#we need to give mortimer more praise | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stariwrites · 3 years

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👀👀👀👀 Ship your moots

Alright I’m putting this under a readmore because I’m going to try and include all of my moots so let’s see how I do. They’re going to be split up half and half so this is the first half. I’m determined also I may have gone overboard but it’s chill

Edit: adding more here!

@dabitdabi Keigo for sure, they’d be so powerful it would be insane😩, he’d be so cute and flustered and Cheshire is such a sweetheart he’d practically drop everything for her if she needed it. The type of couple who compliment each other, she’d remind him to take care of himself and make sure he knows that shes somebody he can depend on/talk to at the end of the day. And he’ll take care of her too, make sure he remembers her favorite food, flower, blanket you name it he’ll remember.

@sleepyrintaro (ik you’re on a hiatus love but I wanted to include you too) Kuroo, another absolute unit. When I tell you they’re both geniuses and when they’re together they’re either the most intelligent people or have one brain cell shared and there’s no in between, there’s no in between. Rin is amazing and is so kind/has such a big heart the two of them would have so much fun together and be so fun to be around. Kuroo would love hearing about psychology and it would basically turn into talking about hyperfixations going back and forth.

@rukunas Sukuna hands down. Rue is so sweet and has the best vibes and I feel like Sukuna would be drawn to that. The soft but only for you trope definitely comes into play here. Sukuna would look so intimidating and tease Rue but then get flustered half way through. King of curses or not he can be really intimidating one minute but as soon as you need him he’s instantly like ‘what’s wrong baby what happened?’ (Basically the Gordon Ramsey with kids vs with adults comes into play here).

@kkodzvken Dabi or Toga, Lune is a sweetheart and I feel like both Dabi and Toga would look at them and instantly think ‘I want to protect them.’ This relationship would be very cute in its own way because they’d all watch out for each other. Dabi would smile so fondly it would be a crime, but if he’s ever called out on it he would 100% deny it and you can’t convince me otherwise. He’d let Lune wear his coat around if they wanted to. With Toga, she’d do skin care (if you wanted to) and would adore shopping dates! Loves cuddling and just snuggling up to you too!

@katslutski I cannot stress this enough: Nanami Kento. They both value independence and Nanami would take care of you if you needed it. He’d love chilling and watching movies or reading quietly with Kat and nobody can convince me otherwise. Slow dancing in a kitchen would be a must at least once. They’d have separate apartments but spend a lot of time at the others. He’d send texts from time to time asking how she is and would enjoy making dinner together with her. Nothing relaxes him more than the time they have together. Kat is so fun to talk to and is honestly amazing and so is Nanami so they would for sure have the best convos too.

@pupimouto Chuuya hands down. Babi is honestly amazing and Chuuya would be so enamored. He’d also have the thought of ‘Must protect.’ Adores her, the red and pink aesthetic for sure. He’d get into a fight if anybody looked at her the wrong way. If there’s a bad day he’d be there to hold her close to her and reassure her and if she kisses him or holds his hand/tells him she loves him? Gone he has ascended, he’ll smile for the rest of the day.

@oilivia Oikawa. Liv deserves the best and who is Oikawa if he doesn’t provide? Their relationship is super fun, he’d listen to her playlists and playfully tease her a bit but it’s all in good fun. (He makes sure not to go too far and cross a line) the type of relationship where they both bicker playfully, but also have really deep convos. They also balance each other out and help each other to either break out of their shell or relax and just focus on the present. Communication between them is amazing, they make it look so easy. Both of them are able to confide in the other knowing it’s a safe space and there will be no judgement. Oikawa also loves to fluster her in public by calling her cute pet names.

@bakugohoex Jean Kirschtein, they’re able to be independent but also comes together. The best friends before being lovers type of thing. Ria is amazing and Jean would be there to hang out with her and makes sure to call her beautiful everyday. He adores the little domestic moments the most and would love hearing about her day and would check in throughout the day with ‘Hey baby how are you doing?’ Attentive and he’s a very good listener. They’d both work so well together! He seems like the type to theorize movies and so they’d both exchange their own and see who’s closer to what’s actually going on.

@chaos-night *deep inhale* ATSUHIRO SAKO please they’d be so perfect I’m not even kidding! He’d take up ballroom dancing lessons so they could dance in the kitchen and their relationship would be so soft and wholesome. Chaos is a wonderful person and is a great listener as well as fun to talk to so they would both revel in each other’s presence. Atsuhiro would shower her in praise all the time. He’d adore her so much and everyday would fall a little more in love with her. King of romantic dates whether it’s extravagant or just hanging out and watching movies either way he adores it. Will hold her close to his chest as they sleep whispering how much he loves her and how lucky he is to be with her.

@raes-still-rambling the sweetest I can’t even articulate. Tamaki Amajiki they would work so well together. He’d find so much comfort in them. His favorite would be if they just cuddled together and watched a movie. He isn’t big on romance but he’d put his all into it regardless. Loves holding their hand and would smile softly whenever he sees her. They’d definitely have a cuddling playlist and he’d show them he loves them through small actions

@m-mortimer Christa and Ymir 100%. Izzie has such a big heart and I feel like she’d fit into this dynamic so well! They’d both take care of her, Ymir has strong mommy dom energy and would make sure both her girls are doing well. They would all live the cottage core lesbian dream I guarantee you. Would dance around and just have a lot of laughs together, making flower crowns would be an absolute must. They’d all take care of each other and would help if any of them got into a bad headspace. This relationship would feel like a home.

@deludedimagines Levi Ackerman, Sorcha has to be one of the coolest people ever and who better to match that energy than Humanity’s Strongest. Their relationship would be comfort. Both of them would find solace in each other whether it be making tea late at night to playing games in the morning. The two of them would work so well together, completely content to dwell in the comfortable silence they’ve created. They’d also clean together with soft music playing in the background and Levi can’t get enough of it. Their relationship is full of understanding one another. The phrase/lyrics “Life is not the things that we do it’s who we’re doing them with” very much applies here.

@fuwushiguro Toji Fushiguro no questions asked. The most interesting and fun relationship ever, Venus is a goddess and is so kind/compassionate Toji would start out being like ‘I have no intention of falling in love’ and then before he knows it he’s in love. Would protect her no matter what, they would have amazing stories. Their life would be like a movie. He’d hold her and in the soft moments tell her how much he loves her and how he feels complete with them together. He’s the type to use action instead of words so if he sees her sad? He’s off to get ice cream and put on her favorite comfort movie. He grumbles about her making him soft but when she just gives him a smile and says he likes it he can’t help but smile fondly, he can’t argue with that.

@fushigurocockslut Mahito, they too have a fun relationship. Tessa is one of the chillest people I’ve ever had the joy of knowing and her and Mahito would be so chaotic im living for it. They share one brain cell and it’s to wreak total havoc, both of them have the friendship dynamic down to the point where people have to ask if they’re dating or just close friends. Mahito loves spending time with her and they both would absolutely prank the hell out of Nanami. Also they’d find/have the coolest hang outs to chill and listen to music, eat snacks and vibe. Although they may be chaotic they’d also have really chill moments where they would just relax and stargaze. The two of them could talk about everything and anything.

@doinmybesthere Shoto Todoroki. Emme has a huge heart with so much love and she deserves to receive all that love back and more. Shoto is not big on pda, but behind closed doors he loves intimacy. In the quiet moments of just waking up he’d kiss her forehead with a groggy ‘Good morning love’ their dynamic is ‘Two sweethearts in a room they might love each other unconditionally’ and then they did. Slow dancing in the kitchen? Absolutely. Shoto is also attentive and adores Emme’s beautiful singing voice, on bad nights he loves nothing more than to feel her fingers in his hair and hear her voice as he drifts off. If the roles are reversed he holds her to his chest and hums softly while rubbing soothing circles against her back. Their relationship is wholesome and they bring out the best in each other.

@izukine Takemichi for sure. Both would try and protect the other and they’d both be flustered by the other since they’d both of the thought process of ‘Theyre so cute my heart feels like it’s about to burst’ Liyah is so friendly and awesome and I feel like Takemichi would be drawn to that. Whether it be walking around or just chilling both of them would just like the time they spend together. Every time Takemichi sees her he instantly perks up and has a cute smile on his face. Their relationship holds solid communication and trust.

@cupcake-rogue Bakugou Katsuki without question. King of making sure Star is taken care of and has a soft spot for her. Everybody makes fun of him for it, but he doesn’t care. Star would mean the world to him and knowing that he comes home to see her face would relax him and keep him calm. He loves holding her in his arms and if she runs her fingers through his scalp he’s gone. Instantly falls asleep. Uses actions over words so he’ll make sure he has her favorite foods/drinks stalked in the fridge. If he notices it’s a bad day he’ll ask how he can make it better. The two of them would have a relationship that’s all about care.

@nomadmilk Kirishima Eijirou both of them take care of each other and have so much fun together. Matching outfits? Sure. Cute couple photos? Absolutely! They’re the definition of couple aesthetic/goals. Love being affectionate, it doesn’t matter if they’re in public or not. Kirishima will constantly praise Noma and be like ‘that’s my baby!’ Whenever you do something. He loves supporting you and if you ever comfort him/do the same he’ll be so happy. Loves to hold and cuddle Noma a lot. Both of them together would radiate so much love they both deserve wonderful things.

If I didn’t get to you this round just you wait cause tomorrow is part 2

#starianswers #beautiful anons

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msindrad · 4 years

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an insanely long crazy-ass post about the dollars trilogy, I’m so sorry y’all

I FOUND THIS POST. I DID IT. I FOUND IT. JESUS. I spent the entirety of my yesterday searching for it.

I’m going to tag everybody who participated in this discussion and whose posts I‘ve found while searching for this discussion on the off-chance that they still might be interested in, yeah, discussing these films.

@clinteastwood-blog @geekboots-blog @istadris @sybilius @bleak-nomads @thenotsobad-thebad-andtheugly @bloncos @mcicioni-blog @unrealthings @stephantom @colonelmortimer

Also, please feel free to ignore me and my analytical outburst if you don’t feel like talking about the films or talking about them with my crazy hyperfixated ass specifically, lol. I didn’t mean to be rude by calling you out of nowhere, it’s just that sometimes people get excited when there is an enthusiastic newbie in the fandom and gladly return to their beloved canons.

Anyway. The dollars trilogy.

I’ll start with The Good, the Band and the Ugly (and will probably make myself instantly unlikable by nitpicking things, (sigh)).

As stupid as it might sound – the film being an absolute masterpiece, a cultural milestone that is timeless, epic, work of genius, love it, will write and draw about it with pleasure etc. – I’m kind of inclined to find the GBU the weakest film in the trilogy storywise. Don’t get me wrong: the plot is interesting and strong, every scene is entertaining, smart, and instantly quotable… But.

There are a few things that make the story, taken holistically, weak to a degree, especially in contrast to the other two films. Now, let me explain my bold-ass claim.

The first reason I couldn’t even pinpoint for myself until my best friend asked me: yeah, it’s all cool and fun, but what has really changed at the end of the film? They stopped the battle/blew up the bridge (kudos for the pacifist message), they killed a few folks on the way including Angel Eyes, but what did the story amount to in the end? Was their relationship changed? Have they themselves learned something about life, universe and everything? Tuco is still on the rope, Blondie still shoots the rope. They both got their money, split it 50/50. Sure, now it’s an insane amount of money but will it make them reconsider their ways of life? I don’t know, and I don’t necessarily think so. They’re really back to square one. If you consider the graphic novel The Man With No Name canon, then (spoiler) Blondie gives his money away to help rebuild the monastery of Tuco’s brother, and Tuco himself doesn’t really invest his share in anything other than booze, and sex, and troubles, so. Then, Angel Eyes got killed off, but he had even less backstory/character arc than, for instance, Captain Clinton, not to mention that his image, as memorable as it was, kind of lacked certain complexity, so, does it really matter storywise (although he is a great, stylish character, but I hope that you get what I mean)? (Note: Angel Eyes should have been the film’s ultimate personification of the war (inhumanely ruthless, only interested in money, extremely goal-oriented etc.), which, the war, kind of is the main antagonist of the film if you think about it; but the way he was used in the plot, the way he acted, and was generally presented, communicated it only in a limited way, imo).

Everything about the adventure was fun, smart, entertaining, one of the best films ever made, I agree 100%, and I rewatched it with pleasure many times. But I believe that stories have to bring about some palpable change in their world in order for them to be successful and finished. The GBU, in my opinion, doesn’t do it because it doesn’t want to be a story-story, and it’s fine with just letting its characters exist in a magic Western/a cowboy fantasy/a fairy tale. And I guess it’s also one of the reasons why the story didn’t go anywhere from the GBU – there is nothing to add to a basis like that. And I can’t help noting that it’s super ironic that the only film in the trilogy that truly seems to be all about money-money-money has no “dollars” in its title.

Another thing that I think is super important: there is almost no female energy or presence in the film. And it’s not even a matter of representation that bugs me, although I think it’s very important. It just feels like there is a deficit of something vital that renders everything even sort of unrealistic. In AFOD we have Marisol and we have Consuelo Baxter, and they’re relevant for the plot, and they have goals, motivations… lines. In FAFDM we have Mary, who has only a few brief moments, but she’s memorable, endearing, and she has a small story/motivation of her own, and we also have Mortimer’s sister, who is EXTREMELY important, and who also isn’t just symbolic, she herself makes a plot-relevant decision on screen, although a really horrible one from my personal moral standpoint. In the GBU we have what? A prostitute that’s beaten up by Angel Eyes (I never watch this scene), another woman at the hotel where Blondie stays in that is shut up and called an old hag or something like it, and another woman that makes a comment about Tuco’s hanging. None of them are memorable or have motivations on their own, and to me it makes the film lacking some really important counterpoint in terms of dynamics etc.

And nobody needs me to describe all the things that the film is awesome at because everybody knows that the film is one of the best films ever made, so painfully gorgeous that it’s difficult to praise it. So, I’ll move on to the other two films but will briefly talk about Tuco and Eli Wallach.

Eli Wallach is considered one of the best actors ever to appear on film for reason, so, I’ll just say about my personal impressions from his performance: he really made me emphasize with Tuco. His acting is incredibly rich, nuanced, concentrated, and, imo, just leaves you no choice but to think of Tuco as a real complex human being, not a film character. And Tuco is a superb character. Over the course of the story he gets to be loathsome, humane, funny, silly, terrifying, and cunning, - often all those at the same time. That’s one hell of a captivating character who’s just very, very interesting to watch and to analyze, regardless whether you like him or not.

Then, we have A Fistful of Dollars. I’m a huge fan of classic adventure stories that are gen, plot-driven, and have smart main characters figuring out a way to get what they want without being destroyed by other characters for wanting or trying to get it in the first place. I think it’s very difficult and very rewarding to write a good story in this genre. AFOD is exactly this kind of story, and this kind of stories is only as good as their protagonists’ maneuvers are. And Joe is, like, a tactical genius (the barrel! the fire!). And it’s much better to rewatch the film to remind yourself of how smart he is than have me talking about it, so.

But apart from that he is also humanized by his deeply personal motivations that appear completely irrational especially in contrast to his clever manipulations of the Baxters and the Rojos. And he doesn’t do it egotistically, to “get the girl,” which wouldn’t make him particularly sympathetic one way or another. Sure, he makes a good buck at the end, but his primary motivation still is justice for Marisol and her family (and then protection of his friend). Additionally, Joe gets his fair share of punishment for providing said justice, which further humanizes him and kind of makes you worry about him. And Silvanito with his scolding, humor, and skepticism helps with it a lot, too.

And then, there is the fact that the film wants the audience to either want to be Joe or want to be with him, sometimes both at the same time. Everybody on screen is a single Joe’s wink away from swooning because how he practically oozes charisma (only Silvanito is immune to his charms). I can’t blame them, though.

And I also want to point out the last lines of the film: Joe says that he doesn’t want to get involved into politics because that would be too much for him, and I think that it’s very fitting. The film just showed how cool he is, but he knows his limits, and he knows that he operates on a different plane.

So, all in all, it’s a masterfully done story.

Finally, we have For a Few Dollars more. I love all three films, but FAFDM is my favorite, there’s no doubt about that. I’ll start with the fact that it’s perfectly structured and perfectly balanced. We have three big players, Mortimer, Manco, and Indio, and the film shows how dangerous and how smart each of them is, so that the conflict between them ends up being very, very suspenseful. Not to mention the fact that it takes Manco and Mortimer almost 40 minutes, I think, to finally properly meet – by that time we are already speculating who will be the winner in the end, how will they react to each other, how will they interact, how will they work together etc. We get to know them quite well first, and then their relationship allows us to explore their characters even deeper through their interactions, their differences, and their similarities. For some time, storywise they become a single unit. While the story of Indio’s assault on Mortimer’s sister is revealed parallel to the plot.

Indio himself is terrifying as hell without being cartoonish. He is a really dangerous, broken man that is also methodical, smart, and ruthless. He is so bad that he kills the opponent’s family just to make him bitter enough to draw on him. And he is so bad that he is okay with killing off his own gang.

Speaking of which, Indio’s gang is colorful. He has interesting interactions with them at the beginning, in that church. And Klaus Kinski made his Wild stand out to me. I swear, the moment he almost cries in that saloon when Mortimer takes away his cigar, I feel bad for him every single time. And when he recognized Mortimer, it was tense. He even had a cool witty one-liner after Mortimer said that he should come to him in ten minutes to help him light that match and smoke: “In ten minutes, you’ll be smoking in hell!”

By the way, Indio’s tendency to get unnecessarily physical with his gang looks even more unnerving when he touches Manco to check his wound/shares a smoke him with some clearly visible eroticized subtext, which gets even creepier when you realize that he is a rapist. I swear, I was worried about Mortimer when I saw the film for the second time – that is even though I knew the plot – because Manco brought up that family resemblance between Mortimer and his sister, and we all know what Indio did to her.

What else? I could bring up all sorts of things, the action, the final duel, the small smart details that allow the plot to happen the way it happens (e.g. how Manco manages to hide the bag with all the money on that tree before Indio’s gang capture him and Mortimer – only to re-collect that bag at the end of the film), the humor, the street kids and all the other cool-cool secondary characters (Joseph Egger’s informer probably is my favorite), the opening sequence and the title card (oops, already rambled about this one) really, anything and everything including the perfect chemistry between Manco and Mortimer.

But I’ll just say that the music in this film is special to me. Every single composition by Ennio Morricone is special, unique, memorable, and intriguing, it’s true, and so it feels redundant and banal to say something like this. The Ecstasy of Gold is almost extraterrestrial, the main theme of Two Mules For Sister Sara imitates actual mule sounds, how genius is that, etc., and you must be dead to not be enticed and mesmerized beyond words by the main theme of the GBU, which is a hymn of all spaghetti Westerns now, a universal call for adventure (I feel like a bad person saying this, but I’ve always wanted to joke that Ennio put sexy back into the “waah-waah”… no, I regret nothing).

BUT. To me personally, the music in FAFDM is as personal as the film itself, and dare I say even more important to the story than in the GBU, despite the theme of the GBU being a kind of Greek choir throughout the film. The personalized sounds for Manco and Mortimer accentuate their personalities to the point where they almost create a reflex in you. The pocket watch chime is literally part of the story and plays a huge, crucial role in the plot! And it’s decidedly one of the saddest musical scores I’ve ever heard. It’s minimalist, mournful, and yet also nostalgically bittersweet. It feels like a reminder that there’s no going back whatever that might mean in the actuality. And the famous moment where Manco asks Mortimer whether his question was indiscreet and Mortimer says that the answer could be… I feel personally touched whenever I watch the scene. For me, it doesn’t feel like just an amazing scene, it triggers some deep emotion that is hard to express and almost gives me the urge to cry. Something along the lines of respectful and compassionate “I’m sorry that it happened to you,” “I’m sorry that I can’t help you.” The feeling of personal tragedy is conveyed infinitely better than a three-volume backstory ever could.

And then, there is this huge potential for all the stories about Manco, and Mortimer, and Blondie, and Tuco, and Angel Eyes, and even Joe to explore... Well, I better stop here.

So, yeah. It turned out to be a crazy long post, and I‘m grateful to anybody who reads it till the end. And if you haven’t watched these movies please do. Cheers.

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emmelfish · 6 years

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Nina looks as confused by this as I am. Okay, so Electrocuted Amazing Hat Guy was in the Calientes’ hot tub, and when the conversation turned to Don Lothario, he took it as an opportunity to talk about how much he fancies Brandi. Everybody in my game seems to fancy Brandi. She’d have done well as a Romance sim.

Anyway, he goes and gets struck by lightning in the hot tub, leaves, and then calls Nina about giving her a sample of a ‘new product’. Said ‘new product’ turns out to be the same bloody tired old flatscreen TV from the base game!

So that’s the most exciting thing currently happening in Nina’s life, given her romantic pursuits and athletic activities have taken a backseat to nausea, indigestion, flatulence, crying at the Cat Lady movie, and pickle cravings. Let’s turn our attention to Dina, who, when she isn’t working...

... is running off to see her beloved Mort Mort. Now, game story or no, there’s a real reason I’m keeping these two crazy kids together.

Why, they’re only crystal ball compatible of course! I genuinely found it rather adorable when Dina cropped up on here, considering she already wants to marry herself off to him. Dina suiting Mort better than Bella, huh. Who’da thunk it?

The age gap between these two is still just bonkers. I mean, my own brother in real life is ten years older than me, but that still would have only made him teenaged when I was around the kid age that Alex is here. Then again, Alex is only a few days off being a teenager... and if that would put Cass in her early twenties... I’m talking myself out of an argument here. Moreover, why am I still trying to make sense of this game?

Mort’s LTW is to max out all 7 skills which is perfect for a retired Knowledge sim. And given his existing skill points from his Mad Scientist days, this one might actually be achievable, if a little tedious, repetitive, grinding...

DINA! Be nice to the fish, you’re a bloody Nature sim.

Dina: But also, fishing is a Nature sim hobby. Rargh! I’m a crocodile! 🐊

Touché.

Kristen: I’ve accidentally run to Pleasantview. Yeah I’ve mistakenly – run – to Pleasantview. I didn’t mean to, just the endorphins kicked in and uh, I couldn’t stop... I feel fucking brilliant! Can I sit down in your front room and play chess before I die?

Context:

In full view of that painting that looks nothing like Bella, you guys. No shame.

Mortimer: She’s legally dead, give us a break.

Take the painting down then and get one commissioned of sweet Diggy here, she shouldn’t have to look at her dead husband’s sister while she’s riding you like Seabiscuit.

Who *doesn’t* want their pension check to arrive right as they finish woohoo, huh? And while all around her seem to trip over and fall pregnant, Dina’s yet to have a Mini Mort in the Making after around fifteen tries at this point. I think that’s possibly fate telling me to have these two adopt, which I’m totally down for.

Hey, it’s Joan of Arc haircut tracksuited Romance sim Lainey again! She’s everywhere, this gal.

Lainey: Haaaaaai.

Kristen: My legs are gone, man... I’m a jelly.

Oh LOVERS UPSTAIRS? Alex is home and wants to yell at you about his good grades. Maybe you should get out of bed and uh –

Oh.

Oh yay, Cassandra’s in here too.

My, young Alex Goth has seen some shit in his short life. That said, at least Mort is a good enough father to get out of bed and congratulate him... even if he did do so in undies.

Dina: What am I marrying into (if he ever asks me).

Oh YIKES Cass. Don just keeps spreading that seed, weaving those tangled webs, and bringing families together in the strangest possible ways! I wonder if one day Pleasantview will solely be populated by raven-haired, green-eyed Lothario offcuts.

And now Mort gets a great reputation! I’m not sure how that’s possible given he’s famous for shoving and yelling at everybody in – what have I got, like 9 subhoods at this point? – who dares look through a telescope during the day, but there we go!

I knew it wouldn’t be long before Dina embraced the Goth Crazy and started playing terrible piano in her panties. And looky who’s here! The most underrated Curious bro of the three (probably with good reason, but he’s an all-time fave of mine)! Did he jog all the way from Strangetown too?

Cassandra: So I say, who needs best friends when you have robots and a great career in Science, right?

Vidcund:

Mortimer: No Kiernan, while I’d love to hang out Downtown I’m afraid Alexander is following me around like a lemming. Yes, well there’s a high probability of a new stepmother in his life. You know the one, Bella’s brother’s widow. You’re right, I suppose that does make her my sister-in-law. Anyway you’ve seen her, she’s very attractive and young and blonde and I’m concerned Alexander may be forming a mild Oedipal complex.

Despite technically being on the grouchy end of the Sim personality spectrum, Cass is super nice and actually praises Dina’s horrible piano playing.

Vidcund: Well I’ll be. Antisocial like me, but raised with enough social skills to keep up appearances. Note to self: Google ‘how to trick any girl into becoming your wife’ later.

Hang on... did Alex bring a friend home from school and I missed the pop-up? Was I off getting chocolate or something? I guess there’s that Pleasantview penchant for Viper Canyon kids going strong again.

Vidcund has no airs and graces and simply blows millions of raspberries at an unfazed Dina.

Whereas Kristen is so nice that she actually tips her.

Kristen: It’s a Fortune sim thing. We understand each other.

Interesting, I thought you folks would be more frugal than that. And there’s Sharla! Oh man, the Ottomi are going to be such hard work. That household is gonna be a slog and a half.

Let’s leave this here because next time, Mortimer and Dina have a date completely dominated by their outerwear. Oh no... it’s not an outdoor date to a park or anything like that... no. They wear their outerwear to a restaurant. They really do. Those delightful eccentrics.

#emmelfishuberhood

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shewhowantsmouseears · 6 years

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The Son Of Scheherazade, 25

Notes: As always, thanks to my wonderful editors, Drucilla and BlueShifted!

This was a tough one, guys. Sort of a "make it up as I go along" deal, with my editors suggesting big rewrites. As a result, I'm not 100% confident about it, but in the end it's just a fanfic, and you guys have been patient enough. More importantly, we're getting closer to the big confrontation and finale!

Summary: When the curtain rises, it's Mickey versus Mortimer - or is really Mickey versus himself? Can he protect what's dearest to him, and find out what it means to really be free?

There were a great number of bad things happening all at once, and Mickey had no idea how to handle it. Perhaps if it was merely one or two bad situations, his clever mind would have found a solution, but here and now with all of this? The exact opposite happened – his brain short-circuited, leaving him without words and without thought. Minnie, at least, could think and speak, but it wasn't going to solve everything that was happening. “What,” she finally spoke up, in shaky disbelief, “are you doing here?”

Mortimer had changed greatly since last they saw him, and given that they'd destroyed his thieving livelihood and outed him as a criminal, this wasn't terribly surprising. His once proud showman clothing was now replaced with stitched-together rags and shoes too small for his huge feet. There were bags under his eyes, the eyes themselves were sunken in, and while he was already rail-thin to begin with, he appeared to be even thinner now, as if all it would take was a gentle breeze to send him to the ground. Yet despite looking like yesterday's trash, he had the confidence of a sultan, with a glitter to his eyes and a proud stance to his walk. He now sported a long black cane, not for an ailing back but for ailing showmanship. He eyed the two, eyed the carpet, eyed the crowd, and then turned around, bowing dramatically.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he announced, his voice as grating and booming as it had been so long ago. “I hope you've all enjoyed the show! This is but a mere glimpse into the future, a sneak peek of what I, Mortimer the Magnificent, will bring to the stage!”

The crowd broke into wondering applause, praising the act, with some naysayers saying they could “totally see the strings holding the carpet up.” Some eager patrons tossed coins at Mortimer's feet, and he quickly scooped them up before clearing his throat. “Now, if you'll excuse us, my actors and I need to rehearse the next performance.” He then cast a dirty smirk back at Mickey and Minnie. “Isn't that right?”

Mickey's mouth finally closed, and he bit down hard on his lower lip. Awful as Mortimer was, one couldn't say he didn't know how to win an audience. Mickey and Minnie were just shouting about genies and wishes – if they thought what happened was real, they might break into a frenzy to grab the lamp for themselves, not to mention Pluto still wasn't safely returned. He glanced at Minnie, who was so angry at both men that parts of her face were turning red. There would be no time to explain Mickey's words before he fell. With a hard, bitter sigh, he grumbled, “Yes, Mortimer.” Maybe in the time they were apart, Mortimer learned a trace of humility or kindness.

Mortimer put a hand to his ear. “What was that?”

Nope, he was still a jerk in every way possible. “Yes, sir.” Boy, if there was a time to test controlling Mickey's anger... Mickey shook his head and turned to his flying carpet – which now was flopped on the ground as ordinary as ever. Grateful for small miracles, Mickey rolled up the carpet and held it in his arms.

Mortimer twirled the cane in his hands before starting to walk, giving little waves to the adoring crowd and promising them a bigger and better show next time. Mickey and Minnie followed behind, with Mickey whispering, “How much you wanna bet Daisy knew he was here and thought this would be funny?” But this got no reply. Minnie was glaring daggers at Mortimer's back, but the fact that she wouldn't even look at Mickey said he wasn't the only one she was furious at. This was going to be a long day. Mickey gulped, and kept quiet for the rest of the walk.

Mortimer himself said nothing until they approached a dilapidated shack that reeked of dead fish, though given the town's main source of food and money, he at least couldn't be blamed for that. But when he opened the door and the smell somehow got worse, they found it much easier to blame him. It might have been a store once upon a time, given the large empty shelves and scattered tables and broken chairs, and a weirdly placed door on the floor. But Mickey ignored all of this, as there in the center of the room stood the three beagle bandits, along with the pup they'd stolen. “Pluto!”

Mortimer snapped his fingers, closing the door. “Gentlemen, release the hound, if you would.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” said the tallest one, with muscles so big they threatened to rip out of his rags. They dropped Pluto to the floor, and he instantly sprinted towards his master, licking his face in gratitude.

Mickey let the carpet drop, and hugged his pet tightly. “Aw, Pluto, I'm glad you're okay...” But this joy was short-lived, and he glowered at Mortimer. “Wait a minute, these crooks work for you?”

“They're my associates,” Mortimer corrected, strolling up to the smallest table in the room. “They provide the brawn, I provide the brains. Ever since our little mishap, when my assistant quit on me...”

“When Mickey took the lamp,” Minnie said, her words dark and deep. Minnie was startled at her tone of voice – he hadn't seen her this angry since the incident with the Imp.

“Tomato, tamata.” Mortimer waved a hand, taking a seat. One beagle took out a cigar, the second lit it, and the third popped it into Mortimer's mouth. “It hasn't been easy to pull myself back up. It's rather difficult to do a magic act without magic. But, I am a man of opportunity! I decided to take my one-man show and make it an ensemble.”

Mickey understood fairly easily. “Instead of making Minnie steal for you, you get these guys to do it.”

“I'd like to think of more as... temporary acquisition with the intention of redistributing for differential profit.”

“Using big words doesn't change what you're doing!” Minnie barked, hands on her hips. “Whatever scheme you're planning, we won't be a part of it!”

Mortimer puffed on his cigar briefly, eyebrow raised. “Huh... you weren't nearly as mouthy when you were working for me. Seems we've both changed since we last saw each other.” He tapped his fingers on the table, his brain already scheming and plotting.

“Yeah, she's become stronger and better and wiser and more independent,” Mickey said proudly, “And you've gotten even slimier.” He hoped that would ease some of Minnie's anger, but it didn't even crack a smile. He'd clearly messed up big time.

“That's some gratitude from the man who saved your skins.” Mortimer pointed at them with his lit cigar. “I could have let the crowd rip you apart to get their hands on our little lady, or have you already forgotten what happened when you stole her from me?” At this point Mickey and Minnie mutually decided that correcting him was pointless, as he was determined to see things only from his point of view. “I'd say you owe me. In fact, it's what I'm saying right now.”

“Uh-uh, no way.” Mickey crossed his arms. “If you think we'd help you rob anyone, you've lost your mind. We're here for a very important mission, and we don't have time to waste with criminals! Minnie, Pluto, let's get out of here and meet back at the ship.”

But just as Mickey touched the doorknob, Mortimer said, “I suppose that mission might become more difficult if I told the town the truth?”

Mickey stood still, eyes almost popping out of their sockets. Yes, looking for a single scrap of paper in this town would probably become much more difficult if they were constantly being chased by a greedy mob. “You... you... you...” He couldn't even come up with a decent insult, he was so shaken. He looked to Minnie for help, but she was now putting the majority of her wrath on him, and he darn well knew why – he could merely wish for the last piece, and he'd have it in his hands, then they could flee the town. There was nothing preventing him from doing it right now – save for Mickey's emotional baggage.

With every passing second that he didn't do this, Minnie got angrier and angrier, until she finally stomped hard on the wooden floor. “You're such an idiot!” she yelled, but instead of slapping him again, there was a puff of pink smoke, and she was gone, retreating back into the security of the lamp.

“Minnie!” Mickey held up the lamp, upset and helpless. “C-C'mon, don't be like that! I'm sorry, I can explain...” But this was not really the time or place to do it. The Beagles quietly clapped, perhaps mystified by the magic without knowing if it was real or not. Mortimer was probably not the type to hire anybody smarter than himself. Mickey swallowed, and then looked up at his captor. “I... I meant what I said. I am not going to steal for you.”

“Now now, whoever said you'd be stealing for me?” Mortimer mused, entertained by the break-up before him. “I bet you'd be pretty lousy at it anyway, bleeding heart and all. I just want you to be my assistant at my next show tonight. You'll just be handing me my props, and telling the crowd how great I am, maybe some groveling and worshiping at my magnificence. And serve as my footstool. And get my refreshments.”

“Not the tiniest bit bitter how you ended up, are you?”

“Not in the slightest.” Mortimer dragged out a long spew of smoke. Jose was always courteous to do small puffs and keep the smog out of his friend's faces, but Mortimer exhaled right in Mickey's direction. “One show, and then you're on your way back home. We have a deal?”

Mickey looked at the lamp, looked at the carpet, looked at Pluto – who was whining and shaking his head no – and then looked at Mortimer. He'd been fairly naive when he first met Mortimer, but now Mickey had been through many adventures, faced many villains, and knew the world wasn't as fair as anyone wished it to be. He didn't have a single doubt that Mortimer was planning something, and if by some golden chance Mortimer was telling the truth and he was free to go, Mickey's conscience couldn't let Mortimer and his “friends” continue stealing from the town. If Mortimer hadn't learned his lesson the first time, it was Mickey's responsibility to teach him again.

And how much of it was avoiding a dreadful conversation with Minnie about feelings he wasn't ready to handle? More than he cared to admit.

“All right. You've got a deal.” Mickey held out his hand, and Mortimer stood up to shake it, both men convinced by the time the last trick was played, they'd be the victor.

~*~

The rest of the crew was having a much more pleasant time, although compared to what Mickey and Minnie had been through, almost anything could've been an improvement. Donald had taken up the outskirts of the town, where businesses made their living aiding wandering travelers. He wasn't having much luck in finding the last piece, but the people he talked to were friendly, the weather was peaceful, and his mood was calm, so why worry? They'd find it sooner or later. The question he meant to ask Mickey was still on his mind, but it was in a far away place, only visited when he wondered if Mickey was having any success, be it with the date or finding the piece.

He turned a corner, ready to start a new branch of investigating, when he spotted Daisy sitting on a rickety wooden chair, sipping an expensive drink, and flipping through a book, using her snake as a bookmark. Donald suspected, correctly, that Daisy had conned her way into getting all three. He rolled his eyes and then walked towards her, sticking his finger in the book and lightly pulling it back. “What do you think you're doing?”

“Reading one thousand and one ways to please your man,” Daisy quipped, enjoying the scarlet hue in Donald's cheeks. “Kidding. Mostly.”

Donald decided his fragile heart wasn't ready to ask further on that. “I mean, why aren't you helping us locate the last piece of the map? Spell? Map spell?”

“I outsourced the job,” Daisy replied, jabbing her thumb to a rabble of small children who were now eagerly searching under every rock, pile of garbage, and alleyway to find a lost treasure. “I told them whoever finds that piece for me will get my kingdom's worth of gold.”

“You don't have a kingdom.”

“And thus, they won't get any gold, fiddle de dee.”

Donald took a minute to ask himself why he cared so deeply about this terrible woman, before remembering that he really had no say in who he liked. “Okay, it would be easier to get more help... not that I really approve of lying to children... but what if we tried a more honest approach on a bigger scale?”

“Eh.” Daisy leaned back into her chair, resuming her read. “What's the hurry? If Mickey's right that the Phantom Prince's own power is killing himself, maybe we can just wait it out and the big bad will die before we have to do anything.” She flipped the page, and the snake followed along.

“Or, he could hurt or kill Mickey's parents before we get there,” Donald growled, a few sparks of lightning appearing his head. “Do you really want to take that gamble?” Or was she just messing with him, as was her favorite hobby? An idea came to him then, a sudden and rather powerful one, and one he probably couldn't have pulled off before the Cave of Wants.

Daisy gave a little laugh. “You do know how I love a good gamble, and-” Any lies, deceit and manipulation were dismissed when Donald tugged the book away, so he could kiss her on the beak. A few of the nearby children squealed their disgust, and Daisy was so stunned she dropped the book, her snake bouncing off just in time. When Donald pulled back, he rather enjoyed the shocked, flustered look on Daisy's face that typically would have been on his. The tables had turned.

“I know you're going to keep up the lies and tricks,” Donald said, still blushing but having a bit more and confidence over his beating heart this time around. “So, the way I see it, if I cut you off before you lie and trick, everything works out for the best.”

Daisy, she of pulling other people's strings and making games out of lives, had never been so thoroughly trounced before. “You... you really think you can keep that up?”

Donald leaned in, one eyebrow up. “Care to try me, fiddle de dee?”

Yes, yes she did, boy did she ever want to try. Naturally at this inopportune time, one of the smaller children skipped up to the ducks, tugging on Daisy's sleeve. “Miss?”

“This had better be the most important information in the world,” Daisy said without breaking her eyes off Donald's intense gaze.

“I was just wondering, can we stop looking when it's time for the magic show?”

The love spell was broken temporarily, as both ducks now had enough worldly wisdom to know that whenever there was magic, trouble wasn't far behind. “What magic show?” Donald asked, hoping that for once magic might lead to something new and not life-threatening. He could already hear Horace crying out “I CALLED IT!” in his head.

“There's going to be a big magic show tonight,” the child answered, smiling brightly. “Everyone wants to go see Mortimer the Magnificent!”

Donald stared at the child, then slowly turned his eyes toward Daisy, who shrugged innocently. “If I said I didn't know, would you believe me?” She then gave the kid an affectionate ruffle of his hair. “Sure, go see the show, have fun.” With a giddy giggle, the child skipped off to tell his friends.

Donald ran a hand down his face, feeling stress build in every bone in his body. “We have to find Mickey and Minnie and warn them. From what they've told us about that guy, he can't possibly be up to any good. Let's just hope he doesn't know anything about the last piece, or we could all be in serious trouble.”

Daisy closed her eyes, using her Eye to locate her pals, and when she opened them, she stifled a chuckle under her hand. “About that... trouble's already found them, looks like.” Before Donald could form a plan, Daisy held up her finger. “Hang on. Let's go round up the others...but we'll watch the show.”

“What?!” Donald balked, a hand to his chest. “Why would we do that? And your first reason better not be 'because it'll be funny'.”

“Don't be so callous, Donald. That's my second reason.”

~*~

A stage had been set up in the middle of the small town, crudely constructed as if it were made by someone for the first time who pretty much had no idea what they were doing – Mickey accurately guessed that the Beagles had created it, with Mortimer using his silver tongue to convince them he shouldn't do a lick of work. Props, pulleys and mirrors were set up behind the curtains for the upcoming illusions, and Mickey helped move this and that to eavesdrop on conversation between the thieves. While Mortimer dazzled the crowd with his works, the Beagles would ransack the empty homes, and hide their loot in the trapdoor under Mortimer's not-quite-house. But every once in a while as Mickey made the final adjustments, he could feel the prying eye of a Beagle on the lamp.

Even if they didn't wholly believe in real magic themselves, curiosity was a dangerous pull. Mickey wasn't surprised, and in fact counted on this greed. He had sent Pluto away to find the others, warn them if he could. The sun was starting to set, and a crowd began to gather. Mortimer strolled up, dressed to the nines, humming a made-up show-tune as he inspected each of his props. “Looks like I'm ready to go!” He snapped his fingers. “Assistant, I'm parched.”

“Pain in the butt, is what you are,” Mickey muttered under his breath, taking a jug of water and a cup off one of the tables to pour Mortimer a drink.

Mortimer grabbed the cup and downed it in one gulp. “Now, don't forget to smile! Every audience loves a smile. It won't be a long show, but then again, they might ask for an encore. So, show those pearly whites!”

The only way Mickey could even fathom smiling at the moment was by picturing Mortimer falling off the stage and into a suddenly sprouted field of cacti. “I don't think anyone wants to see that smile.”

Mortimer tsked, approaching the closed curtain, the murmurs of the crowd breaking through. “Must we be so uncivilized to one another? Sure, we've had our differences...”

“You enslaved a girl and abused her in order to make money.” Mickey's voice couldn't be dryer if he was deprived of liquids for seven days and seven nights.

“...But that was then, and this is now.” Mortimer paused, as his goons slid out to do his bidding. “Oh, boy... you don't think we're that different, do you? You can't con a con.”

“I am nothing like you!” Mickey said sharply, fists clenched. “You didn't care that you were causing Minnie pain, you treated her like a slave! Nobody deserves that! She's not a tool for people to use, she's a person, and she should be free!”

“Can't help but notice that she's still in the lamp,” Mortimer said as he popped out a frilly ruffle on his collar.

Mickey inhaled sharply. “You have no idea what I've been through and what I need. The way things are with her and me, and the way they were with her and you... they're totally different!”

“Okay, so they're different,” Mortimer admitted, but before he parted the curtain, he cast his assistant a devious smirk, his buck-teeth glittering in candlelight. “But does that make it better?”

Time can stand still for people for many reasons. Falling in love, being told sad news, or in Mickey's case, being metaphorically punched so hard in the stomach he could taste his intestines. He staggered, nearly losing the strength in his legs. Mortimer kept Minnie in the lamp out of greed, and Mickey did the same out of love, so – so – so – no, it wasn't any better. He had been so reluctant to use wishes and become yet another wicked master that he had simply locked Minnie away in a different cage. It had been just as Donald warned about their potential future – Mickey had never actually asked Minnie about this, gotten her opinion, as he was so consumed with what he was sure was love and faith that he didn't even question what he was doing was right. He didn't want to let her go – but he had pushed her away.

Mortimer was announcing himself to the crowd, getting applause and cheers. Mickey's body moved without his mind acknowledging it, standing rigidly next to Mortimer as his brain continued to unravel. He had tried to protect her without asking if she wanted to be protected. He had stripped her of the only unique power she had, taken away her ability to help those she cared for. Mortimer was saying something about how great he was and how Mickey begged to help out, and Mickey barely heard him. He also failed to register his friends in the crowd, who were startled at the haunting look on the prince's face.

Mickey's self-loathing spiraled deeper and deeper, forgetting all about the plan he had tried to set up to expose Mortimer and get away scot-free. He moved methodically as Mortimer went through his tricks, making a box vanish, pulling vermin out of a hat, guessing cards, all quite routine. He should have just been content to be the Son of Scheherazade, as the real him only made things worse. Even when he tried to do good, he did bad. He didn't deserve Minnie. He didn't deserve to be alive.

“Now, for my next trick, I'll need a simple piece of cloth, like a belt! Assistant, if you would so kindly...” Mortimer leaned behind Mickey, reaching over –

Mickey's hand lashed out before his mind acknowledged it, and he was gripping Mortimer's wrist, seconds before it had touched the lamp. Their eyes met, and Mickey understood that this magician intended not to just make magic, but steal it. Mortimer snarled, but kept on a showman's smile. “Why so jumpy, pal? All I'm asking for is a little help!” He then lashed out with his other hand -

Mickey pulled his hand back, then turned, twisted, not intending to break any bones but give his attacker enough time to regret his actions – a technique he'd learned from Horace, having spent many a night under his and Clarabelle's tutelage – before making a run and getting some distance between them. “Here I thought Mortimer the Magnificent was too' magnificent' to need anybody's help!” He heard laughter from the audience – they assumed this was part of a gag, and were better off for it. Maybe Mickey wasn't the best person to have the lamp, but Mortimer was surely no better! This was a new game and a new gamble – Mortimer was after the lamp, but if he exposed its true nature, he'd be in the same trouble he had just threatened Mickey with. Mickey couldn't tell if this was clever manipulation or greedy stupidity.

“Every great act needs a few stepping stones!” Mortimer rubbed his sore wrist, wondering when the kid got so strong. When he'd last seen Mickey in that run-down town, the boy was scrawny and didn't even know how to hold a sword. Where did the muscle come from? “After all, when I'm around, people say they can feel the very earth tremble beneath them!” He twirled his cane around before slamming it to the ground, making the stage itself begin to shake – in reality, it was several trap doors beginning to open. He expected his opponent to yelp, flail, and drop below.

But muscle wasn't the only thing Mickey had gained in his time. His eyes darted about, and then he jumped backward – once, twice, backflipping, techniques he'd gained by training alongside Clarabelle, until he landed on the prop table, though he nearly lost his balance once or twice. “Can't say I know the feeling! Maybe instead of being on the ground, you've got your head in the clouds!”

Only Mortimer's shock kept him from losing his temper. Mickey had yet to realize himself how much he'd changed, but it was apparent to Mortimer, who had only planned to trick a slow, weak kid, not a quick-thinking athlete. Swallowing a growl, he avoided his own traps and grabbed the table by the edge. “If you'd just do what I asked, you'd be on cloud nine!” This was a trick table, after all, and it took one hard push to make it start spinning around. This time Mickey was caught off guard, struggling to keep his balance, understanding here and now that Mortimer wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted. Mortimer spun his cane around, trying to jab Mickey and snatch the lamp in one blow – only to be met with Mickey's sword, and more surprising still, to be met in even combat with it, each blow parried, even when Mickey's back had been turned. After all, clumsy as Goofy was, this was his finest skill, and he'd taken great strain to show Mickey how to protect himself.

Mickey found feel the table beginning to slow down, and as Daisy had shown him time and time again, a distraction was his best bet. If he remembered the trick right... “Maybe I'll take your advice, Mortimer, and just take flight!” With one foot, he slid open a secret compartment, unleashing half-a-dozen doves that quickly flapped around in all directions, knocking the older man over onto his back. When Mortimer could finally see past feathers, Mickey was gone, having run off in the other direction of the stage. If he could just get out of here, maybe think like Donald and use the environment to his advantage -

But that's when he saw the applauding audience at the end of the stage, and his heart sank. He was still stuck. If he dared to step off the stage, Mortimer would reveal the truth. But if he stayed with the act, Mortimer wouldn't relent until the lamp was his again. Why hadn't Mickey seen this earlier? Why was he always so sure he was right? Why hadn't he just done as Minnie begged? Why, why, why was he always so stupid? He was going to lose her – he was going to lose everything!

By this time, Mortimer had gotten back to his feet, the trapdoors closed and the table set straight. He lightly clapped, enjoying the look of agony on Mickey's face. “What's the matter, assistant? A case of stage fright? Happens to the best of us... if only you could wish it all away.” Twisting that knife in was extra fun. He had more than enough tricks to play, and it was only a matter of time before Mickey's mind and body gave out. The lamp would be his again, just so long as he pressed the right buttons. Sure, the kid had changed on the outside – but inside, he was still that weak little coward who couldn't do anything on his own. “Now, your little act has given me a great idea of how next to wow my audience... if you'd so nicely put your sword away before you hurt anyone...” Once again, Mortimer knew just the right wounds to open. Mickey shakily returned his blade to its scabbard, his eyes swimming.

What was he going to do? No matter what, Minnie would suffer, and it was all his fault. Why couldn't he do anything right? Why did he even bother leaving the palace? He'd been nothing but a spoiled, worthless, cruel master, just as all of Minnie's other masters had been. He was worthless.

“And for my next trick,” Mortimer announced, pushing a thin box on wheels to the stage, “I will defy the mystic wonders of the afterlife, and possess the powers that only the gods can attest to!”

No worth, no life, no love, he was nothing nothing nothing -

“My assistant will climb into this box.” Mortimer opened up the top, and pulled out a sharp saw. “And I will cut him in half! No need to be squeamish, he'll make it... probably.” He winked to the crowd, and they enjoyed the joke.

Mickey swallowed, automatically turning to the box, raising his foot, ready to crawl in, stupid, worthless, hopeless boy -

And then he felt a piece of popcorn bop his nose. He blinked once, twice, and then heard the owner of the treat call out, “Boooring! C'mon, let's see some real magic!”

Mortimer spun around, surprised and angry. “Hey! Who said that? … And where did you get popcorn in a fishing town?!”

Clarabelle lightly tossed another piece of popcorn up and down in her hand, her eyes on Mickey but her voice on Mortimer. “You call this magic? This one's so obvious. You've got a fake set of legs in the second part of the box.”

Mortimer's mouth dropped, and he fumbled to put the saw back inside. “I... I can assure you, there's nothing like that, if you can just wait a minute...” “And that last trick?” There went Daisy scoffing, as she stood in front of the crowd. “Anyone else see the hidden panel under the table? That's where the doves came from, obviously. Where's the real material?”

Mortimer scrambled to push the table with said panel away from the stage. “Hold on a second! That was just... you were seeing things!”

“Jose, wonder and hope in all things eternal,” Panchito crooned, strumming his guitar, “I only wish we could see some real magic, aside from the sparks in your eyes.”

“Panchito, whose radiance is envied by the sun and moon both.” Jose lazily put an arm around his friend's shoulder. “I'm afraid the only miracle we'll see tonight, is if this bum can actually entertain us.”

The crowd begun to whisper about, getting very disappointed by the reveals they were hearing. Mickey held his breath, worrying that Mortimer would recognize his hecklers – only to remember that, when Mickey had confronted Mortimer in their last battle, he'd only known about Goofy and Horace. As far as Mortimer was concerned, he was being harassed by complete strangers. Horace was in the crowd, but he was making sure to stay hidden, snickering at how things were falling apart, with Pluto making a similar expression at his feet. Mortimer flailed as he tried to recover his wits, tripping over hidden switches and exposing a mirror when he stepped backwards.

“What about the kid?” one more voice asked, and there stood Donald, a smile on his beak and a twinkle in his eye. “You got anything worth showing? It's not too late!”

Mickey met Donald's face, and his heart stopped drowning. What had he been doing? Licking his own wounds as if that would solve anything? Mickey still had breath in his lungs, feelings in his soul, and a clever brain that rarely stopped. No, it wasn't too late – as long as he was alive, he could still learn. He wasn't alone, and so long as he kept fighting, he wouldn't stay alone. He touched the lamp on his belt, and his fingers curled. Just because a story ended, didn't mean the characters stopped living.

Mortimer growled, holding the cane in his hands so tightly it threatened to break. “Better think twice, kid! You know what'll happen if they learn the truth!”

The truth was so many things, some good, some bad, and it always would be that way. Mickey held the lamp in both his hands, looking at his own golden reflection shine. “The truth? The truth is... sometimes... I can be a real idiot.” Pink smoke began to drift out of one end. “Sometimes I don't listen to others when they've got things to say... And even worse, sometimes I don't think they have anything to say. Sometimes I try to do the right thing without checking if it's right. I make mistakes. I'm going to keep making mistakes. But if that's the only way I'll learn... then I'd better be prepared to make a lot more!” He held the lamp up to the sky, smiling wide. “So if what I'm going to do is a mistake... then I'll learn everything I can from it!”

“I WISH FOR THE FINAL PIECE OF THE MAP TO APPEAR IN MY HANDS!”

The lamp suddenly erupted with pink smoke, swirling all around Mickey then shooting forth into the sky. There came a melodious giggle. “As you wish, my Master!” And in a brilliant glow that awed all in the town, a rainbow wind twisted all around Mickey's now open and outstretched hand – when the colors cleared, a familiar piece of paper laid in his palm.

As the smoke faded, Minnie now stood next to Mickey, her beautiful smile back in its rightful place. She didn't say anything just yet – she doubted she'd be heard, as the audience went into roaring applause and huzzahs, the crewmembers joining up together at the front of the crowd to wave at their friends. Mortimer stood in place, stunned that his “brilliant plan” had fallen to pieces, more-so than he knew, given the shadows inching around behind the closed curtain. Mickey's scar glowed for a brief time, and there was a hint of exhaustion to both mice, but both things seemed to matter very little compared to gazing at each other's eyes.

“I'm sorry for hitting you,” said Minnie.

“I'm sorry for deserving to get hit,” said Mickey.

“KISS THE GIRL!” yelled Daisy, this time earning a ponytail-yank from everyone. “Oh, like you guys weren't thinking it!”

It was all fun and glory until Mortimer slammed his cane down on the box for the saw trick, now effectively splitting it in half without the body inside. “You asked for it, kid! Now you'll never know peace again!” He then spun on his heel to address the confused crowd. “You saw it with your very own eyes! This girl is a genie! If you get your hands on the lamp, you'll get untold power and riches!”

Mickey glanced at Minnie, who glanced back at him, and they exchanged a knowing grin. “Oh, all that?” Mickey said, giving the final piece to Minnie. “You can't con a con, Mortimer. That was just another trick. Had the smoke ready under the stage, used some mirrors to make the fancy lights, and hid the slip of paper under my sleeve.” Groans of disappointment and booing rose up once again, and some of the crowd, fed up with all the exposed lies, began to depart.

“Honestly, Mortimer,” Minnie added, enjoying every single drop of wretched misery on her former master's face, “What kind of grown-man believes in genies?”

Mortimer began to lose what little control he had over his sweat. “N-No! No, it's true! It's all true!” He could see the audience growing smaller, and his panic increased tenfold. “No! Don't leave, not yet! Just gimmie a little bit of time, and I'll prove it, I'll prove it everything!” If they didn't stay, they couldn't be robbed!

“Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that...” Mickey made an overly theatrical bow to Minnie, much like Mortimer had done before. “Minnie, if you please?” “Gladly, Mickey.” Minnie daintily took a few steps backwards, tugging the curtain back enough to expose all three Beagles, hoisting a different weapon, having intended to club Mortimer once the show was done. They paused upon being exposed, and awkwardly waved to the remains of the crowd.

“WHAT ARE YOU MORONS DOING HERE?!” Mortimer screamed, the cane now broken in his hands, which gave him a great many number of splinters.

“Well, uh,” the Head Beagle began. “We figured, why bother robbing them, when we could grab a genie and rob everyone everywhere? … 'Course, finding out that it's not real kinda puts a bummer on things.”

The audience that had remained behind was now glaring hotly at Mortimer, some knuckles cracking and a few sleeves rolled up. Mortimer knew he was a dead man, but given this was a fishing town, he kept flopping like a water-starved fish. “No, it's real! I know it's real! I can prove it!” He then waved erratically at Mickey, starting to foam at the mouth. “I'll make a wish! Gimmie that lamp!” Mortimer lunged at Mickey, who merely had to side-step, and sent Mortimer crashing down into the street below.

“He's not really under obligation to do anything of the sort...” Minnie fingered the spell piece as if she was just checking out her nails. “But, Mickey, why not be a dear and help him out?”

“Anything for you, Minnie.” Mickey waved his hand, and held out his empty palm. “I wish for the final piece of the spell to appear in my hands.” And, because it was a wish that had already been granted, absolutely nothing happened. “Hm. Funny, that.”

“No! No, that doesn't count!” Mortimer crawled to his feet, staggering, trying to reach for Mickey but now fear and humiliation had zapped his strength. “Wish for something else! I...I... I'm Magnificent...?” But Mortimer had used up the last ounce of good will from everyone around him – the audience for being swindled, and the thieves simply doing their nature of being thieves – and high-tailed it away from the stage, being chased by all sides.

“I can't even begin to tell you how good that felt.” Minnie hopped off the stage, grinning and unable to stop.

“I've got a pretty good idea.” Mickey jumped off as well, unsure who to hug first. “Thanks, everyone! You really got me out of a bad place, and saved our hides.”

“It's what we do.” Horace said, high-fiving his wife after. “All things being equal, though, does this mean we'll be hearing more wishes from you?”

“Would make things easier by, I dunno, one-thousand-percent,” Clarabelle agreed.

“Yes...and no.” Mickey adjusted the lamp on his belt, and faced Minnie. “I've been doing this the wrong way for a long time. When I wished to feel your pain, I was trying to take away your ordeal... but from the beginning, we should've been partners. Working together, instead of me just making a wish or delaying them until the last possible second. I still need your help rescuing my parents... and we still don't know what we'll face...but if you want-”

Minnie held up her hand, cutting him off. “I'm not just partners with you. I'm a member of the great Sinbad the Sailor's crew. Everyone here has their own journey to fulfill, but they are holding it off until they can rescue the Sultan and Sultana. I'm not an outsider, I'm not just along for the ride. I'm one of you... so, just like them, I'll hold off my quest until yours is done. I won't have my freedom until your parents are free, and the Phantom Prince is defeated.”

Mickey felt his face burn, in a good way – Minnie was becoming stronger day by day, and it was amazing to see. When she was finally free, she was going to do great things, and the world would be a better place. “How about this, then?” He held out his hand. “From now on, when I want to make a wish, I ask you first. And if you want me to make a wish, you ask me. Every wish will be from the both of us.”

Minnie almost shook his hand, but quickly pulled back, holding up her pointer finger. “With the exception being, if we're all about to die, you don't wait and ask.”

The rest of the crew loudly and unanimously agreed.

“Seriously, Mickey.”

“She speaks the truth.”

“Mickey, you're great, but yeah.”

“No more Hero Mode.”

“Sí, sí, sí.”

“Yep, yep, yep.”

“Woof, woof, woof.”

“I GET IT ALREADY!” Mickey snapped, embarrassed while knowing this was a fantastically good point. “A-hem. I will try not to get myself killed by withholding on the thing that would prevent me from getting killed. Deal?”

“Deal.” Minnie shook his hand, and to make extra sure he wouldn't forget this promise, leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. Mickey went pink, happily so, and started to fall backwards, with Donald catching him.

“Hey, hey, none of that just yet!” Donald snapped his fingers, trying to prevent Mickey from going into a typical love-induced stupor. “We finally have the last piece! We can get to the forgotten kingdom, and take on the Phantom Prince! We gotta get back to the ship and prepare, this will be our greatest adventure yet, we have to be ready for anything, and he stopped listening to me ten seconds ago, didn't he?”

“Kisses are powerful things, so I've learned.” Daisy lightly nudged Donald, who gave her an amused look.

The rest of the crew laughed, relieved of so many burdens, and they all began to head back to the ship, with Mickey needing to be carried most of the way. The sun set, and the stars began to glimmer all across the world.

~*~

But the stars weren't glimmering over Pete, and the fact he no longer saw them was very low on the list of things that creeped him out. The daily beatings had finally stopped, now that Mickey was going to head straight for them. There was one last plan to play, and like almost everything that had happened since this entire mess began, Pete disagreed with it. “Why can't you just kill them all and be done with it?” he growled once the final measures were put in place. “Keeping them alive will just give them a chance to come back after us!”

The Phantom Prince sat on his throne, his body becoming wispier with each passing day. “It's easy to pass judgment on things you don't understand. All is necessary for my grand design.”

“If I don't understand it, why won't you explain it to me?” Pete clenched and unclenched his sore hands.

The Phantom Prince scoffed. “Why should I explain things to a mere servant? I know what is best, as I have always known! If my foolish father had merely done the right thing and given me the crown, we'd still be remembered!” Though it was difficult to see at first, the old sorcerer was wringing his hands. “Once I have both the genie and the Eye, I can give new life to myself, and to the kingdom! Everyone will remember that it is I who ruled, and not my weak sister!”

Little by little, Pete was regretting turning over to the side of a madman. But, if he got to rule his own kingdom, surely it'd be worth it in the end? The beatings, the humiliation, the frustration, it would be worth it all in order to be rich and powerful! Who cared about being remembered, when the present mattered the most? By the gods, he didn't even know the real name of the man he was working for – and on a very disturbing note, did the Phantom Prince even remember his own name anymore? He thought very little of the prince he abandoned, but now he did, as a note of irony – with Mickey wanting to be known as anything but his title, and the Phantom Prince craving nothing but that. What would happen when two ridiculous forces collided?

No matter. Pete would show them all. He was smarter, wiser, better, and he'd have his chance to prove it soon enough. “But this is it? The final part of the plan?”

The Phantom Prince chuckled darkly. “The final part? You could see it that way. As for me... this is only the beginning.”

#disney #fanfic #the son of scheherazade #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #donald duck #daisy duck

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imagine-loki · 6 years

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The Baseborn Princess and the Aesir Prince

TITLE: The Baseborn Princess and the Aesir Prince

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 10 AUTHOR: wolfpawn ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine you’re a bastard daughter of a king of a far-off realm, the product of his drunken loneliness at battle. His guilt of cheating on his wife drove him to send you to live on Midgard, but due to the fact that his other children (and his wife) adore you, you’re often invited to visit. RATING: Teen and Up

For a few days, people saw little or nothing of Clodagh, she would be spotted from time to time in the gardens, but she seemed to actively seek places away from others. Her father and Lydia waited, as did her siblings and the Aesir royal family. The only ones that really saw her were Huginn and Muninn, and they seemed to understand her need to be away from other people and did not show their master the elf that seemed to love spoiling them with attention and the occasional bit of food.

Loki watched longingly from afar, he wanted nothing more than to be around her, to help her through processing her whole situation, but he forced himself to remain a step back, to give her the space she needed, as hard as it was for him.

‘Brother, care to spar?’ Thor asked in good humour one afternoon.

‘No, not today.’

‘You’ve done nothing since Clodagh has rejected you.’

‘She didn’t reject me, she is taking time to deal with issues that have arisen in her life in that aspect and others.’

‘Meaning?’

‘There has finally been a breakthrough in the wall between herself and Sika, it is causing her to have to question a lot in herself so she is taking a few days to deal with it all, adding to that, she is worried as to what would be expected of her were she to be my wife.’

‘Well, we can start small, like not hitting me.’ Thor stated lowly.

‘Don’t grab small animals from her then.’ Loki warned.

‘They really like her, don’t they? Father said his ravens spend more time with her than him, they figured out how to unlock the window to get out to her, Mother has to use her seidr to lock them in.’

‘She has that effect.’

‘So, how long before she accepts or declines?’

‘Only she can answer that.’

Thor clapped his shoulder. ‘I hope you get your answer soon, Brother.’

Thor wandered the side garden for no reason in particular, he needed air but the training grounds were being used for drills for the Einherjar, forcing him to seek other areas to fit his requirements. He meandered through it aimlessly, just killing time when he paused and stared open-mouthed at what he was seeing in front of him.

‘Just look at Muninn, see how he stretches his wings, Muninn, don’t be a sourpuss, show her properly, it’s not like she is going to use flight to steal your perch, you silly boy.’

Thor watched as Clodagh help up a tiny bird next to his father’s raven, the raven stretching its wings as she requested.

‘See, that’s not hard, you do it.’ The bird did as she asked also. ‘Well done. Rabble, you’re a duck, you can fly but you are too lazy to do it, I have seen you, so do not play coy.’ There were a few quacks at that. ‘Mortimer, what will we do with him?’ She laughed before Thor caught her eye. ‘Hi.’

‘You are like something from a storybook.’ Thor commented.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The way you talk to them, they understand you, it’s odd to see. It is like stories from childhood, more like you are a faerie than an elf.’

Clodagh found herself laughing at the thought. ‘I am not a faerie, though that would be fun, I would think.’

‘It would be dangerous,’ She cocked her head slightly as she looked at Thor. ‘Loki is known for his mischief, so too are faeries, a creature born of both….’ He chuckled, but Clodagh bit her lips together. ‘Are you going to decline my brother?’

‘I...I don’t want to.’

‘But?’

‘I fear I am not suited to him.’

‘Do you know, before I met you, I resigned my brother to never meet anyone to his liking?’ She looked at him sceptically. ‘No, honestly. I knew he could never have a conventional wife, it would not be in his nature, he needed someone as unique and unconventional as him, seeing you like this, as your true self, it makes me relieved that he will have what he so rightfully deserves, a woman after his own heart.’ She said nothing in return, Thor looked at the small bird that was imitating the ravens. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

‘A hawk killed its mother, I have not seen a male one here, so it doesn’t know how to fly, it needs instruction, so of course, the ravens are the best assistants for that.’

‘Huginn is not being a good aid?’

‘Huginn is off on a message for the Allfather, Muninn here is not obliging as much as he should.’

‘You can tell them apart?’

‘You can’t?’

‘No,’ Thor looked at the raven, who seemed indignant at his response.

‘They are completely different, different colourings, different personalities.’

‘They are both black ravens.’

‘Huginn has a tint of green and purple to his wings, Muninn here, has blue and pink.’ She explained as though it was as clear as day.

‘Uh-huh.’ Thor looked at her confused. She just gave a small shrug back. ‘How likely are you to accept Loki?’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘I am worried for my brother, I know you declining will crush him, he clearly loves you.’ she frowned. ‘I am not trying to guilt you, you can only make a choice in this life that is right for you, but I would like to know for my brother’s sake.’

‘You’d want to help him through.’

‘Yes, I would.’

‘I want to say yes, I love him more than words…’

‘But?’

‘I am so scared I will ruin everything.’

‘We can stay as we are and risk nothing in life, but then we risk experiencing nothing, if we risk, we risk failure, but we also can risk being happier than we ever thought possible.’

‘Those are some very wise words.’

‘Loki said them to me, when he told me he was going to ask for your hand.’ Clodagh looked at him shocked. ‘He is willing to risk his heart for you. All I ask is you put him out of his misery, one way or another. I know you are dealing with things you are not willing to discuss, but think of this, Loki is a sensitive being, seidr is only able to manifest in a being that is such. For the last five days, he has been wondering if the elf he has given his heart to is going to make him the happiest Aesir alive or crush his heart, think how that is affecting him.’

‘You’re a good brother, even if you can be a bit self-obsessed from time to time.’

‘We all have our faults.’ Thor shrugged. ‘Is that the same hedgehog?’

‘Yes, that’s Morti.’

‘I thought Loki said you released him.’

‘I did, but he’s not doing too well.’

‘What will happen with him?’

‘I may have to look after him permanently. His eye is getting worse and the other eye isn’t looking good.’

Thor looked at the prickled creature. ‘Poor guy, he’s actually sort of cute.’

‘Yes, they are, aren’t they?’ She smiled affectionately, looking down at the hedgehog. ‘He loves Loki too.’

‘Loki always liked animals, not like you though, I didn’t think anyone could like animals as you do.’

‘I am a special case.’

‘Indeed.’ Thor gave a smile to show his jesting. ‘I will see you again soon, hopefully I will be preparing to call you Sister, and will enjoy your company as such, your brothers sing your praises so well, I think they are saddened to see you and Amelia depart, but considering the joy you bring both my brother and one of my closest friends, I am glad you are both here, and that you will have one another’s company often with your matches.’

Clodagh paused. ‘We would, wouldn’t we?’

‘You had not thought of that?’ She shook her head. ‘Were Loki and I to have had to seek our spouses on a basis as you both did, I would think it would be something I would realise and aim for.’

‘I hadn’t thought of it.’ She admitted, but a small smile came to her face as she did. ‘Thank you, you have made a decision a slight bit easier.’

‘You are going to say yes?’ Thor smiled.

‘I was scared of being here, facing this alone, but the knowledge that at least, on occasion, I will have my sister as well as Loki, it makes it all the easier.’

‘There are no better words you could say, I am elated.’ Thor beamed.

‘You’re going to gloat you helped this, aren’t you?’

‘It’s not a lie.’ Thor pointed out.

‘I can see why you and Loki clash horns, you are two troublemakers.’ she scoffed.

Clodagh went in search of Loki, but to her surprise, she could not find him. She was about to see if the Allfather or Allmother knew where their son was when she bumped into Liam, the youngest of her brothers.

‘Clods, just who I was looking for.’

‘What’s the alibi, and what am I covering for?’ She asked, her arms folded.

‘As much as I love knowing you always have my back, not today.’ He grinned. ‘Father wants you.’

‘Good or bad?’ She asked worriedly.

‘Dunno, he said just find you and get you to come to the throne room.’ Liam explained.

‘The throne room, the Allfather’s one?’

‘Well, he hardly means the one in Alfheim.’ Liam scoffed.

They went to the room, Clodagh becoming uneasy as she noticed not only her father, Lydia and her siblings there but also Loki and his parents. ‘Have I…?’

‘Norns Clodagh, will you ever cease thinking you have done something to warrant worry.’ Lydia scolded. ‘The only time you have been corrected in your life is for this sort of self-correction.’

‘Then….?’

‘We need to discuss a matter with you.’ Sika stated plainly.

‘Is it to do with my decision, because I wanted to talk to Loki about that in private first.’

‘Really?’ Loki looked at her, scared to hope she had decided.

‘Yes, I was looking for you when Liam found me.’ She explained.

‘No, it is not to do with that, though I think everyone is glad to hear that much will be dealt with soon.’ Lydia gave an encouraging smile. ‘It is...well, Sika.’

Sika cleared his throat, looking uncertainly at Clodagh. ‘The Allfather and I were speaking. As you are my daughter not by marriage, like your brothers and sister.’ Clodagh swallowed at that, even though it was no secret, it still hurt to hear it said. ‘I want to have you in equal standing, officially. I explained to you already that...well, you know.’

‘But it cannot...bastards can’t be made legitimate.’ Clodagh pointed out. Everyone’s faces altered slightly at her use of that word, ranging from sad to angry.

‘I told you, do not use that word.’ Sika barked.

‘Indeed, I have told you also.’ Frigga added sternly, ‘Loki?’

‘It goes without saying.’

‘Not saying it does not make it any less of a fact.’ She argued.

‘I will not have that word used in my throne room.’ Odin growled, ending all discussion on that particular discussion. ‘You are King Sika’s daughter by blood, not Queen Lydia’s.’ Clodagh looked sadly to Lydia, showing how she wished it was a false claim. ‘But your father wants it that you can be.’

Clodagh stared at the Allfather then to her father, confused. ‘How?’

‘Legally, Lydia can claim you as her daughter, you are orphaned, technically, because of Genevieve’s passing as she did. When you came to the palace, though we had you tended to, you did not formally get recognised.’ Sika explained.

‘I gathered as much.’

‘And as such your parents were never declared.’ Sika explained further.

Clodagh frowned, her brow knitted together as she processed what he was saying. ‘So, if you have the Recognition take place and call Lydia my mother….how does that affect everything, Lydia was pregnant with Amelia?’

‘We do not claim me as your biological mother, Genevieve is your mother, no one should ever take that from her, even posthumously. We can, however, state that as you were an infant, so vulnerable and in need of a mother, that I took the role.’ Lydia explained. ‘It means a small fib on our behalf, but it does legitimise you. Apparently a few generations ago, the Queen turned out to be barren so she and her King had a mistress of sorts to carry their young but to legitimise them, there had to be a rule change. Since the queen raised the child and it was of official bloodlines, it could be allowed.’

‘But where is the fib?’ Clodagh frowned, trying to understand what angle everyone else was on.

‘About Lydia raising you.’ Sika explained.

‘But she did raise me. Well, her and my maids, but all of us had them.’ Clodagh pointed out. ‘She had my clothes chosen, my lessons, she was there for all of the firsts I can remember, she taught me about puberty, she taught me to deal with all of that, I felt as embarrassed as my siblings when she tried to sing, is that not what a mother is, someone to guide and often times embarrass you?’

There was a stunned silence from the monarchs and grins and nods of concurrence from the younger royals. ‘She has you all there, see, it’s been a formality all along.’ Eoin laughed.

‘Indeed.’ Odin chuckled. ‘Well, it seems we have that sorted.’ He turned to Clodagh. ‘So long as you are satisfied with it?’

‘I...guess?’ Clodagh felt herself becoming somewhat concerned with it all again.

‘You are not going hiding for another week,’ Diarmaid commented, ‘Seriously, it’s been long enough. Forget finding yourself, you could have found ice on Nidavellir in that time.’

‘Diarmaid.’ Lydia scolded.

Clodagh smiled at her brother, the most sarcastic of them, he always made her laugh. She noted too that Loki was looking at her, when she looked at him, she could see the silent prayer in his features, he wanted nothing more than for her to say yes, but he seemed ready for no. Part of her thought to ask that they go somewhere quiet and talk, but she thought too of Thor’s words, and how she was forcing Loki to wait on, uncertain as to where he stood and how it was unfair on him. So instead of wasting any further time, and putting Loki out of misery, she walked over to him and stood beside him, putting her hand in his and looking at him sheepishly. For a moment, Loki stared at her before closing his grip slightly and holding her hand, a genuine smile on his face, pulling her against him, gently.

#loki #lover #submission #submitted fic #chapter 10 #The Baseborn Princess and the Aesir Prince #wolfpawn #bastard daughter #king #battle #wife #children #guilt #thor #odin #frigga #castle #attention #Falling in Love

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adamwatchesmovies · 3 years

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Archenemy (2020)

I’ve got to praise Archenemy for its ambition and Joe Manganiello’s performance. Unfortunately, aside from a neat premise - that doesn’t pan out in the end - there’s just not much here for you unless you really want an indie-superhero movie.

In another dimension, Max Fist (Joe Manganiello) is a superhero who narrowly manages to save his world from destruction. In the process, he falls into our universe - powerless. Living on the streets and rambling about things no one understands but him, he catches the attention of Hamster (Skylan Brooks), an amateur vlogger/street journalist. This friendship couldn’t come at a better time. Hamster’s sister Indigo (Zolee Griggs) has crossed her boss drug dealer (Glenn Howerton) and he wants his money back.

It’s cool to see someone other than the big studios take a crack at the superhero genre. There’s so much you can do with the idea of lone vigilantes with powers. We haven’t seen the down-on-his-luck hero thing quite like this and director/writer Adam Egypt Mortimer plans on expanding this universe into a trilogy (with 2019’s Daniel Isn’t Real being the first chapter), which is an exciting idea. I just wished I liked this movie more.

This is very much an example of a film that needed just a bit more to be what it wants to be. Whenever we get flashbacks to the universe from which Max Fist originates, it’s in an animated style that unfortunately, looks like something you'd get from a talented college animator who ran out of time. You can tell every shortcut possible was taken to make the characters move, from rotoscoping the faces to using pre-rendered assets and resizing them as necessary (there are a lot of pixellated patches of blood), and using wild colors to compensate for the lack of detail in the backgrounds. These scenes have a certain stylish charm but not that much charm. Rather than get you pumped, they make your heart sink. There’s no way a movie whose budget is this tight will deliver on the superheroics it’s deliberately avoiding but wishes it could show.

Rather than deliver spectacle, Archenemy aims for low-to-the-ground thrills through its characters. These are also a mixed bag. Hamster walks into the viral post-generating website Trendible, tells the manager (Jessica Allain) he’ll be a huge asset to them and is hired on the spot. Even Facebook asks you for a phone number before you can open an account but these guys? They’ll give an internship to anyone who walks in. It’s small but a good example of the way the movie just doesn’t quite feel right. The characters’ dialogue feels overwritten, people either over-react (Hamster) or under-react (Indigo). The scenes where Max shows off his non-abilities lean towards the contrived. At least the combat is appropriately gritty and well-choreographed, that's a plus.

Archenemy isn't a bad movie. I’d even recommend it as a rental to those who like the way it sounds. Just know that you probably won’t remember it down the line. Still, you could do way worse. (March 30, 2021)

#Archenemy #movies #films #MovieReviews #FilmReviews #AdamEgyptMortimer #JoeManganiello #SkylanBrooks #ZoleeGriggs #PaulScheer #AmySeimetz #GlennHoweron #2020movies #2020films

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

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The Weekend Warrior Movie Preview 12/6/2019 - PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE!

You may have noticed by now that I didn’t have a Box Office Preview over at The Beat today, but that’s only because there wasn’t much I had to say about the sole new wide release, PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE (STXfilms) which is clearly trying to capitalize on the success Warner Bros. Animation has had with its LEGO movies. Playmobil is a pretty known brand, and this one features the voice of Daniel Radcliffe as secret agent Rex Dasher, as well as the voices of Anya Taylor-Joy and Jim Gaffigan. The movie looks fun for sure, and it is the only release this weekend, although the weekend after Thanksgiving is notorious for bombs, and STX dumped this here into 2,300 theaters after moving something else. STX’s UglyDolls movie earlier in the year also bombed with just $20 million and with a much bigger push, so I’m not sure I can see this making more than $6 million this weekend either. It won’t help that some theater chains are only charging $5 for ALL tickets… we’ll see if that helps or hurts.

Also, Focus Features will expand Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters nationwide, though I’m not sure into how many theaters, plus Amazon Music will push Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy, starring Shia Labeouf, into significantly more theaters this weekend. The former seems like a better than the latter, since Honey Boy – which is great, mind you – averaged just $2,101 theaters in 186 theaters this past weekend. Even if it expands to 500 theaters or more, I can’t see it making more than a million this weekend. Dark Waters did better in about half as many theaters, so it’ll be interesting to see how wide Focus will take it. Either movie will only need to make about $2.2 million or more this weekend to get into the top 10, but Haynes’ film starring Mark Ruffalo will really have to be VERY wide (2,000 theaters or more) to stand a chance.

LIMITED RELEASES

There are a LOT more limited releases this week, as we get into the month where studios try to get all of their “awards-worthy” movie theaters for enough time to be eligible for that year’s Oscars.

Amazon is releasing the historical drama THE AERONAUTS (Amazon), reuniting Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne from the latter’s Oscar-winning The Theory of Everything. This time, she plays balloon pilot Amelia Wren and he plays scientist James Glaisher who go on an adventure to take a balloon higher than ever before so he can do weather-related scientific experiments. Sounds pretty exciting, huh? Actually, it isn’t bad, directed by Tom Harper, whose previous movie Wild Rosecame out earlier this year. This is a perfectly fine historic drama with lots of exciting shots up in the air since most of it takes place in the balloon as the two try to survive against the odds. This is definitely a movie I’d check out a second time but it will also be on Amazon Prime in a couple weeks in case you miss it in theaters or it’s not playing near you.

Fortunately, there are also a number of semi-cool genre films this week, some better than others.

Opening at the Metrograph in New York and L.A.s’ newest Alamo Drafthouse and the Frida Cinema is IN FABRIC (A24), the horror film from Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy), who will be at the Metrograph for most of the weekend to do QnAs and introduce the movie. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a lonely woman who starts dating again and is coerced into buying a red gown at a London department store which might be cursed with an unstoppable evil force. It’s another fantastically original film from Strickland that will probably be lumped into the current wave of “elevated horror” that so many filmmakers hate being lumped into, but it’s also good to know that it’s actually a movie in two halves (kind of like Trey Edward Schults’ Waves), as Ms. Jean-Baptiste only features in the first half and then the second half is another person who encounters the dress. And boy, that department store is one freaky place with Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie as what could only be described as a creepy mannequin come to life. In Fabric will be On Demand starting Tuesday, December 10. My latest interview with Strickland will be up later today over at The Beat.

There’s also Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi film LITTLE JOE (Magnolia), starring Emily Beecham as a single mother scientist who is working on developing a new species of plant at a company that will offer therapeutic qualities if fed properly and spoken to. As the plant grows, she realizes that it’s also creating different emotions in those that encounter it. The movie also stars Ben Whishaw, Kerry Fox asnd Kit Connor and will open at the Quad Cinema in New York, as well as in Philadelphia and other cities this Friday.

DANIEL ISN’T REAL (Samuel Goldwyn) is the new film from Adam Egypt Mortimer, starring Miles Robbins (Halloween) as Luke, a college Freshman who had an “imaginary friend” named Daniel as a kid who his mother (Mary Stuart Masterson!) forced him to lock up. As Luke starts dealing with a world away from his mother, Daniel returns, this time in the form of Patrick Schwarzenegger, who has deadly intentions for Luke and those around him, including a wild artist named Cassie (played by Sasha Lane). It opens in select cities.

Jennifer Reeder’s teen thriller KNIVES AND SKIN (IFC Midnight), which premiered at this year’s Berlin and played at Tribeca is an attempt to create a modern-day River’s Edge based around the disappearance of a teenager named Carolyn Harper. It stars Marika Engelhardt, Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper and will open in select cities and On Demand.

James Frey’s controversial 2003 novel A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, which was once sold as a “memoir” but then, like the work of JT Leroy, turned out to be more fiction than fact, except that this was learned about Frey’s novel after it was made a part of Oprah Winfrey’s prestigious Book Club. Anyway, Frey’s novel has been adapted to the screen by the husband-wife team of Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as the latter plays a young man dealing with his addiction. Haven’t had a chance to watch the movie, but it should be interesting going by the Johnsons’ previous together.

Getting a one-week Oscar-qualifying run is Céline Sciamma’s critically-praised drama PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (NEON), which has been playing a number of festivals since Cannes. It’s about a painter who travels to a remote island, commissioned to paint a widow still in grieving for her dead husband, but without her knowing.

Also opening at the Metrograph is Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family (1091), a film set in Mexico City where there aren’t nearly enough ambulances for the city’s population of nine million residents. The Ochoa family runs one of the city’s privately-owned ambulance services, taking nightly calls while trying to beat rival EMT crews to the scene.

I’ve heard good things about Naomi Watts’ performance in Alistair Banks Griffin’s thriller The Wolf Hour (Brainstorm Media) set in New York City in 1977 where a citywide blackout is causing fires, looting and the Son of Sam murders are plaguing the city. Watts’ June shuts herself inside her grandmother’s South Bronx apartment but someone keeps ringing her doorbell as visitors keep showing up to make her even more paranoid and fearful. The movie also stars Jennifer Hele, Emory Cohen and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (who co-starred with Watts in the excellent film Luce earlier this year.)

Pantelion Films will release En Brazos de un Asesino (Pantelion) this Friday. Directed by Matias Moltrasio, it stars (and is co-written by) Cuban-born actor William Levy (who appeared as himself in Girls Trip!) playing Victor, the “world’s most handsome man” (not too much ego there, Señor Levy!) who is also a cold-blooded assassin, killing for money. When he goes to collect from a drug lord, he encounters the beautiful Sarai (Alicia Sanz) who has been held captive for years and uses Victor’s arrival as a chance to escape. This actually sounds kind of fun, even though Pantelion rarely screens their movies for critics sadly.

Beniamino Barrese’s doc The Disappearance of My Mother (Kino Lorber) follows model-turned-activist Benedetta Barzini, a muse to Warhold, Dali and others in the 60s, who now in her ‘70s just wants to get as far away from the camera as possible, only allowing her son Beniamino to film this deliberate journey into obscurity.

This week’s film from Bollywood is Ashutosh Gowariker’s Panipat (Reliance Entertainment), a film set in 1761 as the Maratha Empire has reached its height and the Commander-in-Chief of the Hindostan army, Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kpoor) has to fight off the invading forces of Afghanistan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) leading up to the Third Battle of Panipat.

Other movies out this week and mainly on VOD that I don’t have time to write more about include:

Code 8 (Vertical) Grand Isle (Screen Media) Beyond the Law (Cinedigm) A New Christmas (Cinedigm)

This week also sees a couple re-releases including the excellent doc APOLLO 11returning to IMAX theaters and the Anime Promaregetting a “redux” release into theaters on Sunday, December 8 (the subtitled version), and then on Tuesday (English dub) and Weds (English dub in 4DX).

LOCAL FESTIVALS

Not really a festival but not exactly repertory either, Film at Lincoln Center will debut a new one-week series called Veredas: A Generation of Brazilian Filmmakers, running from Friday through December 11, which features a lot of work from this year and a few years back from Brazilian filmmakers, many which haven’t really been giving much U.S. distribution.

STREAMING AND CABLE

On Thursday, Netflix is debuting its new sci-fi thriller series V-Wars, based on the books by Jonathan Maberry, starring Ian Somerhalder (Lost, Vampire Diaries) as Dr. Luther Swann, a geneticist who is trying to put a stop to a virus that’s creating mutations across the planet. You can read my interview with Somerhalder over at The Beat.

Also, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story will hit the streaming network on Friday with its fantastic performances by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern and Alan Alda. This is a must-see... in case you don’t ever planned on getting married... or divorced.

The third season of Amazon Prime’s Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel will also debut on Thursday, while HBO will release the season finale of Silicon Valley on Saturday, making it the next HBO series to end this year after Game of Thrones and Veep, giving people even less reason to subscribe. You can watch the Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron comedy Long Shot on HBO this Saturday so there’s that.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This week’s Noah Baumbach in Residence offerings are his 2013 film Frances Ha, starring Greta Gerwig, and then Gerwig’s own movie Lady Bird. Both are already sold out. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph is a good one, Fritz Lang’s 1953 movie The Big Heat, while Playtime: Family Matinees will show Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). The Academy’s monthly series continues on Friday night with Kryzysztof Kieslowki’s 1991 film The Double Life of Veronique with a conversation and “musical discussion” with the filmmaker and Oscar-nominated composer Nicholas Brickell, who also scored the recent Netflix film The King.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Just one week after many people will have seen Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman on Netflix, Film Forum is putting a spotlight on the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s documentary work with “Scorsese Non-Fiction,” running from Friday through December 17, including some of the filmmaker’s better-known work like The Last Waltz (1978) and the Rolling Stones movie Shine a Light through some of his lesser-known documentary work.s If you really want to spend some time with Scorsese than maybe check out 1995’s A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies, which runs longer thanThe Irishmanat just under 3 hours! Scorsese’s 1974 short doc ItalianAmericanis also playing quite a number of times with 2001’s The Neighborhood. Personally, I’m kind of interested in seeing his 2011 doc George Harrison: Living in the Material World (also about 3 hours long), because it was recently the anniversary of Harrison’s tragic death. (The Film Forum will also use this as an opportunity to play some of Scorsese’s non-doc work like Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Baby Dol land more.) This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is the 1956 musical The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner… that’s a good one!

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

The Weds “Afternoon Classics” matinee is Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter (1955), starring Robert Ludlum, while Friday’s “Freaky Fridays” offering is Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining (1980). The Weds and Thursday double feature is On Dangerous Ground(1951) and Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall (1956), and then this weekend’s “Kiddee Matinee” is Joe Dante’s Gremlins. Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs screens Friday at midnight, while Saturday’s midnight offering is 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuad, starring Chuck Norris and David Carradine. The Monday Matinee is Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, and then Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut will screen Tuesday and Wednesday night.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Friday will be a special Brian De Palma double feature of Sisters (1973) and Blow Out (1981), while Saturday will be a screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999).Sunday are two MORE double features, an afternoon pre-CodeJoans Crawford/Blondell double feature of Our Blushing Brides (1930) and Footlight Parade (1033) and then in the evening is a TERRY GILLIAM NIGHTS OF KNIGHTS double feature of Monty Python and the Holy Grail(1975) and Jabberwocky (1977). The Aero will be showing the excellent Varda by Agnès for the next week or so, which is all the repertory you’ll need!

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

The Terrence Malick retrospective continues with a preview screening of Malick’s latest A Hidden Life with actor Valerie Pachner (who I met last night and she’s wonderful!) appearing to give an introduction. Friday is the “Brad Pitt version” of Voyage of Time and The Tree of Life: Extended Cut, while Saturday is Malick’s Song to Song and Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey as well as To the Wonder. In other words, all of Malick’s most recent films with multiple screenings through the weekend including Knight of Cups on Sunday. On Monday night you can see Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas as part of “Martin Scorsese: Four Tales over Four Decades.”

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1993, sadly already sold out, then “Weird Wednesday” is something called Blue Vengeance from 1989. Also next Wednesday is this month’s “Out of Tune” musical, Adam Sandler’s animated Eight Crazy Nights from 2002.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Iris Barry’s History of Film continues this week with a few more screenings from the 1920s including Walt Disney’s early film Plane Crazy from 1928, plus Robert Wiene’s classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on Friday afternoon. Vision Statement: Early Directorial Works finishes on Thursday afternoon with Bong Joon-ho’s first film Barking Dogs Never Bite from 2000. (Plus there will be a screening of Parasite with director Bong in attendance, so who knows? Maybe he’ll pop in to say a few words after this one, too.)

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Spy Games will screen Brian de Palma’s Mission: Impossible while Late Night Favorites: Autumn 2019 is David Lynch’s Eraserhead. The IFC Center also begins its annual theatrical run of Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life, playing three times a day with Donna Reed’s daughter Mary Owen introducing a bunch of the screenings.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

Continuing the Roxy’s “Nicholas Cage-athon” with David Lynch’s 1990 film Wild at Heart, co-starring Laura Dern,

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday night’s midnight movie is Penelope Spheeris’ 1985 movie The Boys Next Door.

Next week, we’re back to normal with three or four wide releases including Jumanji: The Next Level, Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell and the horror film Black Christmas. Plus the Box Office Preview will be back at The Beat!

#TheWeekendWarrior TheAeronuts InFabric Movies Reviews playmobilTHeMovie

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zoeygreensimblr · 4 years

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Last Kiss (Episode 22)

"The flight leaves in 3 hours and we are checking out of here in an hour so I'm going to run to the bakery on the corner and get you something special for breakfast Princess" Angus tells me when we are lying in bed Saturday morning. I packed my bag last night, leaving out my clothes that I will need for today, just need to shower and eat breakfast and go.

"Can I stay here or do you need me to come with you?" I ask him

"You can stay, I won't be long baby" He says as he throws clothes on quickly, he kisses me then leaves. I lay back and allow myself 5 minutes of serenity before my busy day begins but my serenity is broken by the buzzing of Angus' phone, in his hast to get dressed he forgot to grab it and now all I can hear is the vibration of the phone on the bedside table, I know who it is before I look at the screen but there's her name 'Steph Washington' destroying my serenity. The buzzing stops momentarily but starts again a minute later, she's just going to keep calling until it's answered I reason with myself so I pick up the phone and slide the screen to answer the call.

"Ugh about time Angus, seriously, you know I hate when you don't answer" She bellows into the phone

"This isn't Angus, it's his girlfriend actually. He's not here but I'll be sure to tell him you called" I say in a tone I don't even recognise

"Shit, sorry, I forgot he was with you, I'm glad he finally told you though" She says in her high pitched, singsong voice as I hear the keycard in the door, the door swings open and there is Angus.

"Baby, I forgot my..." He says as he comes in, then he sees me, his phone in my hand.

"Ah Steph, he's just walked back in" I tell her and hand the phone to Angus. There's a fire burning inside me, finally told me what exactly? That he is cheating on me with her? I storm off to the shower, alone, I don't want to hear their conversation, I'm just too angry, I'm angry at Steph for calling, I'm angry at Angus for hiding the calls from me but mostly I'm angry at myself for not speaking up sooner and now I look like the idiot girl who was in denial that her boyfriend was cheating on her.

The water is warm against my skin, it tingles and I let it wash over my face as I stand motionless under the rainfall shower head. I feel the tears escaping my eyes and I don't think I can stand up any longer, I crouch into a ball on the shower floor, placing my head on my knees, my hands under my legs and I let the sadness engulf me. I didn't even notice the water had stopped flowing until I feel the towel being wrapped around me. I pull my head up from my knees, my eyes sting from crying and my face is flush. He is sitting on the bathroom floor, knees pulled up to his chest, hands coving his face.

"It's not what you think" He says after a long silence

"What I think it is is that your ex girlfriend has been calling you for weeks and you've been hiding it from me" I say in a small voice, my fire has gone

"You knew?" He asks shocked, I stand up and dry myself off, step over him and walk out to where I left the clothes I forgot to grab before I stormed off. I dress myself quickly and I can feel that fire coming back.

"I guess you're not that good at covering your tracks" I yell at him

"Zoey I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry" He claims

"You thought hiding this from me wouldn't make me worry? Really?" I question him, "If you've done nothing wrong then you wouldn't have felt like you had to hide it from me, Hiding things is what deceitful people do, people who lie and cheat. Is it just phone calls or have you seen her too?" I stare at him, watching the colour drain from his face and the shame creep in.

"I saw her last week, we had coffee and talked. She knows about you, doesn't know details though like your name" His voice is small as he explains

"So she knows you're with me right now and she still keeps calling you?" I yell

"She didn't know we were here, I didn't tell her that and I haven't answered any calls from her while we've been here" He tells me

"That's so thoughtful, not telling your mistress that you've taken your girlfriend on holiday, I'm sure next week you'll fly her somewhere too, don't worry, I won't call you while you're with her, I'm respectful like that" I explode

"She is not my mistress Zoey, she is my friend" He yells at me

"Your friend? Wow, a few months ago you hated her and now you're friends?" Im shocked

"I never said I hated her, I hated what she did but I never hated her Zoey. I am here with you, I want to be with you" He pleads with me

"And what about when you're not with me Angus? I really only see you on the weekends, that's a lot of time in between and I know you" I scream

"So I must be fucking her then? That's what you're saying, that I'm fucking Steph because I spend time alone with her and because I'm a man who can't control himself. I spend time alone with Annabelle too, I guess I'm fucking her too and Tess, we are alone sometimes, I'm fucking Tess too" He yells at me, he picks up his phone and throws it hard at the wall, the phone hits the wall and it breaks in two and I stand there stunned, I have no more words. I grab my bag from the floor and storm out the door towards the elevator, I no longer want to look at him. I sit in the hotel lobby alone, I watch him exit the elevator, walk to the desk and check out, then walks up to me

"Let's go" He says in a sour tone

We drive to the airport in silence, not even the radio is on. I stare out the window, watching the palm trees and mansions pass. I'm not sad, just angry. I feel his hand touch my knee and squeeze it, I push his hand away from me, I want nothing to do with him and I'm not ready to let this go.

We arrive at the airport, check in and walk to the lounge. I fill a plate with toast, eggs, bacon and grab a glass of juice. I find a table and sit down, I'm exhausted from the fight, from the crying and the yelling. I see Angus standing at the buffet talking to a girl with dark hair, he points to me and dark haired girl turns around and I see that it's Cassie. She runs over to where I am and we hug tightly

"Zoey what are you doing here? I've missed you so much.Are you flying first class?" She has so many questions

"Zoey and I came on holidays here for a couple of days and yes, we are flying first class" Angus walks up behind Cassie, answering her questions

"This is awesome" She exclaims

"Do you want to swap seats on the flight Cassie?" Angus asks her

"You don't want to sit next to me?" I ask him, insulted slightly but not surprised

"I just thought since you and Cassie haven't seen each other in two weeks that you would appreciate catching up on a 3 hour flight. Plus I'm probably not going to be much company anyway, I've got reports and schedules to do" He explains to me and then turns to Cassie "Hold her hand on take off and tell her to keep breathing, she gets a bit scared with take off" He tells her.

"I was sitting next to my dad and all he does is talk business and I hate talking business so you saved me, Thanks Angus, you're the best" Cassie praises him, "Your boyfriend is the best Zoey" She tells me and I smile at her because if I don't smile I will cry.

We take our seats on the plane, me next to Cassie and Angus next to Mr Goth a few rows in front of us. I watch as Angus and Mortimer starts chatting, then laughing, across the row from them is Alexander, Cassie's younger brother and Bella Goth.

"What's been happening?" Cassie asks me, taking my hand, preparing for take off

"Not much, just came for a holiday and now going home" I tell her sadly

"Zoey?" She questions me

"I had a fight with Angus this morning, I think he's cheating on me with his ex" I break down

"Really?" She says shocked, "What happened?'

I give her all the details, the secret phone calls, how he had coffee with her, the fight and how he brought up about sleeping with Tess

"Zoey he wouldn't cheat on you with Tess" She tries to reassure me

"No but he would with his ex and the fact that he brought up Tess means that at some point he has thought about it, maybe he has some creepy twin fetish, I don't know, I feel like I don't know him at all and when we get off this plane I'm going to have to go back to his house and he's going to want to talk about his great new friendship with his ex girlfriend and then he'll act like I'm in the wrong for not understanding his great new friendship with his ex" I say quietly through tears, I don't want to create a scene on a plane full of strangers.

"Come back to my house, we will get ice cream and watch Buffy, kicking ass is comfort food remember?" Cassie offers

"Your parents won't mind will they?" I ask

"Not at all" She says and she squeezes my hand

We grab our bags from the carousel after landing, Cassie holds my hand for support as Angus approaches us.

"Ready to go home Princess?" He asks shyly, smile on his face, he thinks we've moved past the fight, that the 3 hours apart was enough time for me to calm down and get over it but I'm not over it, Im still angry, still hurt, still raw.

"I'm going to go home with Cassie" I tell him, I look at Cassie and give her a nod that it's ok if she steps away, she joins her family to tell them I'll be joining them. Angus looks at me with sadness in his eyes.

"Baby please, we can get through this. I want to spend tonight with you" He says, reaching out to touch my hand.

"Don't you dare fucking touch me or call me baby or Princess or any other cutesy name. I'm done Angus, I'm going home with Cassie and I want you to never contact me ever again. You want to talk about sleeping with Tess then you don't get to be in my life" I tell him, calmly, clearly, grab my bag and walk away from him, it's only when I'm standing with Cassie that the tears fall from my eyes, I will not let him see that he broke me.

#sims #sims4 #sims 4 story #sims 4 gameplay #sims 4 get to work #sims 4 get famous #sims 4 cats and dogs #wicked whims #buffy the vampire slayer #taylor swift

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churrothezanyrabbit · 5 months

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i’ve got something special for you!

•

HIIII this is the art of the sneak peek i showed earlier

i didn’t have wifi for my ipad at the time 😭

but HERE YOU GO YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE

tw: bløød and kn1f3 and indication of s/h

#yandere! mortimer #thank you zleepysnails for making the yandere mort tag #he’s just a silly guy #he’s so silly #hes so babygirl #ok so he might be a little cuckoo but that’s okay we love him for it #mortimick #mortimer #mortimer mouse #we need to give mortimer more praise #mortimer is hot and you can’t change my mind

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ubwfc · 4 years

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Swansea 2s V Bristol 2s 0-2

This week saw ANOTHER visit to Swansea for the 2s, this time to play their 2s in the cup. After enduring the coach journey listening to the thrilling conversation of men’s hockey 5s (“well I did further maths, physics AND chemistry!”) we arrived at the Swansea City training ground, where we were once again made to sit on the coach for 40 full minutes because we weren’t allowed onto site. Too fancy for their own good, they had five men mowing one pitch at the same time, and in revenge for wasting our time, Ella liberated a four pack of high quality loo roll.

We got changed and made our way out to the pitch, where we were greeted by the orange referee. He informed us that he had just returned from Lanzarote and so was deeply unimpressed by the gale force winds that had descended on Swansea. Despite both us and him being completely freezing, he then subjected us to a five-minute lecture on his opinions on the rules of football. After telling us he had played at “a very high level” he then told us how he thinks that “some of these new rules are baloney” in his thick Scottish accent.

When it eventually became time to kick off, we won the toss and Jess decided we would switch ends in an attempt to beat the wind. We started off strong, with Jess having a multitude of shots in the first 25 minutes. The game started with strong attacking from Jess, Camilla and Rosie, as well as some great shots on target from Simone, and soon after came a cracking shot from Amy from just outside the box, which the keeper managed to get her hands to (potentially with assistance from the wind). Ellie and Simone combined well on the left playing balls up to Camilla who made some lovely runs but we were unable to convert early on. Lizzie and Ella played equally well down the right (when the ball was not being blown away from them) with Ella playing some excellent balls into the centre and Lizzie making some fantastic runs and playing balls through to Rosie.

We saw approximately a million Bristol corners in the first half due to the gusts, with Lizzie curling the ball into Rosie whose first shot went just wide. Shortly after, Swansea managed to break but their brief attacking play was expertly dealt with by Tegan and Ellie, who managed to play the ball to Amy at holding mid. Shortly afterwards, they won a corner, but before they could take it the ref decided to arbitrarily stop play and ask if we’d actually like to play 80 minutes instead of 90 (a common query of old man refs who clearly think we are incapable of playing a full football match!!!!!!!!)

Back at the other end, good work by Camilla and Rosie culminated in a lovely volley by Camilla which was again saved by the keeper. Not to be put off, she soon received a through ball from Jess which she put safely into the bottom left corner, 1-0 Bristol after 38 minutes. We managed to keep up the pressure afterwards, and soon enough another Bristol corner was given; Lizzie once again found Rosie who slotted it in past the keeper to end the first half. 2-0 Bristol.

At half time, we had a brief period in the nice warm changing rooms, and a lovely team talk from Jess during which we all decided we were playing well. We also took this time to question whether Swansea is called Swansea because of swans. Fun fact: it is not, it is actually named after King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark (thanks Wikipedia).

Once we’d come out of the changing room raring to go, the sun came out pointing directly at our end, which didn’t actually help warm us up at all but rather just completely blind us. A very chilly Clare came on for Simone and the second half was underway. The wind was now even less in our favour than it was before, and our forwards all struggled to get shots off compared to the barrage they’d had in the first half. The ball now spent most of its time being blown across to the right wing resulting in Ella spending more time on the neighbouring pitch than she did on ours, trying to retrieve the ball whilst Swansea 1s were busy playing USW (and not particularly inclined to kick our ball back). Rosie made some excellent block tackles that Dean would have been pleased with, yet Swansea still managed to get balls through towards the edge of the penalty box. These were deftly dealt with by Tegan and Kat, who at one point took her addiction to heading the ball slightly too far by choosing to sink into a full squat and head a ball that couldn’t have been more than two feet off the floor.

We also had a bit of a giggle from one of the Swansea forwards, who, when the ball was given for a Swansea throw, was so excited to potentially have a chance on goal that she fell over her own feet and landed flat on her back. Despite this, her own player took the throw without waiting for her to get up, and the ball was again regained by a red shirt.

Realising that they needed more help up front, their coach decided to change their formation to three at the back ten minutes before the end of the game, despite Clare making some excellent runs up front. This didn’t actually help them, with Ellen getting so cold at the lack of action that she resorted to doing star jumps to keep warm. This was short lived however, as the whistle soon went for full time, after what was a suspiciously short 45 minutes. The ref also decided to award his own praise; he summoned Tegan to tell her that she played very well (which she did) and give her a Paul-Hollywood-esque handshake.

This is however not the end, as all the 2s would like to express their angst at men’s hockey 5s, who made our journey at least an hour longer than it needed to be. Desperate to get back for welcome drinks, we attempted to stop the hockey boys from making the driver stop at maccies, to no avail. No other fast food purveyor would do, so they made us go all the way to a random trading estate in Bridgend, where we went to KFC whilst they went to the toilet over the car park. Upon our return, we discovered the coach driver had decided to abandon us and go and park round the back of Sainsbury’s, which took the hockey boys another half an hour to locate. Thanks a lot lads.

Squad: Ellen Brown Ellie May Haines Kat Biggs Tegan Trowbridge Ella Salusbury Amy Brickwood Jess Mortimer Lizzie Moisan Simone Lin Camilla Sameur Clare Pemberton

Player of the match: Ella sexy Salusbury

Dick of the day: Men’s Hockey 5s :) :) :)

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furederiko · 7 years

Photo

A bit later than planned, but today's Random-News-Digest is MAINLY (yes, not all) occupied by Disney-related news. Owing that to the Disney D23 Expo 2017 that took place over the weekend, of course. So... as the San Diego Comic-Con International 2017 officially kicks off today (July 20th, PST), let's take a quick detour to see what hit the world by storm last week...

Disney Live Action

During the D23 Expo 2017, Disney announced and confirmed several of its upcoming live action remakes. Niki Caro's "Mulan" has entered production, as well as Tim Burton's "Dumbo". Dwayne Johnson is also set to headline "Jungle Cruise", while "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" has been given an official release date.

Cast for "Dumbo" has been confirmed to consist of Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, as well as Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins. Roshan Seth, DeObia Oparei, Sharon Rooney and Douglas Reith round up the set in supporting roles. Farrell is set to play Holt Farrier, a former circus star who has a rough life following the war, while Parker and Hobbins are set to play his children. DeVito's Max Medici is an owner to a struggling circus, who then hires Farrier to be the caretaker of Dumbo, the elephant with oversized ears. Keaton plays V.A. Vandevere, and Green plays Colette Marchant, both who are interested in turning Dumbo's aerial ability into fame.

A life-size statue of Dumbo was showcased during the panel, though I'm not sure if it's from the movie or just a replica from the 1941 animated movie. Burton is bringing MANY of his previous collaborators on "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and "Alice in Wonderland" to work on this movie. That alone is enough to give us a sense of 'what to expect' from it. The movie will be filmed entirely in England, and it is set to be released on March 29th, 2019.

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" will star Keira Knightley as The Sugar Plum Fairy, Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger, Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer, and ballerina Misty Copeland. As the title suggests, the movie will feature four different realms, and two of them are called the 'Land of the Flowers' and the 'Land of the Snowflakes'. Charles Riley is in charge for CG creation and motion capture, and it will be released on November 2nd, 2018.

Three lead actors for Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin" have been announced. Will Smith has been confirmed to play the iconic Genie. Joining him are Canadian-raised Egyptian actor Mena Massoud... who will obviously playing the titular character, and actress Naomi Scott in the role of Princess Jasmine. While Massoud is poised to be getting a bigger buzz due to his upcoming involvement in John Krasinski's "Jack Ryan" series, Scott is the more well known one for the time being, having had her high-profile big screen debut through Lionsgate's recent "Power Rangers" remake.

Apparently, this casting was harder than it looks. A few days before the announcement (on July 11th), The Hollywood Reporter ran a coverage describing 'the struggle' that the House of Mouse faced in their global search to find the right actors for the characters. Around 2000 actors and actresses from London, Egypt, Abu Dhabi, and India have read for the lead roles, but without any easy result. The process even dragged the project so much, that apparently Ritchie had to go back to the drawing board multiple times. "The test process was a mess", said one agent... whose client obviously didn't go through. The team even consulted with musical veterans Marc Platt and Chris Montan to solve this issue.

Coming from a credible site that rarely made a mistake, this report obviously became a hot topic of debate, putting Disney's supposed-effort into a giant question mark. Because seriously though, was it really THAT hard to find natural brown-skinned Middle Eastern actors who CAN sing and dance? Especially considering Disney ended up casting an Egyptian actor and half-Indian actress for the role instead of going full-on Arabian? I mean, don't these countries have talent shows (like "India's Got Talent") that almost always features young aspiring talents who CAN dance and sing? Not just that, the glaring fact that Bollywood is FAMOUS for its MUSICAL movies had me scratching my head. No offense to Massoud, but we have so many aspiring young South Asian or Middle Eastern actors who ARE popular as both singer and dancer while also looking more appropriate for the part. Just throw in names like Shahid Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Hritik Hroshan (who is yes, prolly too old, but he nails Aladdin's look perfectly), or even Turkish hot-throbs like Emre Kivilcim and Serkan Cayoglu with vast TV experiences. And I'm positive you'll find yourself slapping your own face in confusion for why Disney needed to even... 'struggle' to find one. They can even cast one of those young and undeniably handsome-looking Arabian princes from the royal palace! And I'm NOT kidding.

It's more than clear than Disney, Ritchie, and casting director Randi Hiller (also white) only searched those who have a North American and/or Hollywood presence, because the names being talked about was none other than the likes of Riz Ahmed, Dev Patel (which would've been fantastic), and Tara Sutaria. They've also seemingly focused more on non-natives who grew up in Western countries, like Dutch Achraf Koutet, American George Kosturos, and also Massoud and Scott themselves. This clearly made many questioned... why call it a 'Global Search' then? For the time being, the studio is also in search for a well known name for the antagonistic role of Ja'far. Should we even make a wild guess who they are going to cast? I won't be surprised if Disney returns to Sir Ben Kingsley for the part *sigh*. I mean... who else, right? Aaah... Riz Ahmed!

Anyways, let's just hope this casting is good and that it won't generate negative whitewashing feedback. I've repeatedly said that I do NOT think Smith is a good choice for the Genie, because even an Oscar-calliber like him would have a genuine hard time following the footsteps of the late Robin Williams' iconic performance. However... as much as I dislike that particular decision, I'm willing to let it slide if Massoud and Scott can nail their parts gracefully. According to Massoud, Williams was his inspiration to pursue acting, and I'm pretty sure that will be winning the hearts of "Aladdin" fans. If not one of the reason why Disney turned their heads towards him, of course. LOL. I'm now hoping we'll be seeing a different casting scenario with "Mulan", because I fully expect an ACTUAL global cast for that movie. Come on Hollywood, there ARE gazzilions of Asians around the world who CAN sing and dance! So if you're ever spout nonsense like 'difficult to find' and all, I'll belt out a tune and make a man out of you guys. For real! Crossing my fingers that Caro will get it... 'better' than Ritchie, though I'm not that particularly certain about it. It's a white world after all, right? "Aladdin" is set to begin production in August for a 2018 release. Probably for August 3rd.

Actress Emily Blunt and director Rob Marshall were present to debut the first look for "Mary Poppins Returns". The footage grabbed the crowd's attention, and despite being absent on stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance brought out their wildest cheer. As has been widely reported, this movie serves as a sequel to Julie Andrews' original classic. The movie takes place in a familiar, but different setting: Chery Tree Lane. Ben Wishaw and Emily Mortimer are playing Michael and Jane Banks, the kids from that first movie who have grown up to be adults now. Michael is also a windower with three children. Colin Firth is set to play a heartless bank manager, who brings trouble to the dark and gloomy London, as well as the Banks family. Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter who helps Michael's eldest son Georgie to get his kite. Meryl Streep is playing Mary's eccentric cousin Topsy, the great Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady, and Dick Van Dyke returns as the bank Chairman.

According to various report, the footage gave off an 'Old Hollywood' style with high production value, dance sequences, and grand musical numbers. There's also a 2D animation/live-action hybrid scene, sounding very similar to the first movie. Blunt said that she only saw 15 minutes of that movie, so that she can try to deliver her own version of Poppins. "No one is ever going to out-Julie Julie Andrews. She’s just unbelievable. There will never be anyone else like her. So I just had to do my version of her and I think we were very loyal to the books.", she said praising Andrews' performance. Will Andrews be making a special cameo appearance in the movie? This is Disney, so highly likely, but we'll see. "Mary Poppins Returns" will arrive in Christmas 2018.

Vying for attention, was Jon Favreau's "The Lion King". He didn't announce the cast (which I've been waiting for, particularly with that speculation of Hugh Jackman being approached to play the antagonist Scar!!!), but did bring out a footage to please and WOW the audience. Said footage was the exact mirror recreation of the 1994 animated movie's opening scene, where the baboon Rafiki introduced a lion cub Simba to Mufasa's animal kingdom, on top of the Pride Rock. Complete with Elton John's "Circle of Life" playing in the background too! The only difference was that it looked photorealistic, as if it's a scene taken from Favreau's massive-hit Oscar-winning "The Jungle Book" from last year. There were plenty of animals of all kinds depicted in their own nature, but an ultra-adorable baby Simba was undeniably the scene-stealer.

Favreau received similar, if not greater thunderous applause to when he debuted the footage for "The Jungle Book" two years ago. He made the audience went wild this time, eventhough it was Anaheim California, and not the African savannah. "We know how important this is", he said, assuring fans that his team will be delivering the best live action retelling they can muster. I'm a huge fan of "The Jungle Book", so I have huge faith in him. I personally can't wait to see this footage online, but I'm not sure it will be released in the near future. Not to mention, the movie itself is still two years away from release! Ouch!!! I guess we just have to practice patience and... wait. "The Lion King" arrives on July 19th, 2019.

The last but equally attention-grabbing piece of the panel, was Ava DuVernays' "A Wrinkle in Time". Buzz for this project have been really huge and loud even before production began, so expectation have been high. During the panel, DuVernay along with several core cast members delivered the first official teaser trailer while an official poster was released via social media. And it looked... weird but mesmerizing. We saw Storm Reid's Meg Murry, adventuring with brother Deric McCabe's Charles Wallace and classmate Levi Miller's Calvin O'Keefe to find her missing dad. Mr. Murry, played by Chris Pine, was seemingly trapped after discovering a new planet and travelled there using the 'tesseract'. Meg then encountered three Astral Travelers on her journey, Reese Whiterspoon's Mrs. Whatsit, Mindy Kaling's Mrs. Who, and Oprah Winfrey's Mrs. Which, who would somehow guide the trio in their journey. One that's likely involving the many other characters played by Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, and more. As well as CG actions with monsters and all... because the trailer suggests that.

Now... not unlike many folks, I'm not familiar with the novel, nor what it's all about. So I can't really describe how I feel about this. Somehow, those three Astral beings reminded me of the fairies on "Sleeping Beauty", if not the three Ghosts of "A Christmas Carol". That is, in both puzzling and creepy ways. The teaser also reminded me of "Doctor Strange" and/or "Legion" which was a good comparison, but at the same time, it also gave off a strange "Tomorrowland" vibe, which was NOT a good comparison. Then again, my mom immediately said "This looks amazing" (paraphrasing from our native language...) after seeing it... and that's totally saying much. As in, I'm definitely checking this one out when it hits theatres! For now, you can check out a few official stills from the movie, debuted by Entertainment Weekly as part of their 'First Look' season. "A Wrinkle in Time" will premiere on March 8th, 2018.

Disney Animation

It's Disney Animation Studios and Disney Pixar time! I somewhat expected Pixar's "Coco" to be getting all the big attention this year, but surprisingly that's not the case. Two other titles stole the attention on this Animation panel instead!

Fans have been asking for sequel to 2004's "The Incredibles" for many years, more than a decade even! Thus when it was finally announced, anticipation for "The Incredibles 2" has been growing like crazy. That must've been the reason why it's one of the two most talked-about title of the panel. Writer/director Brad Bird attended the panel alongside Disney Animation Chief John Lasseter, as they delivered official concept art, first raw footage, and give hints of what we can expect from Pixar's very own Fantastic Four-esque team.

For start, while many fans have been voicing their hopes to see a 10 years passed after the first movie (with all the kids grown up), Lasseter revealed that this sequel will instead works as a direct continuation. "It starts right as the first one finishes, so it just carries on", he said, confirming that only a minute have passed after the arrival of John Ratzenberger's Underminer. Family, is still the major theme of this movie. "One of the unique things about the Incredibles is it’s really a story of a family set in the world of superheroes. This one carries on that theme. It’s awesome, the idea we came up with — simple as that. … We love to really look at our own lives and look at what’s going on, and find themes that we know will resonate with the audience", he stated. Bird also reiterated that "It's fundamentally a story about family".

The main star for this one will also be Holly Hunter's Elastigirl alongside their children Violet and Dashiell (voiced by Sarah Vowell and Huck Milner, taking over from Spencer Fox), as Craig T. Nelson's Mr. Incredible will spend more time taking care of baby Jack Jack who's developing his unique powers. If it wasn't obvious enough from his social media shoutouts, Samuel L. Jackson has been confirmed to reprise his role as Frozone, while Bird himself will reprise his role as the famed superhero costume designer Edna Mode. "The Incredibles 2" opens in less than a year, on June 15th, 2018. Here's hoping Pixar will release a trailer soon! Perhaps on SDCC?

The other title that gained a huge amount of cheers and praise came from Disney Animation Studios, in form of "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2". Similar to how "The Incredibles 2" put more focus on the female lead, it seems this one also shifts the primary attention to Sarah Silverman's Vanellope von Schweets. Namely, due to her being acknowledged as a Disney Princess... alongside, the previous Princesses! Yes, Silverman and directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston presented a clip from the movie, where Vanellope stumbled upon a website called OhMyDisney.com. That's where she runs into all the Disney Princesses, who was having slumber party filled with rapid-fire meta jokes about their histories and tropes.

But that's not even the best thing, because most of the Princesses are voiced by their iconic voice actresses! To prove that, Disney brought out these dream team on stage: Jodi Benson (Ariel of "The Little Mermaid"), Paige O'Hara (Belle of animated "Beauty and the Beast"), Linda Larkin (Jasmine of animated "Aladdin"), Irene Bedard (of "Pocahontas"), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana of "The Princess and the Frog"), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel of "Tangled"), Kelly Macdonald (Merida of "Brave"), Kristen Bell (Anna of "Frozen"), and Auli'i Cravalho (of "Moana"). Creating a historic meeting, that obviously caused a prolonged ovation and wild cheers from audience of around 7000 people. I simply can't imagine how the audience would react, had other confirmed but absent voice actresses like Ming-Na Wen (of "Mulan") and Idina Menzel (Elsa of "Frozen") were able to attend as well! With the first movie focusing on the love of retro-video games that in a way also felt more directed for 'boys', this one is definitely a conscious and brilliant decision to captivate the 'girls' as well!

As for how and why John C. Reilly's Ralph and Vanellope get to meet them? That's because the plot forced them to. How is that possible? Apparently, the Sugar Rush game had an unexpected break down, so both Ralph and Vanellope alongside the other characters have to explore to the world 'wild' web to find replacement parts required to fix and keep it alive. There, they will run into Yesss, a trend-aholic algorithm who is voiced by Taraji P. Henson. Yess is the savvy, smart and sexy owner of a trending site called Buzzaholic (obvious nod/pun to Buzzfeed, eh? *grins*). According to Henson via an external statement, Yesss "knows about everything cool and on trend. And she does spell her name with a triple ‘s'". This is the character who would guide Ralph and Vanellope toward the various sites, including OhMyDisney (that also includes reference to other Disney's properties from Marvel and Lucasfilm). What a really interesting premise! The subtitle might have hinted that the sequel to 2012's favorite is set to break the internet, but to be honest, it already is... LOL. "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2" officially breaks the theatres next year, on November 21st, 2018.

By the way, Bell and co-star Josh Gad refused to let it go, as they brought news for the sequel to everyone's favorite animated movie. The as-of-yet un-subtitled sequel of "Frozen" became the talk of the town, eventhough the duo's intention was totally to promote the upcoming "Olaf’s Frozen Adventure", a holiday-themed short set to debut alongside "Coco". A special clip from this short was screened, and Gad sang one of the four new songs set to debut in it. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee along with the core cast are all confirmed to return, and "Frozen 2" is set to hit theatres on November 27, 2019.

There were other minor bits from both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. Dan Scanlon who did "Monsters University", is currently developing a personal project on Pixar based on his own experience of not knowing his father (who passed away when he was just one). This project is currently untitled, and doesn't have a release date for now. Scanlon was inspired to make this, after discovering a recording of his late father. It will be a mix of fantasy and mundance, set in a world where unicorns are said to be a norm of everyday's life. Josh Cooley has been announced as the sole director for "Toy Story 4". He was supposed to co-direct with Lasseter before. Lasseter himself remains as producer for the June 21st, 2019 movie. And Disney Animation Studios is working on a spin-off of "Cars", spotlighting a plane (but NOT part of the "Planes" franchise) that will go all the way into space. This untitled movie will be released on April 12th, 2019.

Last but not least, "Coco" did get the utmost privilege to wrap off the entire presentation via an elaborate musical number. Director Lee Unkrich, producer Darla Anderson, and writer Adrian Molina arrived on stage to preview a new clip from the movie. They revealed that music for this movie will combine the talents of songwriter Germaine Franco, the "Frozen" couple Robert and Kristen-Anderson Lopez, with Michael Giacchino composing the score. Newcomer Anthony Gonzales is playing the lead character Miguel, with Benjamin Bratt, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Edward James Olmos lending their voices to the others. "Coco" is set to arrive in a few months, on November 22nd, 2017!

Star Wars

Lucasfilm didn't deliver a new trailer for Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" during D23 Expo 2017 as fans expected. But the cast did bring a special behind-the-scenes video that... well, in a way showcased many things as well, and delighted avid "Star Wars" fans nonetheless. You can visit Collider to get screengrab images of this video. Official posters for the movie have also been released via social media. The one featuring late Carrie Fisher's General Leia seemed to breaking many fans heart. Overall though, there's a sense of danger looming through this posters, as everyone is shaded with the color of blood-red. Is it a sign of death? Oh no...! "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" will arrive on December 15th, 2017.

DC Films

Let's have a quick intermezzo from Disney, as we visit the other side of the... fandom. Yes, Warner Bros gets their category here! Though admittedly, I only included them to avoid postponing too much for the next R-N-D. LOL. Anyway, it'll be a quick one.

First, director Jaume Collet-Serra is said to be the frontrunner to helm "Suicide Squad 2". Yes, it's been an unanimous verdict that the first movie was... bad, and I personally don't see any reason for this sequel to exist. But money talks louder, especially to WB, so the studio is making one anyway. Think of it like the "Transformers" franchise. I'm not that familiar with Collet-Serra, and I haven't even seen "The Shallows". But even if I HAVE seen "Non-Stop", I can't really say if this is a right choice or not. Those movies and "Suicide Squad" are completely different in genre. Both Will Smith and Margot Robbie are poised to return though, so there's that.

Matt Reeves has publicly stated that he won't be using Ben Affleck & Geoff Johns' script for the tentatively titled "The Batman"! He said this himself on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast while promoting the critically-acclaimed "War for the Planet of the Apes", practically confirming previous report by Slash Film that many had considered to be false. Perhaps, script issue was the problem that broke down Reeves' negotiation with WB before? With the script being rewritten from scratch, many have wondered what will happen to the news we have heard so far, particularly about the casting of Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke. There's always a possibility that Manganiello will no longer appear in the solo movie, right? I'm sure we'll hear more about this in WB's upcoming panel on SDCC 2017 tomorrow.

One last thing, WB have also somewhat bullishly announced two more release dates for the year 2020. Yes, they are now planning to release FOUR effing movies that year, as if making two bad ones a year wasn't enough. Looks like someone hasn't really learned from their past mistake, huh? I can't really remember the previous two dates (if I'm not mistaken, they were reserved for "Cyborg", and "Green Lantern Corps"), but the new ones are set for February 2nd, 2020 and June 5th, 2020. It is speculated that the June one will be a sequel to this year's "Wonder Woman", due to its achievement of inching closer to become the most successful Summer movie of the year. The February one, might be a bit tricky considering WB has so many DC Films projects on the works, that even I had lost count of it for a long time now. Could it be that "Gotham City Siren", because it's a Valentine's Day release? Or Joss Whedon's "Batgirl". How about "The Flash". Hmmm. Maybe SDCC 2017 will help enlighten us if this bad.... news. Not that I could care any less though...

Marvel Studios

Back to Disney! Let's first talk about the biggest news of them all. Because while items and props from "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Black Panther" were put on display at the Marvel booth, they weren't on par with what transpired on the Live Action Panel.

Yep, Kevin Feige attended the D23 Expo 2017, and as expected he wasn't alone. Nope, far from it, because he brought a HUGE number of guests. In order of appearance; Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., and co-director Joe Russo; all joined him on stage, because they were celebrating Marvel Studios' 10 Years. With a new Anniversary Logo... and also first teaser for next year's "Avengers: Infinity War" that easily brought the crowd of 7000 people on their feet, driving them wild and overpouring with emotions.

Said footage began with around two minutes of clips from roughly 13 previous movies that have been produced by the studio, before continuing with a completely new scene. It started of with Hemsworth's Thor crashing into the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship, followed by a reel of action-packed sequences, and was wrapped with Thanos having a fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet in his hand, about to pummel his enemies using debris in space. Various sites (ComicBook, THR, Daily Super Hero, Collider, Buzzfeed, and many more) have published their rundown of the sequence, revealing plenty of tidbits from the mindblowing Avengers sequel. Each one complemented the rest, by filling up missing details that was missed by one another, so do take your time to visit them and read them on spot. Seriously though, reading them alone has already made me giddy and anxious. So much that I'm actually really glad Marvel Studios hasn't put it up online. Otherwise I'd probably suffered an instant heart attack and died before the movie even arrives.

After the rousing panel presentation, the Marvel booth officially unveiled additional characters for the movie. Joining the huge life-size statue of Brolin's Thanos that has been decorating the hall since day one, were four of his right hands... the Black Order. Brolin himself was on hand for the official unveiling of the team, that will instead be called 'The Children of Thanos' in the movie. Confirming theories gathered by fans after seeing the set pieces in Scotland and Atlanta, this antagonistic team consists of Corvus Glaive, his wife Proxima Midnight, the super intellect with manipulative ability Ebony Maw, and the Hulk-like Cull Obsidian.

Some of the core cast like Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner (who suffered an unfortunate injury on set), Paul Rudd, and many others were notably absent, including co-director Anthony Russo who remained in Atlanta to work on tentatively-titled "Avengers 4". Yes, "Infinity War" had just wrapped on the first day of D23 Expo 2017 (the Russos announced this themselves), but the production team are now moving on with the next giant project! WOW, talk about marvelous dedication to work. But surely, we can expect them to appear this weekend on SDCC, right? "Avengers: Infinity War" opens less than a year from now, on May 4th, 2018.

Presumably because production has only begun for "Ant-Man & the Wasp", none of its cast were present at the D23 Expo. The event officially revealed the first look for Hope van Dyne's the Wasp on one of the hanging-banner though, and actress Evangeline Lilly herself happily shared this news. Also actor Walton Goggins has officially joined the cast. I'm not familiar with this actor, but I've read many folks were excited about him, because apparently he's a terrific actor. His role is currently undisclosed, and speculations are saying that he might be playing the villain of the movie. Clearly he's not playing that character rumored by That Hashtag Show, right?

Which reminds me... that site reported an 'exclusive' saying that the studio is actively looking for an African-American actor between the age of 55 to 65 for a highly intelligent role. Everyone's easy guess is Dr. Bill Foster, a.k.a. Goliath who's in a way connected to Giant Man. Since Rudd's Scott Lang did demonstrate that ability in "Captain America: Civil War", linking it to Foster would be fantastic. Then again, That Hashtag Show isn't particularly a credible source, having falsely reported many stuffs in the past (Shang-Chi? Pffftttt). So I wouldn't really bet on their horses. Anyhoo, here's hoping the cast will stop by on SDCC this weekend, if only to have an actual confirmation or two. "Ant-Man & the Wasp" will arrive on July 6th, 2018.

"Black Panther" didn't have a huge presence (Boseman and director Ryan Coogler had a signing session), but that's because it already made a separate headline earlier that week (on July 11th). By showing up as the cover story of EW! The magazine ran a detailed coverage of the movie, dishing out the many aspects from the many lores of Wakanda, the various characters, and what to expect from the story.

Wakanda produces and is riched with a nearly-mystical metal called Vibranium. The people has mined it, experimented, and used it to develop medicines, technology, and others. Its fields also grows the Heart-Shaped Herb, a plant that grants superhuman strength to its leaders. That's the reason why it has closed itself from the whole world. John Kani's T'Chaka's death in "Civil War" will shake the illusive African-country's ground, as threats coming towards Boseman's T'Challa from inside and outside. The outside refers to Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger, an aspiring prince who is colluding with Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue (with a new hand, in form of sonic mining equipment) to bring down T'Challa from his throne. The inside refers to the turmoil that fears T'Challa might be engaging too much with the outside world, just like T'Chaka. This might be where Winston Duke's M'Baku (who will NOT be addressed as Man-Ape) enters the equation. Coogler compared his movie to politics, saying that there's an ambiguity of who's good and bad. "The film very much plays with those concepts, looking at conflicts and different motivations, and who’s with who", he stated.

Producer Nate Moore, likened the movie to a fusion of "The Godfather" and the "James Bond", serving as tribute to both franchises. It's "a big, operatic family drama centered on a world of international espionage. So hopefully we’re getting the best of both worlds", he hoped. Boseman also stressed out, that Wakanda is "a very matriarchal society", hinting that the female characters in this solo movie shouldn't be taken for granted. This refers to Angela Basset's Queen Ramonda, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia who is an undercover spy with a knack on 'Ring Blades', Letitia Wright's genius and intellectual Shuri, to the Dora Milaje guards like Danai Gurira's Okoye and Florence Kasumba's Ayo. Meanwhile, Forest Whitaker is playing Zuri, a shaman who is also the keeper of the Heart-Shaped herb. His character roots the movie in a unique element of spirituality, the way it's always been depicted in the comics. "Black Panther" will premiere on February 16th, 2018.

Marvel Studios might have left quite a massive impression last week, with "Spider-Man: Homecoming" running in theatres, the EW cover story for "Black Panther", and a D23 Expo presence that many people might still be talking about until now. Not to mention the pairings of characters, on set interactions, talk of future movies, actor's fancasting, etc. But that doesn't mean its hype is ending soon. This Saturday (precisely tomorrow evening, US time), the studio will return to SDCC 2017's Hall H for a special presentation with extended duration. Perhaps, that "Infinity War" footage will be delivered online for every fans to see? Or should we hope for another version, because Rufallo had openly teased something mind-blowing in the event. I'm merely spitballing here, but I'm positive we'll at least be seeing the cast of "Ragnarok", "Black Panther", "Ant-Man & the Wasp", and most definitely "Infinity War" on the panel. All I can say, we need to brace ourselves for another tide (or tsunami) of Marvel Studios news in the next few days. Because whether you like it or not, it's a great time to be a Marvel fan! Excelsior!!!

Marvel TV

It was a bit odd that Marvel's "The Inhumans" wasn't heavily showcased in D23 Expo 2017. I mean, excluding that Lockjaw's goodies available on Marvel booth, or the only three character posters that can be found on their official Twitter account. After all, ABC is still part of Disney, thus it felt odd that it wasn't even getting proper 'spotlight'. Of course, the series will have its own panel at SDCC 2017, so that might be the case. Nevertheless, the cast of the series continued to share details about the mini series outside of the panel.

Eme Ikwuakor confirmed that his character Gorgon as well as Ken Leung's Karnak, will be similar to the comics. "I act 5 times before I start thinking. I think that plays into a lot of the dynamics as well, especially with Karnak who is the exact opposite who think 5 times before he acts" he said. Sonya Balmores likened her Auran's job as the Royal Family's secret service. She works very closely with the King and Queen, and acts as their eyes and ears eventhough she's not related by blood. Serinda Swan praised her character, because "The great thing about Medusa is that she’s taking on two roles, not molded into one. That’s what makes her such an interesting character". She also affirmed that audience can expect to see Medusa's hair-play in amazing action sequence, likely to ease fans' concerns that has been growing rapidly ever since EW debuted her first look. She even added that "You will definitely see her hair have moods. There will be some moody hair because that’s her". Let's just hope that she's not giving us false hope.

Anson Mount revealed that the intricacies of Black Bolt was the reason he was drawn to portray this character. That's why he immediately agreed when Marvel TV Head Jeph Loeb personally offered this role (outside of auditions), and has even dedicated time developing it with sign consultant and all. He stated that the major theme of the movie is about family, namely about his somewhat Shakespearean love-hate relationship with brother Maximus, played by Iwan Rheon. Rheon by the way, is the most famous actor on the show, hence we can expect him to be more than just an antagonist.

Problem is, Mount also talked about why his character and also the entire series needed to be 'grounded', in order for them to be... "more accessible to a viewing audience than a reading audience". This one, is easily the part that rubs me off the wrong way. Grounded this, grounded that? I'll be honest, all these 'grounded talks' is making me feel iffy. Why shy away from going all out bizarre and outlandish? It's okay to do that with the Inhumans on Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." considering they are Earth-bound (then again, even they weren't afraid with the visuals)... but the Royal Family? They should be larger than life! Embrace all the weirdness and fun, not unlike the Guardians of the Galaxy. And don't ever forget! Scott Buck's idea of 'grounded' tends to be... 'different' or a 'bit warped' than what you and I had in mind. It means the mystical dragon Shou Lau is two bulbs of red-light for Marvel's "Iron Fist"! A proof that someone clearly didn't learn from the mistake done to that series.

Isabelle Cornish who plays Crystal, also brought a different but equally interesting notion. She revealed that audience can expect the IMAX 'movie'-size feature to be... "just really introducing us as a family and discovering the characters in the first 2 episodes. Seeing how we all mix together, how we intertwine, the different powers we all have. I mean, its such a large family. We’re essentially cousins. To have cousins that are brothers, its kinda cool and different.". Wait, WHAT? You're kidding, right? WHY would I waste my money on IMAX theatres just to see a prolonged intro? Isn't that like... NOT the point of filming a movie in IMAX format? I'm sure Christopher Nolan and his "Dunkirk", and even the Russo Brothers would be completely angry to hear this kind of treatment.

I've honestly lost all kind of goodwill and faith for this show. You can even say that I've joined a weird group among Marvel fans, essentially becoming a naysayer, because that's more or less accurate. The trailer, and every cast interviews so far, eerily reminded me of the whole "Iron Fist" scenario. Things haven't been looking good on my gut feeling, and I simply refuse to be fooled twice. But of course, my opinion doesn't necessarily apply to every Marvel fans out there. After all, there are those who actually enjoyed "Iron Fist" sooo much more than I did. With that said, perhaps it's indeed a wise decision for me to have such a really low expectation to this show. Who knows? It might flip me upside down and win me over instead...

Netflix

Similar to "Black Panther" that was featured by EW's First Look exclusive, Marvel's "The Defenders" got their share of publicity via a new poster released by the outlet, and also through UK's Empire Magazine. I'm sure we can expect the coverage from these magazines pretty soon. The EW poster, along with an exclusive one designed by Joe Quesada for Jon Bernthal's Marvel's "Punisher", are set to be available at Marvel's booth during SDCC 2017. Don't forget, "The Defenders" is also expected to have a huge presence at the Con, so prepare to hear more details as well as hopefully a new trailer for the mini-series. All 8 episodes of "The Defenders" will arrive on August 18th, 2017.

On a side note, actress Lucy Liu has been confirmed to direct the Season 2 Premiere episode of Marvel's "Luke Cage". Could she have a role in the series too? I certainly hope so. I personally want to see Liu joining a Marvel Studio movies for a significant role. But even if that's not the case, her appearing in one of the Netflix series sounds right too.

"Stranger Things" unveiled a sinister new teaser early last week, with a tagline "1984 only gets stranger". The teaser also confirmed that the 2nd Season will be available on October 27th, 2017. There weren't any details about this new season following that, but we can expect ones in the upcoming SDCC 2017.

Last but not least, I can't believe I missed this last month, but turns out the 3rd Season of "Voltron Legendary Defenders" has had an official release date! Via the trailer that... I oddly couldn't find on Netflix' official Youtube channel, it was revealed that the new season will arrive on August 4th, 2017. That's... really fast! Possibly due to the delay on Season 2 (it was meant to be released last year, but got delayed to January this year), I honestly didn't expect it to arrive so early. But who am I to complain! We need the 3rd season right away, especially after how the 2nd season abruptly ended. LOL. Also... if this teaser is any indication, things aren't looking good for the team. Because while the Paladins can't form Voltron, Emperor Zarkon's son Prince Lotor has taken command of the Galra Empire and starts brewing trouble in the galaxy. Here's hoping we'll get a longer and better trailer when the showrunners and cast members hit their SDCC 2017 panel this weekend!

Disney XD Series

New sneak peak clip for "DuckTales" was released during D23. Taken from the episode entitled "Daytrip of Doom!", the clip showed Huey, Dewey, and Louie having a dart gun fight against a very serious Webby, that caused plenty of... chaos in Scrooge McDuck's Manor. Many fans seemed to be annoyed with how the nephews sound when they saw the First Look before, a sentiment that was very understandable. For me personally, at least their new voices are growing in me, to the point that I no longer feel that much bothered by it. Many seems to have been voicing criticism to the Carl Barks-inspired design too, but I personally never had any issue about it. Most of the comics I've seen was drawn in that style anyway. LOL. "DuckTales" is set to premiere with a one-hour TV movie on August 12th, 2017, before starting its series on September 23rd.

Disney XD also unveiled the first look for "Big Hero 6 the Series". Based on the one and only Oscar-winning superhero movie so far, this much-anticipated series will tell the story of Hiro Hamada along with Baymax and friends, as they become the heroes of San-Fransokyo. Similar to "Tangled the Series", the design might not work with everyone, especially those who were expecting lush CG animation like the movies. The "Big Hero 6" one was very close, and clearly inspired by the actual 2D character designs from the movie's production though. So in a way, it's accurate. You can catch the series Main Title on Youtube!

Kamen Rider

The first official image for the 19th Heisei Rider "Kamen Rider Build" has been revealed! The image clearly showed that Build shared similar dual-colored design of "Kamen Rider W", but one that utilized a combination of technology and biology.

As rumored before, his initial form with the color Blue and Red is a fusion of Tank and Rabbit respectively. These powers will be accessed through the season's collectibles, Full Bottles, as the hero inserts a pair into his Build Driver. His transformation catchphrase for this initial mode will be "Using 2 Bottles, Find the Best Match! Are You Ready?! Moonsault of Steel! Rabbit Tank! Yeah!". Different Full Bottles can then be mixed and matched to produce a variety of forms. The biological side revealed so far includes Rabbit, Gorilla, Hedgehog, and Hawk, while the technological side includes Tank, (Vacuum) Cleaner, and Gattling. It's safe to say we can expect a lot more in the future. The picture also teased the antagonist Knight/Night Rogue, and the second Rider called Kamen Rider Claws/Close.

The story is said to take place in a post-apocalyptic world where souls are bound to bottles. "Second Build" is the cause, as it destroyed the world 10 years before. Kamen Rider Build will then have to deal with evil souls called "Builders" who seek to commit crime. Surprisingly, while it was previously assumed that "Build" will start airing as the "Kamen Rider" franchise changes timeslot in October, it has been revealed to debut much sooner. The currently airing "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid" has been confirmed to end with 44 episodes (with episode 45 serving as a bridge to the next), thus "Build" is set to begin in September. Is it because "Ex-Aid" isn't doing well in the toy department? Hmmm...

If you ask me, the overall concept, design, and story premise of this new series is solid, and they are more than enough to make me want to see it. I was actually sold thanks to the FireHedgehog form! LOL. Of course, execution doesn't always rhyme well with expectation, so it's still unclear if I will end up following to the end or not. Heck, the actor casting might also play as a make-or-break situation for me! So it's definitely not set in stones. But for now, I honestly want to see this show in action.

Square Enix

Since the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise is a mixture of their original characters as well as Disney world, of course Square Enix was present at the D23 Expo 2017. And as promised, the company introduced a new look and trailer for "Kingdom Hearts III". The new trailer particularly unveiled a new "Toy Story" world, while teasing an action adventure in the world of Disney's "Hercules"! Other confirmed new worlds include Disney's "Tangled", "Big Hero 6" and the "Olympus Coliseum" world.

The "Toy Story" part will have Sora, and his travelling companions Donald Duck and Goofy exploring Andy's room alongside Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the other toy characters. They need to investigate the disappearances of their fellow toys, and also Andy himself. Both director Tetsuya Nomura and Pixar Animation Studios story supervisor Jason Katz have confirmed that it will be a brand new storyline, but is still on par with Pixar's standard of storytelling and animation quality. In terms of timeline, it will take place after the events of the "Toy Story 2" movie. Nomura expressed his excitement for this world, because he had always wanted to include one on "Kingdom Hearts II".

The company also confirmed that the game will be released in 2018, which is probably not a concidence. It will be available for PlayStation 4 and XboxOne, with Nintendo Switch being considered. A second playable character will also be available, but apparently the director thought that's information for another time. LOL.

Pocket Monsters

Niantic is set to hold their first "Pokemon GO" real-world event this very weekend, with the "Pokemon GO Fest Chicago" taking place on July 22nd, 2017. They have posted details surrounding the big event happening on location, revealing that players from all around the world will also be able to 'contribute' during the same timetable. During three Challenge Windows at the event from 11:00AM to 08:00PM Chicago Time, players worldwide will help attendees to unlock rewards, and vice versa. Later, if players at the Chicago event catch enough Pokemon during the Catch Challenge, a special Mystery Challenge will be unlocked for the last hour of the event. If said Challenge is completed, then an 'extra special bonus' will be given for players around the world in form of Global Reward on July 23rd-24th.

This sounds a bit complicated to understand, and the gap between time zones alone is already feeling unfair to some parts of the world who have to stay up during midnight to dawn to participate. Response to this has been mixed as well, due to various reasons. But despite constantly getting server issues over the past week, Niantic is working hard to appeal its players. One of it, is by directly flying high-level Pokemon GO Youtubers from all around the world into Grant Park Chicago to participate in the live event. Many have been speculating that the Global Reward will be the first official reveal of Legendary Pokemon. We'll have to wait and see if that's really the case.

Those in Europe can then participate in a "Pokemon GO Safari Zone" events, in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. Copenhagen and Praque will be holding one on August 5th, Stockholm and Amstelveen on August 12th, and Oberhausen, Paris and Barcelona on September 16th. These events will give European players the opportunity to catch variety of Pokemon, among them are those only available as region-locked like Kangaskhan and Tauros. Unique and powerful Raid Bosses will also be available. For the United Kingdom area, Niantic will be holding a "Big Heritage Festival" event in Chester on July 22nd-23rd. This is a joint collaboration with UK heritage organization, Big Heritage.

Last but not least, Yokohama area is set to have a "Pikachu Outbreak" event on August 9th- 15th. It has been an annual event for The Pokemon Company, but this time, it will also include a Pokemon GO experience.

Tekken

I did NOT see this coming!

Geese Howard, who was recently revived by SNK Corp for "The King of Fighters XIV", has been announced as the new DLC character for "Tekken 7: Fated Retribution"!!! Bandai Namco unveiled this via one thrilling and intense trailer, during the Evolution Championship Series 2017. It just felt... right seeing Geese pummeling the Tekken characters one by one (particularly Heihachi, who is a natural jerk just like him), and sending them to misery. LOL. Geese will be available in Winter 2017, along with his own unique 'Geese Tower' stage.

The company did already state that they will be adding exclusive guest characters from other video game franchise, following the game's release on June 2nd, 2017. But I honestly didn't expect them to actually go with fans' wishes that openly called out Geese with the reasoning that his fighting style and 'badass' mannerism will be a great fit to "Tekken 7" (it's accurate, though). With "Street Fighter" very own Akuma already in the title, "Tekken 7" is growing to be a rendesvouz spot for powerful characters from various franchises. Now... who will the next DLC be for Spring 2018? Someone from "Dead or Alive"? "Mortal Kombat"? "Guilty Gear"? This is exciting...

Street Fighter

The 4th "Street Fighter V" DLC character for Season 2 has been revealed! And continuing the trend since Gouki/Akuma, it's a supposedly-new character that is also NOT really a new one... *sigh*. NEW, because the "Street Fighter" franchise hasn't had them as playable characters until now, but NOT new, because they have already existed as either supporting characters in previous games, or from entirely different game. Proof? No explanation necessary for Akuma, Kolin was Gill's right hand in "Street Fighter III", and Ed showed up in "SFV" various Story Modes since the very beginning. The fourth character joining them, hails from CAPCOM's very own "Final Fight" series. In form of big brute Abigail.

Yoshinori Ono announced Abigail during the Evolution Championship Series 2017, and an official reveal trailer for the character immediately hit the internet. This towering Mad Gear Leader that's even taller and bigger than Hugo albeit with a goofy personality, has attacks based on armors. The face paint is said to be an homage to King Diamond, who is a heavy metal musician. He is set to be released next week on July 25th, 2017, alongside his unique new stage called the 'Metro City Bay Area'. You can visit Gematsu to read a detailed description of this new DLC character.

Intriguingly, this reveal didn't surprise fans, because his name has been repeatedly rumored and reported before. The Event Hubs user who goes by the name of Flowtron has gotten his 'leaks' proven with the reveal of Akuma and Ed, and now his street cred had just gotten much higher with the confirmation of Abigail. Assuming his leak are all true, then the remaining two DLC characters will be Menat and Zeku. Menat is supposed to be that Egyptian-looking 'Fortune Teller' who already and rather pointlessly debuted in Ed's Story Modes. I also had the exact same suspicion, the moment I saw her design on that ending sequence. Not to mention, it fits with CAPCOM's goal to increase diversity in the game (with Rashid's inclusion). Zeku on the other hand, is Guy's teacher. Meaning he's also a "Final Fight" alumn. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a confirmation to his inclusion in Abigail's Story Mode.

Flowtron also stated an insider information regarding the 3rd Season DLC characters. According to him, Sagat and Sakura Kasugano are pretty much confirmed, but they won't play out like their "Street Fighter IV" counterparts. The previously rumored characters like Oro, C. Viper, Q, and Necro aren't accurate. For now, these should be treated as rumor until proven otherwise. But let's just say, I will not be surprised if it turns out to be true.

As for the real deal, CAPCOM will be releasing new special stages and costumes on July 25th as well, as part of the game's 30th Anniversary. This includes: Classic Ryu's "Suzaku Castle" stage from "Street Fighter II", Capcom Pro Tour 2017 Exclusive "Ring of Pride" stage (the Kanzuki Family Stadium), Nostalgic Costumes (for Alex, Ibuki, and Juri), and The Champion's Choice costume designed by CAPCOM Cup 2016 winner Du "Liquid|NuckleDu" Dang (for Ryu, Ken and Guile). Do visit Event Hubs to see their pricings.

Marvel vs Capcom

Meanwhile, "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" officially added Jedah from "Darkstalkers" series as playable character. This was revealed during the Evolution Championship Series 2017 tournament. Following this sequel's odd tradition, Jedah debuted during one of the fight and was not officially announced via individual trailers. You can visit Gamespot's Youtube channel to see him in action. "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" is set to be released on September 19th.

ARIKA

Many fans have been itching to see characters from "Street Fighter EX" to spring back into action. But considering ARIKA no longer collaborates with CAPCOM, that seems like a wishful thinking. Well, until now.

A new currently untitled 'EX' Fighting Game was showcased during The Evolution Championship Series 2017. The teaser video (provided through ARIKA's official Youtube Channel) showcased favorite 'EX' characters like Kairi, Shirase/Hokuto, Garuda, Skullomania, and Darun Mister. ARIKA officially announced that it will be the newest entry in the 'EX' series.

It was announced that there will be a limited time beta/server test at the end of 2017, and it has been confirmed to be a worldwide PlayStation 4 release for 2018. It is expected to be playable on April Fools, and pre-order has been made available for Japan players. Considering the company DID first tease this several months ago on April Fools 2017, I think we can safely assume that April 1st, 2018 will indeed be the release window for the title. Hopefully we'll hear more about this in the near future...

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celticnoise · 5 years

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The crucial moment in the hilarious Trading Places comes when the Duke brothers realise they’ve been scammed.

Looking across the floor of the Stock Exchange, they see Winthorpe and Valentine selling orange commodities, and their folly in buying up hundreds of them immediately becomes clear; the top secret “crop report” they have in their hands is a fake.

The roof is about to fall in on everything they’ve built.

They rush for the crowded brokerage floor, filled with excited traders in the flush of new information; their weasly gofer is somewhere in the throng. One of brothers plaintively shouts the words “We’ve got to get in there and tell him to sell!”

When they find their haples worker, almost dead from exhaustion and stress, they give him the order to “get back in there and sell! Sell!”

And then the bell rings, and their diabolical reign is over.

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I think of that scene often when I consider the parlous state of the Ibrox finances, and in particular today as the SPL season has closed out with the media and their supporters celebrating second place as if it were an achievement with the second highest budget in the land and having spent more in the summer than we did.

Things at Ibrox are nowhere near as rosy as the media would have you believe, just as they are nowhere near as dire at Celtic.

How could they be? We’re the champions and on the brink of a third consecutive treble.

Those who want to praise them for it can go right ahead; on this blog I write a lot about fundamentals.

And ours are sound. Theirs are not.

They are in dire need of sell, sell, selling.

Season tickets. Merchandise. Souvenir tat.

And yes, even footballers.

In fact, selling a top footballer is essential for them this summer if they are to properly equip themselves for the next campaign.

Anything less leaves a gaping hole in the books.

Look, there is no doubt that the Ibrox board is able to command the loyalty of its fans like few other clubs in Britain. But try as they might, they will never be able to sell enough Broxy Burgers and Worlds Best Sash Wearing Dad mugs to plug a financial gap with Celtic which, in recent years, has grown to mammoth proportions.

We make three times what they do.

That’s insurmountable for them.

It translates into real power. The power to buy players. The power to pay big salaries. The power to expand the infrastructure. The power to hire top people at every level. It gives us scope to do things that their club cannot. We are miles in front of them.

The media would have you believe that the gap has closed on the field of play. We’ve had an exceptionally tough season, when you think about it. There has never been a moment in this campaign when we’ve felt that the house was secure.

Almost from the first day of pre-season training there were attempts to destabilise us from outside the club … and that was nothing compared to the events of what I call The Summer of No Love when we conspired to shoot ourselves in the foot with a series of calamitous setbacks in the transfer market, which culminated in Rodgers’ public spitting of the dummy.

From that moment on, a black cloud hung over us.

Every day there was a fresh report linking the manager to another job. I think all of us dismissed those reports as frivolous nonsense because we all mistakenly believed the manager would have the loyalty to at least finish the campaign; how wrong we were.

Even a League Cup before Christmas didn’t disguise the fact that something was off with the team, a lethargy, a lack of consistency, something in the air perhaps.

January was supposed to bring respite, and a chance for the board to make amends.

Did they manage it? In part, but Rodgers wasn’t convinced.

Either that or he was working his ticket, looking for things to be offended by so he could justify walking.

It doesn’t matter now, we know what he did in February, but before that was the dig at the board over the signing of Shved.

Now listen, the manager should have been consulted over that one, but I believe people inside Parkhead were sufficiently concerned about his loyalty at that point that they’d stopped talking to him about long terms plans.

Scott Brown negotiated his contract without any input from Rodgers at all, as the manager confirmed.

It was obviously not a happy situation.

Neil Lennon’s appointment was unable to properly steady the ship, but he has guided it to port nonetheless. But Celtic Park is still not a happy place to be at the moment, and the whole club needs this summer to re-orient itself and get back to doing what it does best; hammering the opposition and driving towards more history and more glory.

When this house stands united, we’re pretty near unstoppable and this is what should really scare the Ibrox horde, once they get over the euphoria of winning two major matches – one actually, as Celtic had already secured the title before last weekend – in a season characterised by their own mediocrity.

The truth is, they didn’t move forward.

We went backwards.

Yet here we are, on the brink of 3Treble, and yet more history.

So how do they stop us when we’re back up and running, and focussed once more?

The answer is that they can’t.

All they can do is sell, sell, sell and hope that they make enough money in the doing to actually enhance their squad.

Yet even this strategy is doomed to failure, because the simple fact is that they don’t have saleable assets who can command the sort of fees they are looking for and which they need to properly fund the manager’s plans.

Whoever is next in the Celtic dugout will certainly be funded.

No new manager will come in without cash to spend, and if it’s Lennon – with all the doubts that remain about him – the board is going to have to sweeten the deal by letting him rebuild. Either way, money will be spent this summer as we see the club being put on war footing again.

That ramps up the pressure on the Ibrox board to respond in kind; they cannot allow their club to even look as if it’s falling further behind.

They will act because they have no choice. But how?

Where’s the cash coming from? Remember, that the mantra over there is not only sell, sell, sell but spend, spend, spend and so far no matter how much they sell the spending is higher still. That’s unsustainable, as this site and others keep pointing out.

Right now, their squad is still significantly weaker than ours.

When our players are fully fit, and rested, we are capable going on an extended winning run whereas they are not.

We are capable of competing on multiple fronts whereas they are not.

There is talk in the media of a “will to win” at Ibrox now, but wanting to win and being able to win are different things and our squad has the winner’s mentality because we actually have won trophies and titles.

An on form Celtic, with no major additions, is still very likely to be stronger than whatever team they manage to cobble together over the summer, and here’s something else; in Morelos, they have found a player perfectly capable of scoring goals in the SPL and there is no guarantee that they can replace him with a player with a similar goals-to-game ratio.

As Phil pointed out today in another excellent piece, Morelos never was the subject of massive bids from China or anywhere else; it take an NUJ member in Ireland to write what the Scottish press seems not to want to, him and the bloggers who all scorned that nonsense when it was published. Phil actually went one better though and spoke to people who know the game over in China, and if they couldn’t stand it up then it was a dead duck.

It was Gerrard himself who gave the game away; the club has had one offer for Morelos, the equivalent of £2.6 million.

They would have just about doubled their money.

For all that, and for all I believe Morelos is vastly over-rated – a Colombian Kris Boyd – that talent for putting the ball in the back of the net is clear. He lacks many of the attributes needed to be a top footballer, and his temperament is awful, but he has that in spades. Whatever they sell him for – and they will have to in the coming summer, and they won’t get near the kind of money they allegedly want – I think they’ll be weaker for it.

And they do not have the luxury of using whatever money they get to spend only on transfers. There are loans which need to paid back, there is cash to set aside for when the season ticket money runs out – and that will happen fast – and more as insurance should they crash out of Europe early, which is not exactly out of the question.

Then there’s Ashley, and the ever present threat of his lawyers.

Theirs is a club walking a very thin line. The media would rather not focus on that. But all that’s keeping the lights on over there the suspension of disbelief. Since its inception, the Ibrox NewCo has worked on that basis, but it becomes more acute the closer to alleged “success” they become. Perhaps its escaped their notice, but our greatest period has actually coincided with their arrival in our league. Yet still they persist in the fantasy.

At the end of Trading Places, Randolph and Mortimer Duke are penniless.

It is what they deserve for their egocentric bombast and their willingness to do abysmal things for their own kicks.

We’ve seen the Ibrox operations at the height of their power and swagger, and if you reckon they are graceless in defeat you only have to look at how offensive their conduct was when the previous club was winning everything.

Nobody mourns those days except their fans.

And those days are returning to Ibrox, no matter what delusions they feed themselves.

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runridedive · 5 years

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Jaguar Simola Hillclimb 10th Edition

Created from humble beginnings as an initiative to attract renewed interest and tourism to the scenic coastal town of Knysna, the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb has rapidly evolved to become South Africa’s premier motorsport lifestyle event. This year, from 2 to 5 May, the Simola Hillclimb celebrates its milestone 10th edition and the sixth with Jaguar occupying prime status as the title sponsor of this truly remarkable automotive extravaganza.

The Hillclimb was conceived and created by Knysna residents Ian Shrosbree, Chick Ramsay and Francis Cusens, embodying their passion for all things motoring, while addressing the need to bolster the local economy and tourism sector.

“The event came about as a result of the 2008 financial crisis,” says Shrosbree, director of Knysna Speed Festival which owns the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb. “Knysna’s economy is based on two pillars, comprising tourism and construction, and in the aftermath of the financial crisis, both crashed.

“Francis, Chick and I decided to run the Hillclimb to attract people to Knysna who would hopefully also invest in the town. Initially, our objective was to do one event to see if there was appetite and appraise the future after that. The Simola Hill leading up to the prestigious Golf and Country Estate lent itself to the purpose admirably, and the beautiful setting has been an integral part of this event’s attraction,” he adds.

“The first Hillclimb was a great success so we mapped out our vision and strategy to make it the Goodwood Festival of Speed of South Africa that would attract international interest, and we have worked tirelessly ever since to make it SA’s premier motorsport lifestyle event.”

Thanks to the support of Knysna residents and business owners, the long-standing backing of key sponsors and partners, as well as the enthusiastic involvement of the motoring and motorsport communities, the Simola Hillclimb flourished and has grown exponentially over the years to become the must-attend motoring event of the year for competitors and spectators alike.

The inaugural 2009 event boasted a total of 47 entrants competing in a single class, with motor racing legend Sarel van der Merwe taking the title in an Ashley Masters V8. Another motorsport icon, Geoff Mortimer, emerged victorious in the wet 2010 event in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, with Wilhelm Baard stamping his authority, as well as that of the mighty Nissan R35 GT-R, on the Hillclimb the following year.

Having to accommodate a burgeoning entry list, the event was split into two categories in 2012 with the introduction of Classic Car Friday and King of the Hill. Corban Slabbert took the classic car title in an Austin Mini Cooper S, while Jade Gutzeit claimed victory amongst the modern contenders in his Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R.

The 2013 Hillclimb was unfortunately cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances, but it returned even bigger and better in 2014 with Jaguar coming on board as the title sponsor – a prime position it has retained through to the historic 10th edition this year. Franco Scribante totally dominated the 2014 Hillclimb, winning both categories in his remarkable Chevron B19. In 2015 the trophies were split between Charles Arton (March Formula Atlantic) and Des Gutzeit in his wild Nissan R32 GT-R.

Due to the exceptional growth of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb, the organisers were forced to make it a strictly invitational event from 2016, limited to 65 entries for Classic Car Friday, and 84 for King of the Hill.

“Making the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb an invitational event gives us the opportunity to balance the quality and type of cars and drivers selected across the various classes, thus guaranteeing the best spectacle for the spectators and competitors,” explains Geoff Goddard, the event’s sporting director. “The rapid growth of the Hillclimb has also required that we continually evolve and adapt the event to ensure that it reflects the diverse nature of the entries.”

Nowhere is this more evident than in the number of classes, which started out with just one in 2009 but now climbs to 20 this year with the separation of the Single Seater and Sports Cars for the first time. This enables drivers to compete against comparable entries for individual King of the Hill titles, along with those awarded for Modified Saloon Cars and Road-going Saloon Cars/SuperCars.

Franco Scribante scored his second double victory in 2016, taking the Classic Conqueror and King of the Hill titles in two iterations of the iconic Chevron sports racing car, with Jaki Scheckter claiming the first-ever SuperCar Shootout in a Nissan GT-R.

Scribante continued his Classic Conqueror reign the following year, with the newly introduced trio of King of the Hill titles going to Andre Bezuidenhout (Dallara F180 Formula 1), Willhelm Baard in a highly modified Nissan GT-R and Reghardt Roets in a road-going version of the same car.

A record of over 200 entry applications was received for the ninth edition in 2018, with the final standings reflecting a repeat of the 2017 winners, despite the intense level of competition. Most notably, Bezuidenhout destroyed the Simola Hillclimb record with an astonishing time of 35.528 seconds on his first outing with a Gould GR55 – a specialised Hillclimb-racing single seater.

Accommodating the large number of competitors has also been a mammoth task for the organisers, with the original 100-metre temporary open-air “pit lane” simply located on the side of the road for the first event. Extensive roadside expansion and ground work over the years now provides 660 m2 of dedicated marquee-style covered pits.

Last year, the competitors clocked 1 406 timed runs up the 1.9 km Simola Hill during the practice, qualifying, class finals and Top 10 Shootout sessions – a far cry from the total of 103 runs recorded a decade earlier! Equally noteworthy is the number of automotive brands represented, almost doubling from the 25 that took to the start line originally to 45 in 2018.

Eight competitors have become stalwarts of this event, having competed in every Hillclimb to date, comprising Willem Bower, Jacques Bower, Shane Naidu, Nico Janse van Rensburg, Rodney Green, Di Dugmore, Dave Alexander and Fred Phillips. A further 17 drivers are avid regulars with five events notched up, including famous racing drivers such as Graeme Nathan, Peter Lindenberg, Enzo Kuun, Willie Hepburn and Dawie Olivier.

And the astonishing numbers don’t end there: the number of spectators has soared from 1 500 to almost 17 000 over the three days; VIP Hospitality ticket sales climbed from 20 to 1 723; the 13 original event sponsors and partners have grown to 44; and the size of the organising team (including marshals, volunteers and support staff) has ballooned from around 100 at the beginning to more than 2 800 scheduled to assist at the 2019 Hillclimb!

The growth in media coverage has been no less impressive. In 2009, a single 15-minute TV package was aired, while last year the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb boasted 11 hours of live streaming, available to viewers around the world.

The event website (www.jaguarsimolahillclimb.co.za) has become a key asset for the dissemination of information, competitor entries and ticket sales, reaching 20 556 unique visitors and almost 30 000 returning visitors in 2018. This is supported by the extensive social media exposure on Facebook (with a reach of more than 2-million), Twitter where the Hillclimb trended in 2018 for all three days, plus the ever-growing Instagram following.

The exposure provided by motoring and lifestyle media has also played a crucial role in driving the remarkable success of the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb. A total of 112 journalists, bloggers, photographers and videographers attended last year.

Not surprisingly, the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb continues to be recognised as one of the top sporting events in the country. In 2015 it won the ‘Best Tourism Activity’ category and was a ‘Proudly Knysna’ nominee at the Sanlam Knysna Awards.

The annual SA Sports Industry Awards saw it acknowledged as a finalist for the ‘Best Live Experience’ for three years running (2015 to 2017), as well as in the Cutting Edge Sport Award in 2016. The same year it was nominated as a ‘Motorsport Event of the Year’ by the International Historic Motoring Awards in the UK.

Continued praise has been received from the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists, being selected as a finalist in 2015 and 2017 for the Colin Watling Award that recognises significant contribution and achievement by a non-competitor in motorsport.

Most recently, the Hillclimb earned the 2018 Environmental Award from Motorsport South Africa for its efforts to enhance environmental awareness and protection.

“The past 10 years have been challenging but extremely exciting and rewarding, and we are delighted to have achieved our goal of making the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb South Africa’s truly premier motorsport lifestyle event,” Shrosbree states. “We want to continue building on that foundation to make it the third best-known Hillclimb in the world after Goodwood and Pikes Peak.”

The post Jaguar Simola Hillclimb 10th Edition appeared first on Run Ride Dive.

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#Industry News #Knysna Hillclimb

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allcheatscodes · 7 years

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simcity 3000 unlimited pc

http://allcheatscodes.com/simcity-3000-unlimited-pc/

simcity 3000 unlimited pc

SimCity 3000 Unlimited cheats & more for PC (PC)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Achievements

Get the updated and latest SimCity 3000 Unlimited cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, achievements, guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for PC (PC). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the PC cheats we have available for SimCity 3000 Unlimited.

Genre: Simulation, Construction / Building Sim Developer: Maxis Publisher: Electronic Arts ESRB Rating: Everyone Release Date: May 5, 2000

Hints

Easy Money

At the end of each year(around Dec. 25)pause the game and raise taxes to 22. Unpause game and after Jan. 1st repause game and lower taxes to normal level. The higher your population, the more money you make. This can be used to keep taxes at zero to make residents happy but still make money.

Aging Power Plants

When a power plant is aging, you have to bulldoze it. Do NOT leave it alone or it will explode. When you bulldoze it just make another one, because it is better than it blowing up.

Airports

This is how you should make airpots.

1. NOT near residential areas.2. Make them big.3. On a popular steet.4. It is OK to put them near Commercial and Industry areas.

(Same rules with seaport but with seaport make them near a big body of water.)

Museum Parks

If an area of your city has a low land value, simply build a museum park in the area, who’s land value you want to raise. A museum park is a museum that is surrounded by parks and ponds, (I feel Large Parks work the best.) This is garenteed to raise the land value of the area of your city, but keep a lot of space, museum parks take up a lot of area. Museum Parks work expecially well with zones that are also touching water!

Building Tunnels

To Bulid tunnels, Make a very big hill. Next, build a road up the hill 2 or 3 tiles up. Now do the same number of tiles on the other side and it will say do you want to contruct a tunnel. Click OK.

Richer Apartments

Put a big high residential near the water and put a road to get to it. Give it water and power. Don’t put your residentail area near HUGE comercial or don’t put near industrial at all. That means industry, or garbage centers sims will get mad. Now put it in life your residential area should grow into very nice rich apartments. (Don’t do this as soon as you start a new city.)

Planning A City

While embarking upon the construction of a new City be patient. Draw a rough sketch of a city you want: an ultra modern, medium sized or a small town. Select the terrain accordingly. Then the first thing to do is to build road network. Then provide zones for residential and Commercial adjacent to each other. Donot build an Industrial Zone near these two as it will generate pollution and pull down the land value. Then build suitable power plant(not near to Residential or Commercial Zones). Then Make sure that water system is adequate or your sims will run away. After that connect your city to any one neighbour through highway as this will ensure prosperity in your city. There should be a port (salt water with atleast 58 m deep) and an airport which should not be placed near any zone. Plant trees near airport and sea port and make sure that your city has hospitals, schools and colleges in the vincity of Residential areas. Now start up and be precise in your ordinaces.

All Buildings

Open and close the Power Plants menuOpen and close the Rewards & Opportunities menuOpen and close the Garbage Disposal menuOpen the Landmarks menuEFFECT: When you open the Landmarks menu, you'll find that ALL the buildings in SimCity 3000 Unlimited are now available to you!

Beginning

When you begin your city, make the police and fire budgets low (since they don’t have as much ground to look over).

Hills And Water

Residential and Commercial zones that are placed next to water or hills will have higher land value.

Business Deals

Whenever you go into the negative, someone might come up to you with a business deal. The Gigamall and the Maximum Security Prison will not provoke any riots from Sims. But the Casino and Toxic Waste Plant will cause a few sparks. Do whatever you choose depending on your financial problems. Toxic Waste Plant:$400 per month Casino:$350 per month Maximum Security Prison:$250 per month Gigamall:$300 per month Total Monthly Contribution:$1300 per month Total Yearly Contribution:$15,600

Ordinances

An ordinance is something you put out in your city that makes water pollution, air pollution, garbage capacity, etc., a little better. But some ordinances cost alot of money per month, and the bigger your city becomes, the more you pay for that ordinance. SO, if you make an ordinance don’t listen to the petitioners, listen to what your adivisors say; they know what they are doing and their opinion is 95% the time right.

Pollution

Bulid high polution buildings and zones (airports, spaceports, max. security prisons) on your borders as far away from the rest of your town as possible. This way the pollution won’t affect your town too much and the pollution will be shared with your neighbor!

Bridge Building

Fist, select a road, highway, or railroad and start on one side of the river. Then, click and drag until the “road shadow” reaches the other side. Continue to drag until it turns from red to blue, then you have a bridge.

Residential Areas

Do you want to live next to an industrial smoke factory? Neither do sims!

Mass Transit Praise

Start off your town’s transit system with bus stations and roads. After you establish your budget and get a steady flow of income, build in subways and trains.

High Land Value

The more parks you have, the higher your land value will become.

Get All Buildings

Open up the power box. Then close it. Next you go to the rewards box. Open and close it.Then go to the trash box. Open and close it. Finally go to the Landmarks box. You should have all the buildings.

Cheats

Access Cheat Mode

Press Control+Shift+Alt+c during game play. Then type in one of the codes.

Lots ‘o’ Locust

Type in “Locust Swarm” in the code menu. Then go to disasters. Do the locust disasters and they will be everywhere!

Cheat Codes

While in the simulator, press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Shift] + C to display a prompt box with a flashing cursor in the top left corner of the screen. Then, type one of the following codes and press [Enter] to activate the corresponding cheat function:RESULTCHEAT CODE All extra giftspay tribute to your kingAll power plantspower to the massesAll water plantswater in the desertHigh tech industriesnerdz roolStops advicestop forcing adviceTraffic lights reduce pollution, traffic, and increase land valuetraffic lightsRecycling plant, waste to energy incinerator and normal incineratorgarbage in, garbage outConstruction costs set to $0i am weakSimCastle construction, if Vinnie's offer was declinedzyxwvu$100,000 donation offer from Vinniecall cousin vinnieFlock of birds fly over your citythe birdsSet "Disaster" to "UFO" for unlimited UFOsufo swarmChange the sea to salt watersalt onChange the sea to fresh watersalt offRaises the terrain by oneterrain one upLowers the terrain by oneterrain one downRaises the terrain by tenterrain ten upLowers the terrain by tenterrain ten downLoad grayscale picture as terrainload terrain"Sorry, Money Doesn't Grow On Broccoli" messagebroccoli"Aha! We Have A Real Pro Here! Try BROCCOLI" messageporntipsguzzardo"Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da BAT-man!" messagebat"If You Build It, They Will Come" messagescurk"The Llama Is A Quadruped" messagellama"Duo Ragazzi's Easter Egg Palace: Old World Charm In A Post Modern Setting" messageeaster egg"If You Lived Here, You'd Be A Sim" messagesim"Dozens Of Hidden News Ticker Reveals; Sims Encouraged To Collect Them All And Amaze Friends" messagehelp"What Will He Think Of Next?" messagewill wright"Investment Tip: Buy Low, Sell High" messageerts"Not Just Sports Games Anymore" messageelectronic arts"[city name] Picayune: The Finest In Scrolling Entertainment" messageticker"Money Does NOT Grow On Trees, Study Concludes" messagemoney"Keep Trying And Maybe You'll Figure It Out" messagesimcity"Greetings Mayor, Your Sims Salute You" messagehello"Mayor [mayor name] brings [city name]To News Ticker Highlight" messagemayor"Mayor Suspected Of Attempting Embezzlement; Ends In Failure" messagesc3k"Secret Number Combination Causes Announcement In News Ticker" message1234"Did you know that MAXIS spelled backwards is SIX AM?" messagemaxis"MOREMONEY Not Cheat Code, Research Concludes" messagemoremoney"Mayor Under Investigation For Possible Embezzlement" messageadvisor"FUND Not A Cheat Code, Do Not Type MOREMONEY, It Is Not A Cheat Code Either" messagefund"Unknown" messagesimon saysDescription of City Hall set to "Miles and Miles of Red Tape"; date set to the year 1900i love red tapeMortimer will say the indicated phraseforce mortimer to say [phrase]Moe will say the indicated phraseforce moe to say [phrase]Constance will say the indicated phraseforce constance to say [phrase]Marla will say the indicated phraseforce maria to say [phrase]Randall will say the indicated phraseforce randall to say [phrase]Gus will say the indicated phraseforce gus to say [phrase]Karen will say the indicated phraseforce karen to say [phrase]The petitioners will say the indicated phraseforce petitioners to sayIf you have connections to your neighbors, they will start trying to make dealslet's make a deal

Unlockables

Currently we have no unlockables for SimCity 3000 Unlimited yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for SimCity 3000 Unlimited yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for SimCity 3000 Unlimited yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently no guide available.

Achievements

Currently we have no achievements or trophies for SimCity 3000 Unlimited yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

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