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ness-plays-wizards · 2 years

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Alfonse Route Chapter 2 (4-8)

Look everybody, look who’s back again!

Last time on the Alfonse Route: Ness dropped off the face of tumblr to work on NaNoWriMo. They reached 50,000 words only thanks to the many, many, many word count buffs they added to the bottom of their document in point 1 font. They also got into college and aced their theater auditions, landing two parts in various school plays!

Wait, was I supposed to recap the Alfonse route? Ah well I’m more interesting anyway /hj /lh.

So Remy tells Liz that Alfonse is basically just working on a research grant on something I’m just gonna consider a wizard doctorate program, a thing that more fantasy stories should genuinely take advantage of because wizard doctorates is such a fun concept. Anyway, Alfonse walks over and Remy decides that he’s not gonna be a third wheel this time and leaves.

Liz thanks Alfonse for helping them in the ruins. Alfonse says he just “happened to be passing by” an excuse that no one, including Liz, is fooled by. Alfonse, luckily, probably doesn’t bullshit us and says he was looking into the disease too.

Hoo boy, this sure hits different as we’re coming up on Year 3 of Covid!!!! /sarc

Liz starts wondering who Alfonse reminds her of because she can pass all three prefect trials even with an asshole judging her, but she can’t make the connection that Alfonse looks exactly like Klaus and Elias.

Yeah, Alfonse definitely said that in one of those falsetto or dry-ass tones people always use for lies in comedy.

Wait Gedonelune has celebrities other than their two (2) teachers?

You’re so close Liz!

You’d think that’s a lie at first, then you remember Klaus doesn’t technically go to Gedonelune anymore, but he’s constantly hanging around there so it’s evident to see how one might get confused.

Alfonse also says he can’t see his brothers because of certain circumstances that are his fault, a statement that might have more gravitas if Alfonse and Klaus had not been constantly in the same room over the past four routes.

You know, they actually have some pretty good communication for an otome pairing.

Luca runs over holding a newspaper, which is news to me because I didn’t know that this school had a newspaper. Or a printing press. Apparently the headline is about Klaus because of course it fucking is. Klaus gets an expositional introduction, which reminded me that he did not appear in this route yet.

Mary Sue material right there /j.

Yeah, I wouldn’t call “somehow appears in every route since season 6 dropped” the “occasional” visit.

Luca shows Liz the article and shockingly, the article just describes a random woman photographed with Klaus, not an out of context photo of Liz and Klaus, so color me shocked. Alfonse looks at it, and now I’ve got a feeling that said random woman is probably Elaine, which would be both sad and hilarious.

Oh yeah, for those not in the know, Elaine was a character in Klaus’s route who Liz learned was the Goldstein brother’s fiance. And that Goldstein brother was Alfonse. Can’t wait to see how that gets resolved!

Anyway all of that was pure speculation because the real point of this scene was just to have Alfonse get close to Liz. He introduces himself to Luca. The narrative calls him “Alfonso,” which leads me to believe that Luca has a special ability to spontaneously turn anyone within a 5 foot radius of him Italian. Luca thinks he’s heard the name Alfonse before, but Alfonse dismisses him and reveals that the article was a fake, which means that my headcanons about wizard buzzfeed have finally been validated.

GIRL he’s not even TRYING to cover his ass.

Alfonse asserts that newspapers are vultures and tell lies to sell papers with such fervor I half-expect the paparazzi to be involved with his tragic backstory. Honestly the most surprising part of this is that Gedonelune apparently had cameras and printing presses this whole time.

Zeus arrives, effectively ruining my day. Luca dips, citing that he doesn’t want to deal with them, and I wish I could join him.

#wizardess heart #shall we date #solmare #liz heart #alfonse route #alfonse goldstein #luca orlem #klaus goldstein #anti zeus brundle

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cemeteryklaus · 3 years

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Everybody speculating about klaus in s3...I am turning my brain off to plot spoilers and devoting all my thoughts and energy to Klaus’s wardrobe in s3🤷‍♀️

#I am already to depressed to try and figure out what is going to happen to him #just show me what klaus is going to wear:-)#this is not a diss to people speculating btw I appreciate you all so much go off #to deleetee

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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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badsext · 4 years

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Night at the Mausoleum: Klaus x Fem! Reader - Part 3

Warnings: There’s just some drug use here. I do not condone teen drug use, but this is Klaus. In real life I hope everybody makes safe and responsible decisions when it comes to drugs, sex, etc. Drink water, eat your vegetables! (end of speech) On to the good stuff!

Part 1 | Part 2

Word Count: ~ 900

The goth kids in high school were very impressed with ‘Ghost Girl,’ so you leaned into it and started dressing in all black. Although you weren’t winning any popularity contests, you found your niche. You even made a few friends, but none of them compared to Klaus.

Hargreeves began bringing Klaus to the mausoleum for ‘training’ regularly and always at night. He would increase the time by a little each week. Klaus’ screams while you picked the lock were devastating. Then the look on his face when he emerged falling into your arms and the terror he experienced as you locked him back inside tore your heart out every time. But the time you spent together was always exciting. You hoped he looked forward to it as much as you did in spite of the circumstances.

The ritual hadn’t changed much. You’d spread the blanket in front of the bench and share whatever was on your minds: art, music, poetry, and the occasional gossip. You felt like you knew each of the Hargreeves based on the stories Klaus told. You could listen to him talk for hours. He was also a great listener. He’d see you through your disappointments and relish your victories.

Klaus never burdened you with talk about the ghosts haunting him even though you wished he would. Talking about it might have eased his suffering, but he seemed to prefer distractions, distractions you were happy to provide.

“I have something for you,” you said one night, removing an Altoids tin with a plastic baggie from the dirt in the planter. “I think it might help.” You had smoked weed a few times with your school friends. You discovered that it banished your insomnia and ghostly intrusions at least temporarily.

Klaus looked curious, but skeptical as you packed the dried leaves into the little glass pipe. He waited patiently as you suddenly remembered to pull your hair back into a ponytail. He watched intently as you lit the contents and inhaled. Then his eyes followed the smoke escaping your lips as you exhaled. He had observed you many times before, but this time his gaze felt..different.

When it was his turn, he inhaled deeply, coughing about as much as expected, then laughing at himself, which caused him to cough even more. Klaus was your best friend. He was funny, clever, kind, and so beautiful sitting there bathed in the moonlight. Your heart wanted to know him as more than a friend.

You passed the smoke back and forth until it was gone. “Hey, I think it’s helping. I don’t see them anymore and their voices are fading. Hey, have my hands always been this big?” Klaus whispered. You laughed. Maybe Klaus was a bit high, even this, his first time.

“I think I want to try something…Do you mind?, “ he asked. You agreed, having no idea what he was talking about and feeling a little high yourself. Klaus leaned forward with his hands down on the blanket, and kissed you. A sudden rush of endorphins flooded your whole body and all the synapses in your brain lit up like a Christmas Tree. The perfection of his lips, so warm and soft, made you melt into euphoria. You threaded your fingers gently through his hair and held him there a moment. He backed up slowly and his thick eyelashes fluttered open. His green eyes were dilated. You read somewhere that the eyes dilate because of love…but they also dilate because of drugs. Having to speculate about the reason made you nervous, so nervous you looked away and began rifling through you backpack. Klaus looked down.

"Stand up. We need to make sure your clothes don’t smell like weed.” You pulled out a spray bottle and proceeded to spray him down with it.

“What is it?”

“Vodka. When it evaporates, it takes the weed smell with it.”

“Can we drink it?”

“It’s the cheapest kind they had. It’s actually really disgusting.”

You pinched the middle of his shirt and tugged the fabric back and forth a few times to air it out. Touching was never awkward between the two of you, but suddenly Klaus wiggled out of your grasp. He was smiling. “That, um…tickles,” he said, running a hand through his dark curls.

“I barely touched you.”

“Yep, and you won’t catch me either!, he dared and then took off running, snaking around the rows of tombstones like it was an obstacle course. The chase was on. He was a surprisingly fast runner, with his own chaotic style, always looking like he was about to trip.

You finally caught up with him, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in close. "Gotcha!” Both of you were looking at each other, panting when a beeping sound startled you both.

“Shit, what’s that?” Klaus was panicked.

“Oh, it’s the alarm I set before we got high. I was scared we’d lose track of time.” You ran back to your bag and retrieved a bottle of water and hand sanitizer. “Here, wash your mouth out and clean your hands. It’s time to go back.” He obeyed.

“One day I’m going to stop going back,” his face was suddenly very serious.

“I know, Klaus,” you replied, hugging him tight. He grabbed your hand as you walked back down the path leading to the familiar stone crypt. Leaving Klaus was different this time…calm and bittersweet. It was only after, on your journey back up the hill that you felt the sting of regret.

@moorehollandplz @vinawyatt @helena-way07 @bubblyani @bi-satanist @dandycandy75 @siriuslynore @deadlynyghtshayde @zombiedixon89 @living-for-romance @cottagecompanion @ringpopdust @stressedbisexualmess @eli-gere @queenboosha @affection-rabbit @pwoperbrownie @theladywholivesonthemoon @deadlynyxfics @oplunket16 @immirandaq @yeet-ya-later @jay-the-yey @jupitercrxsh @renaissance-mama @peggy1999 @ourbvbsleepingwithsirens @oxoxo0

#klaus hargreeves imagine #klaus hargreeves fanfic #klaus x reader #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves #klaus in the mausoleum #tua imagines #tua fanfic #tua series #klaus hargreeves series

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nie7027 · 4 years

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Im really liking s2 of The Umbrella Academy for showing how much Five loves Vanya to the point he even has a soft spot for her.

Like we got glimpses of that in s1 (the sandwiches bit and she being the first five goes for and confides in) but those two didnt have much creen time together so everything stayed as mere speculations but now?

HE LIES/HIDES THE TRUTH ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE SO SHE DOESNT FEEL BAD which i honestly didnt think he would given how practical he is.

He is ruthless/a little shit with everybody but less with her.

which i love because vanya deserves more love. They all deserve to feel loved.

Actually going from that i loved their reunion in episode 4? 5? Because this time they were a little more loosened instead of upset and focused on how relieved they were to see each other after thinking they were all dead.

Im all for that Vanya, Allison and Klaus hug (and subsequent hanging out), Diego immediately checking on Klaus and that emot~onal charged look they all have when they see everybody for the first time.

Im only sad about Ben being excluded from that and that he doesmt care because he was just happy seeing them together.

That was just from the reunion in episode 5 bu this season is filled with siblings feel i missed from s1 because in the other episodws we have Luther finally showing he cares for Vanyab checking up on her and defending her from Diego who warms up to her the moment she apologizes (which tbh wasnt much of an apologuze because she didnt know what she did but it was more than ebough to Diego)

#the umbrella academy #this is just rambling but i like to see the diferent relationships between each of the hargreeves kids #and its nice that this season is giving us those s1 didnt have #i just wish there were more of ben with everybody #but i know i will come to regret this

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deniscollins · 7 years

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Saudi Arabia Is Open for Business, but Not Everybody’s Buying

Saudi Arabia is courting new international investors for large projects. Saudi Arabia also still requires that women wear full-length robes in public and gives them fewer legal rights than men. Would you invest in Saudi Arabia: (1) Yes, (2) No. Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

On a recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur who created the Virgin Group, was so inspired by the blue waters along the Red Sea coast that he stripped down to his swimsuit before his helicopter even landed.

Since then, he has become one of the Saudi government’s biggest international business allies as it seeks to start three new megaprojects aimed at diversifying its oil-dependent economy.

The projects are staggering in their ambition, if short on details. One is a business hub run on sustainable energy and staffed by robots. Another is an entertainment city near the capital, Riyadh. Mr. Branson is considering building inside one of those and is consulting on the third, an eco-tourism complex on islands in the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy historically known for its oil and its hyperconservative version of Islam, which requires women to wear full-length robes in public and gives them fewer legal rights than men. That the kingdom is betting its future on solar power, high tech and entertainment — realms in which it has virtually no background — is a sign of how determined the leadership is to modernize.

But serious questions remain about its ability to execute such complex plans, which rely heavily on international interest and money. Investors could balk at putting substantial capital into an often opaque system at a time of such major economic and social change, including granting women the right to drive.

“My reading is that major investors are teased by what is happening in Saudi but are not yet convinced that they want to put their money where their mouth is,” said James M. Dorsey, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “There is a lot of potential here. How realistic that potential is remains to be seen.”

The three megaprojects are the brainchildren of the 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who has proposed sweeping reforms aimed at diversifying the economy away from oil and opening up Saudi society.

This week, he welcomed more than 3,500 international investors, bankers and corporate chieftains at a luxurious conference in Riyadh to entice them to invest in the kingdom. In recent years, the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, the government investing arm that hosted the conference, has put tens of billions into ventures with SoftBank, Blackstone and a Russian government fund, as well as Uber.

While some of those beneficiaries are now giving back, others have yet to make concrete investment commitments to the kingdom. And some could merely be seeking to sell goods and services to Saudi Arabia, making profits regardless of how the projects ultimately turn out.

“This is a place for dreamers that want to create something new in the world,” Prince Mohammed said on Tuesday while unveiling the proposed business and technology hub, NEOM. “We’ll have a lot of partners inside of this room and outside of this room working with us to embody this idea.”

Among the project’s goals is encouraging Saudis to spend more money at home, keeping it in the local economy and creating jobs. But the developments will require large government spending and extensive construction, neither of which will quickly increase the state’s non-oil revenue nor create jobs that young Saudis are likely to take.

“If they had the luxury of waiting for 15 or 20 years until this project generated Saudi jobs, then fine,” said Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and the author of a book on the Saudi bureaucracy. But NEOM, he said, “is a speculative project, and by itself it is not going to help with the problems they are going to have in the next five to 10 years.”

Saudi Arabia’s record on megaprojects has been mixed. It has succeeded in creating special zones that fostered heavy industry. But other plans, like a network of “economic cities” and a financial district in Riyadh, have fallen far short of their objectives.

Some say the difference this time is that Prince Mohammed, who has centralized state power under him, will push projects forward.

“What you’re experiencing is something that I believe is not the regular way,” said Stephen Schwarzman, a longtime visitor to Saudi Arabia and the chief executive of the private-equity firm Blackstone. “It’s a byproduct of substantial change in the direction of the country.”

This week his firm completed a $20 billion Saudi government investment in its planned United States infrastructure fund. He declined to comment on whether Blackstone would invest in the megaprojects.

Prince Mohammed’s unveiling of NEOM, the high-tech business hub, was the conference’s headline event. To be built on a barren parcel of land along the Gulf of Aqaba, it is depicted as an eventual haven for sophisticated white collar jobs in biotech, alternative energy and digital services. To help draw labor and capital, it will be exempted from Saudi regulations and very likely offer visa-free travel and other incentives.

Over time, its service economy will be staffed by robots, according to promotional materials. To signal the new direction, a robot named Sophia was given Saudi citizenship on Wednesday.

The project will be overseen by Klaus Kleinfeld, a German-born executive who ran the industrial conglomerate Siemens and the aluminum company Alcoa.

VERY LONG ARTICLE CONTINUES

#Saudi Arabia

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