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i-like-eyes · 2 years

Note

meta knight for the ask thing

boop

First impression: When I was just a wee lad my uncle bought me a little indie game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Me and my buddies weren't very good at the game because we were like, 10, but we noticed that we would get more kills whenever we played Meta Knight. I had no concept of tier lists or op/broken characters or whatever but everyone knew there was smth up with MK. Brawl is. Not the best Smash Bros. by a long shot but it's got the most personality and MK sure was memorable. Impression now: He's still my favorite character, what makes him work is that for people that normally wouldn't like cutey games he's the Grumpy Bear they can relate to. The poster boy of the old phrase "real men play Kirby". But even then he still participates with Kirby and crew in their silly adventures, like the grown adult playing Kirby he's really not-so-above it all. Favorite moment: It's cliche but I liked the Kirby characters in Smash so much that I got Kirby's Adventure on the eShop. I was fascinated by the candy and the boss fights, but my tiny brain was obliterated when the mask snapped in half haha. Idea for a story: One of the problems with MK right now is that the mysterious aspect is starting to wear thin. The thing about looking like Kirby is interesting and all but we all know it's never going to be elaborated on. For that matter his lack of clear motivations is less intriguing and more frustrating after fighting him over and over. While this will never happen, I think the best approach to MK is that he wants to be strong. We tend to associate things that are soft and cute with things that are weak, stuff that is hard and edgy is considered strong. While Dreamland has accepted Kirby's existence, outsiders like Taranza assume DDD is the hero of the land while Susie and the Mages have trouble believing Kirby is capable of putting up a fight. Point is this seems like a bias that applies to this universe as well. MK knows he can't be treated seriously as a warrior because of his appearance hence the mask and whatnot. Then his fights with Kirby can be re-contextualized as Meta Knight trying to prove his strength. It's still silly when you think about it, but it's a more understanding explanation that he just likes to fight a lot. Unpopular opinion: I don't love this question, what's a hot take in one side of the community is a cold take on the other side. I guess I think that Meta Knight's Revenge should be retconned. It won't be because it's super iconic and everyone's favorite Super Star subgame (I know it's mine) but it clashes with the series current direction for the character and also. Is a literal attempt at a fascist takeover and. Okay when Magolor was crowned with the evil macguffin and turned into a big evil wizard so he can take over the galaxy that was easier to excuse because wizards aren't real. Magolor still did a dick move but at least wasn't anything realistic (also there's the implication he wasn't in control the whole time) whereas the events of Meta Knight's Revenge hit just a little too close to home. Not nearly as badly the events of Planet Robobot do, but man that sure is a thing that. Happened.

Favorite relationship: I don't care for their literal relation, like if they are the same species or whatever, but ofc I want to know what he really thinks of Kirby. Kirby himself I think just doesn't care, no matter who he faces he just =. But MK clearly feels strongly about him for some reason, and I wouldn't care as much if not for Galacta's appearance. Yes in the grand scheme of things it's another Kirby looking Knight who has smth to do with Void lore I guess but I don't care about that. Galacta Knight's original purpose in a meta (heh) sense is that he was Meta Knight's final boss. So they way they went about designing him was making him the opposite of Meta Knight, whose already supposed to be Kirby's edgy rival, resulting in a soft looking knight. Again I don't care for literal relation, I just really like the irony that MK is seemingly self conscious over looking cute but here are these other cute things that exist to kick his ass. Favorite headcanon: While I don't love the takeover part I still like the Halberd crew, again this is kinda canon/theory in that in was implied in game but I like that MK seems to really care for his crew but doesn't know how to express it. He acts aloof because it's a part of his cool persona but also because he genuinely does not know how to properly respond. I didn't shut up about him for the Daroach ask but I think he'd be a little jealous of how much more personal the Squeaks are. For that matter, while he's friends with some of Castle DDD he's not as friendly as DDD is and as such doesn't really know DDD's buddies like Ado, Ribbon, and Taranza maybe let's throw him in.

#asks #meta knight #kirby #character meme

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crispyjenkins · 4 years

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I dare you to write an Ani5 fix-it fic. I will not be taking criticism and will die on the hill that this is the most powerful ship and could’ve saved the entire clone wars. Bonus points if it features the ship Mace Windu/headaches (bc anakin is a walking mess of shatterpoints and lives to annoy Mace). Codywan to help knock some sense into anakin would also be top tier. I LOVE YOU ZEPH’BUIR

(of course i can’t do a whole fix-it in a quick prompt answer, but i think i’ve set it up for a far happier ending than in canon! support communication and education in relationships (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) and also adhd clones.

fives might be the most i’ve ever struggled with a character (‘cept maybe ahsoka....) so it took a little while to figure out how to write this scene in a way i liked. also, had to go and watch fives clips to try and get my autism brain working, and BOY HOWDY do i actually hate dbb’s take on the clones, especially the accent but everything else too. their character designs make me want to cry. so i’m begging, for me, to imagine this fives like this especially because then we get Tol Anakin and a Smol Clone BF and i think that is a seriously underutilised dynamic.

thank you for the prompt, ad, and for cursing me with this ship in the first place. someday i’ll get around to actually writing them as the battle husbands they are 🧡)

Alt+R to quick reblog on desktop, Hold the reblog symbol to quick reblog on mobile

Echo's always been good with programming, but Fives is better with the actual building. He's not any good with inventing, maybe, but putting things together? Opening them up and knowing immediately what's wrong? Fives would even say he enjoys it — and being able to talk shop with Skywalker like they're nobody mechanics from the Outer Rim instead of General and Soldier makes the long hyperjumps between missions actually bearable.

How that led to him sitting in a rarely used hallway on the Resolute with Skywalker ("Anakin," he keeps insisting with a smile), both leant over a mouse droid in pieces on a drop cloth, Fives isn't really sure. It probably had something to do with Skywalker's excited bounce when he'd come to ask if Fives wanted to help him, the sparkle in his eye reminding Fives just how young the both of them are. How, technically, he's older than Anakin.

Because, yeah, he is Anakin, not Skywalker, when they're like this. With his growing knight cut a curly untamed cloud around his ears, grease smeared on the underside of his jaw, with Fives stripped down to his blacks from the waist up, with even his blasters set on the floor next to them.

With it quickly becoming clear that Anakin doesn't actually need help to rewire the mouse droid, but had asked for Fives to join him anyways.

They've been at it for a few hours now, their jokes winding down to companionable quiet as they both work on separate parts of the droid. It honestly might have been easier to start from a scrap droid than try to rewire this one correctly, but it's easy work Fives could do blindfolded, and sharing the mutually-focused silence is actually quite nice.

Anakin is elbow-deep in the outer casing when he finally asks, "Do the clones feel love?"

And Fives almost gets up and walks away. He knows not every battalion ended up with a good Jedi, that the 212th and the 501st had been so kriffing lucky to end up with "The Team", but sometimes he forgets. Maybe that's the worst part of it: slow, personal moments like this, Fives forgets he's not natborn and bearer of a face shared with millions. Being around his general makes him forget, and maybe he had taken that for granted until now.

Or maybe it's for that reason that he hesitates from storming off, because Anakin had been the one to name Alpha, to insist on giving them proper leave, to defend them from anyone who talks down at them even if they're a planetary leader. And Rex had said something, once, about Anakin’s brain working in either/ors, being hardwired in some way to only see in black and white and believing that if you're one thing, you can't be another. That what Anakin says isn't always what he means.

So instead, he asks, "What kind of love are we talkin'?"

Anakin refuses to raise his head, and Fives can almost see him stressing about how to phrase this. "Y'know, grand romance and stuff. One-and-onlys and holodrama romcom propaganda and imagining growing old together."

"'Not quite sure what you're asking, sir." He takes a deep breath. "The short answer is yes, we can and do feel that, but the long answer is I can't speak for every brother, and I would not want to. Some of us don't feel that." Shrugging, he passes Anakin a socket wrench before he can ask for it. "But it's not because we can't, not because of the longnecks. We're bred to be obedient, sir, not emotionless."

Quiet settles over them again while Anakin processes this, his mouth twisted rather horribly. Fives starts to think he would do a whole awful lot to turn that frown back into a haughty smile.

"What do you really want to ask, General?"

"I'm married to Senator Amidala."

Now, everyone with eyes knows that. Maybe Torrent knows even better, when they've been covering for their general for over a year now, and clearly the Jedi just aren't doing anything about it — but Fives also knows Anakin has never actually told anyone about this, not even General Kenobi. Rex says Anakin still thinks they've been discreet.

"If I may be blunt, sir, this is not news."

And Anakin actually laughs at that, shaking his head as he tosses down his tools to stare at the opposite wall instead. Fives watches his gaze go distant, somewhere far away from the Resolute lost in the middle of space. “I’ve loved her since I was nine years old, Fives. I loved her through not seeing her for a decade, through her assassination attempts and the First Battle of Geonosis and becoming a knight, and I...”

Fives sighs once. “No one said you had to stay in love, sir.”

“But that’s just it,” he groans. “I’ve never known how to do anything else, how to be anything else. I don’t... know who I am without it.”

He has to look away from Anakin, then, because he’s seen brothers go stupid for people they meet on campaigns, or for their Jedi, and Fives isn’t nearly as young as some of the shinies out there, but he knows what it looks like, when they leap in without thinking. He lets out a long, slow breath, his eyes falling on the ‘saber at Anakin’s hip. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

Anakin blinks at him, and nods.

“That’s too young to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.” Fives raises a brow at his general’s startled expression, which is maybe more amusing (endearing) than it has any business being. “General, you’re barely an adult, just the same as the vode. If my mental timeline is right, you weren’t even twenty standard when you married Amidala, which, frankly, was reckless and unfair on her part.”

“Padmé would never–”

“I don’t mean intentionally, sir. The fact of the matter is, no wonder you don’t know who you are without her, because you’ve always had her.” That decade of no contact notwithstanding, considering Anakin didn’t not have her, either. “Senator Amidala knew who and what she was before you, and she’ll know who and what she is without you.”

“That’s not quite fair,” Anakin grumbles, but his throat is flushed in what Fives hopes is entirely appropriate guilt, or at the very least embarrassment. “It was my idea to get married after Geonosis.”

Fives snorts. “The idea of a child thrown into war, afraid to lose anything.”

“You’re being uncharacteristically candid, Fives.”

“Respectfully, sir, the last thing you need is to be coddled.” His general laughs again, this time good and bright in a way he hasn’t heard before; and then Fives can’t help what he admits next. “We weren’t allowed toys, or anything.”

Laughter cutting off abruptly, Anakin’s eyes grow haunted instead. There might not be anyone else in the galaxy with quite the same experience as the clones, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those that understand.

“Hevy made me and Echo– Well, he said they were mythosaurs like Kal taught us about, but they looked more like sad loth cats. He cut up his own bedsheet to make ‘em, and couldn’t tell the longnecks what he’d done with it, so he just slept on the bare mattress.”

“Fives...”

But it’s clear Anakin doesn’t actually know what to say, so Fives pushes on. “Some of Fett’s instructors tried to teach us Mando’a, you know? I think Spar is the only brother that ever got fluent, the rest of us have been making up words and combining them with Basic and Kaminoan and whatever else the Cuy’val Dar spoke that sometimes we don’t even remember what language they are anymore.”

“I didn’t learn Basic until I was five.” Anakin thunks his head onto the wall behind him with a sigh, the mouse droid forgotten at his feet. “Other padawans always told me I was lucky Master Obi-Wan knew Huttese.” Ahh, kark, his general had been a Hutt salve; at least the spice runners made sure their slaves could communicate with their customers. “I couldn’t read a word of Aurebesh when I first came to the Temple, though to be fair, I couldn’t read anything else, either.”

“You grow up around other kids?”

“Yeah, my mom and I lived in the biggest slave slum on Tatooine.”

Fives doesn’t need to tell him how lucky he was just to have had their own quarters. “I think, sir, that the vode know better than you think, what it’s like always standing on the edge of losing everything.”

Squeezing his eyes closed, Anakin inhales sharply and clenches his fists over his knees. “What happened? To your mythosaur toys?”

“One of the longnecks found them while we were in training, ‘threw them out before we got back. I think Hevy was even more upset than we were.”

The leather glove over his prosthesis creaks as he tightens his grip on his own palms. “Was it easy? To just... forget about them?”

“Of course not,” Fives snorts and crosses his arms, “we were the equivalent of eight standard at the time, but we honestly didn’t have a choice. As we got a little older, we stopped trying to put meaning in things, because we weren’t allowed things. Our names are our only real possession, even our armor can be taken from us, but we will not, cannot, let anyone take our names.”

Groaning, Anakin scrubs his hands over his face before pushing himself up to finally look at Fives properly. He still doesn’t speak for a moment, just watching him, then teases flatly, “You’ve been spending too much time with Cody and Obi-Wan, you’re starting to speak in riddles.”

“They are riddles only to you, sir.” He offers a small smile, and is only slightly disappointed when Anakin doesn’t return it.

Instead, he lets out a winded breath. “So. You’re saying that it’s not easy to let go of even small things, but we must. And then there are things that we shouldn’t let go of?”

“Some things aren’t ours to keep.”

Anakin swallows. “Like Padmé,”

“Like any person, no matter what sort of love we have for them.”

Groaning, Anakin pulls his knees back up close and drops his face into his arms. “But I still love her.”

Knowing that this is not a new problem, that General Kenobi has been trying to teach his general this for as long as they’ve known each other, Fives takes a moment to consider. “You don’t really have to stop loving her.”

“But you said–”

“You think I stop loving my brothers when they die?”

Whether or not it’s healthy to hold onto affections for someone after a romantic relationship is a conversation for another time, Fives decides, and leans over to pick up where Anakin had left off with the droid.

“General, it sounds to me like you already know all this,” he says, twisting a wire into the grip of his glove to yank it from the motor. “And that you’re digging your feet in — which is the crux of the problem, isn’t it?”

“You sound like Obi-Wan,” he groans, but doesn’t deny it.

“Hmm, well, at least we’re still just kids.”

Anakin very slowly looks up from his arms, just enough for Fives to see his wide eyes. “What do you...?”

“Well, we’ve still got time to learn, don’t we?” Fives raises his eyebrow as he fits the new wire into the motor and starts to close all the panels back up. “I still think about Hevy and Droidbait and Cutup, and honestly, I still think about Echo’s and my mythosaurs. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t think, not even the Jedi would think that’s bad. I’m still angry when my vode don’t get funerals and I honestly hold that against the Chancellor and the Jedi both. But I don’t get to go back to Kamino and take my anger out on the longneck that took our toys, and I’m... working on it, not being so angry with the generals. I’m still angry. But I know the Jedi have about as much say in all of this as we do, and I know burying my brothers won’t bring them back. So I’m working on it.”

“I... don’t have to be good at it all at once.”

“Great Maker, General, just because you’re the Chosen One doesn’t mean you have to actually be good at absolutely everything from the start. You just have to try, and you still have time to.”

He looks up and finds Anakin already smiling back. “Fives, I could kiss you.”

“Considering it sounds like Senator Amidala just divorced you, I think that’s a very bad idea, sir.”

“Bah, you’re no fun.”

Fives feigns offense, “This mouse droid we’ve rigged to follow Captain Rex around and scream says differently.”

The night the 501st returns to the Resolute after finally (kriffing finally) leaving Umbara, Fives finds a hand-sewn stuffed mythosaur on his bunk, with a string collar and a dogtag etched with CT-782.

Mando’a: Cuy’val Dar — “Those who no longer exist”, group of 75 Mando’ade and 25 others put together by Jango to train the clones vod/e — “brother/s, comrade/s, sibling/s”, technically gender neutral but used most often in fandom as “brother/s” (*in this context, fives is using brothers as gender neutral as well, because you won’t take trans and nb clones even from my cold dead hands*)

#prompt fill #crispy writes #ani5 #anakin/fives #no really what's their ship name #prequel trilogy #clone wars #pre-relationship #but they're getting there lads #cw slavery #clone culture #domino squad #past anidala #very recently past lmao #anakin skywalker #trooper fives #mando'a #is it really childhood if you've never been allowed to be a child #but seriously dbb is sort of fucking awful as the clones #like i love the man he's been in almost every cartoon i've ever cared about #but good lord it's like he wasn't even trying to act #anyways #theclonewarsbrokeme #rare pair #like.... never seen anything for this kind of rare pair...#wanna write more about them adhd stimming together #and being worried babs on the battlefield #cause unlike ships like codywan or rexwalker or skysolo #ani5 would have NO problem being obvious as fuck about their worry and affection #they wouldn't even try to hide it

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thoughtsonargentdawn · 3 years

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On the potential of greener pastures.

While I don’t see the need to beat the dead horse that is the incelery of Blizzard Entertainment’s treatment of women and gay men - still holding out for the claims of transphobia, don’t worry it will be there - One thing I have noticed lately is the increasing willingness of long term WoW players moving to other realms and universes of fantasy.

But the question, is it the right thing to do?

Obviously no one reasonable to advocate for you to stay playing something you find uncomfortable - that is insanity and inhuman. But, is Tamriel, Eorzea or the Galaxy Far Far Away really the type of place that the average Argent Dawn player will feel at home in? I’ve had many discussions with my fellow CoAD team friends and we all have our opinions on the matter. While we all agree that as a creative medium, we as players should reclaim World of Warcraft as something that works for us all - not all of us are particularly comfortable in remaining on the game considering what type of behaviour paying for that subscription enables. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- So first up on the list. Tamriel,the main setting of the Elder Scrolls universe. As a whole I would say the Elder Scrolls Online thematically matches many popular brands on Argent Dawn. It ticks the boxes of House/Noble Roleplay, Military, Intrigue and “Race War Now!” - all fairly popular areas of roleplay on Argent Dawn. ESO also boasts a far more vigorously designed world compared to current WoW, a considerably more consistent lore and player housing that is very generous. The downsides? There always are downsides... ESO is shackled with an insular community that much like Guild Wars 2 - another former contender to WoW - has a somewhat small town Alabama mentality towards new players. This is also combined with a recurring problem of a number of players using their characters to effectively further their own real life politics or ideologies. In particular the crypto-fascists are very drawn to the Aldmeri Dominion faction, with the prominence of the Thalmor - yes the same elf supremacists from Skyrim - being a key factor. Thanks to blatant racism being a canonical factor of the setting many have gotten away with effectively using their character as a smokescreen. Alternatively the Neo-Roman Imperials also are a popular second choice for your standard chauvinistic “ew women” basement dwellers who would shrivel at the first touch of a real woman. Community issues aside, ESO also has system problems with a very awkwardly designed UI that is unintuitive to someone used to the traditional hotbar system present in many MMO games. Perhaps a minor problem in the long term as you get used to it but be prepared for heavy frustration and awkward handling. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Second up we have the supposed rising star of the genre, in the gleaming world of Eorzea, the primary setting for Final Fantasy 14. The setting is very conducive for Adventure type RP in particular, but by no means limited. The worldbuilding of Eorzea is very elaborate, with analogues to many real world cultures being present, Norse, Franco-German, Middle English, Levantine/Mediterranean and Far Eastern with smaller groups being present too. The lore is watertight, with very few inconsistencies - the few are merely a player issue of doing class quests in reverse order to the story quest mostly - and the setting is shown rather than explained through out of universe books. Player housing is rather advanced as well, with both personal and guild varieties being present in four capital cities so far.

Things are not always sunny however. Some glaring errors are present in the game. The UI and general intuitiveness of the systems present are incredibly dated and arcane. This is likely due in part to the need to keep things workable for the console players, and probably Square Enix not understanding their playerbase, especially in the West. In addition, due to how the story is the main system of progression, for those wanting to roleplay with a full understanding it is effectively mandatory to do the main story questline to completion before taking part in substantial or heavy roleplay. Finally and probably the most glaring problem is the issue of the community itself. While the general projection is that the FF14 community is very welcoming and kinder than the WoW community, this is only really applicable to the US servers. Both Crystal and Primal - the main ones - are highly active, busy and brimming with both helpful people and roleplay, so much so it spills out into the open world and cities. Crystal in particular is the most analogous to “golden age” Argent Dawn. The only major issue is the “problem” of ERP being quite acceptable and open in the games RP community, no weirdly KKK cosplaying attempts to shut it down will work here, unfortunately for some. That said it can be ignored and the players soliciting can be reported if they persist - and square enix is very good at customer support. However, the European servers are a whole other beast. Light has no roleplay of any major or notable amount, and half of the servers on it are not even populated. Outside of Lich, Shiva and Odin there are scant few players around. Chaos has more people on it, but the wrong kind of people. I have spoken to a now silly number of people on Crystal and to a lesser extent Primal giving abject horror stories they have brought from the Chaos server group. Most of the RP happens on Omega, with some smaller level on Moogle and Ragnarok. Though to call it RP is generous. Their “roleplay” consists of generally playing self-inserts in Second Life tier social roleplay. Those few who engage in actual roleplay often find themselves ostracised or even - subtly - harassed - remember, square enix are very good at customer support - for trying to roleplay within the setting they are in. It is no surprise then that there are more European players playing on the US server groups than on their own. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally the old man, though potentially most balanced of the three is the well established Galaxy Far Far Away - the setting of Star Wars: The Old Republic. With a colossal lore from both in game and the extended Old Republic universe itself the game has tremendous potential for all manner of RP, from your traditional Sith or Jedi RP to space Criminals, Military, space Researchers/Academics, Political RP and most things in between. The Stronghold System, while dated compared to the others does allow for expansive and varied environments to do both public and private roleplay within, with a whole catalogue of venues being available for perusal. Besides that, the planets themselves are highly expansive and massive in terms of scale, easily twice the size of major zones in WoW often with a variety of environments that make the planets seem like an actual world, or part of at least. Hoth really does have the sensation you are on a frozen tomb in the Outer Ring. The downsides of the game however are rather heavy. Roleplay is almost entirely guild centric, though not hidden away by any means. Competing “headcanons” have been know to create problems, but as the Galaxy is big enough it really boils down to a matter of taste rather than sociopathic cult leaders attempting to control the roleplay for everyone. In addition, the system of the game are woefully clunky, with the worst customisation for characters present, even if the transmog system is better than WoW’s. Thankfully the new expansion for it is coming soon which promises to revamp both character agency and customisation and fix systems that are horrendously out of place in 2021. Finally the other main issue of TOR is the presence of the free to play, but pay and get more model. Freemium is neither the F2P that ESO offers or the simple subscription model FF14 offers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

With all that said, each game has its flaws and perks. Considering there loudest voices seem to be indicating either a shift towards ESO or FF14, it will be interesting to see if these become permanent converts - with all the moral grandstanding about how terrible Blizzard is - or they will quietly slink back to Azeroth once the dust settles and nothing sadly is done about the appalling corporate problems in Blizzard. I personally will remain engaged on Argent Dawn. WoW itself is a product that is shaped by its community more than its sleazy developers and strangulating Blizzard over it is realistically likely to cause more harm long term. Besides, how can we reclaim the setting for the players if we all decide to jump ship?

#roleplaying #World of Warcraft #Final Fantasy XIV #The Elder Scrolls Online #Star Wars: The Old Republic #community #argent dawn eu

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playingbaseballwithyourson · 4 years

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A Comprehensive List of Why REFLEKDOLL is One of the BEST EPISODES

1. I mainly come to this show to watch Ladybug and Chat Noir bitch at each other for a solid 15-20 minutes and, my god, does this episode deliver.

2. “You’d better get going before you lose your clown costume.” I C O N I C.

3. For real, confirmation that Ladybug sees Chat as as much of a goddamn clown as the entire fanbase, it’s great.

4. I know people get on this episode because the ladynoir banter is apparently “”mean-spirited””? But honestly like, banter between friends CAN sound this mean-spirited from an outward perspective while all the friends involved in it are totally fine and in complete understanding that it’s all just joking and in good fun. Ladybug really starts tearing into him (jokingly) and Chat still finishes the sequence by bouncing away yelling “SEE I WAS RIIIIIGHT!” in an upbeat, teasing tone. Like, they’re fine. This is just how they talk to each other as friends and it’s clear neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir take their banter very seriously. (Honestly my banter with my friends can be far more scathing than anything in this episode. XD)

5. Watching Juleka and Luka interact... It’s pure. It’s good. :’3 Just an all around good scene. It’s also nice to follow up on how Juleka’s been dealing with her issues since Reflekta, even though it does turn out she’s made very miniscule progress.

6. Alya’s galaxy brain moment of inviting Adrien to help Marinette with a fashion shoot: Makes a lot of sense and is a great way to capitalize on both the love square’s hobbies to get them to hang out more! It’s the single part of this episode that isn’t a contrivance!

7. Adrienette look cute in the matching outfits. Sorry but they do.

8. Okay, the thing that is truly great about this episode is that everything about it is a massive contrivance to make the kwami swap happens. ML wants it’s fucking kwami swap and it’s going to bend over backwards to make it happen, and it is NOT shy about it and it is NOT sorry. And honestly?? I FUCKING LOVE THAT. Does a kwami swap make logical sense for it to occur without the heroes having planned for it? No. Are we going to do it anyway? YES!!!! BECAUSE A KWAMI SWAP WOULD BE FUCKING FUN!!! That’s what’s great about ML, and this episode is a great showcase of ML’s priorities as a cartoon (which is probably why this episode rubs some of the fandom the wrong way). A kwami swap is illogical, but it’s fun as fuck, so the show is going to do it. That’s the priority above all else. FUN. AND IT PAYS OFF!

Seriously, everything is a contrivance. Why akumatize Juleka again? Reflekta’s power can handicap the kwamis’ abilities to find their humans in the commotion. Why have Marinette and Adrien change for the photo shoot? Get them to take their miraculous off. Why have them keep the kwamis in the car instead of in their pockets? So they can’t find their own kwamis right away. This episode is jumping through flaming hoops to make this happen and it’s fucking gold. Might there have been a much more natural way to have a kwami swap? Yeah, sure, most likely. But literally WHO EVEN CARES cause this episode starts out fun and ends fun, and it works well enough that I don’t give a flumpty. Hell, I appreciate it even MORE for not being shy about its priorities in this episode. Kwami swap fun? Then kwami swap will happen. Fuck everything else.

9. “Are you okay, Marinette?” “YEAH. HE’S TOO HOT. I MEAN--” This is a top tier Marinette flub.

10. I recognize I’m a minority on this, but I fucking love Mayura. She is a goddamn queen. So gosh darn fabulous with the long coat and the fan. I just love it whenever she shows up so I’m glad she’s here. Makes the villains a touch more intimidating in this episode since there’s two, which pairs well with Marinette and Adrien being somewhat off their game due to the kwami swap.

11. Literally any time Tikki and Plagg interact together is great.

12. Adrien telling Marinette to hide in the car... TTToTTT <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

13. No one ever believes me when I say Marinette is pure chaotic energy but she HECKING IS! When she finds Plagg with the cat ring, this girl does not waste a goddamn second. Will swapping powers probably mess them up? Yes, but FUCK IT PARIS IS IN DANGER AND WE NEED HEROES NOW SO GIMME THAT RING. SHE JUST DOES NOT WASTE A GODDAMN SECOND TRANSFORMING. SHE CAN TAKE ANYTHING AND ROLL WITH IT. I LOVE MARINETTE.

14. Also Ladynoire’s design is fucking choice.

15. Okay, go onto youtube right now, look up Mister Bug’s transformation sequence, and look at the way he puts on his mask.... I know right??? :D

16. This is a very personal thing, but I love seeing Adrien powered-up without the cat eyes. This is the only time you ever see it, and trust me while I fucking love the cat eyes, it’s a really eye-catching change to see him with his normal eyes here! Think about it, Ladybug has never seen her partner’s real eyes until this episode. It’s cool! (Marinette with the cat eyes, on the other hand, is neat as well, but I don’t think she wears them as well as Chat Noir.)

17. Adrien smacking himself with the yo yo.

18. I’ve said this before but I find it absolutely adorable how, when swapped, Marinette and Adrien base their new names off of each other, rather than making up new ones from scratch. Mister Bug? It’s Ladybug, but boy. Ladynoire? It’s Chat Noir, but girl. Seriously that’s adorable.

19. ADRIEN USING LUCKY CHARM AND GETTING EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED IS ONE OF THE SINGLE FUNNIEST MOMENTS IN THE ENTIRE GODDAMN SHOW. I’M SORRY BUT IT IS. IT’S FUCKING HILARIOUS. JUST ADRIEN BY SHEER LUCK SCHOOLING MARINETTE WITH HER OWN POWER, AND THE COMPLETELY OFFENDED LOOK ON HER FACE AFTERWARDS-- IT’S PEAK ML COMEDY.

20. I’m not the first one to make this comparison, credit goes to @buggachat on that, but Marinette in this episode is like the parent trying to teach their kid how to drive but ends up flipping their shit the second their kid touches the gas pedal. And it’s fucking funny. X”D Marinette has a strong sense of responsibility along with an incredibly specific way of how she likes to do things as Ladybug. Her process is you battle the akuma, gather info about your opponent, use lucky charm at the exact right time that only she knows in order to take them down, and then capture the akuma and/or amok. Her routine is pretty broken in this episode, since it’s now Adrien who needs to do all those things, so that combined with Marinette’s acute awareness of Adrien being a Child Who Causes Problems On Purpose has her veerrryyy on edge this whole episode and it’s just fun to watch. Her asking Adrien if they should switch back, correcting him every time he mis-speaks about how to do Ladybug correctly. It’s not a side of Marinette we get to see every day!

21. Additionally, getting to watch her relax for once in a fight since she’s now in the canonical clown costume is wonderful. I love Marinette. I want good things for Marinette. Relaxation and fun are good. She’s got a lot on her shoulders so this episode is nice, especially with the s3 finale in context.

22. Yknow, I can very happily buy that chataclysm doesn’t work on sentimonsters, since it’s already been established that Miraculous magic can protect from chataclysm. (See: Miraculer)

23. I’ve written already about why Mister Bug wasn’t actually bad with the ladybug miraculous, so I’ll only touch on a couple of those points again. But it is weird to me how people cry about Mister Bug being shit at the ladybug miraculous when he’s so clearly not? He just has a lot of stuff to think about that he usually doesn’t have to worry about cause it’s not his job. When to use lucky charm, HOW to use lucky charm, when to use miraculous ladybug, capturing the akuma once it’s released, capturing the amok. He just quite literally never has to put thought into any of that so it’s pretty understandable that he doesn’t have a handle on it just, automatically. Meanwhile, Marinette doesn’t have a ton of extra things to think about with the cat miraculous, AND she’s canonically naturally talented with handling different miraculous, so it’s very believable that she’d be fine? I get people don’t like that cause they have a problem with Marinette (and any WOC) being competent in general, but she’s just a talented girl. We see her take and roll with anything to stop the villain in every episode of the show, so there’s not actually a reason for her to notably struggle with the cat miraculous. But hell, she actually DOES make things worse by chataclysming Reflekdoll, which might have not happened if she paused before just rushing in and using her power (after proudly declaring she is now the Team Clown). But it’s understandable that she didn’t predict the sentimonster to react how it did, and I can see Adrien making the same mistake, so eh.

24. But my point is that in terms of this discourse, I think this episode is fine. It’s about Ladybug and Chat Noir learning that they’re both quite good and very comfortable in their default roles. She’s great at handling her job and he’s great at handling his. That’s a perfectly fine lesson for this episode, and it’s not super necessary for them BOTH to learn that their partner’s job is actually super hard! The episode starts with them teasing each other about their roles, and it ends with that little bit of conflict between them being eased away due to their experiences from the kwami swap. Chat Noir is still a clown, Ladybug still is too concerned with her usual responsibilities to spend a lot of time clowning with him in fights, and that’s okay. They both learn to relax about it. It’s a good lesson for them to learn about each other, and it feels natural for the show to spend some time exploring their dynamic as partner heroes!

25. I actually fucking love how it’s established that the lucky charm works differently for different people. This episode BASICALLY CANONIZES that Marinette’s lucky charm is so insane because SHE HERSELF, IS SO INSANE. Adrien thinks much simpler (which I’ve written about how that’s not a bad thing in previous posts), so his lucky charm is just: You need a mirror? Okay, here’s a mirror. And it’s actually very fun and interesting to me that his ability to use his lucky charm was handicapped specifically becuase he’s only ever watched Marinette use it. Marinette’s lucky charms always yield wildly complicated plans, and that’s the exact thing she’s shouting at him the whole episode, so he expects it to be complicated and thus can’t figure out how to use the mirror. It’s only when they sit down and realize that they’ll have to think on Adrien’s level instead of Marinette’s that they figure out what to do with it! Marinette’s spent the whole episode basically backseat driving for him (understandably), so the fact that the resolution is her meeting Adrien at his own spot and working on his level instead of hers- It’s a good way to wrap the episode up!

26. Duuzu.

27. dID HE JUST DAB?!?!

28. Oh my god he did. And people actually hate this episode, smh.

29. Marinette flirting with Chat Noir will always give me life, and we get so much of it in this episode! Her calling him Bugaboy is this perfect combo of flirtatious and teasing that’s just very on-brand ladynoir. It’s perfect in this episode for literally so many reasons that I don’t even have time to list them cause this essay is already really long.

30. Adrien and Marinette interacting with the others’ kwami? Wholesome. Marinette and Adrien reuniting with their kwamis? Very wholesome. They’re both so attached to their kwamis in different ways, and they’re also together with their kwamis practically every waking moment of their lives. I can imagine being apart from them even for a little must’ve been a touch anxiety inducing, so it’s nice to see how sweet everyone is when they’re reuniting!

31. Adrien says at the end that he’s not cut out to be Ladybug and honestly y’all... That’s okay. Adrien has his role and he’s incredibly good at his role, and Ladybug is incredibly good at hers. They’re both SATISFIED with their roles. He’s not upset when he says he’s not cut out to be Ladybug, not even a little. He very happily takes Plagg back and steps back into his usual territory. Again, he wasn’t bad at the ladybug miraculous. It just came with more to think about than he really wants to, things that Ladybug is very HAPPY to think about, and if their dynamic already works, then he’s perfectly happy to focus on his part and leave her job to her. That’s great!!!

32. Juleka getting to do the fashion shoot... Yay. :’D I just want good things for Juleka.

In conclusion, this episode is pure unbridled fun from start to finish. It’s chaotic, it’s got top tier banter, it’s a phenomenal change of pace from the rest of the series. I actually love watching this episode with folks for the first time because seeing the look of complete shock and glee on their face as Marinette grabs that cat ring from Plagg is just FUN! And at the end of the day, this episode is a statement on three things:

- Marinette is a talented girl. -Adrien is great at his job. - And ML as a show’s priority will always, first and foremost, be fun.

And none of those are a bad thing.

Hope you enjoyed the essay! :D

#miraculous ladybug #reflekdoll #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ladynoire #mister bug

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just-things-things · 4 years

Text

Peter Stark was kidnapped on a warm summer day when he was six years old. In Miami, he had been swimming with his father in their backyard when his father heard a crash come from the house. The man recalled this day in his mind many times. Sometimes, he wonders if everything was made-up, if his mind was forcing him to believe something completely different. He wonders if he told his son where he was going, “I’ll be right back Pete.”

His son grinned back at him, always such a trusting boy. Reaching the patio door, Tony listened to eerie silence. It made his veins run cold, activating the Iron Man wrist, he kicked open the door. As soon as it opened, a racoon scurried away, scaring the living daylights out of him, and causing him to shoot a rocket, shattering the glass door.

Tony sighed in relief; he’d have JARVIS check over the footage later to see how the rodent got in. He took his time getting back outside, especially now that he knew there was no real threat and that his boy was always extra careful. He decided to put together their lunches and grab extra juice boxes.

Emerging from the house, he called, “Pete! Come eat!” Beginning to pick up the scattered glass, he heard footsteps running toward him. About to scold the boy to watch out for the glass, he was shocked when it was R-2 charging him instead. Peter had insisted on getting a dog, despite Tony’s allergy for them. He truly would do anything to make him happy, “Peter, c’mon, I know you’re hungry!”

With no response, he stepped over the glass and began his trek to the pool area, his pace quickening the longer the silence remained. With the area in sight, Peter was nowhere to be found. Tony rushed over, glancing inside the water to make sure Peter hadn’t fallen in.

Checking behind the trees and crevasses in his yard, the man called for his son, “Peter! Peter, where are you?” His yelling became more frantic by the second, “Peter, this isn’t a game! Come out right now!”

Tony had checked the entirety of the backyard, still missing a response. Rushing into the house, screaming the boy’s name, his thoughts ran wild. Sure, Peter was a small kid. He just hadn’t found him yet. And kids loved to play hide and seek, of course they did. Peter was here. He was safe.

“JARVIS,” he barked, mentally cursing. Peter would have scolded him for that, “Where’s Peter?”

The cool, British accent made him even more irritated, “It seems Master Peter is not located within the house.” After Tony shoved another door out of his way, the AI suggested, “Mister Stark, would you like me to enable the outer drones?”

“Yes!” Tony was seething, opening the front door, he watched as a drone took off from the roof. He had the best technology in the country, if not the best in the world. JARVIS would find him. Maybe Peter had just found a hole big enough in the gate to fit through.

Two hours and twelve minutes later, SHIELD would arrive at his house. Three hours and fifty-six minutes later, Peter Stark would be pronounced missing. His face would be broadcasted across national television for days, his name covering all the newspapers.

Pepper and Rhodey would later find him at a SHIELD compound, demanding Fury to set up a missing persons unit within the organization. He held tightly to R-2’s leash, nose running and eyes watering, but god damn it, his kid was missing and nothing else mattered more than that.

Fury agreed to help the man find his child, under the circumstances that he wouldn’t get involved with their work. After negotiation, Tony allowed this if he could look on his own without interfering with their work.

Rhodey and Pepper escorted him back to Stark tower, deciding it was the best if their friend stayed away from the crime scene. They stayed for an extra two more weeks making sure Tony got at least six hours of sleep and enough food in him.

They wanted to find their nephew as badly as Tony did, but they knew it would be a lost cause if he was only working on half a mind.

One year later, Peter’s missing persons case was closed. After the police stopped looking, SHIELD also went down. Tony offered to pay them as much they needed to keep the unit up and running, but Fury had broken it down to the barest essentials, even if it left Tony feeling defeated, “Stark. There’s no footage, no witnesses, and no clues or hints. It would take a miracle to find him. SHIELD doesn’t have time for miracles, he’s a lost cause.”

Tony got in a couple punches before a guard restrained him. Getting back to the tower was easy, and his fury only caused him to search harder. He wanted to prove Fury wrong. His son wasn’t just a lost cause. Peter, now seven, was still out there, he knew it. Maybe a father’s instinct some would call it. He was alive, Tony just had to find him.

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On August 10, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey began a new tradition. Peter would be eight years old now. Together, they’ll design the missing boy a room at Stark tower. It’s right across from his own, the door decorated with Star War’s ships and droids.

When inside, they’re encountered with dark blue walls with custom painted Star War’s characters on them. His bed sheets and comforter has a galaxy design coating it. The rest of the room is outlined by white shelves covered in Knick Knacks. His walk-in closet is refreshed with new clothes trending in children magazines. Tony hopes he got the right size.

To complete the second half of the tradition, the trio hopelessly tries to bake a cake, (It’s mostly Pepper baking while Rhodey and him read off the directions.) Then, after everything has cooled off, they’ll go sit on Peter’s carpeted floor and eat the cake. R-2 will curl up on the bed and one slice will be left on the balcony until the birds find it.

Tony knows Peter’s coming home soon. It’s only a matter of time.

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The tradition continues for three years with no problems. It’s not until the day before his boy’s birthday that Fury calls Iron Man and War Machine for a mission. Tony goes off on Cap when he tries to defend the man, of course, Rodgers might not know the full story, but he has no right to say, “The good of the people is more important than your personal interests, Stark. No matter what it is can wait, we have a job to do.”

If it weren’t for Rhodey, they probably would have spent more time getting “America’s righteous man” to a med bay than on the mission.

Nonetheless, they both make it back to the tower in time for cake on the floor. Tony decides he’ll have to redecorate Peter’s room tomorrow.

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When Peter turn’s thirteen, his room is moved to the Avenger’s Compound where Tony is now residing. This time, only him and Pepper are decorating the boy’s room. Rhodey was pulled away for a mission in the Air Force.

The walls are now colored a forest green, accented by yellow and brown markings. Tony wonders if Peter would like it like this or prefer to switch the places of the desk and the bed. That’s ok, he’ll tell Tony when he gets home. He knows Peter is coming home this year.

Pepper and Tony eat the cake in silence, the only noise is R-2’s steady breathing.

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During the next birthday, Tony spends it alone. He’s forced to buy a store-bought cake after he almost makes the oven explode. He makes sure to buy the best one he can find, a three-tiered vanilla cake decorated with chocolate swirls.

In the end, it’s not the same. He wonders if Peter savor the taste, leaving a comically large piece of cake on the windowsill.

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The week before Peter’s fifteenth birthday, they’re forced to put R-2 to sleep when she is unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer. When the day does come, Tony’s alone again in Peter’s room. It’s unchanged, and the cake is starting to make him sick.

Now, there’s no dog resting on his leg, no best friend across from him and sharing the cake, or hope. Tony realizes one thing, Peter’s never coming home. He wonders if his boy is still alive, if his son is in another country.

Maybe someone else rescued him, maybe he doesn’t remember Tony at all, maybe he’s living with an entirely different family.

Tony wishes for one thing as he blows out the birthday candles:

“Please, be happy.”

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You made it this far, come check me out on ao3 @justpeterparkerthings !

#peter parker #spider man #spiderman #spider-man #spidey #tony stark #iron man #harley keener #angst #avengers

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cosmcther · 3 years

Text

I’ve been wanted to make a post on the Domes of the Comet Observatory. There are a few things that I have different than the source material in my head, so writing them down sounds like a good idea. Big long post under the cut.

General stuff. There are six in total: The Terrace, the Fountain, the Kitchen, the Bedroom, the Engine Room, and the Garden. The Domes themselves are bigger on the inside, think the Tar.dis from Do.ct.or W.ho. Just about all of them are little pocket universes that Rosalina expanded on once her powers developed further. Prior to that, they were regular rooms that the Lumas and she built. Once she gained the power to do so, pocket universes were placed inside the rooms to give them more space. That’s why the Beacon is needed to open the doors up. Each entrance is the so-called portals to the private dimension.

The Terrace: This Dome is used as a typical observatory room that you would find in the real world. The walls are lined with star maps, celestial clocks are scattered about, and orreries are hung up near them, many on shelves and on tables near the corners. They show the motions of countless planets and the relationship they share, making sure that if any planet out there goes off-course, a reference can be made as to how it should look. The ceiling is made of glass, and the room seems to always be at night, moonlight and shimmering stars shining through the skylight. Near the center, a high-powered telescope can be used to view stars. The sound of this room is also quite pleasant, what with the constant quiet ticking and shifting of the orreries.

The Fountain: Meditation is the main use of this Dome. Sometimes, Rosalina can get overwhelmed and will need a moment to reconnect herself with the world around her. It’s a problem she faces rather often, a session of meditation will be what she needs to recenter. The room’s water is cool to the touch, trickling noises from the slow-moving water filling the walls. Other peaceful nature sounds can be heard, like unseen birds or crickets. It helps Rosalina to swish a foot through the water and feel the slight chill of it, or perhaps listening to the sounds around her processing what noises are being made by what creature.

The Kitchen: This one is more simple, as the name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the kitchen for the Comet Observatory. It’s where Star Bits are kept and other food items are stored. Your general cooking appliances are inside, just... pardon the high countertops, please. They’re suited for Rosalina in specific and she is far from a regular height.

The Bedroom: Another simple one. Rosalina’s bedroom isn’t anything farfetched or out of the ordinary. Just regal, much as the majority of things associated with her. It’s a four-post bed with a canopy and curtains, velvet sheets, comfortable pillows. A standard bedroom, as stated before.

The Engine Room: At first glance, the engine room doesn’t seem like anything even close to its namesake. It’s a simple circular room with a metal grating framing the hard steel center. For it’s under the hood that the true engine room earns its name. Truthfully, this is the only dome that lacks the magical pocket dimension effect the rest own. This dome is build into the Comet Observatory’s center spire, allowing it downward access into the entirety of the Comet Observatory.

The floor inside this dome serves as an elevator that can take you to several levels of machinery that keeps the Observatory running. Inside is an admittedly quite hot and stuffy collection of gears, pipes, metal, and other mechanical guts as far as the eye can see. One would need a map the size of Pluto to maneuver through here. That’s why it’s mainly Rosalina, Polari, and a select number of adult Lumas that go down there for maintenance purposes.

The Garden: The final dome, and certainly the largest in presentation. Inside this dome is a large and lively garden furnished with tranquil ponds and streams, rock gardens with bushes smattered with berries of all sorts. Most of which aren’t from Earth. Yes, this is an interstellar garden, of course. Bugs and fish that reside in here are from all across the cosmos.

Oftentime strays that accidentally wandered onto the Observatory in the critters’ collective sense, only realizing that they were on-board after take-off. As for the fish, many were born if not specifically bought for the garden. It’s quite the menagerie indeed!

And while it is not a proper dome, The Library: A comfortable and low-lit area for quiet conversations or general relaxation. Pillows are scattered about the room for sitting or resting, along with a collection of blankets tucked away in the corner. There exists rolling ladders and stepping stools for book-grabbing, as well. Low-down tables best used with floor seats or cushions should you desire a sit-down with a good book.

Speaking of which, literature from all across the cosmos exists on those endless walls of books. Many of them are written in languages unknown to the general populous of Earth, but Rosalina would be more than happy to give a translation. Storybooks, history books, fiction and non-fiction. Thrillers, pop-ups, mysteries... why, if there’s a genre you’ve an itch for, it’s more than likely that there’s a book in here for you.

Extras-

The Comet Observatory is modeled off of interstellar beacons, explaining its rather pointed design. For the knowledgeable that make frequent space travel, it’s clear as day that Rosalina’s Observatory is made to represent a safe haven. A floating location of repose for any weary traveler in need of a pitstop and lucky enough to stumble across her ship within the depths of space. Even during its aimless drifting, Rosalina comes across plenty of random visitors.

At the very entrance of the Comet Observatory, the large circular and glass platform operates as a lift onto the ship proper whenever it’s landed. The Observatory itself remains in a constant levitation, never truly touching down. So it’s this circular glass platform that shifts from its position and lowers onto solid ground, allowing others to step upon it and raise up into the Comet Observatory.

If you’re the type without easy access to flight, it’s still plenty easy to get around the Comet Observatory’s tiered design. Handy dandy warp pads and their individual light lines are scattered across the ship’s floors, landlocked visitors needing but to step into one of the glowing green switches to have yourself transported somewhere else in mere moments! It’s a little discombobulating, but it’s been said it’s better than a Launch Star.

The Comet Observatory can technically travel through time. It’s not a playground that Rosalina frequents, but with full power, speeds can reach points fast enough to jump through space and time. In a similar vein, it can also traverse alternate realities. Such is the technicality for the Luigi playthrough unlocked through 100% completion in the original Galaxy game. Again, while not a skillset Rosalina flexes often, the ability is there.

The Gate to the in-game named Gateway Galaxy acts as the outer-reaches of the Comet Observatory’s breathable atmosphere. Anything past that and the cold depths of space can and will have its way with you.

Underneath the floorboards of Rosalina’s bedroom resides a collection of music boxes. They’re her favorite ‘instrument’ so to speak, an instant reminder to childhood, when life was simple.

#(HEADCANON.) ''Rewriting the constellations.''#(SAVED.) ''Trinkets through time.''#((FINALLY got this done; this has been in the drafts for eons; my god))

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

The Losers: Chris Evans, Idris Elba and Zoe Saldana’s Forgotten Superhero Movie

https://ift.tt/3CsNhNU

Even The Losers get lucky sometimes. Before the DCEU was formed to compete against the ever-expanding, cash cow that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the approach at Warner Bros. was far looser. With the booming business of comic book adaptations in full swing, the studio was throwing money at several eclectic comic book titles like Watchmen and Jonah Hex, trying to stay competitive and seemingly more adult than their rivals. Hence before leaving to create his own superhero project, Hancock, wrier-director Peter Berg started penning an adaptation of DC/Vertigo’s The Losers, bringing in French director Sylvain White to helm the picture.

Produced by Joel Silver, The Losers centered on a team of elite, black-ops Special Forces operatives betrayed by their handler. Director White connected with the material immediately.

“What appealed to me about The Losers was that it wasn’t the typical superhero-with-superpowers thing,” White told MTV. “It was based on real characters—realistic characters—and based in reality, like a lot of the European graphic novels that I had grown up reading.” The director worked with creators Jock and Andy Diggle to refine the script and lend their expertise with design to give the film a distinct visual palette that changes with new locations.

Frequent Silver collaborator Idris Elba was cast as Captain William Roque, with the cast being rounded out by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, coming off his turn as The Comedian in the studio’s adaptation of Watchmen, Zoe Saldana, fresh off of starring in the highest-grossing film of all-time, Avatar, Chris Evans, still mainly known for playing the Human Torch in Fox’s early Fantastic Four films, and rising actor Columbus Short. While current audiences would go on to become intimately familiar with most of this cast, their names didn’t generate enough buzz in 2010 to get folks into the theater. The Losers only made about $30 million on a $25 million budget.

Of course a tepid response at the box office does not mean that a movie is destined for obscurity. Just recently hitting Netflix and ready to capitalize off its now A-list cast, The Losers is currently the most popular film on the streaming service. Besides the even greater interest in comic book properties, the cast of The Losers have gone on to such success that they revitalized interest in one of DC’s almost-forgotten adaptations. Let’s look at where the cast of The Losers have been since the film’s release in 2010 to explain the sudden spike in love.

Idris Elba

While Elba, a star of British television via Luther, had already made an impression with American audiences by 2010 thanks to 28 Weeks Later, Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla, and a guest stint on The Office, Elba’s star would rise considerably after his appearance in The Losers. In 2011, Elba would join the MCU as Heimdall in Thor, who’s role in the Thor films would expand as the franchise progressed. Elba would also pop up in prominent roles in blockbusters like Prometheus, Pacific Rim, The Jungle Book, and Star Trek Beyond. Away from blockbusters though he really broke out with a SAG-winning performance in Beasts of No Nations, and starring in fare like Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game.

More recently, Elba stole scenes away from Jason Statham and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the villain in Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw. Finally, things have come a bit full circle for Elba, as he’s set to appear in another DC adaptation over 10 years after The Losers, portraying Bloodsport in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

In 2010, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was probably most well-known for his roles on television in series like Supernatural and Grey’s Anatomy. That all changed after Morgan was cast in an adaptation of the “unfilmable” graphic novel Watchmen as The Comedian. While his time onscreen in the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons adaptation was minimal, bringing such an iconic comic book character to life earned Morgan a deeper cachet with the Comic-Con crowd. Morgan would work steadily in films like The Possession and the Red Dawn remake, but he arguably made a bigger impact on television portraying yet another iconic comic book character on AMC’s The Walking Dead, Negan.

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Morgan received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the villainous Negan upon his debut, earning the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series, MTV Movie and TV Award for Best Villain, and Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television. He’s been going steady as Negan since while doing other occasional comic-con friendly projects like Rampage.

Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana was on top of the world in 2010, and in the time since, she’s only become more successful. After appearing in the buzzy Star Trek reboot in 2009 and a little film called Avatar, the former Center Stage star would go on to headline her own action film Colombiana. However, that would seem like small potatoes compared to what would come in 2014. Saldana was cast as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s riskiest adaptation to date. Would audiences get onboard with an off-beat space opera featuring C-tier Marvel characters? Turns out, yes. Gamora not only became the heart of the Guardians, but the character would feature prominently in the grand Phase 3 finales Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

In the shadow of that, Saldana has starred in more Star Trek sequels, an ill-advised TV remake of Rosemary’s Baby, and as Nina Simone in in Nina, a performance did come under fire for due to the lightness of her skin. Still, Saldana now has leading roles in the two highest grossing films of all-time, and is still expected to star in Guardians and Avatar sequels. Not too shabby.

Chris Evans

Speaking of the MCU, Chris Evans wasn’t floundering in 2010, but he did seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut, typecast as handsome smart alecks prior to The Losers. In fact, his big mainstream break is probably the less than classic spoof comedy, Not Another Teen Movie (2001); afterward he played Johnny Storm in Tim Story’s lukewarm Fantastic Four movies in the mid-2000s; in fact, arguably his most amusing role up to 2010 was when he appeared as a douchebag movie star in Edgar Wright’s genre-bending comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).

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That said, The Losers found him playing against type as an awkward tech expert. Perhaps his chance to show a different side of himself led to his life-changing role as Steve Rogers in the MCU’s Captain America. Anchoring the Avengers franchise for eight years, Chris Evans rose to the top of the A-list, and used that newfound celebrity to help get passion projects like Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer and Rian Johnson’s Knives Out made. Evans is one of the most popular celebrities on social media right now and looks to continue his profitable relationship with Disney by voicing Buzz Lightyear in the animated origin film, Lightyear.

Columbus Short

Perhaps the only member of the cast not to launch into the stratosphere after The Losers, Columbus Short has had a few issues that have prevented his rise. Short booked a role on the popular ABC series Scandal, but personal issues derailed his involvement in the show. In 2014, as part of a no-jail plea agreement, Short pled guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and performed 30 hours of community service. Short also avoided jail by pleading no contest to a felony assault charge after throwing “a running punch” at his in-law during a family gathering at a bar.

In an interview with Access Hollywood Live, Short shared that substance abuse due to the stress of family issues and personal loss had led to his departure from Scandal. However, Short has appeared to move past his personal struggles and can next been seen portraying Martin Luther King Jr. in Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Storyand returning as Quadir Richards in True to the Game 3.

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annakie · 4 years

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An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part Four

Wherein we make it to the Citadel, and do a lot of running around.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

So right away, we meet Udina and the Council, way to throw us right into it.

It’s a brief introduction and gives us an idea what Humanity is up against and who is representing us. Basically, we’re supposed to get the idea that it’s a lot of bureaucratic bullshit, I guess.

This is also the first time we see Asari and Salarians, and they’re in reddish-brown and white, which really isn’t the best look.

Bioware continues to push the story forward. We get enough to know that Udina is kind of an ass, and the Council isn’t going to just trust what some guy says even if he is the representative for billions of people.

And finally, after this, we’re set free.

The Citadel I think is one of the coolest locations in like almost any game I’ve ever played. They do a great job of both making it feel huge, but also accessible. Enough bridges to get across to places you need to get to, and after you walk somewhere once, Citadel Rapid Transit is great. I still choose to take elevators about 80% of the time even when I can CRT somewhere, just because I like the squad conversations and news updates. There’s a shorter elevator rides mod that helps, too.

There’s so much to do and see, and having one of the main areas just be such an awesome combination of scifi futurism and lush greenery + water is both trippy and breathtaking. I think, especially with the updated graphics mods/settings, the Presidium especially holds up fairly well. I mean it definitely feels more populated and modern in ME3 but, I just consider this to be more of a residential / professional area of the Presidium and most of what we see in ME3 is a more retail section.

It’d be annoying to be a groundskeeper here, though. Lots of green areas that you’d really need to climb to, or garden on a steep slant. :p

I always found it interesting that the natural first place to head to is into the ambassador’s office next door, where we find some friendly aliens, and one not-so-friendly one. But honestly, this is a great place to find out the different ways other species view humanity, and how there’s apparently tiers of respect given to various species.

I always kind of hoped the Elcor would feature more prominently into the world in future games, but at least we got Hamlet. I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about how Elcor like... do things? We never see it but you have to assume that their hands have opposable thumbs and they’re able to stand on two legs, right? I want to see what an Elcor ship looks like and Dakuna specifically. Give us more elcor, Bioware!

BTW, the Mass Effect: Annihilation (aka the book that was supposed to be based on the Quarian Ark DLC that never happened in Andromeda) is totally worth reading just for the elcor character in it. It’s also probably the best of the Mass Effect books, in my opinion.

Din Korlack’s got a point though, they not only have to share an office, but their view isn’t nearly as good as the human’s. This is especially bullshit for the volus, who could stand on that railing and probably STILL wouldn’t have a view.

I love how Mass Effect 2 takes her from a completely forgettable character to making me think “Sorry you’re gonna die in a few weeks, your mom’s really gonna miss you.” every time I see her.

PALIN DESERVED BETTER.

I don’t remember which ME3 mod it is, maybe the Spectre Expansion Mod or maybe EGM, but thank you whichever modder it was who made Palin’s story and death more clear in ME3. Sorry Udina got you killed.

Also, it was good to get a dissenting opinion on Spectres from him.

Avina is such a good, optional way to get more loredump. Yes, you can again ask them about Spectres if you want to hear about them again. But I liked that each Avina terminal taught you a little more about whatever you were nearby, and the state of the galaxy in general and since they were programmed to be information dumps, it felt more natural to get information this way.

Don’t these people have jobs?

I love the Krogan statue, and the Avina terminal nearby telling you about it. But now every time I see it, all I can picture is Grunt and his buddies climbing it. So good.

Managed to get a clean shot of the crew without the UI in the elevator, thanks Flycam! You have about a half a second to get this shot though, because the camera is stationary while the elevator is not.

Oh hell-lo Pailin, who is your charming-looking friend there?

This entire conversation needs to be longer. It’s a nice, quick introduction to Garrus, but, well, let’s spend a little more time with the main characters!!

I mean how can you not just not immediately love that? Hey remember how bad Garrus’ face texture used to be? Thanks, modders.

I just really love the Citadel tower. Absolutely beautiful and atmospheric.

SO the thing is, if you can pretend that Saren isn’t, you know, already half Reaperized, 100% the Council is right to not just go throwing one of their longer-term agents in jail because Shepard had a bad dream and a random dockworker said the guy who killed Saren looked like this.

Honestly though, this and OH A GOOD CHUNK OF MASS EFFECT 2 would be so much easier if Shepard wore a bodycam. :p

Also, I wonder who took the dockworker’s testimony? Did Kaidan run back real quick while Shepard was sleeping?

This was an embarrassment for humanity, and I agree with Udina that we needed more to go on before making demands of the council. The council is right to not convict based off a bad dream Shepard had. Go get some real proof! Also, do a bunch of sidequests!

And scan some Keepers for this shady guy!

Which is actually good quest design, because you really have to go to every nook and cranny in the Citadel to find them all, though it would have been nice if they showed up on the minimap. Really gets you to explore and get to know the area like the back of your hand.

This time around, I forgot to grab the one outside Dr. Michele’s office and had to hunt for it before heading up to grab the last one at the docks.

Thank you, though, Barla Von, for telling us all about the Shadow Broker and telling us about Wrex. See u in ME3.

Bioware please give us diverse-suited volus in a remaster. Maybe I’m reusing a pic of Din Korlack, you’ll never know! :p

Thanks, texture modders, for really highlighting what the end of the hanar’s noses look like.

The hanar are another species I wish we got more of throughout the series. They are probably the most alien of all the aliens we interact with. I mean, at least we got Blasto. I’d really love to visit Kahje someday. I know it’s in the comics, but you know, in-game.

Annnd let’s go visit Sha'ira.

I have very mixed feelings about Sha'ira. On one hand, she’s clearly very respected, is probably making bank, in control of her own destiny etc. On the other hand, she’s probably the asari we have the second most interaction with in this game after Liara, and after just seeing Benezia’s boob-tastic clothing and then heading to Chora’s Den soon to see the dancing asari we’re getting a very slanted view of the species. I think Bioware course corrects in later games but oof this is such a dude-fantasy alien species in ME1 it hurts. Especially since Liara is almost a born-sexy-yesterday trope.

Also... don’t touch me if I don’t wanna be touched. =\

Noveria advertisements... that just say Noveria. I guess this is effective marketing in 2148.

Look how great those shadows from the tree are... actual definition in shadow... wow.

Raise your hand if you’ve missed this conversation in a playthrough before and reloaded like an hour or more past to make sure you get it.

It’s one of those little moments that they didn’t have to put in. Just a little conversation reflecting on humans and humanity, and our place in the world, and showcasing Ash’s wit and Kaidan’s adorkableness. Also making sure you appreciate all the work that went into this particular view. It’s a pause in the action and all the things you have going on, and it’s so great for characterization and making you feel a part of the world.

Speaking of the view... I decided to flycam it. Warning, I spoil some of the “magic” below.

Pretty quickly, you see that the arms are actual objects, untextured on the non-visible side.

I decided to head for the closest line of “cars” on the bottom center-left to see what those “cars” looked like.

Flycam feels pretty fast when you’re trying to frame a specific shot just right... but when you need to travel a great distance, it feels verrry slow.

It took me probably close to five minutes of traveling to make it all the way there.

What I discovered was... a few of the buildings are real, the rest are a very good painting.

This is how far away the citadel is from the rest of the map. That grid would be that entire view from outside Dr. Michele’s office all the way to the edge of the shops on the other side, plus some extra.

So both the building that those “cars” (the string of white lights) are coming from and going to are... on the painting. Neither one are physical objects.

Made some gifs.

You can see the lights moving at a mostly-downward angle, while it looks like they’re just heading south when standing on the Citadel. Also you can see other lights moving farther up the map.

And here you can see the lights “disappearing behind a building” but they’re really just hitting an invisible wall, the dark angle of that building is just a part of the wall painting.

Looking up from the wall...

So that was a fun distraction.

Emily Wong deserved:

Better.

An entire shirt.

A mention in ME3 after she gave her life on social media defending Earth against the reapers while keeping her cool reporting on the invasion the day before ME3′s release.

That day before launch though... was amazing. Bioware did such a great job on social media with the reaper invasion happening on twitter. I loved that lots of fans got into it, too, posting photoshops and their own reaper invasion stories. I remember being at work that day but not actually working very much. A few friends and I had a google hangout going on to report in on anything we saw happening on social media and keep up with it and to be very hyped together online.

We reblogged a bunch of it on fuckyeahbioware starting about here and working backwards through numbers.

One of the ME3 mods, and again, sorry, don’t remember which, does give Emily a nice tribute through an email. She deserves it.

Okay that’s enough for this post! Will try to finish up the Citadel next time!

#mass effect #bioware #kaidan alenko #ashley williams #garrus vakarian #emily wong #annakie's mass effect stuff

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persephone-damnedqueen · 4 years

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Rankin’ the Waifus

I feel like when you’re drunk with friends, you either have the best ideas ever, or the worst ideas. Which is this? Well, at first, I thought this was a fantastic idea, given that @fukae-flwr challenged Drunk Me to do this, until she gave me the rules. . . The rules made it even harder for Drunk Me to do, leaving Sober Me to rise to the challenge, just to prove her wrong. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Persephone, you have too many Waifus, ranking them is like picking between them is impossible,” but I finally, after a lot of debate, reviewing, and “friendly” discussions, involving way to much cussing and slamming of hands with friends, I was finally able to settle on the list, so without further ado, here are the rules.

1) Only one character from the franchise.

2) They have to be Waifus, not favorite characters (this rule comes in to play a lot later on).

Let’s kick off this list now with the easiest thing, the honorable waifus.

Honorable Mentions:

Now, these are in no particular order, because even leaving them off the top 10 was hard enough.

Lucy Heartfillia: Fairy Tail

This one waifu per series is the only reason why Lucy had to be cut from the main list. Let’s clear something up here, Lucy is Top Tier Waifu, especially in a series with as many Waifus as there are. Lucy has everything, from a fantastic development, to a great personality, to a gorgeous character design, and she definitely deserves more praise in the series than she gets. Sadly, my waifu choice from this series, only barely beats Lucy, but not mentioning her would be a crime.

Rindo Kobayashi: Shokugeki no Souma

Rindo is the most obvious choice from this waifu heavy series. She’s spunky, entertaining, and a glutton to boot, but above all, she’s actually a terrifying opponent to go against, especially since she’s one of the best cooks in the series. I mean hell, she literally uses alligator in one battle simply because she just felt like it, and her being apart of Centrol and having access to as many resources as they do. From the moment she’s introduced, she stole every scene she was in, even if it was just for a panel or two, if that’s not a waifu, I don’t know what is.

Maika Sakuranomiya: Blend S

This is where that waifu rule plays in. Maika is my waifu of the series, not my favorite character; that title is held strong by Hidori, the trap idol who steals the series from the moment they are introduced in episode 8. Maika, and her non-intentional sadistic look, make her the best waifu choice. It’s endearing, and sweet to watch her try her hardest to not be sadistic, but fail making all of us fall in love with her more. Also, who doesn’t love a bit of sadism in their waifus?

C.C: Code Geass

Ah, the waifu who started this whole drunken debate. She’s the classic, Pizza Hut loving, immortal waifu, who is literally unforgetable. The latest addition of her to my massive figure collection only reminded me just how strong of a waifu choice she really is, despite being from one of the oldest series on this list.

Mayoi Hachikuji, Tsubasa Hanekawa, Hitagi Senjougahara: The Monogatari Franchise

Honestly, a solid argument could be made for any of these girls to be the second best waifu. You have Hanekawa, the lovely class president who only knows what she knows, Hitagi, the tsundere who has an unhealthy obsession with stationary, Mayoi, the dead snail ghost-turned-god girl who has literally the cutest bit with Araragi in the entire series, or even Karen and Tsukihi, the Fire Sisters of our main character. Every girl in this series is a valid choice; well all but Nadako. Fuck Nadako.

Now that those mentions are out of the way, let’s get to the truly hard part.

Top Ten Waifus:

10: Homura Akemi: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Okay, she’s not really 10, but I’m still mad at her, and after a full hour of debate, I still couldn’t justify putting her above any of the 9 other waifus who I wasn’t eternally mad at, so that valid. Homura is such a bad ass, and honestly, one of the more deadlier choices of a waifu, adding on the massive magical girl obsession I have, I physically couldn’t leave her off the list.

9: Brandish μ: Fairy Tail

Ah, Brandish, the Nation Destroyer herself. She’s perfect, in every way, and I’ve loved her from the moment she was introduced in the final arc, and by far one of the standouts of Alvarez. She’s adorable with her unique design, a massive cat obsession, and a stupidly powerful magic. Also, she’s one of the few characters to actually get some development in the entire arc. Mashima didn’t do a lot of good things in that arc, but he did gift the world with Brandish, so I can’t be too upset.

8: Retsuko: Aggretsuko

One of the most relatable waifus anyone could ask for, but what more could I say that isn’t obvious? She’s a Sanrio Red Panda who works in an office, hates her boss, and sings Death Metal kareoke. I know she’s supposed to be an adorable mascot meant as a way to get us to spend money on her merchandise, but damnit Sanrio, did you have to make her this cute?! Ugh, just take all my money already.

7: Minako Aino (Sailor Venus): Sailor Moon

This is where the waifu of the series rule killed me. My favorite character is Hotaru (Saturn), but I wouldn’t consider her a waifu; she’s more of a badass senshi who can literally destroy an entire galaxy with one swoosh of her Silence Glaive. The only three I would consider waifu enough for this list are Seiya, Usagi, and Minako, but after breaking it down throughly with @fukae-flwr, we were finally able to come down to the decision that Seiya, while being fantastic in every way, is not a waifu, and Usagi, while being relatable as fuck and lovable to boot, is and can only be Seiya’s Waifu, leaving Minako, the winner of the debate, and for good reason too. She’s loveable, kind, caring, powerful and the leader of the inner senshi, and S Tier waifu material, so overall, I can’t be unhappy with the outcome of the debate.

6. Android 21: The Dragonball Franchise

Okay, this one was the hardest series for me to pick just one waifu from. With so many choices, from Bulma to Android 18 to even Launch, (remember her? no? It’s okay, even Toriyama doesn’t). I love all most of the Dragonball Waifus, so why did I ultimately settle for for the best Video Game Bae? Simple. She’s a badass who is hot as hell and literally eats people. . . .so a kink basically, but like, can you blame me?

5. Himako Toga: My Hero Academia

A knife wielding, psychopathic, serial killing yandere schoolgirl? There isn’t even a contest, Toga is best girl. Period. I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

4. Stocking Anarchy: Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt

Again, this is another obvious choice as far as waifus go. It was during yet another rewatch of this underrated show that I realized how much I genueinly love Stocking, and she’s clearly the better choice over Panty. Stocking is the sweets loving, emo fallen angel/demon who cusses like a sailor and is into bondage. Yes, I am aware, it’s another kink, but I don’t care, not even a little bit.

3: Shalltear Bloodfallen: Overlord

Yeah, I choose Shalltear over Albedo. Shalltear is best girl, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. I will admit though, that while Albedo is gorgeous and a great choice, Shalltear is a vampire with lesbian tendencies, and that instantly puts her above the virgin succubus. Thank you Lord Peroroncino.

2. Shiro: No Game No Life

When making this list, and talking out all of the waifu ranking, there were two that didn’t budge on the list at all, Shiro, and the number one choice. Shiro is perfect, and even in a series with freaking fox people and Jibril, and that says something.

1. Shinobu Oshino ( Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade): The Monogatari Franchise

Meet the Best Waifu in existence. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if she’s in her Shinobu form, or her fully powered vampire form. Shinobu/Kiss Shot is by far the best waifu anyone could have. She’s a freaking powerful vampire that’s gorgeous, and mysterious in her true form, and even in her weaker form still manages to be powerful, snarky, and adorable as hell. Also, her reaction to donuts will literally be the greatest thing in waifu history. Ugh, I love her.

And there you have it. 10 waifus ranked, and it only took three days, three people to rant to, and a shitton of headache pain killers later. @fukae-flwr told you I could do it. Next challenge. . . Husbandos. Oof.

So yeah. . . . Thoughts I guess?

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lovelytonys · 5 years

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100 great things about megamind

basically i just watched megamind and wrote down everything that made me go “hey that’s good”

1. The opening monologue slaps I literally do not care about your “cliches” it’s GOOD

2. “8 days old and still living with my parents...pathetic right?”

3. The idea that Megamind is inherently good since his origin story should have been his dad saying he’s destined for “greatness” but the greatness got cut off uwu

4. Literally just the fact that Megamind was about to go to the Rich Nice House and his destiny changed at the last second,,,everything about this movie makes it a cinematic masterpiece

5. “A baby! How thoughtful!” “yes yes I saw it and thought of you”

6. “While they were learning the itsy bitsy spider I was learning how to dehydrate objects and rehydrate them at will”

7. When you hear the Bad to the Bone guitar riff kick in,,,,,,heck yeah babey!!

8. J.K Simmons is here! yeah!

9. Will Ferrell’s voice acting is literally SO darn good like even just from the beginning,,, the funny affectation of whatever kind of accent that is,,,,,the expressiveness of literally everything he says,,,,,I’m not actively a fan of Will Ferrell or anything but he just did a good job ok

10. “His heart is an ocean inside a bigger ocean”

11. Idk why but I just love the phrase “you fantastic fish you”

12. Metro Man is such a fun character. Like. A hero who shouldn’t be a hero, but he just….is one? Someone who’s idol-worshipped and, despite his grandeur, doesn’t exactly deserve it?

13. MEGAMIND’S CHARACTER DESIGN IS LITERALLY SO GOOD like the vivid colors of his skin and eyes? His COSTUME? His hilarious proportions, between the giant head and the skinny & scrawny everything else? Superb, you funky little alien

14. All dialogue between Megamind and Minion is god tier by default

15. The twist on “damsel in distress” where yeah the girl gets kidnapped but she is so not distressed and has the intellectual power in the situation as she roasts Megamind at every turn and he can’t combat anything she says

16. “Oh potato tomato potato tomato”

17. “I’m shaking in my BABY SEAL LEATHER BOOTS”

18. THE ENTIRE EXCHANGE BETWEEN MEGAMIND AND METRO MAN ABOUT JUSTICE AND REVENGE AND THE MICROWAVE OF EVIL AND WARRANTIES

19. “Can someone stamp my frequent kidnapping card” “You of all people know that we discontinued that”

20. The way this movie manages to SO effectively establish character while diving right into the action and keeping with a fun, fast pace? The world & characters are set up incredibly well AND the start of the journey/ “break into the new world” hits at a brisk 20 minutes? Lovely work, Dreamworks

21. When Highway to Hell kicks in with the lasers and Megamind dancing at the police,,,,,this is nothing short of priceless

22. “Imagine the most horrible terrifying evil thing you could possibly think of and multiply it…..BY SIX”

23. When you’re a supervillain who takes over the city and you say “let’s just have fun with this” to the citizens

24. *whispering behind the door* “now slam the door really hard!” *snickering like a 12 year old girl* “move they can still see you”

25. “Did you think this day would come?” “No, no not in a million years, not ever...I mean yes”

26. “That’s called a window, sir. All the kids are looking through them”

27. Crazy Train is SUCH a nice touch, the fade into Alone Again Naturally is great. The use of music in this movie is absolutely A+, MEGAMIND DID IT FIRST AND GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AIN’T SPECIAL (jk gotg you’re so special ily)

28. The images of Megamind’s destruction & deterioration of the city are so creative and funny

29. *to a desk toy bird* “What’s your vacuum like?”

30. “GOING OFF THE RAILS ON A CRAZY TRAIN SIR”

31. Haven’t yet mentioned how lovely the animation of Megamind’s face is! Every single frame, he’s so expressive

32. Mispronunciation of words like “school”, “Metro City”, and “melancholy”

33. This voice cast in general is so good like it’s not just big names phoning it in for an animated movie, they’re fully into it

34. Real Bernard doesn’t get much screen time but he’s hilarious

35. “Typhoon Cheese”, whatever that was gonna be

36. The juxtaposition in body language & facial expression between Real Bernard and Megamind Bernard,,,,,actually just the way Megamind’s physicality is transferred to the other characters he disguises himself as. Great stuff

37. Megamind’s off-the-walls high energy is so fun and electric

38. “This is a bad idea” “yes, a good idea for the greater good of bad” “maybe it seems good from your bad perception but from a good perception it’s just plain bad” “oh you don’t know what’s good for bad”

39. Ollo? Oh, hello

40. “I’m just yelling at my…..mother’s urn”

41. Megamind and Minion just saying “code” before things that aren’t in code. This movie is so good with its running gags, they don’t feel like “oh haha they used that joke again!” they feel like inside jokes between the characters I love it

42. Megamind fighting himself as Bernard while complimenting himself, COMEDY GOLD

43. The various occurrences of random life-altering things happening on a whim to the wrong people, like Hal getting the superpowers and earlier Metro Man being molded into a hero and Megamind landing in prison as a baby

44. The forget me stick

45. Space Dad and Space Stepmom

46. Every character Megamind inhabits always retains Megamind’s eyes

47. MR BLUE SKY PLAYING OVER HAL’S DISASTROUS TRAINING SEQUENCE AND THE FALLING IN LOVE SEQUENCE THAT INCLUDES DONKEY KONG AND MEGAMIND WEIRDLY TEXTING ON A FLIP PHONE (gotgv2 who? Don’t know her)

48. Roxanne’s positive influence making Megamind genuinely want to make the city better uwu

49. ROXANNE AND METRO MAN WERE NEVER A COUPLE! Lovely trope subversion

50. Tropes in this movie in general are so fun. This isn’t some uninspired genre parody. They don’t just subvert tropes in the exact way that you’d expect. I feel like the way that this movie plays with the superhero genre often feels unique and creative

51. Bernard’s character design kind of slaps tbh. The turtleneck, the hair, the glasses, all very nice

52. When Hal calls Roxanne “a really good looking one I’ve got my eye on” like she’s meat or something as opposed to Megamind valuing her personality…..makes ya think u know

53. T h e b l a c k m a m b a a a a a

54. “Maybe I don’t want to be the bad guy anymore!” and Megamind & Minion’s subsequent falling out that served as a precursor to the disastrous date with Roxanne- it happens pretty much exactly halfway through the movie. Some people look down upon following structure to a T, but sometimes it’s satisfying when a movie perfectly follows structure and this movie’s structure is flawless

55. “Good luck on your date” “I will” “That doesn’t even make any sense” “I know”

56. Right after fighting w Minion when Megamind looks in a cracked mirror and frowns at his reflection but then changes into someone else, into Bernard, and then smiles? THE CINNAMON TOGROPHY, THE STORYTELLING

57. When Hal is just an incel whose feeling of entitlement is framed as disgusting and he’s not supposed to be sympathetic and Roxanne’s rejection of him is not framed as evil but rather completely justified? VERY epic of them, this movie would have SMASHED the pop culture scene if it came out today

58. The GRAVITY of the part when Roxanne accidentally reveals Megamind in the restaurant is so powerful that I can STILL barely watch it even though I’ve seen it so many times

59. The part that immediately follows where Roxanne shuts down Megamind is SO well done. Roxanne is giving out some harsh words to our dear protagonist, but she is not framed as the bad guy. The great thing about this scene is that they let Roxanne call out Megamind on how he’s been a jerk and she gets to be RIGHT. How very cash money of them! The emotion here isn’t anger at Roxanne because she’s ~being mean~ to Megamind. It’s a sting over the fact that she’s right, and the heartbreak over the dramatic irony of us knowing that Megamind is becoming a better person and Roxanne having no idea. Now Megamind is left with a decision that will show who he truly is on the inside: he could either retreat back into safe, evil ways for the rest of time because it’s easier to be bad because then no one expects anything from him and rejection is easier to handle, or he could ultimately choose to grow from this and recognize how he was wrong and how he has to change. The execution of this midpoint is exemplary.

60. “Do you really think I’d ever be with you?” “....no” the delivery of those lines is so good

61. “You were right! I was….less right!”

62. The Black Mamba is a god tier costume and the fact that it has its own theme song in the score makes it at least 6x better

63. WHEN BACK IN BLACK KICKS IN YEAAAHHHH (Iron Man who? Don’t know her) (Iron Man was already out at this point but how fun is it that this movie used TWO iconic mcu songs)

64. Megamind in the giant suit playing with cars

65. Hal SUCKS I love how much the movie wants you to hate him

66. The difference between Megamind and Hal/Titan/Tighten is so interesting to watch. How Megamind is the self-proclaimed “bad guy” but he’s not even out to do serious damage & it’s just a game to him, while Hal is out for blood but was created to be a hero

67. “Now it’s time for witty banter” “AAAAAAAAA” “I’m not really sure where to go with that”

68. “I’M CALLING A TIME OUT”

69. Twisting the Kryptonite trope by having Metro Man make up the copper weakness

70. “Does he have a hideout? A cave? A solitary fortress?” lol I understood that reference

71. “OW! MY GIANT BLUE HEAD!”

72. Metro Man’s confession scene is so good. Really, how often do you get a hero who feels that he was forced into being a hero? That’s usually a villain trope. Does the hero ever realize he doesn’t want to be a hero….and actually quit FOR GOOD? Again, the trope subversion is awesome

73. “I have eyes that can see right through leaaaaaaaad” that’s my favorite song

74. “You left the city to HIM! No offense” “no I’m with you”

75. “There’s a yin for every yang. If there’s bad, good will rise up against it.”

76. “I say we just go all GANGSTA on him” ms tina fey i would die for you

77. Megamind turns himself in to the police, the fact that he willingly submits himself to the punishment of being a villain at this point is a lovely and stirring way of showing the sense of justice he has deep down and showing his character development

78. When Roxanne gives Megamind a desperate & compassionate pep talk over live tv no matter what it means for her reputation :*))

79. When Megamind has 88 life sentences

80. “I. Am. Sorry!” *dramatically slides down door*

81. Megamind’s heartfelt and regretful admission of all his mistakes that brings his character arc to a head? Lovely

82. “Good luck” “WE’RE GONNA D I E! Hahahaha!”

83. “There is no Easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no queen of England.”

84. MEGAMIND’S EPIC ENTRANCE BY COMING OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH

85. “Oh you’re a villain alright. Just not a super one.” “Oh yeah? What’s the difference?”

86. P R E S E N T A T I O N

87. METRO MAN THUNDER CALVES

88. Again with the green eyes continuity! Love that!

89. “Going somewhere? Besides jail?” *flies in a fancy pose*

90. When Megamind is ready to let everyone think Metro Man is back but Roxanne wants to see the real hero :*))

91. “This is the last time you make a fool out of me!” “I made you a hero, you did the fool thing all by yourself” SICK BURN

92. “There’s a benefit to losing. You get to learn from your mistakes”

93. WHEN THE DEHYDRATION GUN COMES IN CLUTCH

94. Minion being a drama queen lol comedy peaked in 2010

95. Minion’s Little Face

96. “GET BACK YOU SAVAGES” “Sorry he’s just not used to positive feedback!”

97. “Destiny is not the path given to us but the path we choose for ourselves”

98. When Megamind gets to parallel Metro Man’s entrance from the beginning of the movie and everyone cheers for him :*)) and he adds his own fun little twist by making a villain joke

99. “Megamind, defender of Metro City” “you know? I like the sound of that!”

100. Name a better villain to hero story. YOU CANNOT. Cinematic excellence. I am never disappointed.

#I DO NOT DESERVE RIGHTS #lovelytonys personal thought

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cultofthepigeon · 4 years

Text

Venom Comics Reading Order Part 15.

And we’ve come to the end of our reading order. That’s it folks. All the Venom comics there is. And god bless it we get to see Venom have a god damn happy ending. There is nothing that can possibly ruin this!!!

Deadpool Back in Black #1 (December, 2016) Venom Symbiote, Venompool. Oh fuck!........I’m soft. Why make Symb a sword when you can give Symb 4 pink laser swords???

Deadpool Back and Black #2 (December, 2017) Venompool. GOD this is a good character design.

Deadpool Back in Black #3 (January, 2017) Venompool. This dynamic, even silent, is so fun and refeshing!!

Deadpool Back in Black #4 (January, 2017) Venompool. IM CRYING IN THE CLUB.

Deadpool Back in Black #5 (February, 2017) Venompool, Eddie Brock. WADE WILSON REALLY OUT HERE BEING BOTH A WING MAN AND A SYMBIOTE RIGHTS CONNOISSEUR

Venom Vol. 3 #1 (January, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Mac Gargan. You didn’t miss an issue this story starts in the middle of it all and shit gets explained later. The return of Mac, who’s in a lot better shape, and the introduction of a new host Lee Price. Lee Price doesn’t get a Venom-ized name. He’s sort of in a class of his own in the best and worst way like that. Welcome to Flash Thompson If The Writers Had Been Honest

Venom Vol. 3 #2 (February, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Mac Gargan. Some absolute top tier Symbs here.

Venom Vol. 3 #3 (March, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Mac Gargan. Moe absolutely fantastic Symbs and King Costa out here deconstructing the past 10 years of symbiote abuse and government bullshit the absolute Ledge. And MA cover here being an actual character?????? GOD I love this song

Venom Vol. 3 #4 (April, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Mac Gargan. This shit feels like I’m reading Death Note and as much as Symbs obvious mental declne hurts the resulting symb Looks are almost worth it.

Venom Vol. 3 #5 (May, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Eddie Brock. Seeing the symbiote places with someone who ISN’T an emotional disaster for once is a line of comedy I can’t believe they haven’t investigated until now.

Venom Vol. 3 #6 (June, 2017) Lee Price, Venom Symbiote, Eddie Brock and yes finally....Venom.

Guardians of the Galaxy #19 (June, 2017) Agent Venom. A Weird sort of flashback I guess?? The last Bendis GotG issue and Flash STILL only gets grand total of like three sentences.

Venom #150 (July, 2017) Venom, Agent Venom, Mania. Don’t act like those first five words of narrative text didn’t knock you on your ass in some kinda way. and the fucking RETURN OF MICHELLENI MY GOD

Venom #151 (August, 2017) Venom. Eddie Brock Venom, communication, over the top street level crime, symbiote protection I’m cryin in the club we really are getting blessed with a return to Venom form.

Venom #152 (September, 2017) Venom. My meta theory that symbiote suppressing drugs negatively impact symbiotes physically and mentally finally comes full fuckin circle god fucking BLESS you Costa.

Venom #153 (October, 2017) Venom. More dino adventures with genuinely sweet and cool interactions with MG and DD.

Venom #154 (November, 2017) Venom. Soft symbiote hours boys. Eddie’s been thinking about what it means for him and the symbiote to be back together and how they want to be better. This issue reveals the symbiote is doing the same and fixing its mistakes and also watching doctor shows.

Venomverse #1 (November, 2017) Venom and a whole fuckin MESS of AU folks with the Venom symbiote. The entire plot is that they’re each they’re universe’s Venom and trying to protect their symbiotes....holy shit is this????? A Good Event?????

Venomverse #2 (November, 2017) Venom and the....Venomverse? I guess??? What were all those spider-men called in the spiderverse event??? Anyways congrats on getting me emotionally invested AND Feeling a sense of doom all in two issues!

Venomverse #3 (November, 2017) Venom and the Venomverse and fucking AU Carnage. Literally every Venom upon seeing any version of Carnage: Aw fuck not this dick head.

Venomverse #4 (November, 2017) Venom, the Venomverse, AU Carnage. Oh is this a deconstruction of how a will-less symbiote is “perfect”??? A deconstruction of how symbiotes have been viewed as only weapons and cool suits for the past 10 years?? Bunn you feelin remorseful there bud?

Venomverse #5 (December, 2017) Venom, Venomverse, AU Carnage. One of the few times another universe/event is teased that makes me excited.

Venom #155 (December, 2017) Venom, Lee Price. Symb is getting better but they’re still, you know, a symbiote. Also “the soul that understands me best” is the kill shot of this entire reading order list adventure

Venom #156 (December, 2017) Venom. Kraven with his cat face tunic and his man servant of unspecified relation is such a weird character to me. Comic could be going along fine and then grandpa blood sport shows up in a leopard toga looking for some action. He’s like That Guy at a party. Kraven: He’s out there. But more importantly the return of shirtless-sexy-in-peril-eddie

Venom #157 (January, 2018) Venom, Lee Price and a guess appearance by Shriek!!. Poor Dr. Steve gets a little page time as the stressed man he is.

Venom #158 (January, 2018) Venom. Dinos to the rescue and a fun little aside about how the “symbiote controlling the host” thing has always been bullshit

Amazing Spider-Man Venom Inc. Alpha (February, 2018) Venom, Mania, Flash, Lee Price, and intro-fucking-ducing Agent Anti-Venom. God this is actually a great set up for an event so far. Every fucking character is in great form, Eddie’s looking like the classic beefcake we all know and love and OH FUCK “it’s not about control” IM GONNA CRY

Amazing Spider-man #792 (February, 2018) Eddie Brock, Lee Price, Agent Anti-Venom, Mac Gargan. Flash is being a dick but in a best-friend-not-wanting-their-friend-to-get-married-cause-they-don’t-wanna-share sorta way. Not sur ewhy Symb is so cool bein shoved in a jar but maybe the poor dea is just used to it by now.

Venom #159 (February, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Mac Gargan. The best Panic Symb I’ve ever seen and Eddie controlling his hate to find his other

Amazing Spider-man #793 (February, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Andi Benton, Lee Price. A fucking line up and a half to take this asshole down jesus

Venom #160 (March, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Andi Benton, Lee Price. Symb back with the Get Eddie Some Girled Friends plans god i love this goo and I’m so glad Andi is worried for her symbiote as well

Amazing Spider-Man Venom Inc. Omega (March, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Lee Price, Andi Benton. “Who’s brilliant idea was ramming speed” like you had to fuckin ask. And like a genuine character reconciliation that I really enjoy and makes me smile.

X-men Blue Annual (March, 2018) Venom. Eddie is right to not trust the X-men and Symb once again is the nicer more calm of the two but most importantly Eddie agrees to help after “do it for me”

X-men Blue #21 (April, 2018) Venom. I am literally incapable about caring for the X-men even if they’re *checks notes* time displaced versions from the past like I know what sort of pieces of shit all these brats grow up to be and probably are right now they can’t fool me with this faux soft boy shit

Venom #161 (April, 2018) Venom. This issue is weird in the time line. It’s set after the last event with Lee. But based on what we learn later, it’s also probably set after this event as well as an upcoming Spiderman event. So idk enjoy this?? Brief preview of future events. One of my fave Venom panels is in this and it’s just a nice neat yet logical tie up to the recent events and various problems Venom has dealt with. Also I like to think Eddie’s boss knows he’s Venom

Venom #162 (April, 2018) Venom. Ngl these symbioted X-men designs are dope but it’s still all bitches underneath

X-men Blue #22 (April, 2018) Venom. I’m genuinely enjoying Venom being protective of symbiotes but also like when will I stop having to read about the Mary Sue Brady Bunch known as the X-Men

Venom #163 (May, 2018) Venom. The poisons do something good for once thank god. But what happened to Klyntar???

X-Men Blue #25 (June, 2018) Venom but only in the last few pages so you can just skip all the mutant whining.

X-Men Blue #27 (July, 2018) Venom but only in the first few pages, encouraging the youth to kill in revenge for their romantic partners. Probably the only good lesson thy’ll ever learn.

Venomized #1 (June, 2018) Venom, Cleetus Kasady. Ngl I’m breezing through the X-men part, is Wolverine interested in underage Jean Grey? Idk probably. But more importantly, Spider-man actually realizing it’s not the symbiotes fault is such a dramatic step forward for the character it almost covers up how sad Cleets looks without Red.

Venomized #2 (June, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Cleetus Kasady. Special appearance by Rage and Liz Allen in the best fuckin Look(tm) yet. And the Symbiote Protector king Eddie Brock bless. WHEN WERE THESE PUBLISHED HOW IS FLASH ALIVE???

Venomized #3 (June, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Cleetus Kasady. God I love that Eddie still has a soft spot for Lunella. Also, Cleetus Kasady, after being abducted, experimented on, and let loose on alien spaceship: Where Is My Wife

Venomized #4 (June, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Poisoned!Cleetus Kasady. I ope the symbiotes will be ok and that Jean stays dead :(

Venomized #5 (July, 2018) Venom, Agent Anti-Venom, Poisoned!Cleetus Kasady. I could talk about how I’m actually upset about Scragg. Or Cleetus’ “not again” about space. Or about Spider-man having to rely on a symbiote to save his life. Even the happy ending for the symbiotes. But mostly I just Can’t Fucking Stand Jean Grey And The Shitty Fucking X-Men

Amazing Spider-man #794 (March, 2018) Red. Oh baby that is one hell of a fucking team up

Amazing Spider-man #795 (April, 2018) Red Goblin. I don’t gotta put anything else.

Amazing Spider-man #796 (April, 2018) Red Goblin, Agent Anti-Venom. Bruh I love my girl so much seeing my fave villain dunked on by another fave villain is truly What I’m Here For. And it’s great seeing Flash get to team up with his hero like a golden retriever and FUCKING JONAH

Amazing Spider-man #797 (May, 2018) Red Goblin, Flash. Every single time the green goblin shows up on the scene the comic become an actual fucking soap opera and has me hollering like a baboon

Amazing Spider-man #798 (June, 2018) Red Goblin, Agent Anti-Venom. Ngl how’s Spider-man’s reaction not just nuke the fucking island.

Amazing Spider-man #799 (June, 2018) Red Goblin, Agent Anti-Venom. FFFFFFUCK me I forgot how invested I am in Harry/Liz/Normie having a happy life and now I’m upset.

Amazing Spider-man #800 (June, 2018) Red Goblin, Agent Anti-Venom, Venom, Goblin Childe. I got no words this is honestly just a great fuckin all star issue with some of the best most satisfying writing I’ve seen for a fuckin spider-man comic that really feels like a good conclusion to the last 10~ years of writing I cant even describe it all

Venom #164 (June, 2018) Venom, Dixon. This Man Whole Ass Dumped A Bucket Of Puke Out His Window Like A Fucking Animal but imma forgive it because this whole next several issues punch a hole through my chest and rip out my heart in the best way.

Venom #165 (June, 2018) Venom, Dixon, Gargan. I’d love Dixon as a symbiote wearing regular tbh Raze does have possibilities. And Eddie’s Upsetty that everyone got to here the Good News before him.

Venom Fist Host #1 (October, 2018) Venom, baby symbiote. I’d like to congratulate this issue for coming out at the same time as the Venom movie and thus being one of the first intros to the character for people checking them out cause of the film. I’m so glad that this is a lot of people’s first Venom comic and it wasn’t handled by some Jackass who can’t write and has no idea about the character or their personality or history or relationships :)

Venom First Host #2 (November, 2018) Venom, baby symbiote. The d r a m a of this all is so good even if it hurts.

Venom First Host #3 (November, 2018) Venom, baby symbiote. Baby’s first trip to space!!!!! They’re so mischievous and ready to fight i could DIE for this xbox themed child

Venom First Host #4 (November, 2018) Venom, baby symbiote. This issue more than anything else remind you that the baby isn’t just the symbiotes, it’s also Eddie’s. And it has the lil-shit gene to prove it.

Venom First Host #5 (November, 2018) Venom, Sleeper. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH THIS IS VENOM THIS IS FUCKIGN VENOM RIGHT CHERE BOYS THERE AINT NOTHING BETTER THAN THIS FUCKIN SPACE BATTLE EX VILLAIN PARENTS TALKIN BUT FAMILY EDWARD BROCK IN HIS THOT BOXERS TRASH CAN FIGHTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET AND FUCKING SLEEPER. CARNAGE WHO????? TEL-KAR WHAT?????????????? GET FUCKED AINT NO ONE MESSIN WITH THIS FUCKIN FAMILY And they lived happily ever after and there were no other Venom comics after this :)

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#venom #comics #venom comics #venom comics reading order #part 15

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qfantasydragon · 5 years

Text

Diving

Author’s note: This is part 4 in an ongoing fic. You can find part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here. It’s also up on AO3 (x)

Part 5

“What’s wrong?” Adam asked as Them crowded into the back room.

Crowley blinked.

He was on his knees. He didn’t remember getting there.

The note was crumpled in his fist. He watched impassionately as his fingers uncurled and dropped it.

“‌I think he’s in shock,” Pepper said, fascinated. To Crowley, it sounded as though it was coming from a great distance away, as though he was in a bubble.

“Somethings wrong,” Adam worried. Dog scampered over, sniffed at Crowley and let out a surprisingly deep bark that rippled through the room.

Crowley’s bubble popped.

“Get out,”‌ he hissed at them, scales surfacing on his skin.

“Wait a minute–” Wensleydale started to protest.

“They have taken Aziraphale,” Crowley bared his teeth. Thunder rumbled outside. “Where I need to go to get him back, you should pray you never see.”

Adam gave him an appraising look. There was a twist behind his eyes that looked strange on an eleven-year-old, a subtle reminder that he had been the Antichrist– that he had stood before Death, angels, demons, and the Devil himself and said no them all.

“Come on guys, let's go. Let us know when you get him back.” The Them all filed out, unnerved by the red-black scales and the hissing undertone of Crowley’s words.

When you get him back. Behind his glasses, Crowley closed his eyes, hoping that it was indeed a when and not an if.

He leaned back against an armchair (Aziraphale’s armchair, his favorite that he’d gotten in a sale during the late 1800…) and took a deep breath.

The demon couldn’t get to Hell through official routes, not anymore. Which meant he had to use the backdoor.

“I hate traveling like this,” he muttered to no one in particular before wriggling his soul out of his body.

Then, Crowley dove.

Their memories of before the Fall were fuzzy at best– a side effect of having their name stripped from the Book of Truth. They had been a different person then, but they still remembered with painstaking clarity what had stripped the clouds out from under them.

They had asked why.

All of the angelic language was song, and Crowley thought that, once upon a time, perhaps, they had been a great singer of it. On the days when the memories were clearer, they thought perhaps they had been an archangel.

But that ‘why’ had rippled through the crowd far harder than its vibration warranted. Its echo had been made of “we do not question” and “have you no faith?“, but Crowley had let their question stand, a jagged black mountain in a sea of rolling grass.

They had not bent. They had not bowed.

And so the clouds no longer supported their feet and they fell.

Some ancient scholar had theorized it took nine days for the Devil’s army to reach the Earth. Add in the caveat that a thousand years was like a day to God, and you would be close to the time Crowley spent plummeting downwards.

The first day they felt the moment their name was struck from the Book. They felt as that gift from Her, that Word that had called them into existence, was cut free from them with all the grace of an early surgeon removing a limb. They begged for it back and heard nothing.

The next seven days were spent hurtling through the void, dodging past stars and black holes, trying desperately to catch onto the nebulas they thought-- they knew they had created such a short time ago, only to have them twist through their hands like smoke.

Crowley still remembered the moment they had hit the atmosphere.

Their wings had always been dark, but once they had been filled with the galaxies he had created and watched over. With the touch of oxygen, those star-filled galaxies had all gone supernova. They had arched their back and screamed, a sonic boom circling outward. Some of those stars collapsed, forming black holes that ate away everything that was left until there was only darkness in their feathers.

Then they hit the earth.

Their wings shattered, and would never be quite the same, never again strong enough to carry them up to Heaven. Clay coated them, where before they had been nothing but song and starlight and soul.

Such was the force of his Fall that they kept going for another nine days until they finally slowed to a stop in the red-lit sulfurous cavern where the demons made their home.

They were heading back to that cavern now, but in many ways, this journey was the opposite they had made before the Beginning.

For one, they had abandoned their body on earth and this time were left with their true form.

There were other differences too, of course.

Last time they had been Falling

This time they were diving.

Last time, they had been leaving behind everything they knew.

This time they were headed towards the only thing they did know.

God’s fond of irony like that.

They folded their wings into shadows and smoke as they surfaced in Hell. Amongst the flickering light and drips, they were just one more dark patch, one more off-kilter noise. Crowley had been slipping in and out for centuries. No one noticed them.

They stole along damp hallways, a whisper, the ghost of someone else’s shadow.

Where would they be keeping him? Crowley thought to theirself as they slipped through a group of damned souls. Where would they put an angel?

Legion came by, and Crowley flattened against the wall to allow all of him to pass by.

Of course, the answer came to them while they waited, an angel down here is a prize. The conference room.

When the demons had first landed in Hell, they had carved out a room where all of them could meet and discuss their next step. No one used it much anymore, but it was still considered the heart of Hell. As much as Hell could be said to have a heart.

Crowley slithered through the halls until they found the right door, then squeezed theirself under the crack.

The room was large and small all at once; capable of expanding and contracting to fit hundreds of beings to whom size was an optional feature. It also had not been updated since Ceasar came into power. It still looked like a dark, damp, Greek theater, a cavea in not much better shape than the ones still standing on Earth. It was tiered, semicircle affair, rows of benches descending to a flat floor, where the speaker would stand. Crowley was at the very highest level, looking down.

“Is he still sleeping?” buzzed a familiar voice.

“He won’t wake up.” muttered an unpleasant, easily identified demon. Hassssstur, Crowley hissed angrily in their mind. Their smoke-and shadow form shifted into something adjacent to a familiar, serpentine one, and they peeked their head down at the bottom of the theater.

At the bottom of the cavea, a large bonfire blazed. Around it stood Dagon, Hastur, and Beelzebub.

“Is something wrong with him?” Dagon asked the other two.

“D’ I look like an angel expert?” Hastur grumbled back at her, “I don’t see any injuries.”

“We lost a lot of demons in the attack,” Beelzebub cut in, “I‌ want to see some use being made of him.”

There was silence for a moment, and Crowley tried to peer closer at them. They were obviously talking about Aziraphale, but where was his angel? And why was he asleep?

“I can’t believe they used holy water,”‌Hastur mumbled.

“I‌ can’t believe they’re married,” Dagon shot back.

“Do you see a better explanation for that?!” the lord of flies gestured at the fire.

And Crowley finally saw.

In the heart of the fire, hovering in what the humans called the fetal position (did that still work for angels? a part of Crowley’s mind wondered blankly. They’d never been fetuses after all) was Aziraphale. Two of his white wings were out, buoyed open by the heat from the blaze. His eyes were closed, his face relaxed, and for all intents and purposes, he did seem to be asleep.

“It’s just plain–” Hastur started to speak.

Crowley stopped hiding.

A star going supernova explodes with the force of 1044 joules of energy. This is enough power to keep New York City shining bright for a nonillion years. (Yes, that is a real number. Yes, it is very large. Look it up.)

Crowley’s power made a supernova look like a cherry bomb.

They were no longer shadow and smoke, they were the void of space and the raging shriek of black holes, the death spasms of stars and the absolute stillness of true zero when even the atoms of the universe waited with bated breath.

They were a serpent, they were a human, they were a demon; they were the beat of drums and the wail of a guitar rebelling against a world that told it to be silent. Their wings were not the nothing of Death’s, but they were close.

Everyone suddenly remembered that even a former archangel was a Force to be Reckoned With.

Crowley slitheredracedstrode down the stairs faster then the other demons could move and coiled around Aziraphale’s still form, scalesfeathers brushing against Aziraphale’s soft wings.

“Crowley,” snarled Hastur, not quite brave enough to step forward.

Hassssstur, Crowley whisperscreamed in reply, If a single one of his feathers has been singed, you'll be going the same way as Ligur.

“And what are you going to do witthhhh him,” Beelzebub buzzed, “He doesn’t have a body anymore and you don’t have anywhere to get him another.”

Thank you for your concccccern, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.

A part of Crowley’s essence was eyeing the way back up to earth. Long is the way and hard, they thought grouchily. Milton had that right at least. The journey up out of Hell on his own was hard enough as it was; towing Aziraphale along would leave them dangerously slow and exposed. They carefully jostled the angel, trying to wake him up. Aziraphale mumbled something unintelligible and tucked his wings in closer, like a child tugging their blankets up when a parent tried to wake them.

What did you do to him, they hissedsnarled.

Hastur got a smirk on his face and Crowley knew the next thing out of his mouth was going to be something designed to hurt them.

So they hit him with their tail.

He crashed into the seats, and lay there, moaning.

Dagon took an involuntary step back, but Beelzebub held their ground.

What. Did. You. Do. To. Him. Crowley flared their wings, their power coiling up higher and higher.

Beelzebub held for another second before breaking.

“Nothing,” they spat, “we did nothing to him. Hastur said he found him like that. Though what could exhaust an angel enough to pass out is beyond me.”

The time stop, Crowley realized. Holding it must have worn him out.

Dagon was shifting slowly towards the door, and Crowley swung their attention towards her. She froze.

We can’t stay, Crowley thought, frustrated. We’re going to have to risk it.

An idea sprouted in their mind, and they shifted a few of their coils closer to Aziraphale.

I ssssssuposssse you’re lucky you found him asleep, they breathedshouted, You ssssssshould really talk to Michael about what he nearly did to Gabriel when the angelssssss made their play a few daysss ago. They passed the other demons a very fanged grin. Oh, and if you give usss any trouble ever again, I‌ will make a link from the Pacccific Ocean ssstraight to Hell and have him blesssss the whole thing asss it drainsss. It’ll make the number of demons you lost today look like loossse change.

Dagon scoffed. “You can’t do that!”

Crowley grabbed the essence of Hell with a handclaw and spared a second to examine it.

God enjoyed music, always had, and so all of Her creations were composed, in part, of song. Crowley found the vibrating strings of Hell and strummed them in a discordant screech. They showed the others exactly how they could, in fact, create a link to the Pacific. (Crowley decided not to mention that holding it open might be beyond anyone’s strength but Hers.)

Dagon and Beelzebub were left trembling and more whey-faced than usual.

LEAVE‌ USSS‌ BE.

Then Crowley issued a silent apology to their angel and swallow him whole.

A note on what is happening.

’Swallowed’ perhaps has the wrong connotations in this context, but there isn’t really a word to describe what Crowley did. They wrapped their essence around Aziraphale; they cradled him in them like their heart, like a mother wrapped around her child. They incorporated him into their being; separate, but still a part of them. It was not a thing that anyone had ever tried before.

Crowley flung theirself back towards Earth.

Their form once more became serpentine, a desperate attempt at aerodynamics that only worked because it never occurred to Crowley that it shouldn’t. They were vaguely aware of demons circling them, even snapped at a few, but there was a noise like a million flies and they fell back and Crowley resurfaced in his body, gasping for air like a human that’s been underwater for too long.

Carefully, he peered inside himself.

“Aziraphale?” he croaked, suddenly terrified that it hadn’t worked. But there, against his soul, packed into the same body with him, there was a sensation like soft white feathers brushing over him.

Crowly closed his eyes with relief and cradled a hand over his heart, where he could feel Aziraphale’s bright spark.

“Alright,” he breathed. Alright.

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bbs-backlog-challenge · 4 years

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BB’s Games Of 2019

2019 as a year felt like it lasted two years, and a lot happened in my personal life. Got a new job, learned to drive, got my first car, moved out of the in-laws’ basement into our first real apartment, started my first long-term game of DnD (which in itself has involved a new relationship and an emotional breakdown)- and between it all I somehow managed to play 77 games. Backlog’s down to 35 titles, lads- at this rate, I’ll be down to zero by July 2020. (Not gonna happen.) In 2020, I’d like to explore the SNES catalogue a little more, but before that happens we have to review everything 2019 brought me, in a somewhat chronological order.

- Near A Tomato Carry-over from last year’s post since I was in the middle of playing it at the time. I definitely never quite got a handle on the combat and I think some of the themes went over my head, but I still had fun here, and the 9S hacking minigame never got old. It was a gift from an old friend who I miss. Was nice to reconnect. - SSBU With my new main Zelda, I cleared all of WoL and got every spirit on the Spirit Board. I never really used her before but she’s cute now! Really liked the attention to detail in the spirit encounters. Unfortunately, Cloud is still in the game. - Mega Mans 1 2 and 3 I actually spoke about my experiences with the Mega Men in my BBLC post for Mega Man Eggs, so you should read that right now. - Metroid Samus Returns It’s Good. Like, a solid Good. Never Great, never Bad, just Good. It’s nice to see one of the least accessible games in the series get a remaster, but it feels very disposable, if that makes sense. Like they just needed a Metroid to keep people busy while they reboot Prime 4 development. AM2R is vastly superior, go play that. One point of amusement- the game tells its story without narration, and also seems to pre-suppose you know Metroid lore. I was entertained by the thought of a newcomer to the series being completely mystified by the sudden space-dragon that comes out of nowhere to wreck you at the end of the game. - Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls You can click here to download it, ‘cos it’s free, which is almost criminal. This is one of the higher tier games I’ve played this year. A little bit Mega Man, a bit Metroid, with hints of Touhou and Undertale, it’s pretty tough at times but never to ‘precision platformer’ levels. It’s a lot of fun and the dev deserves your support. - Steve And Ollie RPG Oh, I made this one. Making something else next year? Question mark? - Prof Layton 3 Feels like these are getting weaker as they go along. The story has always been absolute boohockey, but the puzzles feel like they’re degrading in quality too. With over 200 in each game, that’s not super surprising, and I’m glad they didn’t bulk it out with a load of the awful block-slider puzzles. Still, it’s Layton, if you liked any of the other games you’ll like this cos it’s the exact same thing. - Fault Milestone Two Yo, there ain’t a damned thing I can say about Fault, so go play the first one and then play this and you’ll understand. - Full Throttle I never bothered to finish it. The obtuse old Sierra puzzlers were hard enough to deal with back in the day, and just feel kind of inexcusable now. I don’t have the patience for it. - eXceed 3rd Slick and fun bullet hell with a nigh-incomprehensible story and great music. Touhou fans will like it. Music by SSH who is relatively well known in doujin circles. - ASAMU Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Eternal Senia Everything I said in my post rings true- do your best to look past the wonky translation, because there’s a heartfelt story underneath it. Very accessible gameplay, by design. - Inivisble Inc You have never before been, nor will you ever again be, so aware of having left a door open. I fully expected to hate Invisible, but I got hooked pretty hard. Quite tempted to do another run of it once the backlog is clear. - Pyre GOTY. Supergiant’s best game so far, and that’s not an easy thing to say for this Bastion veteran. I sobbed by the end. I’m not being dramatic- literally sobbed. Please play it. Music and writing and, just, heart, are all top tier. All the Nightwings are the best, but Hedwyn is the best best. - Ellipsis Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Just Cause 2 I found myself getting bored very quickly. The main missions are all identical (really, they are) and the side missions are very uninspired. Blitzing around in a jet or grappling around a mission target is a lot of fun but it feels very shallow. There’s a lot to do but not really any reason to do any of it. I dunno, it’s a kind of hollow experience, that I nonetheless had fun with. - LiEat It went over my head a little, but that’s more on me I think. These horror-esque, eccentric japanese RPG Maker games usually do. But, it’s neat, and short. If this sort of thing usually sticks on you, I think this is a good title. - Shantae Pirates Curse These games always felt non-essential to me; I’m not sure why they never stuck. They never really go below or above Good. Entirely enjoyable but I don’t feel like I’d have really missed anything if I hadn’t played them. It is, however, absolutely worth investing in for the utterly superb sprite work. That doesn’t sell a game by itself, I know, but Shantae is a pixel art masterclass. - FF5 I’d more or less finished it by the time I wrote my BBLC post, so I don’t have much to add. It’s a refreshingly goofy entry in a series known for taking itself too seriously, even compared to its predecessor. Look forward to my entry for this game in my Games Of 2020 post, having played the Four Job Fiesta! - Touhou 17 It’s mid-tier in the touhou hierarchy, IMO. Didn’t set my soul alight but I did enjoy it. Playing as Wolf Marisa makes the final boss too chaotic to really enjoy, but playing through again with Reimu made it more fun. I beat Extra on my third run through, which gave me false confidence that after 10 years I might actually be good at these games- to then be quickly humbled by attempting Th11’s Extra. Final Boss’ theme song has one of the greatest lead-ins of all time, especially given you start the fight by running away from her! Also really loved the Stage 4 theme as you barrel head-first into Hell (the real one this time), and the haunting, calm-before-the-storm serenity of Stage 5, overlooking the City Of Beasts. - HackNet + Labyrinths GOTY. (Yes, I know I already said Pyre was GOTY; it’s my post, I can have two GOTYs. Make your own damned post!) It’s hard to say what I loved about these games without spoiling too much- just know that they play very much like investigation games, and figuring out the puzzles feels great. Labyrinths technically takes place during the events of Hacknet, with a somewhat more Black Hat approach to things- despite this, play all of Hacknet first, and then play Labyrinths. The expansion introduces a lot of new stuff and much trickier challenges, such that going back to the base game afterwards to finish that would leave it a little hollow- a disservice to how great the ending is. - Mega Man X I said everything I wanted to say in my BBLC post, and anything I didn’t cover was better said by Egoraptor. - Octodad Finished it before my BBLC post! - Chroma Squad The final mission is disappointingly poor, but everything up to that point was pretty good. Huge variance and creativity in the bosses. However, the most fun I got from it was when I realised the game allowed me to customise my team name, transformation name, and other such terminology. Dave, Dayve, Davy, Davina, and Dehve shouting “It’s time to Chromatise, Chroma Squad!” very quickly became “It’s time to shit, you bunch of fucks!” and it was funny every single time. (Personal favourite bit of dialogue- “I tried to shit! It worked!”) - Pyrite Heart Finished it before my BBLC post! - Starfox 2 Finished it before my BBLC post! - Burly Men At Sea Finished it before my BBLC post! - Disc Room Finished it before my BBLC post! - Kokurase Finished it before my BBLC post! Should have broken these ones up a bit! - Metroid Rogue Dawn Very, very impressive romhack let down by a distinctly un-fun final section. They managed to fix so many of OG Metroid’s problems, I’m surprised the gauntlet of terribleness that is Tourian escaped with only a cosmetic change. Nonetheless, it’s free, and the other 95% of the game is superb, even from a purely technical standpoint. - Wuppo I dunno what happened here! I was full of praise for Wuppo when I played it, but somehow I just couldn’t stick with it and just never felt like playing it. It’s a very aimless game, and I wonder if that might be why? It’s a shame, I feel disappointed in myself for not seeing it through, but ultimately I play games to have fun and I just wasn’t quite there with Wuppo. - Super Mario Odyssey I loved it, obviously. I wrote my BBLC post towards the end of my time with Odyssey so most of that stands- I do want to add that the controls always felt a little loose, like I wasn’t quite as in-control as I was in Galaxy. Also Mario prioritises walljumping over ledge-grabbing and it’s super-hard to unlearn that instinct after 20 years. Finally- Long Journey’s End is just bullshit. - Secret Of Mana Dropped it pretty soon after Finning it. There’s some logic to the way the game works, some kind of hidden turn-order system, that I could not at all figure out. My AI companions (useless, btw) would hit an enemy which meant I couldn’t, except sometimes the hit would still register but only actually go through 3 seconds later, without any way to tell which way it was going to go. It takes like 7 months for your character to get back up after taking a hit. It’s just, wonky, and I couldn’t solve the puzzle of how to make the game do what I wanted to do. - Pokemon Shield Still working my way through it. It’s- yeah, it’s pokemon. Get a similar vibe to Sun/Moon with it that it’s kind of unfinished- lots of small (and some not so small) parts of the game just feel like there were bigger plans that couldn’t be realised in time. I’m still enjoying it! They did a great job of making the gym battles, and the whole process of 8-badges-then-champion, feel like a spectacle. I think only the anime has managed it to this degree before. - Earthbound Man, I really, really want to like this game, but the battle system is terrible. I need to play through the game again buffing my party up with cheats or something, because it’s so unbalanced and cheap. Everything else about the game is wonderful, but I got so frustrated with the fights! - Mario Kart 8 Didn’t play any of the single player this time, it was midgi’s christmas present so I just joined a couple of multiplayer games. Absolutely baffled that the game features F-Zero style anti-gravity courses, has Mute City and Big Blue, and even has the Blue Falcon as a selectable vehicle, but they haven’t put Captain Falcon in it. Like he’s ever going to get another game of his own? Let him have this! - Carmageddon 2 It’s pretty clunky by now, being 20 years old, but still plays well enough. The physics are super loose so you slide around like your tires have been buttered. It was more fun when they were zombies instead of just normal people. Missions are brutally hard and should be skipped with cheats. - Neopets After 15 years of playing, I finally got a Ghostkersword. The site as a whole has gone through a lot, and certainly its heyday is long gone, but there’s no other game quite like it. I’m playing the Food Club every day, still. - SIF New phone can’t run the actual gameplay section well enough, so I just log in occasionally to grab free scouts. Here’s another one whose golden years are behind it, sadly, but I certainly still have a lot of affection for SIF. - FF1 Mobile version, which fixes a lot of the bugs with the NES original. This year I completed a solo run with 1 Red Mage, a 4-black belts run, a low-level run, and a 4 White Mages run (which ended up being a lower-level run than the low-level run). I’m fairly comfortable in calling myself an expert in FF1, now. There’s still not really any other games like it- build a party as balanced or imbalanced as you like, and see how they fare. I’d like to build my own game in a similar style, one day. - Re: Live Gacha games and RPG just don’t mix! Both gacha and events do not gel with core RPG mechanics of your character(s) developing in strength as the game goes. It seems impossible to balance the game well- do you cater to the whales who spend and spend until they have the strongest teams possible, meaning the free players or the terminally unlucky can’t stand a chance, or do you cater to those players and give them no reason to spend for the more powerful characters? It’s a shame, because the anime was baffling but in that enjoyable way where you just kind of go with whatever it throws at you, and exploring that in a non-freemium game with a solid beginning middle and end would be really interesting. - Tiny Thief Mobile game that’s not available any more, I think my BBLC post covered it well enough. - F-Zero One of the criticisms most commonly levied against F-Zero is that it wont hold your attention for long. While that’s true, it’s not like you have to make a purchasing decision about it any more- it comes bundled in with the other games you’re buying, so the only investment is time. Ignoring that, it’s still fun to burn around the tracks, and the sense of speed hasn’t ever diminished. The music, too, is underappreciated, with Port Town being my personal fave. - F-Zero GX I can’t believe Nintendo hasn’t done anything with this ridiculous universe for 15 years now. The cutscenes are so hilariously overwrought, and the cast of characters is huge! It could so seamlessly intersect with the Starfox universe, too. There were rumours of a Starfox Racing title some time ago, and I really hope that’s the case. It’d work so well (by which I mean, a particularly enjoyable kind of awful). Anyway, the game still plays great, Story Mode is WAY too hard, Dr Stewart’s theme is a Tune. - Stratosphere This game is from 1998! Build a flying fortress, deck it out with fortifications and weapons and power supplies, then use it to destroy other fortresses. I only ever played the demo as a kid, never got the full game. Took some cajoling to get it to work on modern hardware, but eventually I got in and it wasn’t worth it at all. Wow, that performance, apparently it was designed to run at a terrible frame rate and it wasn’t just a result of my 1998 PC not being up to the task! A shame, but I guess it put one of my ghosts to rest. - DKC 2 The best of the three SNES games, despite the inclusion (and protagonism) of Diddy Kong. Lots to love here, but the OST is top notch. - DKC 3 Not as good as 2, but IMO better than 1. There was a much heavier emphasis on gimmick levels in 3, not all of which hit their target, but does provide a great deal of variety. Consensus is that 2 is better, but if someone claimed 3 was the best DKC, I’d let them get away with it. - King Arthur’s World (SNES) Speaking of putting ghosts to rest… We somehow always managed to get this game whenever we got a SNES, and kid!Beebs most certainly didn’t have the patience for it. Adult!Beebs barely does, either. It’s a very ambitious attempt at some sort of RTS/Puzzle hybrid, somewhat comparable to Lemmings? King Arthur must make his way from his starting position to the throne elsewhere in the map to claim it as his own, using the myriad abilities of his soldiers to get him there in one piece. I decided this year that I was finally going to play through the whole damn thing, start to finish, for the first time ever. With copious use of save states and rewinds, I was finally able to slay this demon. For as fiddly and frustrating as it is, I would still say people should check it out if they have the tools to do so- there’s not really anything else like it, on SNES or otherwise; you’re guaranteed a unique experience, if nothing else. - Oscar (SNES) Terrible. - Spanky’s Quest (SNES) With a name like that, how could I refuse? It’s a weird little puzzler, aping (wahey!) Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars a little. You’re a monkey who can blow bubbles that stun enemies, but if you bounce the bubble on your head it gets progressively larger and can be burst to send a barrage of similarly-sized sports balls at your opponents to knock them out. You know, just like real life. - Addam’s Family (SNES) This easily-dismissible movie tie-in is actually a very competent platformer with some very, very light metroidvania exploration involved. Gomez has to go through Addams Mansion and rescue the members of his family who have been kidnapped by… something. There’s hidden secrets everywhere and the family can be rescued in any order you like. Genuine recommendation. - Panel DePon/Tetris Attack The only vs puzzler I enjoy (yep. Not even puyo puyo. I know.) I played the HECK out of this in my teenage years, and got crazy good at it. Tendonitis says I’m not allowed to do that any more, but once I shook the rust off I was still pretty strong! It was released as Panel DePon in Japan and was fairy themed, but for the western release they replaced all the fairies with Yoshi characters and renamed it Tetris Attack despite having nothing to do with Tetris at all. Up to you which you prefer- language isn't too much of a barrier here. Soundtrack is killer. - Subsurface Circular Finished it before my BBLC post. Still not decided if I liked the way it ended. - Master Of Orion 2 C’mon. After playing three other pretenders to MoO2’s throne, I had to give the real deal a couple of spins too. It’s Civ 5 in space. Customisable race builds. A whole galaxy to bring peace to, by whichever means you prefer. Would love for someone else to get into it. - Touhou 8 Last minute entry I just played yesterday ‘cos I wanted some Touhou and I haven’t played this entry in a long while. A Solo Marisa Normal Final B run, if you’re interested. Kaguya beast-mode tearing apart the Spell Of Imperishable Night at the end of the game is still an awesome moment, but it’s a shame you can miss the last couple of spells if you take some unlucky hits. - And here’s the list of Bins, which are all covered in their BBLC post: No Time To Explain MoO Skyborn Jumpjet Rex StH 4 Ballistick Munch’s Oddysee Outland Project CARS RiME Magicka Waking Mars Urban Chaos Divinity: Dragon Commander Strike Suit Zero Hell Yeah! Lambda Wars Beta Stranger’s Wrath MoO 3 XCOM Lots more Fins than Bins this year! Good to see!

#gaming #video games

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page-of-tales · 5 years

Text

Story: First Impressions

Aliens worried about making the first step in meeting us.

Word Count: 819

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“I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong.”

-Lemony Snicket

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“I don’t know what you’re worried about. You have met a human before.”

Stygil Ambassador Tamia remarked to her fretting companion.

“But that was during the hearings. Never like this.”

Atano Ambassador Hil’Xane chittered nervously and continued to ramble, “What do you think they want?”

“Probably just to say hello. You are the newest member to the Federation.”

The Stygil had to crane it’s neck to look up at it’s companion. The Stygil were an alien species that humans would say resembled bipedal squirrels. Largely because of the brown fur, bushy tails, and furry ear like points from their heads that weren’t ears. Their average stature was about 1.3 meters. Which made the Stygil considerably shorter than the Atano, who had evolved into a large 2 meter forms. A large size that seemed to contrast their descendance from ambush predators. A human would have associated the appearance of the Atano as lizard like, bipedal lizards with no tails. Four eyes and six or seven fingers on each hand depending on the gender.

The story between the two species was recent. The Atano approximately 5 cycles ago had achieved FTL capabilities. Their drone testflight had attracted the attention of a Stygil survey crew which had initiated first contact with the new race. Relations had progressed smoothly with the Atano being a species willing to interact with alien life. With the Stygil as their sponsor the Atano had applied for membership in the Federation. After many hearings and evaluations lasting several cycles the Atano became the latest member of the Federation.

Hil’Xane continued to fret. “But what if I make a bad impression on the humans.”

Tamia made a placating gesture, “Humans are very open minded. You don’t have to worry about offending them.”

Absentmindedly the Atano continued to fiddle with the translator collar.

“I should have brought a gift.”

“As I have said before this is different from what you are used to, there are no tribute payments. This is just a simple meet and greet.”

For about a minute there was silence as the two overlooked the boardwalk. Below them mingled Stygil and Atano on the various levels. The station was an O’Neill Tube design, designated Shapley. For many cycles it had operated as a multi tier industrial complex for the Stygil. Now the Stygil were lending the Shapley to the Atano. Teaching them the advanced technology, and giving their first interstellar colonization efforts a jump start. For the Stygil the scene was a reflection of the past.

“How come you are not nervous?”

“I have known humans for a long time. Ambassador Elroy is a friend.” Tamia replied evenly.

“Humans do not unnerve you?”

The question surprised Tamia. The Atano had never expressed any hesitation about the Federation or humans before. This nervousness was unusual from an Atano that Tamia thought she understood.

“I don’t understand the question.”

“For example, where do humans come from?”

“Well same as us really, when two humans love each other-”

“I do not mean that, I mean where is their origin?” Hil’Xane interrupted quickly, “There are rumors they emerged from the Warp Points itself.”

Tamia made an expression of disbelief.

“Humans come from a star system they refer to as Sol. Who told you that?”

“But Sol is not present on the galaxy map.” Hil’Xane said ignoring the Stygil’s question.

“That, that is something you will have to ask them in person. It’s not a happy story.”

Hil’Xane made a pointed gesture. “See! It is stuff like that which worries me. How do we know they are not telepaths!?”

“You’re thinking of the Lalochans, humans don’t have any psionic abilities.”

“But the stories you have told me. They seem extraordinary and impossible but you insist they are true.”

“That’s because they are.”

“Like the story where humans blew up a star for a science experiment. Which caused some of them to be transported to an alternate universe. And the only way they could come back was to time travel through a black hole to prevent the original experiment. In the process rescuing a bunch of humans from this alternative universe. And by the end of the entire thing breaking every founding physical law that we assume to be the basis of our reality. That was all true?”

“Well, yes.”

The Atano stared down at the Stygil. Colors of anxiety percolating their skin.

“How do they not frighten you.”

“They’re not that different from us. Flesh, blood, and bones.” Tamia organized her thoughts, looking to calm the Atano, “Listen Hil’Xane, there are many things in the galaxy to be frightened of. You’re part of the Federation now. You don’t have to be scared of humans now.”

“And you are sure humans are not an eldritch horror?”

“Well, that remains to be seen.” Tamia said with some humor.

#hfy #story #writing #sc fi #aliens

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