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toxicsquad · 4 years

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There is no better way to get to know someone than through a good question tag. In this case we have decided to make an Indie game dev question tag with the responses of our four developers. We hope that it will reveal many unknowns, but if you are left with any questions, do not hesitate to use our ask.

What part of game development are you responsible for?

Athe: I write and write, I melt in my seat, I correct, I cry and then I program. It’s an endless cycle. Occasionally I laugh like crazy while I eat Pringles.

Sam: I draw and color without leaving the lines (almost always) the sprites, the illustrations and the ravings that usually occur to us past 3 in the morning.

Illy: English translations.

Sher: I draw BGs

What tools do you use (hardware / software)?

Athe: Recently my desktop PC has passed away, so I’ve had to rescue my old PC from the garage. I also have a laptop that saves my life more times than I would like to admit. As for the software, I need, above all, drive documents, video editing programs, image etc (I have an Adobe package) and of course Renpy and Atom.

Sam: My main friend and companion is my tablet, a wacom intuos S (pistachio color, so cute). As programs I mainly use the Paint Tool Sai, because there is nothing in this life like its stabilizer. And less frequently than I would like (for details, texture brushes, effects ...) I also use Clip Studio Paint, which I only know how to use at about 2% of its capacity ... If someday I have time I would love to stop and learn seriously what can be done with it.

Illy: During the school year I live in a residence, so I use an old laptop, and when I return home I use a desktop computer that never has memory space. I translate the chapters in the same Atom where the complete script is and I keep them in google drive files where I share them with our beta reader. I also use editing programs like photoshop when I have to translate comics or procreate for when my artistic skills are required.

Sher: ipad+procreate+some final tweak in photoshop, I don't need much more

What is your favorite part of the job?

Athe: Would it be wrong if I say that is when we released the episode? During the whole production time everything is very stressful, there are times when it’s really uphill, but when we release a new chapter it feels soooo good. It's like saying to yourself, yeah, dammit, I can do it. Look at everything you've climbed by yourself. You're doing it right.

Sam: In general, my favorite parts are when the first scenes start to be programmed, and I can see the sprites with the backgrounds, the texts, and how the illustrations look. Everything always looks so much better when viewed in-game… I also really like being able to check out the script as it is written. And from the artistic part that concerns me, when I see that my hands capture the idea that I had in my head ... Especially in character designs.

Illy: Having to find a way to translate very spanish expressions into English, research vocabulary that I have never had to use and commenting on some translations with our beta reader (which we adore) to make it understandable without losing the original meaning.

Sher: I like to do the lineart when the sketch is complete, if I no longer have to think about anything else and it's just going through it, I find it very fun and relaxing

What is the most difficult part for you?

Athe: Offf, yes, I admit it, sometimes writing is the WORST. Other times I love it, especially when I can expand on the descriptions or stop at a part that is intimate or that I find interesting (for example, Hasiel's conversation from 6.3, small spoiler: P). But, I HATE having to paste scenes, often the protagonist moves between scenes and you always have to add lines to those transitions that really do not interest anyone, but that otherwise the text would be confusing. Anyway... It is a very wide world, with a lot of history, I have to deal with what I need readers to know to understand the facts, although sometimes it gets a bit boring.

Sam: What part does not... Rather who e.e Zihel and Ariel are a thorn in my side. Especially Zihel. I know it has to do with the fact that it has never been my strength to draw boys, and much less if they are more masculine in appearance... That's why I also suffer a lot from drawing muscles. Another thing that brings me a headache is the perspective of the illustrations. Every time I try to get out of the typical shot or poses a little... It doesn't work out.

Illy: Doughy’s stuttering ¬.¬

Sher: chairs, sofas, tables... anything with four legs is my enemy

Anything to help or encourage you while you are working?

Athe: I need music, no, seriously, I NEED IT. I’m unable to focus without it. If, on top of that, I can get what I hear to act as a sounding board for what I write, the text is a thousand times better... But the muse is a pretty bad person.

Sam: Having a show/movie in the background that entertains me. The longer the better, so I don't have to stop to think what I want to put on next.

Illy: Eating sunflower seeds to trick my brain and not be tempted to do something else that distracts me.

Sher: I try to see other artists to motivate and inspire me before I start drawing, what I find most difficult is that initial push and that is where I need the motivation, then I usually have something in the background but it is not necessary

Something that’s a pet peeve or discouraging?

Athe: Some narrative climax moments. Generally, they are not important plot moments (that is almost entirely decided), they are often small decisions to go from scene A to scene B, but I can spend a LOT of time deciding which is the fastest and best way to tie those two ends. I'm the worst.

Sam: Many times when starting, I can't get the poses to fit the way I want, for example.

Illy: Finding many parts in a row that I find especially difficult to solve and that make me believe that I have forgotten how to English properly. And looking at how many lines I still have left.

Sher: When I don't know how to fill in some area, if I see something very empty but I don't know how to solve it, I can spend days looking at the screen without being able to advance, even if I have other areas that I could do in the meantime

What is required on your table or work surface?

Athe: Notebooks, sticky notes, pens… I’m a person who writes everything down, especially the tasks, but I also order the story by color schemes. The stack of sticky notes have 9 different colors, each one represents a character and I play a lot with them for a lot of nonsense. Besides, even though I have been writing on the computer for many more years than I wrote by hand, I still have a preference for the analogical.

Sam: Coffee, sweets, chocolate, cereals... And cats.

Illy: My phone, the sunflower seeds, a Capital America: Civil War 1L water cup, sticky notes that remind me of tasks.

Sher: I have nothing really lol all my things are for decoration

Your most productive hours?

Athe: Owl. Totally nocturnal. Although I have several crises a month to force myself to work at other times that always end... Wrong.

Sam: Also at night for the most part, although I can no longer stay awake as long as I endured before having a job (the good old days...) However, in the middle of the afternoon, when the zoo that I have at home is still taking a nap, I also manage to go a long way.

Illy: From when I finish eating until 7 or 8 in the afternoon, when I don't have to cook, clean, run errands...

Sher: I take over for Illy apparently, from 7 or 8 is when I start to get into the mood until bedtime

Do working hours make you forget to eat or make you eat twice as much?

Athe: It depends, in the past I ate a lot, now if I have stress I don't eat anything. If I'm in a normal productive phase and I'm not on my nerves, I'm probably eating by inertia.

Sam: They make me eat more, but especially junk food e.e And they make me forget healthy meals, especially dinner at night.

Illy: It depends on my mood, but I usually eat twice as much.

Sher: I'm generally a VERY distracted person so I don't usually get to focus on a task to get to either of those two modes but I guess when I am sooooooo much on the task, I forget. But that happens like a couple of times a year and "forgetting" is "I delay an hour."

What part of your set up would you improve / change (in aesthetics or functionality) if you had no money limit?

Athe: I'm trying to match some of my peripherals with the rest. They are all a damn different color, apparently I'm cursed... Now seriously, I wish I had a better graphic card that would allow me to make video captures, some speakers and a quality printer.

Sam: Actually, I don't think I need anything more complex than what I already have… But if I had to improve something, I'm curious about the most professional tablets, the big ones with the included screen and all that stuff.

Illy: A new laptop that lets me open 4 chrome tabs, Atom and photoshop at the same time without dying.

Sher: A pc screen that will not change the colors I use on the iPad would be nice, really

Which character are you most like? And why?

Athe: Phew I think the easy answer would be to say Akane ... But, Akane is a better person. : P

Sam: This is very difficult... They are all very different, but still I do not think I look much like any of them. If I have to say something, I could identify with Maske's tendency to avoid problems, and his more homey and calm side. And well… Since Akane has been an OC of mine for many years, surely I have something of her too.

Illy: I think I partly have Maske's instinct to stay out of trouble, and on the other hand Joe's shallowness, although tbh I wish I really did look like any of our awesome babies.

Sher: surprised because (unpopular opinion around here) is one of those who I "least care" about really but I would say that Pin because he is a little dumb, happy and probably has a Satanic room and proud of it

Favorite CG/art.

Athe: AT THE MOMENT. Maske chapter 1. It couldn't be more predictable. I know.

Sam: I quite agree with Maske in chapter 1. But I would also put Pin in chapter 5 and Akane in chapter 6.2 on the top.

Illy: Kyeran in Coco's tank ?? Is he even real? Being basic is my brand.

Sher: surprised again and disappointed but I would say that of angel Hasiel because I like pretty dresses, pretty hairs and pretty wings

Favorite BG/scene.

Athe: The Red Light District amazes me. I already liked the life of that place, its history, but the way of expressing it... Uggg Sher took it to another level. The dirt on the street, the night, the constricted buildings...

Sam: I think I’ll say Raziel’s square, I like it a lot from the first day.

Illy: I don't know if I can choose just one T__T but I would say that the Red Light District and Valefar's pub are at the top.

Sher: for not repeating the red light district that I also like very much, I really like the areas of Coco's laboratory, including the “main” area although the perspective is horrible and makes the characters look tiny, but I like how it looks :(

Your favorite chapter to date?

Athe: Ufff... The first and second one I assure you no, hahaha. I will say that the third one, but also for things that are not necessarily from the chapter, but of the production. It was a good moment. I felt that everything was flowing with ease. We all assumed a clear role, they were times that made us feel comfortable and capable of assuming what came next, I think it was a qualitative leap also, both in texts and in art.

Sam: Oh. Well let's see... Chapter 5 is amazing for me, for everything that happens but also because there are many personalized interactions and choices. I can't say I have a definitive favorite, but it could come close… Also from the last ones I really like the 6.2.

Illy: Chapter 5 has so many details, so many things happen, it's hard not to be my favorite. But the last ones with the specific routes are so great that if I stay with the 5 it’s with the pain of my heart to have to choose one.

Sher: I would say 5 also because in the end when a lot of things happen is when you remember the most

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No hay mejor forma de conocer a alguien que a través de un buen tag de preguntas. En este caso hemos decidido hacer un Indie game dev question tag con las respuestas de las cuatro desarrolladoras. Esperamos que os aclare muchas incógnitas, pero si os quedáis con alguna no dudéis en usar nuestro ask.

¿Qué parte del desarrollo del juego llevas a cabo?

Athe: Escribo, escribo, me derrito sobre mi asiento, corrijo, lloro y después programo. Es un ciclo sin fin. Ocasionalmente me río como una demente mientras como Pringles.

Sam: Dibujo y coloreo sin salirme de las líneas (casi siempre) los sprites, las ilustraciones y los desvaríos que suelen surgir a partir de las 3 de la mañana.

Illy: Las traducciones a inglés.

Sher: Hago fonditos

¿Qué herramientas utilizas (hardware/software)?

Athe: Recientemente mi PC de sobremesa ha fallecido, así que he tenido que rescatar mi viejo PC del trastero, también tengo un portatil que me salva la vida más veces de las que me gustaría admitir. En cuanto al software, necesito, sobre todo, documentos de drive, programas de edición de video, imagen etc (tengo un paquete de Adobe) y por supuesto Renpy y Atom.

Sam: Mi principal amiga y compañera es mi tableta, una wacom intuos S (color pistacho, muy cuqui.) Como programas uso sobretodo el Paint Tool Sai, porque no hay nada en esta vida como su estabilizador. Y con menos frecuencia de lo que querría (para detalles, pinceles de texturas, efectos…) también utilizo el Clip Studio Paint, el cual sólo se usar como a un 2% de su capacidad… Si algún día tengo tiempo me encantaría pararme a aprender seriamente todo lo que se puede hacer con él.

Illy: Durante el curso vivo en una residencia, así que uso un portatil del año que reinó carolo, y cuando vuelvo a mi casa un ordenador de sobremesa que nunca tiene espacio en la memoria. Los capítulos los traduzco en el mismo Atom en el que está el guión completo y los guardo en drive donde los comparto con nuestra beta reader. También uso programas de edición como photoshop cuando tengo que traducir viñetas o procreate para cuando mis habilidades artísticas son requeridas.

Sher: ipad+procreate+algún retoquito final en photoshop no necesito mucho más

¿Cuál es tu parte de favorita del trabajo?

Athe: ¿Estaría mal si digo que es cuando sacamos el episodio? Durante toda la producción todo es muy estresante, hay veces, que se hace realmente cuesta arriba, pero cuando liberamos un nuevo capítulo sienta taaaan bien. Es como decirte a ti misma, sí, joder, puedo hacerlo. Mira todo lo que has escalado tú solita. Lo estás haciendo bien.

Sam: En general, mis partes favoritas son cuando se empiezan a programar las primeras escenas, y puedo ver los sprites con los fondos, los textos, y cómo se ven las ilustraciones. Todo queda siempre mucho mejor cuando se ve dentro del juego… También me gusta mucho poder cotillear el guión conforme se va escribiendo. Y de la parte artística que me toca, cuando veo que mis manos plasman la idea que tenía en mi cabeza… Sobretodo en diseños de personajes.

Illy: Tener que buscar la forma de traducir a inglés expresiones muy nuestras, investigar vocabulario que no he tenido que usar jamás y comentar algunas traducciones con nuestra beta reader (a la que adoramos) para conseguir que se entienda sin perder el significado original.

Sher: me gusta hacer el lineart cuando el sketch está completo, si ya no tengo que pensar nada más y es solo ir repasando me parece muy divertido y relajante

¿Cuál es la parte que más te cuesta?

Athe: Ufff, sí, lo admito, escribir a veces es lo PEOR. Otras me encanta, sobre todo, cuando puedo explayarme con las descripciones o detenerme en una parte íntima o que a mí me parece interesante (por ejemplo, la conversación de Hasiel del 6.3, pequeño spoiler :P). Pero, ODIO tener que empastar escenas, a menudo el protagonista se mueve de escenarios y hay que agregar siempre líneas a esas transiciones que realmente no interesan a nadie, pero que de lo contrario el texto quedaría mal montado. En fin… Es un mundo muy amplio, con mucha historia, tengo que lidiar con lo que necesito que los lectores sepan para entender los hechos, aunque a veces se haga un pelín peñazo.

Sam: Qué parte no… Quiénes, más bien e.e Zihel y Ariel son mi espinita. Especialmente Zihel. Sé que tiene que ver con el hecho de que nunca ha sido mi punto fuerte dibujar chicos, y menos si son de aspecto más masculino… Por eso también sufro mucho dibujando músculos. Otra cosa que me trae de cabeza es la perspectiva de las ilustraciones. Cada vez que intento salirme un poco del típico plano o poses… No sale bien.

Illy: El tartamudeo de Doughy ¬.¬

Sher: sillas, sofás, mesas… cualquier cosa con cuatro patas son mis enemigos

¿Algo que te ayude o anime mientras estás trabajando?

Athe: Necesito música, no, en serio, LA NECESITO. Soy incapaz de concentrarme sin ella. Si ya consigo que lo que escucho haga de caja de resonancia de lo que escribo, el texto es mil veces mejor… Pero la musa es bastante mala gente.

Sam: Tener alguna serie/peli de fondo que me entretenga. Cuanto más larga mejor, así no me toca pararme a ver qué es lo que quiero poner después.

Illy: Comer pipas para engañar a mi cerebro y no tener la tentación de ponerme a hacer otra cosa que me distraiga.

Sher: intento ver otros artistas para motivarme e inspirarme antes de empezar a dibujar, lo que más me cuesta es ese empujón inicial y es donde necesito la motivación, luego ya suelo tener algo de fondo pero no es necesario

¿Algo que te corte el rollo o te desmotive?

Athe: Los nudos narrativos. Generalmente, no son nudos gordos de la trama (eso está decidido casi en su totalidad), a menudo son decisiones pequeñas para pasar de la escena A a la escena B, pero puedo tirarme MUCHO tiempo decidiendo cuál es la forma más rápida y mejor planteada para atar esos dos cabos. Soy lo peor.

Sam: Muchas veces a la hora de empezar, no conseguir encajar las poses como quiero, por ejemplo.

Illy: Encontrar muchas partes seguidas que me cueste especialmente resolver y que me hacen creer que no tengo ni idea de hablar inglés. Y mirar cuantas líneas me quedan todavía.

Sher: cuando no se como rellenar alguna zona, si veo algo muy vacío pero no se como solucionarlo puedo tirarme días mirando la pantalla sin ser capaz de avanzar, incluso aunque tenga otras zonas que pudiera ir haciendo mientras

¿Qué no puede faltar en tu mesa o superficie de trabajo?

Athe: Libretas, post-its, bolígrafos… Soy una persona que lo anota todo, sobre todo, las tareas, pero también ordeno la historia por esquemas de colores. La pila de post-its tienen 9 colores diferentes, cada uno representa un personaje y juego mucho con ellos para miles de idioteces. A parte, a pesar de que llevo muchos más años escribiendo a ordenador de los que escribí a mano, sigo teniendo querencia a lo físico.

Sam: Café, chucherías, chocolate, cereales… Y gatos.

Illy: El móvil, las pipas, un vaso de 1L de agua de Capital America: Civil War, post-its que me recuerdan las tareas.

Sher: no tengo nada realmente lol todas mis cosas son de adorno

¿Tus horas más productivas?

Athe: Búho. Nocturna totalmente. A pesar de que tengo varias crisis al mes para forzarme a trabajar a otras horas que acaban siempre… Mal.

Sam: También por la noche en su mayoría, aunque ya no aguanto trasnochando tanto como antes de trabajar (qué tiempos aquellos…) Aunque a media tarde cuando el zoo que tengo en casa aún está echando la siesta también consigo dar un buen empujón.

Illy: Desde que acabo de comer hasta las 7 o las 8 de la tarde, cuando no tengo que cocinar, limpiar, hacer recados...

Sher: le tomo el testigo a Illy aparentemente, a partir de las 7 u 8 es cuando empiezo a entrar en el mood hasta que llega la hora de dormir

¿Las horas de trabajo hacen que te olvides de comer o te hacen comer el doble?

Athe: Depende, antes comía mucho, ahora, si tengo estrés no como nada. Si me encuentro en un rango productivo normal y no estoy de los nervios, probablemente, esté comiendo por inercia.

Sam: Me hacen comer más, pero sobretodo porquerías e.e Y hacen que me olvide de las comidas sanas, sobretodo de cenar por la noche.

Illy: Depende de mi estado de ánimo, pero normalmente comer el doble.

Sher: en general soy una persona MUY distraída así que no suelo conseguir centrarme en una tarea para llegar a ninguno de esos dos modos pero supongo que cuando estoy muuuuuuy dentro de la tarea, me olvido. Pero eso pasa como un par de veces al año y “olvido” es “lo retraso una hora”.

¿Qué parte de tu set up mejorarías/cambiarías (en estética o funcionalidad) si no tuvieses límite de dinero?

Athe: Estoy tratando de que alguno de mis periféricos peguen con el resto. Todos son de un maldito color diferente, al parecer estoy maldita… Ahora en serio, desearía tener una mejor gráfica que me permitiese hacer videocapturas, unos altavoces y una impresora de calidad.

Sam: En realidad, no creo que necesitara nada más complejo de lo que ya tengo… Pero por mejorar, me llaman la atención las tabletas más profesionales, las grandes con la pantalla incluida y eso.

Illy: Un portátil nuevo que me deje abrir 4 pestañas de chrome, el Atom y photoshop al mismo tiempo sin quedarse tieso.

Sher: Una pantalla de pc que no me cambiara los colores que uso en el ipad seria bonito la verdad

¿A qué personaje te pareces más? ¿Y por qué?

Athe: Ufff Creo que la respuesta fácil sería decir Akane… Pero, Akane es mejor persona. :P

Sam: Esto es muy complicado… Son todos muy distintos, pero aún así no creo que me parezca mucho a ninguno. Por decir algo, me podría identificar con la tendencia a evitar problemas de Maske, y su lado más casero y tranquilo. Y bueno… Dado que Akane es OC mío de hace muchos años, seguramente tenga algo de ella también.

Illy: Creo que en parte tengo el instinto de alejarme de las movidas de Maske, y por otro la superficialidad de Joe, aunque tbh ojalá parecerme realmente a nuestros bebés geniales.

Sher: sorprendida porque (unpopular opinión por aquí) es de los que “menos me importan” realmente pero diría que Pin porque es tontito, feliz y probablemente tenga una habitación satánica y orgulloso de ello

Tu CG/arte favorito.

Athe: DE MOMENTO. Maske capítulo 1. No podría ser más predecible. Lo sé.

Sam: Coincido bastante en la de Maske del capítulo 1. Pero también metería en el top la de Pin del capítulo 5 y la de Akane del capítulo 6.2.

Illy: ¿¿Kyeran en el tanque de Coco?? ¿Es siquiera real? Ser básica es mi marca.

Sher: sorprendida de nuevo y decepcionada pero diría que la de Hasiel de ángel porque me gustan los vestidos bonitos, los pelos bonitos y las alas bonitas

Tu BG/escenario favorito.

Athe: Me flipa el Barrio Rojo. Me gusta la vida de ese sitio, su historia, pero la forma de plasmarlo… Uggg Sher lo llevó a otro nivel. La suciedad de la calle, la nocturnidad, los edificios constreñidos...

Sam: Creo que me quedo con el de la plaza de Raziel, me gusta mucho desde el primer día.

Illy: No sé si puedo elegir solo uno T__T pero diría que el Barrio Rojo y el bar de Valefar están en el top.

Sher: por no repetir el barrio rojo que también me gusta mucho, me gustan mucho las zonas del laboratorio de Coco, incluida la zona “principal” aunque la perspectiva sea horrible y haga a los pj parecer diminutos, pero me gusto como quedo :(

¿Tu capítulo favorito hasta las fecha?

Athe: Ufff… El uno y el dos os aseguro que no, jajaja. Diré que el tres, pero también por cosas que no son necesariamente del capítulo, sino de la producción. Fue un buen momento. Sentí que todo estaba fluyendo con facilidad. Todas asumimos un rol claro, unos tiempos que nos hacían sentir cómodas y capaces de asumir lo que venía después, creo que fue un salto cualitativo también, tanto en los textos, como en el arte.

Sam: Ay. Pues a ver… El capítulo 5 es una pasada para mi, por todo lo que pasa pero también porque hay muchas interacciones personalizadas y elecciones. No puedo decir que tenga un favorito definitivo, pero podría acercarse… También me gusta mucho de los últimos el 6.2.

Illy: El capítulo 5 tiene tantos detalles, pasan tantas cosas, que es difícil que no sea mi favorito, pero los ultimos de rutas específicas son tan geniales que si me quedo con el 5 es con un poco de dolor de tener que elegir uno.

Sher: Diría el 5 también porque al final cuando pasan muchas cosas es cuando mas se te queda grabado

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 5 years

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Updated - Prediction for the episode outline for the rest of the reboot anime series! :)

I originally made a post like this before Episode 25 came out, so I modified it just a bit. I also largely stuck with the “two chapters worth of content per episode” idea/concept/rule, with only a few exceptions here and there.

Season Two First Cour (1-13)

Ep 1 - Ch. 43 + Ch. 42 (Haru destroying the classroom + the Motoko chapter asking about girls on the student council, with the episode ending with us learning that Machi is on the student council and Kakeru is interested in Tohru. I can also see them including the scene between Kyo and Tohru in Hiro's intro chapter when Kyo asks Tohru about the injury he caused her).

Ep 2 - Ch. 46 (Mayu tells the class about the upcoming parent-teacher conferences, Tohru freaks out a bit and Shigure gives his laundry analogy, everyone ends up eating soumen. I can see them combining this chapter's content with the Haru and Kyoru moments from Ritsu's episode. Since those moments dealt specifically with Haru destroying the classroom and the True Form stuff).

Ep 3 - Ch. 36 + Ch. 47 (These two chapters would go well together. We'd start with Yuki visiting Ayame's shop and us meeting Mine and the small moment between those two. Then the second half of the episode would Yuki's troubled thoughts about the upcoming Parent-Teacher conference and him bonding with Ayame a bit in his garden. I think the contents of Episode 47 would really enhance the contents of Chapter 36 and give the sense of more progression and growth when it comes to Yuki and Ayame's relationship).

Ep. 4 - Ch. 48 + Ch. 49 (This episode would have the end of the term, start of summer, the Haunted House along with maybe another Rin scene that is anime original. There would also be Yuki's first meeting/interaction with Kakeru and Machi).

Ep. 5 - Ch. 50 + Ch. 52 (This would have the introduction to the Uo and Kureno stuff and Kyo + Tohru visiting Kazuma. This isn't necessarily the smoothest combination of content, but I feel it could work well to show how interconnected everything is becoming and how Uo and Tohru are drifting apart a bit, in the sense that Uo is taking an interest in Kureno and Tohru is getting closer to Kyo).

Ep. 6 - Ch. 56 + Ch. 57 (The Hatori and Mayu chapters show up right in-between the Beach House Arc, so I could see them rearranging things just a little bit so that the content of these chapters go into an episode right before the Beach House Arc. That way the flow will be better and not broken up like in the manga).

Ep. 7 - Ch. 53 + Ch. 54 (We would have Rin visiting Shigure about the curse and the start of the Beach House Arc, with Tohru swimming and such. The reveal about Hiro's mother being pregnant would probably happen around this episode too).

Ep. 8 - Ch. 55 + Ch. 56 (This would have the stage beetle and watermelon smashing stuff. Kyo talking to Tohru about his mom and Hiro bringing up Tohru's mom complex stuff would likely happen around here).

Ep. 9 - Ch. 59 + Ch. 60 (These chapters contain things like the conversation between Rin and Kagura as well as Yuki realizing that he loves Tohru. I expect they'll rearrange some things so that Yuki's realization happens at the end of the episode).

Ep. 10 - Ch. 61 + Ch. 62 (This episode would contain Kyo and Tohru making sandcastles, Tohru learning more about Kyo's beads, and the Kyo + Akito confrontation, ending with Kyo realizing he loves Tohru).

Ep. 11 - Ch. 63 + Ch. 64 (Here is when the drama would start reaching the climax, with Kyo thinking about how he wants to be with Tohru til the end and I can see this episode ending either with Akito punching Momiji or they could go and adapt the first few pages of Ch. 65 too, which has the reveal of Akito being the God of the Zodiac).

Ep. 12 - Ch. 65 + Ch. 66 (They could either start the episode off with the reveal of Akito being the God of the Zodiac, or if they put that at the end of Ep. 11, then they could continue straight from that episode and adapt the rest of the chapter. Then we would get the resolution to that, them coming home, Ayame being there, the Student Council stuff, and Tohru contacting Kazuma to come visit him).

Ep. 13 - Ch. 67 + Ch. 68 (The first cour could then end with Tohru visiting Kazuma and talking to him about the Curse and Kagura letting Kyo go. This way they could end the first cour with some things coming to an end - Kagura pursuing Kyo - and other things beginning - Tohru wanting to break the curse).

Season Two Second Cour (14 - 25)

Ep. 14 - Ch. 69 + 70 (Here we would see the start of the Rin and Haru stuff, Tohru's grandpa throwing out his back, and Kyo finding Tohru upset/crying on the sidewalk/walkway).

Ep. 15 - Ch. 71 (This would start off the Parent/Teacher conference stuff. I could see them making Kyo and Tohru's conferences one episode, with some anime original content to pad it out).

Ep. 16 - Ch. 72 + Ch. 73 (Here we would get Yuki's Parent - Teacher conference, The Student Defense Force stuff, and Yuki and Kakeru fighting. They could also decide to put all the Parent-Teacher conference stuff together in Ep. 15 and just make Ep. 16 be Ch. 73 content with some anime original stuff to pad it out though. That is definitely an option, imo).

Ep. 17 - Ch. 74 + Ch. 75 (We would get the Momo and Momiji plotline, Tohru visiting the estate, Tohru visiting and talking with Kureno, and the Kyoru roof scene).

Ep. 18 - Ch. 76 + Ch. 77 (The school trip and the school trip aftermath).

Ep. 19 - Ch. 78 + Ch. 79 (Rin's backstory, her fainting, and so on).

Ep. 20 - Ch. 80 + Ch. 81 (This is when we get stuff like Rin crying into Tohru's arms and Nao getting frustrated with Machi and such).

Ep. 21 - Ch. 82 + Ch. 83 (Tohru visits Rin in the hospital, Machi breaks down the door when Yuki gets stuck in the room and suffers a PTSD attack).

Ep. 22 - Ch. 84 + Ch. 85 (Yuki's backstory, The Cap, and Yuki stating that he sees Tohru as a mother).

Ep. 23 - Ch. 86 + Ch. 87 (Yuki opening to Kakeru about how he feels about Tohru, Kyoru script flirting, Ayame calling up Yuki to let him know that he and Mine will do their costumes, and then all of the Sorta Cinderella prep stuff).

Ep. 24 - Ch. 88 + Ch. 89 (Sorta Cinderella and the aftermath of it. I could see them maybe adding some anime only scenes here and there too).

Ep. 25 - Ch. 94 + Ch. 95 (Yuki hangs out with the Student Council and decides to go to the New Year's Banquet, Akito attacks Yuki, the season ends with the tease about how the characters can feel that something is changing/change is in store for them).

Season Three First Cour (1 - 12)

Ep. 1 - Ch. 96 + Ch. 97 (This episode would just jump right into the stuff concerning Akito and Kureno's relationship, Kureno being freed from the curse, and Akito being a woman).

Ep. 2 - Ch. 98 + Ch. 99 (Here would be when we get introduced to Ren, via her trying to choke out Akito, and things like Uo and Hana consoling Tohru and the Kyoru scarf scene).

Ep. 3 - Ch. 100 + Ch. 101 (The second year's prepping the third years rooms for graduation with the paper flower, the Kyoru paper flower scene, Akigure stuff, and the reveal that Shigure slept with Ren, etc.).

Ep. 4 - Ch. 102 + Ch. 103 (Machi's backstory, footsteps in the snow, Motoko graduating, Hiro's sister being born, and ending with Akito cutting Rin's hair).

Ep. 5 - Ch. 104 + Ch. 105 (This is when Hiro would tell Haru about Rin, we'd get Rin and Haru's past together, and Haru would visit Akito).

Ep. 6 - Ch. 106 + Ch. 107 (Haru saves Rin, Rin is staying at Kazuma's, and the episode ending with Tohru asking Shigure when the Curse will break).

Ep. 7 - Ch. 108 + Ch. 109 (This episode would focus on stuff like Tohru and Shigure discussing the Curse, Tohru telling Kyo about her dad, and the sheet hugging scene).

Ep. 8 - Ch. 90 + Ch. 91 (I could see them rearranging when the Kyoko and Katsuya backstory occurs, since I think it would make a nice transition/flow to go from an previous episode that 1. took place during the anniversary of Kyoko's death and after Tohru tells Kyo about her dad. Of course, I could also see them placing this episode at the start of Season 3, too. It could end up in Season 2, too, but I think narratively it would work best here. These chapters cover Kyoko's backstory and her meeting Katsuya).

Ep. 9 - Ch. 92 + 93 (Then this episode would be the continuation of Kyoko's backstory with Tohru's birth and Katsuya's death. Overall, I feel that the Kyoko and Katsuya backstory is a bit hard to place in general, since it is kinda like Hana's backstory, in that it is a more self-contained flashback. Though it does connect a bit to the present day with the Sorta Cinderella stuff and Kyo, which is why I think it could work as the first two opening episodes in Season 3 as well. But, they could always rework some of that stuff too).

Ep. 10 - Ch. 110 + Ch. 111 (This would have Ayame opening up to Yuki about how he regrets how he turned down that girl in high school and how meeting Mine helped humble him towards feelings of love and such. This is also when we would get Momiji's growth spurt).

Ep. 11 - Ch. 112 + 113 (The entirety of this episode would be focused on Kakeru's connection to Tohru via Komaki and Yuki meeting Komaki).

Ep. 12 - Ch. 114 + 115 (The drama would go up a notch more here with Kagura slapping Tohru, Tohru not wanting or accepting an apology from Kagura, the Ren and Akira backstory stuff, and Momiji's curse breaking. This would be the end of the first cour of the third season.)

Season Three Second Cour (13 - 23)

Ep. 13 - Ch. 116 + Ch. 117 (Momiji's Curse is gone and he confronts Akito, Akito finally gives Ren the box).

Ep. 14 - Ch. 118 + Ch. 119 (Hiro's Curse breaks, Akito stabs Kureno, then we get the past between Kyo and Kyoko, and Kyo tells Tohru how he let her die).

Ep. 15 - Ch. 120 + Ch. 121 (Tohru confesses to Kyo and then the episode ends with the cliff giving out as Tohru is reaching her hand out to Akito to take).

Ep. 16 - Ch. 122 + Ch. 123 (Kyo finds Tohru and kisses her and then Yuki confronts Kyo).

Ep. 17 - Ch. 124 + Ch. 125 (Akito visits Kureno and Tohru in the hospital, Yuki gives Machi the Mogeta plush).

Ep. 18 - Ch. 126 + Ch. 127 (This episode would contain content like Kyo confronting his dad and Uo visiting Kureno. I could see them deciding to end the episode on either story, tbh).

Ep. 19 - Ch. 128 + Ch. 129 (Tohru gets released from the hospital, their first proper kiss, Kyo and Tohru decide to be together, the Curse breaks).

Ep. 20 - Ch. 130 + Ch. 131 (Everyone's Curse breaks and we get the truth behind the myth, general aftermath stuff would continue as well).

Ep. 21 - Ch. 132 + Ch. 133 (Akito revealing her secret to the younger Zodiac members, Kyoru dating, and everyone processing that Akito is a woman).

Ep. 22 - Ch. 134 + Ch. 135 (More of the resolution/wrap-up to the series with Yuki applying to college, Kyoru moments, visiting Kyoko's grave, and Kyoko's final thoughts).

Ep. 23 - Ch. 136 + Extended/Additional Scenes

Of course, if they went the route of three seasons with 25 episode each, that would leave them with some wiggle room in the third season, especially. I have no doubt that they will likely rearrange things in a way I can't even really imagine right now. But after the first season and the very beginning of Season 2, there is really very little need to rearrange much. I also think that Episode 25 showcased just how much they can actually, comfortably, fit into an episode, which is quite a bit.

#Fruits Basket #Furuba #Fruits Basket 2019 #Furuba 2019 #Fruits Basket manga spoilers #Fruits Basket spoilers #Furuba spoilers #FB spoilers #long post #speculation #prediction

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rosesisupposes · 5 years

Text

A Whisper In The Dark

Part 7 of Another Goddamn Hero Story

read on ao3

Chapter Pairings: Royality; Analogical; Remceit

Chapter Warnings: Minor Character Death(s); Dissociation/Hallucination; Graphic Violence; Graphic Threats of Violence; Mild Gore; Emotional numbness/depressive episode; Grief; survivor’s guilt; Mentions of human experimentation; Mentions of child abuse;

Word Count: 6,604

Taglist: @residentanchor @royally-anxious @bewarethegrammarpolice @jemthebookworm @arandompasserby @sparkly-rainbow-salt @astral-eclipse @thelowlysatsuma @monsterinatophat @turtally-pawsome @um-yes-hi-hello @idkaurl @potestessemagishomosexualitatis @hawthornshadow

~~~~~~~~~~

Sofia Rodriguez was in a hurry and really didn’t need any more delays right now, thank you very much. She checked her watch again in frustration, as if being more aware of the time would make her less late to her after-school job. You’d think a bodega only two blocks from her home would be the most convenient thing, but today she despaired that she hadn’t prioritized proximity to school instead. Police had roped off the streets she normally took home for three square blocks, and her watch blinked the seconds urgently at her as 2:45 crept closer and closer.

She winced, as much at the time as at the reminder that her only working watch was still the plastic Disney Princess one she’d begged her mama for as a little girl. It was far too childish for a sixteen-year-old, not to mention about two gasps away from needing a new battery anyway. Maybe she’d be able to buy one with any extra money she made from this job, anything on top of helping with groceries and household expenses.

That is, if she wasn’t so late that she lost her job on the spot today.

She looked at her wrist obsessively again, walking as fast as she could without breaking into a run. 2:39, and she was definitely more than six minutes away. With a groan she ducked down an alley. The police hadn’t roped off her shortcut, luckily, so there was a chance to be less than five minutes late, maybe.

Coming out into the better-lit street, she heard a distant rumble. ¡Puñeta! Those damn supers better not be in the Heights, she thought angrily. Since the Fang Patrol had been rounded up when she was young, her neighborhood had been having a respite from active super activity, comparatively, at least. Tía Stephanie still prayed in thanks for how few attacks they’d had recently, while Sofia had often sat on the stairs eavesdropping while her family cursed the city for the old damages that had yet to be fixed.

Though, at the same time she hoped for uneventful days, there was a tiny part of her that still watched all the supers, that kept mental catalogues of her favorites, that admired their outfits. She pretended not to watch the news coverage on the tiny TV in the bodega, but she secretly thrilled to hear any coverage with heroes’ quips and catch phrases or villains’ dramatic manifestos. In a tiny box hidden well under her bed, she still had a tiny crown. She’d thrown it away in a fit of tears, when she’d first seen the beautiful Prince’s transformation, but she hadn’t been able to part with it, in the end, and dug it out of the trash.

She shook her head away from childish, daydreaming thoughts and picked up the pace towards her job, practically jogging now. She was now only a block away, and it was 2:45 exactly. She’d barely be late at all!

Someone bumped her as they passed, full-out sprinting. She almost cussed him out before she realized he wasn’t just an obnoxious jogger from a nicer neighborhood, but what looked like a worker in a polo and slacks. She looked around her and saw that he wasn’t the only one - people were running or ducking into houses or stores all around her, and some shops were preemptively rolling down their metal shutters. She risked a look behind her and cussed loud and long, a mixture of Spanish and English, as she sprinted the last distance to the bodega.

There were approaching clouds of smoke and debris, several blocks away now but approaching far too quickly, punctuated with rumbles and booms she’d been ignoring. She ducked into the safety of the store, the normally-friendly Mrs. Santos practically tugging her to the ground as she got Sofia inside and locked the doors. She muttered under her breath, something about shutters and madness. Two patrons who’d already been inside were huddled as far back from the windows as possible, but Sofia couldn’t bear to be in the dark - she had to know who or what was outside.

She peered out from the side, as little of her body exposed as possible. The cloud had gotten closer, and now she could see it was advanced by a series of explosions. Buildings burst with each rumble, glass and brick dust sprinkling down. There were now two distinct sounds - the screech of metal scraping against brick followed by the almighty crash of buildings bursting and falling. Sofia risked sitting up on her heels to get a better look.

The villain had dark silky hair that fell in long sheets far past her waist. Skin as golden-brown as Sofia’s own was set off by the dramatic black-and-purple costume she wore. She had what looked like feathered ornaments around her neck and wrists and cheeks. With a twirl, the villain’s mouth opened, and the sound of metal scraping rock sounded again as pieces of yet another building crashed to the ground. The ragged, torn skirt of the dramatic, medieval-style gown revealed scuffed black boots underneath as she turned once more.

Sofia realized with a shiver that the villain was breaking the buildings with her voice. The metallic screech was emerging from her throat. Which meant this must be The Violet Condor, one of the least predictable villains in the city. There was no sign the Condor’s most frequent companions, either, so the outlook was bleak, unless someone like Dr. Vectorious could be bothered to come all the way out to the Heights. Hopefully, she’d keep attacking just pieces of buildings, not collapsing them entirely regardless of occupants.

Suddenly, the dark-clad woman jerked and spun. She looked enraged, but wasn’t using her power to attack. It looked almost like there was a bee buzzing around her head.

Then the bee suddenly grew many sizes and proved to be a super, a short man who hit The Condor across the face before shrinking once more, zooming around her head. Who is that? He’s one of the ones who hardly goes in the field, isn’t he? Why’s he here of all places? Sofia wondered.

The hero seemed to be winning, exhausting the villain with his dodging in and out, growing and shrinking in the blink of an eye. The Condor was unable to keep up with his changes, and had lost any focus on destruction of the neighborhood. Sofia breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice, feeling protected again, even for just a day.

And then with a start, she realized there was a civilian out there, in the blast zone. No, not just one, but several, hiding against the walls - how had she not seen them before? Was that…?

She screamed as she recognized her mom, her mom’s siblings, their children - her entire family was crouching against the far walls of the street, perilously close to the supers’ fight. Standing, she sprinted to the door, struggling to undo the locks with shaking hands. Mrs. Santos was there behind in an instant, and Sofia prepared herself to tell the well-meaning woman that she didn’t care if it was unsafe, she could not just sit by while her family was hurt. But the bodega owner just helped her unlock the door, running out into the street before her, swearing in Portuguese.

Sofia was dimly aware of others sprinting into the open street, but her vision and attention were fixed only on her family members and the terror on their faces. She dodged rubble and other civilians as she raced across the block to them. A trash can flew through the air and landed by her as debris swirled around. She paused for just a moment, grabbed the lid to protect her head, and ran on. As she reached the opposite side of the square, she could see her little cousin Maria reaching out a hand towards her as she wailed. Sofia reached out to grab it, only to have her fingers meet air. The flame of protective fear was extinguished, replaced by the cold, curling knowledge that they’d never been there, that Sofia had run into the exposed street for mere shadows.

She whirled, seeing her sudden realization reflected in the faces of the civilians that now flooded the streets as she saw a very different emotion on The Condor’s face. It was abject terror and anger.

“No!” the purple-clad woman screamed. “No, you can’t take me back!” The feathers around her neck and wrists rippled. Sofia swallowed bile as she realized they weren’t ornaments after all - they were implants, growing out of reddened, angry flesh, flapping uselessly in the wind. “You won’t burn us again, cabrón!”

Sofia had less than a split-second to react. She dove behind a brownstone’s front stairs as the sonic blast of the Condor’s voice howled through the street. It wasn’t just chunks of buildings falling out, now, but entire floors being removed and ceilings caving in. Sofia clutched her garbage lid with clammy hands, suppressing the urge to scream as chunks of stone and shards of glass landed on it and slid off. She wished in vain for an extra hand to cover her ears as she heard the cries of those who were more exposed than she, of the people who’d been out in the middle of the street with no protection. What could she do? She was just a sixteen-year-old girl, with a metal trash lid and no powers whatsoever. She was only just barely able to keep a part-time job to help her mom. The most she could hope for was getting out of this day alive.

Peering as much as she dared over the wall, braced to hide once more, she saw the size-shifter grow once more. His eyes darted across the street, and she could see his distress even from here. He seemed to stare through the villain rather than at her, more concerned with the threats he saw around him, somewhere. Sofia felt ice spreading in her veins. Just like she had, just like the others who’d run out into the open heedless of danger, both hero and villain were seeing apparitions, convinced of their reality. And when supers were convinced of close danger…

The Violet Condor started to scream again, walls trembling and crashing as pavement rippled. The hero (what was his name, Sofia couldn’t think of it, something about bugs?) seemed deaf and blind to her attack until he started flying directly towards her, shrinking as he went. He flew directly into the shockwaves of her ongoing scream, somehow able to struggle against the blast towards the very epicenter.

Sofia stifled a gasp as the hero, only just visible from the bright colors of his jumpsuit and jetpack, flew directly into the Condor’s mouth. Her screech wavered and distorted, until she started to hack and cough, choking on the hero himself. The sonic vibrations, instead of fading, got deeper, shaking the ground just as much as the air. Sofia risked a looked and flinched back under her trash can lid as the roar grew in volume and intensity, a terrible, apocalyptic melody over the percussion of debris and destruction. Parts of brick, shards of glass, and pebbles clattered on her lid, scratching her face as they missed her makeshift shield.

She thought she heard her mother’s voice, or Maria’s scream. She thought she saw her uncle standing in the street, or maybe her childhood Prince, the one whose gift of a crown was the only reason she was sure he hadn’t been a daydream. Or maybe, she just saw a smile, a smirk, a predatory grin through the dust clouds before something hit her head and everything became darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~

[UPDATE] D.R.E.A.M. Index #337261 Classification: A.3.i [Tertiary Tier Hero, Legacy] Name: Swallowtail Status: DECEASED /////////Recognition: Pending Honor Roll ‘18 Civilian Name: [CLEARANCE: TOP SECRET] Terrence Williams, Jr. Affiliation: Hero ///////// H.A.T.C.H. Status: Inactive Partners/Sidekicks: N/A Primary Foes: N/A Powers: Shape-shifting: size reduction and addition; Tech-assisted flight; Costume: Bodysuit in bright florals; yellow, black, and white jet pack painted with namesake butterfly wings Age: 25 Height: 5’3” Pronouns: He/His H.E.A.R.T.S. Class of ‘11 Note: Unconfirmed relation to members of DI#Z-3286 - Fang Patrol, but confirmed Hero and son of supers; Classmate and fellow scientist to DI#337255 - Dr. Vectorious; A less active hero, primary role as research/support to S.E.A.M. Stokes and Mayor Stokes. /////////Killed in IR 18-Z-0011 by DI#Z00000 - Unknown Villain

~~~~~~~~~~

Everything was dark. Roman hated the dark. Or did he just dislike it? Or maybe he just wouldn’t mind, were the dark to go away. He was… apathetic towards it.

But, wait. Was it really dark? He wasn’t sure. He could see defined shapes, but everything was as washed out as twilight. There was a bed underneath him, one he could feel. It was strangely hard today. The lights were both too bright and too dim at once. The sun’s rays through the window struggled feebly to light up anything past the sill.

Roman didn’t have a window in his hidden home.

Sitting up was a monumental effort as he struggled against the invisible weights that dragged on every fiber of his muscles and skin. He wasn’t on his couch, not on his bed. He wasn’t home. He was somewhere alien, with no memory of how he’d arrived there.

Dimly, he realized he should be infuriated, or terrified, or… something. He should feel something. He should be worried that he didn’t. Was this the grey? Had it come on with no warning?

Where was Patton?

Where was he?

And why couldn’t he feel worried about not being able to answer any of these questions?

He looked around the small room. Plain, metal-framed bed. Small bathroom. Sparsely-populated bookshelf that was bolted to the wall. Postage-stamp window. Rough grey stone floor. Speckled, industrial style ceiling tiles. Fluorescent lights that seemed to be humming much louder than most of their kind. Either that, or there was some other electrical feedback, and it was putting his teeth on edge. He could feel the headache coming on. At least he was feeling something.

He stood, grunting with effort, and shuffled to the door. The handle was locked, a fact he accepted without surprise or anger. But it confirmed his suspicion. He was in some sort of prison or hospital. He frowned, trying to piece together his last memories before waking up. They’d been fighting the heroes, and he’d visibly flustered ‘Flex for the first time, and then there’d been screaming and… dark.

So probably a prison, then. He’d never been in any prison before, but this one seemed a lot nicer than TV prisons always looked. Maybe Harmony City spoiled everyone. Or, at least, everyone outside of Sycamore Heights.

God, why was he so tired? Or maybe not tired so much as… drained. Lethargic. Colorless. He knew without trying that he wouldn’t be able to summon any constructs. It felt like a another depressive episode, but he wasn’t usually this self-aware, not without his partner.

Where was Patton?

Roman leaned against the door, already losing energy fast from the effort of standing. He noticed the electronic hum got louder as he did so, and frowned. Was it coming from the door, not the lights? He squinted through the opaque glass and was able to make out a faint blue glow. It pricked a memory, not a strong one, but a relatively recent one. Where had he seen it before? Something in a street, he thought, and he’d seen it from ground level. The weird van, from the day before. When they’d interrupted the heroes. That one villain had been handcuffed and pushed quickly into a truck with this same glow.

As if summoned, Moonshadow appeared on the other side of the fogged glass, sunglasses balanced jauntily on their nose. They removed something from their neck and held it near the door. Some odd clicks and whirrs later, it swung open.

“Hey there, Red,” Moonshadow drawled. “You gonna sit in there all day, or you want to party?”

Roman stepped out into the hallway, and immediately felt a wash of adrenaline and anger and nerves. “How did you get out?”

The other villain smirked, petting the snake coiled around their wrist. “My honey never abandons me for long. C’mon, let’s go get yours.”

“Aren’t there guards?” Roman asked, flexing his fingers as he summoned his costume and a makeshift mask.

“Oh sweetie, put that away. Just follow my lead, yeah?”

Roman pouted, but kept the mask as his construct melted back, leaving just the loose t-shirt and drawstring pants he’d woken up in. He follow the lanky villain, listening to their quiet murmurs to the snake that was now snuggled around their neck.

He took the opportunity to take in their surrounding. It still looked more like a hospital than a prison, but each room’s door was a heavy slab of metal, and a glance out the intermittent windows showed high fences with barbed wire surrounding the building. The metal flickered with that same glow of the doors and the handcuffs.

“Have you been here before? What is this place?” Roman asked, speaking low just in case.

“Oh, yeah, all the time,” Moonshadow said. “Welcome to cheeku.”

Or, that’s what Roman heard, at least. “Whomst?”

“Cheeku. C-H-E-A-C-U. They like making their acronyms pronounceable, haven’t you noticed? It’s for City of Harmony Enhanced Abilities Containment Unit. Aka, Super Prison. Aka, home away from home! All my faves are here, and they know my favorite snacks and everything!”

“How do you escape so easily every time? Just this guy?” Roman asked, gesturing to the snake, who flicked a forked tongue at him.

“Nah, babes. He just comes when he gets clingy and doesn’t want to wait for me to escape on my own.”

The snake wriggled, falling off Moonshadow’s very high shoulder and landing on two human feet. “Yeah, that’s why,” the man said. “Not because you got caught the same day as two powerful villains who can give us some cover for our escape, for once.” He waggled his still-scaley fingers in a little wave at Roman. “Hey, don’t think we met during the heist. I go by the Viper, but at this point it seems silly to hide real names. I’m Damon. This is Remy, who is unfortunately my partner.”

“Shut up, you love me,” Remy said, pulling the shorter man in for a kiss regardless of how very serpentine his face was.

“I do,” Damon replied softly, kissing back.

“This is precious, but can we free my boyfriend now?” Roman asked patiently.

Remy was clearly rolling their eyes behind their dark glasses, but they broke off anyway and walked to the next door down. “Any other super friends who might be in here or just the wind-boy?”

“Wind boy? Really?” Roman glared at the tall villain, who ignored it. “No, no one else.”

They finally came to the room with a label on the door of “DI#337437 - Gale Force.” Roman peered through the door. It was easier to see from outside - Patton was lying on the bed, seemingly bored more than distressed. Damon was fiddling with the lock, his hands shrunk into tiny lizard appendages, until he grinned and the door swung open.

“Sunshine!” Roman cried, darting through to wrap Patton in a hug. “I missed you!”

“Oh, we’re free now?” Patton asked, looking over Ro’s shoulder at the tall villain and their boyfriend. “Thanks!”

Patton walked into the hallway and experimentally hovered, testing his powers. “Oh, good, for the a second there I thought I’d forgotten how!”

“You have the rooms to thank for that,” Damon muttered, shaking his arms out to try to get them more human again. “They’re Enhanced Ability Neutralization and Stasis Chambers. EANSCs. It works on all supers - no one can use their power while in one.”

“Is that what was in those cuffs, too?”

Remy nodded. “It doesn’t last as long or as effectively. Transporting supers here is the most dangerous part. Especially when it’s me. I’ve broken out before getting here about… hm, 70 percent of the time?”

“I didn’t realize your power was escapism,” Patton commented. “I thought it was invisibility or something.”

“Oh, no, hun. People get to see me, and they are welcome for it. They’ll just never remember, if I don’t want them too. All I need is a second of distraction and eye contact.”

“And what about you, slimy boy?” Roman asked.

“I’m scaley, you ass. I can only become reptiles. As you can see, though, it takes a while to get back,” Damon explained with a frown at his still-lizard-like fingers.

The small group finally came out into a open air, a guard station with a TV. The uniformed guards all started, standing with glowing wands, but Remy just wordlessly slid their glasses down and stared. The guards froze, their eyes turning to marble as blank as Remy’s own.

Roman walked over to one in interest, and flicked the woman’s head experimentally. No reaction. “Damn, that’s powerful.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Rem,” Damon’s voice interrupted. “You should look at this.” He stood in front of the TV, watching frantic news coverage.

Roman and Patton turned with Remy, all three trying to make sense of the chaotic footage. The street on the screen looked like a full-scale invasion had just ripped through. Everywhere, there was destruction. Not a single visible building remained standing and intact. And there were bodies strewn everywhere, like so many fallen leaves.

“Holy shit,” Remy whispered. “This… who is this?”

“They don’t know,” Damon murmured, stricken. “There was only one survivor, and she saw next to nothing.” The camera cut to a teenage girl, bruised, bloodied, and trying not to break down as medics extracted her from the rubble.

“That’s the Heights,” Roman said. “Someone attacked the Heights, and I wasn’t there.”

“Honeybear, it’s not your fault,” Patton cooed. “It’s those terrible heroes, we’ll just fight them extra hard, okay?”

Roman sighed. “That won’t help, Patton.”

The reptilian man in front of him stiffened. “Patton?”

“Oh, sorry, we haven’t introduced you. Gale Force aka Patton, this is Damon aka The Viper.”

Now Patton stared as well, mouth agape. “...Damon? Damon McLeggan?”

“Oh my god, it’s you. Pat? This… you survived the collapse?”

“Dam’, I thought you died years ago. In the explosion, in the lab…”

The two supers reached out, grabbing hands as if they expected the other to melt away. “I used to wish I had, Pat,” Damon said soberly. “Still do, sometimes. He was the one who did this to me,” he said, gesturing at the burns and scales alike that covered his face. “He’s the reason I’m a freak now. Not a proper super, too weird to be a civilian.”

Roman’s heart leapt out of his chest as he saw Patton actually start crying. “Did… do you know what happened to her?”

“She survived, if you can call it that. She… he deformed us both. But my mind wasn’t as affected. She was his favorite ‘project,’” Damon said with a shudder.

“Patton, who’s she?” Roman asked softly, supporting his partner with a warm hand on his lower back.

“Val,” Patton said, voice cracking. “Valerie.”

“My sister,” Damon said. “More related than blood could ever know. She… you’ve seen her, probably. She snapped. Only I can calm her down, ever. She’s out causing havoc as The Violet Condor now.”

“…oh god,” Remy said with feeling. “Damon… look.”

Everyone turned in their direction. They pointed a shaky finger at the screen. A solemn-faced reporter was flanked by headshots: a smiling black man, and a scowling Latina woman. “Civilian casualties are still being finalized, with the most recent count being 23. But we are able to confirm two known supers who were also killed, apparently by each other under the influence of the unknown threat: Swallowtail, a close associate of Mayor Stokes, and The Violet Condor, a tragic survivor of the Mystic Magician’s experiments. Families of the fallen, if any, have been notified.”

The last two people who’d ever called Valerie “family” stared in heartbreak and horror.

“Fuck this,” Damon spat out. “Fuck heroes and villains and this whole damn city.” Remy placed a hand on their partner’s shoulder, but Damon hardly seemed aware. “If not even she can survive in this shithole, why did we have to live through any of this? There’s a new bad whose bodycount has already passed records and I’m not staying around to see any more people I care about be added.”

“But we could get revenge for her, Damon,” Patton said. “We could make the bastard pay for taking away our sister. For our family.”

“…she used to say the same thing, after the home was flattened,” Damon said softly. “You two were always so alike, thick as thieves. Kanga and Pooh. I can’t do it, Pat. I can’t risk it anymore. I need to have something left - or someone.” He reached up and grabbed Remy’s hand where it was still resting. “Rem… let’s run. Leave this city, find a new one. Please?”

“Of course, my love. Anything for you,” Remy said softly, looping both their arms around Damon’s shoulders and kissing the top of his head. They looked up, making eye contact with Roman. “Take these stairs to the bottom and go straight out. I’ll stun the guards for your escape, but only if you follow that route exactly. Gucci?”

Roman nodded, and they were gone. Or rather, they’d never been there. Or rather, Roman and Patton had always been alone in this room, surrounded by frozen guards. Patton stared at the TV still, tears leaking out of his eyes. Roman wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. Patton was oblivious, not even leaning in as he normally did.

“I failed her, Ro. She survived, all this time? This is what happened to her?”

“Patton, it’s not your fault-”

“And this unknown comes out of nowhere, kills her, kills heroes, kills kids just trying to get home?”

“Pat-”

“I thought… I thought there was no more family to hurt,” Patton said, his voice a tight whisper. “I thought I had nothing left to lose. Well, now I definitely don’t.”

“Patton, you’re scaring me.”

“Good. If I scare you, they’ll be scared too. That bastard will pay for what they’ve done, whoever they are. I don’t care whose help we need.”

~~~~~~~~~~

D.R.E.A.M. Index #337498 Classification: Z.3.ii [Tertiary Tier Villain, Acquired Powers] Name: The Violet Condor Status: DECEASED Civilian Name: [CLEARANCE: CONFIDENTIAL] Valerie Torres-Rosario Affiliation: Villain Partners/Sidekicks: DI#337500 - The Viper; DI#337397 - Moonshadow /////////Much like his relationship with DI#337397, Viper is more a friend and caretaker than partner-in-crime to the Condor Primary Foes: DI#337255 - Dr. Vectorious; Powers: Supersonic auditory blast; Additional Powers - Unknown /////////Blast/stun effect while in earshot, less powerful at further distance Costume: Long-sleeved medieval-style ballgown in shades of purple with black leggings/boots; /////////Despite the appearance of ornamentation, the feathers are actually part of her skin, though do not serve any functional purpose Age: 21 Height: 5’4” Pronouns: She/Her H.E.A.R.T.S. Class N/A /////////Attempted to enroll her along with DI#337500, but she dropped out at age 11 Note: Survivor of DI#265333 - The Mystic Magician’s experiments, one of few successes of DI#265333’s attempts to imbue civilians with superpowers. /////////Pending: formal request to change term from ‘success’ - while no physical deterioration occurred due to the experimentation, new information from other sources indicate dramatic psychological change and damage, particularly loss of ability to filter emotions and a seeming loss of empathy/sympathy for anyone except DI#337500 and DI#337397 /////////Killed in IR 18-Z-0011 by DI#Z00000 - Unknown Villain

~~~~~~~~~~

“So.”

“…since the moment we met? Really?”

Virgil reclined on Logan’s couch, lying upside-down. A perk of super-healing and a side-effect of flight was a lack of headrush no matter how he sat. He glanced up at his best friend and crush, who was sitting more sensibly with both feet planted on the ground. It was a lazy morning

“Yeah, Lo. I showed up at school, this huge kid who was absolutely terrified of himself and the world, and this tiny, beautiful nerd walked up and said ‘Hello, welcome to H.E.A.R.T.S., we’re here to help.’ Of course I fell a little bit in love immediately.”

“You don’t have to emphasize the ‘tiny,’ you know,” Logan muttered, adjusting his glasses over his continuing blush.

“But it’s part of your charm, L. You’re all this intelligence and energy in a small package, but never let anyone underestimate you. You’re a superdense bundle of brilliance.”

“…I… um. Thank you,” Logan responded, blushing deeper than he’d thought was physically possible.

“But, yeah, we had those two years of becoming friends. I was so worried when you and Terrence graduated, I thought you were gonna leave and I’d be alone again. But then you stayed, to get your doctorate. So I got to keep seeing you, keep spending time together. I thought you knew that I had a crush and just, you know. Didn’t return it. I wasn’t gonna let it affect anything, ever, especially while you didn’t seem to mind. And then I was 18 and you weren’t, so I really backed off until we’d graduated and you still weren’t tired of me.”

Logan adjusted his glasses again. “I… apologize for my complete and utter ignorance, Virge. I am truly unsure of how I managed to be so oblivious for…”

“Nine years?” Virgil added helpfully, smirking slightly.

“…yes. That.” He ran a hand through his hair, then paused as realization arrived. “Oh goodness, is this why you never dated anyone in all this time?”

“Nah, I haven’t dated because I’m awkward as all fuck out of costume,” Virgil said blandly. “But I’ve also yet to meet anyone who compares to you, so…”

Logan raised an eyebrow at that. “Not even the Marauder? I’ve seen how you’ve been flirting with him.”

“Okay now you recognize flirting? Not when I asked you to prom? ”

“…you asked me to prom?”

Virgil’s only response was to bury his face in both hands at once and groan.

Logan looked down at his best friend and super-partner of the last four years. He was aware of Virgil’s objective attractiveness, of course. His vision didn’t need that much correction. Virgil was tall, and muscular, and utterly committed to protecting as many people as he could, whether he knew them or not. And he had a soft side, the loveable teddy bear side, where his whole body would shake as he giggled at memes, and he spent hours on the phone with his siblings and moms in between biweekly visits, and he got misty-eyed over street cats. He was powerful, but unassuming. He was aware of his ability, and did his best to do good, but never believed he was the only one capable. And Logan felt grateful, every day, that they were friends and partners. They were an excellent team as heroes, but even better as people who spent so much time together that they practically knew each other’s minds.

Oh.

Oh, perhaps that’s what Virgil meant by having a crush. Perhaps that was why Joan kept “accidentally” sending him links to aromantic spectrum identities. And why Talyn kept mentioning quoiromantic and demiromantic attraction recently.

Oh my god, I’m a fucking idiot, Logan thought.

“I mean, you’re also a PhD at 22 but go off I guess,” Virgil replied, one eyebrow raised. Logan clapped a hand over his mouth. He’d said that part out loud, apparently.

“Virgil, I apologize for taking so long to realize it, but-”

A sudden, urgent buzzing at their wrists immediately caught both of their attention, and they leapt up in an instant, changing into costumes and exiting through the window.

~~~~~~~~~~

They were being sent to Sycamore Heights, just the two of them. No, all active supers were being called in. Fuck, no, it was Blackout level: everyone, every possible hero or neutral. Even the chaotic goods and quasi-villains.

And then the call vanished, replaced by summoning just Logan and Virgil to City Hall.

They walked in, not sure what to expect. The assistant at the front desk had his face buried in his hands. There was no bustle of activity through the halls. Virgil gently urged Logan to walk in front of him so that he could guard his back.

They entered the mayor’s office to find Joan and Talyn both sitting at the table, not the desk. Talyn’s makeup was smeared and wiped off. Joan looked older, more tired than either hero had ever seen them.

“Joan?” Logan asked softly. “What’s happening?”

“They killed Terrence,” Joan whispered. At the words, tears started to flow down their cheeks once more.

The blood drained from Virgil’s face. While he’d been flirting unsuccessfully with his best friend, caring more about relationships than the city, Terrence had been killed. He could have stopped this if he’d just been on patrol, just been anything other than selfish.

Logan made it to a chair before sitting heavily, in shock. “Who…? How…?”

“We have no idea,” Talyn said miserably. “He and The Violet Condor took each other out, somehow, because of a third villain we’ve never heard of. And we’ve got practically nothing. Just one single eyewitness who is also a terrified and definitely traumatized sixteen-year-old.”

Logan turned from his seat, and reached out to pull Virgil towards a chair too. “V, you’re gonna collapse if you just keep staring into space,” he said softly. “Sit, okay?” Virgil obeyed, numbly. “I’m here,” Logan whispered, rubbing the other’s hand. “We’ll figure out what to do together.”

Virgil shuddered, still staring into space. “I… we were gonna go to the club this weekend,” he said, voice low. “Terrence kept complaining that I never went out, and he’d convinced me to try. He was gonna help me pick out an outfit and everything.”

Talyn made a strangled sound into their hand, and tears leaked through their fingers. Joan wrapped a protective arm around them, rubbing their back.

Virgil was gripping the sides of his chair, white-knuckled in his effort to keep it together. Logan kept rubbing gently, but when the tiny ping of the intercom went off, Virgil flinched and a chunk of the chair came with him.

“Fuck, sorry Joan,” he said as the mayor went to answer the summons. “I… crap, please tell me you two have a lead. If I don’t go punch something right now…”

“We can go to the supers’ gym,” Logan interjected quickly. “You can’t fight anyone like this, Virge. Not someone entirely unknown.”

Talyn sniffed, but straightened. “I… let me tell you what we do know, okay?”

“Is that okay, Virge?” Logan asked, peering at the tall man’s face for confirmation. “We can wait-”

“No, tell us now. We need to know. We need to avenge him.”

Talyn’s mouth was a thin line as they looked from Virgil’s tear-stained scowl to Logan’s impassive mask. They sighed, and pulled a notebook over.

“This is from our sole survivor and eyewitness, Sofia. She, and she believes many others, thought she saw her family in the street and ran out of safety to find them. On reaching them, they disappeared. She says she also saw both the Condor and Terrence yelling at empty air in the last moments before… So the power appears to be some sort of mass hallucination and distress.”

“Did she see anything or anyone who appeared to be causing it?” Logan asked. His question was addressed to Talyn, but his gaze was fixed on Virgil.

“She thinks… a smile, in the debris clouds.”

“Very Carrollian,” Logan commented, trying to get any sort of reaction from his partner. “But that means either a further illusion, or an actor who did this deliberately, with full knowledge of the effect.”

“So, a whole new level of evil,” Virgil said. His eyes were bright with tears and fire. “A new low bar of wrong. But we’ll make it right,” he said, turning to Logan with determination. “Whatever it takes.”

“Whatever it takes,” Logan echoed. “I promise.”

Joan was standing at their desk, phone receiver to their ear. They slowly, slowly lowered it, staring out the window at the skyline of Harmony City. “Guys?”

“Yeah?”

“There are… visitors. At the front desk.”

“Oh dear, is it the families already? We can go-” Logan began, but Joan shook their head.

“They’re… for you. I don’t believe you’re expecting them. But… I think you should see what they want.”

“Who-?”

But Virgil was interrupted as the doors sprang open in a burst of wind. The Crimson Marauder and Gale Force strode in and stopped just beyond the threshold.

“Oh good, you’re here,” the Marauder said.

“Sorry about the door, my precious ruby over here just got a little impatient!” Gale Force said with a giggle.

Virgil was immediately in between the villains and the rest of the room, tensed in a fighting stance.

“You really don’t want to mess with me today, airbrain,” he growled, low and dangerous. “I would love an excuse to beat that fucking grin off your face.”

“Now, now, Flex, jumping to conclusions is just so rude,” the Marauder chastised. “We aren’t here to fight. Or at least, not to fight you.”

“That’s right,” Gale Force added. “We’re here to make you an offer. It’s about this new villain.”

“Let me guess, you’re in league with him and you’ve brought his demands,” Logan said cooly, braced at Virgil’s side and ready to get Joan and Talyn to safety, if needed. “We’re not interested. We don’t negotiate with terrorists or mass-murderers.”

“My dear, sweet Doctor, you’ve got us all wrong,” the Crimson Marauder said, stepping forward with wide open arms. “We lost family today. We don’t want to bargain with that mamabicho piece of merde.”

“We want to destroy him,” Gale Force said, eyes cold. “We’re here to help you do that. We may hate this city, but the people deserve the best there is.”

“And here we are,” the Marauder finished. “So. Partnership?”

Logan and Virgil made eye contact. Both had an eyebrow raised in skepticism. Eyes flicked up and down, to the villains and back, a silent conversation whose vocabulary had been formed over five years of school friendship and four years of crime-fighting as a unit. Finally, Virgil turned back to the villains with a curt nod.

“Whatever it takes.”

~~~~~~~~~~

D.R.E.A.M. Index #337505 Classification: Z.1.iv [Primary Tier Villain, Unknown] Name: Agent Whisper /////////Coined by civilian eyewitness S.R. [They] didn’t exactly leave a calling card Status: ACTIVE Civilian Name: Unknown [Unregistered] Affiliation: Villain /////////We need a new affiliation label. Villain doesn’t cover it anymore Partners/Sidekicks: None Primary Foes: [Unknown] /////////Can we list everyone? Powers: Pathokinesis - Broad Spectrum; Illusions - Broad Spectrum; Additional Powers - Unknown Costume: [Unknown] /////////Reports vary from black shapeless cloak to jumpsuit with psychedelic patterns that moved, suspected use of illusions Age: [Unknown] Height: [Unknown] Pronouns: [Unknown] H.E.A.R.T.S. Class Unknown /////////[They] could have been a student and we wouldn’t know. The power profile doesn’t match any records, however Note: All we know about [them] is that we know nothing about [them]. [They] are responsible for the deaths of the following: /////////list clipped as of 2018.11.17: see Incident Reports 18-Z-0011 through 18-Z-0047;

~~~~~~~~~~

a/n: Is Agent Whisper my worst fuckin’ nightmare? Yes, yes he is (and he’s yours, too)

[Note on timing: This story is set in 2018, when I first started writing it. The first chapter takes place in September, and we've now progressed in-world to early October]

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thesunlounge · 5 years

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Reviews 298: Afrodesia

It began with a phone call between then Best Record label manager Marco Salvatori and Dario di Pace, a producer well known for his esoteric grooves as Mystic Jungle and his work with Raffaele ‘Whodamanny’ Arcella and Enrico ‘Milord’ Fierro in freakadelic collective The Mystic Jungle Tribe (as well as their record labels Periodica and Futuribile). The two were discussing a brief yet magical period in the 80s referred to as the “Afro-Italian movement,” one specifically centered on Les Folies Studio in Milan and artists/producers such as Daniela Paratici, Ennio Ronchelli, Daniele Losi, and Roberto Barocelli, which saw forward thinking combinations of analog synthesis, vocal exotica, machine drumming, hand percussion, and live instrumentation used to craft expansive adventures in paradise disco and fantasy jazz fusion (prime examples of which are Roberto Lodola’s Marimba Do Mar, released by Best Record earlier this year, Helen’s Zanzibar and Tunis Tunis, and Losi’s Tom Tom Beat). Yearning for the timeless groovescapes of these productions...especially Lodola’s far out “Afro” mixes...and seeking to bring the same exploratory spirit into modern times, Salvatori, Mystic Jungle, and Whodamanny decided to join forces for a project called Afrodesia: an ambitious undertaking marrying the interstellar groove and future funk mastery of Mystic Jungle’s and Whodamanny’s synths and drum machines with a cast of live musicians featuring Giulio Neri, Andrea Farias, Davide “Duba” Di Sauro and the late Italo-Nigerian percussion master George Aghedo, who appeared on many of the original recordings from which this project takes its inspiration.

Simply titled Episode One, the Afrodesia 12” marks an exciting new chapter for Best Record Italy, as it is the first release of original material from the label since the early 90s. After having closed shop during that time due to poor sales, Claudio Casalini’s influential label reformed in 2014, with Salvatori joining the operation and helping it ascend towards the upper echelons of Italo reissue quality. And now, having rescued an almost unbelievable number of obscure or rare dancefloor treasures, at least a few of which have become all time favorites, change is in the air, for Salvatori is embarking on his own new venture called Spaziale Recordings, while Casalini will continue leading Best Record as always. As well, the Afrodesia 12” sees Periodica and West Hill Studio main men Mystic Jungle and Whodamanny further refining their already sorcerous production skills, this time augmenting their Casio, Yamaha, and Roland synths and old skool rhythm boxes with saxophones, guitars, and perhaps most arrestingly, dreamy Afro atmospherics and heavenly voice harmonies from Arcella and Neri. But if you’ve been following the West Hill crew as closely as I have, these forays into worlds of African and Italian pop romance are hardly as surprising as they seem, for both Whodamanny and Mystic Jungle have been increasingly experimenting with vocal and pop textures to great effect, whether through Marcelo Antonio’s JKRNDA 7” on Futuribile Record Club, the vocoder sexualities of Mechanismo, di Pace’s co-production on Modula’s deep soul groover “Argonauta (I’ve Been So Lonely)," or Arcella’s journeys into vocal sensuality and synth-pop ecstasy on The Dance Sucker.

Afrodesia - Episode One (Best Record Italy, 2019) Helen’s “Zanzibar” is referenced directly by Afrodesia’s “Deep Down in Zanzibar,” which re-purposes lyrics and licks from that classic into a joyous new form. Snake tails introduce a low down disco beat, with cowbells ringing, güiros scraping, and timbale fills crashing through the stereo field. Hats and snare hold down the groove while cymbals generate waves of static and as the kick drum cuts away, claps delay into the void. All of a sudden, a greased up funk riff enters, with Duba’s bass guitar slithering around the fretboard, all fat-bottomed warmth walking through a tropical paradise. Quacking wah guitars percolate in as the kick drum returns to guide us through Afro-Italo dream worlds, with wiggling synth leads crawling across the sky and e-pianos generating balearic atmospheres. At some point, synths tuned like 60s psych organs scream while guitars work between hypnagogic riffscapes and bluesy acid solos and if that weren’t already perfect enough, Neri and Arcella descend upon the mix with their joyous croons…the vibe whispered and sensual…fragile and warm…with a voice in each ear singing softly and trailed by synthetic pianos and saxophones that skip across sunbeams. Sometimes the vocals fade away, leaving space for wailing saxophonics and clattering percussion cascades that seem to fill up the spectrum. Elsewhere, we move into a freaky funky riff jams before devolving into pure rhythm, with minimal and mechanized beats spreading further out as claps echo and laser blast oscillations morph into galactic fluids. And from here, Whodamanny and Mystic Jungle continue leading their session players through a coastal landscapes of African fantasy…a world of bass guitar sexualisms, joyous vocalisms, balmy synthesis, fusion guitar freak outs, and screaming tenor refrains.

In “Desert Storm,” reverberating hand drums pop amidst rising waves of noise while synthesizer squiggles swim through blasts of granular static. A simple snare beat enters as one of the best basslines all year drops, recorded so hot and up-front that you can practically see the dust snapping off the strings. Double-time hi-hats tick irresistibly as everything builds in anticipation, with the kick drum finally dropping while blasted funk riffs converse ear-to-ear, space age synthesizers weave neon threads, and wah guitars hammer on and scrape. Sometimes the melodic elements fall out and we’re led through rhythmic bridges, wherein the liquid funk basslines of Duba are replaced by that more familiar West Hill synth-bass squelch and screaming voices from the cosmic void descend from a stormy sky. Interstellar noise bursts careen across the mix and chaotic chordscapes bleat over the reverb-soaked disco drum tropicalisms, all while mutant basslines stoke alien dancefloor magic. As we drop back into the live instrumentation, with shakers rattling and bass guitar and six-string working through ultra-tight jam patterns, the terrifying screams still disperse through the stereo field while horror-tinged synthesizers move through gothic themes and rainbow colorations. For most of the rest of the track, we switch off between these two moods: a squelching synth bass groove out awash in Mystic Jungle-style sci-fi boogie sorcery and a stoner groove paradise led by sunshine guitars and funk bass fluidity. During one of the live instrumentation passages, a druggy synth solo drifts into focus, all zoner cosmic magic hovering like an LSD haze…minimal, spacious, and absurdly confident in its wafting, almost apathetic flow. And capping off the track is a baked coda of machine disco rhythmics and fluid funk guitar psychedelics.

The title of “Meet in Tunis” is perhaps another nod to Helen, though the music here seems less referential than in “Deep Down in Zanzibar.” Emotive riffscapes flow over uptempo snare and hat patterns while hand drums and further palm-muted guitar textures billow in from nothingness. The beat sees kicks stomping, snares breaking and gliding, tom fills sucking air out of the skull, and cymbal taps and bell tones ringing all throughout the background...the vibe mysterious and awash in dark disco intensity, though eventually tempered by romantic feedback melodies…as if Arcella’s Casios are mimicking Alessandroni western whistles while synthetic pianos float through golden cloudscapes. The guitars sparkle like Chic and Neri’s sax sounds hollowed out and spectral as it presages the upcoming vocal fantasias and indeed, he and Arcella work through earworm repetitions of “Tunis” before ascending into rapid fires soul verses that overflow with 70’s disco pop perfection…pushing almost towards all out Bee Gees ecstasy, except devoid of overt leads and flowing instead like a closed eye daydream. It’s so ebullient and transportive, with my imagination drifting to a Tunisian beach paradise…some sort of exotic seaside fantasy overflowing with forbidden romance. There are moments where the vocals cut out as we flash into zany percussive storms, with rave whistles flying over psychosonic rhythm cascades. All the while, Duba’s bass continues slipping, sliding, and growling through timeless funk riffs, with shakers pushing the groove euphoria to a maximum. And after another passage of wild percussive ritualism, with snares, bongos, and crashing toms sitting beneath quacking riffs and whistles, we flow through saxophone sensuality into a final “Tunis” vocal refrain, which repeats hypnotically as everything else fades to silence.

Closer “Orion Beat” comes to life on blasting kicks and rocketing claps before before settling into a slamming electro beat. Burning siren waves arc across the mix, bringing that kind of freaky atonal synth psychedelia that could only come from Mystic Jungle Tribesmen. Growling synth bass lines are smothered in cavernous verb as palm-muted guitars flutter overhead and the drums are so hot and heavy, with cymbals spitting fire and snares and claps cracking through the air. There are moments where the burning synth waves usher in passages of interstellar jam perfection, with guitars holding it down while panoramas of phase-distortion and frequency modulation synthesis generates dial-tone scats and telephone tracers while bleeps and bloops are repurposed into fusion fire. Elsewhere, we move into sections of slinky stoner bass guitar riffing while harmonious pads swim through the sky, their hovering chords of heavenly majesty surrounding an electro-funk zoner jam. Then following a bridge that leans towards progressive rock, the mix reduces to just kick drums and claps before dropping into an amazing passage of Afro-tribal intensity…the vibe like entering an otherworldly jungle, wherein crazed hand drum tapestries flow through deep space reverb tunnels. The groove stutters and stomps before smoothly gliding back into electro breakdance magic…like cruising the cosmos on the tail of a comet with starshine gas trails flowing all around the spirit. And after further burning wavefronts of dissonant synthesis subsume the mind, the Afrodesia crew work themselves into dueling harmony magnificence, with synths and e-pianos descending together in pure retro-funk majesty and bass guitar ripping through romantic soul motions…brief yet so perfect as the heart is carried way to paradise realms far beyond the stars.

(images from my personal copy)

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sparda3g · 5 years

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My Hero Academia Chapter 248 Review

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Make no mistake, this chapter is all about Deku and the boys along with Endeavor. The chapter’s cover could just be a small peak at the other students, or maybe used as storytelling for elsewhere, like how One Piece or Kimetsu no Yaiba utilized it. Or maybe it is drawn for some sort of pleasure. You could imagine my interest die out. Never the less, the internship has begun and the students have lots more to work on. It doesn’t mean, however, they have to advance all at once.

The chapter opens up with Deku reciting his progress since the beginning and by that, I mean chapter 2 beginning. The impression gives that series’ closure vibe, even if it’s really not ending. On the other hand, it has a knack to recite or recap the progression to remind the fans how far Deku has come. It’s like this series’ version of Naruto’s flashback without the visual rather with words. The anime does recap with every first episode of a season, so I suppose it’s traditional. Joking aside, the idea is, Deku wants to obtain all six hidden Quirks to end the series, but that won’t be easy as the chapter’s title implied.

The hit-and-runner is apprehended, but not by the students. As said in the last chapter, Endeavor wants the students to capture the criminal before he does. In short, no pass for them. Bakugo has an arrogant attitude going, to the point he called the Flame Quirk use as a rip-off of his explosion. I did chuckle at his petty behavior by claiming to understand how Endeavor stopped the criminal. His pride is so strong.

Shoto explained how Endeavor boosted and utilized his Quirk that doesn’t necessarily used only for offense, such as Jet Burn. It amazes him knowing that he inherited the same Quirk, so he understands the capabilities and skills aren’t taken so lightly. This gives him few lessons to improve his strength; both power and usage.

Endeavor is clearly a step above them with not only stopping a criminal faster, but springboard to the next trouble. This teaches them that they must be ready to go at it all by themselves. Don’t stop at one trouble; keep going and going. While that’s important, it’s almost as if the series is ready to go all solo mode for the cast, but that’s just me. Kind of funny for Endeavor to point out his awareness on the previous battle with the glass villain’s subordinates, but he has to make a point.

Shoto is learning the variety of his Flame Quirk by watching his father’s performance. As for Bakugo, he’s getting called out on his excuses for every time he’s being criticized. The best way to approach an arrogant boy is to call out his BS; simple as that. His excuse is needed more time in winter, yet Endeavor tells him that’s not good. Like grown adults teaching to children, it’s a lesson to understand the value of time. The time of school playground isn’t warranted here in real society. A loss is much more severe than simply losing a grade point.

After saving a life from a car crash, which seems like the city is in danger 24/7, Endeavor assigned Bakugo and Shoto to work on their power, one-by-one. Shoto is halfway to master the Flashfire; the problem is, he’s jumping ahead in certain areas. Same can be said for Bakugo in which Deku points out the helpfulness for his AP Shot. I know he’s trying to be friendly, but Bakugo just won’t have it. The key is to store energy and focus on a single point to release a stronger output. It makes sense to me, since they have been releasing a powerful attack, killing their stamina and speed quicker.

As for Deku, he has to learn the Air Force aspect first and foremost subconsciously; forgetting the “secondary” part of the Quirk as he calls it. This breaks off the idea of learning all six Quirks at a rapid pace, and it’s for the best. I like the analogy of a driver. I can relate to it since I am one. It’s true that driving can be somewhat complicated than simply driving and braking. It’s no racing game, unless you have the need for speed; it takes experiences. I remember how I thought I won’t be able to drive with so much learning curve; perhaps pun intended.

The bottom line is, Deku needs to take the training one step at a time. Like trying to lift weights over your maximum capacity, you won’t able to master them flawlessly. Unlike All Might who is great exception, everyone has to take the long road. It’s a hassle, but it’s rewarding when you reach to the checkpoint. It’s cool with Endeavor for them to fail many times; as long as they make progress and soon master their skills.

Once again, I believe the incoming big war won’t be the end if the route remains this way with Deku only mastering or rather make the use of Black Whip as his next arsenal. Unless Kohei decides to have all six Quirks pop out of nowhere in a day, I don’t see it ending any time soon. I’m fine with it, so long the series continues to be intriguing. Speaking of intriguing, the cliffhanger suggests Todoroki Family reunion with guests, Bakugo and Deku, for dinner. It’s been a while since we’ve last seen the family’s status. It’s definitely a lot better than first introduction. I doubt dinner will be awkward, unless Natsu still holds a grudge. Then again, Bakugo is going as well, so there’s that.

Overall, this was a fine chapter. I mostly summarized the chapter with low input of my thoughts. It focused on training aspect, so it’s expected to only comment on the progression to be done. That being said, Endeavor is a good teacher. The idea of moving slowly is true in many circumstances. I enjoyed the step-by-step lessons from him. The cliffhanger left me intrigued to see how the family is doing, with Shoto’s friends in the mix. It’s on break however, so the reunion will have to wait.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #chapter 248 #review #spoilers

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evilasiangenius · 5 years

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Ekstasis end notes, part 2

Part 1 can be found here. Again, this is a working draft of notes, I’ll probably revise it at a future date.

Progress on the next chapter is a little slow, but one hint for what’s to come: Furiosa is on her way to the Immortan’s Tower.

Chapter 11

The Loading Gate is based on the bus gate in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior.

A comment from reader veeeeight: “On tonight's episode of Cooking With The Ace: Doing More With Less.”

Immortan Joe talks about buying more children in Vulnera, chapter 6.

AAA rating is mostly a reference to credit ratings (e.g. Standard & Poor's), but it's also a reference to the Auto Club.

Slit soldered his arm bracer on in chapter 2 of Ekstasis so as to never be unarmed, but he thought ahead; he can take it apart enough so that he can get into Bartertown without having to saw off the bracer.

The model of slavery in Bartertown is more like slavery in classical antiquity than the model of chattel slavery that most people are more familiar with, i.e. the type of slavery that existed in the transatlantic trade. More on this later.

In Vulnera, chapter 8, Slit reveals that his parents were slaves. “Slaves, the kind that get themselves made slaves because they buy their way into Bartertown with what little they got left, get in debt once they get inside, and never figure a way to buy themselves out.”

This is definitely a reference to Max wrecking the Underworld methane farm in Beyond Thunderdome.

The first reference to the slave pens in the Underworld was in Vulnera, chapter 7 when Capable talks about how she was brought to Bartertown to be sold.

I imagined this dealer like any number of stereotypical American car dealers, except he trades in slaves.

Thanks to shejackalarts for the discussions on dog breeds and dog training. A lot of it inspired this section of the chapter and many elements of how the Ace selects the new War Pups.

Now we know why Slit specifically was brought along.

For those curious, Gamble is based on a Belgian Malinois owned by shejackalarts. He is a handsome boy, a bracelet thief, a hoarder of plush toys, and a gentleman. And of course, a very good boy. https://shejackalarts.tumblr.com/tagged/gamble

The real life Gamble steals watches, bracelets, and anything else attached to wrists.

The Ace's training toy is mentioned in Vulnera, chapter 8 and in Gloria, chapter 11.

Much of the fictional Gamble's life is based on the dog's life, though I don't think the dog has ever broken his nose (that would be too sad).

Morsov just loves those cannibalism jokes.

This model of slavery means that children born to slaves are not automatically slaves themselves; they are nominally free. That means that even though Slit's parents were slaves, Slit was technically free-born, which meant that he belonged to his parents and not his parents' owner(s). This suggests that at least some slaves in Bartertown are more like indentured servants than what we would consider slaves in the transatlantic chattel slavery model more people are familiar with. In Vulnera, chapter 8, Slit talks about how he worked as a thief to try to help his parents buy their freedom.

This was how Slit was brought out of Bartertown, chained by his wrist to the Ace's belt at the end of the first part of this series, in the story titled Furiosa.

The Ace calls Furiosa by her title in public and during official work.

Slit has no reason to trust Traders, after he was abused (Vulnera, chapter 8).

The description of the shady merchant is based on Josh Helman, just aged up.

Uncharacteristically, Slit slips into the personal “I” which shows just how serious this accusation is; he is taking full responsibility and credit for his statement.

100 kliks (about 62 miles) is probably an exaggeration or a symbolic number, but it signifies that Bartertown is a regional power.

I intentionally genderswapped some of the original characters from Beyond Thunderdome, partially to show that time had passed, but also to show that it would not matter what gender these characters are in their society; it is the function that matters.

Math fun fact time: the wheel is actually continuous probability instead of discrete.

Just like Gulag meant something odd in Beyond Thunderdome that didn't match the usual definition of the term, Life Imprisonment is not exactly what it seems it should be either.

Coil and Tran have bet on various things over the course of the stories. In Vulnera, chapter 3 they bet on Slit and Morsov's fight for rank, and in Ekstasis, chapter 2, they bet on the reason Morsov went to sit with Slit.

“Rota Fortunae, Imperatrix Mundi” means ��Wheel of Fortune, Empress of the World.” This is from the medieval imagery of the wheel of fortune, as well as a reference to the Carmina Burana, from which the title of the series comes from.

Of the bets made by the two War Boys, this is the first time that we've seen Tran win.

Chapter 12

Without heels, Aunty Entity is about 11 hands, so just about 6'4”.

Aunty's Perch is the headquarters seen in Beyond Thunderdome.

It makes sense that Bartertown became very powerful not just because it was located on a major trade route, but because it had a reliable source of food and water. Perhaps it's analogous to those fast food-based economies that get built along major highways, where there's a little town in the middle of nowhere that has fast food, motels, and gasoline, and nearly nothing else. Strict control of the resources has made Bartertown and Aunty very wealthy.

Aunty's Palace is modeled after caravanserai cave dwellings (now hotels) in Göreme, Cappadocia, Turkey. The imagery of a caravanserai is to suggest the importance of Bartertown as an important trading town on a major trade route, except unlike an actual caravanserai, there are rarely visitors and the only full-time resident is Aunty.

Given the frequent storms and the relative sterility of Aunty's Perch, it seemed reasonable to give Aunty Entity a better place to live.

The wire-wrapped glass vessel with water is the same one as the one that Aunty Entity offered to Max in Beyond Thunderdome.

Aunty Entity has sole ownership of the very lucrative production of food and water, and therefore is by far the richest person in the wasteland, probably richer than Immortan Joe. With this resource control, she can afford all the finest things from Before, including wooden furniture, most of which has been burnt, crumbled, or decayed over the many years.

Like many other people in the Wasteland world, Aunty Entity is more of a title than a person.

Fruit porn.

Aunty is talking about fruits like oranges, watermelon, grapes, bananas, etc.

There's some bit of Fury Road lore that suggests that Furiosa has a peach pit. It's unlikely that she could have kept it safe from a before her kidnapping and captivity, so here it is introduced as a gift from Aunty Entity.

Aunty Entity is not just a title but comes with a style, both of wardrobe and of speech, imitating the first, the one known as the Great.

Greater wealth and an increased settlement means Thunderdome fights are now all fought by proxy, suggesting that the times depicted in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome are considered more primitive and crude. This is analogous to civilizations eschewing human sacrifice for proxy sacrifice with animals or representative tokens (like ancient Egyptian ushabti, for example). This prosperity and changing culture is a result of the gradual changing climate that is warmer and wetter than the very long drought that grips the region during the height of global nuclear winter.

Aunty Entity brings up Acosta as a challenge; the charisma hides a cunning mind for strategy.

The bed in the guest room is a charpoy bed made with hemp rope. This is a method of bed-making that comes from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Here is a cool video of a man making a charpoy bed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ4pGPFpwnA Beyond practicality, this was meant to invoke the sense of an important stop along a wasteland Silk Road.

I originally wanted to write this olive oil soap as savon d'Aleppo (olive oil and laurel oil soap) but it seemed unlikely they could get enough Mediterranean laurel where they are. Besides the lovely smell, I wanted to at least obliquely reference the Syrian conflict, which has in part deprived the world of this ancient olive soapmaking tradition.

A little reference here to that “We can do it!” Furiosa t-shirt. Tfuriosa actually sent me one from Japan. <3

Since new cotton cloth is so valuable (a water-thirsty crop), Aunty Entity/Alex is wearing a fortune in clothing. There is some serious ostentatious to the drabness. Compare that with the highly decorated world outside of Aunty's Palace,

The weight of the dress was based on the weight of Aunty Entity's original dress in Beyond Thunderdome, which was a whopping 55 kilos. Alex's dress is 65 kilos, to be precise, calculated using proportionate heights of characters and weight of the original dress.

“A somebody who has become a nobody” is the converse of the line spoken by Tina Turner in Beyond Thunderdome.

Furiosa is referring to eating pigeons and rabbits.

However the birthrate is skewed through environmental factors, social factors, and infanticide, the main idea that there are more males turns on the notion that in the more uncertain parts of the waste, people have fewer children, hide their births, and children of both genders are often raised male for their own safety. After all, healthy young females are a very desirable commodity in the wasteland, so much so that they are trafficked great distances to warlords like Immortan Joe. There are many people in the waste who might have in the past identified/lived openly as women who instead live, work, and appear on the surface to be male. Thus it looks like there are more men than women.

The title of Aunty Entity is not strictly hereditary; Aunty Entity can also adopt an heir, which has happened more than once in the past.

The tea they drink is made from chrysanthemum and rosebuds, and is based on a Chinese tea blend, continuing the Silk Road references. Furiosa is treating it almost more like soup than tea.

This style of heavy cast iron teapot is common to East Asia.

In the past, outdoor furniture like this would have been made of wood, but wood is so rare and valuable now that no wooden object would be allowed to be outside where it could crack or break due to the dry air. Of course, Immortan Joe is so rich and ostentatious that he does whatever he likes (and in fact has some wood mountings on the Gigahorse's weapons).

I had originally written a bit where Slit moves up a rank every day for 10 days because of his fighting in the line for Vulnera, but it didn't fit so I left it out. Finally was able to use the idea here.

Slit fought Elvis (now the Secundus) in chapter 4 of Euphoria.

Bucket (with his filed teeth) looks a lot scarier than he actually is.

Chapter 13

One detail that I noticed was that many vehicles including the War Rig and the Interceptor have interior curtains that are rolled up along the frames of the doors. The later Nux car in the movies doesn't, but bear with me, I have reason for the apparent inconsistency, just as the interiors are different in this first car compared to the later Nux car.

Socially awkward Morsov.

This description of Stonker was sort of a parody of more standard canonical literature.

In the Iliad, Achilles is forced to choose between glory and living a long life. Like Achilles, the War Boys choose glory.

This image of the War Boys' horseplay comes from behind the scenes videos.

Apparently flipping water bottles is still a thing.

The setting for Aunty's Perch is the same as in Beyond Thunderdome.

Te Ao is a Maori name.

The whistle is what helped Max gain an advantage in the Thunderdome fight in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Of course, the feral on trial is Max.

There is injustice to justice when a person can buy their way to favorable results.

I've always wanted to write a story about Imperator Acosta's background.

Chapter 14

Modern western culture has a strong emphasis on the individual, but War Boy society has a stronger emphasis on the collective, the community.

This scene of War Boys banging together tools and metal objects is inspired by a similar scene in the deleted scenes where the War Boys are banging on their cars and other metal items in unison.

The famous quote “Fear is the mind-killer” comes from Dune by Frank Herbert.

Doctor Dealgood is totally flirting with Slit. Too bad Slit doesn't notice.

Many bits of dialogue from these Bartertown moments come from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Writing this fight, it seemed that a possible interpretation of Slit's weird lumpy right ear is that it was caused at least in part due to cauliflowering from taking a heavy blow.

A nice double meaning for the Thunderdome Live! sign.

Slit counts the seconds as though he were on the car gauging distances.

Nux is the one who shouts, “Slit, no!”

At the very end of the story Furiosa, Slit is sold to the War Boys by his own father.

Chapter 15

Early on writing segments like Furiosa, I didn't know what the interior of the tanker looked like, but by this time I had seen some behind the scenes pictures, so it now aligns more closely to those images.

Often these symptoms can manifest in children who have survived great trauma such as during war. I learned about this from reading about the survivors of the Syrian conflict.

Using the third person neuter pronoun “it” for children is an old-fashioned way (that still persists in German). It is both to signify the lack of importance of gender as well as the status of War Pups as goods.

Dart's father was definitely an Imperator.

Smaller fighting War Boys end up being sent to Gas Town as their smaller size means they need less food and water. The larger ones stay in the Citadel.

I spent an hour or two watching Russian dashcam crash videos before deciding on a proper exclamation for Morsov.

For more backstory about Coil, Win, and Stonker, check out Vincula.

Bucket is named after a friend's dog. Bristow is Bucket's best mate and is named after the same friend's cat who has since passed on (Witnessed).

Morsov's reciting War Boy principles that he learned from the Ace in Refuge.

Bucket is referencing the Alien movie series.

Zombie stories keep going on. No specific movie, just zombies in general. I'm always slightly amused by how many people have zombie apocalypse survival plans.

Zombie's baby teeth haven't fallen out yet; it's just that he's been hit/knocked over a few times and had some teeth knocked out. So he's a lot younger than he looks and big for his age.

Stonker is alluding to Win, who was killed on the daily patrol and probably un-Witnessed. Win was Stonker's parent. More details can be found in Vincula.

Bucket is asking for Stonker to retell Frozen but then settles on Moana.

Coil inherited this small mirror from Win after Win was killed. It's mentioned in chapter 17 of Vincula.

The Ace knows what he's doing.

Since Win grew up a Trader, he had a sharp eye for expression and only really focused on the parts that would have conceivably been exposed and not always masked.

As an Imperator, Furiosa is allowed to wear a petroleum black that's been chromed with aluminum dust.

Coil is wrong about Furiosa's hesitation here, and he was wrong about Win's too.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 begins a new section of the story, which as far as my current plans are, is the middle section (volume 2?).

This is also how sailors return from the sea (manning the rail).

Many ideas about jobs such as the HazMat (Hazardous Materials) Imperator came from conversations with veeeeight who inspired many of these ideas. More on this later.

The Citadel has its own cache of clothing that it hoards in storage.

By custom, the Imperator is rarely alone and always has someone close by. The Ace is going against habit, but he knows she'll be with Coil so he's willing to let her go on her own for a little bit.

Even though the War Rig is cleaned by random Revheads, no War Boy is foolish enough to steal from the Imperator. War Boy society is fairly honest.

Furiosa's experience with the Prime Imperator can be found in the first story of the series, Furiosa.

I imagine most of the warren hallways look like the ones that Max ran through in the beginning of Fury Road.

I think the fact that the Imperator is rarely alone may imply that Acosta had enemies, despite his prominent standing.

The War Boys' soap is made from petroleum byproducts.

Memories of the past Green Place and the green place within Bartertown running together.

Clear grease is refined petroleum jelly, which is naturally black otherwise.

The items in the shrine were previously mentioned at the beginning of chapter 1. Not all of the things belonged to Acosta, but many did. The toy car appears in chapter 7 of Vincula, when a young Acosta and Ace made toy cars for the younger children to play with.

The particular tree oil is olive oil. Acetone comes from Gastown. Flower oil is lavender oil. Capsaisin, menthol, and lavender oil come from Bartertown.

The Ace is talking about finding a cache of essential oils.

Morsov is talking about opium poppies.

The Brand Imperator has many brandings all over his body from this sort of thing.

Baxter is the name of a friend's cat who unfortunately died as a kitten.

veeeeight helped me with the water plant details.

Chapter 17

Definitely a commentary on health care.

The elegant War Boy doesn't have a name yet, but chapter 20 we find that he's called Ducky (after sigmastolen's cat).

A high-ranked Organic like Ducky has nearly as much run of the Citadel as an Imperator, though mainly of the farms.

The windmills are dismantled and stored ahead of major storms.

The last War was when Furiosa lost her hand. Though there were many gains (cars, captives, etc.), there were probably too many important losses, such as Imperator Acosta and his remaining crew, for there to be a seemly celebration.

Modern high rise buildings have issues with pressure differences between the outside atmosphere and inside the building. Here, I assume the Citadel has similar issues.

These are wool military surplus blankets. The gray with blue stripes and red edging is the Australian World War II era Army issue blanket, and the sand colored one with green stripes and edging is the Australian Vietnam War era Army issue blanket.

Translated lyrics for the Russian lullaby Bayu Bayushki Bayu can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/381210/discussions/0/1471966894869331810/ Youtube has a few recordings for those curious.

In the movie, from inside the War Tower (when Slit flies in on a chain) the floor looks closed, and from outside it looks open, so I split the difference so that it's partially open toward the waste side, but closed all the way back.

Most major engineering works of the past (and even present) involve some deaths, but in this case this also alludes to ancient practices of human sacrifice while building structures.

The image of the Immortan's family and their seating arrangement at the McFeast comes from a scene of the actors workshopping in a behind the scenes video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTH2fDyAHcY&t=1m30s

The Haynes, Clymer, and Chilton are all auto repair manual books Haynes is British and Clymer and Chilton are American.

Chapter 18

Chapter 17-19 were were really troublesome writing and it took completing all three before I could see where the logical chapter breaks were.

In the movie, the Prime Imperator is wearing what I am calling the full emblem, and the Secondus Imperator is not, only a leather badge. In the movie, Furiosa wears the full emblem too.

McFeasting: http://evilasiangenius.tumblr.com/post/142858754454/mcfeasting-in-valhalla

In many parts of the world, ink is used to mark voter's thumbs so they can't vote again.

This is of course, Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen.

The Immortan's musicians consists of the Doof Warrior and the drummers.

This conversation about dumping Bucket is very similar to a conversation I overheard once in a Target, except without as much cannibalism.

Bucket is merely an outsider, Morsov is from the much detested Buzzard tribe, which shows some differences in their social standing.

As sigmastolen pointed out, brake drums are sometimes used in orchestral percussion. Bone flutes and rattles constitute some of the first instruments that humans made. There is definitely a harp in there somewhere. The only major families of instruments not obviously depicted are reed instruments and electrophones, reeds being hard to obtain at the Citadel. Many broad elements of the McFeast music scenes come from discussions with sigmastolen.

Booster is doing a very awkward cover of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The second War Boy sings Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil, a song that originally was meant to support the rights of the indigenous people of Australia, but has been twisted through the lens of War Boy society to imply it's about Immortan Joe's land rights. I can't remember who recommended this song to me, but I am pretty sure it was shejackalarts.

This old Organic doesn't have a name yet, but in chapter 20 we find out he's called Scythe.

The War Boys bring their own meaning to the music and lyrics that get distorted over time and distance. This is Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine, suggested by veeeeight.

I was once given dried jujubes stuffed with walnuts once as a snack while traveling in Asia.

Nux doesn't know that the games were canceled.

Chapter 19

Elvis was Morsov's first partner and Driver but was abusive to him. In the last chapter of Euphoria, Morsov left Elvis after encouragement from Nux. After fighting Slit, who was protecting Morsov, at a War Games, Elvis was raised as an Imperator and went on to become the new Secundus.

Originally, I had wanted to write this scene with Furiosa and Coil as a more typical love scene, but it didn't feel right coming on the heels of Morsov's story. So it's still a love scene, but here we can see that love comes in many forms and is expressed in many ways, not just sexual.

Coil is teaching her the electric slide. Many years ago in conversation with sigmastolen, we decided that War Boys would definitely line dance, and there would definitely be 100 War Boys doing the electric slide.

This sketch of Coil was drawn by Win, in chapter 17 of Vincula.

In Vulnera chapter 4, a lifetime ago, Coil and Furiosa also sat on a mechanic's creeper together in the War Rig shop under very different circumstances and with a very different relationship.

This unfinished project is referenced by Coil at the end of Lamia and says something about how little Coil really understood Win.

Those high status vehicles get protective coats, whereas when War Boys grind down their vehicles, it'll end up going to rust at some point because there is no way for them to do the same thing.

Much like Viking flyting, War Boys can settle disputes with rap battles.

The old Organic's song references his past, and is a contrafactum (filk!) of Whatever it Takes by Imagine Dragons.

Chapter 20

Kyber is veeeeight's dog. Much of the details of industrial work in this chapter is thanks to inspiration and help from veeeeight, such as the idea of Safety workers who function as Kill Switches, as well as the HazMat, water storage divers, and

Pappy is the name of a dog that belongs to someone we know who works in HazMat.

One thought I had was that later, Max would have been put into quarantine for three or four days, with reduced food and water to try to make him easier to handle. That obviously didn't work very well.

Duke, Kit, and Tempo are all named after dogs, mostly belonging to veeeeight or friends in the past or present. Kit is short for Kit-Kat.

The climate is changing in the wasteland, getting warmer and wetter after a long nuclear winter, so that new thriving agricultural societies such as the Citadel are gaining in power and population. Or perhaps power through population.

Stonker tells the Ace who did it without actually saying their names. One and Two, the Prime and Secundus Imperators.

Both Vulnera and Euphoria mention this concept of War Pups acting like a messaging system in the Citadel.

Furiosa is definitely being misgendered here, because socially, all War Boys are considered male, even if they're not. I've tried to make the distinction that people who don't really know her misgender her, and sometimes even people who are close to her refer to her as male in public.

I wouldn't be surprised if this act of kindness toward the Bridge Imperators would be something that would inadvertently lead to helping Furiosa smuggle the Wives over in the future, if the Imperators can't see as clearly who is making the crossings...

The grindstones and flour mixing imagery refers back to ancient Egyptians.

Fermented foods are a crucial way for War Boys to get enough vitamin B-12 in their diets.

Ducky is the black cat...sigmastolen's black cat, to be specific.

The Ace subsisted on the broth when he broke his jaw in Vulnera.

Ducky's question to the pup is very mathematical, asking about a maximum number using “at most” (compare this with “at least”).

I worked out an entire page of notes in my writing notebook on food bar accounting. The Citadel definitely stores a lot more bars than are being used.

It always seemed to me that Mad Max: Fury Road was both very serious and kind of absurd at the same time, which is a very unusual mix.

The old Organic Scythe greets Furiosa in Latin.

I always thought that one of the Wretched whom we see at the very end of the movie, legless and crawling out of a hole, was formerly a War Boy but one who had been sent down because he lost his legs.

Furiosa's first run to Bartertown is mentioned in the story by the same name.

Pomegranates are associated with death in ancient Greek culture, notably the myth of Persephone.

#mad max #mad max fury road #mmfr #wasteland culture #worldbuilding #fortunae plango vulnera series

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atopearth · 5 years

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Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster Part 4 - Chapter 5, Ending and Overall Impressions

I found it so funny when the commsphere Shinra dumped into the hole to the Farplane was fixed by Gippal and he asked Nooj what he’s gonna do about Leblanc since they’re risking their lives there to save Baralai from Shuyin and Vegnagun, and right when Nooj answers, the connection dies, so Leblanc doesn’t get to hear it hahahaha. Good thing is that Leblanc is a straightforward person though, so even if she didn’t get to hear it, then she’ll just go straight to the Farplane to ask him, gotta admire her spirit and her love for him! Hilarious when Brother was talking about his love for the Yuna that keeps facing forward and doesn’t mind that his feelings will never be reciprocated and then tells Barkeep that they’re cool bachelors and then Barkeep is like “Speak for yourself, sonny” in his Hypello way hahahhaha and then a female Hypello comes along LOL. Funniest thing was if you talk to Paine, she’s like, I think I saw two Barkeeps, then she thinks she needs more sleep hahahaha! Buddy talking about how he and Brother formed the Gullwings when they went all the way north to some ice place to find the Celsius (airship) and ended up being guided by a gull and also surviving by eating a gull too LOLL, I guess the gull sacrificed itself for a good cause, because without it, they wouldn’t have formed the Gullwings and then Yuna wouldn’t have joined and saved the world once again haha.

Visiting Zanarkand first since there was apparently a bug in the original game where you might not get the episode complete if you came here last, that would suck! Anyway, not surprised Maechen was an unsent considering him always popping up anywhere he wanted and knowing so many things, I wonder how it feels to live for 1000 years just to tell stories of the past to people and experience so many things. It’s crazy to think how important that handshake was in the beginning of the game, since he was actually the one in that sphere recording who was so happy to have been able to shake Lenne’s hand 1000 years ago! And now that he shook Yuna’s hand, it reminded him of the fact that he’s actually already dead. Glad to know he had a happy long life.

(I don’t know what I did wrong but I don’t think I’m getting 100% and at this point in time, I honestly don’t care anymore because I’ve spent more time being frustrated than playing this game so whatever lol) I still don’t like Beclem btw, so I don’t really care that he’s leaving Besaid lol, the only thing I agree with is that they really do need to work the Besaid Aurochs to the bone! They’re pretty bad lmao. Wakka thinking carefully about what he should name his son was nice, a name is very important, so I think taking your time is good, I’m glad Lulu really wanted him to be the one to name him. I’m surprised Wakka doesn’t think Lulu relies on him at all, like dude! She’s ready to have a baby with you, I doubt she’d do that if she didn’t think you were reliable at all! Have more confidence in yourself, Wakka! I guess everyone is getting back together, lol at Dona having practised her lines so many times for trying to get Barthello back to live with her, since he’s been at Kilika temple all this time as a New Yevon supporter. Your beliefs are important, but so is your partner, so it’s good that everyone has stopped fighting and people can come together again regardless of their beliefs, it’s about time they stopped fighting and whining lol.

Lolll at Rikku being the culprit for the hover crash at Mi'ihen highroad hahahaha! She legit didn’t even notice that the hover crashed because it was trying to dodge her and when she jumped down a ledge, she fell on a machina and that’s why it went crazy lol. She caused so much trouble on the highroad without even realising lolll. Guess it’s good that Rin only made her clean all the rubbish on the road haha. Luca…was really just Yuna walking around reminiscing the memories of spending time with Tidus here, which is nostalgic and nice. Who doesn’t miss Tidus? XD It was kinda cool that we got to fight Lucil, always thought she was pretty cool, I liked her speech and think that she’s a very strong and worthy leader. She knows how to unite and lead people. Even without Nooj, you can tell that the Youth League will be fine with her there.

That Djose machine experiment was very interesting, don’t wanna dig to repair and make it stronger though😢 Lmao at Tobli’s success now when he was in so much debt before, I guess Yuna’s influence can just make everything go well lol. Having Tromell lead the Guado is the best choice. Considering all that the Guado had done and all the reflection they’ve gone through most of the game, with the Ronsos looking forward instead of back as well, it’s for the best that we let go of the past and hope to improve the future instead. I feel like Cid had a very crappy role in this game lol, I liked him in FFX so I’m kinda disappointed that his character is rather…questionable now with the things he did to Zanarkand and not really playing a role to redeem all that. Seeing O'aka and Wantz bond again and take care of the Macalania agency together was heartwarming though, nice to see that these brothers are still doing well and are hopeful for the future!

After finding all the cactuars (lmao at the tenth one being with the “wrong crowd” aka the rogue cactuars that don’t want to fulfill their duties) and lolll, never thought I’d see a Jumbo Cactuar! Easy fight but nice to see it lol. If only it had a moustache hahaha. That boss you have to kill afterwards though, he had so much life! Luckily it was a simple fight and I earned so much AP from it lol. Legit just used two Dark Knights using the darkness skill alongside Yuna Curaga-ing haha, all I did was hold the ‘x’ button to win XD Good to see everyone respect Kimahri again and understand that he’s wise and caring. It’s nice to see that Yuna doesn’t need Kimahri to protect her anymore, so he can now protect his tribe, and although things were a bit rocky, it all worked out! Now on to some annoying sidequests! Accessing the secret chocobo ranch dungeon was easily the most tiring and annoying thing ever. It was SO time consuming. I spent so long looking and capturing chocobos in the Thunder Plains to get 4 that had a max level of 5 zzzz. Then, I had to level them and fight 7 random battles in between until they were all level 5 AND THEN the dungeon itself was annoying because it doesn’t have a map omg. I just googled a map because I couldn’t take it lol. The only good thing about it was getting the AP egg so now one of my characters can earn triple the AP yay! Otherwise, legit so tired lol. Especially since I did the Mi'ihen dungeon as well with all the wall bombing to proceed zzz.

Anyway, things just get more tedious. Was digging at the Central Expanse for the Desert key and to upgrade the machine experiment in Djose and gg, could not find the key at all so I gave up lol. I tried to fight the machine without being properly prepared using my crappy dresspheres and I died hahahaah. I learnt my lesson XD Needed the last two crimson spheres so went to the Via Infinito and dang am I getting motion sickness with all that jumping. My head hurts so much lol. Think I need to level and use my mascot dresspheres though, the elder drake kills me hahaha. Btw, the mascot dresspheres are so cute lmao, Yuna as a moogle, Rikku as a Cait Sith and Paine as a Tonberry is hilarious to look at, I’m going to enjoy using them in battle hahaha. Really cute to see Paine opening up and show her feelings and how much she appreciates Yuna and Rikku being her friends and trying their best to talk to her, it was a funny but nice scene. I never knew/remembered that when Yuna uses the warrior dressphere, her sword is the Brotherhood! That’s so sweet to see!

Kinda surprised that when you go to the Den of Woe, they figure out that Shuyin was the one controlling Nooj and that’s why he shot Paine, Baralai and Gippal when they escaped two years ago, and that now Shuyin is in Baralai’s body. Thought they established that already and that the den made people crazy because of his extreme depression and feelings of having to relive Lenne’s death with the pyreflies since they practically replay strong memories. Anyway, that’s done and dusted so time to finish levelling and go through the Via Infinito? XD Annnnd I gave up on the Via Infinito lol! Got to like level 60 (I think) but I cbb with the way stats work in this game and how you can’t max it etc, so you’re reliant on garment grids, switching dresspheres to get the most benefits such as going past 9999 HP and damage and the accessories, and the tower itself was tedious (and motion sickness inducing LOL, why am I weak) and you don’t even get much out of it (after defeating Penance in FFX and feeling no sense of accomplishment, it’s just so not worth my time lol), so yeah I can’t be bothered😬 Aaaand I spent so much time getting most dresspheres to 100%, I’m tired😖 And lol my characters are like level 99 or close to there because I was so tired of levelling myself….so I kinda cheated and stuck a rubber band on the analog stick to move it to the left and another rubber band with a battery on it to stay on the x button and voila! DIY levelling machine lmao. I just threw Yuna at the Thunder Plains and made someone constantly heal and the rest use skills to max the (annoying) Mascot dresspheres and others lol, yay.

Anyway, Vegnagun! Yes, Leblanc never was the type to just wait there quietly for Nooj to come back haha. And yes, Vegnagun is a machina created by humans so technically, it should be possible to be destroyed without it killing everyone in Spira. But anyway, the best thing was Yuna’s speech to everyone when Nooj suggested to sacrifice himself to kill Vegnagun and Shuyin. I was touched with her words tbh, because she’s right, it was so difficult to see all the fayth die in FFX because they had “no choice” and that they had to “accept” that this is what they had to do, and Yuna did accept it and do it, but in the end, she’s only left with regret, pain and the loss of people that should be beside her that aren’t. They need to stop sacrificing people in order to win, because it’s not really a win when you lose so many before it. And although it’s cheesy to have everyone combine their powers to take down each part of Vegnagun, it’s very sweet too because it feels like the spirit of the game, and it feels like we should get to finally have a happy ending. So weird to see Shuyin use all of Tidus’ skills but just with another name lmao. And as expected, Lenne comes out of the dressphere (pretty much) and so Shuyin finally gets to talk to her properly and fade together with her and rest in peace😊

And omggg the fayth appeared and asked Yuna at the flower field/farplane whether she really wants to see Tidus again! Guess I got 100% completion??? (Edit: I got 99% zzzz) I’m happy that New Yevon (Baralai), Youth League (Nooj) and the Machine Faction (Gippal) can finally unite together and understand that they’re all a part of Spira and really don’t need to fight, although I do think that the fighting between them was rather awkward? They had differing perspectives but they resulted in physical fighting and kinda like war so prematurely without really thinking about it, you really can’t blame Shuyin for being pissed that Spira is still like how it was 1000 years ago lol. Anyway, everyone’s happy now so yay. Yuna really did have another long journey in this game to save the world, so she really should and deserves to go back home to Besaid. Always great to see Yuna and Tidus get to reunite at Besaid just like how he first came about, and to reunite with everyone at Besaid too! That’s where they can both truly call home so yeah that was nice. I YouTubed the perfect ending scenes and yeah, I prefer the normal more, I don’t think it was necessary lol.

Overall, I still have mixed feelings over FFX-2. On one hand, it was nice to see Spira after the Calm and the problems that come with that alongside a new Yuna that has lost the chains of responsibility with the happy Rikku and stoic Paine that has a background that unfolds alongside the plot of this game, and just see them go on pretty carefree adventures and have fun. On the other hand, I wasn’t really a fan of the garment grids or the dresspheres but it was still okay, but I guess it just felt like since it’s supposed to be more of a fan service game, I should have enjoyed it more? But instead I thought it was kinda boring? And the 100% completion attempt (that failed) killed me lol. I guess the story wasn’t very appealing, it’s good that it was light hearted and it was fun to follow the girls around and see their perspective of things, but I guess it lacked the fun and adventure that a lot of games have, instead it was kinda just like a short story about nothing that wanted to talk about something (saving the world again) when the only thing that really resonated with me was the last bit with Yuna when she said she had enough of people sacrificing themselves for peace. Basically, all right game but not very satisfying if you wanted something more from FFX (until you see Tidus at the end I guess) and not very interesting as a standalone imo.

#final fantasy x-2 #final fantasy x 2

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bodaciouslybipolar · 3 years

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Doesn’t everyone have conversations in their head? Reacting to Episode 105 - The Bipolar Now Podcast with Mike Lardi

Doesn’t everyone’s brain work 24/7 unless they are sleeping? Doesn’t everyone’s brain talk to them? No? How does that happen?

1. Hypomania – nah I got thoughts stuck in my head all the time. I am capable of falling back asleep. Most of the time. I don’t know, does this happen? This is the path of thought I’m following. Doesn’t everyone have cascading thoughts? No? wtf? Is my brain just too active? Yeah I haven’t paid my water bill, get a bill for 900, my husband just took over the finances. Dealing with neglect in childhood made me extremely independent but not necessarily competent. I always thought I was great at managing money - lol. He has since fixed most of my inability to pay bills within 6 months after i managed the cash for 7 years. Having ADHD with bipolar is CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY. Agree! LOL i’m just nodding here. Disjointed thinking - got it. LOL are these not all normal? Looping images, sounds, patterns? No? wow.

2. Sticky thinking – attractive style thinking Oh yeah, I remember trying to categorize things and I cannot because too many things relate to one another. Monkey Horse Banana. What goes together and what does not? The monkey and the banana or the monkey and the horse? Too many categories’ things can sit in. How is this grandiose thinking, I thought grandiose thinking was about the self? Hell yeah 4 chapters, too many things to think about but they all have a space in my mind. I suppose this could get overwhelming. But I feel like my mind needs it. Is this the ADHD? I don’t know. LOL nothing important ever gets done. Well, sometimes it does. Oh there are MORE???

3. Bipolar Depression – yes you said that right. The worst thoughts about who you are. Yeah, terrible thoughts about yourself and the world and everything in general. HOLY CRAP. RUMINATIONS – I do classify this as OCD. I feel like Bipolar is just automatically comorbid with OCD and racing thoughts, I suppose the only difference is the compulsion. So the Do Over episode, Do Over is a part of ADHD thinking. There is another podcase I listen to called Translating ADHD, and they have an episode about do over. It can be because we don’t want to deal with the current issues we face. But we must know that we can’t just throw away what isn’t working. Following through really is the best possible way to deal with it, but sometimes that grass is greener where effort could be less, would be helpful for us if we could just want the other instinctively but we don’t Discipline is such an important skill for us to develop. <3

Your story of beauty and tragedy made me tear up. And your offer of using our racing thoughts and guiding them to their best purpose made me laugh with the analogy of the water slide into the straw.

Listen the episode below:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5lUZJAlm1J26qDtXxrefVE?si=nAT__qzwQz2SoMMU_bnhjw

#thebipolarnowpodcast #bipolar #bipolartools

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littlemisssquiggles · 7 years

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RWBY Musings #7: Gonna take a wild guess as to what I think Oscar’s semblance might be as I believe it could play a role in helping Jaune to finally awaken his.

According to what Ren said in Chapter 4, it is stated that one’s personality can define their semblance or vice versa. That being said, my guess for Oscar’s semblance is something to do with his mind, particularly the way how his mind is right now.

What if...and this is stretch here...Oscar’s semblance will have something to do with dreams and memories which will then grant him a more enhanced ability to connect to others through his mind.

(Fasten your seat belts and grab yourself a snack readers. This is gonna be a long one)

If we look back, the very first time we were introduced to Oscar was when he woke up from a bad dream following the scene with Salem addressing Team WTCH. To me, that scene insinuated that Oscar possibly dreamt that scene or at least bore witness to it in some form of outer body experience...maybe?

Maybe Oscar dreamt of Ozpin's battle with Cinder too and that was the first time the two actually connected mentally before Ozpin was eventually reborn inside of him. That could be a possibility, yes.

As I said before, it's a stretch. And while I don't have much more evidence from the series to back my hunch, however I do strongly think that Oscar’s semblance would have something to do with his mind.

Maybe Oscar will have a Professor Xavier from X-Men kind of power. While I doubt he'll be able to read others minds and/or lift things telepathically like Jean Gray (though that would be freaking awesome if he could); I do like the idea of him being able to connect to others mentally, more specifically through their thoughts and dreams.

It would make sense. Oscar is a man (well boy) with two souls. He is the embodiment of two minds sharing one singular form so having a semblance that reflects that would fit. Plus I really want this cause I would love to see the series do a visual representation of Oscar's mind.

Gonna use another Yugioh reference here again. Remember back in the original series when the character Shadi used his Millennium Key to enter Yugi's mind when he suspected that he was the one who stole Pegasus' Millennium Eye (which was actually taken by Evil Bakura)? In that episode, we got a nice visual idea of the inside of Yugi's mind after pairing with the Pharaoh. As viewers, we actually got to SEE what both sides of the coin looked like with each being represented by a different room and door.

If I remember correctly, Yugi's was described to be more childlike, pure and innocent, as remarked by Shadi, whereas the Pharaoh’s was basically a cold dungeon labyrinth with endless staircases leading to many intricate doors housing a variety of tricks and traps, all to deceive unwanted intruders. Some were even guarded by Duel Monsters; one of them being Yugi’s signature card: The Dark Magician, as I recall. This was done, as I believe, to reflect the complexity and overall mystery of the Pharaoh’s character as part of the story was uncovering the secrets of his past and his true identity.

Gosh! That was such a cool part of the original Yugioh and I would LOVE it if the CRWBY did something like that for Oscar and Ozpin. Fingers crossed!

While hearing the mental banter between Oz and Oscar is nice; it would be an even greater touch if we actually got to see the inside of Oscar’s mind and what it looked like, especially now that Ozpin is there. Somehow I envision Oscar/Ozpin’s mind world being no different than how it was for Yugi and the Pharaoh.

Picture this everyone...

Oscar’s Inner Mind

Imagine one room. One single room. An inner sanctum, if you will. The room is divided in half. On one side, there is a locked door with a clock cog symbol embedded on its surface to represent it being Ozpin’s room while on the opposite end, is another smaller, simpler wooden door to identify that it belongs to Oscar. At the centre of the main mind hall is a single long table with two chairs facing each other. It is here, within these uncharted walls, where Oscar and Ozpin meet within their inner mind (I need a more creatively whimsical word to describe this).

Since Oscar is still the more dominant soul, the room atmosphere changes to reflect his mood. When he's cheerful or perhaps relaxed, it becomes a tranquil afternoon sky in a large open field covered with lush green grass mirroring that of the one he would see all the time back in his home in Mistrel. When he's angry or upset, the skies turn grey and cloudy. Though they never rain, the raging thunder and lightning above are more than enough to voice his troubles.

And when he thinks of Ruby; the ambiance transforms into a beautiful sunset and what was once a grassy field becomes a vast rose garden filled with an outstretch of blossoming red roses; their gorgeous petals blowing ever so delicately in the wind.

Okay, that one was for my RoseGarden shippers but c'mon, how sweet would that be.

Picture a scene where:

Oscar and Ozpin are having a private conversation within his inner mind world when Oscar is either dreaming or meditating (perhaps a session with Ren). Oscar is frustrated with his training and Ozpin is there to offer him some reassurance. The room atmosphere is a raging storm to reflect Oscar's brooding dissatisfaction but in the instance where Ozpin is able to calm the boy down, it simmers to a gentle breeze blowing through a green meadow.

Ozpin then tries to lighten the mood by asking Oscar about how he felt about his new teammates: Jaune, Nora and Ren. Oscar, of course, gives a good review of three remaining Team JNPR members, commenting that he gets along well with everyone. And since they're all so nice to him and help him with his training, he thinks they’re cool. Ozpin quietly accepts this answer. He then addresses the real Goliath Grimm in the room. He asks Oscar about his thoughts on Ruby and the instant he does Oscar’s whole demeanour changes in an almost comical manner. The young farm boy is suddenly fidgety and by Ozpin’s keen observation, a little red in the face, barely making his point audible as he clamoured out a bunch of nonsensical facts about Ruby (that Ozpin already knew of) all summing up to him basically saying that she’s just a huntress he really, really admires for her strength and considers a good friend. While Ozpin accepts this answer as well, albeit with one of his trademark scrunch-nosed chuckles, he doesn’t however fail to point out that while Oscar’s mouth said one thing, his own mind betrayed him. For at that precise moment, unknown to Oscar, the room had changed again to match his current emotions; revealing his true blossoming feelings for Ruby (which literally take the shape of a freaking rose garden).

Imagine how perfect that would be. I know it’s just a thought however if the series somehow ever did something like this, I'd lose my shit.

The Room of Two Souls

I’d imagine the inside of Oscar's room would resemble that of his original home back on his aunt's farm cause right now it’s the only family tie he has.

However as he makes more connections with people he come to care about, the room will expand and even change depending on the person or bond he’s thinking of. Y’know how folks are always using the analogy of creating a space in their heart for someone or something they consider special to them. Maybe the same can work for the mind; in particular Oscar’s mind, with him creating a special place in his own mind room for certain cherished loved ones using the memories and feelings he’s shared with them to bring it to life within his inner mind. Imagine a place in Oscar’s mind built on the memories and sentiments of his time with Team RNJR which in turn links him mentally to all of them. Take special note of this point. I’ll elaborate more on it later in this post.

Ozpin's room, on the other hand, will be complicated with as much intricacy as the mechanical interior of a clock. As a matter of fact, I picture it being like a giant clock tower leading into another room decorated with towering portraits of different men; the faces of Ozpin's previous vessels with the memories of their lives and adventures contained behind each portrait. It within here where Ozpin’s past memories are all stored. For all the Star Vs The Forces of Evil fans in the audience, remember how in the episode ‘Into The Wand', we got to see all the past Queens of Mewni in portrait form including Moon.

I pictured something like that for Ozpin and all his past forms. The portraits not only paint a vivid depiction of what the previous Ozpins looked like physically but additionally it illustrated a perfect mosaic of all the major events in their lives; from rebirth to death.

Imagine if we got to see a portrait of Ozpin in his last form before Oscar; when he was simply known as just Professor Ozpin: Headmaster of Beacon Academy. An eternal collage all his achievements up until his demise by the hands of Cinder (maybe then we might actually learn how the events of that epic fight).

Why I’m taking my time to describe this in such detail is because I would honestly love to see the CRWBY do something like this in the series as I believe it can play a major part in Oscar’s growth as a character. Why would you create a character with two souls if you didn’t plan on showing us, the eager viewers, how the inside of his mind looked?

I’m just saying.

Now that I’ve described what I think Oscar’s semblance is, you might be wondering at this moment what does that have to do with Jaune and his semblance? I’ll explain.

I think I’m all finished here with Oscar. Let’s talk about Jaune for a bit.

Jaune’s Semblance Is....

Back in Volume 1, I remember Pyrrha mentioning that Jaune possessed a lot of Aura after using some of hers to unlock his. Ren said that once one has mastered control of their Aura, not only can it aid them during battle as a form of defense but also recovery by gradually healing their wounds. The keyword there is gradual. When Jaune first unlocked his Aura, it instantly healed his wound. Sure it was only a scratch but...the way Ren implied it is that the healing process is supposed to be slow, not as quickly as Jaune recovered.

So what this says to me is that Jaune is certainly unique when it comes to his Aura level and that is one of the clues to figuring out his semblance. What else so we know about Jaune? Let’s only focus on the positive. He’s always willing to step up and do what he can for the people he cares about. Evidence? Despite his feelings for her being unrequited, Jaune still cared enough for Weiss that he called out Neptune on the way he was treating her.

He even empathized with him a little too by helping him through his own securities by making him see the error of his shallow ways. He was so willing to cheer Pyrrha up that he tossed all semblance of dignity out the window and wore a dress.

He was kind enough to help Ruby on their very first day of school, even though they had only just met.

He even forged a new weapon for himself combining his with a memento of Pyrhha’s. He did it, almost as a little tribute to her so that, even though she was gone, the memory for her will forever live on with him and their teammates.

Jaune Arc: Helpful. Compassionate. Loyalty with a high level of Aura...I think I’m starting to piece together a semblance of a semblance here guys.

While Pyrrha didn’t exactly say that Jaune possessed an infinite amount of Aura, the fact that she said he has a lot of it; so much so that he’s able to project it around his entire body is interesting. Up until now, I haven’t witnessed any other character in the series project such a strong Aura around themselves that they glow in the same manner as Jaune did. Maybe his semblance will be something along the lines of Restoration: Because he possesses such a high level of Aura, he is able to use it to help others. This way he can use his Aura to commit amazing feats: such as shield others with it and/or even use it to heal and replenish their strengths by restoring their own Aura.

I hope it’s something morally exciting like that and true to the nature of Jaune’s character...rather than a semblance that just makes him super OP for a limited (or unlimited) amount of time, destroying anything and anyone in his path (like Mario juiced up on star power in a Super Mario Bros game).

NO! That’ll be way too typical. Way too shounen protagonist cliché!

But Squiggles, what the fudge does Oscar’s semblance have to do with Jaune’s?

To me, Jaune seems to be suffering a block right now when it comes to his own untapped power. Based on what he said last episode, the reason for his block doesn’t seem to be a physical one nor even a lack of skill. So...maybe it’s something deeper...something psychological.

Remember the point I made earlier about if Oscar had a mind semblance then maybe he can connect to people he’s close to. Here’s where that ties in now.

With a mind semblance, maybe Oscar can enter the minds of those he connects to or look into the memories. Maybe Oscar unknowingly connects to Jaune during his sleep/meditation and ends up sharing a nightmare/thoughts with him about the events of the Fall of Beacon where he’s been constantly reliving the moment where Pyrrha abandoned him to fight Cinder. We have yet to truly touch base on how each member of the remaining Team JNPR felt after Pyrrha’s death. Sure we caught a little glimpse of it back in Volume 4 (during the first and last episodes of the volume, ironically) but still not too much. I’m particularly curious about Jaune’ feelings in this as he was there that night and was the last person Pyrrha spoke to before leaving for her inevitable death.

You can tell or at least immediately assume that he’s still grieving over losing Pyrrha. Remember that episode in Volume 4 when Ruby found him training at night to an old recording of Pyrhha’s mentoring. While a touching albeit a depressing scene, it definitely highlighted my point of Jaune’s internal grief over losing a close friend.

Maybe Oscar will help Jaune by entering his mind to help him deal with his grief. Perhaps Jaune is suffering from that kind of mental block. Maybe his guilt and grief over Pyrrha is what has been holding him back from unlocking his semblance.

Now that I think about it, it would make sense if that was true. Everything about Jaune’s development and improvement from amateur warrior into a full-fledged huntsman has more or less centred around Pyrrha. Pyrrha was the first person to acknowledge Jaune’s potential and reach out a helping hand to help him grow. She was the first person to truly believe that he could be a real huntsman before he believed it himself. So wouldn’t it make sense if SHE is the reason why he can’t move forward? I think Jaune’s reasoning for not unlocking his semblance has something to do with his feelings for Pyrrha. Feelings of never fully understanding her during her time of uncertainty and grief (y’know over the whole Fall Maiden scenario). Feelings of never getting the opportunity to reciprocate his own feelings for her (?).

Feelings of feeling as if he failed her, not just as a friend but as everything: a friend, someone that she felt worthy of her love; failure as a leader cause she was part of his team. She was his teammate. He was supposed to protect her. But...he didn’t! He failed her! He probably blames himself for being so powerless that Pyrrha felt it more fit to send him away to safety rather than stay and fight alongside her to stop Cinder. Maybe if he had been strong enough and less of a weak burden, maybe he could have saved her.

He might not have been able to stop Cinder especially at her full Fall Maiden strength but at least he might have been able to save Pyrrha. If it weren’t for his weakness and incompetence as a huntsman...maybe she’d still be alive and their team wouldn’t be so broken; incomplete and...cold without her.

So maybe we’ll get a mental battle where Jaune faces off against his guilt which takes the form of Pyrrha. And after defeating that and overcoming those negative feelings, he either finally unlocks his semblance or comes much closer to unlocking it, feeling more confident that he’ll do soon. Y’know just in case the show writers wanna drag this out longer again.

All in all, those are my theories. It’s a pretty interesting theory. Kinda out there. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not canon. As I said, early. It’s a stretch.

I just think it would be cool if we got something like this. If Oscar’s semblance doesn’t have anything to do with the mind then I’ll be fascinated to see what it could be canonically.

That being said, as a top choice, I’m still gunning for another mind-based, mental semblance in the series. So far Emerald Sustrai is the only confirmed one with her mastery of mental hallucinations. Neo was technically another with her illusions however I’m not sure if she’s still part of the series. I know she’s in RWBY Chibi (then again, so are Pyrrha, Penny and Roman Torchwick and they’re all....YEAH!) and I know fans have been waiting hopefully for her to make a triumphant comeback.

However beyond those two, I want another character to possess a mental semblance especially a good guy (seriously Emerald and Neo are both villains). So yeah, we need a good guy main character to have a mental-based semblance.

CRWBY...C’MON! Golden opportunity here! OSCAR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!

I’m just saying; Oscar is right there. You’ve already set him up with having two minds. You’re basically writing his semblance for him. Make it a mental one.

Give him a cool Professor X type of awesome mind semblance! I’m calling telepathy or some RWBY variant of it. Maybe he can read the minds of people he makes either physical or eye contact with. This could be a SWEET ability to have especially in combat cause then Oscar will be able to tell his opponent’s next move before they even make it. The only exception will is that he won’t be able to read certain people who either have a mental type semblance like him or have somehow been trained to block out mental intrusion abilities like that or...are Salem. I also call the ability to enter someone’s mind through their dreams or thoughts or just by having a strong connection with to a person due to an intimate bond (like a close friendship or relationship).

Fingers crossed here!

But anyways, I think now I’m officially done with this musing. See you all in the next new episode! Hope we get another Mistral moment with Team JNRR and Oscar. As a matter of fact, each episode should contain a mandatory scene with them). Just saying.

~LitteMissSquiggles (2017)

#rwby #rwby volume 5 #oscar pine #jaune arc #oscar and ozpin #rwby rosegarden #rwby musings #rwby theories #oscar and jaune #rwby shovelknight

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randomslasher · 6 years

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A Ship Game!!

Pick 10 ships and list them out before reading/answering the questions. No cheating!

This kept appearing on my dash as a suggested post so I’m bringing it here so the Fanders can play! I’m not tagging anyone specific--everyone should play!!! It’s super fun!

1. Moxiety

2. Prinxiety

3. Logince

4. Analogical

5. Polyamsanders

6. Logicality

7. Merthur

8. Fenhawke

9. Jake/Amy

10. Shepherd/Garrus

(questions and my own answers below the cut)

1. 1 - Do you remember the episode/scene/ chapter that you first started shipping 6? Logicality came on me slowly actually. I didn’t ship it at all at first. I think if I had to pick a moment, though, it was in Moving On Part 2 when Patton said, “Thank you so much, Logan.” I melted. And from then on I could see it. It’s not one I write as much of but I get warm fuzzies thinking about it now.

2. Have you ever read fic about 2? I think so? A lot of the fic I’ve read tends to be focused on all 4 of them more than on an individual ship, but I’m certain I’ve read at least a few Prinxiety fics!

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/profile pic/tumblr? No, but then again, I don’t tend to change URLs or profile pics much.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be? I would rail and cry against cruel fate and whatever evil external forces were making them break up, because Merlin and Arthur would only ever break up due to cruel external evil forces.

5. Why is 1 so important? I ship them more platonically than romantically but THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME. The supportive, understanding relationship between Patton and Virgil is the most pure thing on this earth, and the unconditional love shared between them gives me life. Patton is so good to Virgil, and Virgil adores Patton so very, very much. I cry.

6. Which one has the strongest bond? Of the ones I’ve listed...probably Merthur. There’s just so much destiny involved there.

7. Which ship has lasted the longest? For me, or for fandom in general? Since the Sanders Sides fandom is just over a year old canonically, I can’t really say any of them. For me, probably either Shepherd/Garrus or Merthur.

8. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up? They’re not canon, so I don’t know if they can officially ‘break up.’

9. If the world were suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2, or 8? Prinxiety or Fen/Hawke? Sorry guys...probably Fenris/Hawke. Fenris is a badass warrior with the power to phase through things at will, and Hawke (my Hawke) is a mage. And they’ve already survived the blight at least once, which is sort of the Thedas version of a zombie apocalypse. Roman and Virgil might make it--Virgil is cautious and Roman is a knight--but they are still Thomas, and Thomas is a fluff. So...yeah.

10. Did 7 ever hide their relationship for any reason? Hell yeah they did. Manservant and King, plus the fact that Merlin has to hide his magic from everyone...yeah, they had to hide it.

11. Is 4 still together? I mean...it’s not canon? So...no...?

12. Is 10 canon? It is in all my play-throughs!!!

13. If all 10 ships were put in the Hunger Games, which couple would win? Dang, I don’t care for this question, because how dare you make me pit my babies against each other. (not to mention since all the Sanders Sides ships are multi-ships, there’d be like...4 Virgils, and 3 Romans, and 4 Logans and 3 Pattons...) But...I think probably either Shepard/Garrus or Fenris/Hawke. If only because they are literally characters from video games where they are total badasses. Though of course so are Merlin and Arthur... Hawke and Fenris have the advantage of magic, and my Shepherd is usually a biotic, and Garrus is just a badass...and Arthur is an awesome knight, and Merlin also is massively powerful, so it’d be hard to know who’d win out of those three. Garrus and Fenris are both pretty willing to fight dirty for the one they love, and Hawke and Shepherd are both badass as hell. And Virgil would fight tooth and claw to protect his loved ones. But they’re all also awesomely good, so what would happen is they’d rally the rest of the ships, and Jake and Amy would use their awesome detective skills (and Amy’s mad organizational skills), and Arthur would use his kingly leadership and nobility, and Roman his princely awesomeness, and Shepherd her great commanding presence, and they’d rise up and take down the capital together.

14. Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5? Virgil, probably. By trying to keep himself out of it. Fortunately the others are savvy to his self-sabotage and know how to stop it.

15. Do you spent hours a day going through 3′s tag? Nah, but I don’t really tag surf.

16. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you sink? Shepherd/Garrus. Because Shepherd dies in the end anyway, so they’d be willing to sacrifice their relationship to save the others. But I hate this question with a passion.

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shinneth · 5 years

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Gem Ascension Tropes (General: C - E)

Refer to the initial post for details on this. Here’s the full version on Google Docs.

Call-Back: There are loads of these in GA. So much that, much like Shout-Outs and Mythology Gags, really warrants its own page.

Campfire Character Exploration: Happens towards the end of Act I’s first chapter with Peridot and Greg. A similar scene plays out late in Chapter 6 of Act II; this time with Greg, Lapis, and Bismuth.

Capital Letters are Magic: Word of God imposed an unorthodox rule in the story: in the context of a gem’s gemstone, the name of the gemstone (which matches the gem’s by default) will not be capitalized. So, Peridot’s gemstone will be referred to as a peridot. However, in reference to the hard light forms of Peridot’s fellow kind that aren’t her specifically, whether individually or in a group, they are referred to as Peridots (or a singular Peridot). The rationale is that while the gem species will always be lower-case as it would be for any kind of species, the specific type of gem is more analogous to a nationality/ethnicity, which is always capitalized for humans on Earth. So, gems in their hard light forms such as Peridots and Pearls are (as far as grammar is concerned) analogous to Americans and Germans.

The only exception to the rule is quartz, which is always left in lowercase unless the type of quartz is specified, as there haven’t been any gems in canon that were ever just called “Quartz”. That might make quartzes more like another subclass, such as a “superhuman”.

Clip Show Episode: Chapter 7 of Act II can be seen as a slight parody of this, as the climax is comprised of a collection of excerpts from Peridot’s Video Wills from each chapter of Act II up to this point, including a repeated part of the message introduced earlier this chapter. Justified, since this is presented as a group-effort project (led by Amethyst) in order to awaken Steven from the Angst Coma he put himself into at the end of Chapter 1, and snap him out of his Heroic BSoD regarding his refusal to watch Peridot’s message to him.

Coitus Ensues: After Romance Ensues for Sphalerite and 5XF in This is Who I Am, it transitions to this pretty quickly. Chapter 6 ends just as they start getting into it. The following chapter timeskips this, but makes it very clear the last 41 hours was full of nothing but this for the couple.

Colorful Theme Naming: For certain characters that are exclusive to GA’s continuity, they follow a similar naming pattern to their canon counterparts, but deviate a little. Peridot’s Super-Powered Alter Ego is named Chartreuse Diamond, while the fusion comprised of Chartreuse and White Diamond is called Celadon Diamond. Steven’s awakened form is named after his mother as Pink Diamond 2.0.

Commonality Connection: 5XF and Sphalerite quickly bonded over their shared issue of trying to find out who they really are; Sphalerite hasn’t existed long enough to learn who she is independent of Steven and Peridot, while 5XF has to completely start from scratch as a Homeworld refugee learning how to live for herself for the first time in her life.

Convenient Cranny: In Chapter 7 of Act I, while Peridot and Sapphire are stuck together in a crowded terminal, Sapphire informs Peridot of a small hiding space like this that they’re closing in on and can use for cover. Sure enough, it’s found moments later; Peridot and Sapphire duck into the alcove just in time to evade Yellow Diamond and the pallified Blue Diamond.

Costume Evolution: Peridot and Lapis reform at the very start of GA with a cheap upgrade (basically stars added where diamonds once were on their original outfits). By the end of Chapter 6 in Act I, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl receive their canon CYM outfits upon reforming. Lapis is poofed midway into the final chapter of Act I and reforms in the final scene of said act with her CYM ensemble. Peridot poofs offscreen after Act I and doesn’t reform until the second scene of Act III’s opening chapter, where she finally gets her CYM upgrade.

Crapsack World: Homeworld, per canon. Probably even more exaggerated in GA, though. On top of the fact that Individuality is Illegal, it’s both told and shown through Peridot just how cutthroat the environment is for the working class. She pretty much had to be a Manipulative Bastard just to get the opportunity to learn life could be better than that.

Crisis Makes Perfect: Throughout Act III, Steven and Peridot attempt to fuse on two separate occasions – both times result in failure that neither can make sense of, but it strongly implies Peridot’s Era 2 limitations simply make her incapable of it, much to her despair. It’s later proved that Peridot can be fused with in Chapter 7, but that was through a forced fusion with White Diamond where Peridot had little to no control or involvement as Celadon Diamond. Once Peridot is so heavily triggered by Pumpkin’s death that her rage and agony actively tears apart the already-dying Homeworld throughout Chapter 8, she brings about the Darkest Hour for everyone as it becomes apparent that everyone’s going to die along with Homeworld. Steven takes it upon himself to calm Peridot down; not only to stop her destructive behavior, but to fuse their Alter Egos to make the Diamond of Miracles, which is their only hope coming out of this situation with their lives. It’s unknown at the time whether or not Pink 2.0 and Chartreuse’s fusion is the miracle diamond; it could just as easily be a fusion of Pink 2.0 and White Diamond, and presumed to be more likely given Steven and Peridot’s fusion track record. However, with some intensive Epiphany Therapy, Peridot (as Chartreuse) can finally fuse with Steven (as Pink 2.0) – they become Iridescent Diamond, the miracle-granting Diamond they need to survive Homeworld’s apocalypse – and manage to escape Homeworld just before it explodes.

Cult of Personality: Per canon, the Diamond Authority as a whole has been this for untold amounts of millennia. It’s especially prevalent with the propaganda-fed Era 2 gems like Peridot, who weren’t around during the infamous war with Rose Quartz rebelling against the order. In GA, this mostly applies to White Diamond exclusively, as Yellow and Blue aren’t around long enough to properly represent any kind of threat or notoriety to the Crystal Gems. Although Peridot has long since overcome this sensationalism in canon, she and Steven legitimately worry that this Diamond Propaganda will shift over to their Diamond Alter Egos after the main GA series, now that the OG Diamond Authority and Homeworld are gone and they’re left to guide millions of confused Homeworld gems who were abruptly immigrated to Earth.

Curb-Stomp Battle: The Crystal Gems are on the losing end of one in Chapter 6 of Act III after it’s revealed the White Diamond they’ve spent so much time fighting is a fake.

Darker and Edgier: Compared to Change Your Mind, yes, GA very much is. Word of God phrases Gem Ascension’s premise basically as “What would happen if everything just went to pot after the first few minutes of CYM?”. It’s not all-serious, all the time, but unlike CYM, there are quite a few major character deaths, not every villain is redeemed, and the story ends giving Status Quo is God the middle finger.

Darkest Hour: Chapter 8 of Act III is where this happens. The situation is bleak enough at this point, as the Crystal Gems’ spaceship has been obliterated. While Peridot finally managed to break out of the Celadon Diamond fusion, Greg is severely injured, and Pumpkin succumbs to her wounds not long after reuniting with Peridot. Prior to this, Peridot (who never suffered loss like this before) was in hysterics and highly unstable. Steven forced himself to implement tough love to drag Peridot back down to reality after the latter snapped and brutally hit Lapis, but by the time Peridot got her act together, Pumpkin died. Heroic BSoD ensues, combined with an Angst Nuke, and suddenly Peridot is unwittingly tearing up an already-dying Homeworld with her agony alone. Once she Involuntarily Shapeshifts into Chartreuse Diamond, every structure still standing on Homeworld is shattered into pieces and all forms of transport crumble, which eliminates any hope of the Crystal Gems finding another way off the planet. Peridot is so consumed with grief that she can’t hear anyone else, and the storm she conjured is so potent that it’s dangerous to even get near her. It’s looking like foregone conclusion that the Crystal Gems will be going down with Homeworld after all. Once the group spots White Diamond approaching them again, Steven realizes he has to act before White tries to force him into fusion. The only hope he and his friends have now of leaving Homeworld alive is to make the Diamond of Miracles a reality – and most don’t even believe such a being truly exists. Even more unlikely is Steven and Peridot’s Alter Egos being the miracle they’re looking for, as the pair has not been able to fuse at all. At this stage, however, Steven either has to make it work, or be obliterated with his friends.

Dawn of an Era: Garnet believes in Plans Change that Era 3 starts now, rather than a week or so prior during the Era 3 ball on Homeworld. Thematically, it is more appropriate to consider a time post-GA to be the real starting point of Era 3, given how much of a drastic shake-up there is in the status quo, as well as an entirely different setting for most of gemkind where they’ll lead vastly different lives than they had in the past two eras.

Death of Personality: Another way to interpret a pallified gem.

Delaying the Rescue: Steven attempts to defy this at the end of Act II, but the Crystal Gems begrudgingly acknowledge that they should return to Homeworld only when they’re better-prepared to take on whatever traps White Diamond has laid out for them, as well as how to fare in White Diamond’s Homeworld. They all hate having to leave Peridot to be tortured for so long, but know there’s no point in going back if they don’t know what they’re doing. Especially since Peridot made it clear in her messages that she’d never forgive them if anyone was to lose their life attempting to rescue her.

Despair Event Horizon: Once Steven and Peridot’s Alter Egos form the Diamond of Miracles, White Diamond – while she doesn’t outright say as much – is done. She was so certain she would be this mythical being and make her planet perfect again, but instead White is now reliant on the two people she tormented the most and was driven to make minions of. Her omniscient powers mean nothing now since there are no bodies left to snatch (and on top of that, she no longer has subjects to lord over), and the Crystal Gems don’t hesitate to rub it in White’s face that she has nothing left. Though it’s mostly at Steven’s behest, the Crystal Gems won’t even kill her and are quick to dismiss White once they’re finally granted a way off Homeworld. Above everything else White lost, her relevance and her legacy are what she can’t bear to lose most of all. She attacks the Crystal Gems one final time with the Energy Donation Steven granted her on request, but that was not only thwarted, but Peridot nearly destroyed her with her own attack… until she saw White Diamond’s fear, which was much more satisfying to the low-caste gem than a shattering. Added with suffering a final parting shot from Connie, which gave her form blemishes, White could no longer live with herself. The mightiest of all Diamonds being terrified of a Peridot and cracked by a human was too much to bear… and a short while later, White self-destructed.

Don’t Look Back: At the climax of Act I when the Crystal Gems escape through the terminal tunnel to their spaceship, this order from Peridot is the last time most of the Crystal Gems hear from her until they reunite with her in Act III.

Doomed Hometown: Homeworld. Once White Diamond starts a hostile takeover of her own planet at the end of Act I, infecting every bit of it with her pallification, the planet itself is drained of what little structural integrity it still had and is set to crumble. The planet itself is completely gone near the end of Act III.

Downer Ending: Compared to Change Your Mind, it certainly is. On its own, it isn’t so bad as there’s an optimistic view that everything is starting on a clean slate and will be done better this time around. But compare that to White, Yellow, and Blue Diamond all still being alive (and White Pearl) in CYM, now friendly with Steven and the Crystal Gems, and casually visiting to enjoy time with everyone on Earth… meanwhile tying up every possible loose end, including curing all of the corrupted gems. Gem Ascension concludes with many loose ends, on top of another set of gems in need of a cure outside of the corrupted.

Dream People: Peridot and Steven have grown very close together even before they became an Official Couple, so it’s no surprise that Peridot’s idealized perception of Steven who takes place of the real deal in her imagination and dreams looks and acts almost exactly like Steven himself. When Peridot is imprisoned in her own subconscious with him in Chapter 2 of Act III, she talks to him just like she would with the real Steven. And while under the impression that she’ll never see the real Steven again at the time, Peridot is more than happy to cherish her imaginary Steven as the next-best thing she’ll ever be able to have.

Dual Age Modes: Chartreuse Diamond and Pink Diamond 2.0 are not only a great deal taller, but have much more developed bodies than Peridot and Steven.

Earned Stripes: How one can interpret Lapis and Peridot gaining stars on their outfits after reforming. Even more prevalent in GA since they first reform with their original outfits only with stars added, then Lapis reforms a second time at the end of Act I with the new outfit she gained in CYM. Peridot follows suit at the start of Act III.

Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Homeworld’s fate when Gem Ascension concludes.

End of an Age: As Gem Ascension ends, it’s evident that life for the Crystal Gems will never be the same again, but for entirely different reasons from Change Your Mind.

Not only is the Diamond Authority completely eradicated, but Homeworld itself no longer exists.

Homeworld’s colonies are still intact, but have no idea what happened to their home base. It’s a safe bet many will devolve into anarchy with civil wars abound once they learn the truth.

Most gems who lived on Homeworld were rescued, but the majority are pallid and thus stuck in stasis like their corrupted counterparts. And unlike CYM, no cure has been made for either affliction, which means that is an ongoing endeavor made doubly harder.

The Homeworld gems who aren’t affected have abruptly immigrated to Earth and are just as Locked Out of the Loop as their brethren in the colonies. It’s up to the Crystal Gems to educate thousands of confused and terrified citizens what happened and what their lives will be like from here on out.

Getting Homeworld gems adapted to Earth will be hard enough, but it will be even harder for them to comprehend how to live free from Diamond rule. It won’t help when they eventually learn Steven and Peridot’s Alter Egos are the only Diamonds left in existence, as the couple have no desire to continue the regime of their predecessors.

Unfortunately, they will have to use their Diamond identities to make any headway with the colonies, meaning Steven and Peridot are doomed to be put on a pedestal and garner a lot of unwanted public attention.

Garnet invokes this in Plans Change, when she voices her belief that Era 3 didn’t start with the ball that took place shortly after Steven went to Homeworld. Instead, she believes Era 3 starts at this point, on a clean slate, where life will be completely different for everyone.

Enemy Civil War: The fate of the Homeworld colonies after the events of GA, or at least the presumed fate. The Crystal Gems intend to set things straight after they figure out how to run their own operation on Earth.

Ensemble Cast: During Act II.

Epistolary Novel: Act II

Evil Power Vacuum: Acknowledged In-Universe in Act III after the deaths of Yellow and Blue Diamond. It’s a bit hard to ignore the fact that White Diamond obliterated two thirds of her own order, so it’s painfully obvious why she seeks to have Pink Diamond 2.0 and Chartreuse Diamond under her thumb.

Exposition Beam: Used twice only in Act III. In Chapter 4, Steven uses his empath abilities while touching Peridot’s gemstone to link their minds; not only to catch up on what he missed with her over the past six days, but to figure out what exactly White Diamond did to her mind so he’ll know how to fix her current problem. This ends up backfiring in the form of a traumatic side effect, unfortunately. In Chapter 5, Peridot does this for the rest of her friends, only this time using her gemstone as a Mental Picture Projector rather than directly linking minds with them.

Exposition Cut: As lengthy as GA is, there are a few times where this is put in place. Namely a speech from Peridot that starts at the end of Chapter 6 transitions to Peridot ending her speech at the opening of Chapter 7. Another exposition speech told by Peridot is cut like this in Chapter 5 of Act III.

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elsakey · 7 years

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Boruto Episode 7 (and 6): What I Liked

Sorry I didn’t get to review Episode 6, guys. (Finals were kicking my butt -_-). I seriously wanted to share how I was breakdancing when Naruto and Shikamaru shared a screen last episode, but Marital Property was on the brain. lol.

So, what I liked about both episodes (Episode 6 & 7):

1. Boruto and Shikadai

Guys, you know I love this brotp to bits. I just love love love how the brotp of their dads has translated into a deep friendship between these two.

On Shikadai’s part, I love how he is a surrogate big brother to Boruto who tries to keep him out of both trouble and danger. Such as the last episode, when he immediately punched Boruto in the back of the head and made him apologize when he thought he did something wrong to Professor Shino. And then there was the part when they were both running for their lives like a goofy duo.

I mean, he’s so protective. Did you see his reaction when he was trying to set up Mitsuki to get beaten up, only for Boruto to volunteer to be the decoy instead? (’Shut up Boruto shut up I’m trying to get Suspicious Guy #1 over here beat up don’t go volunteering off like an idiot!’) And then how he was panicking and yelling at Boruto to “not show off” when he jumped into the lake to save Mitsuki and was taking waaay too long to surface for air? I love this kid!

And Boruto just accepts the lil brother role so easily. He tugs at Shikadai’s mouth when he insists on an apology to Professor Shino. He tries to help save Shikadai from Shino’s bugs. And the two of them tend to hang out together so often.

And in this episode, there were still brotp moments!! Like how they were hanging out together at the burger place and discussing the possible new enemies. I was almost squealing in my seat lol.

And did you guys notice that when Boruto jumped into the situation against the invisible stalker, Shikadai jumped right in with him (without a plan, might I add??) Lol, this crazy duo are bros for LYFE, I tells ya. Even against invisible ninja they work so well together!!

2. Naruto and Shikamaru

Haha, ya’ll saw this coming. Shikamaru becoming Naruto’s advisor was one of the best Naruto ending decisions ever made. Their relationship kinda parallels their sons’- Shikamaru willing to give Naruto advice and even protect him at times, and Naruto being grateful for his help and considering him a good friend.

So like I said before, I was seriously breakdancing in my seat when I saw them appear on the screen together and doing Hokage/Advisor stuff in the last episode. I could read an entire 100K+ word fanfic of these two dealing with Konoha politics all day long, and I really appreciate how far their friendship has gotten. It was cool to see these two doing serious job stuff and addressing the problems encroaching their village.

I like that we also got some moments this episode too, and it seems we’ll be getting more brotp moments next episode!!! Can’t wait!!!

3. Shino getting his props

Like I said before, Shino’s pain is my pain. I understand completely the whack to self-esteem that can come from teaching kids who don’t really respect you, and to be honest I was gunning for him to go loose with those bugs for a quick minute, lol. I’m glad that he’s finally on the road to getting the respect he deserves, and that other people in his life are acknowledging his good traits. And can I just clap for a Shino-centric episode, everybody?? YEAH!!!

4. Sumire’s friends trying to keep away her stalker

Okay guys, I’mma be honest with you for a moment.

I’m not much of a Sumire fan.

I dunno why, but I think the gist of it is that I’ve seen her character done several times over in many a shojo manga, so I’m not really feeling it...I think characters who tend to flail their arms when problems happen kinda rub me the wrong way until I get to know them.

So this episode, I actually found her waaay less annoying. I like how she was upfront with the stalker about how she didn’t like him (that sure took guts, let’s be honest).

And I also LOVED how all her friends stepped up and didn’t treat this stalker as a laughing matter. I mean, it could’ve been so easy to do so. But nope, her friends were all, ‘You know this is wrong right’ and tried to make sure he wouldn’t do anything worse. I love friendship~

5. ChoCho

ChoCho practically shone in this epi. I’m starting to like her personality more and more. She made great analogies and delievered some awesome verbal smackdowns to Stalker Boy. And her attitude with potato chips is both amusing and surprisingly heartfelt. I seriously need to know where she got the awesome Talk no Jutsu from- her mom? Her dad? Or both of them? (Can I haz married ChoKarui pls????) She’s really perceptive of other people’s problems and emotions, and I really like that about her.

But seriously, her unfliching walk and facing a kunai aimed at her back??? AWESOME!

What Kinda Confused Me:

1. Burgers

Boruto, I love burgers too but...all these burgers you be eating. Pls don’t get a heart attack. (Though maybe you inherited an immunity to salt like your dad did since he hasn’t keeled over from the amount of ramen he’s consumed in his lifetime, haha)

2. “A monster made from chakra? I never heard of that before...”

....Does this mean that the kids haven’t been told about Kurama? Or the other tailed beasts??? Hmmmmmm???

3. Boruto’s Byakugan

So starting next week we’re gonna focus on Boruto’s byakugan (YAAAAS UZUMAKI FAMILY!!! YAAAAS HYUUGA FAMILY!!! I AM LIVING!!!!!), but there’s something already irritating me- the fact that apparently no one is gonna believe he has the Byakugan for a while.

Guys, I can’t stand the trope of not-so-hidden-power-that-only-I-am-aware-of-because-it-keeps-hiding-from-other-people. Grrrrrr. Let Naruto know his son has byakugan. Let Hinata know her son has byakugan. It would be WAY more awesome than to prolong this ‘reveal’ for several more episodes and chapters, grrrrr.

Welp, that’s all folks!

#boruto #boruto anime #naruto next gen #shikadai nara #elsakey reviews #elsakey reviews boruto

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hermanwatts · 4 years

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(Today’s column is a reprint of Kevyn Winkless’s excellent and heart-felt introduction to German science-fiction hero Perry Rhodan, originally posted on the Castalia House blog on 17 August, 2017. Kevyn ended his heart-felt appreciation for the run of Perry Rhodan published in English during the 1970s with “by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera.” Next week, we shall see for ourselves in a review of ARK OF THE STARS, by Frank Borsch, the first book in the Perry Rhodan: Lemuria miniseries.)

You know The Shadow. You may know The Spider. You definitely know Conan. And after this year’s cinematic offering you also know Valerian, even if you’re not familiar with the original comics.

But are these really the most beloved SFF heroes in print? Really?

Yes, they are definitely at the top – and a convincing case can be made for Conan in particular as a global phenomenon with incredible staying power. But let me introduce you to another hero who is sadly little known in the English-speaking world: Perry Rhodan.

I stumbled on Perry Rhodan the summer we moved to a tiny town of under 500 people when I was in high school.

The nearest book store with anything like a SFF section was 100km away and the local shops’ spinners were loaded down with romance novels and basically nothing else. The library’s collection of SFF fare spanned a set of five spinners off in the back. I was frustrated at the time, but in retrospect in that age long before Amazon and before I had the financial wherewithal to participate in things like the Science Fiction Book Club[1] the fact that such a small town had a library at all was good fortune at its finest.

Needless to say I consumed that pitiful collection of SFF paperbacks in record time, and as a result was introduced to a variety of classic authors I might never have noticed otherwise[2]. I’m sure that experience deeply influences my reading and writing habits today.

To be honest, though, I have only the vaguest memories of what exactly was on those spinners. Oh, I know I first encountered James Blish and Andre Norton and Lin Carter and van Voght here but other than Blish’s print adaptations of Star Trek episodes[3] I couldn’t tell you what titles were actually there. Except one:

Perry Rhodan.

Perry Rhodan was first published in German in 1961 in a Romanhefte format – this is a slim, pocket sized format analogous to the digest pulps popular in the US at the time[4], popular for “disposable fiction” of all kinds. And disposable is what the Rhodan series was initially intended to be:

At the start, it was to be a limited run of a few dozen weekly issues of novella length, but it was quickly obvious that the initial authors K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting were on to something big, and the series was continued. The publishers are no doubt very happy they decided to see just where Perry Rhodan would go because as of today there are more than 2,900 issues in the continuous main series, more than 850 issues of the Atlan spin-off series featuring many of the same characters, and a multitude of subsidiary products including comic strips, and merchandise. The series has been so popular that it has reportedly sold more than a billion copies just in its native German, with another billion in various foreign language translations.

It was of course the English translation I found[5] – organized by Forrest Ackerman of fandom fame in the mid-60s, and resulting in Ace publication starting in 1968. This English translation and adaptation[6] unfortunately was ill-fated:

Despite being well-received by readers and eventually being popular enough to justify producing three issues per month, Ace decided to end the run in 1977 – with just a few missing pieces sputtering out until the end of 1978. Demand was high enough, though, for Wendayne Ackerman to publish another 19 issues under her own imprint, Master Publications. These were distributed only to subscribers, however, so the majority of the Rhodan reading public in the English speaking world were left with nothing but the 124 issues Ace had given them.

This, frankly, is a crying shame. Quite apart from the amazing popularity Rhodan continues to enjoy in Germany and around the world in several languages[7] the story itself is fascinating.

I can hardly call myself an expert – I came on these books years after the English translations had ceased publication[8] and have had to make do with the occasional issues I’ve stumbled on since those first three in that tiny small-town library so many years ago. But I have managed to track down more than half of the original translations over the years, and can piece together what is obviously a remarkable set of storylines.

The premise itself is nothing remarkable to us in the modern SFF scene – just the standards:

space mission stumbles on a crashed alien spacecraft on the moon and discovers mind-blowingly advanced technology

ancient space empire is decadent and crumbling

multiple “rabid” species, less advanced, are worrying at the edges and threaten to destroy everything the peaceful space empire has built up

decadent space empire gives their technology to humanity as the last great hope when they demonstrate their ability to unify under threat

You know: the usual.

But what makes this series so remarkable – at least in the portion I have read – is the seamless way the arcs link together. This is no mean feat for this style of serial, keeping things coherent and flowing despite the hands of multiple writers pushing the cart. The continuing success of the series is a testament to the skill with which the publishers have managed their stable of contributors and curated their “bible” for the series.

Also interesting is the way the story, despite being explicitly high tech space opera, effortlessly weaves in metaphysics and curious references to occult esoterica. I suppose to some extent this sort of thing is to be expected in a space opera setting that invokes the psionics trope, but the number of alchemical and other hermetic symbols that get deployed is truly fascinating – and links perfectly with the setting’s conceit that there really are “layers of being” that species transition through on their way to perfect unity with the universe.

So why is a series that is so influential and has such a devoted following completely invisible in English?

Part of the problem is that the US market was only ever exposed to the opening chapters of the story, which are generally considered fairly simple, straightforward space opera. Many critics of the time panned it as being too simplistic, with empty characters and relying heavily on tropes of human expansion that many felt were best left back in the 50s.

The basic criticisms are probably fair – the opening chapters are full speed ahead space opera, with thrilling space battles and fairly stereotypical characters who are motivated in direct ways – and while some of the issues in the early books are surely caused by rapid translation you can definitely tell these were throw-away space adventures aimed at a younger audience.

But it’s hard to see why Ace would choose to discontinue a series that was, by all reports, profitable just because it wasn’t as sophisticated as the books the reviews columns were gushing over, especially when the translations had just started moving into the far more sophisticated storylines being developed by William Voltz in the Atlan spin-off – and which he brought back to the main line when he took over as master storyline planner in 1975, slowly developing the series to aim for a more discerning older audience. Not to mention the fact that they killed the series right when space opera was enjoying a comeback via Star Wars.[9]

The only explanation I can think of is the self-consciousness of English genre fiction that grew through the 60s and into the 70s – a looming hunger to be taken seriously, to be viewed as literary equals in an increasingly consolidated market. In this environment it’s easy to see the pressure Jim Baen (who was SF editor at the time) and Tom Doherty (publisher) might have been under to reframe Ace’s SF offerings to a more “high-brow” focus.

But this concern for respectability is a great loss – by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera, and it seems to me that the English SFF landscape is poorer for having sneered this series off stage back in 1978.

[1] SFBC has changed since I was a member – it doesn’t look anywhere near as appealing now as it once did, but in those days I discovered real greats through their catalog, and several of my favourite authors I learned to love because of one of their editions.

[2] Mainly because at that point they were increasingly out of print.

[3] Co-written with his wife, Judith, under the pen-name J. A. Lawrence as short story collections between 1967 and 1978, these little pocket books by Bantam were sometimes better than the TOS episodes they were based on and I consumed them hungrily.

[4] Though actually literally the German market equivalent of the dime novel.

[5] I have assayed original German issues on a couple of occasions, but sadly my German is just not up to it – though it might have been if I’d been lucky enough to discover Rhodan when I was 13 or 14.

[6] Ackerman and his wife, Wendayne – who did most of the translation – repackaged the originals by combining issues and reformatting the English issue layouts something like the pulps they remembered from their youth.

[7] Currently: a Portuguese translation available in Brazil, and translations into Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Czech, and Dutch – Italian and Finnish translations seem to have sputtered out. There was also a short-lived pirate version in Hebrew!

[8] And long before the two reboot efforts in the 1990s and 2006.

[9] And in fact, Lucas has mentioned Rhodan as an influence – less than Flash Gordon, but big enough to shape the design of some of the space ships.

published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

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aurimeanswind · 6 years

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New Show, New Deal—Sunday Chats—3/11/18

Something-something-Amber is the Color of Our Energy.

It’s been a long week. Let’s chat.

Work/Life/Balance

Now that I have officially started my first full time job (a day job, separate from all the other things I do, don’t worry) it’s been a lesson in living this last week. A hard lesson. I have a lot to learn as far as work/life balance is concerned, but not only that, games, media, friends, and all that lies between.

It’s odd, because I think my momentum is building, right? It always feels like that when we lead up to a big event, for me, PAX East. For those who dont’ know, PAX East is my E3, as someone who has never been to E3. I plan private dinners, meetings, interviews, get to see a ton of people, and it’s the only event I annual get to spend time in as press, and it’s an opportunity I don’t take lightly. I wouldn’t know the people I do or be in the position I am now without PAX East.

So that’s a level of good, notable stress on the shoulders, on top of working a ton, and being exhausted, and my continuous inability to sleep. It’s all a mess, but it’s an exciting time, like I said, momentum building. It’s the most careful I can be about an update in my life. Laying in my bed Friday night I legitimately considered ending the podcast, shutting down IrrationalPassions.com, and calling it a day. Hang up my keyboard and quit on a dream that seems ever-more impossible to achieve.

I didn’t. But that gives you an idea of the stress and fear I live with everyday, haha. I don’t say this to scare you, reader, I give you this to let you know it’s all around. You and I, if you fall in this camp, both have been there. And for now I persevere, and I hope you do too.

I have so much exciting work to do, regardless.

Tomorrow, at 9am Eastern Daylight Time, Get Acquainted launches into the world with it’s first episode.

I’m terrified, obviously. But excited too! Go subscribe on iTunes (and now Google Play too!) and that way it’ll push to your device automatically when it launches tomorrow morning.

It’s a bit rough, I have a lot to learn and grow, but my first guest was amazing and a great sport.

Now, onto the business...

What’s On Tap

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition

I talked about this on the podcast last night but for 15 dollars its a cool expansion wrapped up here.

Basically all of the second half of Chapter 14 has completely changed, creating a new dungeon, tons of new bosses, and adding a bunch of new cutscenes.

It gives some new closure with some other characters, and is a really enjoyable new part of that game. It’s cool post-post game content, and they added Omega Weapon! Any Weapon-based bosses are my jam, so that got me excited.

Overwatch

Long story short, I got back into Overwatch, and that game is still great.

All the changes to Mercy have made me a worse Mercy player and that bums me out.

Yakuza 6

So much to say about this game. Check back with me on Friday for my full thoughts.

I’m having a very enjoyable time, in short.

Questions

If you want to ask me a question (for whatever reason) and be a part of Sunday Chats, look for my tweet every (or most every) Sunday afternoons with the hashtag #SundayChats in it. Respond with your question, and then we get busy. That’s it!

Well, I mean this question itself goes some places. But It’s hard to think of the best question I’ve ever been asked. I feel like I don’t casually get asked a lot of questions, it’s always in a formal interview setting or Sunday Chats, which is in itself formal in its own right, and those kind of more invasive or off hand or casual questions can tend to be the most memorable or the “best”.

But my friend Jono asked me very good question at the end of his interview with me, he asked me “what would you do if you knew you could not fail”.

Currently, I think my answer would be the same. Go listen to Episode 44 of Puttin’ in Work for that full answer, and that very good conversation too.

Honestly, and I know this is silly, but Pirates of the Caribbean. I feel like there was so much potential there. I’d love to see the two Davy Jones movies explored in that space! And that part of that game was lauded for its graphics and what it did. So I’d love to see them go back and really stylize the hell out of it.

But like, let’s be real just give me Frozen.

It seems like they are focusing on new worlds in Kingdom Hearts 3, which they should, and obviously Olympus needs to come back, but they’re actually doing the story of that Disney movie now, finally, so I’m down regardless. Fighting off the Titans attacking Mount Olympus is really cool.

I really don’t know. I’m definitely down for that game and I’m looking forward to playing it, but I’m really worried about how long I am gonna play it, who I’ll have to play it with (outside of you Nato, of course) and what I’ll have to do in that game.

So I’m looking forward to discovery what there is to do and see in that world. And honestly finally sitting down with a crew of four to play that game with.

Honestly, I don’t have one. I just looked up music albums fro 1993, and really nothing stands out to me. Obviously some artists do, but I barely listen to music before the year 2000.

Because I’m a lame millennial.

Sorry guys.

A very long list, obviously.

Honestly like, the thing I look forward to the most is the work. I love it. It’s a place i get to go and work and live my dream. For real. I get to meet developers, do interviews, write previews, network, party. It’s been even better since I’ve been taking a team there.

Past that, just seeing friends and meeting people I admire. Like, Greg Miller is a good friend, honestly, but I barely get to see him every year, so that’s always a bit thing. My writing team? Same thing, they’re all really close friends who I talk to all the time, and I barely get to see them in a year. Not that that bothers me too much because I barely leave my house as is, but it’s still something I look forward to.

I really hope they figure out FF15 on Switch, I think that’d be dope. Even if it ends up being Pocket Edition. If it isn't? Probably not.

But Noctis in Smash Bros?

God willing.

Please.

Lord.

Two months, tops.

But Gus would have to enjoy the company of another living cat ever in his life even once for that to happen.

Hrm.

An existential question and I don’t get many on Sunday Chats.

I’d say at least 50%. I refuse to believe more than half of the 7 billion people are inherently “bad”. I’m not so ignorant to say that there is no “evil” or “bad” people. I think it manifests itself in subtle ways that just slowly corrupt your character. I’d say 70-80%, which I know is a bit margin. A margin of 700 million people, to be exact. But I think the trouble is the people who in some way aren’t good are more easily going to step on the folks that are. Because inherently the people who are good would rather give them the benefit of the doubt. And then they acrew power, and they play games like politics because it strokes that ego, that desire to rule, and then the folk farming, taking out garbage, and cleaning homes are the truly good people, happily filling in the gaps of our world, and the assholes are running the hotels, owning the companies, and, in our case, running our country.

Some people would call it a food chain, others bullshit. I’d just say the good people of the world do trust each other, and they work together, and that’s something the shitty ones just don’t do I don’t think. Not really.

I know that all sounds super fantastical, but it’s my childish analogy that holds my worldview together. So, say what you will.

I’ll say this: I’d rather give someone the benefit of the doubt, a second change, and be wrong about them every single time then not give them that chance once and be wrong to do so.

Doesn’t mean I can’t burn bridges. Doesn’t mean I don’t learn from my mistakes. Lord knows I hope I do, but everyone deserves at least one second chance.

Except our current president.

Fuck that guy.

Dude Jimmy Johns is a notional chain. Just because they aren’t in San Diego doesn’t mean they don’t exist!

It’s fine. It’s a decent sandwich shop, all cold cuts, that’s very fast, and pretty reasonably priced.

Plus you can get their bread for 25c a loaf for day old, 50c for same day. It’s dope.

You’re Pole Dancing my man. I’m sure there are some good first-time tip videos on YouTube though!

Tomorrow. 9am. Give it a listen.

Oh and please go buy a shirt to Irrational Passions OTHER awesome new podcast called Input!

It’s our first IP Shirt in a long time!

https://teespring.com/official-input-tee#pid=369&cid=6565&sid=front

It supports our other new show and it’s awesome. I don’t try and sell things often, IP is still 100% free and so is Input, and buying this show directly supports the creators of Input. I’d appreciate you a ton of you bought it.

That’s all I’ve got.

Thank you, as always, for reading. Always.

Do me a favor. Play some games. Keep enjoying what you have in life. And keep it real.

#video games #life #sunday chats #get acquainted #final fantasy xv #pax east #pax east 2018

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topmixtrends · 6 years

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THE REPORTERS WHO covered the Beatles’s first press conference in the United States, at JFK Airport on February 7, 1964, had never encountered anything remotely similar — and it showed. They asked the band a string of inane questions — about the accents, the hair, the money. Eventually someone asked what their secret was: what did these four lads have that made teenagers around the world scream at the mere sight of them, and spin their records until the needles were worn to a nub? Paul answered honestly: “We don’t know, really.” John cheekily chimed in: “If we knew, we’d form another group and be managers.”

We can forgive the Beatles for not being able to explain the Beatles — after all, creative types of all kinds have struggled to explain the creative process, and scientists haven’t had much more luck. Even the vocabulary we use is fraught: creativity, insight, talent, genius — these are ill-defined words with overlapping meanings. And yet, we somehow know it when we see it. We admire creativity, of course; but we also want to dissect it, to understand it. Can it be captured in a formula? Is there some magical combination of nature and nurture that produces the Fifth Symphony, or The Last Supper, or the theory of relativity?

Perhaps neuroscience can help. The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World is co-authored by Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman — you may have seen him on TV, hosting PBS’s The Brain series — and Anthony Brandt, a composer and music professor at Rice University. While they don’t offer a magic formula, Brandt and Eagleman postulate three facets of creativity that might help us understand the nature of creative insight. The first is “bending” — taking existing ideas and materials and bending them into something new. A ballet dancer does this when she literally bends her body into a shape never seen before (the authors cite the late Martha Graham as an example), but so too does an artist when he paints something a little different from what he actually sees (like Claude Monet’s multiple, shimmering takes on Rouen Cathedral). The second is “breaking” — dividing something into its component parts, rearranging them, and throwing away parts if necessary. The invention of digital photography and digital sound recording are two examples — neither would be possible without the recognition that even the most seemingly continuous stimuli can be broken down into discrete “bits” of information. The authors describe the development of the MP3 — a digital audio format in which sounds are further compressed; only the most vital information is preserved (a JPEG does something similar with a photograph). Picasso, one might argue, did something analogous in his cubist portraits, keeping key elements of, say, a face — eyes, nose, mouth — but rearranging them in novel (even shocking) ways. Old rules of portraiture were discarded. The third facet is “blending” — taking two or more good ideas and combining them into an even better idea. An example from our ancient past is the fusing of copper and tin to form bronze — a material much stronger than either ingredient on its own. The blending can be mental rather than physical: novelists and filmmakers blend locations and time periods, and scientists might borrow ideas from one area of research for use in another.

The authors aim to persuade not so much by force of argument as sheer volume of representative cases. We’re confronted with a parade of examples — so many that it’s all a bit dizzying, though the many color images are a help. New topics are introduced and dispatched in no more than a couple of paragraphs. There are, as one might expect, tips for nurturing creativity in the workplace and in the classroom. These seem quite sound, if rather unsurprising — a section in the chapter on creative schooling is titled “Encourage Creative Risk-taking.”

The picture that emerges is one of perpetual tension between the familiar and the novel: if something is too familiar, it’s boring; too unfamiliar, and we dismiss it as crazy or even dangerous. The Beatles, one might argue, found the perfect middle ground — familiar enough to want to sing and dance along; dangerous enough to rattle parents. We also find that the new builds on the old; creativity, after all, doesn’t arise in a vacuum. One might point to Shakespeare: a rudimentary version of Hamlet had existed for centuries as a Scandinavian folk tale, but add a sarcastic gravedigger and a pair of buffoonish courtiers, and you have a play for the ages. And neither Mozart nor Beethoven reinvented the orchestra — they just found new ways to make use of it.

Mind you, not every great idea takes hold; as Brandt and Eagleman remind us, an idea that’s too far “ahead of its time” may simply disappear into the fog of history. Occasionally, with luck, it’s rediscovered. They give the example of Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift, first put forward in 1912. It was met with ridicule. A few decades later (sadly, after Wegener’s death) it was accepted as a cornerstone of geological science. Sometimes there are sound reasons for a new idea to be met with skepticism; sometimes it boils down to prejudice, or worse. Some German physicists dismissed Einstein’s theory of relativity as “Jewish science.”

There are a few hiccups along the way. For example, in describing an improvement to Japan’s famous “bullet train,” the authors say that engineer Eiji Nakatsu struggled to make the train quieter: “[T]he flat prow of its locomotive would create ear-shattering noise when moving at high speeds.” Nakatsu, fortunately, was an avid birdwatcher, and solved the problem by modeling the train’s “nose” on the beak of a kingfisher. The authors say that this happened in the 1990s — but Japan has had high-speed rail service on its Tokyo-Osaka corridor since 1964, and those trains were already pretty streamlined; as well, airplanes — and for that matter, bullets — had pretty sharp noses by the ’90s. So it’s not quite clear why a bird was needed for the great moment of insight.

And there’s a small problem with the authors’ treatment of the invention of the marine chronometer back in the 18th century. It was John Harrison, a self-taught clockmaker from Yorkshire, who eventually found a workable design (here the authors cite Dava Sobel’s wonderful book, Longitude). After building a succession of ingenious but bulky clocks (dubbed H-1 through H-3), Harrison finally settled on a much smaller design, known as H-4, which did the trick. The authors write that Harrison’s breakthrough was “to get rid of the pendulum entirely” — but it was already well known that no shipboard clock could use a pendulum; all of Harrison’s timepieces employed a balance wheel and spring (a late 17th-century innovation) rather than a pendulum to regulate the turning of the gears.

Here’s an odder thing: in telling how we gradually adapt to change over time, they write,

When we learn to drive a car, we begin with the small steps: checking the rearview and sideview mirrors, signaling when changing lanes, attending to the traffic around us, watching the speedometer. Later, we can drive with a piping hot coffee in one hand, talking to our spouse and kids, with the radio on and our cellphone ringing, all while speeding along at sixty miles per hour.

I humbly suggest that while we perhaps can do this, we shouldn’t.

A larger issue is the way the authors lump seemingly disparate types of creativity and invention together. They say, for example, that “the final, conclusive mobile phone will never be developed, nor the perfect television show whose appeal doesn’t fade, nor the perfect umbrella, bicycle or pair of shoes.” But isn’t our wish for innovation wildly different in each case? New mobile phone designs seem to appear almost monthly, because there’s money to be made, and more features can always be crammed into them. In contrast, umbrellas, by my estimation, have evolved only imperceptibly in the last 40 years (if it keeps us dry, we’re happy); and while shoe designs reflect changing fashions, their essential properties don’t change much. Bicycles, though a bit more technology-laden, seem to fall in that category as well. TV shows seem quite different. We want each episode to bring something new, and yet to stick within an established framework, but even if a show is successful (The Simpsons is in its 29th year) it surely has a limited lifespan in a way that the umbrella and the shoe do not. A further complication, which the book only briefly addresses, is the question of whether creativity can be objectively measured, or if it is, at least to some extent, a label we bestow on things after-the-fact: a kind of social construct. (Some evidence for the latter view can be found in the way our verdicts evolve over time. There’s a long list of novelties that were initially met with derision, only to be recognized as iconic some years or decades later — think the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, The Rite of Spring, and AC/DC’s Back in Black.)

Elkhonon Goldberg’s Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation is a markedly different affair. For starters, Goldberg, a neuropsychologist at NYU, goes into much more detail about the actual workings of the human brain. While the ever-confident Brandt and Eagleman keep things moving along like a briskly paced PowerPoint presentation, Goldberg adopts a more scholarly tone; he’s more cautious, more willing to admit that sweeping conclusions may not be warranted. On the issue of whether we can truly nurture creativity, for example, he writes,

[There] will not be a binary “yes or no.” The answer — or rather answers — will have to be more nuanced, taking into account many types of creative accomplishments, their many degrees, and many kinds of creative minds. We will also need better ways of defining and measuring creativity in numerous arenas of human endeavors.

Such caution prevails throughout.

Indeed, the two books are framed quite differently: Brandt and Eagleman believe that humans are driving change, while Goldberg takes it as a given that the world is changing, and that we need to embrace creativity and novelty in order to adapt to it. While Brandt and Eagleman stress the uniqueness of our species, Goldberg explains that at least some nonhuman primates respond to familiarity and novelty in the same way that we do (at least, their brains respond in a similar fashion). And the authors differ starkly on the possibility of computers being creative. Brandt and Eagleman say that “[w]hatever you put in is exactly what you get back out” — but as Goldberg points out, computer algorithms have created art and music “judged by humans as being different and valuable.” Besides, are we humans not in some sense “programmed”? “Since even the most unorthodox creative individual is a product of his time and a beneficiary of the previously accumulated knowledge, insight and tradition,” Goldberg writes, “any creative product generated by that individual, no matter how brilliant, is also in a broad sense derivative.”

As with Brandt and Eagleman’s book, there are a few problems. While Goldberg is clearly in favor of gender equality, his language may trouble some readers. He suggests that the contributions of men and women to creative endeavors “can be addressed constructively and rationally, without hysteria, defensiveness, or the corrosive effects of ‘political correctness.’” A lesser concern is repetition; by my count, we’re introduced to Goldberg’s two dogs — a now-deceased Bullmastiff named Brit, and an English Mastiff puppy, Brutus — at least three times. And the neuroscience is occasionally so dense as to be off-putting, as in: “modulation of the dopaminergic but not noradrenergic systems facilitate performance on lexical tasks which are based on more automatic processing and require the use of well-established semantic relationships.”

Creativity is a fascinating subject, and the human brain — that three-pound lump of exquisitely connected gray matter — is the organ that makes it happen. If you could combine the best of these two books, you’d have an entertaining and scientifically rigorous exploration of that subject.

Dan Falk is a science journalist based in Toronto. His books include The Science of Shakespeare and In Search of Time.

The post The Slippery Search for Creativity appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2oBTEsV

#Los Angeles Review of Books #topmixtrends

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