#thinking about if the animated series went by her comic origins where she was homeless instead | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kkglinka · 4 years

Text

I gotta say how much I love that this DC Limited Series is validating so many of my personal interpretations of existing canon. But of course, I'm talking about Blake — you know me.

I understand that many have difficulty with various inconsistencies in the art, but as someone who has read comics since age thirteen, I find them negligible Unless the company commissioning the series is wealthy, media tie-in comics are invariably slip-shod, with beginner artists and rushed art. Everyone's gotta start somewhere. I do accept the comics as canon and treat some scenes as the visual shorthand they are.

I really love many of the little details such as the Japanese aspects of her home life, along with the emphasis on Pacific Islander cultures, such as love of ocean sports — especially little Blake in a muumuu, draped with beaded necklaces. We also see she was a child in the city while Sienna is holding a rally with the Belladonna's both present and publicly acknowledged. Kali's dialog in a later issue tells us that Blake had fallen under Adam's influence when they still led the organization — so Blake was only eleven or twelve, at best. Clearly, younger Blake had periods where she was on the island. To me, that makes perfect sense, but to explain, I need to back up a little.

At odds with early fandom, I figured that Blake had to come from an upper class family and, if she were an orphan as her equivocation implied, then it was late enough in life that it left her with noticeably elegant manners. There was even a memorable instance in which Blake reflexively corrected Yang's slip in etiquette by thumping her across the stomach. (Just as Kali did to Ghira years later). From the way she holds a teacup to how mortified she was over Sun's behavior, we know manners matter to Blake. I was surprised as anyone else to discover her home still existed.

I was uncertain about her family home for a time until another viewer directed me to the post-episode storyboards. The house and lands are identified as "The Belladonna Estate" rather than, say, the chieftain's lodge. There is also a sepia toned photograph of what might be grandparents standing in front of what looks like the bungalow's portico. Finally we have V5's dialog about the Belladonna's time ending, which usually implies a family has been in power for generations.

The tragic princess story suggests that the island was already colonized by Faunus before Humans "gave" it to them. It's far more plausible, from a real life historical perspective, that Humans found the land inhospitable, full of dangerous wildlife and, most salient, resource poor. After the Faunus uprising, the people of the island welcomed refugees and those emigrating from Human controlled lands. The "gifting" was an underhanded way for Human's to cede authority and agree not to invade. So either the Belladonna's were native (unlikely since the capital name suggests a different culture), or they were Mistrali who married into a ruling family.

A chieftain system like we see in Kuo Kuana mostly closely resembles a constitutional monarchy. In smaller villages or tribes, the ruling body might be a council of elders. In a sprawling Rio de Janeiro city like Kuo Kuana, which stretches across the entire valley, it's likely a set of government department heads. The chieftain acts as a figurehead where compromise and mutual support are desired, but not necessary.

That person also forms alliances with other groups/governments and spearheads trade negotiations. In this system, the chieftain doesn't need to be present for the government to continue running smoothly. This system is completely compatible with the Chieftain of Kuo Kuana serving as High Leader and spearheading long-distance political rallies.

Blake refers to the early White Fang environment as being like a family, which kind of implies entire family groups were involved. But they were not a band of Roma or Sinti refugees continuously fleeing Nazi's and denied settlement everywhere they went (and still are). The way I see it, the WF were essentially a missionary group. Anywhere they went holding rallies, giving speeches, rocking the boat, they would have attracted converts and followers. They would have collected refugees, the elderly, the disabled, children, homeless, all wanting to flee and find new homes. Everyone needed to be fed, clothed, protected from Grimm etc.

There is no way that WF traveled through the winter — that would have been an unnecessary logistical nightmare, and suicidal for family groups. Instead, I imagine the Belladonna's gathered resources, planned travel destinations, organized funding, volunteers and everything else during the northern hemisphere's winter, while back home in Kuo Kuana. The band would then travel from spring to winter, which would be consistent with Blake's claim that she spent most of her life traveling with the WF. Then they would bring everyone back to Kuo Kuana in the fall, get new immigrants settled and so forth.

Let's go back to all those kids. First, the notion that semi nomadic groups don't educate their children in all aspects of life is an example of internalized racism with its roots in colonialist beliefs. All societies educate their children, but prior to the western colonial era, schools took a variety of forms. Some were permanent structures, some were tents, some were a circle of seats in an open clearing.

The materials might be written or oral, the teachers might be scholars, philosophers, priests or rabbi. In older models of education, you might think of it as elementary schooling followed by vocational training that inherently included relevant high school level topics. Regardless of method, the WF's children weren't a bunch of uncouth illiterate wild animals, though I'm sure Remnant's Humans believe exactly that.

Blake's vocational training would have been to a government position — more or less. That would have been history, politics and diplomacy, public speaking, combat abilities (for social appeal and to avoid being assassinated for power), self-restraint and etiquette. Much of that training would have begun when she was very little — some of it occurring subconsciously because little kids are like social sponges. But imagine truly comprehending that as you hit your early teens, that an entire island population will depend on you (even if only as a figurehead).

That is what brings us to the royalty in disguise trope. The most familiar example is Aragorn from LoTR. This trope always begins with the young royal attempting to abdicate from an overwhelming social responsibility, which haunts them whether they choose to go solo, follow another leader instead, or become a hermit. That guilt underpins their actions until they ultimately accept their role in society.

TL;DR; The White Fang did missionary work most of the year, helped new immigrants and planned for next year during the winter, and educated their children the same as any other society does. Blake spent about an aggregate third of her childhood at the family estate before Ghira became Chieftain full time, after which Blake traveled year round with Adam's splinter group. Her original very carefully worded equivocation was true and we're just having the six years of fanon problem.

#fandom #rwby #rwby meta #blake belladonna

241 notes · View notes

emeraldspiral · 3 years

Text

Random assorted F&WS thoughts;

First episode was kinda painfully boring. The opening action sequence was good, Torres was a cute likable character, and the stuff with Bucky was interesting drama, but the stuff with Sam and his family was excruciatingly trite. WandaVision also started off slow in the first two episodes, with almost the entire runtime being played straight and only a couple of moments where it was eerie. But there was still a lot of intrigue and a lot of stuff that you could analyze and theorize about in those episodes and a lot that did ultimately have payoff in the end. Like the heart on the calendar being the same elongated shape as the one in the animated credits in the 60s episode and the heart Vision drew on the property deed. It’s possible the stuff with Sam’s family will turn out to be important later, but I don’t really see how it could. Like, it almost seems like there might be some sort of reveal being built up with the vague way Sam and his sister argue about him going off to fight bad guys after their parents died. Like, maybe there’s something about who their parents were or the way that they died that’s supposed to be important. But IDK if that’s just me basing my expectations off a show with a completely different premise made by completely different people, or if I’m totally within my rights to expect a big twist like that because Winter Soldier and Civil War also had some pretty big plot twists too.

Going into episode 2 I had read that the showrunners likened the mini series to a long movie and it definitely feels like it. Like, they’re trying to make it feel episodic by having a conflict that plays out throughout episodes 1 and 2 that reaches some kind of resolution by the end, along with a cliffhanger leading into the next episode. But so far, it feels like it just should’ve been a movie because there’s a lot of fat that could’ve been trimmed out to fit a 2 1/2-3 hour run time.

Like, the opening scene with John Walker in the locker room: he has two conversations back-to-back with two different people, only one of whom ends up being relevant for the rest of the episode or will likely be relevant for the rest of the series. Then, right after, he has a TV interview where we get more insight into his character and background that feels way more informative than either conversation. Like, I don’t think either conversation was really necessary, it could’ve just started with him suiting up in the locker room and the going out for the interview. If you needed to establish Battlestar, he could’ve just sat with John and been part of the interview with him, and if you needed the girlfriend, John could’ve just like, waved at her or something, or the interviewer could bring her up. And like, I don’t know yet what lines are going to be really important and what’s going to be fillery flavor text. But if feels like a lot of what we learn in both conversations and the interview is redundant. For instance, the first thing John’s girlfriend says is that she used to sneak into the locker room to see him, which tells us that he went to that high school and played football there, but we already knew that from his name being on one of the lockers and then the reporter says it later in case you didn’t get that. There’s little tidbits of biographical information on John sprinkled throughout both conversations and the interview, but in the midst of all that is a lot of dialog that feels like it’s just variations of John feeling like he has a lot to live up to which could’ve been condensed into just one interview scene.

Something similar to the high school example happens at the very end of the episode too. Bucky alludes to Zemo by bringing up an incident in Siberia with someone who knows all of HYDRA’s secrets, which is already plenty of information for anybody who watched Civil War, which should be everyone watching this show. But then Falcon goes ahead and says “we’re going to see Zemo” anyway, as if we needed it spelled out. AND THEN, it cuts to Zemo in prison. Like, you could’ve either ended the episode on Sam’s line, or cut Sam’s line and ended on Zemo’s face just in case you didn’t get what Bucky was talking about and needed something to make you go “Oh yeah, that guy”. You don’t need all three, that’s just excessive.

I don’t know if Isaiah is a character from the comics or not, but I’m hoping he’s going to be important later. Like, I have to assume that the fact that they successfully made another super soldier way back in the 50s but then decades later were still struggling to recreate it and ended up with the Hulk in a botched attempt means that there’s going to be some sort of story explanation about how they lost the formula again and then got it back to create the Flag Smashers. But I also kinda wanna see Isaiah like, pop in while Sam and Bucky are getting their asses kicked and save the day.

“Flash Smashers” is a really fucking stupid name. You can’t smash a flag, it’s made of cloth. “Smashing” is something you do to hard, solid objects that break apart on impact. The only way you can “smash” a flag is if you like, froze it solid first. Like, shouldn’t they be called the “Flag Shredders” or the “Flag Burners”?

Speaking of them, they seemed kinda sympathetic and I was thinking maybe Erin Kellyman is playing the same character she did in Solo, where it seems like she’s a bad guy who’s stealing stuff for her own evil ends, but then it turns out she’s stealing from the bad guys to fight a corrupt regime. But then she pretty much outright stated that her goal is exactly what we were told it was before. She thinks that the people who “never left” should have everything and fuck an entire half of the world who don’t have jobs or homes now because of something they couldn’t control. It’s like they’re supposed to be a commentary on people who like, don’t want America taking in refugees or donating foreign aid and stuff because we have homeless and disenfranchised citizens who were already here and need resources too. But like, the whole “one world, one people” thing seems to directly contradict the idea of an “our needs vs their needs” thing and I don’t get how that has anything to do with the blip. Like, when I think about how the world changed during the blip, I think that there may have been a lot less competition for jobs and land and housing and other resources, as Thanos said there would be. But nothing in Endgame or Far From Home or anything implied that all borders dissolved and the Earth adopted a unified world government or anything, let alone that whatever structural changes the world underwent were suddenly reversed along with the snap.

I read that originally the storyline featured an airborne virus and they had to reshoot and recut the show to remove it because of COVID and that kinda makes me think that maybe Erin Kellyman’s ultimate plan, at least originally, was going to be to release a virus that would wipe out half the world population. I also read that originally the Russos had an alternate story planned for the third Captain America movie in case Disney/Marvel’s contract negotiations with Robert Downey Jr. didn’t work out. Like, if they had to completely scrap Civil War because they couldn’t use one of it’s central characters and there was no one else they could substitute for him, they were just going to make the story about “madbombs” which are bombs that essentially turn people into rage zombies. So the conflict of the movie would be that the main enemies that Cap has to fight are innocent civilians he doesn’t want to hurt. I don’t know how much work went into that concept before they ended up with the clearance to move forward with Civil War. It might’ve just been a rough outline. But if they put in the time and effort to produce an actual script and they liked it and felt good about moving forward with it if they couldn’t have their first choice, then I could definitely see them wanting to reuse some of its ideas for F&WS. So maybe originally the story was going to be about madbombs, but who knows if it’ll remain in tact and in what capacity now after COVID. Like, if madbombs were there they might be removed entirely with a different plan to wipe out half the world population. Or they might just make the madbombs like, actual bombs that make people insane with sonic vibrations or some shit (I think that’s how they worked in the comics actually), so for the story’s purposes, they’re functionally the same thing, they’re just not a virus.

#the falcon and the winter soldier #falcon and winter soldier #f&ws #spoiler #spoilers #f&ws spoilers #falcon and winter soldier spoilers #marvel #marvel comics #mcu

2 notes · View notes

jcmorrigan · 5 years

Note

So I'm guessing from your teaser of TBTC, you've seen Wakfu Season 3. Thoughts?

Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

If you enjoyed Wakfu S3 and you don’t want to see me just TEAR INTO IT, turn away now! Because this is a RANT INCOMING!

So first and foremost, the big problem is Oropo. They overshot when trying to conceptualize the new biggest threat that could hit the World of Twelve. A guy trying to slay and replace the gods because they left him behind? Good! Solid concept! But he’s also a dark clone of the hero who was accidentally created during the climax of the last arc but we never knew it? Ummm…that’s a bit of a stretch. Also, he’s been around since the beginning of time and influencing history for millennia AAAAAND IT JUST GOT STUPID.

Really, they would’ve been fine if Oropo were just some dude who we’d never met before who was mad at the gods. That’s sympathetic. This whole Eliotrope thing (IT’S THE SAME NAME AS ELIATROPE BUT WITH ONE VOWEL SWITCHED?) is too complicated and just too unbelievable. Also, yeah, let’s not foreshadow this at all and pack all the exposition about why Eliotropes exist into a five-minute flashback.

Not to mention that his messing with history means that most of the threats we’ve dealt with up until now are his fault. We will never not live in a timeline where Nox became Nox BECAUSE OROPO ARRANGED THAT. Which cheapens Nox’s original motivation of “a formerly good man who caused his own destruction, but then, due to the combination of that and an accident, was motivated to change time to undo his mistakes.”

Same case with Ogrest. The OVAs set up a nice background for him about being sad because Otomaï abandoned him, and that was simple enough to understand and tugged at heartstrings. The extended lore of course has the incident about Dathura leaving him, which is again an understandable motivation. And all of this is Ogrest’s own story. It’s his own agency. This is a thing that happens to people. His father abandoned him, his lover betrayed him, and he became so sad, he flooded the world because he can’t control his tears. Oh, but what’s this now? Turns out Dathura didn’t leave him. Oropo just stole her away. Meaning Ogrest’s tragedy is now just a big pile of “Oropo did it again!” and honestly, at this point, we’re just trying to tack the mythos’ biggest tragedies onto the résumé of a subpar villain to make him seem scarier.

Not to mention this is my personal preference, but the whole subplot about Oropo pretending to love Echo when he wanted Amalia all along was really not to my taste. You had the chance to do one of two of my favorite villain tropes: 1) Oropo/Echo as partners in crime who are evil but also in true love, or 2) Oropo as Amalia’s creepy stalker for a whole season, adding the yandere dimension to his villainy and upping his threat level on a personal standard. They did NEITHER.

Also, the fact that Oropo tried to taunt Yugo with visions of Nox and Qilby telling him off for leaving them to terrible fates is 50% wrong. Would Qilby guilt Yugo over stranding him in the White Dimension, and would Yugo feel that guilt? ABSOLUTELY YES. But Nox? Nox left the battlefield to die quietly. He realized the weight of his sins. Nox would NOT guilt Yugo. And Yugo knows he did right by Nox. Oropo doesn’t understand Nox at all, despite being the guy WHO CREATED HIM.

Now, on to some complaints with the new gods in the tower.

We didn’t see the reasons for a lot of them actually WANTING to overthrow the gods. This is supposed to be a group that felt like life left them behind and so wants to take charge of it. The Osamodas girl who wanted to take care of her animals? YES. GOOD. GREAT. THAT’S WHAT THE REST OF THEM SHOULD’VE BEEN LIKE. But we never saw the motivations for most of them. We can assume Ush was just in it for a power grab, Dark Vlad was literally brainwashed, and…why did Black Bump, Toxine, the Sacrier, and Arpagone even want in on this plan? I love action shows that have good battle sequences, but I feel like in a LOT of these cases, the battles against the various new gods usurped us actually getting to KNOW them and SYMPATHIZE with their reasoning for doing this scheme.

I was afraid from day one that they were going to make extended canon stuff that wasn’t easily accessible part of the main series and expect us to just know about it, and Dark Vlad proved me right on that front. I KNOW Dark Vlad was explained in all the comics and spinoffs. But I still don’t have a clear idea of what he is because he wasn’t explained anywhere I saw.

Why even have a Sacrier if we weren’t going to meet her at all?

Black Bump is just a horrid waste of a character. Because we needed a villain with a panty fetish. Oh, wait, no, I guess it’s not a fetish. He just collects panties for completely non-sexual reasons. …WHAT?

Arpagone had ten million years of buildup and ten seconds of payoff. What EXACTLY was the resolution between her and Ruel? (Also, why is Ruel being depicted as a bad guy for avoiding a relationship that would’ve ruined his and Arpagone’s life financially and wound both of them up homeless? I know love is more important than money, but I’ve seen stuff in the real world, and I know you have to be able to balance your standard of living with your relationships. I have a good friend who got into a relationship for love and ended up financially TRASHED and stressed out for three years.)

Then there’s…Amalia and Yugo’s relationship. Hoo boy. So I always thought it would end up with Yugo confessing his love to Amalia and her turning him down because he doesn’t age and is therefore too young for her. But…it’s the other way around? Why is 20-year-old Amalia still interested in eternally-14-year-old Yugo? I love Amalia and I REALLY don’t like the implications surrounding this. I’m just calling it a writing fumble and going on believing that Amalia isn’t a creep. But then it comes out that the real reason Yugo doesn’t want to be in a relationship is because he still thinks Amalia is self-absorbed, which…yes, is her fatal flaw, but isn’t something he ever picked on before that exact moment. She overhears this because of course she does…AND THEY NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO DISCUSS THAT PROBLEM. Which is frustrating as all get-out. I don’t know if they’re saving it for the next season or if they just intend to drop the issue. But, like, why have a communication problem between them if they were never going to solve it? Why leave that thread dangling?

Finally, NO. REMINGTON. SMISSE. We went to all the trouble of canonizing that he survived EVERY near-death experience he suffered in S2 and beyond and then that he is able to travel dimensions without explanation in the OVAs. And…he’s just…gone now? He doesn’t show up? THE AUDIENCE LOVES HIM. HE GOT HIS OWN SPINOFF COMIC BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH PEOPLE LOVE HIM. WHY WOULDN’T YOU. The last time we saw him was with Ush, and they brought USH back and that would have been the PERFECT way to bring Rémy in. But I dunno, maybe they killed him off permanently in his spinoff comic and they just expect us to know that because they refuse to recap the extended canon’s important points in the actual show.

Anyway, S3 basically tried to pack too much into 13 episodes and failed to flesh out any of the concepts it brought up…many of which were garbage to begin with. I’m not sure whether or not I’m on board for S4. I am MORBIDLY curious to see what Ingloriam looks like and meet the gods of the twelve races. But we will NEVER NOT LIVE IN A TIMELINE WHERE OROPO CREATED NOX.

#wakfu critical #wakfu spoilers

11 notes · View notes

ryanmeft · 6 years

Text

Movie Review: The First Purge

I didn’t see the first two Purge movies. I popped in on the third one, The Purge: Election Year on a whim, and was surprised how much I enjoyed it, though like many movies of its ilk, I barely remember it now. So the idea of the origin of the titular night-when-all-crime-is-legal meant little to me. Incoming Gerard McMurray, taking the directorial but not the writing reins from James DeMonaco, opts to make it about the oppression of black American communities by white nationalist power structures, but making politics a major focus of the movie inadvertently highlights how over-the-top the franchise is. What makes it worth watching are the characters.

Now, I’m not saying they are among the great cinematic heroes. I’m just saying I liked them. They are all black, all working class, and their Staten Island neighborhood has been chosen as the site of a “social experiment” by the authoritarian New Founding Fathers of America party. Nya (Lex Scott Davis) is the apparent leader, or at least the most effective voice, of the opposition. She shows up with a bullhorn at recruitment stations, where the NFFA is paying people five thousand bucks merely to stay on the island during the chaos, and more to “participate”. Echoes of things such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment are apparent. Nya’s ex, local drug honcho Dmitri (Y’Lan Noel), is opposed because it cuts into his business. Her teenage brother Isaiah (Joivan Wade) signs up for the Purge to get revenge on a psychopath named Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) who earlier scarred him, but quickly finds it too much for him. A foul-mouthed older neighbor (Mugga) provides light comic relief.

Nya is a pretty clear stand-in for the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the movie takes place in 2014. Dmitri is a drug dealer who cares about his community deep down, which might be a cliche, but is also a big leap from portraying everyone who has ever touched a bag of dope as vicious animals who can be massacred by the hero en masse. The contrast is not made subtle: Nya directly informs Dmitri that the Purge is just one night, but he causes damage all year ‘round, a line that seemed more for the benefit of the audience than for Dmitri. There’s not much to Skeletor; I suspect he is there so that the movie’s villains and good guys aren’t all divided by skin color. He’s needed, though, to give said bad guys some vim. The architect of the program is played by Marisa Tomei as a sociologist who has somehow become convinced the Purge will fix America’s problems. Her rationale never is explained further than that, and Tomei, who can bring warmth and heart to anything, doesn’t seem to know, herself. I doubt there was a real reason; her character’s purpose is to have a relative human on the other side. The full-on antagonist (Patch Darragh) is as frightening as a parade float. His plan, when it turns out most people won’t actually start slaughtering each other at the slightest provocation, is to send mercenaries in to make it look like they did.

There was a time when I’d have said the point of the all-white NFFA massacring a black community to boost their polling seemed obvious. Although it’s now abundantly clear that many white Americans don’t think racism exists (or embrace it), TFP’s treatment of that dynamic is still a blunt instrument. In case “white politicians hiring thugs to make it look like black people are animals” went over anyone’s head, we get an actual shot of motorcycle mercs in Ku Klux Klan gear massacring a church of black people, and a nameless ringleader dressed like a mix between Hitler and Jack the Ripper. McMurray has an eye for a striking image; what he doesn’t have (or hasn’t developed yet) is the ability to trust in that image. A gigantic thug in a Nazi costume amid a hall full of massacred black Americans would be enough, but McMurray and cinematographer Anastas N. Michos highlight the man, force his face into the camera while the lights flicker, and generally make sure we know damn well “There’s a bad guy here!” A similar thing happened earlier in the film, when a presumably homeless extra holding a cardboard sign bearing portents of doom was circled many, many times with the camera, when a brief glimpse of her would have utilized the visual better. The film’s strengths are often forced to push back against an editing job that favors flashing lights, jump cuts and intense close-ups over any kind of sustained focus; a shot of two cackling elderly lesbians above a street baited with exploding teddy bears is especially ridiculous.

What has struck me about The Purge series since I first heard of it is that there is potential for greatness in this premise. The idea of society tearing itself apart is one some filmmakers have done mesmerizing things with. The First Purge doesn’t want to be that, yet still wants to touch on it. There’s nothing here about America that black audiences don’t already know, however, and everyone else is likely just waiting for the gore, which isn’t as pronounced as the last entry. A likable cast can only do so much when the movie around them feels so by-the-books.

Verdict: Average

Note: I don’t use stars, but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star.

Must-See

Highly Recommended

Recommended

Average

Not Recommended

Avoid like the Plague

#the purge #the first purge #gerard mcmurray #lex scott davis #james demonaco #movies #horror #marisa tomei

0 notes

myheartisbro-ken · 7 years

Note

Hi. How's your day or night so far? I hope it's good. Hmm, Summer school is useful to get ahead, but it involves a lot note in class time.🌹 A positive is that usually the professors grade a smidgen easier because 1. The kid is taking the class over the summer break, which is kinda sad AND 2. Sometimes they are paid per kid, so it's be bad to fail out everyone. Anyway, I'm anti-parties of drinking. I just don't do my college's part scene. I've off campus housing and prefer to chill there. 💙

Yes! The lack of respect annoys me. The students in my classes will start packing up before the lecture is even finished. It’s distracting/noisy, but more importantly it’s so disrespectful. Also, they’ll walk out of a lecture after signing the sign in sheet, so maybe after 30 min or so. Anyway, I think I had an ask and then forgot to send it.😅 Basically, I think JK is attempting to make a cash grab by adding the new school/houses. She could do as you said and add the lore, but that–(2) 💙 – probably wouldn’t sell as well. The houses allow people to further identify with the HP universe and feel included. Also, there’s the merch. It’s all about the 💸. On to Alex, I agree with you. She’s the protective older sister type…I doubt she’d even want Mon near Kara until he cleaned up his act some (i.e. not as arrogant/violent/sexist etc).💙 Also, yes to the Sanvers bit. I respect the ship and the rep is great, but it seemed a little fast. Let’s not discuss about that here tho. 😊 3Yeah, Cat was cool. She was very determined and driven. Oh, are you excited about her coming back for the finale? I’m curious how they’ll justify it, but I know a lot of her fans will be glad to see her. 😊 Maybe she’ll talk some sense into Kara…😐 Yes, Morgana is amazing. Hmm, I thought that FMK would be harder for you. I guess you’re a lady who knows who and what she wants. I’m kinda indecisive in general. I want to make the ‘right’ choice so I’ll dither for a while on the decision. (4). 💙 It’s cool that you read comics. I don’t, but wanted to get into it. I was more so DC as a teen/kid, but as an older teen more so Marvel. Now, I’m in both verses. Let’s see I’ve watched: the Justice League, Batman, something with like a young Batman? idk what it was called…I remember the art style though, Teen Titans, Young Justice, and the Powerpuff Girls (yes, I know that’s not DC, but I felt like adding that 😅). I’ve probably seen more, but don’t remember atm. 💙 Did you have fave series?

Hey! My day is okay, Lady has decided to take up some hysterical behavior, which is ironic since she has been castrated. 😁 Get it? cuz hysterectomy. I’m sooo funny.

So yeah, I’m very annoyed when people are disrespectful although I have to admit I have left a lecture or two before it was finished. Not because I had signed in, but because I really can’t stay sometimes, I need air and to not have to concentrate for a few minutes. I’m not much of a party person either, like they make me uncomfortable, but sometimes I get dragged and I don’t always hate it. though drinking too much leads to bad things. Last time I went out drinking really really bad things happened… and I don’t even remember half of it so… not planning on doing that again. I like drinking, but I draw the line. Also I live very far away from the campus and most of the people live near the campus, so going out would be hard even if I wanted to do it more.

Saying you can only do art for art is a little bit silly and hypocrite, but I also don’t agree with making soulless cash grabs just because you know people will buy anything you make or of that genre. That’s what it seems like JK is doing. A lot of things, lately fit that, and I’m not really cool with that. Like, of course, the money is important, but you shouldn’t think only about the money, there has to be a purpose. I don’t mean when you’re in a bad financial place though, like do what you need to not go hungry and to pay your bills, but when you’re at a level where you can dictate what you’ll do without fear of ending up homeless… well, you know. Tell your story, make that story serve its purpose and then move on, don’t go on just because you’re ahead because chances are you will crash and burn and people will only remember your failure.

I miss Cat sooooo much. But I’m afraid they’ll ruin her. Like, I’m torn between ‘Calista wouldn’t accept if it wasn’t up to her standards’ and ‘never trust CW’ so let’s hope they don’t ruin my will to continue watching. There’s only so much I’d do for Katie and Chyler and it’s been very hard to keep going.

I’m very indecisive, actually. It’s a symptom so it’s not entirely my fault. But I do have some preferences sometimes. And Kara is just that character that beats any other. I love her so so much, I’ll always choose her over any other on the show and some others (that’s why the RedK fmk was so hard for me, cuz if it’s RedK forever then it’s not really Kara, but if there’s a chance to get it off…)

Reading comics is a struggle. When I was younger my uncle had the entire collection of Spiderman and he didn’t give it to me but he gave to his son who was 5 at the time and destroyed it all… I’m still bitter about that… it’s been ten years. My mom always gave me a lot of incentive for me to read and a lot of comics, but she preferred when I read Disney comics, or Monica and those that are considered neutral, as in they are not ‘made for boys’. I did read a lot of W.I.T.C.H. like A LOT. I had all the issues and I read that over like at least 5 times. It’s kind of annoying when you talk to a boy about comics and you don’t know as much as he does about a specific situation, or even if you know more than he does, he just acts like he knows more about this, because he is a boy and superheroes are a thing that boys just naturally know more about and that’s how it is. It’s awful.

Power Puff Girls is always worth mentioning. ALWAYS. My stepfather bought a new toaster the other day and I started laughing and saying he shouldn’t leave it near the bathroom as to not get soggy toast and he didn’t get it and it was disappointing for everyone. I think you mean Batman Beyond. I didn’t like it much, I prefer the original series. Everything started with Batman so that’s idk, even if Batman is not my favorite superhero the Animated Series is special. Since it’s a whole universe of crossover/continuations I think I could get away with saying DC Animated Universe, but I won’t. If I have to choose it’s Young Justice, because it’s just amazing and it has Superboy, and Kon-El is a personal favorite of mine, I love him so much. I would sell my soul, if it meant they’d get a worthy version of Kon-El/Connor/Superboy in Supergirl. And I mean really worthy not this crap they did with Valor/Mon-El/Lar Gand just so Arrow fans would like the ‘girly’ show. Superboy is one of my favorite characters and his story is just very attractive to me. We had that in Young Justice so I’ll go with that. But Teen Titans was AMAZING. I would love for them to explore Tamaraneans (Starfire) in Supergirl, that would be cool too. I could go on talking about these cartoons because they are just awesome and a huuuge part of my childhood so I’ll stop now. ⚡ STATIC SHOCK ⚡ WAS ALSO FANTASTIC!!!!!!! okay, I’m done.

I was really into spy cartoons as a kid, did you like those? You know, like KND, Kim Possible, Totally Spies…

Hope you’re having a great day as well 💙

#answered asks #💙

0 notes

aion-rsa · 7 years

Text

15 Comic Book Characters Too Weird For Movies

As comic book movies continue to grow in popularity, Hollywood studios are becoming more and more comfortable with taking what appears on the comic book page and putting it up on screen. Characters often appear in comic accurate costumes, and concepts like a shared universe are now commonplace.

RELATED: 15 Marvel Characters Who Need Their Own Movie Despite all of that, there are still some characters who have little chance of appearing in any of the movies. Whether it’s because their powers are too weird, their story is too bizarre, or they just physically don’t work in the real world, these characters may forever remain left out. The best shot many of the entries on this list have of appearing is as minor background Easter egg, or getting name dropped. They will probably never appear on screen in all of their glory, however. Then again, never say never, right? Still, here are 15 characters we think may be too weird for the movies.

EGG FU

Older comics can be really strange to read in a modern context. For example, the original appearance of Wonder Woman villain Egg Fu in “Wonder Woman” #157 (1965) by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru is really a product of its time. Originally, he was a Chinese communist agent who just happens to be a giant egg. He was later retconned and turned into an alien supercomputer, and then finally into a mad scientist. The one constant feature is that he’s always a giant evil egg.

That’s pretty much the obvious reason that Egg Fu won’t appear in the movies: being a giant egg. There’s really no way that this character can work in a serious, live action setting. Even the most recent version, from “Harley Quinn Annual” #1 (2014) by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, where he had a regular-shaped robot body, still had a big egg for a head. Given the serious nature of DC’s recent movies, a talking egg just doesn’t fit in… some might say unfortunately.

DEX-STARR

First appearing in “Final Crisis: Rage of the Green Lantern Corps” (2008) by Geoff Johns and Shane Davis, Dex-Starr is a member of the rage-fueled red lanterns. Before being drafted into the corps, he was just a regular kitten living on Earth. He had a love-filled life, until his owner was killed by a burglar. Dexter ended up on the streets, and was picked up by two men, tortured and placed in a bag. Right as the bag was thrown over the side of the Brooklyn Bridge, a red ring found Dexter and recognized the anger in his heart, drafting him into the Red Lantern Corps.

Like most Red Lanterns, Dex-Starr’s power ring provides him with one of the grossest super powers in the cosmos. His blood has been replaced with rage-blood, and he can vomit it on his enemies, burning them alive. While the idea of a cat being a member of a Lantern corps might sound cute, an abused animal that vomits fiery rage-blood is something that audiences probably won’t want to see.

BAT-MITE

Batman is a dark and brooding character, especially in the current movies. Bat-mite, on the other hand, is an imp from the fifth dimension that has access to highly advanced technology. First appearing in “Detective Comics” #267 (1959) by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff, Bat-Mite traveled to Earth to help Batman and Robin fight crime. Of course, Batman isn’t thrilled to have a magical imp tagging along, but Bat-Mite worships the heroes and won’t leave them alone.

Grant Morrison tried to update the character during his run on Batman, revealing that Bruce had created a backup personality in case his mind got wiped. In “Batman” #678 (2008), this backup personality takes over and begins hallucinating Bat-Mite, who served as his conscience. While this was a creative way to bring this character to modern comics, the concept is still just too silly for DC’s modern movies. There’s simply no way audiences ever get to see Ben Affleck arguing with a flying magical imp.

STARRO

Before 1960, there was no Justice League. They didn’t form until Starro the Conqueror came to Earth in “Brave and the Bold” #28 (1960) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. An alien lifeform that resembles a giant starfish, it has the ability to release spores that can attach to a host’s face. While these spores are attached, Starro can control the host. Unable to defeat the alien on their own, Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter team up, forming one of the most popular super teams ever.

Multiple versions of Starro have shown up since then, including the massive Star Conqueror. This version of the alien was gigantic, being large enough to cover Europe. Once again, it took a combination of the Earth’s most powerful heroes to defeat it. While Starro is a major villain, and directly tied to the origin of the Justice League, the odds of the movie heroes fighting a giant space star fish are basically zero. Sure, he may show up on a comedy riff like “Powerless,” but there’s no way to make him gritty enough for the big leagues.

BEAK

Not every mutant is going to get a cool power like telepathy, healing factors or retractable bone claws. Some mutants’ powers manifest in ways that deform their bodies, like with Barnell Bohusk, who is better known as Beak. He first appeared in “New X-Men” #117 (2001) by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver, and he’s one of the oddest X-Men ever. When he hit puberty, Barnell basically turned into a human/bird hybrid. Unlike similar mutants, however, his transformation resulted in an odd and clumsy creature, as opposed to an elegant feathered hero.

His awkwardness was part of his charm, however. He was a good natured guy who just wanted to fit in. He played a major role in Grant Morrison’s “Planet X” storyline, showing that a mutant doesn’t need the best power to fight for what’s right. Of course, his mutation makes him a difficult character to pull off in live action, even for a quick cameo. Combine that with the fact that he doesn’t look good in leather, and Beak’s movie odds aren’t good.

STRONG GUY

Some characters, like Strong Guy, only work when they look completely over the top. In “New Mutants” #29 (1985) by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, he is introduced as Guido Carosella and is working as Lila Cheney’s bodyguard. He has the power to absorb kinetic energy, but with a catch. He has to release that energy quickly, or else it will permanently distort his body. He learned this the hard way when his powers first developed and he was hit by a bus. He didn’t get rid of the energy fast enough, and it left the top half of his body extremely large. He also wears coke-bottle glasses, just FYI.

Strong Guy can’t just be a big guy, he has to have the extremely distorted look. The appeal of the character is how ridiculous he appears, contrasted with how funny his personality is. Without that, he just comes across as a generic tough guy. Unfortunately, the “X-Men” movies don’t seem to be too interested in truly adapting the physically bizarre characters, so we might see Strong Guy at some point… but it won’t actually be Strong Guy, know what we mean?

THE ORB

Another character who seems to be based on one single extremely bizarre physical trait, the Orb is a villain who has a giant eyeball for a head. Surprisingly, this silly looking villain is actually a nemesis of Ghost Rider, who usually fights against demons. As revealed in his first appearance in “Marvel Team-Up” #15 (1973) by Len Wein and Ross Andru, the Orb was a stunt cyclist who was disfigured in a motorcycle accident, which occurred during a race with Crash Simpson, Ghost Rider’s mentor. He received a motorcycle helmet that looked like a giant eyeball that could hypnotize people and eventually shoot lasers out of the pupil.

There’s another version of the Orb running around, and he actually has a giant eyeball for a head, instead of a mask. This version of the character played a major role in the recent crossover event “Original Sin,” where he ended up with one of the Watcher’s eyeballs and learned many of the Marvel Universe’s most well-guarded secrets. Also, he’ll probably never appear in a movie because it’s not even clear how a giant eyeball with no mouth even talks. It would be a nightmare for the special effects department.

THE MAXX

Starring in a dark and surreal series of comics, the Maxx exists within two different worlds. In the real world, he is a homeless vagrant. He also exists in a place called the Outback, a jungle world where he is a giant purple creature who protects the Jungle Queen, who greatly resembles his social worker from the real world, Julie Winters. “The Maxx” was created by Sam Kieth, and his ongoing series first premiered in 1993.

Aside from the comics, the Maxx was the star of a cult cartoon series that ran on MTV in 1995. It only ran for one season, and struggled to find an audience at the time. One of the major complaints about the cartoon was that the animation styles would often change, based on the perspective of the scene. While it has a cult following, the cost of making a movie that does this character justice would just be too great, considering that the concept has never found mainstream appeal.

LOCKHEED

First appearing in “Uncanny X-Men” #166 (1983) by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, Lockheed is a small dragon that befriended Kitty Pryde. They met when the X-Men were kidnapped by the alien race known as the Brood, and taken to a world overrun by the parasites. Kitty got separated from her teammates and found herself cornered by several Brood drones. Luckily, Lockheed appeared and saved her. When the X-Men went back to Earth, Lockheed tagged along, living in the X-mansion as Kitty’s pet.

Lockheed also grew close with Illyana, Colossus’ younger sister. She had been kidnapped as a child, taken to the hellish dimension of Limbo and returned as a teenager. Illyana, now calling herself Magik, was roomed with Kitty and bonded with Lockheed. The dragon even traveled with the X-Men to Battleworld during the first Secret Wars, where he ended up getting a girlfriend for a brief period of time. While the “X-Men” movies have hinted that they could go into space, Lockheed is just too cute for the tone of the films.

DOCTOR BONG

Picking the right villain name is important. A poorly chosen identity will inspire laughter instead of dread, ruining an entire villainous career. Doctor Bong, who first appeared in “Howard the Duck” #15 (1977) by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan, is a perfect example of this. Lester Verde was a tabloid reporter and music critic who had lost his hand while working with a punk band. As it turns out, his origin gets even more complicated because he was also a genius scientist and was obsessed with Howard’s girlfriend, Beverly.

He began experimenting with genetic engineering and built a bell-shaped helmet. He kidnapped Howard and Bev and took them to his island, where he temporarily tricked Beverly into marrying him. Since then, Bong occasionally pops up in comics as a comic relief villain. While the Marvel movies haven’t avoided humor, Dr Bong’s bell helmet is just too ridiculous for an “Avengers” movie. You could argue that, as a villain of Deadpool’s, he might hit the screen, but we doubt the writers would want to make Wade Wilson the straight man in his own film. Against Doctor Bong, that’s just what he would be.

MARVEL ZOMBIES

In “Ultimate Fantastic Four” #21 (2005), by Mark Millar and Greg Land, the Reed Richards of the Ultimate Universe seemingly makes contact with the mainstream Marvel Universe. When he opens a dimensional gateway, however, it’s revealed to be a trick. He actually travelled to a dimension where most of the Marvel heroes have been infected with a zombie virus, and all but a handful of humans remain. While Richards escaped the apocalyptic dimension, the Marvel Zombies were a hit and eventually starred in several of their own miniseries.

While they might be one of Marvel’s most popular creations since the year 2000, there’s very little chance they’ll ever end up in any of the movies. As zombies, the super heroes have all turned into rotting corpses that feed on living flesh, which doesn’t really fit with the mostly-family friendly tone of the Cinematic Universe. Marvel will never make a movie where an infected Spider-Man kills and eats Aunt May and Mary Jane, no matter how well the comic version sold.

BIG WHEEL

Some villains don’t go too crazy when they come up with an alter ego. For example, Jackson Weele drove around a giant, armored wheel, so he called himself Big Wheel. Weele first appeared as Big Wheel in “Amazing Spider-Man” #183 (1978) by Marv Wolfman and Ross Andru. Weele had previously tried to hire Rocket Racer to steal evidence of his embezzling, but Racer ended up blackmailing him instead. After a failed suicide attempt, Weele hired the Tinkerer to build him a giant wheel.

He chose the Big Wheel motif to get back at Rocket Racer tauntingly calling him “big Weele.” Big Wheel has only made a few appearances in the comics, but he left a lasting impression… though not in an especially good way. He even made an appearance in the “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” episode “Rocket Racer.” Unfortunately, since Sony is trying to repair Spider-Man’s box office presence, it’s highly unlikely that they make a movie about him fighting a wheel-themed villain. Then again, they turned the Rhino into a truck driver, so what do we know?

MOJO

In a dimension where all of the inhabitants are addicted to televised gladiator battles, Mojo rules with a slimy fist. A member of an alien race known as the spineless ones, Mojo is a disgustingly fat creature controlled by greed. He’s confined to an armored robotic platform, mostly due to his species’ laziness. The vast majority of stars on Mojo’s television networks are slaves, many of which are genetically engineered for maximum entertainment value.

He made his first appearance in “Longshot” #3 (1985), by Ann Nocenti and Arthur Adams. Since then, he’s been fixated on enslaving the earth heroes and turning them into reality TV stars, with a special interest in the X-Men. He even made several appearances in the popular ’90s “X-Men” cartoon, and is one of the mutants’ most unique enemies, which is why he’ll never make it to the movies. Not only is he visually bizarre, his origin and motives are just too complicated for one movie, and unfortuantely, we doubt any studio would commit to the character for a whole series.

X-BABIES

Speaking of Mojo, during a time period when the public believed the X-Men to be dead, Mojo tried creating new X-Men he could control. Basing them off an encounter where he de-aged the X-Men in “Uncanny X-Men Annual” #10 (1987) by Chris Claremont and Art Adams, Mojo debuted the X-Babies in “Uncanny X-Men Annual” #12 (1988), also by Chris Claremont and Art Adams. Almost all of the major X-Men team members have had baby versions appear on the roster, including Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Colossus and even Professor X.

Like most of Mojo’s best creations, the X-Babies quickly rebelled against their master and would have been killed if not for the extremely high ratings they drew on Mojo’s network. They’re not just popular in the fictional Mojoverse, either. Marvel keeps bringing them back, and even introduced the A-Babies, and Avengers baby team, in “A-Babies vs X-Babies” #1 (2012) by Scottie Young and Gurihiru. They’re often the subject of alternate covers as well. Considering that Fox isn’t willing to even give fans actual X-Men uniforms in the movies, however, there’s no way they make a movie with super powered babies.

SUGAR MAN

The 1995 crossover event “Age of Apocalypse” showed a world where the villain Apocalypse had conquered North America. The story mainly focused on alternate versions of previously existing characters, although it did introduce a few new ones. Sugar Man first appeared in “Generation Next” #2 (1995) by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo. A sadistic monster, he ruled over the human slave camp where Colossus’ sister was being held. When Generation Next arrived to free her, Sugar Man and his followers took out most of the team.

Visually, Sugar Man is a truly bizarre mutant. It’s not clear if his appearance is due to his mutation or from genetic manipulation, but he’s basically just a giant head with four arms, razor sharp teeth and claws, and no torso. While he was able to escape the Age of Apocalypse universe and jump into the mainstream Marvel universe, there’s little chance of him showing up in Fox’s Marvel movies. At least, not without adding an actual body, and that just wouldn’t be Sugar Man.

What do you think of our picks? Who do you think is too weird for the movies? Let us know in the comments!

The post 15 Comic Book Characters Too Weird For Movies appeared first on CBR.com.

http://ift.tt/2iXZkIQ

#Aion_Rsa

0 notes