#//His parents being in fashion/design gives SO much opportunity

[xiindomitable]

One of Katsuki's love languages happens to be using someone as his own personal human Barbie, send tweet-

[warningsine]

The funniest show on television is Girls5Eva, which transplanted from the backwoods of Peacock to the mires of Netflix for its third season. While a lot of shows have taken off after landing on Netflix — You, for instance — Girls5Eva, from the data available publicly, didn’t get many viewers on the platform. I’m no expert on the mechanics of streaming, but I have one radical explanation for why this is happening: There are simply not enough episodes of Girls5Eva available to watch. On Peacock, the show had two eight-episode seasons. Netflix has given it an additional six. That means that Girls5Eva has aired, in total, only 22 episodes, about the same number as a full-season order of an old-fashioned network sitcom like 30 Rock, to which Meredith Scardino’s series is deeply indebted (Scardino wrote on 30 Rock; Tina Fey is a Girls5Eva executive producer). Over a three-year period? This is simply not enough!

Sitcoms are built for mass production and consumption, with dynamics between characters designed to generate an endless stream of story lines, and it can take a season or two to fully gel. Girls5Eva is lucky enough to have a distinct sensibility and a strong cast from the start, but it hasn’t had the space to work through all the possible material. There’s so much to mine in flashbacks to the girl group’s checkered early-aughts past, in Wickie’s failed solo career, in Summer’s wackadoo Christian upbringing, in Gloria’s fraught lesbian drama, and in Dawn’s attempts to find her own way as a songwriter (plus the larger meta arc of Sara Bareilles coming into her own as a comedic actor). Season three, in which the crew goes on tour around the country, tries to cover so much ground it’s like a distance runner sprinting at her vO2 max. The overarching plot — they want to perform at Radio City Music Hall — encroaches on all the fun along the way, rushing past a guest appearance from Cat Cohen, the reveal of Wickie’s real backstory, and an intricate Harry Styles parody. Sitcoms should be about all the fun everyone is having along the way, and we’ve lost that.

But there is another and perhaps more important reason that we need longer seasons of Girls5Eva: holidays. Network sitcoms, airing on a traditional schedule, have the opportunity to set episodes around the holidays near which they would air; think of the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends, The Office’s Christmas episodes, 30 Rock’s impeccable use of Leap Day. In my ideal universe where Girls5Eva has 22-episode seasons, Netflix would also abandon the binge strategy and air those episodes weekly, but that’s not a necessity. You could still drop them all at once, which gives me the opportunity to revisit the holiday episodes as those holidays occur throughout the year. If you need convincing, here are my suggestions for some holidays the Girls5Eva might celebrate:

Christmas (duh): Dawn tries to write a Christmas song; Wickie reveals a longstanding feud with Mariah Carey (she claims one of the items from her riff rolodex appears in “All I Want for Christmas Is You”; Mariah does not know her).

Thanksgiving: The girls try to book a gig at the Macy’s Parade (as Peacock actually had the stars do, to the confusion of my parents watching at home) while also atoning for their past sins at the event (revealed in flashback).

Valentine’s Day: Gloria revisits a past relationship with Taylor Lautner (she was his dentist).

Tax season: Summer reveals she hasn’t been paying taxes for years (thought you were covered if you already paid your church).

Presidents’ Day: Dawn tries to write a song about Lincoln being sexy, inadvertently offends a gay activist group.

Pride month: Return of Bowen Yang’s lip-sync influencer.

Cuffing season: Big for Gloria.

The Feast of San Gennaro: Big for Dawn (why is the show so all-in on Sara Bareilles being Italian??).

V-E Day: Wickie and Dawn’s husband, Scott, discover their mutual fascination with the Eastern Front: “I spent a lot of time touring post-Soviet states, okay!”

Casimir Pulaski Day: Gloria has beef with Sufjan Stevens.

[sunsuns-babie]

If I Get My Way {K.SUNOO x F!READER}

LONER BOYS CLUB (ft. 2 Baddies)

Kim Seonwoo: Sophomore @/Decelis Uni, Music Education Major (Studying so he can be composer), Delulu, Kind of feral when it comes to his crush Y/n, Did I mention he has a crush on Y/n Marsh, Talks big game in his private account but is a shy boy in love, Naive when it comes to love, Currently doesn’t have a job but his parents send him allowance

Nishimura Riki: Freshman @/Decelis Uni, Dance Major (Studying so he can 1 teach others to dance & two create his own studio after getting his Business degree), The youngest in the group, Lives close to Wonyoung, #1 Detective, Likes bullying his friends and teasing them, Lives with his mom because it’s free and he’s broke

Yang Jungwon: Sophomore @/Decelis Uni, Early Childhood Education Major (cinnamon roll personified), Sunoo’s best friend since childhood, Pretty chill but takes on an authoritative role in the group, A problem solver, Extremely smart, Cutie Pie, Works at the same cat cafe Yeji does

Jang Wonyoung: Sophomore @/Decelis Uni, Fashion Design Major (Style Icon), Competitive Figure Skater, Social Butterfly, Has fanboys and fangirls alike, A sweetheart, The prettiest girl with the prettiest soul

Lee Heeseung: Junior @/Decelis Uni, Mechanical Engineering Major (Only studying it because he didn’t know what he wanted to do so he closed his eyes and picked one), “Allegedly” has a girlfriend, Defensive about his “girlfriend” but gives 0 information about her, Constantly out with his “girlfriend”, Kind of sells weed and edibles to people from HYBE Uni

Shin Ryujin: Junior @/Decelis Uni, Sport Management Major (Studying it because she likes sports and wants to be a coach someday), Very much in love with Hwang Yeji since high school, Thinks men are gross but surrounds herself with them, Pretty laid back and chill, Friends with Y/n’s group of friends because of her girlfriend, Smokes weed with Keeho & Yeonjun on the dl

Jay Park: Junior @/Decelis Uni, Fashion Design Major (Studying because he wants to launch his own fashion house), Rich Rich like stupid Rich, Despite being rich he’s surprisingly humble compared to his friends who (jokingly I think) try to mooch off him, Acts like it’s a burden to buy or pay for things concerning his friends but doesn’t care and wants to spend his money since he knows his friends are college students trying to make it by

Jake Sim: Junior @/Decelis Uni, Computer System Analysis Major (Why? Not even he knows but he’s smart as hell so why not), Transferred from an Australian Uni this year, Roommates with Jay, Hides himself in private accounts, Mysterious, Works at a restaurant nearby

Park Sunghoon: Junior @/Decelis Uni, Dance Major (Only really studying it because of his career), Competitive Figure Skater, Socially Awkward, Has fangirls galore, Doesn’t talk about his feelings, Scared of the female gender unless it’s Wony or Ryujin the lesbian

profiles (1) | masterlist | next

IN WHICH: Kim Seonwoo aka Sunoo is a Sophomore at Decelis University and has a crush on the pretty Music Education Major Y/n Marsh. Seems like a match made in heaven since he’s also a Music Education Major and has had a crush on her since Freshman year when he met her at orientation… well sort of. He’s a little delusional about her but that’s okay, right? When finally given the opportunity to get to know her and potentially date her some weird things start happening that Sunoo doesn’t quite understand… which leads to the postponement of his grand plan to confess his feelings for Y/n. At the end of the day does he get the girl or does he miss out and think of what could’ve been?

ALSO IN WHICH: Sunoo and Y/n’s friends also have their own storylines and side quest relationships happening simultaneously with theirs.

A/N: There’s probably spelling errors somewhere in this post but I tried to catch & fix most of them.

[pillowbugs]

a teenage (14-15ish) elesa to go with her fellow baby nimbasa city celebrities here!

(proof of process, notes and hcs under cut)

some notes:

why. why did her ace have to be a zebra of all things. no hate to the animal but fucking hell am i dreading the possibility of having to draw blitzle again, or worse, zebstrika. horse proportions + stripe patterns = a real tough cookie to draw. if i never draw elesa with her pokémon again this is probably why.

(actually while typing the above, i just realised her ace is black and white. really ties her association with unova / submas together which is pretty neat.)

on a more positive note, i had a lot of fun with the design! was going more based on her bw1 appearance (given it's closer on the timeline) but with the preppy popular kid look thrown into the mix.

her original hair colour is black (as in bw2) but here it's dyed blonde with blue streaks.

headcanons time: i was thinking elesa would've come from a rich family, with both her parents being successful businessmen who wanted the perfect daughter to show off. her image is definitely controlled by her parents to some extent - her clothes are fancy and expensive, but fairly normal. even her hair was first dyed blonde to match her father and give her parents the perfect blonde hair blue eyes daughter. fortunately, they aren't at home much, so elesa has some opportunities to make small changes such as the blue streaks and her jacket (more on that later).

despite her parents' expectations, elesa is in fact much more interested in fashion, design and battling. she's an intern gym trainer at the current nimbasa gym (was thinking the gym leader would be a musical actor but nothing concrete) to not only prove that she can strike out on her own without her parents, but also to hopefully secure her future once she turns 18 and can move out and cut contact with her parents. the gym leader has taken a shine to her, encourages her to follow her dreams and is already planning on making her their successor.

by the time of bw1, when elesa talks to bianca and her father to encourage them to let bianca go on her own journey, it's a reflection of her own growth as well - she followed her dream despite her parents and found her own happiness and success, and she wants to inspire other people to do the same.

between the twins, elesa is a lot closer to emmet at this point - in fact, she isn't really close to ingo at all. that comes later after she's known emmet for a longer time. her friendship with emmet surprises a lot of people bc it's literally the popular cool kid befriending the weird kid no one else really cares about (besides his brother).

on the other hand, this is exactly why they're friends - emmet is not only grateful to have any friends at all, but elesa is also someone frequently misunderstood because of her appearance, lonely and the right amount of silly (reminds him a bit of someone...). also she loves electric types which is verrry cool. elesa finds emmet's bluntness and genuineness extremely refreshing compared to how much everyone else works to pretend and fit in. he's also the first person to see her for who she actually is and not her parents or her reputation.

the jacket is a bargain buy she saw in a shop once when she and emmet were out on the streets, and she mentioned her parents wouldn't let her get such clothes as much as she loves the jacket. emmet bought it for her for her birthday.

her closeness to emmet but not ingo is reflected in her design - blue and white feature much more than black and red.

her blitzle's name is chromatic, or chrom for short. she doesn't know about fe awakening for the record.

as a trainer, while she definitely trains mostly electrics, she does have a few off-types for coverage outside work - a lilligant, cinccino, cryogonal and later togekiss.

proof of process

[knickynoo]

Do you have any of your own headcanons of what happened to Alex (also maybe Mallory and Jennifer) in the years after moving out of the Keaton household?

Hello! Sorry this is being answered so late, anon. Here are some headcanons!

ALEX

• Like most Family Ties fans, I headcanon that Alex and Ellen eventually find their way back to each other. They simply have to. Ellen changed Alex, and even though he does attempt to "move on", I don't think that deep love for her ever leaves him. Plus, he's single at the end of the series! I like to believe he stays that way for a while, moves to NY to settle into his new job and life and such. Eventually, Ellen returns from Paris and reaches out to the Keatons for info on how to contact Alex. Because even though she likely dated other guys after him, she too realizes that she can't shake her love for him. They meet up, and maybe it's awkward at first, but they soon rekindle what they had.

• Alex does end up quite successful, but it's not the type of success he grew up imagining for himself. No giant mansion, immense power, or people falling over themselves to do whatever he says. He isn't fabulously wealthy or anywhere close to his dreams of world domination. But he gets married to Ellen, and he has a job he enjoys, and he's really good at it. He's fulfilled. Happy.

• I also like to think he matures a good deal and becomes someone his coworkers and acquaintances genuinely like to be around, rather than the "not this guy again." Perhaps something happens in his first few weeks on the job to take his ego down a couple of notches. Then, being back with Ellen helps even further, as she always had a way of being able to smooth his rough edges and bring out the kinder side of him.

• Alex stays in very frequent touch with his family and visits them often. He's on the phone with at least one family member every day, and they take trips to see him a lot as well.

• For some Alex and Ellen as parents headcanons, see this post I had made a while back

MALLORY

• Of course, Mal and Nick end up married. Art is still a big part of Nick's life, and he either finds a way to earn a living off of it or finds another job he enjoys while still doing art on the side. Mallory pursues fashion, and she finds a lot of happiness and success there. There's an episode where she talks about eventually wanting to end up in NY as well, so let's go ahead and say that happens.

• LOL, Mallory and Alex cannot get away from each other even if they tried. Which, honestly, they don't want to. Despite their constant squabbling and Alex's relentless teasing, those two love each other much more than they'd like to admit. Both being in NY gives them lots of opportunities to meet up often, and they find themselves growing closer. Alex becomes genuinely invested in Mallory's career and loves hearing how happy she is. Although he isn't too interested in the latest news from the fashion world, he jumps at every chance to give her advice to help her advance her career or spread the news about her designs.

• Despite her insistence in the "Read it and Weep" episodes that she can't test out her clothing designs on Alex because he "has a weird body," she does frequently use him as a model for some of the men's clothing. He grumbles and complains every second of it but never turns her down. He tests out the more formal wear and Nick tests out the more casual designs.

• I don't have fully formed thoughts on Mal as a mother, but I do think she and Nick end up with a handful of kids. (Nick is shown to be amazing with kids, and he would be thrilled to find out he's going to be a dad.) Oh, Mallory would be such a wonderful mom—every bit as warm and loving as Elyse. Her children would always be the best dressed no matter where they went.

• I personally think it would be hysterical if Mallory ends up with a child who likes to dress formally at all times and is obsessed with facts and figures and acts like a tiny adult from the time they can talk. She goes to Alex like, "Is this your influence??!" (It may or may not be. I also think it's funny if the Keatons just have a gene that produces a strange little businessman child at random)

• Mallory and Ellen spend a lot of time together and are best friends. Naturally, Alex and Nick also spend a lot of time together. Nick is thrilled to get to see his "little friend" so often.

JENNIFER

• Jen definitely takes after her parents the most out of the Keaton kids, so I think she goes into some type of activism or charity work. I can see her being involved in an organization that helps animals or the environment.

• I can't decide if she stays close to home or becomes the type who's always traveling all over the place. If it's the latter, it becomes a running joke in the family to play "Where in the World is Jennifer Keaton?" because none of them ever know what she's up to, and so they're always trying to piece clues together or come up with wild scenarios to explain her whereabouts.

• Jen stays single for a long while (or maybe doesn't even marry) and just sort of does her own thing. She pops by to visit her siblings in NY frequently and enjoys catching up with them, getting fashion news (and some new clothing) from Mallory and talking business with Alex.

Thanks for the ask!

[scoobysfriend]

This is my ideal scooby gang. Explanation and scooby doo character analysis under the cut

I think Scooby Doo is a character driven show actually. Every time there is a mystery, and everytime we aren't always interested in what the mystery is but how the characters investigate it. Most scooby doo episodes and movies aren't about the mysteries themselves but are about the character shenanigans the gang get up to while solving that mystery.

The best way to possibly ever write fred is make him laios but with an ascot and for traps instead of food. You don't even have to change the monster part! A heart of gold and a specialized skill set. Can fred make a phone call? no. Can fred turn all the wheels on the mystery machine into suction cups so it can go up a wall to chase a tentacled bird demon? yes. He must also be kind, all the scooby characters must be, but fred most especially. Plus trap making is such a niche hobby, and mystery incorporated explored this a little bit, but doing that even more is great. Funny enough I also really loved mystery incorporated's stance on fred's family life. Being raised by someone who doesn't understand who you are fundamentally and wants you to change, poetic cinema. I also want Red Herring to be Fred's childhood friend turned nemesis turned weird I know you better than I know myself thing, my password is your birthday and yet we don't talk there's this distance. Like when kids are young and they bring their friends over to their house, and that friend never really leaves cause they aren't getting parented at home? That's red herring bringing fred to his house, and make his mom a mechanic and suddenly so much stuff fits. It also explains his mechanic skill. Traps and cars are different things. Fred is a crazy inventor who emotionally bonded to the mystery machine and learned mechanics from someone who was the closest thing he ever got to a parent. Fred is a crazy smart inventor. He makes traps and contraptions and rube goldberg machines for the thrill of it. We call a man boring who probably has twelve bear traps in his bedroom and he's so confused on why people don't want to live this way so more for him he guesses, but that also means he always wants to share it with his friends!!!!!!! He's a huge gentle soul that loves his people and his mysteries and his traps. In that order.

i think daphne should get to have a character arc actually?? There's been enough iterations of all the scooby doo characters that if you just mix and match them you have character development. She should start as danger prone daphne always getting in trouble. Then she should decide she doesn't want to be the one getting saved all the time. She starts learning skills to get her out of danger first lockpicking cause whats new scooby doo was my scooby growing up, then learning martial skills to the point where instead of getting rescued she is the one running into danger to rescue others. Someone who protects and never shies away from trouble. I also think it would be cute to make it so she's really into fashion from the 1960s, so that you could modernize the world but keep the old designs cause the gang wants to go matchy matchy with daphne. She does love fashion and knows about it, but just saying "loves fashion" is very 2 dimensional. Saying Daphne loves vintage clothes and using those clothes in the modern era especially clothes from the 60s opens a lot of opportunities to explain why the whole gang is going to this super duper spooky estate sale, Daphne heard this woman had an extensive collection. It also lets the gang have cool outfits and character models. On top of that by having the gang match Daphne, shows that she loves them enough tom share this part of herself with them and that they love her enough to be a part of it with her. Daphne also is almost always the backbone of the gang. Fred, shaggy, and scooby would give a stranger the shirt off their backs, velma and fred don't always recognize what is socially expected so can take advantage of because they are trying to fit in an uncomfortable social situation, but Daphne? Daphne is a fiery redhead who loves her friends more than breathing, no you can't have fred fix that for you, no you can't say that to shaggy and no velma won't do your homework. We are also bringing scooby in with us, if you don't like it that sucks. This combination of traits is stuff she already had, in one iteration or another, and gives a solid character. Also making her the youngest daughter of like twelve in a wealthy family slaps.

Velma, oh velma, JelloApocalypse put it best "A bad Velma is the worst thing that happened to Scooby-doo". Velma often suffers from being the workhorse of the narrative. Donatello of the tmnt often suffer similarly. Velma I feel like, even in character, should reflect this. Velma is the smartest person in the room, and due to her knowing this, she often feels responsible for doing something with that knowledge. The gang takes a lot of that pressure off. Velma is not a master of every single science, but she is one of the most gifted researchers alive. Yet, she is also compassionate, she feels responsible, because when seeing something go wrong and be awful, she believes that she could change it. She, maybe the most, benefits from having the scooby gang all together, because they give her permission to have fun. Velma will see a bad guy and already be twelve steps down in her thought process on how this will affect the carnival's income, while shaggy yells that they need to "Run, Man!". Velma is one of those characters where you could imagine her being very successful in dusty stacks for the rest of her life, but she gets color added to it, and first hand knowledge, by going out with the gang. She's curious to a fault, and wants to know about everything, and often thinks she can just find out from books and the internet, and is often right! But is just as often wrong! Velma will be twelve review articles deep trying to find the best place to eat and shaggy will say I know a guy and they'll be eating out of an illegal taco boat moored in the middle of the harbor. Or velma will be trying to make what is objectively the best decision in a given situation when Dpahne will come in and ask "Why are you in this situation in the first place, let's leave" or velma will be curious about the reproductive cycle of the three toed sugar cane frog and fred will show up with a cooler, night vision goggles and two plane tickets. The gang give velma the freedom to make choices without worrying about which one is the "right" one. This also extends to mysteries, because velma wants to prove that ghosts and aliens and werewolves and everything exist, she wants to prove it so so so badly, but she's been told intellectually her whole life that it's a load of hogwash, but with the gang, they all go get to prove if it's hogwash or not together and have fun doing it! Even when it's all fake, it's a puzzle, it's so much fun! And this is what makes Marcie Fleach such a good foil. Marcie is also gifted, beyond gifted, in robotics, but she doesn't have anyone to get her out of her own head. So Marcie is stuck in her own dark thoughts trying to make it work while velma is trying a sandwich that scooby made that has circus peanuts in it. There can be no knowledge without experience and that is what velma really proves. Her research skills provide such a strong base for the gang, and her observational skills are second to none, she might not always know what to do with those observations but that's what she can talk to the gang for. This responsibility she feels to the world and the people living in it and even just the ideals of the truth, all form this core facet of her personality that she gets to explore and uphold in a fun way through the solving of mysteries. She has a book for everything and a try anything thrice while documenting the results for science kind of attitude. Plus this pull between what she has been told it right, what she thinks academically is right and what she feels is right, all fighting in her head for dominance makes for great character motivation. Like in where's my mummy she dresses up as the bad guy because she thinks it's the right thing to do, and she's shown by the narrative to be right! Also velma should get to, and be required to, get up to as many goofy shenanigans as the other members of the scooby gang. They all take turns being the straight man and on particullarly goofy days, it's scooby.

SHAGGY IS A GODDAMN ANTHROPOLOGY MAJOR. And a wizard, but we have known that one. Shaggy is a nice witty guy, who likes helping people, but even more than that he likes learning about people. Like, he's the kinda guy who ten minutes after meeting him you bring him home to your family and they adopt and feed him. He's charming and snarky and a good listener. He's often a coward, but he's brave for scooby. Scooby will be scared out of his mind and so will shaggy, but shaggy will crack a joke so scooby will laugh and scooby will dance so shaggy will laugh. They are best friends. Shaggy also loves old horror flicks, the cheesier the better and video games that people don't think are very good. Shaggy as a character is like a celebration of things everyone trashes put into a lovable package. Shaggy is a coward who runs away and eats too much and loves b grade horror flicks and trashiest video games ever produced. Shaggy is the one who wants to go to the puppet museum or accordion camp or the world's most giant ball of yarn. There's this love and wonder toward everything in the world that many of the iterations of scooby doo miss. Shaggy wants to go and solve the mystery as much as any of the gang, because he loves every part of it. If shaggy is not scared, he is smiling and laughing and engaging with the locals and going dumb skits and reading comic books. Shaggy will work as a stage hand or carnival ring master or manager of a famous doll customizer's youtube channel for a summer because he likes hanging out with folks and likes the food. And people notice this trait about him and respond in kind. There's this curiosity that all the gang needs to share, that always gets surgically removed from shaggy and I don't know why. It's just that shaggy's curiosity is more about fun happy things. Like even in ghoul school, there were monsters and he was scared, but he realized they were people and immediately tried to be friend to them. Maybe it's my own bias, but if shaggy went to college he'd be an anthropology major, because wanting to know everything about people and eat their food and hang out with folks eternally, that is applied cultural anthropology lmao.

(Also i could do a whole thing on how the members of the scooby gang each represent a different branch of applied anthropology. Scooby as primatology, Fred as biological anthropology/Forensics, Velma as archeology, Daphne as linguistics, Shaggy as cultural anthropology, another day, another day.)

Finally last and certainly not least. Scooby Dooby Doo. The dog, the myth, the legend. It's really interesting to talk about scooby and the way he evolved, originally scooby didn't have that many words. He was like a parrot, had a certain number of set phrases but had to pantomime the rest. I like scooby talking, I like knowing his thoughts, but that pantomime. I'm so irrationally obsessed with it. I really think we need to bring it back. So much of his slapstick comedy and personality is removed when you removed that. Scooby isn't making quips, scooby is dressing as a cancan dancer while shaggy's thar barman and making the evil chicken ghost blush so much it bends over backward to buy them a drink that he throws in it's face so they can run again. Scooby has so much emotional intelligence and cares so deeply for the gang, to reduce him to a shaggy clone is a crime. Scooby has that classic dog mentality, Shaggy is his boy. His best friend and his everything, if scooby could go everywhere with shaggy he would and wait he does! Scooby wants to go on adventures, and go with his people, and for scooby an adventure could be a trip to the dog park or bowling alley or solving a why ghost pirates are attacking their cruise ship. And of course scooby's scared! He's a scaredy cat! He'll jump and yipe and be afraid, but he'll stick by his people even if he is afraid. He provides such tension relief and emotional solace, he is an emotional support animal. Anytime the gang is stressed or worried or sad or anything there is scooby doo! Either feeling it right along side you or comforting you through it, like that one scene in little miss sunshine when the kid has a breakdown cause he's colorblind and won't be able to fly and then gets comforted by that little girl. Scooby is that little girl. I really cannot emphasize enough how loyal scooby is, and there is no better illustration of that than scrappy. Scrappy was just a puppy but he thought his uncle scooby was the bravest dog in the whole world, and that's the thing scrappy never saw any different!! Scrappy would picka fight with a monster or someone bigger than him and everytime, without fail, there scooby would be to pull him out of it. Scooby is a loyal beyond all other things, even beyond his fear, and has an emotional breadth that can only come from not only being the heart of the show but the heart of his little family too! And shaggy is his best friend!!!!!!!! They do everything together and he loves him so much!!!! And sure he's clumsy, but so is daphne, and sure he can get jealous, but so can velma, and sure he's a coward but so is shaggy! Scooby does this thing where whenever he is there, everything is a little better, the sun a little brighter, the avocado toast a little more scrumptious, and he's smiling and cheering and so then is everyone else. I also thought of a hilarious bit, where since scooby is a dog and they like eating all the time they keep running into stuff that is poison for dogs so shaggy can't share it with scooby and he begs with the biggest possible eyes, and rests his head on shaggy's lap and shaggy feels so bad that he gets three scooby snacks and the bacon from fred's plate.

Really though. These are all goofball young folks who like solving mysteries together and traveling together and bonding over random activities. They love each other, they are all best friends, and it would be relatively easy to give them all character arcs based upon things that previously happened to them.

Fred as this guy, getting recognized for his achievements and hobbies even if they aren't what is considered normal. All his friends hyping up his most complicated trap or cheering when he makes the mystery machine a boat or being willing to tell his automatic breakfast machine. That transition from hiding everything about yourself to showing a little bit and then a little more and the relief each time from being accepted fully!

Daphne as the spoiled youngest daughter of a wealthy family to damsel in distress to danger prone Daphne to being the emotional backbone of the time to as many skills as a bard to having enough skills to protect herself to throwing herself into danger with these skills she's acquired to help other people.

Velma as this cloistered researcher always trying to make the 'right' decision and having her open up about her desires and fears, and what she wants to research and investigate, where she starts investigating and having fun and experiencing all these things till she is this well of knowledge and uses that well of knowledge to have fun and help people

Shaggy who drifts from group of people to group of people, finally having a group to call his own. Getting to stay with people, and have them really learn him and really express himself. Building up confidence, and if you believe the wizard shaggy theory like I do, using magic as a metaphor for that and having him come into his own as a powerful wizard. Or even just having him come into his own as a masterful people person or as an excellent chef or as a world class detective or all of the above. Letting shaggy acknowledge his skills and his growth in them and letting him be proud.

Scooby would also reflect shaggy. Scooby with his trust issues, opening up to someone who wasn't just shaggy. Being supported by others and supporting them in turn. Being understood and listened to. Having someone tell the hotel front desk, no scooby is coming inside, no you do not get an opinion and if you do we can take our business elsewhere. This relationship with other people making him braver, and happier, and bouncier, and sillier. Having fun with everyone you love always!

You fools! The whole time Scooby doo was about love and hanging out with your friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And how no matter how evil or weird or scary everything is, you can figure it out together!!!!!!!!!

[soundofastar]

*Knocks on your door innocently*

Hi chat, it's Uly anon are you surprised to see me? I hope not

HEY, I'VE BEEN DELAYING SENDING THIS ASK FOR SO LONG because I'm kind of awkward BUT I LOVE YOUR OCS. WHAT THE HELL, AND YOUR ARTSTYLE??? I'M GOING TO GOBBLE IT UP

Like, just let me steal your art rq /SILLY

Words can't describe how much I love your artstyle though like GOSH SODJFJFJRJEJRJ

Okay okay, so I don't really know how to word this but I love misses and I also love Raena, if you are ever so kind. . .I would like to know anything that hasn't really been said IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED

But to be soooooo honest, I really love Raena, and he makes me so sad. So great job on doing that, because those are usually the best characters. I just *sighs* love Raena and Azazel 😔

MISHA !!!! ULYSSES !!!! They are a train reck, I fear, and I LIVE for it. GOSH they are so silly willy

Also, if you don't know, it's basically my full-time job to fangirl so I'm so sorry about that 😓

I hope this finds you well !!! And have a great day :)

-Ulysses loving anon

haha, hello uly anon! its really nice to see you as well! im really glad you enjoy my art (mine art style ..... You Ate it....... UAAAAA) and my characters!!!

don't worry about being a fangirl, its really flattering and exciting for me that people find my characters interesting (all thanks to neon!! love you so much. SIBLING BLAST! :]) and fun!

moving on, i believe neon has talked a lot about misses in general, however misha on her own is mostly my realm (of course, shes my character...) so i will give you general information about her, haha! dont worry, she has some relation to raena (whose information has almost been exhausted), so i will touch on him eventually.

misha kiselyov is the owner of a clothing brand within novaturient. her company is surprisingly not that predatory (at least for novaturient standards), yet not completely absolved from flaws and things of the such. aside from that, she does participate in the creation of clothing, and shes quite a prodigy in fashion design. in her free time, she does on-request tailoring of the highest quality!

she met ulysses through a one-time date, and they did decide that a relationship was just, Not For Them, but continued talking to eachother. kind of as a rebound, and also because...

well. misha's husband was killed in the war! (his name was elpenor!) he kind of fell and died because he was drunk. whoops. but misha's son received the letter of his death, and misha wished to take revenge on ulysses after the death of her son, ilia kiselyov. (he died during a magical girl duel, unrelated to the war)

this is why she has a weird situationship with her. to make things short, she kept talking and asking for favors of him and essentially maintaining a 'relationship' with him to eventually enact her plan. this didnt work. she fell for him.

why favors, you ask? well, misha did eventually remarry. she married miss aracea! an inquisitor that did really fucked up shit with her husband in the denizen district!

and ulysses told her about this before they got married. what a nice guy! misha did take this at face value, since he wasnt lying, but didnt really hold affection for miss aracea anymore. its okay, because miss aracea's daughter, mikhailis aracea, kind of went crazy and killed her parents! not misha. she loves misha.

misha used ulysses to get contacts to other corpheads and get the best opportunities for her daughter, whom she proceded to adopt after the death of both araceas.

however, she isn't an only child. her brother is none other than raena mondlicht iuris! due to his parents' history as inquisitors, he decided to fully distance himself from his family, and that included poor mikhailis. mikhailis really loves her brother, though, even if hes painfully neutral about her.

as it stands, misha really does care and love for ulysses. its... a bit painful for her, actually. she feels like shes betraying her diseased fiance, but at the same time, she really couldnt help it. its destined to fail, though. misha is no penelope, and nothing will change that. but she also loves toying and messing with him. it did get her injured a few times (we dont talk about the twice-happening roleplay cannibalism incident. we do, actually.) but shes a strong woman!

i think that's a lot of information. i may be missing a bunch, but it's more fun to not share everything sometimes! hope you enjoyed, uly anon! :) happy to see you around here!

art cred: @ / wolvzephyr (here on tumblr!)

[matchbet-allofthetime]

I think you might be right about some kind of a stereotype existing but on the other hand Sara might be inspired by the Atlantis (look at Asra's parents and tell me they are not Milo and Kida- maybe more like that headwear kids mother had as a queen ) .there are multiple disn*y refferences in that game. But yeah that's just one thing I wanted to say (the stereotype might be real and it's sad they didn't have main characters ethic hair. )

(this ask is referring to this previous post of mine:)

Okay, first of all— HILARIOUS that you censored Disney. Got a cackle out of me. I, however, will not be censoring it because FUCK Disney. Anyway— onto the substance below the cut.

On the point of Asra's parents possibly being based on Kida and Milo, I think that's a hard "maybe".

I don't think, logically, that either him or his parents were based on them. That's my opinion though, as someone who watched that game's creation in the development era, and who saw the original designs before the game was even super fleshed out. (Odd times.)

I never saw anything about Asra and his family being based on Atlantis' characters, but maybe it was never strictly said. Who knows.

In Atlantis, the cultural references taken to create the Atlantean people were mostly that of Egypt (civilizations lost to time, brought to ruin), Mayan architecture + customs + jewelry + etcetc, and even ideas inspired by Cambodia, India, and Tibet.

So yes, I'd say there's possible overlap in how Asra + his family were designed and Kida+ the Atlanteans. However, direct correlation where one came from the other? I'd wager no, probably not. Or at least not purposefully/consciously.

But back to my point made in my prev post, Asra is a brown man with white hair. His mother ALSO has white hair.

Nadia's sister, Nafizah, has white hair (fades to pink, questionably, but it's mostly white, so still fits the stereotype). Nazifah's mother, Nazrin, ALSO HAS WHITE HAIR.

All of these characters mentioned are BIPOC characters. (I say BIPOC as an overarching, all-encompassing term because I think all these characters are Middle-Eastern, especially given they were heavily inspired by Middle-Eastern cultures, so there's that.)

Every single one of these characters (from the same damn game) have white hair.

And yes, some are the children of others, so genetics work their magic.

But why not give them black or brown hair, like with Muriel or Namar (Nafizah's father) or Salim (Asra's father)?

I just think about this a lot, and there's so many characters depicted like this, ESPECIALLY in this one game.

Okay, now that the thought puke is over—

Again I LOVE all of these characters! Very, very much, in fact.

I think it's just interesting to question the why of these things— why do so many BIPOC characters have white hair? It makes me wonder.

Thank you for your ask— and the opportunity for me to think further on this as a result so I could get my words put in, perhaps, a better fashion.

I also wish designers did more ethnic hair! It is beautiful, and it should be celebrated and shown more.

Something I'd like to add that isn't canon to Atlantis, but I think about a lot:

All of the Atlanteans that have hair seem to have these straight edges, with only a few stray, "sharper" hairs here and there.

This could be simply a result of how they cut their hair, but I doubt they'd do sloppy, uneven work.

That, coupled with the way their hair always looks segmented and "layered" in these flat, squared-off strips has always made me think of locs or wicks, especially when it makes their hair look bigger.

I know a lot of it is simply the movie's style, but I think about it a lot anyway.

[lemonmatronicsart]

Muki and Tailor repost since I’ve written out their actual bios since their first post!

Alts and Bios below the cut

Muki

     A classic rags to riches style story, Muki and her sister grew up in a much more unsavory setting.

     Father dying while they were young and sending their mother spiraling, Muki and her sister both has to raise themselves for a long time. Due to this Muki didn’t gain many social skills, having to focus on surviving more than living a childhood. Little does she realize her older sister Tailor got the worse end of the issue.

     Despite her situation, Muki always admired The Bad Crowd’s previous ruler. Needing someone to idolize and inspire her (RIP Tailor), she turned to lionizing Bluster’s mother. Dreaming of one day performing for her.

     She never got to live that dream.

     While Muki always loved to sing, turning to it as a comfort in her younger years and overtime becoming a talent, she started gaining attention for it in her late teens. At first she didn’t adjust to the sudden praise well, not being used to any sort of spotlight, but after taking some advice from her sister she embraced the opportunity for a better life.

     Play a persona that can handle it. That’s what she had to do, and damnit it worked. A wall of mean blocking out the real her that would undoubtedly get pushed over. Muki only gained more and more traction as word spread about her, and the fake face had to stay on more and more.

     Until eventually…well it just wasn’t fake anymore.

     The defense mechanism used to keep herself from being used becoming so vital to her life it simply never left. Becoming even more defensive and cruel worded as time went on, and she treated everyone around her equally awful.

     Nobody would notice this change, not knowing the little girl she used to be.

     But Tailor did.

     Additional character relations note:

Muki collabed with another music artist named Pic Ringlee during the early stages of her singing career. While at the time she was singing safe poppy stuff that didn’t challenge her much, Ringlee heard her music and could just tell her voice was capable of more. He offered her the chance to collab on a song with him, which she happily accepted.

     The collab itself was fine, great even, and got Muki’s name further out there. Since then her main style of music incorporated both rock and pop into a mesh of a blend that made her stand out. However, also completely overshadow Ringlee. Leading to a growing resentment and eventual blow up at Muki, a major blow to her ego considering she’d grown to look up to the guy.

     Later on Ringlee would realize just how childish it was of him to act as such after a long series of misfortunes. But his story is for another day.

     Years later when he reached out to Muki to make things right she absolutely refused to listen to him. The fact it wasn’t long after Tailor ditched her not helping in the slightest. Accidentally just contributing to Muki’s slow but steady mental slip.

     Additional character relations note:

Muki has a body guard named Unar she eventually fell into a situationship with. Remember him, their whole deal will be revealed when he’s posted. Just wanna note he’s important

Tailor

     Growing up Tailor had to not only raise herself due to her mother’s depressive negligence, but had to raise her little sister too. Giving up many learning opportunities when it came to her passion, fashion, so she could be there for her sister. Never telling Muki about the given up classes and job offers. Despite only being three years older than her, Tailor practically becoming a parent against her will.

     On some nights, she did find time to sketch and design outfits. Almost never being able to bring them to life, but her drive to brainstorm couldn’t die. Especially when Muki also found it interesting. Sometimes snuggling up next to her and watching her sketch to fall asleep. Tailor never minded, in fact, she liked that her sister enjoyed her work. Even if it only stayed on the pages for years.

     At most she would have to sew up holes in their clothes or adjust them to fit new sizes, unable to spend money on buying more. She gifted presents to Muki when she could, but with their mother’s depression only making her sick over the years, they both knew what they needed to focus on.

     Eventually, Muki’s talents were the ones noticed. Both of them knowing how much of an opportunity The Bad Crowd hearing her voice could be, Tailor did everything she possibly could to help her. Finally, she was making real outfits. Simple ones, sure, but she was sewing and cutting again. All the while doing everything possible to help her sister adjust and find her places to perform. Slowly but surely getting her sister more well known not only in their area, but further out as well.

     As Muki became more popular and found ways to handle the limelight she always dreamed of beaming on her, she took Tailor with her. Rising budgets for a rising star, she was making the outfits she always dreamed of. Who better to costume design for Muki than her own sister?

     But things didn’t stay so great. Money was flowing, absolutely. They could finally indulge in simple treats they didn’t get to when they were young. But Muki…changed.

     At the start Tailor gave her some advice to beat her first show stage freight. Advice Muki would never let go of.

     “Be someone who can do it.”

     She remembered it word for word, over the years haunted by her own quote.

     Muki did become someone who could handle the music business. Someone mean, cruel, spoiled, and entitled. Unbearable to work with and constantly switching out employees.

     But Tailor stayed.

     Despite the fact she began being treated just as badly as Muki treated others, Tailor owed her sister. At least she felt like she did. Muki was the reason she wasn’t hungry while sewing clothes and designing costumes. She needed to be there, it was her sister damnit!…

     But a person can only take so much.

     She doesn’t understand why that day in particular drove her over the edge, but one too many dismissals of her work left Tailor absolutely heartbroken and hurt. She didn’t even care how many other people witnessed that fight.

     Tailor quit, unsure of where she was gonna go next.

     After taking some time off and collecting herself, Tailor began to look for real work again. Working for Muki before, many people wanted her. It wouldn’t be hard to find a good offer, but there was one that stood out above the others. One she just couldn’t refuse.

     Bluster didn’t even mind if she altered the complementary jacket! Granted, he didn’t expect her to go THAT nuts with it. But hey, her clothes not his.

Muki and Tailor can also be seen being depicted as friends with Kai and Minx respectively

Kai and Minx both belong to @zip-toonz

I’m not knowledgeable on them enough to write full blown bios about the characters on Toonie’s behalf but to sum the dynamics up shortly

Muki and Kai are both beloved singers that met each other through the music business. However both of them are very flawed people that have made some big mistakes, so they totally help each other realize that and grow right—? No they enable the hell out of each other because doing so in turn justifies their own actions as well.

Tailor meets Minx not long after leaving Muki and quickly end up being friends and bond over their shockingly similar turmoils. Unlike Muki and Kai, instead of bonding and enabling each other, they bond and find ways to help each other and grow. Especially Minx helping Tailor,,stuff’s a lot fresher for Tailor

[post-itpenny]

How would you say everybody is doing? Whoever you can think of of course ^^

Ok, I feel like I’ve covered Maggie, Atlas, the elders, and Magpie in other asks. So I’ll try to get at least most of the rest here.

Cecelia- the past few years have been a somewhat awkward transition. It never fully occurred to her that Blair didn’t really care that much for her wellbeing. So being give actual respect threw her off at first. But she’s happy. More importantly Rigsby is happy which is what is most important to her. She also loves teasing Juno whenever she visits. The girl is cool, but easy to mess with. Gets so bashful for some reason.

Rigsby- Still does not talk, they can but for multiple reasons choose not to. But Rigsby is doing good. They have expanded their bug collection quite a bit, particularly beetles. They also enjoy helping their sister with whatever job Magpie has her doing. On that note, Rigsby totally knows about Juno’s crush. But it’s way funnier to watch the struggle.

Vespers- Is just happy with life. He has his family (and extended family) and is just straight up content with things (will be even happier with baby space moth #4 arrives). His fashion line is also doing very well! Aside from a physical location, everything else is online. While some of his designs have to be machine produced in order to meet demand (his aunt helped with this) he still makes most of the pieces himself. He’s had quite a few celebrities as reoccurring customers.

Juno- Lives in the townhouse and is quite happy there. Though she does also spend quite a bit of time with her parents as well. She thought the creativity quirk had skipped her. But out of boredom one day she came up with the idea of a murder mystery and ended up writing it down. To Juno’s immense surprise she is good at writing and has a small series going. This all being said, there is still the problem of Cecelia- whom Juno is completely helpless with. Simp. She didn’t want to admit she had feelings. But talking to Cecelia is hard. So is thinking clearly and saying no to things. Which makes it very easy for Cecelia to mess with her.

Lyra- Has been doing a mix of things. She loves coming to visit her grandchildren and, as a result, have come to really like the D’Vitt family. She’s also been visiting Adeline. It started as a “saying hello” visit and ended up with her competing by twice a week to help manage all the patients. She really enjoys it and just likes feeling helpful.

Vega- Has her hands full with Annie who is very precocious. But she loves her little girl. She also misses Atlas terribly and has put herself to work in the bakery as a way to distract herself. It’s given her an opportunity to experiment with low-sugar pastries.

Peregrine- Is actually doing ok. He’s a relatively solitary guy and doesn’t mind the alone time when Lyra is with Adeline. He has surprised himself by learning he’s good at both watercolor and oil painting. I think being a grandfather has mellowed him a bit and put things in perspective. He really does love Phoebe and the twins. He just has a hard time expressing how he feels.

Zilla- who yes is still alive believe it or not. After Faline died she more or less went into a state of hibernation. She was terrified of when she realized they had become and this is more or less a purging stage. Who knows what will happen to the lights still floating around in her. But eventually she will have to wake up. Maggie did actually find her, and has left her alone since.

[terrainofheartfelt]

i’m reading your lovely jenate fanfic rn and one of the details i’ve really been enjoying is the way you characterize the sibling relationship between jenny and dan! and it has me wondering, more generally, how do you picture dan and jenny’s relationship playing out as adults? we don’t really get to see jenny post going to london on the actual show, and i’m curious how things might have changed or evolved between them with them both being on more equal relational footing, so to speak. (i also think i remember you mentioning here that you yourself have siblings, so as an only child i can imagine you probably have a much more nuanced picture of this than i do lol)

ohhhh thank you so much!!! this is something that I actually explore in the next chapter (posting forthcoming), but I'll talk about it now just to get ahead of that lol

I am thinking, in show canon -- and in the canon i construct in this au in which the show ends after Despicable B ;) -- that Jenny sort of...gives herself a clean break from all things New York, including Dan. and Dan, with all his abandonment issues, takes that harder than she probably sees at the time, but completely removing herself is what she needs the most in that moment. and then, a couple years later, they gravitate closer, but virtually.

with their work being so time-consuming and not really on the typical layman's schedule (like, writer and fashion designer lol what free time) they don't really have time to full on talk on the phone or facetime, but they text regularly, often over an inside joke or a link or a meme they need the other to see (because their partner wouldn't find it as funny)

I think Jenny as a grown up would find it easier to talk to Dan first about things over their parents, and vice versa, because their is this sibling kind of thing were no other person quite understands you the same way, and has known you this long and loved you this long. but the love is different from the love you feel with your parents. i'm not sure if this is entirely accurate...but the love feels...more unconditional somehow, because a sibling has more choice in loving you, but less failures of doing so.

and yes! I do have an older brother, our age difference (3 years) is slightly larger than Dan & Jenny's, but my relationship and experience with him informs - consciously and unconsciously - a LOT of how I write Jenny & Dan. Disclaimer: our pasts are not nearly as traumatic as these fake people, and our parents are still together (over 30 years WOOT WOOT), so our life experiences don't exactly line up

but that being said, I look up to my brother so much. and I switched school mid highschool (like jenny but for less fraught reasons) so I went from being "Andrew's Little Sister" everywhere I went to being just Liz, just myself. and that's an adjustment, from always being the little sister to growing into your own person, and I wouldn't have gotten that opportunity without moving schools, and Jenny probably wouldn't have without moving to London.

and my brother and I have followed our own paths and live in different timezones (and regularly different countries, he splits his time between the US and Canada it's a whole thing), but I never don't feel like he isn't there for me. I know with him I always have a place to crash and someone to send me cute pet pictures when I'm sad and someone who is just as worried about my dad's health as I am (again, whole other thing, not gonna get into it bc privacy but yeah). and I am never entirely lonely as long as he is existing someplace in this world. shit I'm gettting emotional just talking about it but,

he's the guy that drove me to my piano lessons and teased me for my music taste and took me to my first punk show and said "that was so good!" after every performance even though he knows nothing about opera. and when I had a 3 month contract in florida and couldn't take my cat with me he fostered Steph and now Andrew is Steve's favorite person and when I was unemployed I crashed in his apt while he was organized for the 2020 Iowa caucus and he crashed on my couch to visit me after I got my job and moved and we smoke weed and recite monty python and joke and laugh together and I can be a version of myself with my big brother in a way that I can't be with anyone else.

so to bring it back to your meta question, lmao, I imagine and attempt to write Jenny's relationship with her big brother in the same way. it's never the same as when they lived in the same house, and that's hard. (because they stopped living in the same house when he was 18 and she 16 and you can never really go back to that), and they each have their own lives and careers and loves that keep them where they are, but they are still always just...their for each other. and, if given the choice, they are the first person to hear the other's good news.

[delinqucntdaydreams]

[ sydney sweeney, cis woman, she/her ] — whoa! SKYLER CAMERON just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for ALL HER LIFE, working as a FASHION INTERN/ASPIRING FILM ACTRESS. that can’t be easy, especially at only 26 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit STUBBORN and RECKLESS, but I know them to be CAPTIVATING and DETERMINED. whatever. I guess I’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to MANHATTAN! 

ABOUT SKYLER: Moonlight swelling through the trees.

CHARACTER BASICS

FULL NAME: Skyler Rhodes Cameron

NICKNAME(S): Sky

AGE: Twenty-Six

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Woman, She/Her

FACE CLAIM: Sydney Sweeney

EYE COLOR: Blue

HAIR COLOR: Blonde

HEIGHT: 5′3″

DATE OF BIRTH: February 12th

ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual

LEVEL OF EDUCATION: Bachelor of Fine Arts

SCHOOLING: Cornell University

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, French, & Italian

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Hufflepuff

OCCUPATION: Intern to a local designer, Aspiring Actress

HOBBIES: Singing, Baking, Shopping, Yoga, Photography, Guitar, Drums, Acting

HOMETOWN: Manhattan, New York (Upper East Side)

CHARACTER HISTORY

Skyler was born and raised in the Upper East Side of New York with both her parents and sister. Her Mom, a well known face around the world for retiring from the modeling world to style them, met a man traveling the globe as a musician. Liam was nowhere near as successful as his wife, but somehow two opposites managed to maintain a marriage and start a very creative family.

The Cameron girls grew up surrounded by music and lavish parties, it wasn’t long until Skyler realized how much she loved to sing. Her sister and father would play instruments and she’d dance around the living room and sing for them, loving that this seemed to turn into a weekly tradition. She fell in love with being in the spotlight, though she quickly stuck to only singing in the shower once she saw how talented her sister was with music as a way to give each of them something to allow them to shine differently but together.

As a young girl Skyler would sneak into her mother’s closet when they had a gala or late night function the girl’s weren’t old enough to attend and spend hours staring at the shoes, perfecting the art of walking in heels by the age of 5. The sneaking continued as she’d venture into her mom’s workshop and “borrow” designs off her rack for parties, being sure to put the items back before morning. Skyler was always drawn to fashion, wearing it, creating it…you name it. She was happy to pick up another passion that’d look good on her college applications alongside acting, getting the chance to design costumes for her onstage performances didn’t hurt either. When she was finally able to go to all the events she’d study what everyone was wearing, learning what was popular and using it to start designing her own clothes in secret, not wanting her mother’s influence to smother her. She never thought she was any good, so for a while she stuck to drawing anything she could: fruit, people, nature. anything that didn’t involve clothes, but she always found herself coming back.

It wasn’t until she met (wanted muse connection) that he truly got her to start honing her craft and focusing on what mattered to her most. As Skyler entered university at Cornell, she saw herself debating between her desires, seeing as fashion would lead her directly under her mother’s shadow and that’s something she’s still striving to steer far away from. She’s always loved her mother’s designs but knew a developed career would involve Skyler working under her and not getting to experience the real world on her own. The spark for acting came back bigger and stronger than ever, resulting in the blonde signing up for every production Cornell had to offer.

Junior year she was offered an opportunity to study abroad in Paris, quickly jumping on that before finding herself romantically connected to a big designer. He went behind her back and stole her designs for himself, publishing them without her consent and leaving the credit she rightfully deserved unmarked. Skyler was devastated, not knowing how to handle the betrayal of someone she put all her love, trust and ideas in. She used this as her plea to fly back to New York to continue her degree.

She was offered an intern position with a local designer in the city shortly after she graduated and she’s been here ever since, doing her best to look toward her future rather than the past.

HEADCANONS

If there’s a party you’ll be sure to find her there, especially with a drink in hand.

She only fully trusts one person in her life: her sister.

She’s her sister’s opposite. being very outgoing, playful, and down to try anything once, charming people with a simple smile from across the room.

She’s always felt this bit of responsibility to make her mother proud and constantly feels that pressure which is one of the main reasons she’s questioning what to do with her career.

Where she goes, trouble tends to follow due to the blonde’s overwhelming sense of adventure and curiosity.

She landed her first acting role, a small commercial and wants to do more in this line of work. She’s also been featured a handful of times as an extra.

She’s the type that her family has money but she’s not one to show it off, never making extravagant purchases especially now living on her own.

[violetsilhouettes]

Welcome to Aurora Bay, [SKYLER CAMERON]! I couldn’t help but notice you look an awful lot like [SYDNEY SWEENEY]. You must be the [TWENTY-SEVEN] year old [ACTRESS & FASHION INTERN]. Word is you’re [DETERMINED] but can also be a bit [RECKLESS] and your favorite song is [WEAPON BY AGAINST THE CURRENT]. I also heard you’ll be staying in [SEABROOK QUARTER]. I’m sure you’ll love it! 

ABOUT SKYLER: Falling on my face again, so I know I’m right on track.

CHARACTER BASICS

FULL NAME: Skyler Rhodes Cameron

NICKNAME(S): Sky

AGE: Twenty-Seven

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Woman, She/Her

FACE CLAIM: Sydney Sweeney

EYE COLOR: Blue

HAIR COLOR: Blonde

HEIGHT: 5′3″

WEIGHT: 110 lbs.

DATE OF BIRTH: February 12th, 1995

ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius

MAJOR: Fashion Design

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, French, & Italian

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Hufflepuff

OCCUPATION: Intern to a local designer, Aspiring Actress

HOBBIES: Singing, Baking, Shopping, Yoga, Photography, Guitar, Drums, Acting

HOMETOWN: Manhattan, New York (Upper East Side)

RESIDENCE: Seabrook Quarter

HOUSING: One bedroom Loft

TIME IN TOWN: 1 year

FAMILY

MOTHER: Diana Cameron (née Carmichael)

FATHER: Liam Cameron

SISTER: tbd Cameron

CHARACTER HISTORY

Skyler was born and raised in the Upper East Side of New York with both her parents and sister. Her Mom, a well known face around the world for retiring from the modeling world to style them, met a man traveling the globe as a musician. Liam was nowhere near as successful as his wife, but somehow two opposites managed to maintain a marriage and start a very creative family.

The Cameron girls grew up surrounded by music and lavish parties, it wasn’t long until Skyler realized how much she loved to sing. Her sister and father would play instruments and she’d dance around the living room and sing for them, loving that this seemed to turn into a weekly tradition. She fell in love with being in the spotlight, though she quickly stuck to only singing in the shower once she saw how talented her sister was with music as a way to give each of them something to allow them to shine differently but together.

As a young girl Skyler would sneak into her mother’s closet when they had a gala or late night function the girl’s weren’t old enough to attend and spend hours staring at the shoes, perfecting the art of walking in heels by the age of 5.

The sneaking continued as she’d venture into her mom’s workshop and “borrow” designs off her rack for parties, being sure to put the items back before morning.

Skyler was always drawn to fashion, wearing it, creating it…you name it. She was happy to pick up another passion that’d look good on her college applications alongside acting, getting the chance to design costumes for her onstage performances didn’t hurt either.

When she was finally able to go to all the events she’d study what everyone was wearing, learning what was popular and using it to start designing her own clothes in secret, not wanting her mother’s influence to smother her.

She never thought she was any good, so for a while she stuck to drawing anything she could: fruit, people, nature. anything that didn’t involve clothes, but she always found herself coming back.

It wasn’t until she met (wanted muse connection) that he truly got her to start honing her craft and focusing on what mattered to her most.

As Skyler entered university at Cornell, she saw herself debating between her desires, seeing as fashion would lead her directly under her mother’s shadow and that’s something she’s still striving to steer far away from. She’s always loved her mother’s designs but knew a developed career would involve Skyler working under her and not getting to experience the real world on her own. The spark for acting came back bigger and stronger than ever, resulting in the blonde signing up for every production Cornell had to offer.

Junior year she was offered an opportunity to study abroad in Paris, quickly jumping on that before finding herself romantically connected to a big designer. He went behind her back and stole her designs for himself, publishing them without her consent and leaving the credit she rightfully deserved unmarked. Skyler was devastated, not knowing how to handle the betrayal of someone she put all her trust and ideas in. She used this as her plea to fly back to New York to continue her degree.

She was offered an intern position with a local designer in Aurora Bay shortly after she graduated and she’s been here ever since, doing her best to look toward her future rather than the past.

PRESENT DAY UPDATES

If there’s a party you’ll be sure to find her there, especially with a drink in hand.

She only fully trusts one person in her life: her sister.

She’s her sister’s opposite. being very outgoing, playful, and down to try anything once, charming people with a simple smile from across the room.

She’s always felt this bit of responsibility to make her mother proud and constantly feels that pressure which is one of the main reasons she’s questioning what to do with her career.

Where she goes, trouble tends to follow due to the blonde’s overwhelming sense of adventure and curiosity.

She landed her first acting role, a small commercial and wants to do more in this line of work. She’s also been featured a handful of times as an extra.

She’s the type that her family has money but she’s not one to show it off, never making extravagant purchases especially now living on her own.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

muse : open. her number one support system, made her realize how amazing she was at fashion design. if it wasn’t for him she’d probably still be sketching trees.

best friends : open. open. open. these people are always there for her when she needs them.

fwb/hookups/flings : open. open. being a girl who isn’t one for relationships unless it clicks, it leaves the girl with a lot of free time. she gets bored easily so there’s more than one but it’s always fun and carefree, just like her.

revenge hookup : open. started as a fling to get back at one of her exes and now the two just can’t seem to stay away from each other.

childhood friend : open. their mother’s quickly became friends, always visiting skyler’s mother’s store to get the best designer clothes they could. which led to the two talking while their moms did, getting close and spending time together at events.

protective friendship : open. the person who always comes to her rescue, won’t let anyone mess with her or talk bad about her in their presence. often is seen throwing skyler over his shoulder and carrying her out of parties before she does something dumb.

bad influence : open. the two always have a good time out together, fueling each other’s bad decisions, daring one another to do something crazier.

good influence : open. tries keeping her head on straight and out of trouble.  

cuddle buddy : open. a sort of confidant relationship that usually revolves around them spilling their guts or talking shit, cuddling with no cares in the world. possible that the cuddling could lead to something more romantic.

sexual tension : open. the two can’t seem to stay away from each other and though nothing sexual has happened yet…they’re never far from crossing over that line.

casual exes : open. open.

party friends : open. open. the people who wouldn’t been seen far away from skyler at a party. having drinks in their hands and/or having a good time on whatever dance floor they could find.

chosen sister : open. the person skyler can open up to and talk to about anything. she looks out for skyler like they were actually related, protecting her and being there for her whenever she needs.

the one without the label : open. the two became a frequent thing, partners in crime that were exclusively sleeping with each other. time went on and skyler wanted a define answer of what they were, a label. he denied her and the response was a simple okay, then ending things completely.

partner in crime : open. the first person skyler ever got high with. trouble is always guaranteed when the two are together.

occasional drug buddy : open. when skyler gets high, she likes to do it around someone else, this person allows her to feel comfortable and have a good time. often seen calling her to smoke as well.

aren’t you famous? : open. the person who’s seen one too many commercials featuring a beauty line and skyler.

supplier : open. this person supplies her with whatever when she needs it.

[ifbrd]

Yes yes yes yes!! You put it into words!! The popular interpretation of Ford not being close with Mabel, whichever variation of that idea it is, has been driving me crazy for a while. He clearly admires and cares about her. And it is for this reason I didn’t personally care for the fan episode Return to the Bunker. I don’t buy for a moment that Ford would act that way to Mabel.

I do have one point I want to add though, in regard to Ford only offering Dipper to stay in Gravity Falls. I think it’s important to consider that Ford’s perspective in offering that opportunity to Dipper was based on “How can help ensure my nephew reaches his full potential.” Dipper’s interests and personal strengths align well with what Ford is most knowledgeable on. Dipper already has a lot of potential to be an incredible paranormal investigator on his own, but getting personal training by a man who spent decades studying the same thing? The possibilities for Dipper are nearly limitless. Mabel, however, is interested in art, crafting, music, dancing, and connecting with people, and as you said, the strengths that Ford admires and notices most in Mabel are the ones that are nearly opposite to his own. Unlike Dipper, Ford can’t help her progress forward. Mabel has the potential to be an amazing artist, and aside from teaching her draw, which we can see from his journals Ford can do, he can’t really help her get there. And even so, she’s already been able to make a statue of Stan that was so lifelike that it scared him when he saw it, so there’s probably not much more Ford, who draws for observational documentation, can do for her. Mabel has it in her to be a really good therapist (I’d go to her!), but as you stated, psychology isn’t exactly Ford’s strength. Mabel could be a successful fashion designer, but unless Ford is willing to be one of her models he can’t help her there either. Mabel could be the best party planner ever, and there is probably not a single thing Ford could do to help her achieve that. Ford didn’t leave Mabel out because he didn’t care, he left her out because there’s nothing he can offer her. By that logic, as flawed as it is, it almost makes more sense for Mabel to go home while Dipper stays. Mabel can be with her parents who know her and know what sorts of things would give her success, and would also then be able to put more resources into obtaining those things, since they wouldn’t have to spend time and money on Dipper because he’d be with Ford. I’m not by any means saying this would have been a good idea, but I am saying that Ford’s focus is on their futures, and if that’s the only thing he’s considering, then it really doesn’t even make sense offer Mabel to stay, there’s not enough for her to gain.

But anyway, I loved this whole essay!!

An essay on Ford and Mabel

To commemorate my 1000th post, I decided to embark on an essay on the limited Ford and Mabel bonding in the show!

Among some of the shortcomings in the show (including Wendy being chaffed as a main character), there aren’t as many moments for Ford and Mabel to bond over, compared to Ford with Dipper. Well, it’s also due to the short runway we have from A Tale of Two Stans to Weirdmageddon, but for rather odd reasons, Ford didn’t get a lot of screentime and often holed up in his own lab. Even Roadside Attraction did not even drop any mention of Ford. As a mutual lamented to me, it’s likely the case of Ford, like Wendy, being another character whom the writers had a purpose for (as the answer to the mystery of Stan and the Portal), but didn’t know how to write outside that purpose.

Of course, some argued that, for plot reasons, this is so that Mabel gets duped by Bill since she didn’t know about the Rift from Ford. Or that Ford just overlooked her when he offered Dipper the apprenticeship. As such, there is a main misconception that Ford didn’t care about Mabel at all compared to Dipper. Or, in some ridiculously extreme cases, that he hates her. While I guess this was extrapolated from what we might have gleaned in the show, I don’t agree with such extreme views.

People forget that Mabel was actually the first twin he interacted with, and it was largely positive. When Mabel stated that his six-fingered handshake was one finger friendlier than normal, Ford laughed and said he liked her. Given how much he was shunned by many others for his extra fingers, it probably warmed him to hear someone saying something positive about his anomaly. It seemed initially set up that Ford and Mabel should get along fabulously. Even Mabel went as far as to knit finger puppets for Ford and while he sounded rather hesitant in Journal 3, we later glimpsed a scene in which both bonded over something similar (a hand turkey).

Which brings me next on Ford’s journal entry about Mabel. (I also noted he interviewed, or wrote about, Mabel before Dipper). His interview with Mabel sounded largely positive given he remarked how he was “instantly charmed” by her “enthusiastic” personality. Ford also considered her as an “odd specimen” (almost certainly a compliment), and also hoped to seek her help to repair his own coat.

I suppose this interview probably shaped some initial impressions for Ford about Mabel. “Overall positive but somewhat ambivalent/not-really-comprehending how she ticks necessarily” is much of how I would define Ford’s attitude toward Mabel - he likes her, but doesn’t especially identify with her because the traits he admires in her are almost inversions of some his own.

At this stage, one could also take that with his remark in Dipper’s initial assessment about how he “possibly takes after Stanley” as Ford initially trying to identify with Mabel the way he ended up identifying with Dipper, such as him enthusiastically commenting about her sweet tooth and hair curls being a Pines trait. Of course, as it turned out in the show and in Journal 3, his perceptions of the twins shifted and he found himself relating more to Dipper especially when he looked back on Dipper’s entries and additions, and the events of Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons.

I have to admit that when I first read this part, I thought he remarks he himself needed further psychological testing and not Mabel. For some light-heartedness, I rather think of it that way, but there’s something deeper in this for the two’s psychological profiles. First off, the tests were flawed, given Rorschach testing blots should be less definitive, but it probably reflected Ford’s possible lack of comfort with ambiguity, and the preoccupation he had with death and destruction for so long. As for Mabel, it shows a certain degree of wilful misinterpretation, trying to see things through a particular positive lens and has a sort of fear of unpleasantness that manifests in a possibly neurotic drive to control reality around her, which finds its ultimate expression in Mabeland.

This is rather important as something I would delve into deeper later on in this essay, which gave Ford an impression that Mabel’s psychology, while odd, was overall positive and not much to be concerned about. He clearly recognized Mabel’s social ability as a valuable skill, and may see her lack of cynicism as something of an asset too, as we later see in The Last Mabelcorn. I suppose Ford neglected to do a deeper dive into her psychology given the fallout we would see in Dipper and Mabel Vs the Future. He might claim to have 12 PHDs, but I doubted one of them is in psychology.

We move on to the Last Mabelcorn, which is where we see Ford interacted more with Mabel and offer a bigger insight into how he feels about her. First, he agreed with Mabel when she stated she was probably “the most pure of heart in the room” and entrusted her with the unicorn mission, even knowing that the unicorns were difficult (and frustrating). As such, he equipped her with Journal 1 and a crossbow for the mission. Obviously this was for her safety, as well as trying to give her as much help as he could regarding unicorns, even though he himself had little success (Ford mentioned of an arm-wrestle with a unicorn in the blacklight edition which I doubted went well). At the end of that episode, he directly told her that she is a good person, even without being aware of the struggles she had gone through with her morality moments prior. And after the episode he even regarded her as an expert on unicorns given she managed to defeat one, and allowed her to write an entry in Journal 3 about unicorns. I needed to note that Mabel was the only person who wrote in Ford’s Journal after Dipper returned Ford the Journals (and before their recovery in Weirdmageddon). This rather showed how much Ford really trusted Mabel, especially when he regarded his Journal as his “important scientific documents”.

Dipper and Mabel vs The Future is more contentious in this regard. We see how plenty of fans often using this episode as proof that Ford doesn’t care about Mabel just because he only asked Dipper to stay in Gravity Falls, and waved off concerns that Mabel would be all alone in California. However, we need to relook some bits of this in context.

Dipper: There’s also Mabel. She’d be all alone in California. Ford: Mabel will be fine on her own. She has a magnetic personality. I watched her become pen pals with the pizza delivery man in the 60 seconds he was at the door.

From this, we can see how Ford cared enough to observe Mabel’s social skills with the pizza delivery guy, plus probably witnessed plenty of instances of Mabel handling herself without Dipper’s help. I guessed that was further underlined by her success in the unicorn adventure, and thus he genuinely believed that Mabel could take being without her brother outside of the summers.

Dipper: Gosh, we’ve never really been apart before. Ford: And isn’t it suffocating? Dipper, can you honestly tell me you never felt like you were meant for something more?

This is another contentious bit, I admit. It sounded like Ford considered Mabel as a stumbling block in Dipper’s future. Well, I concede Ford isn’t perfect. Again, this is one of those times Ford was projecting his issues with Stan onto the younger twins after finding out how similar he thinks Dipper is to him (possibly aggravated probably by Stan blatantly aligning Mabel with himself, ex, telling Dipper that he belongs upstairs with “me and Mabel”). At this point, he was just extremely clueless about the nature of her and Dipper’s relationship, and how it was much healthier than his was with Stan, probably even at that age.

Nevertheless, to say that he didn’t care about Mabel at all is simply a misguided oversimplification. He cared about them both so much. His traumatic experience with his own twin just tainted how he saw the twins’ bond being something that could be potentially suffocating. He did sort of have a point though; Dipper and Mabel couldn’t force each other to stay glued at the hip forever or it could potentially stifle their individual dreams if handled badly. But the twins were only 12 and had a lot of growing up to do together. It wasn’t a great idea to separate the twins at this point, which was something Ford forgot.

Mabel wasn’t forthright about her feelings about leaving Gravity Falls and growing up until she blew up at the end of the episode. We see how she maintained that mask of optimism throughout the show, even when she was worried about the Grunkles’ falling out and the parallels she found between her and her brother back in A Tale of Two Stans. That mask began to slip when she realized growing up wasn’t as great as she thought, and Ford didn’t know how badly Mabel would take it.

Ford thought he was doing Dipper a favor by giving him a head start on his studies. This is probably a bit too charitable of an interpretation, but one could, I suppose, see Ford's “something more” remark as “Dipper more than just half of a set” instead of “implying that Mabel is in some sense inferior than her brother.” As said earlier, he even believed Mabel would be fine and thrive on her own, too. That the two could have reached a compromise if needed.

We can probably conclude that Ford actually did not disregard Mabel or see her as the "inferior twin", but he just found trouble trying to connect with her despite his initial positive impressions. At the same time, due to Mabel's outward outgoing personality, he overestimated Mabel's confidence in being on her own, and also (subconsciously) projected his own issues with Stan on the younger twins. Not to say Ford was a bad person by any means, but he was misguided in some of his assumptions and impressions.

On a tangent, I say the recent fan episode Return to the Bunker tried its best to imagine how Ford and Mabel might go on an adventure together. However, it instead exaggerated too much of his flaws (e.g. his trust issues) and it became more of a Ford bashing episode. Yes, we know Ford isn't perfect by any means, and he might be unfamiliar with interacting with others like Mabel.

Yet, as we also saw from the canon (the show supplemented by Journal 3), he could get along well with Mabel, especially in such a desperate situation like confronting a Shapeshifter (how he dismissed the others' suggestions is really beyond me). We even saw how Ford was willing to give up himself to Bill in WMG when Bill threatened to torture or even kill the kids.

I supposed the writers of that fan episode did read J3 but took the wrong lessons. While definitely an attempt to show Ford's flaws, the episode instead went the other extreme. Ford could sometimes be insensitive (like the remark he made about "suffocating"), but not anti-social or downright unpleasant.

There is definitely potential for more positive Ford and Mabel bonding moments that could further underscore that Mabel could cope well on her own (from what we saw in The Last Mabelcorn). From what @hkthatgffan also told me (and on Reddit), when Lost Legends was coming up, everyone thought, from Hirsch's hint through his emojis, that we might finally get a Ford and Mabel bonding story but instead we got an (admittedly) half-hearted attempt to redeem Mabel from her role in WMG.

I supposed another angle could be Ford and Mabel also coming to terms with their roles, given Ford is partly responsible (and even took some blame himself), and both can overcome the trauma together. I don't doubt these are already concepts being explored in various fanfics and fanarts. And here are some other ideas from Reddit.

Let me end off with some parallel scenes between Ford and Mabel, which show how similar both are. We need to also remember that it's not exactly Dipper-Ford and Mabel-Stan, but rather Dipper and Mabel paralleling each of the Stans in different ways. That is probably another essay for another time.

This essay is written with assistance from @jacky-rubou (who already provided an initial essay for me to work from) and @callipraxia who is able to offer more insights.

[flightfoot]

So how does only Marinette call Lila on her lies? Like all her lies are so outlandish and obvious that when people just believe her they look like idiots. Half the stuff she says can be corrected with a Google search.

...ARE they actually that outlandish though? You gotta compare it to the stuff that actually happens to the Miracuclass.

Like, looking at most of Lila's lies, the ones that are mostly bragging:

Volpina:

Lila knows Prince Ali and flew on his private jet with him.

Jagged Stone wrote a song about Lila.

She knows several Hollywood directors personally.

She's friends with Ladybug.

She's the descendant of a vixen superheroine.

Heroes Day:

Prince Ali invited Lila to stay with him at his palace.

She, along with her diplomat parents, helped convince several world leaders to reduce world pollution, and she's hoping Prince Ali will jump on board as well. (Note: considering that Lila's mom talks about needing to go to an embassy meeting, the "diplomat parents" bit is probably true).

Chameleon:

She has tinnitus due to being too close to a jet engine when rescuing Jagged Stone's kitten.

She saw someone in India get their eye gouged out by the edge of a napkin.

Her uncle's the great pianist Chuch Boroughchuck, but he had to stop teaching her because of her arthritis.

Onichan:

Her mom wanted her to come to a fancy embassy function, but she had to turn her down due to having too much homework.

Lila lived in Japan for a few weeks.

Ladybug:

Lila's friends with the best manga publisher in Japan.

Most of these really aren't that crazy? Especially when considering that her mom at least probably IS a diplomat, from what little we see of her in Catalyst. That alone makes all the "she's traveled around a lot and has run into a lot of famous people" stuff pretty plausible.

Plus, compare it to some of the stuff the Miracuclass has gotten up to:

Chloe:

Is the daughter of Paris's mayor and an internationally renowned fashion icon.

A lot of celebrities stay at her father's hotel, including Prince Ali and Jagged Stone, giving her ready access to them. To the point that she was able to get Jagged Stone to give out autographs as part of her election campaign for Class Representative.

Alya:

Is Ladybug's best friend.

Runs a famous and highly respected superhero blog, obtaining the very first interview with Ladybug.

Was the first person Ladybug ever saved.

Knows who Ladybug is.

Has met and interviewed several American superheroes.

Max:

Built a sentient AI in his spare time.

Juleka:

Is Jagged Stone's secret daughter, who he's kept away from for all these years because he didn't feel like he was mature enough to be the parent she and her brother deserved.

Is a member of the acclaimed band Kitty Section, which has had its so record deal signed, and was in fact SO good that an already established musician, XY, tried to rip them off.

Nathaniel:

Is co-creator of a comic book about the French Superheroes. Dunno how wide the readership is though.

Rose:

Helped with a charity event for the children's hospital with Prince Ali.

Adrien:

His dad's an insanely rich fashion designer who has his fingers in a lot of various projects.

He's a famous model and voice actor.

His mom was an actress, albeit a small-time one.

Marinette:

Is the Guardian of the Miraculous.

Had her clothing recognized and modeled in a major fashion show.

Her design talents were SO recognized there, that the "international queen of fashion", as Nadja calls her, offered to take her to New York with her as her protege. Marinette had to turn her down.

Her Great-Uncle's a world-famous chef, who names his prize soup after her.

Jagged Stone dedicated a song to her (as Ladybug). He also regularly commissions her for album covers and such, and loves talking her up whenever he's given the opportunity. He'll even consult her about who he should get as his back-up guitarist.

Also literally ALL of them are superheroes.

So yeah. In the real world Lila's lies may be outlandish for your average person, but by Miracuclass standards? They're pretty average, and most of them make sense together. I'd say that Juleka, Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette's lives are actually crazier than the stuff Lila makes up.

It IS true that a lot of stuff Lila claims could be corrected via Google search, but Marinette actually tried that in Heroes Day. Lila just adapted her story slightly to make it still be plausible, even with what Marinette looked up.

Plus there's just not much reason for the Miracuclass to care whether this stuff is true or not. It's like some of the crazy shit you see on tumblr: if you're not advocating to take any action based on it and it's just for entertainment purposes, it really doesn't matter a ton whether or not its true. And while there was some speculation that Lila would use her bragging lies in a way that would be detrimental to others, so far she really hasn't? The bragging lies have been irritating to Marinette, but believing them hasn't led to any concrete harm for anyone. All the ones that HAVE led to harm have been lies about other people, like when she was targeting Marinette in "Ladybug", with the exception of finangling a way to get a seat rearrangement for a few hours that ended up hurting Marinette's feelings as a side effect. (seriously though, not the end of the world there).

Anyway, the Miracuclass isn't super big on calling out "obvious lies" unless they dislike the person or think it's potentially harmful. If simply telling blatant lies and excuses was justification enough to be treated badly, then Marinette would be the class pariah.

[byneddiedingo]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Peter Chatel in Fox and His Friends (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975) Cast Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, Karlheinz Böhm, Harry Baer, Christiane Maybach, Adrian Hoven, Ulla Jacobsson. Screenplay: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Christian Hohoff. Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus. Production design: Kurt Raab. Music: Peer Raben. I have a feeling that Fox and His Friends seems much less exotic or sensational to viewers today than it did in the mid-1970s, given the steady movement of depictions of gay men into mainstream entertainment. At the time it created outrage, not just from defenders of the heterosexual norm but also from the gay community, which found much of it distorted and unflattering. But Rainer Werner Fassbinder's story is not about being gay, it's about being exploited, about mistaking predation for love. Fassbinder's Franz Biberkopf, known as "Fox" from his gig as "Fox the Talking Head" in a sleazy carnival act, is a classic naïf who is taken for all he's worth -- which is the 500,000 Deutschmarks (a bit under $125,000 in the day) he won in the lottery. Fassbinder the director doesn't make it clear that the well-dressed guys Franz meets after one of them, Max (Karlheinz Böhm), picks him up outside a public lavatory, are intentionally trying to fleece him, until Eugen (Peter Chael), whose father's printing business is in financial trouble, sees a way to persuade Franz to rescue the company with a sizable investment and promises of part ownership of the firm. It could be, of course, that Eugen just gets a kick out of sleeping with the working class Franz. But he throws over his current lover, Philip (Harry Baer), and takes the rough-hewn, slightly homely Franz into his home and bed. Is Eugen telling the truth when he tells Franz that he's being kicked out of his apartment for being gay? It would be entirely plausible in the place and time. Or is it a lie that gives Eugen an opportunity to persuade Franz to buy a posh new apartment, and to furnish it with opulent antiques from Max's shop? And to go along with Franz's new image as a haute bourgeois businessman, he of course needs new clothes from Philip's fashionable shop. None of this exploitation feels premeditated except in hindsight, as Franz becomes Eliza Doolittle to Eugen's Henry Higgins -- though with less overt success. The resulting film is a superb tragicomedy, one of Fassbinder's best films, I think. Fassbinder turns out to be as good an actor as he is a writer and director, giving Franz just the right blend of naïveté and street smarts. I think the ending of the film is a shade heavy-handed, but the rest of it is full of extraordinary satiric moments: The horrifying scene in which Eugen brings Franz to dinner with his parents. The vacation in Morocco, where the man* Eugen and Franz pick up on the streets is refused entrance to the Holiday Inn Marrakech -- though wouldn't a pretentious bourgeois like Eugen have chosen a tonier hotel? -- because it doesn't admit Arabs. (The employee refusing the entrance, himself an Arab, suggests that if they want boys, he could provide some from the hotel staff.) And the moment of truth in which Franz realizes he's been conned is shattering. Michael Ballhaus's vivid color cinematography is complemented by Kurt Raab's production design, especially in the garishly overdressed apartment which includes a chandelier hanging so low that guests have to walk around it, that Eugen puts together with the most expensive pieces from Max's antique shop. Only after Eugen and Franz break up does Eugen reveal that he hates the place: He has clearly condescended to what he thinks an uncouth working class guy would think is the height of fashion. *Played by El Hedi ben Salem, the star of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), who had been deported to Morocco after a bar fight in Germany. Brigitte Mira, ben Salem's co-star in that film, also has a cameo as the shopkeeper who originally denies Franz admittance to her store to validate his lottery ticket until the suave Max flatters her into it.