#they do know other people aspire to villain hood right | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chromatophorica · 2 years

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sigh.

man. i hope u folx never need to deal with actual honest to god racism in ur lives, cause i think it might actually kill u on the spot.

genuinely tho. last thing i’m saying about this whole saga and then i’m saving us all by deleting anything u come to my ask box with cause omg i feel like i might actually be all that keeps u productive by stopping engaging with u. or i could hire a robot to fight with u i guess. i bet it’d be the same response.

anyway; i’ve stated a few times that my issue with the ppd line isn’t solely chim (scroll dooooown) but y’all are circling it around to ‘he’s asian and they’re saying bad things so they are a racist’ (genuinely, hope u don’t meet a racist, it’s disgusting and it’s certainly not gentle ‘this person did this wrong’ when it’s racism) but i still tagged it ‘anit-chim’ so that people who didn’t want to read something where chim is held to his canon actions (remember, this is 5.02, aggression is never mentioned, if anything, chimney is passive af in this cause he’s talking not swinging) and a psa was made about ‘not including my work’, which i accepted because freedom of speech (which apparently is also racist if i’ve read that right?) which means the person can exclude whatever they want from this public event meant to focus on the siblings and not on their significant others but i digress (i might be being racist again because i’m not including a coc and a potential shipper coc or just a woman i apparently self insert? still confused on that matter).

i was then told that only doug kendall can possibly be the bad person and how dare white savior be used (despite this literally being about two siblings who are white and one of the prompts is literally how the save each other but who am i to ask for some kind of consistency in this matter!) and that i really shouldn’t use chimney and his canon actions (again, 5.02, not like what... 5.05 was it? fuck idk they’ve blended together cause man was 5a a cluster bomb of wtf).

so i’m not being included in a public event because my work is (apparently) racist (possibly even those things i wrote before i wrote that one they didn’t like which they had no problem reblogging, maybe i hid my racism while writing about that cute little baby or that time the guy i apparently was literally the non-white savior? idk confusion. not consistent at all) and they don’t want to ‘promote’ it? idk i don’t come here to promote much, this is the most i’ve ever used my blog, i honestly forget i have it a lot. tumblr is kinda rabid y’know.

now i will say, whatev. don’t reblog, block me, ignore me, it’s all whatever at the end of the day. however when you remove someone’s comments to you and only allow people to see what you are saying, it creates a kind of vibe. you know. like a conservative-right republican vibe where if you hide what the other side is saying... they’re not saying it?

in closing (and damn idk if i even said everything i came to say, cause this disaster fire is still confusing) call me racist all you want; i know i’m not, i know the people who know me know i’m not (although thanks for reading my fic and totally agreeing with your friend who you’re 100% not biased for or anything, that single hit meant the world to me) and most of the people who read my fic and see the manner in which the character is portrayed (cough-canonly-cough) (again, still 5.02 so it has nothing to do with that other canon thing that i’m not even touching at this point)(might do it tomorrow, i haven’t yet decided, my spite it being drained by the soft gentle love of a kitty) my spite is not so that anyone will read my work. or that you’ll need to see it in your blogs.

my spite thrives in knowing, i can write my silly little fic, i can be a total spoon and make it *the worst* characterisation in the history of tumblr or ao3 (and i think i’d deserve an award for that), and i can come along in here, and post it and tag it *correctly* so that no one is surprised when they enter it, so that no one is like ‘omg i didn’t see this coming this author is so rude not tagging their shit’ and it’s gonna sit there. in your event. with the tag you hate so vehemently that you started a very stupid little squabble about it.

and i just got my daily writing goal. neat.

#fandom discourse #anons up in my hoohaa #legit idk if these people are watching the same show as me #can i get their cut?#ps yes i do support not-evil jonah #cause god how boring is it to have another lame ass white guy being the villain #like shit #they do know other people aspire to villain hood right #it don't always gotta be the dumbass white guy having some evil master plan #it's gonna take someone a hell of a lot more cunning to get one over on athena fucking grant

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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Hi, I’ve been tasked with researching Richard Plantagenet for a paper and thus far found extremely negative accounts of the king, his religious bigotry being a reoccurring theme (his treatment of Jewish dignitaries attending his coronation and his reasoning to join the third crusade etc)

I stumbled across your wonderful tag for Richard at the weekend and wondered if you wouldn’t mind sharing your informed opinion of Richard and his views on religions ? Your writing seems very well balanced regarding his attributes and flaws. Thanks :)

Oof. Okay. So, a short and simple question, then?

Quick note: when I was first reading your ask and saw "Richard Plantagenet," I briefly assumed that you meant Richard Plantagenet, father of Edward IV, or perhaps Richard III, both from the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century, before seeing from context that you meant Richard I. While "Plantagenet" was first used as an informal appellation by Richard I's grandfather, Geoffrey of Anjou, it wasn't until several centuries later that the English royal house started to use it consistently as a surname. So it's not something that Richard I would have been really called or known by, even if historians tend to use it as a convenient labeling conceit. (See: the one thousand popular histories on "The Plantagenets" that have been published recently.)

As for Richard I, he is obviously an extremely complex and controversial figure for many reasons, though one of the first things that you have to understand is that he has been mythologized and reinvented and reinterpreted down the centuries for many reasons, especially his crusade participation and involvement in the Robin Hood legends. When you're researching about Richard, you're often reading reactions/interpretations of that material more than anything specifically rooted in the primary sources. And while I am glad that you asked me about this and want to encourage you to do so, I will gently enquire to start off: when you say "research," what kind of materials are you looking at, exactly? Are these actual published books/papers/academic material, or unsourced stuff on the internet written from various amateur/ideological perspectives and by people who have particular agendas for depicting Richard as the best (or as is more often the case, worst) ever? Because history, to nobody's surprise, is complicated. Richard did good things and he also did quite bad things, and it's difficult to reduce him to one or the other.

Briefly (ha): I'll say just that if a student handed me a paper stating that Richard was a religious bigot because a) there were anti-Jewish riots during his coronation and b) he signed up for the Third Crusade, I would seriously question it. Medieval violence against the Jews was an unfortunately endemic part of crusade preparations, and all we know about Richard's own reaction is that he fined the perpetrators harshly (repeated after a similar March 1190 incident in York) and ordered for them to be punished. Therefore, while there famously was significant anti-Semitic violence at his coronation, Richard himself was not the one who instigated it, and he ordered for the Londoners who did take part in it to be punished for breaking the king's peace.

This, however, also doesn't mean that Richard was a great person or that he was personally religiously tolerant. We don't know that and we often can't know that, whether for him or anyone else. This is the difficulty of inferring private thoughts or beliefs from formal records. This is why historians, at least good historians, mostly refrain from speculating on how a premodern private individual actually thought or felt or identified. We do know that Richard likewise also made a law in 1194 to protect the Jews residing in his domains, known as Capitula Judaeis. This followed in the realpolitik tradition of Pope Calixtus II, who had issued Sicut Judaeis in c. 1120 ordering European Christians not to harass Jews or forcibly convert them. This doesn't mean that either Calixtus or Richard thought Jews were great, but they did choose a different and more pragmatic/economic way of dealing with them than their peers. This does not prove "religious bigotry" and would need a lot more attention as an analytical concept.

As for saying that the crusades were motivated sheerly by medieval religious bigotry, I'm gonna have to say, hmm, no. Speaking as someone with a PhD in medieval history who specialised in crusade studies, there is an enormous literature around the question of why the crusades happened and why they continue to hold such troubling attraction as a pattern of behavior for the modern world. Yes, Richard went on crusade (as did the entire Western Latin world, pretty much, since 1187 and the fall of Jerusalem was the twelfth century's 9/11). But there also exists material around him that doesn't exist around any other crusade leader, including his extensive diplomatic relations with the Muslims, their personal admiration for him, his friendship with Saladin and Saladin's brother Saif al-Din, the fact that Arabic and Islamic sources can be more complimentary about Richard than the Christian records of his supposed allies, and so forth. I think Frederick II of Sicily, also famous for his friendly relationships with Muslims, is the only other crusade leader who has this kind of material. So however he did act on crusade, and for whatever reasons he went, Richard likewise chose the pragmatic path in his interactions with Muslims, or at least the Muslim military elite, than just considering them all as religious barbarians unworthy of his time or attention.

The question of how the crusades functioned as a pattern of expected behavior for the European Christian male aristocrat, sometimes entirely divorced from any notion of his private religious beliefs, is much longer and technical than we can possibly get into. (As again, I am roughly summarising a vast and contentious field of academic work for you here, so... yes.) Saying that the crusades happened only because medieval people were all religious zealots is a wild oversimplification of the type that my colleague @oldshrewsburyian and I have to deal with in our classrooms, and likewise obscures the dangerous ways in which the modern world is, in some ways, more devoted to replicating this pattern than ever. It puts it beyond the remit of analysis and into the foggy "Dark Ages hurr durr bad" stereotype that drives me batty.

Weighted against this is the fact that Richard obviously killed many Muslims while on crusade, and that this was motivated by religious and ideological convictions that were fairly standard for his day but less admirable in ours. The question of how that violence has been glorified by the alt-right people who think there was nothing wrong with it at all and he should have done more must also be taken into account. Richard's rise to prominence as a quintessentially English chivalrous hero in the nineteenth century, right when Britain was building its empire and needed to present the crusades as humane and civilizing missions abroad rather than violent and generally failed attempts at forced conversion and conquest, also problematized this. As noted, Richard was many things, but... not that, and when the crusades fell out of fashion again in the twentieth century, he was accordingly drastically villainized. Neither the superhero or the supervillain images of him are accurate, even if they're cheap and easy.

The English nationalists have a complicated relationship with Richard: he represents the ideal they aspire to, aesthetically speaking, and the kind of anti-immigrant sentiment they like to put in his mouth, which is far more than the historical Richard actually displayed toward his Muslim counterparts. (At least, again, so far as we can know anything about his private beliefs, but this is what we can infer from his actions in regard to Saladin, who he deeply respected, and Saladin's brother.) But he was also thoroughly a French knight raised and trained in the twelfth-century martial tradition, his concern for England was only as a minor part of the sprawling 'Angevin empire' he inherited from his father Henry II (which is heresy for the Brexit types who think England should always be the center of the world), and his likely inability to speak English became painted as a huge character flaw. (Notwithstanding that after the Norman Conquest in 1066, England did not have a king who spoke English natively until Henry IV in 1399, but somehow all those others don't get blamed as much as Richard.)

Anyway. I feel as if it's best to stop here. Hopefully this points you toward the complexity of the subject and gives you some guidelines in doing your own research from here. :)

#anonymous #ask #history #medieval history #richard the lionheart #long post

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why-this-kolaveri-machi · 3 years

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it’s a fucking metaphor!

Titans 3.08

i’ve finally gathered the mental and emotional resources to do this thing, so let’s go! as always, i’m typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. on watching this opening scene, i was thinking back to how gar was in s1, or even the early bits of s2. the way he idolised the others, particularly dick, and his readiness to go along with whatever they said, and the way he practically bled the need for acceptance. and here he is now, openly defying dick, fully open to and aware of the flaws of the people he loves and admires, knowing he is accepted no matter what and extending that generosity elsewhere. it’s a remarkable bit of character growth that’s... sort of blossomed in the background and so rewarding to see and acknowledge.

1.25. i guess what i really love about this conflict over how to respond to jason--as clumsily as it is sometimes written--is how their histories and individual traumas inform each character’s reaction. dick is torn between his guilt over what’s become of jason and his drive to do what batman had essentially given up on doing: he is motivated to track down red hood at all costs but there’s a sense that he’s not completely sold on the idea that the only way to stop him is to kill him. (he might go the comics route and try to put him in arkham? god, imagine if the season ended with jason in arkham.) kory’s never had much of a connection with jason in the first place, and jason has done one of the worst things he could do in her book: track and kill a member of her newfound family and is threatening to kill more.

and gar... sure. look. the idea of jason and red hood as separate entities appeals to him; that red hood emerged when jason was drugged to the gills by scarecrow and lost his usual inhibitions. gar’s struggled with what he becomes when he’s pushed to his limits, too--he did rip open that experimenting scientist with his teeth way back in 1.07, after all, and he was brainwashed by cadmus in s2 into becoming a literal monster. he needs to think, to know, there’s a dichotomy, a line that can only be crossed under extreme duress or by outside influence.

and he says--and we say--that he was accepted back into the titans in spite of what he’d done, but was he really? gar’s always struggled with his footing in this group; relegated to the caretaker, the tech guy, the gatekeeper, and sometimes punching bag even though everybody’s paying lip service to how much of a family they all are. perhaps gar reaching out to jason and offering acceptance is aspirational on his part: perhaps this is the effort he hoped the titans put/or will put into getting gar back, even when it would seem like he’s too far gone.

1.5. anyway my point is that i don’t think it’s worth discussing this in terms of right/wrong decisions because all of their reactions make a lot of sense given their backgrounds/personalities. gar is doing a fine job here of tracking down jason’s friends and trying to find him that way, but we the audience know that jason is ultimately going to end up an anti-hero/eventually-hero character, so with that knowledge in mind we know that gar’s reaction is the right one. it’s knowledge that the other characters don’t have, so to judge them on it is... uh, unfair.

1.8. also, molly is awesome, yay!

2. dick and barbara flirting over the phone is so cute! i love to see this side of dick: lighter, peppier, willing (even if somewhat reluctantly) to put his mission aside to go out on a date with his girlfriend. and i love how easy this makes his dynamic with kory too: it’s all very domestic and utterly delightful.

(also, re: the water leak in barbara’s office--you’re saying GCPD could afford fancy-schmancy table-wide touch screen computers and evil-lair lighting but needs its frickin’ commissioner to catch leaking water from above her desk with mugs and fishbowls????)

2.2225. this is probably a teeny tiny thing and i’m not sure i want to bring it up at all BUT. the fact that dick feels compelled to lie to barbara about not liking fancy gala food and eating something more substantial before the date? not a terribly great sign, though i wouldn’t call it a red flag per se.

“this from a man who forced his students to eat cauliflower crust pizza...”

3. so.... conner and kom are a Thing. huh.

in theory i really like the idea of them bonding over an innate alien-ness and longing for a place they could really belong. both of them are alien twice-over: conner a mix of kryptonian and human, practically generated in a test tube, and kom being somebody that was born different and rejected by her own people, now stuck on a planet dominated by an entirely different species. i even like them exploring this bond physically. i guess it’s the sense of... uneasiness around what we do and don’t know about kom that makes this scene land slightly left of centre to me. i think titans, especially through s2, has cultivated in its audience a sense of distrust even until the final episode, just in case somebody vital to the season is suddenly revealed to have had ulterior motives (i’m even low-key suspicious of leslie). i really want to see this kom-conner dynamic play out but the anticipation of watching the other shoe drop is sucking out the enjoyment.

4. for fuck’s sake dick, gar’s not your gatekeeper.

TIIIIIIIIMMMMM \O/

4.5. i love this nod to tim’s origins in the comics, the way he just comes in and lays out all his evidence and makes it clear to dick that he needs tim’s help as robin. the fact that he was there at the flying graysons’ last performance, he was obsessed with their acrobatic moves, and was observant enough to connect those moves with that of robin and later nightwing... all of this came together to put him where he is right now.

(i also love how he can’t contain his giddy excitement when talking about the day dick grayson’s parents died... to dick grayson. even if dick weren’t nightwing, that would be a deeply uncomfortable thing! yet tim can’t help himself, and i love him for it.)

4.8. it’s a testament to how much dick’s caught off-guard that he can’t come up with a better response to tim’s allegations other than “uh... he stole my moves! as you know, no two gymnasts in the world are allowed to do the same moves. now, let me escort you out while pretending poorly that i’m not at all shaken by this...”

4.9. i’ve talked about this before, but i find the logic around secret identities in this universe utterly fascinating. the titans don’t make much effort in keeping their identities secret: everybody seems to know that kory is starfire for instance, or that gar is beast boy. dick grayson is seen hanging out with kory a lot, especially at crime scenes. it won’t take a lot of sleuthing to find out that the titans are currently camped out at wayne manor, and to put two and two together.

my theory was that superheroes and villains have become such an integral part of daily society that it’s almost not worth it to seek out their secret identities, or that it’s just not a big deal anymore. like politicians or diplomats, not everybody bothers to look into who exactly their local politician is, but the people who know just... know. it’s a sort of unspoken social contract.

tim’s broken this contract by confronting dick about his identity, and dick’s not ready to deal with it. not entirely.

look at him! *pinches his cheeks*

5. ngl, it was quite satisfying to see jason knock the scarecrow out like that.

5.5. i guess... the question of jason’s culpability is always going to be a thorny one and would make for a great courtroom drama spinoff. there are a number of factors to consider: jason’s personality, the rough circumstances under which he grew up, his undoubtedly stressful transition to being robin, bruce wayne being... well, bruce wayne, never feeling accepted by the titans and having most of them turn on him, being roundly defeated and almost killed by deathstroke, alfred’s death, a fuckload of ptsd, his violent death, crane’s manipulations, coming back to life, crane plying him with a drug. but there is no easy line to draw between any of these factors to his actions. i think it would be a disservice to jason’s character to attribute his actions entirely to these things and rather irresponsible to do so. i think jason has to reckon with the fact that when he took crane’s drug, he wasn’t reckless and chaotic like the thugs he gave it to; the planning that went into hank’s death was meticulous and the way hank died--dawn essentially tricked into pulling the trigger that blew her lover into bits--is so drawn out and cruel.

5.75. it’s occurring to me that crane might have given jason a placebo. maybe jason’s dependence is psychological, and he’s externalised his fears in such a way that he believes crane’s drugs literally wipe them out, however temporarily.

in any case, the boy needs (more) therapy.

6. “he walked like robin...” fuck, tim

“gait recognition sweep” god, this show. i don’t know whether to laugh or cry. hey, once we’re done doing this gait recognition thingy, can we get a goddamn plumber in the house??? or move the commissioner’s desk so that sewage water isn’t dripping on her head or the million dollar touchscreen desk???????

6.5. oh no dick!!!!!! i am delighted that you got hurt but i feel ashamed about it! that looked like it really hurt!

he’s really not having a good time of it, is he. from being shot by a sniper to slamming at full speed into an suv, he’s got to be really fucking battered by now. and that’s just the physical side of it.

“can you believe that just over a week ago i was sitting in san francisco eating cauliflower crust pizza and feeling good about myself for the first time in five years...”

7. kory’s having visions again! now that she’s figured what they are, do you think the show’s just dropped justin? it’s curious that HPG hasn’t been brought up in a while after featuring relatively heavily in the beginning. hmmm.

8. dick’s in hospital but... he looks remarkably whole for someone who took a spill like that. you’d think he’d at least have a bruise to show for it. on the other hand, i love that the first thing he says is ‘i need to call home’. reminds me of season 1 dick and his clumsy attempts to explain away his found family as an ‘alliance of necessity’ or some bullshit. what a long way he’s come!

*gasp* dick’s hallucinating again!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m doing the dick’s hallucinating dance! can you believe that we’re carrying over these huge honking issues unearthed in season 2 onto season 3? can you believe?!!! all that time and effort i spent talking about dick’s mental health from last season has not gone in vain!!

... ahem. anyway. more on this later.

“hold on barbara, i think kory gave me the number to this therapist that she kept calling Hot Psychiatrist Guy...”

9. just an interlude to say that i’m barely halfway through the episode and i’ve already written 2k+ words... ugh. i’m going to try and be more concise.

10. man i fuckin love it when titans goes all out with its weird mindscapes and i’m extra glad that kory’s the focus this time. is that baby kom or maybe a secret sibling that neither of them knew about? was that lady luand’r? and is this place where kory was circling where the secret sibling is? it’s all very intriguing.

(if justin turned out to be that sibling... we’ve a real luke/leia situation on our hands.)

11. aw, i knew that nice security guard was going to die, but it still hurt to see him go :(

12. this show is so bizarre. like i get the mindscape as a narrative device, but jason using sex workers to try and vocalise his guilt about killing hank was just weird. like. i have to use tamil, sorry: idhulaan yaaru pa room pottu yosikara??? some things just can’t be translated into a second language.

i guess one way to interpret jason’s reckoning with what he did to the titans as a sign of him coming off crane’s drug, but i think it’s more to do with the disillusionment of realising that he was a mere pawn in a more sinister plan, and not, as he thought, a player in control of his destiny, rising to the purpose of liberating gotham of its fears in a way batman never could. along the way, he’s done some truly irreversible damage. it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

13. another hallucination! it’s really intriguing that it’s a young dick(?), younger than we’ve ever seen him, wearing an early-era robin costume from way before he even became robin. (this is also interesting in that it gives credence to the idea that ‘robin’ is an identity that dick created entirely on his own, and as a possible homage to his family.)

“old road, old house... it’s all gone.” i wonder what it all means.

13.5. it’s entirely likely dick’s hallucinating because of a brain injury from the accident, though just hallucinations without any other focal neurological deficit is unusual. he might’ve been microdosed with fear toxin at some point, though i wonder when... did jason do so after dick’s accident? did he get dosed at the factory from last episode?

it’s also possible it’s a continuing manifestation of dick’s issues from last season--which, if you remember, he never told anyone about and therefore never properly addressed. maybe he was hallucinating bruce wayne in a psychotic episode accompanying an acute stress reaction and maybe that’s what’s happening now. nobody’s denying that he’s under an extraordinary amount of stress right now. another way to look at it is that this is how he externalises conflict that he can’t bear to suppress anymore; if in s2 halluci!bruce manifested his insecurities and self-loathing, then these hallucinations... something to do with his fears, no doubt.

yet ANOTHER way to look at it might be: rachel is reaching out to him through their, well, psychic bond. after all, they were able to use that bond unconsciously last season to get the titans back together; maybe rachel has learned to gain a degree of control over it in themyscira and is sending across warnings? it’s all very intriguing.

anyway:

“i hear you skipped over the discowing suit in your evolution to nightwing... how could you??”

14. can you imagine, gar did all the work of reaching out to jason via molly and jason wants to meet dick? smh.

14.5. “i’m just a regular guy doing regular things” he says, standing at the opening of a secret old tunnel, like a secret person doing secret things, confronting someone who can now officially be called his stalker. neither of you guys are ‘regular’

14.8. ‘my dad was a cop and he taught me how to investigate’ - hmmm. i guess they’re trying to Explain Tim but i don’t think that’s really necessary. so he’s smart and he’s obsessed with batman and robin--that should be enough, imo.

15. that scene with scarecrow and his mother was... wow. i’m just laughing here helplessly, because what the hell? for a while i thought it was an extended dream sequence and i’m still not entirely sure that it isn’t...

anyway. i still love that titans is happy to throw out its plot in favour of extended character-exploration sessions.

15.5. it seems to me that this scene with crane and his mother (i have no idea if there’s anything in the comics similar to this) serves to move forward this season’s theme of harmful legacies and how parents can damage their children in the name of their mission. in a way it’s been the underlying message of the entire show but we’re really seeing it being reinforced this season. the titans, serving as a foil to scarecrow, are using the damage to rebuild themselves and actually work through their issues together, instead of spiralling further and further into the morass of their issues.

other than that... god, that scene was painful to watch. i can’t say i like this version of scarecrow or how this actor plays him at all.

16. i wonder what’s jason’s play here. i think he’s smart enough to realise that the titans aren’t going to just forgive him and let him be a titan again after what he did, and that dick agreeing to it is just a bid to pin both him and crane down. maybe it’s a ploy to trap them, get back on scarecrow’s good books so that he can have the drug again. who knows.

17. i absolutely felt dick when he said “we’ll bring him in and then re-assess the situation.” what the fuck else is he going to say? the priority is to get him.

so kory and dick are both hallucinating while potentially trying to rehabilitate their murderous siblings. CONFIDE IN EACH OTHER ALREADY

18. TIM NOOOO! you beautiful, reckless fool!

18.25. just to quickly address it here because i know it’s been brought up before: i think it’s perfectly justified to not have conner take tim to the hospital via superspeed because a) i don’t think we’ve seen conner do that with anybody so far and b) it’s probably not a good idea to submit tim’s body to that kind of stress without knowing what it would do to him. the paramedics with actual equipment and experience would be there in a few minutes, so on a risk assessment, i would say dick and conner absolutely made the right call.

18.5. i guess we won’t know what jason really intended to when the titans came to the pump to see him, but this is definitely going to set a big wedge in his relationship with crane. then again, crane got what he wanted--using starfire’s powers to blast through to the underground pipes--so jason can argue that this is exactly what he was working towards, too.

anyway, mortal peril, hallucinations, murderous family members, creepy visions and robins sprouting left and right. time to get rachel and donna on the scene, i think.

#titans #titans spoilers #meta #garfield logan #dick grayson #koriand'r #jason todd #tim drake #jonathan crane #conner kent #komand'r #aaaaah this is 3k+#*collapses in a heap*

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i-know-my-value-darling · 4 years

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Supernatural stars reflect on the show's undying legacy

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins discuss 15 years of fantasy, family, and flannel.

"We only get one shot at this." Sam and Dean Winchester are surrounded. The monster-hunting brothers are standing on the edge of a cliff. They look to Castiel, their brother in arms — or is it wings? — but even he can’t help. One move in the wrong direction could ruin everything. After years of fighting demons, going toe-to- toe with Satan himself, and saving the world multiple times, they once again find themselves in a position of having to perform under pressure. But this situation is unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with before. All eyes are on them as they have one shot…at getting the perfect picture.

It’s a dry, hot August day in Malibu — when people were still allowed to gather outside — as Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins prepare for the last setup of their final Entertainment Weekly cover shoot. With a bottle of champagne in each of their hands, Ackles once again reminds them they get “one shot” to do this right. But if their characters can shoulder the weight of the world, surely these three can handle a photo. Read the whole story below

The champagne soaking is meant to be a celebration of 15 years, of making television history. Supernatural, the story of two brothers destined to save the world, is the longest-running genre show in the history of American broadcast television. (So old, the first three seasons shot on this thing called film.) What started as an underdog story, living its first few years on the verge of cancellation, has become an institution, a milestone to which other shows aspire. Supernatural not only survived the move from The WB to The CW after its first season — it’s now the final WB show left standing — but became the backbone of the now highly successful CW network. Over the years, the sci-fi series has aired on every weeknight, helping to launch shows including Arrow and The Vampire Diaries. The network moved it one final time, most recently, to Mondays, to help Roswell, New Mexico expand its audience. “Supernatural is a major link to many of the shows that we have successfully built to market,” The CW’s chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz says. “Almost every one of our shows has had it as a lead-out or a lead-in.”

And to think, it all started as a promise to bring horror to television. After Supernatural creator Eric Kripke had finished working with Warner Bros. on 2003’s Tarzan series, he pitched the idea of a reporter who travels around hunting urban legends. As he puts it, it was a Kolchak: The Night Stalker rip-off. But when he realized the story would benefit from having brothers at its core, he started writing. “At the time, The Ring and The Grudge were huge hits in theaters,” Kripke remembers. “We said, ‘We’re going to take that experience and we’re going to put it on TV,’ and the initial goal was to be scary.” After Warner Bros. passed on his first, what he calls “uptight,” draft, Kripke had to reassess the kind of show he was creating. “I canceled all my Christmas plans and wrote that second draft in three weeks,” he says. “That was when the show got its sense of humor, because I was locked alone, over winter break, in my office. I couldn’t do anything fun, so I started entertaining myself.”

The show was still scary, but it was also funny and, over the years, would continue to evolve. Sure, you could say it’s a little bit X-Files — in its early days, the show often used the line “The X-Files meets Route 66” — and there were definite Star Wars influences (Sam and Dean were originally based on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo). But no combination of pop culture is going to perfectly describe Supernatural because the show has managed to do something remarkably rare in the age of peak TV, where audiences are so overwhelmed with content that an original idea seems foreign: It’s created a truly one-of- a-kind experience.

For starters, it’s a show about two flannel-wearing, beer-loving, blue-collar dudes from Kansas who for a good chunk of their lives traveled from cheap motel to cheap motel, paying for gas and greasy diner food with a mix of fake credit cards and money they earned scamming people at the pool table. “Almost all television is about rich people or, at the very least, middle-class people,” co-showrunner Andrew Dabb says. “The fact that we’ve been able to take this Midwestern blue-collar approach to this genre feels like we’re breaking the mold.”

But the mold-breaking didn’t stop there. Supernatural might’ve started out as a horror show with some snarky one-liners, but it evolved into some of the boldest, most experimental (and certainly strangest) stories on the small screen. “We’re a show of big swings,” co-showrunner Robert Singer says. “I used to say, with every idea, ‘This will be a home run or they’ll cancel us,’ but every year we wanted to do something really nuts." And when he says nuts, we’re not just talking about the episode with the talking teddy bear or the murderer targeting imaginary friends. Those are just some standard monsters of the week. We’re talking about the black-and-white episode shot like a classic Hollywood monster movie, or the episode that introduced Chuck (Rob Benedict), a prophet — who’d later reveal himself to be God — who was famous for writing a book series called Supernatural. That, of course, led to Sam and Dean attending a Supernatural fan convention as the show continued to redefine what it meant to inject a series with meta humor. And the swings never stopped. Season 13 featured a Scooby-Doo crossover as an animated Sam, Dean, and Castiel solved a case alongside the Mystery Inc. gang. And in season 14, after giving God a sister a few years prior, the show made the Big Man Himself its final villain. “I don’t think any idea, barring some production concerns, has been viewed as too crazy,” Dabb says. “Because we know that our fans are smart and that they’ll follow these guys anywhere.”

So long as each episode features Sam and Dean — and the occasional heartfelt talk on the hood of the Impala — the show can do just about anything, which is another reason Kripke had to rewrite his first draft of the pilot. Originally, Dean was the only brother who knew about monsters growing up, bringing Sam up to speed later in life. It wasn’t until Kripke figured out that they needed to be in this together that the series snapped into place. Because at the end of it all, they’re two brothers bonded by the loss of their mother and a life spent on the road with an absentee father. (It just so happens that their mother was killed by a demon and their father hunted them.) The familial dynamic — the irrational codependency, as the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) once called it — is the most important part of the show. “The first inkling I had that we had something special was shooting the pilot,” Kripke says. “It was the scene on the bridge when Sam and Dean talk about their mother. It was the first time that you really saw their chemistry and their connection as brothers on full display. Because I’ve always said this show begins and ends with whether you believe that sibling relationship.” But Sam and Dean weren’t just the center of the show. For many years, they were the show.

Supernatural has never been an ensemble drama. For the first 82 hours of the series, Ackles and Padalecki were the only long-running series regulars — Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan briefly joined for season 3, appearing in 12 episodes combined. But Sam and Dean weren’t just in every episode; they anchored every episode. (They skipped table reads because there would’ve been only two actors there.) “I had many moments of not only questioning, ‘Can I keep this up?’ but an answer of ‘I cannot keep this up,’ ” Padalecki, 37, who’s been vocal about his struggle in the early seasons, says. “I borrowed strength from Jensen.” But even Ackles, 42, admits it was a tough job. “The 23-episode seasons were nine and a half months of filming,” he adds. “It was a lot of work, but I always came back to: I still enjoy it, I still like telling the story, I still like these characters and the people I work with.”

Not only did the guys stick around, they built a reputation of having created one of the warmest sets in the business, with a number of crew members staying with the production all 15 seasons. It all dates back to a talk Kripke had with his stars during the filming of the series’ second episode. “I said, ‘The show is about your two characters, and with that comes this responsibility,’ ” Kripke says. Padalecki remembers the exact setting of what he calls their “Good Will Hunting moment,” a bench in Stanley Park in Vancouver, where they film. It was a chat both actors took to heart. “We’d both been on other sets,” Ackles says. “We knew we wanted to enjoy it, to have fun with our crew; we wanted them to like us and us to like them and to have fun doing what we do.” It’s an attitude Pedowitz hopes bleeds into other CW shows, an attitude that launched an annual tradition where the CW chairman/CEO takes his new casts out to dinner with the Supernatural guys, a chance for the vets to share advice. “It’s always the most flattering situation,” Padalecki says, recalling a moment he had a few years back with the late Luke Perry, who was a part of the Riverdale cast. “Luke was sitting next to me and he was like, ‘What y’all have done and what we hear about you guys, it’s really cool to be associated with y’all in some way, shape, or form,’” he recalls. “And I’m sitting there pinching myself.”

It’s a behind-the-scenes legacy that’s perhaps just as impressive, if not more so, than the onscreen legacy. Collins, 45, who started as a guest star and the show’s first angel in season 4, has become the show’s third-longest-running series regular, and he still remembers walking onto set his first day. “When you’re coming onto a show as a guest star, it can be a little bit nerve-racking,” Collins says. “Coming to this set, it was an immediately different vibe. Think- ing about working on other shows in the future, that’s something that I aspire to bring with me.”

A similar reputation extends to the fans as well. Not only is the #SPNFamily one of the most dedicated fandoms out there, it’s also known to be a pretty nice one. (Not many fandoms can say they’ve helped launch a crisis support network for their fellow fans.) But their dedication isn’t just about seeing what crazy twist God throws at Team Free Will next. Thanks to fan conventions and social media, the viewers are just as invested in the lives of the actors. Supernatural’s not just about the words on the page, it’s about the actors saying them. “When you’re dealing with the public taste, there’s an alchemy of great writing, a great idea, and the close-up that’s required,” Peter Roth, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, says. “You need stars who you want in your living room.” And you need stars who want to be in your living room, and who, even after 15 years, care so deeply that they get emotional while taking photos in Malibu.

"It's going to be a long eight months," Ackles declares. Standing on that same ledge, an hour before the champagne shot, Ackles, Padalecki, and Collins walk away from a group hug after unexpectedly starting to tear up. It might be the setting — looking out over the ocean — or the occasion: their last-ever photo shoot. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re almost a month into filming their final season.

It had been a question posed to the stars for years: How long will this show continue? How long can it continue? “Even my mom and dad were like, ‘When are you going to be done with this?’” Ackles says with a laugh. It was a decision the network and studio had ultimately put into the actors’ hands, and it was a conversation they’d been having for a while. Back in 2016, Padalecki told EW, “If we don’t make it to [episode] 300, I think Ackles and I will both be truly bummed.” But in season 14, they hit 300…and then kept going. While filming episode 307, they announced the upcoming 15th season would be the end, which will bring them to a total of 327 episodes when all is said and done. “[Jared] and I were always married to the fact that we never wanted to go out with a diet version of what we had,” Ackles says. “We wanted to have enough gas left in the tank to get us racing across the finish line. We didn’t want to limp across.” Padalecki remembers the moment it hit him — not the decision to end it, but rather the opposite. “We had that moment where he and I both realized that we didn’t want it to end,” he says. “It finally got to a point, ironically, where it was like, ‘I never want to leave this. I could do this until the day I die, and then if I get the choice when I’m dead, I’ll re-up!’ But you never want to be the last person at a party. We just knew. That’s not to say there haven’t been vacillations, but we all trust the decision that was made.”

Starting in July 2019, the cast and crew returned to Vancouver to begin filming the final season, but in March 2020, with two episodes left to go, they were sent home. For years, fans had wondered what, if anything, could stop the Winchesters, and now it seems we have the answer: a global pandemic. As sets closed amid social-distancing measures due to the spread of COVID-19, it didn’t take long for fans to start connecting the dots, sharing relevant GIFs from episodes that featured viruses, most notably Chuck telling Dean to hoard toilet paper “like it’s made of gold” before the end of the world in season 5’s “The End.” (Did we mention that Supernatural is also kind of psychic? In a season 6 episode, Dean calls Sam “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which just so happens to be the role Padalecki has lined up after this ends.)

When production paused, it all felt a little like we were living in an episode of the show, just waiting for Sam and Dean to drive up in Baby, open those creaky doors, and save us. They might not be able to do quite that, but the thing with the Winchesters is that they never stay down for long. When Supernatural is able to safely resume production, it will. And though there are only two episodes left to film, fans will enjoy a total of seven unseen hours, including the return of Charlie (Felicia Day) and a mystery woman who visits the bunker and, for some reason, gives Sam and Dean all the holidays they never got to celebrate. “She makes Christmas for them and Thanksgiving, birthday parties, and all that. It’s a very good episode,” Singer says, adding, “I don’t know when it’s going to air.”

That’s the thing—no one knows, not even the guys who took out Yellow Eyes, stopped Leviathans, defeated Death himself, and are supposedly destined to be the messengers of God’s destruction. But Sam and Dean do know the value of a good plan B. “Obviously it’s a horribly unfortunate situation we’re in, but the silver lining is that it gives us an opportunity to recharge,” Ackles says. “We had just finished episode 18, we shot one day of episode 19, and I was reading these two monster scripts thinking, ‘It’s like we’re at the end of a marathon and they want us to sprint for the last two miles.’ I feel like this almost gives us an opportunity to refocus and go into the last two episodes and hit them with everything we got.” Because when they do return to set, shave their quarantine beards, and step back into Sam and Dean’s shoes for the last time, they’ll have one shot at ending this thing…and they’re determined not to miss.

Photos: Peggy Sirota for EW

https://ew.com/tv/supernatural-stars-cover-ew-to-reflect-on-the-shows-undying-legacy/

#supernatural #jensen ackles #jared padalecki #misha collins #last season #season 15 #entertainment weekly #cover story #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #full post #SPN #spn family #new photo #new photos

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marshmallowprotection · 4 years

Text

Calluna

Pairing: Saeran Choi/Reader

Fairytale AU.

Description:

The Prince has been bound to the castle walls, and he’s never been able to leave from it. The only place that he has to escape to are the books that he reads and the garden that he’s allowed to venture into every evening. But, what happens when he encounters someone that has eyes that know a world unlike his own?

Inspired by a drawing by @sensetenou

Chapter Index

Chapter Nine

“Look at you,” hand brushing against the glass. “Every bit of a prince’s date.”

A wolf in sheep’s clothing was more like it.

You stared at the reflection in front of you. Sure, you looked the part of someone who would be attending a party but you knew the truth: You were nothing but a thief who was going to abuse the only relationship that you had ever made. It didn’t matter if it was against your will, you had tried nothing to get yourself out of this mess.

You bowed your head and accepted that you were going to do what Red Hood told you to do. It was what you always did. A little songbird that knew who owed them.

Clenching your fists tightly at your sides, you swallowed down the self-loathing in your heart. You sincerely didn’t want to go through with it but you had to do this.

Red Hood would kill the prince if you hesitated.

At this point, as much as your heart detested the person that you were, you might have accepted your own death if it meant that Ray lived. You were scared, sure, anyone naturally would be fearful of the end if it was placed in front of them. But, Ray was important to not only you but the rest of the small kingdom.

You knew that the queen had been whisking people away, and you knew that something wasn’t right with her rule. If she was allowed to continue, then combined with the power Red Hood had in the sea and land underneath her nose, everyone would know the taste of absolution. It couldn’t keep going on like that. One villain was enough.

Ray was a gentle soul.

He would help the people in every way that he could. You had faith in him, more than you had faith in anyone on this planet. His kind smile flickered in the back of your mind. He was truly selfless and fiercely loyal to his aspirations. The kingdom would be in good hands whether you were banished or killed.

It pained you to know that you wouldn’t see him ever again after tonight. That made the night all the more bittersweet. You wanted to imprint a lasting memory of him in your heart for the future when you wouldn’t have him closeby any longer. For his sake alone, you wanted to ensure that the night was something perfect.

If that was all you could gift a king, then you would give it to him.

Your heart would always belong to him.

Pulling the mask over your face, you gave one last look into the mirror. Sufficient enough. Nobody would ever know who you truly were, not even the guard who had a glimmer of your face underneath your hood once before. Funny, all you ever wanted was to be able to show your face to other people without worrying about what would happen if they knew your face enough to match it to the fleeting wanted poster that existed.

Now you had it.

“I expect you to be back here before midnight,” Red Hood’s voice drew you from your thoughts. He was waiting for you outside your room. “Not a moment later. Don’t disappoint me tonight, Sparrow. You remember our deal and I will make good on it if you dare try to escape.”

You clenched your teeth.

He already knew that you were cornered, but this man just wanted to watch you squirm. He gained a sick delight out of making people feel powerless. You knew that look in his golden eyes better than you knew the back of your hand. That was why you bit back every horrible thing that you wanted to say about him.

It was one thing to be underneath the heel of a monster, but to fight back when you knew that held all the cards? That was a fool’s errand. Zen had warned you to be careful with what you were doing and now you were reaping the price of not heeding his words. You wished that you had listened to him or that you would have tried harder to dodge Red Hood’s suspicion.

But, you knew that nothing you could have done would have changed a thing.

His eyes were everywhere and his power was unstoppable. It didn’t matter how far you ran or how much you hid, Red Hood would find out what you were from hiding from him and he would take it away from you for his gain. That was how he got his power and you would never forget that fact as long as you lived.

Red Hood smirked. Leaning over, he tucked a feather into your hair without even budging. “There we go, a reminder of your place, little birdie. Now, run along, enjoy your little evening with the prince for as long as you want. Just remember what you owe me.”

Never tearing your eyes away from him, you forced yourself to smile. You weren’t going to let him see you cry again. “Understood.”

—

It didn’t take long to find him in the crowd of people. He stood out like a sore thumb as he gazed upon everyone around him and got used to the feeling of existing amongst the people. Even in a mask, you’d seen his smile and known it to be him. You would know those lips anywhere and you would know him to be the one amazed by the smallest detail.

Pushing aside the plans ahead, you tapped twice on his shoulder and garnered his attention. He smiled at you, and your chest pulled hard. The pang of regret and loathing biting at you. “Would you care to join me for a dance?”

You took his hand and he whisked you away.

Spinning around and around the dance floor, you could feel your heart race as he invaded your senses from all sides. You had wondered what it would feel like to be so close to Ray while the rest of the world could see you, but as it turned out, you felt like it was no different than when you were alone with him in the garden.

It was like the rest of the world didn’t exist when you were with him.

You would enjoy the time that you had with him while you could. You didn’t want the memory of his warmth to be bathed in sadness. Ray was a great dancer, and he knew just what to do to make you let out a little gasp.

When you were alone and closely knit, he would be prone to trip over his own feet but when he had to be the dazzling prince? All that fear and shyness dissolved around you. He stood proudly and tall with no trace of that edge.

He was every bit a price as much as you were a thief.

As it was meant to be. You had only wished that your circumstances had been different. Would it be the same if Ray had been born of the commonwealth and able to ask you for your hand as anyone else would be able to do if they so wanted? What would Ray have been like if he wasn’t trapped behind the tall walls of his palace?

Would he still stutter and stammer whenever you managed to show him something that he had never seen before? Would he still look at you with those dazzling eyes? Would he still grasp your hand with the tenderness only given to someone you care greatly for? Would Ray still want to kiss you in the same feverous way?

Would you still want to kiss him with the same vigor?

Yes, you thought. It wouldn’t matter if he was rich or not, it didn’t matter if he was a prince or not, you could see yourself falling deeply entranced with his soul over and over again. Perhaps in your next life, it would be possible that you both could love each other without fearing the weight of the world on your shoulders.

You could only pray.

If only you were the praying type.

You never wanted this dance to end, but the band slowed their music down and you and he came to a rest in the middle of the ballroom. Your hand that gripped his shoulder just wouldn’t let go of him at all. "I'm happy you came," he said.

"Thank you for inviting me," you said, automatically. "I've never seen you look happier, my prince."

"And I've never seen you so dazzling," he returned. "I mean it. Everyone in the room hasn't taken their eyes off of you. You've managed to enchant the entire kingdom just by being yourself with me. If I didn't know any better, I would dare say that they think you're royalty while I'm merely a commoner vying for your attention."

There was a faint blush on his cheek that he couldn't hide away, not from you. There was a smile on your lips but it didn't seem to meet your eyes as it normally did. If anyone was looking at you, you had no idea, you had only cared for his eyes on you. He looked so happy, so very happy, and you truly did wish that you could feel his joy.

It was selfish of you to linger like this. Your time was on a deadline but you wanted to stay with Ray forever. He couldn’t tell that anything was amiss and you were happy about that. At least, he would never know the truth.

It didn’t stop your guilt.

Ray tucked a strand of stray hair behind your ear with a smile. "Thank you, [Y/N]. You've always believed in me and seen me for someone more than that. I want to be a great king so you'll be proud of me."

You looked away from him, your hand slowly removing itself from his grasp. "I am proud of you, Ray," you whispered. "I always will be. I hope that you'll never forget just how much you mean to me, and I hope that no matter what happens, you'll always think of me fondly."

He leaned over and gently brushed his lips to your own in a gentle peck. You didn't push him away when he took the kiss. You accepted that kiss as if your life depended on it. It did, in a way, your hope in him depended on how he would be able to remember you. You knew, with a bittersweet heart that you had found the person that you wanted to love forever, just as your parents had someone that they loved so much that they could never part from, not even in death.

It was funny, your parents had left you behind with the memory of a love story that the rest of the world would never know and now you were leaving Ray with a love story that never got to begin. Your future was bleak but you had faith in him and where his dreams would take him. He was going to get to do great things.

You would love to see him grow from afar, even if all that remained of you were tonight.

You hoped that one day he would be able to forgive you for leaving him.

"I can say the same," he murmured, his forehead pressed against your own. "I hope you'll always keep me deep inside your heart."

Silence overtook the two of you for a single moment, a solitary moment where the world didn't matter, just the feeling that the two of you felt for each other. The moment was broken when a hand brushed against his shoulder, a blond man came to grab his attention, of course. You knew him to be someone in his staff.

It was time.

Why couldn’t you have more time?

"I hate to interrupt, my prince, but your presence has been requested by King Han," he smiled, rather apologetically to Ray and you. "It's a pressing matter that needs to be discussed. I hope your friend won't mind if I cut in?"

"..."

"It's alright," you spoke up. It was time to say goodbye. You pressed your hand against his shoulder for a long second and squeezed. "Go on, my prince. You've got matters of state to attend to. I'll be here when you return, okay?"

Ray smiled at you. "I promise I won't be long."

"Take your time," you said.

Ray spared one last look at you and despite the pain in your heart, you smiled at him. It was your parting gift. You hoped that this memory would persist in his mind despite what he may come to think of you once the night was over. It would be what it would be and you were okay with that, you had no choice but to be okay with that. Still, once he was far gone from your sight, you turned your back and started your trek to return to the life of a criminal and not the welcomed guest of the prince.

No matter what you seemed to do, tears burned at the cusp of your vision. You would always be a thief in the night.

—

The trek to the room where the crown was being kept was not a long-shot from where you were. It was just out of sight and mind where the party guests wouldn’t think to bother. You skillfully made your way through the halls as you had the last time that you were here, ducking and hiding out of the line of sight of a few guards till you were certain you were in the clear.

The door was locked, but you expected as much, tucking a pin from your satchel, you fiddled with the heavy lock until it opened with a clatter.

It was too easy, but it had been nearly this easy the last time when you took the gems from this room. Red Hood had wanted the jewels from the crown the first time but now he wanted the crown itself.

Why?

A crown was easier to track down and more pointedly something that the queen would want back if it was taken. What was it about the crown that he wanted? Weren’t the gems not enough? It didn’t make much sense to you, but you couldn’t help but wonder what the heck his goal was. You were risking all of your livelihood for a crown.

Why?

Shutting the door, you entered the room, breathing in deeply. You were taking your time to inspect the room for longer than you had the last time. Along the wall was tapestry and paintings of former kings and queens, faces you didn’t know but you knew to be of a long line of people who were given their divine right by blood.

Pausing at the end of the line, you found a painting that had been harmed, or at the very least—

Tampered with?

“Huh?”

It was the queen, her blonde curls framing her face elegantly. Her hands resting upon Ray’s shoulders as she was depicted with a bright smile. For someone that you knew to be not all they seemed, this was made to paint her to be a saint. Yet, as your eyes followed the line that should have led to the king’s face, you narrowed your eyes.

Distorted, the painting was distorted, almost as if you weren’t meant to know what his face looked like.

Burned, perhaps? No , you stared harder.

Something wasn’t right about it. But, you weren’t sure what. The face should have been clear but it wasn’t. Granted, it could have been the darkness in the room and the fact that the painting stretched to the ceiling but it didn’t feel right. There was a knot in your stomach but you tore your eyes away from the painting to look on ahead, to where the crown was waiting on a stand.

You didn’t have time to play guessing games with spirits or magic in a castle that you knew to be cursed. If Ray was cursed, who was to say that the castle didn’t have other magic within it? You didn’t want to find yourself at the end of an angry spirit or witch. That was the last thing that you needed to deal with.

“There it is,” you murmured. “That’s it.”

The crown, the symbol of status and power of the king, and the very thing that was going to save Ray from being harmed. Putting aside every feeling in your gut, you walked forward and wavered as your hands came to rest over the crown. You hesitated, knowing that this was the crime that would force you to run for the rest of your days.

You knew not where you would go or what you would do once you were free, but you knew that this was the point in your life where you had no choice. It wasn’t as if you had ever had a choice in the first place. Red Hood had owned you for as long as you could remember and he would own you until you returned this to him.

Heavy was the hand that held the crown, you thought.

Willing yourself to do it, you reached out once more and took a hold of the crown. It weighed nothing in your hands but it weighed everything inside your heart. Glimmering in silver and gold, this was the price of your soul. This was the price of your freedom. This was the price of your happiness. This was the price of Ray’s life.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, once more, eyes darting in the direction of the painting of Ray. You meant it, even if he would never know how deeply sorry you were for everything.

This small object… this crown…

It held all the power in your world.

Turning from the platform, you started to head for the door to leave, but you were stopped by the sudden slam in front of you as moonlight poured into the room and fire illuminated your features by a group of strangers, strangers you knew to be dressed like the guard for the castle.

Your eyes widened at the sight, almost in shock that someone had appeared when you had seen no sign of guards in nearly a half-hour.

Your body didn’t seem to react, stunned to silence as you and the guards just stared at each other trying to figure out the purpose. By the time you remembered that you needed to run, that you needed to duck out the window as fast as possible, one of the guards shouted, “A thief! Come to steal the crown! Seize them!”

The crown dropped to the floor in a clatter but it was too late.

You were captured just as quickly as you had been found.

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stories-by-rie · 4 years

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87 Rooftops

Glenn Finlay van der Meer had always dreamt of becoming the boss of a shady crime organization ever since he had been a young child. When everyone else was aspiring to become a veterinarian or astronaut, he had already committed to lay out plans and schemes to overthrow the economy, because – as he once explained on the school’s play ground to the nine friends he tried to recruit – the only true rule over the world would be through marketing and catching jingles.

One of those kids, Sibylle, had put her hands on her hips and yelled at him that he was a brat and that she would quit their friendship at that very moment if he didn’t stop speaking about it. At her brave words, the other eight kids felt infected with her heroism and joined her, as kids at such a young age often did.

Now, he hadn’t been successful in winning those friends over, but at the age of only seventeen he had managed to pitch the concept for several products that were especially designed to make people’s lives a living hell. The first was a dust wiper which looked useful, but you actually had to purchase new pads for it very frequently, and now it was popular all around the world. This had been his first step to world dominance and by the age of twenty four he had become some sort of urban legend.

Known as The Money’s Advocate, he did not like to make his hands dirty anymore. Seeing his rising, two of his old childhood friends had changed sides and were happy to place a deadly threat there, steal some scandalous information there and do his bidding ever so loyally.

The finest black suits designed were always sent to him first. The newest laws always lay on his desk before they were passed. He had every judge on speed dial.

The few who actually knew more than romanticized myths hated him more than they thought possible, more than refill pads for ugly dust wipers, more than a winter full of dirty muddy snow, more than the sound of forks and knives scratching over dinner plates. But there was one among them who had taken that hate to an entirely new level.

Sibylle had only to spare a glimpse to a new product to know if it had been designed by Glenn. She also had to find out very soon that the only way to overthrow his cruel rule, she had to become better than him. More cunning, faster, better, even more evil if that meant to beat him.

Without hesitation, but with grief that didn’t weigh any less, she gave up on her dream to become a tenure and land degradation specialist consultant and gave in to her true call.

After highly competitive years, it had now come to this very situation that no one could have seen coming, but which was inevitably bound to happen.

Her blond locks flew elegantly in the wind upon that skyscraper’s rooftop, her cape’s hood had long been blown down and gave away her masked face that sternly looked down to the man at her feet. His expensive suit was ripped at his shoulder from their fight, but he still upheld his composure.

“You’ve changed for the worst.” Contempt dripped from her words as her face screwed up in a painful sneer. No matter how much time had passed, the years they had spent in deep friendship still felt too fresh.

“Coming form you, that is the best compliment I have ever received.” He grinned back at her, ignoring the pain in his bound wrists.

She shook her head woefully and turned back to face the city’s lights.

“You know,” Sibylle muttered, “I really thought back then that our friendship was worth more than this. Than being rich and having friends, power and glory.”

Muffled yells from Glenn’s accomplices sounded outraged and furious, but Sibylle ignored them nonetheless.

“I have the need to remind you that it has been you who quitted our friendship first, Sibby.”

“Don’t call me that name,” she hissed back at him, but he only laughed.

“Oh, Sibby, Sibby, Sibby. You’re still so full of anger and – heroism? So much that you pretty much took the full curve back, didn’t you? That all those years, you have been my biggest competitor, I still can’t believe it!”

“It was the only way to get close to you.” She turned back to him, had taken her mask off now and this only undermined the hurt she was struggling with. “And you’re right, I will never know if it was worth it, bringing all that doom to humanity.”

Glenn laughed again, though this time it was mixed with disbelief and maybe even hidden despair.

“Doom indeed! I still can’t wrap my head around it. All those social media algorithms. Written by you? You put a veto on self cleaning glasses! Ingenious! And here I thought I had finally thought that I reached my goal to become the worst of the worst.” His smile faded a little and a reminiscent look appeared instead. “But I suppose, I have, in the end, only become the worst version of me. Not the worst of the worst. I’m still too-,” a silent sob tied his throat to a knot and his cheerful facade cracked finally. “I’m still too good.” When he looked up to her, tears were filling his eyes, and an apologetic deepness laid in them.

“That’s not true, boss!”, one of his friends yelled in the back, he had managed to get rid of the handkerchief Sibylle had pushed in his mouth to silence him. At those self-shattering words, he could no longer stand to idly sit back. “To me, you are the actual worst! The worst of the worst! There had never been anyone more evil in both mind and heart!”

But Glenn might have been villainous, but not dumb. There was no other choice than to admit that he had lost. Sirens started to sound in the distance, coming closer and closer.

“Please, Sibby, let at least my friends go. They have done nothing wrong, whatever they did in the past, it was only my bidding. They don’t deserve any of this.”

“You know that I can’t. All of us will turn ourselves in, so evil won’t be any longer.”

“But boss!,” the other man yelled now, “There’s still time left! We can do even worse than her! Just trust in our organization, we will surely be saved in any second. The Green Gloved Fixer and The Snaky Henchman will come to your aid. You just have to trust them!”

It was then that Glenn truly listened to their words. The realization struck him like a lightning.

“Do… even worse? Composing more super annoying jingles? Paying more internet trolls?”

“Yes!”, both of his friends chimed and finally, hope returned to him. Ultimately, his look fell back on Sibylle.

“How about we join forces? This is your chance to get high class suits! We could follow my dream together just like I wanted back then!”

But she just shook her head.

“No, how could I give up on my plan now? Ever since then I just wanted to be your friend, but for what price, Glenn?”

“Be… my friend? But Sibylle, I thought you hated me all this time. I did dream of this life, but partly I just wanted to prove to you that it was possible. That I could do it!”

“But you never had to prove yourself to me! I knew all along that you had the guts for this! That was the reason why I wanted to stop you!”

For a short moment there was silence until they both erupted in laughter.

“You know, I guess even if you denied my request back then, you did join me in a way. Being my competitor has driven my creativity to find new places, broadened my horizon! And you were evil all this time. Who knows what else we could achieve together?”

Sibylle kept giggling and put back on her mask.

“I would love to be your friend, Glenn. Let’s keep working together then!”

And thus, the two childhood friends became close once again, pushing the world into even more doom. Glenn did not keep it a secret that Sibylle was partially responsible for his success, and when he introduced her to others he proudly announced her as his partner in crime.

~20.07.2020~

Based on this prompt by @givethispromptatry

#short story #villain #hero #humorous #the power of friendship #of sorts #it's crack let's face it #1400 words #87 rooftops #listening to #i lost something in the hills #by #sibylle baier #yeah guess where the name came from #special thanks to haven for sibylle's dream profession

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disregardcanon · 4 years

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okay, so here are the inklings of a tangled superhero au. i would LOVE to write this thing, but i am not going to write the thing.

first order of business: frederick corona’s family is very wealthy. think the waynes in dc at the very least. one of the sixteen or so family businesses is a medical research facility. one of the employees of this facility is sixty year old dr. donna gothel, a biomedical engineer who has been doing some pretty... sketchy, lets say, experiments into expanding the human lifespan.

she’s had a limited amount of success so far, but that was before she found an asteroid that appeared to de-age her thirty years upon first touch. a discovery of this magnitude is hard to hide, and soon she’s the most talked woman in the world- doing the entire talk show circuit, publishing many books about the possible health benefits of materials from space, and looking into ways to replicate her results.

she’s not really planning on sharing any of this, but she DOES plan on making as much bank as she possible can before absconding with the money and asteroid, moving to italy, and changing her name so that no one ever bugs her again in her immortal life.

but then, frederic corona, who is unfortunately still her company’s benefactor, appears requesting help with his nearly bursting pregnant wife, who seems to be suffering from a condition that no one knows or understands. none of the physicians they’ve seen have been able to help arianna, and he hopes that gothel can.

gothel doesn’t immediately comply, but frederic has some. lets just say blackmail material, because he’s been monitoring her research practices and knows about some immoral human experimentation. things that will definitely get her shunned by her colleagues, blacklisted, and possibly arrested.

through a series of events, she eventually has the queen just- hug the fucking asteroid. the queen seems to be healed, but the asteroid loses its glow- then. BAM

delivery- healthy baby girl with bright blonde hair. gothel does her incantation, and sees that baby rapunzel has the powers of the now dull asteroid.

and, like any reasonable witch, she requests his firstborn as payment. but just like three times a month so that she can absorb some of that good old immortality juice. gothel doesn’t want to take the baby full time if she doesn’t have to, she doesn’t want a baby or anything. she’s already got one kid to take care of, thank you very much.

frederic is concerned by the idea of promising something so thorough and possibly damaging to his daughter to a woman that he knows to be unethical as fuck, so he refuses the offer and threatens to have gothel exposed if she doesn’t comply.

he pays her handsomely to get her to shut up, but that’s obviously not enough for gothel. within the week, she kidnaps the child and absconds to a country home about fifteen miles away from the city.

when she runs away, she leaves her four year old daughter alone in her apartment. cassandra is found by the police almost a day later in terrible health and crying. she is later adopted by james burr, the captain of frederic corona’s private security force.

eugene is catwoman, basically. no powers but his physical strength and agility, and his wits. he works as a low level IT guy at corona inc by day and a high level cat burgler by night.

lance strongbow is his partner in crime, but lance has actual powers over metal- think metal bending and magnetism all rolled up into one. they make a very good team.

unrelated, but adira is basically this world’s wonder woman.

one night when eugene’s running a solo mission, breaks into gothel’s mansion in the country and finds a young girl with long, blonde hair and a penchant for frying pans. rapunzel corona has been found.

through a series of events, they find out who rapunzel is, get gothel arrested, cut rapunzel’s hair and he gets rapunzel to where she needs to go. she’s of course utterly enamored by him (and he’s enamored by her) but he’s like. we cannot be together. i am a thief and you are The Daughter of A CEO and he runs off into the night and rapunzel is furious and still pinning. she isn’t taking kindly to the guy down in IT who’s so intent on flirting with her, even though he seems weirdly familiar XD

rapunzel’s hair grows back later, but only as a part time thing that she can control. when her hair is long, she has powers. when her hair is short, she doesn’t. she is able to work this into a part time super hero secret identity thing where she’s The Sundrop by night and rapunzel corona, aspiring artist by day. eugene the thief is in love with both versions, which is awful because she’s only in love with the version of him that he can’t be with her as.

cassandra wanted to be a police officer, but somehow ended up working a secretarial job at corona industries instead because her dad is well respected in the guarding community and made it clear that he would be Very Put Out if someone gave his daughter a dangerous job like that. so cassandra’s trying to figure out how to take her career in a sparkly, heroic and adventurous way that she wants to. she and rapunzel start flirting, then dating (omg guys! i did an au where cassunzel becomes canon BEFORE before new dream! cray cray)

varian is a disgruntled, gotham rogue’s type former unpaid intern of corona industries who is now doing mad sciency stuff in conjunction the sundrop, who keeps whisking him away when people try to arrest him, much to the disdain of law enforcement.

cassandra’s frustrated by all the crazy shit going on around her and the vigilante justice, because like. if people are doing crime fighting without being a part of the police, there’s a part of her that feels resentful that she hasn’t just gone ahead and done it and she’s just still waiting. she especially resents the sundrop, as the most famous hero, and the one who’s infamous for letting villains such as the most famous pair of suave thieves and varian the alchemist go.

of course, she’s going through some weird second puberty involving super powers (she was, actually, the result of one of her mother’s experiments with a moonstone) and she’s freaking out because- what the fuck guys. what is going on?

she goes a litttttllleeee bit nuclear one day, bursting with all of her powers, and gothel gives an interview with a journalist from jail about how her greatest experiment must be working, and, oh just to fuck with rapunzel she’ll tell the world that the sundrop is CLEARLY rapunzel corona. how could anyone even doubt that?

cassandra goes a bit off the deep end with anger at her dad for controlling her life and not even telling her all the information about her life. then she gets pissed at rapunzel for not telling her about the vigilante thing and being the sundrop (THE SUNDROP!) and lying and hogging all the glory and being a vigilante and- UGH! FUCK! her powers explode on her and she runs off into the night to become not a full fledged villain, but not a totally good person either.

i’m envisioning something very red hood-esque, with her bile directed mainly towards her father, rapunzel, and the other petty villains who haven’t been properly dealt with, mainly... the boys.

rapunzel’s life is basically just crumbling apart, but... she can probably talk some sense into cassandra, right? RIGHT!?!

but zhan tiri, a shadowy, powerful figure (if we’re keeping with comics allusions, i’m thinking r’as al ghul kind of) bent on utilizing this new vulnerable, volatile super-powered person for her own gain might throw a wrench in rapunzel’s plans to get her girlfriend back

#tangled the series #tangled aus #cassunzel #new dream #superhero au

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harrowingwords · 4 years

Photo

Moral of the Story ||||| Character Introduction

Max Greenwich ||||| 16 // Hydrokinetic // Hanged Man House // Bisexual & trans --- With no family of his own before coming to the Grand Chaos Institute, Max is unsure of how to navigate the unfamiliar waters of having people who genuinely care about him. Going from being alone and lost in the crowd of the group home to being noticed, respected, and liked among his friends and peers at his new school has been a hard transition for Max, but an overall positive one. Finally in a position to explore his own powers and strengths, Max is coming to realize he can make a formidable foe when he sets his mind to a challenge.

-----

;; Excerpt and tag-list under the cut ;;

Max stared out at the passing cityscape as the car pulled onto their destination street. Pedestrians lined the sidewalks here, bustling about their business. Many entered and exited the various shops and offices lining the street; many others were here simply to gawk at the poor unfortunates like himself who were entering past the security checkpoint at the end of the street. As the driver provided the security officer with their credentials, Max’s eyes drifted to the tattoo that adorned the top of his right hand - a shimmering tide of waves that crested at the beginning of each finger, a hint of something darker in the depths towards his wrist. The water was run through with a faint sapphire glimmer, like glitter had been worked into the ink. If it could even be called ink; no one had figured out where the tattoos had come from. No one had figured out where the powers had come from. Only that the two were connected - any who bore a shimmering tattoo on their right hand was Gifted. There was no escaping your powers, and there was no hiding them.

...

“Max? If you’ll follow me,” the receptionist caught his attention, gesturing him to a door behind the desk. Marissa tried to catch his eye as he crossed behind the desk, but Max pointedly ignored her. Past the doorway, two people were waiting. They were obviously Gifted - one was tall, with her black hair caught in a tight ponytail and a skintight costume and armor pads in gold and red, the other was of average height and shrouded in thick robes that obscured their features.

The Gifted pair turned without speaking and started down the hallway lit with a harsh white light. They didn’t look back to see if he was following; there was no question that he was. He had no other choice. He kept his hands jammed in his pockets and followed a few paces behind them.

The hallway dead-ended at a large metal door that the girl opened and entered. The shrouded figure gestured for Max to enter ahead of them, and Max felt a small amount of unease as he passed the mysterious figure. He tried looking under the hood as he passed, but saw only darkness. He took a deep breath as he entered the room.

Inside, a plain metal table was bolted to the floor, with an uncomfortable looking chair bolted to either side. The one near the door was obviously meant for him, and he took his seat as he studied the old woman seated across from him. She had a wrinkled, weathered face and shining, dark eyes, and she studied him just as he did her, shuffling a stack of large cards as she did.

“Max Greenwich, born August 17th. Do you understand what you are doing here today?” the old lady asked, her voice stronger than her appearance had led Max to believe it would be. After a minute of silence from Max, the lady sighed and spoke again. “You cannot change the outcomes of today, child, and you cannot escape your destiny. One way or another, we will proceed. It is your choice how much you are included in this.”

“I don’t believe in destiny,” he answered quietly.

“Whether you believe or not changes nothing. The future will come to be whether you will it or not,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Now, do you understand what today is for?”

“It’s my birthday, you’re going to tell me whether I’m going to be a hero or a villain. Decide my fate or whatever.” He glanced towards the wall behind the old woman, where the two from the hallway stood in opposite corners. Hero and villain working together for the good of the world. Or so that was what they told people. Max wasn’t sure how this was supposedly good, but he had learned long ago that authority rarely made any sense.

“In a fashion, yes. Your sorting today will not only determine which school you attend, but your placement within the school as well. This is an important day, Max, try not to be so flippant about it,” she said sternly.

“You really don’t know much about me, lady. Just get on with it, alright?”

“Very well,” the old lady nodded, snapping the cards down from their final shuffle. With a practiced movement, she flipped the top card over, and Max instinctively leaned forward for a better view.

The bottom of the card was pointed towards Max. In bold, handwritten letters along a white strip at the bottom were the words “THE HANGED MAN”. A man in a black skinsuit was hanging upside down, a rope tied around his ankle, his other leg bent with his ankle hooked behind his knee. In his hands was an ornate dagger with a black blade and a ruby-studded hilt, blade pointed towards the top of the card. On his face was a smirk, the expression that could only be found on the face of a man who was totally in control of what looked like an unfavorable situation. He hung over a body of water, moonlight rippling on the surface, clouds covering the sky. It was a somber, dark atmosphere and sent a chill down Max’s spine.

“To move forward, you must leave behind what has come before. I wish you well on your journey, Max Greenwich.”

The robe-shrouded supervillain opened a door behind the old lady and gestured for Max to go through. Max stayed where he was for just a moment longer, staring at the card on the table, before the old lady pulled it back to shuffle into the deck. He stood with a sigh and walked towards the door. He could feel the eyes of the hero on his back as he passed through the door, the villain closing the door behind them.

Max followed the hallway around a corner, where it led to a room much like the one he had just left, minus the metal table and chairs. He stopped in the middle of the room and the shrouded figure stopped in front of him, turning to face him. They lifted a slender arm, one unnaturally white hand stretched out to him palm-up. After a second of hesitation, Max put his right hand in their’s. They lifted their other hand to lightly trace cold fingertips over Max’s Gift Tattoo, holding his hand tightly in place when Max flinched and started to pull away.

“The cards only give you a basic view of where you life will lead, Max. They decide the type of training you will receive and nothing more. No one decides your fate but you, and it is your choice what you do with the training you will receive. Do not be discouraged if this was not the future you imagined for yourself,” they said, their voice a lilting thing that Max couldn’t place to any one accent, sounding more like a chorus of whispers than one singular person talking.

“You’re saying the old lady was wrong?”

“Fortuna is many things, but she is not infallible. The future is what you make of it; she simply saw the general direction you are likely to carry it in. The nuances of your future are yours to decide.”

“All the greatest Powers in the world, and y’all decide to make the most important decision in every kid’s life based on a ‘general direction’?” Max asked, unable to keep the scorn from creeping into his voice.

“There were no perfect solutions to our problems. Powers complicated everything. We are simply trying to keep from nearly destroying the world again,” they answered patiently.

“Why don’t the heroes just eradicate the villains, then? Why permit us to exist at all?”

“What use are heroes without someone to fight, Max? We are allowed to exist because it serves their purposes. We exist to hold their power in check. We exist so the world does not realize that their heroes are simply one choice away from being us.

“Now, that is enough talk,” they said, dropping Max’s hand and backing to put the wall at their back. “Show me your Gift, Max Greenwich.”

“Wasn’t my Gift listed on the forms Marissa had to fill out when my appointments started?”

“Yes. You’re a hydrokinetic, with a competent ability to both create and control water. However, it is I who decide if you attend your regional Institute or if you will be one of the select few granted the honor of attending the Grand Institute. If you do not wish to demonstrate your abilities for me, I will simply assign you to the regional level. Do yourself a favor, Max, and aspire to something greater.”

The villain wasn’t what Max had expected of his first time meeting a supervillain. They certainly had the mysterious thing down, and could probably do the brooding thing pretty well if they tried, but they weren’t exactly a bad person from what Max could tell. They had been patient with him; they had answered his questions without complaint despite the fact Max was sure all of this had been covered in school or any of his previous Gifted appointments and he simply hadn’t cared enough to listen then. Max had never wanted anything other than to leave this hellish life behind; why shouldn’t he make himself great while at it? Why not embrace this villain thing?

He held a hand out in front of him, palm up. A sphere of water the size of a baseball formed in-between his fingers, swirling around a point fixed over his palm. He brought his other hand up, shifting the ball to float between his hands, and it grew as his hands pulled away from each other. When it was the size of a beach ball, he let his hands drop. It hit the floor with a splash, dissolving into a puddle at his feet; he lifted his right hand once more, and the water rose in a curtain that stood, shimmering and thick, between the two of them. Max held it there for a moment before dispersing the water with a wave of his hand. It fell once more to the ground and seemed to seep into the floor.

“You have very fine control of your Gift,” the villain said with a note of approval.

“Thank you,” Max said, shoving his hands back into his pockets.

“You have a great future ahead of you, Max Greenwich. Do not let your own self doubt hold you back. I will pass the information regarding your transfer to the Grand Institute to your caseworker. Congratulations, Max. I will see you again at the start of the year.”

Tag List ;; (message to be added/removed)

@zeucs @lovebenders-rb @drowsy-quill

#mine #character intro #ch; max greenwich #wip; moral of the story #mots characters

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whumpbby · 5 years

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In JayDick what do you think about Jason would catch Dick’s attention? Because in JayDick I really do believe that Dick’d had to make the first move. Jay doesn’t have a lot of experience with dating or long-term relationships, so veteran dater Dick would have to take charge in beginning. What makes Dick fall for Jay? It’s easy to see why Jay falls in love, “Everyone one loves Dick Grayson don’t they?” Jay thinks. It’d be hard for Jay to believe Dick loved him. Dick could have so much better.

Depending on the situation, it all depends on how Dick is written/headcanoned. And how far Jason is gone in his villain persona.

Dick generally has a thing for people who take none of his shit and can throw him down - stronger, mature, powerful. He needs the emotional connection with his lovers - and that’s the base of his relationships. He’s a flirt, because that’s his stage persona as Nightwing, but personally he’s not a in-and-out dating material.

Now, Jason seems to be very guarded in dating scenarios, he will flirt quite well, but it always looked to me like he always picked a woman who was sure to be unimpressed with his advances/not swayed easily/too god for him? As if, a safe object to point his interest at because nothing would ever come out of it (I was actually surprised that Artemis returned his interest at all) or, if it did, there was not really any long-term aspirations. He seems to want a friend more than he wants a girlfriend - and it fits, because Jay is desperate for friendship and being recognised as someone worth anyone’s time. He needs friendfs more than anything.

So, in this case, I see thins thing as Jason and Dick trying to build a more friendly relation - they never had it, not really, and Dick never stopped feeling guilty about it and Jay never stopped wanting it with Dick, so maybe one day they hashed out their differences - say, trapped in close quarters under extreme duress for awhile, when emotions ran high and thing just spilled out. They’re both stubborn like hell, so extreme conditions had to be employed for the thing to come to head.

And form that point on Dick makes more effort to understand where Jason is coming from, instead of instantly disapproving of everything he doesn;t understand right away - he realises that it’s such a Bruce thing to do and he doesn’t want to be like that, because Bruce was the reason for their crappy relations to begin with. Dick tries to look at Jason with clear head and accept him as a new, adult person instead of a dead little boy they were all twisted into feeling guilty about... and, in time, he starts to realise that this whole mindset hurt Jason terribly, that Jay’s self-worth took a powerful hit, because no one gave him a courtesy of looking at him and not seeing a mistake.

Apart from Alfred and Tim - who were always the most clear-headed and objective members of the family - no one even knew who Jason was nowadays.

And Dick is startled and dismayed to realise that he doesn’t even have a clue what Jason went though when he wasn’t with them - fuck, he doesn’t even know the exact conditions of his death! He was never interested in knowing, trusting Bruce, the emotionally-stunted, consumed by guilt and despair man who never told the truth if it required him to be emotional.

So, Dick starts with an investigation - and in time it starts to consume him more and more, because the trail he starts to uncover is so convoluted and weird, and terrifying. And no one knew - not even Alfred, because Jason never spoke of anything post his death. It was always “I died, remember?” that distracted them from inquiring what came after and what came before? Dick scours the archives, because if there’s one thing Bruce can be trusted on it’s keeping all information filed, and discovers that Jason didn’t just run away - he was looking for his birth mother. And, form the looks of it, he had found her, but Bruce’s investigation uncovered her shady dealings with the Joker. Did Jay know she was a bad person when he died? Was she responsible for the explosion? What happened after Bruce left them? (god, he left Jason alone, knowing that Joker was about, fuck!)

Then he uncovers the note about the disturbed grave - the coffin broken from the inside - and has to take a moment to leave the computer and do something with his hands, because otherwise he was going to throw up.

And as he does, he discovers more and more things, the picture it all paints is dark and desperate, and Dick starts to ask himself why he never did this before? Why didn’t he ask more questions and just took what Bruce told them? Was it because he didn’t want to know? Was it because it was easier to remain in the status quo? To see Jason’s face-heel-turns as vindictive rather than the panicked flailing of a person in need of help they can’t ask for. To believe that Jason came back as a changeling, that he was not the boy they lost, that he was to blame for his choices.... and yeah, to a degree he was, but there are many people who made worse choices with much more clarity of mind than Jason ever had and Dick still gave them more than he ever offered Jason. The fact that he freely called Jason his ‘brother’ while giving him less patience and faith than he gave some of his villains... Was it the feeling of betrayal they all felt when he kept killing or was it the fear of being forced to examine their own shortcomings? They were so comfortable in their grief after all and then Jason came back and threw a wrench into it...

And all of that has to happen with Dick - he has to realise that and come to grips with that before he can start to heal their relationship - because it’s obvious that the effort has to come from him, not Jason. Jason already accepted being sidelined, staying on the fringes of the family in that strange push-and-pull Bruce keeps forcing on them in is emotional inadequacy. Jay gave up and Dick has to be the one to prove to him that he cares.

So, he sets out to prove that he cares to get to know this new man Jason is now. And at first it startles Jason, puts him off, because what’s this? They have one shout-out once and now Dick wants to be friends? well, he can fuck off!

But one thing Dick is - is tenacious. You don’t get where he is without being undeterred. He makes effort and his hand remains outstretched, and slowly, inch by inch, Jason starts coming closer.

As it happens, Dick is a bit of an example for the heroes, so many take his example and Jason slowly stops being the pariah in the hero society - if the first Robin is trying, means there has to be something about Red Hood that’s good, right?

And, you know, the more Dick knows the real Jason, the more appreciative he is - Jay is still a good person at heart, he still cares so damn much and is scarily eager to put himself down to save others, and even though his methods are brutal, they’re never reckless, he is even more deliberate than Bruce in maintaining his image (and it’s such a Bruce thing, Dick can’t unsee it, how much of Jason is being straight up copied form their father, how can Bruce even pretend to disapprove?) and his plans are so complex and what you see is always just a small bit of them... Jay is so damn smart. Also, damn handsome and strong, and in desperate need of emotional support and help. And Dick was always a sucker for people who needed his help>___>

So, by the time Dick realises he’s fallen, he’s already deep in, hook line and sinker, and has no idea what to do with it at all :O

#headcanon #Anonymous

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creepingsharia · 5 years

Text

Muslim Group Tells Writers Guild of America to Further Islamize Hollywood

As if Hollywood weren’t Islamophilic enough. The jihad is relentless. If we don’t portray more peaceful Muslims everywhere…there will be more jihad.

Source: Muslim Writers Call for More Film, TV Inclusion in WGAE, MPAC Panel | Hollywood Reporter

‘Man With a Plan’ and ‘America Inside Out With Katie Couric’ staffers were among those who spoke Monday at a panel hosted by the Writers Guild of America East in Lower Manhattan in collaboration with the Hollywood Bureau at the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

There has never been a more important time for positive, nuanced and authentic portrays of Muslims on television and in film and digital media. That was the message, at least, on Monday evening at a panel discussion with Muslim writers and creators Negin Farsad (The Muslims Are Coming!), Farhan Arshad (CBS’ Man With a Plan), Amber Fares (America Inside Out With Katie Couric) and Maysoon Zayid, a disability advocate and founder of the annual New York Arab-American Comedy Festival.

Hosted by the Writers Guild of America East in Lower Manhattan in collaboration with the Hollywood bureau at the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the 90-minute panel shed light on current bright spots of Muslim representation in media, emphasized the need for improvement and offered insight for the audience of aspiring writers and industry peers on the next steps necessary to accomplish those goals.

“There’s some wonderful representation that’s happening in the industry, but the little that we are seeing is not nearly enough,” director of MPAC’s Hollywood bureau Sue Obeidi told The Hollywood Reporter prior to the panel, citing series that MPAC has consulted on like Grey’s Anatomy, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Affair and The Looming Tower. “We are excited about the momentum that’s happening in the industry, and we don’t want this to be a fleeting moment but a movement towards not only inclusion but respect and appreciation of the Muslim community.”

Right out the gate at the panel, there was mention of the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand earlier this month and such instances’ correlation to problematic, stereotypical portrayals of Muslims as terrorists and violent extremists. Arshad, citing Americans’ shifting opinions on same-sex marriage in the wake of programs like Will & Grace and Modern Family, said that he believes continued and expanded positive portrayals of his community will similarly lead to changed sentiment.

[Ironic, because Muslim countries are moving in the opposite direction. See Brunei: Muslim nation to implement sharia law; whip or stone people to death for same-sex activity]

“Any time I’ve had a preconceived notion about someone, it’s always gone away once I’ve gotten to know that person,” he said. “TV is the way you get to know people if you don’t know them in your own life.”

Each panelist offered several ways in which that goal can be realized. One of the first is to know your audience. Fares explained, for instance, how when working with Katie Couric, she had to acknowledge that not all viewers are as well versed in the cultural issues she wanted to tackle. An education was in order.

“I wanted to be talking about issues that felt a lot more relevant to me, but they weren’t relevant to other people because they weren’t at that level,” Fares said. “They didn’t understand that nuance yet, and we still had to sort of bring them up.”

Another is to build narratives involving Muslim characters without the story being exclusively about their Muslim experience. “I think the other thing that we can do as writers and performers is not put a pressure on ourselves to write stories where the point of the story is that we’re Muslim and the point of the story is that we’re Middle Eastern,” Farsad said. “That’s the other thing that I would love to see, where we’re not fetishizing the fact that we are Muslim.”

Zayid expressed concern for what she’s seen as a pattern of “lack of knowledge, lack of curiosity” in the writers room from non-Muslim creatives and how she’s often needed to stand up against that lack of curiosity. Arshad agreed that as a minority voice — even the room’s token minority voice — it is in part Muslim writers’ job to fight for non-stereotypical portrayals of all minorities.

“I fight every single fight whether it’s for Muslims or Pakistanis or African-Americans,” he said. “And it’s such a hard burden to carry when you have to be those things because then you become that person — the person who becomes offended.”

In the end, fighting that fight is worthwhile if it means greater representation across the board.

“I say this about disabled people, and it applies to Muslims, too: Nothing about us without us,” Zayid said. “We’re having our stories told by people who don’t know it, so we need people behind the cameras to tell the story.”

The stand-up comedian and writer went on to echo the larger real-world impact such representations can have for the better, underscoring the urgent necessity for such portrayals while, true to her comedic form, making the room laugh.

“We have to take seriously the fact that the Muslim community is physically and violently under siege in this country,” she said. “One of the things that’s going to protect our safety is having positive, accessible images of Muslims on TV that instead of otherizing us, make us the person you wanna bang.”

Since when has television and movies been the place for authentic portrayals of anything? Muslims just want more Islam in your face.

And if we check The History of MPAC – the group behind this sharia push – we know where these infiltrators came from and are trying to take America:

Established in 1988 by followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and admirers of Hezbollah…MPAC is yet another Islamist wolf in the “social justice” clothing of the hard Left. Its founders include Hassan Hathout, the former MPAC president who has described himself as “a close disciple” of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. Hathout’s brother Maher, a senior MPAC adviser, is lavish in his praise of both Hezbollah’s “freedom fighting” and the social-justice pioneering of Hassan al-Turabi, the leader of Sudan’s National Islamic Front — the genocidal junta that gave safe haven to al-Qaeda in the early 1990s while imposing sharia on that war-torn east African nation.

Now they are imposing sharia in America. Hollywood was sanitized by the Islamic supremacists long ago:

Muslims recruit screenwriters to spread Islam in Hollywood

Islamic group helps Hollywood sanitize Islam in movies, television

Muslims recruit screenwriters to spread Islam in Hollywood

Sharia compliant: No Islamic landmarks harmed in “Independence Day” sequel

Islam a Taboo Topic on TV and in Hollywood

85% of media stories on Ft. Hood didn’t mention “terror”

Comedy Central afraid to even say Muhammid, to mock Jesus in new show

Muslim Villain Scratched from Ron Howard’s ‘Angels & Demons’ Film Adaptation

Hollywood’s Weinstein caves – deletes honor killing from movie

Viacom’s Comedy Central enforcing sharia: Can’t say Muhammad on South Park or view episode online

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#Creeping Sharia #dhimmi #islam #law #Legal #Life #Media #Muslim #News #Politics #Random #Religion #Sharia

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murderwasthecase · 5 years

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Showcasing Marvel’s Daredevil - The Crown Jewel of MCU

Quick rant about the situation

So this shit just happened and of course I wanted to say something. Daredevil has been CANCELLED by Netflix. Honestly, if you follow this kinda stuff, I think you all saw it coming after they did the same thing to Iron Fist and Luke Cage, but this shit hurts because the show’s third season which was, in my opinion, maybe the best one yet still hasn’t cooled off, people are still talking about it, it received many praise from critics and audiences alike, and it just came off as a really cold thing to cancel the show now especially if you’re a fan of the series.

There are already millions of videos and essays on what this kind of Thanos-snapping his fingers action that Netflix just did with Marvel’s heroes could mean and I will not talk about them in this particular piece. Instead, I’m gonna pay a tribute to the show by going through some of my favorite moments of the three seasons that we got. We definitely deserved a few more and as of now it could theoretically happen on some other network, but the Netflix era of Daredevil is over and during that time, it made it the best superhero tv show that was ever created and probably the best thing to ever come out of MCU alongside Infinity War. And now you’ll see why. By the way, the idea is to showcase the genius of the series through some of its best scenes so if you haven’t seen it, you are warned.

Writer’s room of Daredevil has blessed the MCU with some of its richest characters. Their actions are well-thought, striking and every one of them has some kind of dilemma going on in their heads which makes them more human and more interesting for the viewer. They have personal demons and individual values which are fleshed out to the maximum. That characteristic just brings those fictional people closer to the audience, resonating with their own lives. While MCU’s movie characters are more concerned with battling aliens and saving the planet, ones in Daredevil fight the battles of the ordinary people.

The drama in Daredevil is mainly based around the clashes of polar opposites in the lives of its main characters. The best example of this is, of course, Matthew (brilliant Charlie Cox), whose ever-lasting moral fight with his Catholic faith and God is one of the running themes of the show. The crescendo of it comes in the series’ third season when Matt, much more pessimistic than before, considers taking another man’s life which he earlier swore never to do, running away from the fundamental principles of his religion which earlier guided him through his vigilante mission.

While the aforementioned third season takes that battle inside the mind of Matt Murdock, in the previous one, we can see that fight literally taking place with another person. Enter Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, played by the amazing badass that is Jon Bernthal, who does the same thing as Daredevil, except he TAKES lives because of his beliefs. Psychological clash between these two broken men takes it’s heights in the third episode of the show’s second season, where Daredevil confronts Frank Castle and tries to reason with him, eventually planting the seeds for clash in his own head a season after that.

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That is exceptional writing and phenomenal acting right there. Even though I think the second season of Daredevil is the least good one from all of them because of the tiring ninja subplot, the Punisher arc is one of the strongest things that happened in these series. That’s another polar opposite for you.

Dialogues like that are one fantastic way to flesh out characters and their essence, to show us who they are and what goes on in their heads. Daredevil isn’t overcrowded with quips and sarcastic insults like the movies are, the time it’s not wasted on melodramatic, soap-opera style love triangles which occur in the CW shows. Compared to them and even to other Netflix superhero TV series, Daredevil brings a deeper meaning to its characters by including philosophical arguments that connect us to their dilemmas, layering the story in the process. For instance, take a look at this scene (can’t embed it because of Tumblr) from season 1, when father Lantom tries to answer Matthew’s question about the existence of Devil.

Have you heard the last question in that clip? This scene not only brings a thought-provoking anecdote to the table - it’s much more than that. It serves as a great MOTIVATION for the main character to link the speech to his real-life situation, to try and stop the evil, even if its power seems impossible. This is superhero mythology at its finest.

And it works for antiheroes as well. Like the situation from season two, where Punisher refuses to deny his radical beliefs, taking a piss on the whole judicial system in the process, packed with another great Jon Bernthal performance.

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Talking about great acting, it would be a sin not to showcase the ability of Vincent D’Onofrio who gives a role of his career as the main villain Wilson Fisk, the pinnacle of excellent writing on this show.

His portrayal of this crime lord is so menacing. D’Onofrio plays Fisk who with his posture and gestures reminds you more of a shy child than a criminal mastermind, but he’s at the same time almost harrowingly dominant and explosive. This makes for an extremely unpredictable villian who is layered, complex and whose character development is, as a result, ever-lasting. Just watch as he transforms the scene by delivering this great analogy about the good samaritan.

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To all you aspiring writers, actors and directors who want to work in the superhero medium - take notes.

When talking about Daredevil I obviously have to talk about action scenes. I would argue that Marvel’s Daredevil is probably the best action series of all time considering how it balances good writing and exhilarating fighting sequences, but I’ll let someone more experienced to prove that hypothesis.

The action in Daredevil has reached almost a mythical point by now, with fans making memes about their duration and ridiculously coordinated and well-executed stuntwork and camera work. Hallway fights have become a norm on the show and there are lots of good YouTube videos that analyse them so I won’t get in detail here and dissect them even though that would be fun - I will rather point out the one geeky detail about them which is key to why the most talked about action scenes in Daredevil are so good.

You know what was my all-time favorite action scene on tv for a long time? Let’s take you back to the first season of True Detective, precisely, to the end of fourth episode, when Rust Cohle infiltrates this biker gang and goes on a mission to the hood with them - just to blow his cover and capture their leader. This is one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen in tv series, ever. Director Cary Fukunaga decided to film this as a TRACKING SHOT.

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By placing the camera directly behind Matthew McConaughey’s back he placed US in the perspective, almost creating a 3D, video-game like environment in which we get close to the situation as much as possible. Doing this, he creates tension, the feel of urgency and danger which resonates with audience and makes everything more interesting. That raid scene was six minutes long without visible cuts or edits. Fukunaga used a long take which made episode end on the high note. In my opinion, this is how grounded action should be made. It has to communicate with viewer, it enhances the atmosphere.

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When I saw something similar in the hallway fight in Daredevil’s first season, I was hyped. It wasn’t exactly that as we watched everything from the hall, not from “behind Matt’s back” perspective, but it reminded me vividly of Fukunaga’s take. And in the second season, when they filmed the Staircase scene, they used that exact method which they pushed it to the limits in the prison sequence in the third season which is as of right now definitely my favorite action scene in any tv series, of all time, period. And another thing which is mind-boggling is how they make it longer every season. Hallway fight from the first season was three minutes long, Staircase was five minutes, while Prison was around eight. All in single take. By that, you can see how the cast and crew tried harder and harder every season, pushing the boundaries of not only superhero genre, but the tv series making in general. Do you know how hard it is to film something like those scenes? You can look it up online, it’s an extremely difficult work.

DAREDEVIL has created a perfect mixture of drama and superhero crime story, presenting us a gritty world of crime-ridden New York. Of course, as everything, it has a few problems here and there, but it’s by far the most mature thing to come out of MCU. I don’t know who’s really responsible for the cancellation, is it Disney or Netflix or both of them, but I hope they’ll realize what stupid move they’ve made and let the cast and crew continue their magic. Because if not, our dear MCU has just lost one of its crown jewels.

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obliterus · 5 years

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REVERSE AU//MVA part 1

It’s been a while, but now it’s coming back. Some things have been completely re-vamped, some things have gotten darker and more sinister here. I’m going to begin re-telling the story of this AU on this blog since Shion will be involved, and then offer all other exclusive in-depth character profiles (several key characters that are vital to the plot, and who I want to write again or introduce) on my upcoming multi-muse blog. Since... I’m sure there will be questions and there will be answers.

WELCOME TO MY VILLAIN ACADEMIA!

Please enjoy your stay and remember to do your best, because an attempt isn’t tolerated. Let’s get started, shall we?

Everything that you’ve come to love and cherish, those storybook heroes and their happy ever after endings don’t exist here. This is a story in which raw power and glory run the show and all that heroic bullshit? Well, let’s just say it doesn’t exist! In this world, your abilities dictate your entire life, how you attend school, and even the friends you make! If you’re born quirkless, from the moment you take your first breath, life will be especially hard for you, because you’re as good to dirt in this society. Villains are the top dog here, and your life can only get a little bit better if you entrust yourself into the hands of those with abilities greater than your own. You’re considered a disability to the system if you’re quirkless, you may as well just kiss your life goodbye or die trying!

There are no happy endings here, only the struggle to come out on top, and become the best Pro Villain you can. Corruption is encouraged, using your abilities to get ahead and manipulate are all welcomed here, so is physical violence. Not too much though, we don’t need to mop up blood off campus every single hour on the hour. We have a battle arena if you need to fight out your differences, but please book that in advance. Most of your peers will be anywhere between Green and Orange ranking, so please respect them once you encounter them and their ranking. This is the opposite of the hero stories you’ve come to understand, so please make sure you’re familiar with all of the rules and where you, yourself fall! Have a GREAT year!

My Villain Academia is an alternative universe in which tells takes the canon storyline and completely reverses it! Yes, that’s right. Everyone you know and love is actually a heartless villain in training in this. I shouldn’t say completely heartless, but they’re pretty close. Also, your heartless canon villains are actually morally wonderful underground Heroes. UA Academy is a school that prides itself on producing some of the best Villains not only in Japan but across the globe. With its excellent selection of courses and rigorous acceptance exams, one can only dream of being accepted to UA. The story is narrated by the resident King of UA Academia, Midoriya Izuku, and his journey in becoming a Pro Villain.

The school is separated into two classes when it comes to the Villain Course, A and B. These are considered some of the top aspiring students in all of Japan. They’ll do just about anything and everything to get ahead, but they will not turn on each other. They are required to work together in some fields because powerful quirk users combined can be a beautiful thing in the face of battle, or in establishing dominance, right? It’s designed to set you on the right path and separate the powerful from the weak hearted.

General Studies is offered to students that have failed the Villain course exam but still have the potential to join the Villain course during the spring of their following year. However, General Studies students can usually be seen in one of two lights: Scrubs and targets, or potential villains based on how students present themselves in those classes. They’re sorted into C and D, and E categories.

Support Course are students that have been gifted with extreme knowledge and craftsmanship. These are the individuals that instead choose to support their future pro Villains along their course by designing weapons that can enhance not only their quirks but their combat abilities. Support students are highly treasured at UA, and often shown an extra level of respect so that villain course students can ultimately get what they want to be made. There is no limit to what they can make, and their stock room is filled to the brim with assorted tools. Some legal, some very illegal. Anything goes when you’re in support course territory! They are sorted into F, G and H categories.

Lastly, but certainly not least, the Management Course. They are the individuals single-handedly responsible for starting a Villain’s career. They deal with all marketing, opening up agencies, and provide a line of direction for newborn villains. They are sharp individuals, with great problem-solving skills and are masters of working the system in their favor. They’re a more isolated group of students, who choose to keep their secrets to themselves. They are sorted into I, J and K categories.

Much of the Discourse that should arise in UA isn’t handled by the teachers but handled by the ranking system that is established among the Villain Course students. It is called The Royal Flush and composed up of a King, Queen, Jack, Ace and Ten of Hearts. Each title is worn by a Villain Course student, and with it, comes specific duties that are to be obeyed around the school. Before I outline who this is made up, I’ll explain how society’s ranking system works based on what type of quirk you’re born with. Or NOT born with.

When a child’s quirk manifests, they are immediately classified into a color that will dictate how the rest of their life will go. Let’s start from lowest to highest! Now, these are subject to change if a quirkless child is a late bloomer and their quirk manifests later, OR an individual that was already sorted has a quirk change or an enhancement in their abilities that calls for them to be sorted into a different classification. This is done by the government in which the person goes through a series of tests to be passed on to a different classification.

COLOR QUIRK CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM ;;

QUIRKLESS (Black) If no quirk manifests in a child, they are tapped as black and are donned as a disability to the society overall. They are shunned and mocked, these are the people who have a very hard time finding suitable jobs and education for themselves. They tend to stick together to survive and are virtually non-existing to society unless they do something to prove themselves. A lot of them do the services that many quirk users do not want to do, and this buys them protection and a safe space. The highest suicide ranking is among the quirkless.

LOW TIER (Blue) The weakest on the quirk totem pole. Low tier quirk users are registered under the color blue to signal their ranking. These are the people who are offered the lowest ranking jobs and education. They have a chance to climb up the pole if their quirk changes after they’ve already been tapped as a child. Otherwise, these are the people who are easily taken advantage of and who often deflect for the Hero underground.

MID-TIER (Green) The middle of the pole. Once sorted into this category, I would consider this the middle class of the quirk ranking system. A lot of citizens are mid-tier users. They have the ability to hold decent jobs, can become advisors to higher ranking quirk users, are offered good education, and are respected enough to be left alone. They don’t help the weak if they know what’s good for them and their safety. A lot of UA students are Green users that are trying to advance to Orange if their ability allows, but honestly, being Green is a good thing. It doesn’t get you looked at like the Blues, and it takes some of the pressures of Orange off you.

HIGH TIER (Orange) The second highest ranking on the quirk pole. They are the world’s leaders, offered the highest ranking jobs, exposed to the absolute best education system. The police tend to turn a blind eye to high tier users who act out in society because they are seen as the best of the best. Their power isn’t something to be questioned. High tier users can offer protective services to mid-tier users.

SUPREME TIER (Red) Extremely rare. 5% of the population. These are people that are considered walking Gods because of their quirk abilities. Both feared and praised, they are hunted down for their abilities and turned into lethal villain machines. They can offer protective services to just about anyone they choose and it will -never- be questioned. It is very much a thing that children born and tested as Red, will be registered as Orange and their quirk abilities fairly suppressed.

Now that that’s outlined, going back to The Royal Flush squad. The Big Three were the top dogs of UA while they were there, Mirio becoming King in his second year, along with Nejire as Queen and Tamaki as Jack. The Big Three came to dominate the school, they were the people that aspiring individuals looked to for advice. They handled a lot of disputes, while not only increasing their profiles as Villains but also letting people know that they were not the ones to be questioned. Izuku inherits the King title, reluctant to do so after he inherits his ability, None for All, and was now tasked with building his own elite team to wear the Royal titles through the years at UA. Izuku is the only one to become King during his first year.

Who he picks are a total secret, and one you’ll come to discover later on.

Now, what about the Hero Underground? Is there a silver lining in all of this? Of course! The Hero Underground, known as the League of Heroes, is a widespread society that was started by one man, known as All For One. However, in the Villain realm, he’s known bitterly as Robin Hood. He can steal quirks from the most sinister of Villains and gift them to aspiring Heroes who are desperate to try and make society a better place. There have been rumors floating around forever that Shimura Nana has killed him, but in reality, AFO is safely hidden in an unknown location that’s under intense security.

The League of Heroes fights for everyone. They do not discriminate against Quirkless and Low Tier users and are always welcoming to any Villain that chooses to deflect. Once somebody chooses to deflect, they are stripped of their ranking and are considered as good as dirt to society. Heroes are seen as vermin, with their want for equal rights among everyone else and to have quirks liberated rather than controlled by the government and other systems. Hero Agencies exist in locations spread all over Japan, some greatly hidden behind walls, underground, within a maze of tunnels, or through extensive passwords.

Three misfits, ostracized and hunted for their abilities joined the Hero ranking and own one of the most successful Agencies of all time. (Also a real pain in the ass for the Villains of the society) Chisaki Kai, Todoroki Touya, and Shigaraki Tomura. Three individuals who were born RED, who deflected from villain society and built an Agency from the ground up in honor of liberation. They are walking messiahs to those on the lower end of the deal, and they’ve already saved countless people. They have dodged great difficulties to get to where they need to be. The question is, the government wants them, but more so have been forced to turn the other cheek. The system is just as much afraid of them.

They operate out of an office that’s disguise as a Speakeasy, hidden behind a door with a peephole that Touya maintains. Those looking for their aid are given specific instructions to this door, and will only be let in if their password is said correctly. This office also operates as a safe house for those who just are looking to escape the gruesome system they were born into. Welcome to the Hero world! Let Todoroki Touya be your guide.

(Part 1 end)

#MUSINGS. || a place to lay my head #verse || my villain academia.

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thorofasgard007 · 5 years

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Casting my WIP: “Blade of Penance Volume I: Bore of Great Sacrifice”

Haven’t posted anything in a while thought I would put up a fun game for us aspiring authors out there. My first draft nears completion. Just a the final fight, “mop-up” and a couple appendices to write. Hoping to be done this week while I am on vacation. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, I saw a YouTube video posted by an authortuber I follow named Kim Chance where she went through the dream casting of her newest book Seeker (soon to be released here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Rmhm8HhE8). I was thinking while I was running some errands earlier today I should do something similar. If my novel(s) ever get made into a movie whom would I cast as each character? So I decided to post that here and see what other authors/aspiring authors would cast as their characters. Name the character, a brief description of them, then the actor/actress and why you would cast them.

Here are the rules: #1) You have to use the actors/actresses as they are TODAY. No using “Early 80′s Arnold” or Clint Eastwood like he was when he played Dirty Harry. It also goes without saying you can’t use actors that have retired from acting or passed away. #2) If there is a seminal movie/tv show in your genre you cannot use actors from that franchise. Since this rule can really make things difficult you can use up to TWO exceptions to rule #2. Since my WIP is epic fantasy both actors from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies and Game of Thrones are disqualified.

Okay here we go.

Dorath:

The father of my hero Kaaldor. A former general and hero of the Battle of Gos. The last scion of the House of Dranus who’s progenitor alongside Ka’Reyus The Elven Warrior King lead the Great Liberation against the Dragon Rule of Rab Yangin 500 years ago. Few either human or elf could match his skill with the blade save maybe one.

At first I thought of The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I even used his physique as a bit of a template when I was doing up his character model. However in the end I thought he should be cast a bit younger (Don’t hit me with the People’s Elbow Rock.)

Therefore I will use one of my exceptions early and go with Aquaman, aka Kahl Drogo, Mr. Jason Mamoa.

Ka’Reyus:

The Elven Warrior King and Grandfather to my hero. Unquestionably the greatest warrior alive. Has gone unmatched in swordsmanship for over 500 years. Single headedly fought and slew three dragons at once. Him and Dranus (Dorath’s ancestor) tag-teamed to slay the corrupted dragon lord Rab Yangin to free the continent of Kalis from drake rule. Is Dorath his equal as a warrior??? SPOILERS :)

For him I batted around a few choices including Liam Neeson and Russel Crowe of course cgi would have to be used to size them down because as an elf Ka’Reyus was only 5 feet tall.

I finally decided on Wolverine himself (aka Jean ValJean, aka PT Barnum) Hugh Jackman.

(Yes this is an older pic... but I wanted one of him as Wolverine :) )

Princess Almelphia:

Mother of Kaaldor. Only child of Ka’Reyus. The unchallenged beauty of Elvendom. All the nobility compete for her attention not only for her beauty but that whomever she chose as her husband would be the likely successor to the elven throne. She is also is the only member of the royal house with any magical ability, even though it is just limited to reading the memories left behind on things/people that she touches. While my hero was growing up she always called him her “little champion” and he did everything he could to live up to that title.

She was a tough choice. If I wanted to use my second exception I would have chosen The Khalessi herself Emilia Clarke but considering Jason Mamoa is Dorath… that may be a little much. I also considered Miranda Otto (aka Eowyn) but again didn’t want to use my second exception. Therefore I decided to go with Jenna Coleman aka Clara Oswald from Dr. Who, and Queen Victoria on Victoria.

Here she is from the “Robin Hood Episode” of Dr. Who so you could see how she would look in a fantasy setting.

Ka’Vatch:

Lifelong friend of Ka’Reyus and Elvul Ka’s(the elven nation’s) foremost smith. Him and Ka’Reyus both learned their weaponry by working his father’s forge. Growing up Kaaldor learned from Ka’Vatch at the same forge. To be a great warrior you must both know your weapons and then know yourself. The weapons part started with Ka’Vatch after an 8 year old Kaaldor hid in his smith from bullies that didn’t like that he was half human.

For him I thought about Michael Ironside. Granted you usually see him as a bad guy (and he plays a great villain, especially with his voice work... if they ever do a live action version of Darkseid they should have him reprise the role from his voice work on Superman: TAS etc). However age is a factor. Therefor I chose Josh Brolin aka Thanos… aka Cable.

Ka’Draoi: (pronounced Ka’ DREE, gotta love Gaelic)

Grand Thaumaturge of Elvul Ka’ and one of the world’s most powerful wizards. He draws his power from the Blue Flame like all elves and fought along side Ka’Reyus and Dranus in The Great Liberation. Being such a long time friend of the king he can often get away with breaches of proper decorum and has been known to have a bit of a ...shall we say “unique” sense of humour.

My original choice for this role was of course Sean Connery... but he has been retired from acting for some time. I thought about Terrance Stamp (aka General Zod from Superman II, my all time favourite movie villain) but decided against it. I didn’t want to use another exception or to be seen as him being a Gandalf clone so no Sir Ian McKellan.

In the end I chose another James Bond Pierce Brosnan, he can command the regal presence and wisdom Ka’Draoi needs, plus have the comic timing to pull off the sense of humour needed.

Ok. That covers Kaaldor’s family and the elves. Now lets move on to some more human characters.

Admiral Jagaran:

He is the Admiral of the Palan fleet (the main villain nation of the story) and in command of its new flagship The Jorgmundr (a ship completely made of dragonbone). He is a very skilled warrior, especially at see and a cunning strategist. He always takes the most straightforward path to victory whether it is an honourable choice or not. However he has been known to let his ego get the better of him.

My first choice was Peter Wingfield. Highlander fans will recognise him as Methos from the 90′s Highlander TV series. (As a point of trivia I watched some of Methos’ sword fights on the series to map out some of this character’s move sets). However he has apparently retired from acting and at last report was pursuing a career in medicine.

So instead I went with Rome’s Ray Stevenson, he has been in many other things but I mostly know him as Titus Pullo on Rome, Volstagg from the MCU and as Frank Castle in Punisher: War Zone (I should dust that one off I haven’t watched it in a while)

Anonyus:

The Mage assigned to the Jorgmundr. Although he technically outranks Jagaran as he is a mage his role on the ship is similar to that of a “political officer” on the old Soviet ships. He is your classic sadist that makes King Joffrey and Reese Bolton look like boy scouts. He prefers to invoke fear in his adversaries of what he may do than to actually inflict the pain.

For him I went back to the MCU and chose Tom Hiddleston, aka Loki. I just love him as a villain.

(Point of trivia... he originally auditioned for the part of Thor... go fig because he was so good as Loki.)

Armorton:

The chief slave-driver on The Jorgmundr, and a sadist son of a... gun (trying to keep this PG) in his own right. He takes perverse pleasure in publicly and brutally executing slaves that can no longer work in the bowels of the ship... or just make an example of. As he is more a hand to hand brute than a swordsman I went with a wrestler/actor for him. Dave Bautista from Guardians of the Galaxy (gee I am pulling a lot from the MCU) and Spectre, also a former WWE Champion.

Ok... let’s get away from the villains for a bit.

Dex:

The classic dashing rogue. Thinks he is “the pyres” gift to women and even names his lockpicks after his conquests. Never met a maiden he didn’t want to hit on. Or a full coin-purse he didn’t want to cut. Always ready with a witty retort but also willing to help when he sees something unjust. Kaaldor sometimes sees him as his best friend... and other times wants to punch him. But they somehow make it work as they defend the village of Belieret from the warlord Tyv.

This character needs the comic timing that only Ryan Reynolds can provide. I have been a fan of his since he was in Blade: Trinity (not as bad as everybody says) and he was dead on casting as Deadpool.

Klok:

A Baegian merchant that is one of the few in Belieret willing to learn how to fight to protect his new home. His own brother betrayed him when the Baegian King became a vassal for Q’Rab The Sorcerer King of Palis and Klok began to speak ill of the new regime. He couldn’t let hit happen again with Tyv.

I have chosen a bit of an odd choice. A TV actor named Alimi Ballard. He has been on many TV shows but I mostly remember him as David Sinclair on Numb3rs.

Ok lets do some more villains then we will go for the Hero and Heroine.

Tyv:

The warlord that is pulling the old extortion racket on the village of Belieret. He blames Ka’Reyus for ***SPOILERS***. Little do the villagers know he is just a cog in the machinery of one of Q’Rab’s plans. In the meantime he plans to take his revenge on Ka’Reyus by sending him Kaaldor’s head.

For this I am going cast Clancy Brown, mostly because he played my #2 all time favourite movie villain The Kurgan in Highlander. You would also recognise him from The Shawshank Redemption and Starship Troopers. He as also done a lot of voice work, including Lex Luthor for Superman: TAS, Savage Oppress on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob SquarePants (lol).

Hespera:

Apprentice to the Sorcerer Q’Rab and Master/Mistress to Anonyus. She suffers no failure and many of her apprentices have felt her wrath. None have lived to tell the tale. Her vanity is her weakness and although devoted to Q’Rab for centuries she has been known to have her own machinations to undermine his plans. You only briefly see her in the first book... but I plan to have her take a much larger role in book 2.

For her... if she is willing to be a redhead my first choice is Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot. She can be both regal, the flirt to ensnare men but then switch gears to be something menacing all at once.

(come on I had to choose a Wonder Woman pic... all the world is waiting for you... and the powers you possess :) )

Q’Rab:

Sorcerer King of Palis and has ruled for over 200 years. He draws his power from the Black Flame and rarely gets his hands dirty himself but is always a Master of Puppets pulling strings from afar. All under his rule are fanatically devoted to him. Whenever he is mentioned they finish the sentence with “May his reign be eternal”. It has yet to be determined who is the more powerful wizard if him and Ka’Draoi were to meet in a duel, and the true goal of his plans while he is at war with the nation of Corlot are ****SPOILERS****. His origins are ***SPOILERS***.

For him I went with a bit of an odd choice, I needed a classical type of actor but one that wasn’t your standard English baddie. I went with Alexander Siddig. While best known as Dr. Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he also has a long movie and TV career including 24, Gotham on the small screen and Kingdom of Heaven and The Nativity Story on the big screen. If he can pull off both The Angel Gabriel and Ra’s Al Ghul he can pull of Q’Rab. (Note: As he was also Doran Tyrell on Game of Thrones... he is my second exception)

Ok... you are saying enough with the villains. Fine lets get to the main event. My hero and heroine. First the Heroine:

Renna:

Daughter of the captain of The Divine Lady, the ship that Kaaldor is a passenger on when The Jorgmundr strikes. While able to fight for herself knows when she is out of her depth and instead fits into the facilitator role to get Kaaldor what he needs to win. She can also act as the diplomat to Kaaldor’s brute force as she knows not every problem can best be solved by the right amount of smashing. She is not the damsel in distress like Lois Lane that always needs a Superman to rescue her, but she also knows she doesn’t have to be Xena to be strong either.

This one was a hard choice... The aforementioned Jenna Coleman was a strong contender at one point. I also considered Rosa Salazar (loved her in Alita Battle Angel) however in the end (maybe because I just did a binge watch of Cobra Kai over the Labour Day Weekend) I chose Mary Mouser (Samantha LaRusso on Cobra Kai). Her look is the right combo of innocence, beauty and strength which is what you need to play Renna.

Finally.

Kaaldor:

The hero of the story. Half-elf and half human. Trained by his grandfather since he was eight years old to be a warrior without equal. He was even able to fight Ka’Reyus to a draw. Though of the elvish royal family very few fully accept him as part of elvish society. He can never let an injustice stand and sometimes gets himself deep in a bad situation by acting without thinking. But still is the one willing to act when others are too scared to. In the end he must complete his quest to ***SPOILERS***

For him I originally thought of Daniel Cudmore, I best remember him as Colossus in X-Men 2 and X-Men 3 (boy did three SUCK). However in the end thought a Hemsworth was a better fit. Not Chris (Thor)… but Liam (Expendables 2, The Hunger Games). (Note: He will probably have to bulk up a bit as when I wrote the character I was thinking “Early 80′s Arnold”)

Well There you go... It was a lot of fun going through this. For all you authors/aspiring authors out there... lets see your own lists. Use the Tag below. :)

#castingmyWIP #jenna moreci

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eversoslinky · 5 years

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Who created Jessica Rabbit?

The ultimate male fantasy in the form of a cartoon. Gravity defying hour glass curves and legs that go on for years, Jessica Rabbit is an icon and one of my happiest childhood memories was sitting on my Auntie's sofa and watching "Who framed Rodger Rabbit?" the film itself impressed me because it merged cartoons and real life together. Nothing impressed me more, (maybe except the scene in the Wizard of Oz when everything turns to Technicolor.) The film itself and the story didn't hold my attention ,however the gorgeous red haired lady did.

I wanted to BE Jessica Rabbit, still do. In fact she's my Halloween costume this year. I think if I look beyond the obvious the reason I love Jessica so much is because she's a married lady, she loves her husband. I'm a hopeless romantic who aspires to meet the one man to share my life with. But also I love the idea of being sexy, so sultry and inviting to men and women and then... when they get too keen on me on push them away... and purrr in a husky Scarlett Johansson/ Lauren Bacall tone. "Sorry, but I'm marrrrried... I lurrrrve my husband." She's the ultimate burlesque performer and yet she doesn't remove a single iteam of clothing... her sex appeal is obvious in her appearance and that's what I love. There is no little giggle, no cuteness she's pure, one hundred percent vamp. In this blog I am going to explore and celebrate an absolute icon.

The first time you see Jessica she slinks on stage in a gorgeous sparkling red gown, which is probably the outfit Rita Hayworth would of worn in Gilda back in 1946 had the censors of allowed it. (That spilt on the side of her dress is so high!) The way Jessica moves on stage and performs reminds me of Cameron Diaz in The Mask. (Maybe this inspired her role as a nightclub singer at the Coco Bongo club) Of course I love the fact she sings "Why don't you do right?" Which was originally sung by Peggy Lee as she strides across the stage. Four year old me was watching this going "This is who I want to be when I grow up"

But who created this absolutely beautiful cartoon ? She was the brain child of an animation team, Gary K. Wolf, Richard Williams and Robert Zemeckis. With each adding bits of their favourite movie stars to create a hybrid of the ultimate bombshell. Personally I think Jessica's body is very Jayne Mansfield. That massive chest can only be compared to one real life human woman and seeing Jayne wiggle down the street in "The girl can't help it" I think, could of been one of Jessica's design muses. However... here are the original Hollywood icons who inspired Jessica.

All the best female cartoon characters have red hair! How beautiful is the little mermaid? Jessica's whole look was supposed to be modelled on Rita or maybe just Rita's character Gilda. Gilda was a nightclub singer/ slight striptease artist (Who only removes one glove, but removes it in such an incredibly sexual way that that one glove is enough!) Perhaps this inspired Jessica's costume of elbow length gloves? (Who knows?) The ultimate pin up girl and force's sweetheart was definitely inspiration for the animation team who drew Jessica Rabbit but she was one of many women who's beauty inspired the team...

A little known fact about Jessica Rabbit is her predecessor... "Hot red riding hood" another curvy redhead who made her first appearance in 1943. Another Night club singer HRRH was another cartoon babe to steal the show. However, HRRH, I feel needs a blog all of her own so let's return to her another day and focus on Mrs Rabbit...

I just love Veronica Lake! I love the fact she was only 5ft 2 and weighed just over seven stone she was so sexy and vampish but also tough! Why am I not surprised they used her likeness to create Jessica Rabbit?! That peek-a-boo hairstyle is absolute genius, not being able to see half the face adds mystery and allure to a person... It's like a burlesque show only done with hair not clothes. As Veronica herself once famously said "I never did cheesecake like Betty Grable, I just used my hair." And who needs to remove clothes when you have a face like Veronica? (The picture I've used on this blog I have on my bedroom wall) She's got perfectly high cheekbones and a lovely heart shaped face with the most narrow part being her mouth, jaw and chin.

Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who came to Hollywood, they tried (like they did with many others) to change everything about her to make her into their idea of a movie star, she refused. If they didn't want her the just way she was she would simply move back home (Taking her trained stage acting talents with her). I just adore her! What an awesome lady! Could you imagine an actress today being told she's "too tall?!" Ingrid was 5ft 9, but some high heels on her and she'd be over 6ft but she was perfect and carried herself with such elegance and poise. Watch any on her films and check out that stride! I think Jessica Rabbit's statuesque frame was definitely inspired by Ingrid. So what if a leading lady is taller than her leading man? As a stage actress Ingrid sure knew how to carry herself.

"What about that look, that look Lauren Bacall had?" Said Robert Zemeckis during a brain storming session when drawing Jessica for the first time. Those sexy heavy lidded eyes and that pout, that dark alluring quality that gives away absolutely nothing and puts you in your place at the same time. That's Lauren 's look, the ultimate femme fatale, it kind of keeps you guessing... is this woman good or is she a villain? Or can it be possible for a woman to look like one of the bad guys but be really sweet with a heart of gold? How did Lauren create that signature stare? Well, apparently during the filming of "To have and have not" she would get so nervous she would shake(!) Lauren was a strong confident woman off camara but when she was being filmed she would get anxious. The only way to stop the shaking (and hold the ever present cigarette to her lips in a effortless manner) was to tilt her chin down to her chest slightly and look up. Creating the sexy Bacall look we know and love today.

Vikki Dougan, a name you may not of heard of. Unless you follow me, Eversoslinky over on Instagram. (I like to acknowledge the forgotten stars of Hollywood) Vikki was an unknown actress during the 1950s who used to crash Hollywood parties, when I first saw pictures of her I just had to post them, she's so unknown and under the radar and yet her fashion sense inspired one of our most loved cartoon characters- Jessica Rabbit. Those gorgeous backless dresses are just mindblowlingly fantastic and pretty daring considering they were worn during the 1950s (!) It's been some great debate as to which actress inspired Jessica Rabbit the most, with some people refusing to acknowledge Vikki as she never "hit the big time" or "made any popular movies" never the less she was a party girl and gained many column inches during her time, she was a style icon who I believe should be celebrated as the woman who influenced Jessica Rabbit's body con backless dress.

I have many more pictures I'd love to post on this blog but unfortunately Tumblr won't let me post anymore... apparently the number is ten and I've hit my limit (!) ... Sorry people but then again... NOT sorry cause it ain't my fault!... All that's left to say now is Jessica Rabbit is a cultural icon and who knows? maybe if we are really lucky she might appear again in another film. Until then I will start working on my tribute to her. The next time someone asks you who inspired Jessica Rabbit, you won't reply back with "Veronica Lake" but with "Rita, Veronica, Lauren, Ingrid and Vikki" cause they all have features that have made up the greatest cartoon of all time. xoxo 💋

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adamwatchesmovies · 5 years

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The Worst of 2018

Before we dig into my Worst of 2018 list, let’s make something clear. Making movies is hard. I may be criticizing people’s efforts but am fully aware that they’ve all accomplished far more than I have by making an actual movie. Even the worst film on this list is still a fully-functional production that someone somewhere might enjoy... theoretically at least. If you were somehow involved in anything made on this list, I know you can do better. With that said, I sat through all of these, some multiple times and suffered so it’s time for me to get my revenge. How many were on the list I made halfway through the year, and how many new entries have we got?

10. 2.0

I typically reserve my #10 spot for a movie so bad it’s good and 2.0 is just that. Part techno-horror, part supernatural thriller, part superhero adventure, part sci-fi action movie, it goes in all sorts of outrageous directions. This one’s a gem, a picture I’d like to bring home and show to my friends on our weekly movie nights to hear their screeches of disbelief. I had a blast with it but legitimately good? Nah.

9. Show Dogs

I have some affection for this film as well. It’s awful, even as low-grade children’s entertainment. The plot has no idea what it’s doing and can’t figure out its own rules. The special effects are dodgy, premise idiotic, and jokes bad. And yet, I treasure seeing it in theatres. Soon after its release, a specific scene stirred uproar within parents and critics alike. This prompted the studio to re-edit the film. The scene in question concerns Ludacris’ character, talking police dog Max getting ready for the dog show he needs to infiltrate in order to discover who has kidnapped a baby panda. His partner, FBI agent Frank Nicholas (Will Arnett) explains that part of the competition involves the dogs getting their genitals inspected by the judges. In real-life, it’s to ensure the animals are capable of breeding. Finding the idea of someone fondling his junk without his consent intolerable, Max is told to escape the situation by going to his “zen place”. I didn’t take offense to it but understand why others would. I doubt the scene is available in the home release’s deleted scenes menu so I count myself among the few who saw the original cut.

8. Selfie from Hell, Slenderman & Truth or Dare

I’m lumping these three together because they all suffer from the same problem. They were doomed from the start. “What if a game of Truth or Dare… was fatal?” What if you could only take 13 selfies before a supernatural entity came after you?”, “What if severe head trauma caused H.P. Lovecraft’s intelligence to plunge and he set “The Call of Cthulhu” in the 21st century?” seemed to have been the opening pitches for these would-be spookfests. None featured any scares or compelling characters. I doubt anyone will remember any of these by the time 2019 ends.

7. Robin Hood

Many of 2018's films ended by assuring us that more was yet to come. Robin Hood should've saved itself the embarrassment of being yet another aspiring franchise which failed to take off and been self-contained. It failed because it tried to be a superhero film when it should’ve simply been a movie about Robin Hood. This story by Ben Chandler steals so many ideas from Batman you almost forget to criticize the costumes, the impossible action sequences, and Jamie Foxx’s bad performance. It’s dripping with “tries too hard”.

6. Life of the Party

Boy does Melissa McCarthy need a new Agent. Her and Tiffany Haddish actually. Life of the Party is all-around lazy. It hardly has a plot. Instead, it throws one scene after another, praying something will stick. This film about a newly-divorced mother who goes back to college to reconnect with her daughter can’t even get its characters right. In some scenes, McCarthy’s Deanna is mousey and unable to give a speech to the class. In others, she’s such a partier she ends up wrecking everything for everyone around her. I hated the film’s conclusion worst of all, a deus-ex-machina of an ending which has nothing to do with anything and feels like it was hastily shot when director Ben Falcone and co-writer/spouse McCarthy realized the film they made wasn’t amounting to anything.

5. Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Darker was terrible. It began by immediately undoing the ending of the previous film but at least it was building up to something while introducing us its equivalent of the Legion of Doom, a trio of villains all of which would converge and attempt to ruin the relationship between Anastasia Steele, and Christian Grey… or not. This third and final chapter struggles to find something to do for the first three quarters and then suddenly introduces a thriller element before rapidly concluding it and showing us the end credits. The unrated version released on home video filled in a couple of holes (such as Kim Basinger’s disappearing character) but those holes shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Between the un-erotic sex scenes, we’re treated to lame melodrama and further proof this trilogy is completely oblivious to matters of love and relationship. Even if it had been well acted and gave fans some satisfaction by adequately tackling some of the bigger questions the series posed, it would’ve still been bad.

4. Venom

I didn’t want to listen to people who proclaimed Venom would never work. The character has appeared in solo adventures before. There’s nothing to say a talented writer couldn’t make one of Spider-Man’s most well-known archenemies work on his own. Or maybe not. This is an appallingly written film full of plot holes, vaguely defined powers, bad humor, and illogical actions. In many ways, it reminds you of films like Ghost Rider and Catwoman. In a way, it’s worse than either because everyone involved should’ve known better. Making its flaws doubly apparent is the film Upgrade, released earlier during the year. It essentially did what this film wanted to but better, funnier and more inventively. It’s extra funny that Upgrade features Logan Marshall-Green, who looks a lot like Tom Hardy, making the pair a perfect double feature if you like to compare bad movies with good ones and discuss them with friends.

3. A Wrinkle in Time and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

These Disney films, the first directed by Ava DuVernay and the second by a combined effort by Lasse Hallström and Joe Johnston, wanted to be empowering female-led fantasy adventures. A Wrinkle in Time is historic in that it’s the first $100 million+ film directed by a woman of color. This makes it extra disappointing because it’s awful. Both tales are filled with developments who inspire you to say “but I don’t care”. Overrelying on visual razzle-dazzle, neither of these had any substance whatsoever. I blame the writers, who took the original stories and tried to make them into something they weren’t. Much of AWiT could’ve worked if the story had kept some of its novels' Christian themes. Then the evil black cloud who does evil for evil’s sake would’ve simply been Satan and wouldn't have seemed nearly as lazy and underwhelming. By attempting to force The Nutcracker and the Mouse King into the same mould as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (another bad film), you robbed the ballet of any potential charm. In many ways, these are worse than most of the others on my list because you keep hoping something would turn around and because they’re not obviously bad, at least not at first. They fill you with false hope.

2. Life Itself

I should’ve known this Dan Fogelman creation was trouble from the advertisements, which built it up as this epic tale containing all of the universes’ deepest truths. I sat there aghast as one corny development followed another. This tries to be poetry in motion, this grandiose tale about the bonds which connect us and not one second works. It’s utterly ridiculous, so bad it might be funny except you’ll be bored by its nearly 2-hour running time.

The Runner ups:

Nobody’s Fool & Night School

Both featured Tiffany Haddish who is rapidly burning through any goodwill she might’ve earned with her breakout role in Girls Trip.

Holmes & Watson

Bad movie but it made me laugh more than the other films on this list

Book Club

A film I’m kicking myself for not being harder on when I first reviewed it but take comfort in the fact it seems to have dropped off the earth completely.

1. The 15:17 to Paris

Agonizingly dull, The 15:17 to Paris was well-intentioned. That doesn’t translate to “entertaining”. Most of this film’s 94 minutes are spent watching the real life Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos vacationing through Europe, periodically flashing back to the time when they met and were the real-life non-actors were played by equally bad child performers. I hated this flat slab of propaganda masquerading as entertainment so much after it was over I had to turn to the other people around me and ask them what we just saw.

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pizza-is-my-buziness · 6 years

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Malvie + roses and/or thorns (your choice)

The Museum of Cultural History has never been Mal’s favorite place. Itreminds her of her first night in Auradon, when she and the others hadconspired -poorly- to attempt to steal the wand, when she had seen her motherin all her wicked glory. It reminds her of the other people she had known herwhole life, set aside into their own special wing to inspire fear and tointimidate little Auradon kids into following the rules and aspiring togreatness. And it reminds her of the things that had been taken from her whenshe got to the Isle, how Evie’s shard of the mirror now rests behind glass,along with the spell book that had been the last thing Mal had from her mother.It’s a building that Mal always makes sure to give a wide berth whenever she’swalking across campus, averting her eyes and quickening her step.

But still when Evie asks Mal to accompany her to the museum so she can doresearch on one of the artifacts for her Magic in Auradon class, Mal agrees.They’re the only ones in the museum aside from the guards and the tour guide,who nods to them but doesn’t offer a tour when he recognizes them as AuradonPrep students and not tourists from other parts of the kingdom.

They skirt the hall of villains without any type of discussion necessary.Mal sticks to Evie’s side, the sound of their boot heels echoing on thepolished floor. “I hate this place,” Mal grumbles as they step into a roomdecorated with images of happy princes and beautiful princesses. There areplacards next to each display, each one featuring a trite story about a happyending and a good deed.

“Really?” Evie questions, taking her school notebook out of the bag hangingfrom her shoulder. It’s the one she uses for her Magic in Auradon class, theone class they don’t share, and Mal catches sight of the absent and messydoodles on the cover: blue waves and green fire.

Mal shrugs, studying an artist’s replica of the Pridelands on a large canvason the wall. She admires his technique but can’t help but wonder if she everpainted anything like that if it would end up in the museum. “Don’t you thinkit’s kinda creepy here?”

“Not really,” Evie replies. “I mean I wouldn’t come here just for the fun ofit but it’s not so bad.”

“Maybe not on this side of the museum,” Mal grumbles, turning away from thepainting. “Just pick one of these things to write about so we can leave.”

Evie rolls her eyes. “You didn’t have to come, M.”

Mal isn’t sure how to respond to that without pointing out that she camebecause Evie was the one who asked her. Instead she says, “Well you said wewere going to go to the dining hall after so how could I resist.”

That comment earns her another eye-roll and Mal just smiles at her sweetly.Evie starts wandering through the room and Mal follows her, studying some morepaintings and photographs, reading a few of the placards next to the artifactsthat aren’t as important as the wand or the spindle or Cinderella’s glassslipper.

There’s doodads and thing-a-ma-bobs from Ariel’s grotto and vibrant purpleand gold flags from Rapunzel’s kingdom. Tiny snowmen and arrows from RobinHood’s quiver. A lamp, slightly tarnished but still with a somewhat magicalshine. Sandals from Hercules’ day as a Greek celebrity.

“What about this?” Evie says finally, her voice causing Mal to look awayfrom a replica of the box that Evie’s mother had reportedly requested SnowWhite’s freshly cut heart be placed inside. Evie hasn’t even noticed the box,her attention focused on something in the center of the room.

An artifact Mal would have thought would have been far too important to keepin this room with the other things.

Though, now that she thinks about it, it’s just like Queen Belle and KingBeast to keep the enchanted rose with everything else and not elevatethemselves above the other members of their kingdom.

The rose had, at the end of the spell, regrown its petals and its magicalshine, the faint pink glow bathing Evie’s cheeks and forehead in a warm light.Evie is leaning close to the glass dome, studying the rose inside. “It’s hardto believe that something so small was so powerful.”

Mal shrugs, coming to stand beside Evie. “I dunno about that,” she smirks, “peoplemight say the same about you.” She bumps Evie playfully with her shoulder.

“Or you,” Evie replies, returning the shoulder bump. “I’m not the one whocan turn into a dragon.”

Mal waves the idea away. “Psh, it’s not so hard,” she teases. “You are apowerful witch, after all.”

Evie frowns slightly, which was not Mal’s intended reaction to her comment. “Sowas the person who did this,” she says, pointing at the shimmering rose. “Whatif I’m not so different? What if I keep practicing and my powers become toostrong and-”

“Whoa, E,” Mal interrupts, “where is all this coming from? Are you reallyworried about that kind of stuff?”

Evie looks at her, shrugging, sheepish. But Mal can see it in her eyes, the sincerityin her fears. “There just seem to be so many stories about people using magicfor evil and in Auradon we’re not even supposed to use magic at all because itcan just get out of hand and think about my mother…she never used her magic foranything good. Do you think she started out that way? Or do you think she waslike us once?”

It’s clear that Evie’s question is supposed to be a rhetorical one. One theyboth know the answer to.

Mal knows that even Maleficent wasn’t born a dark and evil fairy.

“Evie, don’t be crazy,” Mal says, putting her arm around Evie’s shoulders. “Yousaid it yourself: this rose was super powerful. It might have cursed King Beast,but it also made him a better person and it helped him fall in love with QueenBelle. So maybe the spell started off bad, but it had a good result.”

Evie frowns, as though considering Mal’s words. “That sounds a bit like cheating,”she remarks. “Like yeah it sucked living as a beast for ten years but you fellin love so really you should be thanking me.”

Mal grins, unable to help herself. “I mean, really they should be thanking that sorceress…”

Evie only shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Hey, you aren’t like your mother, okay?” Mal says, giving her shouldersanother squeeze. “You’re kinda like this rose, actually.”

Evie looks at her skeptically. “That makes no sense.”

“Sure it does,” Mal protests. “That rose is magical and so are you. It’spretty but it holds its secrets. And plus it has thorns.”

The skeptical look on Evie’s face doesn’t disappear. “Um…thanks?”

Mal shakes her head. “I only meant, like, it’s kinda like you. You’re fromthe Isle so you have your thorns. But you’re beautiful too and soft, like thepetals on the rose. And no one ever talks about a rose being ugly just becauseit has a few thorns.”

Evie only looks at Mal and immediately Mal starts to regret her words. Thisis what happens when she doesn’t think things through, when she doesn’t thinkabout the words coming out of her mouth before she says them. “Too much?” Shesays, wincing slightly.

But Evie shakes her head, smiling slightly. “Does that make you a rose, too?”

Mal scoffs. “Um, definitely not. I’m pretty sure I’m a briar or somethinglike that.”

“I don’t think so,” Evie says, her tone slightly cryptic. “I don’t thinkthat at all.”

Mal figures that she’s not really going to argue as long as Evie is the onesaying it. If Evie wants her to be a rose, well, then she supposes there areworse things. “You really don’t have to worry about any of that stuff, E,” Malsays again, her voice quieter as she looks at the magic rose in the dome. “Youaren’t going to go around turning people into beasts.”

Evie sighs, letting her head rest briefly on Mal’s shoulder. “I guess that’sall I can really hope for,” she says, her tone slightly teasing.

Mal can’t help but think that, if anything, Evie is going to be the princessthat turns the beast human again because she loves her.

“So are you going to do your report on this stupid thing or not?” Malquestions, not that she really wants to prompt Evie to move away from her arms.

But Evie only shakes her head, stepping away from Mal. “No, I think I’llpick something less…dramatic.”

Mal smirks. “Well that’s a first,” she says dryly.

Evie gives her a look but there’s a smile on her face. “What about…this?”She points to the wooden cage that Mulan’s cricket had once called home. “Thatcricket really is lucky, you know, Lonnie said so.”

“Well…if Lonnie said it then it hasto be true,” Mal retorts. “Lucky crickets. Seriously.”

Though, this is Auradon, so she probably shouldn’t be surprised.

Maybe she could get her hands on that lucky cricket, just for a little bit.

Just to ensure that she can be lucky enough to ensure that Evie keepssmiling at her like she’s doing right now.

#malvie #mevie #this got a little bit longer than I thought so I put it under the cut #I just love these idiots #femslash february

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