#《 build me up & break me down ;; magica 》

[twstmagica]

Magical Girl Yuu's First Day pt 5.2

***Back to Yuu at Ramshackle ***

She was gathering the least grubby pillows, cushions, and drapes when the rain started. This place was already depressing, between the chilling drafts and foreboding shadows Yuu’s nerves were already on high alert. 

The pitter-patter of rain quickly became a harsh pounding against the walls, and served as the last prop needed to turn this dismal building into the set of a horror movie.

Seriously, Yuu was half expecting a fiend to jump out from around the next corner. Or behind her. Or perhaps from above…

**BANG**

Right on cue the noise reverbs through the building, quickly followed by frantic scratching.

Yuu’s scepter is out and ready faster than you could say “jump scare”.

Ain't no way she’s going down like some extra in the first ten minutes of the movie!

The building rattles and moans, starting quiet but slowly picking up volume.

Yuu approached the hallway exit, weapon drawn and body away from the door. Nudging it open she slowly pans her view (gotta slice the pie!) and fires a low energy bolt inside.

“Nyeh-!”

Gottem!

Wait. She recognizes that voice.

“Gah! It’s you again!”

Fire catcoon!

“What are you doing here!”

[spiderman pointing at spiderman]

In order to escape the storm Grim had broken into the nearby building. 

Soggy and tired, he didn't have the energy to do more than some token threats. 

For her part, Yuu was feeling pretty worn out. 

This may not have been the worst day of her life, but the kidnapping/enrollment to mystery boarding school was still pretty stressful. 

Neither party was eager for another fight, but that wasn't up to them.

While the two were posturing the rattling had only gotten closer.

“Oho? Some new residents?”

“A ghost?!”

The disturbance is a lot closer now

“I’d love it if we could play…”

Two more ghosts phase through the wall, escaping whatever was making the racket on the other side.

“...But, ah, now isn't really a good time.”

The wall breaks as a being of dread and bloodlust enters the room.

Grim freaks out.

Yuu freaks out.

“Oh shit that's an upyr!”

“A what!?”

“It's a type of fiend made from dead people,”

It takes a swipe but the group is already running

“They're weak to light and fire based attacks!”

This one looked different from the pictures. Kinda raggedy, like it's malnourished.

“Hey kid, you seem familiar with this thing. Think ya can lend a hand?”

“Sure can, this is what I’m trained for!” Theoretically that is. 

Actually, this was Yuu’s first time seeing a upyr in person.

 But the one before them is looking pretty mangy and worn out. Like a humanoid representation of the building they're in right now. So she would probably be fine.

Guess I should do my thing.

[Hope’s Guiding Light, Ardent Dream, Awaken!]

My uniform shimmers into place around me

“What the fuck?”

Guess he’s never seen a magica before.

The catcoon was so caught off guard that the upyr nearly got him.

Thankfully one of the spooks blasted them out of the way.

“Mya! Don’t hit me!”

“Better a kick to the butt than to kick the bucket!”

I got you fam

[Dreamer’s Blessing]

A spray of butterflies engulf Grim and the ghosts.

The group exclaims about feeling stronger.

I love support spells, the best way to heal someone is to make sure they wont need healing.

“Ghosts! Harass the fiend and keep it distracted! Grim blast your fire! If we stall it long enough I can charge up my [Hope’s Smite]”

“How are you doing that with your voice?”

“Doing what?”

No questions, just fight.

Thanks to our incredible teamwork, but mostly the upyr’s already terrible state, we actually managed to destroy it, along with the building.

“We did it! Myeh? What’re you doing?!”

Yuu had begun to stomp on the upyr’s remains, before kicking the leftover ashes into the wind.

“Just in case” she says before sitting with a tired huff.

Grim gets to watch as the pink costume disappears with a sparkly light.

On one paw, Grim really wants to demand answers.

On the other paw…. It's been a really long day.

Crowley shows up to find Yuu and Grim huddled under some rubble.

“What have you done!?!?”

Great timing birdman.

Yuu and Grim trip over themselves to explain how this instance of property damage wasn't their fault.

Crowley remembers that ah yes there were ghosts here but that they wouldn't have done this much destruction.

The duo insists that they were fighting for their lives.

Then the ghosts come out and corroborate that there was a monster attack.

Ghost B explained that something had broken in a couple days ago and they were searching for the intruder to ‘play’ with them.

At first it just hid, but with each sunset the trespasser grew bolder, until it started outright attacking them at night.

The Ramshackle ghosts were worried that it was only a matter of time before the intruder started attacking, and possibly killing students.

And Crowely would know all this if he paid more attention to his school.

“Yes, well-!”

Ramshackle has been vacant for so long! How can he be expected to pay attention to such an obsolete part of the campus?

Please ignore the fact that he had tried putting Yuu here…

What is more important is the fact that this fiend, as Yuu named it, had reached the school in the first place.

The headmaster revealed that for the past decade similar creatures had been appearing in Twisted Wonderland, but the authorities have been working to keep this out of public view. 

Even S.T.Y.X had gotten involved due to the blot-adjacent nature of these beings.

Well, Yuu doesn't know what blot is, but her home has been dealing with friends for centuries.

Crowely tries berating Yuu, saying this was supposed to be her residence.

She’s like dude chill I can just set up some sheets.

It'll be just like camping.

Birdman backtracks and says she'll just have to spend the night in the infirmary.

He tries to shoo Grim away, but Yuu is still feeling solidarity from the attack and insists the catcoon stays with her. 

For his part, now that he knows there might be more fiends out there, Grim isn't super psyched to go back into the forest.

Crowely gives in, with the caveat that Yuu is responsible for Grim’s behavior from now on.

“Yeah sure whatever.”

Ends with Yuu and Grim saying goodnight in the infirmary.

[sl-newsie]

Spelled: Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter Masterlist (Part I)

Magica Sanderson is the daughter of Sarah Sanderson and the Evil Queen's huntsman. All her life Magica's lived in Sherwood Forrest with her father while her heritage has been kept secret, but what will happen when a magic accident sheds light onto her powers? Perhaps being sent to Auradon Prep along with a few other new VKs will change her life forever...

[open-hearth-rpg]

Magic Combinations: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics: Week Six

There are some mechanics where I love for the systems they exist in, but I’m not sure they could be adapted elsewhere. Ars Magica is the poster child of that for me. I adore the idea of Ars– I’ve picked up books from every edition. While I only ever managed to play campaigns using third edition, it remains with me powerfully. 

I’m going to leave aside a ton of material from Ars here: the framework, troupe play, covenant building, magical research, etc. It has a huge number of innovations; some iterated on and some that remained unique to that game. As befits a game about wizards, it is the magic system that does radical things. 

Ars has players gaining skill points for using magic on two axis lines. The first are five Techniques. These describe actions (create, perceive, transform, destroy, and control). The second are fifteen Forms, which describes subjects (animal, air, water, body, mind, etc). The combination of these defines generally what a spell can do. So if you want to shift dirt, you use Muto (transform) and Terram (earth). If you want to read someone’s emotions you use Intellego (perceive) and Mentem (mind). 

Your potential level of effect is limited by your invested ranks in the different forms and techniques. The Ars Magica rules contain a host of spells broken down into those forms with details on effect, power, and minimum skill. It’s a lot. But characters, more dangerously, can also improvise effects based on those combinations. It’s significantly more difficult. Some of the main focus of play revolves around your wizards developing new spells and researching to make them repeatable rotes which can be used and spread. 

Conceptually breaking down magic is this way is great: it feels right in a Western, mechanistic approach, even though we’re working with magic. There’s a long tradition of spell systems (Master of the Five Magics, Earthsea, The Face in the Frost, etc) with particular logics. Ars Magica one offers a universal and easily understood one that breaks everything down into particulars– a non-holistic approach to mysticism. 

But to do that requires a lot of text and rules. You have to define the kinds of effects which can happen at the different ranks. You have to consider the limitations of duration, casting time, # of targets, etc. You have to present a list of example, pre-created spells– basically a new version of the D&D spell collections reorganized. It seems to require complexity. But some have tried to make it less complex and ended up with something else. 

Mage: The Ascension for example. When we first heard about Mage, everyone assumed it would be a modern updating of Ars. After all at the time White Wolf had the rights to Ars and had already added elements of its backstory to the tale of vampire clan Tremere. But when it arrived, Mage had stripped away the concept of techniques and focused on forms, called spheres. The combination of those spheres became the focus, with players developing rotes which could be repeated. 

I don’t think it was intended as a simplification of Ars. And it certainly isn’t. If you’ve seen the latest version of Mage you know that. There’s a whole book just trying to explain more clearly how you actually use the magic system in play. 

The question is: can you have a fun and playable combination magic system with a modern, rules-lighter storygame? I’m not sure. I’ve run a couple of campaigns of a PbtA hack of Mage. It’s a decent one– written by someone with a real love of the source material. But it feels wobbly. Casting spells requires calculating a bunch of modifiers. The definitions of the spheres are at once vague and also restrictive. 

We’ve tried a hack of it for Fate. In this case the techniques become the basic actions of the system (attack, defend, overcome, create advantage) and those are combined with different elements: Fire, Spirit, Illusion, etc. For this we had a general spell casting skill– though we’d also tried it with individual ratings for the forms and techniques. In one version, players had a matrix of what they knew (Attack: Water, Defend: Plant, etc) and for each one they picked, they had to choose one they didn’t learn.

This worked OK– but the challenge of these abstract approaches is that the forms all seem equivalent. If you can achieve the same Attack results with Fire, Air, and Earth, why would you specialize? Also how do you handle improvised magic versus learned rotes? Do you have a list of spells you know or do you have a penalty for on-the-fly casting? It opens a deep hole of complexity and record-keeping which goes against some of the simplicity of modern games. 

I’m sure others have played around with this– I know of at least one Forged in the Dark hack of Ars Magica. And I’ve always wondered what a Free from the Yoke version of the setting would look like. But I’m unsure if I could make it work: it may well be that fun of working out those vast combinations always comes with a cost in complexity for play.

[corruptedbunny-multimuse]

📖 + Madoka Magica? (Rokusho)

"Now, Rokusho. With what wish will your Soul Gem shine?"

The Head Scissors looked between the creature, then at the still-burning house. He had practically torn the building apart looking for the professor and Barton. There was no sign, no remains. Maybe... there was the possibility they had escaped. Maybe there wasn't. Either way...

"Give me the power to take down whoever caused this fire."

~~~

Rokusho held Kyubey up in the air, glaring at the alien. "Kyubey. What was that." He held the former Soul Gem up to his face, the creature's face unchanging.

"That was a Puella Magi becoming a Witch, Rokusho," he replied, his tone unwavering.

"That wasn't part of this 'contract' I made," the Medabot growled, gripping the scruff of the incubator's neck as tightly as he could. "Was this always part of the deal? Why did you never tell me this?!"

"You never asked," Kyubey replied evenly, as if he had said it a million times before. "Would it really have bothered you if you never knew? Many Puella Magi before you die before they succumb to despair, and many more deny it all the way until the end. It'll be the same for the Puella Magi that come after you."

~~~

Pain.

The feeling of bullets striking Rokusho's body made him collapse to his knees, his internal systems crying about damage that wasn't actually being dealt to him.

"That is what it would've felt like if your soul was still in your Medal," Kyubey said, pressing his paw on Rokusho's Soul Gem. "If you're struck enough, you would've been completely incapacitated. And without your Medal, you wouldn't have been able to get back up without help." Kyubey paid no attention to the Head Scissors crying out in pain. "Medabots are both less and more fragile than humans in that manner. You were both spared from the damage your body was taking and given the chance to get back up despite your body having shut down. If your Medal were to break, or be damaged, your soul wouldn't be affected because it's no longer directly connected to it."

Kyubey finally removed his paw from Rokusho's Soul Gem, the cries turning into whimpers. "That is why you could keep going during your fight with Metabee. Why you could get back up despite your functions having ceased. You've been told this before-- I don't understand how you forgot that."

[fantasizes-tickles-daily]

Eeee, thanks for tagging me! 💓💞💓

❤️ Newest obsessions:

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (sequel to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous) on Netflix 🦖🦕 {{big, big fan of the Jurassic Park/World franchise}}

My Adventures with Superman (was never too much into DC but this show is GREAT)

🎥 Last 3 movies I watched and what I thought of them:

Inside Out 2: IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL, SUCH A WELL DONE SEQUEL 😭❤️‍🔥

The Imaginary: New Ghibli-esqe movie on Netflix. Stunning visuals.

Ultraman Rising: I know next to nothing on Ultraman, but if you love kaijus and found family and crying your eyes out, go check out this movie on Netflix!

🎶 3 songs I discovered recently and love:

Maise Peters - The Last One

Genesis - That’s All

Bastille - survivin’

💘 Newest ships:

Hotaru Hinase and Saki Hananoi from A Condition Called Love

Yuki Itose and Itsuomi Nagi from A Sign of Affection

Kara Zor-El and Jimmy Olsen from My Adventures with Superman

📺 Currently watching:

Only Murders in the Building on Hulu (trying to catch up before new season drops in August!)

CSI: Miami 🕶️ (love science crime shows)

Wonderful Pretty Cure! 🐶🐾🐱 (the Pretty Cure franchise is amazing, plus MAGICAL GIRLS ✨🎀 enough said)

📖 Currently reading: Soul Keeper by David Dalglish (first in The Keepers trilogy)

🎮 Currently playing: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story ✨🎀🏹 (gacha Madoka Magica turn-based game that is unfortunately shutting down its JP servers on the 31st 😢 (the NA servers suffered that fate a couple years ago) so I’m trying to play it as much as possible before it’s gone forever)

😍 Currently looking forward to:

Magia Exedra ✨ (new Madoka Magica game coming out soon, which is great since Magia Record will be gone)

Final season of The Umbrella Academy ☂️ on Netflix ☂️

Transformers One 🤖🚗 (love those transforming alien robots)

Deadpool and Wolverine ❤️🗡️💛

✅ Recently finished:

A Condition Called Love

A Sign of Affection

Most of the MCU movies (watching in chronological order); watched Endgame and was like “…Yeah, my feels are gonna need a break after this. 🥲”

💌 Something to share: It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Never be afraid to start either. I should know: I’m going back to school to be a veterinary technician after already obtaining a bachelor’s degree for psychology. I’m ready to head down another path to finally get to the places I want to be. So keep going, there may be bumps along the way, but you got this. I believe in you. 💖

I tag: No one! Free to do this if you want!

Catching up (Tag Game)

Ive been a bit on and off and felt like making a tag game so here's one to catch up on each other's interests and hyperfixations! Answer the 10 questions and tag 5 people. No pressure ofc!

@fluffandgiggles @ppystkposts @crazy-as-a-jaybird @blobbirobbi @kusuguricafe + everyone who wants to join! **edit + everyone who received a notification from when I tried to tag 10+ people and the tumblr post broke 😂

❤️ Newest obsessions: Dungeon Meshi, probably has been clear.. and capybaras. Taylor Swift not very new but refueled obsession since seeing the eras tour concert!

🎥 Last 3 movies I watched and what I thought of them:

Inside Out 2 - CRYING SOBBING LOVING IT SO MUCH

The Parent Trap 1998 rewatch - Still golden fav, one of my guiltiest pleasures

Sous la Seine / Under Paris - Love a good shark movie but thought this was mediocre smh. the ending was cool tho hahaha

🎶 3 songs I discovered recently and love:

Peggy - FEMININE RAGE

Spencer Sutherland - Alive

HOYO-MIX - Interstellar Journey

💘 Newest fav ships: Falin x Marcille , Chilchuck x Senshi, and Laios x Kabru all from Dungeon Meshi!!!

📺 Currently watching: The Apothecary Diaries, Wind Breaker, House of the Dragon, Pokemon Johto Journeys (rewatch), FMA Brotherhood (rewatch), Mushoku Tensei S2 (might drop it)

📖 Currently reading: Dungeon Meshi manga, Define the Relationship manhwa, XXX Buddy manhwa (both manhwas on hold but I'll continue reading soon!)

🎮 Currently Playing: Fortnite, Minecraft, Genshin Impact (haven't played since Cyno story quest tho), Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (on hold), Yakuza 0, Zelda Skyward Sword, Hogwarts Legacy, note: I kinda dropped all mobile games but I'm really considering starting love & deepspace again hmmm.

😍 Currently looking forward to: New Fortnite update, Genshin Natlan update (even though I have to catch up on the previous ones lol), the new Deadpool movie, Blue Lock movie (seeing it this week!)

✅ Recently finished: Kaiju No. 8 (anime), other than that no books, manga, games or shows. All still in progress lol.

💌 Something to Share: I'm glad to see people are enjoying the x reader drabbles and I'm motivated to work on them faster when I can! Thanks everyone for your patience.. T-T

[gladstonetm]

tags

[frenzyarts]

Care to go into greater detail on your thoughts on Annie x Kat?

Honestly a large part of wanting them to be together is that I want Kat to be happy. Kat does SO much for Annie. Kat breaks the laws of TIME ITSELF for Annie. That's such a romantic gesture to me!! Maybe I just have madoka magica brain but I love sapphics involved in time travel shenanigans. Also she often suffers in silence and it would be nice to see Annie finally break down her walls and allow Kat some emotional catharsis.

Annie can sometimes be cold and distant but something the story has kept constant is how deeply she cares for Kat. I'd be interested to see how it would effect Annie to realize that her feelings for Kat are more than just friendship. Maybe she doesn't probe into Kat's feelings as much as she should due to inability to think about her own emotions. Maybe the crush that she can't even say out loud to her own self (the scene where she's underground with the two Annies) is Kat???? Could be!!!

The entire comic has been spent building up the relationship between these two characters, and I'm really excited to see how it develops, romantic or otherwise.

[citadelspires]

P1 - Given how great you're track record's been for doing hypothetical interactions of Amphibia kids with the Duck kids and Owl House kids, let's try doing the Duck kids meeting the Owl House kids and who they'd like the best. I'll exclude Violet for this for the sake of evenening things out 5 to 5. I'd assume Luz would get along best with Dewey (both jump into adventure), King with Louie (could see em teaming up for a scheme), Willow with Huey (eh, more leftover interaction but can work)

Screenshot of second half of the ask provided. Text: P2 Gus with Webby (would totally ask each other lots of questions about their species), and Amity with Lena (both got abusive figures they stood up to and would totally talk about their crushes on Luz and Webby LOL). Would love to see you take on Duck kids and Owl House kids interactions.

First of all I’m very pleased to hear you find my track record on these posts good, they’ve been really fun to write and it makes me really happy people like them! Second I am so sorry it’s taken so long to get to this ask, it’s a really in depth one and it took a long time to write, I hope you’ll find it was worth the wait!

Aight! Oh and one last thing real quick before I get into it. I hope you wouldn’t mind me adding Violet back in, partially due to the fact I love her, but mostly because there’s actually another owl house character I think works significantly better with Louie than anyone else and I really want the chance to talk about that. Saving that one for last hehe. This’ll be another long one, writing below the cut.

Luz and Webby So I do like a lot of the possible interactions brought up by your suggested grouping but my mind went in a few different directions. I’ll start with Luz, who would fit in best with another excitable adventuring partner, as pointed out, but I think the best fit for her in that regard would actually be Webby. While Dewey would no doubt get along great with Luz, there’s a special element to the potential relationship between Luz and Webby that really elevates the potential of their friendship to another level, that being: they both want to eat a hamburger.

An aspect of Webby I wish the later seasons of the show got into a little more, but is definitely something I would consider a core part of her character, is the fact that she got held up in the mansion her whole childhood, with no opportunities to interact with the world around her, have all the adventures she wanted, and most importantly to just be seen as the kid she wanted to be. And while Luz was technically able to go out into the world, the place she found wasn’t one that was willing to see her, or give her any of the chances she longed for. Both Webby and Luz fully understand that feeling of being trapped in your own life, of finally getting the chance to break out and just doing your best to make the most of it. I think there’s a lot the two could gain from spending some time together.

(Also, to borrow the bit about gushing about their crushes but from the other end, these two would totally get sidetracked talking about their respective crushes and also trying to play wingman for each other. It’s a massive comic disaster in both cases, but somehow both Lena and Amity manage to find it endearing).

Amity and Violet Okay wait lemme explain. While the two of them don’t have a whole lot in common at first glance, I think they would genuinely get along extremely well. While a lot of Amity’s focus on school came at the force of her parents, you cannot honestly expect me to believe that girl isn’t a studious nerd on her own anyway. Heck even outside the realm of studies she throws her full dedication into literally every single thing she does. Remind you of anyone? Beyond just being extremely intelligent Violet is clever and ready for anything. She takes everything in stride and always has a plan, she can go from “we were sleeping over and you said everybody get on the plane, so we got on the plane” to “I brought an axe” in a minute flat.

I like to think the two of them would have a mutual respect for each other based on their respective intellects upon first meeting, but as they become closer friends they find they can move from more serious respect to a casual enjoyment of each other. I would go as far as to say that both of these characters really value dependability in a friend, and that they each provide a lot of that. To wrap back around to the stuff about intelligence I think Violet could provide a lot of insight to Amity as far as showing her that pursuing studies and academic heights of her own volition can be something that she can just do because she wants to, and that’s no excuse for unhealthy parental relationships. Getting along so well with someone like Violet only to see that her parents are actually really loving and supportive, that would be really eye-opening for Amity I think. For Violet’s part she could get a lot of help from Amity as far as her pursuit of the secrets of magic goes. I suspect Amity would be much more interested in the study of her magic than Violet would be able to get Lena to tolerate lol.

Bonus Round: Amity would absolutely be a senior junior woodchuck and she would love it you cannot convince me otherwise. She starts quoting the JWGB around the owl house kids and they all look at her like she’s crazy.

Lena and Willow I feel like this one might seem a little out there at first but trust me on this one. Initially Lena doesn’t think too much of Willow, being as close as she is to Webby she knows liking flowers and cute things doesn’t mean Willow is automatically to be taken lightly but she feels like she’s got a good read on her that she generally prefers to avoid trouble and turns down opportunities for violence, which isn’t really Lena’s deal. Over time Lena figures she was right about her first impressions as Willow doesn’t seem to take many opportunities to expose some hidden power, even when Lena knows the people around her kinda deserve it.

She learns to adjust her opinion when she finally does get the chance to see Willow in action and realizes that girl is more powerful than any of the other kids she’s met in the boiling aisles bar none(yes this is my genuine opinion of willow if you don’t think she could kick your ass you’re wrong). It’s at that moment where she starts to pay more attention to Willow and notices a lot more of the strength she puts into all the little things, how much she cares for everyone and everything, and it does a great deal to show Lena that maybe having super strong magic powers isn’t mutually exclusive with being kind and gentle. And maybe gentle isn’t her thing but still, it’s nice to know.

For Willow’s part she’s just happy to make more friends. Especially if the opportunity arises, as I like to think it would, when they’re close enough friends, that Lena would start to hint around asking questions about how Willow remains so casual and nice with the ability to do so much damage, and Willow takes the chance to help Lena figure out her magic a bit more, and learn how to better appreciate it as an aspect of herself she doesn’t have to be scared of. (I mean come on Lena never really learned how to do any of it except barely kind of from Magica of all people she could really  use something like that).

Huey and Gus Now there are some certain things about Gus that would drive Huey absolutely nuts. His lack of primary and reliable sources for any of his information being a big one, but at the end of the day I think he’d enjoy Gus’ desire to learn in the first place. Gus would probably be a little dubious about Huey’s “sources” and “citations” but if it helped him get more info on the human realm he’d certainly go for it in the end. In that way the two balance each other out pretty well. Gus is studious and intelligent but he’s a little off the wall, he’s got a big creative streak, and he’s really excitable. Huey is really really good at facts and analysis but he lacks the strength in imagination that Gus has. Huey is able to take all the grandiose concepts Gus is able to think up and help make them actually happen. Gus has that specific brand of an adventurers soul matched up with the fact he’s not actually the type to get into danger and fights, meaning he’s able to drag Huey out of his comfort zone a little and help him reach new heights with his mind that his struggles with creativity prevent him from reaching, while managing to not make him feel like he’s actually in danger. I actually believe the two of them together could get some really incredible stuff done.

What I’m saying is that with Huey’s help Gus could absolutely complete his tunnels under Hexside.

Dewey and King Now this, this is the pair who would go incredibly well together, at the detriment of literally everyone around them. If there is one person King “I Will Rule Everything” Clawthorne should not be exposed to its Dewey Duck. Within minutes of meeting each other the two of them would immediately have so many bad ideas. Between Dewey’s insistence on being the best and most daring adventurer while putting his name on everything and going down in history & King’s trying to rule everything and everyone, the attempts to raise the stakes would be constant and the two would spend literal hours endlessly trying to one-up each other. All in one day they search for legendary treasure, discover an entirely new civilization, try to take over said civilization, create a new species just to name it after themselves, and build statues of themselves in the middle of Bonesbourough. And that’s all before lunch.

Louie Here it is. The one I waited till the very end for out of sheer excitement. I even kept the second name out of the heading thing. That’s how secretive I’m trying to be about this. See, there’s one character in the owl house that works so well with Louie it’s practically canon. Their interactions have so much potential, they each bring so much to the table, I just couldn’t Not talk about it. And yeah, I know this ask was specifically asking about the owl house and ducktales kids, but I just couldn’t resist talking about the relationship between Louie and Eda.

A con artist from another world who was so successful she became nationally famous? There’s no way Louie would pass up an opportunity like that. For his part I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already managed to set up another underworld identity in the boiling aisles, or at the very least that Eda could totally have been to the ducktales realm and heard of his one there.

Either way I’m convinced the two of them would start planning a heist as soon as they figure out who each other are. Eda is a little prideful and wants to show this kid he can’t out-con her, but Louie knows what he’s doing just as much. Honestly with the two of them combined Eda wouldn’t have to worry about losing her stand for a long time. Over the course of their planning and seeing Louie in action Eda begrudgingly gains some respect for the  kid, and while Louie was definitely just using her as a learning/profit opportunity at first, he’s pretty susceptible to getting attached.

For Louie, it’s the fact that she actually respects him for being good at what he does. Even back with his family who all love and care about him and all that he still feels like most of them don’t really get what he does or see what’s special about him, so having someone who made a whole life of it be even a little proud of him feels really nice.

And of course, at the end of their heist when they finally have the money in hand, and Eda just casually hands over his half, he stares at her like she’s crazy.

“You’re just.. Giving it to me?!”

“Well, yeah. That was the deal wasn’t it kid? I mean if you really want I definitely have a few ideas for it.”

“No! Uh, no, thanks, I’ll keep it. It’s just that you really remind me of someone, I guess I was expecting something else.”

[sidecharactersdomatter]

@dear-kumari @shadowjinx626 @soup-du-silence @tomb-bloom-noctem @mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune @sophfandoms53 @ankkalinna @sympathy-for-thedamned @harlequinmoss @prpis

I did not like how Bradford Buzzard was handled as the final antagonist.

The reason behind his whole villain backstory was because of the trauma he received adventuring with his own grandmother, Isabella Finch. His own grandmother, who didn't seem to care about her grandson’s wellbeing and instead focused on building her own legacy.

Bradford ended up going down a dark path because of Finch’s not so great parenting. Resulting in a form of unhealed generational trauma.

Well since adventuring became too much for him, that wasn’t ok. You could’ve just taken breaks after your latest expeditions to give him time to physically and emotionally recover. Or let him stay with family relatives you’re close with while you’re adventuring. It is not that hard!

Well instead the narrative has the protagonists, the Duck family invalidate his trauma and his ideals that challenges the series’ status quo. Resulting in the plot emphasizes to the audience over and over it’s the reason why“he’s evil” and “he’s a villain” in the finale. It didn’t help that Angones and Youngberg had conflicting ideas on handling his character together. His unresolved trauma just served to make him a megalomaniac murderer who gets defeated with a piece of mystical papyrus, and ends up getting literally dehumanized. UUuuuugggghh. I really hated that he got turned into a literal vulture, look I haven’t seen the finale (the final episodes of season 3 made me softly rage quit watching the series) I already read spoilers on the wiki, but that fate to me made it seem like the easy way out for him and it seemed like rushed writing at the last minute. The ducktales reboot wasn’t the best at giving their end season antagonists the right consequences, Magica ended up running away from the Money Bin and Lunaris orbits the freaking earth!

What’s worse is that the perception of Isabella Finch hasn't changed. Heck Scrooge’s admiration of her should’ve devolved into something Parasocial and he could’ve gotten a character arc where he reevaluates his ideals. Y’know if they had a next season!

I did understand that Bradford’s experience is what drove him to cross lines, I just didn’t like how the writers handled him in the end. I really hated that Finch didn’t acknowledge the consequences of how her constant adventures affected her grandson's wellbeing, and she ended up doing nothing to help him before she seemingly passed.

Also re: status quo being king and the supposed inherent virtues of Adventure™, I think Bradford’s fate really exemplifies Ducktales’ weaknesses in those regards.  When you have an antagonist challenging the validity of your protagonists’ values, even if those values are something as postcard-shallow as “family is the greatest adventure of all!”, then you kinda need to address that challenge in a meaningful and even-handed way.  Even if the writers wanted Bradford to be totally wrong about the status quo — if they wanted to say that yes, the Duck’s wacky adventures and the chaos they spread are an absolute net positive in the world — there was a pretty obvious way to show that without giving him a gratuitous kill count and a weirdly horrifying fate.  Just let him become the cartoon villain he keeps denying he is and then integrate him into the status quo.  Don’t make him a “lame” villain that even other villains make fun of and then trap him indefinitely as a mindless animal, that’s just mean!  And lazy!  And doesn’t address his surface-level concerns or his deeper motivations at all!!

Keep reading

[anolyso]

Anolyso Watches Spring Anime 2022 + extras

oh uh I guess I let the entire Spring Anime 2022 season fly by without a full proper recap. Also barely recovering from Co-Vid but apparently I still have a mild cough so I have to take at least Monday off to check if I'm clean enough to be on site again oops. Anyways of the anime I DID pick this season:

Kaguya-sama Love is War S3 Spy x Family Healing Girl Parapri Koumei Shokei Shoujo Virgin Road Madoka Magica Gaiden Magia Record (All Seasons) Bonus: Amphibia Seasons 1 & 2 Heike Monogatari Kamen Rider OOOs (I'll do a seperate post just for that)

-Kaguya-Sama: Love is War S3. Blatantly one of two mainstream poster children for the entire season, Kaguya is...actually fundamentally simple in being a Rom-Com but taking the latter half of that and pumping it to the absolute brim with off-the-wall energy, sakuga and just blatant but surprising references to as minute a visual joke could be; like the absolute finale just straight up has a visual call-back to Char’s infamous bazooka headshot, and it’s so good.

Not too much I CAN say, other than like it IS it’s style for it’s jokes...yet some part of me yearns for a more down-to-earth shojo romance, if not for the effects, than because I want more actual relationship chemistry that isn’t like fundamentally built entirely on the joke “will-they-won’t-they” taken to 11, although I guess I can wait for Season 4 to see how they actually behave in a relationship...tho I’m not really up to catching up to the manga, at least not on high priority

-Spy x Family. On the inverse, it’s the WACKY WILD PERSONAS trying instead to act as low-key and normal as a family as possible, not just as the second big name show but also as a perfect counter point, low-stake on uh x-Comedy (replace romance with wholesomeness), but with more directorial focus on the Former instead of the comedy (it’s still there, but you can tell the jokes serve the characters more than vice-versa with Kaguya).

Of course it still has S1 growing pains like Kaguya’s early S1 did, both in taking time to build it’s cast, but also while Loid and Anya get enough mileage of Spy antics and Telepath school antics...Yor sadly winds up the weakest since they just CAN’T let the wife just straight up kill people in the streets...or like anywhere beyond her intro.

A shame since that kinda shoves her just into the “stronk wife” of ditzy but with plenty of muscle (even if none of it shows in her model) but like...it also means she doesn’t really get her own episodes/incidents to herself and has to play a side-character to the other two’s antics. Real shame about that too

On the otherside, Anya’s wholesomeness IS the beating heart of the show and the animators really know it, with plenty of focus on all her funni/smug faces but also as the major anchor to being a mis-interpretive klutzy kid who keeps managing to hold the family together by sheer heart, THIS is the key focus of Spy x Family and man does it hit where it counts.

-Healer Girl: Ok but my ACTUAL pick of the season is Healer Girl, and it actually well lives up to it’s name of being an Iyashikei (healing) anime. Even as a Symphogear, Macross and whole host of other idol shows about, only this anime actually felt as light-hearted and brightly low-stakes as a classical broadway Musical as this show.

It’s just...so playful about how the girls will just break out in song as much for low-stake sport competition as it is for literally building a healing field visual metaphor for easing an ER patient’s pain.

If anything, none of the songs feel really out of place (tho it can also mean if you don’t like bright and cheery songs about fun times, it can blend a couple together) but more than that, it just is a show that goes down super smooth and feels like a pre-Sailor Moon non-action magical girl that just has the girls helping out their local neighborhood, tho they just straight up name them Magical Girls and their teacher a Mahoutsukai [witch] it’s the sorta thing that even for the people who don’t go down the precure kids show vibes, there’s still something out there that’s still super wholesome keeping the genre’s vibes alive for older audiences.

Ya Boy Kongming: oof, it’s like sobering up mid-party while waiting for the one good act, but seeing them being front-loaded with a tons of bands you just don’t care about.

Kongming’s big gimmick is that Zhuge liang aka Kongming getting reverse-iskai’d/re-incarnated into modern day Shibuya would get to do Roadie Stratagems for a rookie singing Eiko. Problem is...beyond the premise, it’s just really really basic in it’s execution.

What I mean is that as a perfect parallel to both Kaguya and Spy x Fam which have it’s gimmick just pump it’s major situations and shenanigans full of over-the-top jokes, extreme wackyness and wildness...it just feels super tame, in look and subject matter...which is kinda damning of the Shibuya party scene when I just can’t care about “Rap God” Kabeitaisen; maybe following the lyrics in their original japanese would help more, tho I wonder if it’s more katakana or just feels kinda...too g-rated?.

This bleeds into a lot of the cast and most sadly Eiko herself, since I like the singer’s songs...Eiko just doesn’t seem more complex than a cheery naiive party girl...and even more so with how “basic” the main cast is, everyone winds up needing Kongming’s charisma to carry the show’s energy AND the plots, which just doesn’t feel right thematically if not so much as damning how one-dimensional Shibuya’s community would be showcased

And on the actual “machinations” side of things isn’t much better since while you’re waiting for some major ancient Chinese stratagem to blow your mind...it feels like basic roadie logistics, and the most a rise I got out of it was the first and last arc, first by novelty of not knowing, and the last by having more heart to it....but also like, it’s just not as complex as most of the scheming of even Kaguya of the same season so it feels so much like the show’s premise bit off more than it could chew. It’s a shame to say but for many who love the energy of it, the party’s only fun until you sober up, then you realize the DJ left the playist on repeat and none of the smoke and fog machines make up for a pretty shallow character/plot sorta deal.

Shokei Shoujo Virgin road (The Executioner and her path): So on the seemingly un-related but very much opposite field, the “We’ll save Isekai...with yuri...and murder” show is arguably running on a similar spectrum, of “plotting/scheming > big reveal” but unlike Kongming, it majorly feels like Shokei always hits it’s landing of major twists...it just doesn’t have any idea how to get there without dragging it’s feet.

I won’t spoil hard, but with just enough time for 2 arcs in a season, you can sorta see that Shokei can introduce a big conspiratorial plot and sprinkle in action and cute yuri stuff...but can’t figure out how to cleanly dispense exposition and clues needed to dig deeper. So much of the show winds up being waiting for Nana to be a whole other plot-lines away just fetching clues while Menou and Akari have to kinda just walk around and bumble into the necessary big players or even coincidentally the roaming warrior princess.

It’s just kinda unable to fill in the spaces and also desperately shows how much of a light novel port without as much big directorial adaption/improvisation with so much of the fights needing pre-and-post fight banter but not so much during.

I will say tho, I absolutely love the modern Anime sound-scape of “tinkering” magi-tek spells ESPECIALLY as they’re interpretted in Executioner’s mid-industrialized world of “An Isekai protag in Medival courts”, so the world IS fun when it gets to be. And yeah despite all my gripes of the author kinda fumbling to get to where they want to go, once Menou DOES get to it’s arc climax, it’s super fun, actiony and with just plenty of fun set-piece fights and reveals that it does make me almost forget the wafting it took to get there...almost.

Either case, it does still check more than enough boxes for me of Yuri, Magitek, “deconstructive isekai” and big reveals, that it’s at least the sorta of ride I can see an easy recommend for my taste even if I bunked it down my “AOTS” for it just being Isekai Claymore.

-Magia Record Season 3: I admit it, I am a Season 3 Apologist and I do in-fact enjoy knowing that being Meguca is Suffering™. I also marathoned the whole other 2 seasons right before and I will say that S1 didn’t know what it wanted to be since straight porting the mobage story just showed how much empty space there was for “introduce Yuasa + new Girl, resolve conflict, repeat” while realizing none of the main 5 kamihama girls have enough fun chemistry together since the anime is in this weird spot of being too fast to deal with SoL antics, but also too barren since so much of the mobage obscured itself with rando fights every 2-3 minute dialogue.

S2 did so much better but also pumped the gas by mixing major plot developments with the few remaining girls arcs, so it gets to show off their fresh new Sakuga talent, Hiroto Nagata, on top of making it feel as if over-coming the doppel trauma with y’know big flashy CONNECT moves adds both more into the the pace and structure but also the major themes that it’s best not to suffer and despair alone or believe that just bottling up your pain until it (literally) explodes and turns you monstrous is any better than just succumbing into being a witch.

That’s also my major additive point that when people complain so much about the anime differing from the game, it’s that it CAN say what the game can’t...that the Doppel system is ACTUALLY REALLY BAD.

But no seriously, the key difference of Doppels being a major game-power-up move almost completely undermines how the story has to resolve itself so when re-watching some of the finale chapters (I still need to FULLY watch the game finale), the game just can’t say “Yu and company were in the wrong”, so they just have to force brainwash and make you fight tons of girls instead.

The anime instead is allowed to actually confront the moral dilemma, that the Yuasa > Doppel system is about as bad as becoming a witch, if you become indefinitely a monster.

And it also gets extra points for having the teeth to NOT pull a Deus ex Madoka to save the day. In many ways everyone’s hatred for how Season 3 ending is ironic to me, since I feel it gets to be far more honest about handling it’s themes and the ultimate tragedies without pulling it’s punches.

And no more of this can I say than through the character of Kuroe, the one everyone feels so snubbed by her entire arc ending in the tragedy it always was meant to be.

Because just flat out, Kuroe’s entire character is a poor girl who just CANNOT handle being a heroic magical girl and is utterly ashamed when placed right next to Iroha being just the kind of ideal girl whom Kuroe can never measure up to.

What Kuroe winds up adding and representing most definitively is that even when everyone around you is bright and supportive, that she and the rest of the story cannot deny...that being a Magical Girl in-itself is suffering, and for some girls there really isn’t any happy ending.

Hate to be so much the “the edgyness and suffering make it deeper” guy but honestly? With how many of the Magia Record girls entire backstories and story designs are just distilled “Yoko Taro tragic bedtime stories”, it seems entirely dishonest to say “oh but no girl REALLY dies or suffers, Madoka/Iroha can just fix them :^)” and I can’t help but see the constant denial as people just kinda really wanting to go back to Precure (no shade to Precure and more optimistic magical girl shows).

And like ok...but what has Madoka always been about? That yes BEING a magical girl IS suffering...but connecting with friends can and WILL save you (quite literally with the big connect end). And I don’t think that theme is ever diminished with a girl like Kuroe who just is unable and unwilling to connect to the bitter end. In truth I think it rather strenghtens what little resolve Iroha DOES get to show by the end of show, even as rushed and compressed as it is, Yachiyo and the Kamihama girls DO still comeback to support Iroha, even with all the sacrifices the Wings of Magius, the remaining girls STILL opt to give a memorial to the fallen, even as twisted the organization was by the end.

My end feelings is that Magia Record IS still true to a Magical Girl shows themes of connection and is in fact strengthens those THROUGH showing it’s tragic low points rather than completely erasing them or evading them like the game does. People kept being weird when the initial S3 ended about “it not having the catharsis like the original Madoka did” but like...do people just ignore Rebellion or do they also deny that Madoka becoming Godoka IS a tragedy, if not for Madoka’s open and willing sacrifice, than the fact of how clearly it leads into Homura’s suffering and despair (again see Rebellion).

It really is my hot take rant, but I will still stand by it, Madoka never had a truly golden ending, and Magia Record S3 is as true to it’s world and story as Madoka has always been, of the harshness of the situation but the brightness, not in just “Deus ex Madoka will solve everything” but rather than being willing to share the burden in truth and through open empathetic connection IS worth pursuing even when it doesn’t always work out.

In Conclusion: Magia Record Season 3 is just Yuki Yuna Dai Mankai abridged to 4 episodes.

bonus: Heike Monogatari. Marathoned this right before Fanime just to see Aoi Yuki in a more nasally, tomboy role and oh man did I tear up. It really is terribly interesting to see a historical fiction (with mild supernaturals just to added to the fatalism of it all) of one of Japanese historical biggest losers, the Heike clan as they reach their inevitable fall from grace.

In truth, it can be VERY hard to keep track of all the places and names with how it both kinda expect the audience to be at least somewhat familiar with pre-Sengoku politics and geography and it sure isn’t helped with how much is purely talking heads...but at the same time Science Saru puts so much of their talent into the minute facial emotions that are only cut between a Rakugo style recounting of like a major political event, like a failed military advancement or an infamous lost battle.

But really what carries the show hardest is the absolute dramatic irony on full display as both the “future sight’d” Biwa gets to watch every clan member slowly get pushed around by fate or their external politics forcing their hand, as either their most sane father ultimately works himself to death trying to keep peace between the clan patriarch and the emperor, so many characters dying trying to maintain some sense of pride while their entire clan is clearly in decay, and just really coming to grips with the meta and in-story themes of facing an inevitable tragedy.

Truthfully it’s this sort of feeling of an unavoidable and truly devastating tragedy which finds its relief, not in some change of fate, but being honest and truthful in recounting the story that this family/clan of Heike DID exist, suffering as they may, and their lives ARE worth remembering even as one of history’s great losers.

It’s the sorta tragedy I haven’t had a chance to see a lot in Western shows, and admittedly I haven’t read a proper Greek Tragedy in a long while, but it’s also was ironically so...refreshing. In a similar vein to me watching how Magia Record S3 choose to end so bittersweetly, it’s a taste of tone I’ve honestly missed out on in just being willing to acknowledge that life DOES have unavoidablely tragic circumstances but that also DOESN’T deny that such a story has value, not as some grand learning moral, but rather in it’s honesty to embrace tragedy as condition of life.

And just as honestly, it gives ME hope far more than any deus ex-ed happy ending could that WITHOUT any happy ending...people can still survive, if not through their own family and legacy, then through their stories. And that itself is far more than any happy ending could give me

[miserymisume]

I just had the most annoying dream omg

So like me and my allies go through all this trouble of learning how to get in touch with our magic powers but then we manage to escape the mansion and return to "normal lives" for two years, in which time we forget how to use our powers (are you fucking kidding me)

So then we follow footage from a remote drone that leads us to a large building controlled by this mysterious organization, which we need to infiltrate so that we can access the hidden compound below to rescue our friend

Things go pretty well until we realize that this organization is working with similar creatures as the ones we had been fighting before. We still do not have our powers back so we have to fight using like lamp poles and shit like that

Then after I beat the shit out of the golden owl-headed creature we managed to locate our path and flee down several flights of stairs until we reached the prison compound

We beat up some prisoners and steal their shivs before making a break for it, at which point we are able to reach the edge of the compound

Since the prison exists in the post-apocalypse we have to climb onto one of the automated machine ships that are managing the world

After a brief search we find my friend (who is a very handsome shark man??) and revive him before moving on back to the world we had left behind

Side note but at this point I got so tired of this story that I looked at the timeline so I could make sure we were near the end

When we enter this world we are quickly attacked by the same kind of mysterious creatures that started this whole thing. This time we are able to get in touch with our inner powers again and slaughter the creatures with little trouble

You have to mutilate them to be sure they will not resurrect and I get a little carried away but then my comrade is like "good job cutting that bitch up did you know this particular creature is very tasty?" and then we ate some of it and it was not bad but not really good either (it was like a plant creature with a fruit-like pod for a head)

Then some fuckin Madoka Magica music started playing and I decided that was too weird so I woke up

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Finale Review: The Last Adventure! or So Long and Thanks for All The Ducks

Hello all you happy people. The day we’ve all simultaneously waited for and dreaded is here. The grand finale to a five year journey.. and for me an almost one year journey of covering season 3 as it came out. It was thanks to this show i’ve been able to make money doing what I love. Without it I never would’ve found my patreon Kev, and I never woul’dve had the solid focus to keep going as long as I have. And I never would’ve had all you lovely people reading my work. Thank you for that. I hope you’ll stick around even though the series is gone, I love you all. But as the sun sets on this series I have one last episode of the season, and the series to cover. I won’t be doing it in my usual recap style due to it’s sheer length and scope, but I promise you if you join me under the cut I will break down eveyrthing I can about this final adventure, it’s huge, awe inspiring twists.. and it’s heartwarming conclusion. It’s everything you could want from a finale short of a Grandma Duck Cameo, and i’ts under the cut with full spoilers. Seriously if you do not want any spoilers TURN BACK NOW. I’m opening with probably the biggest spoiler of the finale. 

I Think She’s A Clone Now You were warned. So.. Webby is Scrooge’s Clone, made by FOWL as part of a decades long scheme to find the papyrus of binding, and raised by Beakly to keep this precious child out of their sinister clutches. I have hundreds of reaction images, several for what the fuck.. none of them seem sufficient.. ALL OF THEM together like some megazord of what the fuck are not sufficient for how much this reveal caught me off guard. It caught ALL of us off guard. I’m sure even those who called it still were suprised that’s the direction it took. I think we all expected her parents died by FOWL, or her parents were FOWl with Pepper being one of them, or anything else. So naturally it took around 14 drafts, and me going the fuck to sleep as I had stayed up to watch the finale and thought I could just smoothly transition into writing the review despite there being a LOTTTTT to unpack.

Even after the recharge though this took a bit of doing... so now i’ve done it... what’d I think? Whelp....

I liked it. I like it the more I think about it. Even the problems I had with it just kinda melted away as I thought about it. I understand if you do not. This twist will not be for everyone, it changes Webby’s character and story entirely, ruins tons of fan theories, and in general is batshit even for a series that in the same finale, turned Manny into a shout out to Gargoyles, complete with Keith “My Body is Ready” David. This series is genuinely batshit and loves it, but this is a LOT to ask dramatically, a lot to rewrite expectation wise and a lot to thinka bout. There’s a reason besides sleep deprevation it took me a whlie to fully grasp how I felt. So if you don’t like it fine, but i’m going to make my best case. 

Starting with something that made me realize I fully like it: It dosen’t invalidate Webby’s charcter. The one little problem I had left was “Well dosen’t Webby having the McDuck bloodline mean she couldn’t be specail if she wasn’t a McDuck? That sure the rest of the cast are specail but you can’t be really important without it?” Honestly.. no. Webby is who she is not because she’s a McDuck.. but because she’s Webby. She got her martial arts and mystery solving skills through Beakly and being raised. She had intate talent sure.. but as we’ve seen with the boys through the whole series, talent has to be honed. Skill has to be earned and learned.  Webby worked hard to research other civilizations, worked hard to hone herself into a deadly fighting machine with her mother’s help, worked hard to be every bit as cool as her idol who turned out to be her biological dad. She earned her badassery, her wisdom and her courage SQUARE. 

And more than that she’s her own person. Her adoptive parent and biological parent are both paranoiacs afraid of betryal, unwilling to trust, and slow to let anyone in. By all accounts Webby should be the same.. but she’s not. Oh sure she has some paranoia and is willing to slit some throats, she was raised by the world’s best spy and is the daughter of the world’s greatest hero, that was never going to be gone entirely. But at her core she just wants to trust people. She just wants to love them and be loved. And.. that’s why her family loves her. Because she’s the kindest, the warmest and the best of them. They love her because she’s Webby and that’s she’s family, they could care less who she’s related to. All it really changes is how Scrooge acts around her and that gives us fans tons to work with. 

It’s also expertly revealed, which helped ease us into it. Webby is just as shocked and confused as we are and is seriously hurt, which makes her vulnerable to the villains. Kate Miccui deserves a goddamn award for voice acting and if their isn’t an award show for that their should be. While she’s been fantastic with Webby all series long this is her finest performance, going from Webby’s usual self, to all the hurt she goes through.. to her quitter moments at the end, calling Scrooge dad and giving out a little noise that makes it clear as Beakly tries to leave, that no.. she’ still her family.. she’s still her mom and she’s not going anywhere. 

As for the concept being a bit ridiculous yes it is.. but so is this universe. This universe is entirely insane in the best fucking way possible: I mean.. look at this final group shot. 

We have an old man whose somehow still alive simply because he was too busy to die, an inventor whose cloned himself multiple times so clones are fesable and is probably a clone himself given how the last finale went, an awkward armored superhero and his biotech filled girlfriend, a small boy robot weapon of discretion who put his head on his brother’s body, a no longer headless manhorse former harbinger of the apocalypse with the silky voice of keith david as one big homage to gargoyles, a lesbian living shadow and her sister, a superhero who based himself on a fictional character and his boyfriend/sidekick who by all accounts should be dead by now, a lesbian military superheroine from the moon, STORKULES COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH, his moong goddes sister, two adopted family stunt pilots, a bunch of super intelligent mice, an odd duck whose kinda sorta dating a giant shrimp, his cousin with super luck powers, my globetrotting boys, an immortal treasure hunter and in the family proper: a former spy turned adopted mom of a clone, a woman who lived on the moon for a good decade, a man who once trapped everyone in what would essentially be the plot of the mcu’s second best work by pure accident, a blue boy whose piloted a plain, captained pirates, and has his own talk show, a green boy whose ran a multi-trillion dollar company, nearly destroyed all of time and space and is under investigation for fraud, and a red boy who has a hulk-esque rage filled embodiment of all his suppressed emotions, whose fondest wish was tall legs, and who can easily take out a giant magica supermachine with some fancy wiring. So the richest duck in the world having a clone daughter, while divisvie and what not.. is far more plausable than we give it credit for. As are her new sisters who Id in’t forget but are part of the whole twist. 

So yeah, I like the twist and my nitpick is more that despite having a full season to set it up.. they saved it for the last episode. Instead of BUILDING on Webby’s desire to know more about her family and having the twins show up earlier.. it’s all shove into the finale. It’s a well done shoving but there’s so much that could be explored with Webby being Scrooge’s daughter, so much that futzes with the regular family dynamics and we don't’ get any of it. Sure it was probably saved for a possible season 4 but they treated this season as the last. Manny being an apocalyptic man horse voiced by the uber sexy keith david, and no I will not stop bringing that up even outside of it’s own section and why yes it is getting it’s own section, is the kind of revelation you can leave for one last episode. “One of the main cast is a clone” really isn’t and that’s disapointing. 

Especially since thinking back to life and times.. Webby IS a lot like Scrooge was before circumstance hardened him. She’s tough, resourceful.. but also has a peppy spirit to her. It adds interesting shades to her character, where she zigs where Scrooge zags, how much of it is her upbringing with Granny versus his with his parents, how much did Beakley play into it. There’s A lot to dig into and given I have most of the series left to review, I will get to dig into it, and there’s a lot to be explored in fanfic so if I wasn’t already planning a massive one before I sure as fuck am now. So it’s not a bad twist nor bad we get to write the future.. but I do wish the crew THEMSELVES had done more with it. Still my bar for “not fucking up the entire show” is pretty low after Star Vs ended with her committing implied genocide to stop a genocide and How I Met Your Mother ended “But the real journey was in how much I want to bang, bang bangity bang I said a bang bang bangity bang your aunt robin now your mother conveniently died”. I can handle “This twist is kind of weird but also really intresting.” If the twist isn’t for you, as I said i get it. This is my opinion. Now for the thing I won’t shut up about. 

I LIVE AGAIN:

Look i’ve made no secret how thirsty I am for Keith David nor how much of a national treasure I rightly believe him to be. He’s one of my faviorite voice actors, with a mind boggling number of awesome rolls, mostly recently as a fowl mouthed coffe cup encouraging a teacher to sabotage his rival teachers breaks on close enough. Even if I didn’t like Gargoyles, which I do, i’d have an entire section talking about that Manny reveal. 

Manny was already objectively one of the best parts of the show, a hilariously weird addition that was also relatable as he just wanted to fit in. I did not know you could make him better. Then they gave him Keith David’s voice and revealed he’s one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, but doesn’t want to end the world he just wants to be a normal dude, AND turned him into a shout out to the last part of the disney afternoon they hadn’t touched, my favorite part of it and a show i’ve been sitting on watching in full for far too long. Motherfucking Gargoyles. 

But given how unique it was for the Disney Afternoon and how much Disney had no desire to ever reference or use the franchise, still no fucking clue as to why they are sitting on money here, I expected it to be sadly but understandably left out. Instead they made Manny into an expy for them, gave him the voice of their leader Goliath, the voice of an angel, and had him say “I LIVE AGAIN” complete with the utterly transcendent theme song. Seriously give it a listen. 

So yeah I couldn’t not mark out at this. Amazing fucking stuff and almost as unexpected as the clone thing and easily my second faviorite part of the fiinale only NARROWLY topped by the curtain call. Which we’ll get to. Keith David took his time getting to this series but they saved the best guest voice for last. Utter tremendous. 

Huey Season?: I”ll save more of this for my breakdown as the season as a whole but yeah while the finale as a whole was good.. I do feel Huey got short changed. He got PLENTY of development this season, and some REALLY good scenes with Bradford.. but ultimately he got overshadowed by the Webby thing. it just never quite felt like Huey got a real resolution to his character arc the way his brothers did. He still got some REALLY good moments, his “Just cough up the information Bentina!” was one of his finest and Danny Pudi did his best. The BUILDUP was good but hte payoff was non existant and easily the weakest part of an otherwise triumphant finale. I feel the final plot was ultimately just a bit too jam packed to really have Huey feel vital to it the way Dewey was to the Della arc and Louie was to his own arc. Both tgot big emotional payoffs in his finale but the most I could gather here was he accepted adventure? I guess. It just really feels off, like I missed the payoff to everything when it’s probably just nonexistent and that bothers me a lot. In a finale that was almost all hit.. this was easily the biggest misstep. I don’t have as much to say here on it.. but that’s because it’s really that simple: they gave Huey’s arc a ton of build up in this last episode and some of his others, really made him into Bradford’s good counterpart.. then just sorta.. forgot it because “oh shit Webby’s scrooge’s daughter kinda need to pull focus here”. Had they given this arc at least one more episode, we might of had time for it. Granted i’m not sure how much they could get away with but we clearly needed at least one more episode and what they chose to jettision, the climax to Huey’s story.. was way more important than they clearly thought and i’m heavily disappointed. 

Bradford’s Big Hole Speaking of payoffs the missing mysteries payoff.. is a mixed bag. I expected all of them to combine some how into some elaborate plan I just wasn’t seeing. In hindsight it does make sense that wasn’t it: Bradford hates overcomplicated schemes, so his would be incredibly simple and require as few moving parts as possible. It still dosen’t stop the fact that the big plan to cap off the entire series built over a season... was to build a giant stygian hole of non existence to throw people into. 

Yes really. Instead of using the Payprus to write them out of existance, if carefully worded or try doing it all at once or anything practical.. Bradford just plans to shove everything he dosen’t want in the world anymore into a hole.  Look i’ts not like it ruins the episode, there’s still tons of tension from him holding Scrooge’s loved ones over his hole and threating to throw them into it’s gaping void. And it’s foiled by a 12 year old just.. shutting it off. Like I get him leaving an off switch on, that’s just common sense.. but why wouldn’t he have a remote or something to turn it back on? one with a password or something to lock it. There’s something inherently underwhelming about as series ending plan that can be summed up “hope no one shuts my unguarded hole. “

The finale does make for it by using the missing mysteries all in VERY clever ways. In fact every episode in the season had some sort of payoff here. It’s what makes up for how baffling the main plan is: every other thing, from the missing mysteries to the guest stars has lead up to this one moment, this one final adventure. Which leads me too

An Hurricane of Payoffs:

So from the top Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!: Isabella Finch herself ends up being VITAL to the story and to Bradford’s backstory, as does Junior Woodchucking as a whole. Quack Pack!: Gene is the fuel for Blot’s glove.. though he also fucks off right afterwords.. never to be seen again or help out at any point...

Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!: This was the most unexpected and elevated the episode in hindsight for me as what seemed like a waste of time.. wound up setting up the first part of the finale, and the final battle with Steelbeak, and in clever ways with Steelbeak using the intelliray on himself, Launchpad muttering the map in his sleep via his smart self and Dewey remembering the base layout. 

The Lost Harp of Mervana: Used as a lie detector for that heartbreaking interrogation scene. 

Louie’s Eleven: Introduced Daisy setting up Donald’s plot which i’ll get to. 

Astro BOYD: My baby boy comes back for this episode! He also gets one of the best lines of it “I’m a Head!”. That is the most ralph wiggum the boy has ever been. I’m so proud. 

Rumble For Ragnarok: Okay I was wrong nothing from this one comes back. Still a great episode. Same with the trickening. Both are VERY stellar episodes though, so I give it a pass. You can’t give a nod to EVERYTHING. 

The Phantom and the Sorceress: The Blot and Super Sayian God Super Sayian Lena, as well as Lena’s character development from said episode.  They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!: Launchpad helping Penny realize her purpose.  Forbidden Fountain: Jeeves is un-babied as a trap Let’s Get Dangerous!: Drake and Gosalyn Return, and Solageo’s Circut ends up being vital to the climax.. in the strangest and funnest way to say possible but still. It counts.  Escape from the Impossibin: Beakley’s near breakdown at the idea FOWL has come back. It was already heartbreaking and the first adventure had made it even more so.. but now it’s out and out DEVISTATING. The one thing after her daughter is not only back.. but SHE’S the reason he’s in Scrooge’s life and home and her giving up SHUSH has now left her wide open. 

The Split Sword: Probably the best out of all of these as it ends up directly playing into the climax in an awesome way i’m saving for Bradfords New Gods: Storkules shows up. Okay so that every episode claim bit me on the ass. Also when did these two meet? I mean probably at end of spear of selene but the more important question is WHY DID YOU ROB  ME OF THESE TWO MEETING AT ANY POINT IN THE SERIES. 

The First Adventure: Naturally the Payprus comes back as Does herons needling bradford to stop denying what he is. 

Fight For Castle McDuck: Suprisingly the blessed bagpipes ended up being VITALLY important. And giving us sexiest man alive infinity years running Keith David for an episode.  Last Christmas; Santa Cameo

Beaks in the Shell: Gandra being taken and the Lost Library being setup for this episode. 

Lost Cargo: The Stone of What Was. And Credit where its due what FELT like simply a filler episode with a tantengal connectoin.. ended up probably being one of the most important episodes. Fair play. 

Life and Crimes: Magica turning Bradford into a non sentient bird, like what happened to her brother.... proving once again this episode really REALLY needed as subplot attached to lead into the finale or something. 

Bonus Round: Pilot payoffs by the pound. Seriously Scrooge and Donald’s last lines to each other, the badass return of “I’m a Pilot”, more on that in a minute, and even other smaller call backs like “Keep Getting Up” and webby sucessfully getting some juice to Louie’s pride. All top notch stuff and it really makes the finale FEEL like one with all this coming back full circle. So i’ve hinted at it enough, let’s bring on the bad guy. 

The First Woodchuck

We’ve had some mixed payoffs so let’s get to one that’s just out and out excellent. Bradford Buzzard.. is the best villian the show ever had. Now I will give the caveat that my favorite forever and always will be

You know it, I know it. But Bradford is the best genuine threat of the series, with Marc Evan Jackson perfectly balancing his menace and genuine evil.. with his steadfast believe that he isn’t evil, and his calm, controlled business demeanor. It’s one of the best performances of the show and he deserves all the credit for it and after seeing him in supporting roles for his career, even if his role as Kevin on Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fucking awesome and I’m sad that show is ending, it’s nice to see him step into a big meaty role as the big bad and utterly nail it. 

And the finale.. pays eveyrthing off with him, apart from the plan itself perfectly. Starting off him being revealed as Isabella Finch’s grandson... was  a stroke of genius. I didn’t expect her to come back in play but it gives perfect reason both why he knew about the mysteries.. and why he’s like this. 

Like Scrooge did with his nephews, niece and daughter, Isabella dragged Bradford all around the world seeing the unseen, thinking it was fun. The problem was... Bradford HATED it. He hated every minute of it, like as one post pointed out Rusty Venture from the Venture bros, and felt he should be in school. He wanted a normal life and a normal world and not.. this waking nightmare. So to him, fixing the world, stopping this sort of thing is the only way and that doing so is a good thing. His problem is how he adapted to it.

We see that best in his mirror images, the people he’s in direct contrast with and the show knows it. Starting off with the one he’s not like at all is Scrooge. Part of what makes Bradford perfect is he’s Scrooge’s evil opposiite. The Luthor to His Superman, The Joker to his Batman, the Green Goblin to his Spider-Man, the Iron Monger to his Iron Man, the Sinestro to his Green Lantern. Both come from a long line of adventure but while Scrooge embraces that and loves it, Bradford hates it and wants to destroy it. One is energetic and always ready, the other’s calm, calculated. And one sees what he is.. and the other dosen’t. Simple as that.

But his other mirror’s are more like him, moving onto Huey. Their both woodchucks, both prefer caution and planning, and both want to make some sense of a nonsensical world. Both want to feel safe when they constnatly don’t. One’s prone to panic attack the other’s calm. But what makes Huey the better man... is that he accepts the world is the way he is. It goes all the way back to terror of the terrafirmains. While he was all for adventure he started his doubting things, not beliving things were real.. because the reality that there are some things you just can’t prepare for, just can’t know, and you can’t be always ready.. it shattered him. He nearly let himself die rather than live knowing what’s out there. Webby pulled him out of that, literally and figuratively.. and he never went back. Sure he still tries to have an order to things, still breaks when his structure’s broken.. but it’s gone from a paranoid fear of the unknown and weird to embracing it. To relishing in finding unsolved mysteries and new clues to unlock, to finding new things to explore. He went from seeing this chaotic world as something to run from, to embracing and studying it. To loving it the way it is the way his family loves him for who he is. Bradford.. denies reality belongs the way it is and wants to force it into what HIS idea of it is Superboy Prime Style. The world isn’t waht he thought it should be so he’ll MAKE it that way. Huey grew as a person.. while his arc didn’t have a full payoff.. it still pays off here by showing what he COULD’VE been. had he let his earlier fear and his always present neurosis drive him like Bradford has. Let his big brain make him think he knows what’s better for EVERYONE instead of using it to genuinely help people. Bradford lacks the boys heart and empathy and that’s why he fell. Huey had his family backing him, his best friends coming to get him, and his brothers ultimately rescue him. Bradford.. threw his only true ally down a styigan murder hole. 

Finally.. we have the one that’s not brought up directly.. but is very much there. Donald. While the two don’t interact hardly at all... it’s VERY fitting that Donald is the one Bradford picks to threaten Scrooge with. Like Bradford... Donald grew to hate adventure, he wanted to get as far away from it as possible and took it from his boys for as long as he could. Granted that was in part Bradford’s fault, and that was an INCREDIBLY clever twist: it dosen’t make him entirley responsible or anything that robs the moment of it’s imapct, Della still chose to take it out by herself, she still lied to Donald and she still got lost all by her own decision and impuslviness. But it fits perfectly into it: Bradford’s horrifying smile when Scrooge gets taken away from saving her is even WORSE now with full context, and it still fits that knowing about the project.. he’d want to set it up to screw up Scrooge’s life. I don’t think he sabotaged the rocket or anything, too obvious and something Della would’ve mentioned by now.. but he knew it was unfinished. 

Back to the parallel the diffrence is once again.. change. Donald let go of his hate of scrooge and his past and realized it wasn’t all bad. He let himself grow as a person after a decade of bitterness and anger. But most tellingly and poignantly is Quack Pack... both had a chance to make a world that was safe, normal and what they always wanted. Both out of terror of the danger of this world.  Thing is.. Donald’s was noble. He feared for his kids, his sister, his uncle.. loosing one again and any of them at all. He wanted a normal life to be safe, to hide from that.. but it’s not what THEY wanted or who they are. He accepted that’s not how the world works and how it does.. is still pretty great. And his growth shows: he’s ending the series planning to go off with his girlfriend globetrotting, KNOWING things might not be safe, but diving into adventure, having accepted it as part of him. He even finds some new family and takes in two girls who badly needed a home. He learned to accept things how they are... and Bradford refuses, not beliving in this world as it is and vowing to force it into the way he wants it to be. 

And it’s that inherent selfishness.. that makes Bradford the Cartoon Supervillian he desperatley claims he isn’t. Bradford dosen’t care how many lives it takes, how much worse it makes the world, or how many people he has to stab in the back... the world WILL be “normal”. Bradford cares for no one and nothing except his own ambition. He kills Heron despite her loyality, and his own clones who loyally served him.. simply because their chaos too. No one or nothing else matters, not how they feel, not their right to exist.. only HIS vision. If he wanted to keep the world safe he’d be more of a hero, if still throughly a bastard... but he dosen’t. He wants to make it “normal”. He wants the world the way he thinks it shoudl be and damn anyone else and perfectly represents all the old assholes like him today who refuse to accept something diffrent or against the norm because “that’s how it’s always been”.  Like those real world assholes.. Bradford is wrong. The Duckverse is beauitful how it is in it’s chaos and risk and love. And he just can’t see it because it’s not what he WANTS to see. 

And that’s why I also love the Sword giving him big, black and red classic villianous monster, slowly mutating him as he fights the duck family. Because that’s his inner strength: he may deny he’s a villian but he’s forcing his will on others, refuses to see the world as it is for selfish reasons, and is willing to kill his own friends and allies if it means getting it. He’s the bad guy. And while he denies it to those around him... it’s clear from the fact the sword is working for him that he KNOWS IT, he knows he’s a villian and this is just what he wants but is so up his own ass he can’t SAY it or admit it. And in the end he’s fully beaten by the fact that his forcing his will on everything’s what’s unnatural: While his plan was ingenious, have scrooge sign a contract agreeing never to adventure again, since he’s right Scrooge would solve nonexistance it’s the same reason “launch hulk into space” only resulted in a smarter, more skilled hulk coming back with a space army to get revenge. He just didn’t bank on the inherent rediclousness of the unvierse: family really is the greatest adventure of all.. and the papyrus accepted it. It was the one thing he coudln’t palnf or because he can’t see the woirld how it is.. and that’s why he lost. He was so confident how he saw the world and how he worked was the only way... another way beat him. 

His fate.. was also awesome and endleslly apporirate. Being mocked by the other villians who while less capable aside from Magica, at least admit what they are and what their doing.. and turned into a Vulture for Magica, left to be a mindless lackey in tons of chaotic schemes for the rest of his life. It couldn’t of happened to a nicer jackass. Okay three more sections to go. Let’s go.

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Daissssyyyy

Donald’s leaving for a long, romantic adventure with Daisy is the perfect capper to Doanld’s character. Donald started the series hating adventure: blaming it for della being gone, his rough times during it, and wanted to escape it in the boat and keep from loosing his kids to it. He felt like a looser for not having reached his dreams or properly provided for his nephews, when really he did his best and still raised three wonderful kids. A bit overproective, god yes.. but despite his grief and anger he still got through ten years with them on his own merits, hard work and determination. 

As the series went he reconclied with his past, realized Scrooge lost something too and that blaming him soley when it was Della’s choice was just taking his anger out on the one person he had left to take it out on instead of embracing his only family left, accepted Storkules as his friend (JUST his friend), accepted adventure through quack pack realizing that while it may be weird, dangerous and sometimes stressful for him... it’s what his family love doing and they should be who they are instead of who he wants them to be, and finally.. accepted himself by finding Daisy, someone who loves him for who he is, and literally and metaphorically understands him and turned right back around from dumping him to save him from a giant monster she roared at. He’s finally at peace. 

And that’s why leaving. Not forever, He , Daisy, and his girls will be back in a few months or even a month. It’s very clear this is a vacation.. but it’s one  he’s earned.  He’ll always love his boys, his surrogate daughter/cousin, his sister, and his best buddy launchpad. But it’s okay for him to want to form his OWN family, to spend time with his future wife and show her the world. To make his own story for once instead of sharing it. To find his voice. 

I also find it very poetic that a story that started with Donald raising his nephews like their dad.. ends with him adopting two more children. Two kids whose lives had been misrable: rapidly aged in tubes, deemed failures, constantly bellittled by the closest things they have for parents, so desperate for answers they’d kidnap their own sister and betray her trust and do things they know are wrong, And all this.. for nothing as their  Dad kills their mom, bad as she was, and plans to kill them. And Donald’s first thought when given the chance to have a kid free time to himself, with no guilt having earned it? To take these girls in, start his own family, if Daisy’s cool with it mind he thankfully clearly called to talk this over first, and give them their own. Because that’s who Donald is, a good man whose finally earned his happy ending and the life he always wanted.. and accepted who he always was. An adventuerer, a loving fiance.. and  dad. 

The Real Hero: One last one before the bonus round and a quick one. The Launchpad Scene.. was one of the shows best. His arc in this episode of thinking he’s not a hero.. made sense. He’s been plenty heroic.. but his boyfriend is a martial arts and gymnastics savant and one of his three best friends has a giant suit of armor and is a genius. But the payoff made even more: He may not be the strongest, the most skilled or the smartest.. but he has the heart of a hero. He’s always been the kindest, most trusting, most friendly one of the main family, a guy who never gives up, even when he should, never surrenders and loves everybody. And that’s why he’s inspired so many people: Fenton to not give up after his firing and keep going, leading to his path as Gizmoduck. When Drake was lost, his fllm gone and his mentor seemingly dead (In fact skulking around the sewers like an evil ninja turtle), and his future unclear... TOLD HIM he could be Darkwing, that he could become the hero they both ihdolized and the inspiration to kids he wanted to be by his own bootstraps, and he gave Gosalyn faith in darkwing and hope at at time she had none. He also gave those mice their freedom. Not as poignant but you try creating the rescue rangers and see how far you get. I’ve lost a lot of chipmunks and mice that way. 

Launchpad’s last stand makes up for his lack of being in the season during the final  half. Launchpad realizing that despite his quirks he’s just as noble, valuable and wonderful as his families, both of them. And that he is a pilot. Sure he gets the gizmoduck armor.. but the armor isn’t what makes hi ma hero... i’ts being launchpad that makes him a hero. Loving adopted dad, wonderful partner, best friend... and a pilot

Bonus Round:

Okay this is just stray stuff from throughout the episode I didn’t have several paragraphs worth of material on before we get to the final thoughts. But it had so much good I can’t not talk about it. So...

Gyro calling Little Bulb BOYD’s brother. My heart wept. So sweet. As was him fixing his son at the end. BOYD has the two loving families he deserves.. and the brother he deserves.. and the brother he dosen’t deserve who will probably also is skulking around the sewers like an nafarious ninja turtle as the series ends. 

Gosalyn fixing up Darkwing’s outfit for him. Awwww. Adopt that child you coward. Also if they don’t base the reboot on frank’s work here, I will riot. 

“Just cough up the information Bentina!” that was just pure comedy gold especially the sheer fear radiating off him. Also right. 

Manny’s “I can explain” and , once he has silky smooth keith david voice going “Come on man I just want to live my life.” That man is a legend. 

Dewey and Louie just not talking the “you kids stay behind shit” pointing out both their stake in this and how they’ll just go anyway and him proudly accepting it. Given the kids turned the tied of things a lot, good call. 

Dewey and Don Karnage singing their own background music as they air joust. Hell yes. 

Pepper got a promotion! Goodf or her... it’s meaningless now but hey she has a partner in both senses. 

Speaking of pepper she had the best line of the episode “He’s a grown man who has the strength of a baby!”. Only Amy Sedaris could’ve given that delivery just the perfect way she did. 

The Funzo’s opening sequence was dynamite, from how well set up it was as an infilfration, to Webby having learned how to scam free drinks (Louie was so proud), to Lena cheating for her sister at DDR, to Scrooge paying full price.. it was wonderful> The payoff was also great as rather than be mad her special day was used as part of an elabroate spy operation.. she’s giddy. Because of course she is. Two specitic  bits that get their own items

The Cabs came back one last time! It dosen’t effect my now finished retrospective, but after spending all that time with them it was nice to see them for what will probably be the last time for some time. 

The whole scene where Della finds out about the trip. Just all of it. Her casually and accidentally choking daisy TWICE, Fethry, who sadly did not get an episode this season, being the one to blab about it and only realizing it .. after repeating that they told him not to, and Gladstone who not only was casually winning at Skeeball while his cousins both got pissed at it, relateable as hell, but then awkwardly escorting his baby cousin out of the situation. 

“Satstically with Hubert gone one of us should be pancking but WHO I ASK YOU WHO?” As if I needed more evidence they were perfect for each other. 

Lena just.. slumping over after Dewey finally has her drop the cloak. Comedy gold. BOYD scanning her later likewise so. 

The second best line and line read of the episode goes to Louie/Bobby Monihan. “That is not comforting, I do not want to die”. He couldn’t of summed up Louie in one line any better. 

Ludvwig was a national treasure.  Not only did I squeel internally when it turned out he was alive but the explination for it was hilarious as it was batshit, and him just causally revealing Webby’s origin was fucking amazing “Ill give you all a moment ot process” The acomplanying “bless me bagpipes” was also amazing. 

I do wish we found out where FOWL went but it was probably to leave the remains all free to come back as villians of the week. Frank outright said they had a tailspin sequel episode ready to go.

The Webby and June fight was a masterpiece and I REALLY need to do a top 12 fights list someday. 

Lena connecting with the new twins , having pretty much the same background of being created by a villian for shitty reasons. 

“one is silver and the other is “ “Flintheart glomgold!” they should consider a teamup. What’s a little brainwashing between friends?

“We’re sisters’. No you and violet are sisters, Webby is your girlfriend your both just in denial. I only say this because Webby also thinks Della and Penny are just friends and I feel she simply dosen’t know what being gay is or again is in denial. They’ll get there. Plus it feels like Lena just didn’t want to loose her and would say anything which is valid. 

Curtain Call and Final Thoughts:

The Curtain Call was the perfect way to end a spectacular finale. Each bit of it’s a masterpiece, and every character gets one last awesome, heartfelt and hilarous goodbye with the camera and ending how it should: on our five most important characters, in a circle, together, smiling, freefaling into the next adventure. I”d have it no other way and any other series finale credits and last moments will now pale in comparison. 

So the finale as a whole is messy, some bits aren’t resolved as good as they could’ve been, Huey go the shaft, and it REALLY needed another episode leading into it to help take the pressure off. While it needed 90 minutes for the plot it had to tell, it needed more to build up to that and while the season was tight with episodes they BADLY needed one more they didn’t get or even a subplto to help take the load off this episode. 

But even with that... it was an utterly awesome finale on par with other recent standouts like “Let’s Fight to the End”/ “Thank you For Watching the Show” (Both feel like finales to me but in diffrent ways), “The Future” and the whole arc leading up to it, both parts of “Heart” and “Nice While It Lasted” . It was heartstopping, heartrending and heartfelt and ended the show as it should be: with over the top insanity, big reveals, a hell of a final battle.. and a focus on family. It’s not the perfect finale, and I defintely need more ducktales.. but it’s still a classic one and one of the series finest hours.. literally in this case. 

I.. am going to miss this series. I went into it before but it’s thanks to this series I make a living. If you’d like to contribute to that, I have a patreon, patreon.com/popculturebuffet, my next stretch goal is a darkwing duck epsiode a month so  kick in a buck won’t you? and take comissions so if theres an episode from the first two seasons that’s not part of the season 1 arc (I’m almost done there) or Lena’s story (already being paid for that) feel free to shoot me a line to comissoin it for five bucks an episode. 

But more than that it was an excellent well crafted show that took a franchise I love and updated it for a new generation. My nieces love it, I love it, and I will always love it for that. Young or old, this show as phenominal, it was stupdendous.. it was a duckblur. It will remain in my heart for probaly the rest of my life among such shows as Steven Universe, Parks and Recreation, The Venture Bros, Letterkenny, DBZ Abriged, and so many more that have touched my life. It was simply the best. And i’m going to miss it. Thank you for reading this, i’ll see you at another rainbow, if not one quite like this.

Next on this Blog: Duck week continues after this review took two days to complete. Sorry about that. Our heroes head to castle McDuck and Dewey is forced to face the consequences of his actions, while Scrooge yells at his dad , his dad yells at him and his mom is the most precious thing tha’ts ever lived. Also Launchpad in Donald Cosplay. And it won’t stop there as till saturday the rest of the week is all dedicated to Ducktales as I finish up the Della and Lena arcs for season 1 and get started on Lena’s last three episodes. So if you liked some ducktales, stick around. And once again.. thank you. 

[astriwilt]

THIS IS AN AWESOME BREAK DOWN! I never noticed the similarities between Gertrud and Mami until you brought it up. I feel like Madoka Magica has a few parallels between the witches and the girls. I am definitely far from the first person who’s brought up the Sayaka-Elsa Maria parallel, but since I love that parallel so much I’m gonna talk about it anyway.

Elsa Maria’s description is this (copied from the Madoka Magica wiki):

“The Witch of shadow with a self-righteous nature. She continually prays for all of creation and drags all life equally into her shadow without breaking her posture. One hoping to defeat her must know the blackest anguish”.

Despite the obvious last line of “one hoping to defeat her must know the blackest anguish” (Sayaka was definitely not in a good headspace while fighting her), I believe Elsa Maria was a very similar person to Sayaka when she was a magical girl. Albeit a lot more of a religious Sayaka. Her praying for all of creation yet dragging life into her shadow…..probably a reference to her naive sense of justice that just doesn’t go well with being a magical girl. The same naive sense of justice that Sayaka had prior to her breakdown. The fight with Elsa Maria marked the first big change in Sayaka’s demeanor that had been building up until then. Killing a witch who felt the same pain she did on her journey to become a witch herself. It aligns with the whole “balance of the universe” thing that Madoka Magica brings up: one witch dies, and starts the creation of another. Somebody who wished to save people; turning into a witch and bringing another idealistic girl into her shadow. Marking the beginning of a similar story to her own.

(Again I know this has been brought up before but….Sayaka-Elsa Maria parallel my beloved).

I think it’s really cool we get that same kind of magical girl-witch parallel with Mami and Gertrud.

Gertrud’s description is this (copied from the Madoka Magica wiki):

“The rose garden Witch with a distrustful nature. She holds roses dearer than anything else. She expends all of her power for the sake of beautiful roses. Despite stealing the life-force of humans who wander into her barrier to give to her roses, she loathes the thought of them trampling the inside of her Labyrinth.”

Reading that…it does seem like a lonely character. She has a distrustful nature, she holds a flower closer than any human, she steals the life force of humans. Speculating from that description, and her parallels with Mami…I’d say she was so lonely that she gave up on ever trying to make human connections. Using roses to fill the void that the lack of relationships left. Maybe she was her own self-fulfilling prophecy. She expected loneliness so much…that whenever someone tried to put themselves in her life…she shut them out. She was more comfortable with roses. Explaining the reason she drains human life force in order to give it to her roses instead. Her loathing humans being in her labyrinth also could be a reference to her shutting people out.

So I think the thing you said about Mami killing Gertrud being symbolic is absolutely plausible! Where Gertrud’s entire nature probably revolves around pushing people out…in that moment Mami was trying to bring people in. I believe Mami also pushed people out in the past. Probably not wanting normal people to be involved with her magical girl stuff. But now that Kyubey has picked two magical girls to fight along beside her…..she feels she doesn’t need to push people out anymore. Thus ending the chapter of her life where being a magical girl was more important than her relationships. Kinda like how Gertrud’s roses were more important in that way.

I LOVE IT! I’m glad you got me thinking about this! I adore the Sayaka-Elsa Maria parallel, and now there’s another parallel to think about for my favorite magical girl: Mami lol. I genuinely never thought of it that way before. Really cool analysis!

Something I find really neat and subtle amoung Madoka Magica's (many) foreshadowing and narrative contrast-y moments is Mami's fight against Gertrud.

Gertrud has a strong flower and butterfly motif, and Mami's soul gem is shaped like a flower (and maybe a stretch but in one of Mami's transformations she does an action that resembles a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis).

I think there's some parallels between the two that make Gertrud a surprisingly clever and well designed first enemy. (But perhaps I'm stuck in Mami fan mode, and just see Mami in everything)

[nuttytani]

The flying cat & the baker

summary: you are a sorcerer who owns a bakery in new york. one day, steve discovers your abilities when he walks in on your cat flying inside the shop on a broom.

fandom: marvel

pairing: steve rogers x gn!reader

warnings: lots of mentions of baked goods and the word "horny" just once (it's not nsfw, trust me)

a/n- heya! another fic~ this was inspired by girl in red's "fell in love in october". i know it's extremely off season but yeet i dont care + my dear friend @lorei-writes / @mllorei beta read this! *gives hug to lorey* thank you so much ;-; lorey. ps: this is a non-avengers!au

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Steve to get lost in the sea of New York streets, walking along the cobblestone paths, breathing in the scent of baked goods, spice and fresh flowers. After all, it was his most favourite part of his daily routine, discovering a new place or two. He took his time looking around the nearly empty street, for it was too early for anyone to be awake except for the store owners. They were all busy preparing their shops for opening to notice his presence.

Steve looked up for a moment, noticing the light of dawn setting upon the sky, sending small beams of yellow light like blessings cast by angels. His low breathing felt warm against his chapped and cold lips. With a silent sigh, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pea coat as he resumed strolling without a set direction in mind, eyeing the buildings- the chipped off parget, showing the reds and browns of the brick underneath while moss and vines covered most of the bottom half.

They all turned into a blur once he stood by a jade coloured bakery, the sign reading “magicae et pistoria”, a silhouette of a black cat on a broom just underneath it. He stared curiously at the displayed varieties of pastries and bread, wondering if he should buy a few- would Sam and Nat like to eat them?

With hesitant fingers, he grasped the door handle and entered, instantly greeted by the bell. Barely a few seconds passed, and Steve felt immensely at ease. His body appreciated the warm cocoon provided by the bakery- in contrast to the weather outside. The interior was rustic, with brick walls and wooden fixtures. His feet lead him magnetically towards the delicacies contained in the arched display, varieties of cakes, pastries and bread placed temptingly- he didn’t know which one to pick.

“Hello! Good morning, how may I help you, sir?” A voice pulled Steve out of his reverie.

Steve looked up to see you, your hair a mess, dust covering the black apron and your forehead, a cute smile adorning your face. You looked like an ethereal being- an angel perhaps, standing before him. Somehow, a breath got stuck in his throat, and his heart started to beat rapidly. He could hear it getting louder and louder. His clothes felt too tight, and he suddenly felt suffocated.

“Sir? How may I help you?” you said again.

Steve cleared his throat, embarrassed with himself for staring at you for much longer than necessary. He muttered an apology under his breath, but it was loud enough for you to hear.

“It’s alright, sir, happens all the time. I’ve experienced many people just gawking at the pastries and not knowing what to pick, it’s understandable! I’d be confused too,” you confessed to him.

“Right, of course, glad I’m not the only one or that would’ve been embarrassing,” Steve laughed, trying to bury his awkwardness.

Only if you knew the truth, he’d personally dig his own grave and jump into it.

Steve accepted your help instead of going down the rabbit hole of confusion. You helped him to pick out a few baked goodies- which were a rage amongst your regular customers; a chocolate mousse, Japanese cheesecake and a few vanilla custard doughnuts.

“Thank you! Have a good day,” you said, as the blonde man left the store with a wave.

“Damn, I hope I didn’t look too nervous,” wiping your sweaty palms on your apron, you heaved a sigh of relief.

You usually didn't open the bakery on the weekends, but some things needed to be done, which required your presence. You were sure that no one would come along so early in the morning but were proven wrong. Although it was your fault to leave the open sign hanging, you didn't mind the blonde-haired man and maybe thought he was kinda cute.

You flipped the sign to “closed” while locking the door from inside, as to make sure no one could come in. You moved back to the counter and caught a hand wrapping around a glass jar.

You cleared your throat and glared at the man in question.

“What do you think you’re doing mister.” You folded your arms and glared at the brunette.

“What does it look like? I’m trying to eat some cookies, obviously. You should get your eyes checked if you can’t see things clearly boss,” Rajeev replied and swiftly turned to look at you.

The brunette shrunk and transformed into a black cat, looking at you with bright doe hazel eyes while purring deeply. You groaned and picked him up, placing him on your shoulder.

“There’ll be consequences if you transform like that out of nowhere, and your sister is going to kill me because you haven't been careful. So, if you don’t want me to be skinned alive and thrown into a cauldron to be boiled, stop doing that here.” Truly, nothing scared you more than Rajeev’s elder sister- she was overprotective and intimidating, you wished to never be on her blacklist.

Rajeev only meowed back at you, which frustrated you further. You hoped that he at least understood where your concerns were coming from.

“Come on, we’ve got a lot of organising to do! New stock arrived today, we don’t want cranky sorcerers waiting for us,” you said while muttering a spell and opening a red portal to an apothecary.

By the time Steve returned home, his friends were all awake and wandering about the kitchen like zombies. They all knew about Steve’s early morning walks and didn't question him but were curious as to why he came back so late.

Sam immediately rummaged through the bakery boxes when Steve placed them on the island counter.

“So...what took you so much time, hmm?” asked Sam. “Thought you just went to get some bread, dude.” He rummaged through the bag and pulled out a box, ooh-ing delightedly once he got hold of a doughnut.

“I bet it was some grandma asking for directions,” Bucky yawned, still half-asleep as he took a seat on the chair.

Natasha stole the doughnut from Sam and promptly turned to face Steve, who lay on the couch.

“Maybe, he has a secret lover! Oh Stevie, how could you hide this from us?” she said teasingly while licking away at her sugary fingertips.

Sam was distressed by her stealing and guarded the boxes with his arms, grumbling something about him not having enough coffee for this.

“Can you guys just stop- I just went to a bakery and got stuff, nothing more, nothing less!” Steve raised his voice.

All of them just shrugged.

Nat broke the silence, “Okay...But did you see any cuties?”

“NO- I mean... yes, kinda… I mean- Stop asking me these questions!” groaning with embarrassment, Steve covered his face with his palms.

Steve started frequenting “magicae et pistoria” since then to the point he became a regular customer. Not because he wanted to see your dazzling smile or anything, but because the service and baked goods were really good and his friends wanted more of that deliciousness. He became quite close to you as a result, somedays he just dropped by to say hi and spend some time with you.

Occasionally, Sam or Bucky would tag along to his trips. Even though Steve would deny it, they could clearly see he had a crush on the baker- it was obvious by their playful banter and flushed faces. They’d often tease him about it, but Steve being Steve, would just grump away and aggressively change the subject.

Another weekend rolled in, Steve was headed to the bakery as usual. It became a part of his routine to visit it during his morning walks. You, on the other hand, arrived late to the bakery and were rushing to get the place running in no time. It was just you and Rajeev today since your other employees didn't work on the weekends- it was tough but both of you managed.

While you were busy running around the place, Rajeev was playing around in his cat form, saying you didn’t really need him until later. He levitated the spare broom in the air and jumped on it, trying to balance his paws on the handle. Like a child with no care, he flew the broom back and forth across the room with an evil cat smile.

The two of you were unaware of Steve’s presence until he spoke in a startled voice.

“Why is the cat flying on a broom- what is this!”

Everything happened in a flash, Rajeev fell off the broom with a pathetic meow and you dropped your utensils on the floor. Flour and batter splattering on your shoes and creating a mess. Your scream resonating from the kitchen.

Steve’s jaw was slack with shock, his body frozen where he stood. Should he run away? Should he go and check if you’re alright? He wasn’t sure what to do, he didn't even know if what he saw was even real.

The cat was definitely real, as it stood up and rubbed its bum with its paws. How was that possible- Did he even want to know? Was he dreaming? Maybe he is still half asleep and is seeing things.

Steve grabbed a nearby stool and flopped on it, his knees were weak from shock and needed rest. His mind was still processing the situation

You came rushing from the kitchen to the scene, the mess you created all trivial compared to what had just happened right now. You didn't know what to do at this moment, should you tell the truth? Or deny everything-

“What is that thing,” Steve finally asked, breaking the heavy silence.

“A cat,” you replied as a matter of factly.

“You keep a flying cat?”

You just stared at Steve with a straight face and said, “Well...firstly he’s not mine and secondly he’s not an actual cat.”

As if showing a demonstration, Rajeev transformed back into his human form, which baffled Steve further.

“What are you?” the blonde asked in confusion.

“We’re sorcerers...I’m sorry, you weren’t supposed to know about it, at least not in this way,” you sighed, gently placing a hand over Steve’s knee.

“But boss- we’re busted, now that he knows we gotta turn him into a toad!” Rajeev exclaimed.

“A WHAT NOW?!” Steve looked back at you with raised brows.

“We’re not turning you into anything! He’s just joking- Rajeev! Apologise to him”

The brunette sulkily grumbled an apology. He excused himself to the kitchen to clean up the mess you had made while you took a seat next to Steve.

“Are you alright? Want some water?”

“No thanks, I’m fine. Just...really really shocked- I can’t believe this is real.”

With a flick of your hand, you made two barstools twirl in the air.

“Okay- definitely real,” Steve chuckled.

Extra (few months have passed)

Steve sat on the armchair with you sprawled on his lap, tapping away at your phone while Sam, Nat and Bucky sat on the floor watching another episode of “the Bridgerton” on T.V.

“Damn kids these days be really horny huh?”

“Shh just watch the show!”

+ "-if you enjoyed reading this fic, don't forget to give a like and reblog! feedback is always appreciated

a/n-if you enjoyed reading this fic, don't forget to give a like and reblog! feedback is always appreciated + join my taglist here

[gentlemancrow]

F and S for the fic asks!

[Answering prompts from here if you want!! :D]

OHHHH dialogue is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING to write so thank you for that one!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I am still pretty in love with this exchange from "In Scientia, Magicae"!

“I managed just fine before you.  I hadn’t even gotten hurt in ages before you,” he groused, eyes flicking back up to meet Martin’s, “And if you weren’t such an insufferable fussbudget, you’d realize I don’t need or want your help in the first place!  I never did!”

The linguistic arrow struck Martin square in the chest, jaw dropping in shock while the proverbial fletching quivered at his sternum.

“A fussbudget?  Are you actually serious right now?  I wanted nothing more than to help you!  To tend to your ghastly wounds!  And I’m an insufferable fussbudget?” he cried indignantly, “Fine!  Just fine!  Did you ever stop to think maybe I wouldn’t have to be so fussy if I had half a clue what you even wanted from me here?”

“Well if you were halfway competent as an archival assistant and not cheerfully traipsing into every little trap, or pitfall, or sucker punch the archives has to offer, perhaps you wouldn’t have to wonder so hard what I might want from you!” The Archivist answered viciously.

It was Martin’s turn to snarl, leveling a furious finger at his demonic opponent.

“Well maybe if you would just tell me more about how the archives work and what the hell I’m up against instead of leaving me alone to figure everything out by accident all the time, I wouldn’t get into so much trouble!”

The Archivist lowered his head so he was eyelevel with his assistant, serpentine tongue rolling spitefully in his susurrating elocution.

“Well if you had even a crumb of brain between your ears and would listen to my ample warnings about the archives… If you weren’t constantly running afoul of deadly fear demons like a moth to flame, I wouldn’t have to constantly save you and get you out of that trouble!”

A second arrow pierced Martin’s heart, and this time it shattered, spilling all the venom and all the blood boiling within in a black cascade of sloshing, viscous loathing into his own gut.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” he murmured dully, bowing his head.

The Archivist blinked rapidly in shock to be knocked so jarringly from their verbal sparring, and sat back upright on the bench, cocking his antlered skull quizzically at the suddenly defeated Martin.

“What?  What do you mean I shouldn’t have done that?” he sputtered dumbly, “I shouldn’t have saved you?  Don’t be daft.  Was I supposed to just allow you to be sliced up for mincemeat by bad taxidermy?”

“Yes…!” Martin snapped with miserable sincerity, “Then at least you’d have an easy excuse to hire someone else as your assistant.  Someone competent at least.  Someone you actually want here.”

The Archivist faded inwardly, white bone as chipped porcelain, an incorporeal vice cranked one rusted gear tooth tighter around his choked heart.  The ethereal green light in his eyes dimmed, and the second pair above them opened eagerly to take their place.

“Do you… truly think me that much of a monster…?” he asked in a soft, husky voice.

I love it for a lot of reasons! Just because banter/arguments are SO much fun to write and this one turned out so spicy and electric! And also because this was ABSOLUTELY an homage to the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie if anyone caught it hehe. And lastly this was a culmination of Jon and Martin circling each other and then FINALLY having it out and then they both sort of bust through each other's walls at the same moment? This was the real watershed moment of the chapter/fic where they break each other down and start building something new from the rubble and yeah ; w ;

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Oh this one is easy, fantasy AUs. My BELOVED my absolute JAM! All of you who have turned Jmart into faeries or merfolk or shapeshifters or wizards or dragons what have you I love you so much please send me recs for any of these fics I may have missed since I am fairly new to the fandom! I am in my 30's and still lowkey hope my life will become isekai some day haha!

[blocksandbloops]

MAHO SHONEN TOMMYINNIT MAGICA

Aka, an introduction to my Dream SMP Magical Girl AU

'Tomathy Innit was a perfectly fucking normal 16 year old, thank you very much.

That is, until one day he was dropped into a wacky world of magic and gods with no end in sight.'

Part 1/?

Tommy BigMan Innit (100% legit name, don't worry about it) was on his usual route back home from school when the air seemed to shift around him, the people walking around stopping as if frozen in time.

He heard a loud crash from above and watched as something impacted with the large screen attached to the building right in front of him. The thing(?) fell onto the pavement with a sickening thump, large black wings limp and probably broken at it's his side.

Because holy shit on a stick, that was a human? Person? Well, humanoid at the very least.

Tommy watched on in vague horror as a large creature stalked towards the downed man, it's skin made up of a dark oily substance that oozed and left dark smears on the concrete in it's path.

Now, a normal person would try to run for their life in a situation like this, and normally so would Tommy, but as he stared at the not-quite-being, something in his brain screamed at him, with a primal anger he never thought himself capable of.

It shouldn't exist. It isn't right. It doesn't follow the rules and therefore shouldn't be allowed to run rampant or even exist in her domain.

He felt enraged and disgusted at the sight of the thing in front of him and before he could consider his options, he was running towards the scene.

~~~~~~

Philza Minecraft was having a pretty shitty day all things considered.

First he had to deal with the neighbor's dog somehow having gotten into his flower patch and pissing on his azaleas, then his favorite cafe had been inexplicably closed during his lunch break, and to top it all of one of those ugly black buggers just so happened to show up when would've finally been able to go home.

Being thrown into a building wasn't exactly ideal, but he's had worse.

And so that's how this universally agreed upon mistake was able to get the upper hand in their fight. He just needed a few minutes to heal everything and then he'd call for backup and everything would be fine, right?

Well he most certainly didn't count on a literal child throwing himself into the fight, with seemingly no plan besides screaming.

Wait, was the kid screaming in galactic?

And how did he get past Phil's ward?

... Alright, who's champion is this?

His question is answered pretty swiftly when the kid shouted something that sounded a bit too much like "BITCH".

He straightened his arm out, the sleek metal form of a gun materializing in his hand as he fired off one shot directly into the the non-being's chest, it's body being swallowed up into a vortex of darkness as the bullet impacted.

Phil stood up slowly, the telltale stinging in his joints informing him that his enhanced healing factor was already steadily working away at his wounds, reassuring him as he slowly walked up to the kid young champion who may have just saved him from a mayor headache.

The boy was too busy staring at the weapon in his hands to notice the man behind him until he awkwardly cleared his throat, upon which the boy nearly fell over from how fast he whipped around to stare at Phil.

The older was taken aback at the sight in front of him, the boy looked so much like her. From the tilt of his brow to the small dots on his skin forming intricate constellations.

This wasn't a champion, this boy was a child of space. This boy was her son and that, he was sure of.

~~~~~~~

Tommy's mind was still reeling as he tired (and failed) to understand what was happening. He stared at the (winged) man in front of him with utter confusion. The stranger seemed pretty lost for words so he didn't feel too bad staring at this person who looked too much like an older, more tired version of himself for comfort.

"Er, thanks for helping me out there mate." The older blond tipped his hat at the younger, trying to ease some of the clear tension in the air.

"Who the fuck are you, what the fuck was that thing and why is everything else frozen?" Tommy took an accusatory step forward, ready to yell at a complete stranger about a situation that made him think that Tubbo managed to sneak something into his coke again.

"Oh boy, I take it that she hasn't shown up to clue you in about your powers yet has she?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"He was now very loudly yelling in exasperation.

Phil just chuckled at his brazen attitude. "I'll explain it to you later. I was actually just about to head out for some very late lunch. Would you mind joining me?"

He didn't wait for an answer as he turned on his heel and began walking towards his favorite cafe. Tommy yelped out something crude again before falling into step with the other man.

"You and me have a lot to talk about mate."