#it’s like thomas learned nothing from Am I Original

[tstwitterupdates]

Adding in my two sense with the other anons (as someone who's opinions matter like. so little) I feel like it's extra frustrating when he keeps showing he IS capable of getting stuff out in a timely manner, like roleslaying (which I very much enjoy!) Doesn't have insane wait times between and they get multiple seasons worth of shots done in a few days. I know sander sides is a bigger production and I get wanting something you've been working on for so long to be perfect, but teasing it without any actual, substantial updates is like... idk it just seems mean at some point aksgsiajdhdojahdif.

And I am a writer, I have stories that I've worked on for years and aren't done, I've abandoned stories for years only to pick them back up way later, but I'm also not sharing them with anyone (except occasionally my queer platonic partners) and certainly not getting PAID BY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE to keep them up to date. Asides was supposed to help the wait but it became essential viewing and full production instead of fun one offs, all actual small fun videos are merch plugs. This is long and probably doesn't make much sense, you also don't have to post it if you don't want to, but I dunno I have thoughts and wanted to get them out :p

I dunno, I enjoy the series and the other videos, I just feel like at some point along the line he got burn out for sander sides and instead of saying that he just kept talking about the characters to keep us interested (and because I do think he genuinely likes them, they're his ocs and he's clearly fond of them) and now only has the motivation to film stuff for the sides when he's being paid MORE to do it by merch drops.

( somehow this blog every once in a while becomes a safe space for people to vent their criticisms on anon haha which is fine i know we all need it sometimes, just funny how it keeps happening. i guess it’s inevitable when the blog is about video updates. oh well. don’t forget to block # ts criticism if you don’t want to see this stuff! )

yeah like i understand that even if they are capable of producing a video in a few days it doesn’t mean that that should be the standard for every single one. makes sense that some scripts and effects and stuff will take longer than others, and they can’t be at maximum productivity all the time. however.. having these small things done quickly once every few months doesn’t sound so bad? but i don’t know i don’t know i have no experience with this.

like they definitely have the money, equipment and staff for the production and post production of a video to go somewhat smoothly, so i think the problem is that the planning and scripting are just too hard because it’s just way too ambitious now for every single sanders sides episode, including asides. hope they realize not every video has to be dealing with intrusive thoughts to be good enough but who knows.

#ts criticism #ask #not a tweet #it’s like thomas learned nothing from Am I Original

[simpforthedead]

Genshin x fem reader

✧Here I am with a new headcanon idea !✧

✷What if Y/n was pregnant but learn later that her child is dead ?✷

๑I always see the if YOU die giving birth scenarios⁠๑

✿Don't worry it's all fluff even if it have a little angst plot ✿

✯Characters (Minors aged up if they're minors I don't know how old they are)

✯Scaramouche (You simp-)

✯Alhaitham

✯Baizhu

✯Bennett (Im sorry )

✯Albedo

✯Thomas

✯Cyno (My main and now I do bad jokes too...please tell me I'm not the only one)

Scaramouche (Well it's when he's wanderer but I'm not calling him wanderer)

☆When the doctor told you that to both of you he frozed up, like really...

☆You two left the hospital in shock, and you were only now starting to understand what the doctor meant.

☆You wanted to cry so badly but nothing was coming out of your eyes, and they just stayed open and with the wind it made them hurt.

☆Scaramouche finally took you in his arms and placed your head on his chest while kissing your head, you could even felt tears falling from his eyes.

☆It was only now you started crying.

☆You hugged him so tightly like for escaping the sad truth.

☆Weeks later you were still sad and didn't want to leave your home.

☆Scaramouche had to force you to go outside and to talk to people.

☆Everyone were worried for you and especially Scaramouche.

☆Even if he didn't show it, he was very sad and had cry a lot, maybe even more than you...

☆But he knew you were going to feel guilty if you saw him like that, that's why he kept it a secret.

☆After 1 month he was totally fine mentally, but for you it was a lot harder and Scaramouche kept helping you with things.

☆Nahida even came to talk to you since you were slowly starting to feel better.

☆After 2 months, you were capable to do everything right and feel happier than ever, but you still felt a little sad.

Alhaitham

⁠⑅I recently started to like him so it's prob not the best thing I've write.

⁠⑅You were sleeping when he learned it.

⑅When you woke up, he was reading a book on the edge of the bed, with his back facing you.

⁠⑅You happily greeted him but he didn't answered.

⁠⑅You moved to be able to see his face but he was covering it with his book.

⑅You were confuse and keep on going like that, but you stopped when you could have seen a tears rolling down from his eyes.

⁠⑅You suddenly stopped and hugged him, even if you know he's not a fan of hugs.

⑅After what seemed like 10 min, he faced you and tell you with a shaky voice.

"H-he's dead ...Our child is dead..."

⑅At first, you didn't believe it- No you didn't want to believe it.

⁠⑅You were hoping it was just a prank or something else.

⁠⑅Your eyes started to fill up with tears and you wiped them away with your arm.

⁠⑅He hugged you and kept reading his book

⁠⑅You were devastated and keep crying on his chest (Pillow chest is the best ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ)

⁠⑅ For the next few days you stayed by his side, and together you slowly started to feel better.

⑅ He was a little harder for him to kept his original himself, even if he didn't look like it you knew he was hurt inside.

⑅ Luckily your smile and your everything kept him out of the depression.

Baizhu

๑He's the doctor.... Yeah...Imagine the guilt he felt when he had to told you about it.

๑ Basically, he already knew the chances of having a baby were little cause he has a disease (I think...I didn't read his lore lmao)

๑You wanted to hug him but you were stunned by the revelation.

๑He understand your intention and immediately hugged you.

๑You felt so guilty you didn't want to eat for months, obviously you eated but never a big proportion.

๑Baizhu, being the amazing person he is, keep on telling you it's not your fault and taking you to peaceful places.

๑Qiqi was also worried about you and she was sooo sweet to you, I mean as a Qiqi she was cute.

๑Baizhu was amazing to comfort you, and you were really grateful for that.

๑There's nothing else to say except he's hot-

Bennett

⁠♪He think it's his fault.

♪He have bad luck and you can't do anything about it.

♪Yeah he turned EMO. Jk but it would be funny to see

♪Bennett felt so guilty, nobody could comfort him...

♪Except you of course ! So that's what you did !

♪You were sad too, but you already came up to this deduction when you couldn't feel the baby moving anymore...So you had the time to take all the informations slowly.

♪But him....He wasn't ready for this, I mean he knew his badluck would affect his child but didn't thought it was going to kill him.

♪Yea, so you guys had to transform into a psychologist , not that you mind it because you were cuddling while he was saying it's his fault.

♪You reassured him, even if it took time, you never left him thought it was his fault.

♪Baby was finally acting normal after 1 month and half

Albedo

✿Like Baizhu he was the one who told you.

✿He didn't want to hurt your feeling though, so he kept him a secret 2 days after learning his child was dead.

✿Yeah only 2 days because it was heartbreaking to see you happy for a dead person.

⁠✿When he told you, he had everything to comfort you like blanket, snacks, tissues and things like that.

✿As he thought you cried and run into his arms to get a hug from him.

✿Albedo being very smart, knew how to help you with this traumatizing event.

✿Nothing more to say except he was just perfect and sad, not for long time but still.

✿Here come the best part with.....KLEE

⁠✿Klee was so sad, she wanted a friend to play with.... Although she knew it wasn't your fault because Albedo told her.

⁠✿Klee once said "I can be your child !" even if it seemed weird because well... she already have a mother, she was innocent and you can't say she wouldn't say that.

✿Klee is still a child so she thinks it's the same, and she only wanted to comfort you!

✿So you told her you see her as a little sister but it helped you a lot to have this cute ,little ,blond ,legged bomb with you.

✿Klee is and will always comfort you no matter what !

Thoma

⁠◕MAID THOMAS AT YOUR SERVICE MAAM

◕He for real turned into a to do man

◕You feel lonely ? BAAM Have a party with friends !

⁠◕You don't like the noise in the party? BAAM silence ...

◕You want to change your clothes but you're too lazy ? BAAM YOU'RE STILL IN YOUR CLOTHES ! Yeah he ain't dressing you because he have a lot of respect for you

◕Thomas was trying to hide his sadness but sometimes he came in you room and sat in front of you on your bed, he placed his head on your shoulder crying while you were rubbing his head.

◕You weren't really an incredible person toward him...But he knew it was because of the death of your child.

◕You did have a lot of regrets everytime you yelled at him or drank until you throw up.

◕You felt even more guilty and tried to suicide yourself but bro....HAVE YOU SEEN THOMAS PERFECT ARMS ??

◕He didn't let you fall and you just wanted to restart everything...Sounds familiar? Then you are a good person don't worry about it ⊂⁠(⁠・⁠▽⁠・⁠⊂⁠)

⁠◕He helped you go through it and you were so...Free like all the events were past and your dead child was probably proud of you from Celestia.

Cyno

☆Shocked, sad, angry, sad, guilty from being angry at something he couldn't do anything for, Cried

☆Cyno is...Sad but will get mad at the god, like they had killed your child.

☆Well later he learned that your child was dead because of a illness incurable.

⁠☆You were sad he was sad, so you two stayed at your home waiting until you feel better.

☆Even if everyone thought the house was dirty with chips bags on yhe ground, dirty cups or plates, water bottle empty and dirty socks averywhere, well surprising the house was clean !

☆Once you decided to invite some friend like Tighnari, Collei and maybe Alhaitham with Kaveh.

☆They were shocked.

☆You looked like nothing ever happened! But in truth you just didn't want to cry for something you couldn't help for.

☆The same for him.

☆Well it was harder for you but Cyno was here with his bad jokes to help you.

⁠☆It was funny tho (not like mines)

☆Your friends were happy to saw you two being okay, but they bring presents ?

☆Like, they bought you food and a new notebook...But a pretty one (You choose because I have a shitty style)

☆Cyno had a new TCGC cards but its a customized one so it's worth it.

Author:"Hope you enjoy ! "

Klee:"Have a good day or night !"

Author:"Go to sleep"

#genshin x reader #x reader #fluff #x reader fluff #Genshin x reader fluff #Cyno x reader #Bennet x reader #Thomas x reader #Baizhu x reader #Scaramouche x reader #Wanderer x reader #Alhaitham x reader

[steam-beasts]

How I'd adapt TTTE BWBA s22 ep 2; "Forever and Ever"

Original summary; Gordon has a tantrum about all the changes being made to the railway and is sent back to his shed in disgrace, Gordon insists that he is happy to stay there forever but his new friend Nia from Kenya helps him to see the changes in a different light.

My adapted summary; Ever since Edward left the sheds, Gordon had been quite bitter about the changes. Now that Nia has moved in and Henry suddenly announcing that he's moving into Vicarstown, Gordon becomes enraged. In retaliation, he takes his frustration out on Nia and causes an accident.

Plot

A year had gone by since Edward's departure from Tidmouth Sheds, and despite how long it's been, Gordon still can't stop being bitter about it. Since Nia's arrival, Gordon had been disrespectful and belittles her often, bumping her out of the way and calling her a "weak little tank engine". He just directs his grumpiness on to her. One day, he hears a conversation between Henry and Sir Topham Hatt and is horrified to learn that Henry wants to move out.

(Not my art btw, it's on DeviantArt)

He confronts Henry the next day, and Henry tells him "Going to Vicarstown is my choice, Gordon. I don't need your say in it!". Gordon then goes to Sir Topham Hatt about the changes, ranting to him about the changes, but STH just says;

"Edward left Tidmouth to mentor Phillip and Rosie by his own choice, Gordon. Henry is moving away by his own choice as well, nothing can stay the same forever, you know. Just deal with it, and move on"

Sir Topham Hatt doesn't realise how much the changes are actually stressing Gordon out and agitating him.

When Gordon is getting his coaches shunted, he finds that Nia is shunting instead of Percy or Thomas. He's already angered by the sudden announcement of Henry moving out, and Nia, the one who (in Gordon's eyes) replaced Edward, decides to try and calm him down.

Gordon yells back at her, and Nia just retorts by saying;

"Ugh...I wonder how Edward and Henry put up with you, you're such hard work!"

Nia never means this in a rude way, she's just annoyed by Gordon. This remark upsets Gordon even further, so he decides to pull a trick on Nia... the same trick he pulled on Thomas decades ago.

He goes along with it and heads off with the Express early, and doesn't give Nia time to uncouple from the coach.

As Gordon speeds down the line with Nia in tow, he doesn't listen to her begging him to stop and just laughs it off.

(Imagine he's laughing maniacally)

My version of Nia was built without a proper safety valve, so she is a boiler explosion waiting to happen. Her boiler is heating up fast, luckily, her driver manages to reach her coupling rod and uncouples her. But as she's uncoupled, Gordon had reached a junction at that point and Nia ends up going off the rails and hitting a tree at full force, denting her buffers.

Later on that evening, everyone and STH find out what happened and confront Gordon about his errant behaviour.

Gordon is quick to defend himself, claiming Nia "replaced Edward and forced Henry out". This is when he tries venting his hatred of the changes. STH and everyone else just assume he's making up excuses and is overdramatic; he's not.

STH; "Excuses, excuses! I am sick and tired of your whining, Gordon! Nia is staying in this shed and that's final! We must not be so rude!"

Thomas; "You're definitely a big fat Galloping Sausage now, Gordon! You just can't go a day without complaining! Bother, even pulling the same trick on her like you did on me? That's pathetic!"

James; "Just disgusting, Gordon! I don't remember you being so horrible towards tank engines like you were today!"

Emily; "Shame on you..."

After this argument, STH tells Gordon that he's banned from pulling the Express until he gets his behaviour sorted out and is being locked in his berth. Gordon desperately begs him not to, but STH doesn't listen. He is shut up in the sheds, where he has a nightmare about Edward and Henry getting scrapped and wakes up in the middle of the night, unconsciously tearing up and reflecting on how everyone treated him and his dream.

The episode ends with Gordon whispering;

"....N-Nobody cares how I feel...my own controller doesn't c-care how I feel... why does nobody care about me?"

The episode ends.

Yeah, if I were to do Forever and Ever, it would be pretty dark and angsty. It's all hurt for Gordon and no comfort. Plus, it would show a bit of Gordon that's vulnerable and no longer all pompous and arrogant, instead all self-conscious and soft.

#thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine #ttte thomas #ttte gordon #ttte henry #ttte edward #ttte james #ttte emily #ttte sir topham hatt #ttte nia #ttte percy #gordon the big engine #james the red engine #edward the blue engine #henry the green engine #percy the small engine #emily the stirling engine #adapting Bwba episodes #forever and ever

[burningvelvet]

I completed Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey in one day yesterday. I'm in a book hangover, but here are my initial thoughts on the novel, as well as on Anne:

- Anne is an underrated Queen, but I already knew that from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, her second novel. If only she hadn't died at 29! Agnes Grey was her first foray into novel publishing, and proves how much she developed her talents in the interim between itself and Tenant, which most people would agree is much better.

Yet, for a debut novel, Grey is nevertheless impressive. Her acute observations and descriptions of social experiences are some of the most clear I've ever read, and she was as adept in her satire as Jane Austen. After reading both her novels, Emily's only, and more than one of Charlotte's (Jane, and currently 1/4 through Villette) I can say she's certainly the most moral and progressive Brontë, and maybe even the most socially intelligent. There's a lot of humor in this book, and despite some of the dark themes, it never feels miserable.

Anne was a remarkably resolute woman, which comes through in both her heroines; even when they are oppressed and trapped in the most dire situations, they consciously refuse to adopt a victim mindset, instead trusting in their own strength and resilience. After enduring much suffering, both heroines trust in their faith, focus their energy on creating good lives for themselves, and by doing so achieve happiness in the end.

Anne Brontë's heroines are true examples of female stoics in the original philosophical sense, capable of great empathy and feeling as well as self-control and self-discipline. The Anne Brontë heroine has a quiet confidence about her. She champions moderation and common sense, not because she is boring or easily written off by the misogynistic epithet of "prude," but because she has witnessed true chaos and experienced true misery, and these things have served to make her more calm because she does not internalize them but triumphs over them. She has decided to learn from life's lessons and seek a life of tranquility, simplicity, and faith.

- This novel has everything! We've got the (literally designated) not-so-reformed rake in Sir Thomas Ashby (and what a rakish name that is), we've got some demonic children, we've got a sexy country parson, religious discourse, depictions and poignant criticism of classism, sexism, marriage, animal abuse, etc.

- Mr. Hatfield is basically Mr. Collins from P&P. Matilda rejecting him was golden.

-- The beginning of this novel, summarized: "I can't wait to meet these amazing children I've heard so much about! Gee, I really hope they aren't sociopathic animal torturers! What are the odds, am I right?"

-- No wonder the Brontë's didn't succeed in setting up their own school -- being a governess or teacher was simply horrible back then, as it largely still is today, and I think for the most part some of them simply weren't cut out for the job to begin with -- which is saying nothing bad about them or their abilities. Maybe if they lived today they would have done well as teachers or professors with a little more modern structure and having workers rights, etc...

-- I like the short length of this novel! It goes by very fast, and I read the first 100 pages or so myself very quickly, and the rest in audiobook format, but this is very rare for me. I've become accustomed to the Brontë family "language." I'm glad I didn't start with this novel though; I think it's easier to appreciate Agnes Grey after reading their "greatest hits" (Tenant, Jane, and Heights). It definitely isn't my favorite Brontë novel but then again I don't have a favorite. They each fulfill slightly different functions yet have many overlapping themes, so it's difficult to rank them.

-- I think one of the reasons this novel may not be as popular as it could be is because the first half of the novel is generally bleak and this may cause people to give up. The narrator's life generally improves in the second half of the novel, but still, Grey does not have as much dramatic "umph" as does what I hereby dub the "Brontë Greatest Hits Triad" (Heights/Tenant/Jane) which all will prefer. Still, the novel is worth reading for any Brontë fans as it is good and contains many of the Brontë tropes we all know and love. It also stands as a marked contrast to Anne's second novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and makes me appreciate that novel so much better.

#the bronte sisters #currently reading #book thoughts #book opinions #agnes gray #anne bronte #victorian lit #lit #english literature #literature #books #reading

[john-laurens]

At this very moment Kinloch writes a letter to Mr. Boone, which will perhaps influence my future destination. If I cannot live as I would like, according to what I have told you, I would hope that in the event that I had to spend my life in solitude, I could share yours; but the way to live! It is very doubtful that I will be able to travel with an English Lord, because I am somewhat averse to this project, feeling very well that I do not have enough stolidity and gravity to maintain a certain character of reserve and wisdom during a series of several years with a young man, whose character is unknown to me. I will say nothing more to you on these matters until I have received some response from Mr. Boone. This winter we are going to read public law by the Abbot Mably, Dangeuil's book on commerce, the Abbot Raynal and some lighter authors, such as Vertot, St. Real etc. I in particular plan to study, after Mr. Hume's history and a few books on America, the works of Viscount Bolinbroke. We read a few letters from Earl Chesterfield every day, and in this way I learn to pronounce the English language, something which is of the utmost importance to me, and which I do with the greatest pleasure. I plan to finish Haller's collection this winter; I will finish the XIVth volume this week. When you see Haller, tell him a lot for me.

Johannes von Müller to Karl Viktor von Bonstetten, in a letter dated Decmeber 1775

The original text (below) was in French and was translated with Google Translate

Presumably, when Müller referred to works by the Abbot Raynal, he was referring to L'Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes by Guillaume Thomas François Raynal. Francis Kinloch owned volume two of this work published in 1774.

Dans ce moment même Kinloch écrit à Mr. Boone une lettre, qui influera peut-être sur ma destination future. Si je ne peux pas vivre comme je le souhaiterois, d'après ce que je Vous ai dit, je souhaiterois, que dans le cas, qu'il me fallut passer ma vie dans la solitude, je puisse partager la votre; mais le moyen de vivre!

Il est très - douteux, que je puisse voyager avec un Seigneur Anglois, parceque j'ai quelque éloignement pour ce projet, sentant très-bien, que je n'ai pas assez de flegme et de gravité, pour maintenir un certain caractère de reserve et de sagesse pendant une suite de quelques années avec un jeune homme, dont le caractère m'est inconnu. Je ne Vous dirai plus rien sur ces matières, avant que j'aie reçu quelque réponse de Mr. Boone.

Nous allons lire cet hiver le droit public de l'Abbé Mably, le livre de Dangeuil sur le commerce, l'Abbé Raynal et quelques auteurs plus legers, tels que Vertot, St. Real etc. Moi en particulier, je compte d'étudier, après Mr. Hume's history et quelques livres sur l'Amérique, les ouvrages de Mylord Bolinbroke. Nous lisons tous les jours quelques lettres de Mylord Chesterfield, et j'apprens de cette manière à prononcer la langue Angloise, chose qui est de la dernière importance pour moi, et que je fais avec le plus grand plaisir. Je compte finir cet hyver la collection de Haller; je finirai cette semaine le XIVème volume. Quand Vous voyez Haller, dites-lui beaucoup de ma part.

#For those wondering about my last post #Currently having a ''physical item that connects people across centuries and makes everything so much more real'' moment #Francis Kinloch #Johannes von Muller #Johannes von Müller #Guillame Thomas Francois Raynal #Charles Victor de Bonstetten #quote

[when-are-you-coming-back-steve]

What’s your new Anger? (this is the inaction to tell me I am a big fan of your crit posts. You make them consider and understandable while not being condescending to the reader (so so affectionate :) ))

OHOH BOY Heres the thing, I dont really post crit for much. Usually I will like and reblog some valid posts that come up naturally and if its really a problem for me I tend to leave easy. But Thomas Sanders is killing me and takeover is a bad influence /j

But basically he reminds me of the worst coworkers you've had and he's just. Terrible at the job he ASSIGNED HIMSELF. He brands himself as a youtuber. He promises videos for one of his most popular endeavors which was lowkey a rebranding after vine was shut down and he was no longer a popular comedian on vine. And then he abandoned his largest project. And that wouldn't be a problem! If he did what majority of other cc's do. So many youtubers leave behind what made them popular, the move on the other things because it makes them happy and allows them to continue to bring content. There's usually some fans who are angry at this move but atleast most of those youtubers are transparent about this change. They communicate with their community setting the expectations going forward and they stick with them! Thomas has not done this.

He promised us a large amount of work going into making a season finale, and then making another season and he might not be able to push out content at the rate he has done before but thats because he's putting everything into the finale

But we've had very little sander sides content since then. And these have their own problems as being short and "not being part of the main storyline" or being blatant ads. But Thomas is still cranking out other content, he took up tiktok where he is reliving his vine era, he plays games on a side channel. He streams but only for people that pay him. We took the long wait and said fine. Its nothing these fans haven't done before. But then he goes and months and months after he promised us the finale, he tells us he has began working on the script. What was he doing in those months? How is he only just starting bare basics of this thing we have been waiting on forever. Can you imagine this in a professional setting? You're coworker hell your boss has major procrastination on important projects and refuses to give you a timeline? But they still expect to be paid and continue their job while they are doodling in their office.

He attempts to reason this away with not having a lot of people and the pandemic inhibiting the team from filming. First of all they haven't hadnt had anything to film with the finale because they are still working on the script. The pandemic is no longer a major world problem right now. And when it was that wouldn't of had to stopped planning or filming, it might be harder to do with only one person there but it is possible and manageable!

When he does have his team it boggles my mind! I was in schools news in middle school, we worked in teams of 5-7. Each team was pushing out a video every week/every two weeks. Each video had an original hand crafted intro that was never done before on another episode in our show. We had multiple skits. We had announcements and weather and what we were having thst day. We had news anchors thst led us into each segment. This was all planned, filmed and edited by the team. Was it perfect? No but we had content constantly coming out with completely original ideas everytime while we were still learning how to edit videos. We spent an hour every school day on these, we also split those hours with assignments we had due. We cranked this stuff out in a max total of 14 hours. These tiny 6th graders did amazing work despite being children who are using Adobe for the first time and having such little time. This experience has made me more understanding of what exactly these youtubers do, its hard time consuming work. And this understanding is what makes me so angry about Thomas not having any progress in the finale. This absolutely could have been done by now. This absolutely could have been done months ago.

Tldr: Thomas sanders refuses to communicate effectively with his fans and to work efficiently on this project. The fact that this has been going on for over 900 days is absolutely atrocious. This is his job, one that he signed up for. If he was working for anyone in any field including this one he would have been fired. We deserved better than this and deserve better than him continuing to drag this out.

#oh jeez #any way thank you! #barely sure this is even actually for me cuz most of my stuff is from takeover's reblogs #but if it is that makes me very happy! it doesnt feel amazing to criticize something you loved and you dont want to be too mean of a person #im glad its something that comes across as thoughtful and is understandable to readers #these posts are made to vent my frustrations but also strike a discussion and analysis. #ts critical #long post

[league-of-starlight]

Voice Update concept: Talon.

I was originally going to wait until after the poll, but I’m not sure how many votes Talon would get. So… consider this a brief gift. The poll’s still active, so feel free to vote for your pick if you haven’t already.

@thomas-jefferson-miku-binder I hope you enjoy.

First Move:

“Another assignment.”

“My blades are sharpened.”

“They will fill the slum.”

Long move:

“I am a blade sharpened by Noxus. No more and no less.”

“Honour is the mark of a fool, not an assassin.”

“The true assassin only trusts their blades.”

“I serve the man who bested me.”

“I must be perfection. An assassin feels no remorse. A blade has no family to love. A killer has no tears to shed.”

“In the gutter of Noxus, I learned one thing. How to kill.”

First encounter:

“You are my mark.”

“Found you.”

“Don’t struggle.”

“Escape isn’t possible.”

Joke:

*Talon tries to slowly draw his finger on his blade, but accidentally cuts himself and shakes his finger off*

“I have no room for- *sound of pain* Ow, ow, ow!”

Joke response:

“Do you see me smiling?”

Taunt response:

“I’ve heard better last words.”

Killing:

(General):

“Swiftly slain.”

“Down.”

“Finished.”

“Pathetic.”

Pentakill:

“The gutters will be full today.”

Recall:

“To the darkness, I return.”

“I must heal.”

Death:

“Bested…”

“Back to the gutters.”

*Groan.*

Respawn:

“Their assumption will doom them.”

“An error. Must not repeat.”

“So close to the edge of perfection.”

Character specific dialogue:

First encounter:

Briar: “How do you keep finding me? No, really, how?”

Cassiopeia: “The lesser daughter of Du Couteau.”

Garen: “You are the man Katarina has fallen for?” *scoff*

Ionian ninjas: “Honour is the way of fools, not assassins.”

Katarina:

Ally: “The blades of house Du Couteau, reunited.”

Enemy: “One of us will live to savour this.”

Kled: “You… are very strange. Please stay away from me.”

Leblanc: “I do not swear loyalty to you.”

Swain: “Your power makes you corrupted.”

Vladimir: “Your eccentricity does not fool me, leech.”

Taunt:

Cassiopeia: “Father mentioned you. It wasn’t good things.”

Kayn: “I don’t need a demonic weapon to kill.”

Swain: “In the name of House Du Couteau, you will be slain.”

Vladimir: “I’d never attend your parties. Frankly, I don’t see why anyone would.”

Taunt Response:

Katarina: “I spotted three openings in the time you took to say that. No, wait… four.”

Kill:

Cassiopeia: “Farewell, sister.”

Garen: “How to tell Katarina…”

Jhin: “Performance is a child’s pastime.”

Katarina: “We both knew it would end like this.”

Kled: “I think he spit on me.”

Leblanc: “That felt… strangely cathartic.”

Swain: “The general will be pleased.”

Movement near an allied Katarina:

Talon: “This changes nothing.”

Katarina: “I thought so. Don’t die out there.”

Talon, quietly: “Likewise.”

Movement near an enemy Katarina:

Katarina: “You can be more than his weapon, Talon.”

Talon: “What other future is there for me?”

Katarina: “You already know.”

If joking near a Katarina:

Talon: “Stop looking at me like that.”

#league of legends #talon du couteau #LOL voice update concepts

[logically-asexual]

it's been 3 years since putting others first. Thomas keeps teasing the finale but that's about it, I think he's trying to do more Sanders Sides now since he's (finally!) realize that he can't give us nothing forever and we'll be happy about it.

My guess is that the fandom will resurrect for a bit before going back to other stuff since it'll probably be forever until the part 2 of the finale comes out.

What Thomas NEEDS to do, probably when posting the first part, is to establish a clear timeline of when stuff will happen.

like in the end credits show off a schedule like "part 2 will be posted in October, part three around January and part four in March" or something like that with approximate estimations of when we'll get the parts.

That'll help keep the fandom and momentum going. Not all the waiting with the tiniest little hints that don't tell us anything. Like it's been 3 years, before that wasn't there like a year between that and the episode before? The waits are getting longer, and people are sick of it. What's the point in seeing the first part of the finale when it'll take years to see the next part, especially if it's four parts. That's a long ass time.

Thomas has also said that once part 1 is done that the rest will be easier, ig he's writing all the scripts now. But there'll still be a wait, so to me I think there's 2 options Thomas could go with.

the timeline of approximately when all the parts will come out

or, make the 4 parts into one, or 2 parts. More content means that people will probably be more forgiving of a long wait for the next part. A big part of this fandom is analyzing EVERYTHING after all, more content = more stuff to analyze

either way his current method of "teasers" and "I'm working on it I swear!" then making a lot of new series that take up a lot of time and energy while not mentioning Sanders Sides at all isn't working.

So many people are pointing out that they where [age] when [episode] came out and how much older they are now.

Sanders Sides started 6 years ago, at this rate I doubt there'll be a season 2, if there is, I hope that Thomas realizes he doesn't need something like another Forbidden Fruit for every episode. The production value can go down, that'd be preferable to these long ass waits.

that's why Asides was created and it's suffered the same fate of production value being super high when it just doesn't have to be to be a good episode. Writing > production value every time.

At this point I'd absolutly encourage Thomas to finish the finale and move on and do other things that he's passionate about and grow that new audience or maybe even step back from youtube all together, he's been online a long time after all.

i think there’s problems at both the writing and the production stages. and yes both are probably because they’ve set this standard, like you said, with Forbidden Fruit

in terms of writing this high standard won’t let them do anything other than tackle huge issues that need a lot of research and that have a lot of points to address, of which they don’t want to leave anything out in fear that it will leave way for inaccurate interpretations of the issue they’re discussing.

and in terms of production well it’s obvious that they just keep making the videos more and more complicated even when it’s not necessary, since what charmed us back in 2017 was thomas’s incredible acting and editing skills that made everything seem so effortless, how relatable the videos were, and how clever the jokes and little hints for analyzing were.

thomas wants to explore what he can do and try bigger things and i support that, but that doesn’t mean that he has to make huge things every single time. it’s like he learned nothing from Am I Original. and also if that’s just not what the fans want and he cares enough about that to affect the writing of the characters this much, then he should also listen in that aspect. and he could try the cool special effects more often somewhere else.

and about setting a timeline i don’t know. that’s a whole mess with thomas’s personal feelings that i don’t enough about and i also wouldn’t have any idea how to fix anyway. at first he would say “new video this friday!” and no video would come and he would say that he needed more days and then it would end up taking a couple more weeks. and we would tell him over and over that we didn’t mind but he and joan still felt bad. and then they decided no more posting deadlines, but they still had deadlines that they set for themselves or for sponsors and they still couldn’t stick to them even when they worked through days and nights. i could just go “well it’s clear that the issue isn’t the deadline and you should just find a more efficient way of working” but that’s so easy to say and what does it even mean? who am i to say that kind of thing, i know nothing about them and what they have and haven’t tried to do. so idk.

i do think the best case scenario is if they were able to say “next part will come out on [date]!” and then somehow for that to actually happen because it would guarantee constant fandom activity between videos. which we all would love. but i just don’t know if that’s possible.

#ts criticism

[newtedison]

my thoughts on the maze cutter

if you somehow don’t know what this is, it’s the new maze runner sequel that takes place 73 years after the events of the death cure. spoilers ahead.

i’ll be honest i finished reading this over a week ago and i’m very tired but i just realized i hadn’t posted my opinions yet and if i don’t do it now, i’ll just forget again.

for starters i don’t have the sort of seething rage for this book that i did for the crank palace. the primary reason is that this book is so far removed from the original canon and has almost all new characters, so i don’t really feel like it’s messing with something that i’m passionate about. i never had a real feeling or headcanon for how the safe haven/world would turn out after the series ended so i don’t care about the way he envisioned it, and in fact a lot of it makes sense. and the new characters are just that, new, so i have no attachment towards them that makes me more sensitive to the material, which is what happened with newt and the crank palace.

however this has also slingshotted in the opposite direction where i basically don’t care about the events of the book, or it’s characters, at all. this is for a few reasons that i’m going to try and simplify because once again, i am tired

there is simultaneously too much and too little happening in this book. right out the gate he throws like 20 new concepts at you with very little explanation and is constantly bouncing POVs so much that you get whiplash. it’s both information overload and incredible vagueness. i forgot that this was dashner’s forte, i.e. purposefully withholding information in ways that often don’t make sense in canon. now i don’t care if everything isn’t explained at the beginning, it’s natural in a narrative for information to be revealed gradually or at a later, more meaningful time. but that’s not what’s happening here. he’s just like okay here’s the orphans and they are nameless people except this one guy and here’s the godhead and the flare gives you superpowers okay back to the safe haven people. like HUH?! it just feels so far removed from the original trilogy. and honestly the concepts on their own i don’t hate but i feel like they should have just gotten their own books. like the godhead stuff should have been more fleshed out as it’s own thing, maybe with the remnant nation stuff included. if there was anything i would have wanted from a maze runner sequel (which i didn’t) i would have wanted to learn more about the safe haven, which we get shockingly little of, including the characters. some of them literally die at the end and it doesn’t even matter. it means nothing.

and i know that there will be two more books coming which...One Fear. so obviously the characters and lore etc will be expanded more in the other two. but that doesn’t make this feel any less like an outline rather than a real book. i’m sure other people who know more about writing could break down why it feels like this. i just know that nothing feels developed, nothing feels earned, and it needs to be cleaned up and tightened up. if he removed the 10+ shit and piss jokes (i’m not kidding) and replaced them with, like, character development, that would have been awesome.

my one real complain that invokes emotion in me is the few instances involving newt. the book’s prologue is of thomas receiving newt’s journal basically right after they arrive at Paradise and lamenting over his loss. then there’s a time jump, and at the start of each new Part, a section from newt’s journal is quoted. it’s called The Book Of Newt which is indicative of the deity that dashner is making him. a lot of the excerpts are written in a way that don’t really sound like how newt would talk, and he’s strangely wise like a sage old man. it’s revealed that newt’s journal is considered essential reading in the developed Paradise’s schools, almost like a literal Bible. and then.........at the fucking end, it’s revealed that HIS BLOOD has been saved in vials because HE IS THE CURE. now this is implied somewhat at the beginning since kletter is looking for newt OR sonya’s descendents, but straight up saying that newt’s blood is the cure is. what. hello? like all of these choices combined with the crank palace and the general attitude towards newt has made him expanded beyond what he should. just because the fandom has attached to this character doesn’t necessarily mean we want him to become the most special boy in the universe. i think arguably what draws a lot of people towards newt is the fact that he’s just a regular guy who got drawn a bad and unfair hand. the tragedy of it is compelling. when you start to expand it, you lose the meaning of the original story. it’s not necessary. but i guess to dashner, it is. whatever.

anyway tldr the concepts and bones had some potential but were incredibly underdeveloped and dashner should just stay away from newt forever

#anyway. whatever #tmc #i guess

[crestfallercanyon]

Fic Asks Game!

This was brought to my attention by an anonymous ask actually, and it looks super fun so why not! Credit to the original creator of these questions if anyone knows who they are. I will tag people on the end who want to keep it going ❤️

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

43

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

460,675 (maybe by the end of the year I’ll hit 500,000!)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

5 on this ao3 profile — they are:

The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf, Black Mirror (Bandersnatch)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

They are all from coldflash, the largest fandom I write for ❄️⚡️

distract me from my last disaster — Barry finds Len at Saints and Sinners and tests out a hypothesis, but it turns out this is a distraction from a much bigger play.

Lullabies for Little Criminals — somehow in a cruel turn of events, Len’s meddling with time doesn’t save him or his sister from their father, but instead makes it so that he has a child with a one night stand that he must now look after.

getting back to fine — Barry’s losing his powers and winds up a bloody, beaten mess at Len’s front door.

Something Out of Nothing — Barry tries to turn the tables on breaking into Len’s home when the night takes a sharp turn for the worse.

Didn’t Change a Thing — Len learns that going back in time has changed nothing for him; Barry arrives on the Waverider to coax him back from the brink.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to! I used to be much more on top of it, but life gets in the way and now it takes me a while to respond — but I always adore the chance to say hello and thanks to anyone who’s read my things ❤️

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

The angstiness ENDING? Hmmm…

Probably This Time of Doubt (coldflash) — Len has everything he could ever want for himself in this timeline, but there’s something wrong. Something missing. Something he can’t live without.

Close second would be Look Who’s Inside Again (thomally, tmr) — Even though Thomas and Gally swear they made it to Safe Haven, they are somehow back in the Glade. And this time, Thomas doesn’t see a way out.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have not written a true crossover! (LOT and The Flash I don’t think counts). I’ve debated writing a crossover between TMR and some video games (and once considered the Outsiders actually) but have yet to do so.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate, no. The fandoms I write in are thankfully very lovely in my experience 💕

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I… try. People say they like what I write, which I am so glad! But I can’t help but feel like my sex scenes are never very explicit. What can I say? I’m a softie in this way.

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope! Not to my knowledge.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I would LOVE to.

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

This is hard, I’m a multishipper. My fav dynamic tends to be ships with stoic/reformed asshole and guilty hero/savior complex. So, thomally and coldflash.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I worry this will be to build a home. I’m just a bit stuck there.

15) What are your writing strengths?

Ahh, this is hard. I (hope) that my relationships seem to develop very realistically. Because I tend to write rarepairs, I like to make sure that the friendship/romances feel real and whole and not just googly-eyes and ridiculous pairings. I want them to be believable and relatable.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

Somehow, I both write too much dialogue and too much description. I worry that all my fics are just people talking in different settings. I want to learn how to be more concise.

17) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

To be honest, before I even knew it was fanfiction I wrote stories about Doc Holliday and his common-law wife Kate Elder (Big Nose Kate) from the era of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone. I’m a major nerd.

18) What are your five favourite fics you’ve written?

Gosh that’s REALLY hard. Ummmm.. gosh this is subject to change every time I’m asked lol. Here’s my vibes atm.

In no particular order:

1. Look Who’s Inside Again (tmr) is one of my favorite canonverse concepts I’ve ever created and I loved writing the story. It’s probably one of the ones I’m most proud of this year. I also think it’s one of my better written.

2. Conflicts of Interest (tmr) is my lawyer au and it is so self indulgent and beloved.

3. Something Out of Nothing (coldflash) holds a place in my heart. I loved whumping Snart in that way.

4. a devil, a whiteboard, a bottle of wine (coldflash/coldwestallen depending on interp) was also such a fun fic to write because it’s probably my only fic close to crack and was just happy

5. The Last Eye to Open (bandersnatch) was fucking difficult and I’m really proud of the way that turned out.

(honorable mention). death and all its glory — I always wanted to explore the dark side to Newt being revived and living after tdc and I loved doing so in this fic.

19) what are five fic recs?

ONLY FIVE??? GOSH. one of these days I’m gonna have to do a major fic rec. for now, I’m gonna focus on authors I don’t believe I’ve recced for a long time/if ever who are amazing authors and I love their stuff.

Also most of these summaries are not the actual summaries, they’re just my paraphrasing.

Ready by comebacknow (TMR) — post-apocalyptic au, Minho prepares for what appears to be the end of the line.

A Hundred Thousand Loves (for just this one) by unbelieve (the maze runner) — Newt is an AI who has been infected with a virus, and Minho must cope with the tragic truth that they are now at the end of their time together.

Safe by SophiaCatherine (the Flash, coldwest) — Iris can’t seem to slow down, she’s about to burn out, and so she turns to Captain Cold.

let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place by Qlala (the Flash, coldflash) — Len claims not to do romance, but his actions speak louder than his grumbles.

tu me manques by giraffingallday (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) — Stefan isn’t quite so in the dark this time around, and what he feels begins to scare him.

Intro to Emotional Regulation by onemechanicalalligator (Community (TV)) — Troy leaves on the boat, and Abed’s mental health reaches an all time low.

Tagging if y’all want to answer these questions! Or whatever amounts of these questions you want (or none at all, no pressure) ❤️❤️

@onceuponabluemoon , @its-tea-time-darling , @newtedison , @un-ah , @go-catch-a-chickn

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

THE GEMS Feat. Former THUNDERMOTHER Members: Record Deal Announced; 'Like A Phoenix' Single To Arrive 'Very Soon'

THE GEMS, the new Swedish rock band featuring former THUNDERMOTHER members Guernica Mancini (vocals),Emlee Johansson (drums) and Mona Lindgren (bass),has signed a worldwide deal with Napalm Records. THE GEMS' debut single, "Like A Phoenix", will arrive "very soon," according to a press release.

THE GEMS are currently working hard on finishing their debut album, but will also make time to play their second show ever at the Downtown Riot festival in their hometown of Stockholm this Saturday, May 6.

THE GEMS commented on the signing: "We are so happy and excited to be a part of the Napalm Records family. We feel very confident that Napalm is the perfect label for us to spread our music, and that we will make a great team together and conquer the world!"

Napalm Records CEO Thomas Caser added: "With THE GEMS the name says it all! The musicians are already well-known to every rock fan and we are convinced that we have discovered a new star in the rock scene. We are already looking forward to the first anthems from the Swedes!"

THE GEMS made their live debut on March 22 at Pustervik in Gothenburg, Sweden as the support act for THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA.

THE GEMS see Lindgren returning to her original instrument, the guitar. Playing bass at the Gothenburg show was THE GEMS' friend and collaborator Johan Randén.

Regarding the "Like A Phoenix" single title and how it relates to the trio's sudden and unexpected exit from THUNDERMOTHER, Guernica recently told Germany's Metal Hammer magazine (translated from German): "We wanted a hopeful and positive first single. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. This is how we felt as we struggled through this dark period of our career."

Mancini and Lindgren also noted that THE GEMS' live performances will include material from THUNDERMOTHER's last two albums, 2020's "Heat Wave" and 2022's "Black And Gold", both of which featured songwriting contributions from Guernica and Emlee.

In February, it was announced that Mancini, Johansson and Lindgren were exiting THUNDERMOTHER and would form a new band together. At the same time, guitarist Filippa Nässil revealed that she would continue with a new THUNDERMOTHER lineup featuring singer Linnéa Vikström (THERION, AT THE MOVIES) and returning bassist Majsan Lindberg. Filippa has also since recruited Joan Massing (HONEY CREEK) as THUNDERMOTHER's new drummer.

Mancini, who joined THUNDERMOTHER in 2017, reflected on her split with the band in an interview with Canada's The Metal Voice. Asked when she first had a feeling that things were not as they should be within THUNDERMOTHER, Guernica said: "It's a tough question to answer. I would say like this, that it's never been great for me. And it's been six tough years. But regardless of that, I don't regret anything. I still had amazing experiences with the band. And I wouldn't take anything back, 'cause I've grown and I've become the singer that I am. And there are so many positives to that. So even though it has been a very bumpy ride, I still think that it's been a beautiful ride. Because it does teach you a lot about yourself, and you grow as a human."

She added: "When you go through something that's tough and hard for you, you can either choose to learn from it and try to do something positive with it. And that's kind of what I'm aiming to do for myself."

When asked by host Jimmy Kay if she is saying that she was unhappy for six years, Mancini replied: "Not a hundred percent unhappy. It's been [up and down]. Definitely I've questioned how my dream of doing music and everything that I love so much and hold so dear had to be so tough. But in my mind I've always thought that it's probably the price you pay for getting these experiences or whatever. But I think that it doesn't necessarily have to be that. But like anything in life, nothing is gonna be happy and roses all the time. You go through things. It's normal."

Guernica also addressed the fact that Emlee and Mona both voluntarily left THUNDERMOTHER, once they found out Mancini was being kicked out of the group.

"It does make me feel [good], but I also felt really guilty… I felt guilty because I knew the opportunities that they were giving up because of this, but they had their own reasons," she said. "They did this completely on their own. And the problems that we've had in the band, they're not just something that is between [Filippa] and I; it's something that's been brewing and been there always. So when this happened, they also felt that it was very disrespectful towards them, being that they believed that we were a democracy and that we had a say in these things. She more or less [told] them, 'I wanna do this, and I've already found a new singer.' And that's when Emlee just said, 'I don't wanna play with another singer. And if you're gonna go ahead and do this, I'm gonna leave the band.' And that's what she did. And Mona felt the same way."

Guernica added: "I love [Emlee and Mona], and I'm forever grateful. I wouldn't have expected anything, but I also feel like I'm so blessed. Honestly, I'm so incredibly grateful that they are my new band. And they are the two that I enjoyed working with. And I have so much fun with them. And we already had two songwriting days, and we had just so much fun. And it was drama free. It was just a dream. And it's just, like, this is what a band is supposed to be."

Mancini then clarified: "We've had our differences. If you don't fight with your family and friends, that's kind of weird in itself. And we have. But we always… we say 'sorry', and we move past it. And our relationships always grow stronger and stronger and stronger. And that's, I think, the testament of a real, solid, healthy relationship. And that's how it is with them. So I'm really grateful that we have something and we get to continue playing together."

Guernica previously discussed her departure from THUNDERMOTHER in February in an interview with the "Rock And Roll Geek Show". Regarding how she found out she was being fired from THUNDERMOTHER, Guernica said: "I was blindsided. It's almost like I'm in an episode of fucking 'Survivor'. [Laughs]

"I got an e-mail [letting me know that I was no longer in the band]. I had a feeling it was coming because the week prior, [Filippa] had taken me off all our social media accounts. And I thought we had gotten hacked. I wrote to the group; I was, like, 'Girls, I think we're getting hacked. I can't get into our e-mail or Instagram — none of the accounts.'"

Asked if Filippa had any issues with Guernica's live performance or what she was doing on stage, Mancini said: "No, that's not something that I've… no information that I've received. I think that there's nothing you can complain about my performance or my singing, 'cause I've always brought my 'A game.' And if you have problems with that, I think that's strange, considering that's something that people really enjoy and respect the band for. So I think that would be weird."

Clarifying that the reasons for the split were "a hundred percent personal", Guernica revealed that "a lot of things happened behind my back, and I was the last one to know… Like there were meetings behind my back, trying to convince my fellow bandmates that I'm an awful person, I'm all these things that I'm not."

When interviewer Michael Butler noted that all the girls in THUNDERMOTHER looked like they were getting "along really well" when they were supporting the SCORPIONS on a tour of North America last fall, Guernica said: "I deserve an Oscar nomination for my acting. [Laughs]"

According to Mancini, she is still "really close" to Emlee and Mona. "We're actually really good friends, and that's the best part of my time in THUNDERMOTHER," she said. "Me and Emlee, she's legitimately one of my best friends. And Mona has become a really good friend as well. And we have a mutual respect and similar work ethic and we want the same things. We just work together. I just feel like, if anything, it's really lovely and positive that we have each other and that we all feel the same way and we all have had the same experiences and the reasoning behind not feeling great in the band as it was."

Asked how Emlee and Mona found out Guernica was being fired from THUNDERMOTHER, Mancini said: "[Filippa] had a secret meeting behind my back. She just told the girls, 'I wanna fire Guernica, and I already have a new singer.' And the girls were, like, 'Woah. Hold up. Wait a second. We did not sign up for that. And we thought we were a democracy in this band,' because that's something that we'd been told and that's how we've done everything.' So they were shocked."

In early March, Nässil shared a six-minute video in which she addressed some of the questions surrounding the departures of Mancini, Johansson and Lindgren as well as her decision to carry on with a new lineup. She said in part: "Some stuff you read online and even now in some magazines is true and some stuff has more to it," she explained. "I mean, there's a depth to what happened and it's impossible to read in a few lines or a quote from someone. And I wanna assure you and tell you guys that I did my absolute best to work everything out between the old members. I think we should be conscious in what we're saying and trust that I have done my absolute best for peace, love and rock and roll and I did everything in my power to work it out with the previous bandmembers.

"I would never throw anybody under the bridge. I think that's another private matter. What happened has been behind the curtain, so to speak, so it's not everything that people need to know about or should know about because it's just unnecessary to throw stuff at each other, I think."

"I'm thrilled to have Majsan back, who's done hundreds of shows with me in THUNDERMOTHER. She's the THUNDERMOTHER bass player. And I'm thrilled to have Linnéa Vikström, my friend since many, many years, on vocals. And I can't wait for the future."

Nässil went on to say that all the previously announced THUNDERMOTHER concerts "will happen. Not a single canceled show. Everyone has faith in THUNDERMOTHER and so should you.

"We are super stoked to tour with the SCORPIONS in Europe again and doing our own shows," she added.

Photo credit: Mikael Hultén

#the gems #2023 news

[daisy-dooodles]

About me :D

hi, hello! to start this blog off I think it would be nice to introduce myself a little, so here go a couple of basic questions about me...

What's your name? I go by Daisy in English (cause it's way cuter and easier than my original name in Polish lol and I really like flowers). But let's say my initials are MP, that's why I sign my artwork with it :D

What are your pronouns? She/Her

How old are you? I'm 22 years old, living that early 20s crisis lol

Do you have a degree in art? Nope, I went to uni for Romance Philology, cause I really enjoy languages, literature and different cultures too. But I've always liked art too as a side project!

So why this blog? Well, I don't really know what I want to do in life, so I decided to make this to start taking it more seriously as a possible actual job or just a way of having a place less chaotic than my insta to show the art I'm proud of sort of like a portfolio (and maybe even some behind the scenes I never shared...)

And what would you like to work in? I feel like a creative space would be cool. Maybe like editorial work, maybe designing stuff for books... idk, but I like the idea of being able to work on many different things instead of doing the same for years on end...

Do you do original art or fanart? Both. I have many ideas, sometimes I get obsessed with a show or something and want to try making fanart for it, but I have many original ideas too!

Is it traditional or digital art? Well, I enjoy both immensely. Because I sort of moved to Poland from Spain I don't have many of my supplies, so I'm resorting to digital more. I use the XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 tablet to draw. The program I use is Medibang Paint (and I am thinking of buying Clip Studio in the future when I have more resources at hand, cause I heard it's really good!) Unfortunately, my laptop is not great at colours, so I really like Medibang for letting me upload to the cloud and letting me deal with the colours on my phone :D (none of this is sponsored btw, I'm just sharing my experience)

How would you describe your art style? "I'm just trying" lol. I don't have one, I just try new and different things and supplies and programs as I feel like it. Many times it depends on what feeling I want the piece to have, so that makes me try and learn new techniques and I really enjoy doing that :D

Do you do commissions? Maybe a store? No, I don't. I'm not ready for something like that yet. Maybe down the line uploading stuff to pages like redbubble could be an option, I don't know much about how any of this works, I'll be figuring it out slowly

Can I message you? Please do, for anything! You wanna be mutuals and share with me silly posts or about a fandom we share? Go ahead! Do you need advice or vent to someone? DMs are open :D

What fandoms are you in? Well, I was in Sanders Sides for a long time, but I don't really go there anymore, maybe when we get more content I might just jump back in, though I still follow Thomas and check his content when I can cause I still enjoy it! I do enjoy figure skating and follow a bit on Yuzuru Hanyu, mostly Then we have my most recent fandoms I am kinda obsessed with: MDZS and BTS. Yeah, wild stuff. Have I drawn anything about them? Not yet really, I do have one MDZS sketch I'm working on, and a couple based on BTS songs, so maybe soon I'll share those here cause I feel quite proud of them so far :D I do enjoy many other series and films, but I don't think I'd be able to just list them cause it's so random. You can always ask if you need a friend to whom you get to be weird to, no judgement, we all be like that! I ranted about BTS to my bestie who knows basically nothing about them for almost a year now and they still love me nonetheless hahahah

(...yeah, so let's leave it at that for now, will update when new things pop in my head)

see you around 💜

#artists on tumblr #daisy talks #introduction #i ramble a lot #and use many parentheses #probs won't do that here as i did on insta before #it's just tiring lol #but tags are kinda fun... #we'll see what happens...

[thespectralvision]

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (Part 1)

So after a number of discussions about where Wanda (and Vision) are likely to appear post Multiverse of Madness in the MCU, a lot of rumors and ‘leaks’ are pointing to a likely Young Avengers Children’s Crusade adaptation. I’ve not read the run in some time, and decided to refresh myself and do a breakdown of it for those not familiar with the story. I’ll be including my commentary about how I think they could adapt this for the MCU.

This series of posts WILL HAVE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS SPOILERS. If you have seen MoM or don’t mind, feel free to keep scrolling. It will also obviously have spoilers for the comic stories Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Children’s Crusade.

You can find a complete listing of my Comic Breakdown posts HERE

Background:

Ok, first off I’m going to be honest - I have not read a lot of Young Avengers stories. I like the team well enough with one exception - I hate Vision 2.0. The fact that he’s treated like normal Vision and the stuff with Cassie Lang is a big squick for me, even though I am aware he is technically a different entity than the original Vision. For those who don’t know, Vision was killed by Wanda during her breakdown in the Avengers Disassembled story arc. Vision’s operating system back ups were uploaded into Iron Lad’s (Nathanial Richards) Neurokinetic armor and became sentient. He retained memories and has a similar personality to the original Vision, but it is very clear he is NOT the same entity, as his brain patterns are based on Iron Lad’s where the original Vision’s were based on Simon William’s (Wonder Man). He’s essentially a ‘teenage’ Vision, and does not retain any feelings for The Scarlet Witch and falls in love with Cassie Lang (Stature). This story arc is not appealing to me since I love the orignal Vision so much, and as such I have not gone and read a lot of stories featuring Vision 2.0. If I get details wrong, please let me know - I try to research context if I don’t have it but there are a lot of comic books out there and sometimes things are missed.

I am familiar with Scarlet Witch stories, however. There is quite a bit of background leading to where we find Wanda, and I would like to do a breakdown of those stories eventually too, but I’ll summarize the important bits below.

Pre-Avengers Dissassembled/House of M:

Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, fell in love with and married her fellow Avenger The Vision. They decide they want to start a family, but due to Vision’s biology as a synthezoid that is not a possibility - unless you are The Scarlet Witch. In The Vision and The Scarlet Witch (1985) #3, a vision of Agatha Harkness tells Wanda to channel magical energies through herself to fight off the coven of New Salem.

It works, and Wanda uses her abilities to use this power and impregnates herself. Dr. Strange confirms this, and then 9 months later in The Vision and The Scarlet Witch (1985) #12 Thomas and William are born.

There isn’t much to say after this until the Vision Quest arc beings a few years later, in 1989. I’ve done a detailed break down on Vision Quest in my White Vision series (Links found HERE), but the important part is the reveal that William and Thomas were never real. While Wanda’s powers are great, she is not able to create life from nothing. To make the boys, she stole pieces of Mephisto’s soul. In order to defeat Mephisto, Agatha Harkness removed Wanda’s memories of the boys to break the link between her and the demon.

Avengers Dissassembled (Avengers #500-503, Avengers Finale):

About 15 years later (real-world years, it’s a little ambiguous in comic timelines), Wanda finds out about her boys and what happened to them. Until that point she had been oblivious to their existence after the spell Agatha cast, and when she learns that all of the Avengers have been hiding the fact that she was a mother from her she seeks revenge. She attacks the team in a series of seemingly unrelated events, including turning Vision into an army of Ultron-bots, leading to She-Hulk rampaging and tearing Vision in half (hence his death and the eventual creation of Vision 2.0). 

Spectral’s Commentary: Wandaattacking the Illuminati in Multiverse of Madness feels like the MCU take on this particular storyline, with Wanda attacking the ‘heroes’ because she wants her children back. Not an exact adaptation obviously, but I enjoyed the nods to the comics.

Doctor Strange confirms the attacks all have a magical origin and asks about Wanda and her children, suspecting she or one of them may be the one behind the attacks.

Spectral’s Commentary: So not going to lie, the fact that Doctor Strange somehow missed the memo regarding everything that happened with Vision Quest is hilarious to me. Isn’t keeping track of witch-android babies created with magic and monitoring hell dimensions his job as Sorcerer Supreme?

Steve Rogers even tries to speak with Wanda, finding her creating illusions of her happy family and attempting to convince her it isn’t real. It doesn’t end well for him.

After this, Wanda joins the fight and attacks the gathered heroes. Strange manages to defeat her using the Eye of Agamotto to show her the truth, which ‘snaps’ Wanda’s ‘fragile mind’ (I never said this was good writing for our beloved Scarlet Witch). Meanwhile another team who went to find Agatha for help find the witch dead, murdered by Wanda. The story ends with Magneto arriving and asking that Wanda be put in his care. The list of casualties from this run is Vision, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man, which will come into play in the Young Avengers.

House of M (House of M #1-8):

Avengers Disassembled is followed up with the often discussed House of M arc. Now, I’m going to be honest - I don’t love House of M either (I liked how the MCU handled the concept more, where she created the reality to get Vision AND her kids, but I’m also biased because Vision is my favorite character. That said, I understand that in context it had been a long time since Wanda and Vision were together in the comics which is likely why he was not involved in her false-world.)

House of M is an 8 issue series, and I’m going to skip over the non-Wanda relevant parts. I recommend reading it just because it is one of those Marvel stories anyone wanting to get familiar with the comic-verse should be aware of.

The run starts with a recap of Wanda giving birth to the twins, but Charles Xavier shows up and tells her they aren’t real.

It works to pull Wanda back into reality for a moment, and she realizes what she’s done and is distraught.

Spectral’s Commentary: I find it interesting that she says she killed her “husband” here, since she and Vision have not been together since Vision Quest. There were pushes that they may get back together in the 1998 Avengers run, but Avengers Dissassembled happened before it ever actually happened.

We then move to Charles and Erik (Magneto) discussing the conversation with Wanda. They are keeping her sedated as her mental state continues to fracture. We also get a nice little monologue from Magneto, talking about how he regrets what he did to his children (this is before retcons that Wanda and Pietro are not his) and how he’s lost both his fight against the humans and his family.

The Avengers have a fancy new tower since the Mansion blew up a few months ago, and they call in the X-Men. Turns out everyone is going to decide what Wanda’s fate will be. The scene changes to Quicksilver watching Wanda sleep, and Magneto asks him what is wrong. He tells his ‘father’ that the X-Men and Avengers are discussing what they are going to do, and that he believes they plan to kill Wanda. Magneto tells him that may be the right thing to do.

Sure enough that’s the main plan. Some want to save Wanda, namely Wonder Man and Captain America, and the others want to put her down. Both sides have good reasons for their feelings. Xavier and Dr. Strange say they have done everything they can for now, and Strange is looking into further ways to help her but needs more time. A group of them decide they want to speak with Wanda for themselves before making a decision, and a Quinjet heads to Genosha. Only when they arrive, Wanda and Magneto are gone. They go looking, and we follow Spider Man as he encounters a glowing white light - then wakes up back at home.

The next several issues I won’t get into too much detail because they don’t directly involve Wanda, and instead focus on the characters who start to realize something is wrong. Peter Parker is married to Gwen Stacy, Steve Rogers is an old man who never became Captain America, Wolverine is part of SHIELD’s special Red Guard team, etc. They have weird partial memories of their former lives however, which leads Wolverine to remember Genosha. He starts piecing things together, finding out that in this reality Mutants run all existing countries, and the world has been united under the House of M, by Magneto.

Wolverine ends up with a group of enhanced humans running an underground resistance movement including Hawkeye (no longer dead), Luke Cage, Cloak, and a few other familiar faces. Wolverine starts explaining he remembers a world where Magneto and his children were a problem, specifically Wanda - and the others tell him she’s “the human one.” 

Logan fills them in on what Wanda in his world was like, and a rundown of the events in Avengers Disassembled. The resistance movement are skeptacle at first, but Luke Cage believes Logan, because a little girl (Layla) showed up the day before and told him the same thing, which triggered his memories from before too. After talking with her, everyone realizes they have gotten everything they ever wanted. They realize Magneto in the original reality had Wanda give everyone what they always wanted, so he could get what he always wanted.

They all go to find Emma Frost, and Layla uses her power to unlock memories on her. She remembers Genosha, and decides they are going to go back and kill Magneto for what he has done. Logan agrees, but reminds Emma they need more people to pull this off.

They put together a team, using Layla’s powers to unlock memories of heroes to help them including Scott Summers (Cyclops), Peter Parker (Spider Man), Kitty Pryde, Dr. Strange, Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), Tony Stark, Matt Murdock (Daredevil), and Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk). While they are deciding what to do, the team is attacked by SHIELD’s Red Guard team, but Layla’s powers remind them who they were in the real world too. They decide they all need to go to Genosha, to try and find Charles Xavier. Only...the final panels of Issue #5 reveal he sacrificed himself so Genosha could survive.

We move to Genosha, and the House of M Gala. The X-Men and Avengers who have had their memories restored attack, creativing a diversion so Emma Frost and Layla can find Xavier. They find his memorial and nearly give up - but Cloak arrives and tells them there is no coffin.

Doctor Strange finds Wanda by Astral Projecting, playing with her children. He tells her he knows she created Layla to help them come here and stop Magneto. Wanda denies this, saying she doesn’t know who Layla is. Strange pushes her and Wanda continues to deny knowing what is happening. Strange manages to get her to explain what happened, leading to the creation of this reality.

The story returns to where it begins, with Pietro comforting Wanda as she tells him she won’t fight the Avengers and X-Men coming to kill her, before she created this world. She and Pietro discuss her being too cowardly to end things herself, and how they both liked being Avengers. 

Spectral’s Commentary: You know, rereading this run to write this post, I can’t help but wonder if Vision isn’t included - because Wanda thought he would be happier without her. Ouch...something I’ll have to think about. I just always find it strange that she creates this perfect world where everyone is happy, and she has her boys, but NO ONE mentions Vision at all. Yes in the real world he was killed in the previous Avengers Disassembled arc, but when Wanda created this reality surely she would have brought him back in some way? She brought back Hawkeye after all - as we see in the next few pages.

Strange realizes Magneto did not cause this, it was Quicksilver, and Emma asks him to find out where Xavier is. Before Strange can ask Wanda however, she falls over, shot by Hawkeye. This upsets one of the boys, and Clint is taken apart again - by the child. Wanda realizese how far things have gone out of control.

Magneto finds out Pietro is behind all of this, and confronts his ‘son.’ Wanda senses the attack on her twin, and leaves her room at last to find him. 

She brings Pietro back with her powers, and lashes out at Magneto for what he’s done to her and her twin. The others are still unsure what to do about Wanda, and by the time they realize what she’s about to do - she says the now infamous words “No more mutants.”

There is another white explosion and Wanda once again rewrites reality.

The final issue (#8) shows our heros back in their old lives. Layla is a girl going to school, Peter Parker wakes up with MJ. The Avengers discuss how things are back to normal - but then we cut to Xavier’s school to find out the mutant students seem to have lost their powers. Emma Frost rushes to use Cerebro, and confirms the worst - that nearly all of the mutant population is simply gone.

The only people who know what happened are those who’s memories were unlocked in the other reality. The arc ends with the remaining X-Men locating Magneto in the ruins of Genosha, asking him where Wanda is. Magneto tells them he doesn’t know.We then see Wanda in what appears to be a small market town, going about her day.

Spectral’s Commentary: Alright, so if you’ve read up to this point, thank you! While this isn’t everything the MCU has thrown at Wanda, it’s pretty clear that WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness have handled the primary plot points of these two big Scarlet Witch stories. They sort of reversed them - WandaVision has more in line with House of M, and MoM has more in common with Avengers Disassembled, but right now our MCU Wanda has done some big, bad stuff. MoM also pulls in a number of the C’Thon stories as well, which I want to explore in a different series. The important thing here is - Where will Wanda go next? I’m going to go into the issues following House of M and into the Children’s Crusade, which was the next big arc featuring Wanda in the 616 Comics in the next post.

#marvel #MCU #multiverse of madness #wandavision #the scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #marvel comics #marvel 616 #house of m #avengers disassembled #The Vision #children's crusade #Spectral's Comic Breakdowns

[dayseternal-blog]

saw that you saw Hamilton for the first time and couldn't help but wonder what your favorite song/s were? or maybe some songs that you would like to learn all the lyrics to?

:DDDD They toured here, and I got to see them live last, last Friday!! It was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course all the songs are great. Right now (subject to daily changes), my faves in order, and I'll link to yt in case you want to listen, too, right now haha:

"Dear Theodosia" - The way they are singing to their babies!!! AHHHHHHHHH. I could die. It's SO soft. and SO heartwarming. omg. I just. love love love this. the line: "You will come of age with our young nation." and "If we lay a strong enough foundation, we'll pass it on to you. We'll give the world to you, and you'll blow us all away." Seriously, is there anything more important than this 😭😭 And finding out that the original actor for Aaron Burr was praying for his yet unborn daughter when it wasn't his part to sing, and that by the end of the run, he had prayed around 500 times for her ugh 💓

"The Story of Tonight (Reprise)" - idk, no real explanation, it's just a funny, touching song. The line: "Raise a glass to freedom, something you will never see again." and John Lauren's "What are you trying to hide, Burr?" is so funny. Also, Alexander Hamilton's "Oh, shit" when he finds out that Aaron Burr is having an affair with a married woman. Just a feel-good song. Out of context, I now see that those lines don't sound funny or feel good.

"Guns and Ships" - My favorite character is the Marquis de Lafayette. I was so enthralled by the actor's charisma, I read the entire Wikipedia article on Lafayette and have been info-dumping this guy's whole life story on anyone who is a captive audience for me. Which has happened 4 times already. Did you know he was only 18-19 years old when he snuck away to America against King Louis XVI's orders because he was so sympathetic to the American cause and hungry for war glory? Did you know he was a war hero by the time he was 24? Did you know this? And Hamilton was like about the same age as him. Also did you know Lafayette picked up English fluently within a year of his travel to America? Shall I keep going? I can tell you more!

"It's Quiet Uptown" - This song gives me really emotions, I cry.

"Satisfied" - "From your sister who's always by your side." Anyone else has a loving eldest sister who's the wittiest, funniest, smartest, most charismatic in the family? 🙋🏻‍♀️ Honestly, Angelica Schuyler does NO wrong, and I am convinced based on the info in this musical that she did nothing wrong her entire life haha. Facts. Did you know she and her husband organized to help Lafayette escape from Austrian prison? (Which succeeded, except Lafayette got lost and recaptured).

"Helpless" - This song was my top fave after watching the musical. The actress sings so well. I love how absolutely gone she is in love with him, and that's basically how I aspire to write my NaruHina fics haha. This line: "I'm trying not to cry cuz there's nothing that your mind can't do." Just, the absolute faith she has in him!!! The admiration she has for his intelligence and the belief she has in his worth and capability!!! I love it.

"A Winter's Ball" - This song is very short. It also does the best job at showing that these guys were like. 19-20 years old. College age bros forreal.

"What'd I Miss" - Undeniably Thomas Jefferson has the most charisma of any character in the musical. I love the jazziness of this song, too.

"Non-Stop" - whoever said that this song is the entire musical crammed in 6 minutes is so right.

"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" - Since this idea is basically the theme/lesson of the musical, it left an impact on me at the live show. Also, yeah, I'm a sucker for recording generational history and making sure that the sacrifices of the past aren't forgotten.

"Cabinet Battle #1" - This rap song convinces me I would've learned better in AP Gov if this musical had been around 13 years ago.

"The Election of 1800" - Hamilton's drag of Aaron Burr is such a burn. Ouch.

"Cabinet Battle #2" - These lines: "We signed a treaty with a king whose head is now in a basket. Would you like to take it out and ask it? 'Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’ head?' 'Uh… do whatever you want, I’m super dead.'" lol, point made.

Oops, I spent like over an hour writing this post and listening to the songs. Please anon, come back and tell me your favorite songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#anon #nice anon #nice ask #who's letting me get back on my soapbox for things that no one else cares about???!!!!!! #musicals my beloved #fun ask

[aniketsanimationblog]

This Global Animation Industry will never learn from their Mistakes!!

According to Redshirts Always Die, Star Trek: Prodigy was mainly "Initially Cancelled" and Removed from Paramount+ and Nickelodeon by the same cause, Nick Jr.'s "Peter Rabbit (2012)" and "Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures" were cancelled and never returned for another season to finish the actual story, Lack of Merch and Toy Sales!!

Despite Good Marketing and Advertising and great numbers at the viewership, Star Trek: Prodigy was cancelled by Lack of Toy Sales?? Excuse me?? Since when, Animation Industry, this very same global Animation Industry changed their policies to center around Toy Selling!! Absolute BS!!

I am really done with this Animation Industry!! And People are telling me, I'm delusional over everything!! For What??

Now you get the Idea of why Miraculous Ladybug and PAW Patrol Duopoly happened in the Animation Industry?? Because, they are Toys Selling Shows!! No longer an Animated Series for Kids!! Toys Selling Shows!! Animation was never about Toys Sales!! It was about Artistic Storytelling things!!

If I was a kid, if I want to watch a Show, I do NOT need any Toys related to that particular Show to show my Affection to that series!! I would be an Avid fan by heart!! I know, Kids love Toys and Stuff!! But also, I don't need Toys and Merch regarding to Shows!! If I want to buy toys, then I would buy Barbie/Hotwheels/Uno Cards or anything at the Supermarket!!

I don't know what the world is coming to. Bluey has Toys, but Bluey doesn't need any merch to show the best art in Animation or Original Ben 10 Saga, to be honest with you!!

This Global Animation Industry should know, that MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING!! You cannot have Toys Sales/Money as an Excuse for your longevity of a Series all the time!!

Suppose, if Avatar The Last Airbender did the same Toys Sales thing, do you think that would be Great?? No, absolutely not!!

It is clear, that this Global Animation Industry is ruined by Toys Sales and Cash-grabbing Shows!!

STOP THIS INJUSTICE AND ACT NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!

If Netflix was not there, then Star Trek Prodigy would've gone forever!!

This is not what The Great Walt Disney dreamed of!!

P.S. And, just Get Lost, Thomas Astruc, from this Animation Industry before Your Egoisticness kill the Animation Industry for nothing!! Simply Get Lost!!

#animation #animation fans #animation fandom #animated kids show #television #star trek prodigy #animation industry rant #animation industry is in ruins #animation industry #nickelodeon #animation is about art #animation was never about money

[mrcowboysmovieroom]

Vampires (1988)

Directed by: John Carpenter Genre: Horror, action

CW: Gore, but not any that I find too hard to stomach. It's like 80s blood splatter, heads get cut off type deal. Originally written 07/02/2023

Vampires from 1988, is a movie. It's the most movie actually. It's soooo movie core. I'm being a little mean when I say that, but it's absolutely true. This movie is very 80s and very vampire.

It commits so strongly to the image- its over the top sense of angst and melodrama are really its selling points. It's got that classic angry lead who's got a heart of gold, but a bad attitude and a dark past. It's got sweat and grime and quick quips. It's quintessential in every way. I don't think it does anything unique, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the movies I adore are very much exactly what they seem to be and nothing more. There is an appeal for me in its lack of remark, though also a permeating sense that it's lacking something. You'll notice I said I have adored movies that are similarly in genre, but this isn't one of them. I don't hate it mind you, but nor do I feel a keen affection. In being exceptionally unexceptional, you are often just that. Just unexceptional and this movie borders on being that.

I've seen this movie a handful of times now and that means I am at least compelled enough to want to revisit it, but every time I do i am reminded of more so what it could of been than what it is and that's not really how you should feel after seeing a movie.

The issue is this movie is not as much fun as I would hope. It's campy and over the top but it could have amped up the intensity more than it does.

The performances themselves are very- ummm what's the word? Fitting? Sometimes its bad. Like when Baldwin yells while burning himself.. that sound lives in my brain rent free only because it sounds so strangely unreal that it reminds me I'm watching actors. It CRACKS me up. Valek (Thomas Ian Griffith) our vampire and Jack Crow (James Woods) give the best performances as just delightfully over the top and living the roles completely. Woods did a lot of roles like this- assholes who somehow endear themselves to you (though Jack Crow is not the best of this type). Griffith, whom to my knowledge I've only seen in this, is just really playing it up. He sneers, growls, crawls, and purrs and if he did any less than that he'd be a very underwhelming vampire. It's his look too- the all black fit and long black hair, claws always out. You need to have at least all that.

In the beginning of the movie Jack and his team successfully empty out a vampire nest in New Mexico. They expect to find a master vampire there (the one who turned all the vampires within), but they don't. This is noted as bizarre and as an audience we know that this means the master will be coming around in no time at all. Still though, the hunt is considered a success and the team decide to celebrate at a local motel. Jack is basically the only one who continues to be made uncomfortable by the lack of the master vampire being present though. It's this gut feeling which keeps him away from the main party for a bit.

Of course, while his back is turned an extra guest arrives.. Wouldn't you know it's that master vampire! It's Valek, though for right now his name goes unknown. We will eventually come to learn that he is the very first vampire. He slaughters the entire team with the exception of Montoya (Daniel Baldwin). Valek basically lets them get away (for attention of course) and greets Jack by his full name (important). The only other survivor is a prostitute hired for the party called Katrina (Sheryl Lee). She's been bitten by Valek though and will turn in a matter of days. As an aside I really like Katrina. She might be my favorite character even though she doesn’t do a lot. I find her to be more grounded, and additionally very sympathetic. She and Montoya have a romance arc of sorts. Which is to say, the movie says they are in love but I don’t really see any chemistry there and I don’t care about their relationship. Katrina is unfortunately a punching bag in this movie.

Jack and Montoya spend a good chunk of the movie pushing, hitting, and yelling at her. There are intense stakes (aha…) at hand, but she’s a victim in this, and that is never appreciated by anyone else in the movie. To them, the fact that she's bitten makes her immediately expendable, especially to Jack. She may as well be just an object. And no one learns from this lesson either. Montoya has a crush on her but that shouldn’t be his motivation for wanting to treat her well. He should just not be an asshole. Somewhere in this it feels like there ought to of been some self aware commentary. It's not like women in real life need to be bitten by a vampire to be treated as objects. The fact that this movie never does anything with this possible critique is something that really disappoints me and serves to push this film toward a lower rating for me. Anyway, back to business.

Jack sends Montoya and Katrina to a hotel while he buries their team and goes to meet up with some of their church contacts. They are employed by the Catholic church and Jack meets up with Cardinal Alba (Maximilian Schell), who has a wicked pair of eyes I must say, and Father Adam (Tim Guinee). There, Jack updates them on the situation and informs them that he is very certain that they have been betrayed and that someone from among the slayer's or church's contacts is somehow involved in the massacre of Jack's team. Adam is assigned to work with Jack to replace the previous priest who was on the team.

Adam is like a big fan of Jack for some reason and gives us a cute little car ride exposition dump on Jack's tragic past… His parents were bitten by vampires and he was raised by the church to be their ultimate hunter. Jack, in one of his perpetually bad moods, stops the car and assaults Adam, basically in an attempt to scare him into admitting he's the traitor if he is. Adam admits to no such thing because he's not, and for now Jack seems to soften to him a bit.

Obviously, Jack is a little upset that his entire team has been killed. As an audience, I don't really care. The team were just props and outside of Montoya we don't really see any interpersonal interactions between any of its members and Jack. Them dying is expected and not sad in the slightest. Jack is clearly motivated by getting revenge for this and uncovering the Judas Iscariot. Still, I don't really know if I can say Jack struggles with their deaths. I suppose that's cause this is the life he lives, but in talking to the Cardinal, Jack expresses how unusual this particular master vampire was. So, it can't be common for so many slayers to be killed like this, and ordinarily they probably have one another to lean on in the face of loss. I think I'm thinking too much about this subpar movie, but I feel like the movie should have thought about these things. Like if more attention was given into the emotional components here, I might have liked this movie more overall. That aside, the movie eventually leads into the third act in which everything is finally revealed! Yes, Jack was set up! And by who you wonder? Well spoiler alert, it was the Cardinal. Usually I'd give more of a warning but there is literally only one person who could be responsible. He's the only person of moderate significance to everyone else but whom the audience could care less about the motivations of. And on to that then. What are the motivations behind his betrayal? He state's it actually very perfectly. "I'm sorry to disillusion you, jack. as one grows old.. as death approaches, we begin to question our faith. And I have found mine lacking. Is there a god? is there heaven? I can no longer answer this for certain. I have witnessed no miracles, had no visions, and the prospect of death terrifies me! I realized I have only one alternative." Sort of on the nose I think. See Valek is trying to make it possible for vampires to walk among the daytime and doing so will make them more competitive with and deadly to humans. Jack is needed in this because for Valek to make this happen, he must presume a ritual akin to his own death where they sacrifice Jack on a burning cross.

Jack dying for our sins... In the meantime, Katrina takes a huge chunk out of Montoya's neck and leaves him for dead having basically all but fully succumb to the bite she received before. Montoya was bit by Katrina earlier in the movie as well but he keeps it hidden from everyone till the very end because, well, now that he's got a huge hole in his neck, ya can't really keep something like that secret. Adam is hiding in a nearby shop but overhearing the whole exchange outside. He and Montoya simultaneously manage to intervene in time to save Jack and get away. Since the ritual needed to take place as dawn rose, now all the vampires are vulnerable and have to retreat into the shelter of the buildings, including Valek. Jack follows him and they have a final confrontation in which Jack finally overpowers Valek. When everyone regroups Montoya announces he's leaving with Katrina because #love or something, and also they're both bitten and basically fucked. Jack allows him a two day head start but promises to hunt him down and kill him. Pretty bad as breakups go I must say... And then the movie ends with Father Adam and Jack talking about Adam having a hard on. This is the second time this happens in the movie. I didn't really know how to talk about it earlier but it happens right after the car scene with Adam. Jack asks if him beating up on him gave him a woody, and at the end of the movie Jack asks Adam if killing vampires gave him one, to which Adam says OH HELL YEAH BROTHER. So, development I suppose.

Overall the movie is worth watching if you like this style of film. I mean clearly I’ve gotten some pleasure out of seeing it, even though I do have my complaints about some occasionally weak performances and some missed opportunities.

Another thing of note is the music which I did enjoy and took notice of on several occasions because I enjoyed it. This is a John Carpenter flick, and in similar practice he has composed the music for it. I really love his scores and this movie is no exception even if it’s not my all time favorite. Still, quite enjoyable and very good for the movie’s tone.

So, not bad but not great either. Certainly a moderate amount of fun to be had.

#vampires #80s #80s movie #horror #john carpenter #james woods #Daniel Baldwin #Thomas Ian Griffith #Vampires 1988 #John Carpenter Vampires #Sheryl Lee #movie #vampire movie