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#we've been creating this story for four years and it's coming to an end
fuckyeahgoodomens · 8 months
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ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS S2 BTS VIDEO! :)❤ 🐍😊
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David: Good Omens 2 will be once more unto the breach...
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Michael: The kind of world that Neil and Terry Pratchett created here. It's... it seems to be expanding out into the world in all kinds of unexpected and and truly joyful ways.
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Douglas Mackinnon (the directior): If Season one was a comedy about the End of the World, Season Two is a comedy about the beginning of everything else.
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Miranda Richardson (demon Shax): The Bromance is continuing.
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Doon Mackichan (Archangel Michael): What a cast, is all I can say, incredible, incredible cast.
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Liz Carr (angel Saraqael): But of course a script of Good Omens is a whole different thing because anything can happen.
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Shelley Con (Prince of Hell Beelzebub): There's always a smirk somewhere around the corner in a Good Omens script.
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Quelin Sepulveda (angel Muriel): I had no idea what to expect, where this character was gonna go...
Liz: I feel quite honored that when they were thinking of the realms of sarcasm they thought of me.
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Gloria Obianyo (angel Uriel): Seven-year-old me is like, 'Oh my God! This is the stuff of dreams!'
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Maggie Service (human Maggie): A whole Fantastical Universe of joy that we just get to playing and you'll get to watch.
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Tim Downie (Mr Brown): I am immeasurably, immeasurably excited.
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Jon Hamm (Archangel Gabriel / Jim): You know I was very pleased when when I was brought back to be a part of that story.
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Neil Gaiman: Ppeople are excited and I'm working so hard to tell them absolutely nothing. I'm very lucky because Michael Sheen and David Tennant love Crowley and Aziraphale. I think the first moment that I saw David and Michael acting together... all of a sudden there was Crowley and there was Aziraphale, it was like seeing two friends who I hadn't seen for years.
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David: There's something about the way Neil sees the mundane that is extraordinary and there's something about the way things filter through his imagination and of course in this world it also sprinkled with the imagination of Terry Pratchett and those two together created this cocktail that is it's unlike anything you've seen anywhere else and yet it feels utterly familiar.
Michael: And they both have a sense of the absurdity of what it is to be a human.
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Rob Wilkins: When you've got David and Michael in front of the camera David and Michael evaporate and you have Crowley in Aziraphale and that relationship it needed it needed interrogating more and of course we all know that Terry and Neil had conversations about what the sequel would be and Neil has taken that and he's blown it up in a way that the viewers are just going to love so what would Terry think? Terry would pat Neil on the back and he would push Good Omens forward, he would break a bottle of champagne over its bows and be absolutely delighted and I know that, I'm the one person on Earth who's been entrusted to know that for certain and I promise you Terry would be absolutely delighted.
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David: We've got some cast members coming back, returning but playing different parts which is a lovely little addition to things isn't it, so Miranda Richardson is back not playing the same role as Season One, she's now Shax, my replacement - Crowley's replacement on Earth.
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Neil: Shelley Conn came in as Beelzebub and it feels in a weird way kind of like a Doctor Who Regeneration. We have a new demon called Furfur played by Rheece Shearsmith who was our Shakespeare in Season One.
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David: Nina and Maggie were two of the Sisters in Season One, The nunnery of Doom, and now they are two characters imaginatively called Nina and Maggie.
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Maggie: In season one really it was just me and the nuns, it was the nun gang, so to actually get to meet Aziraphale and Crowley... I hadn't been prepared for how delightful Aziraphale is.
Neil: Season Two begins about threem four years after the events of Season One.
Michael: Aziraphale and Crowley now are, you know, out on their own, they're.. they're a team to themselves.
Neil: Everything changes when Aziraphale gets an unexpected visitor.
Michael: A familiar face comes along with a mystery that needs solving and as Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to solve that mystery they realize that there are much more terrifying things ahead than they've had to deal with in the past. That involves having to go back through history as well to get clues as to what might be going on.
David: When we go back into these stories set within Aziraphale and Crowley's personal history there are moments within those stories where where their relationships sort of pivots or develops in some way. Himself and Aziraphale I think rely on each other even more in season two than they did in Season One because they are by necessity and by circumstance they're a they're a double act that nobody else can join.
Michael: It's extraordinary to see how important these characters and this story have become to a lot of people and how much people enjoy expressing themselves through art, through fan fiction.
David: I went to a Comic-Con and the amount of Crowleys and Aziraphales that I saw everywhere, the cosplaying just took off, and always in twos, which was joyous because of course the characters in my mind only exist in relation to each other. They are the Ying and the Yang.
Michael: It's such a... I think it's such a compliment and I think Neil feels the same way as well.
Maggie: Always clever Neil Gaiman, isn't he?
Nina: Yeah yeah, you'd have to sort of admit that at some point, yeah-
Maggie: He's quite good at his job.
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flooded--skies · 11 days
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tell me what friendship means to you
i think they are as fleeting as they are forever.
i remember being young, only four or five. the kid i played with the most moved away. i still think about him sometimes, i hope that he's doing well.
i remember being young, i remember going over to a friend's house so many times, til one day i decided i didn't like hanging out anymore. we were so young. i can't piece her face together anymore. i still have a keychain from her house. i stole it the day we never came back again. it's blue and pink and purple flowers. i stole it to remember her by.
i remember girl scouts, i remember being on the robotics team. i remember their faces, i remember long days spent trying to build something that would amaze. i remember that night where one of us broke down and mother took me and left, sending a message later to a parent on why. (we didn't hang out with them any more after that.)
i remember being young, i remember first being allowed online. it has been years since all but one of these people has come back. i still miss them, of course i'd remember the people i threw my future away for. it was for nothing. they are gone. i left one final post, hoping they'd come find me, hoping we could reconnect. it's been silence for years.
i remember feeling soaring hope one day thinking that i might be near one of them, that perhaps we could meet; but it was wishful thinking at best and foolishness at worst.
i'm happy i was able to hang onto one of them, but i don't know if we're still friends, not after what happened. it was my fault (i either care too much or care too little and here, i did both) and i haven't stopped replaying it all in my mind. i want to get out of the theater, i want to watch something else, please.
i lost them and found them and lost them again and found them again and it's a cycle that feels like i'm breaking apart every time.
i remember meeting so many people online, platonically adoring them, getting so swept up in the wonder of connection that i forgot it had to end.
i moved to another site, and it didn't help. i got lonelier, because at least i had been making connections previously. this place was ripe with life and yet it felt like i was in a deadzone. i had only got it for another friend, and i miss them so much now.
it's not like i didn't meet people there. but it didn't last. it wouldn't last and i think i knew that much better this time around.
and yet i got attached. it has been 1395 days, 20 hours, 32 minutes since a friend of mine went on hiatus, and i just hope they're doing alright wherever they are. i don't think i'll ever forget them.
to the friend i did keep from there:
i love you platonically, and i'm so happy we've stayed in touch. i miss what we had, but i'm glad we still have something at all.
i'm glad we met when we met. i think you needed it.
i care like a dagger, i love like a trap. i sink my teeth into you and you sink yours into me. everyone i have met, i remember. we make ourself permanent as if we are scars; we are like glass shards, adding to each other, changing each other irreversibly. how many make us real?
(trick question; we always have been.)
you have a scar on your palm and i one on my chin. trace it. it's the echoes of us. you won't forget me, and i won't forget you. we haven't talked in years. i still think of all we built. where are you now?
i trace my chin. right here.
i'm glad i have those who have known me for most of my life. we talked every day and then we didn't and then we did. we have stories we created that we'll only know, tears that only we shed. jokes we'll always tell.
i knew you when we weren't young enough to know better and now we're looking back and laughing.
i know the layout of your house like my own, i remember your laugh, your hair, how you hold yourself.
you're a wound and a scar and i couldn't ask for you to be anything but. red is a pretty color, i'll gladly let it flow.
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popculturebuffet · 6 months
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Mutant Month: The 2021 Hellfire Gala: The X-Men Conquer Mars: Comissioned by WeirdKev27
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Hello all you happy mutants and welcome to our big finale to Mutant Month! Over this month we've taken a look at the X-Men's first apperance in animation, one of their greatest stories ever and the debut of one of the greatest x-men period, so it's only fit to end this monumental mutanty month with some fireworks: We're taking a look at the first annual Hellfire Gala, aka one of the x-men stories I brought up the most for some time: that time the x-men colonized mars, now known as planet Arakko.
For those of you who like Kev, who comissioned this, stopped for a second from scrolling and went
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Allow me to present you with the grand tale of how Mutantkind terraformed an entire planet as a one two punch of solving a massive looming diplomatic crisis... and using it as the big main event of their version of the met gala. Your invitation is on the table, so take it with me, get your flowers pinned on so you can go through the gate, and join the party under the cut. Afterparty on Arakko bitches.
Well, How Did We Get Here?
So to get to the Hellfire Gala I have to get into the krakoan era of x-men, an era tha'ts reaching it's twilight but is still ongoing and has been one of my favorites in comics.
This era of X-History comes after a fairly bleak time in x-men comics: See in the mid 2010's, Marvel tried outright dismantling the x-men. Since the MCU didn't have the rights to them, Marvel was trying hard to not give Fox any more ammo, forgetting they still got mech money out of the x-men existing. They also just outright canceled fantastic four. Because who needs the founding family of the marvel universe if we can't merch the hell out of them amirite?
So despite the X-Men having JUST WARDED OFF EXTINCTION a few years ago, post secret wars they decided to push the Inhumans , anothe rgroup of superpowered beings they'd already set up clevery and uniquely as their own thing last era without stepping on the x-men's toes, as the new x-men and to shoe out the old.
What followed.. is one of the dumbest things i've seen in all of comics. So to push the Inhumans.. they decided the best way was to make the cloud of terrigen mist that created new inhumans... TOXIC TO MUTANTS. So that the Inhumans were casually allowing a toxic murder cloud to kill tons of people.. just to keep more of them existing.
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I.. cannot find the words for how tonedeaf, short sighted and just plain moronic this was. You can't just.. kill one group to make another group popular. Queen didn't consume the beating hearts of all four beetles to become awesome. They just were. And the inhumans books.. were GOOD. Charles Soule was doing an utterly fantastic job on them and continued to for the entire run. You didn't need this shit. Instead it sunk the inhumans so that the followup, Royal, by one of my favorite writers in all of comics Al Ewing, got cut short and the inhumans were then mostly killed and those left put into exile. Except Lockjaw. Everyone loves a giant teleporting dog monster. He could stay.
Afterwords while Disney didn't have the rights back YET, Marvel realized they couldn't just magically flimflam fans and tried a half hearted attempt at boosting the x-men: They returned to sorta prominence.. but the new runs weren't given a huge push in the marvel universe as whole. We got the underrated classics X-Men Blue and Iceman, the former finishing up Cullen Bunn's awesome magneto trilogy and the latter redefining Bobby now he was an out and proud gay man, but the other flagship book at the time, yes there were two, x-men gold had a great status quo (Kitty Pryde as Xavier's School headmistress and x-men leader, and the institute now being located in central park), but was given to Mark Guggenhiem instead of a more compitent hand, resulting in a series long rehash of better stories... and one actually GOOD story mixed in.
It was clear while Marvel was willing to use the x-men again, they needed to actually use their whole ass. Enter Jonathan Hickman. For those not familiar with him
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Jonathan Hickman is one of the best writer's in comics, and has had storied runs on all three of Marvel's biggest teams, all having a major impact and all really dang good, with a knack for longterm plotting, high sci fi concepts and quotable as hell lines and arc phrases. Hickman left marvel after Secret Wars 2015, his grand finale to his avengers run and intended as an end to his time at marvel so he could move on to new horizons, planning to give the compettition a ring. And while sadly that meant we didn't get what would've been likely THE definitive teen titans run, though i'm sure we'll get it some day as DC would be nuts not to let him do it, Marvel simply had an offer too tempting for him to pass up: Run the X-Men.
Something I never knew before his interviews for this era.. is that while Jonathan Hickman liked marvel... he never really read most of their comics before his runs. When he did Fantastic Four and Avengers, he studied heavily. Granted it shows how good a writer he is that it dosen't show and he clearly gained an apprceation for both. It's also a NEEDED reminder for comic book writers: YOU CAN JUST RESEARCH SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW. I know it sounds obvious but plenty of writers , Brian Micheal Bendis in paticular, don't seem to understand that.
For X-Men though, they were his intro into comics, the books he picked up as a kid. The playset he always wanted but during his first run at marvel the timing just never synched up. So Hickman gathered a crack team of writers and took an approach I feel most lines in comics should follow: he set up a writer's room, allowing the writers of all the books to bounce ideas off each other, which made the books better, and approach that's stuck even after he left and will hopefully.
The results of all this hard work? House of X and Powers of X, a set of two interconnected mini series that serve as essentially one big mini series setting up a brave new world for mutantkind. Hickman used the various attempted genocides on the x-men as a backdrop, including the m-pox, and another one that took place in the crappy uncanny x-men run between series that i'll no doubt have inflicted on me one day. And more importantly the fact that Mankind and most other heroes had done the bare minimum to help if that.
So the X-Men decided to once again start their own country. Except unlike previous attempts, they made an effort to become a global power, to play the game of nations. In this case they created plants that helped stave off diseases like althimerz, and leveraged them in exchange for acceptance a nation. Xavier had given up on his dream and instead had a new one: suing for peace.
If that sounds divisive.. that was the intent. That you get why the x-men are doing this, but also see that this has a real danger of them loosing their way and making shadier decisions... not helped by them offering amnesty to ALL mutants including past foes. Exploring the complexities of this is what makes this era so fantastic: the x-men are hoarding world changing advancments.. but after the world spat on them for so long while good men did nothing half the time, you can't blame them. As Cyclops expertly puts it in the first issue.
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And yet many have issues with how dogmatic the ruling body of Krakoa, the quiet council is being, the shady decisions, the backdoor deals. It's a mixed blessing: Mutankind has home, saftey, wants for nothing.. but is the price tag worth it?
They also have one other thing, a secret to the world at this point: Resurrection. For years, in part thanks to seeming non mutant ally revealed to be secret mutant Moria Mactaggert, long story, and her longgame planning, Xavier had worked out a plan to cure death. It was both a way to raise the stakes.. and to just as importantly undo a LOT of crappy shock deaths for mutantkind, to bring back characters who'd been dead for DECADES and no one simply had gotten around to them. Death was over, mutantkind was truly immortal.
The process is also unique, using the five, five mutants working in concert, turning the non viable eggs made by goldballs, now dubbing himself egg, into viable clone bodies using a combination of reality warping from former foe proteus, life giving powers from elixer to make them viable, time from tempus to speed them up, and the boosting powers of Hope, the mutant messiah, to make this all possible.
So as a result, any mutant come back, mutants now had freedom and fancy organic warp gates, and a homeland on Krakoa, a mutant who as once an island that walked like a man but was now the benevloent home of all mutantkind.
So your probably wondering how all this somehow esclated FURTHER. Well that's a lot as the Hellfire Gala is the result of a few ongoing story beats all rolled together in a delicous tortilla.
The first is the gala itself. The Hellfire Club was normally the x-men's foes, a group of rich assholes who used their secret society to try and conquer the world through BUISNESSS! and other persuits. And also often wore bondage gear because Chris Claremont is not shy about his fetishes.
For Krakoa though, they became the Hellfire Trading Company. Emma Frost, teacher, x-man and 100% that bitch, had built up a huge fortune again during the meantime and was convinced by Magneto and Xavier to invest it in the children. It's a consitent thing: While Emma can be cold, has a sarcastic tounge bar none, she's always cared about the future of their species and always been protective of young mutants.
So Emma , in addition to a seat of the table, runs the BUISNESS side of things, and thus the inner circle of the hellfire trading company became the large shipping end for mutantkind. They buy the drugs, they light the fire, they are Humankind's main suplier. While other parts of krakoa focus on the growing of the life saving drugs, Emma's the one who markets and ships it, with two others to help: Kitty Pryde, her former enemy turned close friend who as head of the Marauders, lead a pirate crew of x-men to save mutants trapped in countries who didn't go for Krakoa's deal and do drug shipments, while Sebastian Shaw, king of the assholes and enemy of emmas, was given the job of smuggling. He also tried to Kill kitty suprising no one. And Emma and Kitty responded by beating the piss out of him and leaving him in a wheelchair for a while, suprising even less.
Emma being her usual extra self, decided the best way to show off their power as a nation, their wealth and what they could offer.. was a giant ass party with friend and foe alike invited. So threaded throughout the first year and a half of the marauders was Emma's plans for the Gala, with her having Magneto buy an island to host it on. It's such a character rich thing: buying a whole ass island to throw a giant party that's one part diplomatic work and one part "go fuck yourself racist assholes". It's Emma Frost.
The second part leading to all of this was a myth arc that spread through the first year of the comic. One of Mutantkind's most dreaded foes, Apocalypse.. willingly joined them and was given a sympathetic backstory: turns out his "survivial of the fittiest schtick" was because his wife had to send Krakoa's other half, Arrako, into the gates of hell to save the world, taking their children, his original four horseman, because of course Apocalypse has four horseman have you seen the man? He's not subtle.
So he inacted a plan to bring Arrako back, leading to the event X of Swords, where Arrako, taken by the demons they were fighting the amenth, planned to invade earth. Thankfully they pissed off Saturynyne, omniversal magistreix and registered asshole who turned it into a tournament arc: ten swordsman from each side, winner takes all.
Naturally this contest ran by a manevloent schemer from beyond dimensions and against demons had consequences: one of the mutants on our side, Gorgon, died, Doug Ramsey got married, and yes that was indeed a match, and storm killed the embodiment of death. Normal x-men stuff. I really don't have time to go over it all as it's 22 issues long. Not hyperbole. It's a decent if entirely bloated event.
The climax is what's important: the rules got broke, and while Xavier and Magneto's plan was to do nothing and hope it works out, sacrifcing the mutants they had trapped there, Cyclops and Jean grey said
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Especially since their son Cable, a cool teen at the time, was in danger. So Cyclops gathered every mutant he could... aka PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE ON KRAKOA NOT ON THE QUIET COUNCIL to storm the gates, leading to an epic battle, and the freeing of Apocalpyse's wife genisis and his remaning kids. Apocalypse decided to have a family road trip across amenth as part of the deal, but in trade the x-men got Arakko back.
The problem was.. Arakko had just spent the last centuries fighting demons and living to eat, murder and conquest. So while Krakoa doubling size was a good thing on paper, as was the new mutants added, in practice it set off a massive political powder keg, with the Arakko mutants gleefully ransacking nearbye areas and refusing to not conquer. While the x-men were fine to inheret the earth once humanity burned itself out, the Arakko didn't want to wait. They needed somewhere to go.
So that dear friends and readers brings us to the gala itself a massive crossover event.. but a unique one. Every issue of every x-book intersected wtih the party of the summer, but only the four we're covering today were the big takeaway points. It was a fun crossover too, a way for all the books to intersect, while leaving the core trim enough to let someone just wanting the big takeaways to only have to pick up 4 books that month. I MIGHT do the rest another day but honestly besides saving kev a lot of money.. it just made more sense to just do the core storyline, to do the part you all came here for, and maybe do the other issues some other day. Thankfully future gala's are much smaller for next year and beyond.
So let's mosey on over shall we as the festivties begin.
Mauraders #24: The party kicks off naturally with Mauraders, the Hellfirecentric book. We open with Kitty, Sebastian and Emma all awaiting the guests. Emma is wearing one of three outfits she has for the night and all of mutantkind is wearing their finest.
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Okay Kitty's wearing her finest, emma just has a giant cur cape with an x cut out, because her brand and what not, and a giant head piece that says NOTICE HOW RICH I AM, and Sebstian Shaw is dressed as some sort of war grandpa, wearing a suit LESS fancy than what he usually wears, but weirldy bedecked in tassles, with a fur cape and supervillian eyepatch. I mean the last part's on brand for him but all together it's just fucking weird even by the standards of this gala, held off the coast of two giant monsters.
So as Emma waits security, done by X-Force Krakoa's black ops division, lets in our first guests , fitting them with flowers so they can pass through the krakoan gates for the gala and any afterparties. The Krakoan Gates are giant flowery gates world wide that allow mutantkind to pass through them.. except kitty pryde due to how her powers work: since she goes THROUGH barriers, the thing kinda futzes out with her.
Our inaugral guests are naturally earth's mighteiest heroes, the avengers, consiting at the time of the Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Thor (Odinson), She Hulk, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and Blade. yes THAT blade. It's honestly a good roster I liked a lot, bringing things back to the classics while adding a few weird touches like Blade and Robbie. The run itself.. was hit and miss, paticuarlly having She Hulk as a regular hulk instead of her usual self, despite the previous run of her solo having finally gotten her out of that state.. for no clear reason really. It was just bad. Thankfully those dark times are over and the tv show's only made sure that won't be happening again. Tony flies in on his own, not trusting the tech and you know.. being kind of an asshole he has to make a bit "NOTICE ME EVERYONE" entrance. Also boarding are the world's greatest heroes, the Fantastic Four, along with their children Franklin and Valerea and The Thing's wife Alicia Masters. Things are a bit rockier between these groups so gather up people as it's time for EVEN MORE EXPOSITION
So since his introduction Franklin had been a mutant.. and since he and the team as a whole had come back in Dan Slott's run, his power had been shorting out. Krakoa, wanting to both help him and naturally add another powerful mutant to the pile, reached out, and unsuprisingly fighting insured between both sides, Reed Richards pulled a Richards and disabled his son's ablility to use the gates, Franklin ran away, ended up with Doctor Doom, and both sides settled things long enough to stop it. IT's a story I will likely cover some day and ended on a positve note: Franklin would alternate between both the baxter buildling and krakoa, while Xavier, not pleased reed had the kind of tech he did, erased the gate supression tech from his brain and told him to his face he'd done it, to tell reed "never again"
So naturally FF writer Dan Slott's reaction to this promising, engaging new status quo was to say "fuck it" and retcon that franklin just MADE HIMSELF into a mutant with his powers, once they were gone he wasn't one, and Xavier basically told him go the fuck away. It is one of the dumbest, most waasteful, egotistical, selfish moves i've seen in comics, doing this simply because you had to share idaes and plans with someone else. At the time of this writing it hasn't been undone, but I woudln't be suprised if current writer Ryan North or future writers undid this or at the very least found a good angle for it.
For now we do at least get this page.
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I assume it was a smart, well thought out intellectual GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU OLD MAN. Also while i'll defend the cerebro helmet, I love the look and while the usual version wht the black jumpsuit is plain, it works for the story that's being told... this version is just.. what Iam I even looking at. The extra uncessary packs on his helmet, the gold and green, and then he has the fucking gall to say that to Franklin. I do like him bonding with Kitty, who the mini established was tight with the kind after the 80's era crossover where a younger frankllin talked a younger kitty out of unaliving herself. Another series to add to the pile.
So the party kicks off with a concert from Rhapsody, a forgotten mutant who sadly died during he one apperance in the first peter David Run of x-factor who can make people see things via music. By linking her up to some telepaths, the conert allows everyone present to participate.. except Doom whose naturally being a mopey pants about things. DOOM IS ALWAYS A MOPEY PANTS FOR HE IS DOOM!
The party then goes into full swing and we get some nice moments. ben, upon seeing a bunch of the marauders and an aim guy playing dice on a boat chastizes them.. for not telling him
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While Cap and Doom have a stare down watched by celebrity guests Run the Jewels, two of my faviorite rappers in existance as a duo, Killer Mike and E-LP
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Before Cap can close his eyes and count to fuck, Emma steps in to stop them, with Doom incensed at mutantkind for considering themselves superior, pot meet kettle, but we get a rare doom laugh , an da great joke when Emma, insiting the mutants haven't claimed earth..
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So the party moves on. We get some specific plot beats for Mauraders itself i'll gloss over, some reunions of old friends as Northstar and Vindicator catch up, and Cap talking to his old aqunatince Henry Peter Gyrinch. For those who haven't heard of this douche... good. But since I brought him up Henry was Marvel Comics token asshole beurcrat: he was first introduced making the avengers job harder, tried to bring them to court over Scarlet Witch wanting to you know, leave, as is her right, was the head of the anti mutant witch hunts of the 80s, has joined several sense, and tried to deport all aliens on earth during Dark Reign. In short no one likes him, he's working with Orchis, the big bads of this era, surprising no one, and everyone everywhere celebrated when he died a few months after this. He's there to compare Krakoa to latveria and call steve an optimist for.. not assuming the Mutants are evil.
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We also get one of the greatest scenes in comics as Emma oggles caps and plans to see america's ass up close.. only to read that she reminds him of his mother telepathically, horrifying her. Note that Cap's next solo run.. fully confirms that despite this, she STILL went for it and he was fine with it, his current girlfriend Sharon Carter being fine if he steps out as their apart for months at a time. It's cool. And yes folks, Cap has a mommy kink. And that is awesome.
We then get a nice scene of Emma gathering her staff including Jumbo Carnation, a mutant designer introduced to die during New X-Men and brought back here to do most of the fashions for this event, and Somilier, an expert mutant chef to thank them all.
Cue the fireworks.. which we'll get to shortly, but we see the reactions of everyone: All the bigots in attendence are rattled, as is Doctor Strange, who understandably needs to duck out to figure out what the hell this means, and Tony, who congradulates Cyclops on solving one problem.. but warns him he might of made an even bigger mess. But this being steve rogers he also ends his stern warning on "I just hope you know what you people are doing". He's worreid sure, they just conquered mars and knows what the backlash will be.. but he also is aware they likely know what their doing and as always has faith in the best in people.
Onto X-Men
X-Men #21
While the Hellfire Gala kicked off and continued a lot of exciting bits of the Krakoan Era it also marked a major ending: The final issue of Jonathan Hickman's ongoing X-Men title, with the previous one having set up his proper exit with Inferno later that year.
Hickman's X-Men was the flagship title for the books, a series of one to two issue stories that set up the world of Krakoa and showed off how this nation worked.
And naturally for the viewpoint character, Hickman picked the very first x-man and one of mutantkind's finest, Cyclops. Scotty needed the rub. Since AvX a chunk of X-Books had demonized him as some form of boogie man. While his killing of Charles xavier was shocking.. it was also while he was posssed by the phoenix force, and thus not in full control of his actions. Most characters.. blamed him for it anyway despite there being no logic and treated him as Magneto JR for the crimes of... saving mutants from racists trying to attack them and doing what he was doing. This was compounded by the aformentioned M-Pox era, which killed him off after he FINALLY got everyone's accpetance back.. and once again treated him like a villian for... destroying a cloud of terrgin mist that was killing his people.
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He then got brought back from the dead after his teenage counterpart brought from the future, long story that.. but was plopped into that awful uncanny run.
Scotty needed a break, so thankfully Hickman took a special intrest in scott. It helped that with Xavier back and back allegedly doing the right thing, Scott could take a night off of being the leader of all of mutantkind and just enjoy having his dead wife back, a son that's not older with him and presumably regular threesomes with wolverine, who not only is ALSO dating Jean during this era, but lived in Scotts house on the moon. Also , Scott had a house on the moon.
With Hickman leaving though, Scott needed a new direction and Hickman set it up for him on his way out in the aftermath of x of swords. Scott, who was the leader of Krakoa's great captains (their security and people authorized to form a team for whatever threats face this sacred land), and Jean , who was on the quiet council rulling Krakoa, were both utterly fed up with the council's bullshits, from refusing to resurrect Scott's ex wives or any clones period, to sketchy rulings like the one in X of Swords. The two decided there had to be something outside them and that Krakoa still needed heroes.
See while the book was called x-men, Hickman cleverly got away with not actually having a formal team for his tenure. Scott and Jean stepped down to change that, founding a new team. The premise was genius: the team would last for one year in and out of universe, a tour of duty, and be picked entirely by Krakoa itself at the gala.
As a sweet bonus to this already great concept, Marvel left some of the voting up to real life: while most of the team was picked by incoming writer Gerry Duggan, the last member was left up to the fans, a tradition that carried onto the next to galas. In this case Polaris, longtime x-man, twice time x-factor leader, and daughter of magneto won.
We open issue 24 with a followup to something from House and Powers of X: During the mini when building Krakoa Xavier and Magneto approached Namor, prince of the deep, to join the nation. He refused as he had a powerful empire thanks.. and once again refuses when they approach him at the party. They control an island. he controls 75 of the oceans. Call him when you have something more to offer. This plot thread.. never really went anywhere, as Namor turned himself in at the end of Jason Aaron's run on avengers and Atlantis was a non factor by the time the latest gala ended in a bloodbath. We do get this outfit for my boy magneto
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Unlike Charles who.. I sitll don't get what he's going for, Erik pulls it off. It also begs the question WHY charles wore his big ass helmet to the party. Max had a WAY cooler helemet that matched his outfit and went with a bitching top hat chuck, what's your excuse.
We then get right to the point: the X-Men vote. And how it's done.. is endlessly cool. Jean telepahtically reaches out to every mutant everywhere.. and the vote happens. The Human Torch is a bit confused... partly because he's not sure how his rap went down
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But mostly because he dosen't know what the heck their doing. Dr. Strange fills him in.
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It's a truly awesome way to do it too: it not only left a nice hook for the series, as each person's pitch is shown over the course of Duggan's first year on the title, it's just a neat concept and way to do it. As for who made the cut...
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This is such a cool page. I love it dearly. It helps the x-men picked for duty all got great gala outfits, from Rogues which resembles her first uniform, to Shrio's dope as hell suit and wearing his sunfire mask because why wouldn't you if your mask was that sweet, to synch's techincolor suit it's awesome.
So a breakdown of this roster for those less familiar with the x-men. Besides Cyclops, Jean and Rogue, who shoudlnt' need an intro, we have Wolverine, Laura Kinney, also known as X-23, wolverin'es female clone and certified badass, Sunfire, an arrogant frenemy of the x-men's with fire powers and a proud japanese heritage, the aformentioned polaris and Synch, a member of generation x, the 90's class of teenage x-men, recently ressurected after spending a thousand years in a vault. Long story. It's a stellar roster and while Duggan's first year on the book was rocky, it can't be denied this was a great choice for his first for the most part. My only gripe is a lack of diversity, with only two members of the team who aren't white. Otherwise it's a good selection.
So after this we get two pages of Sinsiter being a gossipy bitch before we get to the ending of this issue, a truly amazing scene with a bit of meta flare. A tad cheesy.. but the kind of cheese I like.
So after another cameo by Patton Oswalt, as seen by RTJ the gala had a lot of real life celbreity cameos thrown in, all approved by the people themselves, Kevin Fiege, head of marvel asks Scott a simple question
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Is it a tad cheesy to have the head of marvel literally ask a character whose key to their next big franchise his story? Yes.. but I can't help but love it. It's just a fun way to have Cyclops give his story and given marvel comics actually exists in universe, it's not a stretch to say some form of the mcu does either, simply running on the same "offical authorized story" deal they have with most heroes, changing it up for ones whose id's aren't public.
Due to image limits and not wanting to overdue it, the speech stretches over two full pages, i'll have to due with quoting it. But it's one of my faviorite moments of this era so far, and it gets to the heart of who scott summers is NOW.. and just who he is.
"I was blind. Blind to how the world worked...and then I met a man who taught me to see—see how things really were. I loved him for it. And because I loved him—because I believed in him...and, in a way, worshipped him—I claimed things that he had faith in as my own. He called it his dream. It was a good one. But the world, you see—the waking world—were we all live...it is a killer of dreams. A destroyer of things you believe in. So when I grew older, I realized it was foolish to...deify him. Honestly, it's unfair to expect that kind of perfection from anyone. After all, we're all flawed and imperfect... There is no real difference between any of us. No matter how much we believe the lie that there is. You see, he wasn't a savior. He was just a man—a mutant—like me. And his dreams—which still make me smile to this day—are no more valid than anyone else's. Including mine. So what's my story? I'm a dreamer. I'm an X-Man."
Scott is the guy who belviies in Xavier's dream more than the man himself, and while he sidestepped it for a while, as the world wore him down.. he never truly gave up on it.. and he'll never stop fighting for it. So as Scott walks off Emma cues the fireworks.
Planet Size X-Men
So before I get into this one , some context: When this issue happened.. what the fireworks were.. was a suprise. It was kept deathly secret and the reactions seen in marauders were a tease the x-men had done something MASSIVE. While for our purposes here you know the twist I just wanted the context for readers that the x-men colonizing a whole damn planet.. was a massive well done suprise. IT's something this era does well: it hides spoilers VERY well and even when some info has to come out via solicits, it does a great job not telling us everything.
So we open the issue with the reveal of what their doing: The narration is a flashback to someone talking to Forge, the x-men's resident inventor, about IF what their about to do before our eyes is possible. And to start they need a ton of iron, and to plunge it into the planet, then get it nice and hot.
The first part.. is easy given the master of magnet is around and we get a lovely shot of Magneto hauling a giant meteor. This issue's done by Duggan with art by Pepe Laraz, who also did art for House of X and is a phenominal artist, so he not suprisingly knocks it out of the park here. Using the metal they open the planet and as forge puts it "perform open heart surgery" using a team of Hope and Vulcan, Scott Summer's youngest brother who has energy powers> They get it bubbly, Max stirs the sauce with his powers.. and next up is Iceman, who proudly announces himself to the party, whose all viewing this telepathically thanks to Emma Frost
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We then flash back to a few days ago. Magneto TRIES to talk some sense into Iscaa the unbeaten, annoyed at the Arakkil shenanigans I mentioned before, but she's unmoved. As long as their of this planet, they'll act as they have and conquer. This likely gave Max the idea.
And his timing for it isn't bad as the Hellfire Trading Company have another problem: their suplies for the lifesaving drugs are running out. The X-Men were doing most of their production in the savage land, a land where dinosaurs never died out, but the super science golden girls stole most of it, so they REALLY need a new place for production. Mags asks to borrow Emma's spaceship.. and prepares his pitch.
The next day Cap and Cyclops talk at westchester, with Cyclops assuring Cap there's a solution to the arakko problem, which gets him to come to the gala. Max pitches his plan to the quiet council and it's a rare unanmous "YES".
Cut to the morning of the gala and while Mags has a lot of the pieces he needs.. he needs more. So he first goes to Jamie Braddock, brother of Bestsy (Formerly Psylocke now Captain Britan) and Brian (also Captain Britan), and half mad reality warper, who Mags convinces to help out. He also goes to Arakko and their own council happens to have three Omega Level Mutants (Mutants with no upper limit to their powers, something firmly defined in this era after being vauge for years on end), who fit the bill: Lacuta the Knower, Sobunar of the Depths, and Xilo the first defender of this broken land.
Back in present day Sobunar goes first: Sobunar contains an ENTIRE ocean within them, so they simply donate a little water and have jamie expand it into an ocean. Storm captalizes on this, using her powers to the strongest they've ever been to give the planet weather, giving the dead red planet wind for the first time.
Next up is Xilo, who.. tears off his head and combines with the land.. he's also a caterpillar. Because why not. With Elixer's help he restores life leaving the next step for the final member of our trio, Lacuta. Her power.. is knowing the precise location of everything. So using her , Jean Grey and exodus, a centuries old telepath bar NONE, shove the ENTIRETY of arakko through the external gate, a magical super krakoan gate, to mars.
WIth that Arakko is on here.. and Arakko itself, which like krakoa is alive, sighs happily at it's first bloodless victory in a long while. A diplomatic area is set up as is a memorial to honor those who could not make it
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The downside of the review format is I really can't show you just how awe inspiring all this is. I do have images an dcan show you some of it but the compression here and how much this issue makes use of the full page makes it impossible to translate. It's why while my reviews are good on their own merit, they'll never be a subsitute for the media in question.
So after this Arakko needs it's own SWORD station. SWORD was once the space verison of SHIELD, but with SHIELD ending and Earth's own space branch, alpha flight, being laughably ineffective, former SWORD head Abigail brand went to mutantkind fo ra space program, resulting in their revivail. And since they need a base here, Jean and Quinten Quire, professional loveable scamp, implant the idea of one in his mind. Jean says she's making him pregnant with it.. and soon regrets her word choice
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I... didn't doctor any of this. All of this actually happened. Jean Grey made a man pregnant with a space station. That's canon. That's part of this landmark in x-history. God bless you X-Slack, one and all.
Elixer has one last idea.. and this time it's just transmitted to prevent more of .. that... so Jamie gladly obliges, creating port promethus, a massive hub for all the space ships a comin. With that all of Krakoa is welcomed to..
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With that we get some data pages, a bold announcment proclaming this the captial of our solar system, a person in the goverment reporting, and nasa being disapointed by mutantkind just anexing the planet but hoping they can visit.
And before we move on to the direct ramifications in story.. let's talk about those fireworks shall we? The Terraforming of Mars into Planet Arakko.. is one of the biggest, genius and insane swings i've seen in a comic. It's all perfectly built up too: from the beginning of this era i'ts been built up how much power omega mutants have, how much stronger krakoa can be it's ties to space via the shiar and brood. And over in SWORD, which had recently launched and will close out today's look at the gala, they subtly laid the seeds: SWORD had been further pushing the idea of a "mutant circuit", i.e. using a group of mutants in concert to do a task, the first being of course the five and SWORD having a circuit in it's first issue bring a super metal from beyond time and space. The idea of seeing just what mutants could do with their powers and a whole nation had been seeded... it's here it sprouts. In what's implied to be an hour at most, with the world watching, mutantkind terraformed a dead planet. While both terriotires had different goverments the fact remained mutantkind now had a PLANET.
It's also nice in that even if Krakoa as a nation tumbles into history... this is something that really CAN'T be easily undone: Mutantkind created a new planet stuffed with mutants, where alien dignitaries have visited, and that humankind will NEVER forget happened. Even if it all collapsed the sheer scope of it is something that can't help but have impact. It's the kind of status quo shift you could ONLY pull off in this era, with these characters, at this time, a perfect allinging of the planets... to let another be reborn.
It also has a lot of nice fallout that's still being felt: A whole book would end up dedicated to this new concept, X-Men Red, which is one of the best of this era and one of the best x-books period, and it's not even over yet. We'll likely look at that next year, or at least part of it, but the idea of this warbased society grappling with peace is fascinating as is humanity grappling with loosing one of it's biggest pieces of the sky. There's so much that's been done with this concept, so much more to do and it's one of my faviorite in the x-men's long history of awesome ideas and was brought about stunningly, with the issue being one long showstopper. They hyped the hell out of this one moment.. and man oh man did they deliver. All that's left.. is the afterparty.
S.W.O.R.D. #7
SWORD opens with Captain america, standing alone reflecting his thoughts. This opening is one of th emain reasons I wanted sword as part of this: this scene helpfully frames what happened from a human perspective, by showing how the best of us grapples with what just happened. And also DOOM, who'd tell you he was but you know DOOM. Cap decides to humor him this once and share his thoughts.. mostly because Victor points out they are both faces of their nations and the weird irony of that tickles our hero a bit. The speech that follows.. is gorgeous, showing that SWORD, and future x-men red, writer Al Ewing, one of my personal faviorite writers, REALLY gets cap. I mean he really gets pretty much any character he rights but still.
Cap relates the story of his waking up from the ice. How soon after.. he felt hopless, a shocking thing to hear from Captain I Can Do This All Day, but understandable: Everything he knew and loved was gone and he'd missed decades. Tony gave him hope by showing the moon landing, showing how much humanity achieved.. but got quiet when Steve asked where the colonies were... what had come NEXT. It's a sad statment on the fact we just kinda.. gave up on space after realizing it was too expensive to exploit.
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I belivie in a better tommorow is a cap line up there with classics like "I'm loyal to nothing except the dream" and "No you move", and this scene is expertly done: it shows the two sided coin: Steve is well aware humanity kind of gave up on mars and other planets aside from mapping them, but still wishes they'd worked together.. instead of their next iteration swooping in and taking it all. It's the lovely double edged sword of this all: The Mutants had every right to do this: they had the power, the technology and the need. But it still means they took it for themselves and only themselves.
So while Cap muses about this and Doom heads off to do Doom stuff, we cut to SWORD"s station the Peak where director Abigail Brand, who nick fury wishes he could be, is explaning the situation to a council of galactic ambassadors from very marvel races and factions. Notable faces include Orbis Stellaris, who'd become VERY important soon enough, a guy named Riitho representing the interglactic empire of wakanda, a real thing that exists, long story I don't quite know to be honest, Smasher, former avenger, wife of x-man and former avenger Cannonball, and representive for longtime x-men space buddies the shiar, paibok the power skrull representing the kree skrull alliance and three of the guardians of the galaxy: Star Lord represnting his in comics half home of spartax, Noh Varr aka marvel boy represtning the Utopian Kree and Richard Rider , the man called nova representing earth. Ewing adopted Richie who'd come back from the dead but hadn't got a lot to do, making him a focal point of his run on Guardians and then bringing him over to X-Men Red after that.
Richie in paticular is nettled they didn't tell anyone, and while Frenzy, part of SWORD's security, points out he was kinda busy with guardains stuff.. he still has a point: While Krakoa coudln't afford to tell EVERYONE or someone would've tried to stop them, and they DID need this space... they didn't tell ANYONE they were doing this.
The rest of the delegates are ambivalent: For humanity , mutantkind terraforming a whole planet is a big whoop. And while the SPEED is impressive, terraforming a planet is pretty standard procedure for the empires present.
Thankfully Mutankind brought Abigail brand to the negotating table: she's lived in space her whole life, knows it better than earth, and her whole reason for restarting sword is that she's sick of earth being so ambiviliant and reactionary: they've been invaded COUNTLESS times.. yet the heroes wait. In the previously reviewed epilogue to empire/gay wedding of the century, she quit Alpha Flight entirley because head at the time Carol Danvers.. didn't think to consult her or anyone abotu the crisis and instead cried avengers assemble.
So she decides to take a page from the krakoan book with some space flair: like Krakoa, Arakko won't be recognized without something to give and since the healing plants aren't really a huge get, she has something more: Mysterium,. the metal they plucked from the white hot center of the omniverse.
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It's a COOL as hell call back: why did they plunder time and space.. not because they could. .but to get the sol system a foot in the galactic door. See at the time of this run, something running out of Ewing's guardians run as Al ewing tends to use every book he writes to follow up on others, Ewing had the clever idea of the galactic community being in a pretty crappy place: after so many wars, sieges, and attempted conquests, they were battered and the economy suffered. Mysterium... is the answer. Expensive, as seen here super useful for space travel and recovery after all the nonsense the unvierse has been put through.. and a perfect Bribe. Abigail is upfront about it too: as I said this is the same as Krakoa using the drugs and Abby says that outright: a new currency to help the unvierse recover.. in exchange for recognition. Abby's logic is also flawless here: Earth.. has a ton of nations, their all squabbling and generally can't agree on how to treat their own people much less aliens. Arakko is one goverment and thus allows them to simply negotiate with them instead.
Naturally though for a confrence like this.. someone has to ask...
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I said he had doom stuff to do.... I didn't say said stuff wasn't in this issue did I? Doom demands to know: who speaks for sol. Given how Victor is, tyranicall and very personality based, he demands an audience with it's rule: who is it's king. Who is it's monarch. And naturally for this story... the answer is badass as hell. It's also the answer every X-Men fan predicted, but it's no less awesome
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It's a perfect choice: Storm really hadn't done much in this era up to this point... but in interviews HIckman and others constantly said they had more plans for her and "great stuff coming up". This is the payoff: Storm is once again a queen... and a perfect fit. She's peaceful enough to lead the arakkil in a new direction.. but she's still storm. It's part of what makes Orroro such a great character: she can be gentle, kind and fair.. but god help you if you think you can win a fight with her. And given Roro now has to deal with both a planet of warmongers AND various galactic empires ready to try to exploit this, not to mention eventually Abigail herself trying to exploit this for her own ends, a LOT of people are going to need god's help.
This conversation continues into the next issue, but for our story, the end is not on the grand new red planet.. but back on Krakoa. Magneto is quitely having a drink to himself.. and has a guest.
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So one last bit of backstory for this run, for the non comic guys in the audience, hi kevin and such: In the comics Wanda, during a mental breakdown after being manpulated by her own brother, depowered all but 200 of mutantkind. Give or take obviously because comics, but still most were left powerless thanks to her. Wanda DID do her best to atone once she returned much later, helping restore mutantkind.. but instead of undrestanding she wasn't in her right headspace, no one thought "hey let's get her a threapist instead of try to kill her".. no really that was the storyline. Bendis I swear.
Anyway, instead Mutantkind turned her into the boogeyman
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Yes a bogeyman, "The PRetender" as it was later revealed she wasn't a mutant because marvel didn't have rights to them at the time. And while I do wish this era had turned her back into one.. the directoin they went was clever.. and this scene is part of it. Wanda comes to her once thought to be bio dad: she skipped the party because well.. she knows what they say and the pretender can't sit at the throne.
Magneto's response? one of the best moment's in the characters history and clear proof of why Ewing was given the character for X-Men Red not long after
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It's a heartbreaking well done speech.. and honestly an angle for helping undo the hasty unparenting of Magneto I never considered: Keeping Wanda not a mutant.. but having Magnus still consider her his child. Have him realize after buildling paradise.. that he'd been a pretty crappy father to her, even if he turned out not to be his dad, how he wasn't much better to his biological daughter Lorna. and That even if she's seen as the pretender.. that Wanda is his kid and deserves better. It's also a nice aseop: that you don't NEED to be biologically related ot be family. She's his daughter. End of dicussion. And he will fix this
The how ended up being convoluted, but did result in Wanda going from the pretender, to the redeemer by setting up the waiting room, a way to bring back mutants who didn't have an imprint in cerebro. It's a touching end to this story.. I mean granted the story ACTUALLY ends with magneto suspected of her murder, but it'ts not where we're ending
The Hellfire Gala is one of my faviorite comics events. IT's a unique take on one: instead of a big fight or a big crisis.. it's just a party. It still has all the gravitas and after effects: Wanda's very temporary death leading to her excellent new era under Steve Orlando, the start of Magneto's character arc for X-Men red, a whole new setting with vast ramifications, a new team, and lots of other smaller setups. It's no suprise they did it again the next two years. It's a story packed with both the fun breezy character moment's you'd expect like Emma discovering steve's mommy kink or RTJ getting ready to watch doom fight steve all day, or gambling time, and the big stuff needed to justify it being an event, all organically threaded from here.
We'll no doubt return to krakoa and I already have plans to return to the x-men next year. For now though... we've reached the end of x-men month. As we enter spooky season.. thank you for reading, my x-men.
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animehouse-moe · 6 months
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Interview With Monster Girls Ended Yesterday In NA
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It makes me incredibly sad, I put off reading the volume because I knew I'd feel a little empty after reading it. But I think that feeling is even more exacerbated by the content of the volume. As satisfying as satisfying can be, it shows that while what we've seen of our favorite Demis and the people around them may be over, their story will continue to move onward. Incredible in all the ways that Petos has come to be known for, it's damn near a clinic in how to convey motion and personality through still images. Seriously, just four horizontal panels and there's more life in them than what some manga series can muster in their entirety.
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And using a podcast to tie a neat bow on the story while recanting all of their favorite moments and the supporting characters? Incredible. Truly, one of the best "endings" that could have been written for the story.
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But that's where I get a little emotional about it. From start to finish, it's just too good. Petos hasn't left readers with a single reason to be glad that the manga is finished. Nor a reason to be upset about a bad ending, or some simple way to finish the story. No, there's not a single thing wrong with it, and that kind of hurts. Though, all good things do have to come to an end, I wish I could see a little more of my 3 favorite girls.
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That's enough mourning though, let me get excited! Petos is now freed up to create another manga, so I'm endlessly excited to see what they cook up. Similarly, with Interviews With Monster Girls finished in North America, it seems like the perfect time for Kodansha to license the spinoff of the series, filling the void that was left behind by its originator!
And last of all, this story is not completely told. If Petos wanted to revisit it in a year, in five, in ten, it's still there. And I really like that. Not that Petos has to revisit it, but if they ever have the passion or desire to do so, they're entirely able to. I'm comfortable waiting forever, but only if it's fated to happen. So, even though it's sad to see it go, there's still a very big smile on my face.
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startswithabang · 8 months
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Huge project announcement!
I'm so excited to announce that the Kickstarter for the big project I've been working on since 2021, the Encyclopaedia Cosmologica, is now live!
Two years ago, author and graphic designer Will Lidwell approached me about writing this book and doing the astrophysics calculations for it, while the legendary Jon Lomberg and Mark Garlick would illustrate it and Will himself would design it.
It was a brilliant idea and I got on board right away.
We decided that we'd start at the Big Bang and come forward in time, one page and 100 million years at a time, until we reached the present day: 13.8 billion years later.
It was an irresistible premise that I couldn't turn down. The four of us got really excited.
In late 2021, we ran an unsuccessful Kickstarter to launch the project. (It happens.)
But after it failed, we all decided we believed in the project enough that we would simply create it anyway, and convinced ourselves that "if we built it, backers would come."
And now we've not only built it, we've increased our ambitions further! We now start BEFORE the Big Bang, and after we reach the present day, we have five extra chapters: three on humanity's possible "tomorrows" and two that take us far, far into the cosmic future.
So please, consider supporting the Encyclopaedia Cosmologica and bring this beautifully designed, thoughtfully written, and gorgeously illustrated unique history of the Universe to your home and the shelf of someone you love.
Help me make this Kickstarter Campaign a great success!
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misc-obeyme · 8 months
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Hey its anon here who said solomon would kill us, i dont hate him, i just dont trust him,
Solomon has 72 pact demons who may or may not abuse these..he is powerful and strong, and could kill MC if we were the enemy....we dont know enough about his magic to assume he can probably change time... but he is a human... who is old and wise, however, everyone in the game is a danger to us whether intentionally or unintentionly.
Solomon is the most known prophet and king... he employes princes of hell, and demons, he may or may not have spoke to God. However MC can side with Solomon and Solomon may love us, and they can work together...
So basically MC will have to trust themselves and their gut before trusting others.
So yeah... trust and communication is the relationship between MC and solomon...One of those breaks Solomon or MC ..
Oh, anon, thank you for elaborating!
I think I was correct in my original interpretation of your ask, but then I remembered that there are a lot of people who don't like Solomon as a character. So I was questioning it lol. I can't always tell when it's a short ask like that.
Anyway, it's certainly valid that you don't trust him. We know for a fact he isn't telling MC everything he knows, considering the conversation he had with Nightbringer in 10-A. However, we have zero evidence that this is actually a bad thing. It's possible that Solomon is keeping some secrets because he as to, that he's doing it to protect MC the best he can. It's also possible that this is not the case and that he's got some ulterior motives of some kind.
But if we consider only what we've seen in the game already, which is that Solomon has always been there to help and protect, to support and to teach MC, then I think MC can trust him.
Assuming that each season is equal to one year, MC has known Solomon for four years by the time Nightbringer happens. And the third year involved spending a lot of time with him learning magic. I can't imagine that MC wouldn't be able to trust him at this point.
From a storytelling standpoint, it just doesn't make sense for Solomon to be doing anything incredibly deceitful behind MC's back. This is part of why I have the two Solomons theory. Because it doesn't make sense for the Solomon we know to hurt MC, no matter how he feels about humanity and so on. If he's keeping secrets, it's far more likely to be because he thinks it will help MC or because he promised someone else he would keep the secret.
Solomon is indeed a powerful sorcerer. They've said it in the game multiple times, that he's the most powerful human in all of history and so on. But we've never really seen him use that power for anything other than stuff like messing with his cooking and researching magical spells and what not. I would say his biggest transgression when it comes to deliberately using his power was the time he used his pact with Barbatos to force him to create a portal that would take them out of the labyrinth. We also know that he tried to fight the whole Devildom, but that was many many years ago.
OOF okay I'm getting really rambly here. I could easily write quite a bit more about Solomon, but let us not go there. My point here is that there is no evidence that Solomon would ever kill MC. I don't think that would happen in the current story.
And you know if you want to find a character who has actually threatened MC, Lucifer is right there. (And I don't think I need to bring up Belphie again...)
Anything is possible, of course. I could be completely off, but I guess we'll see how it ends up!
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icarus-suraki · 2 days
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Hi Issy, How are you? Did you watch the Furiosa trailer? If so, what do you think about it?
Oooooh... So I've actually been avoiding the trailer...
I just have mixed feelings about whether the movie should have been made at all? I know George Miller had mentioned wanting a Furiosa prequel, sequel, backstory, something several many years ago, but here's the thing: does it need to exist? Like, as a full-on movie, does it need to exist?
I know I'm in the minority here, but I really prefer it if there aren't answers to every question in a piece of media. Yes, answer the important ones, tie up the loose ends (maybe), but let at least some of the answers stay secret.
Like, I know George Miller got all the actors, even the extras, to create backstories for why their costumes/makeup/hair/whatever are the way they are. But we don't need to know all those details. It's texture. We've learned bits and pieces (like the giant mall under the desert) and I feel like that's enough. I like the uncertainty. I like the room for speculation or imagination. I don't want all the answers.
I feel the same way about all the (cash grab) prequels and sequels for Star Wars. I like 4, 5, and 6 without anything around them. There are all these references to things (spice traders? Kessel run? Clone wars?) that you'll probably never know about but it's texture. It's jargon. It adds to the worldbuilding--and it doesn't need explanation. Let it just exist as a thing that can be or would be understood by the characters but that doesn't need full explanations to the audience. We can adapt.
So re: Furiosa: do we really need a canon backstory with all the details in four-part harmony with feeling? I don't feel like we do.
MMFR attaches the audience to Max (more or less). We have to sort out the rules of the Citadel along with him, what the relationships between the characters are, where the hell we're going, and how the fuck to survive. And I liked that. I like getting dropped in head first, in medias res, and having to sort it out. (I was watching it in the theater for the nth time and right when Angharad is crawling up into the cab of the War Rig, the guy in front of me goes "Now who the hell is this???" and I loved that for him. (You also don't see her face clearly in that entire scene, which I also love.)
I don't know. It just feels like it's going to establish a lot of stuff as Officially Canon and I don't want official answers to things. Miller said Furiosa lost her arm "in a battle." So now I can imagine 27 different scenarios, and they can all be possible. I don't want an official answer because I know I'll be disappointed.
I also need to say that, by way of full disclosure, I did see a teaser trailer (which I watched out of the corner of my eye, through my fingers) and it looked like all the "story beats" were basically the same as MMFR, just "this time, Max is a girl!!!!" Come up with something original, damn.
And this may also sound bitchy, idk, but I don't feel like Anya Taylor-Joy is quite right as Furiosa. She's an very fine actress, don't get my wrong. But she doesn't seem like Furiosa? She's too...delicate, I guess? She's beloved of the Girl Bloggers, so maybe I've got a distorted view.
I'm also feeling weird about the chariot-car? Like, that seems a bit de trop? Even for a Mad Max movie? It's sliding into Marvel territory and I Do Not Like That.
tl;dr: I got some mixed feelings on this. And I haven't even seen the trailer. But I just feel like...we don't need this many answers. I don't want this much backstory. I want to stay in the nebulous realm of possibility.
Anyway, I'm also avoiding the trailer for the reboot of The Crow. It just feels like sacrilege. I can't do it. It's like they saw Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in a black and white photo and were like "Oh, that makeup looks kind of like Eric Draven ha ha" and the rest is cinema history.
On the other hand, at least it's not Timmy Chardonnay playing Eric. That would have literally killed me, resurrected me, and then sent me on a Crow-style revenge quest on behalf of Brandon Lee.
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zorkaya · 1 year
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happy new year from renata (pt. 1)
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It's the end of the year 2022 and honestly? Fuck this year from the bottom of my heart in terms of jobs, real life, and all of that bullshit. But you know what made this year bearable and actually survivable? My friends. It's been a tough year for everyone who I've known and I want to extend my hugs, my love and my adoration for every single one of you. You're amazing, you're powerful, and I hope that your 2023 will be a fantastic year.
There are many people who I want to give a shout-out for being the amazing beans that you are. I love you all and you are absolutely gorgeous. There are some people who I want to give some heart-to-heart special messages because all of these people helped me survive this year of 2022 and I cannot thank all of you enough for this.
FUN FACT, THIS POST BROKE TUMBLR FOUR TIMES FOR ME. So this is Part 1 and there will be part 2 with a similar beginning but will have the rest of the messages lolol.
❤ @crxstallium / Serin — My muse, my inspiration, my partner in crime. Serin, we've been punched by this year like no other, but you know what? We're bad bitches, we're fucking amazing, we're goddesses just like our ladies Crystal and Zarina. You are fantastic, lovable, and I swear to all deities above that I will do anything to visit you in person in the next two years. I love you, a whole lot, never forget that.
❤ @remunporium / Remun — OH MY GODDDD Remun you've helped me so much when I was having massive breakdowns. Thank you for offering your advice and always being there for me in our precious server. I love talking to you and I'm so glad we finally started speaking more often!
❤ @ignisung / @imarahuyo / Sophie — Sophieeee my beloveddddd. Listen, our talks are scarce these days but we always come back to each other to laugh and scream like not 5 months passed but like a day. You're so funny and so creative, I love seeing you in my DMs or on my dashboard, you are just so lovable and ily and we've known each other for years AND HERE IS TO YEARS MORE!!
❤ @adagaium / Knight — KNIIIIGHT, you know how much I love you, dude. I love our meet ups, I love that we can meet up and just talk about anything and everything. I know work has been tough on you, but you're a fucking champion and you'll always be that in my eyes. You know you're smart and intelligent and hardworking, I don't need to tell you that, but you are also sensitive and so kind to me. Thank you for always being here for me, I'm always here for you as well.
❤ @alchemiasaturnalis / Kuroshi — Kuroshi!! Kuro!! You are amazing, you know that? You are such a delightful and such a kind-hearted person. You are also a huge memer and I honestly didn't expect that when I first followed you! I'm so glad we became friends and you're absolutely fucking amazing. Thank you for giving me confidence in my lore and exploration of it!
❤ @eliteimperialism / Ravyn — Ravyn, I've always admired how strong and how determined you are, and I will never stop admiring that. You're someone who always says what she thinks and I love it. I love seeing your content, I love seeing in how many different genres you dive, and I love how deeply you dive into the creation of a story/lore for your characters but also with how you and Kuroshi dive into creating such magnificent stories.
❤ @wonderloste / Unicorn — UNICORN YOU ABSOLUTELY FUCKING MADLAD!! Ok, but seriously, I'm so fucking gad we finally started talking to each other, being memes, and just hanging out more often in the server. Thank you for inviting me, it's honestly been one of the biggest highlights of 2022 and I'm just always having a blast reading your posts and your lore and your ideas. Let me just tell you, I love how diverse the cast of Wonderland is, it's so refreshing seeing so many different and unique characters. In 2023, I better through Zarina at other wonderlandians and make it their (and her) problems.
❤ @londonfallen / Orion — ORION! Gods, you're one of the sweetest people I've met on Tumblr. Thank you for teaching me the way of the Tank in FFXIV, I really appreciate it. Listen, in 2023, it's my duty and my goal to commission you because holy moly your art is GODLY absolutely priceless. I'm so happy we started to talk and you're a fantastic friend. I know 2022 sucked ass for you and Unicorn, but I hope that 2023 will be a better year for you and pls take care of yourself! Give us all more Siladeu content, I'm eating their content like my favorite breakfast ok. Never forget how fantabulous you are, ok? I'll always be here to remind you! HERE IS ALSO TO MORE EVARINA CONTENT, OUR WIVES WILL BE HAPPY... at some point! Yeah!
❤ @galaxiasus / Luna — Lunaaaa, you are such a sweetheart and I want to hug you so much. I'm so glad we've met each other on the server and started talking! You have no idea how much I love Fuyumi and thank you for telling me more about N, now I will kill everyone in the room and then myself if something happens to either of them. I promise not to bully you too much with angst... too much, but I will still bully you with feels <3
❤ @rukuan / Ego — EGOOO, my god I'm SO happy we started to talk more and just hang out more. You're such a fun person to speak with and I love how we both just cry about Kevin and Elysia, and omfg I love Komi and Zarina together so fucking much Zar loves her assistant gf ok she's so special. Let's hope that Kevin will get a very sexy animatic and at the end he'll get reunited with the Flamechasers and MEI ok I'm going to cry if it happens I REALLY HOPE IT DOES HAPPEN HHH.
❤ @narvvhal / Naans — Naans! It's been so long since we met but I'm so fucking glad we've been talking to each other more often and having all of the fun together. Thank you for being so attentive and so creative and so sweet. I always smile when we talk about Tartaglia, Tsaritsa, or Zarina with Tartaglia interactions. Thank you for always doing so much research for Snezhnaya and coming up with your amazing portrayal, you make me so happy all the time and I'm just so glad we're friends and we're having fun together and if you ever want to vent or talk I'm always here to listen!
❤ @avaere / Aven — AVEN YOU'RE AN ABSOLUTE CHAMPION. I love how laid-back and confident you are. You are honestly one of the coolest people, speaking with you and seeing you on my dash gave me more confidence in my presence on the dash and just being more laid-back too. I'm a worrywart, but reading your posts and speaking with you here and there and interacting with you always made me (and makes me!) so delighted. You're fantastic and here is to us being amazing together and following each other for another year and interacting! My goodness, let me just tell you that Elin and Zen have Zarina's attention always. Elin is about to become her bestie and she'll end anyone for Zen ok.
Happy New Year! Bye 2022 and hello to 2023!
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everyone-with-a-para · 3 months
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(5/5) alright! arc four! once all the alola stuff wraps up, cole+my guy are...still fired from aether, not that they'd want to be associated with aether now anyway. so it's time to develop a new research angle, and This time it's working with professor burnet to develop a way for them to safely traverse the ultra wormholes that nebby can create. and where does the first one drop them but hisui, over 100 years in the past! and initially they're just. out in the wilderness. and they're not stuck as long as they have nebby, so they could leave, but they want to explore a bit instead of just dipping out because they can't see any signs of civilization. so they do a little wandering+luckily, instead of getting Attacked by anything, they run into the pearl clan's favourite warden: ingo! this ingo is distinctly different from my other para of him; this one has been living in hisui for like. At least ten years. maybe closer to 15. and he only vaguely remembers his home+has basically resigned himself to the fact that he's never gonna see anything even remotely close to it again...until he runs into this little group of very-obviously-modern travellers+is like Oh My God. he pretty much assumes the lot of them are fallers right away+starts fussing immediately, trying to orient them+get them somewhere safe, while THEY'RE all looking at each other like "is it just me or is that a unovan railway uniform. where the hell are we?"
either way, things get cleared up+ingo is...somewhat disappointed to discover that they're not in the same situation as him, but also relieved because good lord nobody deserves that. and they tell him "well we're gonna stay here for a little for research because this place has got pokemon we've never even HEARD of, but when we go we could try+see if we can get you back home." initially ingo declines because he has Duties here, but he *does* accompany them when they go on research because he knows the land better+doesn't want this group of kids (read: roughly 17-25 year olds) dying in the wilderness. and it's during this, while watching everybody Be A Family from the distance, that it occurs to him "ohhh i see. I Miss Having A Family. Badly." and it's not just having a family, it's also having Anyone who really understands him. as much as he's settled into hisuian culture, he's still an outsider from another time. so when it comes time for everyone to pack up+leave for real, he decides (with a bit of regret) to abandon his post as a warden+come with. part of it is the temptation of being able to actually Go Home, but it's also because everybody else has genuinely grown on him+he doesn't want to lose anybody he feels close to again. Found Family Complete. for now at least.
...and THAT'S the story as it stands! this could go a few different directions; right now i'm playing omega ruby+depending on how much i end up thinking about it everybody could end up getting plunked in hoenn. there's also obviously if, how, and when an emmet/ingo reunion happens but nothing concrete has been worked out for that. i'm trying not to go "oh my god this is fucking long" for the 70 millionth time because you DID say you were interested so um. thank you for reading. i REALLY hope this all sends in proper order+tumblr doesn't eat any of these asks lmao but if it does i can resend any of them. again: literally had to draft this in a word doc. can you believe this is the Short version of all this. i swear to god this is meant to be more truncated. i'm not even going into the symbolism of everyone's pokemon teams or anything. did you know genesect is here? fucking genesect has been here the whole time
@ninesecretsteps
Ingo mention Ingo mention Ingo mention!!!! (Can you tell I love him?)
Oogh I put Ingo in Hisui for 5-7 years depending on how I feel but people who do 10+ make me incredibly sad
My Ingo has very similar complicated feelings about his Duties and life he's made in Hisui vs the want to go home when Akari convinces (threatens) Arceus to let them. He very almost decides not to leave. It also doesn't help that he has no memories other than a flash of Emmet's face and the vague knowledge of a fire type pokemon. He's afraid of what he'll find or what he won't find because he just doesn't know whereas Hisui is Known and Predictable (and he's autistic) but also also Hisui never felt like Home. He's always been an outsider no matter how much of the clan eventually accepted him
My Ingo and Emmet do get a reunion and I daydream it a lot
Genesect:🧍
Thank you for sharing!!! I enjoyed reading these immensely!!!
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dottjupiter · 11 months
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Taylor's Speeches on the Eras Tour (masterpost)
Atlanta, GA 28/04/23 & 29/04/23 & 30/04/23
Taylor Swift before playing Lover in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“It is my absolute honor and delight to say these words to you: Atlanta, Georgia, welcome to the Eras Tour! Look at you, oh we always love playing in Atlanta, you guys are so excited, you're so nice to us. You always make us feel so welcome, so at home immediately, and look how many of you have probably gone to an extensive effort to be with us on this Friday night. We just want to say, on behalf of every single person that you see on the stage, everyone working underneath, above, and near the stage, everyone who is a part of this tour, we just wanted to say thank you so much for all of the effort, the work, the thought, the care, the love you put in to showing up for us tonight. Thank you. Speaking of the people on this stage, I'm not trying to brag, I don't want to start off the evening being annoying, but I have to brag a little bit about the fact that we have incredible opening acts on the Eras Tour. You started the evening seeing an absolutely brilliant, incredible artist named Gracie Abrams. Can you please give another round of applause for Gracie? And then you got to see one of my favorite singer-songwriters who I'm so excited is on this tour. Will you please make some more noise for Beabadoobee? So we're about to go on a grand adventure together. We're going to go on a little trip through the last 17 years of music that I've been lucky enough to make and you've been kind enough to care about. And we're going to do it one era at a time. Now, these songs may have started out being about my life, or something that happened to me, or a fictional character I have created, but my dream is by the end of this evening, when you walk out of here, these songs are going to be about your life, and the memories that we've made this evening. Is that a good plan Atlanta, Georgia? By the way, I'll be your host this evening. My name's Taylor.”
Taylor Swift before playing champagne problems in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“Oh Atlanta, Georgia, you know, I did have a bit of a warning that you were going to be an amazing crowd tonight! It wasn't a total surprise. I kind of, sometimes I'll have my little spies come out and watch you during the opening acts—and by spies, I mean my parents. So my dad comes into the dressing room, and he's like, 'Tay, Taylor, they're great. They're amazing, they're jumping, they're bouncing, everyone is standing up and screaming, they know all the words to every single songs of the opening acts, so it's a really good sign. I had a warning. But then I got up here, and you're like, a really bouncy crowd. I don't know, you're jumping, and bouncing, and dancing. It's like a specific favorite type of crowd of mine is like a bouncy, dance-y, jumpy crowd. I love it! We were at Fearless, and I was like, 'Oh yeah,' and during You Belong With Me, I was like, 'OH!' Then we got to the key change in Love Story, and I was like, 'My god, best night ever? Maybe? Possibly? We certainly have a lot to catch up on, me and you. There's been quite a few years that have passed since I came to play for you, and let's see, we have added four new members to the musical family. Their names are Lover, folklore, evermore, which we are currently ensconced in, and Midnights! And then on top of that, what else has happened? Oh, I decided to re-record every single one of my first six albums! So that's been a grand adventure, and the coolest thing about that was that when I had the idea to do it, and said I was going to do it, I had a lot of people who were like—and rightfully, because people don't know when there isn't an example of things happening, really, in a successful way, they don't know what to think—people were like, 'I don't think that's going to work. I think that sounds like a terrible idea. Let's watch this fail!' And you guys were like, 'Nope, nope, nope. We got you. We got you. It's not going to fail. It's not going to fail.' So I will be eternally, profusely thankful to you for that, because it really means the world to me. And I was okay if it was just a passion project of mine—if it didn't really catch on—but you guys made sure that it did catch on. And I'm so thankful, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I wrote evermore, the album that we are currently in the middle of—we're in the evermore album, an album that I am very proud of, and that's an album I wrote during the pandemic. It was the second one I wrote during the pandemic, and we didn't really know what the future was of live music at that time, as you probably remember. So I had to kind of black it out, and not think about it, because the idea of not getting to do this with you was really too much. I just couldn't think about it. So I actively didn't think about it, and I just made music, put out albums, connected with you in whatever ways I could. But there was one song you guys, one song that when I wrote it, I was like, 'Oh man, I really, really, really, really, really wish I could play champagne problems live in a stadium.' Do you want to?”
Taylor Swift before playing All Too Well (10 Minute Version) in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“So if you couldn't tell by the aggressive colorblocking of everything, we are currently in the Red era! You know, it's so crazy to sort of have my feelings about my work evolve as time passes, you know? It's just like anything else. It's just like anything in life, where in the moment it's one thing, five minutes later it's another thing, a year later it's a totally different thing, 10 years later it's a different thing, 15 years later—when you get into this place, you make something you're so proud of, the Red album, I have always been so incredibly proud of. When I wrote it, I was 21 and 22 reflecting back on, you know, the last few years of my life. And at the time I put out Red, I was really proud of it, but it was a really hard album for me. It was really difficult for me to play live, to talk about it, to explain it, to do interviews about what it was about, because I do think that being 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, these are all really precarious years of life. It's so difficult. If you're in that age group right now, my heart is with you. That's hard. There's a lot going on. You're being fed so many different messages, right? You feel like a kid some moments; you feel like you're supposed to be a full, full adult in other moments. And you don't quite know how to balance the weight of those two things. And I guess what I'm trying to say is that when I was going through all these things I wrote about on Red, it was very difficult for me to process that art, and to appreciate it fully until it went out into the world, and it went into your hands, and you said, essentially, 'Oh no, I feel this way too. You're not the only one feeling this way. It's totally fine to be feeling this way.' I think for me, the most beautiful piece of you doing that was a song I could barely get through singing, honestly, when I was touring originally with the Red album, but you really changed that, haven't you? I'd really like to play one more song, if you have 10 minutes to spare.”
Taylor Swift before playing betty in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“So here we are, in the folklore cabin, in Atlanta, Georgia. The folklore album was, you know how we all had like, escapes—we all had these mental escapes that we did during the pandemic because we were all trying to figure out how to completely dissociate? But for me, it was like, about day two in, I started writing this album and creating an imaginary world I could escape to and just pretend like nothing was real. And this world was very specific. It was like its own cinematic universe. It had like, everything was cottagecore. Everything was, you stumble along a path, along a creek, and you're wearing a Victorian nightgown, and you're holding a candle in one of those candlestick things, and you're waxing poetic, like you're an 1800s dead poet. That was the world that I imagined myself in during the pandemic. So I wrote a whole album from that perspective! And I thought, you know, it's been a long time that I've been writing painfully autobiographical songs about my own self, and my own feelings. And obviously folklore has my feelings completely bled in through it. But I created these characters for the very first time, and really just decided to try creating characters who could feel these things, sort of by proxy. And some of my favourite characters were this teenage love triangle, where like, you know, over the summer, and specifically during the month of August, this teenage boy named James really screws things up with the love of his life. And her name is Betty.”
Taylor Swift before playing The Other Side Of The Door (guitar) in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“So uh, just checking, things seem to vibing back here. Is that correct? It's correct to assume that you are vibing as hard as I have suspected you are vibing. This is such a great section back here! I just came to spend some one-on-one time in this very intimate venue, just, an instrument, and me, and you, and you, and we're just going to spend some time, because I love you, and. you've been killing it all night. And this is one of my favorite moments of the show, because it kind of keeps me on my toes. I do two different songs every night. So far on the tour I have not repeated one. And tonight, I wanted to play a song that is like, when I was re-recording my album Fearless, I just, I was listening to this one, and I remember when I wrote this one, I was so obsessed with this rant I put at the end of the song. And I never, I don't think I ever really got to perform it live. If I ever did, it was not enough times. So I would really love to play this song. It's called The Other Side Of The Door.”
Taylor Swift before playing Coney Island (piano) in Atlanta, GA on 28th April 2023
“Okay so, really, any time I'm even going to talk about, or reference another artist, I feel inclined to tell you that they're not here. No one else is here, it's just me, you're stuck with me. But I am going to talk about another artist, because I feel like stadiums are huge, and it's important to really communicate, so that's what I'm doing. I'm going to talk about another artist, who has an album that just came out, and it's so cool. The National just had an album come out! This band has influenced me beyond my ability to verbalize how much they've influenced me, just lyrically, their ability to set a scene, their ability to tell stories. And obviously Aaron Dessner is in The National, and he has completely changed my life. Yeah, so I was lucky enough to be able to write a song with them for their new album, which is called The First Two Pages Of Frankenstein. Check it out, stream it, buy it on vinyl! And I love them so much. They've been so kind to me, and so I'm not going to sing the song that we have on this new album. It's called The Alcott—check that out, though. But I am going to sing Coney Island.”
Taylor Swift before playing Lover in Atlanta, GA on 29th April 2023
“What an honor and a privilege to say to this utterly stunning crowd tonight, Atlanta Georgia, welcome to the Eras Tour! You know, this crowd has made quite an impression on me thus far this evening. Let me just tell you straight out of the gate, straight out of the gate, I had my suspicions that you might be the elusive super-crowd. I think it's happening, I think it's happening, because it's got all the components going. You got the screaming, you got the singing along to every single lyric, you got the fact that I can tell that a lot of you have really planned your outfits very far in advance. You're looking incredible! We also judge this based on bounciness, which you guys have been scoring very high on! And the most important thing: just vibes! You guys are passing the vibe check by 1,000%. I'm curious. Was there anyone here tonight who went to a significant amount of effort to be with us in this room on this Saturday night? Okay, that was pretty much everyone. Can I please say on behalf of every single person you will see on this stage performing for you tonight, every single person who helped us put on this tour, built this stage, traveled here, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for deciding to put in that effort to be with us on this Saturday night in Atlanta, Georgia. We love you so much! So we're about to go on a little journey together through 17 years of music that I have been lucky enough to make and you have been nice enough to care about. And if it's alright with you, we're going to do this one era at a time. We are currently in the Lover era. These are songs that started out being about my life, or a feeling that I felt, or a story that took place in my world, or a character that I created fictionally, but my goal for the end of this evening is that when you walk out of here, these songs will be about your life, and the memories we have made tonight. By the way, I'll be your host! My name is Taylor.”
Taylor Swift before playing champagne problems in Atlanta, GA on 29th April 2023
“Thank you everyone! It was so nice of you to do that to me! It's a song about my grandmother who passed away! That was completely, like my knees are weak, genuinely, like I physically felt that. It was so beautiful of you do to that. Wow, oh my god. What a perfect moment for my in-ears to just come unplugged magically. Kamilah, can you help me? It's not just me actually this time, it's not just me flailing too hard and unplugging my cord that goes to my in-ears. It's actually more of an infrastructure problem that we're all having. So while that is bad news, it's nice to be joined in my pain, don't you think? It's nice when everyone is struggling. Okay. I think what this means is that the band can't really hear very much of what's going on. I'm just going to–oh did you fix it? Sorry I have people talking in these, see, we wear these so we can hear in the stadium, but apparently it's fine now. Let's give it up for my amazing sound crew, because they're the best for fixing that so fast. Not to take away from the really beautiful, heavenly thing you guys just did. Like, this is the thing, that I missed so much during the pandemic. I, there were so many conversations happening on a sort of global scale about the future of live music, and the future of us getting to be in a room together and sing together, have you do such spontaneous, beautiful things like putting up your phone lights in that song, which I did not expect. It was so gorgeous of you to do that. And maybe the five years that I was spending not doing this with you, and not getting to be in a room with you, maybe that's why this tour has become my entire personality and like, it's ridiculous, just hanging out with you. Oh, my in-ears are not working. It's gone again. They're totally gone. I wonder what's going to happen now. Should I tell jokes? Um, okay, so a cat walks into a library, and the cat says, 'Yes, I'll have some tuna fish please,' and the lady at the counter says, 'This is a library,' and the cat says *whispering*, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'll have some tuna fish please' I'm so sorry. My in-ears are back, just at the perfect time, because that was like a dad joke from hell, I'm so sorry. Basically I was trying to tell you how much I missed you during the pandemic when I was making an album that we are currently in the middle of the era of, which is the evermore album. And when I wrote a certain specific song, I really felt the extreme agony of worrying that I would ever get to play it with you live and sing it back and hear that, feel that. But thankfully, miraculously here we are tonight, and I get to sing champagne problems with you.”
Taylor Swift before playing All Too Well (10 Minute Version) in Atlanta, GA on 29th April 2023
“We find ourselves currently ensconced in the Red album. You know, this is an album that I got to experience twice, actually, putting out this album, recording this album. And the reason for that is that a few years ago, I decided to re-record all of my first six albums. You know, doing that was a real passion project, because ever since I started writing songs, my main goal in my heart was to own my work, to earn the art that I had created. The music industry isn't really set up that way, so we had to figure out a way to do it. And the way that made sense to me was a lot of work, but I just had a feeling that maybe if I was really lucky, and I really, really worked hard on them, you guys might love my version of my albums. And you guys, you have to understand that this is something I went into thinking that it wasn't necessarily going to work on a commercial level, or be viewed as some sort of victory or anything. I did it because it was important to me, and it's a passion project. That's when you came in and like completely, like, saved me honestly. I cannot believe that you embraced these albums the way you did. And I actually just got the news the other day that Fearless (my version) and Red (my version) have just recently completely overtaken the original versions. The most wonderful, incredible, generous thing you could do for me is supporting those, especially when I think about the Red album. It was an album I wrote when I was 21 and 22 years old, and that is just such a fraught, difficult, fragile time to be exploring love, growing up, friendship, dreams, ambition—all these things are so confusing at those ages, and so to have you guys support that album that I wrote during that time of my life not only the first time, but when it came out again, I cannot tell you how much it means to me. You absolutely blew me away with that, so I would like to play one more song from the Red album, if you have an extra 10 minutes to spare?”
Taylor Swift before playing betty in Atlanta, GA on 29th April 2023
“So here we are, we have brought the folklore cabin all the way to Atlanta, Georgia! Before we get into folklore-centric things, I just wanted to say, I don't want to brag, because it's annoying, but we have really amazing opening acts on the Eras Tour, don't we? It must be said. It must be said. And you started off the evening seeing an amazing, incredible singer songwriter who I'm such a big fan of, Gracie Abrams! And then I specifically wanted to mention this next artist because this was actually her last time with us on the Eras tour, we had her with us for these beautiful miraculous few shows, and I love her so much, and you gotta stream her music and support her, she's so incredible. Will you give one last Eras Tour amount of shouting, and screaming, and love to Beabadoobee? She's amazing! We're so, so lucky that she would trust our tour with her talent and brilliance, and I can't wait to hang out with her again someday, because she's really fun. So the folklore album, man, I just, this album really holds such a special place in my heart because for me it was like an entire escape, right? The pandemic happened, and about two days in I started imagining this entire like cinematic universe of like aggressive cottagecore, escapism, wilderness, pioneer woman, prairie, Victorian ghost kind of vibes. And then folklore happened! There is a recurring theme in my music that you may have noticed. I've done it before, I will do it again, but in my songs, I love to woman-splain to men how to apologize. It makes me happy, it makes me feel like I'm doing a service, you know, it's kind of scattered throughout my writing. But this time I figured, wouldn't it be cool to create these characters, this sort of teenage love triangle between these three characters, and let's go around, with a man apologizing, and a teenage boy apologizing when he really screws things up, that's incredible? So in my head I created this teenage boy with James who really screws things up to the love of his life, and has to apologise to her in this song, and her name is betty.”
Taylor Swift before playing Gorgeous (piano) in Atlanta, GA 29th April 2023
“Wow, you guys were really into that song. That made me so happy. I saw have been made aware, that there are actually people keeping track of the songs that I'm doing in the acoustic section. And like, its sort of like, almost like it's sports or something, which is so cool, because I've never—I've been accused of a lot of things, but I've never been accused of being sporty, or athletic on any concept. I think people are charting and betting on what songs are going to be happening. It's probably only like 12 people that are doing this, but the fact that it's happening at all just makes me really excited, the level of engagement, the organisation—and so it was brought to my attention that I didn't realise this, but I haven't played anything from reputation in the acoustic set yet. And I didn't do that on purpose, for any reason. I just think that reputation, I think of that as my most metal album, just harder to do acoustic. But that's sort of weird for me to say, because most of the songs on that album I started out writing just acoustic, so I should play one from reputation. This is a song about the universal fact that you will act stupid around someone that you think is hot.”
Taylor Swift before playing High Infidelity (guitar) in Atlanta, GA on 29th April 2023
“Oh hi, guys. So I just thought I would come hang out with you guys back here, for a second. You know, this is the part of the show that is so much fun for me, but also just really keeps me on my toes, because I just like learning, and rehearsing, and just choosing songs, like every song—oh my god, I have just started 37 different sentences. Does that ever happen to you, where you just can't figure out talking? What I'm trying to say is I get really excited about this part of the show because it's equal parts really, really fun, but also a challenge, because I'm playing two songs that I have maybe never played acoustic before. So it's really fun to get to have this unique experience with you guys. That's what I was trying to say. So yeah, this part of the tour is a blast because I get to have this one-on-one moment with you, on one instrument, and that's how my career started, and it's kind of my favourite thing to do sometimes. We have a lot of pyro now, we've got confetti, all sorts of cool stuff, but I do just really love hanging out with you and an instrument so. So you know, I was thinking about what song to do tonight, and then I was like, wait, I know it's a Saturday, what's the date today? Does anybody know the date? Is it April 29th?”
Taylor Swift before playing Lover in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“What an honor, a privilege, and a delight it is to say to you, Atlanta, Georgia: Welcome to the Eras Tour! We have been performing for beautiful, exuberant, dance-y, bouncy crowds in Atlanta, Georgia for the last two nights, and you are the last opportunity we have to soak in this excellence. And you might be thinking to yourselves, okay, so this is the third show? What does that mean? Does that mean they're tired? Nope! Do you wanna know what it means? Do you want to know? It means that every single bit of energy, and passion, and rage, and fury, and joy, and excitement, and exuberance that we possess in our beings—every single band member, dancer, and me included, up here on this stage—all of it gets left on the stage for you tonight, Atlanta, Georgia. Speaking of people on the stage, I'm not trying to be annoying and brag, I'm not trying to do that, but I have to tell you—it's just a fact—we have the most incredible opening acts on the Eras Tour. Am I correct about that? We do, we do, and I just have to mention them again because they're so great. First off, you got to see a brilliant and badass, amazing singer-songwriter, a fellow Nashville girl who I love so much. Give it up again for Gayle! And then I feel so incredibly lucky, because I'm such a massive fan of the band that you saw, and they're on all my playlists, and I'm just so obsessed with them, and watching them perform live on this tour is such an honor. Also, I have to say, they're some of the funniest people to be in a group chat with, and that counts for a lot, doesn't it? So will you give it up again for MUNA? Alright, so tonight we are going to go on an adventure together. We are going to be time traveling back through 17 years of music, one era at a time. Does that sound good to you? And you know what, Atlanta, Georgia? These songs we're going to hear tonight, they may have started out being about something that happened to me, something I've felt, or a fictional character I created in my mind, but by the end of this night, these songs are going to be about you, and us, and all the memories we have made on this fine Sunday night. And by the way, I'm your host! My name is Taylor.”
Taylor Swift before playing champagne problems in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“That's a super nice thing that you guys did! That's a song that I wrote about my grandmother, who I loved so much who passed away when I was 13. She always wanted to be an opera singer—she was an opera singer—so to hear her voice during that song, and for you guys to have done that felt—I felt things. I felt things. I appreciate you so much! It's good to feel things, oh my god. It's not just me. My back-up vocalists were crying too. It's not just me. You made all of us cry. Congratulations! I hope you're happy! Okay, so let's catch up on some things. It's been awhile, right, you know? So I feel like it should be said that I haven't gotten to tour in awhile, like four or five years since I got to be in a room with beautiful, wonderful people like you singing words back to me and doing spontaneous acts of kindness like what you just did holding up all those flashlights on your phone. That's why we make music, you know? Because it's that amazing, profound feeling of writing something when you're sitting on your bathroom floor in the middle of the night, or you're alone—you feel very isolated a lot of the time when you're writing music. And then when I come out here, and feel joined by you guys in that way, it's just like, 'Whoa!' There's no other feeling like it. So I really, really missed you when we were away, and I'm so happy to be back with you now. It's very overwhelming for me, obviously. But during the time away, I really wanted to connect with you in any way that I possibly can. So if we couldn't do live music, I just wanted to write as much as I possibly can, put out as many albums as I possibly could. So we have four new members of the musical family that we have added. Their names are Lover, and then we have folklore, evermore, and Midnights! And you know, you guys are so unbelievably supportive of those projects, and those albums, and those eras, and it's all culminated in us being here tonight in this room. And ever since I wrote this one specific song on evermore, I really, really, really, really, really wanted to play it with you, and hear you sing it back to me. So I was just wondering if you'd like to sing champagne problems with me?”
Taylor Swift before playing All Too Well (10 Minute Version) in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“So we're currently in the middle of the Red era, if you couldn't guess from all the things that are aggressively red about the last couple of songs. And you know, this album was really, really, really important in my life. When I wrote this album, I was like 21 and 22 years old, and anyone who's been those ages, or if you're currently in that age range now, I'll even be expanding that time, let's say 19 to 24—yeah, you guys deserved that—honestly, there's so much that goes on emotionally, energetically, spiritually, in your lives in that moment. You know you're, god, just being fed all these messages that you're a kid one second; you're an adult the next. You shouldn't have everything together; you need to have everything together. It's just a very fraught, fraught, laden time. And it's also an incredible joyous, unforgettable time. Don't leave that behind, because it's also incredible, being 19 to 24—anywhere in there. But it's just the intensity of all those peaks and valleys, right? They're just, I feel like there's a lot of middle ground. You're either so sad, or so happy. This is just from my experience, and just what I went through, I'm not projecting on you, but my experience is I was either so sad or so happy, so heartbroken or so hopeful, or so sure or so lost. That's how I experienced the ages that I was when I wrote the Red album. So when I put the album out into the world, it was really cool to feel met in those emotional places. And then a really insanely cool thing happened a couple of years ago. I decided to re-record my first six albums, and the first one I did was Fearless (my version), and the second one that I put out was Red (my version). So you guys have made this album a really special moment in my life two different times now—the two times I recorded it and putted it out. Did I just say putted? I almost made it through without getting embarrassing. But he two times I have put this album out, you have made them so special for me. So I would like to sing another song from this album, if you happen to have 10 minutes to spare.”
Taylor Swift before playing betty in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“So here we are, ensconced in the folklore era. folklore is an album that I look back on with such—I'm just very proud of it, and I'm very thankful for that album because it was my little escapism, really going into this imaginary world that I created in my head during the pandemic. We all had some ways of escaping the pandemic, and this was mine, other than all the wine. I decided that for the first time, I was gonna try writing from the perspective of characters and I would infuse things I'd felt, or stories I'd thought were cool and needed to be told into these characters, because up until folklore, every single album had been so on the nose, diaristically, autobiographic. So I was just sort of like, what if I created all these characters. What if i created a teenage boy named James? And he just really screws things up with the love of his life, like somewhere around the month of August, and he's gotta get this girl back that he loves, and her name is Betty.”
Taylor Swift before playing I Bet You Think About Me (guitar) in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“Well hi guys! So one of the fun things about this tour is that we, I don't know if you've noticed this, but you guys have a bracelet on that lights up. Did you notice? Yeah, you did! So one of the best things about that is obviously we can do really cool patterns and make it look like stars in here. It's just so fun. But it also means I can see absolutely every single person, so if you think you're in the last row of the top upper section, and you think I can't see you, that would be incorrect. I can see you. I see you thrashing around, jumping, dancing, being incredible. Thank you for your support, because I see that it is on the level up there! You guys are incredible. So I was like, you know, I pick these songs out of just little batches of things that I think, that I hope you might like, but I wanted to do one that I've never performed live before! I made this decision—after the shows, I cannot go to sleep for a very solid bunch of hours, because I just get so, I get so excited and wired through the show that going to sleep is something that, it happens into the morning hours, when that happens. So I just kind of don't really fight it, and I plan out what I'm going to do the next day, and I was trying to figure out what song to do, and I looked at the clock, and it said 3am, and I was like, oh, maybe I'll do...”
Taylor Swift before playing How You Get The Girl (piano) in Atlanta, GA on 30th April 2023
“So I was like, um, I was just thinking about the last couple nights, because there's no wrong answer to these questions. I don't want to you to think there's any pressure with the questions I ask. Is there anyone who has seen the who this weekend before tonight? Is there anyone who is seeing the show for the first time tonight? So like, you know, a city tends to either be like, on fire—like they tend to kind of bring that with them—and Atlanta, from the first show, we were like, 'You guys are on another, new level.' You're so great, it's crazy. So I was like, it's my last night. I really want to give them songs I like a lot. I don't know if you like them a lot—we're going to see in a second—but I like this one, and I just want to say thank you for the way you've acted towards us. It's been really great, so...”
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bamby0304 · 1 year
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She Howls III: Alpha
Summary: Angela had spent the last year growing as a person and a werewolf, learning how to control herself and manage both her ordinary and supernatural life. Finally, it seemed as if things were settling down, allowing her to have a moment to breathe. That is until a pack made entirely of alphas, and a mass-murdering stranger came to town and start tearing everything apart.
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Ch.6 Plan B
Story Masterlist
A/N: It's my birthday! :):)
Bamby
By the time Isaac and I got to the bank it was too late. Sure, Derek and Scott were still alive, but things had still gone wrong.
Turns out they'd been locked in the vault by mountain ash. I'm not sure why, but Allison had been inside the bank and had saved Derek and Scott by breaking the line, but that also meant she realised Boyd and Cora- the girl who'd been with him. Now there were two wild and uncontrollable werewolves running around. But that's not all. When we got to the bank we found Derek… carrying Erica's body.
She was dead. I hadn't wanted to believe it, but now that I'd seen her body with my own eyes there was no denying the truth.
Mourning her death would have to come later, though. Right now, we needed to find Boyd and Cora before they killed someone innocent.
We'd all split up in the hopes of finding the faster. But in the end Scott and I were both drawn to the growls and roars of Boyd.
It didn't take much longer before we both found him, right before he was about to attack two little kids. Fortunately, a swarm of fireflies began buzzing around his head, distracting him long enough for Scott and me to grab a kid each and run.
There was no way we stood a chance against him, especially not with two kids at risk as well.
"You lost them?" I heard Derek through Scott's phone as my brother spoke to him while I took care of the kids.
"Yeah, I kind of had to," Scott answered.
"Wasn't exactly the plan," Derek commented.
"I know, which is why I think that we should stick together. Trust me, he's too strong, too fast, and way too angry for one person to handle. We've got to do this together," Scott told him.
Derek sighed, "Look, I'm at the trails by the entrance to the preserve. Can you meet me here?"
"Yeah." Scott nodded. "We just got to drop something off first." He looked to me as I stood between the boy and girl, both of them clinging to me, shaking with fear.
Running through the reserve with Scott and Derek, we came to a stop as Derek found some tracks. Not just the one set we'd been following… now there were two sets.
"Is it them?" Scott asked.
"We're not the only ones that decided to stick together," Derek noted.
Scott sighed. "Is that gonna make it easier or harder to catch them?"
"I don't know," Derek said, telling the truth.
Glancing at me, Scott looked worried as he spoke again, "Derek, we saw Boyd try to rip two little kids apart… are they gonna do that to everyone they find?"
Looking to each of us, Derek answered honestly yet again. "Everyone and anyone."
The sound of scream had Scott, Derek and I running faster. By the time we reached the screaming young woman we found Cora already there. But, luckily, Isaac had beaten us there and had stopped her from attacking the woman.
Cora attacked Isaac instead, throwing him away from her with insane strength.
Scott didn't hesitate as he pounced towards her, kicking her down and away as I hurried over to make sure Isaac was alright. Once he was back on his feet we moved to stand with Scott, Derek doing the same, the four of us creating a border between Cora and the woman.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to get through us, Cora growled and roared before turning and running off. Derek and Isaac were right behind her. Scott and I stayed behind though, needing to make sure the woman was okay.
Turning to her, Scott moved gentle and carefully, so as not to spook her more than she already was. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"What?" Her voice shook with fear and confusion as she backed away.
"Are you all right?" Scott repeated.
When she nodded, letting us know she hadn't been hurt or anything, I relaxed a little. "You need to get out of here, okay?"
"Get out of the woods," Scott added. "Get out of here as fast as you can."
Not having the time to see if she would listen, the two of us turned and ran after the others, hoping we could catch them in time before they ran into any more trouble.
Derek and Isaac had lost Cora. They couldn't find any more tracks. Boyd was nowhere to be seen. Things were just getting worse with each passing second. Now, to top it off, Scott was on the phone to Stiles, who was with Lydia… who apparently found a dead body.
"Are you sure?" Scott asked. If Stiles was right Boyd or Cora had already killed someone, and we were too late.
"Yep," Stiles answered shortly. "Throat ripped out, blood everywhere. It's like the freakin' Shining over here. Two little twin girls come out of the woods, start asking me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."
"Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them?"
"Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping throats out?"
"Please just do it," Scott told him.
Stiles sighed on the other end as he did as my brother asked.
I stood with Derek and Isaac, behind Scott, waiting and listening. I was really hoping he had it wrong and it was just a random dead body. I didn't want to think about what we might have to do if Boyd or Cora had killed someone.
"Scott… it was them."
"Okay," Scott nodded as he turned to us. "Thanks Stiles." He hung up then.
Derek shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense. The public pool is all the way on the other side of the woods. We haven't tracked them anywhere near there."
"Derek, they killed someone," Scott noted.
But Derek wasn't listening. "How are they moving so fast?"
"Derek."
"But they can't be that fast on foot!" Derek exclaimed.
"They killed someone!" Scott snapped. "Some totally innocent kid is dead. And it's our fault."
Arms folded over his chest, Derek shook his head again. "It's my fault."
"Hey, no." I turned to him. "It's no one's fault, okay? We can't start all that crap. What's done is done. Now, can we focus on the task, please?"
"We need help," Scott noted.
"We have Isaac now." Derek gestured to the Beta in question.
But that wasn't enough for Scott. "I mean real help." When Isaac looked to him, slightly offended, Scott went on, "They're too fast for us, for all of us. They're too strong, too rabid."
"We'll catch 'em," Derek insisted.
"What happens if we do?" Isaac asked, having a good point. "We just gonna hold them down until the sun comes up?"
Sighing, Derek looked down at the ground with a guilty shrug. "Maybe it would be easier just to kill 'em."
"That is out of the question," I told them all, voice stern. I needed to get the through each of their heads. We weren't killing anyone tonight.
"Killing them isn't the right thing to do," Scott agreed.
"What if it's the only thing to do? If we can't even catch them, what else do we do?" Another good point from Isaac.
"Find someone who knows what they're doing," Scott suggested.
"Who?" Derek asked.
"Someone who knows how to hunt werewolves."
I sat in the front seat of Derek's car, he was behind the wheel, while Isaac was in the back. We were currently parked in the local supermarket's parking lot, watching and waiting as Scott confronted Mr Argent in the hopes he might help us.
"Do you think this is gonna work?" Isaac asked, his head popping into the front from between Derek's and my seats.
"Nope," Derek and I answered at the same time.
"Me neither." Sighing, Isaac moved back into his seat. There was a moment's pause before he spoke up again. "So, your, uh… your sister…" he started, talking about Cora.
Derek had filled the two of us in on the way here. Apparently, Cora was his long-lost sister. He thought she'd died in the fire all those years ago, but here she was, in beacon Hills. It was just one more reason to make sure neither her nor Boyd died tonight.
At the mention of his sister, and the tone in Isaac's voice, Derek turned to give his Beta a warning glare.
"Sorry, yeah, it's- it's bad timing, I'm sorry." Isaac cleared his throat. "I'll ask later. It's fine." But Derek just glared again. "Or never. Yeah, yeah, I'm good with never."
Nodding, Derek turned back to watch Scott and Mr Argent again.
I reached over to rest my hand over his as it sat on the gear stick. His eyes fell to our hands before he turned his over, intertwining our fingers.
Despite all the issues with Boyd and Cora, I couldn't deny the fact that I was grateful. If Allison hadn't been in the bank Scott and Derek probably wouldn't have made it out of there alive. I owed her everything for that.
When we both turned back to Scott and Mr Argent we saw them heading into the latter car.
Isaac shifted in his seat as Derek turned on his car "What is your brother doing?" Isaac asked me.
"Plan B," I answered. "If Scott can't convince Mr Argent we needed his help… then he's going to show him."
We'd followed Chris Argent and Scott around town. The plan was for Scott to ask to be dropped off somewhere, which Mr Argent would of course agree to. Little did he know, my brother had led him straight to the crime scene of the boy Cora and Boyd had killed.
That had been enough to convince him to help.
Mr Argent dropped a bag of supplies on to the dirt ground of the reserve. "You're tracking them by print?"
"Trying to," Scott answered.
"Well, then, you've been wasting your time." Chris crouched down by two sets of tracks we'd found. "There's only one creature on earth that can visually track footprints, and that's man. And if you're not trained like me, you have no idea that this print is Boyd's," he gestured to one set of tracks before pointing to the other's next to them, "and these-"
"Are Cora's," Isaac finished for him.
"Nope," Chris sighed. "They're yours. You trampled Cora's as soon as you walked over here." He stood again, looking to each of us. "Listen, I know the four of you are focusing half your energy on resisting your own urges under the full moon, but that puts you at a severe disadvantage to Boyd and Cora, who have fully given in. They put the pedal to the floor where you three are barely hitting the speed limit."
"So, what do we do?" Derek asked, his arms folded over his chest. I could hear the annoyed tone in his voice. He hated the fact he was getting help from an Argent.
"Focus on your sense of smell," Mr Argent told him. "Actual wolves are known to track their prey by up to a hundred Miles a day by scent. A trained hunter can use scent to track them. If the wind is with them, wolves can track a scent by a distance of two Miles, which means we can draw them to us. Or into a trap."
Reaching into his bag, he started to pull some things out. Ropes, hooks, cables, things we could use to make traps. He handed them to the rest of us as he continued to talk.
"Full moon does give us one advantage. They'll have a higher heat signature, which makes them easier to spot with infrared." Pulling more stuff out of his bag, he handed each of us infrared goggles.
"Thanks," Derek handed his back, "but I've got my own." He flashed his ruby red Alpha eyes at the former hunter.
"Just remember, we're not hunting wild animals." Chris looked to each of us. "Underneath those impulses are two intelligent human beings. Don't think they can't rely on that human side. It's suppressed, but it's there, reminding them how to mask their scent, how to cover their tracks, how to survive."
The five of us walked up to edge of the reserve cliff, from here we had the best vantage point of the whole town. We could see it all.
"When's the last time you saw your sister?" Chris asked Derek.
"Nine years," Derek answered. "I thought she died in the fire."
"Do you feel like you have a lock on her scent?" Derek shook his head at Chris' question. "Scott, Angela," Chris looked over his shoulder to us, "how confident are you in your skills?"
Scott and I shared a look before he spoke, "Honestly, most of the time, I'm trying not to think about all the things I can smell."
"Same here," I added.
"All right." Chris turned back to town then. "The problem is when they breach the woods and hit the residential area. Once they're past the high school, they're right in the middle of beacon hills."
"They're not gonna kill everything they see, are they?" Isaac asked, genuinely worried and concerned.
"No." Chris shook his head. "But there is an important difference to recognise. Wolves hunt for food. At a certain point, they get full. But Boyd and Cora are hunting for the pleasure of the kill, for some primal apex predatory satisfaction that comes from the ripping of warm bodies to bloody shreds. And who knows when that need gets satiated?"
"We're not killing them." I needed to make that clear.
Derek looked to me, unsure. "What if we can't catch 'em?"
"Then maybe we just need to contain them," Chris suggested. "There's no one in the school at night, is there?"
Looking away from me, Derek turned to Chris. "You want to trap them inside?"
Chris gave a short shrug. "If there's somewhere with a strong enough door, no windows or access to the outside."
"What about the boiler room? It's just one big steel door," Isaac noted.
Pausing a moment, Chris thought about the options and risks of what we were about to do. There was a big chance one or some of us could get hurt doing this Hell, we could get killed.
But innocent people were in danger. People who couldn't take care of themselves were at risk of crossing Boyd and Cora's path. They needed us.
"You're sure the school's empty?" Chris asked, needing to be sure.
"It has to be." Scott looked to each of us for confirmation. "There can't be anyone there this late, right?" His eyes landed on me then.
Honestly, I had no idea. But I hoped it was empty…
Crouching, Mr Argent stabbed a stainless-steel stake into the ground. "These are ultrasonic emitters. It's one of the tools we use to corral werewolves, pushing them into a direction we want them to run." He pressed the button on the top of the stake, turning on a light and emitting a high-pitched noise. "Gives off a high-pitched frequency that only they can hear." He grinned.
Derek, Isaac, Scott and myself had our hands covering our ears as the noise surrounded us. It was a painfully high noise, one that was ringing my eardrums to the point I could feel them vibrating.
"God, no kidding!" Isaac exclaimed.
"Turn it off!" I snapped. "Turn it off!"
Doing as I said, Chris turned the emitter off before he stood and moved to the trunk of his car which was just a few feet away. Opening his trunk, he showed us the other dozen emitters he had with him, before he started to hand them out
"These are gonna drive them to the school?" Derek asked, sounding a little doubtful.
"And then it's up to you to get them into the basement," Chris told him, handing the last few emitters to me.
Isaac looked to the emitters he was holding, not too sure about the plan either. "Does anyone else want to rethink the plan where we just, uh, kill 'em?"
Turning to him, I gave a pointed look. "We're not killing them."
"It's going to work," Scott assured us. "It'll work."
After scattering the emitters around the reserve in a way that would lead Boyd and Cora to the school, we opened the place up before moving to get ready for their arrival. Derek was inside, the rest of us out, standing in areas where Boyd and Cora were luckily to come through.
It didn't take long.
We heard their howl first. Then we saw them. I was close to Isaac, keeping watch, waiting, when we both felt them near.
"Oh, great," Isaac sighed.
Turning, we saw both Boyd and Cora standing there, claws and fangs extended, the look in their yellow eyes telling us exactly what was coming next.
Despite the fact that they could very well kill us in an instant with very little effort, we stayed where we were. Getting into a stance that might help us fight back or run away, our own claws extending as our eyes began to growl, we waited.
A car came speeding around the corner, the horn honking, the bright lights shinning on the two rabid wolves. The turned to it and growled before making a break for it, heading towards the school building. Heading straight for the door we had open for them.
So far, it was all going according to plan.
Suddenly, as they reached the door and looked in, they stopped. They didn't enter the building, instead they spotted Derek and jumped. Before any of us could react, they started to climb the wall of the building…
Guess I spoke too soon.
"They're not going through the school," Scott noted. "They're going over it."
Derek came rushing out as the rest of us hurried towards him and the open door.
"The red doors, someone has to get them open," Chris started. Derek turned and ran off to go do exactly that.
Scott looked to the rest of us, panicked. "Someone has to drive them inside."
"I'll go," Chris offered, but Isaac quickly stopped him.
"No. I'm faster."
I nodded. "We'll go. You two just make sure you can actually get them into the boiler room," I told them before both Isaac and I hurried off in an effort to catch up with the other two werewolves.
When Isaac and I ran around the corner we found both Boyd and Cora there, stuck. They were being cornered as something continuously exploded with bright flashes… bright flashes I recognised.
Moving towards the wild werewolves, I didn't waste the moment. Using their distraction as an advantage, I managed to push them in the direction of the doors as Isaac opened them. With the bright flashes and new threats, they didn't bother putting up a fight. Instead, they took the bait, and ran inside.
Isaac and I threw the doors closed, pressing ourselves against them just in case they tried to get out again. After a moment of nothing we both turned and looked up to the roof of one of the busses. Standing there, bow in hand, was none other than Allison Argent.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. But before any of us could say anything she was already turning and dashing off, disappearing without a sound. As much as I wanted to go after her, to make sure she was okay, to ask what the hell she was doing, I knew there were more pressing things to deal with in that moment.
Things like the two wild werewolves that were still on the loose.
I ran. I ran so hard and fast everything was a blur. I'd left Isaac behind. I felt an urgency deep in my gut. There was a foreign panic there, like something somewhere knew I would hate whatever was going on. I had no idea what was wrong, I just knew the circumstances had changed.
Running around the corner, I spotted the next doorway up ahead. I could see the decent of the stairs, the light, I could sense my brother, Derek, the other werewolves. I could sense the tension in the air. It was thick and suffocating… it was wrong.
When I reached the stairs and started down them, my heart sunk with each step. The lower I got the lower my heart sunk.
Scott was alone.
I came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, breathing heavily, my eyes wide, the panic in my stomach and chest rising to the surface. "Where is he? Where's Derek?"
All Scott did was look to the locked boiler room door.
No. No… no, no, no, no. No. No. No. No!
Acting out of pure instinct, I reached for the door. But Scott was right there, stopping me.
"Someone else is in there," he tried to explain. "He had to go in. He did it to save them."
None of that mattered to me though. "They're going to kill him!" I could feel the tears brimming, my throat clenching, my heart shrivelling up into nothing. "Scott, you have to let me through. Please. I can't- I can't lose him!"
He stayed strong though, not letting me pass. "If I let you go, they'll kill you."
"If you don't let me go and he dies… I'll die, too."
Nothing in that moment felt more true than that. Derek meant so much to me. He meant more than I could comprehend. There was something between us, something more than what anyone could see. There was a connection that ran deeper than the bond we had with our own wolf sides.
The words couldn't be said… but the feelings were there.
"Scott? Angela?" Isaac's voice rang through the school. "The sun's coming up. Guys! The sun's coming up!"
With one more look at Scott, an understanding being passed between us, we both then moved.
The door was thrown open before I hurried in first, Scott right behind me, Isaac following closely. We rushed through the boiler room, down a few stairs, around a couple of corners, before we found them.
Derek was kneeling on the ground, torn and cut up. Cora and Boyd lay by his sides, both passed out and back to normal.
Once again, I reacted out of instinct. It pushed me forward.
Running up to Derek, I fell to my knees and threw my arms around him, holding him close. He was out of breath, tired, sore, but he still managed to wrap his arm around me as he turned his face into my hair and neck before he breathed in.
Pulling back a little, Derek looked to Scott and Isaac. "There's a teacher. I'll take care of her. Get them out of here." He gestured to Cora and Boyd.
They got to work, doing as he said, leaving Derek and I to turn to each other once more. There were things to do, but in that moment, we needed the reassurance of this embrace.
We scented each other without really thinking about it. The panic melted away as relief washed over us.
He was okay. We were all okay.
Bamby
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tuttle-did-it · 11 months
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In 1969, in the episode ‘Love All,’ John Steed met an AI / ChatGP that wrote romance novels. ‘Her’ name was Rosemary Z. Glade. 
They input various scenarios into the computer, and then 'Rosemary' popped out over 400 romance novels based on those scenarios. What's of interest here is
1) how quickly the AI can pop something out when it has all the built in scenarios,
2) even in '69, they realised that to get an AI to pop something out, you have to put something original IN. Funny how someone's imagined version of how this would work is precisely what has happened 54 years later.
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Originally aired 3 Feb 1969. Season 7, episode 21. 
Please forgive the bad recording and bad audio- I tried uploading it to YouTube to automatically create craptions, but it just won't do it. Please see below for the transcript. 
Teleplay by Jeremy Burnham, directed by Peter Sykes
Transcript:
[Steed knocks on a door. A woman, Thelma, is inside, talking to a recording device. He watches her.]
Thelma: Sir. Please... Please take the blindfold off my eyes. I know you're there. I sense the aura of evil that surrounds you. I beg you, untie my hands. I can hear you. Your breathing. I can hear your breathing. Why do you torture me this way. Do you keep me in this foul dungeon just to stand and silently gloat over me. Scarlett's voice caught in her throat and she sobbed helplessly. Blinded by the velvet band across her eyes she was unable to see the claw-like hand that reached forward to stroke the ivory flesh of her shoulder--
[Steed puts his hand on her shoulder. She screams.]
Thelma: Oh my goodness you frightened the life out of me.
Steed: I'm most terribly sorry.
Thelma: I should think so too. Scare like that could give a girl grey hair.
Steed: I'm sure that whatever the colour of your hair you'd still be equally attractive.
Thelma: Oooh dear... thank you... It's not original you know.
Steed: Your hair?
Thelma: Your line... it's not original.
Steed: Oh it's been said to you before?
Thelma: Lord Digby Covington said it to Samantha pride in "love under southern skies"... It was just after he'd rescued her from the gorilla who fancied her.
Steed: Of course. I remember now. "Love under southern skies"... It was a very touching story. I read it three times.
Thelma: Something went wrong that day. Couldn't get the end of the story to work. Instead of boy gets girl, it kept coming out girl gets gorilla.
Steed: That's a tricky situation.
Thelma: Very.
Steed: But you solved it with your customary skill. I hope you won't think me immodest if I claim to be your greatest fan.
Thelma: Really?
Steed: I've read all of your books.
Thelma: What, all four hundred and thirty seven?
Steed: On a cold winter's night I like nothing more than curling up in front of the fire with Rosemary Z. Glade.
Steed: Thelma: That's nice.
It's been my life-long ambition to meet Rosemary Z. Glade in the...[flirtatiously] If you'll excuse the expression, flesh. So you can see it's a rather special moment for me miss glade. Or may I call you Rosemary?
Thelma: You may if you like. My name is Thelma.
Steed: You're not Rosemary Z. Glade?
Thelma: No. [points to computer shaped like piano] She is.
Steed: That... writes all those moving novels?!
Thelma: She's a computer... Quite clever really. You see every romantic situation in the world is built into her memory circuits. The keys activate the situations.
Steed: [reading keys on computer shaped like piana] Moonlight kisses. Wife hears rumours. Girl meets wife. Wife sues girl. Wife leaves husband. Husband leaves wife. Girl returns ring. Boy gives flowers. Ah! Fascinating!
Thelma: Once we've picked out the situation, the machine does the rest. It chooses the scenes from the dialogue bank and bingo... Another best selling Rosemary Z. Glade romance. I'll show you if you like.
Steed: Please. The creative arts have always fascinated me.
[Thelma presses several keys, then goes to collect a manuscript that has popped out of the back of the computer. She hands the manuscript to Steed, who looks at it.]
Steed: Ha! Ha!
Thelma: There you are. Instant romance.
Steed: Brilliant.
Thelma: We keep adding new dialogue to the memory banks. That's what I was doing when you came in.
Steed: The machine's a genius.
Thelma: Oh I don't know. It's a very bad speller sometimes, but Mr. Bromfield's working on that.
Steed: Mr. Bromfield?
Thelma: [obviously has a crush on him] Oh he's lovely. And ever so clever with electronic things and stuff. He invented Rosemary.
Steed: Oooh! Well I'd like to meet him.
Thelma: Oh, he's not here at the moment.
Steed: Pity, well I'll call back...[Steed gets distracted when he sees something on a table] Later.
You can purchase the dvds here- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Avenges-Complete-Collection-DVD/dp/B096YF5VJT/ref=sr_1_4?crid=QTXQUD8LA7WJ&keywords=the+avengers+tv+series+complete&qid=1683223825&sprefix=the+avengers+tv+series+complet%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-4 
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agentravensong · 2 years
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who wants to hear a new story idea i just came up with this morning? no one? cool, let's do it.
inspiration-wise, it's a kind of more meta take on the stories of choice-based "interactive drama" horror games like the quarry - not meta in the sense that the characters become aware they're literally in a video game (this story idea isn't meant to be a game; would probably work best as a tv show tbh), but in a more indirect sense. it would also be better written /lh
the premise is we have a group of young adults who were all in high school together, and the youngest of them has now just graduated from college. to celebrate, they organize a meet-up with all their friends at a camp in the woods where they all spent a weekend as high schoolers, as a "let's reconnect and see how far we've come" sort of thing.
now, all the characters have slightly different memories of what happened that weekend those years ago, as they discover when they first arrive for the reunion and start reminiscing. they've even had nightmares - some more frequently and more harrowing than others - of terrible things that happened there. but none of them* believe those nightmare versions with supernatural elements to be true (because otherwise why the hell would they go back?). * except for potentially a character one or a couple who decide to risk going back to see what the truth actually was and/or to settle unfinished business
unfortunately for them, it's not long into their reunion when they start finding hints of a supernatural horror haunting the woods, and those "false" memories start resurfacing. the truth they eventually uncover is that, as teens, they not only lived through a quarry or until dawn -like scenario in these cursed woods, but they were also trapped in a time loop.
you see, the forest is home not only to [insert monster type here, still working that out, will take suggestions], but also some guardian spirits, who used their powers to guide the teens and rewind the events to try and minimize their suffering (they're, essentially, player analogs). the spirits ultimately saved the kids by taking on the curse of the forest in their steads, and were able to lock away their traumatic memories in the process. unfortunately, because of that choice, the spirits have grown weak in the intervening years, and the amount they'll be able to help the characters now is much more limited. this time, the humans are, for the most part, on their own.
with their four-to-eight years of additional life experience (will work out the specifics later), and their sporadic memories of how things went last time (blurring the lines between past and present), can our protagonists succeed in not only re-surviving the horrors of the woods, but also ending the curse for good? will their weathered bonds with each other get them through, or will they unravel from the stress, time apart, and unearthing of secrets both old and new?
and are the forest spirits truly the noble protectors they appear to be, or are they concealing ulterior motives of their own? after all, does every person stop playing these games once they get a good ending... or do some of them go back to see just how badly things can go?
all questions that could or could not be answered, in this story i will probably never write.
some bonus fun stuff:
i figure the characters would all have been fairly trope-y as teens, for the sake of creating a contrasting with their (slightly) more grown-up, developed selves. i would have to do more research for this, cause i'm not typically a consumer of this genre
potentially, one or two of the teens actually got left behind in the past (either having died with the spirits unable to save them and/or having in the intervening years become a grizzled survivor type). the other protags, of course, don't know this, with their memories telling them the lost souls simply stopped being in contact shortly after the trip. lots of angst potential for when they learn just how wrong they were.
as mentioned above, i'm not sure what type of monster would be most fitting for this story. i like the idea of it being a type that can infect humans such that they turn, ala werewolves or vampires, for the purpose of having at least of the protags having gotten infected in the past and not knowing until it resurfaces at the reunion. plus then the monsters hunting the group could be other humans who have gotten trapped like this and suffered a less fortunate fate. could also be the case with the spirits, regardless of the rest of this.
that's all i have for now. very up to hear what anyone else thinks of this concept :)
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chloeunitfive · 5 months
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Is Vegan Fashion Really Better For The Planet? 
We've all heard that eating a vegan diet is healthier for the environment, but what about fashion? Animal-derived materials such as leather, wool, and silk have long been staples of the luxury fashion business, but rising environmental and ethical concerns have led to a surge in vegan fashion appeal in recent years. So, is vegan fashion truly healthier for the environment? When comparing the greenhouse gas emissions of animal-based products versus vegan alternatives, the answer is often yes. "The available lifecycle assessments (LCAs) do show that leather from cattle has higher GHG emissions than, say, polyester or cotton production," says Ashley Gill, senior director of standards and stakeholder engagement at materials non-profit Textile Exchange. "Some of those emissions come from the methane from cows' digestion, emissions from food production, and deforestation happening in the leather supply chain." According to the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, a tool that uses LCAs to measure the impacts of different materials, wool and silk (the latter of which requires a large amount of energy to produce) have a greater impact on global warming than synthetic alternatives such as polyester and acetate (often used as a replacement for silk).
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These effect estimates, however, may not always reveal the entire story. "The LCAs don't tend to capture that sometimes a leather good [for example] may, in most instances, last longer than something made from synthetic material," she says. Indeed, a 2018 study analysing the impact of four sweaters - composed of wool, cotton, polycotton, and acrylic - discovered that the wool sweater had the least impact when the usage phase was considered. It's also worth noting that many vegan substitutes contain at least some synthetics, with some so-called vegan leathers being entirely plastic (thus the name pleather, which was often used to refer to "fake leather"). When it comes to fabrics like polyester, acrylic, and acetate, which are frequently used as wool and silk substitutes, there's also the issue of microplastics being discharged into our rivers when washed, not to mention the fact that they're generated from fossil fuels. "Being vegan has no direct impact on sustainability." Of sure, it can have environmental advantages in some cases, but that is not the goal of the vegan definition," Gill says. "Something that is called vegan could be made from virgin plastic using highly toxic chemicals - that's a really important thing to understand."
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Sébastien Kopp, co-founder of Veja, an eco-conscious trainer brand that sells both vegan and non-vegan items, agrees. "Can you claim to be more environmentally conscious if you replace leather with plastic fabrics derived from petroleum?" "You end up drilling petroleum if you follow the path of plastic," he argues. Even plant-based alternatives, such as Piatex, which is manufactured from pineapple waste, and Mylo, which is formed from mushroom roots, contain some synthetics, raising concerns about what happens to these materials when they are no longer useful, given that they are not biodegradable. The coated cotton fabric used by Veja for their vegan footwear is the same. "We created an alternative to leather based on our Fairtrade and organic cotton," Kopp goes on to say. "CWL is 60 percent organic cotton and 2 percent maize." The rest is still plastic, but it's a huge step ahead." Of course, these materials are still in their infancy and will definitely improve (100% plastic-free alternatives, such as Slow Factory's Slowhide, are currently under development). It's also worth mentioning that, depending on the tanning procedure used to prepare the hide, not all animal leather is biodegradable. On the other side, there are increasing initiatives to make animal-based products more sustainable, whether by recycling fibres or sourcing fibres generated through regenerative farming practises like natural grazing. Creating a more transparent supply chain will be critical, as evidenced by a recent investigation tying leather to Amazon deforestation. "I believe that in the next few years, you will have a proper leather supply chain that ticks all the boxes, from processing to traceability to high animal welfare," says Nina Marenzi, founder of the non-profit The Sustainable Angle, which is driving the Future Fabrics Expo. "We're starting to consider how materials can have a positive impact." Shouldn't we have soil-nourishing ingredients that aid to boost topsoil biodiversity? When you consider that, you're taking a different approach to these materials - [items like] leather certainly have a job to play." Of course, there are ethical reasons why people choose vegan fashion, but the answer isn't yet black and white when it comes to whether it's truly better for the earth. As a result, the current emphasis is on making both vegan and non-vegan materials as sustainable as feasible. "If you have best practise on both sides, ultimately, it really is a personal decision whether you want to use something that has been made from animal [products] or not," Marenzi said.
Referencing:
Emily Chan. (2022). Is Vegan Fashion Really Better For The Planet?. [Online]. British Vogue. Last Updated: 9 February 2022. Available at: https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/is-vegan-fashion-sustainable [Accessed 7 November 2023].
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avocate-assia-dazai · 6 months
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Day 3: describe a fictif spicies
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Synopsis: Describe physically a spicie you created.
Author's note: I was out of my house. I struggle. And I made something who have nothing to do with the theme. I m sorry. But wish you still enjoy.
Number of words: around 1k
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Our shadows. These dark doubles who have been with us everywhere since we were very young, since our first day. They are the same as us and different. They're there, and yet no one pays any attention to them, as if they simply didn't exist. But, dear readers, you're wrong. At this point, you're probably thinking "but why is she bothering us by describing something we all already know".
I understand and I was thinking the same thing. But know that you're completely wrong, from start to finish. But to make you understand, we have to go back to the beginning of our story, perhaps even a little further. So that you understand the importance of paying attention to everything that happens in this world, even if it seems as insignificant as our shadow.
If something exists, its opposite must also exist. A fundamental law of the universe developed in every field, from mathematics to philosophy, from Thales to Theophrastus. Theophrastus said that "everything is born from the separation of opposites". Our world is built on this fundamental law. If the moon exists, then its opposite must be the sun. If rain exists, then drought must be its opposite. Cold and heat, life and death, effort and rest... And of course shadow and light. Based on this, if YOU exist then your opposite also exists.
But what if everything was separate? What if the opposites were no longer two sides of the same coin, but two very different coins in two very different purses? What if there was once a positive world and a negative one? Let's work on this theory together.
Millions of years ago.... No, rather billions of years ago, there were two worlds. If something existed in one, then its opposite existed in the other. It was a fundamental rule, just as fundamental as two and two make four. And everyone lived in the full knowledge that everything had its opposite 'somewhere', but nevertheless lived in their own world where everything looked the same. Perfect and imperfect worlds.
If our world was one of dreams, light, joy and life. The world of our shadows must have been a nightmare filled with darkness, pain and morbidity. To better understand our shadows, I will begin by describing these worlds. Because how can you better understand a species than through its history and the environment that shaped it?
Our world was colourful and calm. The buildings were all the same author, fairly flat and all in a fairly simple style. Life in this colourful world was happy and pleasant, but full of trouble and banality. A 'perfect' life, timed, without hatred or competition. Everyone was happy, and everyone had a life all mapped out for them. Without expectations or hopes. Nobody really died. There were only births and rebirths. Maybe that's the perfection we're trying to chase, nostalgic for a past we've run away from?
And on the other side of the world from us, I can't tell you where, you had a dark, black world. Not a ray of light could penetrate the thick clouds that sat there. Everything was different and yet everything was the same. It was a turbulent life filled with failure and disappointment. The buildings were all dark and different shapes, you couldn't see the end of them because they were so high. In some ways, they were all unique, and that made them all similar, with their wacky, undulating shapes making everything complicated. Life in this world was full of hope, but without success. Everyone was full of uncertainty, nothing was planned and everything was creatable. Nobody was born there, there was only death and the dead coming back to die again. If the other world was there, perfection. Then this one had to be imperfection itself.
But now that I've described it to you, I realise that it's just two hells, one bright with deceptively pleasant smells. And the other is gloomy and sincerely putrid.
If you've got this far you must be asking yourself a question. This is supposed to help you understand the shadows of the world we know, but it does nothing to describe this mysterious species? And how did we get here?
Have you heard the expression 'opposites attract'? Nothing could have been further from the truth when the two worlds, so peaceful and restless for millennia, collided without warning and caught everyone unawares. It was an inexplicable phenomenon that threw all habits into disarray. Cohabitation seemed impossible. Men tried to rebuild their routines, and shadows tried to create as much as they could out of nothing, but as soon as they went to the light side of the world, they disappeared for good.
The most human of men and the darkest of shadows. As the world fell apart. All it takes is one step too straight to stray from his path, and one step too wandering to avoid crossing hers, to create something no one thought existed. Love. This unknown feeling that mixed joy and sorrow, routine and surprises, inexplicable and logical. Little by little, shadows discovered happiness, and men discovered sorrow. All it takes is one shadow and one man, fundamentally opposed yet frighteningly similar, to create a love that is both forbidden and perfect. Men and shadows join forces to change this world. A pact saddled and forgotten by men but honoured by shadows.
This created our world. Full of sorrow and joy, vice and goodness. Shadows are a fundamental part of us. Free by night, watching over us by day. Whispering our little ideas to us during the day, chatting to us at night when we mistakenly think it's just ourselves. That sixth sense, those reflexes that save our lives. Shadows are our opposites, our perfect counterparts. They may hate us for forgetting our promise, and yet they love us too much to leave us alone. They are beings as complex as we are, as different as they are similar.
The shadows are us, they are just as important as us and just as precious.
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dogaseducationblog · 1 year
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let's get out of here... at least for a while
hi, tumblr's lovely people,
the day has come. the day that I finally leave you...
haha. you're too naive, I've tricked you. I'll be just taking a break because the first term of my second year has finally come to an end but don't worry, your sunshine, your reason to wake up, your source of energy will be here, better than ever, on the next semester. so this might be my final post for a while but it won't take too long.
so, yeah... I'll get emotional. we've been together for almost four months now and even if I had times that I wanted to kill myself just because I didn't want to write a post, this class was -don't tell this to my lecturer, I hate to admit it- kinda enjoyable and interesting. also, I really liked to have a voice to share my experiences and a personal space where only my opinions matter. until this term, I've never had to use technology this much for anything actually so creating all of those things was exciting, new, and in the most positive way, very challenging for me. not just learning about the web 2.0 tools but also creating our own works with those tools was so intriguing and beneficial. we’ve experienced that if you explore your own creativity and push its limits, there are many ways to integrate language learning with technology in a better way.
my favorite task to do among the ones we did was probably creating a podcast just because we had the chance to use the song "kingdom dance" from tangled the animation as our background music which was AWESOME. you already know we're geniuses but THIS. this was beyond genius. using that sound as a part of some of our projects was a dream of mine and Şevval's so it'll stay in my mind as one of the most fulfilling moments of my university life.
the least favorite one though was probably the one we made a padlet chart. there was nothing wrong or hard about that task actually but it was overall boring to do and since the topic of our padlet wall was bullying I was kinda buried in my past traumas. even your sunshine girlie has a depressive side, you know. I'm a Taylor Swift girlie, duh?
this class was very nice if we don't count the times that I wanted to cut my head off because I live in Gebze which means one hour ride to my school. we had a lot of choices in each assignment which was so nice. the freedom to choose what to do and to have interesting options made the lesson so much more interesting. so, it turns out I don't have anything negative to say about this class and it means I have to say goodbye for now. I know you'll miss me.
thank you for reading my confused ideas and being here for me. I'll miss you too.
as Woody the Cowboy said in Toy Story 3... so long, my partner. (you know it's not forever, I'm just making it dramatic)
virtual hugs.
until next time,
with love... and obviously education, Doğa.
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