#Darn those early releases!
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The History of Cyberpunk
Or why every other SciFi Genre is called [something]punk
You know what? Let's do this. Because I have seen the discussion on whether or not Solarpunk is "punk" over the last few days and... people really gotta learn their history.
The first time a genre took the "punk" name was Cyberpunk. And for context we gotta talk a bit about the history of the Cyberpunk genre.
While some books that we in hindsight call "Cyberpunk" were released as early as the 1960s, the start of Cyberpunk as a genre got its start in the late 70s and early 80s.
The term was invented by Bruce Bethke, who published a short story in 1983 with the name "Cyberpunk". His idea was to juxtapose the term "punk" for both the mentality and the punk protagonists in his short story with the term cyber, short for the cybernetics they were wearing. And while the cybernetics have become a main stay in the genre, the punk attitudes are not always carried through...
Well, the title Bethke invented stuck, though. When 1984 Neuromancer was published, one of the most influencial works in the early days of the genre, he called it "a Cyberpunk novel" in the marketing. And from there... Well, the genre was suddenly named like that.
The 80s were definitely the decade that had the most influence on the genre, given that a lot of the big novels and graphic novels of the genre were released here.
A big influence was, no doubt, that 1982 the Blade Runner movie had released and had inspired quite a few writers and artists. (And yes, this makes Blade Runner a movie that released not only before the term Cyberpunk was coined, but also before the genre had a chance to define itself.)
Given that the genre was defined in the 80s, there are a lot of 80s anxiety kept within it about the rise of the Japanese economy, that are these days rarely questioned within the western Cyberpunk movement.
When the genre was coined and developed, Japan was the fastest growing economy in the world, being so influencial that they got to buy out several things in America. Something that kinda jerked white people in the US a lot. This is, why Cyberpunk originally depicted not only a capitalist hellscape - but specifically a capitalist hellscape were everything was bought out by Japanese companies, with many of those early antagonists being Japanese companies. And yeah... there was a lot of both anti-japanese racism, but also cultural appropriation of Japanese things in early Cyberpunk, at time surviving to this day. (But that is a story for another day.)
The general sense that Western Cyberpunk had, was always the idea of: We have a capitalist hellscape where the world is slowly dying and people are exploited with no end, while we have those kinda punky protagonists, who stand outside of the society and try to work against it. This being where the punk comes from.
Now, I could talk for length about how a lot of that punky attitude has been lost in more modern Cyberpunk media, but that, too, is a story for another day.
So, let me just talk about what happened then.
The term Cyberpunk really is darn catchy, right? So just when that name took hold, writer K.W. Jeter retroactively called his 1979 novel Morlock Night "steampunk". And guess what: This stuck, too. Though while the 80s Cyberpunk still stuck to the punk attitude, a lot of Steampunk did not. While for certain there is quite a bit of Steampunk that has kinda punky characters go against the quasi Victorian society of steampunk books (something most common in the air pirate novels I have read), a lot of other stories are more focused on a general sense of adventure.
But never the less... The genre names stuck and gave a nice baseline for naming other genre. We got Dieselpunk, Atompunk, Nanopunk, Arcanepunk, Dustpunk, Silkpunk and of course also Solarpunk and Lunarpunk.
And for the most part... The "punk" names mostly communicate: "It is SciFi with this kinda aesthetic/twist going on". Which is just how it turned out.
Funnily enough Solarpunk is for once a genre that brings back the punk, as it tends to include a lot of the ideals aspired to by the Punk counter culture of the 1970s: Anarchism, anti-capitalism, anti-consumerism, anti-classism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism and so on. Though other than with Cyberpunk and the real world punk movement, Solarpunk for the most part imagines a place, where those things are culture instead of counter culture.
I personally find it kinda sad, how for the most part Cyberpunk kinda lost a lot of the counter-cultural, revolutionary mindset. And how fucking defeatist the genre often is.
But again, it is a story for another day. Just as the story of Japanese Cyberpunk is.
#cyberpunk#solarpunk#steampunk#cyberpunk history#western cyberpunk#science fiction#scifi#william gibson#neuromancer#genre history#punk
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Made Marion Development Update, Feb 2024
Hello everyone, and happy belated Valentine's Day! Will took a moment of his time to make everyone a very special Valentine.
Darn it, Will.
The Writing Desk
I am moving into Will Chapter 2! These first couple months of Will route development have been challenged by some unavoidable IRL issues, but those are all cleared up now and I am devoting the rest of February and March fully to writing Will's route.
Chapter 1, as predicted, will be around 20,000 words. I still have one more Chapter 1 scene to finish, but it's a big action scene, and those tend to take me forever as I figure out all the logistics. I decided that rather than delaying the rest of the adventure, I'll slowly add to that action scene while writing Chapter 2.
Will Preview Video:
In case you missed it, we created a preview stream featuring the beginning of Will's route for the Steam Storyteller's Festival in early February. Here it is!
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Art Roundup
Some backers have been curious as to the completion status of our art, so here's the roundup:
Sprites and CGs (Arrapso)
All main character sprites are complete, save for a ??? variant sprite that will only be seen in the DLC.
We have 3.5 major NPC sprites yet to be completed: Hugh, leader of the Grey Wolves (backer sprite); Issa, Lord Geoffrey's cousin in from Nibiru (backer sprite); Kafeel, leader of Nottingham's Sunjati Merchant association and Will's friend; and the final version of Thomas, a character who is only seen in Alanna's route. I will need Kafeel for Will's EA release and am hoping to have Hugh and Issa for it as well, although they are more important on the Nottingham side.
After those are complete, Arrapso's main job will be CGs. I have ordered 4/5 Will CGs and am still deciding on the design for the final one. We also still need to design the backer wallpapers (which will be available in PC and phone formats).
Backgrounds & Creature Sprites (Sandra)
Backgrounds are almost entirely finished. I have one more major background to commission and then it'll just be the occasional variation as needed or maaaaybe one or two more major backgrounds later on to add more variation to the Nottingham Town exteriors.
All major creature sprites are complete. I may commission one of Geoff's beloved hunting hounds during his route, but haven't decided yet. Meissa's bird friend will likely be a cut-in like our messenger doves.
Lore Intro and Cut-Ins (Lawrichai)
Lawri has been having some IRL challenges but should be back with us soon. Her main jobs right now are sexy silhouettes and the lore intro animation. We may be transforming the lore intro graphics into a full .webm animation instead of using Ren'py's built in Animation and Transition Language, as this might actually be easier for Lawri, as well as looking a lot smoother and making me pound my head against my desk less. It's a win/win/win! We'll have more on this next time.
Otherwise, Lawri's work is ongoing depending on budget and how much she is able to complete from route to route (I can always add in more cut-ins, but for now we're focusing on more critical ones as we have time after the sexy sils are complete per route).
So that's where we are with art right now! We're in pretty good shape overall, there just might need to be some more intense art production while I complete the second half of Will's script.
See you next month!
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Ten years of Noah Caldwell-Gervais
It's remarkable how little the video essays of Noah Caldwell-Gervais have changed over the last decade.
Obviously, there have been some changes.
When I went on a(nother) NCG binge last month, the only difference that stood out to me immediately was the audio—both that NCG has upgraded his recording equipment and that early NCG videos included audio from the background game clips, sometimes loud enough to drown out his commentary. It's a weird choice that I assume he made because he didn't want to speak over dead air and couldn't find any royalty-free music that fit the tone well enough; I'm glad he changed his mind.
When I started looking, I saw other little things. The pace of his dictation has slowed (I want to say by about a quarter?), making his feature-length diatribes easier to parse. Counter to this, his older videos would often play whole cutscenes to display his point. (Not just once in a blue moon, like with that RE5 scene; sometimes twice in a row, like in the AVP vs. AVP vs. ACM video.) While Caldwell-Gervais didn't delve into "traditional gamer complaints" about DLC and "lazy devs" and such very often, their density has decreased over time, as has his willingness to give questionable design decisions a pass for good intentions. Early NCG was less likely to research games he couldn't personally play (his CoD video from 2015 only mentions that he couldn't play CoD 3, for instance). The early videos also had an in-person introduction, while newer videos integrate the important parts of that introduction into the script.
And of course, Noah himself has changed over the past decade—it's been a busy ten years, his opinions about games, their place in the world, and that world have shifted in ways that influence his commentary.
But the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Caldwell-Gervais still writes long video essays about entire franchises, albeit now with confidence that his audience will watch a single video for 3-8 hours if he finds enough to say about a series.
He still weaves all those facts about the game in with what development details he can dig up and context from outside the video game subculture to frame his insights as narratives about the franchises and their creators.
He still talks about highbrow literature-class stuff like tone and theme, contrasted with an obvious love for the lowbrow thrills of shooty bang bang. He still accepts "dumb" games, criticizing them for being dumb only when it clashes with other elements/ambitions of the game. (Or when they really punch the boulder.)
With the exception of a few in-video callbacks, he still avoids in-jokes, irrelevant memes, and other elements which might make his work seem inaccessible to newcomers or dated to latecomers. He'll reference current events and recent releases from time to time, so the videos aren't really timeless, but they're not time-locked, either.
He still focuses on shooters and RPGs, with a strong interest in horror and occasional dips into story-dominated titles and the odd pure strategy game. (Also Western games, notable less for their prevalence in NCG's body of work and more for the fact that he's covered both Red Dead Redemption and Call of Juarez, darn near the only notable video game series set in the Old West.)
He still plays the action games with a level of skill that seems reasonable to me, but which comment section critics say is so abysmal that his opinions about action games shouldn't count (except where they agree with the critic's).
Caldwell-Gervais still references film and other media as comparisons to most games he covers. He still shows affinity for Americana, particularly the arid landscapes of the Southwest, and also Western movies.
He still has a largely positive outlook, focusing on games and series worth praising when he can and looking for the best aspects of even the worst games he covers. To this end, he still tries to find the game's level and meet it there. And yet, when a game fails on every level or aims well below its potential, he will still criticize it for those disappointments.
He still focuses on how the different elements of a game interact, prioritizing that over the sum of his parts. He still likes to point out when mechanics, aesthetics, themes, or plot points that work in one title undermine a very similar work—or contrarily, when things that sank one rescued another. It's all about context.
He's still relentlessly critical of corporate bullshit, whether that's publishers forcing Marketable™ elements into a context that doesn't artistically support them or executives maintaining and concealing an abusive work environment.
And of course, he still starts each video with a shot of some hand-written title card, set to thematically-appropriate music that almost certainly gets every video copyright claimed.
Some things are hard to quantify.
In an absolute sense, the filmography (youtography?) of the infamously hidebound Doug Walker has changed more over the years. But that's the kind of fact that conceals more than it reveals.
Walker adds new tools to his toolbelt and throws new ideas into his productions, but the fundamentals stay the same. He makes the same kinds of complaints, tells the same kinds of jokes, films the same kinds of shots. He doesn't try to improve his media literacy, or his writing, or his cinematography. Or his white-balancing.
Part of why Caldwell-Gervais's old videos hold up so much better than 2013 Walker videos (or 2022 ones) is that Caldwell-Gervais started at a much higher level of quality—fewer moving parts than even pre-Demo-Reel Nostalgia Critic, with every piece mastered. (Except audio.)
But part is that Caldwell-Gervais has improved, and not just with audio. I can't put my finger on it, but something about his writing has changed. His older videos feel more superficial, more focused on the games for their own sake and what works or doesn't work for a given genre or franchise. His newer ones feel like they're trying to be deeper, to go beyond individual video games and use them to say something about gaming as a whole, or even the world beyond.
And unlike Walker, NCG's efforts to Do More are backed by the skill, effort, and attention to detail needed to pull them off. I rewatch NCG's older videos out of a self-destructive sense of completionism, or a desire for familiar background noise. I rewatch his newer videos because they're interesting, even on subsequent rewatches.
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This post examines Erasure's involvement in the Red, Hot & Blue project.
In 1989, Leigh Blake and John Carlin, two figures in the New York creative scene, were finding themselves affected by the AIDS crisis, which was having a devastating impact on so many talented artists, intellectuals and friends. Frustrated by the government’s persistent inaction, they looked to their community to enact change. They had an idea. What if they could put out an album of songs by Cole Porter, covered by some of the hottest musical acts, with the proceeds going to AIDS organizations? And what if they paired those songs with music videos directed by great filmmakers?
Early on, the organizers asked Erasure to take part, and the band agreed–they’d always done AIDS benefits and felt that it was more important than ever to raise awareness about the disease. They contributed a steamy, electrified cover of “Too Darn Hot”, along with a powerful music video, directed by Adelle Lutz and Sandy McLeod. Bell and Clarke play weather forecasters reporting on the crisis, with the “heat” of the song used as a metaphor for the effects of the epidemic. It’s the project’s most political video, blending the “weather” concept with footage of AIDS protests and facts about HIV. The film clip was so incisive that when the Red, Hot + Blue TV special was aired on ABC, some of its more pointed messages were altered or removed by the network. Thankfully, a year later, the uncensored version was played on Bravo, and it was seen in 30 countries around the world.
Bell also did a front-page feature for Record Mirror in 1990 on the initiative. In the article, he explains why he was determined to contribute, shares more facts about AIDS, and poses in Red, Hot + Blue merchandise. His frankness, conviction and optimism make it a bracing, worthwhile read.
In spite of funding struggles and censorship, Red, Hot + Blue was a success, selling over a million copies worldwide and raising millions of dollars for AIDS charities like ACT UP and AmFAR. Its success helped establish the Red Hot nonprofit, which would go on to release over 15 collaboration albums, numerous TV specials and media events. And it’s still going on today: follow the Red Hot Organization on social media to learn more.
Sources:
General information: the official website of Red Hot Organization; newspaper clippings; books from Internet Archive
Magazine cover: Lansure's Music Paraphernalia and Michael Kane (Record Mirror, Oct. 20, 1990)
Screen captures of music video: Internet Archive
#erasure#erasure band#andy bell#vince clarke#red hot and blue#red hot organization#erasure's activism#adelle lutz#sandy mcleod
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Lol Hunter is not only very comparable to each main or supporting character in Owl House, but also damn comparable to other blorbos.
Anyway I visited my demon son Akira in some episodes of 2018's Devilman Crybaby..
(this anime is dark, sad, violent at times, thrilling and bleak...also do not watch it unless you're alone because it can get pretty NSFW too)
Wild hair? Dark T-shirts? Sad bois:
And I was reminded that looking at other stories and similar cases can strengthen my headcanons and metas. Referring to The Hunger Games, since its protagonist and Hunter have the same mental health condition, could convince me that Hunter will spiral into extensive depression after Belos's death before he shows signs of recovery.
But..I hadn't given serious thought to rage being one of Hunter's several grief responses after Watching and Dreaming's final battle..not till now. 🤔🤔🤔
Because Akira is a darn similar personality to Hunter: very gentle, empathetic (in fact, Akira is an empath, literally experiencing other people's emotional pain, feeling it for them when they don't really want to..hence the show's title). And Akira has also never wanted to harm another person. You'd initially expect gentle souls like this to like, never get angry.
After Akira's mother passes away in traumatic circumstances, his behaviour is such that he puts up a front to appear fine but he isn't holding it together well..
It's not visually shown but from the first person perspective of Miki (his best friend) looking at her ceiling, she and the audience can hear him screaming in rage and breaking objects in his bedroom right above hers. Right after their chat on the balcony (shown in the previous screenshot). It's one of his bereavement responses. But this rage only comes out when he's in his own space, not with anybody else around.
Idk..now I wouldn't put it past a poor grieving Hunter in the early months of those 3-4 years, to have at least one very unexpected explosion of rage after some bad trigger comes along.
He might subconsciously feel safe enough in the company of the Noceda family, that he'd create a mess in Luz's basement in a frenzy like that. It would happen so fast, seemingly out of nowhere. Of course, he'll feel so awful and guilty after expending that energy, shocked at himself and disgusted with himself.
And/or it may happen if he decides to visit the castle ruins.
Or....(and this is sadder but idek)..what if it happens in the early days of him learning the palisman-carving craft? He wouldn't touch and destroy anything made from palistrom wood but some other objects might be pushed off shelves or something. Hunter is someone with a long fuse, but a lot of little frustrations building up could light that fuse. In the case of the carving workshop, him making mistakes and getting splinters on his hands in the process of learning...that might leave him frustrated enough to have a one-off temper flare. He'll feel awful but Dell is very kind and would treat him so well and help him.
I was also told by friends that Hunter would feel very off balance with no more staff to use, since he relied on staffs for so much of his life that they'd feel like an extension of his own body. With no staff, the sense of his physical center would feel different and I wonder if this might feed into frustration that is part of his general grief...to the point that this frustration does indeed build up into a brief rage explosion at some point.
Like Akira, he'd definitely not direct that at any person or living thing. But inanimate objects might be destroyed. 🤔🤔🤔
Our bodies sometimes do instinctive but frightening things out of nowhere to release emotions and attempt to restore psychological balance, and it can happen in a flash. Wails that you can't control which escape your chest, keening, or heaving with sobs, and in this case anger and rage. Anger is the most immediate natural response when our boundaries are crossed. Rage is an especially big outcry after we have been violated, fueled by fear and grief.
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yes, i remember hearing that about disney having the rights for tarzan until around 2005 as well! i wonder if kingdom hearts being a collaboration between disney and a completely different company may have complicated things further for them. the second game "chain of memories" was released in 2004 and has a plot where sora revisits every single disney world he visited in the first game, in the form of essentially replicas of those worlds created out of his own memories... except the tarzan world (deep jungle) is inexplicably missing. there is, however, an early development image from that game that indicates it was planned to appear at one point and was removed. it's a shame, i would've loved a chance to see more parts of the world and interact more with tarzan and jane.
this reminds me, there's been quite a few other disney crossover projects over the years that tarzan characters have never appeared in and i'm sure it must be because of the copyright issues. the mobile game "disney magic kingdoms", for example, features nearly any disney movie and any character from said movies that you could think of except of course for tarzan! and i wish something could be done to allow them to appear. i don't know if you've heard of the disney lorcana trading card game, but the cards from it have some gorgeous art and even though it's still pretty new, it's done a good job so far of representing some of disney's more neglected properties. but obviously there's no tarzan cards and i fear that eventually it'll be the only movie in the disney animated canon to not have any. i am glad that the characters were allowed to show up in the recent once upon a studio short, at least.
ooh, yeah, i've never been to the festival of the arts either but i've seen videos and pictures from it online! i would love to be able to go and see all of the beautiful art and the disney on broadway concerts in person. i'm actually not very familiar with the tarzan musical, but i love several of the other musicals disney has done. also, i'll definitely have to check out those artists you mentioned!
i highly agree with you about howard ashman. i don't know if you've seen the documentary about him, simply titled "howard", but i definitely recommend it. another one of my favorite things about beauty and the beast is the way that belle and the beast are both people who have been ostracized from society in different ways but who are able to connect and find happiness with each other. and when i think about how howard was a gay man with HIV who poured so much of himself into the lyrics he wrote and all of the ideas he contributed to the movie, it just breaks my heart that he never got to see it completed. he and alan were such a perfect team.
-🌟
That's a good point, that probably did make things more difficult. The more companies involved, the more legal stuff to work out. I'm so glad Tarzan was included in the first one, but so sad they never brought him back, especially when it looks like they wanted to.
Disney Magic Kingdoms is the only game I actually do play! I've never had any hope we'd get Tarzan in that, even with how good they are with rarer movies… they even just added the Black Cauldron!!! But I've often dreamed of what could be. The thought of what the tokens might look like, and the attractions they could do?! Obviously the Treehouse, but maybe one based on Trashin' the Camp, or a "tree surfing" roller coaster?
I haven't really looked into Lorcana, but I have seen some of the artwork, everything I've seeing looks so incredible!! Would be so amazing to see Tarzan characters included. Darn that copyright!
Once Upon a Studio was so amazing. I watched "knowing" there would be no Tarzan, but they took so much pity on us. Still incredibly short, but there was so many Tarzan characters in it!!
I've seen Howard a couple of times, it was so well done and so worth the wait for it. I agree with you about Belle and the Beast. Howard really brought that out in a way no one else could. It's so unfair he never got to see the masterpiece he helped create, but what a gift he gave to the world.
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Reunions and Someone In Between - 6k words
Bdubs dies early and he doesn't mind much, not this time. He thinks he deserves it.
Does he deserve the reunion? Or the forgiveness he gets? He doesn't know, that's not for him to judge
A03 Link
Bdubs didn’t really mind how he died this time. Sure, it had been another darn Skynet kill, but it had been Impulse who killed him. Impulse had killed him earlier in the game too, so they were even now. That was an okay way to die, if you asked him. He wasn’t a fan of dying fourth though, that sucked a little. Better than Jimmy, or Joel or Skizz, but it still sucked. He thought he was allowed to feel sour about it. Just a little sour, though, not too much.
There wasn’t really time to dwell on the sour feeling yet, as Bdubs had found himself sitting at what appeared to be spawn. It took a moment of looking around to realize where he was, and that he hadn’t somehow time traveled back to the start of the server. He was dead, permanently, and was now in the place where the dead people went.
“BDUBS!” There was a loud shout from behind him, causing Bdubs to make a loud yelp of surprise. He turned his head around quickly, to see Skizz sitting a few feet away, legs hanging off the side of the mountain. Jimmy was next to him, wings curled around Skizzle and a smaller person. The blonde’s wing was covering the person on his left, hiding them from view, but it had to be Joel. No one else had died this early, and Joel was one of the few people short enough to be hidden like that.
“SKIZZ!” Bdubs called in return, getting to his feet a little too fast and almost falling back down to the ground. He reached the trio in mere seconds, Skizz pulling him downwards to wrap him a tight side hug.
"You did good bud, you did good!" Skizz said, releasing him after a few seconds of crushing his side.
"Of course I did!" Bdubs agreed with a small laugh, slipping a glance at the two Bad Boys next to him. Jimmy was watching them with a fond smile, wings still wrapped around his friends and trying to wrap around Bdubs. The canary gave him a small wave and Bdubs shifted closer, allowing his back to be covered by a bright yellow wing. Jimmy’s wings were quite big, much bigger than Grian's, probably to accommodate his height. He always forgot that they were almost comically large, which was in part of Jimmy not being able to use them here and the blonde hiding them.
Joel was basically sitting on top of Jimmy, and it looked like he’d started to doze off. He removed his sunglasses, putting them on top of his head to reveal quite the sleepy looking face. Bdubs couldn’t blame him, he’d been presumably sitting here for a few days already, and everyone needed their beauty sleep, dead or alive!
“Hey Bdubs.” Joel muttered, before pulling his sunglasses back down once more. Bdubs snorted in amusement, watching as the brunette laid his head against Jimmy’s shoulder. It was then Bdubs realized he was in a somewhat similar position, snuggly tucked into Skizz’s side. It reminded him of the old days, back in Last Life, of Team BEST’s nightly cuddle pile, that happened every time, even when only two of them lived, no matter how much Etho complained.
Jimmy gave Joel a fond look, wrapping his wing around the other tighter. The blonde’s gaze returned to the forest below them, and Bdubs followed. It was time to think over those sour feelings, with little distraction in between. At least he had someone to lean into if they got too much.
Bdubs thought he was good at surviving, he really did. Yet here he was, the fourth person to die. It was kinda ironic, how the one player associated with clocks didn’t last long in a game all about time.
He thought it had something to do with his loyalty, his placement that is. In Third and Double life he’d made it fairly far, both times he had stayed loyal to one person above all. Well sort of. He knew, deep down, that if Etho asked he would’ve ditched his soulmate in a heartbeat. But Etho didn’t ask, so he didn’t ditch his soulmate, he stayed with Impulse. Impulse, who he’d accidentally slain a second time in a panic. Impulse, who he'd first betrayed at the end of Third Life, but he’d been loyal to Cleo first, and Scar had given him a clock and he’d been loyal to Scar until that too, ended in even more betrayal. So Bdubs told himself that didn’t matter, that it still counted as loyalty, even though he knew it didn’t
In Last Life he couldn’t even be completely loyal to one person. He viewed anyone other than Etho as expendable, including the rest of BEST, and hell even him and Etho’s relationship had been messed up at several points. He couldn’t even have a whole relationship with the person he valued most in the world. It was those thoughts that made Bdubs feel guilty, as he sunk further into Skizz’s warmth as if Last Life never happened, like he’d never stabbed Tango in the back. He hadn’t been any better in this game either, and knew the rest of the Clockers had no faith in his loyalty. Bdubs had wanted to be loyal this time, he really had, but TIES and Etho had drawn him in and made him bounce between alliances. People had expected Bdubs to betray them again as he fought to prove himself as loyal, all while old friends paying him back for old wounds. Tango and Impulse both killed him, both got their well deserved vengeance.
He stared at where TIES base would be down there, at the empty island and was swamped with guilt. Bdubs shifted even closer to Skizz, selfishly taking comfort in the action, and the man who shouldn’t trust him did, letting Bdubs soak up his warmth. He hoped Cleo and Scar weren't too mad at him for everything, and that they’d greet him when they inevitably joined the growing group of ghosts. He hoped they could still be friends, after all this was done.
The universe wouldn’t make him wait long though. A reunion was in order, and amends needed to be made. But someone else had to arrive first.
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Tango spawned into the afterlife the same way he’d left the living world, screaming.
He felt the flames atop his head light up, and made a conscious effort to keep his tail away from the grass. He died to fall damage! Fall damage! He’d only fallen from a few blocks and he’d died!
Smoke was slowly rising in the air around him, probably freaking out the others along with his screaming. He couldn’t help it though, couldn’t help the rage that flowed through him. All he could do was keep the grass from setting alight. He didn’t wanna find out if the afterlife could burn and ruin everyone else's peaceful time here. The smoke that formed around his head was also annoying, and he didn’t fully understand why it happened. It seemed to just be a blaze thing, as the creatures in the nether smoked as well, even though they themselves didn’t actually burn anything with their bodies. It was still annoying, though.
“Tango!” Skizz’s voice was approaching him, and the blazeborn tried to stop flaming and fan away the smoke so he could actually see his friends. It wasn’t really working, as a good deal of anger was still churning in his gut. “Sorry about the smoke!” He called, fanning it away some more.
“It’s fine! We don’t breathe here anyways!” Joel’s voice was a bit further away, and seemed to be staying put. Oh yeah, we don’t. Tango blinked, remembering that ghosts didn’t really need to breathe anymore, because they were dead.
“Just don’t set the grass on fire!” Bdubs chipped in from somewhere, the smoke around Tango’s head was clearing just enough for him to see his friends faint silhouettes. “I’m trying!” He yelled, trying to keep the agitation out of his voice. It didn’t really work, and Tango was pretty sure he saw Bdubs flinch.
“Tango, it’s okay.” A voice was now beside him, its owner having presumably fought his way through the smoke while Tango was distracted by the others. He felt Jimmy’s wings wrap around him comfortably, its owner's lanky form now sitting in front of him in the grass. Unbeknownst to Tango, his fiery arrival was the only thing that prompted Jimmy to move from his seat so far. Skizz was currently blinking down at both of them with mild surprise that Jimmy had actually moved, since he seemed so dead set on doing the opposite.
Tango’s rage calmed after a minute, like it always did when Jimmy comforted him. His former soulmate was giving him a dopey smile, watching as the smoke cleared from the blazeborns face. "Hi," Jimmy chirped. Tango snickered, gently bonking their foreheads together as he leaned in further. "Hey birdy," He rumbled, moving so Jimmy could wrap his arms around his waist.
Jimmy laughed fondly, unfolding his wings a bit so the others could see Tango. The blazeborn knew he probably looked like a spoiled cat, sitting in Jimmy's lap and almost purring, but he didn't really care. He was warm, comfortable, and the anger burning inside him had subsided for now.
Joel was soon next to him, similarly leaning against Jimmy. He knew Joel could be a little clingy, and assumed the smaller was letting himself indulge a little. Which was fine, as long as he didn't hog Jimmy all to himself.
Bdubs and Skizz went to sit on Tango’s other side, leaving the blazeborn in the middle of a cocoon of comfortable warmth. It was nice, getting to snuggle like this. It was a luxury most couldn’t afford down there.
"Hey," Joel asked, looking over at the newest arrival. "What exactly made you all smokey before?"
Tango nodded, feeling a wing wrap around him tighter. “Was fighting Scar.” He said, allowing the rage to slowly seep back into his voice. “Died to fall damage. It was a two block fall!” He almost growled out the last part, aware of how his hair startled to sizzle and how his tail flicked in irritation. Skizz gave a hum of sympathy and Joel winced at his explanation. It felt nice, to have his usually unexplainable rage understood.
He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. The other shuffled closer to him, until his flames died down and the group was basking in silence once more. His rage dissipated quicker than it ever had. Tango no longer heard the blood rushing to his ears or the sizzling of flames, just the birds chirping quietly in the distance.
Bdubs spoke up after however long. “We should probably move off spawn, in case someone falls on us.”
There were a few mutters of agreement, and Tango opened his eyes to watch his friends slowly get to their feet. Skizz grabbed Bdubs hand, helping the smaller up despite Bdubs insistence that he did not need help, thank you very much. The taller gave him a playful shove forwards, causing a few snickers as Bdubs almost fell forward and face planted into the grass. The two scuffled as they made their way back to the cliff’s edge, which was apparently the designated spot for the time being.
Joel lagged behind slightly, seemingly waiting for Jimmy to follow. The canary gave him a nod, one that said go ahead, before standing slowly. He stretched out his wings, blocking the sun from Tango’s gaze. The blazeborn smiled up at him, admiring how the yellow feathers seemed to shine under the light. They were quite pretty, Jimmy’s wings, and had become one of Tango’s favorite things to look at during their time as soulbonds.
Jimmy reached out a hand and Tango took it without hesitation. He gave Jimmy an affectionate blink, his way of thanking the canary for all the comfort he’d provided. This left the blonde smiling like an idiot, beaming as brightly as the sun over their heads.
“We died the same way, ya know.” Jimmy said after a moment, nudging Tango’s shoulder with his own as they made their way towards the cliff’s edge. “Fall damage.”
Tango paused for a second, before a loud barking laugh escaped his lungs. “We really are soulmates, huh birdy?” He giggled, giving Jimmy a return nudge of the shoulder. Jimmy gave a chirp of affirmation in response, plopping himself down beside Joel again. Now Tango would’ve loved to sit down, but he felt much too fidgety to stay still for any longer, so he went to explore around, only to find they were just at spawn, minus all the buildings and such.
Bdubs had decided to follow him at one point though, and now he was standing a few feet away from the shorter. They were on the other side of the mountain from the rest, near where Tango had taken his final breaths. “Hey dude,” The blazeborn said with a friendly flick of his tail, turning to look down the mountain a bit, as he wasn’t as familiar with this part of the map. There was no real use in learning now, but he had nothing better to do.
He could feel the tensions running off Bdubs like water against rocks, filling the air. Tango pretended to not notice, only looking back when Bdubs spoke, hsi voice barely above a whisper. The blazeborn had to strain his pointed ears to hear what the smaller was uttering behind him.
“I’m sorry.” Bdubs said his apology plainly, as if Tango knew what the devil he was talking about.
The blonde turned, cat-like eyes sparkling with a mix of curiosity and confusion. “For what?” He asked, tone gentle. His brows furrowed in concern once he saw the guilt spreading on Bdubs face, clearly visible despite the bruises that never seemed to leave his skin.
“For killing you - betraying you - back in Last Life.” The smaller explained, looking at the ground in shame, like a pet dog being scolded for eating the couch.
Tango smiled softly, waving his hand in dismal, even though Bdubs couldn’t see the motion. “Water under the bring, my friend.” He said, watching as the man in front of him jerked his gaze back to him, confusion replacing his guilt. “My boogie kill on you was all the payback I needed. It’s nice that you feel bad still, though.”
Bdubs’s shoulders slumped in relief, the man visibly melting at Tango’s words. “T-Thanks man.” He stammered, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. The blazeborn huffed, walking over and giving Bdubs a side hug. “Now let’s stop staring at dirt and go like, bond or something.” He said, and Bdubs let himself be dragged back towards the group.
The two passed over the spawn point again, Tango making some comment about who the next arrival might be. Before Bdubs had a chance to answer, he was quickly moving away from the area, and the blazeborn had the sudden and blaring urge to move.
Tango scrambled away with a yelp as Scar spawned in almost on top of him, tail lashing wildly as he tried to keep his balance. It was futile, as he landed on his bottom anyways. The others were quickly running over to him and their new arrival as Bdubs scrambled towards him, expression already alight with concern. Something was wrong , horrible wrong, and the way Scar was beginning to curl into himself indicated as much.
The blazeborn watched with the others in mild horror as Scar fell into a panic instantly, the man curling himself into a ball as he began to hyperventilate. He curled into himself, hands gripping the grass below hard enough to rip it out. Red eyes stared at a fixed point on the ground, pupils dilating with a kind of fear Tango could not identify, a kind unknown to him.
“Scar!” Bdubs yelled their friend’s name in alarm, crouching beside the taller instantly upon seeing his condition. Skizz, ever kind, dropped down next to them, while Joel and Jimmy watched frozen from where they sat on the mountain's edge.
Tango crouched a few inches away from Bdubs, not wanting to crowd Scar. He watched the latter spiral deeper into his panic, frozen and unsure how to help. Bdubs was trying his best, bless him, making physical contact and uttering comforting words, yet nothing was working.
Tango wondered what had happened to leave poor Scar in such a state.
______________________________________________
A lot of things had happened to leave Scar in such a panicked state of being, and it started before Tango had even died. It started with a minecraft dropping on him and his teammate, damaging him and taking out the other two.
Scar watched, a half choked scream escaping his lips as lightning struck where Bdubs once stood. He barely noticed the damage he took, only feeling the searing pain of losing his brother and the blood rushing to his ears. He watched as Cleo respawned behind Grian, the avian shouting of how he took out Bdubs.
It was Grian’s words that made Scar finally move, ignoring any damage he’d taken and pulling out a crossbow. Cleo had already gotten a few good hits on Grian, and he aimed to finish the man off.“You killed brother!” Scar called after Grian, choking back a sob. “You killed brother!” He loaded his crossbow quicker than he ever had, prepared to run after the avian and hunt him down, even if it killed him.
A hand was being placed on his shoulder, causing him to tense and whip his head around. Cleo’s newfound grip on him tightened, holding him back. The zombie was absolutely pissed, a primal rage shining in her eyes, but they knew there was no use in losing another person.
“Scar it wasn’t him!” She said, beginning to slowly drag him back towards their base. “Grian didn’t kill Bdubs!”
“Then who did!?” He yelled, breaking out of her hold, still prepared to give chase, despite the fact that Grian was long gone and safe with allies for the time being.
“Impulse did!” Cleo pointed upwards towards Skynet. Scar looked at where she was showing him and he caught a glimpse of a person, who was absolutely Impulse, only identifiable by the yellow and black suit, running back towards his teammates further down the sky path. Scar had felt his rage calm slightly, since it had been Impulse, who deserved a kill on Bdubs the most. That didn’t mean Scar wouldn’t hunt him down later, though. He quietly watched the sky above, as if looking out for more TNT minecarts, despite no one being above him.
He followed Cleo into their base after a little while, knowing he was an easy target just standing there. But the tower felt cold and empty without Bdubs, and Scar wasn’t sure how much more of the emptiness he could take. The emptiness was inside him too, not just around him, and it was pounding in his chest just as loudly as his heartbeat and hurt just as much as the arrow wound littered across his skin.
Cleo sat at their dining table, in Bdubs chair, holding his clock. He sat down across from her, not caring how this wasn’t his seat either, despite the family’s weird ritual of always using their assigned seats. If he looked closely at Cleo’s hand he could see the way she clutched the clock, holding the item in a death grip. If the zombie gripped harder she would likely break or dent the beloved item, and they looked tempted too. Scar couldn’t blame her, after all.
That very clock had been given to Bdubs by Impulse. Giving Bdubs a clock usually meant something important. It meant love, loyalty, a promise to protect, a promise to never slay the gifter or slay on the gifter's behalf. Scar knew this well, he’d given Bdubs a clock and told him to kill Impulse in the first place, way back when. He knew what giving a clock meant to Bdubs because he’d basically invented it. So he knew how cruel it looked, for Impulse to give Bdubs a clock and then kill him anyways. Unless the clock had meant Bdubs wouldn’t slay Impulse, that was the only explanation that made sense under current context. He knew Bdubs was a betrayer, he’d allied with him knowing that. But it still hurt when it happened, and he at least wanted to know why and how that damn clock fit into all of this, and if it contributed to said betrayals.
Though Impulse didn’t look like it he was competitive, he could hold a grudge. And Scar didn’t want to consider the Bdubs had been making more agreements with TIES, so he just assumed Impulse had forgotten what the clock meant and let his old grudge get the better of him. Maybe it didn’t matter though, in the end, maybe Cleo renaming the clock had changed its meaning to Bdubs, maybe he hadn’t cared about it in the end. Scar didn’t know though, none of them did, because Bdubs was dead.
He barely even noticed when Scott stopped by, or remembered why he was there. All he did was watch blankly as Cleo greeted him, Scott murmuring words of comfort and empathy for their loss. Scar’s gaze just stayed fixed on that damn clock, until he couldn’t take the emptiness anymore and left to try and regain some time.
His next clearest memory from his final hours was dying.
Grief made everything a blur, but he was pretty sure he lost some time, then gained some after leaving their tower. He even jokingly tried to squeeze more time out of Scott, hoping he’d underestimated their allies' generosity. He hadn’t though, and Scott had refused to give up time as Scar expected. It didn’t matter though, because his allies were climbing the ladder to Skynet a few days later.
He assumed the three, Cleo, Scott and Pearl, were going after TIES, as that was the only group majorly avoiding the ground. Scar was about to follow, a familiar feeling of bloodlust shooting through his veins. The red part of him, the part that knew nothing of common sense and only spoke in blood, itched to kill Impulse, to avenge his teammate that didn’t really need avenging. He might snap Etho’s neck while he was at it too, just for the principle of it all.
Pearl pushed Cleo off the ladder.
Pearl killed his mom, and then they were fighting, all of them were, everyone indicted into it by Cleo charging at Pearl as soon as she respawned. Scar thrusted himself into the thick of, swinging his sword and placing down lava with reckless abandon, barely missing his allies. He wished he still had Mrs. Puffy, the little fish would have poisoned quite a few people here.
He choked on his own scream, feeling a sword entering his back.
Scar hastily shoved a small amount of food into his mouth, hoping it would quickly heal the life threatening gash now on his backside. He turned back to see a small and very familiar little avian behind him, blood drenched sword being ripped from Scar’s flesh so its owner could come back for more.
“You can’t stab a man in the back!” Scar yelled, lamely thrusting his sword in Grian’s direction. He was pretty badly injured, and knew this fight could very well be his last if he wasn’t careful. He started backing away, almost running backwards and stumbling to the grass. He fumbled with every offensive item he had, prepared to throw any of them at the other in a moment's notice.
“Course I can!” The avian screamed back, yelping in pain as he failed to dodge the lava Scar placed down, before quickly scooping the molten rock back into its bucket. Scar should’ve known that wouldn't work, he knew Grian wouldn’t stop till he was dead, even if his skin was literally burning.
He watched as Grian just kept coming at him, swinging his weapon wildly and grazing his opponents skin every time. Scar knew he wouldn’t win this, there was a hole in his back for god’s sake, but the least he could do was try to dodge, try to back away and maybe live for a few seconds longer. Maybe Cleo would win her fight, maybe she’d save him, maybe-
A strangled sound came from Scar’s throat, the sharp and familiar pain of being impaled flooding through him. He looked down at Grian, whose sword was currently puncturing his torso, blood splattered all over his nice white shirt. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to wash it out later.
“I’m sorry, Scar, I’m sorry..” The avian muttered, voice coming out in an almost sob. It made no sense why Grian was almost sobbing, since they weren’t allies, unless he’d realized what he’d done already. Scar kinda wished others weren’t here, fighting a few feet away from the two. The moment felt like something only for them, because they were probably the only ones who knew what it truly meant.
Scar knew Grian was thinking of the same thing, of a hot desert sun and a ring of cacti, the entrance to it sealed by fire. It had been the last time Grian had killed him like this, afterall. It was the last time the blonde had uttered those exact words he spoke now. It was hard not to remember the desert most times with Grian, and impossible to forget now. They were back in the cactus ring again, and the ending stayed the same. It always ended this way, with them, the universe wouldn’t let it not.
“Three.” Scar muttered in return, head falling downwards slightly, his body no longer able to support its weight. He let the thoughts of desert sun and cacti fill his brian, hoping to relive some of the good memories as he went.
“What?” Grian whispered, barely audible. His voice was hoarse and full of bewilderment as he looked up at the taller, the man he was currently killing.
“Three.” Scar repeated, more softly this time. “That’s how many times you’ve killed me like this.” He let their foreheads bump together gently, watching through a half lidded gaze as a look of horror spread across Grian’s features. “You owe me some kills, songbird.”
With as much strength as he could muster, Scar slowly pulled Grian’s sword out of his body with a bittersweet smile, hearing how it clanked to the ground as its owner lost his grip on it. Scar caught himself with an arm as he fell, blood spewing from his mouth and onto the grass below him. Shame, he hadn’t wanted to ruin their lawn with even more blood, but he doubted Cleo would have much use for it now.
“ SCAR!” Cleo’s scream was the last thing he heard, but he didn’t look to his ally during his last few moments. He looked at Grian instead, capturing the other mans still horrified expression in his memory. It was almost the same as the last time, almost. He lacked the tear streaks this time.
See you later, G. He thought, then the world went dark, and his timer ran out.
GoodTimeWithScar ran out of time!
Scar sat up with a jolt, breath ragged as he tried to gasp in air he didn’t need, air he could no longer breathe, and trying to take breaths he shouldn’t be able to anymore. He was dead, and ghosts didn’t exactly have lungs.
Muffled voices were filling the air around him but he can’t hear what they’re saying. All Scar hears is ringing, and the sound of his unnecessary breaths. He thinks the rapid intake of air is a gut reaction, something he does out of habit, heart thumping loudly in his chest. Someone shakes his shoulder, grabs it. He barely feels it, and all the action does is remind him of how Cleo grabbed his shoulder, holding him back from Grian after he killed Bdubs. She should’ve let him go, they should’ve let Scar kill him. Maybe Grian would be the one sitting here now, instead of him.
His eyes stayed focused on the grass below him as Scar finally, after what felt like a lifetime, slowly regained his composure. His breathing gradually slowed, and he was able to hear the people worriedly crowding around him.
“Scar?” Bdubs said softly, possibly the softest he’d ever said his name. Scar looked up from the ground, seeing his friends still beat up face looking at him, brows furrowed and his mouth in a tight line. Without thinking he pulled the other in, clutching the smaller to his chest tightly. Bdubs said nothing as Scar hugged him, holding him in a death grip and probably digging his nails in a little too hard. He just wrapped his arms around Scar in return, letting Scar bury his face into the crook of his neck. It was then Scar realized he’d been crying, feeling the fabric under his face dampen.
He let Bdubs go slowly after a minute, taking a few more ragged and unneeded breaths to help finish calming himself. He looked around tentatively, slightly curious about the other voices he’d been unable to feel during his panic.
Skizz sat a few inches away from Bdubs giving Scar a worried, yet kind look. Tango was crouching on Bdubs’s right, tail flicking back and forth and threatening to catch the grass on fire. Well, maybe. Scar wasn’t sure things could catch fire in the afterlife. Joel and Jimmy sat a good few feet away, towards the edge of the mountain they were apparently standing on. It was a familiar mountain, one that Scar recognized instantly, as he’d spent the past few weeks living on it. The same mountain he’d died on.
The thought almost made him spiral right back into panic. It was noticeable too, as Bdubs went to grab his shoulder again. But Scar wasn’t going to panic, because he was going to ignore that he’d died here, and the spot he’d died at. He decided to focus on the swaying of Tango’s tail instead, to focus on the former Bad Boys in the distance.
Joel’s face was shimmering with concern, and it was the most worried Scar had ever seen the man look. He felt a bit proud that he had gotten ever tough and masking his emotions Joel to look so visibly worried about another person. That also just meant his panic attack had been that bad, which wasn’t something he should be proud about. Jimmy had looked as worried as his teammate before, so the expression wasn’t anything new for the blonde. Scar always felt bad about making Jimmy worry though, as he tended to pout and looked like a kicked puppy.
When he was ready Scar slowly began meeting his friends eyes, and he was sure he looked absolutely terrible right now.
“Skizz.” Scar muttered when his eyes landed on the other again. “You covered yourself up again!”
Loud laughter followed his little statement, Skizzle clutching his stomach as he bent over with a fit of giggles. Scar leaned back on his hands, smiling as his friend's joy filled the previously silent air.
“Didn’t cover up on purpose!” Skizz managed ro respond through his giggles. “Showed up here like this, with the suit over my shorts, but I did unbutton the shirt!” Scar smirked, watching as Skizz’s eye, both blue once more, roamed from his face to his chest. “You’re still looking good though, bud!”
“Why thank you!” Scar’s smirk widened, flexing his pecs a bit to show off.
“STOP OGLING MY BROTHER!!” Bdubs yelled, causing everyone, including Scar, to fall back into a fit of laughter for a few minutes longer.
“W-we can stop with the brother bit, i think.” Scar chuckled, pulling Bdubs into a side hug. “I saw you ogling me once or twice, so don’t act innocent either!” He added, enjoying how Bdubs became flustered, pushing away from the taller. Scar laughed again, panic forgotten as tears of joy began to form in his eyes.
“Hey” Tango asked, sliding down in the grass next to Scar. “You wanna explain why…all that happened or…?” The blazeborn trailed off, giving Scar an opportunity to decline. He wouldn't take the offer, not wanting to leave any of his friends in the dark. “Yeah, sure.” Scar muttered, beckoning Jimmy and Joel closer so they could hear his explanation better. It also gave him an extra few seconds to think, to calm his nerves and prevent more panic.
The two Bad Boys gave each other a hesitant glance, before slowly moving to join the group. Scar let everyone position themselves in a semi-circle around him before he spoke. Tango stayed next to him, while Bdubs went to his right. The other three remained close as well, barely sitting a foot away. Tango’s tail flicked next to his backside, and he was grateful for how comforting the warmth was.
“We were allying with Pearl and Scott for a little bit, trying to kill TIES i think.” He began his explanation slowly, hoping the two deceased TIES members would hold no ill will for things he did when still alive. “Pearl hit Cleo off a ladder, which killed her, then a fight broke out.”
“BigB and Grian came to help Pearl…and Grian, well, he got me. Sword right through my chest” Scar ended his explanation with a humorless chuckle, resisting the urge to curl up in a ball.
The others seemed to get it for the most part, Scar watching as Skizz’s gaze filled with sympathy, and Joel once again looked worried for another human being. Jimmy and Bdubs muttering words of comfort and understanding. The latter remarked about how Grian had betrayed the family, after they called the Ba dBoys cousins and everything.
“Speaking of the family..” Tango spoke up again, his gaze turning somber. “Mom’s still down there.”
The five around him fell silent for a moment, as if waiting for Cleo to spawn in on top of them. Literally on top of them, since they had yet to move off the world's only spawn point since Scar's arrival.
“She’ll be here soon enough.” Scar said, watching the grass sway in the wind. If it wasn’t for the warmth of Bdubs, who still sat close to him, he would’ve thought he was talking to the empty, silent air. “They’ve gotten quite bloodthirsty down there.”
______________________________________________
Cleo died very soon after Scar, being taken less than five minutes later. Shame, she’d gotten so far last time only for BigB’s group to take her out. Why did her deaths always come back to that man? Well this time was a bit of stretch, she had to admit. They knew they just wanted something to be bitter over, and poor BigB was an easy scapegoat. Not much to be bitter over when it came to this death, as it was a fair one that happened in a fight that her team was never winning, not in a million years.
They spawned in just as like the previous two had, as they’d died. Cleo was silent as she arrived almost on top of the little group, just as they had predicted she would. It was a little eerie, how she perfectly molded into the silence of the afterlife. How she and Scott jumped on Grian as soon as he killed Scar, not even hesitating as they fought in near perfect sync with each other. They hadn’t even screamed when Pearl ripped an axe through they’re already decaying chest, the zombie had just let herself fall to the earth and let it reclaim her once more, for the thousandth time. They hoped Scott got away okay, but he probably had, so there was nothing to worry about. If he didn’t then it didn’t matter, for Scott had plenty of time to spare compared to some people.
“Cleo!” The zombie was brought out of their thoughts by a familiar voice, and her heart practically leaped out of her chest in joy at the sound of it.
“Bdubs!” She exclaimed, letting the smaller person wrap her in a tight hug. Next thing they knew Scar was wrapping his arms around both of them, squeezing them so tight that it would hurt to breathe if they could. The trio had only been separated for ages, but it felt like an eternity. The zombie let herself sink into the warmth of her little found family as they were at least reunited.
When Cleo looked around she was greeted with Skizz’s bright smile beaming down at her. “Hey dancing partner!” He said, and they smiled at the reference to their little early game exchange. “Hi Skizz!” She laughed, returning his energy. The zombie noticed Joel and Jimmy standing off to the side a little, each of them giving her waves of greeting, before her attention shifted again, her two kids finally letting go of her.
Once the joy at being reunited had subsided the first thing Cleo did was give Bdubs her most withering glare, causing him to shrink under her gaze. “We need to have a talk, mister.” She said in the most angry mom tone she could manage. It seemed to be pretty good, as Skizz, Jimmy and Joel backed away instantly. The trio returned to their cliff side, content to keep themselves out of family matters.
Scar looked between the two of them, paying no mind to Tango, who was still standing a few inches away from the family. Cleo guessed he could stay, since he had plenty of knowledge on what they wanted to discuss. Betrayal, specifically of the Bdubs kind.
“What the hell was all that?” Cleo asked, assuming Bdubs knew what she was talking about. They assumed correctly, if his cower of shame said anything. “Why were you prancing around two alliances like that? Like it was Third Life again?” They didn’t mean to snap, but it came out like that anyway. She was still a bit hurt that Bdubs would betray her, or all people, after the Crastle, after everything they’d gone through together. Clearly that life had meant far more to her than it had to him.
“I’m sorry, Cleo.” He muttered, using her real name instead of calling her mom for the first time in ages. “I shouldn’t have done that.” He seemed sincere about the apology, and Cleo knew when he was lying. Mostly because Bdubs was terrible at it.
They cast a glance at Scar, trying to gauge his opinion on the situation. The brunette looked like he was listening, but his gaze was anywhere but their faces. Despite the earlier comfort he was still hung up on his last death, and wouldn’t care about Bdubs traitorous side as long as he heard the man's apology. Tango also had a face of indifference, and Cleo assumed the blazeborn had already settled his differences with Bdubs.
“It was more of an Etho thing than a TIES thing.” Tango muttered once he saw Cleo looking at him. She sighed internally as soon as Etho’s name was said. “No offense Bdubs, but none of us really wanted to keep you after the past few games.”
“That's fair.” Bdubs muttered.
“Just don’t ever do that to me again.” Cleo said sternly, flicking his forehead. “Or Scar, don’t do that to Scar ever again. He doesn’t need more traitors on his mind.” They added. Bdubs nodded vigorously at her words, so fast he looked like one of those bobble head toys. Cleo was sure his head would oop right off if he kept doing that, but Scar interrupted before her theory could be tested.
“Speaking of Etho,” He said, looking towards the edge of the mountain Cleo just noticed they had been sitting on. “Wanna go see how far he gets.”
“Oh please. ” Bdubs agreed. “I need to call him washed up more.” Tango snickered beside him. “Let’s go!” The blazeborn called, walking over towards where the other three ghosts were sitting.
None of them knew why they did what they did, it was just something they’d spawned in knowing. Cleo followed her friends as they jumped off the spawn mountain, laughing all the way down. It was instical knowledge that jumping off the mountain would place them back in the world below, allowing them to watch the final few days of the server as spectors, haunting the still living players below. The afterlife seemed to be the clouds itself, but the four of them paid no mind to that as they exited.
Jimmy watched them leave with mild amusement, Skizz and Joel leaning against him once more, as if nothing had changed since their arrivals to the ghostly plaine. The three were left in the silence again, which was quiet and kind compared to the feelings of worry forming in Jimmy’s gut. Worry for his friends, as he feared they would see something they didn’t like.
The living were going to upset them, it was inevitable. They had no care for the qualms of the dead. Not in games like these, not this time.
#limited life jimmy#limited life smp#limited life#limited life cleo#limited life joel#limited life skizz#limited life scar#limited life tango#limited life bdubs#ron.writing#ron.fic#desert duo#crastle duo#a lil bit#silence after death
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Family movies often have two secondary comic relief characters that barely understand what’s going on, to act as comedic foils to the main characters. In its early days, Dreamworks decided in its contest with Disney, to make a movie about Those Two Guys.
Hence, The Road to El Dorado, a comedic (familyish?) animated take on The Man Who Would Be King set in Mesoamerica right before the Spanish Conquest.
The Road to El Dorado tells the story of Miguel and Tulio, two hustlers from Spain that find a map to the City of Gold and (accidentally!) stowaway on Cortes’s ship to the New World. Upon arrival to El Dorado, they are mistaken for gods. Being con men, they roll with it, though keeping up the charade becomes pretty difficult the longer they stay, even with the help of Chell, a native dissident.
There is a persistent rumor that the movie was originally conceived with the leads being a gay couple, and that Chell was added later as Tulio’s love interest to please censors. That’s not actually true, and the earliest work we’ve seen on the movie includes Chell. The Internet loves to roll with these things, though, and as TV Tropes notes, Kenneth Brannagh (who voices Miguel) apparently added openly affectionate bits to his dialogue, calling Tulio ‘darling’ and such. This was cut from the movie, but somehow made it onto the subtitles of some home releases?
It’s undeniable that the leads have very good chemistry, though. They managed this by putting Kline and Brannagh in the same recording booth. That sounds like an obvious choice, but you’d be amazed how seldomly this is done, probably due to scheduling issues with voice actors. Usually you can’t tell when it happens or not (though sometimes you can–look at how both Geralt and Letho say the name ‘Louis’ in The Witcher III while talking to each other, and see what I mean). The result is a very believable relationship between the two characters. You believe that these two have been through a lot. They’re loads of fun to watch throughout almost the entire film, and they bounce off each other very well.
Wikipedia claims that the gods that Miguel and Tulio are mistaken for, and who appear on the art for El Dorado, are the Hero Twins. I don’t know that there’s any indication that’s the case, other than there are two of them and they’re Mesoamaerican.
Also, Jim Cummings? Is Cortes? I know he’s an experienced voice actor with a ton of range, but Winnie the Pooh is voicing Cortes and that’s darn weird.
[Random side note: like, okay, I’m not a huge fan of Cortes, but in real life he didn’t sail from Spain to go conquer Mexico. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to conquer Mexico. He went and did that on his own, much to the frustration of his superiors.]
On the subject of characters: Chell is… interesting. Like, okay, she’s an indigenous woman with her own goals, who is clever, and is pretty forward about getting what she wants. On the other, she’s quite blatantly designed and animated to be fanservice, and there are times when she comes across as a stereotype of a Spicy Latina, and I’m not thrilled about that. This would have been helped, I think, if we learned more about her backstory.
Random character note: The armadillo, Bibo, was supposedly (I can’t find a source on this other than TV Tropes) originally going to be revealed as some sort of divine figure, and explained why the characters are so lucky. That got cut from the film.
The movie WAS originally planned to be a more mature film–strands of which remained. Remember Prince of Egypt? The idea was that animated movies didn’t have to be for kids, so The Road to El Dorado was thought of as a way to cover heavy topics and ideas, making an epic film with some humor that just happened to be animated. They decided to tone it down to be more marketable, and I’m wondering if that was the smart choice. The movie IS quite fun, I think, and I love watching it. That being said, there are obviously more mature jokes and bits in there (Tulio and Chell have what seems to be an implied, off-screen sex scene?), and the topic of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica wasn’t at the time really seen as a popular topic for kids.
This movie was also supposedly hell to work on, with constant changes in direction, script, and style. I think it shows in some places. There are a couple of rushed elements–Tzekel-Kan comes to mind as an underdeveloped figure other than being a religious nutjob who wants to sacrifice people. I’m unclear why the people of El Dorado followed his directions if apparently none of them liked the human sacrifice thing. And the final act of the film feels very, very rushed: Tzekel-Kan meets up with Cortes and leads the conquistadores to El Dorado, but the heroes find this out from a guy we’ve never seen before rush up and say that he saw them coming. The people of El Dorado immediately come up with a plan and enact it. Seems a few steps were missing there?
TV Tropes claims sequels were planned, though I don’t know if I’ve seen any proof about it. Maybe that explains what happened at the end? They planned to address it/do more with it in sequels?
I don’t know. I’m bummed that this movie wasn’t successful enough for sequels, though I am quite happy with what we did get. It’s an incredibly fun movie. There’s a REASON you keep seeing gifs of it online–it’s quotable, and hilarious.
The music is magnificent. They got Hans Zimmer, Elton John, and Tim Rice working together on the soundtrack, I suspect from trying to make something as epic as The Lion King. They don’t quite reach that level of awesomeness, in part because the movie isn’t as serious as that one, but it is very nice to listen to.
I love the art in this movie? At that point, Mesoamerica was not a topic pop culture liked to do anything with other than human sacrifices, so looking at how colorful the movie is… well, it’s fantastic. And even before they reach El Dorado, the landscape images we see of the jungles and mountains that Miguel and Tulio explore are wonderful to see. I want more animated films in settings like this.
It’s a memorable movie, and a fun movie, and a very funny movie. I really wish it was more well-known outside of Internet circles, because it’s quite good, if not the epic film that was originally planned to be. Maybe that would have been a great film; however, I’m alright with the film we got.
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Its finally here!! After a very LOOOOOOOOOONG wait, the Semifinals of Rainbow Vision episode has finally arrived and begun, even though we already had the soundtrack released early we still couldnt find the songs of Royal Three called Spotlight and the one from Kingsley Boys, i mean even Those Darn Dolls ( which characters and song seem like a RH version of Barbie Girl) have their song released and even though the Rainbow Divas and Neon Shadow songs werent released as part of the official ost we could still find them. Why are they the only 2 bands without their song released or found?
But enough about that, now back to Rainbow Vision.
I dont think Coco Vanderbalt is the only one obsssesed with Glitch's singing voice. I couldnt stop listening to it.
I also loved Meena Fleur song and choreography, we need to see more Bollywood on cartoons and US films these days.
I liked Natasha Zima's outfit, compact mirror stage entrance and perfume fog idea, but it wasnt fair what happened to her on stage and im worried for her and Shadow High chances of being selected. And she didnt deserve that after all the work and help she did to complete her song in Write to Rock.
Also, im worried for bot Shadow High and Rainbow high chances of getting into the Final Three. Especially Shadpw high since with Natasha's chances getting low their only hope and Shadow High singers left are Neon Shadow. And makes me wonder who started the sabotaging war all those seven years ago. Now things are getting tense and unexpected. Makes me wonder if this will be the return of Project Eclipse, especially with the sabotage starting.
Also i really want to see more Drama between these characters. ( will use a list since pics limit in posts are no more than 10)
Luna and Sunny Madison
Gabriella Icelly and Finn Rosado
Avery Styles and Ainsley Slater
Amaya Raine and River Kendall
#rainbow high#shadow high#natasha zima#meena fleur#veronica storm#naomi storm#holly de'vious#laurel de'vious#glitch
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@doodleshrimps bandit au Drabble that has been on my mind for a few days now( this is my first Drabble so sorry if it’s not good
Just imagine one of the Bandits throws the sherif badge at Fwhip. His confusion morphs into horror as he realizes that the badge is stained with dried blood. This was Jimmy’s badge. Fwhip’s breath shuddered as his head snapped to the Bandit that has thrown the badge. “Wha…What?” He edged closer to the badge as his heart started to pick up rapid pace. The bandit just laughed. “What’s wrong Deputy? I thought that you really wanted the sheriff badge?” “Oh sorry, I mean, ex deputy, with you responsible for the early “retirement” of the past sherif.” Fwhip immediately froze at that “retirement? Where’s Jimmy?! What have you done to him?!?” The bandits immediately stoped laughing and just looked at him as if he had just grown a second head. “What WE did. Oh no, we did nothing. Don’t really know much, all I know is that the sherif became lost to the skulk after a warden attack, a warden that had been that had been released by the deputy” “What do you mean “lost to the skulk!?!” Fwhip was hyperventilating at this moment, he know what they meant, but he prayed to everything that it wasn’t true, that if Jimmy had……. It hadn’t been because of…….! “Didn’t you know little goblin? Surprising since your people coexist with the skulk it’self, when something dies near skulk, it’s soul joins the skulk, spreading it and the soul seizes to exist” Fwhip felt as if he was being strangled, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at that bloodied badge again. Suddenly his mind flashed with memories of Jimmy, the first time they met, when he became Deputy 2, all those moment up until he made the worst mistake of his life, when he released that darned Warden into Tumblr town, as a prank, and worst of all, the look of utter betrayal and despair on Jimmy’s face, before he killed the warden and collapsedc the last time Fwhip would ever see Jimmy, was as he laid unresponsive, covered in skulk, and heavily injured, because of him. Fwhip lowered his head until his forehead touched the could stone floor. He looked at the bloodied sherif badge one more time. Before he screamed.
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[Image Description: Four screenshots from Fate/Grand Order showing in order, (1) the Bond Level Up screen for Assassin Mata Hari, where her Bond Level has gone up from 9 to 10; (2) the “Craft Essence Extracted” screen that shows Mata Hari’s Max Bond Craft Essence of “Worthless Jewel”; (3) a screenshot of Mata Hari’s Servant card, with emphasis on all 10 of her bond diamonds in the level screen being filled and about to be enhanced to Bond 11; and (4) a “Bond Level Limit Released” screen that shows Mata Hari’s Bond Level limit being broken to reach Level 11. End Description.]
It's been a while since my last bond achievement (and this one happened on July 18, darn work fatigue), and to make a milestone like this with one of my first Servants after the tutorial (I checked, I summoned Mata Hari a week after starting the game), it feels more meaningful.
So, with yet another song in mind, here's a story for one of my first Assassins. Thankie, Margaretha.
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Mata Hari already knew she didn't have much compared to the other Servants in her class. Even for an Assassin, the distinct lack of Presence Concealment as a skill was one of many things that made her not even close to a good fighter, so why wouldn't she give up on her wish for the Holy Grail?
She never was able to achieve a happy family life when she was alive. Trying again as a Servant felt like a faraway pipe dream at best.
But when looking into the teary, star-filled eyes of the girl named Vy Duong, she started to reconsider.
Maybe it was the first few days Vy had come to Mata Hari in the middle of the night, scared from the occasional nightmare and wanting to talk about makeup and jewelry experience to fall back asleep. Maybe it was those moments in the early morning soon after, when Mata Hari would find the girl sleepy with unbrushed hair; how the simple act of easing tangles out of those brown strands started to become a comfort to her too. Or perhaps it was when Chaldea had tried to save Paul Bunyan, and even when facing that other Mata Hari, Vy had hugged her so much harder since. Or even in Salem, when Vy asked her oddly-timed questions and even cried over her faked death because Mata Hari meant something to her.
It felt like a glimmer of hope in the first time in forever.
It's why Mata Hari couldn't find herself doing anything but smiling shakily once a rainbow flame is being offered her way in the Enhancement Center of Novum Chaldea, the mana warm and soft just like the girl who summoned her. She should've known it was coming, but seeing it was different from imagining it.
"...You... you really are serious about this, hun?"
Even when a little taller, a little tougher, Vy's smile didn't change from their first meeting — appearing bright and happy as she held the Bond Chalice up to Mata Hari's eye level. "Aye. You've been with me for almost forever, Margaretha," was the warm response back, the words seemingly making the rainbow flame glow even brighter between them. "And I'd like you to stay with me. You're one of my honorary big sisters and I love you, Margaretha. Even if," a self-deprecating giggle left her lips, "I'm kinda out of Holy Grails right now to give to you at the moment, you're still on the top of the gifting list once we restock. Because it's you and I wanna thank you."
The jewels in Mata Hari's arms felt like nothing once the words registered in the back of her mind, and looking into those star-filled brown eyes had her own start to itch. "Honey..."
"Aye." Even when her own arms started to shake, Vy carefully put the Bond Chalice on one of the nearby tables to reach over and take Mata Hari's hands in hers to squeeze. "I hope it's not too much...? Because you really have helped me a lot, Margaretha. I feel like I couldn't have gotten through everything without you, so I couldn't help but love you. And I love you very very much."
It takes Mata Hari a moment to realize the worthless jewels in her arms are falling to the ground with loud clink clink noises akin to rain, her vision blurring as she tugged on her Master's hands. Because why would she need them now? Vy merely giggles once she's tucked into a hug, her nose resting against Mata Hari's neck in a clear sign of trust as the first sob leaves Magaretha's lips.
This is what I always wanted.
"I... I love you too, Vy. Honey. I love you too. Very very much."
"Aye!"
#mata hari (fate)#mastersona vy#bond 10#short story#fate grand order#writing#passing days#unedited#long post#nice things#happy things#thank you mata hari#you really helped me a lot when i started the game#and even now i'm still glad you live#so thank you
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Made Marion June Development Update: Schedule Edition, Straight Talk
[I decided to post our June dev update early, because I have some difficult things to say, but I hope this will get us all on the same page about what's happened with Made Marion since our Kickstarter.]
Hi everyone! I've decided to check in early with a report on our development schedule and some straight talk on some tough stuff. I hope this will help us all get on the same page and be excited instead of worried about Made Marion's development process.
First of all, thank you all so much for your magnificent patience and concern! This is definitely not how I wanted Made Marion's development to go or how it would have gone if things were still the way they were for our team back when we ran our Kickstarter. We have been seriously kicked in the teeth repeatedly, and I'd like to offer a better explanation and our proposed solutions and revised schedule.
I'm also sorry for the lack of pretty pictures this month! There will be many available very soon when Robin's beta test is ready to go!
The Problems:
1. As of fall 2021, things were going pretty well! We'd just run a beta for Made Marion's prologue and my route outlines were shaping up nicely. Then things began to go wrong. I had some issues at home that took up my attention, and then my darn town flooded. Drat it, ok, lost a couple months, but we can get back on track in 2022...
2. Then 2022, for various reasons was a disaster for pretty much our entire team (I'm only going to talk about my problems here, because those are the ones it is mine to share). It ended up being basically a wash for development. Why wasn't that obvious from our development updates? Because of my brain. I contracted Covid in January of 2022 and a few weeks later, the Long Covid symptoms started. I was near-narcoleptic for several months. It was scary and embarrassing and I didn't know how to talk about it. So I was as positive as I could be. Around May, my body started to recover. I was able to live more normally and I figured that meant I could get back to development.
What I didn't know and couldn't effectively communicate was that the brain fog was still there. I was writing, but not in a straight line. I wrote scenes for all the love interests here and there, scribbled a bunch in my notebooks, but a full, logical route for Robin wasn't happening. And the problem with your brain not working right is that it's very difficult to understand that your brain isn't working right. I thought things were cool! So it appeared that I wasn't being honest about the status of development without me realizing it did or even fully understanding that development wasn't going well. I'm very sorry about that.
3. Around November of 2022 my brain started working better again, but I was demoralized and felt like I'd forgotten how to write. I "eased" myself back into writing with a huge fic, along with finally getting back to putting words together for Robin. I wrote words! Lots of words! Good words! Yeah! We pulled together as a team and got our enhanced demo out, which was a lot of work but was super exciting.
4. Feeling guilty about the wash that was 2022 and excited because of how much verbiage I'd put out, I created an ambitious schedule toward an Early Access release of all the Sherwood routes this fall. It was based on the amount of words I'd been putting out, so I was convinced it was doable. Some of you wrote in to Tumblr with concerns that it was overly ambitious. You were wonderful and primarily concerned for my well-being. You were also correct.
The Solutions:
1. I need to accept that I have a disabling condition that currently has no cure and that, although it has greatly improved since last year, means that I can't always work at my peak capacity. This is super tough for a high achiever with general anxiety. I hate even talking about it, but I want to be as transparent with y'all as I can be.
2. The schedule: I still wish to keep a relatively ambitious target schedule for the remainder of development. I think it is helping us all Get Shit Done(tm). I just need to be a little less ambitious. I still plan to release Early Access this fall and I'm still hoping for October (which was always tentative), but November may be more realistic. It depends on how well my body and mind cooperate over the summer, and on the individual situations of our artists. Early Access will launch with Robin and Will's routes. John is going to need to take more time. It will be worth it, because he will get the full attention and care that his wonderful self deserves.
3. The weekly mini-dev updates: I have started posting mini-dev updates on Mondays on Tumblr. This is the place to go if you want a more granular report of the progress we've been making, and I think they're going to be very helpful for maintaining clarity and helping keep us all on-task.
4. Beta: I have more detailed information about Beta in the Kickstarter version of this update.
Conclusion:
Looking back from here, our original release date estimate from Kickstarter was too ambitious even under ideal circumstances. That was my development inexperience speaking. The rest was a lot of IRL horribleness. However, the gang is back together now, and the game is now, actually, truly, progressing nicely once more. Going forward, I'll be able to post much more concrete progress and I think doing so as I write each route is a better choice than posting a bunch of specific completion dates that we may not meet. You'll be able to see our progress as it happens instead.
Notes and Goodies:
Robin's new expressions are in! I love the way he turned out and Arrapso (a fellow perfectionist, err, high achiever) seems happier with him now as well. Awesome! I will post some previews on Tumblr soon, once I have coded a few of the new expressions into the game client.
John's role-playing choice has been re-configured a bit. I was previously calling it "conflict or compromise," but I was getting stuck on the "conflict" part because I didn't want Marion and John to be fighting all the time if you made those choices. It didn't seem like fun, or particularly in-character for John. I am now calling it "challenge or compromise." Because John is kind and wonderful and protective but is also traumatized and stubborn and overprotective. Sometimes he needs to be challenged, and it won't always lead to an argument. I think this makes for more interesting choices and for John to have more room to be John.
I coded in Will's first use of his genuine smile expression (you get to confront him about his attitude early on in Robin's route) and am happy to report that it is SUPER EFFECTIVE.
For any of you Ren'py devs out there, I continue to evangelize matrixcolor. It's relatively new, but you should absolutely check out what it can do. Previously, I used it to tint our characters a bit so they blended in better with evening and night backgrounds. I also used it to sepia-tone memory sequences. I've now used it to make images slowly disappear via transparency and turn our blood animation green instead of red for... spoiler purposes. It is so easy and flexible, you should absolutely play with it!
I'll be reporting in later this month on our Beta test status!
#made marion#made marion dev update#tough stuff#Brains and nervous systems are super duper weird and modern medicine doesn't have a good handle on them yet
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The Next Animated Blockbuster Heavies
In my 6-part series - of sorts - on animated movie blockbusters and how the Top 10 highest-earning animated movies of all-time changed rapidly over the course of 25+ years... I asked... What's next, then?
What cracks the Top 10 again?
Last year's MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU came close with over $930m, which was down from what the first MINIONS spin-off of the DESPICABLE ME movies made in 2015, in a pre-COVID world. Families have certainly become choosier with these movies, as not all of them can - nor should - be box office smashes. I'm glad that movies like THE BAD GUYS can make about $250m worldwide and be considered a success, not something to throw away.
In fact, we're seeing similar movement on the live-action front of things now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe behemoths are starting to dry up (note the abysmal legs on films like DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA), and there's value seen in small endeavors - many of which in the horror genre - such as BARBARIAN, SMILE, TICKET TO PARADISE, THE MENU, VIOLENT NIGHT, M3GAN, and COCAINE BEAR. Smaller series, like the CREED films, keep that train chugging. It's like we're in the '90s and early '00s again, seeing these little bread-n-butter movies being the real success stories.
Animated movies, depending on the budget, are in a similar frame. Universal has been smart with budgets: DreamWorks no longer spends more than $90m on what they make, Illumination has always kept costs below $100m, and yet their movies still look pretty darn cinematic-level. Sony Animation has done the same, along with Warner Animation Group and now Paramount. Most of the films coming out are doing fun things without a Disney or Pixar-sized budget, and it's no surprise that a lot of the profitable films are the likes of THE BAD GUYS and DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS. All sub-$300m grossing movies that are still fine because they didn't cost so goddamn much...
Disney Animation and Pixar, in addition to misjudged release strategies under the stewardship of former CEO Bob Chapek, have yet to see a genuine animated success I feel. SOUL, LUCA, and TURNING RED all went straight to Disney+. SOUL made sense because no vaccine was out in late 2020, and even LUCA made sense because mid-2021 was before the Delta and Omicron variants, and many kids still weren't vaccinated. TURNING RED... Even then... TURNING RED I still feel would've made BAD GUYS numbers at best. $250m worldwide against the typical Pixar $150m+ budget would've been a massive bomb. Again, that family hesitancy and peoples' money being very tight. Ditto the Disney Animation movies. RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON did the day-and-date thing; theaters for those who were willing to go, Disney+ $30 digital file (until it was free **three** months later). A company spat with Cinemark kept the film from playing everywhere across the country, so RAYA didn't do adequately as a theatrical title. I mean, it did fine for a film playing amidst an ongoing pandemic and the vaccines not being entirely out yet, but it was still a financial loss. ENCANTO made little more than $250m worldwide, not at all great against the budget. Huge hit on Disney+, though. Then they treated STRANGE WORLD, a movie that tested poorly (for whatever reason, be it the sci-fi story being too out of reach or the gay son) well before release, like an unwanted stepchild. Huge flop, but it managed to do okay enough on Disney+ from what I've seen.
It's telling that Chapek was booted right after that film came out, and soon thereafter, the returning Bob Iger drastically restructured the movie release strategy. The heavy pivot to streaming was viewed as a mistake. Many observers feel that future Disney animated releases, both from Pixar and WDAS, are cursed now. Disney+ is one of the most subscribed-to streaming services, movie trips cost a fortune for families and many others, and the release strategies for the last six or so animated movies conditioned families to just wait for a hassle-free movie night in the living room...
Maybe?
Universal is the opposite. They didn't pivot as heavily to streaming as Disney did, and it also helps that Peacock doesn't have as many subscribers. How many average Americans even know that there *is* Peacock? Disney and Disney+, far more recognizable as a brand I'd argue... Universal delayed movies, and sacrificed a few to streaming, but also experimented. TROLLS WORLD TOUR went straight to PVOD, but THE CROODS: A NEW AGE was given a theatrical-only rollout with a PVOD release down the line, and it paid off nicely. It also helped that the movie cost $65m to make! Delaying MINIONS Deux twice, SING 2 opened amidst Omicron and became the first pandemic-era animated movie to pass $100m at the domestic box office, beating RAYA, CROODS Two, ADDAMS FAMILY 2, ENCANTO, and hybrid TOM & JERRY. MINIONS Deux finally came out and made nearly a billion, despite the previous film being 7 years old at that point. Maybe the first DESPICABLE ME being a 12-year-old movie helped? Nostalgia, maybe? The suit memes? Whatever happened, something *worked*. Then there's PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, which has almost relied entirely on its ludicrously strong word-of-mouth and record-breaking multiplier...
So that leads me to ask...
What are the next titan-sized animated movie blockbusters?
Currently, the top 10 looks like this.
1) THE LION KING (2019) - $1,657m
2) FROZEN II - $1,450m
3) FROZEN - $1,280m
4) INCREDIBLES 2 - $1,243m
5) MINIONS - $1,159m
6) TOY STORY 4 - $1,073m
7) TOY STORY 3 - $1,067m
8) DESPICABLE ME 3 - $1,034m
9) FINDING DORY - $1,028m
10) ZOOTOPIA - $1,023m
It's no surprise that... A LION KING prequel, FROZEN III, DESPICABLE ME 4, TOY STORY 5, and ZOOTOPIA 2 are on the horizon. Money talks, ya know. You'll likely see a third INCREDIBLES at some point, too, and a third FINDING Somebody movie as well. As such, I think all of those are definitely contenders for the Top 10.
So far... We have quite a few animated movies on the horizon... Here are the ones that I think have a shot...
THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (Universal - 4/5/2023) - It seems obvious at this point. Mario is *the* video game, one of the most iconic, the video game industry is largely where it is today because of his success, cross-generational appeal going all the way back to people who first played DONKEY KONG in arcades in 1981... If SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 could take in $405m worldwide, this all-animated picture should easily make double that. Domestic projections alone are through the roof, the marketing has been great, the hype is all over... I think it could challenge the billion and maybe even make it into the Top 10. (6/11/2023 NOTE: Grossed $1.3b... Put up a good fight!)
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (Sony - 6/2/2023) - The first film, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, opened in December of 2018 with an okay $35m... And then it had fantastic legs, climbed like a webhead to a stellar $190m domestic gross and very solid $384m worldwide take. Nowhere near the takes of the live-action Spideys, but the animated Spider-Man movie won hearts over and lasts beyond its theatrical release. The hype for this sequel is totally there, and it promises to be huge in scope. More universes, several Spiders, higher stakes... I see this performing similarly to... TERMINATOR 2, AUSTIN POWERS IN "THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME", SHREK 2, DESPICABLE ME 2, and INCREDIBLES 2. Films whose predecessors were either sleeper hits or quite successful films, but built massive followings after their release, whom all turned out in droves to their sequels. I think ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE is going to be just that. As for the billion, that may seem steep for an animated Marvel movie and one that isn't in an established cinematic universe (the three MCU Spider-Man movies are the only movies featuring Spider-Man to ever crack $1b), but maybe INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE's staying power could make this one a surprise. (11/20/2023 NOTE: Grossed $690 million...)
WISH (Disney - 11/22/2023) - A real wild card, given that it's a Disney release, but both this and the summer Pixar flick ELEMENTAL are going to indicate going forward how Disney will market and release their animated movies post-Chapek. I'd imagine WISH, being the centennial celebration feature for the company, and an old-fashioned princess musical picture that's all about wishing stars (of course, the very PINOCCHIO song that became Disney's whole damn anthem) presented in a hand-drawn-esque look. This could all work in its favor, and it could perform similarly to FROZEN (helps that its director Chris Buck is back at the helm for this film), maybe not but still have those usual Disney Thanksgiving legs. Again, the whole "audiences now wait for Disney+" thing is an uphill battle, and it all depends on how Disney releases and markets the thing... But if they play their cards right, it could potentially be very, very big. A 100th anniversary picture doing okay-ish would look kinda embarrassing.
KUNG FU PANDA 4 (Universal - 3/8/2024) - The biggest KUNG FU PANDA movie was the second one, making a little bit more than what the first one pulled in... Without the aid of 3D and higher ticket prices. Both grossed in the $630-670m range, so in sense, KUNG FU PANDA 2 stayed flat and didn't increase, SHREK 2-style. KUNG FU PANDA 3 was the lowest-grossing of the three... Maybe an eight-year wait will make this one significantly bigger? Maybe if it's a reinvention of the franchise like PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH to the SHREK series, it could surprise? One of the least likely to me, but I included it anyways, because anything's possible.
SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE (Sony - 3/29/2024) - This one's performance hinges entirely on how ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE does, and what kind of a cliffhanger that one ends on. Keep in mind, this was original supposed to be a two-part film with "Part One" being in the ACROSS title for a while. Even appears that on the film's first trailer and on some merchandise. (11/20/2023 NOTE: Delayed indefinitely, but still...)
INSIDE OUT 2 (Disney - 6/14/2024) - The original made $850m+ worldwide, astounding for an original feature not based on any pre-existing IP. Usually Pixar sequels make more than their predecessors, or match the attendance of the original, making for a higher gross (such as FINDING DORY, or TOY STORY 4's gross in comparison to TOY STORY 3's)... Either way, a billion is very much in sight for this one.
DESPICABLE ME 4 (Universal - 7/3/2024) - The second MINIONS movie came close to a billion, DESPICABLE ME 3 crossed the big billion, the only DESPICABLE ME movie to miss $900m worldwide was the first one. I think the momentum is still there for this franchise, even if this one is Gru and the girls, and not those yellow tictacs.
MUFASA: THE LION KING (Disney - 7/5/2024) - This one is probably the least likely, but I included it anyways since the film this is a prequel to is the highest-grossing animated film of all time... However, this one's tricky because... THE LION KING was a remake of a beloved film that was also a record-breaking smash, and 2019 LION KING only did as well as it did because of the 1994 classically animated original directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. If this movie was made in a universe where that LION KING did not exist? Oh, Jon Favreau's film wouldn't have been anywhere near as big... Anyways, THE LION KING got a direct-to-video sequel in 1998 made by other animation divisions of the company, *not* Walt Disney Feature Animation. SIMBA'S PRIDE is not being remade, so there's no gauge there. Even if it was, it still wouldn't have the same drawing power. This is a prequel story, technically it's all-new here... And honestly? I see this one playing out similarly to ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS and MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL. Their predecessors did well, off of the iconic originals and familiarity... but the sequels did not command the same attention. ALICE 2 outright flopped, MISTRESS OF EVIL managed to eke out an okay gross... I suspect this will be the same for MUFASA: THE LION KING. Outside of some very curious people and those who happened to like the 2019 movie, who really gives a dang? I expect great foreign numbers for this all-CG animal picture, but domestic I feel is where it sinks. (11/20/2023 NOTE: Delayed to December 20, 2024.)
SHREK 5 (Universal - 2025/26?) - Back in 2004, SHREK 2 made $919m at the worldwide box office... Without the aid of 3D, IMAX, the high ticket prices of today (and in the past decade for that matter), and a much larger international market... That's where the franchise peaked, because the domestic grosses slipped... While the foreign grosses gradually rose. SHREK FOREVER AFTER took in the biggest overseas total for the franchise back in 2010, and PUSS IN BOOTS did excellently in non-North American territories a year later... 11 years went by, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH legged it up something fierce here, and is doing great worldwide... SHREK also became a meme fountain this past decade, and that post-quadrilogy love remains a thing. There will definitely be a nostalgia rush for this one from people my age who saw the first SHREK in theaters, and several who grew up on the SHREK movies on home video. This will be massive, especially after the wildly cool reinvention of the franchise that we saw in THE LAST WISH... DreamWorks' first billion dollar movie, comin' up.
ZOOTOPIA 2 (Disney - 202?) - First one made a billion. Much like how INSIDE OUT made $850m+ worldwide, that's fantastic for an animated movie not based on any pre-existing IP.
TOY STORY 5 (Disney - 202?) - Given that the last two films grossed a billion, and despite the pleas of internet weirdos who insist that Pixar need not make this film (or have made TOY STORY 4 for that matter), your average joe is there for another round of the talking playthings. It only didn't work out for LIGHTYEAR, because Buzz wasn't a toy in that and that was a different iteration of the character. TOY STORY 5 is mainline, that's enough to get people coming. That is, if Woody and Buzz are back, or at least one of them.
FROZEN III (Disney - 202?) - FROZEN made a billion, FROZEN II made a billion, I think it's locked to do it. No matter how long the wait.
... and who knows, maybe a surprise or two along the way...
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Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack
I love this time of year. There’s eventing underway in the US; the British Eventing season kicked off over the weekend despite rain and even snow making life a touch tricky for folks around the country; we’re starting to see entry lists fill up for the early-season four-stars; Badminton and Kentucky are racing closer (a fact that makes my stomach feel like it’s going to explode with butterflies, which I hope isn’t just a sign that actually, I’m in my thirties now and maybe I’ve developed a GI issue as a result); and everything’s full-steam ahead for the Olympics. Everything is still yet to happen – the stories are yet to unfold, and the possibilities are truly endless. And alongside all of the above? All our favourite events are well into their 2024 planning and building. Germany’s Luhmühlen CCI5* and CCI4*-S is a longtime EN fave, and today, they released their first look at what Mike Etherington-Smith has got up his sleeve for this year’s courses. Join him, friend of EN Juliane Barth, and a whole bunch of heavy machinery out on course and see how the stage will be set for one of the biggest showdowns pre-Paris. It’s going to be a remarkable week of sport.
National Holiday: It’s National Grammar Day. Mind you’re words and contractions.
US Weekend Action:
2024 $100,000 Conceal Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results] [Ride For Charity Teams] [Ride For Charity Online Vote] [EN’s Coverage]
Full Gallop Farm March Wednesday H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results]
Rocking Horse Winter III H.T. (Altoona, FL) [Website] [Results]
Sporting Days Farm March H.T. II (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Results]
Twin Rivers Winter H.T. (Paso Robles, CA) [Website] [Entries] [Results]
Your Monday Reading List:
If you’re a committed entry list stalker, you might have noticed something interesting on the Montelibretti 3* line-up for this week. That something interesting is an entry from Australia’s Chris Burton, who left eventing in 2021 to focus on showjumping. Now, it appears, he’s back – and with an exciting new partner in Shadow Man, the former 5* mount of Britain’s Ben Hobday. Here’s how they’re getting on so far, and confirmation that yes, Burto has had the horse since before the cut-off date for Olympic ownership to be secured.
Speaking of folks getting the bug again, that’s exactly what happened to dentist Dr Jesse Akers Reagin. Her hiatus was a touch longer – 18 years, in fact! – but after attending a baby shower in 2019 at the farm of Katie Malensek, Canada’s high-flying vet-turned-team-member, she felt that spark reignite and knew it was well worth trying to get horses back into her life. And now? Well, she’s doing pretty darn well herself.
Okay, we know eventing prize money ain’t all that. But how does it actually compare to the pots across the disciplines? Horse & Hound dived into the numbers, and it turns out that while we’re definitely not leading the charge, we’re also not at the bottom of the heap. It makes for some interesting reading, and has certainly reignited my spark for working out the hows and the whys. Here’s what they found.
One of the best ways to ensure everyone is well-represented in sport is to make sure that everyone who has something to contribute is given a voice and a platform. That’s why I’m really pleased to see that US Eventing is now offering complimentary digital memberships to USEA affiliates – including members of volunteering programs and regional eventing associations. The former actually got this benefit last year, and the addition of the latter should give more of a platform for those regional programs to be able to highlight the challenges and benefits of hosting the sport in various parts of the country. Find out more information here and remember: a governing body is the sum of all its subsidiary voices, opinions, and pushes for change. Make sure yours is heard.
Morning Viewing:
Every year at Badminton, I’m once again struck by just how fun — and challenging! — the BE90 and BE100 Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship looks. It truly is the creme-de-la-creme of lower-level competition, and takes an enormous amount of planning, prep, and dedication to get to. I’ll never get a chance to try it for myself – I suspect it’ll be many decades yet that I’ll be deeply entrenched in reporting on Badminton itself! – so I’ll be living vicariously through those riders who are blogging and vlogging the whole experience, from their early-season runs and training to the week itself. Here’s one to get you started, that lays bear just how tricky it can be to get everything moving in the right direction. Come on, Donut – we’re rooting for you!
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Barcarolle in Yellow by Víctor Ojuel
============= Links
Play the game
See other reviews of the game
============= Synopsis
Barcarolle in Yellow (1975, released in Italy as "Barcarolla in Giallo"), starring Eva Chantry.
This lurid but stylish Italian thriller is set in Venice during the filming of an eponymous exploitation film, with the lead actress credited as "playing herself". In the day it was critically panned by highbrow critics as "yet another entertainment for those who relish scantily clad ladies being murdered in grisly ways, trippy camerawork and nonsensical plot twists" and relegated to the relative obscurity of other "video nasties".
In the ensuing decades, this giallo has attained cult status, fondly remembered for its bold photography, ambiguous subtext, and of course the tragic circumstances that surrounded the production. Rumours abound about alternative endings that were cut from the theatre version, either by the Italian censors or the American distributor, with bootleg Betamax copies commanding high prices online.
============= Other Info
Barcarolle in Yellow is an Inform 7 parser, submitted to the 2023 Edition of the IFComp. It ranked 55th overall.
Status: Completed
Genre: Giallo
CW: Murder, blood, sex, nudity, terrible acting
============= Playthrough
Played: 15-Dec-2023
Playtime: around 1h-ish (with walkthrough)
Rating: 2/5
Thoughts: Missed the mark with loads of potential
============= Review
Barcarolle in Yellow is a meta parser, working as an interactive movie script for a pulpy giallo, blurring the lines between reality and movie scenes. You play as B-list probably-washed-out actress Eva Chantry as she gets the call to star in the eponymous movie. With a twist-on-twist-on-twist, the game includes multiple endings (found A, I know of at least 6), in-game hints, and a walkthrough for one ending (A).
Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.
This game got me a bit conflicted.
The premise is enticing, the poster is so eye-catching, and the starting scene? an incredible way of hooking players. So darn unique! With the formatting the game introduction and credits, the game seem to play heavily on movie codes. With its whole fake-cult movie vibe, it reminded me a bit of the Goncharov meme. I was really intrigued with what the game had to offer, what meta commentary it might be making about the genre, or how to approach the scene/real-life aspect.
Then I started the game... and the problems started. During the first proper playable scene, a Spaghetti Western filmed in Spain, events ended up repeating itself when I took off my costume after the shoot ended, with the director screaming CUT again, belittling Eva for screwing with filming.
The following scene is timed, with any wrong move, any missing action, leading you to your early death. I died and restarted the game so many times because of that ONE scene needed a very specific sequence of actions to ward off your stalker. The timing is so tight it barely takes into account failing or asking for hints.
The rest of the game feels pretty railroady, with us/Eva getting few opportunities to have agency. This makes sense, considering she is an actress playing the role given to her, following the directions told. You have some options of choices here and there, which influences the story, but not much more. There is only one path you can take, or you'd lose the game, essentially.
But the game is not always clear about which actions are the wanted ones. It does provide hints, which are formatted like snippets of a movie script, telling the player a general idea of what they should do next (this was so smart!). Sometimes, the necessary (and unusual) action is not included in the hint... making things complicated.
This maybe the most obvious in that first times scene. I had to look the walkthrough up to avoid (finally) dying right at the start. It really takes you out of the immersion the game so craft-fully created in the prior moments. It happens again when shooting the scene on the bridge. The undercluing really messes with playing.
After trying and failing to get through the game... I just opened the walkthrough and followed it to the letter... or tried to. Your hotel in Venice changes name with every playthrough (that was neat), but only one is included there (so I died... again and again, until I realised what was wrong). I would have been nice if the walkthrough included all possible paths instead of just that one ending...
I'm sure someone will end up publishing a comprehensive walkthrough at some point...
The writing goes all-in in the giallo genre, with the depiction of Eva as this seductress woman in her hotel room - the character being overtly sexualised, but also wink-wink hihihi - as well as being the subject of quite a large amount of violence... and not being able to do much about it on or off screen. It's not really pleasant to go through, honestly, and I am not sure what the point of the game was concerning this.
Was it discussing how movies with shitty budgets have bad production periods where accidents happen but everyone have to deal with it? Is this a commentary on standards in the entertainment industry for actresses, especially in terms of being replaceable when their attractiveness fade? Or about the psychology being having no agency through the frame of an "adventure" game? Is there even a message in all this? Do you need to find all the endings to get the overall picture? (I hope not...)
This game had ticked all the checkboxes for being incredible, but its potential just fell flat with the muddled and sometimes buggy implementation. It has a good solid back bone, and some neat things (the script formatting and custom messages), but it still needs quite a bit of tweaking to make it the cult movie/game it is hoping to be.
Final note: spam Z at the end of the game for bonus features.
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The Photocopies- Unprofessional Conduct (self-released)
If you thought that the very prolific Michigan songwriter, Sean Turner had just released an album a month or so ago, well, you would be correct. So yes, Unprofessional Conduct is Turner‘s official second album after Top of the Pops, which came out in early September. This album was also tacked onto the triple decker compilation, which came out recently as well and if you're anything like me and your brain gets scrambled quite easily then yeah, you’re having a hard time keeping up with this gents output as well.
One thing I noticed right off the bat, which Turner had mentioned on the Bandcamp page, is that though this album has fewer songs than Top of the Pops it’s about three times as long. Yes, this album is 11 songs in just over 30 minutes (those of us who are Photocopies fans are used to Turner albums being about 15 minutes long.). So yes, he has stretched out the songs a bit and it’s not the sugar rush that it once was, but the songwriting is just as good, maybe better.
A few of my favorite pop tunes on here include "Straight F’s," "Doing it for the Kids, Etc" "Gravity Falters" and "Heart Keeps Breaking Down" to name but a few.
I have no idea how long Turner will be able to keep up with this pace and probably neither does he, but hey, it’s been a hell of a ride so far and I’m continuing to hang on through the whole darn thing. In the meantime don’t miss Unprofessional Conduct, another pop nugget-filled record from Sean Turner.
www.thephotocopies.bandcamp.com
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