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theimaginatrix27 · 1 year

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So I've gotten a few of the revamped Discworld audiobooks

I really like what I'm hearing so far!

The ones I currently have are Small Gods(again), Wyrd Sisters (due to the miniseries I watched bits of as a small child, and which was my introduction to the Disc, though I knew it not then), Soul Music (I paid more attention to that miniseries, though I never fully processed "Susan's grandfather is Death" because I didn't know the context/missed the beginning), and Amazing Maurice (which was the first Discworld novel I ever read courtesy of Vision Australia).

I also got a set of BBC audio dramas, but I wasn't satisfied with some of them (the guy who played Death was not a bass and Death can't just be a tenor/baritone with a reverb slapped on I'm sorry I didn't make these rules.)

So, let's start with Small Gods, because I listened to the play version and then the new version read by Andy goddam Serkis.

So Andy did a phenomenal job, but who was expecting any different?

He did give Brutha a deeper voice than I expected from a seventeen-year-old but I got used to that (also I had just listened to the audio drama wherein Brutha was played by another tenor so I was a wee bit biased).

He also turned Om into David Lister from Red Dwarf and I don't know how to feel about that one except I hope Terry was listening in the afterlife and found it just as hilarious.

After consuming three separate versions of this book I can state with confidence that I would absolutely die for Brutha if that would not make him sad. He was such a good boy.

Death shows up just a little in this book but I'll gush about him in a minute.

Apart from the other plays, which I skimmed through, I've only read Soul Music, so let's just move on to that one okay?

Death has his own voice actor. I mentioned this the other night when I made the post wherein I related my discovery of the new set of audiobooks, but guys he is. Killing it. (pun absolutely intended and also completely true.) His voice is deep and dark and rolls like thunder and is the perfect balance of black honey on black velvet and GAH I LOVE IT. There need to be audiobook narrations awards just so Peter Serafinowicz could get seven.

Sian Clifford is also amazing, and captures Susan very well, as well as every other character, and I enjoyed listening to her extremely very much.

Seriously Peter's Death is the best iteration of Death I've ever heard and I watched the miniseries of this book, which had Death played by Christopher goddam Lee!

Peter does not, notably, attempt to speak for the Death of Rats. I do not mind this. Sian's "SQUEAK"s were adorable. (Can you do the Death font on Tumblr? I think I've seen the Death font rendered weirdly by my screen-reader before and I dunno if it was on here or TVTropes.)

I didn't get the Nigel version of this book but I heard the sample and he did what he always does with gloomy characters and made Susan sound cartoon glum and ... I'm glad that's not what I experienced here.

Terry's references are like finding chocolate coins every now and then when you turn a page and I love them.

In short, I believe I've made an excellent investment.

I really hope whoever narrates the Vimes books is as good as the guy who played him in the Night Watch drama. I think he was different from the guy who played him in the Guards! Guards! drama, which is why I'm pointing him out specifically. I'm sure I'll love the choice regardless, but I'm still gonna voice the hope.

#Discworld #Spelled correctly this time #Terry Pratchett #GNU Terry Pratchett #Audiobooks #Soul Music #Small Gods #Death of the Discworld #I have always loved him he's so chill #And I'm so glad he's being done justice

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deadmandairyland · 4 years

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Last night I finished a playthrough of Vambrace: Cold Soul, also known as Darkest Dungeon: Waifus on Ice Edition, or at least it would be if anyone was aware that this game exists. Can’t find fanart of it. Can’t even find porn of it. Once again, Rule 34 is a sham.

...So anyway, I wanted to give my thoughts on this, because I kinda liked the game. Now granted I’m a bit of a softy in general and have a high tolerance when it comes to video games, so don’t take this as word from a hardcore gamer like “This game is actually a gem and super underrated.” I mean, I have a soft spot for Dr. Chaos on the NES, so that should give you an idea on how well my opinion on video game quality translates to most people’s opinions. No, I can definitely see why this game doesn’t have a whole lot of fans: the gameplay is nothing to write home about, the characters (who are probably my favorite part of the game) aren’t nearly as fleshed out as I wish they were, and there were some game design choices that I did not care for (like autosave being the only saving option I could find in a game where choices always matter and making one mistake in a dialogue tree while going for a certain route could result in you having to start the whole game over from scratch, oh boy, isn’t that fun?).

I apparently got the neutral ending on this playthrough, according to the PS4 trophy list and what I was able to find while snooping around the interwebs. After a point, none of the images that appeared in the YouTube video I found of all the endings showed up, making me wonder if the PS4 version of this game is censored, or if there is something missing from the file in my download of the game. Hopefully it’s just the former. I can accept the former. Even if it means I finished the game with the protagonist in a Sailor Moon cosplay and somehow the powers that be decided that (SPOILERS BTW) a woman having a nervous breakdown in her home is somehow too hot for the PS4 to handle. I swear I’ve seen more nudity in a Castlevania game than what was showing in that picture. Still would be better than having to play through the whole game again and getting another ending and realizing that none of the ending images are showing up at all.

Also, and I’m going to try to say this last part while spoiling as little as possible... but I ship Lyric with all three of the people staying at the inn. Just throwing that out there. Was kinda disappointed that I could never make these four a party, especially since all three are kinda implied to be badass but we never really get to see that in action. So yeah, to clarify: I ship Lyric with Helga the dwarven innkeeper/bartender who I can only assume is standing on a box behind the bar the whole game and that’s adorable; Charlotte Lorelai, a princess who can apparently bench press 700 pounds and at some point can trick Lyric into going on a panty raid; and Mahoram, a fox boy whose name I kept forgetting while playing the game, so I ended up calling him Fucksboy because he is both a fox boy and a fuckboy. It’s a pun, you see. And yes, if you’re familiar with the game, all of this made a certain point in the game hurt like a motherfucker. Won’t say why, because spoilers, but I was not happy. And the lack of fanfic and fanart did not help. Guys, I even found Knights fanart once! How the fuck did this game featuring tons of waifu bait, including a main character with heterochromia for God’s sake, not inspire someone to draw fanart of it?

Also, check out the Characters page for this game on TVTropes. It’s kinda hilarious. Like, why did they even bother making a character page in the first place? Lyric has only one trope in her folder, and it’s about her heterochromia. Mahoram literally doesn’t have anything written in his folder. Like... why bother?

Maybe someday I’ll write a fic for it. Thing is, though, I... really don’t want to be the only person to write a fic for this game. Do you know how long it took for another Licorne fic to show up on AO3? The pressure is real. Also I have so many other fic ideas at the moment that I feel like the pirate AU idea I currently have for this game is just a really bad idea to even consider!

...

...Even if elves and dwarves in a pirate setting sounds really cool...

...

...Someone slap me, please, before I make another dumb decision here.

#vambrace: cold soul

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spam-monster · 5 years

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Helsaween day 2 (late)

Modern Once Upon A Time au:

(Again, doing a plot summary of my ideas because I don’t have the energy to story properly. This is actually working pretty well for me, might do it with more stuff.) (This won’t make sense if you don’t know the basic OUAT Frozen plotline, go to the OUAT tvtropes page and read the recap for the beginning of season 4 if you get lost.)

Elsa shows up in Storybrooke looking for Anna as normal, but while she’s running around the town with Emma they find a man at the docks who looks just like Hans. Elsa confronts him, only for the man to have no idea who she is. He introduces himself as John Easton. Elsa is suspicious because she know how good of a liar Hans is, but she can’t do anything about it right now and decides to keep an eye on him.

“Keeping an eye on him” turns into “drag him around Storybrook and make him help look for Anna” turns into “John drags her to lunch and gets her to dance with him in return”. Flirting and not-dating ensues.

Eventually John admits he hasn’t been telling the whole truth. He pulls out a worn letter and shows it to Elsa. It turns out that he is Hans, who somehow got dragged to Storybrook with everyone else and lost his memory for a time before getting it back…and then decided he preferred his fake life, where he was an only child with a loving family, over his painful real one. He made a deal with Rumple to remove his memories again in exchange for monitoring the docks and delivering cargo to the shop for him. The letter Hans wrote warns John about Anna and Elsa in case they ever found him, and only says that he wronged them without going into detail.

John apologizes for not telling Elsa sooner, and promises that he’ll do everything he can to help her find Anna and make up for what he’s done – short of restoring his memories.

Anyway to speed through the rest of the summary: evil aunt has Anna frozen somewhere and Kristoff as her brainwashed slave, somehow manages to get necklace vial containing John/Hans’ memories and threatens him with them, John/Hans’ plays along but secretly warns Elsa and Emma so they can find and confront evil aunt, tricks brainwashed!Kristoff into kissing frozen!Anna (saying it’s his punishment from the queen or something) breaking both their spells, they all go confront aunt, she breaks the vial in retaliation…but it doesn’t seem to do anything and John is still on the good guys side and mashes the mirror.

Magic fight ensues, aunt winning until John holds sword to her neck – “You don’t have the guts” “Why not? I almost did it before” – whoops turns out Hans did get his memories back and was faking but decided to help the good guys anyway because he’s seen how powerful Anna and Elsa’s love for each other is and knows aunt isn’t going to break it no matter what she does + aunt manipulated him and he’s not happy about it. Aunt convinced to stand down, makes up with nieces, everyone goes home and they decide to take Hans with them.

(Also Sitron was with Hans in Storybrook and that whole “Arendelle frozen for 30 years or whatever” plot didn’t happen because that’s dumb. It was something like that right? IDK. OUAT was a weird show.)

Also! Dialogue snippets!

“Where is my sister?!”

“…I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“You tried to take over my kingdom!”

“…Ma’am, I’m a dock worker. The only thing I’ve ever tried to take over is a management position.”

…

“I…may not have been entirely truthful with you, Queen Elsa.”

“…So you are Prince Hans.”

“Yes and no. Here.” He hands her a letter.

*letter to John from Hans explaining that he made a deal with Rumple to intentionally lose his memory again since he liked his fake life better, also warning about Elsa and Anna*

“…I’m sorry. I really don’t know how I ended up here. If your sister was around, I’m sure she would have recognized me by now-”

“You really hated it that much? Being a prince? The Southern Isles? Your family?”

“…I guess I did.”

“I know it’s not real; being an only child, the parents who loved and cared about me, my friends, my job…but I’d rather live a fake life then be the sort of person Hans was. And evidentially, he agreed with me.”

“I promise, short of restoring my memories, I’ll do everything I can to help you find your sister.”

#helsaweek #helsa #helsaween #helsaweek2019 #ouat #frozen

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carnistcervine · 4 years

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Parasitic Raava AU

F-it. Everyone is posting their awesomeness. I’m just gonna go out and post this. I’ve been sitting on this AU for months. Only having the courage to write a one-shot for it for Halloween. And that was for an off-shoot of this AU! Yeah, the main AU actually isn’t about Zuko and Azula at all. That was just from a random idea I got listening to a song. xD I am working on an outline for an expansion of that idea called “Cain and Abel” but it’s heavily in the rough stages for now. ewe

The main AU just follows off canon Avatar lineage, and Vaatu doesn’t get to have any fun at all. D’: Poor Vaatu, rest in rigatoni.

Okay so the inspiration for this idea originally came from when I was listening to the song Control by halsey, and I started thinking about the avatar state. It made me start thinking about a darker interpretation of the relationship between Avatar and Avatar Spirit. Then I was looking at a TvTropes page about animalistic abominations, and I started thinking about ATLA, cause some of the spirits look like animals and then the thing mentioned that Raava and Vaatu look like flatworms and oh god the mental image, it burns! ;n; I liked it better when I thought they were carpets... But anyway, after that horrifying revelation, my brain came up with this idea- What if Raava(and by extension Vaatu) was a parasite? Like she's still (mostly) good, but it's a pretty heavy case of good is not nice.

-If I had to describe this AU badly, it would be ATLA meets Venom.

-Big note: I have not seen Korra yet, so this is almost all based on what is established as canon in ATLA. Not that it really matters, since I'm not exactly trying to be accurate to canon anyway. :'D

-One note I should make right here is that for Wan's story at least, since it takes place in an era around the beginning of bending and benders, there is no four nations yet. There are four definitive elements, and four main divisions of people. Also because this is basically before/at the very beginning of the bending age, people aren't really benders, they have been gifted with the power to control the elements, but they're still learning to properly use said powers. So instead of benders, they are known as tide-pushers, earth-shifters, fire-makers, and cloud-sitters. The water tribes are broken up along many islands, swamps and the north and south poles. Instead of an Earth Kingdom, there's the Earth Continent which is made up of many cities and kingdoms and tribes; The Mountain Kingdom, the Sand Tribes, The Great City of the Steppe, etc... What will be known in the future as the Fire Nation is known as the Volcanic Archipelago, which contains many cities and tribes. The biggest and most prosperous city is Dragon City, this is where Wan is originally from. The people of the air are a majority nomadic people, but they do have a temple up in the clouds known as the Cloud Sanctuary.

-So Raava is still the spirit of light and peace, but I'm thinking that either she and Vaatu are two halves of a whole who cannot exist independently, or something happens to her and Vaatu that causes them to be unable to exist independently of a mortal form. But either way, Vaatu has been sealed away, and only Raava roams free.

-Another idea that I got is that both Raava and Vaatu were originally sealed away due to being parasitic spirits, but Raava's seal was broken and she was released into the world. This idea would play into why no one lives in the lost wilds, as it's said that a "dangerous being" lurks there.

-Wan is an ordinary fire-maker who lives out in the lost wilds after being exiled from his home. He lives a fairly quiet life, mostly trying to avoid the creepy spirits and monsters that lurk in the lands around him. His time is peaceful until he starts to come across the withered carcasses of animals.

-The corpses are all rail thin, ribs showing, eyes milky white and sunken in, bleeding from the nose and mouth. Other than that, there is no clear cause of death, no mortal injury, or even bite wounds to indicate infection, they all just look like they withered away and died. Like something had come and drained the vitality from them.

-Wan is gathering tinder one day when he comes across a strange sight. A polarbear dog wandering about. His first thought is wondering how one of those got this far north, then he noticed just how thin the creature was. The beast was facing away from him, it looked horribly thin and gave ghastly groans, like it was in horrible pain. As much as Wan was curious as to the cause of the mysterious deaths, at the same time he didn't want to suffer the same fate. He prepares to back away when the creature senses his presence. It stops and looks over it's shoulder, blazing white eyes gazing into his soul.

-Officially freaked out, Wan makes a run for it. He can hear the labored breathing of the creature bounding behind him. He briefly wonders if some kind of animal jiang shi is chasing him down. His thoughts are interrupted when the beast tackles him. Wan tries to push the beast off of him, but as soon as he hits the ground he feels a horrible stabbing pain. Not physical pain however, a strange spiritual pain, like something is drilling it's way into his very soul. Something seems to be worming it's way into his mind. The beast flips him onto his back and gazes deep into his eyes. Under the blank, burning gaze the bear-dog seems to be begging for Wan to help it. As he makes this revelation he starts to hear a faint feminine voice in his head.

-The voice attempts to soothe Wan. It tells him to relax, that it will all be over soon. The presence invading him had a strangely peaceful aura, like it was a graceful and soothing presence, but at the same time it was forcing it's way into his body. And he quickly figured that this thing was likely what was causing all those animals to die.

-Not wanting to suffer such a fate himself, Wan fights back against the spirit invading him. However, he realizes very quickly that this is a loosing battle. The deeper the spirit digs into him, the more Wan feels his thoughts loose clarity, like a warm blanket is enveloping his mind.

-Suddenly a harsh blast of air forces the bear-dog off of him. Someone rushes in to wrangle or fight the polarbear dog, despite the fact that he's still reeling from the feeling of something worming it's way deeper and deeper into his very being, Wan attempts to stand and warn the stranger of the situation. He weakly calls out to them to beware, but soon passes out from the pain.

-When Wan comes to, he's burning up with a fever. His spirit feels heavy and there's a soft feminine voice in his head cooing soothing things at him. Trying to lull him into a sense of security and comfort so that she or it can take over. Or so he assumes at least. Outside of his head, he can hear two people talking about him.

-When Ami and Onu went out to look for Ami's beloved polarbear dog, Taki, they did not expect to find the ursine-canine in such a state, and they expected to find a sickly fire-maker even less.

-Seeing Taki assaulting someone, Onu took immediate action and sent a blast of wind to knock the beast off of the man. Onu rushed in an attempt to calm Taki, he paused when he saw just how bad Taki looked. The polarbear-dog was starved thin, eyes milky-white and sunken in, and bleeding heavily from the mouth and nose despite no apparent injuries. He could only utter her name softly as the bear-dog fell to the ground, having reached the end of her strength.

-With Onu going after Taki, Ami rushed over the felled man's side. He attempted to sit up, moaning something about danger before immediately collapsing back onto the ground. He's very pale and burning up with fever. Her worries are only compounded when she cannot get the man to open his eyes or respond in any coherent manor.

-Of course Ami's day was only about to get much worse. She glaces over at Onu and sees the state Taki is in. Ami's heart shatters into thousands of pieces seeing her beloved companion in such a state.

-Using the moisture of her tears, Ami examine Taki's chi paths. Unfortunately Taki's chi had been drained, and her chi paths had been withered and burned through. There was no saving her. Despite this, Ami insists on trying to save Taki. Onu helps her drag both Taki and the strange man back to their base camp.

-Taki passes away soon before the man starts to regain consciousness. As heartbroken as Ami is, she focuses her energies on reading the chi of the mysterious man. She isn't sure what's causing the fever, as he lacks any signs of infection. She realizes that he's a fire-maker, and his inner fire is blazing out of control which is causing the fever. But why?

-The man, Wan, as Ami soon learns, weakly cries out about something draining the life out of the living, and how it's infested him. Ami assumes that it's just the fever talking, as by all means he should be fine. Aside from the fever, there's nothing wrong with Wan.

-Neither Ami, nor Onu know why Wan is ill, nor can they explain the mysterious death of not only Taki, but the other mysterious corpses they found in the Lost Wilds. However, they figure it best to take him away from this place. They opt to take him to the Southern Island Tribe to see a proper healer.

-They do eventually make it to the Southern Island Tribe and see a healer. The healer, a grizzled elder, tells Ami and Onu that Wan's fever is not natural, it is a spirit fever caused by the battle between his own spirit and one invading his being. Wan is deeply concerned, remembering the bodies he found back in the Lost Wilds, but the elder healer tells him that she can find no evidence of his chi being stolen or damaged.

-Wan wishes to purge Raava from his being, so Onu takes the group to see the elder monks at the Cloud Sanctuary.

-On the way there, the trio is attacked by a group of dangerous rogues. Seeing his new friends in danger, and being too weak to do anything about it, Wan reluctantly gives Raava control. Using Wan's body, Raava wipes the floor with the goons. Wan collapses afterwords because channeling that much energy is exhausting. It's at this point that Ami finally believes that Wan is actually possessed and not just loopy from fever. Both Onu and Ami are very impressed by the show of strength however.

-Continuing on the journey to the Cloud Sanctuary, the trio comes across a village that has been ransacked by pirates and subsequently torn apart by seemingly malevolent spirits. Ami and Onu want to move on, but Wan insists that they help the people. He tries to help, but he doesn't really know what to do. Reluctantly, he asks Raava to help him.

Okay so some more generalized notes about the AU~ -At first Wan is completely opposed to sharing his body with Raava. However, after some time he starts to work with her and learns to live with her.

-Not that Raava has any intention of giving up her host.

-After Raava infests him, Wan starts to manipulate all of the elements. At first it's just while Raava is in control, but slowly he starts to use other elements without Raava's influence. Also, he does notice a connection to all four elements right away, he just isn't sure what to think of it until it manifests into manipulation of all four elements.

-At first Raava is only motivated by the need to sustain herself. Being one of the greater spirits, she doesn't concern herself with mortal matters. However, the more time she spends with Wan, the more she learns to see the forest for the trees and empathize with the struggles of mortal beings.

-Dragon City is ruled by a gang of ruthless thugs who hoard wealth, food, resources, and rule the populace with an iron fist. The leader of this gang is the Dragon King, Ryuusei. Sure enough, Wan and Raava eventually take this asshole out.

-There needs to be a pirates arc where someone is kidnapped and Wan has to work with Raava to save them. If I don't write this, then what's the fucking point?

-Ami is a caring, but skeptical tide-pusher, and Onu is basically the stoner friend cloud-sitter.

-Raava calls Wan her Avatar, and eventually the name sticks.

-As time goes on, Wan and Raava's spirits become fully fused together. This makes Wan part spirit, and Raava part human. Of course, Wan is mortal and eventually dies a natural death, but because Raava is eternal, she is reborn into another body and such starts the avatar cycle.

-By the time that Wan passes away, the whole Raava is a parasitic spirit and the Avatar is actually possessed fades from the public consciousness and even the Avatars eventually forget that Raava is actually a parasite. Hell they soon forget her name and identity entirely, only knowing her as the "Avatar Spirit".

-In this AU, Raava is an incomplete being. As such she cannot sustain herself, she must attach to a mortal being to live among the mortal realm. And being half of the world's spirit, if she were to leave the mortal realm, the world would fall into chaos and eventually die. So she initially tries to sustain herself by fusing with plants and animals. Neither work, as her spirit is too strong for them, which causes their own spirits to burn up and their bodies to wither away. Wan is the first human and compatible being Raava attempts to fuse with. His human spirit is strong enough to withstand Raava's own spirit without being destroyed.

-As for Raava's characterization, I'd probably describe her as being a combo of good is not nice and well-intentioned extremist. Being a spirit of light and peace, she radiates a peaceful aura that she uses to soothe her host to make them reject her less. Or before she started possessing people, she'd use it so that her potential victims would be lulled into a false sense of security so she can latch onto them. She acts nice, again using her peaceful aura and gentle voice to soothe her victims. I'd hesitate to actually call her nice because she does casually ignore the independence and self-determination of her host. Well-intentioned or not, she is a parasite after all. And no, she doesn't feel bad about it. Bigger picture- Raava fades, the world dies. Raava's host dies, nothing particularly bad happens.

-Raava can be pretty vicious too tho. If kind words and manipulation, err I mean, gentle persuasion don't work, she's gets to be mean as hell. :D Even to the point of forcibly taking control and asking her host if they really think they're in control.

-Vaatu? He's just a straight up dick. Okay, fine, he pretends to be on your side while poisoning your mind and turning you against everyone that cares about you. Why? He thinks it's funny. And yeah, he's pretty much just straight up evil. He isn't above driving his host into madness and using them as a means to cause as much mayhem as possible. But he does so subtly, and works as insidiously as possible. I also kind of picture him as being the type that messes with your head by making you re-examine the very definitions of good and evil.

-Or maybe he does have some good in him. But you'd have better luck getting a polarbear-dog to speak perfect common tongue than getting any good out of Vaatu.

#ATLA #Avatar #ATLA AU #Avatar AU #ParasiticRaavaAU #This AU is super evil and I have so many different ideas for stories and offshoots.#Like just.#Something about Raava being mean to people(especially Zuko) tickles my id.

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael in the Mainstream: Split

There’s really no dancing around this: Split is a stealth sequel to Unbreakable. It is something that makes so much sense and puts so much of the film’s more absurd moments into context that you might think back and berate yourself for not catching on sooner. But it is a testament to how good this film is that this is actually the only twist, and it is a fairly minor one that enriches the viewing experience and encourages rewatching to pick up on all the tiny details that fall into line with the rules laid out in Unbreakable – a feat Shyamalan hasn’t really achieved since his first two movies.

After having a minor return with The Visit after becoming the butt of jokes in Hollywood for years, Shymalan proved he still had a knack for great filmmaking with this stunning comeback, an intense slowburn thriller with a heavy focus on character development, again calling to mind Unbreakable (it really makes you wonder if that twist was even meant to be one, or if it was just there to drive home the obvious). In a weird way, though, this movie is a lot more fun than Unbreakable was, though not necessarily in its subject matter; the film deals with abuse (physical and sexual), trauma, Disassociative Identity Disorder, kidnapping, hostage situations, and a monstrous entity known only as “The Beast.” Not exactly a lighthearted romp, but it manages to be more entertaining, if not exactly better, than its predecessor on the merit of its lead actor’s multiple performances.

James McAvoy is the MVP here. Portraying Kevin Crumb, a man with 23 split personalities who kidnaps three teenage girls to feed to his secret 24th personality known as “The Beast,” McAvoy faced the task of being able to make each personality portrayed believably distinct. To say he succeeded is a bit of an understatement; each and every one of the split personalities is enjoyably unique, from the prim and proper Patricia to the obsessive-compulsive neat freak Dennis to the creepy and awkward child Hedwig. We don’t get to see all of the personalities of course, with a few being relegated to brief cameos, but the ones we stick with through most of the film are well done and all feel different from each other.

Of course, some would argue the film is tastelessly treading into offensive territory with its depiction of mental illness, with the old and tired cliché of mentally ill people being portrayed as disturbed and violent. I would argue this is not the case; for one, the DID is portrayed relatively realistically, and out of all the personalities, only three or four of them are actually malevolent in any way, with the others just being normal people who happen to inhabit the same body as people like Dennis and Patricia. The fact the film takes place in a superhero universe also helps, as the more fantastic elements are much easier to swallow and any inaccuracies are merely artistic liberties taken. It should also be noted that Kevin’s therapist also repeatedly stresses that she doesn’t view them as awful or monstrous, and genuinely cares about their well-being and wants to help them. What I’m saying is this isn’t a poorly-executed B-movie portrayal of mental illness, and it should not be treated as such, especially as it does not claim to speak for people with DID at large (and if it does it doesn’t demonize them, as Kevin is ultimately a tragic and sympathetic figure to the end).

Anya Taylor-Joy is the other strong element this film offers, as she plays Casey, the only girl out of the three kidnapped who doesn’t lose her cool and is able to assess the situation and figure out how to adapt to what Kevin’s personalities toss her way with ease. The reason for her ability to adapt on the fly is outlined through flashbacks to her childhood interspersed throughout the story, which lead up to some heartwrenching and dark revelations that explain why she is so excellent at surviving situations like this. Frankly I find her performance to be a bit underrated, but it’s also not hard to see why when McAvoy is giving such a powerhouse performance that it tends to overshadow the other players; still, without Taylor-Joy to bounce off of, McAvoy’s performance might have missed that little extra something needed to make it truly great. Either way, both actors do a fantastic job in their roles.

The film’s plot is actually relatively straightforward, which is perhaps the biggest twist Shyamalan could possibly throw at an audience. Of course, that honestly helps the movie, because this film is much more about the characters and the way their experiences have molded them into who they are than it is about building up into some great mystery. And even without the trademark Shyamalan twist, it does have that trademark Shyamalan cinematography, with a lot of great shots and scenes.

There is so much I love about this movie, but one of my absolute favorite things isn’t in the film itself, but an interpretation of the film that was sadly deleted off of the Fridge Brilliance page on TVTropes. The troper’s theory was this:

Some of the events of the film curiously line up quite well with the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles. The lines "Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way," "There were voices down the corridor," "She got a lot of pretty pretty boys that she calls friends," "And still those voices are calling from far away," "We're all just prisoners here of our own device," "And in the Master's chambers they gathered for the feast," and "Last thing I remember, I was running for the door" all stick out. However, the line that takes the cake has to be "They stab it with their steely knives, but they JUST CAN'T KILL THE BEAST."

Frankly I’m not sure this was intentional, but it does add a layer to the movie that makes me enjoy it even more, even if it’s not intended on the part of the Shyamalan. Frankly this is a step up from the unintentional joy The Happening gives me, so I think we can conclude Shyamalan is truly back on track.

Split is an absolutely fantastic film, and easily one of Shyamalan’s best. If you enjoyed Unbreakable, this one is definitely a must-see, and if you just like movies that are very character-driven to begin with, this film will be right up your alley. One can only hope that Glass can live up to this film and the first; it’s obviously doubtful it can surpass, but here’s hoping it can at least settle for being a satisfying conclusion.

#Michael in the Mainstream #review #movie review #M. Night Shyamalan #Split #superhero movie #James McAvoy #Unbreakable

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thebibliomancer · 5 years

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50 More Days of Comics! 26/50: Alpha Flight #89 (1990)

This book’s marketing strategy: “HEY ANYONE LIKE THE ORIGINAL GUARDIAN? ANYONE? OKAY DAMMIT WE HAVE A WOLVERINE FOR YOU PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK! oh and Puck is back if that’s what you’re into…”

I know next to nothing about Alpha Flight.

I really should.

They’re the X-Spinoff that doesn’t put an X in the title. Someone on tvtropes was liveblogging it and I picked up a few unfortunate tidbits from that.

Recently Alpha Flight has gone from being my second favorite Canadian super-team to being Captain Marvel’s space team. Or Earth-orbit team. Since I happen to think, BENDIS, that a space team should be in space.

The bits of Alpha Flight I’ve read with them in this role I’ve liked. Although I can’t help but wonder if Carol just bought the team from Canada.

Anyway, I wish I knew more about the iteration of the team that’s in this book because it has the one-two whammy of being both continuity heavy and snapback heavy. Not only is current continuity a big thing, previous continuity is a big thing because its being returned to. Also part three of a four part story.

Which has several ongoing plot lines.

Eesh.

I know I say this a lot but this is what recap technology was designed for.

So in one plot line, Shaman, Talisman, Aurora, and Sasquatch are searching for their missing teammate Puck, who was taken by the self-titled Master of the World.

And, uh, they find him. He’s been given a kind of gross makeover with exposed veins and tentacle fingers. But they found him alright.

Sasquatch immediately suggests mercy killing Puck because I guess that’s what he jumps to but thanks to Aurora’s “cleansing burst of light” Talisman and Shaman are able to mystically touch his mind and discover what happened.

In a flurry of continuity, Puck was apparently a dwarf but then it was retconned that he was a dwarf because his body had a demon sealed inside it because of magic but he was injured by the Dream Queen but was healed through supernatural means but on Earth his body rejected the magic so he was dying but the Master of the World wanted to test the limits of the human form and also get revenge on Alpha Flight so he secretly had Puck injected with a genetic compound made of former Alpha Flight foe Scramble and a blood sample of Puck taken years ago when he was still a dwarf so the compound reshaped Puck into a dwarf again but did a bad job of it.

Phew!

Comics that are attempting to retcon things in always have too much information per panel.

Anyway, since Sasquatch used to be a biochemist he understood all of that and also poked around in the Master’s computers and discovered that the compound is still in Puck’s system. So with a little bit of reprogramming, Puck could be put back to normal but dwarf normal because that’s when the DNA sample was from, not whatever normal he had been recently. Sssssnapback!

Also, the strain of having his body restructured might kill him but Puck says to go for it.

So Puck is thrown into a science tube and Sasquatch lays down some technobabble that basically amounts to ‘hey y’all Puck will be a dwarf again and this will be permanent, swearsies.’

Just as the process is started, the Master of the World bursts in with his Remnant Men and scolds Alpha Flight for coming in without knocking, very rude, now gtfo and stop touching his things (explicitly including Puck in that).

Master (of the World): “I do not see this as a degradation then, but rather the contrary… I see this as a reaffirmation of my faith… Faith in pain.”

I know the Master (of the World) from two places: Carol Danvers shanking him during Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run and his run-in with the new Champions where he was rebuilding the melting glaciers by using human suffering. Or something. It’s a bit unclear.

Anyway, he’s a creepus and he’s sending his creeper army to attack the present Alpha Flighters.

But thankfully, just as they’re getting overwhelmed, Puck bursts healed, naked, and spread legged from the science tube with a convenient splash of censoring water.

Puck: “I’m back, eh? Now let’s make short work of this loser!!”

He gets to make short jokes.

Anyway, that’s the end of this plot thread in this issue but if Puck isn’t kicking the Master’s ass while bareassed in the next issue, comics as a medium have failed forever.

In the second plot thread, Vindicator and Wolverine are trying to track down someone named Wild Child who broke out of jail.

Wolverine manages to track Wild Child down to a run down Roxxon gas station bathroom and squats by the toilet to get some good whiffs (which most be horrible with his enhanced sense of smell) and determines that Gamma Flight was here with Wild Child.

Which presents a problem as Gamma Flight is a team and Wolverine and Vindicator are two people.

Vindicator: “Are we up against all of Gamma Flight?”

Wolverine: “Yup. Gotta give ‘em credit fer stickin’ together through this.”

Vindicator: “Credit? They were formed for all the wrong reasons and disbanded for all the right ones. Oh, what am I getting so upset for? I’m so tired – of everything… Why has this team become such a mess? Why am I doing all of this?”

But Wolverine believes in the him that believes in her, or something, and they continue on. At the very least, punching some people will be cathartic. Which I believe is at least 50% of how superheroes work.

Four hours later, they track Gamma Flight down to an abandoned factory. Wolverine immediately leaps into an ambush that he probably suspects is an ambush to force the issue and maybe as an application to the Teen Titans who never met a trap they didn’t waltz into.

Anyway, things get chaotic and incomprehensible for a bit, befitting an ambush. But Team Wolverine and Vindicator Is There Too handle the ambush with something resembling aplomb and when its over Gamma Flight lines up in a row so we can get a team shot and their leader Nemesis (who looks like a Lady Deadpool with a cape) monologues.

Nemesis: “Hello, Vindicator… Wolverine… What is it exactly that you’re looking for besides your own funeral? I hope it’s not Wild Child. I hope you don’t expect us to give him up after all the trouble we went through breaking him out of prison. Because if that’s the case then you’re going to have to answer to us. GAMMA FLIGHT – protects their own!”

Vindicator’s response? “I’m not going to disappoint you, Nemesis. We are here for Wildchild. And we’re going to get him… even if we have to roll over each and every one of you idiots to do it!”

Way to be outnumbered nearly two to one with also aplomb, Vindicator. But as appears to be the trend, if twice is a pattern which it probably is, we don’t get the fight this issue. That’s next issue’s deal.

There’s a loose page that roughly fits into this plot thread. Northstar and Persuasion (a daughter of Purple Man trying to be not a dick like him) are watching their friend Laura in the hospital. Laura was hurt badly by Wild Child which I guess explains why Vindicator is cruising to bruise him.

And Persuasion is sad because not only is her friend hurt but her stupid mind control powers couldn’t do anything to help her only friend.

And Laura is in bad condition. She’s lost a lot of blood and needs a new kidney.

But for arbitrary reasons, even though Laura is O-positive, because she’s a mutant she has weird blood and they need compatible family blood. But Laura sent her only known family, her sister Goblyn, to another dimension. For her own good.

JUST THEN, people claiming to be her parents walk in and ask if they’d be a suitable match. DUN DUN DUN! Dramaaaaaa!

And in tonight’s final plot thread, as the cover promised, the weird return of the original Guardian. His death was apparently one of the earliest big events of the book, happening in issue 12.

So why is he coming back after 77 issues and two in-universe years? God only knows but this is a hard snapback. And this is a hell of a retcon.

They played at bringing Guardian back before. For Reasons, in issues 25-28 per the editorial captions, a robot disguised itself as Guardian and claimed that the explosion that killed him had ripped a hole in time-space and threw Guardian through it. And that he was then saved by aliens and sent back to Earth and had to sleep for ten thousand years during the voyage.

Obviously, this was all a lie.

Samuel Higgins, Roxxon guy: “Ahem. Yes, well. A lie. Hmm. Ahem… well… that crazy story that the robot came up with? About Hudson getting thrust back in time and waking up on Jupiter’s moon – Ganymede – then sleeping cryogenically and getting sent on a spaceship back to Earth? That crazy, whacky, kooky story? Well… it was all true.”

I mean, that’s one way to do it. I wouldn’t personally but it is one way.

Once you start getting into “the lie was a lie!” territory you’ve convoluted a book up fierce. See also: Spider-Man’s Clone Sage 2: This Time Its 90s And Nobody Knows What They’re Doing.

Forge is on scene with Roxxon guy Windshear and Alpha Flighters Box and Diamond Lil and I think Forge puts it best.

Forge: “In this business, death has a habit of making a liar out of the truth.”

Anyway, the not-dead James Hudson aka Guardian is wired up underneath a Roxxon research facility and he’s putting out potent hacking waves that are causing the mechanisms of the facility to go haywire and attack people. And also causing Box to malfunction because he’s a guy in a suit who is a suit. Or something.

I’m not entirely sure. But he fuses with Forge so that Forge can override the hacking and reconfigure the Box suit to overcome Hudson’s various stratagems.

And with enough technobabble, it works! They close in on James Hudson’s cybernetic weirdly crucifix posed nearly naked body.

A lot of beefcake in this comic for people into that.

Box (Madison Jeffries) separates from Forge and attempts to monologue Hudson back to his senses.

Box: “Hudson – Jamie – it’s me – Madison Jeffries – you remember, right? You got me outta the V.A. hospital – told me what had happened in ‘Nam was cool – told me that sometimes things hit the fan and that’s the way it is. Well, I’m here t’tell you the same thing, Jamie.

“Mac – wake up, man! You’re messing things up bigtime here! C’mon – remember who you were – are – ‘member when you recruited me for Department H – I was only in Beta an’ you loved havin’ me hang around – cos’ we had one thing in common – we both loved machines… Guess we both took it sorta to extremes don’tchu think? Well, guess what? We have somethin’ else in common now… maybe we took that to extremes, too…

“Heather. Remember Heather? Yeah. I see your mental imaging. That’s how she looked when you first met her, eh? She looks so young, man… So innocent… beautiful… Uhm… I think I love her, too, now, Mac. She’s a special lady. She never gave up on yer dream when we though you’d died. She kept Alpha Flight goin’ – no matter how rough it got – all ‘cos o’ her faith and belief in your dream, Jamie – in you…”

And being reminded of his wife in short shorts and/or emotional appeal works because Hudson comes out from his stupor and tearfully and droolfully proclaims that he is alive!

Awww. I still don’t know who was clamoring for this character to be returned after so many issues but I’m a sucker for a big in-universe emotional appeal.

Still though. Trying to retcon the book back into shape is not a good environment to attract new readers.

But speaking of sexy Heather, she was drawn with nipple poking through her Vindicator costume in several panels so I’m going to side eye Michael Bair and Mike Manley super hard. It may be a spandex costume but there’s like twelve pounds of circuitry underneath, geez.

Though I guess they also gave the reader Puck lunging crotch first at the reader and Hudson hanging out in only his underwear. So an Attempt Was Made to be fair-handed, I guess?

#50 More Days of Comics!#Alpha Flight #guest starring Wolverine

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96percentdone · 7 years

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imaginepartybabyz

“someone ask me for viktuuri fic recs so I can just get this post out...”

hey skylar give us... the good reccomendations for the good content I LONG for it...

@imaginepartybabyz Y’know half the reason I wanted to make this post is because of your fics. I can’t rec your own fics to you Noa. It doesn’t work out.

I’m gonna try to keep the super popular fics everyone and their mother has already read off the list. Y’know the ones that show up every fic rec. Anyway let’s begin. Under the cut!

Finished Fics:

Masks off by emulikule “And so the story goes that a playboy comes to a town, makes it fall in love with him and then proceeds to get himself enticed by the most mysterious person there. Wait... did it really go like that?” Alright so I am weak for stories where a character loves two people, and it looks like a love triangle, but those two people are actually just the same fuckin person and they have a secret identity or some shit. It’s why I like Miraculous Ladybug. This fic??? It has that. Also it has fucking masquerades. It’s great.

Lifetime Record by futuresoon “Victor Nikiforov is a lot of things: a celebrity, a genius, the world's greatest men's figure skater, the object of Yuuri Katsuki's idolization. He's also been dead for twenty years. When Yuuri returns home in search of something to inspire him to get back into skating, what he finds is someone eager to help, unconventional, and incredibly, desperately lonely.” So I don’t typically like ghost fics because the concept of them makes me depressed. (”They can’t be together really if one of them is dead!!”) But I read this one anyway. Because. it was on the tvtropes fic rec page and didn’t contain garbage, and I have no regrets. Listen if you’re afraid of an unhappy ending. Don’t be. I hate tragedies. I would not rec this if it was one. Believe me. It’s an emotional ride.

lie to make me like you by cityboys “It’s become a game, of sorts, to anyone privy to the fact that the pattern exists in the first place: ask Victor out at the beginning of the month, date for however many days, and wait for the end to come and for Victor to say, always: I couldn’t fall in love with you. Let’s break up.” Now the truth is I really could rec all of cityboys fics because they’re all works of art but I told myself to just pick one so this list doesn’t end up 90% them. And this fic. Let me tell you. It’s fucking beautiful. I think the most wonderful aspect of this fic is there’s tension, but there isn’t like extreme angst. The climax of the fic isn’t incredibly stressful, even when there is build up to it. I think it’s truly wonderful. Also this fic singlehandedly got ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” stuck in my head forever.

Impostor Syndrome by renaissance “At some point, most people with a childhood crush will imagine meeting their idol, and might even pretend that they're dating. This is the story of how Yuuri Katsuki meets his childhood crush, and how they pretend that they're dating.” Alright we need one fake dating AU on here and this is it. This is peak fake dating AU. It doesn’t get any better than this. Everyone else go home. No but seriously this fuckin fake dating AU. has just so much going for it. At the start it seems pretty standard, but the way it develops. HOly shit. Just. Just read it.

not gold like in your dreams by ebenroot ““Victor, you could have let some psychopath into your apartment.” “Oh come on, he’s not a psychopath,” Victor chides.Christophe makes a gesture with his hand that says ‘are you seriously this naïve or are you drunk at work again?’. “Victor, you don’t know that. You don’t know anything about him. Whose name am I going to give to the police or face I’m going to describe to the sketch artist when they find your body chopped up like Hannibal Lecter’s side dish? ”-- in which Victor and Yuuri are roommates and Yuuri has a secret“ So this. Is a Penelope AU. AKA a movie I never watched, which should be a testament to how good this fucking fic is because damn. Like. You don’t have to see this movie just read this fic. It works fucking perfectly. Yuuri is constantly hiding his face in Viktor’s apartment and doesn’t give his full name, and Viktor is like “this is kinda sketchy but it’s fine” and then romance. I just made this sound so much worse than it is but listen. I was emotional. I felt things. I don’t always feel things but I felt them here. Just read it.

And Miles to Go Before I Sleep by Orchids_and_Fictional_Cities “Katsuki Yuuri has been cursed to spread misery and grief to those who dare to come close to him. Viktor Nikiforov has been sentenced to wander the earth, unable to die, granting wishes to mortals in the hopes that one of them might give his life meaning in exchange. They meet in a tempest of April snow.“ So I just binge read this all in one go. Okay first. it has gorgeous art. Holy shit. Yes. There’s art. And second. This story. The world it built. The atmosphere. The emotions. That fucking beautiful ending. Oh my god. four chapters of just. perfection. Please. Just. Please. Read this.

Waiting for the Rain by trashy_cas “In which Katsuki Yuuri meets a stranger who also enjoys frequenting empty parks on rainy mornings. Garden of Words AU“ Here’s another fic based on a movie I haven’t seen, and also won’t see because. eww. Creepy age gap. The creepy age gap is obviously not in this fic. I would not put it here if it was. No this fic is just a wonderful atmospheric experience. It really captures that rainy garden mood throughout and when it ends...it feels a little bit like the skies cleared up and the sun shines again. It’s just beautiful.

Ongoing:

don't want to be lonely (just want to be yours) by Linisy “This time the flesh and blood Yuuri wasn't around to distract him, and he watched the video intently, hypnotized by the swing of Yuuri’s hips, the look in his eyes that burned with intensity and the strong, confident line of his shoulders. Yuuri was, as always, breathtaking. Victor remembered their first meeting well. Yuuri was the last member to join the group. He was soft spoken, and he stood as if he were trying to make himself smaller, shoulders drawn inward, head tilted toward the ground, glasses slipping off his nose. Victor was surprised to hear that he was the second oldest behind Victor himself. Everything changed the first time he saw him dance. - Vitya, Katsu, Yura, Beka and Chu make up the top idol group SVD. They've been through hell together, living in their tiny dorm and working toward the day they'd finally hit it big. That day has finally come, but sometime over the course of the past three years, Victor has fallen in love with Yuuri Katsuki.” Okay so this fic has just started, and it’s an idol AU, but don’t let that turn you away because it’s masterful. It covers like five different POVs and all of them are so distinct. You can really feel the character they switch to. It has so much potential.

Lullaby of Birdland by Orchids_and_Fictional_Cities “In another world, their story might have started with ‘Hi there’, or ‘Lovely sky tonight’, or ‘Hello, stranger’. Or perhaps something less cliché, something like: ‘A commemorative photo? Sure thing! ’But in this one, it starts with an electric blue cocktail, the taste of smoke in the air. And: “You have really talented, um. Fingers.” --- Yuuri makes music with his body. Victor makes music because that's all he knows. (Or: After his poor performance at the Grand Prix Final, Yuuri is weary but not broken, and decides to give it one last shot. Victor plays piano three nights a week at a small jazz bar near the Detroit Skating Club, and does his best to get by.)” This fic has this one really clever plot point I can’t tell you because spoilers. But I think about it all the time. And you will too probably!! If you read it. I don’t even like jazz but this fic made me like jazz. Also. The feelings are real. The feelings are real and it’s got the atmosphere of a Jazz Club. Fitting considering.

On Ice, Yuri!!! by octothorpe “Russia’s rising star, Victor Nikiforov, age twenty-three, has just finished his first Grand Prix Final and is gearing up for Serious Training for the next season. Russia’s rising star, Victor Nikiforov, age twenty-three, is currently standing naked in the Yu-Topia onsen, back arched, silver hair flowing, with one arm outstretched toward a very bewildered Yuuri Katsuki.“Yuuri! Hi!” OR The weirdly-canon-but-not-really Reverse AU.“ This is the only reverse AU that matters. Okay. Every other AU was weird in some way, but this one feels...accurate. To everyone. Also it doesn’t feel gross. So there’s that. Everyone feels true to themselves, and it’s “weirdly canon” like they said, so this fic really does feel like the most accurate version of this AU there could be. Everyone is so IC. It’s beautiful.

Rhapsody by FigureSgayts “He's been a star from the beginning. Both of his parents, Yakov, and all those around him, everybody who has seen him skate, knows it. Viktor, however, continues to see himself as nothing but a potential rising star. After all, he's only sixteen and is just making his senior debut. He can't be as good as everybody seems to be making him out to be, ignoring the small (large) collection of gold medals that he has. As such, all he wants to do is focus on improving and living up to the expectations thrown at him on and off the ice. However, only a few months before the start of his first senior Grand Prix series, a sharp blue smears itself right above his clavicle. Only in his dreams can it be bruise. The late appearance of a soulmark is enough to knock Viktor a little off balance mentally. This isn't to say that Viktor will reject his soulmate. In fact, he's willing to go above and beyond to do all he can for whoever they may be, but first, he's going to claw his way to the top. If everybody expects him to be a star, then so be it. He'll be the star that they want, and once he's at the top, nobody will be able to stop him from giving his all to whoever shares his mark. After all, he is Viktor Nikiforov.” It’s a soulmate AU. But it’s also a Viktor backstory fic. AKA it’s a fucking win win y’all. It has everything you could ever want probably. Warning though Viktor is kinda an oblivious dingus at times and you’ll want to just. argh. Viktor please. But listen it’s really good at super worth it okay.

The Coin, The Stone & The Rose by Silver_Scribbles “Crown Prince Viktor Nikiforov once had the world at his fingertips; he was rich and powerful and handsome, and he had everything his heart desired. Now, he is a Beast, imprisoned by an Enchantress' spell; hiding away from the world in the never-ending winter of his shame. Katsuki Yuuri is . . . odd, to say the least. Beautiful, but odd. While the rest of the villagers put one foot firmly in front of the other, Yuuri would rather loose himself to his dancing and his daydreams; always wishing for something more than his provincial life. Each is captive to circumstances beyond their control; trapped by unbreakable spells and impossible dreams. However, an unlikely meeting is about to change everything. Hope makes a final play for their salvation as the sands of time run out; but as Yuuri and Viktor learn to find themselves in one another, they also make discoveries that they're completely unprepared for . . . some wondrous, some wretched . . . and some treacherous enough to permanently tear them apart. For who could ever learn to love a Beast?“ Fuckin I don’t like beauty and the beast as like. a movie. And everyone who’s tried this AU up until this fic was doing it wrong with all the bad things about the movie. But this fic!!!! It takes the basic premise (a prince turned into a beast that can only be saved by true love) and keeps everyone in character. No fucking uncontrollable rage outbursts from Viktor. Everyone is just how they should be, and there’s none of the fucking Bad tropes that were in the original movie. It’s basically what the movie should have been. Basically.

This Conversation by RedTwice “Somewhere along his journey to share himself with the world, Yuuri finds himself travelling to Detroit to train with the world-renowned ice skating coach Celestino Cialdini. There’s just one small problem: Christophe Giacometti’s coach has retired earlier than anyone expected, leading the young skater to Celestino’s door as another full-time student. Yuuri slowly befriends Christophe as they train for the senior circuits together, and finds that this friendship is bringing out parts of himself he never expected to find, for better or worse. Or: Christophe joins Yuuri in Detroit from the beginning, and leads Yuuri down a six-year-long path of self-discovery.“ Do you want a fic where Chris and Yuuri are friends. Do you. Because. This is that fic. The viktuuri hasn’t happened yet but it will, but listen, if you also want that good friendship content. Read this. Read it. Just do it. Just. Read.

Trade Your Heroes For Ghosts by Naamah_Beherit “Having endured what was probably the worst day of his life followed by a night he does not remember, Yuuri wakes up with a hangover of the century and a desperate plea for the world to forget about his existence. Alas, the world has other plans. So does a certain Russian skater.“ Okay so like. Here’s a great canon divergence AU where Yuuri finds out immediately about the banquet. ANd it’s just. wonderful. it’s just great. Listen. Listen okay secretly all of you have wanted this. I know. I understand. But listen. It’s here okay. You can read it. It’s super good. It makes you feel good inside. All kinds of feelings. Don’t you like feelings? no probably not BUT THEY’RE GOOD FEELINGS.

And finally, everything by komagayda. (Yes Noa. It’s your turn). Everything he write is IC, and while they’re all “weird AUs” don’t we all need weird AUs? Yes. Yes we do. The workings of the worlds he’s built are so fascinating and fun, and the super accurate characterization just brings everything to life. It’s beautiful. ALso. mlm fics written by an actual mlm???? it’s more likely than you think. I couldn’t pick one fic like I did for cityboys because I’d feel like a fucking liar. And I didn’t want this to also be even longer with every single fic. So we’re just gonna do this all at once kids. It’s great. Noa is a great author. 100000000000/10. Get on reading his shit.

And there you go. Enjoy the good content. Your welcome.

#imaginepartybabyz #all these fics and authors are safe #there were other fics #but the others fics were by authors who don't always write like #tumblr pure content #and the like #and I don't feel like dealing with that backlash right now #if you want more I can give you those too #just #probably in private

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welcometohellfilm · 7 years

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(please bear with me) Okay, so, I'm a 15 year old freshman in highschool, and I've wanting to create some sort of series, whether it be a comic, or something else for a few years. I haven't too serious about it, but after one my of my friends showed me your video, for some reason, i was especially inspired. Now, I already have one character... but that's all i got. How did you come up with the things in your film? And did you ever experience "writer's block"? and if so, how did you deal with it?

No worries dude! So okay, I’m gonna’ be honest, when I read this, I was hit with such a weird mix of, like, “god this is literally impossible to answer”, and “man I remember feeling that way when I was 15″. So I guess the best thing I could do is elaborate.

I 100% absolutely know the feeling of “I want to create some sort of series.” Cause that’s the thing right? You don��t always know what you want it to be about, or what format you want (comic, animation, etc), you just know that you want to be known as an artist who is creating an on-going series. But maybe you have some vague ideas about scenes that you want to happen. Maybe you have an idea of the kind of relationships you want to portray. Maybe you have some lines of dialogue or a couple jokes. In this case, you even have a character! Which is great! Now you’re really eager to get started!

I had a bunch of vague ideas like that. I had characters I wanted to use for a story, but didn’t know what their story was. Sometimes I’d try and start a comic; I’d start to try and tell their story… but I would get a few pages in and give up, because I realized that I didn’t actually know where it was going, and so the characters would get kind of goofy and I’d try and pass it off as a lazy meta joke. There’d be some Ambiguous Shadowy Figures™ running the Evil Science Laboratory™ that my Main Character Bishounen Boy With Wings For Some Reason™ had escaped from. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, I was just really excited to draw a pretty anime boy with angel wings.

I jumped right in to making comics like this maybe… 4 or 5 times? And every time went roughly the same. Looking back now, I couldn’t tell you the characters’ names, or what half of them looked like. I wasn’t even being facetious about the winged anime boy; that was a literal, actual comic I tried to draw in 6th grade, and I had completely forgotten about it until just now as I’m typing this. You’re probably going to have a lot of ideas like that. You might see characters come and go who never really get a story. That’s going to be part of your journey as a storyteller. Maybe your series won’t fizzle out after a few pages of bullshit like mine did (in fact I can already tell you’re more cautious than I ever was, because you’re aware of your situation and asking for advice… that’s another reason I’m so compelled to answer this ask; when I was your age the internet was different; social networking platforms weren’t a thing and I didn’t have a way to contact artists I looked up to and ask for advice, so the least I can do is try and fill that role now. This is a whole ‘nother topic, but TO GET BACK TO IT) I’m here to tell you that, IF IT DOES, don’t sweat it. You will get better at writing, you will get better at creating characters, and, god-willing, you will surely have better ideas than Pretty Anime Boy With Wings™.

Now, to move on to the part that’s (hopefully) actually helpful.

You used two phrases that I find interesting. I already mentioned the first one, “some sort of series”, but the other one I’m zoning in on is “How did you come up with the things in your film?” I want you to know that I’m by no means trying to talk down to you here, because this is actually a very straightforward way of asking something you might not have all of the right vocabulary for yet, but I take it what you’re asking is “how do you tell a story?”. If the first few paragraphs I wrote correspond with “man I remember feeling that way when I was 15”, then these next ones are gonna’ be the “god this is literally impossible to answer” part, and I’m just gonna’ go ahead and apologize for that right up front, man! Haha.

See, because that’s SUCH a huge question�� that’s the part that I still struggle with. That’s the part I said you’ll get better and better at over time—and you will—but I think it’s something you’ll always be learning to get better at. I went to visit my family for the holidays and I borrowed a book to read on the plane: Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee. I only got a couple chapters in before I remembered that I get motion-sick like a motherfucker and had to stop, but even in a few chapters I learned some new things. You will constantly be learning and growing and bettering your skills, so don’t forget that!

There are lots of ways to tell stories, because there’s lots of different kinds of stories to tell. Some methods work better than others. I would suggest finding some things you like and making note of how they function… really dig in to them. Maybe when you were a kid you took a clicky pen apart to see how it worked and then put it back together. Try doing the same with the media you consume. Not to turn into a cynic or anything, just out of curiosity to learn what makes it tick. Think of it as STUDYING the comics and shows and movies you like.

Since you’re asking me, I’ll use Welcome to Hell as an example to try and give you some things to think about. I consider W2H to be character-driven; the character’s actions are what moves the story forward, the characters aren’t being forced to act because of the story. There’s nothing wrong with either method, of course, it just depends on what you’d like to do. Maybe since you already have a character, you can find a way for them to drive the story. What do they want? How will they get it? What’s stopping them? Is their conflict internal or external? I think Sock has two wants: he wants to kill stuff, and he wants to be Jonathan’s friend. What’s stopping him is that his two wants conflict with each other (an internal conflict), and also that his boss is the devil and there may be repercussions if he slips up (an external conflict). Characters don’t have to have an internal and external conflict, and they don’t have to have two wants—in fact that’s actually a little convoluted—but I’m just using it as an example.

Another useful thing to think about when telling a story is the structure. From Wikipedia: “Narrative structure is about STORY and PLOT: the content of a story and the form used to tell the story. STORY refers to the dramatic action as it might be described in chronological order. PLOT refers to how the story is told. STORY is about trying to determine the key conflicts, main characters, setting and events. PLOT is about how, and at what stages, the key conflicts are set up and resolved”

There are also different categories of narrative structure. W2H is basically a linear narrative, for example. It does technically start at the end and then explain how we got there, but the majority of the story is told in chronological order. The reason it starts at the end is because I wanted to establish Sock and Jonathan’s relationship and the tone of the story right off the bat. I thought it might be too confusing to start the story with Sock murdering his parents and then have it turn into a buddy-comedy half way through. So I started it on a scene where they already know each other and have an established dynamic. I also think starting it there creates a bit of intrigue: “why is this kid phasing through a fridge? What the fuck is happening? What is his job? What the FUCK is his job??? SHHH!!—The unreliable narrator is about to explain it!”.

There are literally TONSSSSS of aspects to think about when writing a story, and it’d be impossible for me to go through all of them, but hopefully this will be helpful for you to get started. If I were you, in addition to studying the stories you like, I would do some research and reading online. You can always google terms like “storytelling 101”, “narrative structure”, “writing characters”, etc. One of my favorite resources to read through was always (and still is) TVTROPES. It’s like a wiki for the tips and tricks of telling stories… I used to spend HOURS just getting lost in that site, clicking on different articles and finally learning that there were TERMS for the kind of things I constantly think about. Very invaluable resource.

And now, for the last part of your question, unfortunately, “writer’s block” is something that will never go away, haha. There are ways to get through it, for sure. Sometimes I’ll read TVtropes a bit if I’m really hellbent on figuring something out. Other times I’ll just take a break to draw a little bit because I think my thoughts form more coherently and naturally when I’m drawing. You might find different things that work for you!

IN CONCLUSION: If you want to create some sort of series and tell some kind of story, just work towards getting good at it. If you try to start a couple comics and they don’t pan out, it’s no big deal, because even making something unsuccessful is an act of learning how to get better at it. You said you haven’t been too serious about it until recently, and that’s fine too, because being serious about it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and create a successful series right this moment, it can mean just striving for that goal and bettering your craft. You have plenty of time to grow into an amazing artist and make all kinds of kick-ass stories, so always hang on to your drive to keep creating things!

Oh! And just a fun fact: I think I first started having the vague ideas that would develop into W2H when I was, what, 17-18? ish? I tried making it into a comic when I was maybe 21… and I made the film when I was, I don’t know, 24? I’m 28 right now. So that’s something to keep in mind: good shit takes time! You’ll probably have a lot of ideas come and go, but if something sticks with you for 10 years, there’s a good chance it’s worth bringing to fruition. There’s definitely no rush to develop something you really care about.

BONUS:

Here is a previous ask i’ve answered about storytelling tips!And here is another one!

You can also search my blog for “art advice”, “story”, “writing”, “character”, “animation”, etc., + “ask” to see if I might’ve answered anything else that would be helpful. I don’t have specific tags, but I do try to tag everything. You can also try “resources” or “important film stuff” to see things I’ve reblogged that aren’t my own advice.

Hope you found some of this helpful! Best of luck!

#this is the post I was angry about losing last night #I spent 3 and a half hours typing this shit #I hope to GOD it helps #slfklajjd #ask #personal #story #storytelling #advice #art advice #lazilydeepcoffee

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and-writesy · 7 years

Text

Character Building: High School Edition

Before I even begin, I’ll have to apologize for the eventual misspelled words or grammatical errors. I might be fluent in English, but it is still not my mother language and I’m prone to mistakes. Thank you for understanding.

Also, I use a lot of foul language.

If you wish to skip over the unimportant parts, read the first paragraph in bold.

Now, character creation, eh? Might seem like a big deal, but for people like me, who come up with characters sketches even before they belong in an actual story, it is not. I find it easy to create new characters and explore them until I can fully understand them.

At first, I admit I had some trouble with finding out exactly what was the best way to explore my characters in depth, without risking to leave any important detail out. I tried characters sheets, those with lots and lots of questions, but it didn't work out for me because there were lots of questions I didn't have an answer to. Not because I did not know my characters, but because I did not want to get so personal with them, and that stressed the fuck out of me. The fact that I couldn't answer questions such as what their blood type was or who was their first crush, made me overlook the important aspects, the ones related to their story.

And then I understood what I was doing wrong. Instead of trying to understand my character using a three hounded question sheet, I needed something more specific, more fit to the story I wanted to write.

For example, if I’m writing about an evil witch trying to conquer a kingdom, I don’t give a shit about her blood type or first crush, but I do need to know what can she do with those magic power of hers. I have to explore that because that is what matters to the story. If I’m writing a romance between two dorky companions, it would be a good idea to explore their romantic background a little. Therefore, the first crush/first kiss/first blowjob part might come in handy. If I’m writing about a brave crime fighter who happens to be a spoonie, I might need to know his blood type and so on...

After I finally understood this, I tried to trim the sheets to a shape I thought to be more fitting, but it still didn’t work out. It felt like the question and answer form didn’t do me any justice, so I began looking for something else.

Then it clicked. High school. Now, you might think what the fuck but let me tell you, high school help me shape my writing a great deal. I am not familiar with how secondary school works outside my country, being from Eastern Europe, but all the apparent nonsense I have to learn really helps me.

Particularly two subjects, literature and psychology, both mandatory.

When studying and literary work (I’d take Hamlet for this example) we get an assignment that sound something like: Write a complete characterization of the character Hamlet from the literary work with the same name by William Shakespeare. And then the length limit I really hate.

I’ll repeat myself, I am not familiar with any other school system besides the Eastern European one, so if any task I talk about here might seem odd to you, it is purely because the school system you, dear reader, have gone through is different from mine. Because of that, I’ll explain everything in depth.

Now, what does a complete characterization mean? Well, the simplest way of saying is: you talk about your character. Of course there is a list you have to go through in order to meet the assignment that I have adapted a little bit in order to fulfill my needs as a writer.

First, you have to establish what role does the character play in your story. Are they a main character or a supporting one? Are they presented as individuals or a collective? Are they real, imaginary or symbolic?

Next one deals with the character’s social and professional status. You might ask questions such as: What is their profession? Their social status? Are they married? Do they have any children? etc. Basically, think of your character for an official viewpoint and present their status without any emotion involved.

Now it’s the fun part, the character’s physical traits. Everyone does this differently so I doubt there is any point in developing this part more.

This part I call past-present. Basically, develop your character’s history a little bit. Just enough to work in the story frame. If you feel like you need four pages dealing with everything from the manner they were born in to their last day before the actual story begins, go for it. If you feel like you need no more than a paragraph to get to understand your character’s past, that’s great. Everybody works differently and there is no right way to do it. For the present part, you have to give a little overview of the story from the character’s point of view. For short, summarize your story but make it around the character you’re working with. It doesn't even have to be a summary, it can expand as much as you need it to. What is very important here is to clearly understand your character’s goals through the story.

Think a little about your character’s general behavior, speech and personality. Initially, I wanted to skip over this, because the next part of this post deal with them more, but if you want all in one tidy place, go for it.

Now, we understand a little bit about or character. We know what role they play in the story, we know a little about their professional and social status, their appearance and how they go through the story. Now what?

Now comes the tricky part. It took me some time to integrate this part in my character creation process because it is sort of hard to figure it out in the context of a story that is not yet written, but if you can get over this it serves not only as a part of the character creation, but it helps a great deal with plotting and the actual writing.

(this should be six, but tumblr won’t work with me) Establish how your character is viewed from: the author’s point of view, other characters’ point of view and their point of view. If you want to skip over this you can, but it certainly helps getting to know this character based on what other know and think about them.

Describe your character’s relationship with other significant characters of the story. This does not refer exclusively to family relations or relationships, but rather, it is a continuation of the previous point. Try and understand how your characters behaves around others, how is he influenced by them, what they think of them and to the same for other characters regarding the one you’re working it.

Finally, and totally optional by the way, I’d suggest trying to fit your character in a certain typology. It might be used as a reference when you’re out of ideas and it can shape them even more. Your character can be the classic guy, the very romantic idealist, a symbol for a cause and so on. If you prefer a more modern take on it, I’d suggest this page on tvtropes.

Phew, that was a lot.

It took me a while to integrate all of this into my character creation and development routine, but once I've got it, it saved me from a lot of trouble. Now, when I want to really get to know a character, I follow this checklist and write between three to five thousands words for the main characters and one thousand five hundred to three thousand for the supporting one. Of course, you can write as little or as much you want or need to. As I previously said, there is no right way to do this.

Soooo, we have a thing now. We write a school type of essay to get to know our characters and their status in the story, and this is great, truly, but ... something is missing. If you look again at point five, we barely know anything about our guy’s mind patterns, about their behavior and personality.

At first, I used to integrate all of this in the main document, and it did work pretty well. You can do it if you want to.

However, last year I took psychology and at the end of the year we were given an assignment that required us to use most of the things we learned, and it was fun. I got a max on it and because I was given no limit, I really went for it, writing six full pages (this might hardly seemed a lot, but the average assignment was a page and a half, so yeah...)

What was this about? Take a literary character and using the checklist, make up their psychological profile.

For those yo did not take psychology in high school, do not worry, It is rather simple and a lot of fun.

I’ll go on and post the checklist with a few explanations.

A brief introduction of the literary work and the character’s status in it. We won’t need that, because we have previously made a full essay regarding this.

The character’s temperament. For this we used Hippocrates’ four temperament types (link to simple English wikipedia because nobody wants to read that much) and it was good enough for me because of how clear the differences between the temperaments were, but there are many other classifications of the human temperament you can use. You can always research a little bit and find what works for you.

The character’s general abilities and creativity. Here you have to explore your character’s abilities—not necessarily talents, but things they’re good at. Maybe they can talk to people or their pancakes are the best in the world. Anything counts. For the creativity part, it is quite simple, you have to establish just how creative your character is and in what fields can they express this creativity, if they even do.

The character’s intelligence. This part does not refer to their IQ, but rather to the various types of intelligence they posses. Try and think about their logical-mathematical intelligence, intra-personal and interpersonal, musical, linguistic, existential and so on. I tend to focus more on the type of intelligence is the most obvious on them and on the intra-personal and interpersonal ones.

The character’s personality traits. This one is linked to the temperament, so if you have already established in what category your character falls and researched a little bit, it would be easy peasy to shape their personality. For this I remember I used a personality profile I've found in the psychology book. I don’t have the book anymore, but the closes thing I could find is...

... the Myers-Briggs Personality Test. Yes, I know this test is crap and extremely inaccurate, but doing it form the perspective of your character can be a lot of fun and help you understand how they might react in certain situations.

So I did this assignment in which I wrote about Laura from J.S. Le Fanu’s Carmilla and I enjoyed it lots. I figured out I might use this technique for my original characters as well and it is amazing and comes as complementary to the first essay.

To summarize:

Write abut the technical stuff: Your character’s role in your story, their social and professional status, their history, goals and motivation and relationships with other characters.

Create a psychological profile for your character: talk about their temperament, abilities, creativity, types of intelligence and personality traits.

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