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whetstonefires · 4 years

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Sephiroth, 1, 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, 20. I find your take on him so interesting! (And kind of sad too...)

Oh gosh this is so many! Haha okay, here goes.

1.Their physical weak spots

Huh. He’s programmed to be literally impossible to damage in the one actual fight in the Nibel flashback, the dragon. I theorize this might have been his first-level Limit? But of course you can’t use a Limit unless you’ve been injured first. (Apparently they reversed this in the Remake which is a major thematic change and I don’t like it? Anyway tho.)

So on one level his physical untouchability is part of his trademark and there’s a temptation to say ‘none’ and be done with it.

Normal human weak spots, I imagine, he’s not as alien as all that. The throat is the throat, I mean. His disinclination for wearing shirts may suggest an indifference to thoracic damage, but between his tendency to not get hit at all and the existence of healing magic that doesn’t necessarily mean much.

The vertical pupils which can dilate much further than normal would make him particularly vulnerable to flashbangs used in a dark or even dim environment. I assume Wutaian ninjas exploited the heck out of that. :D

2. Their emotional/moral weak spots

Abandonment issues was a big one, I think, and all the huge gaping vulnerabilities created by being a child with no one to love, or who loved you.

Thinking outside of Shinra’s standard pathways is a matter of some anxiety to him, in Crisis Core–his idea of resistance is ‘find my friend first and then oops fail to kill him they can’t prove it was on purpose’ and then later ‘turn down the assignment to find my friend and kill him.’ There’s just, a lot of emotional dependence on a toxic structure indicated by his behavior patterns.

I’m sure that was deliberately instilled, but it’s not that hard. His superpowers aren’t Superman scale self-sufficient until after he ‘dies’ once, and capitalism does what it does. He’s not much less dependent on the Company for survival than the average worker, and more so for identity.

Morally he was disadvantaged by being a corporate supersoldier with Hojo as his parent–the details of his upbringing have never been clarified but they sure didn’t put him anywhere outside Shinra enough for him to form external attachments, or even powerful internal personal ones prior to the rather shaky ones he managed with two peers sometime in adolescence, which leaves fairly few possibilities really.

Anyway morally he’s nothing but weaknesses, even before he got tangled up with The Thing From The Northern Crater and decided he was God and should consume all life. ^^;

5. Guilty pleasures

You know, I don’t think even pre-evil Sephiroth did guilt much? Waste of energy, and (see above) he wasn’t socialized for it, it’s counterproductive in a soldier. The ‘guilt’ in guilty pleasure is really a species of shame though, and anyone with that much pride is vulnerable to the opposite, even if they weren’t exposed to someone like Hojo growing up….

You know, it was probably novels? He was a reader, and one of the most personal things we know about him from the OG is the deep impression left by Hojo’s furious rant about how inappropriate it was to use poetic expressions about magic. Even ‘magic’ was too sentimental for this domineering science twit.

So, every so often growing Sephiroth would get his hands on a piece of fiction, and the quality wasn’t necessarily great because it was whatever he could pick up in the break room or wherever, but he’d hole up out of sight and scarf it down. Even once he had his own living space and salary and could buy whatever books he wanted and store them, he’d pick up novels on the sly and get rid of them once he was done, like someone was going to catch him. One of the things he used to pick out of the ruins in Wutai during the looting was books.

He always felt a confusing mess of jealousy and scorn about Genesis’ Loveless thing. That he could just like it like that, constantly, right out in the open, where anyone could laugh at him. That nobody had ever taken it away.

Less tragically, I think sometimes he’d go home and watch bad TV. Whatever Midgar’s stupidest soap opera was. Sephiroth caught enough of the reruns to know most of the main plots. He had an opinion about who the father of Jaqueline’s baby should have turned out to be. He would never admit this.

9. Humiliating memories

Okay, as touched on above repeatedly, he grew up with Hojo, who loves breaking people down and laughing at them, so he’s probably got a lot of these.

The worst one is one time when he had a weak moment or an optimistic one, and asked out loud in words for something he really, really wanted, and Hojo said yes, and gave Sephiroth just enough time to get desperately excited and express gratitude before laughing at him and saying of course he was lying. Don’t be stupid.

That isn’t something important enough to bother with.

12. Grudges and vendettas

‘Burning inside with violent anger’ isn’t there for no reason. From Nibelheim on these define him, and according to bonus materials of middling canon status he eventually sheds almost all identity elements but his grudges.

I think, based on the shape of his breakdown? That for most of his life he told himself that holding onto anger and pursuing grudges was a waste of time and energy. But that didn’t actually help him let any of it go, he just internalized and ignored things. Because he wasn’t actually not holding grudges, he was just reacting like someone who didn’t have any choices, and marinating in spite.

Spite against Hojo surfaces on the way up to the reactor in a way that says to me it’s a habit, almost a reflex. But it manifests in profound pettiness, and I think that’s the only way he normally felt he was permitted to act out against the people who really bothered him, though I’m also sure he channeled a lot of anger into unrelated killing. Natural thing to do when you’re a frustrated teenager who’s supposed to be killing people anyway.

By the time he did it in Nibelheim, it was an old habit.

The fact that he bothered to personally kill the Shinra President as his big debut says to me he was holding a grudge about his entire life against the person who commissioned him and declared the war and shaped the floating Midgar-world that defined his life. I think there were probably a lot of personal insults in there too, just because of the way Shinra Sr. seems to have conducted himself generally.

He’s a Donald Trump expy wouldn’t you.

Sephiroth is written as a much softer person in Crisis Core, almost absurdly so, but even there you can see him resenting Genesis and Angeal more than a little for abandoning him. It probably brought back his whole mess of feelings about Gast, who really did abandon him quite unforgivably but Sephiroth never knew the full circumstances, just that he was gone and later dead. There are signs he blamed Hojo, who doesn’t seem to have gloated openly about the murder even if he did make sure to inform the boy his favorite person was dead now.

And of course later on there’s Cloud, which doesn’t actually make that much sense until you loop in the retcon about Cloud throwing him into the reactor and cutting short his initial rampage. There’s the grudges he seems to have inherited from Jenova, against the Cetra.

It’s not out of the question that he killed Aerith the way he did in part because she was the thing Gast abandoned him for, as well as all the other less personal reasons. I sort of like to think so.

16. Dark secrets/’skeletons in the closet’

Of his own, as opposed to ‘about him’ that he found out about, I don’t think he really had many? He wasn’t much accustomed to privacy.

I think most of the worst things he did, as a human being rather than a transhuman monstrosity, were pretty unavoidably public; they were war crimes, and happened in front of some fraction of the rest of the army. He was praised for them.

There probably were a lot of dark things he never talked to anyone about, that weren’t really known, but except for outright humiliating childhood incidents like above he wasn’t particularly hiding them. He was just never in a position where it would have made any sense to him to bring them up.

Genesis wasn’t ever someone it was safe to be vulnerable around, and Angeal was uncomfortable with too much emotion, and besides they were fellow soldiers and it wasn’t like the things he didn’t talk about from the war were anything special, and he wasn’t going to complain about his childhood to them. And who else was there?

Dude needed so much therapy.

20. What-ifs/Alternate Timelines

I go absolutely nuts with alternate timelines for Sephiroth. He’s so much fun to work with that way.

Lucretia and Vincent stole the baby and went on the run: Firo grew up kinda isolated in the woods with his parents but runs away at thirteen to fight Shinra because he’s so mad they had to leave Wutai because of the invasion. Parzival AU.

Ifalna recruited Sephiroth to her escape scheme and he wound up raising Aerith on the run, under the names Rith and Roth. Beloved Dust AU, that one’s actually online as you may very well know lol.

Vincent blew up the Nibelheim reactor with Hojo and Jenova in it when Sephiroth was six, and then later Midgar blew up as well and the Shinra world order collapsed, and the recently married Mrs. Strife adopted the weird lab kid. Later on Cloud pressures his big brother into starting an anti-bandit militia. Time Of General Strife AU.

Cute three-way blood brothers ceremony contaminates Genesis’ body with Sephiroth’s DNA and sets off his degeneration several years early, when they’re all teenagers and not nearly as famous, powerful, or fucked in the head. Brother and Brother AU.

And so on. ;}

#ask #ask meme #sephiroth #ffvii #hoc est meum #a nonny mouse #any time tags on asks could come back that would be great #meta #headcanons #backstory #thank you!#hope this suited

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 4 years

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Why (most of) the 2010s Marvel legacy characters didn’t work

For Marvel characters I think it comes off as profoundly undermining when they get legacies, at least in the specific way Marvel attempted this throughout the 2010s.

To explain this we need to actually first look at DC’s characters in order to compare and contrast why legacies for them tend to work out better than they do for Marvel.

Simply put back in the 1930s-1950s (if not even later) DC’s characters were almost always created as powers first, people second. Wish fulfilment fantasy figures over flawed mere mortals.

Consequently you could legacy Green Lantern and the Flash in the 1950s and then do so again in the 1980s-1990s because so so long as you had a guy with a ring and another guy with super speed you were retaining the essence of both characters, the fundamental point and appeal of them.

But the Marvel characters were the other way around and practically deliberately designed to be so.

Thor was the story of the life and times of Thor Odinson. Spider-Man was the story of the life and times of Peter Parker. The Fantastic Four was never the story about a brainiac who stretched, a girl who could go invisible, a kid who could burst into flame and a guy who looked like a rock monster.

It was about a stern scientist obsessed with his work. A nurturing young woman who loved him but was frustrated by his tendency to get lost in his work. Her younger brother interested in sports cars, girls, excitement and other typically hot headed teenage endeavours. And an average Joe who was tortured and depressed that he was no longer human.

Ben Grimm could’ve looked like any kind of monster and the central point of his character would have been retained. The F4′s specific powers, complemented their personalities, but they were not the driving point unto themselves.

In contrast let us consider Captain America, probably the Marvel character who’s done the ‘replacement legacy hero’ storyline the most (at least within 616 canon). How comes he lends himself so much better to this type of story than the other Marvel characters?

Simple, because unlike most of the big name Marvel characters you know of, he wasn’t created in the 1960s or beyond. Cap was the product of the 1940s and was a peer to those same early days super heroes from the Golden Age, including the original Green Lantern and Flash. Like them he began fundamentally more as a symbol and powerset than a person.

But now flashing forward to the 21st century many (most in my view) Flash fans were upset (and continue to be so) Wally West’s ascension to the Flash mantle was undermined and ultimately undone for the sake of restoring Barry Allan to the spotlight. The reason for this upset when Wally himself had replaced Barry? Wally had proven himself a far more flawed, nuanced and complex character than Barry had ever been.

He demonstrated a degree of characterisation in the Flash role that Barry never had. It wasn’t even that he simply had more of this than Barry, but that Barry, just like Jay Garrick preceding him, had little to speak of in the first place. Thus the contrast between Jay and Barry was mostly superficial but the contrast between Barry and Wally was as stark as comparing Spider-Man to 1950s Superman.*

But Wally West, and the entire DC Universe from Post-Crisis onwards in fact, were in that mould precisely because they were trying to be more like Marvel comics has been since the 1960s onwards.

DC in effect began prioritising the people beneath the costumes over the powers.** But Marvel starting in the 1960s had pretty much always been like that with their heroes.

Consequently when legacies popped up and those new characters were pushed as being just as good, just as worthy, or (in some cases) lowkey pushed as being better than their predecessors it naturally rubbed those fans with decades of emotional investment the wrong way. OBVIOUSLY a woman or a POC can be just as worthy and just as capable as a man or a white person as a superhero. But series to series, character to character, it was almost like Marvel was taking away your beloved pet.

Imagine for a moment you had a pet named Rex that you’d known and loved for years.

Then Marvel insisted on taking Rex away from you when there was nothing wrong with him. In his place they give you another clearly different pet with Rex’s collar, who gets Rex’s bowl, Rex’s food, Rex’s toys, Rex’s bed and even Rex’s name and asks you to treat them not as just a new dog but straight up the new Rex.

Except he isn’t Rex. Rex is Rex. The ‘new Rex’ playing with Rex’s toys, doing the same tricks as him or having his collar doesn’t change that.***

Because Rex was more than a collar, his toys or his tricks. He was an individual that you’d known and loved. And even if you know Rex is going to come back ‘eventually’ having Rex taken away from you at all, having the new Rex supplant them (especially if old Rex was screwed over for the sake of new Rex’s arrival) and having so many people insist new Rex is just as great or more great than old Rex (to the point where many people loudly proclaim they don’t even want the old Rex back and the old Rex was kinda lame and boring) is going to create a massive dissonance. Maybe you would’ve been chill with the new Rex is he was just another additional pet called Rover or even like RexY who was similar yet different to Rex, but not actually promoted AS Rex or as his replacement.

Maybe you would’ve been okay with the new Rex if the old one got too old, died naturally or accidentally. But you aren’t okay with it because there was nothing wrong with Rex, you LOVED Rex and Rex had been with you and been around generally forever. So the new Rex felt like he was undermining him, especially undermining Rex’s individuality.

That’s how I think most Marvel fans felt about practically EVERY legacy situation that’s ever cropped up from the 1960s onwards, not even the ones just from the 2010s. I remember the outrage when Bucky was announced as the new Cap. I know there were people salty about Eric Masterson as Thor and the Spider-Man Clone Saga speaks for itself.

Compounding the situation is that more than a few media outlets (despite imo not representing the feeling’s of the majority at all) promoted (and in some cases still promote) the new characters as not just better than they are (see the dozen or so lists talking about how great Riri allegedly was) but along with many fans tear down the older characters whilst doing so.

See every article ever talking about why Peter Parker in the movies (and sometimes in the comics) NEEDS to die for the sake of Miles becoming the new Spider-Man in spite of their rationales rarely making sense from a creative/financial POV and utilizing misrepresentations of both characters to varying degrees. Even fans that appreciate the social/political relevancy of the new characters are going to naturally be upset in response to that and angrily voice opposition when the character they love gets dragged through the mud like that. And that then gets exacerbated when they are labelled as bigots for feeling upset by the changes or reacting against the character they love being dragged through the mud.****

Especially considering they would’ve reacted the same way regardless of who was the replacement hero. Again, fans at first didn’t take kindly to John Walker or Bucky as the new Captain Americas so the idea that backlash against Sam Wilson was entirely or primarily racist was itself profoundly ignorant. Especially when you consider black reviewers such as those on the Hooded Utalitarian were calling it out as bad storytelling and bad representation for black people. SpaceTwinks went issue by issue through Spencer’s Sam Wilson run and called it out as racist, ignorant and naive. NONE of which is me saying that there isn’t more than a little bigotry going around detractors of these new characters nor that there aren’t obviously bad actors.

But those people did not and do not represent the majority and framing the situation as though they do is disingenuous and highly unethical. In conclusion, the backlash against the 2010s Marvel legacy characters was entirely natural, understandable and for the vast majority came from a place of love for the original characters not a bigoted hatred for the new characters skin colour or sex.

It was a testament to Marvel’s, and the wider media, misunderstanding the psychology of most comic book fans.

P.S. In regards to that, though it isn’t exactly talking about what I’ve spoken about I’d highly recommend checking out this video which touches upon the disenchantment Star Wars fans felt over the Sequel Trilogy, which itself could be viewed as doing the same thing Marvel did with it’s replacement legacy characters.

P.P.S. The reason I think the likes of Miles Morales or Kamala Khan succeeded where others failed is chiefly due to their rise to the role of legacy replacements stemmed from their predecessors not being sidelined for their rise to the spotlight. Miles never ever replaced the 616 version of Peter Parker, widely considered by most fans and Marvel internally as the true and legitimate version of the character. Kamala Khan meanwhile picked up the Ms. Marvel only when Carol Danvers discarded it and became Captain Marvel. She was still in the spotlight in her own right, Kamala simply got her own spotlight using Carol’s obsolete name. Which isn’t all that dissimilar to fan favourite Cassandra Cain’s rise to the Batgirl mantle now I think about it.

P.P.P.S. A possible counter argument to all I’ve said is the success of the Superior Spider-Man/Otto Octavius. After all why was he embraced when Sam Wilson and Jane Foster wasn’t? Was a double standard rooted in bigotry at play?

No, but the answer isn’t neat and simple.

I think Ock as the new Spider-Man was more embraced partially because Ock had been around essentially as long as Spidey himself. But more poignantly pre-Superior Spider-Man was so atrocious that a sizzling and sexy idea like Superior (which generated tons of cheap novelty) felt utterly refreshing, even to people who had actually LIKED pre-Superior Spidey under Slott. It’s like how people praised the early Big Time stories despite their problems because compared to BND they were genuinely better.

Plus Superior, for all it’s god forsaken writing, didn’t exist to clearly workshop potential movie ideas or chiefly in aid of a social/political cause. Someone can agree that there should be more black or female superheroes but disagree that the older characters should be sidelined in the attempt to achieve that.

Especially when there were better alternative options such as introducing those newer characters within and alongside the established hero’s narrative or simply introduce them independently as has happened recently with the likes of Lunar Snow.

*This is also why I suspect Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman survived from the Golden Age into the Silver Age. Because they were the DC characters who (more than any of the other ones) had actual personalities/substance to them. **Of course this didn’t begin wholesale with the post-Crisis era. But noticeably the characters who had worked with this new shift in priorities prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths stayed generally the same thereafter (E.g. the Titans, Batman) whilst characters who had largely vacillated or struggled (e.g. Superman and Wonder Woman) were given fresh starts which proved critically and financially successful.

***Not even if he does everything just as well as Rex did or does some stuff differently that’s still good (although the overwhelming majority of the time new Rex is clearly not as good as the old Rex).

****I’ve seen people be called racist and misogynists for calling out Riri Williams honestly ridiculous degree of competency as a hero/tech genius in spite of her age. This is not an invalid criticism, yet disliking the character because of those reasons is grounds to be labelled as something ugly by another (imo minor yet also vocal) contingent of fandom.

Hell I was called a Trump supporting Breitbart reading bigot for calling out Marvel as two-faced due to never putting a black writer in charge of Sam Wilson as Captain America or a woman in charge of Jane Foster as Thor. It isn’t exclusive to comics either as I and other people have been accused of racism/misogyny for disliking the Last Jedi in spite of that film to my eyes being itself racist and sexist anyway.

#Marvel #Marvel Comics #Marvel legacy #DC #DC Comics #Spider-Man #Captain America #Flash #The Flash #Green Lantern #Barry Allan #Jay Garrick #Wally West #Riri Williams #Iron Man #Iron heart #Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi #The Last Jedi

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mrsmarymorstan · 5 years

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So tomorrow (1st May 2019) we will learn just what it is Tim and Stephanie have been getting up to and why he is calling himself “Robin” again! Here are my Top 10 Totally Serious Theories:

1) Tim Drake of Yesterday

It turns out, that Tim Drake of Today is the Tim Drake of Tomorrow, for Tim Drake of Yesterday. So poor Baby Tim has arrived from the past to see that the future is actually all just a post crisis mess! His pregnant girlfriend isn’t pregnant at all and never was. Dick Grayson is now calling himself Ric, not even RicK but Ric. Jason Todd is ALIVE and running the Iceberg Lounge; and the latest Robin is a former assassin with a pet cow?! So he takes off to Metropolis in a new outfit to try and figure out how to get back home because this place is WEIRD.

2) Midlife Crisis

Let’s be honest here, the life span of a Superhero is always weird. Nobody seems allowed to age past 40, and if they DO then it has to be in a carefully controlled Alternative Universe. This means your “Midlife Crisis” is probably going to happen around the age of 17. And NOTHING says Midlife Crisis like wearing the outfits you did when you were 14, riding a motorbike, and trying to re-connect with your school friends you haven’t seen in nearly a decade.

3) Tim Clone

Ahhh Metropolis! Home of Superman and Lex Luther! And you know who likes clones? That’s right, Lex Luther. But he has a habit of letting them escape! So he creates a Tim Drake Clone to try and infiltrate the BatFam; but the problem is he made him too much like Tim and the little shit escaped! He was trying to escape the city, but then spotted Cassie! His downloaded memories TOLD him she they were friends and so tried for an awkward meet up. Then the city got invaded and he decided to get involved. He’s hoping Superboy will be able to help him work out all this stuff, since he is ALSO a clone. Tim Drake Prime doesn’t know what is going on, he is busy having Steph put tiny braids in his hair whilst they watch Queer Eye on Netflix.

4) Magical Disapearing Female Character

Tim and Stephanie decide to pause their road trip to go and see a Magic Show with Zatanna! Because you know, she saved their butts that one time and is pretty cool. But when she gets Stephanie on stage as a volunteer, she makes her disappear for REAL!! It happens a lot, but Zatanna assures them she’ll show up eventually. Tim’s now just trying to kill time biking around Metropolis until a writer decides they wanna include her again.

5) Finding The Perfect Gift

Tim and Steph have been studying the multiverse and as such have been reading all of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels. Because you know, if Sandman is part of their universe then the rest of his novels are ALSO gonna be in the DCU, right??? Tim’s been reading Stardust and thinks that going to a parallel dimension to get a gift for your beloved is an EXCELLENT idea. So he tracks down a rift to Gem World with the idea of brining Stephanie back a nice shiny gem. That’s why he crashed straight into Princess Amethyst! He plans on kidnapping her using Cassie’s lasso and brining her back to earth as an engagement gift. Steph likes purple, after all, and Amethysts ARE purple. (Sort of). Tim’s read the book and so he’s PRETTY SURE that Amethyst will just turn into a giant rock when she gets there. So it’s ALL going to be FINE.

6) Zatanna Zatara on Her Way to Steal Your Girl

Whilst exploring the Multi-verse, Stephanie meets the Series One Young Justice Cartoon version of Zatanna. She realises she is SUPER GAY and dumps Tim in favour of her. To add insult to injury, in this universe it’s DICK who helps form Young Justice and NOT him! So he nicks Dick’s latest costume and returns to Earth Zero in order to brood. He can’t say the words “Young Justice” because it just ends up reminding him of how he got dumped in favour of a hot teenage magician.

7) For Shits and Giggles

Tim got bored one evening whilst studying with Steph, and decided to design a new Robin suit for Damian. He was driving to Metropolis hoping to surprise him when he was hanging out with Jon, when he saw the shit that was going down. So he decided to put on the costume himself (he’s designed it so Damian can ‘Grow Into It’ because somebody round here has to mother the kid now Dick’s gone) and do a spot of Crime Fighting.

8) Just Popping To the Shops

Tim and Steph are living together as they study all the weird cosmic shit that goes down in Metropolis. Tim decides to quickly pop to the shops to buy milk, putting on his old motorcycle jacket because Safety First! He’s completely forgotten that it contains the Robin (NOT Red Robin!) costume he designed for himself when he was 16, and thought Dick was going to take him on as a REAL Robin once he was Batman. He never got to use it though because Damian came along and took the job. He had to do some world saving though, and it was the only costume he had! Stephanie is still wondering when he’s going to get back because whilst she’s happy to eat Lucky charms out of the box, she would quite like some milk in her coffee.

9) Let’s Go Lesbians! Let’s Go!

Despite his relationship with Kate Kane, Tim Drake has real kinship with Lesbians. He’s often found himself leading a whole pack of them! The “Let’s Go Lesbians!” Skit, which became a meme, was actually written about HIM. The lure of forming a team made up of a Cowgirl Lesbian, a Baby Lesbian, a Pink Haired Lesbian and a Lesbian Demi-Goddess was too much for him. He HAD to follow the call and ended up in Metropolis. Stephanie, being bisexual, is fine with him running away to lead his squad of Lesbians. She is looking into that Queer Team she seems to have started forming in the Pre-Crisis world Brother Eye showed them. Tim is wearing the Robin suit because he’s heard that Damian is up to some immoral shit and wants to maybe give the name a bit more credibility? So when Bruce looks up the latest news stories on Robin, they’ll all be about him and his team of Lesbians saving the city, and not the secret prison full of dangerous criminals hidden under Teen Titans Tower. He’s a good brother, really.

10) It’s a Kink Thing.

Look. We all know that the Bats are into weird shit. Bruce and Selina are both furries. Dick Grayson makes out with people whilst hanging upside down from skyscrapers. Pretty much any form of Sex with Jason Todd counts as border line Necrophilia. So REALLY Tim dressing up in a replica of the Robin Costume he found on Brother Eye’s database and riding around Metropolis where he will eventually be caught by Stephanie Brown in a replica of the Batgirl costume Brother Eye showed them is PERFECTLY NORMAL AND FINE.

Zatanna helped them with the sewing, since she makes all her own costumes and supports their right to have safe and sane sex. They’re both over the age of consent, after all!

#young justice #young justice comic #tim drake #stephanie brown #dc rebirth #dc comics #B Don't Look

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lizallanosborn · 2 years

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8 to 14 for the dc asks…

8. Pre-N52 or N52??

Pre-N52

9. Rebirth or N52??

Rebirth alone for what Wonder Woman Rebirth did with Cheetah.

10. A Death In The Family or Death Of Superman?

A death in the family. (I have never read death of superman)

11. Favourite live action movie?

Batman Returns!! It fucks so hard

12. Favourite animated movie?

A crisis on two earths or Scooby Doo and Batman the brave and the bold. I really like that movie. Unironically great plot and mystery tbh

13. DCEU or DCAU

Sorry Ant but DCAU :/. Mostly for Justice League unlimited and btas Harvey and Eddie.

14. Favourite member of the trinity?

Um um. God I hate this question I love all of them sm but I'll pick Bruce, Brucie baby my beloved

#thank u again bestie wkwosod #asks

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paulsebert · 7 years

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A brief guide to 2010 DC’s crossovers so far

Previously

Marvel Crossovers: 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s

DC Crossovers: 80s, 90s, 00s

Reign of Doomsday: Doomsday runs around kicking everyone's ass. Then Cyborg Superman absorbs some of Doomsday's powers and becomes Cyborg Doomsday! Doomsday Clones arrive! Doomsday clone named Doomslayer shows up. Somewhere along the way Lex Luthor gets a Black Lantern ring. Oh and original Doomsday pulls a face turn of sorts! The send-off of the post Crisis Superman/Pre Flashpoint Superman era throws every bonkers Dan Jurgans era Superman idea at the wall.

Flashpoint: Flash goes out back in time tries to prevent his mother's death and ends up fucking everything up. Unlike the excellent Elseworld story “The Nail” none of the changes to the timeline make a lick of sense. So we're expected to believe Barry's mom living causes Thomas Wayne to become Batman and Wonder Woman to be evil? Oh and THIS is final send-off of the Post Crisis DC Universe... Hope you weren't hoping for any grand send-off to a bunch of beloved characters. Night of the Owls: Scott Snyder's Batman starts off strong with a secret society that's been maneuvering behind the scenes in Gotham that decides it wants to move into the spotlight and voilently take over the city. Because DC is DC they decided it to release it in two trades. One

has the complete story but none of the tie-in issues. The other has all of the tie-ins but fails to include the last two issues of the story. DC is there nothing you can't screw up?!

Rise of the Third Army: After screwing things up over and over again Pre-New 52 the Guardians decide to just turn straight-up evil and unleash Star Treck's Borg on the DCU. They're called The Third Army but it's the same thing.

The Culling: Someone told Scott Lobdell that no one could write a dumber teen superhero book that Avengers Arena. Scott Lobdell said “Hold my beer...” Also everyone gets Tron Legacy costumes because that's totally going to be the next big thing.

Rotworld: Swamp Thing and Animal Man fight the existential force of death itself guarded by the nightmarish Parliament of Decay.

Death of the Family: The new and 100% more grimdark Joker (look at me I cut off my face!) stalks the Bat Family leading to a final confrontation in the Batcave. The weakest part of Snyder's Batman run fells like a six part story unnecessarily blown up to crossover length.

H'el on Earth: A Superman crossover featuring an unstoppable new villain from the writer of “The Culling.” Nope... just nope...

Throne of Atlantis: Ocean Master having usurped his brother as the new King of Atlantis is all “Imperius Rex motherfucker!” and decides to declare war on the surface world. Inspired a loose animated adaptation that you should watch instead. A Trinity War prequel..

Trinity War: Several Justice League members get possessed by Pandora's Box and the Justice League Dark intervene. At least I think that's what happens. Anyway the whole thing turns out to be a Forever Evil prequel and nothing really matters.

Forever Evil: The Crime Syndicate takes over the world and Lex Luther is like “holy shit this is a job for Superman... the guy I'm always trying to kill. But I neeeeeed him!” Lex and several bad guys have to save the day and Lex actually turns face legit. The main series is big dumb fun but some of the tie-ins (like the story about Harley Quinn murdering children) are god-awful.

Lights Out: A new villain named Rellic (That's “Killer spelled backwards!) wants to destroy the various Lantern corps for repeatedly screwing up. After what the Guardians just pulled I can't blame him.

Gothtopia: Wikipedia actually describes this as “an event set in all Batman Titles.” It certainly is.

Superman Doomed: A fight with Doomsday causes Superman to mutate into a monster called “Superdoom.” Really? They called it that? Hahahahaahahah!

Batman Endgame: Now we're talking. The finally seeming to lose his sense of humor The Joker decides to destroy Gotham City once and for all with a super insanity virus. DC makes the same damn trade mistake they did with Night of the Owls.

The New 52: Future's End: Five years into the future something bad involving Brother Eye happens and several heroes travel back in time to stop it from happening. Sort of like Days of Future's Past which had a movie adaptation in theaters at the time this book was coming out. Notable for having a Free Comic Book Day tie-in that was so bleak and so grimdark that no one actually wanted to read the main story.

Convergence: Brainiac has imprisoned bottled cities from across time including a lot of pre-New 52 characters as well as a few Elseworlds. The main series is a bit of a mess but a lot of the tie-ins are fun romps.

Robin War: DC realizes it needs to promote it's cool “We Are Robin” concept about six months too late. Oops! Multiversity: Series of interconnected oneshots by Grant Morrison that introduce all new and improved multiverse. An artfully done labyrinthine mind melt. If you one read one issue make sure it's the Shazam one which is deligthful. Really between this and the Convergence one-shot how did we not get a new Captain Marvel book? C'mon!

Darkseid War: Darkseid dies there's a civil war on Apokolips. Then the Crime Syndicate shows up. Steve Trevor is possessed by the Anti-Life Equation. Then Darkseid comes back as a talking baby... Dammit DC did you make any of these decisions between 2004 and 2015 while sober?

DC Rebirth: Several years after the launch of the New 52 comics DC tries the novel idea of just publishing some largely self contained books that don't suck. Shockingly this is their most successful event in years!

Night of the Monster Men: Professor Hugo Strange unleash big-ass giant Pacific Rim type monsters on Gotham City and it's awesome!

Justice League vs Suicide Squad: The Justice League finds out about Task Force X and aren't happy. Meanwhile Maxwell Lord and a gang of villains also have a serious grudge against Amanda Waller. A big dumb loud enjoyable action movie of a book. Features the third reboot of Lobo in less than 4 years.

#DC Comics #Shorter Comics #Crossovers #10s Crossovers #Every Crossover Ever #Reing of Doomsday #Flashpoint #Night of the Owls #Forever Evil #Trinity War #Multiversity #convergence #DC Rebirth #New 52 #Night of the Monster Men #Justice League vs Suicide Squad

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hellyescharlesedwards · 7 years

Text

Theatre Royalty Graces Brisbane Stage.

WHEN acting royalty comes to town to direct the theatre performance of the year, you sit up and take notice.

This time it’s the Sound of Music’s Julie Andrews at the helm of My Fair Lady, which graces Brisbane’s QPAC from March 14. With her, a star-studded cast including Downton Abbey’s Charles Edwards as the headline act who plays Henry Higgins in the beloved Lerner and Loewe classic.

We caught up with Edwards prior to his first Australian performance of the year:

1. How old were you when you had your first taste of acting? Did you know straight away this was what you wanted to do with your career?

I guess I was about 7, I was Fourth Gingerbread Boy in Hansel and Gretel, and had to wear tights which I wasn’t happy about. I don’t think I had to say anything. I was Nancy in Oliver when I was 11 (photographs exist), and whilst I was ‘vivacious and gin-swigging’, my As Long as He Needs Me was ‘genuinely affecting’ (Surrey Advertiser).

2. What is your favourite type of character to play? And which has been your favourite role over your career?

I like playing outsiders who try to fit in and fail, which is a trait I find I have a rather worrying access to. I enjoy the sort of everyman character who is bemused by the world around him, like playing Michael Palin in Holy Flying Circus. That was a favourite but there are lots of favourites, every one is a favourite. Right now it’s this one. When you’re doing a job particularly in theatre it really can occupy the majority of your waking thinking time if you allow it to - I like it like that because you’re always working on it in your head, and in theatre you have the opportunity to experiment that evening with something you thought of during the day. I guess another highlight would have to be Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps - we started in the little Tricycle theatre in North London and then went to the West End, then to Broadway where it won Tony awards. That progression was great to be part of.

3. Theatre versus film and TV - which do you prefer and why?

I don’t prefer any of them really, I always have a great time when I go to work because I’m fully aware of how lucky I am to be doing it, any of it. I guess the chief advantage of theatre is what I described just now, the opportunity to experiment with your performance when it isn’t too late: sometimes in film or TV you’ll get home and question your day’s work, but it is too late. The live element of theatre has the edge, I guess; pre-show nerves aren’t pleasant but the exhilaration afterwards when you’ve done it and everybody (hopefully) has had a good time is hard to beat. The collaborative pact between actors and audience varies from night to night too. But equally I’ve had a great time recently doing different television projects, and My Fair Lady is the first theatre show I’ve done for a year.

4. When auditioning for a role, how do you prepare? Do you have a particular strategy or routine you do each time?

It’s always about preparation and depending on how much time you are given to prepare, I will spend as much of that time as I can learning the scenes that have been sent through; that’s for a TV or film audition. The expectation has increased in the last few years that you show up knowing your lines ready to do the scene with a casting director who is at the same time filming you, so you tend to go in thinking ‘I mustn’t forget the lines, I mustn’t forget the lines’ rather than focussing on anything more constructive. I’m getting the hang of it now though. But if you do forget the lines, there’s an immediate sense of disappointment in the room and you sit trying to recover your dignity as the rest of the meeting dribbles down the pan. For a theatre audition I feel the pressure less because you expect to be able to sit with the director and whoever else is there and discuss the role and the project in a relaxed way, and then maybe read a bit of the script aloud with them. Which isn’t to say you don’t do as much prep as possible, but you can pretty much rest assured that you won’t have to recite on demand. Although filmed theatre auditions without the director present are happening now too.

5. In My Fair Lady, you play Professor Henry Higgins. What can audiences expect to see from your character?

I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted to play this role for so many years. I used to listen when I was little to my Dad’s LP of the Julie Andrews/Rex Harrison Broadway original and even then the charm of it was very strong. The speed of the thoughts and of the wit, the beauty and sweetness of the music, and the comedy inherent in a man who thinks so very much of himself having the rug pulled from under him by a woman who can so effortlessly puncture his vanity whilst charming the pants off him. I have played a few of Shaw’s men and they are often childish, petulant, highly intelligent, full of their own self-importance but entirely lacking in any (visible) emotional ability. Very English. Shaw said in Man and Superman: “An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.” These are men who are crying out to have their bubble burst and be shown another path before it’s too late. You’ll see a lot of petulance, fanaticism, tantrums, bravado and ultimately a man who finds that there can be something other to the meaning of life than the love of words.

6. What does the future look like for Charles Edwards?

Well, the TV work I’ve been doing in the UK over the last few months will hopefully make its way over here soon. The Halcyon is an 8-part series set in a grand London hotel during the Blitz and it has just finished its run in the UK. The papers over there seized on the subtitle ‘The New Downton’ but it’s proved itself to be very different in tone. I play a character called Lucian. Henry IX is a new comedy by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who wrote Porridge and in that I play a king, Henry, who is going through a midlife crisis. I’ve also just finished in Budapest on an AMC production The Terror, from the novel by Dan Simmons. In terms of future work, I would be very happy indeed to continue as I’ve been going - a bit of everything. But for now, to be a part of this production and to be in Australia is something very special. Directed by Julie Andrews. That’s the bit I’ve been leaving until last when I tell people what I’m up to, and they just beam and say “How wonderful. I’d love to see that.” It’s a rare treat, I have to say.

(x)

#Charles Edwards #my fair lady #my fair lady Australia #Julie Andrews #interviews

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whytheheavens · 6 years

Text

Musicals

2006 Altar Boyz as Matthew

ALTAR BOYZ is a foot-stomping, rafter-raising, musical comedy about a fictitious Christian boy-band on the last night of their national 'Raise the Praise' tour. The Boyz are five all-singing, all-dancing heartthrobs from Ohio: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham. With their tight harmonies and spectacular choreography, the ALTAR BOYZ will delight your audiences. As they perform their signature hits such as 'Rhythm In Me,' 'The Calling,' and 'I Believe,' the Boyz question their loyalty to each other and ask whether or not faith is really holding them together. They finally deliver a message of unity, that 'there is no star as bright as its constellation, no harmony in a single voice.

Source: R&H

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2008-2009 Hamlet as Hamlet

Hamlet, a young prince and heir to the throne of Denmark, has to confront the death of his father, the king, and the unexpected marriage of his mother, the queen, with Claudius, the brother of the dead king. The anger of a grieved teenager is one of the greatest tragedies of all time, and is transformed by the ghost of the king, his father, who appears to Hamlet revealing to him that he was poisoned by his brother, the one who now occupies his throne and his marriage bed. The ghost seeks revenge. Hamlet would like to act, but he hesitates. His heart is full of doubts: how can he trust the words of a nocturnal apparition? In search of proof for Claudius’ guilt, he pretends to be crazy and, with the help of some actors he builds a trap for the new king’s conscience. Claudius’ reaction in front of the staging of his murder is enough evidence for the young prince. However, when he finally takes action, it is revealed in all its tragic inefficacy: each sword blade hits a different target to which it was supposed to hit, and the same happens with the wine goblets, each one of them ending in the wrong hands, in an endless slaughter where the innocent do not have a better destiny than those who are guilty. Denmark's royal court, buried in silence, now waits for the invader Fortinbras. Horatio, a loyal friend and witness, is the only survivor able to break this silence and to tell, for posterity, Hamlet’s story.

Source: Palketto Stage

. .

2009 March of Youth as Wang Kyungtae

Before realizing, the unruly girl Oh Youngshim who went through ups and downs is now a respectable 35-year-old play director. She is preparing a 'March of Youth' with her brother-in-law who had been a star on his late teen days. After casually meeting Wang Kyungtae, who was visiting the concert hall for a pre-order inspection, she falls in the memories of the past. High school girl Oh Youngshim is struggling with the pretty trainee teacher, and taking part in a 'Study Incentive Quiz' as the school representative. Now, visiting the 'March of Youth' open broadcast for the fanclub members of the singer R.ef Sung Daehyun who become her brother-in-law, she looks like the same high school girl. But the trip within the pleasant memories lasts only for a while. Although the level of excitement over a concert of popular singers who had came to stage since long ago is higher, because of a sudden blackout the concert scene of the 'March of Youth' can become a nightmare...

Source: The Musical

. .

2009-2010 The Organ In My Heart as Kang Dongsoo

Back in 1962, Hongyeon is a 17-year-old girl living in a mountain town but still a elementary school student because she belatedly started studying. One day, a young man calls her ‘miss’ to ask the way to school. He is new teacher Dongsoo fresh from college. Hongyeon has a crush on her homeroom teacher Dongsoo who is young and handsome, sweet and responsible as a teacher. Meanwhile, Dongsoo has fallen for another teacher at their school without knowing Hongyeon’s feelings. He gets closer to Yang Soojung, four years older than he is, as he walks her home and lends rare LPs. However, the end of their first loves comes to both Dongsoo and Hongyeon.

Source: Korean Film Bizz Zone

. .

2010 Brave Brothers as Joobong

Sukbong and Joobong are brothers who pull each other’s leg all the time. After hearing the news about their father’s death they return to their hometown where they start to wrangle with each other continuously. A ghost in form of a mysterious woman named Rora Au appears just in time for the quarrel to send them both on a mission. With her charm, Rora Au convinces the two brothers to find the lottery ticket that their deceased father had left behind. Sukbong and Joobong are competing to win Rora Au’s charm and at the same time struggle to leave their hometown to find the lottery ticket. In the midst of their bitter fighting, the secret about the death of their mother is revealed.

Source: Seoul Rhythms

. .

2010 Thrill Me as Richard Loeb

Told in flashbacks, beginning with a 1958 parole hearing, it examines the relationship between Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb – both wealthy, normal and intelligent Chicago students, about to commence training to become lawyers. We are taken on a journey of two young men, one who believed he was above the law - obsessed and fuelled by the philosophy of Nietzsche to the point he believed he was a 'Superman' beyond good and evil. The other - a loner - became a willing accomplice, empowering Loeb in his crimes. Together, they both believed they had perpetrated the perfect murder, or was one more certain than the other?

Source: Thrill Me UK

. .

2011 High-tech Musical Wonhyo as Wonhyo

Wonhyo is an handsome young man with intelligence, humor and a tendency to flaunt the rules. Rather than staying all day in the temple, he wanders from the mountains to the markets and even visits a house full of gisaeng courtesans. Yoseok, a daughter of aristocrat Chunchu, who later becomes King Muyeol, falls in love with Wonhyo but is heartbroken when he decides to leave Korea to study Buddhism in Tang Dynasty China with fellow monk Uisang. On the first night of the monks’ journey, a rainstorm hits and they take shelter in a dark cave. Later that night, Wonhyo wakes up in complete darkness with a raging thirst to find what he thinks is a gourd full of water. He offers it to Uisang and the two drink the whole thing. The next morning, they wake again to find out that the cave is a tomb and the gourd was a skull. Wonhyo’s misperception of his own experience leads him to realize how different things can be depending on how one sees them and he decides to give up his travel plans, and his religious ambitions, to be with Yoseok.

Source: Korean JoonAng Daily

. .

2011 Jack The Ripper as Daniel

The play is a musical reconstruction of incidents relating to the East End murders which took place between Friday, August 31st and Friday, November 9th, 1888. A solution of Jack the Ripper's identity is hinted at, but the play is an atmospheric commentary rather than an historical re-enactment, shifting between reality and artificiality, with characters representing "real" people as well as members of the music hall audience and players. It is an essential feature that some characters are called upon to play more than one role. They thus have a life within the Music Hall and also in reality.

Source: The Guide to Musical Theater

. .

2011 The Three Musketeers as D'Artagnan

Cardinal Richelieu hears that the Queen has given the Duke of Buckingham a token of love, a diamond heart, which was a present from the King to her, he persuades the King to insist on the Queen wearing the jewel at a forthcoming gala. Comte de Rochefort and Lady de Winter are sent to London to recover the jewel and return it to Richelieu, who plans to produce it at the gala, thus revealing to King Louis his wife's treachery. Meanwhile, the Queen has sent Constance, her lady-in-waiting, to entreat the Musketeers to recover the jewel in time for her to wear it and confound her enemies. Trouble ensues when the evil D’Artagnan steals the jewels. After a hectic sword fight over, the Musketeers reclaim the jewels and bring them to the gala just in time to produce the jewel at King Louis' demand so that he may fasten it at the Queen's shoulder as he had done originally.

Source: Stage Agent

. .

2011-2012 Evita as Che

Evita is based on the historical story of María Eva Duarte de Perón, a poor Argentinian girl who grows up to be the wife of the president of Argentina, worshipped by her people. As a young woman who longs for an acting career, fame, and fortune, Eva quickly learns that her feminine wiles hold power among a culture, and a political system, run by men. Once she makes it to Buenos Aires, Evita finds fame and power in her powers of seduction, eventually seducing the rising political figure, Juan Perón, who becomes the President of Argentina. As First Lady of Argentina, she aligns herself with the poor, winning herself, and Perón, popularity among Argentinians. Evita becomes a hero to the poor and the working class—and an enemy to the rich. A young and unknown revolutionary, Che, narrates the rise and fall of the beloved matriarch of the Argentinian people.

Source: Stage Agent

. .

2012 Lovers in Paris as Han Kijoo

As the chairman of GD Motors, Han Kijoo is a divorced man working in Paris. He takes Kang Taeyoung, who is working as a housekeeper at his home, as his date to a business party. She is a poor international student who is chasing her father's dream of studying in Paris. Han Kijoo's nephew, Yoo Soohyuk meets Taeyoung by chance, and falls for her. Taeyoung ends up returning to Seoul, soon after, Kijoo and Soohyuk also return to Seoul separately. Taeyoung asks Kijoo for a job and in time, the two fall in love. Kijoo's father tries to force his son to marry Moon Yunah the daughter of an influential politician and she exhausts every means to make this happen. As the family secret involving Kijoo's and Soohyuk is disclosed, the relationship between Taeyoung and Kijoo is in crisis.

Source: Asian Wiki

. .

2013 Elisabeth as Luigi Lucheni

A solitary empress who fights for love. A passionate woman who risks all for liberty. A lost soul who finds solace only in the arms of Death. Elisabeth is a musical about Elisabeth (also known as Sisi), the wife of Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef II, focusing mainly on an imagined lifelong flirtation with Death himself (rendered as a handsome young man called "Der Tod"- German for "death") and Elisabeth's constant need for independence, often at the cost of her unconditionally loving husband and her hypersensitive son Crown Prince Rudolf. It is narrated from beyond the grave by Luigi Lucheni, the Italian anarchist who assassinated her in 1898. He does his best to turn the audience against her, but ultimately it is left to the viewer to decide about Elisabeth's character.

Source: TV Tropes

. .

2013-2014 Wicked as Fiyero

Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two young women who first meet as sorcery students at Shiz University: the blonde and very popular Glinda and a misunderstood green girl named Elphaba. Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power while Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences for her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Source: Wicked The Musical

2014 Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as Anthony "Tick" Belrose

Based on the 1994 popular movie of the same name, Priscilla Queen of the Desert follows the journey of two drag queens, Tick and Adam, and a transgender woman, Bernadette, as they travel across Australia in their bus, named Priscilla. Tick has been asked to perform at a hotel in Alice Springs by his estranged wife, Marion. Taking Adam and Bernadette along with him, the trio drive from Sydney to the remote resort town in the middle of the desert. Tick tells his companions that the trip is a favour to his wife, from whom he is separated, but does not reveal that he also has an 8-year-old son he does not know, but who now wants to meet his father. As they head west, Tick, Adam, and Bernadette learn to accept and support each other, whilst encountering a number of strange and colorful characters. After experiencing violent homophobic threats, Adam is forced to realize that not everyone is accepting of his flamboyant lifestyle, whilst Bernadette opens up to the possibility of love again following the death of her husband. Upon reaching Alice Springs, Tick finally meets his son, Benjamin, who accepts his father’s homosexuality and drag queen persona. The trio perform at the resort and realize that they have forged a bond that will last forever. Full of well-known pop songs and supported by three divas flying high above the stage, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is a flamboyant, funny, disco-fuelled musical that gets the audience up on their feet.

Source: Stage Agent

. .

2014-2015 La Cage aux Folles as Albin

Georges is the owner of the La Cage Aux Folles nightclub, which features a drag show starring his partner and the love of his life, Albin. After twenty years of un-wedded bliss, Georges and his partner Albin face the hardest challenge of their relationship, yet: meeting their son, Jean-Michel’s fiance’s parents. Albin has always raised Jean-Michel, Georges’ biological son, as his own. But when Jean-Michel falls in love and becomes engaged to the daughter of an ultra-conservative, anti-gay politician, Georges feels compelled to try to present a more “traditional” family to Jean-Michel’s potential in-laws. When Albin tries and fails to take on a masculine persona in the role of Uncle Al, he gets more creative in order to find a way to be part of the “meet the parents” experience. Based on Jean Poiret’s 1973 French play of the same name, the multi-Tony award-winning La Cage Aux Folles is a musical filled with delightful spectacle and great heart.

Source: Stage Agent

. .

2015 Elisabeth as Luigi Lucheni

Elisabeth is a musical about Elisabeth (also known as Sisi), the wife of Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef II, focusing mainly on an imagined lifelong flirtation with Death himself (rendered as a handsome young man called "Der Tod"- German for "death") and Elisabeth's constant need for independence, often at the cost of her unconditionally loving husband and her hypersensitive son Crown Prince Rudolf. It is narrated from beyond the grave by Luigi Lucheni, the Italian anarchist who assassinated her in 1898. He does his best to turn the audience against her, but ultimately it is left to the viewer to decide about Elisabeth's character.

Source: TV Tropes

. .

2015-2016 Le Passe-Muraille as Dusoleil

In post World War II Paris, Dusoleil is an ordinary civil servant. His lazy co-workers are unhappy because Dusoleil is a hard worker who finishes his work early. To pass the time, he writes letters to his mother and daydreams about the beautiful (but married) Isabelle. Suddenly, he discovers that he has the power to walk through walls. He proceeds to use this power to harass his boss, spread wealth to the poor and win the heart of Isabelle.

Source: Stage Agent

. .

2016 Mozart! as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The central figure is Mozart, the artistic genius who struggles to free himself from his loving but tyrannical father and to escape the paternalist rule of family and society so that he can finally develop as both a musician and a person – a drama about growing up. Mozart himself appears as two different characters: as Wolfgang, the man, and as Amadé, the genius. The adorable “porcelain child” that Amadé supposedly once was, dogs the adult Mozart everywhere he goes. Little Amadé is omnipresent in the life of Mozart the man - even if only the audience and Mozart himself can see him. Amadé, the child prodigy, composes non-stop, while the adult Wolfgang is out gambling, carousing, loving and living, daring to break out of the prison of social convention.

Source: Musical Vienna

. .

2016 Kinky Boots as Charlie

Based on a true story and the indie film of the same name, Kinky Boots follows young Brit Charlie Price, who abandons his family’s shoe factory to live with his demanding girlfriend in London. After the unexpected death of his father, Charlie returns to the struggling factory and finds it’s up to him to figure out a way to keep the business alive. Enter Lola, a fabulous drag queen, who gives Charlie the idea to create ladies’ shoes for men. Soon, the factory is turning out “kinky boots” under the supervision of Charlie and Lola, but can this harebrained scheme actually work? And can these two extremely different men find a common ground and become real friends?

Source: Broadway

. .

2017 Hero as Ahn Junggeun

The musical follows the life of Ahn (1879-1910) who sought to realize peace in East Asia by stopping neighboring Japan’s imperialistic aggression and militarism. Korea, along with some other Asian countries, was then a colony of Japan. In 1909, at the peak of Japanese imperialism that sought to encroach over the Manchurian continent centering on the Korean peninsula, there were a group of youth called ‘Korean Independent Squad’ taking a refuge to Russia to fight against the Japanese army residing in the peninsular. Korean government formed a secret organization called ‘Jegukikmunsa’ to support the independent movements, and Ahn Jung Geun made a pledge of blood under the name of Danji Alliance with those secret in a grove of birch tress in Russia…. And finally at the Harbin station in 9 o’clock on the 26th of October…. The bang of a gunshot that will shake the entire world! “Heaven be my witness! For the sake of our nation’s independence…!” Ahn, who assassinated Hirobumi Ito on Oct. 26, 1909, at the Harbin Railway Station, is revered by Koreans as a national hero. Japan calls him a terrorist. Who is the one to blame?

Source: Korea Herald, Interpark

. .

2017 Hamlet as Hamlet

The fatal love stained with greed Shakespeare’s representative and the world’s most beloved work, ‘Hamlet’ The legendary success in the European musical scene, ‘Hamlet’ returns in six years! With an even more powerful casting with an addition of many talents and young inspiration! The great masterpiece that you will encounter this year, ‘Hamlet’! The king of Denmark passed away. The brother of the king, Claudius gets married to the queen and succeeds to the throne. Due to the death of his father and mother’s immediate second marriage, the prince, Hamlet becomes depressed. He encounters his past father as a ghost and swear revenge in madness. Having suffered from Hamlet’s sudden change and coldness, Ophelia is losing her mind from extreme sadness once she finds out that her father was killed by the hand of someone that she loved. And Laertes, her brother, is burning with rage to revenge on behalf of his father and sister. Threatened by the presence of Hamlet, the king conspires with Laertes to assassinate Hamlet at a fencing match.

Source: Visit Seoul Net

. .

2017 Interview as Sinclair

When a famous psychologist & author calls a temp agency for an apprenticeship, the perfect candidate appears at his door. Witty, studious, and eager to please, Matt Sinclair quickly makes an impression on Dr. Eugene Harper. All is not as it appears, however, and what starts as an interview quickly turns sinister as the author’s true motives are revealed. “Interview” tells the story of a psychologist, a criminal defendant, and a legal system that would stop at nothing to gain an alleged killer’s confession… even if it means driving the accused to the brink of insanity.

Source: Korean Cultural Center NY

2018 Anna Karenina as Vronsky

The story takes place in the late 19th century Russia. Count Alexey Vronsky, a dashing aristocrat, meets Anna Karenina, the young and charming wife of an influential government official. After a brief meeting, the two become infatuated with each other. For both, this relationship turns out to be the first true love — so strong, in fact, that desperate Anna chooses to break the upper class conventions and elope with Vronsky leaving her husband and son in St. Petersburg. But the love fairytale ends shortly, as fate puts their feelings to the test. The musical captures the subtle psychology and emotional depth of the great novel by Leo Tolstoy. The story of a dramatic relationship between a married woman and a young military man found an instant response in the hearts of the writer’s contemporary readership, but today Anna Karenina remains just as meaningful providing a truly timeless portrait of society.

Source: Karenina Musical

2018 Bungee Jumping as Seo Inwoo

Seo Inwoo unexpectedly falls in love with In Taehee, a fellow student at the same university, when she asks to share his umbrella in a rainstorm. It is love at first sight for Inwoo, and they start dating after only a couple of weeks. Taehee dies suddenly when she is hit by a car.

17 years later, Inwoo is a high school teacher, married with a child. He starts to notice similarities between a new student of his, Hyunbin, and Taehee. Inwoo struggles with the concept of falling in love with another man, and they get bullied by students at the school for appearing to be homosexual.

They overcome their fears with the realization that Hyunbin is Taehee reincarnated, and they are eternal soulmates. The movie ends with a shot of them in New Zealand jumping off a bridge hand in hand. It is unclear whether they are bungee jumping or mean to end their lives together and be reincarnated again.

Source: Wikipedia

2018 Flaming Sonata as K (in Japan)

At the age of nineteen, J has become a famous composer with acclamations as a genius. However, he is having a hard time without creating any songs since his debut. Out of anxiety that he will be forgotten and pressure that he had to produce better works than his debut piece, J calls on a renowned professor K and begins compositions again. However, what he confronts is the failures and chilly receptions. While suffering from constant sense of humiliation that he can’t make any progress, J comes to vividly witness the moment of death in front of his eyes at a traffic accident. And with the thick smell of blood, an inspiration comes to him like a magic. That night, J completes the first chapter of The Flame Sonata like a mad man. It is hardly believing that he was able to finish the piece over one night. Realizing that it was ‘death’ that enabled him to do this, K encourages J to murder to get inspiration and J attempt to kill someone to finish the second chapter… Before long, however, the musical inspiration of J is running short. K suggests to kill J’s long-time friend S to complete the last chapter… In the end, will J be able to complete his Flame Sonata? A music composer who gets inspiration from murdering. His fifth chapter saturated with blood is now to begin.

Source: Interpark

2018-2019 Elisabeth as Luigi Lucheni

Source: TV Tropes

2019 Flaming Sonata as K (in Korea)

Source: Interpark

2019 Xcalibur as Lancelot

When the king of Britain, Uther Pendragonm dies, the Saxons start bloody battles and slaughter the British in order to colonize Britain. A sorcerer and prophet of the Druis, Merlin, puts an old plan to action: to crown Arthur who would put an end to the chaotic era as the new king.

Arthur, who grew up in an ordinary family without knowing that he had royal blood, becomes aware of his fate from sorcerer Merlin and is honored as the king of Britain when he pulls out the sacred sword Xcalibur which was stuck in a rock.

Arthur builds Camelot with his best friend as well as a skillful knight Lancelot, and sets on out on a great journey against the Saxons. On the journey, he meets and falls in love with a brave and intelligent woman: Guinevere.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s half-sister Morgan, who grew up locked up in a monastery without knowing why, escapes from the monastery by taking advantage of the confusion caused by the Saxon invasion. She goes to Merlin to retrieve everything that she has lost...

Source: Global Interpark

2019 City of Angels as Stone

Set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the '40s the world of film studios and filmy negligées, the show chronicles the misadventures of Stine, a young novelist, attempting a screenplay for movie producer/director, Buddy Fidler.

While Fidler professes to be a fan of Stine's work, his gargantuan ego forces Stine to make endless compromises in the script he's writing, the script being an adaptation of one of Stine's novels which features his Raymond Chandleresque hero, a private investigator named Stone.

Every movie scene that Stine writes is acted out on stage by a group of characters whose costumes are limited to various shades of black and white. the same is true of the sets in which they appear and the props they use.

Source: The Guide to Musical Theater

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comicsrelaunched-blog · 7 years

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The 5 Books We Need from DC Rebirth

Rebirth is exactly what it needed to be for DC. DC had lost its footing since its hard reboot in 2011. Relationships had been broken off, characters were missing and the quality of storytelling was down on what it was before. Now it’s not to say that everything from DC’s New 52 and You eras were bad, far from it. Some of my most beloved runs come from the New 52 like Snyder’s Batman (before DC You) and Azzarello and Chiang’s Wonder Woman. It also contained some great moments like Forever Evil and The Darkseid War. And let’s not forget about Rob Williams excellent 12 issue Martian Manhunter series.

Now we are in full swing with Rebirth, and the goal of Rebirth was to bring back the heart of DC, what truly means to be a DC comic. The Pre-Flashpoint Superman returned, so did Wally West, Green Arrow and Black Canary finally got to meet and instantly fans were rejoicing that they were back together, the Justice Society Of America were teased to return, and Ted Kord got back behind the wheel of the bug. While some are working better than others, i’m looking at you Blue Beetle, the initial novelty of a nostalgia filled DC line-up is starting to drop. So what can they do to grab the attention back, i have 5 book suggestions that DC could use to really elevate this new status quo of the DC universe.

Blue and Gold

Where is Booster Gold? Well the Pre-52 version was last seen during convergence, where along with his New 52 doppelganger, his sister Goldstar and son from the future Rip hunter were key to the fall of Telos and Braniac. During this time the Pre-52 Gold fell into the earth-4 dome where he met the Charlton comics version of Ted Kord Blue Beetle a nice tease of what once was.

Ted Kord was reintroduced into the DC Universe at the end of Forever Evil where he refuses to sell Kord industries to Luthor, since then he has developed the beloved vehicle known as ‘The Bug’ and has become the mentor of the current Blue Beetle Jaimie Reyes. This however is the New 52 version of Kord, so he has never actually been the Blue Beetle and does not have the history with Booster Gold.

So where would this book come from? Well Jaimie doesn’t really want to be the Blue Beetle anymore, we could see Ted reunite with the Scarab. This is where we innovate, this time Ted finally bonds with the scarab giving him all the powers that Jaimie has. As for Gold, similar to how Wally has managaed to bring back the stolen memories of Barry and his fellow Titans, Booster when reunited would trigger Ted to remember his true best friend.

I argue for this book because while the whole line up ha become a bit more optimistic, DC are currently lacking comedy titles. Blue and Golds relationship has always been a fun but yet endearing and genuine aspects of the DC universe going way back to the days of the Justice League International. DC is really missing a big best friend duo and this book could be the answer.

Justice Society Of America

Team books have been great in Rebirth and the JSA is what started team books. Way back in the 1940s these heroes were keeping the world safe and while for many years they were made redundant, they made an epic return in the modern age and became a beloved aspect of the DC universe once again. In the new 52 the gang were re-imagined in Earth 2 as the Wonders Of The World, however many DC fans really didn’t like this.

Now DC have set the stage for the return of the JSA, Johnny Thunder was seen in DC rebirth as an old man in a retirement home where he is told to find the Justice Society, Kent Nelson Doctor Fate has been turning up in Blue Beetle and when Barry Allen entered the Speed Force he saw Jay Garrick’s hat.

So the premise, once they have all returned it would be nice to see them back in full force in a similar position to that of the JSA run by Geoff Johns where the older veterans were training newer heroes as part of the team. It would be nice to see Jay, Carter, Ted and Kent dealing with this new universe and training some new members, while reminiscing about their times in the war. Possibly using the same technique of the Wonder Woman comic telling two separate stories.

Wally West

When we talk about Legacy there is no character more important than the Flash. For 20 years, Jay Garrick was the flash, then for another Barry was the flash, but after the universe altering Crisis On Infinite Earths Wally West took the mantle. He stayed as The Flash for years to come and for a younger generation Wally is often seen as the definitive Flash.

In the New 52 Wally was replaced with a younger more brooding version of himself. This change did not please fans and for 5 years people were waiting for the return of the original Wally West. DC gave us that with the rebirth one-shot. Barry and his nephew were reunited and everything felt right again, Wally went on to reunite with the Titans and down the line hopefully rekindle his love with his wife Linda Park

While Titans first 6 issues has mainly dealt with Wally, it looks like it is about to head into some important Rebirth developments. For this reason it would be nice to see Wally break out into his own solo series where he can fight classic rogues, outsmarting their every move because he knows them all so well, while also trying to restart his relationship with Linda. Also we still await for the moment that Wally and Iris are reunited.

Black Adam

DC needs a Doom equivalent, a villain that is more complex than your average criminal but also has the capacity to do good. With Luthor tied up trying to be Superman and being the ruler of Apokilips, this role should go to Black Adam.

With DC now planning on splitting the Shazam movie into two with one focusing on The Rock’s Black Adam, now is the perfect time to launch this book. Following Black Adam being the ruler of Khandaq, where people worship him like a god, and having run ins with the some of the biggest names in DC. As Shazam himself hasn’t had the best of growths since the New 52 I feel it he would struggle to hold his own title. However that doesn’t mean he can’t face of with Black Adam, this book could reintroduce the Marvel family and even possibly Black Adams love Isis (they may want to change that name though).

Legends

Now i’m not usually a fan of cashing in off the movies or TV but sometimes it works. Legends could be a very special book. While a books called Legends Of Tomorrow gave us 4 ongoings in one including Metamorpho, Firestorm, Sugar and Spike and The Metal Men, this book would be a team book. It wouldn’t necessarily have to have the same roster but it should be a similar premise

Where this book could shine is ability to showcase unused characters, just imagine Rip Hunter could lead a team of Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Fire, Ice and Mister Miracle on an adventure through time. The roster could be ever changing and could act as more of anthology series showing short stories of the team stopping time aberrations.

The Show has taken a bunch of lesser characters and turned them into something really special, hopefully this book could do a similar thing.

So there you have it 5 books that could elevate the DC Rebirth line-up, and while some are more likely to happen then others (i’m looking at you again Blue Beetle) i truly believe that they would grab back those few DC fans that still haven’t found new hope within DC. While you wait for the slight possibility that these books come out, we are getting some new rebirth books in February. Marguerite Bennett and James Tynion take on Batwoman, Steve Orlando takes gives us a new Justice League Of America and Jorge Jiminez hits us with a new generation of World’s Finest with Super Sons. We also have Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman centric JLA event and Geoff Johns Watchmen story to look forward to.

DC are back on the rise with Rebirth and we can only hope for more greatness as DC continue to unravel the mysteries of this new status quo.

#dc comcis #DC #comics #rebirth #dc rebirth #blue beetle #booster gold #jsa #justice society #flash #wally west #black adam #shazam #legends of tomorrow

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blorb-el · 2 years

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thinking about that steampunk/victorian/edwardian AU superbat vibes post again. tbqh i have read very little steampunk, so if i were to actually write anything in this setting it’d immediately turn into thinly-veiled modern labor critique

anyway. some Thoughts, please chime in if any of this seems interesting.

- the reason for so many scientific advancements: lex luthor. on his surface the brilliant inventor responsible for everything from airships (you’ll believe a man can fly!) to the complete infrastructure overhaul of metro-gotham, The City of Tomorrow. the public persona of the ultimate renaissance man; more money than ford, more inventions than edison, and twice as subtle about his bigotry and thieving nature than either of those two.

- (metro-gotham, the sprawling megapolis of three states, roughly encompassing northeast NJ [gotham], NYC, long island, and southwest connecticut [metropolis]. travel times are a lot easier to manage with privatized Lex-Transit elevated magtrains.)

- and at what cost does the future come? the people in his factories? well. if you catch him in a good mood in his gentleman’s club he’ll be happy to expound on social darwinism and the gospel of wealth. would a side of phrenology be too on the nose?

- basically 60% pre-crisis the world’s maddest and most brilliant scientist, 30% post-crisis ruthless exploitative businessman, 10% [redacted for the Villain Scheme plot point of the fic that i’m trying to convince myself not to write]

- it’d be more interesting to have him work his way up from being a nobody born in suicide slum, however it would be far more on the nose for him to inherit ‘a small sum’ from the sale of his father’s plantation estate. probably split the difference; the propaganda/public persona is the first. carnegie eat your heart out, lex did it better

- bruce: lots of uncomfortable implications with being an industrialist especially if bruce needs to be one too. probably he is. the question of if ethical industrialism is possible in this world, what does it look like. this could turn out SO badly if I don’t do so much research lol. like batman 2022, inheriting his position and wealth but failing to understand at first what his responsibility is. did thomas wayne himself build the conditions under which so much of gotham labors, or was he attempting to triage the situation left by his father/bruce’s grandfather/ancestors? how old is the wayne money? from where did it come from, considering the history of wealth in this country? are there actual canon answers to any of these questions and/or stories in which they are addressed? sure he gets to punch people and glide from his bat-gyrocoptor onto the top of aforementioned elevated magtrains, but also give him problems he can’t solve with his fists, because the idea of dragging battinson-adjacent bruce into corporate maneuvering is very funny to me (especially since lex has probably succeeded in repealing or blocking the sherman antitrust act! monopolies ahoy!)

- clark: obvious play to fully take him to golden age Champion of the Oppressed/grant morrison t-shirt and jeans superman, just explicitly including the people left out of the original golden age stories (aka, there are Black people in metro-gotham now). starts out as a cryptid a la the radio show’s first series (radio clark my beloved), evolves into unifying solidarity, direct action, compassion as more than a platitude; figure out some way to not directly steal the emotional arc from superman smashes the klan. which is so goddamn good. explicitly raised in the great plains socialist tradition, his first job delivering copies of Appeal to Reason, maybe interning under Eugene Debs? what actual year is this set. who knows. this fic would be as fine an excuse as any to finally read The Jungle since i already hc that’s an influence on modern!clark. muckraking journalism is already immensely cool and sexy therefore the daily planet gang and lois are mostly unchanged.

- the irons family ought to play a significant part but right now i only have: john henry high up in the experimental R&D division of lexcorp, deciding how best to stop [redacted evil lex plan], even though it will cost him a social standing that is probably going to be nigh impossible to regain, considering the amount of companies that would hire a Black man in R&D in this time period. again. lots of research to do here

- literally 0 changes needed to dick’s backstory lol

- literally 0 changes needed to jay’s either lol

- the drakes... probably well meaning also-ran second tier industrialists pretending they aren’t lex hangers-on. maybe they can get socially ruined by something along the lines of the teapot dome scandal. as a treat. 95+% of the metro-gotham gilded industrialist robber baron social circle is full of hollow hearted complicit scumbags, and the only thing preventing tim from this fate is 1. his parents’ fall from grace 2. that he has enough braincells to look around.

- there would be SO much pollution in metro-gotham YIKES. easy fodder for any number of villain backstories. cool and understandable motive, ivy, still ecoterrorism

#no points for guessing which evil billionaires luthor is a thinly veiled metaphor for here #clark kent #bruce wayne #lex luthor #steampunk au #hm. this is barely superbat but i guess it can go into the tag.#superbat #basically i think battinson and tshirt clark would be such a fun dynamic #they would NOT get on at first sight lmao #golden age clark my beloved

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