#better and try and get a whole roster of monsters together. originally this would have involved the invisible man and the mummy but as it i

[quarantineessayseries]

Issue #2: To Catch a Predator

In accordance with Executive Order 20-91 I approve the following as additions to the list of “essential services” for the purposes of that Executive Order… Employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience… only if the location is closed to the general public.

- Florida governor Ron Desantis, from a memo allowing the WWE to continue its live televised productions, 4/9/20

The new pro wrestling events filmed without a studio audience are a novelty. They make sense- for Vince McMahon, the only way to keep making money off of his roster of beefcakes is to make them fight in big empty rooms- but I can’t imagine any casual fans watching more than one of them.

That memo, issued one week after the general Florida shelter-in-place order, specifically named athletes and entertainers at productions like the WWE as essential workers. Pro wrestlers fall into both categories, because the WWE is, at its core, a production. It’s a play. True fans and haters alike have been aware of this all along, but it’s suddenly become very hard to think about anything else. Color commentators work overtime to sell impacts without the gasping crowd to back them up. Monologues, ordinarily broken up and stretched out by screams and applause, now feature awkward stretches of silent glaring and heavy breathing. It’s enough to make even the best writing and the most charismatic performers look very, very silly.

The worst part is the entrances. Entrances are the showiest part of the show. Every wrestler and team has their own music, costumes, choreography, props, pyrotechnics, entourage, et cetera- but a lot of the magic of a good entrance is dependent on the crowd. The Undertaker’s entrance at WrestleMania 30 was over seven minutes long, because the WWE writers know that from the second the lights go out and the first bell tolls, the audience will be screaming and pointing their shaking camera phones at the giant man slowly plodding towards the ring. They will do it for seven minutes and they’ll probably do it for more, and it won’t get boring because their anticipation is electric. Now they’re at home. Pro wrestling is ruined.

Fortunately, pro wrestling was never my fix. There’s another TV world with a similar blend of scripted dialogue, real-life danger, iconic entrances, and a devoted fanbase that holds it all together: To Catch a Predator.

TCAP refers to the whole Chris Hansen family of predator-related products, including the original To Catch a Predator, Predator Raw, and Hansen vs. Predator. Channels like Saul and Joey’s TCAP Channel are the heart of the TCAP community, with their own backstories, editing styles, and tricks for getting around copyright claims. The heart of TCAP itself is Chris Hansen, and like all of my favorite characters from TV and film, everybody loves him.

His entrances are just as iconic as the Undertaker’s, but carry a much greater sense of urgency. Instead of mugging and trudging his way to his mark, he moves confidently into position across the bar or island. Instead of smoke and music, he uses assertive body language and polite commands to intimidate his prey. And instead of being shaggy, wet, and fuming, he sports short blond hair and a sleek black turtleneck.

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the TCAP formula, here’s how it works.

1. Chris introduces the audience to a new piece of human scum by their chatroom username. A picture is shown, and actors read snippets of their sexual correspondences with someone they believe to be underage.

2. The would-be predator enters the house, and is given a further chance to incriminate themselves to another actor playing the would-be victim.

3. Enter Hansen, alone. He moves with the confidence of someone who has a documentary crew waiting in the wings, and a SWAT team waiting in the garage. He allows the predator to make the standard series of excuses as their life flashes before their eyes.

4. The reveal. Sometimes the predator recognizes him right away, or admits under questioning that they’ve watched his show, but Hansen does his reveal anyway because he loves it. He delivers his line- “I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC, and we’re doing a story on computer predators who try to meet underage kids for sex”- and he delivers it clean.

5. Negotiations conclude, the predator exits the sting house, and is instantly tackled by law enforcement.

The predators’ unique attempts to explain themselves are what keep the show fresh, but the routine is what makes it so addicting. Hansen’s shows present conflicts, but the viewer always knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who the bad guy is, that he will lose.

The Undertaker was proven to be a mere mortal in 2014. Shortly after that famous, seven-minute entrance, the Original Deadman failed to escape from a Brock Lesnar leg lock and suffered his first-ever loss. Chris Hansen was revealed to be mortal one year later, when the Kickstarter for an independent Hansen vs. Predator show failed completely. The rights to the show were sold to Crime Watch Daily and Hansen was arrested for buying promotional items with a bad $13,000 check. But the segment that finally aired on Crime Watch Daily was a hit, and new monsters like Jeff Sokol were welcome additions to TCAP lore. Comment sections are filled with references to other stings, famous quotes from predators past, and iconic Hansen go-tos like “that’s not up to me” and “you see how this looks?”

It’s better than wrestling. As quarantine stretches on, and I feel myself growing ever more apathetic and vindictive, the more I just want to watch a real person get their life ruined and know, for once, that they deserve it.

Next up on the Quarantine Essay Series: The Marble League

#quarantine #predator #wwe

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 119: The New Crystal Gems

“We can be exactly like them, but better!”

It’s a time-honored tradition at this point to follow emotionally heavy arcs with Peridot being silly, and while Greg’s kidnapping might seem like small potatoes compared to the Peridemption or the conclusion to Act II, The New Crystal Gems is a welcome salve before we dive back into turmoil mode. Especially because this is our last fully goofy episode, without any forays into angst or the larger plot, until Letters to Lars. And even that one has Sad Dewey.

A staple of great sitcoms is developing a strong core roster and pairing characters together in interesting ways episode to episode. It’s something that Steven Universe (which to be fair is not a sitcom) unfortunately doesn’t get a chance to do very often, because we see the world through Steven’s eyes. By design he’s nearly always a part of the show that bears his name, and while I love the kid, it can be refreshing to see what it’s like for people in his world to hang out without him. I’d kill for an episode about Greg giving Buck guitar lessons, or a day in the life of Onion and Sour Cream’s family, or Garnet interacting with literally any human that isn’t a Universe for an extended period of time. But I’ll certainly settle for seeing Connie, Peridot, and Lapis do their own thing. (Oh and also Pumpkin.)

When Connie and the Barnmates are both tasked to protect Beach City by Steven and Garnet respectively in Adventures in Light Distortion, it seems irrelevant compared to the stakes at hand. But it cleverly fuels the story of three major but supporting characters getting a big promotion and not knowing what to do about it. This is high concept sitcom plot through and through (“Jerry and the gang wait to eat at a Chinese restaurant!” “A conman sells Springfield a monorail!” “April and Andy have a surprise wedding!” “Connie, Peridot, and Lapis take over as the substitute Crystal Gems!”), and I am here for it.

The New Crystal Gems is an answer of sorts to Gem Heist, an episode about the restrictive identities of Gems in their native society. Back on Earth, our heroes instead feel compelled to fill in the roles of the original Crystal Gems, and while the “be yourself” message couldn’t be more blatant, the execution is a delightful reminder that freedom from Homeworld rules allows for malleability and growth. This is a planet where not only a human but a sentient pumpkin dog can be honorary Gems.

While Connie and Peridot are a lot of fun as the Steven and the Garnet, and Pumpkin is obviously a dead ringer for Pearl, Jennifer Paz does the most impressive vocal mimicry as Lapis gets super into playing different members of the group. This is mostly wonderful for how fun it is to see her have fun, but I also love how it tracks with her former life trapped in a mirror, only able to communicate by copying who she saw and heard. Of course she’s good at imitation.

It’s also intriguing to get a glimpse at Lapis’s opinion of the Crystal Gems these days, because she hated them from the start and still has yet to warm up to any non-Steven member of the core group. When she asks which one Amethyst is, it’s everything I want in deadpan: impenetrable delivery from a deeply ambiguous character who’s so dry that even the act of explaining she’s kidding is funny (see also: EDI from Mass Effect). And it’s amplified by her genuinely not recognizing Connie, which itself is a hilarious interaction for both parties. Going full Teen Mode in the beginning of the episode makes her dive into silliness even better; she might be a snob when it comes to how many people she almost drowned, but she’s not too high and mighty to play make believe.

Connie does imitate Steven a bit, but as the most rational of the trio she still defaults to Connie and has to dip into Steven Mode when duty calls. Peridot’s Garnet is just throwing on sunglasses and giving a thumbs up, then acting like typical bossy Peridot, but it make sense that someone who already sees herself as a leader doesn’t think she needs to adjust to fit the role.

In a neat nod to the show’s production history, Jennifer Paz and Shelby Rabara play the Gems they originally auditioned for: we could be living in a world with Paz as Amethyst and Rabara as Garnet full-time. No word on whether Grace Rolek ever read for Steven, but if it wasn’t clear enough from the episode’s content, the crew seemed to have a lot of fun with The New Crystal Gems.

Subtlety isn’t what this episode is going for, but I still appreciate that the successful wash sequence only works because our heroes act like their best selves: Peridot and Lapis use their powers, and Connie towels off the car like the practical human she is. It’s only with a bigger crowd where Peridot and Lapis try too hard to enforce roles that don’t come naturally: Peridot would rather wrest control than lead, while Lapis’s idea of a “joke” is firehosing citizens. Connie’s speech fails because an imitation of Steven’s enthusiasm pales to the real thing, and her lack of an established relationship with these ornery Gems makes an appeal to love impossible. So yeah, shock of shocks, being themselves again is the answer. It’s visible from a mile away, but the appeal of The New Crystal Gems was never going to be its lesson.

The character work for Peridot, Lapis, and Connie is everything here, and I could spend an entire miniseries watching their continuing adventures as the Crystal Temps. Peridot and Lapis already have great chemistry, at each other’s throats when their egos get the better of them but otherwise getting along (either because they agree or because one is fine humoring the other). My favorite shared belief of theirs is that Pearl is the worst Crystal Gem; it’s such a specific and continuous joke that every iteration of it warms my mean-spirited heart, and Peridot’s similarities with Pearl are so obvious that it’s delightful when they’re verbalized.

Connie is the wildcard here, and while it bums me out that we never got to see her meeting Peridot for the first time, her intro scene with Lapis and her role as the adult in the room make her a critical addition. Steven may be more emotionally mature than Peridot, but Connie combines this maturity with the ability to operate on Peridot’s wavelength of logical pragmatism (and is way better at it than Peridot because she’s not, and I say this with love, a doofus). This leads to more of a clashing relationship than what we’re used to, especially because Connie is willing to call Peridot out in situations that Steven and Lapis would just let go. These three are friends, sort of, but most of the episode is Connie wrangling two ancient teens.

It’s amazing to watch Connie’s big speech after I Am My Monster, where she applies the same skills to both rebuke and rally Steven’s extended family in order to save him. Both here and there, she references Steven’s ability to bring people together without actually using his methods, because she’s not Steven and she doesn’t have to be. Steven is forgiving of the Gems’ flaws to a fault, but Connie has no patience for adults who can’t act like the guardians they should be, because she was raised by parents who (for all their flaws) were nothing if not responsible. Connie may have softened since her Bubble Buddies days, but her willingness to chastise friends when the situation calls for it remains one of her greatest strengths in a cast that’s often too kind to speak their minds. 

Connie’s narration separates The New Crystal Gems from most flashback episodes, but we otherwise follow the typical structure of beginning and ending in the present. To his credit, Steven apologizes to Connie for leaving her behind, and for now she’s understanding; her anger with him doing it again in I Am My Mom comes from him revealing that his apology was hollow, because he’s still willing to go on risky adventures without her. (Also, Pearl gets a nice moment beyond being the butt of an episode-long joke by nodding in approval at Connie doing the chores.)

This is one of the more satisfying endings to a flashback episodes, which usually peak at the end of the story being told rather than in the present. Greg’s wealth makes the destruction of his shop less serious than it would’ve been two seasons ago, but it’s still nice to see how chill and forgiving he is of the mistake. And Peridot and Lapis’s artistic side gets to shine as they make a new sign (new sitcom episode idea: Peridot, Lapis, and Buck open a morp exhibit in Beach City). Their victory pose is earned.

This is a shorter review than usual, thanks to the problem I tend to have with writing about Peridot antics: they’re great, but I have to avoid just transcribing my favorite jokes and helpfully telling y’all that they’re funny. Log Date 7 15 2 and Kindergarten Kid were made easier by respectively allowing me to write about Peridot’s redemption as a whole and Looney Tunes, while Beta restricts the best gags to its first half. The New Crystal Gems is an awesome episode, but it’s a bummer that I can’t write more about Connie’s relationship with Peridot and Lapis, because we don’t see them hang out in a meaningful way after this. I’m happy with what we got, but it’s almost cruel to give us a bite of cake without offering a full slice. More Crystal Temps, please!

Future Vision!

The end of Steven Universe Future doesn’t just see Connie call back to her role as the leader of the Crystal Temps, but Peridot replace her as the inheritor of Steven’s shirt.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Like Log Date 7 15 2 and Kindergarten Kid before it, The New Crystal Gems is a delight. Add Lapis and Connie to the mix and it gets even better. Not in my Top 20, but still a great one.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(I don’t know how an episode this fun didn’t have any crew members drawing official promo images, but Luckyjackpot is on the case.)

#the new crystal gems #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Another Set of Updates

Okay, gonna try to keep this as brief as possible!

My poll regarding which Kidge-a-Palooza AU I should turn into a story proper is still available: [here]. I’m gonna leave it up for another week or so, so please give it a vote if you haven’t already!

Chapter 4 of Here (In Your Arms) is up and available: [here].

Chapter 2 of Paint me in Trust is up and available: [here].

Chapter 2(6) of Time, Space and Everything Between is up and available: [here].

Since the update for Time, Space and Everything Between is up, I wanted to clarify a few things about where it’ll be going from hence forth. That information (spoiler free) can be found below for those that are interested.

Okay, so, confession time! This fic wasn’t supposed to become what it is now. Originally, I planned for this fic to be about six/ seven chapters and go in a somewhat different direction than it has. There was going to be an entire chapter dedicated just to the Kogane and Holt families bonding. The rescue of Shiro was going to go almost the same as it did in the series canon, with Keith being kept on Earth with his father using his camouflage device and entering the Garrison in hopes of snuffing out who the Blue Paladin was. The only big changes to it that I intended to make was Keith and Pidge knowing each other prior, Keith actually being a Galra, and when they head back to the shack, they’re greeted by Papa Kogane. From there, I was planning to end the fic with them going through the wormhole and implying events played out mostly the same as canon. But, then I decided I didn’t really like that idea either, so then I thought I’d go the route of letting Keith grow up with the Holt’s. Like, Ethan moving out there and Krolia leaving Keith on Earth to have a tradional human childhood.

As you can see, I didn’t end up doing any of that. And you may be wondering why.

Because the last season of Voltron left me that disappointed but I will admit I had issues with the show even before that Spit-in-the-Face ending but we’ll get there and I was raised by parents who said “If you don’t know how you’d improve something, you shouldn’t be the one to complain about it.”

Well, fine then. I’m gonna do just that.

ALSO I WANT TO CLARIFY that I am NOT saying I could have written the show better than the show runners themselves! I’ve never been in the position(s) they were in. I do, however, have the benefit of hindsight, which allows me to look at where the show succeeded and failed respectively, and take steps that I think would offer a more cohesive, enjoyable story-telling experience as a whole. I am taking the things that I, personally, took issue with, as well as some of the bigger things I’ve seen the fandom at large take issue with. At the end of the day, though, most of these decisions will be made from my own personal desires/ whims (since, you know, ship-feels and all that jazz). I will, however, be open to criticism from any and all who read my fics, so please feel free to tell me what you think does or doesn’t work as we go along.

I’m gonna break this down into four main categories down below; Things I’m Adding, Things I’m Cutting, Things I’m Adjusting, and Cut Fic Content. All but one of these is pretty self-explanatory, I think, but I promise to explain that little oddity when we get there. I’ll also touch on what and why I chose to approach certain things the way that I did.

Things I’m Adding

Melenor and Garett

Queen Melenor is kind of an anomaly in the series, don’t you think? It was kind of implied throughout most of the series proper that she died while Allura was still pretty young, which would have made a lot more sense for both Allura’s relationship with Alfor, as well as why Alfor was so distant from Zarkon when Daibazaal began tattering at the seams. But then Season 8 happened and threw all that out the window! All of a sudden, Melenor’s death suddenly carries this great significance for Allura, to the point she has a hallucination about her. Plus, it also kinda throws a wrench into scenes from the earlier seasons. Allura specifically says “Zarkon killed my Father and my Mother!” but… If Melenor was killed by Zarkon, where was she during the fall of Altea? Why wasn’t she with her daughter and husband in the final moments? And it makes even less sense when you look at that first scene where Allura and Coran were introduced. There were eight pods there. You mean to tell me Alfor didn’t think it might be a good idea to save an extra body or two to help guide Allura as she steps into the role she will have to take once he’s gone? Or even to help with maintaining/ rebuilding the Castle of Lions?

So, I’ve decided to add Melenor as a way to give some more characterization to not only she herself as a character, but also Alfor. Plus, I decided to make use of Garett (whose name I spell differently for reasons), Coran’s son from the original series, too. I think it’d be more fun to have an extra set of hands on board to help maintain the Castle of Lions and teach the Paladins, but maybe closer to their age range. So, we’ll see how things go with adding him to the roster. :3

Backstory for the Blades

This was something that we should have gotten a little bit of exposition on, considering how inflated their importance got. Like, the Blade became instrumental to the functionality of both Voltron and the Rebels due to their intelligence gathering. I think it’d have been kind of cool to see where it all started and what events in specific triggered it into becoming.

More Focus on Team Relationships

I didn’t really feel like the big victory against Zarkon was earned at the end of Season 2. I also didn’t think the team really earned any of their bigger victories, such as against Lotor and Honerva. They never felt like a real team that meshed because they just kinda stuck the same pairs/ clicks together. This was my biggest issue throughout most of the show and I really want to explore the dynamics we never really got to see. There are a few standout relationships that definitely needed some retooling, but I’ll mention those farther down. 

More Alien Worlds

Sci-fi and Fantasy are my big genres because I. Fudgin. Love seeing the designs for different technology, worlds and races. And while we did get some interesting ones with the series proper - which I’ll be mostly still including - I wish we’d gotten to see more. So, because I have no self-control, I’ll be planning to do that here!

Shiro’s Love Life

Shiro deserved better. I feel like that’s kind of something that most of the fandom can agree on. I don’t say this from a place of hate for Curtis, though, because… Well, what is there to hate? He was a literal background character who did nothing, said maybe two lines of dialogue, and that was it. Considering how much they pushed Shiro being the rep for the LGBT+ crowd, they did literally nothing with his love life. Hell, Adam was only revealed as his fiance because Bex fought tooth and nail for them to say it! If they hadn’t pushed the way they did, it would have all been subtext.

So, Shiro is going to have a romantic side plot in this fic, where we’ll focus on him and the character I’ve picked to be his partner.

Minor Side Romances

Some other little side pairings are gonna get a bit of love, here, too, since Voltron really only did the romance side of things well with, like, two couples. All the main couples are also gonna get plenty of spotlight, but I also think it would be fun to do some smaller side ships every now and then, too.

Things I’m Cutting

Villain Roulette

There was way too much jumping back and forth between who our main villain to focus on was. Bam, it’s Zarkon! No, wait, now it’s Lotor! Just kidding, here comes Zarkon again! Except that it was actually Lotor! Or so you thought; it’s actually Honerva haha great prank amiright? It was exhausting and I think it’d be a lot simpler to just… Stick with one villain who controls the smaller monster-of-the-day bad guys for an extended period of time and, once they’re for reals defeated, then move on to the next. I’ll be taking this approach for the sake of not only having a more focused story, but also my own sanity. I’ve never been good at gambling so trying the same thing as the show would probably turn out even worse for me.

Keith’s Excellent Blade Adventure with His Mommy

This is all unnecessary in this story, so we won’t be doing it at all. Keith’s sorry purple tail is staying with Team Voltron; no buts, no fuss, no coconuts.

Shiro’s Illness and Adam’s Death

Adam’s death is something I could go on about for hours specifically because it seemed unfair and kinda petty. Like, I feel they killed him specifically because they couldn’t kill Shiro, and they wanted to amp up the Tragic Backstory for our prior leader. So, instead, that’s getting the boot, as well as Shiro’s illness, since it’s also unneeded for plot convenience. Plus, it could have been nice to have a character that was willing to call Shiro out on the Atlus. Shiro always got treated like some kind of flawless entity, and I think it’d been nice to have someone call that Nice Guy Schtick out.

Allura and the Entity Plotline

This whole thing made no sense, got no proper development because of how late into the game they introduced it, and ended up being nothing more than a tool for them to kill Allura off. So, that can GTFO of my house post haste.

The Ending as a Whole

Some parts of the ending worked, but most of it just sucked. When the ending is so bad that it makes me feel obligated to stan characters I was ambivalent/ outright disliked? Yeah, gonna need to walk that back a bit.

Most of Seasons 3-6

The pacing in these seasons really was terrible. We derailed working on the team dynamic, building up the Coalition and Rebel forces, and developing the Paladins’ characters to instead focus on all that shit with Lotor. That… Was infuriating. Especially considering it was all basically a waste.

Additionally, we had Keith sidelined and his arc - which was clearly going to be center around him learning how to be a leader - completely pushed aside and then treated as if it did happened when he showed up late with Starbucks at the end of Season 6. That felt really unbelievable to me.

Time Skips

There were way too many time skips, for serious. Especially when those time skips didn’t include any kind of change in development/ character for the team. There’ll be smaller time skips, but nothing as egregious as what we got in seasons 6 and 7.

Things I’m Adjusting                                                              

Lion Swap

This’ll still be happening, but the circumstances that trigger it will be different. I may also shift around who gets to take which Lion when we get to that point. I haven’t decided just yet, but I’ll have it figured out before we reach that point. Most of this fic is already planned out and, honestly, the Lion Swap will be finalized once I figure out what I’m doing with a few of the other characters.

Shiro and Keith’s Relationship

This, right here? This was one of my biggest issues with Voltron. Keith was completely codependent on Shiro, while Shiro clearly cared about Keith’s well-being but it always felt like he’d have been just fine if something similar to what happened to him happened to Keith. It’s just… Really gross to me. It doesn’t help that I also find the whole “Dying for Your Lover” Trope – which I’ve seen a lot of people praise The Black Paladins for implying - to be incredibly disgusting and unhealthy. Also Keith’s flagrant hypocrisy never getting called out bothers me a lot since I actually like when a character behaves in a hypocritical manner, since it feels organic, but it has to be called out because hypocrisy can lead to double-standards and create harmful environments and I need to stop for now

So, Keith and Shiro are still going to be close, but they aren’t going to be that close.

Keith and Allura’s Relationship

Oh, look! Another potentially interesting aspect of the show that they kinda dropped the ball on! I really hated Allura’s heel-turn on Keith when it’s revealed that he’s Galra in S2 because a) It’s not like Keith himself knew this and was actively hiding it, and b) It felt out of character for the way Allura had been presented thus far. Her lashing out at Zarkon when she was captured made sense since he directly killed her father, her people and her planet. And I could understand being wary of the Blades – to the extent that she was in the first half – but after Keith’s heritage is revealed, she’s completely cold to him and only seems to decide he’s a good guy when he’s willing to take on a potential suicide mission! They either needed to drag the animosity out and show it effecting Allura’s ability to work with the team as a whole and also show the team sticking up for Keith because the fact that Hunk was the only one that said anything is kinda messed up like where tf was Shiro if he and Keith are oh so close? or they needed to tone Allura’s attitude towards him back a bit more, have her approach him in a manner similar to how she addressed the Blade members; acknowledging he is there and contributing, but not praising or thanking him outright.

And since Keith presents and knows he’s part Galra from the start in this fic? Well, we’ll actually get to play around with that dynamic a little more. And while I’m on the subject of our favorite Altean princess…

Allura’s Character Inconsistencies

Allura’s character jumped around a lot in some of the earlier seasons and I’d be willing to wager that this is because the writers never settled on an age for her. And I don’t mean during the big changes like her becoming a Paladin or Lotor’s betrayal, since it’d make sense she be shaken by situations that drastic. One minute, she’s this composed, confident and well-spoken young leader doing the best she can. The next, she’s a more temperamental sort who has low self-esteem/ confidence in her own abilities to even successfully contribute to a team. Now, I think I kniw what they were trying to do; they were trying to show that the more impulsive side of her is more genuine while the composed side is her trying to be the leader she is expected to be. I get it. They fixed this and improved on it later down the line, but they could have done better by maybe addressing it and using it as a chance to develop her relationship with another member or two of Team Voltron.

Season 2’s Ending

The defeat of Zarkon happened way too soon. Especially since then, because they wanted to play around with Lotor’s intentions, they had to bring him back as a cyborg-zombie fueled by quintessence. Zarkon should have only been defeated once and then we should have been allowed to move on to the next main villain. As such, I’m moving Zarkon’s defeat further down the line and will be modifying some of the consequences there in.

P Much Everything About Lotor’s Acr/ Motives

Lotor… Man, Lotor was confusing and a lot of wasted potential. They painted him as if they wanted him to be a morally grey villain, where he does terrible things for what he considers the betterment of others, but then, once it’s revealed that he was keeping secrets, he just… Goes full ham. He becomes Evil McAwful incarnate and it felt unrealistic. There were about 20 different directions they could have taken Lotor – before and after the reveal – and I just didn’t care for the approach they took. So, I’ll be doing things a little different and seeing how that goes.

What I’m Keeping from Seasons 3-6

Very, very little things are going to be kept from each of the aforementioned seasons and implemented in the fic. I’m not planning to keep too many of the big plot moments because they all bled into the issues I had with the story as it stood on its own. I will, however, take some of the small things from those three seasons and include them here. This also applies to certain elements from the other seasons as well, but we’ll get there when we get there.

Adopting Kosmo

Kosmo will be in this fic, come Hell or high water. He is the Best Boi and deserves to be here.

Cut Fic Content

Okay, so here’s the weird one in this line up! As the title implies, there’s some content that I have cut from the fic, even this early on. I actually have some of the Kogane-Holt bonding scenes still drafted up somewhere in my files. I removed them because I was worried that they’d feel too much like filler. There’s also some scenes I started to work out from when I planned to have Keith grow up with Pidge and Matt; specifically including a scene where Krolia and Ethan talk about the idea and decide to commit.

Some of these ideas won’t work in the fic as it stands now, though. I also, however, like the idea of putting it out for everyone to read. So, I’m debating on making a separate one-shot collection of things that could have happened, or just adding them as the occasional buffer between the arcs of the story. I’ll make a poll when I get closer to the point of deciding how to proceed, so keep an eye out for that. :3

That’s all for now! I hope you all enjoy the updates and I’ll hopefully be updating again sooner than this time!

#crumbles grumbles #info dump about my fics #I was planning to hold off on updating until I responded to all my current comments #But I was way too excited about having these ready to go!

[aviewfromhell]

Metal in 2018

DISCLAIMER- Increasingly, I find these year-end album lists becoming more personal and less critical. This is definitely a list of my personal favorite records from this year, and is not intended to be a critical survey of the artistic merits of various albums falling under the metal banner in 2018. Most of your favorites, and a huge percentage of metal journalism’s consensus “best of” will therefore be absent. There are even things here that probably aren’t “metal,” and definitely something that isn’t (originally) from 2018. So, you caught me. The title is a lie. But then again, it is my list, so I guess I can make the rules.

Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods

Mighty Ravendark returns! When Immortal parted ways with Abbath a few years back, most people assumed the band was essentially done. Shortly thereafter, founder Demonaz picked up his rime-crusted axe of old and announced that not only was the band not done, but that a new album was in the works. Many fans were skeptical, myself among them. How good could a new album without Abbath be?

This year, Demonaz (with the help of longtime drummer Horgh and session bassist/producer extraordinaire Peter Tagtgren) let the deathblow of his mighty axe fall, cleaving the heads of skeptics and doubters alike with the incredible Northern Chaos Gods. How good could this new album be? Better than anyone expected.

Far from sounding out of place, Demonaz's vocals fit the new material perfectly, and his lyrics are spot-on as always.Tagtgren's production is a great fit as well, and I hope the band continues their collaboration with him.While everyone will miss the grandeur of Abbath-led Immortal at their peak, I'm equally excited for this new incarnation of the band. If we keep getting albums of this quality from Demonaz, and Abbath continues releasing killer records utilizing his own trademark Abbath-isms, it may even be better than if the band had stayed together. If I had to pick a single release to be my actual "Album of the Year," this would most likely be it. Northern Chaos Gods has gotten more spins from me than any other 2018 release, and writing about it just makes me want to go listen to it again.

Judas Priest – Firepower

Judas Priest suffer from a rare condition in the metal world. They have so many great records that it's extremely difficult to release something new and relevant that plays to their strengths and isn't doomed to live in the shadows of their monolithic masterpieces. However, with this release, I think they achieved it. Sure, Firepower feels closely related to the untouchable Painkiller in pacing, structure, and overall style. However, Andy Sneap's production really sets this record apart as its own beast, and the combination of classic Priest writing and modern punchy production make Firepower one of the best metal records of 2018.

Aura Noir – Aura Noire

Norway's black thrash masters surface once again with an album that simultaneously feels like both a direct follow-up to their 1996 debut full length Black Thrash Attack, and a fresh new take on their abrasive, in-your-face style. Blasphemer, as usual, provides sickening riffs aplenty, melding different styles and techniques together into his own unmistakable sound. Aggressor and Appolyon deliver their signature, often over-the-top vocals in spades, and Aura Noire presents us with several tracks I'd consider to be new Aura Noir staples in an already impressive roster of black thrashing death anthems. All hail the ugliest band in the world!

High on Fire – Electric Messiah

One of the consistently best bands in American metal unleashed another monster upon us in 2018. Electric Messiah is solid throughout, and I'm as impressed as ever by Matt Pike & co.'s ability to deliver high quality albums like clockwork since their inception nearly two decades ago. Still, vicious album opener "Spewn from the Earth" does make me wish the band would release a record of nothing but high-speed rippers. Maybe one day, but until then I'm perfectly content with the killer mix of doom-drenched thrashy three-piece arcana that High on Fire has honed to perfection.

Sigh – Heir to Despair

Just look at the cover art. It may be the most "Sigh" thing I've ever seen. Mastermind Mirai Kawashima and friends return with the band's 11th full-length album, considered by many to be their best in years.The band's provenance is more evident than ever before; Heir to Despair's lyrics are almost entirely in Japanese, and various flutes, piccolos, and even taishogoto feature prominently. This album also happens to be one of the most "metal" in the band's recent discography, while still being as off-the-wall and unpredictable as fans have come to expect. This avant-garde offering delves deep into themes of madness and insanity, and I dare any listener to sit through the full album and claim they haven't gone a little crazier themselves.

Mayhem – Grand Declaration of War (2018 remix/remaster)

I know, I know. This album is from 2000, not 2018. However, as a Grand Declaration of War connoisseur, I can affirm that this is different enough from the original that it warrants inclusion on any list willing to allow remix/master/makes of any kind.

By most standards, this new version sounds almost objectively better in every way normally employed to determine musical sound quality. The album sounds much more organic and warm, particularly the drums. Everything sits nicely in the mix as well, with each instrument a little easier to pick out and enjoy than on the 2000 original. However, like other Grand Declaration of War enthusiasts have noted, the cold, digital, clinically-dead sound of the original was part of its charm. It added to the overall aural aesthetic and concept of the record. This 2018 version doesn't have that same detached quality, but luckily, we don't have to choose between versions; Mayhem has graced us with both.

I intended to restrict myself to talking only about the new release (since that's the only thing '2018' about the record), but I can't resist a small rant about Grand Declaration of War as a whole. This album was, and remains to be—if slightly less so—very controversial among black metal and Mayhem fans. Lots of fans hate(d) this record. They're wrong. Grand Declaration of War embodies both Mayhem and the spirit of Norwegian black metal perfectly. One of the absolute highlights of my year was being fortunate enough to play a gig with Mayhem, and the highlight of their set, for me, was "Bloodsword and a Colder Sun."

Maggot Heart – Dusk to Dusk

Perhaps my most anticipated album of the year, Dusk to Dusk did not disappoint. Last year's City Girls EP set the stage, and the full-length delivered big time. Maggot Heart is hard to classify, but if you look at the performers and their past bands, the sound won't really surprise you. Linnéa Olsson is writing some of the best riffs in a world where rock and guitar music is increasingly considered dead. Moreover, her vocals really shine on Dusk to Dusk, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the band. Maggot Heart may be the most irresponsibly overlooked band of 2018.

Deth Crux – Mutant Flesh

This mid-December release is a perfect example of why I try to wait until the last minute to write any kind of year-end list. For me, it took about a listen and a half to know Mutant Flesh belonged here. A ton of vague descriptors could be used, but I'll just go with dark, weird, catchy, and awesome. The band isn't necessarily reinventing the wheel, per se, but they also aren't committing the grave offense of just making a worse version of the records that influenced them. The album is hooky, memorable, and original in the ways that count. The instrumentation and vocals swirl and haunt, coalescing into a driving, addictive blend of gloom and defiance. Sanford Parker's production is a huge plus for the record, and clutch sax contributions from Bruce Lamont seal the deal.

That’s it!

While a few of these records were probably obvious, I hope this list exposes some friends and readers to stuff they otherwise wouldn’t have checked out.

I normally end these with some humorous, often snarky mini-lists, but I'm afraid I'll have to skip that this time around; I'm engaged in listening to mixes of the upcoming unarguably BEST metal album of 2019. But now is not the time nor place for discussing that. . .

[aion-rsa]

15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked

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Sony and Microsoft super fans will have a hard time admitting it, but Nintendo has created the most incredible catalog of properties in the history of gaming. They may get made fun of for their slow development time and occasionally repetitive entries within their biggest franchises, but people just can’t get enough of that feeling they get when they re-discover Mario jumping on Goombas or Kirby transforming into his nemeses.

With nearly four decades of game creation to explore, it’s hard to rank the absolute best franchises from Nintendo’s considerable history, but that’s exactly what we’ve set out to do. To clear up any confusion, this isn’t a list of the best characters in Nintendo’s history, so you may see Mario starring in multiple entries in this hierarchy (he’s dipped his gloves into just about everything). This also isn’t a ranking of individual Nintendo games, though the overall quality of the individual games within these franchises obviously influenced their ranking.

From sci-fi foxes and pink puffs to mascot brawlers and pocket monsters, these are the 15 best Nintendo franchises ever:

15. Mario Party

Board games have sometimes struggled to battle the popular perception that they’re an outdated form of entertainment. People (sometimes falsely) believe kids don’t have the attention span required to sit still and enjoy them for more than a few minutes, and adults sometimes get tired of trying to get enough people together to play one. Of course, before Mario Party, few people realized how strong the relationship between video games and board games could be.

For over two decades, Mario Party has been delighting families (and driving them crazy) with its wild hijinks, creative minigames, and whimsical board designs associated with the Mushroom Kingdom and its colorful inhabitants. Some entries are obviously more memorable than others (Mario Party 2 is the arguable high point of the franchise), but all of them have the same objective: to encourage in-person multiplayer gaming with people you care about.

14. F-Zero

Before he was known as a Super Smash Bros. staple, Captain Falcon and his iconic Blue Falcon racer led a franchise that many racing fans still call one of the most intense ever. The franchise combines strong gameplay with revolutionary characterization and world-building in a genre that typically isn’t known for either of those qualities. 

Sadly, it’s hard to talk about F-Zero without eventually addressing the fact that it is a mostly defunct relic from Nintendo’s past. There still hasn’t been a mainstream series release since the critically acclaimed F-Zero GX for the Gamecube in 2003, but the fire that fans have for this series’ unique futuristic environments, blazing speed, and racer backstories still burns bright in 2021. 

13. WarioWare

Humor is sometimes severely lacking in gaming, especially at a time when so many violent and cinematic franchises command the attention of the masses. Thankfully, Wario has always had enough fart jokes, snarky comments, and crude companions to make up for the dearth of humor on the gaming market. Of course, WarioWare is so much more than a few laughs and the five-second microgames that compose the core gameplay of the series. 

The franchise has been a pioneer in creative character building, multiplayer functionality, and innovative game design since 2003. Up until the Wii U, audiences could expect Wario, Jimmy T, Mona, and Dr. Crygor to showcase the technological potential of a new Nintendo console. We’ll all be treated to that zaniness again when WarioWare: Get It Together! launches on September 10 for the Switch.

12. Star Fox

It’s hard to emulate the sci-fi/fantasy mix of Star Wars with anthropomorphic animals and not have the whole thing feel corny, but Shigeru Miyamoto pulled it off when he created the Star Fox franchise in the early 1990s. Fox McCloud and his ragtag cohort of pilots introduced sharp-as-nails on-rails shooting to the Nintendo universe, and the gameplay of the first two (officially released) titles in this series has been hard to beat in the decades since. 

This franchise briefly attempted to explore third-person action gameplay with Star Fox Adventure and Star Fox Assault, but the series sadly fell into the abyss in the 2010s. Despite those recent shortcomings, the furry friends that fly through space will always hold a special place in Nintendo gamers’ hearts for as long as people can access a SNES and Nintendo 64. Do a barrel roll! 

11. Pikmin

The Pikmin series is one of Nintendo’s most daring ventures. It’s essentially a mish-mash of genres that ultimately feels like a strategy/adventure/platform/puzzle/collect-a-thon game. Against all odds, the series combines all of those unique elements rather well and even adds a surprising amount of emotional baggage to the equation. There’s nothing quite like the horror of watching the nickel-sized Captain Olimar and his resilient Pikmin soldiers get snuffed out in a second by a Red Bulborb (shudders). 

The franchise has only had four true entries (three on consoles, one on handheld), but that just keeps everyone hungry for more. The third title was also re-released for the Switch in 2020, and there have been rumors of a fourth console entry in the works since 2015. Hopefully, that sequel becomes a reality soon, because few games in the Big N canon offer so much variety. 

10. Donkey Kong

This franchise essentially gave birth to the entire Nintendo empire as we know it today. After all, the original Donkey Kong arcade game gave Nintendo the financial resources it needed to go on to do even bigger and better things. Better yet, DK became a charismatic fan-favorite character in his own right who has been severely disrespected and forgotten about in recent years.

Always in the shadow of the Mario platformers, and even occasionally demoted to sports and party game fodder, the Donkey Kong franchise still features some of the best games in Nintendo history. Donkey Kong Country and its sequels on the SNES revolutionized 2.5-dimensional graphics, Donkey Kong 64 was a peak 3D experience on the Nintendo 64, and Donkey Konga forced millions of parents to buy plastic bongo drums for their living rooms. It’s too bad we didn’t get anything good for this series’ 40th anniversary this past summer. 

9. Kirby

The “Super Tuff Pink Puff” and his large library of games have an enormous following largely because they can lay claim to being the ultimate representation of what gaming should be: flat-out fun. Kirby’s joyful exterior pairs with a fierce interior to create the perfect balance of a cuddly badass. His trademark mechanic (acquiring the abilities of his enemies on the fly) was revolutionary in the 1990s though it admittedly grew a little stale in the three decades since. 

Nintendo seemed to eventually realize that the franchise was growing repetitive and has since tried to spice things up with entries like 2010’s Kirby’s Epic Yarn (an artsy alternative to the typical platforming in the series) and several brawling-style games (i.e. Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2). No matter the genre, this franchise remains one of the most accessible properties in Nintendo’s portfolio.

8. Animal Crossing

There’s no way Nintendo could have known that was initially seen as their spin on The Sims would turn into such a phenomenon. That title effectively introduced many of the hallmark traits of this series that both casual and hardcore fans have come to adore, such as a real-time internal clock and the ability to interact with animals of all kinds as a curious villager in a town that you get to mold and watch grow.

Most recently, Animal Crossing: New Horizons demonstrated gaming’s ability to bring the world together even when they’re separated by thousands of miles and incredible circumstances. The coronavirus pandemic destroyed lives, careers, and economies, but 32 million copies of that title circulated the planet and even provided a little bit of carefree immersion amongst some very dark days. There’s really no greater feat that a video game can possibly accomplish. 

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7. Mario Kart

The racing genre is hard to get right, but sticking Mario and all of his friends into some wonky karts and letting the items fly has been simultaneously fun and infuriating for decades now. The franchise has brilliantly found ways to tweak and improve a tried and true formula with each new installment, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe may just be the perfect racing game. 

We all know that Nintendo has had a difficult time competing with the other major players in the industry when it comes to online play, but Mario Kart 8 is one of the only examples of the Big N creating a truly great experience in that department. Ruining someone’s morning with a blue shell halfway across the world right before you go to bed is something that can’t be replicated in any other game series. 

6. Fire Emblem

Long before Marth and Roy joined the Super Smash Bros roster, the Fire Emblem franchise became the pinnacle of tough-as-nails strategy gaming in Japan. As the strategy series started to trickle into the homes of more gamers, the entire Western world finally got to experience its brilliantly designed character development, storytelling, and tactical game boards set in visually creative fantasy lands. 

Fire Emblem Awakening essentially saved the entire property when it exploded in sales for the 3DS in 2013, and it’s only been up from there. Fire Emblem: Three Houses expanded the series’ secondary and tertiary elements to great success, but we all know that the foundational reason for the fun is always the chess match between the gamer’s army and the CPU’s enemy faction. This franchise has one of the brightest futures in the industry. 

5. Super Smash Bros.

When Masahiro Sakurai led development on the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 he probably had no idea he was working on the ultimate fighting event in gaming history. Every sequel that has followed has expanded on the original’s revolutionary mechanics and style that quickly broke the boundaries of what many believed multiplayer fighting games could be. 

By the time we got to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it became clear to everyone that this series is now a celebration of not only Nintendo as a company but characters previously outside of the conglomerate’s giant grasp. The franchise’s inclusion of Sonic the Hedgehog, Solid Snake, Cloud Strife, and many others demonstrate the power of Smash‘s orbit to bring the entire industry together for one very special gaming experience. 

4. Metroid

Nintendo’s incredible catalog lacks atmospheric, dark, science-fiction properties. Thankfully, Samus Aran’s three-decade-long struggle to take down Space Pirates and battle Ridley has always filled the void. There’s nothing else in gaming that quite challenges Metroid’s ability to combine adventuring, platforming, and puzzle-solving into one incredible entity. 

The series features multiple games that are in the running for the best of their generation, and the anticipation for Metroid Dread shows that fans desperately want to explore the moody depths of Brinstar, Zebes, and Tallon IV for as long as Nintendo will allow them to. 

3. Pokémon

We’ve finally hit the big three Nintendo properties. If you account for all the Pokémon apparel, TV series, movies, trading cards, and more that have spawned from the video games, it’s certainly easy to argue that this franchise is worthy of the top spot on the list. Honestly, though, this series is worthy of at least the third spot on this list based purely on the brilliance of its original adventure. 

Pokémon is special because it focuses on the relationship between humans and animals. Even though the pocket monsters you capture aren’t technically your pets, they sure feel like it after you’ve formed a connection with them after hours and hours of play. This franchise will continue to flourish for as long as Nintendo can think of new types of Pokémon for us to catch in each new generation of games.

2. Super Mario

Nintendo’s mascot has expanded into so many different waters that we sometimes forget just how brilliant his main franchise is. The Super Mario platformers have grown gaming’s potential with nearly every new release, and they have made millions fall in love with the medium for 35 years now. 

It would be easy for Nintendo to rest on Super Mario’s laurels and pump out the same thing year after year, but that almost feels sacrilegious. Instead, every new entry has its own signature style that is ultimately duplicated and admired for years to come. Super Mario continues to open up countless possibilities for platforming and the rest of the gaming industry.

1. The Legend of Zelda

Link’s adventures in Hyrule get the slight edge over Mario’s adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom because no other franchise in gaming has demonstrated that videogames are art on the same level as literature, film, or television as consistently or for as long as much of The Legend of Zelda has. This franchise is more than a game; it’s an experience.

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Boss battles, weapon upgrades, niche characters you meet along the way, and complex dungeons that double as playgrounds for the mind are all trademarks of this series that will never grow old. With this series’ recent evolution into an open-world experience that is changing the ways we think of that genre, there’s no telling how many more incredible gaming experiences we will ultimately owe this franchise in the coming years.

The post 15 Best Nintendo Franchises Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[virovac]

MonsterVerse : adding to roster for eventual “Destroy All Monsters” style movie

Since a huge monster mash is likely down the line, one issue with the Monsterverse became apparent to me in doing so: copyright and trademark in Japan is harder and more of a maze than in America. While  the Save the Earth videogame was in development I learned a large part of the fees for licensing much of Toho’s  monsters is to pay for the hassle of finding and contacting every co-owner to a character. While Legendary is willing to fork over money for the big names like Rodan and Mothra; for rounding out the cast of an apocalyptic level film they might be able to get more cheaply get some Warner Brother owned or public domain monsters to pad the cast. Out of curiosity, I looked up what they could use. Links have been provided for nearly every monster mentioned

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms: Godzilla’s American Granddady. Works good as a smaller monster in the vein of Baragon and Varan. Should probably be no larger than the scale used for the Kong-sized skullcrawlers.

The ants from Them!: I almost didn’t include these guys since they are explicitly regular ants turned giant in their original movie rather than prehistoric monsters, but  majingojira mentioned that they get vaguely referenced to on Skull Island. and there’s no reason there may not be more nests in other parts of the world. Heck, lets go crazy and make them semi-heroic with interactions with humans varying because the emergent behavior of mob mentality. If one ant has a taste for human flesh nearly all it fellow hunters present will attack, while another ant that was helped by a kind human in the past might remember and overrule and stop the attack. We know nowadays from research that ants can have individual personalities, they can be lazy, and queens that go berserk may be locked up and restrained.  Introducing such research into the portrayal can add to the mystique of an adventure story, and complicated feelings for the audience when the military makes the sound judgement that overall the colonies are threats, even if we meet a few friendly ants. Of course , with pheremone knowledge the possibility of a nonviolent solution may be possible, a way to pen the ants in... 

Definitely not from Godzilla’s era, ants are from the Cretaceous.  

As for powers, the old trailers explicitly mention venomous fangs, so lets make them dangerous at both ends, though if you some survive being maimed, the bad news is the venom at the mouth and at the spray glands of the rear are different and would require two different antidotes.

The Giant Behemoth: A British Monster co-produced by Warner Brothers, from a film written by the screenwriter of the The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Daniel Lewis James, who also wrote Gorgo. While the name is uninspired, its terrestrial design with its aquatic habits make an interesting contrast, and bring to mind Christian stories of monstrous animals that survived the Great Flood through sheer determinations  Works perfectly as coming from the same ecosystem as Godzilla, and has an interesting electric blast/atomic pulse attack. (By pseudoscience it gained from the power to use its natural electric-eel like abilities to project the radiation it’s body was contaminated with.) Like how Godzilla is not played for pathos, the monsterverse Behemoth would probably also be much more chill than its original portrayal , since it would be a natural radiovore rather than a victim of radiation poisoning in order to fit in better with the other monsters.

Gorgo and his mum: Not sure if these characters can be used, they might still be trademarked even though the comics are public domain. Still, to have all three monsters  of Daniel Lewis James screenplay’s in a movie would be amazing.

The Black Scorpion: Mexico’s murderous arachnid from a Warner Brothers production. It brings with it a whole new ecosystem of underground terror. You know the lost spider pit scene from Kong? Several props were reused as one-scene wonders in the Black-scorpions cave. For added distinctiveness, and following the “nature spirit” design philosophy for Skull island, perhaps  they can play up petrified forest aspect of the Black Scorpions’ ecosystem and give its armor a stone-like appearance, to play up how it has only one real vulnerable spot just under its neck.

Reptisaurus: Public domain comic book version of Reptilicus, started into a continuation of the movie, became its own thing once they lost the rights to the name. Not sure if they can use the green slime from the American edit, but they very least they can probably give it corrosive blood, and the movie lab scenes showed fact they turn any water they regenerate into basically a pool of digestive fluid (I appear to have had been misinformed here after finally seeing the MST3K version. Or I got it mixed up with a summary of the novelization) Their regeneration has  great capability for body horror: we know a limb can regenerate into a new monster but the process was never explored:. Imagine a foot crawling like a spider, it grows a mouth to eat.  It eventually gets enough mass to grow a serpent-like tail. Eventually the hand is replaced by a head and new limbs grow out from the sides of the trunk. The regeneration would likely be slightly different each time,possibly linked to the sheer adaptability of the speices. In the comics after a huge design change to be less like the movie monster,  Reptisaurus sexually produced two differennt spawn: one resembling a reptilian rhinocerous , while the other was more like one of the intermediates between amphibians and reptiles. (see below). Personally I’d keep try to merge the multiple designs of reptisaur in the way that works best and is most distinctive, but I prefer the old fashion dragon head.

MGM’s The Kraken from Clash of the Titans: Warner Brothers has the rights to the MGM film library. Skull Island’s wildlife has let loose the door open for more fantastical designs. You  don’t even have to bring up  Greek or Norse myth, we’ll all know who it is.

I support also getting the right to Titanosaurus from Toho just for the greatest “Clash of the Titans” joke of all time.

Finally:, and remember the point of this is to point out what Legendary and Warner Brothers can do, not what they should do, Warner Brother has the rights to a particular segment of Godzilla’s history

Hey with the right writers, and a proper redesign it could work. Godzooky’s mix of bravado and cowardice mixed with a more realistic portrayal of how cornered animals can be the most dangerous could make him an interesting character. Let Godzooky maul a terrorist like he should have done in the  Island of Doom episode and I bet everyone will forgive him.

I discovered Warner Brothers has the Valley of Gwangi in their film archive. While no way they could have a hidden valley of prehistoric life on the mainland , we could still size up Gwangi himself and have our Gorosaurus expy. Though honesty Gwangi might be much grumpier than Gorosaurus.

(Look at that sneer.)

Bonus points if they have a flashback show him being captured and moved to monster island by lassoing him with planes. If they have to update his design, the best way to approach it would probably be an allosaur that convergently evolved more Tyrannosaur style jaws,  with the back armor osteoderms of an alligator.  Gwangi was meant to be an Allosaurus but was based off various Charles Knight paintings of theropods, so its a good way to tie things together. 

Now two monsters I thought might be in public domain that I sadly have to shoot down:

I have found that the original portrayal of Yongarry might be in the public domain, but it may be too risky to take. A shame, since an old DAM poster had what was meant to be either Godzilla or Gorosaurus looking like Yongarry.

Gappa is off the table; due to strange international copyright law its only public domain in the U.S. and that doesn’t really work for an international franchise, and the deign might still be trademarked. It would have been fun because the  Gappa parents was inexplicably on a Turkish poster for Destroy all monsters.

#Godzilla 2014 #kong skull island #monsterverse #legendary pictures #yongarry #gappa #reptisaurus #reptilicus #the valley of gwangi #gwangi #the beast from 20000 fathoms #the black scorpion #the giant behemoth #them!