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amazing-spiderling · 9 months

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It was way too late to be my birthday... but we had a party anyway.

If I was to fail a personality test, it would probably be because my favorite movie is unironically the 1999 cult classic "Mystery Men" based VERY loosely on the comic of the same name. While I was aware of it when it came out, I was unable to see it until I snagged a copy out of a bargain bin in a K-Mart on a family vacation. It is an anomaly of a movie. A superhero movie before even Spider-Man had really made a mark. An all-star cast. An All Star soundtrack. No, really, the song All Star was written for this soundtrack. Captain Amazing was taking out bad guys in Neoprene before Ben Affleck was even approached to pull on the red suit. it made negative 87 billion dollars and was by all accounts a *terrible* film to work on, and the director never made another movie again. It is remarkable.

So when my friend said we should do a little something after Paul Reubens passed, I lost no time in putting together a little "not really my birthday anymore but I'll use it as an excuse" Mystery Men themed soiree. These were the results:

First of all, the menu. I love a theme party and coming up with fun food and drinks to serve. While there are a few specific foods featured in the movie, I decided instead to embrace the aesthetic of the setting while is like if a Cheesecake Factory was a city with a population of 3.5 million. I made pretty much everything from scratch, down to folding my own wontons and a lot of trial and error to make nori chips.

The spread! I have good friends so a lot of them helped me plate things as people started to arrive, helping to make sure the hot things stayed hot and the crispy things stayed crispy for serving.

My buddy is a trained baker, and makes specialty themed cakes as a side hustle. She's also a fan of the movie and was excited to try and tackle it as a theme- especially when she looked online and found zero (0) examples of Mystery Men themed cakes online. (Wonder why, haha.) She did an amazing version of Champion City around the sides with tons of detail, some All Star lyrics on top and even a nod to her favorite characters in the movie, the Disco Boys. The cake was yuzu flavored with fresh mango filling and super tasty! You can find her other cakes on Instagram @olive_bakes if you want to see some ADORABLE decorating jobs.

Keeping with theme, we had "Superhero Tryouts" and everyone had to come in costume as the most super version of themselves, complete with powers and origin story. We had several strong candidates, including:

Candy Cavity Crush: She uses her giant lollipop to knock people's teeth out… so they can eat more candy without fear of cavities

The Ranger: She discovered an alien crash site, since all of the aliens were dead she helped herself to their technology. She doesn't really know how to use it but that won't stop her. And she's pretty sure that when she powers up her bracelets she gets 20% stronger (with a 17% margin of error)

Unsexy M&M: Actually a supervillain with a single target, Tucker Carlson. (The application review committee considered her a hero by our standards.)

Star Soldier: He was abducted by an alien race to fight in their space war but during trading they deemed that he was too dangerous with a space blaster and equipped him only with his "star sword" before returning him to Earth. (He was only gone for about a week.)

Flamin' Hot: She received her powers at the Korean BBQ where she resides, has the power to overcook your meat. (The interview committee has considered pairing her up with a cannibal hero to better weaponize her powers)

The Zookeeper: More of a schtick than a superpower, he captures an imprisons animal themed superheroes on his home planet for the inhabitants to enjoy.

Cyber Wolf: With his sidekick "Rocket Dog", he has the ability to find just about anything on the internet… By accident. He would also like you to know that the correct pronunciation of GIF is "Jyeff"

The Real Commander Shepherd: To escape any conversation tree by using their favorite tagline. Also may or may not have left 20 rapidly breeding hamsters behind in my home

Tiger Claw: Born with his incredible tiger powers, like the ability to crawl on all fours (although it did require several months training). He is also capable of growing out his fingernails several tenths of a centimeter and using them to scratch anything. Remarkably everyone in his family was born with the same abilities.

Blood Skull: Formerly an accountant, he killed and drink the blood of his co-worker Jerry and discovered he could read the thoughts of any person at the time their blood was taken. (Generally those thoughts are, OW, which isn't actually that helpful, But the committee is potentially interested if he still has his license as a CPA)

Also these little guys who were automatically approved for membership on my super team. ^u^

(I forgot to snap a photo of myself, but I was also there, dressed as The Bowler, making me the only real hero qualified to review applications, haha.)

We watched the movie (with a pause midway for interviews, of course) ate a lot of food and had a good time. I'm really happy that I have friends who are not only willing to participate in my shenanigans, but embrace the silliness- I think it leads to a better time for us all. Looking forward to the next time we can all hang out like this. <3

#long post #mystery men #mystery men 1999 #food #theme parties nobody asked for

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brooklynislandgirl · 1 year

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Don't know if this applies but T.M.I . for the Mun- What and who influences Beth as a Muse the most? Or did inspiration come from else where?

TMI Tuesday || Always Accepting

I am so sorry you asked this, Nonnymouse, but here we go. First, let me tell you, I've been a writer for a very long time. I was a reader by the age of four, and by the age of eight, I was outlining and writing my first novel. When I was 14, my friends at school introduced me to a tabletop rpg {Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd. Edition: Dragonlance}. Role-play and writing have been lifelong past times and I become very involved in character creation. Fast-forward to 2014 when I saw CA: The Winter Soldier. Now of course I knew pertinent parts of the story from having been a comic book collector for some years, but there was something about the movie and the portrayal of SebStan that hurt my heart. I started to think the boy needed, in no particular order, a bath, a hug, a warm blanket, a kiss on the forehead, and a grilled cheese sandwich cut in half, diagonally. Two of my nearest and dearest suggested that maybe I write some fanfic, so I set about thinking about what kind of person would make a very good friend for Bucky Barnes. The first thing I decided was he would need someone who wouldn't be afraid of him, initially, and maybe someone who could patch up the kinds of wounds he might have after you know, someone dropped the Treskelion on him. Then I decided that she would need the kind of flexibility to drop everything for the sake of our tragic hero if need be, or to provide him with resources that he might need.

I wanted her to not fit into the mainstream. I wanted her to have a connection to the world without overshadowing the canons that already existed. I knew she would be Riley's sister. So she had to be part Irish. It was Beth herself who told me she was that, but more importantly, that she was Polynesian. Hawai'ian to be specific. It took me almost a year to learn about Hawai'i, the people and culture, the food and dress, the struggles of the people, and to teach myself how to read and write the language, and the slang {Pidgin}. It took me even longer to find a face claim for her and for Andy both. Eventually, when we were both happy with her bare bones/history, I decided that I wanted to get a sort of "feel" for her, and that's when Stoat {my roomie extraordinaire over at @morgansmornings} told me about Tumblr and told me maybe I could try her out here.

2016, in September, she made her debut. The first three people who ever befriended me were another OC {@multi-mused}, a John Constantine {I miss you, Nick!}, and a Loki { @lokitheliesmith}, the first and latter whom I still play with! And while I did make Beth for Bucky, she grew and changed and became a little breathing being all of her own. Some of her background stems from my own, some of her personality from my nearest and dearest friend, but like a child you have and raise, she had some fundamentals, but ultimately she created herself, evolved and changed based on her experiences and circumstances, and she's her own person now.

some influences include: 1. The lyrics for this song. 2. This tabletop role playing game, arguably my most favourite. 3. Just how cute and tiny is Kristin Kreuk? 4. And honest to goodness, all of you who have interacted with her, leaving your own marks on her, to which I am grateful for. If that isn't the questions you were asking, then please feel free to ask others, dm me, or hit me up on disco. <3

#Mahalo!Nonnymouse <3 <3 #The Turtle Speaks|Answered Asks

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sitcomified · 3 years

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fighting dragons with you

summary: amy gets injured on a case and jake pays her a visit. (pre-canon) word count: 3.5k rating: teen?

read below or on AO3

content warning for minor depictions of violence and general discussions of assault

Amy Santiago wrote her life plan when she was sixteen years old, and revisits it each month like clockwork. She figured out from a young age that if she could clearly define a set of rules to follow to a tee, then she would never fall off course. Most nights, the three inch purple binder lives on her bedside table, where after long days of life-threatening work, she can put everything into perspective. Most days, the plan works out great for her. But she’s not invincible. She still scrapes gum off her brand new shoes and wrestles with her too warm pillow.

It’s not that she can’t deal with unpredictable situations. If anything, being almost comically prepared for every possible situation has made the challenge of taking on these changes that much more thrilling. She knows she excels at tasks that demand quick thinking and efficient problem solving. Hell, that’s why she became a cop.

Amy clocked into work two minutes late that morning. She stared at her watch, already mentally preparing how she would make it up to her squad (even though a quick glance around the bullpen would let her know that she was still the first officer there for her shift.)

By the time her partner showed up nearly thirty minutes late—an occurrence so routine she’d be surprised if anyone even noticed—Amy was already wrapping up her first report of the day. As she reached across her desk for the folder containing crime scene evidence, her partner finally acknowledged her.

“Nice spiderman band-aid,” Jake greeted her, gesturing to her right hand. She sighed deeply. The band-aid in question is nursing a particularly nasty paper cut from when she tried to intercept one of her partner's paper airplanes (probably made from some actually important file) the previous day. Amy rinsed the cut under the precinct kitchenette’s ice-cold water, swearing she’d be fine for the rest of the day, but her finger still stung when she got home and discovered that her only first aid supplies were from the last time her nephews visited.

“Hello Detective Peralta,” Amy replied, trying to salvage any semblance of workplace professionalism. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure if her partner’s retort warranted a response.

“Aw, is that your pet name for me?” he joked, clearly not wanting to drop their banter, “I’m going to call you sugar...nose.” He extended a finger and lightly tapped her on the nose, to emphasize the point.

Amy flinched in response. “Sugarnose?” she repeated incredulously.

“Yeah I didn’t want it to be too sexual, and then I panicked,” Jake explained. Amy half expected him to follow it up with one of the “title of your sex tape” jokes that he was so prone to making, but thankfully, today she would be spared.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Peralta. At his best, he could be just as sharp a detective as she was. The problem was, that was rarely ever his goal. He showed open disrespect for any authority that would dare get in his way, almost as if it were a game to him. On the field, he spent more time trying to portray himself as an action movie star than trying to catch criminals, and she’d be surprised if he actually followed any of the NYPD’s safety guidelines.

Her day went on as it usually did. Finishing up reports, interviewing witnesses, investigating a crime scene—fortunately on her own. Amy had no idea why Captain McGintley was so adamant about partnering her and Peralta. Their approaches to every aspect of police work seemed fundamentally incompatible. Her captain probably just needed someone responsible to babysit New York’s Least Mature Detective (a title he had bestowed upon himself) in the field. It was a horribly sexist and insulting implication that gave Amy flashbacks to a whole childhood’s worth of classroom seating charts and group projects, where she was put in the exact same position.

That afternoon, just as she was getting into the rhythm of responding to the perpetual flood of emails in her inbox, Peralta tore her away from her work to go on a stakeout for a case they were working on, insisting that the new lead was “actually legit this time.”

When Amy left the precinct she was surprised to see that her partner decided not to “ball out” and instead opted for a sensible SUV for their stake out. “Nice ride, Peralta.”

“Thanks, I borrowed it from some guy Diaz is testifying against,” he said smugly. Amy raised her eyebrows in return. Of course there would be a catch. “Kidding,” he reassured her. “It’s the precinct’s, I’m surprised you don’t like have the license plates memorized by now.”

Amy wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or insulted by that. She had only been there a couple months, surely that wasn’t an expectation; if it was, it was never conveyed to her in the brief amount of training she received. Regardless, she responded, “very funny, but I’m still driving.”

Jake soured with mock offense, “Seriously, Santiago? You think that my driving is more dangerous than that drug ring you busted last month?”

“I’m a detective. I know that I might die on the force. What I’m absolutely not okay with is dying because some idiot would rather play air guitar than follow basic road safety concepts,” Amy said, crossing her arms. On their last stakeout, they almost lost their perp during his particularly enthusiastic rendition of Lose Yourself.

“Too-shee,” he responded, with a smirk on his lips. He was messing with her. Surely, he wasn’t actually that dumb.

Amy corrected him, “you know it’s pronounced touché.”

“Ok nerd,” he replied, and tossed her the car keys. “But I get to stay on AUX.”

She was a bit taken aback by how quickly he agreed to cooperate with her. “You’ve gotta stay focused,” she added, as she climbed into the car. There was a foul smell that she couldn’t quite place. All the more reason to rush this.

“Of course I am a professional, Santiago,” he said from the passenger seat. He reached into his bag and pulled out a giant pack of Cheetos. “Want one?” he offered. She shook her head in disgust.

“Alright, so the informant, Dragos, said the operation is based out of a pharmacy on Atlantic, I assume that’s where we’re going?” Amy asked, as she started the car.

“Toit, and also holy shit is that his real name?” Jake questioned, eyes wide. “That’s badass.”

Amy frowned. “Did you even read the case file?”

“I skimmed it. Your sentences are all so long!” he complained.

“I’m sorry that I’m thorough and I actually follow procedure. Maybe you should take a cue from me, I mean that’s gotta be why McGintley assigned us to this case,” she said.

Jake laughed at her. “I have the most arrests in the precinct,” he bragged. Amy wanted to bring up that arrests weren’t actually a good indication of community safety, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to articulate the problem to him once more.

“That’s just because you make Boyle do all your paperwork,” she retaliated. “If you did everything you were supposed to, you know that I’d be ahead of you.”

Jake stopped fiddling with the car’s radio, and turned to face Amy. “First of all, Boyle loves paperwork. And for the record, I actually asked the Captain to put us together on this case.”

“Exactly, because you knew I would do all the work,” Amy said, smugly.

“No! It’s ‘cause I knew it was a tough one, and you’re obviously super smart.” Amy blushed a little. She assumed that Jake thought as little of her as she did of him. “Plus, I heard you talking to Diaz about how you weren’t getting any good cases,” he continued. She’s surprised, not at what he noticed, but the fact that he actually cared enough to try and fix her problems. It was true that McGintley was underutilizing her—the other day he had her spend an hour finding an anniversary present for his wife.

“Well, thanks,” Amy responded with an awkward smile. “I didn’t think you cared.”

“‘Course, you’re part of the 99 now. Anything for the squad.” he said. Right, Jake was just doing what any good cop would do for their team. He didn’t actually care about her, at least not enough to not get cheeto crumbs on the seat that she’d have to clean up.

Jake points at the car’s speaker system at the next red light. “Hey, do you know how this works?”

“Do you seriously not know?” she teased. It was a strikingly simple set up.

“Obviously not, or else we’d be listening to my sick beats right now.” Jake said. “My car still uses cassettes exclusively and I fear my mixtapes would cause this lame car to spontaneously combust.”

Amy sighed. “Here, give me your phone,” she told him, and plugged in the audio cable. Immediately music started blaring out of the speakers. She recognizes the opening chords instantly and starts laughing. “Is this what you listen to?” she asked.

Jake started frantically pushing buttons on the dashboard, only making the music louder by accident. “No. I swear I don’t know how this got on here.” Amy grinned. It was so rare that she had the upper hand in embarrassing him and she was already thinking of how to capitalize on it.

“Keep it on,” she said, guiding his hands away from the speaker system before he had the chance to break something. “I like this song.” He leaned back in his seat and helped himself to another handful of Cheetos. Amy returned her focus to navigating the complex puzzle of Brooklyn traffic.

Over the revving motors and honking of angry drivers, she heard him begin to sing along. It wasn’t obnoxiously loud and it didn’t feature impromptu parody lyrics. His voice was surprisingly soft, and she wondered if he was even conscious of his singing. She was perplexed by how he managed to focus on nothing and everything at the same time. How he managed to let loose in the most tense situations. Amy couldn’t even bring herself to have that kind of fun when she specifically scheduled it in her planner.

What the hell, they were still a fifteen minute drive from the pharmacy. She joined in with the chorus. He looked at her with a confused, yet happy, expression, and ramped up his volume, and even incorporated his own dance moves. “Damn, Santiago, didn’t know you had it in you,” he said, after they finished the chorus on a tone-deaf harmony.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Peralta,” she replied, raising her eyebrows with feigned confidence.

Jake chuckled and opened his mouth; she assumed to argue, but instead he just continued the second verse. She didn’t know the rest of the lyrics, and she certainly couldn’t decipher them from the dramatic voices he was adding into it.

“Hey isn’t that our guy,” he interrupted, pointing to a man who was standing by the trash cans on the corner, despite his right of way. Amy paused and took a closer look. Surely enough, their perp, Andrei Volkov, was standing there, waiting for the deal they had been told would occur miles away.

“Oh my god,” Amy said, turning to park their car just out of eyesight.

“Luckily he didn’t seem interested enough in the two adult Taylor Swift fans, to notice we’re a police vehicle.” Jake replied. He leaned towards the trunk window to sneak a better view of their target.

“Do you want to call for backup?” Amy asked. “How many guys are there?”

“Looks like about three, and it seems pretty exposed for back up unless they have access to one of the houses,” Jake said, propping himself back in the seat. “I think we should be good.”

Amy paused for a second. Her instinct was always to air on the side of caution, but Jake had proven himself to be more reasonable than she assumed. “Okay, I trust you,” she said.

“Take my lead,” he instructed, before she could argue, and secured his vest as he left the car. Amy followed him out hesitantly, one hand hovering protectively over her radio. They crossed the street while Volkov’s back was turned. As soon as they made eye contact, Jake whipped out his gun, and cornered him against the lamp post. “NYPD, you’re under arrest.” Amy instinctually dove behind the trash can. Through the grated metal she could see both of Volkov’s men pull their guns at Jake from behind his back. She can’t quite recognize exactly which members of the operation they are. He held one hand on Volkov while he turned to face the others. They kept their guns raised in his direction.

“Here’s the deal, come back to my precinct, and I won’t shoot. I’m all alone out here.” Jake kicks the trashcan Amy is ducked behind. Then twice, to get her attention. And again. The Funky Cold Medina, she realized. Amy felt her heart pounding all the way in her fingers and toes.

“What’s the matter with your leg, pig,” one of the men scoffed. She recognized the voice. Apparently Dragos was more involved in the operation than he led on, and had intentionally given her the wrong address. Amy reached for her gun and jumped up, turning to cover Jake.

“Hey, you’re the lady with the thank you notes,” Dragos said, as he lowered his weapon, “almost made me feel bad for lying to you.”

Amy fixed her eyes in his direction, “yeah well, thanks for nothing.”

“That was a pretty weak comeback, Santiago,” Jake muttered from her side. She shot him a nasty look.

“Your partner’s right,” Volkov added, still struggling against the lamppost.

“Nice try but you’re still arrested,” Jake said, as he reached for his handcuffs and began reciting the Miranda Rights. Amy stared down the other two men in the meantime, instructing them to drop any weapons they’re carrying. They obeyed and placed their guns at her feet. Just as they began to stand up, Dragos punched Amy in the face, his ring leaving a deep gash on her cheek. The metallic taste of blood floods her mouth. Her vision was blurred as tears welled up in her eyes, causing searing pain in the open wound.

Dragos started to bolt but Jake managed to trip him and keep him pinned to the ground. He struggled to handle both perps, however, and Amy watched as the third man ran away. She tried to chase after him, but she was too shocked to make it any farther. “Dragos, you’re coming with me,” Jake said, locking the handcuffs in place. “Amy, I’m calling you an ambulance.”

She was too dishevelled to protest.

That night, Amy’s brother drove her home from the hospital where she received seven stitches. Half her face was still numb from the anesthesia. Still, the second she got her phone back, she sent a text to her partner: “LMK if you need help processing.”

Half an hour later she heard her apartment buzzer go off. She paused her episode of Jeopardy, kicked on her fluffy slippers, and answered it.

“Delivery for Lady Amy Santiago,” Jake said, in a terribly butchered British accent through the phone.

“Come up,” she replied, stifling a laugh. The meds had worn her down enough that she could fully embrace his immature humor.

Three minutes later Jake announced himself with a knock on her door. “Alright, so I got you this. Hope you like shitty diner food because that’s all that’s open right now,” he held up two take out bags. Through the semi-opaque plastic she noticed two liters of the horrible orange soda he spilled on her desk once and still couldn’t get the stain out from.

“Yeah that’s fine,” she said, gesturing for him to come take a seat. She braced herself to be tormented for her decor. Suddenly she realized Jake came all the way to her house for her. He didn’t have to be here. Why was he here? “Thanks, by the way. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

He took a seat on her couch and plopped the bags on her coffee table. She never ate there, it was reserved for drinks, at most, but she didn’t correct him. Especially when he was doing her a favor “I know. I wanted to though. I also finished processing Dragos and Volkov, all by myself,” he said.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Amy asked flatly. She peered into the bag and examined the feast he brought: two cheeseburgers, a plate of chicken tenders, one hamburger, a salad, about three orders of fries, and of course the two orange sodas. For someone who was proudly in debt, he sure spent a lot on this meal.

“Cause it’s my fault you’re like this,” he said. Amy wanted to protest, he made a bad call re-backup, but she could have gotten injured either way. “Also you’re so hopped up on painkillers there’s no way you’ll remember this,” he added, cracking a smile. He really wasn’t capable of a genuine moment.

Amy rolled her eyes at him. “It’s not that much stronger than Advill, and memory loss isn’t a side effect,”

“Hmm,” he frowned, “we’ll see about that tomorrow.”

Amy froze. “I hope you’re not here to try anything,” she said, half joking. Jake was a jerk, but she never thought he would stoop that low. Even still, she couldn’t let her guard down that much.

“Oh, God no, absolutely not. I would never take advantage of you—of anyone—like that. Is that what you thought?” Jake stammered, scooching himself away from her on the couch. He looked as if he had seen a ghost or something, and his messy hair only added to the effect.

“I dunno,” Amy said, “I guess I can’t be too trusting.” She took out a container full of fries and handed him one as a peace offering.

“Right, right, men are a nightmare,” Jake agreed through a mouthful of potato. He even didn’t try to distance himself from “other men”, or go with the “but I’d never do that route”. Her chest was heavy with guilt at the thought of making such an implication.

“No, no, no, it’s fine, really. Sorry for accusing you.” Amy said.

“It’s not fine. And you shouldn’t apologize because that’s a real fear. It’s on me,” he replied. She looked at him with confusion. It was rare for guys to understand that much. “And I’m sorry for being such a dick to you these past few months,” he blurted out.

Amy couldn’t believe that the guy sitting in her apartment was the same one who decided to address her via paper airplane for a week, and only stopped when he ran out of papers on his desk. “Hey I wasn’t much better. I was so obsessed with out-doing you, I never went to you for help—” he shot her an expectant glance,“—also I’m sorry for ratting you out all the time.” He nodded, and helped himself to another fry from her container.

“Why are you so competitive?” he asked through a mouthful of potato. She noticed a bit of ketchup on his chin and reached for a napkin.

“I have seven brothers,” she provided him with the stock answer.

“I know that,” he said, “that doesn’t answer my question.”

She pauses. “My parents were always comparing us, so many siblings meant the bar for anything was set super high, I don’t know, that sort of stuff.”

“But why do you care?” he pushed. She hadn’t ever considered that before. The endless treadmill she shoved herself on was just always there. Even when she knew the goals she set were irrational she would just keep running, because the idea of falling off was so much worse.

“I guess it makes me worried, if I’m not measuring up,” she confessed. “I feel like I did something wrong.”

“You know you’re crazy, right?” he asked, smirking at her.

Amy rifled through the bottom of the takeout bag. “Did they give you any mustard packets?” she asked.

“Nah. But, as your self-appointed guardian angel, I will go to the bodega and get you some,” he said, picking up the jacket he threw on her floral carpet.

“You don’t have to do that, really,” Amy insisted.

He looked back at her as if the very notion were ridiculous. “Amy, you just got injured in the line of duty. If all you want is mustard, you can have all the mustard in the world.”

“Thanks, Jake. You’re a really good friend,” she ventured. She waited for a moment, to see how he would respond, hopefully solidifying their friendship. Maybe she was friendzoning advances she wasn’t even aware of. Maybe he was confused, and he was just doing a nice thing for a coworker.

“You too,” Jake said. However he interpreted all the implications, he didn’t let her know. “When I get back we’re watching Die-Hard!” he added as he rushed out the door. Amy smiled to herself as she heard the lock click into place.

#tropetember #b99 #brooklyn nine nine #b99 fic #brooklyn nine nine fic #jake peralta #amy santiago #tropetember day 1 #peraltiago #peraltiago fic #my fic

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partnersatfazbear · 3 years

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Can’t believe this is the 25th page I’ve scanned! Sorry it ended up being mostly for my William OC. As I talked about, I redesigned his mask a little and I really love how it turned out. I’m trying to figure out the bulk of my story still, but I do draw ideas that come up.

The little comic has a funny story behind it. My wife got me a set of rabbit ears and we have a laundry line in our apartment, so guess who keeps running into them. My wife jokingly said something akin to, “At least they aren’t springlocks” and so I drew William, with the Spring Bonnie head, trying to do laundry... and SNAP.

The very top sketch with Henry... I don’t know if I want to do an artwork based on the specific song or a short song-comic (is this a thing? comics to lyrics? I used to draw them a lot as a teenager..) Maybe you guys can give me an opinion... as I can’t decide on the angle I want. lol

Another large sketch of the FNAF 1 poster I’m drawing.

The bottom is another sketch of Fredtrap (Henry’s Springtrap, essentially) which is an AU I have set on the far backburner.

For me personally, I’ve had an upset stomach. Can’t tell if it’s because of financial issues offsetting my diet to crap food or mild food poisoning. I should be fine, though.

I also had a long morning going through merchandise from my old fandom and it’s been difficult on me (I was driven out this past October, so it isn’t something I can get back into). I really wanna get rid of stuff, namely to keep us financially secure and clear space for when we do move again, but... I just really mourn the loss still. I try to look at it as a fun journey I had and that FNAF is my new journey. It’s really hard though.

On the bright side I got some writing done yesterday as well as more comic stuff. I just wish I wasn’t working when I’m sick to my stomach, but I don’t have anything else to do. I also can’t lag on the comic right now, since the pages have a lot of detail:

I regret making Henry an absolute master at woodwork. And kinda rich.

#FNAF 1 #William Afton #Henry Emily #Willry #Helliam #OC #Fredtrap #FNAF comics

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dvoz-alternate · 4 years

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Idol Room Scenario

Request: can you do a mingi x reader when the reader is their senior in a gg (kinda like bp, twice, etc) and both groups go to idol room for an episode 🥺

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AN: I have actually really wanted to make something like this for the longest time and now I’m able to make it for you! I am pulling some of my ideas from a post I made earlier this year! Also the Queen of Hearts is my favorite card in the deck and the group is based on a straight royal flush sooo…. For the sake of the fic you are born just a few months before Seonghwa, so Jan-Mar.

Summary: Part of an all girl group you are the leader of Royals. Both groups have heard of each other and seen each others works/MVs/live streams/etc., but have never met in person and happen to be fans of each other. For the most part all they know are names and faces. Royals and Ateez are doing a collab on an album and their companies thought it would be a good way to introduce each group through the idol room.

Word count: ~1500

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The MC looked over towards ATEEZ’s leader, “So, it’s true that you are going to be working with the Royals on your upcoming album?” “It is true and we are really looking forward to doing this collab. There is going to be a lot of new concepts between our groups,” Hongjoong said leaning forward slightly on his stool. The other MC spoke up, “And neither group has met in person right?” The group of boys all shook their heads. “Perfect than this would be a perfect time for us to introduce the girl group Royals to the set!” the MC gestured off stage to where you and four other girls entered from. Mingi’s jaw dropped slightly seeing one of his favorite groups join them for the episode. Yunho noticed the look on Mingi’s face and casually raised a hand to close his mouth. His eyes instantly locking on your form.

Smiling you walked onto the set with two of your members in front of you and two behind you lining up next to the MC who introduced your group. Glancing at the MCs and then to the boy group ATEEZ you sucked in a quick breath before quickly recovering your smile. Your members have teased you before about your attraction for the giant rapper, but now you were finally seeing him in person. Bowing you introduce your group flashing a stunning smile. You were partially dreading your personal introduction but you pushed on. “Hi I’m (Y/N), the leader of the Royals and the queen of hearts, and more specifically the queen of your heart,” you gave a wink and a finger heart to the camera and to the boys before immediately hiding behind your taller group members who chuckled at your embarrassment. Mingi and the rest of the group couldn’t help but remember their first person intros when they first started.

Sitting in the stools the MCs turned to view both groups, “Alright, so what do you know about each other.” You shared a look with Hongjoong and he nodded at you to take the lead, “In all honesty the most we know of each other is each other’s name.” “And position within each group,” Hongjoong added. Feeling eyes on you, you slowly moved your attention from the MC to where you thought you were being stared at. Seeing the flame colored hair you tilted your head slightly giving him a warm smile. Facing flushing from being caught Mingi ducked his head running a hand through his hair. “Well how about this,” an MC said looking between the two groups, “let’s have each of you guess who is older before revealing how old you actually are.” The other MC spoke up, “Seonghwa why don’t you try guessing?” Standing the dark haired male in leather went to stand in front of your group. Taking a good look at all of your features he came to a conclusion, “I think based off the music videos we have watched that you’re all at least born in 1999.” Your group all glanced at you giggling. “Was I wrong?” Seonghwa asked turning to look at his guys for help even though they were just as clueless. “I mean you were mostly right,” you offered teasingly. “Wait what?!” several of the boys jumped from their seats staring at you. “Wait a minute… who’s the oldest?” you asked as you clasp your hands together pointer fingers scanning over the group. “I am. I was born on April 3, 1998,” Seonghwa said raising an eyebrow at you. Eyes widening your jaw dropped. “What, no! This should be illegal!” you and your group stared gobsmacked at the eight boys in front of you. “I’m just a few months older than you,” you gestured to Seonghwa. “What?! You look so young!” Mingi’s eyes were comically wide. Everyone started laughing at how much chaos had broken out over this topic.

“Alright, alright. Between your groups, who holds the sex appeal,” the MC decided to move onto the next topic. Collabately from both ATEEZ and Royals everyone pointed at Wooyoung before they turned on you. “Wait no! No!” you quickly waved your hands around, “I’m definitely not the sexy one in the group. I’m just cute.” A choking noise came from Mingi and Jongho thumped him on the back. “Then what do you call this?” the MC pulled up your groups most recent music video which you covered your eyes with your hands. “I don’t know I just do that…” you called your words trailing off slightly embarrassed. Your crush however was watching the screen intently with cheeks slightly pink. “How and why are you the only one dancing in those heels?” Mingi asked prying his eyes away from the screen where you were dancing in ridiculously high heels. “Ah, I’m the shortest in the group so it was to help make me appear taller, and it fit the theme of the music video,” you shrug. “So you had to learn that entire choreography in those death traps?” Yunho asked. Nodding you explained, “Yeah it was definitely an experience. I learned the choreography beforehand and then had to relearn it in the heels.” “I can’t believe you actually did the splits like that though,” Wooyoung said as they watched the part where you go into the splits as you all point up and out in the opposite direction. “We have watched the reaction video of you on youtube when you saw you had to wear those heels, and it’s probably still one of the cutest things ever,” Mingi didn’t mean to call you cute out loud, but when he thought back to you staring wide eyed and mouth open like a fish he couldn’t help it. Cheeks burning from Mingi calling you cute you covered them with your hands.

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Each group performed their preferred arrangement in front of each other along with random dance play. You couldn’t help but jump in and dance Mingi’s part when Wave was played. Both groups intermingling knowing the dance to each groups songs.

“So we have one last thing to do before we end the show,” an MC said standing between each group. “Finally we will do a lyric battle between the groups, and to make it a little more even would one of you volunteer to join the Royals for the final game?” Sheepishly Mingi stepped forward rubbing the back of his neck. Your heart started racing as you held a hand out for him to join you. The rest of ATEEZ already knew about the giant’s crush on you so they decided to give him a hard time and something about “abandoning the group”. “I think we need to redo our opening,” Yeosang teased as they all recounted back to their time with Oneus. After they finished you wrapped your arms around Mingi, “You know if that’s the case then I might just have to keep him.” Mingi’s face darkened at your words with his blush now touching his ears while everyone “oohed”.

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Stepping off the stage together you and your group faced the boy group. “It was really nice being able to meet you all officially,” you told them your group bowing. “We look forward to spending the next few weeks working with you as well,” Hongjoong lead his group in reciprocating the courtesy. You and Mingi both seemed to have the same idea lingering behind the others as they started leaving. Brushing your hair behind your ear you looked up at the smiling giant. “I still can’t believe we actually get to work together,” Mingi said following behind you as you went to pick up your bag. “Likewise. You’re an extremely talented group of guys, and am a big fan of a certain rapper,” you turned to look at him as you adjusted you bag over your shoulder. The red haired rapper’s smile seemed to grow bigger for a brief moment before it disappeared, “Wait… do you mean Hongjoong?” Giving his shoulder a slight shove you laughed, “No, no. This rapper has red hair and a ridiculously deep voice,” you giggled as you watched his smile reappear and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh!” you started digging through your purse before tearing out a small piece of paper from a notebook and a pen. Mingi watched as you scribbled on the paper before you handed it to him. “Hopefully we can talk more than just during the project time period,” you told him tilting your head slightly. Mingi stared in shock at the small piece of paper. You had scrawled your number on it with a cute heart at the end. He also didn’t noticed that you had started to walk away before you called out to him. “Mingi! Come on! Our groups are going out for lunch!” Snapping out of his trance he pocketed the paper before running after you.

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masterlist

#dvoz-alternate #ateez request #mingi x reader #ateez x reader #ateez fanfic #seonghwa x reader #hongjoong x reader #wooyoung x reader #yunho x reader #yeosang x reader #san x reader #jongho x reader #idol au

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mspa-music-analysis · 4 years

Text

Beyond Canon - exclusion zone

alright first song in the Beyond Canon album, exclusion zone. lets break it up.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS/LISTENING EXPERIENCE

I got literal fucking shivers. Holy shit. Holy shit. The first twenty seconds of this song is it’s own fucking experience. When the vocals come in at 00:46 I feel as though I am standing on a craggy cliff face, maybe on a mountain, the sky is grey, there’s mist and magic in the air, and I should be dreading something. I feel like taking a deep breath and preparing to see an army coming up over the adjacent hill. I feel like I’m about to go up against something huge.

When I first clicked on the new Homestuck album in disbelief, double checking the release date, I wasn’t expecting much. Sure Homestuck music is utterly wonderful, but I’ve never been able to listen to instrumentals very well, they don’t capture my attention without lyrics to focus on. but hearing the first few notes of this song. Holy. Fucking. Shit. I am not the same man. Oh my god. This first minute is what got me to listen to this entire album in one sitting.

At 1:00 you hear a muffled voice and the sound of breaking glass, and it feels like the illusion of nature and magic and dread shatters. A robotic voice chimes in ‘you just made a monster’ and you get it, for just a second. You feel like something terrible has happened and you have no idea how the fuck you’re going to pick up the pieces. This song sets the stage for the album, and it makes anticipation thrum through your bones, especially on the first listen.

The latter half of the song is letting this feeling sink in, letting your anticipation, your excitement, your dread, grow into a magnificent beast. As the last bit cycles you feel your heartbeat quicken, your breath catch, and you just have to sit there for a second. Holy shit. This song feels like saying ‘holy shit’ in reverence. Over and over again.

The ending feels like you have no idea what the fuck you’re getting into. All you can do is click onto the next song.

INSTRUMENTAL/VOCAL ANALYSIS

I’m no musical expert, but I’m going to try to explain this as well as I can. Music snobs, sorry, experts, please remember I am but a humble fool who has never taken a music class beyond fifth grade. An amateur if you will.

I’m going to be using the word synth so fucking much in these, aren’t I. I’m torn between some sort of string, a synth, or an organ playing the opening notes, and I’m fairly sure it’s the synth. Homestuck music wouldn’t be Homestuck music for not the synth.

The synth, as I am going to call it despite how unsure I am that it is one, immediately gives you an overwhelming cathedral feeling. You get a little while to marinate in this feeling before the vocals chime in. The vocals and the synth meld so beautifully into each other, they feel so natural coming together. There’s a moment where you say ‘yay! vocals in a Homestuck song!’ which will later seem oh so ironic.

Then, in a change of tone, a muffled, hard to understand, male-sounding voice pops in. It sounds like a frantic report, breaking news, or a call for backup. It could sound to some like officials chasing dangerous dissenters, and to others a discreet warning to fellow rebels that the brass are coming. I tried so fucking hard to get an audio editing program to pick this shit apart, but I have a Chromebook for some godforsaken reason. Sorry, folks, we’ll have to see if anyone replies to my tweet with our answers. For reasons, which are definitely real actual reasons with no attachment to aesthetics, I am going to call this voice ‘the radio’.

Directly after the infuriating piece of walky-talky Esq vocals, there’s a sound of breaking glass. I think perhaps that is my favorite moment in the entire track, if not the entire album. Not to assign too much meaning to a singular bit of sound, but it feels like every expectation I had for Homestuck music was completely shattered. Like the glass ceiling that prevented Homestuck music from becoming legendary because it was just a shitty web-comic (which was already untrue) is broken through with just the first half of this song. Does that make sense? In short, this album really is on an entire other level of music entirely, and it knows it. This is possibly supported by the album cover, which is Ultimate Dirk sitting in a pile of previous Homestuck album covers. Must I explain this one? (I will if you ask, really. I’m perhaps a bit too eager, in fact.)

Directly after the glass shatters, more instruments join in. I think these are also synths? It sounds techy, it sounds dystopian. You know when people say techno is just beeps and boops? Yeah, there’s a lot of beeps and boops in this, and frankly, I love it. Then, another distorted, techy, mechanical, feminine?, voice pops in saying ‘you just made a monster’. I’m going to call this voice the monster, but not necessarily because I think they are the monster, and I will elaborate on this later. This is my second favorite moment in the track. It’s just. Wow. Breathtaking. The monster repeats for a while, the rest of the song. The third time, an almost more human sounding, but not by much, monster joins in. There’s an air of indignance, of anger, desperation, vengeance. It sounds like there’s another phrase buried under some sounds there, at 1:28? I absolutely can not make it out for the life of me, and it is driving me crazy.

The monster is chopped up and distributed evenly throughout the rest of the song, quite fucking marvelously. At 1:39 there’s a pause in the instrumental, and for just a second, you’re left with this steady note sung by the monster. It’s haunting. I didn’t notice it my first few listen throughs, but now that I’ve been sitting here looping the track, I can’t help but hear it. It definitely gives me a feeling, but I haven’t decided what that feeling is yet.

The sound bits that sound like a broken robot, or another voice saying ‘anoyie’ over and over, are quite possibly going to drive me insane. I find myself desperately needing to hear where the fuck these audio bytes came from. I need to hear the originals. I do not care if they are random mouth noises. My curiosity is insatiable. I am fairly sure it is just the monster cut to hell, but there’s just something nagging at me saying otherwise. I don’t know, perhaps I’m finally going insane from looping the robot song for two hours.

I don’t love the ending? There’s one last monster repeat, a sort of clapping sound (an interesting change of pace), silence for half a second, more of that damned ‘anoyie’ and I am further convinced it is not the monster, and then nothing. It isn’t quite unsatisfying, but it isn’t satisfying either. It is most certainly an ending. I can say for a fact there are instruments in the ending. And that’s all I have to say on that.

HERE’S WHERE SHIT GETS CRAZY

Alright, time to sound like a madman. Here is where I am going to assign arbitrary Homestuck-related, possibly plot-related, meaning. Take all of this with a grain of salt and forgive my overuse of phrases like ‘I feel’ and ‘I think’.

So, putting the song in the context of the album title ‘Beyond Canon’, and therefore most likely The Epilogues and Homestuck^2, I do indeed have a few theories. Not all make a whole lot of sense, and a few are based quite heavily on ‘feelings’ and ‘vibes’. I hated putting vibes in quotes, never make me do that again. To start with, the beginning, before the radio, reminds me very much of Ultimate Dirk (Ult. Dirk), Terezi, and RoseBot on that new planet. Perhaps because of the air of desolation, not in relation to the note, and foreboding? Perhaps because I have assigned an air of forced serenity to this part, and I very much feel like Ult. Dirk is trying to force serenity onto his section of the narrative, despite what’s coming his way? Hm. Much to think about.

The radio, I cannot puzzle out exactly. DaveBot, perhaps? Trying to break through from the Candy universe and coming out muffled? I don’t have much to go on, and I am waiting until I have figured out exactly what the radio is actually saying.

The glass shattering. Oh, the glass shattering. Fenestrated plane, anyone? The fourth wall, anyone? Good god, shattered glass + Homestuck = SHIT IS GOING DOWN. This makes me very excited. It could just be metaphorical, as I was saying before, but I very much have a feeling that things are going to get that particular brand of very Homestuck fucked soon. And I am oh so excited.

The monster! Oh, how I love the monster. There’s so many things I can see the monster being, as well as referencing. Lets get right the fuck into it. First! The Auto Responder, or Lil’ Hal. You know how every splinter and alternate self combines to create the Ultimate Self? (I have so many theories about this, oh my god, I might make an entire other blog for more Homestuck analysis) Well, what if it isn’t a perfect meld? Dirk is a Prince, after all, a destroyer. There’s no way, however Ultimate he may be, he’s perfect and whole. What if specific splinters find their way to shine through? Like, for instance, Hal accusing Dirk of making a monster out of all his iterations. I know, it’s far fetched, and I took quite a few liberal steps to get there. But just perhaps.

A not so wild theory is an obvious one, I think. The monster is Rosebot. It’s vaguely feminine, robot-y, and references a recent creation. Rose’s consciousness breaking through Dirk’s command? Seems likely to me.

A third! Perhaps it’s DaveBot? It seems less likely than the RoseBot theory, due simply to the femininity of the voice, but at the same time it seems like DaveBot would be more likely to fight Dirk’s control of his personal narrative, if only because we haven’t seen his robot form be entirely complicit yet. Either way, I doubt this one. I just want it on the record in case I’m right. *wink*. (I refuse to use a winky face in a semi-serious analysis, it just feels wrong.)

And this one isn’t really a theory, but I keep coming back to it. Is anyone else reminded of AradiaBot? Especially that second of the monster just singing with no instrumental. I can give no explanation except for a feeling. I wasn’t going to include this, but, well, trust your gut or something. Maybe she’ll come back and my random thought will be justified.

Now, do I think this will be used in Homestuck^2 as a flash at some point. Short answer: I don’t know. Long and less shitty answer: I feel as though it could go either way! I can’t really see a song with vocals like this getting a flash, if only because it’s very straightforward and I don’t know if you can jam a whole lot of plot into this song, unlike some of the others. That said, it would be just like Homestuck to completely blow away my expectations and jam the entire ending into it. Hey, Homestuck? Please don’t do that. I love Act 7, I really do, but also just please don’t. Ever again, thank you.

Maybe Meat Kanaya will liberate RoseBot from Ult. Dirk’s control and this song will play as she beats the shit out of him. I would like that, I think.

CONCLUSIONS

Personal Rating: Holy Shit

Objective Musical Rating: Robots Have Never Sounded So Vengeful And I Love It

Plot-Relevance Rating: It’s Possible But The Outlook Isn’t Good, Chief

Would It Stand On Its Own?: Fuck Yes It Would. I Sang This When I Came Out Of The Womb.

did u nut tho: yuh

#homestuck #beyond canon #dirk strider #alaysis #413 #exclusion zone #epilogues #homestuck epologue #homestuck2 #rosebot #davebot #hal #lil hal #uh fuck tags bro i hate tagging #kanaya #should i tag aradia #yeah fuck it #aradia #aradiabot

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thanksjro · 4 years

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Everyday Is Like Sunday: Everyone Hates Huffer

This is technically a Christmas story, modeled after A Christmas Carol, but I’m covering it now because time is an illusion, god has abandoned his creations to chaos, and I’m on the downswing of a depressive episode so nothing actually matters!

I’m kidding. It’s mainly because some of this stuff is very difficult to find, and trying to save this thing for a later date isn’t going to work with how the lineup’s currently looking. In that I don’t have anything prior to Roberts’ stint with IDW available to me at the moment that hasn’t already been gone over.

This isn’t even the only Christmassy story Roberts did back in the TMUK days- there’s a comic out there that he worked on with Jack Lawrence that’s meant to be another sort of holiday special starring Optimus Prime. He just really likes Christmas, I guess.

Anyway, let’s get into Everyday is Like Sunday!

Oof, that font. My inner graphic design nerd is screaming.

It’s the return of Matt Dallas! Dallas was the artist Roberts worked with for Liars, A-to-D, the prequel comic to Eugenesis. Having looked into the guy a bit since I covered that, I found that he was everywhere during the TMUK days, and even headed the Transtrip publications. His credits are impressive, to say the least.

Our story begins with Kup fighting Unicron.

Would you look at all that detail! Check out that six pack, dude’s ripped. It’s a good thing this is the only time we’ll see the Chaos Bringer, because that must have taken ages.

Yep, this Unicron is an illusion, and not even one that’s diegetic to the characters. Well, except Kup. Huffer, the resident stick-in-the-mud, glass-half-empty, complete-and-total grump, has taken it upon himself to mess around with Kup while he’s passed out in his easy chair after a few too many, because what the hell else his there to do on this starship? That cord in Huffer’s hand is plugged into the side of Sup’s head, so he’s just pouring this dream narrative straight into his brain. Hot Rod is, understandably, a little weirded out by this, and invites Huffer to instead enjoy the day, because it’s Christmas!

He does have a bit of a point- Christmas isn’t exactly a thing on Cybertron, and just because they have it on Earth, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily stuck with everyone as much as it has with you, Hot Rod. I doubt Huffer would care, even if it was a Cybertronian holiday.

If that last little line reads a bit oddly, that would be because it’s actually a song lyric that’s wormed its way into the dialogue. This comic is named after a song by Morrissey called- what else?- Everyday is Like Sunday. It’s a pretty good listen, I recommend you take a listen. It really matches the tone for Huffer’s whole situation.

The situation that is his personality.

Huffer’s in a mood. He’s always in a mood, but he’s particularly incensed now, because they’ve been scooting around in space for almost a year and haven’t actually done anything. Arcee listed off all the things they’ve accomplished, because she wants him to either lighten up or shut up, but he brushes all that off, because he can’t stand to be wrong, either. And then Bluestreak has to go and open his mouth, having the audacity to suggest that Huffer might actually have an emotion other than general displeasure and perhaps even- gasp!- MISS Earth.

This sets Huffer off, and he goes on a brief tirade on how he doesn’t give two hoots about the Earth. The only reason the tirade is brief is because Ebony decides that enough is enough and outright attacks him.

You probably don’t know Ebony, and that’s okay. From what I can gather, she’s someone’s OC. Not sure who, but she’s got to belong to someone. She looks like she turns either into a wolf or some sort of big cat, and she’s had enough of Huffer’s bad attitude. She says what everyone’s been thinking, and offers to kill him in a sort of roundabout way if life is really that fucking terrible.

Huffer decides he’s had enough, and asks where the escape pod is. This ship doesn’t have an escape pod, but Hot Rod offers to drop him off at the first planet they pass. Bumblebee suggests they just go ahead and let him off here. Everyone’s about had it with Huffer, and trust me when I say the feeling seems to be mutual. There’s literally an entire page devoted to him just insulting everyone and listing off all the reasons he can’t stand them.

Bluestreak looks genuinely offended, like he can’t believe Huffer would even go there.

Huffer fights dirty, too. He goes after things people have zero control over, like their age and how they’re built. Just flat-out rude. He attacks folks who aren’t even present, calling Prowl uptight and Nightbeat a lackey.

We cut over to the two of them having a discussion about the order of the shuttle they’re on, and how things are going to have to change, then it’s back to Huffer acting like a jackass.

You’re just saying that to be hurtful and ridiculous.

Huffer storms off into the darkened hallway, wishing a sarcastic Merry Christmas to everyone. The door shuts behind him, and then everything promptly explodes.

There’s a lot going on here, but let’s try to break this down a bit. We’ve got some full-stasis off in the corner, with Eric Cartman and He-Man’s Oracle featured as pieces, the vacuum from Teletubbies, what might be a porno mag in the lower right corner, and a TI-83 calculator. Damn, guess Huffer got what he wanted.

No, what’s really happened is that the shuttle’s been hit by an asteroid. Considering I haven’t seen anyone actually manning this rig, I suppose it was only a matter of time before they floated into something big enough to hurt. Prowl intercoms for everyone to head for the bridge and pull up the defense shielding.

Off in the hall, Huffer’s face down on the ground. He tries to get up, but the shuttle keeps hitting things, even with Bluestreak at the wheel now.

That’s what I want to know! Look at our detective, asking all the right questions! However, we don’t have time to answer that, because, unfortunately, Nightbeat isn’t our main character this go around.

Huffer is.

Our little bastard man is looking a bit crispy, but seems otherwise okay. He certainly isn’t feeling bad enough to not make a stink when someone has the utter gall to try and help him to his feet. His tune changes though, when he sees just who this kind samaritan is.

Fusion’s a dude who’s only claim to fame is biting it. I suppose that it’s fitting he be our Ghost of Christmas Time-Is-A-Perception-Based-Concept.

Fun little detail about Dallas’ work- he makes everyone outrageously shiny. These sons of guns have been at war for millions of years, and should probably be scuffed all to hell, but Dallas is just like “haha, nope! Break out the polish!” and everyone is glossy enough to apply lipstick with. It doesn’t even stop at characters; in Liars, A-to-D, Mirage fires a missile that you can see Sixshot’s reflection in as it flies towards him.

Fusion, when asked if he’s a hallucination, simply says that he’s as solid as Huffer, and when their hands touch, THIS happens:

Which I suppose means they’re embarking on a journey of the spiritual variety. That, or Huffer’s FINALLY proposing.

The pair materialize on Cybertron, 50,000 vorns in the past, which is well over 4 million years. A vorn is equal to 83 years, which is oddly specific if you ask me, but now you know! Huffer, of course, wants to know how all this nonsense is possible, and just what the hell Fusion’s deal is.

Huffer’s not one for mystical bullshit.

Being a bit short on time, Fusion has Huffer look through a window at a meeting with all the bigwigs. They’re discussing Huffer’s Ark designs, and just who exactly is going to man this thing once it’s ready. Emirate Xaaron suggests that Huffer come along, and strikes just the cutest little pose while he does.

Seriously, look at this, he’s precious, even with his funky grate mouth.

Nobody can mistake Huffer as being inexperienced or stupid, but the problem is nobody friggin’ likes him. Huffer, of course, takes issue with that, grumbling to himself and completely missing Fusion’s departure. When he finally takes notice, his new guide is already in place: Grimlock. The star wipe makes a return, and they’re off to the next scene.

Meanwhile, back on the shuttle, Bluestreak’s having some trouble with maneuvering around all these asteroids. Hopefully they’ll be okay until Huffer’s done with his Christmas special shenanigans.

Huffer and Grimlock arrive at Earthbase in the present day, in the middle of a rip-roaring good party.

Dammit, who let Cosmos into the booze? You know he can’t hold his liquor.

Everyone hates Huffer so fucking much, and I honestly can’t fault them for that. He’s kind of a festering wound of a person.

Grimlock disappears while Huffer’s busy watching everyone’s testament to their dislike for him. Huffer star-wipes out onto the next scene, interrupting him before he can say the fuck-word.

Back with Bluestreak, he’s nearly gotten them out of the asteroid field.

Huffer appears on what might be a moon, and meets his final guide.

Fuck, he’s become aware of the narrative! Shut the comic down, quick, before another Swearth happens!

Our ghost reveals himself to be Huffer, roughly 200 years in the future, and he’s looking ROUGH.

Oh no, he’s dehydrated.

Because he never learned to act like a decent person, the shuttle crew is going to dump him on a uninhabited moon in a couple weeks time, and then that’ll be it.

And then we get into the character study portion of the comic.

Huffer only bitches as much as he does because he’s self-conscious and doesn’t want to let people in, for fear that they’ll see what a useless hunk of junk he is.

Of course, current Huffer still can’t get over himself- even when it’s just he, himself, and him- and has to continue poking holes in this revelation, claiming it to be no more than a dream that’s presenting him with a fundamental personal truth in an easy-to-swallow pill.

These couple of panels are very dialogue-heavy, taking up a majority of the space available, but in the end, Huffer’s last little biting remark is that none of this is real and none of it matters, so just get it over with and send me back. Which Ghost-Huffer does.

Back at the shuttle, they’ve cleared the asteroid field, and it looks like it’ll be smooth sailing from here on. Huffer wakes up, in just a foul a mood as ever, as he stews over all the horrible things he heard about himself during his dreams. It looks like he’s about to return to status-quo, perhaps dooming himself to the fate of Ghost-Huffer, when he overhears Prowl chewing out the rest of the crew. Because no one had bothered to watch the radar, thus nearly killing everyone, he’s going to start tightening his belt and imposing some rules and regulations, as opposed to letting people do whatever they please. He names Nightbeat as his second-in-command, which everyone seems okay with (except Kup, for whatever reason).

Just something about this interaction Roberts really enjoys, I guess.

As part of this little crackdown, Prowl’s ordering a round-the-clock manning of the shuttle- half-day shifts. There’s quite a bit of groaning about this, but honestly? I’m not exactly sure how they’ve gotten away with not doing this for as long as they have.

Huffer, in a show of what I assume is the closest thing to kindness he’s performed in years, offers to take the first shift. Nobody fights him on that, and he takes a seat. In the background, Kup asks to have a word with Prowl.

Huffer decides that he ought to lighten up, just a touch, and maybe at least consider not being such a massive jerk.

That decision lasts roughly twenty seconds, and then he gets bored.

Personal growth is for suckers! IDW Whirl WISHES he was this disconnected from his own conscience.

As he runs off to go be a jackass elsewhere, the shuttle drifts back towards the asteroid field, surely dooming everyone aboard. The end!

This was a fun, somewhat bitter little story that tried its hand at picking apart a narrative that’s been run into the ground. Sorry, Roberts, but nobody’s gonna do it better than A Muppet’s Christmas Carol.

Up next, we’ll be looking at something a little different. Something not written by Roberts, but based on his work.

We’re going to read Eugenesis fanfiction.

#transformers #jro #everyday is like sunday #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

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f-117-nighthawk · 4 years

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More playlist meta bc I don’t wanna do homework and Jimmy kicked me out of the TA room saying I’d been in there for far too long for a Friday (it was four hours! Interspaced between classes! Workshop kit inventory is just an excuse to blast Gloryhammer to me, it’s fun)

Since I was talking about Ten Thousand Against One earlier, I’ve been thinking about the timeline and which event the songs are connected to. Long post under the cut

Turn the Lights Out is... sort of an odd case. It’s not like Remnants of Stars, which is about Galran and my philosophy about how we were created, what happens to us when we die, and the cycles that power the universe. Of course, Remnants of Stars is a little more than just philosophy. It actually describes (in a rather metaphorical way) the actual process of the marthinazik filtering quintesence into new stars, planets, beings, anything you can think of. It also has a very important lyric for much much later like, post Sticky Notes later. Now that I think about it, it actually defines a good chunk of that maybe-sequel-maybe-idea era in conjunction with Soul Extract’s Filaments.

Anyway, back to Turn the Lights Out. It’s an odd case because it’s sort of like Remnants of Stars in that it’s more about the philosophy, but it’s before Remnants of Stars because it’s also kind of an event. If you read interviews with Delain about Moonbathers, Charlotte states that Turn the Lights Out is about Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, specifically the character of Death. I confess I haven’t read those comics, but my interpretation fits her rather well I think. To me, Turn the Lights Out is about a gentle god who accepts they will not always be seen as who they are but will give their everything to protect those within their universe. Now, who does that sound like? Which characters have been around since the birth of the universe, under various names, whether they be Ibeshganszá, ‘kibrraldíl, Marduzbazí, or Vôltrôn?

You can make an argument for Your World Will Fail to be directly after Turn the Lights Out, but I rather like it after Remnants of Stars too. Turn the Lights Out is the beginning of the universe, so naturally, it goes first. Sentient life needs to evolve for Remnants of Stars to truly fit, and even though Your Would Will Fail technically can happen at any point between the first Plank time and the next, it also happens when the comet that becomes Voltron crashes into Daibazaal. The Your World Will Fail/Dark Matter/Eater of Worlds trio is both a general, entire timeline-spanning idea, and a specific event.

(Your world will fail my love/It's far beyond repair/Your world will fail my love/It is already there)

(Bring me your soul/Bring me your hate/In my name you will create/Bring me your fear/Bring me your pain/You will destroy in my name)

(Can't imagine the violence/The rage and the love in my madness/I am the eater of worlds and I'm looking for someone to feed me)

And then, right after that event, or even during, you have Apocalypse 1992. The death of the dream, the final madness before the triumph of chaos.

You Keep What You Kill is very much the odd one out out of everything. Helion Prime based it off a book I forget the name of, but here it’s purely about Zarkon’s empire. The “Holy Half-Dead” have lost so much of their culture, of the family bonds that kept them together even when their mistakes threatened the destruction of all, but they still remember the songs of glory. And they do keep what they kill.

And then there’s a rather large time jump of about five thousand Earth years to The Seven Sisters. This song is pretty well encapsulated in Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) (which is a lyric from Closure, but Closure is later for Reasons), but the other half of it is connected to Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met.

Who Will Save You Now has gone through so many iterations of what it’s connected to I honestly don’t remember what it actually is anymore. Given its placement between The Seven Sisters and Nobody Gets Left Behind, I think it’s related to the SFSS Genesis’s disappearance. But it could also be placed in conjunction with A Simple Plan and be about something slightly different...hm, I’ll think on that. This song has such a Dark Matter vibe to me, but it hasn’t found a home that sticks in my brain yet.

Nobody Gets Left Behind is really there bc it’s a fun song and when I found 1551 I immediately had to put something in. BUT it is a good song about family dynamics and, well, that’s Voltron in a nutshell right? (and then you get, right there in the first verse, “Don't even try to pretend/That you're rough and just as tough/As when you're missing a friend/Attack and take him back/Cause when the team isn't whole/You've got a hole in your soul/So step up to your fucking role/We might get hurt/We might be taking some hits/But when you're taking our friend/Then that's some personal shit” and you cannot tell me that’s not everybody’s mood post Battle in the Sarnan Nebula)

A Simple Plan is a new addition in the past few weeks. I rediscovered The Spiritual Machines a few weeks ago and the lyric “How long can we hold off ending/How long can we pretend we're ok” hit me right in the Keith feels. So this one is in conjunction with the first verse of Nobody Gets Left Behind. The entire song actually reminds me of Dark Matter with how it’s centralized at one event but contains hints of other things (The truth arrived too slow).

Memories of a Girl I Haven't Met is maybe one standard year (so six earth months-ish?) after A Simple Plan.

String Theory is... weird. It’s mostly there for the title, but the lyrics do contain themes found in other parts of the playlist that fit really well but don’t map to the event I associate the song with. It’s honestly about Shiro missing Adam and the rest of the people on Earth. Which, granted, given the point in the timeline the title is associated with makes a certain amount of sense but...idk. And the bit that begins with “You don’t believe in space” is about something entirely different. It’s confusing, but all inexplicably related to the title event.

Interesting fact: My Dark Matter drafts/ideas folder is actually split int pre- and post- String Theory folders. It was originally because String Theory is such a pivotal moment in the Coalition’s efforts, but it also ended up vaguely the middle of the timeline. It’s the point where things absolutely, truly, have no relation to what happens in canon. The butterfly effect stemming from the events of Shatterpoint (and an implied secondary shatterpoint in another fic) have changed things enough that apart from one general event, nothing happens the same way (and that event is for drastically different reasons). All in all, it fits the weird vibe of the song rather well.

Next is Belgrade, the Ultimate Klance Song, about three months later. Fun Shenanigans happen in conjunction with this absolute bop.

Here’s the surprisingly big gap of just over a standard Earth year, in which several important events happen that don’t have songs attached to them (Roentgen, maybe)

Then we get Birthright/Firewall, a set of songs about reclaiming yourself from the depths of hell with just a liiiiiitle bit of help from your family.

(It's time to take ahold of what belongs to me/It's time to walk away with no apologies/Voices in the mirror start quietly/And now they're screaming back at me!)

(This force knows what you can do/And what you can make/With your tattered shell)

Here Comes the Reign technically starts during Birthright/Firewall, but doesn’t come into full effect until a month later, and then even fuller around five months after that. Meanwhile, we have The Day the Earth Collapsed, which is rather self-explanatory.

A few months later there is Darker Matter. The fic connected to this is real weird, but also real important. Suffice to say it’s gonna be confusing, and a universe doesn’t like the Paladins for a while.

And then we have Closure. Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) is actually the first of four fics inspired by Closure’s chorus. (I also drew a picture for each fic. They’re combined into my desktop background, and the first one is still my phone background and my pfp) “I am the child from the stars/That got lost in the dark/Between heaven and hell/I am forced to live on/I am the cause when you sin/I am the demon you skin/But there is no more tears to beautify/This is my last goodbye”

Closure is a rather sad song actually, but the way I’ve interpreted it ends on a bright spot of hope. The first related fic I’ve already posted/talked about, the second would be around the time of A Simple Plan. The third is somewhere in the gap between Belgrade and Birthright/Firewall. I’ve placed Closure at the approximate time of the fourth fic. I actually just moved it while writing this, because I realized this makes more sense after Darker Matter and with the Fall of [Redacted]. I’ve chosen to interpret the last line as finally deciding to stay instead of the (probably more likely given the rest of the album) darker interpretations.

After Closure is Ember, which is actually super connected to Darker Matter which is why I originally had them next to each other. The thing is, all three of these songs are connected to very specific events, the latter two of which are in direct response to the first even if there is a month or two between them. Ember is on the playlist for two reasons: the first is the line “dark matter falling from the sky” that basically required me to put it somewhere; the second is the fact that I keep mishearing the lyrics. “chthonic” is not “cuthonic” (which is not a word, but I interpreted as meaning Cthulu-like) and it’s “riches to embers” not “witches to embers.” Make of that what you will.

And finally, after almost seven Earth years, we get to The Reckoning/This is a Call/World on Fire/Louder Than Words. The Reckoning sort-of picks up where The Day the Earth Collapsed left off, spanning at least a year before going full force into the frantic five days of the other three songs.

(In blood and tears/A thousand times/We rise against/We'll always hold the line/Of reckoning)

(This is a call to action/This is a call to arms/All lives for one, together/There are no false alarms)

(World on fire with a smoking sun/Stops everything and everyone/Brace yourself for all will pay/Help is on the way)

(We have the force to fight/We have the blinding light/A war is more than heard/Coming in louder than words)

#i am dark matter; your road to ruin #dark matter playlist #to the tune of sketchy galore: meta galore #god I hope the under the cut works this is so long #its also two am i'm going to sleep it's been a long few hours #DM Playlists

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empress-of-snark · 5 years

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Cursed Child Review!

(this will contain only the vaguest spoilers--you have been warned)

(also tumblr is being dumb and refusing to let me upload this with pictures, so expect a second post later with pictures)

THE THEATRE

So first of all, the Lyric Theatre is gorgeous. It was renovated specifically for this show, so the design is full of all kinds of Harry Potter references. Inside, the carpet is red with a Hogwarts ‘H’ pattern, and the ceiling is blue with gold stars.

Also, directly across from the entrance, on the way to the gift shop, there’s a small, circular room with patronuses painted all over the walls! They got all the major characters (minus Albus and Scorpius, but we don’t know their patronuses, do we?), as well as play quotes from each:

Speaking of the gift shop, I absolutely bought a Ravenclaw scarf and iron-on patch for my denim jacket. I wanted so badly to buy a replica wand as well (if I remember correctly, they had Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus, Scorpius, and Voldemort), but they were pretty expensive and I couldn’t decide on a character anyway.

Also, funny thing, we got two playbills—one for Part One, and one for Part Two—and… they’re exactly alike. There’s nothing at all different except for a very slight alteration in cover art and the fact that they’re labeled Part One and Part Two. The insides are identical, lol. Weird.

THE PLOT

There’s really nothing to be said about the plot that hasn’t already been said. It’s not great. It’s not terrible either, honestly, but it’s not great. In terms of alternate HP content, I’d put it below Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but above Crimes of Grindelwald.

Part One is definitely the stronger half, plot-wise. Part Two is where everything goes a little off the rails and you start thinking “wait a second, did J.K. Rowling actually come up with this or is this just straight-up fanfiction that someone wrote in 2009?” Again, no spoilers, but… the Act III, Scene XXI plot twist is contrived and kind of ridiculous and seeing it played out on stage does nothing to improve my opinion on it.

THE CHARACTERS

Albus and Scorpius were phenomenal! To be honest, Albus has never really interested me as a character very much, he’s always just come across as a sullen teenager, but Nicholas Podany made me like him more than I did in my initial readings of the script.

Scorpius, though. SCORPIUS. I knew he was an adorable geek when I read the script, but seeing it on stage is just so much better. He’s the absolute cutest character and I adored him. Also, major props to Bubba Weiler’s physicality because it was awesome. His lounging awkwardly on the stairs and giving finger-guns to Rose in Act IV was priceless. Absolute cinnamon roll.

Speaking of Rose, I feel like I should talk about the whole shipping war thing of Rose/Scorpius vs. Albus/Scorpius, but honestly I don’t wanna drag this down into fandom wank, so maybe I’ll make a separate post later. Suffice it to say, I totally 100% understand why people ship Albus and Scorpius, but I also think we should be allowed to have other interpretations and sometimes people on the internet don’t understand what true friendship is supposed to be like despite constantly calling for more platonic friendships in the media.

Anyway.

Harry and Hermione were awesome. I know people complained about Harry’s characterization, but honestly, I think it’s similar to what happened with Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. People don’t like watching their childhood heroes grow into flawed adults who make mistakes, and I understand. It’s hard to see Harry being such a strict father and saying or doing things that he regrets, but that’s what characters are supposed to be like. Harry is not perfect and he’s always had a bit of a temper. For the first eleven years of his life, he didn’t have a good father figure to guide him so as an adult, it makes sense that he would fumble a bit in fatherhood because he has no one to really base himself on, and he literally says this in Act IV.

Hermione didn’t have as much of a character arc, but she was excellent. Her characterization was on-point and I loved her. There was a moment I especially loved where she hugs Rose around the middle of Act III. There’s no dialogue and it’s only a brief moment, but it was beautiful. With context, it’ll make more sense why, but again, no spoilers.

Finally, my boy Ron Weasley, was… comic relief. Why am I not surprised. Functionally, he did almost nothing of any importance for the plot—they could’ve taken him out completely and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. While he did have some good, genuinely funny moments (they included his line from the book when, in answer to Albus saying that everyone is staring at them at King’s Cross, he said “It’s me. I’m extremely famous.”) but he also has some really dumb, out-of-character moments as well (at one point, in response to a threat, he… pulled out his wand… backwards… and had to fix it… get it? Cause he’s stupid!).

That’s not to say the actor did a bad job. He did the best he could with the terrible characterization. But the bright side is, we got several really good Ron/Hermione scenes that were stupidly adorable and made my heart happy. My two favorites were, of course, the staircase scene in Act II and the scene in Hermione’s office in Act III.

Draco was great, I loved his relationship with Scorpius and how it grew, and I loved his reluctant allegiance with the Golden Trio.

Ginny was pretty good, though I wish they had given her a bit more to do at times.

I also wish Rose had gotten to be more a part of the action, but I get why, for a lot of the play, she couldn’t be involved in the plot. For spoiler-y reasons.

THE SPECIAL EFFECTS

This is the real reason people see this play, and it is worth it! It’s worth sitting through the weirder parts of the plot. Some of the illusions I could figure out (a lot of them were either clever use of the fly system or two actors hiding in the same robe), but some I’m pretty sure were just genuine magic because I don’t know how they pulled them off.

Characters Polyjuice and Transfigure themselves into other characters, wands light up and even shoot fire (at one point, a lot of wands were shooting fire simultaneously during a multi-character duel and I don’t understand how the set didn’t catch on fire), a bookcase comes alive and eats three people and spits them back out again, and the DEMENTORS.

There were DEMENTORS and they were SPOOKY and AWESOME and I wish so badly that we had been in balcony seats because at one point, a dementor comes out over the audience and we were so far back that we could barely see it.

Also I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler to say that the show involves use of a Time Turner, and every time it was used, they did something really cool with the lights that gave the whole stage a ripple effect and I have no idea what it was they did, but it looked SO COOL.

IN SUMMARY

The building was gorgeous, the plot was just okay (better in the first half), the characters varied but were mostly good (all the actors were amazing), and the special effects are absolutely the best part of the show, hands down.

People have said that this show shouldn’t ever be professionally recorded because watching a DVD will never compare to seeing it live. I agree that the live experience is undoubtedly better, that’s the case with every play. Live is always better. But it’s not always possible for people to drop hundreds of dollars on a plane ride and Broadway tickets. Our tickets for Cursed Child were expensive, and we didn’t even get the best seats. I can’t believe how elitist people can be in thinking that if, for whatever reason, you can’t afford to see a Broadway show, then you shouldn’t be given a cheaper, more accessible option.

Also, like, I’m never going to be able to see the original Broadway cast of Into the Woods live because that show was running in 1987, but thanks to the professionally filmed DVD, I can watch it whenever I want and I love it. Money and time should not stop someone from experiencing theatre, ever.

Anyway, it was an amazing experience and I’m so glad I went! If anyone wants to talk more about it, or get my more spoiler-y opinions, shoot me a message! If you go anon, I’ll tag all responses with #cursed child spoilers.

#it was so so so so good #im still geeking out #does anyone want me to make a separate post about the shipping discourse?#cause i'm more than happy to #i just didn't wanna get too discourse-y in this post #harry potter #harry potter and the cursed child

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vampiremeerkat · 5 years

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What do you usually do when you decide on writing a new story? Do you first write a list of the events happening in it, or do you just start writing the story?

Music inspires me and I think of random stories with characters I already know to help me fall asleep at night. The latter spawned the Until See You Again series. I’m not the type of person to sit down with pen and paper and use valuable daytime staring into space. Concerning music; with every song I hear I ask myself what it could be used for. If I can imagine a music video or fake TV intro for it, then the song is gud. I’ll bother with an actual story depending on the characters I see starring in these. I can try to describe a thought process I had recently.In the bus, I was listening to the “Atomic“ cover by Party Animals for the one millionth time, and I guess it only then hit me how fun it would be as an intro song. Based on the melody and tone, this “show“ had to be grand and playful, so that was my starting point. At first I imagined a person transforming into something, Sailor Moon-style, but that’s not a story. The lyrics also had to be considered, but there weren’t many lines to work with. The men shout “Atomic!“ and the lady who replaces Blondie.. the same dribble about giving her a good night. And the one compliment to her man that his “hair is beautiful”. So alright, this main character needed nice hair and have it be a point of focus. Giving yourself such a demand is silly, but it worked out in the end.Anyway, because the name of the song is a specific word that gets repeated, it became a restriction; and “Atomic” had to be the title of the show. There're only two genres out there that could make a title like this work, namely science-fiction and superhero content. In short, I chose to make the main character a superhero, calling himself “Atomic“. I didn’t think it was the best name out there, though. It’s an adjective and hardly relevant to the powers I ended up giving him, but I guess animes would get away with it, so why not me. In order to excuse it further, I decided to do a misheard lyrics thing and make this character’s real name sound similar to it. A self-proclaimed hero would be this lazy. “Anton” was the first name I could think of, and with that I confirmed the character’s gender and roots. Back home I looked up Asian surnames that sounded like “mik“, since I already pondered whether the art style for this should be manga and the character partially Japanese. Because of the bad superhero name and earlier Sailor Moon thought and all that. Ended up going for an original art style.Anton is a German name, so I looked up what the largest population of Asians in Germany is, which are the Vietnamese. Not many Vietnamese last names have been shared on the internet, but the combination “Anton Mạch” sounded pretty close according to the Vietnamese Google Translate robot. Now this superhero needed a backstory. I already imagined a spaceship floating about in the intro, so he was going to be an astronaut. Or rather, a government test subject who spent his entire life alone in outer space, only for him to get killed by the first interesting thing he comes across in 80 years.You know how intensive space exploration is difficult for humans, because we don’t live long enough to reach new places, and I often wondered if we’d ever go as far as sending a colony of some sort, that would ensure new life is born and trained to control the spaceship and bring everyone further into this never-ending environment. It'd be a horrible reality that'd force these humans to live a restricted existence, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it became a reality one day. I used this idea for Anton, who’s a lonesome orphan in a spaceship built by his dead parents, equipped to raise and teach a child. After the many years of nothing, he finds a light that destroys his ship and causes his death, then resurrects him again and basically gives him a second chance of life. This is more or less where the funny comes in, because I’m a sicko that likes tragedy and humor. And so does everyone else, otherwise Sans from Undertale would’ve never become this popular.Now that the character has a name and a backstory, thanks to this one boppin’ song, I had to think of the general plot and give description of Anton as a hero. You have to bring something new to the table here, otherwise what’s the point. It’s pretty hard to think of original powers and story arcs, since the superhero genre is enormous and the most idiotic characters that shouldn’t exist have their own comic book. I settled for a simple black bodysuit with white sleeves and high collar as his costume. The only reason we accept Spiderman’s clown suit is because we’re used to it, not because it looks cool. The hair thing from the song also had to be included, of course. The light’s explosion infused Anton’s once grey hair with some kind of mirror particles that reach so far, it shows the image of space in it. It was the easiest way for me to make his hair “beautiful“. Settling with this look meant his superpowers had to be related to space as well, but fine, I needed a theme. The environment of outer space is more or less his set of powers, like spawning comets, black holes, erasing oxygen, inflicting freezing cold, all that is highly unsuitable to use against normal human beings. Having that said, the story wrote itself and is about Anton’s Atomic character making a name for himself and people pretending to be content and obedient in his presence, as to refrain him from playing a hero.In short, I don’t write anything down. I think of stories at the most useless moments of the day, and if I still remember what I came up with by the time I place myself in front of a computer, I’ll make a drawing or write a Wiki page about it.If I don’t remember, then arguably my idea wasn’t good enough to remember.

#story #writing #fanfiction #atomic #atomic!#atom!c

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paulisweeabootrash · 5 years

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Pokémon 2.B.A. Master

I stumbled across a piece of weeb trash media I had heard of, but neither attempted nor expected to find. And it’s a bit different. Today, my friends, we are not doing an anime or manga, or even another novel. We’re doing a tie-in music album, a American blatant cash-grab based on a Japanese franchise. Oh no. Oh yes.

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master (1999)

As a young weeblet, I was a regular watcher of the first two arcs of Pokémon (Kanto and Johto). It was in both weekday and weekend timeslots, and never seemed to be broadcast in any sensible order, but I nonetheless watched it frequently and enjoyed it no matter how many times WB decided to rerun episodes I’d already seen. At some point, this CD came out, and I remember seeing ads for it when it was new. There were even televised music videos for a few of the songs, broadcast as a segment called “Pikachu’s Jukebox”. I never saw a copy of the album in person, and never expected to. Maybe it was one of those that you had to order by calling some number? I don't remember (or, frankly, care enough to look it up). Anyway, I recently encountered this in the small music section of a used book store, and I figured "why not?" And the obvious answer is "most of the contents".

The cover, in addition to using proud and unironic Comic Sans for the subtitle "2.B.A. Master", boasts that the album contains both "Music From The Hit TV Series" and "10 Brand New Songs!" The former refers obviously to the main theme of the show and every child's favorite mnemonic device, the PokéRap (or “PokéRAP” as it’s spelled for some reason?), but I'm not sure what the third song from the show is. And again, I don’t care enough to look it up. The important thing is, John Loeffler wrote all of them, and apparently an absurd number of other Pokémon-related songs. The "Brand New Songs!" here are mostly new to me, and they’re... a doozy. Except for the songs from the show, plus “Double Trouble” and maybe “Misty’s Song” if I want to be very generous, I am tempted to suggest you could get a similar musical experience in a shorter time by putting on an episode of Pokémon, playing a mix of Milli Vanilli and Boyz II Men songs over it, and banging your head against a wall.

1. Pokémon Theme

We begin with the extended version of the classic theme, this is a sure dose of nostalgia for anyone who watched the show. It sounds, considering the release date, a little outdated — I get kind of a "Beat It" vibe, not from the melody, but from the instrumentation, combining 80s-gated drums and searing electric guitar. But the theme, already one of the few TV themes out there I find enjoyable and not instantly forgettable, extends to a full length surprisingly well, avoiding getting boring or devolving into complete idiocy with lyrics. I actually like this song as a song, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

2. 2B A Master

The instrumentation in this track is absurdly 90s, and again kind of Michael Jackson-y, but is interesting and varied, especially in the sudden attention-grabbing rhythmic change accompanying the line "the greatest master of Pokémon". It shows better restraint in its use of things like record scratch noises and basslines running parallel to vocal lines that I find get really old really quickly. I actually, on the whole, enjoy this song and think the music could have been the basis for something great. “Could have” being the keyword. Lest you think I'm going to give a rosy, loving review of this album, no, it quickly gets bad. Some of the lyrics feel like such forced attempts to get Pokémon references in that I am embarrassed on behalf of the people stuck singing and rapping them, 20 years later. It’s a waste of what could’ve been a fun funky song. (Incidentally, why is the title of the song punctuated differently from the title of the album?)

3. Viridian City

The slide downhill continues. What the hell is this song? The lyrics are only marginally less stupid than the previous track, the music sounds like a keyboard "dance" preset, and it has a weird rapped/spoken "echoing" of sung lines it’s incredibly hard to imagine anyone ever liked. Ugh.

4. What Kind of Pokémon Are You?

Third time's the charm, I guess? After the previous two tracks tried and failed to force Pokémon-related lyrics that just don't work, this one at least manages to fire off a series of type-related puns. The music, however, turns back towards gratingly boring (and for some reason, the bridge comes thisclose to ripping off "Eye of the Tiger"?). Actually, no, hahaha, the lyrics remain very stupid, I think I'm just getting "ground down by a Marowak" by how bad the preceding tracks were.

5. My Best Friends

The parts move in unison too closely for my tastes, the lyrics are bland, the vocal arrangement makes it sound downright inappropriately dramatic, and what’s up with the bridge that veers off into doo-wop? The main thing this song has going for it is the vaguely pleasant piano part in the verses, which really appeals to me (it sounds familiar, although I can’t place what specifically it reminds me of). The melody of the chorus sounds even more familiar — so familiar in fact I'm starting to wonder if it's a copyright-violation-skirting ripoff of something famous. But otherwise, this is a solid “meh”, sounding like a boy band song that would only briefly have made the charts.

6. Everything Changes

And now we're back to impressions of Michael Jackson. This one's instrumentation and mood and even bits of the melody are so him that I could almost believe you if you told me this was an outtake that didn't make it onto Bad. (Although the singer sounds less like Jackson the longer the song goes on.) The lyrics, although vaguely applicable to everything, are a welcome change from the previous few tracks by not feeling like Pokémon has been painfully shoehorned in... up until the part where a clip from the show plays during a break between choruses. Ugh. Could you really not come up with a better way to make this into a distinctly Pokémon song?

7. The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)

Yuck. The sentimental ballad (I want to call it a “power ballad”, but I’m unsure what exactly counts as one), as a general rule, is a fire hose full of melodrama best used for comedy. I don't understand how songs like this have ever been taken seriously. I would expect to hear this as the ending theme to a movie that tries to be a tragedy but can’t quite pull it off.

8. Pokémon (Dance Mix)

I assumed from the title that this was a remix of the theme song, but instead, it's just sort of a filler track... It makes almost no impression on me at all, although I do enjoy the intro’s use of "backward-sounding" and morphing synths. Otherwise, this is another track that sounds like it uses keyboard preset backgrounds.

9. Double Trouble (Team Rocket)

Okay, look, I can’t rate this one fairly. The longest-running fandom-related internal conflict of my life has been whether I'd rather be James or have James as mai hasubando, and I love Team Rocket in general as comedy relief villains. I used to enthusiastically perform their ridiculous introductory speech with a friend from band camp (I am even more of a geek than you thought). This song actually bothers to be more specific in terms of its Pokémon subject matter, meaning this is finally a song about Pokémon rather than just a generic pop song with Pokémon flavor, and it uniquely is performed by voice actors from the show, namely those who played Jesse, James, Meowth, and Giovanni. It really grates on me when the VAs talk over the singers, but unlike some of the other songs, it feels like it builds up and goes somewhere. We have at least broken free from the boringness of the last few tracks, with almost industrial percussion and chromatic and sometimes dissonant bass and synth lines that really make it a solid villain song, even though it has a hokey “rap written by people who haven’t actually listened to any rap” feel. And James’s absolutely ludicrous laugh will absolutely alienate who isn’t already a fan of the character, and most people who are, too.

10. Together Forever

The “disappointing imitation of Michael Jackson” theme returns, this time mostly in the voice. It especially pops out at me with the pronunciation of "friend" as "fraynnnndah!". Unfortunately, rather than trying to imitate Jackson’s songwriting again, this song seems to want to rip off Stock Aitken Waterman. And it succeeds at that, too well, as it somehow manages to outcompete a song those writers wrote for Rick Astley to be the worst song with this title. Also returning here: the use of clips from the show to clumsily force an otherwise generic song to be Pokémon-related. Hooray.

11. Misty's Song

Huh. Now this one is interesting. Buried deep in the album, we get something from a character POV that doesn’t just set trivia or quotes from the show to music. Yvette Laboy does a believable job filling in as the singing counterpart for Rachel Lillis's speaking voice for Misty, and I just don't find it nearly as ridiculous as the other ballads on the album, for some reason. It even portrays a tsundere as insecure rather than just an obnoxious walking trope! Sure, it's not great, but it's not bad either, especially after the other attempted ballads on here. Until you remember that it's a 14-year-old singing a love song to a 10-year-old, which... ick. It could've been sweet if put in the mouth of another character with a more age-appropriate relationship. Anyone want to rerecord this as “Kaname's Song” or something?

12. PokéRAP

Oh, educational rap. Why? It’s just unbearably cheesy and doesn’t seem to have had much thought put into it, as a general rule. And this song is no exception. Sure, I guess it has value as a mnemonic exercise (and it does a decent job of that, as anyone who still has large chunks of it memorized can tell you), but no value as music. It often doesn’t even come close to rhyming where you’d expect it to, and it's obvious that Loeffler et al weren't sure what to do with a few of the names at all — Grimer and Chansey have egregious pauses after them, for example, and Omastar is stretched across space enough for two or three names for no good reason. It is broken into convenient-sized stanzas that are only somewhat awkwardly forced into the established meter, but that meter has a too-regular feel, bouncing like a musical Superball, that even I, someone with no particular knowledge of nor interest in rap, recognize as being cheesier than Vanilla Ice. It also hasn’t aged well. The sung parts have absolutely no dynamic range and stay at MAXIMUM DRAMA LEVEL at all times. Over the past 20 years, the lyrics have also become obsolete due to the many additional generations of Pokémon media and consequently much longer list of Pokémon to memorize. Those topics have been covered in excruciating detail by Brian David Gilbert, who is much cleverer than I am, and yes, I do highly recommend sitting through that entire half-hour video. All I can really add to that is, it's considerably less annoying than certain other mnemonic songs I was exposed to growing up. A bad song, unless you’re viewing it through sheer unfiltered silliness? Yes. A surprisingly catchy song that was a good marketing move? Also yes. And 20+ years later, I still can't avoid laughing at the way he says "Wartortle".

13. You Can Do It (If You Really Try)

The album could've gone out on that upbeat note, but no, they had to go for another overblown ballad, this time trying far too hard to be inspirational. The plus side is, it's not yet another generic 80s/90s pop song. The minus side is, it sounds like something that would be playing on the PA in a church thrift store. Or a fake ad on an episode of SNL. I do not feel empowered by this level of unironic encouragement. I just feel like my eyes are rolling so hard they'll fall out. Its only saving grace is that it’s somehow not the most irritating inspirational ballad from the late 90s that was used in connection with a geek-magnet TV show.

Overall... Although I want to describe the music as being "generic" — and it is full of the tiredest parts of 80s and 90s music, wandering from orchestra hits to record scratch noises to cutesy synthesizer "dings" to what seem to be several different singers' bad Michael Jackson impressions — some of it is actually interesting! See, no matter what impression you got from what I said above, I don’t categorically hate this style of music. I made multiple comparisons to songs from Thriller and Bad because I think most of the songs on those albums are examples of how to do this genre very well. But 2.B.A. Master doesn’t just lag because I’m comparing it to widely-beloved albums. Writing this review actually sent me introspecting for quite a while about what music I enjoy and why. And I realized, many of the cheesiest and most flawed aspects of this album are also present on less-acclaimed albums I enjoy very much, like the niche The Golden Age of Wireless by Thomas Dolby and the virtually-unknown Playgrounds ‘n’ Glass by Urban Blight. But, while Dolby’s music often has the same cheesy synthesizer voices and lack of dynamics or has weirdly melodramatic moments, it’s also often clearly experimenting with particular effects and techniques, and his lyrics have evocative images or stories that make the songs really engaging. And, while Urban Blight’s lyrics are often cliche-ridden or downright idiotic, the 80s/90s pop music instrumentation and style elements are varied and used with... for lack of a better term, more discretion, I guess?, which makes me feel like their songs are building to something musically. Well, except the song “Favorite Flavor”, which is just garbage.

The point is, while neither of those examples is a great album (at least not to my taste, which I freely admit colors this), they are both still good. Unfortunately, while some songs on 2.B.A. Master approach goodness, they are the exception, not the rule. Most of the music is simple and predictable and seem to use the more grating tropes of the time like orchestra hits and record-scratch noises just because they can, and most of the lyrics are less "song about Pokémon" and more "attempts at being vaguely inspirational with Pokémon references forced in uncomfortably". Some of the songs are enjoyable in a "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure sort of way (and I unironically like the B-52s, so believe me, I know "this was an earnest attempt” and/or guilty pleasure music), but there’s very little on here I’d actually call good. The best track here musically, “2B A Master”, is wasted on blah lyrics, and the one that most accomplishes the goal of being a song about Pokémon, “Double Trouble”, suffers greatly from its speaking-over-the-singers vocal performance. All I can say is, I’m glad I got this album used.

-----

W/A/S Scores: 3/0/7

Weeb: The lyrics require some prior specific knowledge of the Pokémon anime to not be completely baffling, but Pokémon is probably the most well-known and well-entrenched Japanese franchise on this side of the Pacific, and other than that, it’s decidedly American, or at least decidedly within the musical cultures of Western Europe and the Anglosphere.

Ass: No.

Shit: AAAAAAAAH. Okay, okay, no, seriously, there are a few good points, but it’s at best average-quality 90s pop with a veneer of Pokémon over the top.

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Oh Weird: While writing this and hunting down appropriate links, I was surprised to see how many uploads of, and even covers of, songs from this album there are on Youtube. I assumed this album was a more or less forgotten piece of bad 90s media, but apparently it’s one with a significant fanbase.

Oh Cool: Maddie Blaustein, the original English-language voice actress for Meowth was also a comic editor and writer for both Marvel and DC and the Creative Director for the Weekly World News. Oh, and she was intersex and, according to one of the sources cited by the Wikipedia article, bi.

Oh No: Educational rap is still a thing, and there are resources to make your own.

#weeaboo trash #album review #pokémon #Pokémon 2.B.A. Master

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written-in-light-blog1 · 6 years

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“LET US SPEAK OF THE TERRIBLE BEAUTY OF BECOMING OURSELVES”

Illustrating Destiny’s Books of Sorrow with community artist Francine Bridge

One of the most impressive Destiny fan-projects we’ve seen to date has been Francine Bridge’s incredible illustrated rendering of Destiny’s Books of Sorrow. Francine, otherwise known as Witnesstheabsurd, agreed to take some time to answer a few of our questions about her work, its impetus, and what the project means to her.

Written by Seth Dickinson, the Books of Sorrow tell the story of the Hive - and by extension Oryx and his siblings - and give deep, rich background to one of the game’s largest and most important conflicts. Lyric and evocative, the books offer insight into both the Hive themselves and the universe they inhabit, and remain Destiny’s most impressive and most in-depth piece of lore-building. For those who may have joined the community in Destiny 2, or never had the chance to read the original books, they can be read in their entirety here. Francine’s project shows the same impressive attention to detail, and most importantly, the same level of empathy as the works that inspired it. We’re ecstatic to be able to share this conversation with the Destiny community, and we hope you’ll take the time to admire the full project.

You can find Francine on Artstation, as well as on Twitter and Tumblr.

Written in Light: To get things started, tell us a bit about yourself. What you're studying, what field you work in, what you like to do for fun - give us a brief summary of who you are and what's important to you!

Francine Bridge: HI! I'm Francine, although I'm better known online as Witnesstheabsurd. I work as a freelance illustrator and concept artist in the UK - you might have seen some of my work in the game Hiveswap or at labels like Killstar. I do album covers, shirt designs, character/monster etc design work for games, comics, private clients. I'm currently in my 4th and final (I took an extra sandwich year to do a supplemental diploma in professional studies) year of my Illustration and Visual Media BA degree in London, after which I'm probably going to look for more permanent studio/contract work rather than the one-off freelance stuff I've been pursuing while I've been in school.

A couple of years ago, prior to starting the degree, I came out as a trans woman, which is probably an important detail, and it's informed a lot of my work. However, my driving impulse has always been monsters - my preoccupation with Destiny started entirely because a friend of mine showed me screencaps of Oryx after the The Taken King release and I was smitten. Pretty much all of the media I consume, the games I play, the art I create is in pursuit of ever greater or more unique creature and monster design, and they're very dear to my heart.

As far as what I do for fun - my day is 90% working at the tablet, but I find time to play some games and build "gunpla" model kits as well as paw through my artbook collection. Almost everything I do is informed by my profession, so I use my hobbies as a means to access and process more referential or inspirational visual material or techniques. I only recently started sincerely learning how to actually "paint," rather than just do some basic rendering under lineart, so that's been a major part of my work lately.

WiL: Was there anything in particular about Oryx that really drew you to him? Did Oryx come across as particularly great and/or unique to you, or is there something else that struck you with his character or design?

FB: Well, as I said, I'm transgender. In the ‘pitch’ my friend made to me about Oryx as a character, the most interesting aspect to me was that he's a transgender man (although I'm a trans woman, the experience has some shared parallels obviously).

In media, it's incredibly difficult to find trans characters not wholly defined by that aspect of their identity, or who aren't constantly wallowing in the Misery and Tragedy of being trans. I want trans characters who occupy all roles - villain, hero, supporting and main - and it's rare to find anyone who's more than a token or like, tragedy porn. Oryx super resonated with me because he was this figure who acquired power and immediately transitioned, asserting his identity in a way that couldn't be defied - Oryx's story is very much one about self-definition and the value of existence under your own terms, which are very important concepts to me.

When I decided to start work on illustrating the Books I actually reached out to Seth Dickinson, the author Bungie contracted to write them (and the Cabal Booklet/odd flavour text, by the way) to get some specific questions answered and he was kind enough to respond and was very cooperative and supportive. Among the things I asked about I wanted to know if Oryx was consciously written as transgender character or if it was just a coincidental "weird alien race" flourish. I was very happy to learn Seth had purposefully written Oryx that way, and that he was happy people took strength from it.

It's very novel to have, like, a "trans power fantasy"... a character who acquires absolute power over the self and instantly rewrites the contract between themselves and their body that so many of us spend our entire lives making adjustments to and renegotiating for some measure of peace. It was satisfying, refreshing.

Oryx is super cool to me on multiple visual levels obviously as well, being a mineral-encrusted deep space insect mummy warlord, but that element specifically sets him apart for me, and always will. It's cool to know that a trans character in Destiny can also be a hideous monster from beyond the stars.

WiL: Nice! I've wondered if Oryx was intentionally written to reflect a transgender person. I'm glad to hear a positive answer to that question, and I'm glad you found strength in it!

My next question is, why did you decide to take on this project? I mean, it's very clear that you love Oryx, so that factor is a given, but you mentioned in your original post that this was something you did for your degree. Care to elaborate on that?

FB: So, the structure of my illustration degree is such that while we’re given specific "briefs," such as topics or techniques, the final year gives us significantly more free rein. We're obligated to complete three "projects" and author a thesis over the course of the final year, but the subject matter, material, everything about those projects is our call. The outcomes are judged based solely on technical and professional development rather than adherence to a specific brief.

This left the field wide open for me to kill two birds with one stone and bring in a project I had intended to do anyhow, but hadn't had the time or space for; something that I was sincerely passionate about rather than an edict handed down by a tutor. Illustrating the Books of Sorrow was something i'd wanted to do ever since I first read them back in The Taken King, and I jumped at the chance. In addition, while i've produced and formatted artbooks before (My first published work, The Occult Supergiant Primer, can be found here ), I've been able to recoup the time invested away from client work in sales and funding. The Books are obviously material belonging to Bungie and I can't justify selling copies, digital or otherwise, of my illustrated version, so I had to find some other reason to make this investment of time and unpaid work worthwhile as well as enjoyable.

Being able to use the work produced to further my degree was the perfect "excuse.” That said, I've received so much attention from the Destiny community at large, including commissioned work from several new clients, that it would have easily been worth it regardless.

WiL: Your work definitely deserves the attention, you clearly have a strong sense of design! Would you be willing to tell us a little bit about the process you went through to make the Books of Sorrow? Do you have any early versions or storyboards that you'd like to share? Or did any of the illustrations go through any major changes from start to finish, and would you be willing/able to show us that process and talk a bit about why you made the changes you made?

FB: The greater part of the Books came together incredibly smoothly and naturally, with very little iteration required on specific pieces. The images had been stewing in my mind ever since I read the original verses a few years ago and they were more than ready to be rendered. What did require a lot of research, development and false starts were the designs for the sisters, Savathûn and Xivu Arath. Both of them have yet to appear ingame in any major capacity (although it's looking likely Savathûn is going to be a Year 2 DLC), so it was up to me to create designs for them that:

Satisfied the descriptions appended to them in the verses, as light as they were, and also matched the info Seth gave me

Satisfied my own personal expectations and interpretation

Conformed to the lore and the existing known morphology of the Hive in a way that would make them recognizable to a player with no prior familiarity with the Books

Balancing these principles lead to a lot of internal back and forth - Savathûn was easier because we had already seen her brood in D2 on Titan, so I knew to emphasize ornate crests, bonelike texture and a slightly less mineral, more biological look by comparison to Oryx's brood, the hive we exclusively encountered in D1. She was tough at first but ultimately fell into line with something satisfying for me, which actually drew a lot from the Xenomorph Queen in Aliens.

Xivu Arath was a little trickier because she had to be distinct from Oryx, who kind of already occupies the "big mineral/bone-encrusted bruiser" archetype visually, so I had to take her even further. I spent a lot of time wondering whether she would have any ornamentation like some of the bigger Knights (Alak-Hul comes to mind), given that she represents the "ultimate" Knight morph, but I eventually eschewed all decoration in favour of something reflecting her nature in the narrative: blunt, implacable, spartan. She dispenses with the ritual and hierarchical trappings the other siblings indulge in - notably she decides that all battlefields are her Court, rather than entertaining a court herself, and she tends to default to just brutally bludgeoning whatever stands in her way rather than making an appeal to the Deep or engaging in trickery. I was very satisfied with how she turned out, and the piece featuring her is easily one of my favourites.

WiL: I was going to ask which piece is your favorite! Do you have a Top 3 that you're most proud of?

Is there anything about the Books that you wish were different, or is there something you wish you had the opportunity to draw for this project but couldn't justify including it?

FB: I have a strong tendency to favour whichever the last piece I completed was, because by default I'm always proudest of my most recent work and very rapidly lose favour with pieces even like, a week old. That said, I think overall the strongest piece for me personally would be Oryx slaying Akka, alongside the final Wormfood painting and the Savathun piece, although honorable mentions go to Xivu Arath and Quria, Blade Transform.

I can't say there's anything about the Books specifically I wish was different. The part of me that's purely consuming it as a narrative wishes that they had found Taox, that there had been some confrontation there. I feel like there's a very strong "childhood vengeance" element to the Taox subplot, like when you're put down by an adult for drawing in class and you fantasize about coming back to the school years later as a wildly successful artist and making them admit they were wrong to have stopped you. A key part of that fantasy is recognizing it as a remnant of childhood, this impulse born out of a narrower perspective and inflated self-worth, and realizing you can move past that shit (Although if/when I do become a wildly successful artist there might be a few teachers I'll look up).

Ultimately, I think the arc of the books and what the story is trying to say about distortion of intent and self makes Taox disappearing a much more emotionally resonant and interesting turn. It would be neat if Taox turned up somewhere in-game, and became the focal point of a new Hive offensive. An entire species/culture with such a specific individual grudge is a fascinating concept.

With about a month and a half of time allotted for the project and 50 verses, there was a lot of stuff I had to cut despite how much it hurt - in a complete version I would have wanted a painting for every verse, but specifically I would have liked to draw Akka in full, the Dakaua War Angels, the Harmony/Gift Mast, the Qugu; basically I would have given form to the many species and cultures Seth conjures up with a few phrases and a loose description but still manages to make incredibly evocative.

WiL: Do you think you'll ever return to the project and draw those images, either as standalone pieces or as an update to the PDF you've already made?

FB: An update to the .pdf itself is unlikely. I tend to consider projects released to be complete, and usually by the time I revisit a subject I'm not obligated to work on it will have been a few years at the very least. I tend to have developed my technique and approach enough that new pieces inserted retroactively would look somewhat disjointed in terms of quality and style. The chance of releasing standalone paintings - especially of points of specific interest for me like say, Akka in his entirety, the Dakaua war angels, the Qugu, etc. - is significantly higher. Whether that happens sooner or later depends entirely on what my current workload looks like, and aside from the incredibly generous and supportive response to the project from the larger community the Books are very much a passion project and have to be weighed against, say, contract or school work going forwards.

WiL: That makes sense. What other projects do you have going on right now, if any?

FB: Just this morning I decided on the subject of my final degree project, which I'm also planning to run as my second artbook with an accompanying Kickstarter and print run - something I can actually sell as well as being material that excites me! It's entirely too early to disclose any specific details about it though.

Other than that, I continue to produce odd pieces of fanart in between a regular flow of client work both from private individuals and studios. I guess I can safely say I'll be doing more work on the second Homestuck game after contributing to the first, as well as doing some designs for a music video I was contracted for, and also finishing my thesis for the aforementioned degree.

The key thing, I think, is to keep moving - I get very anxious when I'm spinning my wheels between projects, and the temptation to linger on the threshold a while longer is incredibly strong, especially when there's always the fear your new work will fail to surpass what's come before. Reaching a personal peak like some of the paintings I did for the Books of Sorrow is a double-edged sword, and it can signify both a great accomplishment and a raising of the bar that can be daunting to follow. I'm confident that whatever you see from me next will manage it, though!

WiL: Believe me, after talking with you for a while, I'm confident your next project will meet your expectations. You are a very talented and very ambitious artist, and we can’t wait to see where your career takes you! It’s been a pleasure to talk to you, and we’re looking forward to your next Destiny passion project.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

All images courtesy Francine Bridge

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softevan · 6 years

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We’re Not Who We Used To Be (SOFT Mini Series)

A/N: So I have decided to make a series of scenarios based on specific lyrics from Harry’s songs which I’m so excited about because i’ve been writing all day. Some of them will be smutty, some wont, but ill put the warnings before hand. I want to thank a lot of you who have been supporting of me and my writing. If you have any lyrics requests please don’t hesitate to let me know. But I really hope you like this one, enjoy! -K

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 4K

Pairing: Y/N and Harry

Y/N’S POV

This week is the ARIA awards in Australia and Harry has been scheduled to perform. Because he has been on tour and constantly traveling I just think that he needs a few days off instead of going to an awards show. His manager Tommy had insisted on him declining the invitation to the show and have a non hectic couple of days, especially to spend time with me. But of course Harry being Harry he didn’t want to let anyone down and he decided that he wanted to go.

Harry always wanted me to come with him on tour, which is something I would be so happy to do. But my job is always my main priority. Through out our relationship, we had seen that we had been focusing too much on our carers, and neglecting our relationship. With both of our singing carers it was hard. But now with my tour over I’ve decided to take some time off to be with Harry and actually try to be here for him. Its his very first tour with just him and his band and of course he needed me to be there with him. Its not easy being on the stage by yourself, its very intimidating to say the least. But with me travelling with Harry I get to see and experience new things with him, and write new songs along the way. Knowing that Harry feels more at home with me being here for him, and knowing that I give him comfort when he sees me standing at the side singing along to his songs means everything to me. It just makes my heart swell at the thought.

“Babe, its either going to be the Gucci or the Alexander McQueen outfit, just pick one?” Harry came out of the hotels wardrobe with both his hands filled with these unusual coloured suits, with a puzzled look on his face, scrunched eyebrows waiting for my reply. “H you always go for Gucci so wear something different” I looked up at Harry, dragging my concentration from my novel in my hands to him then back to my book. “Okay sold” His cheeky grin spread across his face and put down the suits of the side of the bed, then making his way over to me. “Babe?” His hands sprung up to my book and pulled it away so my attention was on him. “H” I looked up and his face which still had the cheekiest grin on it. “Do you wanna grab something to eat?” “Yeah sure, I actually am quite hungry” “Okay cool” He knelt over me to grab the hotel phone to order in. I yanked the phone out of his hand and put it back to the server. “Do you not want anything?” The confusion setting into his face, I grabbed his chin to pull the smile back and I pushed my fingers into his dimples which I know he loved. “How about we go downstairs to the restaurant and eat? We can look cute and go out for a romantic meal?” “Sweetie I am so washed I cant be bothered going anywhere tonight” He pulled himself onto the side of the bed beside me with a sigh leaving his lips. “Harry its just for an hour or so, we haven’t had dinner together in a while” I looked back around at his face, still with a awkward look to it. “We had dinner yesterday” “Yeah, a salad in the dressing room” I sighed and pushed my body to lay on his chest with my arms wrapped around his waist facing him. “Im sorry it was just a thought, I know your really tired” “Im sorry baby ill make It up to you, when I have a day off we can do whatever you want, I promise” He pulled my forearms up so he could kiss me ever so gently on the lips then across my cheeks to my temples. “So do you want Chinese takeout or Indian?”

The next morning was the rehearsal for the awards show which was tonight, and as usual the preparation is crazy. People running around grabbing the lights, seating arrangements, the routine of the awards, scheduled performances, and of course the celebrities that are there to rehearse. I sat in one of the seats in the audience waiting for to watch Harry’s sound check for tonight when I seen him walking out with six people running after him. He immediately was looking for me in the room and his eyes landed straight on me. I gave a wave and made my way to the front of the stage where the cameras sit. “Hey baby girl” He crouched down kissing me and sat back up. “Hey H, you excited for tonight?” “Yeah I am, ill be fine once the performance is over and I get to sit beside you” I could feel my cheeks burning as if the lights were glaring down heat onto my skin. “I love the way I can still make you blush” “Shut up Harry and get up there” I giggled as I swatted at his shoe giving a smile his way. “Your going to be here right?” “Where else would I be?” He kissed my hand and got up to the band to organise the performance for tonight. “Y/N” I heard a shout from the left of me. I turn around and see Ella, or as most people know her, Lorde, came running to me and greeted me with a hug. “Oh my gosh hey girl no time no see” I screamed when we hugged for more than too long, but not seeing her for ages it made up for lost time. Me and Ella were really good friends when we first got into the industry. We are both signed on the same label and we kind of grew together. But over time obviously with our different lives and fame we kind of grew apart, but of course we still are good friends. “Congrats on the big tour chick” “Aw thank you, I’m just glad that I now have time to see and spend time with Harry, he’s having so much fun and I’m so happy to see him happy” I giggled at her. Her face didn’t rocipacate. “Are you happy though?” “Of course I am why wouldn’t I be?” She pulled her arm out, initiating to take a seat beside her. “Look Y/N I know when your not happy about something, is it Harry?” “No no its not Harry at all” “Then what is it?” I took a deep breath, and just let it out to her. “I don’t know, I just feel like recently we haven’t been as close as what we were before he released his music. Dont get me wrong we are still close, but I mean, I hate to say this, but- I kinda feel like we are growing apart a little” She looked down at my hands that were clawing down my jeans, which might as well have holes in them at this point. “If that’s the way you feel then maybe you should talk to him about it” “Yeah” I look over to Harry that was talking to one of the guitar players in the band, showing him the certain chords on the guitar he wanted played. Looking at him I know I couldn’t do it to him, not here and not when the whole tour is happening. It was crush him. “No, I cant bring it up now, its just, theres too much going on right now” “Well, I do think you need to talk eventually” My gaze went straight back to Lorde, which she had a sympathetic smile to it. She does have a point, but right now, it needs to be shot to the back of my head. My main concern right now s supporting Harry tonight. The chords from Kiwi came on and my full attention went straight to him with the music going straight through my body.

A few hours later I was finally finished hair and makeup when I hear him coming into the room with a few other people talking about the show tonight. I looked at Lou that was telling me a story about Lux and how she has started to take an interest in makeup. “And I said to her no yeh cant use nail polish for eyeshadow, I nearly had a heart attack then” Her accent strong like Harry’s always made me feel more comforted, I’m not sure why. Was probably the accent, which is stupid, but its always the small things for me. “Baby you look beautiful” Harry came over with food in hand and pushed a kiss to my head while Lou was still trying to perfect it. “Harold get away, glam squad here, no boys aloud innit” My face srunched up with laughter seeing Harry’s reaction. “Fine Im leaving, in a huff” He flicked his imaginary hair and walked off to the door. “As long as your huffs over in an hour to come back so I can do your hair you can huff to your hearts content pet” The laughter coming out of me was nearly the worst laugh in history, but the way they get along just makes you want to piss your pants. “You guys are so funny together Lou” “I mean its a pure comical show so yeh cant really get it anywhere else can yeh?” We both giggled and I got up to make my way into get changed.

When we were close to the red carpet of the ARIA’s I start to see Harry tense up a litte beside me, which made my hand glide up his thigh. “Hey youll be fine” “I know love, just not a huge fan of the red carpet bit” “I know, that’s what I’m here for, remember?” My eyes looked up into his nervous ones, reading him is so easy, you just know what he is feeling just by looking at him. “Just keep your eyes on me, right?” “Right” I felt a small kiss to my cheek as I looked back to the window of the car. I sometimes think to myself how can I make him feel better, he should be used to this kind of stuff. He has been doing it longer than what I have been. But then again everyone doesn’t like any of their job do they?

The night went smoothly, no humps or hiccups with the whole night. His performance was outstanding as normal, and on top of that he won best international artist which is amazing. He never gives himself credit for what he has done and want he can do. But then again when I think of myself being an artist I never think that I’m perfect. “I’m so glad to be home, well, back to the hotel I guess” He chuckled as I went to set my bag down on the kitchen table and he look off his blazer. “Babe I have to say, if that skirt was any shorter, I could of easily slipped inside of you when you were sitting on my lap after the show, fuck you looked so hot tonight” His hands automatically went straight to the back of my thighs and rubbed there way up underneath my skirt, clutching my bum. I quickly turned around so his hands couldn’t get where they wanted to. I knew where this was going. “Oh so you want to do it now?” His breathes got deeper as his eyes trailed around my body, eyeing me up like a piece of candy. “Of course, love, I just wanna bend you over this table” His ring covered hands found their spot again straight to my bum, clutching it in his palms, giving me a good squeeze. “Baby you torture me” His eyes reverted back to mine, trying to read me. I wasn’t really feeling the whole atmosphere. Since I talked to Lorde it really got me thinking about us and this whole ‘problem’ if that’s what I even wanna call it. I need to bring this up now before its too late. “Harry, every time I wanna have sex you say your too tired, now you want to?” “Well, yeah, why wouldn’t I?” His eyes gave out confusion that set to my lips then back to my eyes. “Look Harry, I really need to talk to you” I pulled his hands away from my bum and pushed him away to I could look at him properly. “Y/N, are you okay love?” He leaned on the chair that was sitting in front of him, waiting for me to make a coherent sentence that didn’t seem too stupid. How can I even start this conversation. “Harry, I feel like recently, this between us, well, they aren’t the way they used to be before” His face grew puzzled at my statement, never taking his eyes off of me. “I feel like somethings not right here, with us, is there something wrong with us?” “Of course there isn’t baby girl, I mean all couples kinda go through this I guess, but there is nothing wrong with us” He started to make his way back to me and I pulled myself back to the same distance that we were in before. I didn’t want him thinking that this conversation was over when it was just getting started. I didn’t want to brush off this conversation for the sake of not getting into a fight. I hate confrontation but this just needs to be said to him. “Harry I’m not happy. Im not happy that the fact that when I bring up something to do or something that I want to do that you always brush it off to the side and not make it a big deal. Like the few times that ive asked you to come with me and have a romantic meal or go for a walk, or even just to get coffee and spend some alone time together before you have a show. Look I know that you have the tour and I know that it can be stressful. But I’m here too, I know that I’m here for you to support you but I’m here, I need some Harry time to myself, and not with other people around shouting at you one million things.” His face just sat there, emotionless. He had no vibes coming from him, which is never a good thing when it comes to Harry. Not being able to ready him makes me think did I do the right thing and even bring this up?

“We do have alone time, when I come home from a show and we cuddle in bed with a dvd” “Harry that’s not spending time with someone, that’s just laying down before bed. We aren’t talking, we are just laying there until we fall asleep. That’s not being with each other” “Well in my eyes that counts for something” “Well in my eyes it doesn’t” The air in the room gets thicker and the tension starts to rise. “I feel like your not trying anymore H. I gave up my whole life to be here with you when I could have been at home right now” “Oh please, don’t give me this guilt bullshit” “I could have been writing songs for another album, and gee I don’t know, spending time with my family?” “So to get your own way in this fight you want to make me feel bad about you coming out here with me and throwing that back in my face?” “Oh so now its an arugment?” “Did you really think that this was going to be a good and smooth conversation Y/N?” His voice raised to a scary tone as he started to walk across to the other side of the kitchen. “I don’t know what you want me to do Y/N, just say to everyone ‘hey I wanna spend time with my girlfriend so I’m going to cancel a few shows here and there. Its not like that you know, I cant just take time off when I want it. This is my job. I am exhausted” “Harry I’m not asking you to give up tour dates for me, I’m asking you to make an hour just for us. Im not asking for a whole day. Even just a dinner, or something. But your not even trying, I feel like I’m the one that’s only trying here” I walked to the side of the sofa and sat down on it, looking down at my hands as the tears streamed down my face. “I feel as if you don’t love me anymore Harry” “What the fuck kind of statement is that? If I didn’t love you anymore, I wouldn’t care where you would go, I wouldn’t care if you were here or not, I wouldn’t give two fucks about you” My blood started to boil again and I got up to face his red complextion. “If you even fucking cared about me and our relationship we shouldn’t be even having this conversation. Im only asking for one fucking hour of your time, to actually spend time with your 4 year long girlfriend. Thats not a lot I’m asking here since your the one that’s asking for my full 24 hour time. You asked me to come with you not me” “And you said yes, you didn’t have to say yes, you could have easily said that you wanted to spend time with your family because I would have understood” “No Harry I wanted to come with you because I thought that it would have been an experience that I wouldn’t ever want to forget, to be with my boyfriend and to travel the world and see things that I didn’t see when I was alone” A small silence stilled as we took in what was said in the space of ten minutes. “I was thinking of the things that we could have been doing, as a couple. Making our relationship stronger” His face never left the ground, with his hands clasped around the sides of the marble designed island made me see that this was getting to him. I never thought that this conversation would have gotten this far. But it goes to show that he really didn’t think about it. I walked up to him and stood right in front of him and forced him to look at me. “How many times did you come out to see me when I was touring and you were away making your album?” “Dont pull this bullsh-“ “How many times did you come out to see me when I was touring and you were away making your album?” I repeated with a more stern tone to it. I needed to get him to see what was really going on, but it still wasn’t clicking. “Once” He mumbled with his face hung to the ground; keeping his face away from mine. “How many times?” I asked him to repeated it. “Once” His voice raised as he looked up at me. “Yeah, once out of 32 shows. That just proves my point, I’m done with this conversation” I started to walk away from him and he grabbed my arm with great force to stop me in my tracks. “Dont just walk away from this when you think your done, its not done here” “Right okay, lets keep fighting the same fight. If that’s what will get you to see it then please ill be happy to” I pulled my arms away from his grasp and folded my arms looking directly at him. “Y/N, if you really think that I don’t care, and brought you out here to waste your time, or just use you for comfort from home, then maybe you should leave and go home. Because to the quite honest with you, this attitude, is really getting on my last nerve” The attitude that was streaming from his body language was something I never thought I would see coming from him. He started to walk away into the kitchen when of course I followed him, with a lot more coming into mind. I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything that I had planned to say in my head. “I try so much for you Harry and your the one that throws it in my face. You really think that I’m giving you attitude? Yeah actually, maybe I am, because its the only way to get it through your thick skull that is whole thing is ruining our relationship” “Eh no actually Y/N because this whole relationship was fine until tonight” “You thought that it was a fine relationship” Once again a silence broke through the room waiting for someone to say something. I knew if I needed to explain more to him about us then it wasn’t even worth trying anymore. “Harry I shouldn’t have to explain to you if I’m happy. You should know that. You cant be this great guy int he public eye and then be a complete dick behind closed doors. Your either one person or the other, which is it? I fell in love with the nice charming guy that would do anything to be with me, and treat me with respect and treat me like no other guy would treat me. But that guy isn’t there anymore. I cant wait for him” I couldn’t keep my tears back looking at him. I was standing there pouring my heart out to him and he just stood there, facing me, watching me, looking right through me. Maybe I’m starting to break him. “I love you Harry. Not the guy that’s standing in front of me right now, but the guy that I met 4 years ago” I started to walk into the bedroom across the hall and slammed the door shut behind me. Thats when I broke, so hard. I held it in for so long trying to be strong to get everything out, and now that its out in the open, I kinda feel glad that I said it, but also regret it. Im thinking back to an hour ago and just thinking I should have just had sex with him and it would have been a good night. But it would ave just been me prolonging the enevitable.

Once I calmed myself down I decided to get myself back to our house in London to give us some space because at this point I think that’s all we need. I made sure that all of my stuff from travelling around was in my suitcase and zipped it up. I looked around the room and to Harry’s suitcase. Just knowing that I cant look for one of his graphic t shirts to wear to bed just made my heart break, but I know that doing this will help make him see that I’m serious about this.

I made my way down the halls trailing my suitcases at hand with the phone to my ear talking to the driver, and I seen Harry sitting on the sofa looking straight my direction. “Okay thank you, ill see you in 5” I hung up the phone and tried to ignore the fact that Harry was sitting watching me as I made my way to the door. “Y/N” He jumped up off of the sofa and hit his hand off of the door so I couldn’t open it. “Why are you doing this, why are you leaving?” “If you cant see that this is our main problem, I cant help you. We both need time to think about this” I grab the door handle and harry pulled it away. “Need time to think about what? Y/N we can talk about this and we can figure this out” His eyes began to fill up with tears. “Harry I cant sit here and pretend that everything’s okay when its not. I cant do this relationship if its one sided, its either we work 50/50 or I’m done” I pulled his hand away from the door handle and walked out the door with my suitcases. As I walk down the hallway I hear the faint noises of a scream and a loud smash coming from our room; hearing what this is doing to him just is breaking me into two, making me think that is this the right thing I’m doing. But what is breaking my heart each time I took a step, he wasn’t chasing me.

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fourteenacross · 7 years

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okay so now that you've seen all of them and hashtag love them all, what is your Official Ranking of the pierres?

OKAY, ANON I spent a longer time on this then I probably should have and I’m kind of embarrassed about how short it is after all the time I spent thinking about it.

The problem with loving all Pierres is that it’s hard to decide how and why to elevate a certain performance above another. There is SO MUCH going on in this show and with this character in particular that there are a million ways for an actor to shine or to give a particular interpretation that knocks my socks off. So, here is my scientific analysis* of all the Pierres I’ve seen, complete with conclusions.

*Not actually very scientific

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, THE NUMBERS

Scott x2Groban x1Malloy x1Oak x1

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, THE OVERVIEW

My slide into loving Pierre was slow and steady, not as immediate as with some of the other characters. My first love (and still my fave) when walking out of the show the first time was Sonya. The second time, Natasha had my heart, and Dolokhov stole it right after through a talkback we saw with Nick Choksi. I liked Pierre at the start, I liked his arc, but it wasn’t until I fought with some rando on tumblr about how gr8 Pierre is that I began to realize how resonant parts of his arc were. Spending time listening to the words on the cast recording and reading the lyrics and thinking about the story started to lodge Pierre into my heart. I think I reblogged the “and this bright star / having traced its parabola” verse like, five times between December 2015 and November 2016 because it was so resonant.

What really sealed it once and for all was seeing the show for the first time on Broadway. Our first seats at the Imperial were right around Pierre’s salon, which gave me a super up-close view of the emotions that Pierre goes through over the course of the show. Obviously, when you’re watching this show you always feel present in the narrative (and I have a whole other post somewhere within me about how the set and theatre decor create this liminal safe space), but sitting that close to Pierre and watching him through portions of the show, I felt extra present in his arc. We were right there for “Pierre” and “The Duel” and “Dust and Ashes” and “Pierre and Natasha” and “The Great Comet of 1812,” watching him have these tiny revelations that build up into a larger revelation. It was lovely, and anyone who says “Ugh, I can’t believe you would sit on the stage, you miss so much” doesn’t realize how much more you gain from being close enough to touch the characters as they go through these events and deal with the personal ramifications.

So, I liked Pierre right off the bat, I grew ever fonder in the long stretch between ART and Broadway, and I really hit the level of just adoring him after seeing that first Broadway performance.

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, THE PLAYERS

Each of the guys I saw played Pierre in an almost entirely different way than the others, which is one of my favorite things about theatre. I’ve tried to explain to my parents when I was younger and seeing Rent like it was my job and to friends who haven’t had the privilege to experience theatre as a repeat customer how incredibly unique an experience it is. Every actor is going to take something different off the page and thus give something different to the audience. With a show like this, backed by hundreds of pages of background information and years and years of adaptations and such a diverse body of material, that’s especially true.

eta: I should add, too, that I’ve never discussed acting choices with these gentlemen. This is entirely based on my interpretations of what I saw them doing on stage.

GROBAN: Groban’s Pierre is actively angry. He’s mad at himself for wasting his life and mad at the world for disappointing him. His “Pierre” is almost aggressive in places. And his suicidality in “The Duel” is more of the “FUCK THIS I AM DONE” variety. You get the impression that he wants to shake the world by the shoulders and say, “This is it? This is what we get? This is what’s worth all the suffering and garbage? Fuck you.” His revelation in “Dust and Ashes” is similarly aggressive. He hits this place where he realizes he can’t die yet because there are things in life that he’s missing, things that he’s keeping himself from having and he has to find them and he’s lamenting his own worthlessness while also resolving to move forward, goddammit, if only to spite himself and the world. This attitude reaches its peak in “Pierre and Anatole,” where you really think the dude is gonna beat the shit out of Anatole, and then we slowly get to watch that aggression leave him as that song winds down and he realizes what he’s done and what he’s doing. It continues that was through “Pierre and Andrey” as he sees Andrey’s anger at Natasha, and he perhaps, begins to see how miserable that angry lifestyle as left Andrey, all the while continuing to struggle with the concept of love he began to explore in “Dust and Ashes.” Meeting Natasha at the end opens him to this world of tenderness and innocence and love that he had thought was beyond him. He spends “The Great Comet of 1812” in awe of that revelation.

MALLOY: Dave’s Pierre is more…sad. His “Pierre” is more despair and longing. He’s TIRED. He can’t DO IT anymore, the world is SO MUCH and he’s just DONE. He’s awkward and hunched and he’s given up. I think Dave’s Pierre is maybe the Pierre that I relate to most because he’s depressed in a way that I get depressed, that sort of whole-body listlessness. His arc from “The Duel” to “Dust and Ashes” is straight up giving up in the former and then falling into his desperation in the latter. He’s asking these questions and making these observations about himself because he doesn’t know the answers and he desperately wants to. He starts act two with this new zeal for finding these answers and he just can’t sustain it, even as he’s trying to push through and be this other person. His “what I wouldn’t give to be like him” in “Preparations” reads as a reflection of this new take on life that he was trying to push himself into. He wants to be the person who just takes his lot in life and is able to wring the best out of it, but he’s not. He’s befuddled as the nonsense with Natasha and Anatole plays out and that slides into anger at Anatole for both throwing this opportunity and not even realizing how badly he’s fucked up. The last three songs start with him being depressed and caught up in the middle of this triangle and really despairing that if no one else can can find fulfillment in life–Anatole and Andrey and Natasha–then how can he expect to find it himself, and then having that moment with Natasha, moved by her kindness, struggling to understand her the same way he struggled to understand Andrey, and being so moved his entire perspective changes. He’s also the awkwardest Pierre by far and I love him for that.

SCOTT: Scott’s Pierre is somewhere between Malloy and Groban. He’s more frustrated than angry, but he also has qualities of having given up the way Dave has. He’s looking for answers the same way that Dave is, but it’s less frantic desperation and more exasperated that he’s spent years looking for answers and he’s still back at square one and everyone is enjoying life, but he can’t seem to figure out how to do it. His Act 2 brings this all crashing down as he realizes that all these people who he thinks do have a good life with their act together are just as fucked up as he is, specifically Andrey and Natasha, but also to a lesser degree, Anatole. “Pierre and Natasha” was very fragile and probably the most like Oak’s. He doesn’t quite have Groban or Oak’s charisma and he doesn’t have Dave’s self-deprecation, but he makes up for that in other ways. He nails those two spoken lines with a sort of quiet forthrightness that none of the other Pierres hit in quite the same way, and as he was the first Pierre I saw, he really set the standard and I feel like I compare all the other readings to this one.

OAK: Oak’s Pierre is sad. He’s on his way to that Malloy-esque despair but hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. Malloy’s sadness is so complete that it’s more like the numbness of depression, whereas Oak’s Pierre is still feeling things sharply and trying to stop himself before he gets that bad, but unsure how to do so. It added a sort of poignancy to “Dust and Ashes” in the opposite way of Malloy’s–Malloy’s “Dust and Ashes” has that poignancy because his Pierre has hit rock bottom and is seeing the light for the first time and just awed by it. Oak’s Pierre is saved from hitting rock bottom by that moment in “Dust and Ashes.” His anger at Anatole is INTENSE, as is his sadness at seeing Andrey throw Natasha aside. His “Pierre and Natasha” has him in over his head and unsure how to proceed. He wasn’t prepared to play this role in people’s lives, especially when he doesn’t even have his own shit together. He’s mired in confusion, so much so that it’s not until the “Pierre grew confused” that it clicks for him that that’s what’s going on. He really wants to connect with Natasha and is honestly upset that he can’t seem to do it. In “The Great Comet of 1812,” he has this slow revelation of what it means to be a person that’s a perfect reflection of that moment in “Dust and Ashes” that he decides to live, so soft and deep in counterpoint to the frenzy of before.

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, ET CETERA

Malloy wins “No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening” for comic perfection, though Oak is only seconds behind him for the AMAZING awkward grin and thumbs up he gives the audience.

Oak wins the start of “The Duel” because he imbues his performance with an almost goofy quality that works so well for Pierre just letting himself be free for one moment before it gets spoiled.

Malloy wins “Nothing matters–or everything matters, it all the same.” I’m still thinking about his delivery of this line and how it fits in with his Pierre so well.

Scott wins “Nothing but the candle in the mirror”–Scott’s got a lovely, melodic voice–less intense than Groban’s and less gruff than Dave’s and fuller than Oak’s.

Groban wins the toast in “The Abduction.”

Malloy wins the “Whaaaaaat"s by FAR.

Oak wins “Pierre and Anatole.”

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, THOSE LINES

Guys, I don’t know. All I can tell you is that Groban is out–I was kind of put off by his delivery the first time I saw him but it grew on me over time, listening to the cast recording and boots.

Scott’s set the standard for how I hear it in my head and how I interpret the lines, but Malloy and Oak were both so lovely that I burst into tears listening to them.

This might be a three-way tie.

HASHTAG I LOVE ALL PIERRES, THE CONCLUSION

Having seen the four Pierres from this incarnation of the show, I can tell you definitively that……..I love all Pierres and can’t choose a favorite.

Sorry!

I tried really hard to rank them, but things kept pushing people back up and down the list and it just wasn’t happening. It’s a four-way tie.

I love all Pierres.

#natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812 #pierre bezukhov #dave malloy #okieriete onaodowan #josh groban #scott stangland #replies #anon #hashtag i love all pierres

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hydratedlife · 7 years

Text

Love Yourself: Her - BTS Album Review

Disclaimer: I’m not a music expert, I just write for fun. This is all opinion based. I would love to know your thoughts/opinions on this album! Did you love it, hate it and what songs specifically?

Intro: Serendipity: Nice to see them do something a little different than usual for the intro. It’s very smooth and romantic. The song sounds perfectly written for Jimin’s voice, so soft and pretty and I love that he’s able to portray his emotions so well through his vocal delivery. I’m generally not a fan of Jimin’s vocal technique, but in this song his strong points are highlighted so well that it’s just all around an enjoyable listen that makes me smile. The video also fits perfectly with the song.

DNA: Not my favourite title track from BTS but I still enjoyed it especially on its own. The video had a lot going on which made it difficult for me to truly listen to the song to decide if I liked it. I loved V’s opening verse where they finally let him sing in his natural baritone voice. Praise the lord!! The song begins with a funky acoustic guitar rhythm and whistling over a beat and built up effortlessly into a dubstep drop. I usually don’t like dubstep but I don’t think they overdid it and the transitions set me up so it wasn’t a shock to my ears. Mixing the dubstep with Jungkook’s vocals also made it an easier listen rather than just straight up electronics. Into the bridge and again with V’s deep voice, which just melts in your ears. I’m always impressed with BTS’ harmonising and they did not fail with the final build up that is topped off with Jimin’s high pitched voice. I liked that the final chorus didn’t go on too long otherwise the dubstep would have been overdone, but like I said they didn’t do that and ended on a much more tasteful note. Overall, DNA is not very innovative but it still makes for a catchy, dance-inducing listen. Personally, I think this song will work best during their live performances.

Best of Me: Probably my least favourite track on the album. I really don’t like very radio-friendly EDM. But it was what I was expecting when I heard The Chainsmokers were producing it (and I really don’t like their music). Though I’m surprised I actually didn’t hate this. I really liked the slowed down pre-chorus with the “haru haru”. Then came the drop, which was surprisingly not annoying and if you enjoy EDM you’ll probably really like it. Although, I was not a big fan of the rapping in the second verse and the bridge simply because I don’t think it really fit well in the song. I thought it could have thrived alone with the vocal line but I wouldn’t expect that of BTS. One thing I hate about “radio EDM” is that it’s annoying and repetitive. But throughout Best of Me they add new elements with the vocals through each chorus so it doesn’t feel like your listening to the same thing for 4 minutes straight. So yeah, if you like this kind of music you’ll probably really like this song, but to me it wasn’t very interesting.

보조개(Dimples): One of my favourite tracks on this album. Also quite EDM and only featured the vocal line, which like I said earlier fits best with these kind of songs. The verses cruise nicely but it’s the chorus that truly makes this song great. Its just so catchy with the fluctuating “oOoOoO” thing they do with their voice (lmao I don’t know how to explain that). One thing I love about BTS’ vocal line is that their voices blend so well together and this song was no exception. Each line sung by a different member flawlessly transitioned into the next to where you almost don’t notice who’s singing. In contrast, the bridge showcased the beauty in each of their voices as individuals and Jin really impressed me the most. His lines were so smoothly delivered and it really makes me see what some BTS songs are missing out on with his lack of lines (but that’s a different conversation). Jungkook belts a high note which is the first I’ve heard him do to this extent and he executed it with ease (maybe with the help of some autotune). I liked the mix of adlibs and high notes in the last chorus which is also very rare in BTS songs.

Pied Piper: This song has a great continuous beat that I find myself snapping my neck to despite it overall not being very upbeat. Jin once again shows off his vocals in the first pre-chorus, and mixed with V it just sounds so pleasing. The chorus is sung in a higher register and it actually works quite well and is really catchy. There seems to be a bit of Daft Punk influence that I notice here and I love it! The rap sections were unexpected after the sultry singing in the beginning of the verses but were delivered seamlessly to no one’s surprise. When I first listened to this, I had not yet read the lyrics and was expecting it to be a sad love song but was surprised to find out it was about their fans. They’re saying that they know the effect they have on ARMY and just want their fans to let them in. It becomes quite funny and sweet when you discover the real meaning of the song.

Skit: Billboard Music Awards Speech: Not much to say here, but it’s nice to see them so proud of this huge achievement. They haven’t included a skit in one of their albums for a while so it was nice to include that little break in the middle. I feel this skit helps portray the emotions they have for this album and fits well with the theme of ‘Love Yourself’.

MIC Drop: Now this is the BTS we haven’t heard from in a while. Those saying they miss the old BTS, this one’s for you! The dirty, hard hitting beat was something I was not expecting but I was so happy when I heard it. J-hope opened the song with his quiet low rapping where Suga then took over with a similar style performed just the way you would suppose he would (which is dope). This transitioned into a very autotuned pre-chorus and chorus which fit well with the style and typical of their other rap-heavy songs in the past. The chorus is good but was pretty basic and didn’t stand out, which may have been their intention because it didn’t stray any attention from the rap verses which is easily BTS’ strongest area. I wish Rap Monster didn’t use so much autotune for his verse as his voice is so compelling on its own. The bridge slowed right down and had an epic sound to it which gave for a very cool ending. As for the lyrics, they’re bragging about their achievements and looking down on their haters in a less than humble way (and I would say rightfully so).

고민보다 Go: Easily my favourite track on this album and one of my favourites from them in a long time. It has a reggae style but fits in a grimy beat underneath. My favourite part is the flute mixed in that reminds me of a video game soundtrack (very similar to Saria’s Song from Zelda), although it wasn’t constant through the entire song which stopped it from becoming boring and repetitive, which can easily happen with samples. There’s a back and forth between the singing and rapping with both having quite a comical raspiness to the vocals. It provided a great juxtaposition with the catchy chorus that had low and lazy vocals with a cool but slow melody. The breakdown into straight up reggae gave us a raw instrumental to groove to and really pushed the song to its greatness. Then the mix with the fast beat built up hype that I could imagine being a lot of fun at their live concerts. They end things off with the lone flute which was really the cherry on top of a great song for me.

Outro: Her: This reminds me a lot of some of their older music too, slow but upbeat with a romantic feel. It showcased their rap skills in contrast to MIC Drop. The song is smooth with a chorus that cruises along. I could imagine listening to this in the car on a road trip. It’s a very simple song with not too much going on which is very reminiscent to a lot of their older romantic songs. It makes for a great outro and ends the album leaving you chill and satisfied.

Overall: I fucking love this album. Is it my favourite BTS album? No (HYYH pt. 2 still holds that position), but it’s pretty solid with a great mix of old and new sounds that show how they’re growing as artists. It’s just really fun and includes a bunch of cool and catchy songs that I will certainly bop to. It’s definitely very pop with a few added elements but I think it fits well into what kpop is today and what it’s becoming.

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