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mrmaybank · 1 year

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Fandom: DC, MCU

Title: Did She Run Away?

Series: Wheres My Love (2/??)

Character(s): Peter Parker, The avengers, Talia Al Ghul, Connor Kent, Jon Kent

Request: No

Genre: Fluff, Angst

TW: None

A/N: Reader used to be superman’s sidekick . When I through New York in here, if y’all didn’t expect this to be a DC, Marvel cross over idk what to say

Key:

(Y/S/N) = Your superhero name

(N/N) = Nickname

(S/W) = signature weapon

Masterlist

December 1st, 2019

Almost two years that’s how long you had been here, in New York city. You were living with your friend Peter Parker and his aunt May. It had hit the news quickly that (Y/S/N) had moved from crime fighting in Gotham, Bludhaven, and Metropolis. To fighting crime in New York city, you hadn’t had a run in with the avengers, the rip off justice league as you called them, or heroes that were affiliated with them yet.

That would change tonight though. Since you decided to suit up about two months into your stay into New York, you had only gone after minor thugs. Which you found patrolling, which you were doing at the moment. When a familiar spider-boy who wore bright red decided you need company.

He swung down landing in front of you, before he could say anything you spoke. “What you want?” You asked.

“I thought you would like some company,” he replied, he stuck out his hand. “Spiderman,” he told you.

You rolled your eyes before taking his hand, “(Y/S/N),” You replied. You two began talking for awhile, getting to each other without revealing anything about your secret identities. You too had moved so you were sitting on the side of building with your legs dangling off the edge.

“So what’s it like working for superman?” He asked.

You shook your head, “I didn’t work for him, sure I was his sidekick but there no power dynamic. I would boss him around sometimes, he would do the same to me. He’s my mentor but he was also so much more then that,” You replied.

He placed a hand on your shoulder, “It must have been hard leaving. I don’t what I would do if I had to leave behind black widow or Iron man,” You gave him a sad smile, and nodded.

“Why’d you leave?” He asked. You froze, you hadn’t told anyone not Peter not May. The only people who knew were the ones back in Gotham and Metropolis. He must have noticed your reaction to the question because he quickly told you, that you didn’t have to tell him.

“No, I’ll tell you. It’s fine,” you replied.

“You sure? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,”

“It’s fine,” you assured him, you took a deep breathe. “My robin died,” you told him.

He tilted his head much like a confused puppy would, “Huh? Your bird died?” He asked.

You laughed and shook your head, “No, Batman’s sidekicks are called Robins. Mine died, he was killed by the Joker. It was couple of years ago but I never got over it, I spent months reviewing the footage from Batman’s suit from that night,” your voice cracked, “Trying to figure out if someway, somehow he wasn’t dead. But I just found myself watching my baby die, over and over again.

I did it until realized he was gone, that he wasn’t coming back. So I started visiting his grave, telling him everything that he was missing. I thought I was okay, I really did. Then one night I found myself fighting the joker. And were there, at the warehouse or what remained of it.

And he started things and I just remembered how mad, I was,” tears rolled down your face, “Mad that this sick son of a bitch was alive, but my baby bird was dead. Then I just snapped and I almost killed him and I just remember thinking that was I wanted to do it. I want him dead, I was gonna kill. If Nightwing and Orphan hadn’t shown up, I would have killed him,” You looked over at spiderman, “I’m not a murder,” you told him.

He shook his head, “Your not a murder (M/N).”

“How..?”

He removed his masking, revealing that he was Peter. “I figured it out, while you were talking,” the brunette explained.

“Can we go back your apartment?” You asked.

Peter nodded, “let’s go,”

March 2nd, 2020 (There is no COVID)

As the elevator went up heading to the top floor, where currently the Avengers resided, so did your nervous. Peter must have sense this because he placed a hand your shoulder, “Relax, everything is gonna be okay,” he told you.

You scoffed, “Telling people to relax doesn’t really make them relax,” You replied, “Besides this like meeting the Justice League all over again,”

“But it’s the avengers this time,”

You shook your head, “Still. Do you know how bad I embarrassed myself the first time, I met the Justice League?”

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Peter replied.

“It was that bad!” You exclaimed, “I fell into the fucking pool of Justice!” You looked over at Peter and noticed he was trying not to laugh, which earned him a small shove. “Asshole, don’t laugh!”

“I wasn’t laughing at you,” He replied, “Pool of Justice?”

You bit your lip trying to stop yourself from laughing as well because you knew if you laughed, Morpheus would strike you down then and there. “Yeah…the justice league isn’t the best at name things,”

“Then I feel really bad for there children,” Peter laughed.

You shook your head, “Surprisingly there kids have good names, well the ones who didn’t name themselves or had names before they got there,”

“Named themselves? Names before they got there?” Peter asked.

“Well sure the justice league treats there sidekicks and refers to them as there kids but most of them aren’t. Like my buddy Dick, he might be Bruce’s son but Bruce didn’t name him.

Dick’s parents did and so did my parents. And as for naming themselves, sometimes there sidekicks are manmade. Like my brother, Conner. He was made to be a clone of Clark and Lex Luther, he escaped the lab though and he needed clothes. So he stole them from one of the guards and the name on the outfit was Connor,” You explained.

Before Peter could respond the elevator door opened signaling you were on the avengers floor. “You ready?” Peter asked, you nodded. The two of you exited the elevator and walked down a small hallway that took you to living room.

Where a butch of people sat you recognized them all right off the bat. There was Black Widow or Natasha Romanoff, Iron Man or Tony Stark, The god of thunder or Thor, Hawkeye or Clit Barton, Bruce Banner or the Hulk, and Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

They all smiled at you, “You must be (M/N) Kent,” Tony smiled at you.

“I am indeed,” You smiled back.

Natasha patted the space next to her, “come sit down,” she told the two of you. You both did as you were told.

“We’ve heard a lot about you from Peter,” Clit told you.

“Good things, I hope you,” you replied.

“Really good things,” Steve assured you. You spent the next hour or so getting to know them all. It was nice, you laughed a lot this much since Jason died.

“How’d you end up with, Superman and superwomen?” Thor asked.

“My parents dropped me off outside, Superman’s house. Apparently they were work buddies with his Superwomen and they couldn’t take care of me. I was two, they left a note with my name and I haven’t seen them since. But it’s okay because Superman and Superwomen raised me as there kid. There my family,” You explained.

“So why’d you leave, Metropolis and Gotham? If all the family you’ve ever known was there?” Tony asked, “Get tired of the Justice League up your ass?”

You shook your head, “The love of my life died,” you told them. You felt the whole rooms atmosphere change.

“I’m so sorry, what happened? If you don’t mind me asking,” Natasha asked.

“It’s okay,” you replied, “He was murder by the Joker and years later I thought,” You shook your head, “I didn’t think, I knew I was okay. Then I’m back at what remained of the warehouse, he was killed, fighting the Joker and I almost killed him. I was lucky two of my friends were in the area because they pulled me off of him and at that moment I knew I couldn’t stay,” you explained.

“I’m so sorry,” Tony replied, “I wouldn’t know what to do if Pepper died, especially if I found myself fighting the person who did years later,”

“It was hard,” You replied.

“Well, on a happier note,” Bruce spoke up, “we don’t usually summon people to the Avengers tower, you’re aware of that correct?” Bruce asked, you nodded.

“Well were thinking about giving you an opportunity, to work with us. You know this business way better then a lot of us do, and we could use that,” He explained.

You lit up, “Really?”

Bruce nodded, “You could teach a lot of us some things and some of us have been in this game for years.”

“I’ll try my best,” You replied.

“So you in?” Peter asked.

“Of course,” you smiled.

August 23rd, 2021

You sighed as you unlocked the door to your apartment, yes your apartment. You moved out of May’s and Peter’s a couple moths ago. Finally having enough money to buy your own, which you were very happy about. You loved Peter but after a night a patrol all you wanted to do was go to sleep, which was with him that was not so easy.

As you entered the apartment you were quick to realize that the Tv and the light in the living room were on. This set you on alert, you pulled your (S/W) out and slowly made your way to living room. As you got closer you heard a laugh, one you had heard so much that you almost immediately knew who had broken into your apartment.

You rolled your eyes, as your entered the living room. “Con-” you cut yourself off. Curled up, asleep next to Connor on the couch looked like a mini-boy version of Louis Lane who couldn’t have been more then four years old. “Whose that?” You whispered.

“(M/N), meet our younger brother, Jon,” He smiled at you.

You were very skeptical, “Is this another clone?” You asked.

Connor shook his head. “So Clark and Louis…,” you didn’t finish the sentence.

Connor nodded once more, “Yep, they had sex. I wonder how that would work, I always-,” you grimaced and cut your brother off.

“Connor!” You exclaimed, “I don’t wanna think about my mother and father figure having sex!” Your shouting cause Jon to stir next to Connor, immediately opening his eyes.

He blinked a couple times before looking around eyes landing on you. “(M/N)?” He asked. You smiled and nodded, getting down on your knees in front of your baby brother.

“Hello, Honey,” you smiled.

Before Jon could respond Connor spoke up, “You know, Bruce had another kid,” Connor told you.

“Really?” You asked not taking your eyes off of Jon.

“Mhm, he’s an Al Ghul,” This caught you off guard, you turned Connor wide eyed.

“Yep, I know,” Connor replied.

“Holy shit!” You exclaimed.

“Hey! Watch your mouth in front of Jon!” Connor scolded you.

You put your hands up in surrender, “I’m sorry,” you replied.

“You better, do you know how much of a bad mouth Dick, Stephanie, and Tim have?” You watched as Jon visible lit up at those names and quickly looked around.

“Dick?” Jon asked, you shook your head.

“He’s not here buddy,” you turned Connor, “he can’t be more then four, when did Louis have him?” You asked.

“She was three months at the time you left.”

You couldn’t believe it, Clark and Louis probably knew but they didn’t tell you. Hell they didn’t even tell you he was born. You were anger but also hurt, Connor could tell. He could always, he placed a hand on your shoulder. “I’m really sorry (N/N),” he told you.

“How could they not tell me?” You asked.

“I don’t know, maybe they thought you’d come straight home,” Connor suggested, but you both knew it wasn’t true.

“I can’t believe it!” You exclaimed. “I’m just much as there kid your two are,” you gestured to Connor and Jon, “I didn’t know my parents, Clark and Louis were the only I had. How could they not tell me?” You felt tears burn your eyes and at this moment you didn’t care, you let them fall freely.

Connor weakly smiled at you, he moved off the couch and sat down on your right. He took your hand into his, you could tell he was fighting back tears. You two had always been close, doing everything together. So when one broke down, the other was very close to following because you didn’t like seeing each other like that.

You didn’t like seeing each other in pain, or sad, or sick. “(M/N), Clark and Louis aren’t good people. You always looked up to them, so I never wanted to tell you but there not. Heck once Jon’s old enough, and Clark doesn’t need me around to take care of his son. I’m gonna grandma and grandpa, I’m not gonna be welcome at home anymore.

I’m gonna be superboy, he is. Because he was kid Louis and Clark wanted,” You watched as the tears fell down your brother’s face, “Not some clone made of him and his arch enemy, not some random kid left on his door step. He’s gonna be the golden boy, the golden child and were gonna be left behind like we never exist,” Connor told you.

You didn’t wanna believe it but deep down, you knew it was true. There was no avoiding it. “Do you ever wish you lived with Lex, instead of Clark?” You asked.

Connor nodded, “Because he even the small times I see him because I have too. Because as much as Clark and Louis want to deny it i’m his kid too. He treats me better then either of them did, he might be asshole sometimes and supervillain but he’s good dad. You ever wonder, what it would be like if you parents kept you?”

You nodded, “Everyday. I wonder what it would like. If they take me back now, even with how fucked I am,” Connor squeezed your hand.

“You not fucked up,” He told you.

You shook your head, “I am! Connor, I am! I couldn’t take care of myself before Jason died, I can hardly do it now. Hell i tried to kill the Joker. I’m having nightmares about the Lazarus Pit and Jason crawling out of his grave. Even though I know it’s gone, and so is he. I’m fucked Connor,”

He shook his head, as he pulled you into a hug. “I love you so much,” he told you, “Your brother, and trust me your not fucked. Clark, Louis, the

joker, and everyone else is,” you felt an extra pair of arms wrap around you and looked to see Jon.

He smiled at you, “I love you too,” he told you.

You couldn’t help but smile as well, “I love you too, Jon. I love the both of you,” you told them.

“Now I have two awesome brothers!” Jon exclaimed. Your smile grew even wider at that.

February 1st, 2022

You, Peter, and Nat were building away from were the other avengers. There was group of people who had landed on Avengers and tower and Friday classified them as threat. The group of people, they brown robes and on the back of them was a symbol one you had seen before.

You knew it but you couldn’t remember where it was from. You remembered it being from a league of some sort, you watched as leader of the group, a women, looked around and as your eyes laid on her you realized who she was, Talia Al Ghul.

“Shit!” you exclaimed. You moved from the building you were on to the Avengers tower. Nat and Peter’s called your name but you didn’t care, as you cared about was making sure Tony, who blasted was currently pointed at Talia, didn’t do something that would cause a war behind the league and the avengers.

You landed in front of Talia seconds before Tony was about to shoot, “Stop!” You exclaimed.

“Good of you finally show up,” Talia told you, you just rolled your eyes

“(Y/S/N), what are you doing?” Tony asked.

“You can’t hurt her, you’ll start a war behind the league and the avengers and believe me that is the last thing y’all need,” You explained.

“A war?” Steve asked.

“The league is a very power power group,” you turned from your friend toward Talia, “What are you doing here?” You asked.

“Can’t I visit my son’s boyfriend?” She asked.

You cocked your eyebrow at her, “Huh?”

Talia just rolled her eyes, “Jason, my son?”

You couldn’t help but be more confused, “Since when is Jason your son?” You asked.

“Since a couple months ago,” she replied.

“Talia, Jason died. He’s been died for years,” you replied.

Talia just smiled at you, “Oh (M/N), he’s alive,” you froze, “And you know it. You’ve been having dreams of him and the Lazarus Pit,”

You shook your head, “No.” You simply said, “Jason died years ago, The Lazarus pit was destroyed years before that by the Justice League,” You exclaimed.

“Yes, but I rebuilt it. I need someone to take of Damien,” She replied.

“So you brought my boyfriend back to life?!” You screamed.

Talia frowned at you, “I thought you would be happy,”

“Oh i’m thrilled!” You stomped your foot, “So fucking thrilled, do you know how dangerous that is? Talia, sure he can protect Damian but he is gonna have urges cause by Lazarus. He’s gonna be so unbelievably anger at Bruce, the Joker, Dick! Everyone!” You exclaimed. Then you remembered, Damian was in Gotham, “Is he..,” You didn’t finish the sentence, you didn’t have too.

“He is,”

“Talia,“ you whispered.

“I didn’t know,” she replied, “You need to stop before he does,” she told you.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Your connected to him. You can stop him, you can help him,” Talia replied. One of the assassins whispered something to her and she frowned, “I have to go but you need to stop him.”

Before you could speak they were gone you just stared at where they once were. “(M/N)?” Tony asked.

You turned around and noticed Nat and Peter had now joined the other avengers, “I have to go home, I have to go back to Gotham,” you replied.

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯/Next

#jason todd x male reader #peter parker #the avengers #talia al ghul #connor kent #jon kent #league of assassins #Clark kent x Son!reader #Louis Lane x Son!reader #Connor kent x Brother!reader #Jon Kent x Brother!Reader #dc x male reader #marvel x male reader #x male reader

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onisiondrama · 2 years

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Another Kermit and Friends Interview from July 31, 2022 (summary/notes part 2)

Next guest says they were blocked on twitter by Greg. They say they are fond of him, but they get frustrated with him when he responds to haters because there are things he leaves out they they think he should admit. Interviewer and Greg asks what. The guest says when it comes to the forums, his fans made the posts and he was just reacting to what the fans wanted him to do. (He actually originally made the topics on the original 2016 Onision.co forum for fans to submit photos. The he moved to tumblr and he would come up with topics for fans to submit photos of at the end of his videos. It wasn't really until the 2016 onision.xyz forum he made after that that the fans began creating the topics.) The second thing the guest says that should be clarified is the moderation should have been increased and the pictures should have been vetted because there were underage girls in his videos. They say he did not say anything sexual about underage girls. (There were lots of underage girls because on the three platforms I mentioned previously there was no age restrictions on all three of them. He would say anyone of any age was allowed to submit photos and he did rate underage people's looks/attractiveness and blatantly read off their ages in the video.) The interviewer has no idea what this person if referring to. The guest says a couple months ago they were kicked out of Onision's discord and blocked on twitter. They said they got blocked because they were stating facts, but he didn't 100% agree with it. Guest says they loved Onision for 10 years and they watched him since they were a kid.

Greg says he blocked thousands of people and he blocked anyone who says "ratioed" and anyone who likes those tweets.

Greg says the problem with what the guest said about the forums is on the site he repeatedly said he could only use images that was Youtube appropriate. If there was an issue with the content, then that's Youtube's problem because everything abided by Youtube's policy. He says the forum repeatedly through multiple generations of the forums stated you had to be 18+ to submit. He says it was 18+ for the majority of the site's existence. (Wow this is new careful wording. Interesting. He's been consistently solidly saying his forums were 18+ since around 2018 I believe.) He says the guest is right that the topics were user requested and he wasn't telling them to submit stuff. He says he would make the rating videos because that's what people asked him for and from then on people called him a pedophile. He says he's addressed what the guest said before, but his videos don't go far.

He says someone took a part of the video where he says someone blackmailed him and they took the part of the video that fit their narrative and ignored the beginning of the video where it contradicted their narrative. (I still have no idea which clip he's referring to.)

He says in the doc they used a clip of him as the joker saying something to someone and they didn't show she was hugging and kissing him. (Shiloh) He says he broke up with them because they got pregnant with someone else's baby while cheating on him. He says she's on this documentary saying the joker things was real. (No she didn't. She actually made a tweet clarifying it was part of a skit.) He says she completely reinvented the past. He says a year or two prior, she sent an email to him and his s/o wishing them well. (If this is the emailed he shared online, that was from like 2012 or 2013. Not a year or two before 2019 when she came out and told her story.)

He says there was an Adele song where she talks about showing up on someone's doorstep after they are married and he says she told him that would be her one day. He says that's terrifying. He says she promised to destroy him in a video and the police hauled her away and he says no one cares.

Interviewer asks why someone would cheat on him. He says she said she had sepsis and she had medical coverage in Canada so he flew her back on his dime. He was paying her thousands monthly to make sure she was cared for. He says he doesn't know if the sepsis was true and he made a video listing her lies. She told him her passport was lost so he sent her money to get a new one. He says her uncle contacted him and said she was a hardcore pathological liar and the uncle claimed she didn't lose her passport. Greg chose to believe her. He says a fan emailed him and showed him what her new boyfriend was posting about having sex with her. He says he had a mental breakdown and cried and walked to Denny's. He says 10 years later she was paid 20 to 40 grand based on receipts he's seen and based on what someone (Sarah) told him because they said they could pay for a down payment on a house.

He says whenever he would try to break up with her (back to Shiloh), she would pull the "I'm going to kill myself" thing. He says once she said she was actively walking up a building to kill herself so he had to get back together with her. He says it's like the meltdown video where she said she would destroy him. (He tells the suitcase, leaf story again. I'm tired of typing the same stories over and over, sorry. I'm just going to name the stores like I used to if he's told them a lot and adds nothing new.) [Fire department bringing her back to the house story.] [Knock out by trainer story.] He says people use her as the leading example that he's a monster. [She threatened a different ex story.] He says everyone who watched back then know everyone was begging him to leave her.

Next guest asks about the FBI. Greg says they felt like it was such a non-threat there was zero communication with him. [Fed dog muffin, animal control story.] He says every time the police were called, it was bullshit. He says he was confirmed a good dad by CPS and a good pet owner by animal control.

Guest asks for advice on cyber stalking. He says the internet is the wild west.

Next guest points out Kai has said he had sex with Onision when he was only 17 so he did have sex with an underage person. They start talking about when Onision tried having sex with a third when they were there for Kai, but the interviewer boots them and says the guest gets confused sometimes. (Lol) Greg says he never did anything with (Sarah) when she was underage and she confirmed that.

He says people on his forums lied about how old they were. He says those rating videos would get 10,000 likes each and people would love making those videos with him, but there was a culture change that made those videos awful later but it was celebrated back then. He says his audience was assholes because they requested the videos then they said it was all his idea.

Greg says he never was peer pressured into using drugs because as a teen he spent all his time making forums and videos. He says he's addicted to work. Says he dated people who smoked weed in places where it wasn't legal. [Person he dated as a teen story, Billie weed story]

Next gusts asks Greg to be on his podcast. Greg tells him to contact him.

Interviewer wants to do a road trip and pick up Onision.

Greg says his priorities in life are humble and his interest in fame was crippled. He said he had wealth before. He says at his peak he would get 80 million views a month which would equate to back then $80,000 in one month. (He later says most months was 20 to 40 grand) He had two Teslas, but when he had the success and fame he was still unhappy. He says the fans he had were pieces of shit because they betrayed him over untrue bullshit. He says that tells him they were never a fan, unlike the people on his current site who care about him. He says they prove that by funding his site.

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sc0tters · 6 months

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Now That We Don’t Talk | Trevor Zegras

summary: the rollercoaster that is your relationship with Trevor and everything in between.

request: yes/no

warnings: swearing, underaged drinking, minor mentions of anxiety, allusions to sex (but nothing explicit).

word count: 6.19k

authors note: this is literally the longest fic I’ve ever written so for those of you that make it to the end know that I do love you especially. Honestly I’ve been working on this for a few days now so I’m hoping that it all blended in seamlessly.

Your relationship with Trevor was one for the history books.

From the being the best of friends who then went on to date. Then crashed and burned during the summer of the draft season. Confessions of longing that never got sent and secrets that the world never got to hear.

But after all those years, surely you two know how to move on and grow together right?

June 23, 2018

Even though his parents already adored you, you still came through the same way each time you snuck over “you really have to do that every time?” Trevor laughed as he took your hand to help you in.

You sent him a glare “you want me to piss your mom off?” You furrowed your eyebrows as he smiled.

Trevor watched as you sat on his bed “she loves you more than me.” He confessed as he joined you on the mattress.

The stars shone on your face as Trevor silently stared at you “you know that it’s not true.” You mumbled shaking your head “it’s been ten years, I think she considers you one of her own.” The boy reminded you what day it was.

Ten years ago you began friends with Trevor.

It made your heart grow full “and that’s been the best ten years of my life.” You looked up at him with a smile.

His hand tucked your hair behind your ear “glad you can agree with me.” Trevor reached behind you to grab a box “got this for you.” He explained as the red box came into your sight.

You gasped as he opened it to show you the necklace “it’s beautiful Z.” Your hand clenched at your chest as it was your and his first initials locked together.

Trevor let out a sigh of relief seeing that you liked it “can I put it on you?” He asked as you nodded.

You turned around and lifted your hair up feeling your heart stop at the feeling of his hands on your neck “I love it.” The smile on your face was clear as you stared down at it “you look perfect.” Trevor mumbled as he nodded in agreement.

October 31, 2018

Halloween was fun for the group of seniors as they enjoyed getting dressed up.

But for Trevor he couldn’t help but scowl as he watched you wrap your arms around Alex. Of course you had gone with Alex as the Joker and Harley Quinn.

Your little pigtails had thoughts running through Trevor’s mind that would have sent him into a confessional if he was catholic.

Jack had been in the middle of saying something to Trevor when he realised that the older boy wasn’t listening “you know you can go talk to her rather than just glaring at Alex.” Jack teased as a smirk formed on his lips.

For months the speculation had swirled around the team of the potential relationship that you and Trevor had.

Sure it was childish but everyone was trying to set you and Trevor up but they were all determined “can’t I just look at a girl?” Trevor shot back as he chugged the drink in his cup.

It made the Hughes boy laugh “didn’t take you as the jealous type of person.” Jack teased wriggling his eyebrows “I’m not jealous.” Trevor scowled rolling his eyes as he scratched the back of his neck.

Jack watched as you whispered something into Alex’s ear “so then you’d be fine with something happening between them?” He motioned to how you comfortably sat with his arm around your waist “I’ll be right back.” Trevor grumbled setting his cup on the table behind him before he made his way over to you.

“Does he seriously think I’m that stupid?”

April 16, 2019

Tears stained your cheeks as you stared at your raised knee. Sure your injury was only going to last until October at the latest but it didn’t change the fact that your season ended with you getting hurt.

With you sitting in your room by yourself there was nothing you could do beyond thinking about that leg of you “go away!” You grumbled sinking further into your bed at the sounds of a knock at the door.

You frowned when you didn’t hear footsteps leaving “I’m not leaving until you let me in.” Trevor warned knocking on the door again.

It made you grumble as you hobbled over to the door “what if I just want to be alone?” You proposed seeing the boy stood with a bag from Walgreens.

Trevor’s smiled “unfortunately for you the only option involves what is in here.” He watched you pull the door open further “let me help you.” The boy was quick to add as he looped his hand around your torso when he saw you limp.

You whimpered as you tried to put weight on your sore leg “I’ve got you.” Trevor mumbled pressing a kiss on your temple as he helped you onto your bed before he lifted your leg back to its pillow “what are you doing here?” You toyed with the strings of your hoodie as you stared at the grocery bag.

The boy grabbed your hand to stop you “I had to make sure that you were okay.” His words hung in the air as his hand rubbed your cheek.

Trevor watched as you remained quiet “so are you?” He waited for an answer as you kept quiet “I’m better with you here.” The answer was cheesy but it worked sending the boys heart into summersaults.

Everyone else knew about it but you two, you were each utterly enamored with each other “you’re going to have to stop looking at me like that.” Trevor sighed as he reached down to grab the ice cream from the bag “this is for you.” The spoons were in his other hand as he smiled.

You chewed at the inside of you cheek as you tried to avoid the fact that Trevor remembered the three flavors you loved the most when you were injured “how am I looking at you?” The question came off more dangerously as you thought hanging the bait over his head.

He sighed “like you want more from than what you would actually want.” The boy seemed embarrassed to admit that thought to the world.

A smile formed on your lips “what makes you think that I don’t want you?” You clicked your tongue as you sat up straight “tell me what you want before I turn myself into the biggest idiot alive.” Trevor blurted out leaning forward so that his lips hovered over yours.

Your breath was harsh as the room felt heavy “you Z.” He didn’t let you say anything more before he let your lips get captured in a kiss.

It felt like he worshipped you as his hand ran through your hair and the sweet taste of your cherry lipgloss invaded his mouth.

As Trevor pulled away his eyes locked on with your swollen lips “I need you Trevor.” Words that were so needy seemed to be innocent when it came from your lips “you have me y/n.” It seemed that your knee injury was no longer the most pressing thing on your mind anymore.

June 21, 2019

You avoided almost everyone at the party as you searched the bar for him “there you are!” Trevor cheered as he wrapped his hands around your waist.

The boy grinned from ear to ear as he spun you around “been looking for you everywhere.” You mumbled pulling him into a quiet part of the bar.

Your boyfriend gasped as your hands went under his jersey “baby.” Trevor whined as you smiled “I just wanted to say that I missed you.” The words came from your mouth with a blush to your cheeks.

His hands cupped the warm skin “missed you too.” The new ducks player brushed his lips over yours “more.” You mumbled bringing your hands to the back of his neck as you kept him close.

You two stood together focused on the person in front of them so much do that neither one of you picked up on the crowd you had attracted “how long has this been going on?” Alex furrowed his eyebrows as the three boys stood with their arms crossed.

Trevor laughed as you buried your face in his chest “not so long.” He trailed off as his squeezed your hand.

August 7, 2019

Everyone was at the lake house and everything was meant to be going peacefully as for the most part people were enjoying the peace and quiet before the start of the season “stop being so difficult!” The door shut with a slam.

Of course the rule didn’t run to the couple as they were in their fifth argument of the week “I’m sorry I have an issue with her being so close to you!” You complained running your fingers through your hair.

Trevor glared as he leaned against your shared bed “she’s not important.” He pinched the bridge of his nose “then why do you act like that around her?” You stared at the ground as you wanted him to say anything.

He picked up on how you felt as he sighed “if you can’t trust me on this then maybe we should just end things now.” Trevor proposed making your eyes go wide.

The idea of ending things had you feeling sick “end things now?” You mumbled like he was speaking a foreign language “you couldn’t have seriously thought that we would make it to the NHL together?” It was the laugh that Trevor let slip from his lips that hurt you the most.

In that moment he realized that you had thought you two would be the couple of the NHL “look I’m gonna be in Cali after Boston and you’re just going to be in Toronto.” Trevor began unintentionally twisting the knife “you don’t have to tell me that like I’m a fucking idiot.” You spat sharpening your glare at him.

For a moment or two silence cascaded over the room as you each waited reality to strike and this all to end up being some bad dream that you could laugh about.

“I’ll see you around.” But as Trevor pushed past you heading out, the dream you longed for was pushed back until you could no longer see it. As reality hit you like a ton of bricks you couldn’t help it when you began to slide down onto the floor bringing your knees to your chest.

Not only did you feel pathetic for the fact that you had a few more days at the lake house before everyone left, you also felt stupid for opening your heart to him. Your best friend was a title that he lived for, yet now friend didn’t even seem to have the space to describe what he was to you.

March 20, 2020

You knew you made a mistake scrolling through Twitter that morning. It was there that you learnt how Trevor had moved on.

Whilst you were happy in Toronto, there was always a part of you that hoped he would come back to you. But with the post of his hands wrapped around another girl, you knew that this wasn’t meant to be “maybe it’s for the best.” Your mom spent the last fifteen minutes listening to you talk about him on your drive to the stadium for the home game.

She always knew what was best for you it seemed “you were more in love with him than he was with you.” Her words were truthful yet they weren’t made any easier to swallow.

So you couldn’t help but frown “I guess you’re right.” You sighed locking eyes with Auston who sent you a smile when he saw you walk into the locker room “I should go mom.” You mumbled wanting to talk to the older boy.

The older woman could sense that your distraction was in front of you “good luck tonight! Your father and I will be watching.” She added making your cheeks grow warm “goodbye I love you.” You were quick hang up as the boy smirked.

Auston had become a friend of yours during the rookie season as he was one of the players who took you under his wing “you okay baby?” When he learnt that your comfort movie was dirty dancing it seemed that the nickname was etched into your stars.

It didn’t help that you were comfortably shorter than most of the guys on the team “it’s stupid.” You dropped your bag on your seat in the locker room as you sighed “can’t be if it’s worrying you.” His hand tapped the seat next to him.

You wanted to hate how quickly he picked up on your cues when something was on your mind “is it bad that I’m still hung up on an ex?” You blurted out not caring how desperate or needy that truly made you sound “forget it.” You added seeing your teammate remain silent.

He was quick to stop you as he grabbed your hand “it’s not bad.” Auston shook his head “I am just surprised that you let Trevor get to you like that.” The boy explained making you frown.

You fiddled with the end of your braid as you sat back down next to him “then how do you suggest that I change that?” Clearly you two were going to need your teammates to not arrive anytime soon, because today was the day that Auston learnt about your history with Trevor.

June 4, 2020

You were nervous showing back up at the lake house. Even though you had Cole in the car with you, the sheer idea of seeing Trevor again made you feel sick “you okay?” Cole pulled your attention away from the radio as he turned it down.

Not even the smile you forced onto your lips could fool the boy “look if you want to leave then we can.” Aside from Trevor Cole had always been the person you were closest to in the group “no that wouldn’t be fair on you.” You shook your head as the car parked.

It took only a few seconds for the guys inside to realize that you guys had arrived “y/n you made it!” Quinn cheered as he dropped the bag he was bringing to his car. Throughout everything that happened as you grew closer to the Hughes family as a child Quinn began to see you like the younger sister he never had “I wouldn’t miss it!” A squeal left your lips as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

At that point all of the guys had come out to see what was going on. And as you looked at Trevor you couldn’t help but notice how he had grown up over the last few months. From his hair growing longer to the few inches he had grown too, but most notably how he wasn’t alone as a blonde girl stood behind him, there was that girlfriend.

November 28, 2021

Being in Anaheim you were nervous with how you were going to play back on the same ice as Trevor, but this time you would be playing against him.

Honestly your fears hadn’t gone through your mind since the first period. The game was pretty much the tale of you and Auston and everyone else was just there watching.

You were on par for a hat trick and he had assisted each of the goals. Yet the tale of the side was with Trevor who spent most of his time in the box for, once even for a fight with Auston.

The younger boy felt defeated as he watched you wrap your arms around Auston as you two celebrated getting another goal. A celly fit for the two of you as he kissed your helmet making Trevor throw up in his mouth “you okay dude?” Jamie as he skated past his teammate.

Not missing to pick up on the scowl that Trevor sent you as you skated back to the center “why the hell would I not be?” Trevor’s lash out was written down to be from the fact that the team was now losing 5-1.

Trevor knew he wasn’t meant to care who you were close to, not when he was the one who pushed you back into the category of simply being his friend.

But watching Auston go to the bench Trevor felt himself grow sick at the thought of what the older boy did with you.

Despite the fact that you never confirmed those rumours it never put Trevor’s mind at ease. Instead it made him feel worse.

June 21, 2022

The Tampa air was humid against your face as you stared down at your Lady Byng trophy. You had taken pictures with everyone but somehow the one person you wanted to see was everywhere but being in front of you “penny for your thoughts?” Auston’s voice pulled you from staring at your trophy as you forced a smile onto your lips.

His suit looked good on him as he held the trophies that he had picked up on the night “I was just thinking.” You didn’t want to admit that you had been thinking about the boy who was currently laughing at something one of the older players were saying to him.

It made Auston frown “rather than think about it why don’t you just go talk to him?” His proposal wasn’t far fetched in the slightest.

Yet you still somehow saw it as a mountain impossible to climb “it’s not that easy.” You shook your head causing him to laugh “you forget how to talk to pretty boys now?” His hand was against your back as a rosy tint crept onto your cheeks.

As the older guy turned and tapped Trevor’s should motioning in your direction your teeth caught your lip as you raised your hand to wave at him “I’ll be back.” Trevor’s lips moved and you could see what he has said.

Your heart did loops as he started walking towards you “can we get some pictures of you two?” A photographer asked as Auston nodded with a smile pressing a kiss on your head as he readjusted his grip on his trophies almost holding you like another one of them.

Trevor wasn’t a sore loser in life but to him that felt like defeat. It was hard to not feel like that as the boy looked at you like you were the only girl on this planet.

So rather than waiting his turn to talk Trevor sighed raking his fingers through his hair before he walked away.

July 5, 2022

The morning after Independence Day everyone always had to nurse a hangover. So there you were laying on the swinging bench outside of the lake house as you sipped on your freshly brewed cup of tea.

It was peaceful as you listened to the sound of birds chirping away “thought you’d be out here.” Trevor smiled as he saw you in the sweater that his mom got you for Christmas four years ago.

You turned to him with a nod as you shifted over for him to sit next to you “couldn’t sleep with Cole snoring.” Your words were true with a hint of amusement causing the boy to laugh.

Trevor hooked his hands around your ankles pulling them back onto his lap “but that doesn’t tell me why you are up too.” You leaned forward to place the mug in the table.

He thought about his answer “just wanted to see you.” The confession hang in the air as his eyes dropped to your lips “me?” Dimples formed in your cheeks as you smiled.

The boy nodded mindlessly tracing his fingers along your leg “you looked good in Florida.” His words felt vulnerable as he let himself be open with you for the first time in years.

Your instincts had you wanting to tease the boy but instead you just felt yourself melting under his touch “just in Florida?” You quipped back making him smirk “you know what I meant.” Trevor mumbled as he leaned closer to you.

Quick to mimic his actions your lips now hovered over his “then fucking show me what you meant.” You huffed as his hand cupped your face.

Only getting a few seconds to enjoy the feeling of his lips on yours before you heard a voice come down the stairs “surely nobody is awake yet!” Luke complained causing you to jump away from the Ducks player.

September 20, 2023

It was a quiet day in Toronto as you came to the Scotiabank Arena. The board and coaches had requested that you came in early and stupidly you thought nothing of it.

A smile was on your face until you were met with a new contract in front of you that highlighted how you were getting traded.

The media trained part of you kept your cool until you were sent to the locker room. Seeing your name pulled out of its stand sent a blow to your chest as you finally broke down.

Not caring who walked past you let your emotions come out in the rawest way possible. You weren’t an idiot and you knew that Trevor was the only person you had in Anaheim. And even that was scary as he might not have stayed with the team and not only that but also that you two truly hadn’t spoken since he kissed you at the lake house.

Yes you opted for a trip to Europe over going back to the lake as you truly didn’t think that you could face Trevor again after he decided to no longer return your calls, leaving you in his voicemail instead.

Truly you were so caught up in the new what ifs that your mind created that you began to forget how to do the simplest task of breathing.

You dropped to the floor as you began to hyperventilate “kid?” Auston called out seeing you hunched over your seat.

It didn’t take him long to come over to you quickly spinning you around as he sat you down “you’re okay.” He cooed grabbing your hands squeezing them in the process.

Your head shook as you coughed “breathe before you talk.” Auston nodded sitting next to you “I’ve been traded.” You blurted out realising that there was officially no way to go back from this one.

September 23, 2023

Anaheim was warmer than Toronto as you sat in some local cafe eating breakfast before your first day with the Ducks.

You felt like a child nervous for their first day of school as you watched the unaware Ducks fans walk past. The peace and quiet was exactly what you needed until the yell of a barista caused you to scowl “iced Spanish for Trevor!” They repeated telling you that this wasn’t a dream.

Low and behold your Trevor, if you could even still call him that stood with his drink in his hand and that stupid smile that definitely caused you to fall for him in the first place. Subconsciously you couldn’t help it as you tugged on your necklace, that very one Trevor gave you all those years ago.

In your heart you couldn’t find the power to ever take it off as you weren’t prepared to say goodbye to that part of you life yet “y/n?” Trevor blinked as he stopped in his tracks.

You smiled as he couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not “what the hell are you doing here!” Before you could even consider that he was mad at you his arms wrapped around you pulling you into a bone crushing hug.

When a whimper left your lips the boy let go remembering that you were probably still half asleep knowing you “sit please.” You offered up the empty seat at the small round table you found in the corner of the shop.

Without hesitation he took it “are you okay?” The look your face held as you tried to figure out how to word what you needed to say wasn’t pretty as you clearly were struggling.

A sigh left your lips as you raked your fingers through your hair “what I need to say is that we’re now teammates.” Your lips pressed to a fine line as you honestly wanted nothing more than to be back in your Toronto apartment playing Just Dance with Willy as fog rolled over the city in the early morning.

It wasn’t often that you or anyone for that matter left Trevor speechless “I’m glad to have you here.” He sent you a smile that was genuine as he raised his cup to yours.

Maybe this was the start of new beginnings that you had hoped for.

October 15, 2023

Despite the fact that the season had only been going on for a few days, you could feel the pressure from the coach to get yourself a goal.

It seemed that everything you tried to do only ended with you feeling embarrassed as you either missed the net or shot it right at the goalie.

The mental block that you had been served with was tough on everyone as your assists weren’t doing well either and that meant you would have been sent to the bench with Trevor if you didn’t start cleaning up your act.

Pressure from being a fresh trade made you feel sick as you saw the way that people online spoke about you lack of skills. It was bad enough being the only female in the league, yet now you certainly didn’t need to add failed trade to the list of reasons fans can dislike you.

So you did a little breathing warm up that your mom taught you in the car when you were seven in an attempt to ease your mind when you saw Trevor get subbed on. You two once played so well together yet now it seemed like the gel was simply no longer there.

He sent you a nod before the face off began with him and the Canes player. The ice went quiet for you as you focused on scanning around for free space.

Now luckily for you whilst Trevor kept your body in sight he never lost the puck and that meant that the first chance he got he was able to send it your way. With Mason in a similar space to you the goalie thought you’d send the puck his was and that left you with just enough space to shoot as your younger teammate was focused on.

Sirens went as the Honda Center erupted in cheers “you did it!” Trevor smiled as he wrapped his arms around you and spun you around.

Maybe the gel was still there for you two.

November 7, 2023

After your first hatty with the Ducks, Trevor couldn’t help it as he walked you around the hotel. There weren’t any weird motives behind it beyond the fact that he truly did just want to talk to you.

So you two spent the majority of the time catching each other up. It seemed that exes were the only topic that you two avoided as family and friends seemed to be your favourites.

It felt weird hearing that your exit left a hole in the Zegras household “told you my mom loved you more than me.” Remembering about that conversation had your stomach in knots.

You hadn’t even shown him or anyone else it before “you know I still wear this?” Trevor smiled seeing you show him the necklace that he had gotten you “and it still looks good on you.” Trevor rubbed the back of his neck as he watched it drop back beneath your shirt “teenage you had moves.” You commented causing him to scoff.

As over dramatic as ever Trevor raised his hand his chest as he gasped “and what’s to say I don’t have moves now?” His reaction made you laugh “the fact that you’re single.” Anyone in Anaheim knew that Trevor could have had any girl in the world.

Yet that didn’t matter to him when the only girl he wanted was you.

The laugh you let out sounded like music to his ears as he shrieked “you are too!” If there was one thing you liked most in life was saying things you knew were hypocritical as you teased Trevor.

You nodded as you tucked your hair behind your ears “but that’s different.” Trevor motioned to you to carry on as you two got to your hotel room door “I’m saving myself for Sidney Crosby.” You joked enjoying the view of Trevor crossing his arms as he rolled his eyes.

Softy you pushed yourself to your door as you knew you wouldn’t leave him otherwise “it’s too easy to screw with you Z.” You mumbled as you unlocked your door “goodnight.” You added sending him a salute before you let your own door shut behind you.

Moments later Trevor let the door to his hotel room with Jamie shut with a slam “rough walk?” Jamie enquired as he wrapped the towel around his torso before he searched his suitcase for pyjamas.

The American nodded as he groaned “no it’s just that she still fucking loves Crosby!” He complained crossing his arms as Trevor let his body fall against the mattress.

It made Jamie smile “you jealous?” He teased, of course all of the guys on the team started a bet to see when they would get back together once Jamie told Mason that Trevor used to date you, and then of course the younger boy proceeded to tell everyone.

Quick to shoot up “why would I be jealous of him when she’s literally next door.” Trevor quipped back in a duh tone.

Of course you had already made the joke about finding Sidney tonight and Trevor didn’t find it funny coming from you so he wasn’t going to find it funny coming from Jamie.

The younger boy nodded “okay so just to be clear if I go and give y/n hi-” before Jamie could even finish pushing his ex roommates buttons he was already shaking his head.

Trevor sent him a glare “you are not going to give her anything, especially not what I think it is that you wanted to say.” His finger was raised as it pointed to his friend. Maybe tonight had enough jokes for one night.

You were totally oblivious as to what was going on in the room next to you when you called your mom “you won’t believe what I got!” You squealed as you lifted up the signed puck.

December 23, 2023

The Honda Center was fully decked out for Christmas and that meant everyone was at the arena early to complete secret Santa the final part of it.

Trevor couldn’t help but watch as you unwrapped the Sidney Crosby jersey that had been signed to you.

Jamie had called in a favour from his Canadian teammate but Trevor was the only one on the team who knew how much you idolised the penguins player.

From posters in your room to going as Crosby for Halloween for three years straight. If anyone knew about how much you looked up to the Canadian center it was going to have to be Trevor.

So as everyone walked back to their cars you couldn’t help but hold Trevor back “you okay?” He furrowed his eyebrows as he saw you clutching the jersey in your hand.

You nodded with a smile “I just wanted to thank you.” You weren’t an idiot, you knew he had something to do with this gift idea being put into his ex roommate’s mind “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Trevor played dumb as he was too embarrassed to admit that he revealed the gift idea to Jamie after complaining about how you didn’t shut up that you beat Crosby in the face off.

It made you smirk “Trevor I know you were the one who told Jamie about Sidney.” You spoke in a duh tone “the gift was all on him.” Now that wasn’t a lie, Jamie hadn’t even told Trevor about what he was getting you.

Hell Trevor didn’t even know that you were who Jamie picked.

Deciding to not fight you stopped as you got to the row your cars were in “well thank you for the contribution you had to it.” You mumbled pressing a kiss to his cheek before you spun onto your heels “night Z.” You added as you began walking.

Trevor watched as you made your way in the coat that truly did wonders for your body “y/n wait!” The boy groaned as he rubbed his hand along his jaw.

Your grin came back to your face “yeah?” You called out turning back to face him “have a good Christmas!” Somehow Trevor hadn’t figured out what he was meant to say to you.

Sure people had what they said to their friends and things they didn’t say to their exes. But they also had things they wished they said to the people they were in love with.

All three of those categories you slotted into in his life.

January 3, 2024

You were able to keep all of your cellys on the softer side tonight as you paid respects to your draft team.

Playing them at the home of the Ducks was weirder than you thought it would end up being “just happy to help the team.” Was what you repeated to journalists who of course had to know your intentions with your ex teammates after you were seen talking to Mitch during warmups.

All of the boys made the effort to keep in contact with you when you left but of course Mitch, Auston and Willy were your trio from Canada that you were always going to love.

Now as much as you truly didn’t want to admit it to yourself or your mother for that matter, you were falling back into love with Trevor through this too.

As you tried to ignore the fears of what going back to him might mean for your friendship that was also only now just in a good place again. The idea of him was enough to make you forget about all of it.

So as you finally had a moment of silence to yourself as you grabbed your bag “hey!” He called out causing you to stop as you left the locker room “you mind if I come back to yours tonight?” The words slipped off of his tongue a lot more innocently than they were truly intended.

For just over a week you two had been flirting non stop so you were glad to see it finally paying off “give me one good reason and I’ll think about it.” You tapped your finger on your chin, jokingly contemplating his idea.

It made him click his tongue “so we can talk about the game.” A glimmer of mischief burned over his eyes practically setting your mind on fire as you began to think about it “and maybe some other things too.” That part was much quieter as he pressed a kiss on the shell of your ear.

As your legs turned to jelly you nodded “let’s get out of here.” And just like you wanted he followed you right back to your apartment.

And that night not a lot of talking was done. In fact you two spent more time between your sheets than you did out of them.

January 4, 2024

Moments from last night held simple reminders in your brain as you slipped out of your bed bringing his shirt with you.

He looked peaceful as he lay there still fast asleep. A stark contrast to you with mascara smudged eyes as you seemed to be too focused on the boy in your bed to even care about taking your makeup off.

Soft mumbles came from your lips as you turned on the shower turning the tap all the way to the hottest side as you hoped it would help your mind that clearly contemplated if last night was a good choice. And luckily for you the universe seemed to be on your side as that shower was all you needed.

Trevor stared at the bouquet in his hand as his heart rate increased. His palms were sweaty as the sound of the your doorbell rang.

When he was met with Auston Trevor felt his mouth grow dry “who’s there?” You called out from the kitchen as you were frying bacon.

Auston smirked at the intimidated look on the younger boys face “nobody important.” He clicked his tongue as he let the door shut right in Trevor’s face.

Clearly this was going to be the last Trevor was going to hear from you as sounds of your shriek signed his letter to request a trade “Aus your hands are cold!”

Because now you two really won’t be talking.

#Trevor zegras imagines #Trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras x y/n #trevor zegras oneshot #hockey imagines #nhl imagine #imagines #oneshots #hockey imagine #nhl oneshot #amber writes fics

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planesofduality · 3 years

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Full Transcript edition:

“The Story Behind Solas with Dragon Age Lead Writer Patrick Weekes” by Dialogue Wheel/Video Game Sophistry

Reblog of one of my first posts ever. I didn’t understand how tumblr worked back then really, and long story short, I split the transcript of this interview into 3 parts :) I’d probably do things differently now. Reblogging it as a single transcript for my own convenience, as I still refer to some of the things Weekes said here from time to time!

Interview is from before Trespasser DLC; posted to YouTube 12/20/2019

Note: pseudo-reblog

“Interview with lead writer for Dragon Age Patrick Weekes years ago about how the enigmatic character Solas was created, here is what that magic elf could have up his sleeve for us in Dragon Age 4.” Not my interview, just wrote transcript of questions and answers for reference.

Full video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx1nCdZFjw&t=1s

Time: 2:54

Solas, tell us about little old Solas. Talking about your other characters you created we always start at the beginning. Pen to paper - How did the idea of Solas first start? What was that first iteration?

So actually Dave and Mike both, you know, we - everyone knew who Solas was - everyone knew what the ending was going to be with him. And, you know, Dave and Mike said, “Well Dave is writing a ton of the crit path, the main part of the game. Dave really wants to do Dorian, that’s very important to him, and are you comfortable writing this guy? Are you comfortable writing someone who is going to be, in some respects, deceiving the Inquisitor for the entirety of the game?” And, honestly, how do you turn that down?

Time: 4:02

So really it was that simple then - from there, in the way you described it, they already had some ideas and some concepts about what Solas needed to bring?

Oh, yeah. Originally, one of the most difficult parts of writing him - and, you know, I said Iron Bull was the one closest to how I originally planned him - Solas and Cole are probably tied for least like how I originally wrote them. And, really, it was getting past the secret. It was getting past Fen’Harel.

Iron Bull: badass former spy, the opposite of Sten.

Blackwall: awesome Grey Warden who is not actually a Grey Warden.

Solas: He’s Fen’Harel…

Okay, can he tell you he’s Fen’Harel? No.

Okay, well what are we going to talk about?

[Pretending to be Solas:] “Hey Inquisitor, I’m still not Fen’Harel, do you have any questions?”, “I will not take any questions about whether I am Fen’Harel.” That was the big stumbling block of writing him.

I remember the first draft… the first draft all we talked about was elves. It was elves all the time. Every conversation went “Elves, elves… Elves were awesome back in the old days.. Everything was great with the elves.” And then you’d go, “You really like elves huh?” “No, shut up - I’m not Fen’Harel.” And we all kind of looked at that and went, that’s not really much of a character hook. You cannot have a character hook built on something that you only reveal after the play has watched the credits. That is how we got to Fade expert. That is something where, if something had gone terribly wrong, if we were six months from shipped and we decided not to do anything with elves in the future, we could have taken the Dread Wolf out of the equation entirely and a mage named Solas who loves the Fade, is an apostate but without all of the fear and anger that you think of when you think of an apostate, but is just this guy who wants to travel through dreams and find mysteries and explore… that was a good enough character to stand by itself. That is what it took us a couple of drafts to get to.

Time: 7:04

You mentioned the first two phases of Solas - share with us a little more of that journey, when you finally go to this character that could stand on its own. If you don’t mind, a little more of that journey- was it just those first two and now everything’s cool?

First draft was “ ‘Elves, elves’ but ‘I don’t like elves’”. Second draft was about how much to tell. I think in the next draft it was significantly closer. Anyone who looked at that draft - and, you know, I apologize to anyone who looked at that draft - but, anyone who looked at that draft you would find places where “Oh okay that’s the Solas I know and love. There he is. He likes the Fade.” That’s something that’s actually interesting. But, he lied a lot more. And it actually really weakened his character. We played it so close with both Blackwall and Solas - both characters are the liars who don’t actually lie. They will tell you almost truths. With Blackwall - he never actually flat-out says “I am a Grey Warden.” If you ask him what it’s like being a Grey Warden he will say "Well a warden embodies this and a warden embodies that… I’ve been blessed in my travels.” You know, he never actually quite says “I’m a Warden.” With Solas it’s the same way with the hand wave of ‘in the Fade’. I would start putting ‘in the Fade’ at the end of a lot of sentences. “Yeah turns out that all of the stuff you thought was true in history was wrong… because I saw it…. in the Fade.”

In revision 2, he lied a lot more. On the one hand it worked, on the other hand it made him less tragic, more of jerk when we got to the reveal. So that is how we got to what we made him into: this character who is intelligent, wise… Solas will think very carefully before he tells you anything and anything he tells you is exactly as much as he wants you to know. That actually led to one of the funny little game moments - one of the last things we do is add the places where characters will approve or disapprove. I think what I want Solas to approve us is you actually asking questions . He’s kind of unique in that regard - What Solas approves us is people who are interested in finding out knowledge. Whether they are finding it out from him or they’re talking with other people, Solas wants people to explore, he wants people to find information, he wants people to learn. What he disapproves of, honestly, more than what you do, is in many ways how you do it. You can do the thing that he wants you to do, but if you do it in a knee-jerk way, Solas hates that. He wants to know that you are carefully considering your options and taking a measured approach.

Time: 12:16

When it comes the characterization of a character that you’ve already been give at least some sort of name to. We know that this character is some sort of trickster god - when you were trying to develop and make him some a stand-alone character, did you ever have to rely on what the mythos already established of this particular kind of eighth-seat god that maybe a lot people hadn’t heard a lot about?

Well, I think, like we talked about before, one of the great things about the Dragon Age universe is everything that you learn in a codex entry is something that someone else heard in a story and wrote it down somewhere and you’re reading half of the book. So the good news on that is anything we wanted to do with Fen’Harel, there was so little and what was in there was already so sketchy that we had all the freedom we needed to play with him.

That turned out to be a nice thing because I think if we had someone that was completely by-the-books, already established, their character already given, it would feel like more of a letdown to write that as a character or you would have to play against type, you’d have to do something completely different to show he wasn’t just what the stories wrote about him. And, you know, in some ways that is both liberating but also disappointing to people who might have liked the original stories. This was a fun experience of getting to fill in some of the gaps.

The only thing I think we had to struggle against is that anyone who hears “trickster” or anyone who hears “oh, he’s chaotic and unpredictable” it feels like there is a natural urge to go to “He’s Loki in the Avengers. He’s the guy who’s gonna make large grand-standing plans.” Or, you know, “He’s the Riddler, who’s gonna leave clues to test you.” We had to get away from that: “Let’s tone that back a little bit, let’s not have him be the Jack Nicholson Joker version of the Dread Wolf.”

That’s quite a quote.

You got Dorian as a large, grandiose , extravagant figure and it would have been easy to have him go that way. It was fortunate that we had Dorian as the mage who had the larger-than-life persona already to make Solas be the quiet one.

Time: 15:21

Was there ever an instance where you were really pushed with giving some indicators to the player that Solas may have some connection to this going through the gameplay? Because you do see a lot statues of Fen’Harel. There’s many instances of where you’re discussing it, you’re traveling through those lands. Where do you walk that line, how do you walk that line, or do you just completely disregard it whatsoever?

The goal we had is we wanted the very careful players, the very sensitive players, who were playing attention and watching every scene with Solas to know that something was up and to want more answers and then go to “OH MAN” as soon as the stinger after the credits rolled. But we wanted most players to just go “Oh, okay, he’s like ‘Fade nerd.’ He’s like ‘hippie guy.’”

The other thing we wanted was everyone on their second playthrough, as soon as they talked to Solas to be like “Oh, man, he’s just saying it. He just flat-out said it right there and I missed it completely the first time!” I think we called it the “inevitable in retrospect”- or the “slap the forehead on the second playthrough” style of writing, where we wanted people to see that the most interesting thing about the trickster god is he’s not actually that great of a liar - He is almost telling you a lot of the time. And, you know, some of the tragedy is it that you never had the chance to actually ask, “Wait -are you Fen’harel?”

Time: 17:13

We talked about leaving breadcrumbs, what that meant. Now the big turn, the big scene at the ending: How did this come about, were you really involved in that sort of process and are you happy with it?

Oh, I’m absolutely happy with it. It went through several iterations,. Mike was hugely involved. The writing was definitely done by Dave; it was a huge crit path moment. He had me give a look at the Solas voice, I think I looked at it, I don’t think I actually changed a single word in the final one.

We had versions where after the main plot it was actually going to be a full plot where you the player went and were actually present when Solas confronts Mythal. We had a part where we said, “Wow that’s too big, a lot of players are gonna miss that, we’ll make it a DLC.” So it was gonna be a separate DLC where that happened. At one point we said “No, this is too big, we actually - let’s cut it and address it next game.” So it was going to be this thing that we pushed off into some future content.

I am really happy with what we went with, because, I think, you know, for my money, that short, little Marvel-style, after-the-credits stinger is what we needed. We needed something so that everyone who was paying attention and everyone who was really invested could go “oh my god!” And go, “Okay, so, just in case you were wondering, we’re not done, we have more stories to tell, and we are confident enough in what we are doing that we are willing to throw that ball.” That stinger is essentially us throwing a football to future us, trusting that we are going to catch it. Because, you know, at the end, we had that level of confidence. We felt that we had that level of confidence, we felt we made a really good game. Dave led an amazing team of writers, and I’m really touched that he has the confidence to believe that I’ll be able to carry that on for him.

Time: 19:49

When we spoke to Dave, one of the big moments that he mentioned, was when he created kind of a long-term idea for what’s going to happen in the Dragon Age universe. And to hear him say it, he mentioned that what he originally wanted for Dragon Age: Inquisition couldn’t happen - it was far too big - it wouldn’t work. And you guys had talked about taking that concept, finishing Inquisition somewhere in the middle of that concept arc, and then using at least an influence or something like that to affect the franchise going forward. Speaking with you now, as someone who has taken up the reins, do you know what I’m talking about? Am I talking crazy? Where do you see it going?

Um…

Reasonably - of what you can say on this.

So here’s the last scene of the next game… (laughs). I think there’s an extent to which no plan really survives contact with the audience when it comes to video games. We look at how fans react, we look at what hit, what rang true with everyone. You know, it’s funny, having people react angrily actually isn’t as bad as having people ignore things sometimes. Having people react angrily means they were definitely emotionally engaged, so you know you hit something there. Whereas having fans go, “I don’t know, fine, I guess, whatever” and move on means, “Okay, I don’t know if that’s what we want to go back to. We didn’t actually get anything from them there, they didn’t actually remember that later.” So that’s a phase that comes after every game we ship. We look at what hit, what missed, and where we want to go from there.

Now that said, Dave’s future plan is, I think, fantastic, epic, and heartbreaking. Our plan is to use that as our starting point. To look at where we want to go, what we want to do, and it will not be - and I, you know, Dave and I have talked about this - it will not be the story that Dave would tell if he were still here as lead writer. Because it could never be that. We can get into that when we talk about Cole a little bit, but if I tried to do that I would just be doing a bad impersonation of Dave Gaider and no one is ever going to be as good at that as Dave is. My goal going forward is to, as lead, put my own spin on that process, put my own spin on the plots going forward, on the thematic elements, while keeping those same thematic elements that we had. Because, I think, what Dave has set in motion in three games, countless DLCs and expansions, is something that can endure: The idea that no choice is ever really that easy and that the great events always stem from human-understandable motivations.

So, that is where I think where we are going to go, as vaguely as I can say.

Time: 23:30

Speaking of specifically to Solas: His continuation of the story. Adding that little “Marvel moment” at the end - what do you think that did for the crit path and the overall arc of the story that players experienced in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Do you think they would have been more satisfied if there was a DLC or is that just us gamers complaining because we can’t get everything we want right away?

Well, I think you want to leave people wanting more. “Man I wish you guys had done more” is a better problem to have than “Man I wish you guys had done less.” So, I think, looking at it from inside the studio, we didn’t have the resources to do much more than we did. So it was never going to be the big moment right then anyway. From my perspective, the reason I’m really happy we have it is, like I said, I thought it was a vote of confidence. The team is still the Dragon Age team and it is still the writers and designers who did everything else, who made such wonderful characters and were responsible for such fantastic plots.

Time 25:10

Well, again, looking at that in its completion, it’s good to see that even a character that needed to give you a stinger in your estimation didn’t take away, I guess, from the overall story you were trying to tell.

Well, thank you. Yeah it was obviously the moment we were building toward, but again, the goal was even if we didn’t have that stringer, he was still an interesting enough character that people would have not felt cheated that he was in the party.

Time: 25:35

One of the most beautiful scenes I think in Dragon Age Inquisition is the scene that you get with Solas if you play as a female elf Inquisitor. Talk a little bit about that choice to have this romance option very, very specific. It’s race- and gender- specific. Why that scene - what that scene meant and a lot of the subtext, because it is a very rich sequence of scenes, not just one. And, I think it’s really one of the most interesting romances in the game.

I love that scene because that scene for me shows how far we’ve gone past - not the make myself irrelevant anymore - but how far we’ve gone with the digital acting. Jonathan Epp the cine-designer for that scene put it together and when you take everything that Gareth David Lloyd - the voice actor - everything he did on his lines. And just putting so much tragedy, and making it clear in every line that he wants to say more than he can. And with Jon Epp the cine-designer, just in the wordless scenes: showing the tragedy, showing the heartbreak, showing how much he does genuinely care against his better judgement, and how he finally forces himself to step away.,

You know how I said when we were talking about the Iron Bull - everything, every major moment we do, is there for a specific type of player fantasy fulfillment. And you know, not all types of fantasies are the happy ones. There’s a reason why The Phantom of the Opera was on Broadway for so many years and it’s not because it has a happy ending.

The Phantom of the Opera isn’t exactly the theme for the romance - the razor was something closer to almost professor and student in some ways. He definitely comes across as a mentor in some ways. When he finally steps back it is him beating himself up, not you, saying “Wow what I have done here is actually really unfair to you, and you, player, at the time don’t know that I’m beating myself up because I’m actually 1000s of years old and not the person you think I am and it’s disrespectful to you for me to continue this relationship.” So it’s a very moral perspective for our ancient, quasi-evil, trickster god to come with.

Time: 28:41

And it’s amazing because it’s another instance of content that so few players would actually get an opportunity to see. When it comes to making it that specific, I guess, why was that choice made? Because usually a lot of your content - most of the Dragon Age content - it’s very easy to get really rich, wonderful characters right in your face and have those wonderful “eat-em-up” experiences, why for this one was it such a steep price to get in?

You know, I won’t lie, a lot of it came from some of our designers. Some of the women in the design department really, really loving his voice and saying, “You are absolutely fools if you do not make him romance-able in some capacity.” And, really, his story overall is - and, you know, I think we’ve only hinted at that but I think we have hinted at it enough that I can at least say this part of it - his story isn’t a happy one. His story is one, where, if you look at him and Mythal, there is clearly some grief, there is clearly some tragedy. And, adding in the option - even for players who don’t take it - on my end as a writer, knowing that some players will have this as a star-crossed, forbidden romance, you know, it makes him more sympathetic. It’s important to me as a writer because when you’re writing about someone who, according to Flemeth, is at least somewhat responsible for the bad guy getting the magical item that he used to blow up half a mountain in the prologue, it’s important to have something in there that you can always have, as a writer, look at as your touchstone and go “This is a real person. This is someone who experiences sadness. This is someone who falls in love.” Even if he doesn’t do it with that Inquisitor on that playthrough, this is always someone who can be like that.

Time: 30:58

Where do you see a character like Solas ending up?

(Big sigh) Musical theater.

(laughs) Right when we reach those beautiful moments, Patrick!

I think that it is fantastic that people have emotionally engaged with Solas and I hope we get a chance to explore that in some future content.

Alright and that’s the most that we’re getting right now.

Time: 31:37

Oh, and here’s a little tie in: Here Lies the Abyss, the demon that spoke to Solas - what was all that about, what was that going on?

Oh yes - the demon who speaks perfect Elven!

Yes perfectly to him, and if you remember any of that - did you have anything to do with that?

Yes, Here Lies the Abyss was mine. It was a fun plot. It was a terrifyingly difficult plot, because - I’m not sure how clear this is to players that have one done one playthrough or with one import state - but your key characters throughout the events at Adamant Fortress and then the events of the Fade, it’s a customizable Hawke. Which means it could be a male Hawke or a female Hawke and within that, Hawke from Dragon Age 2 is characterized by one of three different attitudes: friendly, grim, or sarcastic. So, that’s three attitudes times two genders, that’s six different Hawkes and three different possible Grey Wardens: Alistair, Loghain, or Stroud. So, the process of going through Adamant Fortress and then going through the Fade was a crazy juggling act of trying to keep track of “Okay, now one of these five people, these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people, will say this line, and then another of these five Schrodinger’s cat quantum people will respond with this line.”

It’s important to remember that as we went through everything in Adamant Fortress and the Fade was taking place in that contest. There was a long period time when we were looking at that really going, “Okay, I just have to hope this actually makes sense when it’s nothing but Alistair and my sarcastic female Hawke.”

But, to actually answer your question. As I recall, the Nightmare, who as a friendly, chipper guy was basically - I do basically two types of villains: I do the villain who thinks he or she is the hero, and is misguided and has opposed goals, and is kind of tragic and tortured in that way. And then I do the mean-girl villain who says snotty high school insults.

That’s it - that’s the gambit.

Well, just about, yes. I’m looking forward to see who writes the villain in the future Dragon Age games - so get ready for either tragic pathos or really, really good high school mean-girl zingers.

As I recall, he was speaking Elven to Solas and if I remember right, he said, “Your pride is responsible for everything that has gone wrong” and I think he said “You will die alone.” And then Solas said something that translates to either “Nothing is known for certain” or “Not necessarily.”

And what does all that mean?

Well I think it’s fascinating that people are emotionally engaged, and I hope we have the chance -

It was a very asked question - it was a question that was asked a lot. Specific to that.

Oh, I’m not surprised, and I hope one day that we can tell you. But, obviously, that demon knows that Solas is hurting and Solas feels guilty about some stuff and really wanted to dig in there, and Solas was shouting back.

Literally just describing what happened (laughs). All right, so something that will clearly be talked about in other games.

TIme: 36:22

Dealing with this particular quest I really think that this was one opportunity to involve the Grey Wardens in a story, and a world, that kind of progressingly, after the first game had less and less of a need to exist - let alone in the world - but in the main characters arc. Talking to David I remember initially there was some idea for this particular mission they would just fall into the hole and be hanging out in the Deep Roads, and having out with the dwarves, so tell us a little bit about this creation.

A lot of the process of writing these large plots, like I talked about the razor, you figure out what the core concept is, you always start with a lot of things, and in most cases what you then end up having to do is cut. And if you’re not someone in the studio, talking about having to cut things sounds like you’re losing awesome content, you’re ruining what would have been clearly the best part of the plot. Inside the studio though, most cases what you’re cutting is the stuff that didn’t actually help tell the story you wanted to tell.

So yes in the original version, in a very early draft, actually this was before I was actually on the plot - this predates me - there was, yes, going into the Deep Roads, and when you fell in instead of ending up in the Fade you ended up down in the dark. And finding out what the Grey Wardens in this version of the story had been involved with the Architect from Dragon Age: Awakening. It was an interesting direction, and it was, I think, a very cool direction, but it did not help tell the story of the Inquisition. It was more a story of “Hey, if we wanted to do more with the Hero of Fereldan, here is an interesting place we could go” and it did not help tell the story of “What is the Inquisition doing?” “What is Corypheus doing?”, “How do these two organizations bounce off each other and who’s caught in the middle?” So trying to come to terms with the Grey Wardens in this game not being the protagonists, not being the group that is in the center of the action but being the group that is caught in the middle of this power struggle was something that led to us having to eventually do the re-jiggering that got us to the plot you saw.

#i remember this took forever to transcribe lol #much respect to the people and computers who do this for a living #dragon age #patrick weekes #solas #reblog

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vole-mon-amour · 4 years

Text

OTP tag game.

Tagged by @captainjowl. You know for sure than I'm struggling to pick only 10 & fit them in here. But hell, that’s fun, thank you <3

Rules: Choose 10 OTPs BEFORE reading the questions, and then get to answering

1) Harry James Potter & Sirius Orion Black

2) Daniel Le Domas & Grace (Ready or Not 2019)

3) Samuel & Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

4) Corvo Attano & The Outsider (+probably Emily Kaldwin; Dishonored series)

5) Steve Grant Rogers & Bucky Buchanan Barnes (Marvel)

6) Tony Edward Stark & Peter Benjamin Parker (Marvel)

7) Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands video game series)

8) Damon Salvatore & Elena Gilbert (TVD Books & a tv show)

9) Batman & Joker (in every universe, really)

10) Adam Jensen x Francis Pritchard (Deus Ex video game series)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I believe it didn't hit me before Spider-Man: Homecoming. Civil War was about Steve & Bucky for me, but when I saw that growing up Peter with Tony, their dynamic, chemistry. Tom & Robert are really just like that.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Lmao. I've read like 50% of the tag on AO3, I wrote my own & started a few wips on them. They are amazing. Plus, with that shitty canon? We didn't get enough of them & they deserved better, so it's only logical to save yourself with fanfiction.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

I was living with The Outsider icon on my twitter & tumblr. That one is still my Google profile picture I believe. Don't remember about having an icon with the two of them. Also had The Outsider as my lockscreen on my smartphone for a while.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Funny how it fits canon, lmao. Rhys literally tried to erase Jack's AI in TFTBL, so I guess another day on Pandora, nothing new. They torture each other, they kiss each other, they kill other people in the process. It'll be fiiine.

5. Why is 1 so important?

I love them since the first time I met them, which was much more than 10 years ago, I don't even remember when. At some point they were the reason I was waking up & forcing myself to eat just to read more fanfiction & feel something. Even if I was drowning in pain (I was extremely depressed), it was still something. I read every fic I could find at that time. The depression that Harry went through, all these feelings, his love for Sirius. I was living through it, I could relate.

I'm currently drowning in these two again, though in a much healthier & happier state. I see their flaws & I know as much as I can. I see them differently as an adult. They saved me, they keep being my number one, I still consider making a tattoo of Padfoot/Sirius or of both Harry & Sirius together. I have many headcanons, ideas, I write fics about them. They are everything, you see? They were my choice when there was nothing, no one. They are HOME.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both. There goes the dynamic of Jack & Rhys: torture, fighting, flirting, a lot of trauma. I'd definitely say that they are wild and comical sometimes, but they are definitely serious. With the Asylum, the mental health issues. There is so much more to it, the complexity of their relationship. The struggle of loving who you probably shouldn't (but hey, when does it work like that?) Thinking about Tettlate's Batman, about Batman: Europa & how Joker was: "You must be crazy, putting me in charge of the plan, letting me decide. Okay, well..."

Nah, they are entertaining, but this is a serious ship.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Are you kidding me? They are all the definition of CHEMISTRY. I'd say 5, but then go 2, 6, 7, 8. Come on. I'm not choosing. Most of they are WILD.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

The fandom itself? Idk. I found one of my favourite artists through this fandom. If it's about the characters themselves, I played the first game with the DLC from start to beginning, looking around every corner. Spent more than 60 hours in there. Watched a second game (my laptop can't run the game) and the DLC (obviously), since Francis is in the DLC & not in the main game. I have a tag for them on tumblr, I read fanfiction, I tried to write my own. I still follow Elias & want a third game. Elias liked my tweets about Adam and Jensen being an actual couple a few times. I'd say I interacted with all of this a lot? Still do, actually.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

5. Best friends since childhood, fought & died for each other, still found their way back to each other. "It would break your Captain's heart, to see what they did to you." That only the MENTION of Steve can pull Bucky out of this brain washing(ed?) state, distract him in the middle of a fight. When Steve died in the comics because of Sharon & Tony sent Natasha to take Steve's shield from Bucky because even Tony knew how much Steve means to Bucky. And Bucky was like: "Oh, I see what he did. Not happening!" Fought Natasha (that is his ex in the comics) & kept going for Steve's sake.

Well, you see the point, I can go on and on.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

They're not actually canon so none? They had a few fights: In Civil war (the comics), in Homecoming (the movie). That only means that they’ve got history & love each other.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

As fierce Grace is, they wouldn't stand a chance against Damon & Elena. Those two had to deal with worst thing than brainless stupid zombies. On the other hand, if there were no alive humans to drink their blood... It's either an animal diet that Damon hates so much or I don't know? Still, they're faster & more powerful. Their bodies have advantage of healing the wounds as well.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

From some people, yeah. Don't tell Athena, don't tell Vaughn, don't tell Fiona. Though Rhys wasn't very subtle about it & Jack just doesn't give a fuck. You will probably end up dead if you disagree or bore him, or if you're useless.

"I can take you to the top, but you gotta know where the top is" & Rhys doesn't tell anybody until Jack makes him the President for like whole 20 minutes lol.

Fiona & Sasha: "This can't be happening." Sure it can, darling.

14. Is 4 still together?

I have a headcanon about The Outsider finding Emily & Corvo after Billie frees him from the Void. He doesn't have anybody & they are his only friends aside from a potential friendship with Billie. And if we don't consider TOTO dlc, they definitely are! The Outsider visits them both when they sleep & takes them to the void sometimes. How could he not?

15. Is 10 canon?

Not really but also sort of? Let's say that they really care about each other in canon, despite Adam pushing Francis away because of his trauma & fear that Megan caused him. :/

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Can you imagine wizards fighting extremely powerful vampires? Superheroes with venom in their bodies that make them super strong with people that made a deal with the Devil himself (hi Le Bail)? 5000 y.o. God and his lover that share his powers and an augmented human protecting his tired IT guy? Combine mental health issues to that, Jack and Rhys with Batman and Joker. Corvo & The Outsider would probably slay them all as Corvo and Emily did in both games with entire islands, though it will still be a slaughter anyway.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

All the fucking time, lmaooo. I’m not even talking about it.

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

I feel like I already did with Steve & Bucky after many Marvel movies (we're not even mentioning Endg*me, I fucking died & was dead for full 4-5 months).

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I used to do that a few years back, but not anymore. There is not much content since the trilogy is finished.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

1 already went through it & fandom lives, so I'd say maybe 7? Rhys will find a way to bring Jack back & they are both so wild. It’s what happened in canon anyway. Jack kidnapped Lilith & forced her to do Angel's job, so I'd like to see that witch try at first. Jack is an immortal bastard. <3

Now that I think about it, Corvo would also deal with her in seconds as she waits to curse them.

As a conclusion: no one breaks up forever, we're killing the witch.

I tag: @ianmillkovichgallagher & @aledbr

Whoever else wants to join the game, please do.

#otp #me #tumblr #harry x sirius #delena #corvosider #rhack #tony x peter #batjokes #jensard #steve x bucky #ready or not #drakecest

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zaraquinn · 5 years

Text

Let’s Kill Tonight

Arthur Fleck/Joker - Even though he watched the city of Gotham burn with delight, there is a part of him that still there that wants to help.

Word Count: 1,029

Joker/Arthur Fleck x Female Teenage!Reader

Requested by: my dumbass

Author's notes: okay but this lowkey might be a series, so tell me what y’all think. Also, I HOPE THE FORMAT ISNT FUCKED UP ON MOBILE BC IT LOOKS LIKE SHIT RN

Y/N - Your Name

Additional Notes: NOT A ROMANTIC PAIRING + Implications of depression, violence and suicide.

SPOILER WARNING: SPOILERS ARE MENTIONED HERE. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED, I SUGGEST SCROLLING HELLA QUICKLY OUTTA HERE. but if this aint news and yall watched this, you’re welcome fellow brethrens.

A/N 2: yall already kNOW that my dumbass be making Joker 2019 fics after seeing it in the theatres (and spending money to watch it the second time woo hoo!) anyway, here’s this weird shit that i wrote, and this might be a series lowkey. Idk, if yall want me to write it as a series, i’ll see what the people want.

————

It’s been a month. A month; and the less than privileged still riot on the streets of Gotham. Screams, fires and glass scatter amongst the city so carefully built with fine class that it almost looks demolished—apocalyptic. The grey skies turn into dark nights as Y/N walks through the battered and crowded city. Ever since the confession from the man who calls himself ‘Joker’ had revealed how he was behind the killings of those Wall Street men. Y/N couldn’t help but wonder what the man she called ‘a hero to the poor people’ and a ‘vigilante for the homeless’ had vanished to. After the whole event, she aimlessly walked the streets and alleyways to find him; curiosity killed the cat, as she wandered towards a dark and dank alley. Garbage and plastic littered the rainy floor as a homeless cat had gotten startled by Y/N’s presence.

She heard from two other thugs that were part of the riot that they had met the Clown Prince of Crime himself, as he had asked them to complete a task to get the movement and rebellion moving. But after that, he was never explicitly seen again. The man was a myth, a legend, an anti-hero to people like Y/N. Although his physical presence was absent, his chaotic energy lingered in the slums of Gotham.

To be honest, Y/N wasn’t even sure why she was looking for him. Maybe because it gave her something to strive for; to find meaning. Being an orphan and getting kicked out by the only thing she could live with, it seemed like fate was not on her side. It couldn’t her any worse than this right? For years as long as she can remember, her life had been spiralling out of control. Nobody, not even who she thought was family wanted her out of their lives, and in the end, it was just that. Unfortunately, that was life, and she was just in it for shit. So, finding something; or someone to look for gave her some semblance of hope and change. She wanted to end it all, but gave life one final shot.

Her footsteps were the only sounds that echoed through the thin path as she tirelessly carried her feet to the end. “Other empty alleyway. Fuck.” She muttered to herself, her voice dry from not having anything to eat for the second day in a row. It was awful, but she did start getting used to it. Walking out the alleyway; she reached the other side, and realized that she ended up going through a shortcut to the business district into Gotham—one of the richest parts of the city. Everything in the city was brightened in colour; compared to the slums of Gotham, everyone and everywhere was painted with vivid colours instead of the monochromatic grey she always saw. Grey; so grey that it made her feel sick sometimes.

Her eyes danced and lingered in amazement at the different colours in the rich part of the city. Her eyes glued to the sky and world around her, she suddenly fell to the ground; a man with a suit had ridiculed her for standing in the way. “Fucking kid! Watch where you’re going! You don’t belong here!” He said as he walked on. Y/N’s brows furrowed as she felt the anger start to boil in her blood—reminding herself why she always sided with the Joker’s protests and his ways. Pushing herself back up, she was then again pushed down by more men in rich suits and suitcases. Wishing her gone and dead; ridiculing her over and over in their colourful suits. “Hey kid,” said one of the men who had crouched at her level from above her. She looked up with uncertainty painting her face; but beneath the uncertainty fear and anger had rose to her head. “Go home.” Was all he said as he shoved her toward the shortcut she just previously left from. The man sauntered over her small figure—his demeaning build bullying her to a corner. “That’s right kid. Go. Ack to the slums.” He yelled back, kicking her in her ribs and going about his day like nothing ever happened. It was sad that Y/N had gotten used to feeling this way. So small compared to the world—with bruises covering her skin most of the time. Her hands held the already forming bruise on her hip, as she cradled close to a unwatched dumpster fire that she soon collected warmth from. this was the third week kicked out from her foster home. Third in counting.

The time spent alone was cut short however, as she felt a figure approach her small and cuddled stance. Looking up, she huddled her knees closer to her body to reveal something, or someone she wasn’t expecting at all.

The Joker stood before her, towering over her small and huddled body as he cooly flicked his finished cigarette on the ground. For someone who started such chaos a month ago, he looked like his entire life he was dressed in a suit; but that’s not the case as his confident stance and mannerism said... different. The red and yellow suit had looked custom tailored, as it fit him so well, the green hair slicked back made him look so badass and the clown makeup—so precise and tidy like he had just put it on an hour ago. Holding out his hand toward her she stared in awe. This was it. “Are you gonna take my hand kid or just gonna stare?” He said with a small chuckle. His voice smooth as hell and his lengthy arm stretched out it was almost touching her nose.

Snapping out of her starstruck trance she nodded quickly and took his hand; easily getting up with one swift motion. Patting her on the head, no words were exchanged between the two, as he simply just took out a lighter and another cigarette, lighting it. “Walk with me kid.” He smirked, having put the cigarette in his mouth and putting his hand on her shoulder, walking with her. All she did was smile, as she thought that things were already turning up.

————

✨MASTERLIST✨

#zarawrites #joker 2019 #joker #joaquin phoenix joker #joaquin phoenix #joker movie #arthur fleck x reader #arthur fleck #joker imagine #joker x reader

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plavi · 5 years

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rule: tag 10 people you want to know more about! Screw the rules!!

I took it from @aquihayjojos and I think it is only fair you know some stuff about me 👀

name/alias: Plavi. Used to be called Blue, but I prefer Plavi, plus people seem to enjoy saying it (at least it gave me that impression).

hair color: Dark brown

zodiac sign: I'm a Pisces.

height: 170cm

hobbies: Does drawing count even if it will be my "job"? (Of course it does) but yeah, drawing fanart, writing (about my OCs, RPs or researching a subject), singing, dancing and playing the flute sometimes... Cooking! Learning new recipes~ I am actually playing games less because of lack of time, but I like to be up-to-date info wise how certain games are doing in their quality.... and the memes.

favorite color: Blue, but I started to like and wear black more. Also red seems to be a color I like to include in my works recently.

favorite books: oh no, I honestly don’t know which specifically to write down. I used to read a lot of fiction before (I'd have to dig into my brain for titles, but I need to reread them to remember the story which I liked...), but now I enjoy reading books on psychology, philosophy, art history, symbolism... I could make a list of all of the books instead of picking one.

last song listened to: I had Final Fantasy XV OST - 91. Hellfire written down, but now it’s actually Blue Jeans and Bloody Tears.

last film watched: Joker (2019)

things I love: I love my parrot, my friends and colleagues! I love discussing a lot in general actually... I love to paint, I love my plushie, I love TES, JJBA, goofing around with my friends in GW2. I love OC shenanigans. I love wok...

what brings me peace: being alone at home or in my atelier, having a quiet environment (bonus points for natural sounds of any kind), an organized and prepared day, Oblivion exploration OST, looking at pigeons (especially when they tilt their heads at me), siting in a park and sunbathing.

meaning behind my url: plavi literally means "blue". My online artistic name, PlaviGmaz, means BlueReptile (used to be my username on deviantArt, but changed it to sound more "unique" online). The story why those two words, blue is my favorite color, and reptile because my first pets were two turtles and ever since I got them I fell in love with all reptilians (same thing when I got my parrot, I love all dem birbs now). Another reason that triggered the name is because I had a raptor toy and I LOVED it and especially its look. I think it had blue eyes as well.

tagging: @cyan-appreciation tbh I'd love to interact more 👀 I always get happy seeing your comments on my rambling posts haha

#Personal rambles

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brendanmoviedate · 4 years

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Yer fond of me lobster ain’t ye?

Another year, another broken promise that I’d write more often. I’m not going to fool myself going forward and expect I’ll be able to keep up with reviewing every movie I see. However, I’ll continue to write my year-end movie review and perhaps a couple here and there when I feel inspired.

Looking back to last year’s post, I wouldn’t make too many changes, though I would certainly move Into the Spider-verse slightly higher up. I would also consider adding Upgrade to the list for how brazen it is.

Most of the films I called out as ones to watch for 2019 ended up being either on my list or in the composite image, which goes to show that it’s worth getting excited for new films more often than not.

Vancouver being the way that it is, sometimes we don’t get timely releases of films when other cities do. As a result, I haven’t had a chance to see 1917 and Uncut Gems yet. The latter of which I’ve been dying to see for months and would probably feature on this list.

Here’s the 10 best films I’ve seen from 2019:

10. John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum

Whereas John Wick: Chapter 2 was the perfect escalation of its pared down predecessor, Chapter 3 is merely an excellent continuation of the newly minted franchise. However, while not bringing anything entirely new to the world of John Wick, it is still an intensely entertaining film. The first 20 minutes is some of the best fight choreography in the series to date and enough to secure a spot on this list.

9. Long Day’s Journey into Night

From director Bi Gan, Long Day’s Journey into Night is a noirish drama about a man (Huang Jue) returning to his hometown following the death of his father to track down his lost love (Tang Wei). The film is a slow burn that jumps between past and present before descending into a surreal 60 minute single take shot filmed in 3D. Regretfully, the only screening I could attend was entirely 2D, but nonetheless, the sequence was still enthralling. This is the type of film that proves that spectacle doesn’t necessarily need to be tied to tentpole movies.

8. Booksmart

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut suggests she has an effortless understanding of comedy. Written by a quartet of female writers, Booksmart feels like Superbad for a new generation (I can’t believe that film came out 12 years ago). Interestingly, Jonah Hill’s sister, Beanie Feldstein stars, alongside Kaitlyn Dever (daughter of the guy that voiced Barney the Purple Dinosaur). While it would be easy to say it’s “the female Superbad,” Booksmart is in fact much more than that. Replacing the misfits trying to get laid story with one about a pair of overachievers realizing almost too late that there’s more to life than good grades lets the film be looser and allows the comedy to happen more naturally.

7. Midsommar

Ari Aster’s follow-up to 2018′s Hereditary began filming almost immediately after wrapping post-production on his previous film. As a result, Midsommar has that extra layer of a director exhausting himself by putting everything on the screen. Midsommar is a much more mature work than Hereditary and one that took a while to grow on me. My initial reaction was less enthusiastic than it is now, but it’s one of the films from 2019 that has stuck with me the most. I imagine a second watch or the extended director’s cut might raise my appreciation of it even more.

Florence Pugh gives a knockout performance that when combined with her roles in Little Women and last year’s Little Drummer Girl prove that she’ll be a star in no time.

6. Knives Out

Rian Johnson’s first post-Star Wars film sees him reinvigorated and working with a bigger name cast than he has in the past. Essentially a whodunnit along the lines of Agatha Christie, Knives Out follows Daniel Craig’s southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc as he investigates the murder of a wealthy publisher (Christopher Plummer). In addition to playing with a few plot twists, Johnson includes a couple of structure twists as well that turn the film on its head.

In addition to Craig’s hammy performance, other standouts include Ana de Armas and Chris Evans as the publisher’s caregiver and grandson, respectively.

Johnson has hinted at the possibility of more Benoit Blanc mysteries, and as long as Daniel Craig is onboard, I’ll gladly watch them.

5. The Lighthouse

In Robert Eggers’ followup to The Witch, Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play a pair of lighthouse keepers in isolation. As would be expected, The Lighthouse is a paranoia-fuelled chamber piece, with Dafoe’s gruff experienced lighthouse keeper getting on the nerves of the younger Pattinson. And while this setup allows the two leads a chance to really dig into the 19th century dialects, the film takes the occasional departure into the eldritch for a very unsettling film.

As with Black Philip in The Witch, there’s a standout animal character in The Lighthouse - fittingly, a seagull.

4. Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino’s presumably penultimate film is perhaps his most mature work, ruminating on the idea of legacy and the film industry as a whole. Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood is almost a Tarantino hangout movie reminiscent of parts of Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction. A lot of time is spent on scenes that don’t necessarily lead to the film’s climax, but allow the characters room to breathe and feel real. Other than the historical event hinted at throughout the movie, the film doesn’t seem to have a particular direction, which allows you to live in the lives of these characters more than if it was purely plot driven.

The main cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margo Robbie is great, but it’s Pitt who puts in a career best performance. There’s a quietness and a sadness to his character that brings some added depth to an otherwise bold cast.

3. Ad Astra

Brad Pitt’s other great performance this year is in James Gray’s Ad Astra. Having seen Gray’s The Lost City of Z and purposefully avoiding trailers and reviews, my expectation for this film was a reflective voyage centred around the ideas of obsession, loss, and family. All of these ideas were present in Ad Astra, but the real surprise was how seamlessly a space opera was added into the story. I never thought I’d see a lunar shuttle chase, but I’m glad I did.

The amount of casual sci-fi world building in the film is staggering, with entire premises treated as banal. We get to see Pitt’s Clifford McBride travel from Earth to the Moon mundanely on a commercial flight. Most films would take the opportunity to spoon feed to the audience why this is odd, but Ad Astra treats it as normal as the characters do, making it all the more fascinating.

2. The Farewell

Starring Awkwafina, who has quickly shot to stardom after featuring in Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell gives the actress the chance to stretch her dramatic muscles playing Billi, who returns to China to visit with her grandmother who has cancer. Billi’s family insists on keeping the grandmother’s illness a secret from her so she can live out her life in happiness, while Billi struggles with the morals of lying to her grandmother. This premise allows for not only the comedy of misunderstanding, a staple in comedy, but also emotional tension and the devastation of preparing to send off a loved one.

The comedy-drama balance is handled expertly by director Lulu Wang, making The Farewell the movie I both cried at and laughed at the most this year.

1. Parasite

Had you told me a couple of months ago that my picking Parasite as the best movie of the year could be considered a safe choice, I would have scoffed. Yet here we are, and Parasite has widely been hailed as the best film of the year. I suppose in hindsight it’s not hard to see why. It’s both a crowd-pleasing film and a film that’s deeply disturbing and thrilling.

After having seen Bong Joon-ho’s last five movies, one would be forgiven for expecting a linearity in Parasite. Most of his films tend to have a point A to point B element with an expected (though often subverted) outcome. Heck, Snowpiercer is about a group of people moving from the back of the train to the front, one car at a time. Yet Parasite is different. The film sets up a premise you only find out about as it happens and is quickly overturned once you’re comfortable with it.

I saw this movie the same day I saw Joker and the difference in how the subject matter of class is treated is stark. Whereas Joker wanted to go all dark and Taxi Driver with the theme, Parasite had fun with it and let the elements of drama, comedy, and horror slide along the theme of class.

Like Bong’s Memories of Murder, Parasite will be one of those films I endlessly revisit.

Honourable Mentions

Films that almost cracked the Top 10 that I wanted to shout out here are Us and Doctor Sleep for being really solid, exciting, horror-thrillers. As well as The Irishman for being a classic Scorcese film that gives De Niro and Pacino ample time to with each other. Finally, I wanted to applaud Avengers: Endgame for not only managing to pull off such an ambitious finale, but to make it so goddamned fun.

2020

This year I’m looking forward to new blockbusters from two of my favourite directors, Christoper Nolan and Denis Villeneuve - Tenet and Dune, respectively.

Despite the stumble with Spectre, I’m extremely excited for Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond with No Time to Die, by auteur Cary Fukunaga. I can’t wait to see how his style meshes with the Bond template.

Also of great interest are the new films from David Fincher and Edgar Wright - Mank and Last Night in Soho.

#movies #review #best of 2019

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bearlywatchable-blog · 5 years

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TOP 880 “SUPERHERO” MOVIES IN 2019

by Maverick B. Updated: Jan. 11, 2019

#1 - GLASS

Glass has bang or bust potential, and from all the birdies fluttering around, critics seem to think it’ll be the latter. I have unfounded high hopes for this, as it’s an interesting take on a new universe of superheroes/thrillers. Let’s coin it the Shyamalaniverse. Easy to say and spell, so that should catch on quickly.

Yes, Mr. M. Night has definitely disappointed us before (Re: The Last Airbender & Lady In The Water), he seems to be making the right moves here.

This continuation proves that Unbreakable was ahead of it’s time, and thankfully Bruce Willis hasn’t yet aged out of the character. Casting the genius of James McAvoy solidified that tertiary role as compelling and intriguing. Even if somehow the movie is a bust, Shyamalamadingdong has already qualified that by hinting the movie isn’t the movie represented in the theatrical trailers. That leads me to believe the 3 central characters, which pivotal aren’t what we will be watching for.

Enter: Casey Cooke. If that’s not a superhero secret identity name - well I guess I’m outsmarting myself. No more comments on this as theories can be just as bad as spoilers.

#2 - CAPTAIN MARVEL

Leave it to the Marvel Universe to release super fucking awesome minority character titles, right before the decade long saga blockbuster finales. Black Panther was an almost perfect Marvel movie, sadly over shadowed by the high anticipated Infinity War (Avengers 3-A). Now that they are closing out this intense storyline in Endgame (Avengers 3-B) a month after Captain Marvel is released, another minority superhero title will overshadowed by the majority of movie goers + critics. Yes, all signs point to Endgame being the film of this century, but I’m much more excited to see a female lead with such wicked awesome (MCU) power potential.

Sure - If Adam Warlock is just a diversion, Captain Marvel could play a huge role in Endgame, which would be so wonderful in my opinion. However, anyone who knows anything about the Infinity Gauntlet Saga, would be hard pressed to say that C.M. will seamlessly integrate into that storyline. This is actually why I’m more excited for Captain Marvel than Endgame. If it stands alone, it will be the foundation of the next saga of Marvel Movies (Phase 4). If it plays as a prequel to the final Avengers movie, then she will have a huge role in restoring the order of the Universe v. Thanos (Ya know, because she can time travel, among her many other super cool abilities). Both scenarios are fucking badass and exciting to me.

P.S. Brie Larson is gonna fucking kill it. You haters can go fuck yourselves.

#3 - DARK PHOENIX

//rant - Apocalypse (2016) was so bad I actually forgot it existed. Now that I have been reminded by many friends of the shit that FOX put out there- I was poised to move this down on my list. But then I went back and watched First Class (2011) & Days Of Future Past (2014), and it gave me hope again. AND THEN I watched The Last Stand (2006) again, and realized I’m obviously a masochist.

Bryan Singer is a mad man with no baseline. He, possibly, could have lucked into making one good X-Men movie on the coat tails of Matthew Vaughn, subsequently losing steam with Apocalypse. And now I’m down in the rabbit hole of the thought process; “Well Simon Kinberg wrote Days of Future Past, which was solid - and has been producing the the show Legion, which is phenomenal… and Bryan Singer is off this project so all signs point to this being more in the DOFP And First Class caliber”… meanwhile all I can do is think about Sansa Sta… I mean… Sophie Turner’s eyes and charisma… and then justify Apocalypse as a Phoenix timeline primer… which then spins me back to how bad The Last Stand was. How did that not ruin Hugh Jackman’s career? I presume Halle Berry, Kelsey Grammer, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen all died in post production depression from that movie. Fucking Patrick Stewart was still knighted 4 years after that, which was probably only by the grace of Ian McKellen and sheer will & power of the Star Fleet.

*head explodes* - rant//

Okay- maybe I’m just really in love with Sophie Turner and want definitively nothing more than for her to kill it! Yeah, that sounds less psychotic. I think…

#4 - Avengers: ENDGAME

Do I really have to explain this one? If you’ve been living under a rock for a decade here you go:

Iron Man (2008) spawned a wonderful series of movies that became the Civil Wars/Infinity Gauntlet Saga. And now’s it’s almost over. So - like… go watch them all and then come back to this list. NOW!

PS. You can skip Captain America: Winter Soldier. It’s a little important to the timeline… but only if you really care to waste two hours of your life.

#5 - Shazam

If you’re not excited for this, then your inner child is dead. This movie, in the same vain as Aquaman, will be the good kind of bad. Which is the best we could hope for with this type of Comic based movie. Think more “Great American Hero” than Shazam reboot.

AND the planned release of DC’s “Captain Marvel” (what Shazam was called previously) is just a giant “fuck you” to the MCU. So you can assume they have recruited the greatest comic book nerd minds and put them in god mode for the production of this. Or they just picked up a screenwriter and director from a street corner and give them 30 million dollars in a gigantic gamble that is certainly not gonna be a disaster.

I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT, FOLKS!

#6 - Joker

Here’s how the equation works for the modern time Cinematic Jokers.

Jack Nicholson = Terrible Joker Heath Ledger = Amazing Joker Jared Leto = Amazingly Terrible Joker Joaquin Phoenix = Terribly Amazing Joker?

Ya dig?

#7 - SPAWN [Delayed?]

It’s not a hard story to tell. Boy meets devil. Devil punks boy. Boy feels punk’d so he tries to murder the Devil. Just like Ross and Rachel, it’s that whole “will they, won’t they” game, and it’s a beautiful train wreck.

You’re right, that’s really not a good synopsis of Spawn. This is a can’t miss though. Three simple words: Jamie Foxx, brah!

What I really mean is, if it ever gets made, this will be a great movie.

#8 - FAR FROM HOME

Homecoming really nailed it for me, and this Spider’s contribution to the Avengers movies was great. I have no reason to put this so far down on the list except I’m really done with the same story over and over again, and they haven’t really promised me anything fresh for this movie. That being said, as long as Tobey Maguire doesn’t breathe near this film, and Marc Webb is never allowed near a Marvel movie again, this franchise has been revived and will continue to rock!

PS. Tobey Maguire is the dumbest way to spell either of those names. I know it’s not his fault, but he really had options - especially in hollywood - to fix this a long time ago. *sigh*

#9 - #877 ANY RANDOM BULLSHIT MEDIA THAT PEOPLE PUT OUT DURING 2019

This is the unofficial sum of the movies/videos/short films/youtube rants/whatever that will be put out there for the public to view that will be better than the final 3 films on this list.

#878 - THE NEW MUTANTS

Calling it right now, it’s going fail so hard that people are going to walk out of the theater. If it doesn’t, I’ll vow to destroy the thing most precious to me. (currently that’s my Uber Eats App)

#879 - SUICIDE SQUAD 2

FUCK… THIS… SHIT… How did they get funding for another one. I blame Will Smith for letting this continue. FUCK THIS SHIT!

#880 - HELLBOY II

Why? I’m not even going to waste my time with this one either. FUCK THIS SHIT x2!

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chelsealovesdigitalwriting · 4 years

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Would the COVID-19 pandemic be better or worse without social media?

I saw a tweet about this topic the other day from a comedian I like a lot. A narrow majority of people voted that our current situation would be worse if we didn’t have social media. I believe that social media can be a great thing to have in our predicament, but it can also hurt those who are not as quick to question the authenticity and truth of an article (i.e., older generations that probably shouldn’t be on social media as much as they are... *cough cough* my parents).

Social media (as well as modern technology) has made it much easier to connect with family during this time. I have a nephew who is almost 2, and his mom (my sister, Allison) is pregnant again, so I don’t blame her for not wanting to be around people or go out. Luckily my parents and I can FaceTime her frequently and see my nephew, Anderson. Even though they only live 20 minutes away from us, we are trying our best to continue self-isolating especially for the sake of Anderson and the baby. It has been really hard considering we are used to seeing them pretty frequently, but just like everything else, this too will pass. It’s also helped more than ever with communicating with my oldest sister, Taylor. She lives about an hour and a half away and works at a doctor's office, so we really cannot see her. Our only girl cousin, Faith, also works in a doctor's office 4 hours away, so we have a few group chats to all keep in touch. Whether it’s Snapchat or Facebook, we check in with each other and Allison will send us videos of Anderson, Taylor will send videos of her cat, and Faith and I provide nothing except good commentary.

One of the hardest transitions for me has been not seeing my friends and boyfriend. I went from living with one of my best friends to not even seeing her. The introduction of Zoom has honestly been a lifesaver for me. Not only has it helped with one of my classes- I’ll touch on that later- but it has also allowed me to talk to multiple friends at once in an easy way. We can even watch movies together! I watched Impractical Jokers: The Movie with two of my best friends and my boyfriend the other night. No matter where in the world my friends are (I have one in Indiana, one in Florida, some in Columbia, one in Michigan, my boyfriend is in Greenville and even my friends who live 15 minutes away that I can’t see), we can connect and feel like we’re all in the same room. I even found an article about how to accommodate for different love languages in long-distance relationships, so now my boyfriend and I have tentative plans to have a coffee date via video chat, or even get fancy with a dinner date.

Zoom has also impacted my schooling in a way I never thought it could. If you told me two months ago that I’d be casually video chatting with my classmates and professor in my pajamas while I made coffee and cooked breakfast, I wouldn’t even know how to process that statement. But here we are. And I did that last week. Some of my classmates join the Zoom call from the comfort of their bed, some from their gaming stations, I even joined from my car one day. It has made things better in a way for me. I get excited every week for that one Zoom call. We only briefly speak on whatever novel we’re reading, but the bit of (outside my family) human contact I’m getting is so exciting. I’d like to think all of the other people in the call feel the same way since it’s voluntary to join.

Lastly, and what seems like the only real downfall of having social media during this time, is the spreading of misinformation via social media. Just like a bad virus, misinformation can spread among people and hurt many along the way. We saw spikes in racism toward Asians and Asian-Americans when news first started reaching the US about COVID-19 (we still see it now, but less). We also heard stories of how it was all because of Chinese people eating animals that we don’t eat in the US, and it wasn’t until later that scientists came out and said that the spread of the virus was due to a wet market, not because people were eating bats. The WHO has even said, “The 2019-nCoV outbreak and response has been accompanied by a massive ‘infodemic’—an over-abundance of information—some accurate and some not—that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it” when recognizing the role media has played alongside the pandemic.

The question at hand- would this situation be better or worse without social media- is much more complex and personal than it may look at first glance. I urge each of you to be critical of everything you read in the following weeks or months in regard to the pandemic. Social media can make the world feel smaller and more connected, but it could also harm those who don’t have the resources to do fact checks. So, @ MOM AND DAD, before you share that possibly harmful Facebook status, do a few minutes of research and then decide if you should share it or not.

-C

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onelifemedia · 4 years

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CINEMATOGRAPHY OSCAR NOMINEES ON AUTHENTICITY AND AVOIDING VFX https://ift.tt/2OZteQ0

The DoPs behind 1917, Joker, The Irishman, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and The Lighthouse reflect on the bold choices they made to bring dynamic visions to the screen.

Cinematographers are moving both forward and backward in technological terms this year, ironically in pursuit of the same goal: authenticity.

Avoiding VFX and instead opting to shoot reality has been a central theme. Robert Richardson used real Los Angeles backgrounds for the driving scenes in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. Roger Deakins contended with real explosions and fires in Sam Mendes’s 1917.

Rigging equipment has also been a common talking point for DoPs in 2019. Deakins pushed the boundaries of stabilising devices to enable extended tracking shots for the continuous-take approach of 1917, while Papamichael explored the limits of large-format cameras, putting them in positions that would have been impossible a few years ago (on a low mounted arm attached to a racing car, in one case). Perhaps most complicated of all was Rodrigo Prieto’s “three-headed monster”, a three-camera set-up used to aid the CGI de-ageing process for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.

These and other top cinematographers no longer debate analogue versus digital, with plenty saying it is digital and film, rather than digital or film. This is in part due to rapid advances in camera technology by companies like Arri, with films including 1917 utilising a large-format digital camera that, according to Deakins, is as good as any film camera.

Mixing light sources has also been in vogue, with Lawrence Sher using harsh fluorescents and urban streetlamps to create the heightened eeriness of Joker and grittiness of the city.

Whether they are using old-school filmmaking techniques or the latest technology, these cinematographers are creating brave new worlds for audiences and their craft.

Lawrence Sher - Joker

SOURCE: NIKO TAVERNISE

LAWRENCE SHER ON THE ‘JOKER’ SET

Lawrence Sher has been known primarily for his work on comedies including Todd Phillips’ The Hangover trilogy, Paul, The Dictator and I Love You, Man, before he reunited with Phillips to create the dark, sinister world of Joker.

While Joaquin Phoenix’s performance threw up regular surprises during the shoot, Sher was a ready and willing partner for the award-winning actor, and says his own work plumbing the depths of the DC Comics arch villain — which won him Camerimage’s Golden Frog award in November — is not as big a departure as it initially appears.

What was the shooting schedule like for Joker?I read the script about a year before, did an early scout in March [2018] and then prepped for 10 weeks. The shoot lasted 60 days with one day of shooting lost due to issues with the LED lighting on the New York City subway sequence.

What was your approach to Joker’s colour scheme?My main colour palette was drawn first and foremost from real lighting fixtures that exist in the city. I also looked at movies of that era in which the movie takes place [1981], the colour of the film stock at the time and how it would capture all of this mixed light. The colour palette is a mix of utilitarian light and uncorrected fluorescents — we kept their crappy look so it wouldn’t be clean.

We changed out some of the streetlights so they would be sodium vapour, as opposed to LED which many streetlights are now. When we shot at dusk, you have that blueish light that mixes with the sodium vapours and suddenly you have the colours that I think people associate with the movie: the blues, greens, oranges and greys. You can see the messiness of the city.

How did you approach working with the actors to capture their performances?On set we maintain a certain rhythm for the actors. If they have to go back to trailer, even for 20 minutes, there is a momentum loss. So if I can shoot fast, they never have to leave the set. It helps everybody, especially the scene.

Todd Phillips encouraged improvisation, for instance the bathroom scene where Joker starts to dance after killing the men in the subway. Did that approach affect the shooting?That shot was improvisational. He was going to come into the bathroom, hide the gun, wash off the make-up and stand in the mirror and laugh. But with Todd, the movie is constantly being rewritten so you are discovering it as you make it. All of the planning is there but he’s always flexible. With that scene, he wanted to try it non-verbally. He played a piece of music — he didn’t tell the camera operator what was going to happen — and we got that scene in one take.

Was your approach to Joker different to your other films?My lighting approach is not any different. We are not servicing comedy [in Joker]. Some of the compositions come to the forefront perhaps, more than in my previous works. But my approach, particularly with Todd, is to allow for flexibility and freedom. A lot of it is co-ordination with production design and needing the freedom to be able to light a big space. To have the world lit as opposed to focused on a specific person on a mark.

Which sequence was the most challenging to shoot?The subway scene where he kills three Wall Street guys. We shot on a stage and with LED panels. It was challenging because while we had more money than other independent films, it’s still a budget issue. Todd had always described it as a fever dream — this kind of escalating light show. We accomplished it with a very expensive row of LED lights on both sides, though not too many LEDs because we tried to keep to the light as they had it in the 1970s and ’80s. I was taking the New York subway all the time and shooting with my iPhone to figure out the lighting for that scene.

How did you find working with Joaquin Phoenix?It was a transformative experience watching him act and getting to know him. I didn’t say anything to him during prep; he was a little bit intimidating. He apologised to me for acting weird and I said, “No man, do your thing.” We grew to have a good relationship, where we would challenge each other with the choices on set.

Rodrigo Prieto - The Irishman

SOURCE: NIKO TAVERNISE PICTURES

RODRIGO PRIETO WITH MARTIN SCORSESE ON THE SET OF ‘THE IRISHMAN’

Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto has worked alongside acclaimed directors including Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams, Babel), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Pedro Almodovar (Broken Embraces). The Irishman marks his third feature with Martin Scorsese, after The Wolf Of Wall Street and Silence.

Prieto describes the epic crime drama as one of his most challenging projects to date: an intensive 108-day shoot involving more than 300 set-ups, with the added challenge of managing a complicated CGI de-ageing process for the main actors, which incorporated a “three-headed monster” camera rig.

Although Martin Scorsese is an avid supporter of shooting on film, you had to use digital as well to achieve the de-ageing technique.Yes, 56% was shot on digital and 44% on film. The overall look I thought had to be based on film negative because of the memory aspect. Scorsese talked about home movies, this sensation of remembering the past through images, so I developed looks based on still photography, Kodachrome and Ektachrome.

For the visual effects, it was necessary to shoot with digital cameras where the face had to be replaced with CGI. Visual-effects supervisor Pablo Helman from Industrial Light & Magic needed three cameras synched for every angle and the shutters had to all be in perfect sync. The challenge of getting three cameras to move in unison meant that using film cameras from a practical standpoint was nearly impossible.

Was it Pablo Helman who came up with the idea of using CGI to de-age the actors?Yes, when we were shooting Silence, Pablo said he thought there was a way to make actors look younger through computer-generated imagery. He came up with a three-headed rig where the central camera, the Red Helium, is capturing the shot and two witness cameras, Arri Alexa Minis, are sat on either side of the main camera to read the infrared map of the actors’ faces. We called it the “three-headed monster”.

Can you talk about the stages of the de-ageing process and how that was achieved?There are several different stages. Prosthetics were used to make the actors look older. Make-up could make the actors look younger, for example making a 70-year-old actor look like they were in their 50s. VFX and CGI de-ageing were used when the actors are close to the transition to make-up, and that was complicated as the ageing transition was subtle, say, only a few months in time rather than several years. The technical and make-up teams had to be sure the transition was smooth.

How did you map out the visual arc of a film that spans five decades over three-and-a-half hours?We did not want to make it over-stylised or flashy. Scorsese wanted the camera to reflect the way Frank Sheeran [played by Robert De Niro] approached his job, which was simple, methodical and repetitive. The audience sees the same shots with Frank — the camera pans around at the same angle. When we were with other characters, like crazy Joe Gallo, the camera behaves differently.

How did the fact the film was made to screen first and foremost on Netflix affect the way it was shot?For the most part it wasn’t a consideration. Scorsese designs his shots in a way that helps the story. The one thing we did change was the aspect ratio. Normally, Scorsese would use widescreen but in this case we thought we had better use 1.85 because it would fill up home screens. It also fit Frank’s personality more, as well as helping to show the height difference between the characters. Frank was a tall man so we made special shoes for De Niro and boxes with cushions where he sat. For accuracy, we also changed his eye colour to blue.

You were working on a tight schedule. Was there any room for improvisation during the shoot?When the actors want to try something different, Scorsese will almost always go for it. Near the end of the film, Frank is looking as his car is being washed and it’s a defining moment. We lit the scene for him standing and always looking at the car. Then De Niro said, “I always kind of imagined being inside the car.” So Marty said, “Oh, OK, let’s do that.” I had to set it up in three seconds. As soon as we shot it, I could see that his performance was there.

Jarin Blaschke - The Lighthouse

SOURCE: CHRIS REARDON

JARIN BLASCHKE ON THE SET OF ‘THE LIGHTHOUSE’

Born in the Los Angeles suburbs, Jarin Blaschke continues a collaboration with filmmaker Robert Eggers that began on the latter’s 2008 short The Tell-Tale Heart and encompassed his haunting 2015 feature debut The Witch. For The Lighthouse, the pair conjured up another strange and foreboding world: a mysterious New England island in the 1890s, inhabited by lighthouse keepers Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Blaschke deployed innovative lighting and lensing solutions to take on not just the wilds of authentic Nova Scotia locations, but the demands of dark, cramped, wet settings.

How many years did it take to develop the concept of The Lighthouse?I didn’t have a script until a month or two before prep, but Rob first pitched this idea probably three years before that. With him, it starts with atmosphere, so my subconscious was working on the atmosphere at the same time that we were developing The Witch. We didn’t know which one would go [first] and then The Witch happened.

The Lighthouse was shot in black and white, with a 1.19:1 aspect ratio, on Kodak Double X 35mm film format, which dates from the 1950s. How much testing did you do?There was a battery of tests I put myself through, like testing real oil lamps to see how to do it with an electrical lamp. I had to know how to light differently: I bolstered the light levels by 15, sometimes 20 times, and the film stock had to be tested in rain, backlit to know where it looks like night but also doesn’t look overly lit.

What logistical challenges did you face shooting on location in Nova Scotia?The weather was bad and added about four days to our schedule. It could have been worse but we had a covered set. We couldn’t do a night scene one night because it was too windy and even with day scenes, you have frames where you need to bounce light back using a giant sail and it gets a little hairy. There was a lot of eating cold porridge in the dark in the morning and the breakfast tent was going to blow away. We had to build this hardcore tent just to have breakfast. It adds to the movie, I hope.

In exploring the space between reality and insanity in The Lighthouse, did you use special lenses for certain scenes?I went to Panavision. I know vintage lenses are really trendy right now. I had some experience with the usual suspects: Cooke Series 2s and Super Baltars [used in The Godfather and The Birds]. They put original Baltars in front of me and I fell in love with them. So we had old Baltars from the 1930s. We used the first high-speed portrait lens of the 19th century for special shots, like [Robert Pattinson] having sex with a mermaid, the hand going down the body. Stuff that was super heightened where we could get away with it.

How did your collaboration with Eggers inspire you for certain images?I’ve known Rob for 12 years so I knew there were going to be a lot of symmetrical two-shots. There is one direct reference to a Sascha Schneider painting. And the last scene in the film is in the lookbook. Those are the only two references, everything else I tried to create. I know Rob watched all kinds of crazy stuff, like videos with shark genitals.

You are also working on Eggers’ next film, The Northman. What can you say about it?Rob says very little. It’s a bigger movie than the others. I can say it’s a Viking revenge movie and we are shooting in Europe. I think he feels a responsibility to do a trilogy. It’s dark and unusually violent.

Robert Richardson - Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood

SOURCE: ANDREW COOPER

ROBERT RICHARDSON WITH QUENTIN TARANTINO

A nine-time Oscar nominee and three-time winner, Robert Richardson’s career has been closely associated with three filmmakers: Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. For Stone, he photographed 11 features in a little over a decade, winning the Oscar for JFK; two of his five collaborations with Scorsese brought him Oscar statuettes (The Aviator and Hugo); and he shared Camerimage’s director and cinematographer duo award with Tarantino for their work across six films including Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. Richardson is known across the industry for pushing boundaries and doing whatever it takes to achieve a shot.

How would you typify your relationship with Quentin Tarantino?A relationship with a director is a marriage. I have been fortunate enough to forge a series of relationships with all of the directors I’ve worked with from the beginning. It’s the idea that you are linked together and begin to understand how the other speaks, what you like and don’t like. It’s so important. Collaboration at that level is why rock ‘n’ roll bands are the very best when they hold out and play together as the same team as long as they can. The Beatles wouldn’t have been who they were without John, Paul, George and Ringo.

What is your creative process like with Tarantino once you’ve read the script?Quentin was in the room when I first read the [Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood] script. It took me a substantial time to read it. After we had dinner, we made notes and then he played music: ‘Good Thing’ from Paul Revere & The Raiders, ‘Mrs Robinson’ from Simon & Garfunkel, ‘California Dreamin’ from Jose Feliciano. The soundtrack is like a character in the film; it leads you, it is continuously playing from a radio station. The music helped build on the emotion of the characters and the movement of the film.

What is Tarantino’s process for selecting shots?He only shoots on film, he only processes on film and he only watches dailies on film. He doesn’t see digital replication until he gets to the Avid in the editing room. Our process is to shoot a film chemically, process and print chemically, and that print is duplicated on a 35mm projector. You then project the film as well as the digital intermediate, and they need to replicate each other perfectly, otherwise Quentin doesn’t want to discuss it. It’s definitely challenging, but that’s how we get to be better artists.

And when filming, Tarantino always sits beside the camera?Quentin is a director not a selector. He sits beside the camera. There is no video village, there is no video replay. You don’t go back and look at something. He watches the actors and their performance. If he’s got it, it’s over. If there is an error, something happened or an actor needs a retake, he will listen to why, but he will always choose in the editorial process the very best performance. The film is golden in its use of warm, saturated colours. We wanted to make a film that was about California and sunshine. On my side, it’s a combination of film stock, lenses and light. For the golden exteriors, we used a combination of Panavision’s anamorphic lenses and golden lenses.

You are known for using myriad film stocks to achieve different looks. What did you use for this film?We shot 35mm anamorphic, except when shooting Rick Dalton’s western television series, then we were 35mm black and white, and we shot with spherical zooms mostly in 1.33. There were also two sequences at Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski’s home that we shot on Kodak Ektachrome, one in 16mm black and white and the other on Super8mm colour.

Roger Deakins - 1917

SOURCE: FRANÇOIS DUHAMEL/UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND DREAMWORKS PICTURES

ROGER DEAKINS ON THE SET OF ‘1917’

Winner of four Baftas and an Oscar (secured last year for Blade Runner 2049 on his 14th nomination), the prolific Deakins has been an influential figure in cinematography since he burst on to the scene with 1984. On that film he pioneered a bleach bypass process to achieve a washed-out look that went on to be used in films including Se7en and Saving Private Ryan. He has also been at the forefront of embracing digital filming methods, not least on Sam Mendes’s Skyfall.

He reunites with Mendes on 1917, which follows two soldiers on a mission to avert a strategic disaster during the First World War. Deakins and Mendes had to invent new ways to move the camera to create the impression that the narrative was unfolding in a single, continuous shot — an innovative feat that puts the audience on the frontline.

How did you achieve so much fluidity in single camera shooting?We used a lot of different rigs. Probably 60% of the film was shot on a stabilised remote head. Some shots are done on the Trinity [Arri stabiliser rig], some are done on the conventional Steadicam and there’s even a drone. But the majority of the film is done remotely with a stabilised head that’s either carried by the grips or a tracking vehicle on the end of a crane or on a wire.

How did you plan such incredible camera movement while keeping up the illusion of one continuous shot?Sometimes it’s put on to a wire and then moved, or it’s taken off the wire and then someone carries it or runs with it so it all becomes one shot. The reason was not only to sustain the scene but also that we didn’t want to cut in some of the obvious places.

Were you pushing the existing technology, or did you have to create new methods?We created some of our own. For instance, running with speed down a trench in front of two characters like we were, you can’t do that on Steadicam. So a Steadicam operator came up with the design of little mini-posts with gyros on them, and we put a very small remote head on top. He would run down the trench facing forward with the camera facing backwards over his shoulder, which I was remotely operating. Then he’d get to a corner in the trench and segue around so he started on a front shot.

How did you communicate with the operating team on the ground?I’d be operating remotely. I don’t like wearing earphones because I’m constantly running to and from the set talking to grips or whoever. James [Deakins’ wife and digital workflow consultant] would be on set wearing earphones and relaying messages to the crew. During a shot, she would say things to the operating team like “faster, faster” or “you are getting too close, a little to the left”. It helped because they couldn’t see what the camera was seeing.

How integral were the four months of rehearsals?The trick was for Sam and me to figure out what we wanted to do: where we wanted the camera and to finesse the camera moves relative to the actors. We tested specific rigs on specific kinds of shots. That was the big trick, really, practising with different pieces of equipment. We also went to Salisbury Plain and mapped out all the shots we wanted before anything was dug or built, such as the farmhouse.

How was the weather integral to the film?Being such an exterior movie, we were very dependent on the light and the weather. And we realised you can’t really light it. If you were running down a trench and turning around 360 degrees, there’s nowhere to put a light. Because we were shooting in story order, we had to shoot in cloud to get the continuity from scene to scene. Some mornings the sun would be out and we couldn’t shoot so we would rehearse instead.

The shooting in 1917 had to be in sync with the editing. How did that process work?Sam had to choose the take he wanted before we did the next shot because we had to match them, like the beginning of the B side had to match the end of the A side. That frame and the camera movement and the position of the actors had to match exactly. We would have the take on playback, and set up the incoming take and keep playing the beginning to match the end of the shot. That’s the great thing about video assist and being able to overlay the two images.

You were one of the early adopters of digital shooting. What won you over?

The Arri Alexa tipped the point for me between film and digital. I find it a bit of a non-argument. I think it’s what’s in the frame and where you point the camera.

#CINEMATOGRAPHY OSCAR NOMINEES ON AUTHENTICITY AND AVOIDING VFX 1917 #DoPs #Joker #Once Upon A Time…

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thepilgrimgeek · 4 years

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Unintended Symbols: Minor Spoilers for Joker (Part the First)

It's Academy Award season! The nominations are announced! Between now and February 9, ThePilgrimGeek is going full Blockbuster clearance shelf with Minor Spoilers! What made me laugh? What made me cry? What were the films that stuck in my noggin for days? Here's the first of Minor Spoilers at the Academy Awards! Todd Phillips' Joker has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For a director who’s works include The Hangover and its sequels, as well as Starsky & Hutch, it is an astounding and captivating change of form. The cinematography and writing is on point, and Jaoquin Phoenix easily delivers one of the best performances of his career. Joker, in most regards, is a well-crafted film. Yet, my response to Joker was a cocktail of curiosity, confusion, and more than a dash of despair. I walked out of the theater mulling over all I had watched, a telltale sign that this movie was worth the ticket and that perhaps the haunting sensation that followed me required my attention and prayerful engagement. In doing so I resolved that the only appropriate way to discuss Joker is in two separate Minor Spoiler reviews. This first installment reflects the part of me that is more generous with the film and what I think may be Philips’ commentary specifically about the Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy and its cultural impact. The second part will approach the character of The Joker both in Joker and in the comic book canon of the DC Universe through a broader theological lens. With no further ado, here is my first of two Joker reviews : Unintended Symbols: Minor Spoilers for Joker I wonder what Joker would look like if there had never been Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. I even wonder if such a movie would exist if Christian Bale had never faced off with a painted Heath Ledger or a masked Tom Hardy a decade ago.

Christopher Nolan weaves one thematic thread throughout his trilogy: what does it take to create a symbol? From the first moment Bale’s Bruce Wayne conceives Batman, he has one aim. He tells Alfred “I want to be a symbol.” Becoming a symbol to the rest of Gotham City is Wayne’s endgame from the outset. He wants to inspire the citizens of Gotham to have no tolerance for the corruption and villainy of the city’s crime soaked streets and bought-and-paid for bureaucrats and politicians. Wayne continually questions whether or not the symbol is having the resonance for which he is striving. In one of the more humorous moments of The Dark Knight, Batman encounters copycat vigilantes with firearms trying to thwart the schemes of an escaped Scarecrow. Batman reprimands them with his fists and words. They accuse Batman with “What’s the difference between you and me?” The Caped Crusader responds “I’m not wearing hockey pads.” This is more than a mere comment about equipment. This is an indictment about the copycats’ methods under the symbol of Batman. This is revisited in the trilogy’s final installment The Dark Knight Rises. While Batman strove to emphasize what differentiates him from former mentor Ras al’Ghul in Batman Begins, he is now face-to-face with Bane, who calls his whole endeavor into question. If what Batman desired was to be a symbol to mobilize the masses for change, then the Dark Knight was not radical enough. Following Bane’s defeat, the symbol of Batman is passed on to a new Batman in the person of Blake. Batman as a symbol that inspires and mobilizes is at the center of Nolan’s take on the Batman mythos. And yet, the second installment, The Dark Knight, saw pop culture latch on to a different symbol…

In 2007, Warner Bros. embarked on a viral internet marketing strategy in the months leading up to The Dark Knight's release. This included a mock campaign site for Harvey Dent and a "vandalized" duplicate site in which fan emails revealed (pixel by pixel) the first look at Ledger’s Joker, and multiple scavenger hunts launched via the website WhySoSerious.com that led to more Joker images and a teaser trailer. These and other viral strategies put the enigmatic image of the Joker, and his line “Why so serious?” further into the pop culture ether. This strategy was adjusted and refocused on Harvey Dent (Two-Face) following Ledger’s untimely death prior to the film’s release. Despite this transition in marketing, the iconography of The Joker became far more associated with The Dark Knight, perhaps even more so than Batman himself. Even a decade later in 2019, despite having the introduction of two more silver screen Jokers, Halloween brought more kiddos and adolescents in the guise of Ledger’s Joker asking for candy, rather than that of Jared Leto or Jaoquin Phoenix. Undoubtedly, Nolan and Ledger created a definitive symbol of the Joker that has persevered. The pop-culture obsession with the Joker was ignited in 2008. Between the viral marketing of Warner Bros, and Ledger’s iconic performance (which eclipses Bale’s Batman), the real symbol to rise was from The Dark Knight was not the virtuous Batman, but the chaos-relishing Joker.

In light of the pop-culture impact made by TDK, I think it is more than coincidence that in Todd Philip’s film, Arthur Fleck’s murder of three drunken, abusive frat boys while in clown makeup take on in-movie cultural significance. In Joker, the image of the clown becomes the icon under which the disenfranchised of Gotham unite. The image’s power is only fueled by the rhetoric of the city’s elite, namely the Caped Crusader’s own father, Thomas Wayne, who uses "clown" as pejoratively in reference to those praising the mystery murderer. And it is under the icon of the Joker that society breaks out into chaos. In the film’s climax, Arthur Fleck (painted and garbed in what is recognizably the figure of Batman’s arch nemesis, insists to Robert DeNiro’s Johnny Carson-esque late night host that he never meant to be political. Any association between him and the growing symbolism of the clown, he claims, has little to do with him. However, he then goes into an extended socio-political speech that culminates in him killing the late night host. It is the moment that literally sets Gotham on fire as the masses don clown masks and paint, rioting through the city. For a character who does not desire to be a symbol for the politically disenfranchised, he rages against all that the forces that (insofar as Fleck is an unreliable narrator) seem to be oppressing the downtrodden of Gotham.

Fleck has many moments where he basks in the presence of the symbol, grinning at flyers of killer clowns and looking gleeful over news headlines. The film’s near final moments sees the Joker dancing on the hood of a wrecked police cruiser while chaos reigns around him. He is basking in the madness. So the questions remains: what does Arthur Fleck’s Joker stand for? What is Todd Philips’ portraying? At best, maybe Philips is portraying why the iconography that grew around Ledger’s Joker following The Dark Knight is an empty one, offering not hope but only chaos. Maybe we are asked to look at Arthur Fleck, to paraphrase Michael Cain’s Alfred Pennyworth, literally watching the world burn and dancing in the fire light, and ask: what good is there in the cultural popularity and idolization of the Joker?

If Phillips is attempting to draw out this question in a sort of satire of the The Dark Knight's Joker, then we should ask if Philips does this well. If at any point the chaos and violence that Fleck incites (from whatever motivation) is justified or even glorified in its portrayal, then Philips has failed. A satire done poorly is no satire at all, but instead becomes the very object that is meant to be satirized. Maybe Philips has only added to the cultural iconography of the Joker. I think that Tasha Robinson, writing for the Verge, is correct in the assessment that “Phillips suggests in the end that everything he went through was necessary to bring him the power and recognition he deserves. It’s a tempting fantasy, crafted with utter conviction.” Phillips' satire fails, if that was ever his intent. But perhaps the Clown Prince of Crime is not a force to be satirized. Perhaps any time the Joker becomes a symbol, or is transformed into an icon, there is only one result: the celebration of violent chaos. Perhaps he is not, and was never meant to be, a symbol on par with Batman. Unless Todd Philips understands that too… but let’s cross that bridge to Gotham next week. Read the full article

#Joker DCComics

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jmgiovine · 4 years

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TOP 10: 2019 Films.

-. Climax.

Dir. Gaspar Noé.

As unconventional and raw as the director faithfully has maintained himself throughout his entire career, Climax proves that visceral and raw themes can be managed for the sake of genuine art and originality, with a plot that slowly grows, but also, degenerates itself and the characters around it, the film feels rather a random ride of progressive emotions that finishes the viewer sense of patience and expectations, as tragedy and chaos reigns in each perfectly structured shot.

-. How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World.

Dir. Dean DeBlois.

The final chapter on the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless, The Hidden World showcases the final conflict between the people of Berk and a new threat rising againts the dragons and citizens of the place, so now, our heroes should journey to find a more suitable place for the dragos to live on their own.

-. Rocketman.

Dir. Dexter Fletcher.

If people went nuts with last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody, I can’t see why this one shouldn’t emulate the same feeling. Rocketman narrates the life and career of iconic music star, Elton John, throughout his personal struggles, he’s own demons and afflictions, becoming one of the most iconic representatives of pop music from recent years.

-. Avengers Endgame.

Dir. Joe and Anthony Russo.

The final installment in the epic Infinity Saga on the MCU, Endgame has our heroes in their final confrontation in order to restore the damage provoked by the evil Thanos after killing half the universe, so they’ll have to travel inside the Quantum Realm in order to obtain the stones on their own, so they can bring back the victims of the Snap, to fight in the final showdown against the Mad Titan.

-. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

Dir. Quentin Tarantino.

Arguably Tarantino’s less stereotypical and expected, but as unconventional and personal as the tour de France feeling around it; a progressive ride throughout the classic vintage Hollywood from the late 60s in all it’s stylish glory. The lack of plot but flow around these characters and small situations above them makes this two hour and a half flick worth watching onto several times, with considerable knowledge and background of the date and the films released on it.

-. Midsommar.

Dir. Ari Aster.

Disturbingly paced, slow but increasing on its atmosphere and tones and as raw and thought-provoking as Hereditary (2018) was, Ari Aster once again delivered an unconventional horror thriller that happens to feel unique, aggresive and clever, elements that seems to be resurging on the screen in the past years. While more of an acquired taste, Midsommar happens to be a trutful inspiring piece of the genre one could rearily find in the 7th art nowadays.

-. Joker.

Dir. Todd Philips.

The newest highest grossing R-rated film in history, and if I were to guess that’ll be the case six months ago I wouldn’t necessarily believe it, but this was a film that slowly grew on my within each promotion and teasers, considering how Philips was obsessed on promoting this film as if Scorsese himself actually directed it, and seeing it and beholding Phoenix’s outstanding performance and the film’s overly inspired character study I got it. Regardless of the (stupid-pointless-retarded) controversy behind it’s pre-release, Joker proved to be DC’s best post-Nolan entry and a shine of hope on the studio’s upcoming future.

-. The Irishman.

Dir. Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese did again. I believe it wasn’t since The Departed (2006) in which he delivered his truly last masterpiece (yeah, I like Wolf of Wallstreet, but it ain’t close to the level he already delivered in the past), but the Irishman is easily another pick for this category. Already considered for plenty Academy nominations, this crime drama feels not only as grand in scale and premise, but it also offers the iconic comeback on screen of the legendaries Joe Pesci, De Niro, Pacino and Harvey Keitel for an obligatory reunion in an Scorsese flick. Over too long (like if I care) the film depicts the whole take on the Jimmy Hoffa scandal and his relationships with the crime world, and as expected, delivers big time.

-. Knives Out.

Dir. Rian Johnson.

An apparent suicide from a known author of thrillers and mystery novels will lead to an investigation of his entire family for the suspicion of murder from one of them, Daniel Craig is the one hired by a mysterious figure to initiate the investigation and he’ll eventually will unravel the whole case in order to catch the guilty ones.

-. Marriage Story.

Dir. Noah Baumbach.

A chronicle of a marriage getting through a rough time prior to their eventual divorce in a heavily human and raw progress every marriage with struggles, or in the same situation, might feel related to. Also, probably we got Adam Driver and Scarlett Johanson at their very best and some of the best writing this year, resulting in a powerful and strongly realistic drama, pleasant to sit through.

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thisislizheather · 4 years

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October Occurrences 2019

Forgive the lateness of this post! It was an insanely busy month and I’ll try not to let this kind of delay happen again. SO MUCH HAPPENED! Details below.

I went on two trips this month! The first was to the Bahamas and it was so great. I stayed at Atlantis (because well, that’s where my parents were staying and they kindly let me stay with them, IF YOU MUST KNOW) and while Atlantis was super nice, it really felt like what I imagine a big cruise ship to feel like. I’m not meaning that as an insult at all - it just felt sort of stiff, well maintained, with a very controlled environment. I tried lionfish for the first time (very good), drank Bahama Mamas and slid down the shark-surrounded Leap of Faith (horrifying). We ate at Jose Andres’ restaurant Fish and it was absolutely unreal. The seafood was phenomenal.

Above Photo: Parents in the Bahamas

My second trip was to New Orleans for the week of Halloween! I’ll do a full post on this one because there’s too much to say. (Full post here!)

In some upsetting news, I accidentally “recovered” my phone and lost most of my Bahamas photos. I was so upset because it was completely my own fault. I hadn’t backed up my photos to my computer yet either, so it truly sucked. I do have iCloud but I never opted to pay for the extra space so it’s been full for about a year already. Enter my saviour Marla who told me about Google Photos (which is free) and I’ve already started using and backing up almost daily. I’ve moved on from losing the photos by rationalizing it in thinking that I wasn’t meant to have those photos, they were meant to be memories.

Remember when I told you to watch Tuca & Bertie because it’s so lovely? Well, if you did, this is a really great piece about Bertie’s boyfriend, Speckle.

Can’t get enough of the Pink Lady Apple flavour of Health-Ade. So goddam tasty.

Years ago, I watched and hated the second Sex & The City movie (too xenophobic, cliched and generally terrible) but I rewatched it on a plane recently and while it’s still a bad movie, I had completely forgotten about the storyline about Carrie and Big “defining the parameters of their own relationship.” Best part of the movie! I won’t give away too much, but you may want to rewatch this stinker if nothing better is on.

We rewatched all of the Sleepaway Camp movies and they really hold up well. Such a solid series.

I did two of Nathan’s podcasts this month: one where we talked about vaping and one where we talked about what annoys Nathan and my Joker thoughts! I had a lot of Joker thoughts. Quick summary? IT BLEW. I feel like the world grieves for broken men and I do not wish to.

I tried pumpkin-flavoured Kit Kats and although a little gross at first, they really do taste like pumpkin. And after two or three bites, become delicious.

In keeping with autumn flavours, I tried the pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks (I know, despite this one instance, I am still trying to stay away from the corporations that are slowly eating away at society as we know it). Anyway, the drink was only MEH. It’s wild how we’ve made milkshakes acceptable for adults to drink at 8am.

I’m not sure if I’ve already shared this tip, but I have THE greatest advice for someone who’s trying to avoid a cold from starting. You know that point right before you get a cold, when your throat feels a little tingly and sensitive? And you know that a cold is coming right around the corner? All you need to do to avoid this from happening is buy the blue Listerine and gargle with it once in the morning and once before bed and gargle for about 30 seconds each time. I SWEAR TO GOD THIS WORKS. But only with the blue Listerine. I’ve tested this theory twice now and it absolutely works, someone give me a medal for curing the common cold. (And if you really don’t believe me, buy the travel size before you commit to the larger bottle, geek.)

Riverdale is BACK! The season premiere episode dealing with Luke Perry’s death was so good and so sad and that’s all I have to say about that. As for the more recent episodes of Riverdale? The latest Halloween episode was pure and complete madness and I love how nuts it’s becoming.

I started watching the new season of This Is Us and I think I figured out what’s wrong with this show: every character on it is almost TOO in love with their partner. It’s enough already, we get it, love exists. The show is so wildly saccharine now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed before? Either way, I might be passing on it this season.

I read and reviewed Abbi Jacobson’s newest book and you can see that full post over here.

I really hate cleaning shower curtains and the mold-free one that I got from The Container Store (only $10) has lasted me a full six months before getting gross. Highly recommend!

Cannot stop playing this song or this song.

J. Crew was having a pretty sweet sale and I bought this gorgeous-fitting underwire 90s swimsuit that I can’t stop praising. No one told me about underwire swimwear! So fucking flattering.

My absolute favourite place to get Halloween costume accessories is by far the Village Party Store in Manhattan. They somehow have every single thing you’d need for a costume, they’re super inexpensive and the staff is so helpful (eons better than any Spirit). I was talking about costume stuff with one of the guys who works there and he mentioned how a group of women had just come in to get stuff for their group costume: they all were going to be different Keanu Reeves characters. Is it just me or is that the greatest group costume you’ve ever heard of? He said they were definitely going to do Neo from The Matrix, Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Jack from Speed, Duke Kaboom from Toy Story 4 and Sad Keanu. PURE GENIUS.

My favourite SNL sketch of the season so far, for sure.

LOVED the new season of Big Mouth. But can we pleeeeease stop with the musical episodes? NOBODY LIKES THEM.

Speaking of Big Mouth, I watched the movie Disclosure and wowza. Great movie. Can’t believe I’d never even heard of it before. Just rewatched it again with Nathan this past week. So good.

Another great NYC Halloween store is Abracadabra on 21st street. It’s a more expensive place to shop, but if you just want to browse then definitely visit this place. There are tons of interactive displays and the whole basement has incredible costumes for rent.

You can see this year’s Halloween costume over here, if you so please. In other costume news, Baby Dog was a lion. Roar.

I finally tried Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion and whoa. I get the hype. It fucking obliterates pimples. It’s hard to sleep in since it goes on like calamine lotion and smudges everywhere if you lay face down (do people sleep like this? I sleep like I’m in a coffin & Nathan hates it because I look like a mental patient but it’s so fucking relaxing, I can’t stop), but it works really well if you can figure out a way to sleep without it rubbing off.

SO, SO excited to hear that season two of Shrill has a release date: January 24th!

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: celebrating American Thanksgiving since I missed the true (Canadian) one last month while I was in the Bahamas, introducing Nathan to the Momofuku Thanksgiving croissant, taking Baby Dog for autumn walks in Central Park, getting my copy of Lindy West’s new book that arrives in my mailbox tomorrow, still working on doing things off of my autumn list, reading Jenny Slate’s new book, if you find yourself always losing your poppy I find it helpful to attach mine to a safety pin rather than just the regular pin that comes with it, and I’ll probably definitely see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood even though I do think it’s unnecessary.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in September over here!

#this is liz heather #Liz Heather #monthly post #October #best of NYC #Halloween #Halloween NYC

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screenandcinema · 4 years

Text

The S&C Oscar Round-Up

Last night, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held the 92nd Academy Awards. Below you will find the winners in each of the major categories, their fellow nominees, as well as a couple of notes about each category and winner. Without further ado, the winners:

Best Picture

Ford v. Ferrari

The Irishman

Joker

Jojo Rabbit

Little Women

Marriage Story

1917

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Parasite

At one point in this shortened Oscar season, a majority of these films were in a real conversation to win Best Picture. Netflix put The Irishman on everyone’s radar last year with a Super Bowl teaser, though it something that cinephiles knew was coming for a long time. Early into last fall, it seemed likely that it was going to win Best Picture. As the luster of The Irishman fell off, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was given a second look by all, it was seen as a possible consensus pick and a movie about movie-making always seems to do well on Hollywood’s biggest stage. When nominations were announced and Joker was given 11, the most of the year, it entered the conversation and questions like “What happens if Joker wins?” were asked. Though 1917 was released very late in the awards season and skipped all the festivals, it still racked up a handful of awards that usually serve as a precursor to winning Best Picture - the PGA award for Best Theatrical Film, the BAFTA for Best Film, the DGA for Outstanding Directing, and the Golden Globe for Best Picture Drama. After taking the WGA Adapted Screenplay prize there were quiet conversations that maybe Jojo Rabbit, which was flush with nominations from the DGA and PGA might have a chance to breakthrough. And then there was the hope among some throughout the tail end of the awards season that Parasite would prevail and be the first non-English speaking film to win Best Picture. And it did. At what point in the night did that become abundantly clear? After Sam Mendes lost for Best Director, the writing was on the wall for 1917, since 1970 no film has won Best Picture without a win in directing, writing, or acting. After that, there was no question that Parasite would take the night’s top prize and make its own history.

Parasite is interesting to me because it definitely illustrates a shift in how Americans view foreign films. After watching Parasite, I thought to myself that if this film had come out ten years ago it would have been wrongly ignored by Hollywood until it was remade in English with an American cast by David Fincher and gone on to sweep the Oscars. Obviously, I was thinking about the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, a movie which I admit to having never seen, which was remade by Martin Scorsese in 2006 as The Departed which went on to win four Academy Awards including Best Picture. I believe that Parasite director Bong Joon Ho put it perfectly in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes last month, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” He is questionably right.

Eight of the nine Best Picture nominated films took home an Oscar last night, the lone loser of the group? The Irishman, the film that started this only campaign a year ago.

Best Director

Bong Joon Ho, Parasite

Sam Mendes, 1917

Todd Phillips, Joker

Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Bong Joon Ho and Sam Mendes were the clear front-runners for Best Director going into the ceremony. Mendes at this point in the season had been cleaning up on directing awards winning the BAFTA, DGA, and Golden Globe awards for Best Director. Regardless of which man one, it was continued an interesting trend for the decade, only one American director has won Best Director over the last ten years (Damien Chazelle for La La Land). Which is quite the change from only three non-Americans (Roman Polanski for The Pianist, Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain, and Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire). The past decade has brought American audiences amazing films from visionary directors from around the world like Bong Joon Ho, Alejandro G. Iñárritu Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, Ang Lee, and Michel Hazanavicius.

Hopefully, now we can get a female director back on stage next year.

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo, Harriet

Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story

Saoirse Ronan, Little Women

Charlize Theron, Bombshell

Renee Zellweger, Judy

The rest of the awards were all won by the favorites in their categories including Renee Zellweger who had already taken home a BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award for her portrayal of Judy Garland. Fun fact, Judy was the only feature-length non-documentary film to win an Oscar last night that I had not seen. If there was going to be a surprise in any of the acting categories, I was hoping it would happen here (Johansson and Ronan has superb performances this year) but alas, it did not. At least it will be a fun reunion next year when Zellweger hands Tom Cruise the Academy Award for Best Actor in Top Gun: Maverick.

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Adam Driver, A Marriage Story

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

A fun little stat was circling last night after Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor award for Joker:

In 1989, an Oscar winner plays the Joker (Jack Nicholson). In 2008, the Joker portrayer wins an Oscar (Heath Ledger). In 2016, an Oscar winner plays the Joker (Jared Leto). In 2019, the Joker portrayer wins an Oscar (Joaquin Phoenix).

The only other role that comes close to that kind of Oscar pedigree is that of Vito Corleone which Marlon Brando won an Oscar for playing in The Godfather, and then two years later in The Godfather II, Robert De Niro won one for playing the younger version.

Good luck to the next person tapped to play the Clown Prince of Crime.

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell

Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

Florence Pugh, Little Women

Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Lauren Dern took the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Marriage Story where she took Noah Baumbach’s amazing screenplay and did wonders with it. There are two scenes in particular where her performance completely takes over the film and those are the mediation scene and the courtroom scene, in both, she pulls off a masterclass in acting.

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes

Al Pacino, The Irishman

Joe Pesci, The Irishman

Brad Pitt, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

At the beginning of the awards season, there was concern that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt would both be competing in the Best Actor category since they both equally carry Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In the end, it was decided to put Brad Pitt in the supporting category which does make a little sense since his character spends the whole movie supporting DiCaprio’s. In the end, Pitt took home the statuette, one of only two the film won last night.

-MB-

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