#colouring these were my villain origin story though

[theladyigraine]

All I wanted in the world was to tell you about it... and squeeze your hand.

#shadow and bone #sabedit #wesperedit #tvedit #wesper #jesper x wylan #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #myedit #hand holding my beloved #colouring these were my villain origin story though

[kerrikins]

Jin and the video

Or, a plot-line I think the writers may have misjudged.

In the most recent episode, we had Jin confessing to Phee that he posted the video. To most this was validation of what they already believed, to others it was confusing as there have been some contradicting clips that show Jin with a computer that was a different colour, as well as the screen flipping back and forth from night and day mode.

While this debate still continues a bit, particularly since we already knew that Jin probably thinks he must have posted it, I think the renewed reaction has cemented for me my thoughts that I think that this is a plotline the writers misjudged.

See I still - at least at this point, with the caveat that I could be proven wrong as this is horror/thriller - believe that Jin is intended to be a character that people can somewhat empathize with. He's not like Top, Por, or Tee, who are shown to be cruel and dismissive to Non. Though people deny it and talk around it, Jin is the one character that showed empathy to Non, he stood up for him, etc.

But the audience mostly doesn't empathize with Jin at all, and I think this is because the writers miscalculated.

People were already frustrated with his character even before the video incident, but the video really pushed it over the top and now Jin is the most despised character on the show.

However, I'm not sure whether the writers actually anticipated this reaction properly. The way that the show has handled it makes it seem like they haven't, because the video hasn't been touched on all that much, at least not to the extent I might have expected if the intention was 'yes, this is the worst thing done in the show, Jin is the villain who you should all hate and want to die'. We have other characters fitting that bill - Tee's uncle, Top, even Por to some extent.

Yes, the video has been mentioned, but only briefly. It doesn't hold the weight in the discussions about what happened to Non that I would expect it to if I thought the writers felt that this was the worst of the worst in the story they're constructing. (Again, it's possible that something will happen in the next two episodes that will counter this.)

And then there's the fact that people are still questioning whether or not Jin posted the video, given the different colour computers and different colour scheme. Personally I'm inclined to just go with what Jin said at this point, but at this point that's mostly because I feel like it's not going to matter.

I don't want a reveal because it's not going to make a difference. It's not something I have any excitement for, though I originally did, and it's because I know that for most viewers it's not going to land, it's not going to have the intended impact. Reveals usually are supposed to have an effect on the emotion of the audience, to make them view a character a different way, or perhaps empathize with them (or hate them more).

Though I will briefly add that of course it's possible that (if this is included) the writers anticipated this and are thinking more about the impact to the character who would be at fault, which is certainly a possibility. But if they have any intention at all for it to be a change in how the viewer looks at Jin, it's not going to land. Most fans aren't going to care, they aren't going to change their minds.

The only acceptable ending to most at this point is for Jin to die.

So with that in mind I think that the writers made a mistake with this plotline IF their intention is to write Jin as a character the audience could empathize with, because most do not. He's not coming across as grey, he's not coming across as someone people can understand or empathize with.

The act of filming and/or posting the video is, for the audience, making Jin the ultimate villain and if the show gives them anything other than validation of this thought, they are going to be unhappy.

Time will tell.

#dead friend forever #dff the series #dff: the series #dff jin

[little-mouse-adventures]

A Timeline of Events in the Artemis Fowl Series

If anyone's interested, I did do an actual analysis for where I pulled some of these dates from. But because I cannot type succinctly to save my life, it's 5,000 words long, so that's below the cut. I also put the timeline there again, but in three separate images, so hopefully they load well enough to be fully legible if the above isn't.

A thousand thanks to @sadbitchapologist and @zahnie for their help and advice with this, despite neither of them having any more than the barest interest in the series and therefore having no clue what I was on about. Thanks also to @orangerosebush for fielding completely out-of-the-blue questions about the French school system, so I didn't have to attempt to navigate web search results to figure out what mandatory gym classes were like for the sole purpose of plotting Luc's birthday on here.

An Analysis of the Timelines in the Artemis Fowl Series

A Brief Introduction

The Artemis Fowl series is made up of eight books covering a range of years and events. I wanted to see how accurate the timelines present in the books were, as well as try and plot out some other details implied in the novels but not explicitly stated, to have a better understanding of the overall world-building. To that end, I went through the series and made the above timeline. I colour-coded it based on the relevance of the specific items to certain categories, namely Humans, Fairies, Villains, and the Series itself. This does mean that some things could have fit into multiple categories. For instance, you will see some items involving Opal categorized as Fairy-Specific (such as her college years, as those are fairly neutral to the main plot or her villainy), Villain-Specific (such as her setting up her emergency fund, as that is mostly related to her schemes as opposed to relevant to her existence as a fairy, or part of the main plot of the series), and Plot-Specific (such as her opening the Berserker Gate, the primary plot point for the final book).

Before we really delve into things though, we should establish the baseline assumptions I was working with. Firstly, I am only using the original series. I have not used anything written in The Fowl Twins trilogy, given that those books seem to ret-con a considerable amount of the original information, and that is far too many headaches to give myself. Any supplemental series information, such as the short stories found in The Artemis Fowl Files, or anything from interviews is also not included. The premise here is: using just the original books, what is the event timeline of the world? The second thing we need to establish is that I am using the North American releases of the novels. I did make notes on where each bit of information comes from, but there isn’t really a citation style for this kind of thing, so I’m not sure how relevant that is. The third assumption is that the first book takes place the year it was originally published. According to my copy, the original publication was 2001, with the first American paperback edition coming out in 2002, and the first mass market paperback being released in 2003. This means our starting point is in 2001.

For sake of clarity, this analysis will start with setting the dates of the books and continue on from there.

The Basics of The Books

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the first book, Artemis Fowl (AF). It is actually not until the very end of the book that we get a solid answer for when it takes place. It’s only in the last few pages of the novel that Angeline Fowl leaves her attic room after all the plot points are tied up and announces that it is Christmas Day. This might be cause for concern – Angeline had not previously been established as a particularly reliable narrator – but given that we are asked to believe that Holly’s ‘feel better’ mood booster worked, and that neither Butler nor Artemis balk at or question the pronouncement that is Christmas Day, we’ll accept that it’s true and move on. This means that, with Butler’s earlier announcement that he was stuck doing four months of stakeout, we can say with a fair amount of certainty that Artemis obtained and translated the Fairy Book in September 2001, and managed to capture a fairy in December of the same year.

Moving on to Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (TAI), we are given a decent chunk of information, albeit spread out a bit. The first is the announcement that the ransom drop for Artemis Fowl I is to be held on the fourteenth. The fourteenth of what, you might ask? Well, we are told that Artemis is currently thirteen years old. Clearly, things are past September 1, 2002 (we know Artemis’s birthday is September 1 based on information in both the fifth and seventh books). We are also told that Luc Carrere has been trading with the goblins for six months, starting in July. That puts us in either December or January, but we can narrow it down further since Artemis gives us another helpful clue. He mentions they are not expecting to see the dawn while attempting to rescue his father in the Arctic. There are only a few latitudes on Earth where polar night (of any type) occurs, and at Murmansk, polar twilight occurs between December 10 – January 2. Combining all of this, we learn that TAI takes place December 14, 2002, give or take a few days to either side.

This can be corroborated by information in Book 3, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (TEC). After Holly heals Artemis Senior, we are told that it takes over two months for him to wake up. Since we are specifically told two months, as opposed to two and a half or three, we can conclude that the events of TEC take place in March 2003. Mulch gives us some information that confirms this. He was living in LA “less than four months ago,” and since he was conscripted to help with the events of TAI in December, a March plotline fits the bill. We are given further confirmation as well: Spiro mentions that Artemis will be fourteen in six months. A specific date for Artemis & Co.’s attack on Spiro’s Needle can be pulled from the throw-away line that Pex and Chips are “burying” Mulch on the full moon. A quick web search tells us that the full moon in March of 2003 takes place on March 14, and the rest of the events in the novel take place roughly two days to either side of that.

In Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (TOD), the fourth book in the series, we are given several very clear indications of when the events take place. Firstly, Artemis is contemplating that at fourteen years and three months old, he is the youngest person to successfully obtain The Fairy Thief. Based on previously noted details that his birthday is in September, the events of TOD must take place in December of 2003. Additionally, we are told that things are the middle of winter and Opal has been in a coma for eleven months and counting as of the end of TAI, another December plot.

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (TLC) requires the most math and interpretation so far to figure out when it takes place. We know Artemis is still fourteen, so the main events clearly happen sometime between January 2004 and September 2004. Beyond that, we are using a fair amount of context clues. Artemis and Butler have evidently been traveling for four months looking for demons, so we are dealing with events in at least May. But that still leaves us several summertime months to work with, so to establish a timeline here, we will need to look forward a bit. In the sixth book, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (TTP), it’s noted that Artemis is not yet fifteen, and has, on multiple occasions, spent the full moon in the study. Ergo, he’s spent at least a few months back from Hybras. If he has been back for two months and not yet turned fifteen, he would have had to have returned by July at the latest, and since he returns almost three years later than he leaves, we are looking at him returning in either May or June. This would have him disappearing to Hybras – and by extension, dealing with the earlier events in the book – in June, July, or August. After his conversation with Minerva, he notes to Butler that they “are planning a June wedding,” which wouldn’t make sense to say if they were currently in the month of June. From all of this, we can extrapolate that the first three-quarters of TLC take place in late July or early August 2004, with the triumphant return of our intrepid heroes occurring in June 2007.

As previously stated, TTP mentions that Artemis is still not fifteen, but is nearly there. He has also been home again for at least two months. This would put the events of the sixth book in August 2007. At least, the events set in the current time period. TTP does bring back time travel, and with it some problems. We are told that Artemis and Holly jump back nearly eight years to Artemis being ten and trying to fund searches for his missing father. This would put the events of the past in early 2000. However, other details presented regarding Artemis Senior’s disappearance, which we will discuss later, make that impossible. Artemis also admits, in TEC, that he was eleven when his father disappeared, not ten. If we take a bit of creative license with our interpretations and base the time-jump to the past on other presented information as opposed to the dates given in TTP, we can say that Holly and Artemis instead return to early 2001. This lines up with further details, such as the sinking of the Fowl Star (as calculated a few paragraphs down in this analysis) occurring in December of 2000, and the textual confirmation in TTP that it’s barely two months past that sinking when Artemis brokers the deal(s) regarding the silky sifaka lemur. Since, at the end of the day, the time jump impacts very little in the grand scheme of things, and the year 2001 actually fits in better with other textual evidence and events, that’s what I’m going with for this timeline.

The seventh book, Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (TAC) gives us a very helpful base point! It takes place on Artemis’s fifteenth birthday, September 1. From our previous results on setting dates for book events, that would be September 1, 2007. The sections in which Butler and Juliet are fighting mesmerized wrestling fans and meeting up with Mulch are noted in the novel as happening “the day before,” which would fall on August 31, 2007.

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian (TLG), the eighth and final book in the series, creates some problems. If we assume that Artemis starts receiving treatment for his Atlantis Complex immediately after diagnosis in TAC¸ that would put him receiving treatment in September 2007. We are told he is certified as cured after six months. Yet we are also told that the rest of the events of the book take place in the week or so leading up to the Christmas holidays. Everything so far has said that the Artemis Fowl series follows the current calendar, in which case there is no way that six months can fit between September 1, 2007 and December 25, 2007. However, the only reference to Christmas is in two lines noting that the Fowl parents were planning on holidaying with their children on a foreign beach. If we simply say that six months have passed, and they are instead planning on spending the Irish school system’s spring holidays in the French Riviera, everything else lines up much better. So that’s what I’ve done. This would also put the resurrection of Artemis, after the events of the book and a further six months have passed, at roughly September of 2008. There is a pleasing symmetry to Artemis being born and then re-born in September, though if you want to get really technical and say the events of TLG take place during the 2008 March full moon as Opal claims (as noted in another web search as March 28), a six-month wait time for the clone to grow would put the resurrection in October. Still, there is something to be said for having a boy’s ghost haunting a clone of himself close to All Hallows. Since it’s the last plot point of the series, you can choose which you’d like; it doesn’t have to lead to anything else after it.

Let’s Talk Timelines: The Beginning of the Line to The End of The 19th Century

Now that we have our baseline book time periods established, we can get into the math used to determine some of the events in the timeline above. Several events are easy; we are given specific dates for them. Turnball Root meets Leonor in 1938, Juliet wins the Miss Sugar Beet Fair beauty contest in 1999. Other things are based on some basic math, such as Artemis claiming his parents got married fourteen years prior to AF¸ putting that event in 1987.

The majority of the items on the above timeline, however, do take some mathematics, extrapolation, and interpretation to plot out. To try and keep everything organized, we’ll start at the far left of the timeline, and work our way forwards, looking at events oldest-to-newest to explain why they are where they are on the graph. I won’t be getting too in-depth on everything in the graph, since I’m not sure how relevant the notes on the very minor side characters such as Carla Frazetti are, but I’ll at least try to touch on some of the more relevant points.

To start with, the Battle of Taillte was noted in the 2000’s as being ten thousand years ago, putting that at 8000 BCE. Similarly, the last dome breach at Atlantis was apparently eight thousand years ago in the 2000’s, so that would be 6000 BCE. Troll sideshows were legal in the early middle ages, which implies they were not legal after that. A quick web search says the early middle ages ended around 1000. The first crusades were in 1096-1099, and as those crusades are the start point of the Butler-Fowl working relationship, a point for noting that comes next on the graph.

From there, we get into more modern – relatively speaking – events. Briar Cudgeon and Julius Root are noted as attending the LEP Academy together and being raised in the same tunnel, as well as having about 600 years of history together. If one assumes “being raised in the same tunnel” is similar to the human equivalent of “growing up in the same neighbourhood,” we can assume the two were born roughly 600 years ago, in the 1400’s. Vinyaya is portrayed as being of a similar age to Root, so her birth can also be put in the same general era. We are also told that Fowl Manor was originally a castle built in the fifteenth century, that in the early 2000’s the theories of timeline corruption were first introduced over five centuries ago, and that cloning has been banned for over five hundred years, so those three events are also tossed into the 1400’s.

Julius Root is noted as doing his LEP basic training 500 years ago in Ireland, so that would have to be in the 1500’s. He would have attended the Academy before then, putting that in the mid-to-late 1400’s. As previously stated, he was in the Academy with Cudgeon. Opal also met Cudgeon in college, and competed with Foaly for science prizes there, so they were all in school at the same time.

Mulch now enters the picture. We aren’t ever given a specific age range for him, but we are told about his career. He has, apparently, spent three centuries in and out of prison after a couple centuries of success as a thief. This would make him at least five hundred years old. There is a brief mention that he tried the athletic route at college before becoming a thief, so he would have to be an adult at that point, putting his age at roughly 550 years during the events of the series.

We then enter a period filled in from one-off lines throughout the series, presumably added to give some depth to the world. Things about the wine cellar at Fowl Manor being a seventeenth century addition, Captain Eusebius Fowl and his crew dying in the eighteenth century, and Mulch first faking his own death over two hundred years ago.

Time Marches On: The 20th Century

There is nothing of much relevance to linger on between the 1550’s and the 20th century, so we’ll jump ahead to the 1900’s, when we have Holly Short’s birthday. She is in her eighties during TLC, and her father died “over twenty years ago” when she was “barely sixty” as of TAI. Based on that, she would have been in her early eighties in 2002, putting her birthday sometime in the 1920’s. What a doll.

A few more birthdays now appear, and we’ll ignore, for the most part, some of the irrelevant ones. I don’t think we are at all concerned with Gaspard Paradizo’s birthday, or Mikhael Vassikin. We are, however, rather more interested in Jon Spiro, Domovoi Butler, and Artemis Fowl I.

Jon Spiro enters the series in TEC, as a middle-aged American. A quick search on the Internet says that middle age is generally noted as being between the ages of 40 to 60. We are told that Spiro has worked in three main industries over the past two and a half decades. Additionally, we are told that law enforcement has been “trying to put [him] away for thirty years.” If we assume he entered the working world at twenty, spent five years developing his professional self, and then started going down a path of questionable legality to get the police after him, that would put him at fifty-five in 2003, and born in the late 1940’s.

It was a bit easier to determine Domovoi Butler’s age, and we can get more specific with his actual birthday. We are told that he is forty at the start of TEC, and he is still forty during TOD. From that, we can assume his birthday is not between March – December, which means it has to be between January – March. Now, we can just leave things there, but contextually, Butler says in late March 2003 that “a lot of people know [him] as a forty-year old man.” Since I doubt he’s the kind of person who introduces himself by announcing that his birthday was last week, we can assume that his birthday is not in March. Since about half the books in the series take place in December, and there is never any mention of Butler’s birthday coming up soon, we can likely assume it isn’t in January. We can therefore conclude Butler was born in February, 40 years before 2003, which puts his birth year in 1963.

We then have Artemis Fowl I. This one took the most extrapolation to determine. We know he has run an ethical empire for a few years as of 2007, which coincides with his return to his family after being kidnapped by the Mafia. He apparently ran a successful criminal empire for two decades before that, though, so in 2007 he has been working for at least 25 years. Based on the interactions he had with his own son, I’ve assumed he was also taught to take over the family business from a young age. If he started working at his age of majority at 18 (as possible in the 1980’s in Ireland, based on a web search), we can assume he was born in roughly the mid 60’s.

Billy Kong, born Jonah Lee, is one to touch on. He plays a large role in TLC, during which we are given possibly the most backstory of any villain in the series. He was evidently born in the early 1970’s, and was eight years old in the early 1980’s. Mathematically, that can only lend itself to so many birth years, so it’s easy enough to put his birthdate somewhere in 1973, and his brother’s death date in 1981.

While we’re here, let’s talk about the 1980’s. A lot of things happen in the 80’s, so we’ll be here for a few paragraphs. Butler would have graduated Madam Ko’s Academy in the early ‘80s, Artemis I would have started working in his family’s business and stolen some warrior mummies (of note, the theft is only noted as being in Artemis Sr.’s “gangster days,” but if you are a young, rich criminal, you’d likely commit a wild theft in your early years as opposed to your thirties, which is why this is put in here). Additionally, in the mid 1980’s, Holly graduates the LEP Academy and her mother dies, as noted in TTP when she is contemplating missing three years of her friends lives.

Butler would have started his five-year stint in Russia with an espionage unit in the mid-to-late 80’s, and become a big brother in 1985. Juliet is noted at being four years older than Artemis in AF in 2001, and he is twelve then, making her sixteen at the time. We can extrapolate the month from TEC, wherein she is apparently eighteen when she is called regarding her brother’s apparent death. At the time, we are told what gifts she received for her birthday, implying it was fairly recent. Additionally, Artemis was only thirteen at that time, which would make Juliet five years older than Artemis. If, however, we trust that acolytes at Madam Ko’s start their training on their tenth birthday and get one chance to graduate per year, it would make sense for that one chance to be on their birthday, or within a day or two to allow for as much training time as possible. Since Juliet was in the midst of this one graduation evaluation when she gets the phone call and joins the crew for the March heist at Spiro’s Needle, she’d have to be born in March. (We can also corroborate this with some details from AF: if AF  takes place in mid-September, that would be just after Artemis’s birthday, which puts the 4-year age difference back into play.)

Spelltropy begins for the People in 1987, if it appeared 20 years ago from 2007. Artemis I and Angeline Fowl would get married in 1987. They would have their first child, Artemis Fowl II, in 1989, as calculated by Artemis being twelve during the initial siege of the Manor in December 2001. Artemis II’s grandfather was noted as having been dead for over ten years at that point, and it was mentioned in TEC that Angeline married her husband before he really took over the family business, so those events would likely happen when Artemis was but a baby in 1990.

The ‘90s are a period where a lot of things are happening, but few are particularly important. Spelltropy has a cure found, Minerva Paradizo is born, Juliet begins her bodyguard training and her brother refuses to let her shave her hair. These, and other events in the 90’s, are mostly calculated by math along the lines of “Event A happened X number of years ago,” but since the 90’s was mostly a time of worldbuilding events rather than plot events, we’ll just skim over the specific details.

‘You Are Here’: The 21st Century, and Where The Storytelling Begins

Welcome to the 2000’s! The kick-off point of not only the 2000’s, but also the entire series, is the sinking of the Fowl Star. We aren’t given a specific date for this, but we are given enough information to extrapolate the date. Specifically, in September 2001, in AF, we are told Fowl Sr. has been missing for almost a year. In TAI, in December, we are told he has been missing for almost two years. That does have the potential to have the ship go down in either December or January, so we need to use a bit more details from TAI to make a final determination. Mikhael Vassikin and Kamar were told to dump Fowl’s body in the Kola if he didn’t wake up in “another year,” so they’ve been looking after him for one at that point. Fowl Sr. wakes up two weeks before the deadline, and as noted earlier, the ransom drop for him takes place December 14, after he has been awake for perhaps a week. From that, we can tell that the deadline for “another year” was mid to late December, putting the initial sinking of the Fowl Star in late 2000.

The analysis gets a bit confusing at this point, because 2001 is when future Artemis and Holly join the party via time travel, as well as having their regular selves in the timestream. Essentially, we’ve established the timeline for the events of TTP above, so we know the whole lemur fiasco takes place in March 2001. Artemis wakes up at the end of that book thinking about fairies, which ties in rather neatly to him then dragging Butler across three continents for six false alarms (with an assumed approximate 3 weeks between each jaunt) before striking metaphorical gold in Ho Chi Minh City in September. During their time-traveling, Holly also gets a chance to talk to Root, who wonders why she isn’t in Hamburg, which was noted in AF as Holly’s first major failure as a Recon officer and was nearly preceding the events of AF. The time-traveling would also mean that Opal would have had to harvest her DNA for future diabolical plans before March 2001, when her younger self travels to the future. Since it takes up to two years to grow a clone to adulthood, and her clone has to be ready in September 2003, we are a few months off in the time requirements, but really, for a practice that’s been outlawed for 500 years, I can offer a bit of leeway.

We are now well and truly in the thick of the main events of the series. Most of this will be tied into the initial assessments we made way at the beginning of this essay, where we established when each book occurs. Because of this, we aren’t going to spend time on anything plot-related. However, a brief note on Turnball Root and Artemis’s Atlantis Complex is likely in order. Artemis was, as previously stated, dealing with his return from Hybras and the after-effects of stealing magic during July and August of 2007. His Atlantis Complex, and Turnball Root’s plan to escape the Deeps prison, are in full swing in September of that year. We have a brief note in TAC during the evacuation of Atlantis, that Turnball had, a month before, spied on Artemis and noted his Atlantis Complex developing. Therefore, Artemis’s Complex likely came into play in late July or early August 2007. This is close enough to Artemis’s magic theft to make sense for the deterioration of his mental health, and enough time for Butler to have started to notice something was wrong, as he did. We can therefore assume that Atlantis Complex, at least in the case of magic-stealing humans who have a propensity for time travel and getting involved in supremely complicated and improbable plots, develops relatively quickly.

This leaves just one major discussion point from the last few books: the age of Artemis’s twin brothers, Beckett and Myles. The twins are first introduced at the very end of TLC. They are written as being two during the events of TTP, three during the events of TAC, and four during the events of TLG. Regardless of the time-traveling shenanigans of their elder brother, it is impossible for the twins to age two years in the eight months between Artemis’s return from Hybras in June 2007 and the finale of the series in March of 2008, so we need to look at what makes sense.

Myles has already potty-trained himself, and done so at fourteen months, so they must be at least that old. Their other behaviours would make sense for them to be two in TTP. Diapers are still a part of their lives, and their language and vocabulary fit what a two-year-old would have, at least in Beckett’s case. Since Artemis was surprised by their existence, it doesn’t seem likely that  Angeline would have known she was pregnant, or at least not have told Artemis yet, when he went to Limbo. Ergo, they can’t be any older than two, since (one would hope) Artemis would have noticed his mother’s pregnancy if the twins were any older.

Additionally, in TLG, we know Artemis gave his brother a birthday present, so he had to have been around during the twin’s birthday at least once. With this fact, the twins cannot be born between March – June, which just leaves the question of when are the twins born?

 The most logical answer is February 2005. If Angeline was early on in her pregnancy, say six weeks (which is when most women start noticing symptoms), when Artemis disappeared in July 2004, she wouldn’t necessarily have told him yet. Then, if we assume that since most twin births occur around the 35-week mark, that would math out to having the twins be born in February of 2005. Fast forward, and they would turn one in February 2006, and two in February 2007, which puts them at the correct age for the events of TTP. [One could argue, of course, that a twin pregnancy in an older woman (unfortunately, there is nothing in the series to indicate Angeline’s age) and in a woman already dealing with significant stress could result in a very premature birth, thereby voiding any of this math and leaving the whole question of the twin’s birthday unanswered. However, since I’d rather not subject the Fowl parents to the strife and misery of having one son missing and presumed dead, and their younger children in the NICU with a low survival rate, I’m working with the assumption that the pregnancy was a healthy and normal one.]

The brief comment from Juliet in TAC about the twins being three can be passed off by them being a little over two-and-a-half and Juliet not being around as she is touring in Mexico. By the time TLG takes place, in March of 2008, the twins would have had their third birthday, allowing for Artemis to give Myles his chair as a birthday present, Beckett to be old enough to no longer need diapers, and the behaviours to act more like children than infants. While this doesn’t quite allow for the repeated textual confirmations in TLG that the twins are four, we’ll go with what mathematically makes sense.

That brings us to the end of the timeline! Not everything is touched on in the timeline, and not everything in the books is plotted (we are never given enough context to know Foaly’s or Opal’s birthdates, for instance). But the main events of the Artemis Fowl series are all analyzed, mathematically or logically or textually corroborated, and plotted out, for use or ignoring as personal preference dictates.

#artemis fowl #af timeline #you have no idea how irritated I am that there is nothing - NOTHING - in the series to give ANY context #on the ages for Angeline Fowl or Arno Blunt or Damon Kronski. #i can make GUESSES but they would be entirely based on my own bias and thoughts and vibes #which is INTENSELY irritating because i have basically EVERYONE ELSE #on the timeline SOMEWHERE #oh well. i think i have most of the events of the series on there? #if i missed something i'd love it if someone could point it out so i have a complete 'map' #oh though to be clear: i did very much do this for me! #this isn't meant to like...take away anyone's headcanons or ideas or whatever #if you wanna do something that directly contradicts the above - go for it! #i am just - as my cousin put it - 'that kind of fic writer' in which i will do insane amounts of research for the smallest of details #the one i wanted this for is honestly in a fic i haven't even started #and that is in fact several ticks down the Want To Write list #but that's neither here nor there! #i now have an outline of when things happen so i can do whatever i want with it :)

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: Hellfire

As IF I was ever going to skip over this video!!!!

Voiceplay's cover of Hellfire was released on the 7th of October, 2023 (being their Halloween upload for the year), and, fun fact, it was the first Voiceplay video I watched after a sort of personal "hiatus" of 1-1.5 years, where they had somehow fallen off my radar for a while (which can happen when A, you weren't originally subscribed to them and mostly just relied on the Youtube algorithm/recommended section, and B, you previously only watched videos for songs you were already familiar with (I know better now though, obviously), plus a few other random factors). Geoff's cover of Jack's Lament was the first from his channel I had seen in quite a while (thank you YouTube algorithm for actually being helpful!), and I stumbled upon Hellfire the following day. And man what a video to bring me back into the fold!

Both video and arrangement were done Layne, and although this is another "guest feature" for J None (he did 5 full-length videos with Voiceplay in 2023!), he's only a backing vocalist for most of this one. Who took lead vocals? Geoff! Apparently Layne was wanting Voiceplay to do a cover of Hellfire for quite a while, and had always envisioned Geoff as the main singer for it, but Geoff, for a long time, said no. I don't know/can't remember what his exact reasoning was; whether he just thought the song was too dark or he thought he wouldn't be able to do it justice, but obviously Layne eventually managed to persuade him (made him an arrangement he couldn't refuse, I'm guessing, because seriously this arrangement is STUNNING), and quite frankly I am forever in Layne's debt for it!

I have no estimate of how long this post might be or how much I'll actually have to say about the screencaps I share, but I'll try to make this worthwhile, and so without further ado, let's get into this!

Pretty "basic"/"simple" visuals here, but honestly that's all that's needed for this one! For one thing, the vocals/arrangement are amazing enough to shine on their own (kinda like with Nothing Else Matters), and for another thing, this may be a Disney villain song, but at the same time it's not really a "Disney Song", y'know? This ain't Friends On The Other Side, or Poor Unfortunate Souls, or Be Prepared; this is a song about deep internal conflict, "burning desire", and attempts to suppress said burning desire, which only leads to more trouble. This is a villain song taken completely seriously, and boy oh boy do Voiceplay nail it!

(I feel like I should also mention that I've never actually watched The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, but I know the characters, I know the story, and this song speaks for itself tbh.)

I mean of course all the guys understood the assignment for this one but Cesar really Understood👏The👏Assignment!👏

I can't believe I'm having one of my "hang on a minute-" moments on freaking Hellfire of all videos, but somehow I never noticed the purple gemstone ring that Eli is wearing here before now! (And Cesar is wearing a red gemstone ring as well, which I only just spotted in a previous shot).

Yep, Layne's got a gemstone ring on as well!

I'm guessing J has got a matching ring as well, but I'm fairly certain Geoff doesn't, because he's got this gemstone necklace instead, which of course helps to further identify him as the lead vocalist/"main character" in this one.

(And even though Voiceplay seem to wear black/dark colours a fair bit (and Geoff does a lot), I still really freaking love the costuming in this video. They all look so good!!!!!)

Yep, there it is! J has a ring as well!

"BURN IT"

((If you've been reading/paying attention to all my Voiceplay Visuals posts, you might have picked up that usually, Geoff is the only one who gets bold font for quotes, but I'm more than willing to make an exception this time, because goddamn))

"This fire in my skin"

The way he looks down at his hands and arms as if feeling himself changing, as if there really are flames coursing right underneath the surface of the skin!!!!

"This burning desire, is turning me to s i n"

Not here to make fun or tease this time, certainly not! Geoff did a fantastic acting job in this one, and his delivery of every single vocal line was just absolutely *chefs kiss*

Everyone else was brilliant in this too, and Cesar absolutely had some attention-grabbing moments of his own! 😄

The "it's not my fault!" section of the song is really cleverly done here imo. (it's technically visual as well! I can talk about it!) It gives other members a bit more of a chance to shine, in a song which (aside from the Latin chanting in the background) is only meant to be a one-man performance. And the video (arrangement included) does this by turning Layne, J, Eli, and Cesar into a sort of Greek Chorus, or more specifically, a "singing chorus" (yes, that's a real thing, which I learned about when I was double-checking to see if I actually remembered the correct meaning of Greek Chorus). Singing choruses are sometimes incorporated into musical theatre and grand opera, and are "used frequently to interpret the mental and emotional reactions of the principal characters, after the manner of a Greek chorus." And while Eli and Cesar are taking over the lead for this bit here, Geoff becomes a little bit more subdued, head slightly bowed, just doing some little self-conducting hand movements as he holds down the bassline (I'm assuming, though I can't really hear him at all in the background until his arpeggios(?) when J takes over (look, sometimes you really can't fully describe/talk about what's happening on screen without talking about the audio that goes with it!!!))

Cesar with the sick air guitar! (Not all reactors seemingly noticed this moment, which is a damn crime tbh (you can actually see him doing it in the group shot just a few seconds before this too, though that part I myself didn't pick up on till just now))

I can't remember seeing a single reaction video (out of the ones I've watched at least) that actually figured out who the Guard was, even though it's in the description of the video! (Though I guess those who were watching from Patreon have more of an excuse). It's Tony! (Also, this means that this video featured 4 "generations" of Voiceplay baritones - Layne, Tony, J, and Cesar!)

I've heard one or two reactors say they wish they could have seen the guard's face, but nah, I don't think it's necessary. He's there to provide Relevant Information for progression of the plot/song/scene, and that's it! His identity is irrelevant!

(But still, shoutout to Tony!)

"what" (hhhhhh)

"I'll find her,"

"I'll find her and I'll find her if I have to burn down all of PARIS!"

(He did so well! <3 <3 <3)

At first when I watched this video I was like "wow I really love this video, but should I like this video so much? Considering the context/meaning behind the song and all that?" That lasted for like maybe a week maximum. I adore this cover and this video and I make no apologies about it!)

*swoon*

Very cool flame effect in the eyes! According to one reaction video I watched, that likely was not easy to do, but it's a great addition to the already-very-awesome video!

The zoom-out on Geoff is done brilliantly for dramatic effect here as well!

Do I even need to say it at this point? 😂😅

Well anyway, obligatory "he's so pretty!" comment

(Here's a slight shot of Cesar's ring btw)

Man I love it when he belts <3

Firstly, the absolute power and feeling that Geoff put into this, like it's absolutely amazing to watch and it delights me to no end. Secondly, I wasn't going to include that third pic above, but turns out Geoff is wearing a gemstone ring as well! (maybe more than one?) I knew he was wearing rings in the video, but I just assumed they were his wedding/engagement rings, as he pretty much always wears them in videos (unless he can't for costuming purposes), one on each hand, but now I wonder if he was in fact wearing them at all in this video?

Excuse me while I just- *muffled yelling into pillow*

As I type this, Voiceplay's cover of Hellfire is just 4,700 views away from reaching one million hits on YouTube! I hope it gets there, it certainly deserves it (and more!). (UPDATE: As of the morning of the 20th of February (AEST timezone), it's now at one million views! Can I hear a wahoo!?!) (SECOND UPDATE: and it's now at over 1.1 million, as of the 25th of March!)

It's not exactly a typical Halloween-type video for Voiceplay, no super-elaborate character costumes or coloured face/body paint, but just like practically everything Voiceplay did in 2023, this was EPIC!

But anyway, I'll be skipping over Whiskey In The Jar, and I'm not doing any posts about Christmas videos (for now), which means that I'm finally onto the first two full-length uploads of 2024! (And I really would have expected there to be a third 2024 upload by this point, but it seems we're just gonna have to keep on waiting.) Stay tuned!

#voiceplay #acapella #THoND Hellfire #geoff castellucci #eli jacobson #layne stein #cesar de la rosa #j none #acaplaya analysis #voiceplay visuals

[ahordeofwasps]

15 Questions Tag Game

I've been tagged by the excellent @cat-esper! Thanks for the tag! The purpose of the tag game is to answer 15 questions, either as your OC or as yourself. I'll be doing this for one of my OCs from To Not Falling Off Cliffs, as determined by dice roll. The dice has decided on....

Tiffany!

But first, the no pressure tags! I'll be tagging @autumnalwalker, @chauceryfairytales, @deanwax, @the-down-upside-finch, and open tag!

Now, onto the questions!

You're a reporter for a local newspaper of a small town, The Portside Ramble. You've been tasked to find an interesting resident to interview, though your boss has prewritten the questions. The most interesting person you can think of is that reaper dressed in gold living in that lighthouse on the edge of town. Rumor has it she was present at the sinking of the Titanic.

You've knocked on her door, half expecting her not to be home, half expecting her to turn you away. But she answered and did not hide her delight at the prospect of an interview. She introduced herself as Tiffany.

You're now sitting on her couch, darjeeling tea sitting in front of you in a dainty porcelain cup. Next to it is a golden dish upon which oreos are neatly arranged. Tiffany sits across from you, sipping tea. This is the first time an interviewee has treated you to tea and oreos. You clear your throat and begin.

Are you named after anyone?

"In a sense. The name I was given was not plucked from thin air; it has human origins. Whether I am named after a particular human or all humans called Tiffany, I do not know."

When was the last time you cried?

She pauses, tilting her skull, empty eyesockets staring at you. Your boss was not aware that you were interviewing a reaper. You give her a nervous smile. Eventually, she answers.

"I lack the necessary biology to cry. So, never."

Do you have kids?

The angle at which Tiffany's skull is tilting grows more acute. You suddenly wish you told your boss who you intended to interview. You awkwardly eat an oreo.

"I... also lack the necessary biology for that. And adoption is not an option for my kind. So, no."

Do you use sarcasm?

She straightens her skull and takes a sip of tea before answering.

"When the occasion calls for it. Overuse can be grating, but when applied correctly sacrasm can be quite fun," she pauses, before adding grimly, "And a useful tool."

What's the first thing you notice about others?

"Aesthetic choices they make in their appearance. It can be quite fascinating. Why that shirt? Why that lipstick? Why that swagger? The answers can tell quite the story."

What's your eye color?

Tiffany doesn't tilt her head this time. Instead she just gives you a hard stare with her empty eyesockets.

"What colour do you think they are?"

You scribble down "N/A."

Scary stories or happy endings?

Tiffany covers her mouth with her hand. She has no lips and "lacks the necessary biology" to smile, but you are given the impression that she is trying to hide one.

"I know plenty of scary stories that have happy endings. But, to answer your question, my favourite stories are the ones that end in tragedy. To see complex plots, flawed heroes, and conniving villains all collide, to see the inevitable slowly unfurl. It feels larger than life. I often find myself at the edge of my chair."

Any special talents?

"I am quite adept at ballroom dancing."

Where were you born?

"Somewhere in the Narrow Seas, not far from Normandy."

What are your hobbies?

"I have already mentioned ballroom dancing. I also enjoy the study of law, fashion design, fencing - though today's fencing is a bit trite for my tastes - birdwatching, marine biology, and hiking - though my version of hiking requires one to be able to hold their breath for hours at a time."

Do you have any pets?

"No."

What sports do you play/have played?

"I have already mentioned ballroom dancing, the study of law, and fencing."

How tall are you?

"Four feet and nine inches in imperial. One hundred and forty-nine centimeters in metric."

Favorite subject in school?

"I have never been taught in a school. Their structures are too rigid for my area of... work. But, law and biology have been my favourite areas of academic study."

Dream job?

"I sometimes wish I could be an actress - not one of your Hollywood actresses - but for stageplays. To feel the heat of the limelight, hundreds of eyes on me as I recite a soliloquy..."

Tiffany leans back and sighs wistfully.

"...but there is no point in wishing on what cannot be. I am content with my... current occupation."

With the questions answered, you finish tea with Tiffany, making small talk regarding the species of gulls in the area. You then leave to submit the interview to your boss. It is the third most popular edition of the Portside Ramble printed.

#writeblr #tag game #15 questions tag game #To Not Falling Off Cliffs

[agentnico]

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) review

Jack Black’s new version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” is great. In all honestly all of Tenacious D’s covers are superb. Their take on “I Think I Love You” for Croods 2 slaps as hard as Will Smith’s palm against Chris Rock’s face. Apologies, I just watched the new Bad Boys trailer so that momentary awards moment has sprung back into my mind.

Plot: After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm.

For some reason I presumed Kung Fu Panda 3 was the ending to the trilogy and the story was over. Then again Hollywood wants to keep making more money and this animated franchise has been highly successful for DreamWorks till now, so of course it was only a matter of time. To give them props though, DreamWorks has been on a bit of a hot streak recently with The Bad Guys - a visually-pleasing heist flick; Croods 2 - hilarious riot; this year’s Orion and the Dark - a fun concept with a mind-bending ending; and of course Puss in Boots: The Last Wish which is an animated masterpiece. There, I said it. The Puss in Boots sequel is fantastic and I won’t hear otherwise! As such even though the trailers weren’t showing too much promise, I went into Kung Fu Panda 4 optimistically, hoping it’s not just a needless cash-grab.

Right, yep, it’s a cash-grab through and through. You can tell the writers were really trying to milk some kind of an idea for a plot, and all they could come up with is Po needing to find a new Dragon Warrior in his place. Not the most original concept as is, and one that in the end feels really rushed, and his choice for his replacement is one that feels unsatisfying. The main villain also is really weak. A chameleon voiced by Viola Davis, and though visually the shape-shifting gimmick works really well, narratively this character has hardly anything to do, let alone be in any way intimidating. I recall in one of the previous films the villain was Lord Shen, who was introduced as someone who has killed Dragon Warriors before. What’s the scariest thing this chameleon now does, you may ask? She lightly pushes someone down the stairs. That’s it.

Another rushed aspect of the movie is that many voice actors from the previous films are needlessly ditched either with a lame excuse for their absence, or not giving them any lines and the characters appearing in silence. Like a big selling point in the marketing is that we get to see all the villains from the previous entries come back. A fun idea, however aside from Ian McShane as Tai Lung the other villains only appear as if they’re in a silent movie. Are you telling me that DreamWorks really couldn’t afford to get Gary Oldman to record a couple of lines on his phone and send them over? It’s like if Spider-Man: No Way Home had all the old Spidey villains from previous films come back, but they just stand about silently doing nothing. How crap would that have been? So yes, this really cheapens the movie.

Visually the film looks great. It’s mad to see how the animation has progressed as this series of movies has gone further. Particular attention has been given to the background environments that look gorgeous! Great use of colours and detail. A chase sequence through a city of thieves is a particular eye-popping set piece, that even gives Hans Zimmer the small opportunity to have some fun with the music score during it.

As for the voice cast - Jack Black is a charisma machine! He’s an icon and of course Po is just Jack Black being himself, but he has so much energy in his line delivery that he carries this movie fully on his shoulders. Awkwafina is also in this movie. Look, the reason I’m pointing that out is that if one looks at her filmography since 2019 she’s voiced characters in Little Mermaid, Migration, Kung Fu Panda 4, Bad Guys, SpongeBob: The Movie, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Dark Crystal Netflix series, Angry Birds Movie 2…. That’s so much!! What does she have on these animation studios that they keep hiring her? She’s not the only female voice actor out there. And I’m sorry, she’s not even that great of a voice actress, and I wasn’t a fan of her here either. Dustin Hoffman kind of just lingers about questioning his life, Bryan Cranston and James Hong have some amusing co-dads banter, Ian McShane being back as Tai Lung was lovely, and Ke Huy Quan is the usual ball of excitable energy that he always is.

Unlike Puss in Boots where the wait for the sequel was more than worth it, Kung Fu Panda 4 feels as if the franchise may have run its course and the writers have simply ran out of ideas. There’s a “been there done that” aura surrounding this whole movie, and again it’s not terrible, but more so just passable. There’s nothing new here, simply retreading old territory. I’m sure if you take your kids with you to see it though they’ll probably have a good time. Probably. That “Hit Me Baby One More Time” cover though - hell yeah!

Overall score: 5/10

#kung fu panda 4 #movie #movie reviews #film #film reviews #comedy #adventure #animation #dreamworks animation #dreamworks #jack black #tenacious d #awkwafina #bryan cranston #james hong #ke huy quan #viola davis #dustin hoffman #2024 #2024 in film #2024 films #kung fu panda #kung fu panda 4 review #cinema #ian mcshane #action #hit me baby one more time

[whoreviewswho]

Gratuitous violence, Philip Hinchcliffe and why Mary Whitehouse was right

There are some things, though not many, that the Doctor Who fandom seems to universally agree on. Everybody can agree that the Weeping Angels are a great villain. Everybody seems onboard with the notion that The Caves of Androzani is one of the best stories of all time. Everybody will attest that the Hinchcliffe era is one of the most consistent runs in the whole show. 

You can probably see where I am going with this. 

Let's take ourselves to 1977, before the beginning of the fifteenth season for Doctor Who. Season fourteen has finished airing in April and it has turned out to be the most popular to date with average ratings of approximately eleven million viewers tuning in each week. Tom Baker’s fourth incarnation of the eponymous hero was riding an enormous wave of success that had slowly climbed during the Pertwee era (seasons ten and eleven were raking in respectable figures of around eight million) and seemed to peaking under the current regime (figures were climbing by a million viewers a year until season fourteen). 

You would think it would be in the BBC's interests then to keep this current team of Tom Baker, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script-editor Robert Holmes together for as long as possible. That would make sense even now. After all, this is the team that gave us two and half seasons of Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen. They introduced Leela, produced Genesis of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars. This is the era that cemented Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, as the most iconic of the original Doctors and still one of the most iconic of all-time, only rivalled by David Tennant and Matt Smith (to date). Even those who could never name him or know exactly what he looks like will know the silhouette off the floppy hat and long multi-coloured scarf. Doctor Who as produced by Hinchcliffe had become a powerhouse production and left an incredible impact.

However, the other thing that Hinchcliffe's run had had become with the public was controversial. Or, at least, that would seem to be how the BBC felt about it. During the mid to late '70s, the Doctor Who production team were under more fire than ever before from public critics (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the fire of one, extremely vocal critic) for the increasingly horrific tone and excessive violent content deemed unsuitable for Saturday teatime family viewing. Mary Whitehouse, founder of the National Viewers and Listener's Association, has gone down in Doctor Who fan history amongst the like of Michael Grade as one of the show's most infamous detractors. Let me make it very clear that there are innumerable reasons to dislike Whitehouse. It is not without reason that The Goodies' response to receiving positive feedback from her about their programme was to craft an entire episode around a grossly unflattering caricature of her. I have no interest in delving any deeper than this into the beliefs of such a person beyond the confines of this silly blue box show but if you are unfamiliar with Whitehouse or only know her from her Doctor Who association, I implore you to undertake your own research to paint as full a picture of her as a human being as you see fit. 

I mention all of this to propose the simple conjecture that perhaps, despite my disagreeing with the foundational reasons of why she opposed programmes like Doctor Who (if she had any amount of media literacy, she would have realised that every aspect of Doctor Who was in opposition to her), she was, in fact, onto something. It feels apt to be writing this so close to my posting of my The Invasion review because there is a similar comparison to be drawn between the Troughton era and the Hinchcliffe/Baker years. Both have been held on a pedestal by the fan community at large as shinning examples, golden periods for Doctor Who where the stories were rarely ever so consistently good and their impact is still being felt to this day. In both cases, these things are somewhat true but it is also true that these periods are a lot more flawed than fans are comfortable to admit. Putting aside the very genuine criticism that Hinchcliffe era Who leaned too heavily upon classic literature and genre film pastiche, there remains a misconception that the show's willingness to portray violent and horrific content at this time equates with it being a mature and compelling drama programme. Torchwood should be all of the evidence you need that this is a fallacy. 

Doctor Who has always contained violence and action and it almost certainly always will. I do not object to this but it has to be said that an alarming pattern emerged throughout the Hinchcliffe years that, I think, would have proved detrimental to the show had it continued any longer*. From the moment the Hinchcliffe era begins, with season twelve's The Ark in Space, it strikes a markedly different tone of the preceding tenure. The story is moodier and unsettling in a way that the show had not been for quite some time. The combined efforts of the production team's sensibilities with Baker's distant and unpredictable performance pushed the show away from the innate comfort that had come from the later Pertwee years. The Doctor was no longer a paternal, authority figure and the threats had shifted from power-mad conspirators and identifiable systemic threats to Lovecraftian forces of nature. Right from the start, this run establishes itself as leaning into primal horror and physical threats with the serial's threat being a creature that uses human bodies as an incubator. It is a terrifying idea and one that a pre-watershed serial airing on the BBC should not have any business attempting to depict. 

But this is still a fantastical horror. Even if the effect did look good, it is still an alien experience. Mercifully, nobody in the real world has had a Wirrn lay eggs in them so the threat becomes a rather soft kind of scare. This is still a fun, for lack of a better word, form of horror and violence. Perhaps Mary Whitehouse agreed with me since her first notable move against the show came a few weeks later with Genesis of the Daleks which she described as "teatime brutality for tots". Season twelve was the last to have pre-production overseen by the outgoing team of producer Barry Letts and script-editor Terrance Dicks. Season thirteen was when the Hinchcliffe/Holmes duo finally found themselves with full creative control. And so, the Hinchcliffe era TRULY begins with the production of Pyramids of Mars (Planet of Evil was produced later though aired before). Now we see where things truly kick off with a distinctly gothic aesthetic, more graphic and realistic violence all in service of a classic film pastiche, The Mummy in this case. Season thirteen closed with The Seeds of Doom, a story Whitehouse strongly objected to; "Strangulation—by hand, by claw, by obscene vegetable matter—is the latest gimmick, sufficiently close up so they get the point. And just for a little variety, show the children how to make a Molotov cocktail". 

The violent depictions in Doctor Who were impactful, of course, The backlash is evidence enough of that fact. But was it necessary? After all, is violence not an essential component in the action-adventure serial? Eric Saward, somebody who would receive very similar criticisms several years after this, claimed that "the Doctor is involved in adventures that deal with violent people" and "that if you display violence you should show it for what it is. I don't think you should dwell on it, I don't think it should be gratuitous, but I think that when you do display violence you should show it hurts".

Regardless of how violence was handled in his own tenure as script editor, I am inclined to agree with this sentiment. If violence is to be portrayed in Doctor Who, or any drama, it should come with an impact on the narrative and the characters. The nature of that impact can wildly vary from story to story but the instant that violence is depicted without consequence, it becomes a gratuitous and unnecessary representation. To use an overdone but high-profile example from contemporary media, this is the problem with violence in Batman v Superman, for example. Characters engage in violent acts, the violence is graphic in nature but the impact fails to be felt by the audience because the acts themselves frequently fail to inform or challenge the characters and/or plot moving forward. Violence is essential to action and can be a very useful component of adventurer fiction but it can easily lose its impact and become unnecessary without proper consideration.

It is in this way that I would agree that the violence and horror throughout Hinchcliffe Doctor Who had started to become gratuitous and frequently unnecessary.

Take The Brain of Morbius, for example, which Whitehouse called; "some of the sickest and most horrific material seen on children's television". The character of Solon, as played in the serial by Philip Madoc, is wonderfully drawn. He is a fanatical and cruel sociopath. A malicious and pathetic shell of a man whose arrogance and obsession dominates his every action. I could draft this description from episode one alone. In episode four, he kills his assistant Condo by way of blowing a bloody hole in his chest with a pistol. The moment is certainly gory and it is a tragic end to the story of Condo for him to be killed in this fashion but the act itself, the depiction of a hyperrealistic blood-splatter coming out of this child-like character, ultimately adds very little. Nobody mourns Condo's death, the violence is hardly an escalation given that we know Solon practices dismemberment before the story even begins and it reveals nothing about who he is as a person. All that matters is that Condo tries to stop him and fails. The violent death is simply an aesthetic choice.

So let us get to season fourteen. The one where the final vestige of the Pertwee years, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith, leaves the show to be replaced by a savage descendent of humanity's far future. A hunter and killer who travels armed with a knife and poisonous darts whose introduction sees her quickly chased down and hunted for murder. It has surely become clearly by now that yet another year on, the violence in Doctor Who has seen an enthusiastic uptick.

The Deadly Assassin is the story that killed the Hinchcliffe era and epitomises the problem that had emerged with violence in Doctor Who unlike any other. Despite being a political thriller set inside the Time Lord Panopticon, the entire third episode becomes a survivalist thriller seeing our hero shot at, dropped off of cliffs and bombed inside a virtual reality. Functionally, this means that an entire quarter of the serial is a deviation from the main plot into what is thrilling but entirely unnecessary surrealist horror and violence. The action exists simply to generate visual excitement in an otherwise very dialogue-heavy story and the acts of violence themselves never lead to any story developments or impact the Doctor or Goth in any meaningful way when it ends. It also has a walking emaciated corpse for a main villain for no readily justifiable reason. The Deadly Assassin troubled Whitehouse so much that her uproar led to the BBC censoring the third episode's cliffhanger for future broadcasts. 

Just as Michael Grade became infamous amongst fans for cancelling Doctor Who, Whitehouse would be similarly reviled for ending the most popular period of Doctor Who. After all, it is on record that it was her continued, vocal criticism that influenced the BBC's decision to move Hinchcliffe on from Doctor Who. After all, who else is there to blame? Her opinion was so highly regarded by the BBC that the Director-General offered a personal apology for how offended she was by The Deadly Assassin. As noted previously, season fourteen saw Doctor Who at the height of its popularity and a cultural phenomenon that was soon to be on a downward trajectory until 2005. I also observed that this particular run as a whole, the three seasons produced by Philip Hinchcliffe, has been revered by Doctor Who fans ever since it ended on the second of April 1977.

Given the decidedly different direction that Doctor Who was taken in when succeeding producer Graham Williams came onboard, it has become one of the big 'what ifs' to speculate on what Hinchcliffe might have done with another year on the show. Big Finish has attempted to answer that question with a handful of unmade scripts from his time being adapted with a full cast and an additional series of dramas whose plots were conceived by him. The answer is that he would have continued to produce very creative and compelling science-fiction adventure serials. No surprises there. Season fifteen saw a drop in viewership of around two million on average and season sixteen dropped even further. Perhaps it would have been great for the show to see Hinchcliffe's vision continue just a bit longer. Perhaps his time was preemptively cut short.

Or perhaps the biggest threat to Hinchcliffe era Who was the Hinchcliffe era itself. Perhaps I sound like a bit of a hater and I can understand that impression coming across but I must insist at this juncture that I do love this period of Doctor Who. I think that the consistency of quality at this time was absurdly good and many of the stories remain among my favourites as top-shelf examples of what Doctor Who is capable of. Like a lot of fans, I also wonder what might have happened if this team stayed on for another year and how different the timeline of the show would be. However, it is undeniable that like the earthbound format and the base-under-siege before it, the violent thriller pastiches would have tun their course with enough time too. In fact, I would argue that they absolutely did. in 1977, Doctor Who was in desperate need for a change, although it probably didn't know it, simply to save itself from becoming a victim of its own success. I shudder to imagine the six-part finale that is even more violent and even more macabre than what had already come before.

Then again, perhaps we don't have to imagine. We do have season twenty-two to know for sure.

*Even in the previous era, violence played a major role. After all, this was the time when Doctor Who was allying himself with the military. This is an important thing to mention though not strictly relevant to what I am talking about here. I will just explain for now that I think this violence serves a different purpose which I might get into in more depth in some later post. Let's just say that I have no doubt that Mary Whitehouse would have found less objection in presenting Mother England as a noble, defensive force than depicting disfigured nazi scientists.

#culture #actors #history #movies #doctor who #fourth doctor #4th doctor #politics #feminism #censorship #violence #children #tv #television #scifi #1970s

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Tell me a little (or a lot) about one of your newest OCs, and one of your oldest! ^w^ (dragonsmooch)

Oh!! I can certainly do that for you, dear Dragon!! Thank you so much for this!!

(source: this post (technically?))

Alright, so, for one of my newest OCs I'm going to pick Tsutsuji. She is an OC I created for the world of Final Fantasy XIV, and I've recently managed to figure out some more story I can give her, so now is as good a time as ever to talk about her, hopefully!

First of all, here are some screenshots I took to show you what she looks like. And from there, I can give you some facts about her!

Tsutsuji is approximately in her late twenties, and is exceptionally tall for a female Au Ra - though this may not be saying too much considering said exceptional height is only 158.5cm. For context, that's about 5'2.4", which makes her shorter than Lorenza. The fact she wears raised sandals does very little to actually help her in this regard.

Her pale-coloured scales and cranial projections identify her as a Raen Au Ra, and she is originally from somewhere in the Yanxian kingdom of Doma. However, she came to Eorzea some years ago, ostensibly on a whim in pursuit of further magical discoveries; the impending umbral calamity about to hit the region at the time, in the form of the moon turning red and falling out of the sky, did little to dissuade her.

On the note of story, Tsutsuji currently fits into it by being a potential Warrior of Light; she wouldn't really fit that mantle if there were other (more archetypal) adventurers in the vicinity, but she does at least have the Echo, which would probably make her a Scion (or at least quite associated with them). Given that she fights as a summoner, the fact she has faced down primals directly without much risk makes summoning egi forms of them a lot easier for her. She's also generally very magically capable, so she's definitely not someone you want to be up against in battle, lest you get ruined by three different types of elemental attacks in rapid succession.

More concretely, Tsutsuji is part of the alliances that raid the Crystal Tower, having joined NOAH's expedition in search of the Allagan knowledge within it. She uses some of the information she reads about on the way up, plus the convenient monumentally-enormous voidgate at the top of the tower, to successfully summon a certain voidsent to the Source in her entirety - this of course being Lorenza. The two of them do make a pact - Lorenza's knowledge in return for Tsutsuji's aether - but Tsutsuji is fairly happy with the information she gets from Lorenza, and basically just.. lets her go and do her own thing in the Source pretty quickly. It's a very unconventional dynamic for a voidsent and the mage that summoned them, and Lorenza is very baffled by it.

In terms of personality, Tsutsuji is.. chaotic, to sum it up succinctly. As you may have gathered from how I've described her thus far. Incredibly spontaneous and theatrical in her ideas, appearing and disappearing on any given scene quite without warning, never seeming to take a bad situation seriously or let it affect her emotions in the slightest.. this one-of-a-kind demeanour would be remarkable enough in its own right, but it's compounded by her incredible arcane knowledge and magical capabilities, so she manages to strike fear into just about every villainous soul you could come across. I'm trying to think of a good comparison, but I'm falling short. Maybe like.. Elena from Pokémon Reborn but with extra "super chaotic/energetic nerdy scientist" vibes.

The name "Tsutsuji" is actually an alias of sorts - it's the Doman word for azalea flowers, which she is always seen wearing in her hair (I know that's a chrysanthemum in the screenshots but it was as close as i could get in-game okay), so over time people started referring to her by them. She'll never introduce herself by this name (or any name at all, honestly), but she does answer to it if you call her by it.

While she doesn't tend to speak much of her family (or any of her past, really), Tsutsuji does have a younger sister called Ajisai (which translates to "hydrangea"). She has also made the arduous journey to Eorzea, but much later in the story, arriving by boat alongside Yugiri and many other Doman refugees during the main story. She wants to find her sister, but the way Tsutsuji conducts herself doesn't exactly make that very easy for her (the fact she isn't using her actual name, for example).

My current voice claim for Tsutsuji is Xingchen (Stardust), the Synth V vocal. Which technically doesn't quite fit, considering that Xingchen is a Mandarin Chinese vocal whereas Tsutsuji (being Doman) is supposed to be Japanese, but it's more about tone of voice than accent. It's specifically how she sounds in this song, particularly the higher parts in the choruses. However, if she ever sounds as low and subdued as the song's verses sound, You Have Done Something Very Wrong. Her voice is usually a lot more light-hearted and all-over-the-place in terms of its tone! ..The song still does kind of fit as like a boss fight theme of sorts for her, though, honestly.

..Oh, crumbs, this is long. Sorry. Let me make another, separate, post for the older OC (I'll tag you in it when I'm done with it)

Thank you very much for this opportunity, friend ;w;

#heart of the void #friend: thorned azalea (tsutsuji) #platonic F/Os #OC F/Os #though not in the romantic sense #she's just a very fun character and that is why I enjoy talking about her so much #even if I don't actually have very much proper story laid out for her yet #she's just having a fun time! doing her own thing! saving the world if she feels like it! who knows!! #of shards and crystal (FFXIV) #self‑insert: wings of the void (lorenza) #I did mention her a little bit so I suppose it counts #so yes TLDR tsutsuji is the reason lorenza comes to the source in what I call the ''solo lorenza'' version of events #(as opposed to my friend simon's crystal verse which is what I think of as lorenza's ''default version of events'') #out of the inbox #dragon tag! #info posts #oh crumbs how is it two o'clock in the morning

[wordiestbird]

So I finished Kamen Rider Decade the other day...

And I do indeed have some thoughts about it, both as a whole and how it adds some interesting character to Tsuaka's whole deal in Zi-O (and I should really re-watch that at some point too). Thoughts below the read more, spoilers abound as you might expect.

#kamen rider #kamen rider decade #kamen rider decade spoilers #gotta live up to my name somehow #also crossposting from my cohost because fuck it why not #wrote this mostly to stem the need for the next geats episode #did it work? absolutely not #but alas i suffer on

[imaswellkid]

15 questions

Thank you my lovely @songsformonkeys and @nicolethered for thinking of me 🧡 It's been a hot minute and I'm truly sorry.

1 - Are you named after anyone? I have two middle names, my grandmothers'.

2 - When is the last time you cried? Monday before last, in the V&A. I was missing my friends. For once I reached out, joined them, and felt instantly better because they are the bestest 🧡

3 - Do you have kids? This question is my villain origin story!

4 - Do you use sarcasm a lot? No but I never miss a pun, the worse the better.

5 - What is the first thing you notice about people? If they look me in the eyes.

6 - What’s your eye colour? Hazel.

7 - Scary movies or happy endings? I love old horror films and zombie movies. It depends on my mood, though. But onscreen violence is a great catharsis for me. Works better than a happy ending 😬

8 - Any special talents? I'm pretty good at reading maps.

9 - Where were you born? On the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

10 - What are your hobbies? Does sleeping count? Eating cheese? Ok seriously: fiction (books series movies) and looking at art. And writing. Travelling if I had more money.

11 - Do you have any pets? Not anymore 😔

12 - What sports do you play/have you played? Did a lot of swimming and was pretty decent at track (I think that's how you say in English?)

13 - How tall are you? 1m68

14 - Favourite subject in school? History, English, literature.

15 - Dream job? Being an archaeologist who beats the shit out of nazis would be neat.

NP tags @julesonrecord @meveispunk @mylostloversbookmarks and anyone who wants to play!!

#tag games

[belladoesmakeup]

Hi guys,

I got an early christmas present from one of my best friends this week and she really out did herself. She gave me a present that crosses over 2 of my favourite things, makeup and superheroes. Kylie Cosmetics recently brought of a collection in collaboration with Batman!! Yes that's right Batman a.k.a my favourite DC Comics superhero. Though I am a Marvel girl through and through I have always adored the Batman comic books. The stories are brilliant and the villains are some of the best out there (especially Riddler and Joker). So of course you can understand how excited I was to play with this palette so let's chat all about the Kylie Cosmetics Batman Collection pressed Powder Palette , £46.00.

This palette is inspired by the original Batman comics and I can honestly say Kylie has nailed everything about this palette from the names, colour story and packaging. It is easily my favourite palette she has never released. When you open the palette it is like reading a book and on the left side of the palette you see clips from old comics and on the right you have the stunning shades and a mirror covered by a Batman sticker. Personally I'm keeping the sticker on there for now because it looks so cool! Since the outer packaging looks so epic this is a palette I'll easily have on my display table because this needs to be seen.

Now onto the shades themselves, as expected each shade has a batman theme and the colour stories is clearly inspired by the early comic books with the blues, greys and pop of yellow. I had a play around with this palette today and I was so impressed with how pigmented the shades are! We all know when I reviewed the Stass palette I was not a fan, the shades were really powdery and all blended into one shade so not a hit. But this one is so much better! The shades are so much more pigmented, vibrant and blend like a dream. I have already started filming looks using this palette because I have so many ideas. If this is the eyeshadow formula that Kylie will be using from now on then her betters will be ones to look out for.

Overall based on first impressions I adore this palette from the colour story, now well the shades blend just the overall idea of the collection. As far as I'm aware this palette is somewhat limited edition so I've linked it above to grab it while you can. If you want to see any tutorials using this palette or specific colours let me know!.

Lots of love,

Bella x x

#kylie cosmetics batman collection #batman #dc comics #batman makeup #batman collection #kylie cosmetics #kylie jenner #kylie by kylie jenner #makeup #beauty #make up #photography #cosmetics #me #my photography #makeup blogger #makeup look #girl #beauty blog #beauty blogger #blog #blogger #lifestyle #lifestyle blog #makeup review #MUA #makeup blog #new makeup #eyeshadow #eyeshadow palette

[nerdwhoauthorinserts]

Some random selfship meme?

I can’t find it anymore, but there was this meme for self-shipping I saw somewhere that basically said:

Step 1: Open Spotify Step 2: Go to your liked songs Step 3: Turn on shuffle Step 4: Start playing the playlist. Step 5: Think of a f/o before the songs start, that song (Given it has lyrics and isn't fandom-related.) will describe your relationship with that F/O.

For fun, I decided to do it, and uh-...

-Advanced warning! Some of these songs contain swearing, and the song for Aaravos is slightly suggestive in places-

Loki Odinson:

   UHHHHH- while the original song I find fairly endearing, this version? It honestly gives me some thriller/stalker vibes, which is not a good sign. Based on the lyrics though? ‘My only friend was a stray kitty’ especially? I’m getting the feeling that in this instance, I’m the stalker. Oh, no-

Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane:

   Oooh, I love Mother Mother songs. Let's see... Well, I gotta say, it does have Scarecrow's vibe. The song is about trying to force change in yourself, but said change isn't working (And you end up hurting yourself by trying to in the process.) Or...at least that's my read of it.

   So, Someone tried to change themselves for the relationship and it didn't work, which ended up hurting them? Sounds like a failed villain redemption and subsequent relapse to me. (Try to be not a villain for your civilian partner, only to end up turning around later type of thing?) ...So, I'm gonna assume this is BTAS Scarecrow, then-

Brahms Heelshire:

   I- I mean... well first of all, the 'dressed in green' line would imply that Brahms is the frog, seeing as his cardigan's green and I never wear green, in fact, I usually wear black or brown, which are actual scorpion colours anyway-

Tomura Shigaraki:

   Ooooh, that's a nice match. Honestly, yeah, it kind of feels that way, especially with what quirk I gave my S/I, and Shiggo's quirk as well. 

   Sounds like someone attempting to coerce someone else into joining a ‘team’, only to finally open their heart to said person, and right then, that person they coerced gets hurt because they were joining that team? Idk, maybe you could replace that 'team' thing with the LOV? (Or the Paranormal liberation front?) Either way, sounds angsty, I'm in!

Aaravos:

   Well, that's certainly not what I expected-

   Okay, so what am I getting from this... Well, duality first of all, perhaps indecisiveness? So this is probably talking about me then, haha. Honestly from that context, this makes way more sense.

Newt Scamander:

   Yeah, I feel like the lyrics on this one are pretty self-explanatory. Person the song is in pov of was in a bad relationship before and they’re scared to be open to their new lover.

   Honestly, in the context of this involving Newt, it reminds me of this 'x reader fic' I came across at one point, that involved the reader coming home from fighting in WW2 and being severely affected by it. It was pretty good all things considered.

Prince Stolas:

   Wait, isn't this song about being trans? Regardless, lyrics-wise sounds pretty accurate, to me at least, especially in the story I gave him with my S/I. Poor man didn't deserve all that hardship, he only has his daughter and his man and me, now.

Viktor (Arcane)

   I swear to god, it was on shuffle, I promise- What a coincidence that it ended up being the awesome song from his own source! Though, that doesn't bode well for the relationship, I guess. Sounds like it'll be angsty, oh no. But then again, knowing who Viktor is, I suppose that's kind of a given.

   I get vibes of 'everything is crumbling down around us, so let's spend these last few moments of normalcy together' from this match up. (Which should make sense with where Viktor ends up going in LOL lore.)

Rook Blonco:

   I can't say I expected this one either. I also can't say I'm super clear on who in this dynamic would be the one who's pov this song is from here?

   Obviously, more angst. The song is about changing yourself for someone you love, a theme we saw with Scarecrow as well. Hmm, there's a lot more angst here than I expected...

Vilkas (Skyrim):

   Oh no. Vilkas, hun, don't say shit like this, you're breaking your husband's heart- 

   Bad snippet of the song since you can’t actually hear any lyrics, but yeah. Nothing like a little bit of ‘I don’t think they’d really love me’ to get the heart wrenching, right?

Anyway, though!

   That's all the ones I'll do for now, trying to figure out how to embed stuff like this frustrated me, so- Yeah.

#selfship community #mlm selfship #lgbt selfship #Bloki #Blacrow #Blahms #Blakura #blaaravos #Blewt #Stolake #Blaktor #Brook #Blakas #selfship stuff #f/o community #f/o memes #f/o stuff #tw: Helluva boss #tw: harry potter #tw: swearing #villain f/o #F/O meme #selfship meme

[akajustmerry]

hi merryana!! any thoughts on the emmy noms? hope you're doing well :)

hi there! my thoughts are

selena gomez got snubbed! bizarre to nominate steve martin and martin short and not her when the show is very much carried by the 3 of them. emmys hate latinas though so it makes sense

i hope everyone and i mean everyone in the comedy categories loses to quinta and to abbott elementary

pam and tommy being nominated for anything is repugnant!!!

noah schnaap, winona ryder, david harbour, and sadie sink all being snubbed AGAIN despite all of stranger things' noms is SO RUDE considering they carry the acting prowess of that show on their BACKS. villain origin story honestly. we've had 5+ years of this shit

in the same vein, succession acting noms are HILARIOUS because it's a TRUE ENSEMBLE!!! there is no lead!! all of them belong in supporting why tf are jeremy strong and brian cox in LEAD??? also very telling none of the women in succession get nominated in lead categories. life imitates art, etc. ANYWAY

once again i am BEGGING the powers that be to make a DRAMEDY CATEGORY!!! the great is always losing to succession/ted lasso because its not drama enough to compete with succy and its not a traditional com like ted lasso or only murders. we as a society need a DRAMEDY CATAGORY so shows like The Great, Barry, The Flight Attendant, Hacks, etc aren't competing with pure comedies!!! its not fair for any nominees to have the complexity of their work be treated so reductively.

glad to see squid game getting acting noms as well as overall noms!!!!

anyone from euphoria except zendaya being nominated is absolutely laughable. the performances in euphoria season 2 were frankly a joke!!!!!!

foundation was snubbed!!!! imagine nominating fucking moonknight and loki over foundation in ANY CATEGORY ughhh (also just laughable these storyless CGI monstrosities from Disney would be nominated at all!

WHERE is rose matafeo in the comedy lead categories!!!!!!

drew barrymore and ziwe were ROBBED in the variety categories!!

Dickinson was snubbed in costuming, acting and cinematography

absolutely LOVE seeing severance get its dues!! weird that they snubbed Dichen Lachman, but We Know Why

I would LOVE for Kaley Cuoco to win something for flight attendant because she's so fucking good in it but the only way she'd be in with a chance is in a dramedy category. in comedy, she's gonna lose to jean smart

the only Disney+ series that deserved any nomination was the little angel who played leia in obi wan kenobi!!!!! that show would literally be NOTHING without her. she was truly a star!!!!

alia shawkat deserved SOMETHING for her incredible work in search party. this was the last year it could be nominated and she was SNUBBED. the emmys hate women of colour so much!

SEARCH PARTY, Rutherford falls, ghosts, Russian doll, the silent sea, we are lady parts, starstruck - literally the best tv of the past year and it was ALL SNUBBED

okay i am done!

#emmys 2022

[blazlngblade]

My CotC Shippings (There are spoilers!!)

I've always kinda wanted to showcase my main shippings. So here we are! Not in order, but just to avoid spoilers somewhat.

Wingate / Iris

Mysterious thief and equally mysterious dancer. Colours look lovely together, and Wingate being a "family" man while Iris is a teacher to many students, seems like a good match. Though Wingate can be a bit youthful, Iris can help him out with her street smarts.

Barrad / Dorothea - "Barrathea"

Runaway nobles turned merchants...? Yes! These two are fun and popular among their peers and they would bring so much life to a gathering! Plus Barrad is the kind of guy who wants to hire a lot of people for his future business, and Dorothea also ends up hiring plenty for her own business, so along with the help of their friend Durand, they can be the owners of a influential merchant company. as well as be seafaring merchants.

Levan / Brigitte - "Levitte"

The shy and anxious kid pairing, but they are there to support each other! Levan loves to talk about his interests, and Brigitte always does her best in things. If Brigitte was one of the people who willingly wants to listen to Levan's passions, I think that'd be adorable. I'm sure she was a bit overwhelmed at first though, but the friendship and future relationship can blossom!

Lionel / Merrit

The handsome and noble knight ready to lay down his life for his fair princess. These two are a story book couple in both appearance and job. They are absolutely precious together, and though I do headcanon Lionel as asexual, I know Merrit would respect that from her partner. I think she'd rather be the person who adopts every stray cat she finds that needs a home anyway!

Lolo / Molrusso

Lolo, the guardian of the mountains and Molrusso, the youthful cleric who loves her storybooks! These two look adorable together based on colour palettes and when Lolo becomes more comfortable being around people again, I think he would easily be friends with Molrusso. She can be a bit scatterbrained, but she's more of a "people person" than Lolo, they can support each other's weaknesses. Plus after Lolo's story, he could really use that good friend in someone like Molrusso.

Miles / Noelle

The up-and-coming Knight Ardante with the lost in fantasy student scholar! Miles and Noelle are also both from the original work, so seeing them together is kinda cute! Noelle being interested in old fairytales makes the idea of a knight perfect for her!

Oskha / Sofia - "Sofiano"

A long time shipping of mine! I've adored it for 3.5 years! Though, they don't look as if they have all that much in common, they are a blue-red, a fire-ice, Wealth pairing. Sofia's an artist and scholar, Oskha is a prodigy child who knew how to predict rains, draw maps, and more, etc. They'd be a powerful and intelligent couple! He just needs to get his act together. Oskha was never a villain right from the start, what if these two met when they were younger and developed a friendship that became more if they met again many years later? I have story ideas I want to write for this.

Bargello / Shelby - "Barshel"

The future Don of the mafia with the newest recruit in the Bargello Family. Shelby met Bargello by chance when his Family were planning to make their mark on the world! Having tied with her duties as the "Chosen One", she grew closer with Bargello in time, and now they are here to help out Valore and the late the entire continent!

Leon / Elletrix

This is not a romantic shipping... I'm currently more interested in them as platonic partners. Leon and Elletrix are already clearly good friends in the game, but perhaps they could have some cool seafarer partnership one day? I'm sure Leon would want to support the woman who helped him get a better look on life. And I'm sure that Elletrix likes to keep him around just to make sure he's not doing anything she wouldn't approve of. Plus since Avery, one of Elletrix's subordinates, canonly dislikes Leon a lot and believes he "can't compete with Leon", I can imagine that they are close enough to almost appear as a relationship to those who don't know about their close platonic partnership. Ex-pirate being best friends with the lord of Grandport? Yes!

***Leon is my drawing because he doesn't have pretty art aside from one chibi!

When Leon and Bargello get into Champions as playable characters, I want to remake all the shipping charts I did a while back, When that happens I will post something similar again.

#Octopath Traveler #Octopath CotC #Shippings #champions of the continent #rosa talks #Barshel #Sofiano #Levitte #Barrathea

[miloscat]

[Review] Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (PS5)

All new, all different.

After co-developing the first NASB, Fair Play Labs took over as lead developer for the sequel, with Ludosity (and several other studios) handling more minor contributions to the project. Fair Play have put a firm hand on the rudder, retooling the game in a major way while adding a substantial single player mode. But is it the better game? Well... yeah, but there's some nuance.

Load into a match and you should notice immediately that the zippy pace of NASB1 has been pulled back to more closely resemble the platform fighter that all others crib from, Smash Bros. Then examine the movesets and mechanics, and you’ll see that many of the quirks and tweaks that Ludosity had implemented have also been stripped away. We still have separate fast and strong attack buttons and aerials, but in other details, and in the game feel, NASB2 clings almost desperately to Papa Sakurai’s blueprints.

There are some innovations. A new slime meter builds up from your actions and can be spent to power up moves, arrest your launch, or other technical tricks in addition to a Final Smash-esque super move. Hmm, actually this is a lot like Brawlout’s rage meter now that I think about it… but I think they make better use of it here, with more options available from its use.

Other big changes come in the roster. Fun choices from the first game like Toph, Sandy Cheeks, or Powdered Toast Man are gone, as well as CatDog and Oblina along with representation of their shows entirely. Unfortunately many of the new choices that replace them aren’t too exciting for me personally, apart from the excellent Angry Beavers, while Azula as a new Avatar brawler is one of a few much-needed villainous additions. Upcoming DLC will also add Zuko and Iroh, making for an oddly imbalanced preponderance of firebenders.

It’s not just a handful of new fighters though; basically all the returning characters (of the ones I tried) feel new due to sweeping revamps to their movesets. The three that feel most similar are Garfield, Jenny, and Rocko, who were added to the original game post-launch, which points to Fair Play implementing them as part of a “lead takeover” as indicated on their website. The returning stages too have been redesigned with new layouts.

One addition that’s an unequivocal improvement is the story mode, a roguelite campaign that sees you build up perks to take into expanded “classic mode” style runs. In these, you choose paths that may have you 1v1 other fighters (unlocking them for use in this mode), bash a mob of enemy mooks drawn from the various cartoons, play minigames like break the targets pop the balloons, get powerups from shops or handouts, and finally face a boss (then repeat this three times for a complete run). There’s some variety, an addictive little loop, and a bit of fun voiced dialogue along the way, as well as more fanservice by way of NPC characters, including some of the first game’s cut fighters. It’s exactly what I wanted out of this sequel (although the actual plot is a bit Danny Phantom-heavy for my taste).

Some of the strengths of the first game remain, of course. It still looks great, although I did notice the occasional animation error or too-frequent bit of jank. The voices are at the same high standard, with either “returning veteran” or “spot-on soundalike”, including a recast of Korra to actor of colour Jacqueline Grace Lopez, at Janet Varney’s request. Oh, they also recast Aang but that’s nothing new, this is like the tenth time it’s happened.

NASB2 leaves me with mixed feelings. It’s an extremely playable game that’s still a grand tribute to Nicktoons past, with some essential new features like the story mode… but at what cost? Fun content and a whole lot of design from the first game have been wiped away. These big shifts are interesting, in that it makes the sequel stand out significantly from its predecessor… while also validating it in a strange way. Ultimately NASB2 isn’t really replacing NASB1; by way of 2 deciding to be different, 1 stays unique and special. I think I can live with that.

#nasb2 #nickelodeon all star brawl 2 #fair play labs #review #ps5

[ekbell]

Summer Project Blog (year 2)

For my summer project, id like to focus on how important colour is in animation and how big of an impact it makes on our view on certain things and characters themselves.

1st Reference: Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse

With this clip (from 5:40 to 6:06) it has a beautiful way of using lighting and colour to show Gwen feels safe with her dad. The room starts off with dull colouring because Gwen is upset and as soon as she goes to hug him the whole room starts to slowly fill with bright colours and that's often associated with positive things or to feel safe as if as soon as she hugs him she starts to feel safe and at ease. I know when I first saw this scene I felt like I understood what they were trying to portray here and instantly felt the same warmth coming from the colours as she is hugging her dad. I also really like how they changed the colouring of the characters themselves to enhance that emotion.

Using colour to represent Characters:

Typically what we see in villains is they have a certain colour scheme. The first film of the animated Spiderman series has a villain called the prowler and this is a good example of this being used as we see the colours purple and green mainly used, which is often used to portray villains.

The colour blue typically stands for confidence, trust and loyalty. An example of characters that are good and use this colour is Sulley from Monsters Inc and Cinderella. Normally we don’t usually see villains with this colour although there are some good characters that were seen as villainous at first such as Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.  However, some villains have this colour but only because they tend to be more likeable. The Disney villain Hades is a good example of this. Even though he is a villain he is one of the more ‘comedic’ and ‘likeable’ villains we know. The colour yellow is seen as a very positive colour with joy and also energy being part of it. Take Joy for example, despite her name being joy she is also yellow so therefore proves the theory. That said, Inside out is all about Riley’s life, and the emotions are key in this film. Red being anger, Sad being blue etc. Russel for up is also a notable example of this as he is energetic and innocent, so it makes sense for his character to be mainly yellow.  

These images were taken from https://venngage.com/blog/disney-villains/ -This blog was very helpful for my research.

Putting these theories in my work:

Saturation in animation is very important as it helps the audience understand the emotions and the atmosphere.  A great example of this is Tim Burton’s work. His films are often very low in saturation and that is often because they aren't particularly a very positive and happy story. Take Frankenweenie for example, Tim Burton wanted this film to be in black and white to be like a tribute to old horror films in the 60s. This is when I started to use this research in my own work when we were tasked to create characters from one film and redesign them as if they were in another. My first character was Tinkerbell in the world of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. This was very fun to do as the film Tinkerbell is a very saturated film as its about being in neverland which is like a dream and fairies in that world are positive, happy creatures usually. So, I took Tinkerbell out of that world and brought her into a world that is very much the opposite of that. (fig4) This shows the first drawing I did for this. I took all of Tink's original features and changed it. Going back to the colour theory, I kept her colours that make her easily recognizable but de saturated the colours to fit in with his world. I also took inspiration from The Nightmare Before Christmas with the famous curly hill. I used that in her wings and her cotton balls on her shoes.  

What I noticed a lot about Tim Burton's style is that he makes the characters eyes wide and very slim with pointy elbows and chins for most characters and the colour scheme is very Dull and more monochromatic. I also wanted to use the hill from The Nightmare Before Christmas in my drawings as well

These were the first drawings I came up with:

This was the first drawing I had come up with and I do like the way it turned out especially the detail on her wings.

Different poses and expressions:

I then decided they didn't look the way i wanted so i did more research and these drawings were inspired by the corpse bride and i feel they have more of the iconic Tim Burton look to them than the others did originally. I also thought that the colours used previously were a little too saturated so i de saturated them and i think that also helped with creating the style of Tim Burton.