of my favorite designs so far, and i adore its look in neon.

In the meantime, i kept working on my fantasy setting, refining more minor details of designs and stories, yet having to reserve only to making sketches as i was too busy with college and other projects. Characters you see on screen are Ian and Lanfor respectfully. One is a strong yet troubled mage and other is a great Emperor, and even better person.

April

I'd say april was one of the most productive months of this year, mostly because i managed to snatch some time for myself and my setting, which allowed me to complete two full pieces and achieve some extreme progress with my story.

This piece is an illustration to a scene i wrote for two of the characters, Lanfor and Emile, called "Night Visitor". This was a scene of a reunion of two old friends. A bittersweet, yet a lovely work. Love both the written one as well as the illustration.

This one was more of a... Proof of concept. Needed to test out the expresiveness of the design for one or a relatively new characters - Covlar. Was originally a simple sketch on paper, but i couldn't resist the urge of making it into a complete illustration. I then proceeded to make a few notes for this scene. Both want to write it properly and avoid it at all cost... Best to avoid it, for my own sanity.

May

May was a bit of trainwreck, because i got a brand new laptop, which took me quite some time to get used to and even more time to reassure myself that it is in fact alright for me to draw on this suspicioiusly thin piece of tech.

Ironically enough, the only vomplete piece i drew that month was drawn on my old laptop. This screenshot redraw was to made to honour the premiere of AvA6 ep.1. Sadly, i did it a bit late because fo technical issues, but i still had a ton of fun doing it.

June

June was... Chaotic, to say the least. Mostly because i finally got comfortable with the new laptop and could now draw a lot more freely due to it being a lot more compact than the original one, which worked almost like a PC. Besides, i got a ton more free time because semester finals ended up being a breeze.

Ended up making a ton sketches and doodles, that i didn't actually plan to finish, but still enjoyed a ton. Here are some of them

Then, ofc, the memes and the gand redesign, because AvA6 just had to break all of my portrayals. But, i mean, after AvM s3 my original designs did become a bit dated.

The biggest pride and saddest of failures was this picnic piece, however. I still plan on finishing it, but it is hard doing so, when i have changed quite a bit of my artstyle by now.

July

July was quite lazy. Semester ended and i spent that entire month out of the city. It was a great time, very peaceul indeed.

And again, that musician friend from before came into clutch, asking me to develop another design for his other project. And again a villain. He said he really liked how i draw bastard type of characters.

August

Well this is where fun began. End of summer break means i have just this much time to actually draw something i would never have time to draw normally.

For me to draw something to commemorate a new episode is almost like a tradition at this point. And, given how long it's been since i made anything that would require effort, no wonder i have chosen arguably the most complex piece to pull off energy-wise. Yet i did and now i simply adore this piece, even if it did render me disabled. (I crunched through all of this piece, pulling off 40+ hours of work in just 4 days, so naturaly it ended up worsening my condition by a lot)

Then i also proceeded to do all of these tiny side projects, like Victim ask, which i couldn't last long at due to my condition, and working on a design for my favourite streamer. (Which i cannot show as the work is not complete an it's best if i avoid spoilers)

September and October

These two months i spent being unable to draw at all via a doctor's advice. Arguably, these two were the hardest months for me to handle.

I assume you can imagine how hard it is to suddenly stop being able to do what you love, regardless of how much you wish to do it.

Novemer

*Nervous laughter* I... actually still wasn't allowed to use my hand, but that didn't stop me and i ended up making an entire series of sketches to celebrate AvA6 ep2.

"Small in big quantity will sure be less exhausting than a single big thing" - (C) Me, proably

I will admit, i still adore all of these sketches and each of them deserves to become a fully fledged piece in it's own right, but i really better keep them as they are. For my own safety.

December

As you way have expected, this month will stay without a single thing from me. It's not because i don't want to, but because i can't. And, given the circumstance, it better stay that way.

Afterword

I finally got my diagnosis and soon enough i will start active treatment for my condition. It would be a shame to make this worse than it already is with impulses like those that happened in november, so i am making this post as a way to draw a line for myself.

It is still kinda crazy to realize that there are quite a few people interested in what i make, so i will make sure to take my recovery as responcible as possible, and then come back to you with even more art in the upcoming year! Let's be positive about it.

#alan becker #animation vs animator #ava #illustration #ava fanart #animation vs minecraft #avm #artists on tumblr #2023 art #yearly art summary #oc art #original character #digital art #No character tags because there are too many of them

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aelaer · 1 year

Note

for the whumpy prompt list: 🎧

I don't even know if you remember submitting this babywarg, and I *know* it took 3 years, but in my defense, 2020 was a shitshow after I asked for whump icon prompts. If you don't remember, this one stood for sensory deprivation. And here's a 6k fic to fill it!

This originally started very differently, then Wong took the reins and never let go. The first two parts were deleted/moved around entirely, and Stephen's POV disappeared as Wong decided this story was going to be from his POV. I would apologise that I am using the kidnapping trope *yet again*, but I'm not that sorry, either.

So canon Endgame doesn't exist in this fic world though I don't get too much into it beyond some hints with character endings and the timeline. It's probably mid-2019 in terms of timing (no 5 year jump). I'm not sure who, if anyone, is Sorcerer Supreme because of this. I also accidentally did the "insert plot into the prompt" thing that I have a bad habit of doing and made this way long. And finally, I don't know Latin; I just used a dictionary and a conjunction table to try and make something cool.

Grem's a character from a side-issue comic that I've appropriated and who has appeared in some of my earlier works. He's "played" by Rupert Graves. With a beard.

Thanks to @coolnemmythings for betaing the majority of this and helping me brainstorm an ending because it finally pushed me into completion (more on that below).

———

Finding the Way Back Home

The Avengers found out Stephen was missing by happenstance. Peter, once he had discovered where Stephen lived, made it a habit to visit the Sanctum on what he called "slow days" when he was in the area. Wong had gotten used to him over time.

Naturally, one of his visits corresponded with when a team of sorcerers uncovered Stephen's ambush site. Normally this would be fine as official Kamar-Taj matters were discussed nowhere near Peter. Wong couldn't hear the passing conversations of the distant apprentices and acolytes in the hallway adjourning the foyer of the Sanctum, so it should have been fine. He would entertain the young man for a few minutes, tell him Stephen was busy, and then lead him out.

Just as Wong was about to give his excuses, he learned that the kid had super-hearing and that the conversation Wong couldn't hear was very, very audible to Spider-Man. It was a rather unfortunate time to discover such a fact.

And once Peter learned the news, it was just a matter of a few texts before every Avenger knew.

"We'd like to help out," Tony said, being the first to call Wong. Wong had given his number to a couple Avengers on the off-chance Stephen was wounded while working with them. He hadn't expected his number to be used in this fashion.

"Us sorcerers handle our own affairs," was Wong's gruff reply. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be retired?"

"Special occasion."

Wong said, "We're fine," hung up before Tony could retort, then sighed. Stephen would be displeased if Iron Man ended up dying after all the work he did to save him in the multiple future fiasco. He was just happy Stephen managed to get to 16 million—from what he understood, a couple other "winning" timelines were absolutely dismal on a global scale—but that was another topic altogether.

Then Tony gave out Wong's number to the others.

"It really would be no trouble," Steve said. "We consider all of you our allies after Thanos."

"You're supposed to be retired, too," was Wong's exasperated retort.

A pause. "Well, I did pass on the mantle of Captain America to Sam, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't go out in the field here and there. Just less public."

Wong hung up on him, too.

"We really would like to see him safe," was Bruce's call.

Bruce was a little harder to hang up on; he had been visiting the New York Sanctum frequently for meditation purposes, to better understand and work with the other side of his personality and come to some sort of balance with it. According to Stephen, Bruce had achieved something like this on his own in other futures, but he was certain the resources at Kamar-Taj could help him achieve this faster and with potentially better results.

Still, Bruce Banner was not a sorcerer. "I appreciate the offer, Doctor Banner, but this is a matter for our order," he told him, then hung up before the other could retort.

"It's pretty slow right now; you'd be doing everyone a favor in letting us help," Natasha admitted when she called.

Wong pulled the phone away from his face to sigh; if it weren't for the very slim chance of Stephen potentially calling him, he would have turned off the damn thing. "Weren't you supposed to retire from field work, too?"

"People like me never retire," she answered. "Think on it, Wong."

He grimaced and hung up.

"You have to let us help!" was Peter's plea. Peter had been barred from the Sanctum until the issue was settled—Wong knew that Stephen wouldn't want the kid involved—but apparently Tony Stark was more than happy to give Peter Parker his phone number, as well.

"Stephen would want you to stay out of this," he told the kid without ceremony, and hung up on him, too, though he felt a little bad doing it.

This was getting ridiculous. The other Masters had decided the Avengers shouldn't be involved, but if they had to endure what Wong was enduring, maybe they'd change their minds. Besides, the extra eyes wouldn't be a bad thing to have, at least in Wong's opinion.

By the time a sixth call from an Avenger in under an hour occurred, Wong was ready. He surrounded himself with sorcerers in the Masters' strategy room as they discussed leads and next steps, then let the phone ring.

The Masters caved in less than two hours. Part of it may have been due to the Avengers' resilience, but Wong liked to think that setting his ringtone to Beyoncé's "All The Single Ladies" helped encourage the use of outside help. They agreed that the Avengers could assist them, though they were taking absolutely no responsibility if anything untoward or deadly happened to them. The Avengers didn't seem to care about the warning, which didn't particularly surprise Wong.

The dead security cameras near the site of the ambush suggested magical tampering, which meant that every two to three Avengers was paired with one or two Masters. The tracking was long and it took everything within their power to narrow down the search to the three most likely locations out of the many that Mordo had passed through over the last year.

(They were 99% certain Mordo was behind Stephen's disappearance. For the past several months Mordo had been stealing former students' abilities to do magic—and on three occasions, ended up killing the former student instead. The Masters of Kamar-Taj had been actively hunting him down for some time, doubling down when they learned Mordo was gathering followers. That Stephen's body wasn't found instead is a miracle, but it made Wong worry as to what Mordo could possibly want with him.)

They decided to infiltrate the three chosen locations as soon as they narrowed down the list. All the Avengers that had been allowed in (eight of them sans Peter because no, Wong wasn't going to be responsible for a minor no matter how close he was to 18) were on standby and allowed themselves to be split into groups by the Masters without contest.

Wong ended up with Master Grem of the London Sanctum and Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanov—all the supposedly-retired-but-not-quite-yet Avengers. Exasperating.

Still, he couldn't say that he minded having them at his back in such an unknown situation. With a lesser sorcerer, the Order could have set monitoring wards on all the rogue sorcerers’ known locations to go off whenever another made a gateway into the area. But Mordo was one of the best and such magic would immediately alert him and his followers to the order's knowledge of their current bases and send them into hiding, and all that work of the last few months in tracking them would be lost.

The original plan, before all this, had been to track Mordo's movements for a pattern until they could ambush him and his followers. With Stephen taken, though? The time for waiting was over. Still, it was largely unknown what they would find at their assigned location—a dilapidated, Soviet-era warehouse in Eastern Europe—so having experienced company was no bad thing.

He was especially grateful for the Avengers' presence when it turned out that the warehouse was not devoid of life. Ten of Mordo's recruits (only four of whom were former students of Kamar-Taj) were present and quite willing to kill him if necessary. He and Grem alone would have been very hard-pressed. With the three Avengers helping them, the fight took only a couple minutes, the most difficult of the group being two of the rogue sorcerers that proved more creative than their counterparts.

Those that survived the fight were quickly disarmed and restrained for later questioning, and it was easy enough for Wong to push a portal around each person to the rarely-used cells of Kamar-Taj. He frowned as he considered their number; that was a significant number of recruits in what seemed to be an unimportant building.

"That's convenient," Tony said as he watched the portals take the surviving combatants.

As Wong opened and closed the portals, Grem scanned the building for any remnants of magical use, carefully scanning above and below as he slowly circled around a single point. He stilled, then squinted. "There's something in that corner office." He pointed.

Wong saw Grem, Steve, and Natasha take off to the office, then turned back to his own task. Tony Stark stayed with him to guard his back as Wong finished securing their prisoners and had the bodies of those who did not make it portalled to the morgue within Kamar-Taj.

As the last body was flown through the portal, a streak of red burst out of the corner office and onto the larger warehouse floor. Wong would recognize the Cloak of Levitation anywhere, and it currently darted to and fro about the space as if searching.

"As you can see, the Cloak's fine," Grem called as he left the office, the other two Avengers in tow. When he got closer, Wong could see the scowl on Grem's face. "But I don't think that's the only thing this building's hiding. There's something else here, Wong, but I can't see what."

"How did they manage to separate it from Stephen in the first place?" Natasha asked. "From what I've seen, that thing is quite protective of him."

"It is," Wong agreed. "But there are some complicated spells in existence that may temporarily incapacitate a relic, even one as unique as the Cloak. Mordo is a skilled enough sorcerer to perform such a spell."

Grem hissed between his teeth. He was performing another pivot on the spot as he searched the area with his third eye yet again. As he ended, he shook his head. "Nothing. We're going to need to do a more manual search, and we may need to split up to better cover ground."

Wong, though, remembered something that happened after one of the fights during the War of the Infinity Stones. "That may not be necessary," he said, and looked over to the man beside him. "Tony, you are able to scan for heat signatures with your suit, correct?"

"Sure can, Wong." Tony paused and began to scan the interior, slowly pivoting on the spot, then froze halfway through. "Basement, northeast corner. One person lying down. Looks like it's empty otherwise."

"Useful," Grem remarked as he immediately headed towards the stairs. As one they followed him, hurrying their way to the stairwell, descending to the basement, and then making a sharp left to head in the indicated direction. They encountered no one else along the way, as expected. Despite this, when Tony said, "That door up ahead," both Wong and Grem paused before they could reach it. Wong held up a hand to halt the others. The Avengers wouldn't see it, but the magic upon the door was very evident to them.

"Wards are more your thing, Wong," said Grem as he eyed the door up and down. "But even I know this is quite a piece of work. I didn't realize Mordo knew all these warding spells."

Grem was right; the warding was very intricate. It was no wonder they could not find Stephen through his magical signature alone; the spells set about the room were put in to prevent such magic from having any use. A closer study of the details within the intricacies of the design showed that any attempt to remove the wards or force one's self into the room by magic would have dire consequences for not only the caster, but the person held inside.

Wong pursed his lips together unhappily, then glanced over at the Avengers. "The wards set on this room mean I will not be able to enter, not in the usual way. Not easily."

"Do we even know if it's locked?" Natasha asked, eyeing the door up and down.

"It doesn't matter if it is or isn't. The warding includes spells against non-approved visitors touching the doorknob, and the side effects of doing so are not pleasant."

Tony's repulsor flared. "I can blast it open."

Wong shook his head. "No; too much kinetic energy. The wards might see it as spells and react negatively to you."

"Yeah, but if it's Stephen inside, I'll take my chances," Tony shot back.

"The same consequences that fall upon you also happen to the individual contained within," Wong said, and he heard the man hiss in frustration.

"I hear you," Grem muttered in sympathy. "Wong, your dispelling is faster; how long do you think it would take you to remove all these wards?"

Wong shook his head. "Hours, likely. Too long of a time for my comfort." Behind him, he heard Grem mutter a curse under his breath.

Steve stared at the door thoughtfully. "So we don't want to touch the doorknob, but we can't blast it with firepower. What about just—knocking the door off its hinges?"

Again Wong shook his head. "I can't use magic against the door to do so."

"No, I mean, I can do it," Steve clarified. "Just brute force, no firepower. It would be a lot less kinetic energy than a repulsor blast and I won't touch the doorknob."

Grem looked sidelong at Wong. "I don't see anything in the wards that would react negatively to that scenario. I don't think the average person could knock this down, but they weren't expecting us to bring anyone else."

Wong studied over the wards once more himself, and brute force that didn't have enough energy to be mistaken as magic was not warded against. "I think that may be our best shot," he agreed.

"Then step back," Steve said, and the team gave him some room.

The Cloak, on the other hand, continued to hover closely beside Steve with an urgency that Wong wouldn't have known was possible on a piece of fabric before seeing the Cloak with Stephen.

"Cloak," Wong said. As it turned to him, he told it, "You can't enter the room. That warding could do you serious harm." The Cloak stiffened, as if offended by the suggestion. Wong resisted the urge to roll his eyes and gestured to it. "Come on. Stephen would be very upset if you got hurt."

That Cloak remained stiff and unmoving for another three seconds, but Wong gestured again and its shoulders slumped in resignation and it moved itself beside Wong.

Steve then put himself in a braced position. He had a shield—not the iconic Captain America shield, but a smaller black one that was more rectangular in form—and used that in his lead up run towards the door to force it open with his shoulder.

The door flew open and Wong watched Steve—and Tony, who immediately followed—carefully for any side effects. When none happened, he spared a quick glance at Grem.

"I'll keep a watch out here," Grem said quickly. Natasha nodded in agreement and moved her gaze down the hall.

Wong inclined his head, again told the Cloak, "Stay out here," then followed the other two men in. He immediately felt when he was cut off from his magic by the wards and grimaced at the foreign wrongness of the feeling. But he could still sense the wards, so at least Stephen would have hopefully realized that he was in a warded cell rather than drained of magic.

Speaking of.

The room was mostly bare except for a cot, a chair, and an IV pole in the corner. Laying on his back on the cot was Stephen, stripped of his outer clothing and left with only his tunic and pants. His upper left arm's sleeve was cut off and the arm itself was bandaged, while further down an IV tube was connected to his forearm. A neat line of stitches crossed over his left temple, and some sort of feeding tube was inserted into one of his nostrils and taped down to his face. Both lines led to the IV pole, which held what looked like saline and a bag that Wong guessed was used for tube feeding.

Steve slowly approached the bed. "That noise should have woken him up. Is one of these lines drugging him?"

"Possibly," said Tony, "But this doesn't look drugged. I'm getting really weird readings on his vitals."

Feeling unusually bare without the connection to his magic, Wong approached the bed with the same caution as he asked Tony, "What are you seeing?"

"Elevated heart rate just under 120 bpm, and—" He paused as if listening to something, then said, "Right, the suit can't quite scan brainwaves of other people to the detail of an EEG—yet—but I can get a good picture. FRIDAY's saying that it looks like the brain of someone awake, not someone drugged or asleep."

"Does that mean he can hear us?" Steve asked.

"That means he'll be pissed we're talking about brain stuff without his contributions," was Tony's remark, but his tone fell flat. Suddenly his helmet disintegrated away as the nanites retreated from his face, and he turned his attention from Stephen to Wong. "What're we doing here, Wong? Is this magic or something else?"

A good question. "I won't be able to find out here," Wong answered, then strode forward and carefully removed the cannulas from both Stephen's nose and arm. "Grem, do you see anything on Stephen that prevents him being removed from here?" he called as he worked.

Beyond the warding of the room at the open doorway, Grem performed a gesture before tapping his own forehead. He squinted. "Nothing I can see, Wong. They weren't expecting anyone to get through the door or enter the room through a portal. You can carry him out."

Wong nodded once, then frowned down at Stephen's tall, lanky body. He looked at Steve and Tony. "I don't suppose one of you could—"

"Got it," Tony volunteered, and Wong stepped aside as the other man bent down and carefully picked Stephen up. The way Stephen's body remained utterly limp made something clench in Wong's stomach.

He's alive. Stop it.

They left the room soon after that. The second they were out the Cloak was fretting about Tony back and forth from side to side, and in the hall Grem already had a portal set up and ready. But it led to the infirmary at Kamar-Taj.

"No, his room at the Sanctum," Wong said.

Grem frowned, but closed the portal. "Why?" he asked as he started up another.

"You know he's not fond of being in the infirmary. He complains that it's 'too open.'"

"That was before shit hit the fan and everything changed," Grem answered and, well, Wong knew that Stephen had changed significantly in ways he still hadn't come to full terms with. It hadn't been that long since he had Returned, not really. What was eight months, after all? But he hadn't gotten Stephen's opinion since, so, his bedroom.

The portal opened in the hall now led to Stephen's chambers in the Sanctum, which was a sizable bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The Sanctum had sensed Stephen's love of the dramatic when it had formed this room for its Master when he was first instated there: the building had installed a bedroom with dark mahogany furniture with intricate carvings and delicate curves around the edges, with even the computer desk and bookshelves not being spared the finery. The star of the bedroom was the ostentatious four post king-sized bed with a top canopy and a cream-colored comforter that had red accents with a design that resembled the embroidery on the Cloak of Levitation.

Now that he thought of it, the motifs on the furniture looked similar to the faded design in the checkered lining of the Cloak, too. Interesting. He spared them no further thought as he walked in and flicked on the light switch from across the room, bathing the dim room in a golden light.

Tony lowered Stephen into his bed as Grem and Natasha entered last, and the portal closed in behind them. The Cloak immediately lowered itself over Stephen once he was laying down. Wong, in turn, started casting what Stephen liked to call 'diagnostic spells' and ever since he said it, the term had stuck in Wong's mind. That was largely what they were: spells that identified what was wrong with the body and spirit, and so could aid a sorcerer in narrowing down the possibilities in what was happening to the person and if it was magical, multidimensional, or mundane in nature.

"I'm not quite sure what I was imagining for a sorcerer's bedroom, but I don't think I was expecting the computer," Natasha said.

"Why not? He has a phone," Steve asked.

"That Tony gave him," she answered.

"You should have seen the brick he was carrying around before," Tony complained. "And if that hadn't drowned in the Hudson, I'm not sure if he would've taken mine. I had to nearly threaten him."

"We find email quite handy, actually," Grem said. "And I really love the Google suite. Calendar, Docs, Sheets."

Tony cracked a smile. "So wizards do their business over Google's servers, huh?"

Grem winked in reply. "Wouldn't you like to know." He cast a look at Wong. "I'll let the others know that we've found him. I warrant they've seen the cells and morgue by now, but I'll double check on that. I'll send an apprentice to wait in the hall in case you need a runner." Wong only grunted in reply. With a quick, "Thanks for your help, mates," Grem made a portal and left the room.

It took a few minutes of various spells and analysis, but eventually Wong came upon an answer as to what was keeping Stephen unconscious—and he felt his heart drop into his stomach as the realization came. His poker face fell and he murmured, "Oh, Stephen." But he banished the sorrow quickly; such an emotion wouldn't help Stephen. Instead, his face became stone as he began to bark orders. "One of you needs to get the lights; make it as dark in here as possible. When I remove this spell from him, I need you all to be as quiet as possible, and if you must speak, do so in a whisper."

Natasha's loose stance immediately stiffened and she took a step closer to the bed to look again at Stephen. She pursed her lips as the rest of her face hardened. "Sensory deprivation?"

"Unlike anything you can imagine," Wong answered grimly.

Steve was now frowning. "Do you think he was like this the entire time? How long was he missing?"

"Between thirty to thirty-six hours," answered Wong, already starting the preparations for the removal spells. They would take a couple minutes to fully set up. "I don't know how long they have kept him under this spell. If it has been for that full length of time, just note that he might not—be fully in his right mind."

"Then we should give him some room," Tony said, with a note of sympathy that admittedly startled Wong. Before he could make anything further of it, however, Tony was already ushering the other two away. "We'll wait in the hall, Wong."

Steve's expression was clearly one of worry as he walked away, Tony's prodding quickly understood. "We'll be here if you need anything." He flicked off the light switch as they left, and the door softly closed behind them.

Wong slowly exhaled and looked at the Cloak. "Up," he ordered. The Cloak raised its collar, but like the stubborn, fickle thing it was, didn't obey immediately. Wong didn't have time for this. "If you don't want to hurt Stephen, you'll get off immediately and wait until you're given permission to touch him again," he snapped, his anxiety for his friend making him shorter than usual.

That did the trick. The Cloak lifted itself, albeit reluctantly, and set itself hovering on the other side of the bed instead. That was fine.

Everything would be fine. Stephen would be fine. Wong forced himself to take a deep breath once again.

As he performed the last of the preparations for the spell's removal, Wong could not help but remember the last time the spell had come into conversation. Unsurprisingly, the conversation had been with Stephen, perhaps two to three months after he had become Master of the New York Sanctum.

"Why does this spell even exist?" Stephen asked Wong as he gestured to the open book on his desk. Wong had made the mistake of entering the New York Sanctum library to find something while Stephen was reading through one of the Ancient One's old tomes, and thus the first fellow master available to hear his complaints.

"You're going to have to be more specific," was Wong's dry answer.

Stephen grimaced and clarified, "Excidit Sensus. It's utterly inhumane."

Wong went to the bookshelf where he suspected his quarry lay. "Compared to contemporary methods of interrogation when the spell was created, it was likely considered a more humane option."

"Incorrectly so!" Stephen shot back, fuming. "This spell removes everything: sight, hearing, touch, all sensations. If you keep a person like that for, say, forty-eight hours, there is a significant chance of hallucinations, anxiety, and depression. The ability to do the simplest tasks deteriorates upon freedom, and if this goes on longer than that, the results can be catastrophic!"

The librarian paused to look over at his colleague, who was slowly (perhaps inevitably) becoming a friend. "I am simply explaining the likely rationale behind its creation," Wong said. "That doesn't mean I endorse its use."

Stephen exhaled. "Sorry. Right. I just wasn't expecting to see something like that."

"For what it's worth," Wong said as he found the book he wanted, "that spell hasn't been used in over a century. Very few sorcerers would have the power and skill to successfully apply it, and there are none in Kamar-Taj who would consider using it now."

"Good," was Stephen's answer, and the conversation ended.

How could Mordo fall to such lows?

Wong finished the prep work and stalled no longer; Stephen had been suffering for more than long enough. He moved his spell work that he performed on the side to hover over the prone man, then in one gesture, settled it upon his body to release the spell. He steeled himself for the fallout.

It came all at once: at first Stephen was utterly still, and then he inhaled sharply and audibly as his eyes flew open. He immediately squeezed them shut and then cradled his hands near his chest, every breath shuddering. To Wong's alarm, the little light remaining in the room glinted on the wetness of his cheeks. He was crying very, very silently.

Still, he did not say anything; the sound of breathing may be too much for Stephen at that moment, never mind conversation. Instead he waited for some sort of cue from the other sorcerer. Opposite him, the Cloak fretted as it swung back and forth in silent worry through the air; it clearly wanted to envelop its Master and it was only Wong's strict word that kept it from doing otherwise.

When Stephen did speak, several minutes later, it was barely above the volume of breathing. "I forgot—how much they hurt."

Wong could not help but exhale in dismay. Stephen made it easy for others to forget that he experienced what would be categorized as chronic pain. One eventually learned to cope and live with such a thing until it became a background ache on normal days, or so he understood it, and his friend had perfected that act a long time ago. However, Wong had not considered how the reintroduction of feeling to his hands would affect Stephen. That was his folly—he was only glad that Tony had the sense of presence to get all others out of the room.

The sigh caused Stephen to freeze. "Who's there?" he whispered.

He tried to keep his voice just as low. "Wong." He paused to gauge his reaction to his voice; Stephen did not flinch, and so he added, "And the Cloak." That was the most relevant, for now. The Avengers were out of sight in the hall and could wait a little longer.

Stephen's breath shuddered. "Give—give me a minute. Just—give me a minute."

He kept his response limited. "Take your time."

The silence sat for longer, the only sound being of the soft breathing from the both of them. All other sound from the rest of the Sanctum was completely muted. Eventually Stephen carefully moved an arm down from his chest to his side on the bed, and the Cloak took that as permission to reach out and lightly touch him. Stephen stiffened before relaxing and breathed, "Cloak. Right." He swallowed. "How long?"

Wong exhaled. "Thirty to thirty-six hours, if you were under the whole time."

"I was." He kept his voice at a whisper. "You need a report."

"It can wait." He kept his voice at the same volume. "The Avengers helped in your recovery. Stark, Rogers, and Romanoff are outside."

A pained look crossed over Stephen's face. "They can't—they can't see me like this."

"There is no shame in your condition," said Wong, "but I will not press it."

Stephen clenched his eyes shut. He swallowed. "Please."

Wong inclined his head and concealed his alarm; Stephen never begged. "I'll be right back." He rose and cast a silencing spell around the room to filter out all noise from outside, then left the bedroom.

Three pairs of eyes met Wong as he closed the door behind him. "How is he?" Steve asked.

"He'll recover, with time," said Wong. "At the moment he does not wish to have any visitors. You may call in a few days." That should be enough time, hopefully.

"Understandable," Natasha said.

"Ring us if there's anything else you need," Tony added. "And let Merlin know that if I don't hear from him soon, I'll be making a house call."

Wong didn't doubt it. "Noted. You know the way out."

After they turned the corner of the hallway, Wong turned his attention to the apprentice hiding in the shadows; the runner Grem sent. "Bring up a bowl of chicken soup and a cup of herbal tea. Soup should be largely broth." He had no idea what a stomach living off a liquid diet for two days did to solid food, so he'd have Stephen start small. "Keep others away unless it's urgent." The apprentice bowed and took their leave.

Wong sighed, letting his emotions flow away from him now that he was alone in the hall. He only allowed himself a brief moment before he solidified his serene expression and entered Stephen's bedroom once again.

"It's me," he whispered. "Food's on its way."

Stephen hadn't moved in the short time he was gone and his eyes remained closed. He was conscious enough to make a face at Wong's words, however. "Not hungry."

"It'll be waiting for you when you are." The joy of everlasting heat spells on dinnerware. He then considered his next words carefully; Stephen had been unusually emotionally vulnerable the last few minutes, but it did not mean he wouldn't start to close up if he was too brazen. "Would you prefer solitude or company?" Straightforward, yet not coddling—a statement that could be said in any normal situation. Stephen was often allergic to sentimental emotions, especially if they were because of his condition. He'd rather tend to his own wounds than for anyone to see him less than capable. It was only if Wong acted unaffected and casual that he could slip past that shield in times like this.

Stephen was silent for a moment. "Company's not unwelcome," he muttered. "Quiet company, at least."

"That is expected," said Wong. And once Stephen's meal was here, he was ready to sit in silent meditation and companionship as his friend recovered his senses throughout the rest of the evening.

—————

I was stuck on this damn ending (after Stephen was brought back to New York) for over two years. The issue was I wanted to have something with Stephen and the Avengers, as well as a scene from Stephen's POV that Wong could access. I could never make either scene fit, so I just went with my gut and tossed them. The deleted scene from Stephen's POV will be posted on tumblr once I get this fic up on AO3.

The majority of this was written pre-MoM so I just kept the bedroom description as I had imagined Stephen's room back in 2020.

#wong #stephen strange #tony stark #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #doctor strange fanfiction #doctor strange #mcu fanfiction #whump #my writing #my fanfiction #prompt fill

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jones-friend · 2 months

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This is about as far as I’ll get.

Im a big fan of Final Fantasy. I grew up with X and IV, I branched out to V and VI, am working through VII, and have XIII downloaded. I did not enjoy XV and I was excited when I heard XVI was good.

And it is! Theres a LOT to love about this game. It plays smart in a number of ways. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The combat system mid game is up to some great stuff. Its the only media I’ve encountered that adopts GOT elements while successfully retaining its identity.

I love how summons are godlike entities that deliver big kaiju fights. They give you a great sense of scale by having the first feel slow and clunky, by making you fight Ifrit on foot, working their way up so when you fight Titan you get an amazing feel for scale.

The game also adopts GOT style intrigue without abandoning what makes FF a FF game. The game opens with a red wedding style sacking of a major house with implications for the rest of the game, but it does it within what a Final Fantasy game would do. And the game has loads of lore tools to help you stay keyed into the plot. Its great. The pacing is also excellent, each chapter ramps up from small town sidequests to giant kaiju battles, then deescalates to give the eikon fights space.

Combat is flashy and fun with lots of combos you can chain across powers. I ended up using a lot of counter abilities and had such a good time in every 1v1 battle. Battles are also showy in satisfying ways despite being a bit spammy.

The OST is also a powerhouse good LORD. Its an alltimer, Heart of Stone and Find the Flame clapping absolute cheeks out here. I cannot recommend the ost highly enough.

Theres a few minor issues I was able to look past. Weapon crafting/upgrading is largely uninteresting. You just upgrade for better number. Theres no real resource management or choices being made. I would rather be awarded weapons like KH2 keyblades. Sidequests smartly delve into the fine details of the world but are largely a waste of space, padding out the runtime and delaying the better parts of the game. But largely these were just tedious, not bad.

My beef with this game is the camera. Its 2024, we’ve had 3D games for 30 years, and there’s a $70 price tag on this game. Absolutely unacceptable that I cannot access meaningful accessibility controls that would alleviate the issue.

I’ve played lots of games in 3D with fast cameras. I’ve played all of Elden Ring, MGRR, Bayonetta, every Halo game, both Wolfenstein games, I’ve only been made motion sick by Generation Zero, Saturnalia. I’m not prone to motion sickness in games, and outside Saturnalia where its cropped up I’ve been able to use accessibility settings to negate it.

Pressing O to block and counter is great but the camera whips around violently for each of the three follow up attacks. I’ve looked through threads and implemented everything I can with what options the game offers and it has not saved the experience for me.

Man. I was so excited for this one. And I was having a great time with what I played. Im just over 50% through and I’m gonna have to call it here. It made me physically sick over the weekend and I’m still feeling bad.

I beg you 🅱️lease fix the camera. A game on this scale should be better than this. I literally cannot play your game in this state.

#Final fantasy xvi

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magicalyaku · 1 year

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After the first week of February I decided I would only read sequels. I made true on that for a few books until my library app fucked me over and didn't download Simon Snow 3 which I intended to start reading during my break at work (where I have no internet). I was so mad! 8D I was sulking afterwards and started a different book once I got home and the resolution was broken. Instead the theme of the month can easily be "I have never read so many books with adult characters in a row."

Das Verbotene Kapitel / The Lost Plot (The Invisible Library 8) (Genevieve Cogman): I honestly wasn't too invested in this. I was like for the first two days, but the writing style of this series always takes so long to read for me. I used to like it, but right now I just lack the patience. Also, it's the eighth volume. High time for it to end, really. Halfway through I switched to the audiobook to listen to while gaming and well. I'm not good at listening while doing other things. Maybe I'll pick the book up again in a few years to give the second half a proper read. I was content though with what I heard of the end.

The High King's Golden Tongue (Tales of the High Court 1) (Megan Derr): I said "I need more fantasy buhu *sad face*". And then I looked at my TBR and realised that out of 50 books only 3 have absolutely no magic, ghosts, different worlds or planets or whatsoever. Uhm. Well. Errr ... That didn't stop me from going through this recommendation list for queer fantasy books. uAu" Found this book. Sounded alright. Read the preview pages. Sounded alright. Looked it up in the library, uhuh available immediately! Borrowed it. Read it for the remainder of the day and a few hours of the night. uAu~ I can safely say I had fun reading this book. It's not fantasy with magic and creatures, just old kingdoms full of queer people. The worldbuilding is good, with all the different regions and languages being a major plot point. I liked the adventure, the characters (Sarrica's and Lesto's friendship is great), the pining. Good times!

The Pirate of Fathoms Deep (Tales of the High Court 2) (Megan Derr): The follow-up to Golden Tongue! I was unsure at first if I wanted to read the sequels (there are of 5 volumes in the series at the moment), but vol 2 is about Lesto who was my favourite character in vol 1, so no choice. It's like that 5.5 chapter of a boys love manga though. In the 5 chapters of the main story everything is tame until the bonus 5.5 chapter where they can finally do things. In High Court 1, there's exactly one smut scene. In vol 2, there's a million. And the book is only half the size! D: There is a small adventure going on and given the setting it makes sense that it progresses the way it does, but the 3 books afterwards are full length again, so why is it only this one character who gets the short one? u_u He's happy in the end, so all is well, but I would have liked a little more. I guess I have to continue reading the next volumes in the hopes to get a few glimpses. u3u

Husband Material (Forever Material in the German edtion) (Alexis Hall): After two books with middle-aged man and their (amourous) adventures, we slowly inch back to the younger generation. From end-thirties to mid-twenties! Books written by adults for adults, you know. Adult problems. Brrrr. At least, it's funny. Silly even. Was the first one this silly? I think, Oliver and Luc did well sorting through their various issues. I enjoy Luc’s narrative voice. And I loved the ending! xD It must be such a sore point for many people but I was like HELL YEAH!!!

Out of Nowhere (In the Middle of Somewhere 2) (Roan Parrish): I already read the first and third volume of this series, so reading volume 2 was inevitable even though Colin was not the most likeable character in vol 1. And well, he has issues let me tell you. Daniel of vol 1 was a mess but he managed to get a new start and build something for himself in that place. Will of vol 3 may not have the healthiest lifestyle but he was not unhappy with the direction of his life before meeting Leo. Whereas Colin is absolutely miserable and has no idea what to do about it. It was intruiging to read how he and Rafe managed. You know, there's this thing about this kind of books where the characters meet exactly the kind of person they need to survive and to thrive. Even with all the shit going on in this particular one, it's still comforting. xD

Wayward Son (Simon Snow 2) (Rainbow Rowell): The gang is 20, so it doesn't break the streak! I had fun reading this. Curiously, I liked it better than volume 1. Not quite sure why. (Maybe because of Suffering Boys.) Volume 1 was interesting in the way it felt like the 8th season of a series you haven't seen any episodes of before. Now this is the rare look at what happens to the heroes after the series ends and I'm here for it. I also found it remarkable how Baz was described as that utmost evil and ruthless being at first and turns out now he is the most loving and patient boyfriend of all times. xD

Pictures of You (Tina Winter): German author here. It's very basic in the theme and kind of predictable. But in a comforting way. Sometimes it's nice to know where everything will go so you can just lean back and enjoy the ride. The characters were pretty good and the setting was well illustrated. I mentioned last month that my visualisation abilites are not very good but I had no problem seeing the photos the protagonist takes which was pretty neet! I also very much appreciated how all the important conflicts actually happen and are resolved! That’s not a given. xD

Ring of Solomon (Aden Polydoros): I like Mr Polydoros' other books and I appreciate very much how all his books are different from each other. This one is contempory middle grade with a touch of magic. It was pretty okay, but I think it could have been a little bit deeper, a little more ambitious or challenging or complicated. Just more. Yes, it's middle grade but kids are always smarter than adults give them credit for, right? I feel, if you really want them to adore a book you have to give them something challenging that is a little bigger than themselves so that they can grow into it.

Reforged (Seth Haddon): Another gay king+knight story that made me realise I very much have a weakness for this kind of setting. xD Which is so weird because when I look through YA books and see a heroine who is a queen or princess fighting for her kingdom I immediately click away ... Well. This was a solid book. Not quite as joyful as A Taste of Gold and Iron or The High King's Golden Tongue but still solid (also it's a debut). The author clearly put thought and love into his main characters and probably the worldbuilding. Sometimes it was just written in a way that confused me at first, because the actual thing was named late. There's that other paladin guy who works alongside our hero. When he's introduced, it's written "They never got along." and then 90 pages later: "Now that XX was dead, he was his closest friend" And I was like "What?! I thought you hate each other? Did I read wrong? Let me leaf back real quick!" I mean, there is the possibility that among all those people he doesn't get along with this one is still the best but ... that's kinda sad. 8D So, there's small things like that. But the overall story and intrigue was well done I think.

Keeper of the Lost Cities 2: Exile (Shannon Messenger): I stayed at my parents's place for a few days to take care of the cats and thus my commute to work was twice as long as usual, so this came in from the library at just the right time. I listened to the audiobook though, so it was still a struggle for the first 8 hours. I'm so bad with audiobooks. 8D But the beginning was also very slow. It picked up speed around the halfway point, I'd say and also Keefe is my favourite character so I appreciated hearing more of him. I still find it a little odd how some of the characters' attitude towards Sophie is. Guys, she's only thirteen and didn't know about her powers for the longest time! How do you expect her to be perfect at everything and solve everything this very second? Geez. I'll probably continue with the 3rd volume at some point but I should really think about reading it instead of listening. :'D

On to the next month! As of writing this I already have read the best book of March, I swear. xD I’m possibly still high enough to even make a fanart happen.

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