#'he's bored' and 'he doesn't want to be dead' (as distinct from 'he doesn't want to die')

[spottedenchants]

thinking about the roles boredom and cowardice play in the progression of ts!essek's character throughout the series- when he's not fighting off a sense of death he's fighting off boredom and it's not until 2 or 2.5ish years after the campaign that he really finds his footing with either. he's dealt with possibility by necessity of his field and knows he could have walked infinite paths but he saw the bright clear line that leads from A to B and chose it eyes open if blindered and through sheer chance it landed him back at square zero. maybe it didn't even matter at all. so now what. infinity's here again but it's out of reach because he's closed so many doors. he's bored and scared and thus aimless because while being one is terrible being both is torture and he's wrestling with that as he rebuilds his life from the ground up.

[dresshistorynerd]

The Morrisian case against fast fashion

Today I discovered that H&M made a William Morris collection some years ago. The heath death of the universe can't come quickly enough. We can stop now. Satire is dead and we killed her.

It's not just the whole concept of H&M using William Morris' designs for their fast fashion which is insanity inducing, but also the critical response it garnered. Like sure, people did realize this is insane and there was a lot of think pieces about it at the time, but I read several of them and they all seem to still miss the point in spectacular way.

The basic premise of these think pieces go along the lines of: "Would William Morris spin in his grave with a speed of light because of the H&M collection of his designs? A difficult question indeed. William Morris was a complicated man. He wanted art to be affordable to everyone. Isn't H&M affordable? That kinda fits. Though probably he would have some concerns about H&M's practices."

On the surface - yes - but like in reality - fuck no. There's no nuance in this particular issue. He talked about many times what he though of the H&Ms of his time, the retailers selling poor quality industrially produced "fashionable" bullshit. We know exactly what he would have thought of H&M. Here's couple of quotes from his 1884 lecture "Art and Socialism", which makes it very clear.

"It would be an instructive day's work for any one of us who is strong enough to walk through two or three of the principal streets of London on a week-day, and take accurate note of everything in the shop windows which is embarrassing or superfluous to the daily life of a serious man. Nay, the most of these things no one, serious or unserious, wants at all; only a foolish habit makes even the lightest-minded of us suppose that he wants them, and to many people even of those who buy them they are obvious encumbrances to real work, thought and pleasure. But I beg you to think of the enormous mass of men who are occupied with this miserable trumpery, from the engineers who have had to make the machines for making them, down to the hapless clerks who sit day-long year after year in the horrible dens wherein the wholesale exchange of them is transacted, and the shopmen, who not daring to call their souls their own, retail them amidst numberless insults which they must not resent, to the idle public which doesn't want them but buys them to be bored by them and sick to death of them."

He is describing the birth of consumerism, which was taking form during his lifetime in the late Victorian Era, which fast fashion is the extreme logical conclusion of, and he fucking hated it. He specifically railed against endless consumerist products, which H&M is the perfect representation of. It was definitely not the art and beauty he believed everyone required and deserved. He makes the distinction often.

"Now if we are to have popular Art, or indeed Art of any kind, we must at once and for all be done with this luxury; it is the supplanter, the changeling of Art; so much so that by those who know of nothing better it has even been taken for Art, the divine solace of human labour, the romance of each day's hard practice of the difficult art of living."

"And here furthermore is at least a little sign whereby to distinguish between a rag of fashion and a work of Art: whereas the toys of fashion when the first gloss is worn off them do become obviously worthless even to the frivolous—a work of Art, be it ever so humble, is long lived; we never tire of it; as long as a scrap hangs together it is valuable and instructive to each new generation. All works of Art in short have the property of becoming venerable amidst decay: and reason good, for from the first there was a soul in them, the thought of man, which will be visible in them so long as the body exists in which they were implanted."

When he thought of popular Art he thought of the craftsmanship of the common people. The art people have made from useful everyday objects with skillful handicrafts. This is what he means by "divine solace of human labour". It's not reverence of Puritanical work ethic, on the contrary, it's the reverence of creation, of the earnest joy people feel when they get to express themselves through their creative pursuits. He certainly didn't believe in work for work's sake, work needed to be worthwhile and enjoyable. He summarized his own position on what labour should be thusly:

"It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should he done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious."

He urged his middle class audience to reject consumerism (the lecture was for a very much middle class atheist society):

"For I say again that in buying these things: 'Tis the lives of men you buy! Will you from mere folly and thoughtlessness make yourselves partakers of the guilt of those who compel their fellow men to labour uselessly?"

I think it's glaringly obvious H&M and fast fashion in general is what he would consider luxury. Rags of fashion that are just churned out and discarded without thought and produced by compelling people to labour uselessly. It's not popular art that's made by workers and craftsmen, who are able to express themselves through it. There's no agency for the abused workers in H&M's sweatshops, they are not expressing their joy of creation, they are simply labouring uselessly.

Morris didn't shame workers for buying affortable things even if they weren't Art with big A, because that's the problem he despised the whole economic system for, for taking away the popular Art from people, making it inaccessible, and selling back mass produced products with very little practical or aesthetic value. So I don't think he would have problem with people who can only afford fast fashion today. They are the victims of capitalism too, because Art has been taken away from them. But the idea that some of these think pieces had that perhaps the H&M's Morris collection can be good actually if you squint, that H&M has the capacity to bring the art and beauty Morris advocated for for the people, is level of stupidity that's hard to express in words.

Morris didn't believe anything made with exploited labour could be truly beautiful, truly art. In his 1879 lecture "The Art of the People" he put it like this:

"That thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of his pleasure in labour."

The way I understand this, is that art is communication. Through it we communicate feelings, ideas and thoughts, that is it's purpose. So for that communication to work, for it to be imbued with message, the person making it needs to feel passion and love for it's creation. How can there be love and passion if the hands making the garment belong to a tired exploited worker who has no agency what so ever in their work and can only think about survival to the next day?

Beyond the fundamental exploitativeness of H&M and fast fashion, this collection would still get zero points on aesthetic values from Morris even with his own designs. Because the work itself was such an important part of art for Morris, good design was nothing without good craftsmanship. Good design in his mind was always relative and dependent on it's purpose.

"For everything made by man’s hands has a form, which must be either beautiful or ugly; beautiful if it is in accord with Nature, and helps her; ugly if it is discordant with Nature, and thwarts her; it cannot be indifferent." (The Lesser Arts, 1877)

Here when he says nature, he means the nature of the thing that is made - basically it's purpose and function - and the nature of the materials it's made from. Basically, the design must always be made to bring out the function of the art and the qualities of the material it's made from, not fight against them. This is because he believed handicrafts were uniquely suitable for expressing the love of creation, therefore superior labour, and to really bring out the qualities of the craftsmanship and enjoy the creative process, the design should be suitable for that craft. The other side, which was the joy of using and experiencing art, required the craft to be selected for the suitable purpose. Using poorly functioning furniture for example is not very enjoyable, nor is using clothing that's made from materials that are not suitable for the climactic conditions it's supposed to be used in.

H&M of course utterly fails in this. They use Morris' designs in fully unsuitable ways. They print patterns made for example for wall papers on poor quality fabrics with synthetics dyes they weren't made for. This line from one blog post I came across really got me: "Therefore, without cheapening the artistic value of Morris’ designs, H&M’s collection offers an unparalleled potential for accessibility to them." No. Fuck no. They do in fact cheapen Morris' designs in every single way possible. Literally this is atrocious.

Despite the popular depiction, Morris wasn't in fact against industrial machinery or industrial art even, or at least he wasn't once his views on art and politics matured. He did think technology was useful, but he thought the people should use industrial methods for the benefit of all, not be enslaved by the industrial machine.

"I have spoken of machinery being used freely for releasing people from the more mechanical and repulsive part of necessary labour; and I know that to some cultivated people, people of the artistic turn of mind, machinery is particularly distasteful, and they will be apt to say you will never get your surroundings pleasant so long as you are surrounded by machinery. I don't quite admit that; it is the allowing machines to be our masters and not our servants that so injures the beauty of life nowadays. In other words, it is the token of the terrible crime we have fallen into of using our control of the powers of Nature for the purpose of enslaving people, we care less meantime of how much happiness we rob their lives of." ("How we live and how we might live", 1887)

However, he thought that the designer should approach it the way they approached any craft, by designing for the strengths of the machine work.

"But if you have to design for machine-work, at least let your design show clearly what it is. Make it mechanical with a vengeance, at the same time as simple at possible. Don't try, for instance, to make a printed plate look like a hand-painted one: make it something which no one would try to do if he were painting by hand..." ("Art and the Beauty of the Earth", 1881)

He did use some machinery for fabric and wall paper printing, but he was very intentional about their use. Still his designs weren't made for the type of methods these modern H&M machinery uses and he did for example use natural dyes. Particularly insulting is that some of the H&M clothes are made from viscose, rayon made with viscose method. Viscose method is extremely toxic and is known to cause long term health consequences for the workers and the people in surrounding areas. This has been well proven knowledge for ages. William Morris' wall paper factory in the beginning used the typical method used at the time which involved arsenic, but once he learned this could pose risks for the workers, he changed the method. Many of the new synthetic dyes were toxic at the time, which is the major reason he so favoured natural dyes, known to not cause health issues for workers or pollute the environment.

The question many of these think pieces about the H&M Morris collection posed was, would Morris disapprove and should we care? The first part of that is very easy to answer. Yes. Of course Morris would disapprove. He is currently powering the whole of British Isles with purely the kinetic energy his grave-spinning produces. Should we care though? If you care about Morris' art, if you want to see more of that kind of art in this world, you should care. Morris' art is not about the superficial qualities. Copying his designs and aesthetics and styles, will only lead to hollow imitations, that are exactly what he described the rags of fashion to be; as the shininess of novelty wears off they will reveal themselves to be soulless, useless and utterly empty. This collection is just that. To see more of the kind of art that makes you feel like his art makes you feel, not just something that reminds you of that feeling, you should focus more on the way the art is made and less on the specific aesthetics. If his vision of labour and art was realised, all art produced of course wouldn't be loved by every person, but all of it would be loved by someone, even if that someone was just the maker. And that would be more worthwhile than every single rag of fast fashion.

I will stop William-Morris-posting now and return to my thesis.

The full texts I quoted here:

Art and Socialism The Art of the People The Lesser Arts How We Live and How We Might Live Art and the Beauty of the Earth

[eldritch-spouse]

Shags get obsessed with a girl that works at an art store where he gets his supplies. She's laid back and chit-chats with him about any projects he's working on.

[Okay but what if you had a really strange thing going on?]

You like this little freak.

Yeah, okay, that's a bit of a mean thing to say. But can you be blamed? There's no word that fits him more aptly than freak. Not even in the physical sense, there's a lot of variety in mushroom monsters, you know some of them can be tall and gangly like Shags. He's just bizarre.

The way he speaks, moves, conducts himself. You swear, not a single mannerism this monster makes feels natural or reflexive. Even the way he seems to intensely wait and make himself an obstacle until you initiate conversation with him... God, even the fucking topics of conversation, it's like he makes an effort to speak in riddles.

In this rather boring dead-end of a job, seeing this weirdo bend and squeeze through the doors like Samara about to crawl out of the TV is the highlight of your shift.

That's why he's your favorite client.

He's been standing still in the same supplies isle for too long, you already know what he wants.

" Having trouble finding something, Mr Shags? "

As if, he probably knows this store better than yourself.

In fact, he outright told you he used to be a client before you started working here.

He murmurs a response too quietly to interpret, forcing you to come closer. And, predictably, as soon as you are within grabbing distance (not hard to achieve when you're a lamppost of a monster featuring branch-like arms), a spider hand slithers onto your shoulder. It's cold, he's always a little cold.

You're urged in front of a shelf, his head looming over yours.

" Ahh, I need your honest opinion on something... If you don't mind? "

This is the paints section, a mural of hues that hurt the eyes.

" Sure. "

" What shade of orange do you think I should get? "

You love these questions. Because never once does he elaborate on what he's creating or why he wants you to choose. It's happened many times before. What size of canvas should I get? What pen should I get? What sketch books should I get?

You like the strange autonomy of getting to pick, offering him the same level of context he does to you.

Absolutely none.

" Alloy. " You point.

Shags reaches towards it with little effort, snagging several little containers with his root-like digits. The hand on your shoulders tightens.

" What a choice. Thank you very much, my dear. "

" No problem. "

It takes a bit of shifting before the hand on your skin is lifted.

You stroll back to the cash register with a small smile and occasionally observe the monster in the same way you'd study an animal at the zoo.

It's strange how little he moves sometimes. Initially, you thought it was just so he wouldn't drip ink everywhere, but it seems to be a part of him now. Blending in with all his other vaguely creepy mannerisms. Mr Shags gets all his items at a snail's torturous pace and finally, finally approaches you.

" How are the latest projects going, Mr Shags? " You start while scanning the paints first.

The shroom actually seems to frown for a second. Fingers busy on the balcony. " Not as smoothly as I wished... "

Tap tap tap.

" My latest muse and I, our chemistry, I'm afraid it has no substance. "

" Oh? " Your eyes deviate to his face for a moment.

" Yes... Something tells me it's time to move on. But I do want to honor our time together with one last, preserving piece. "

Tap tap tap.

" Mhm. Sounds good, I hope the next one works out. " Frankly, you're not sure what he's talking about, but you usually never are to begin with.

" Me too. " Then he smiles again, and you get the distinct feeling his stare has turned into a more scrutinizing one.

Far from the first time, it doesn't scare you like it did initially.

It's pretty funny, actually. You started out thinking this guy was some kind of loser looking to harass you, to intentionally make you uncomfortable. Nowadays he's more of an entertaining almost-friend.

Tap tap tap.

" Will that be all, Mr Shags? "

" Shags. "

He's told you to call him just by his name a couple of times. You always ignore it, but he keeps trying anyway.

There's a silent beat.

During your first years of work, the lack of action would have made you antsy enough to break the silence, which is what you know he wants you to do. But now, you have no trouble staring back placidly until he continues the conversation.

Apparently, the shroom enjoys that continuous challenge, because his grin widens slowly.

" You have a peculiar facial definition. " He eventually rasps.

A nothing statement, not quite a compliment, not quite an insult, definitely said to confuse and prompt a question. One you don't give him the satisfaction of hearing.

" Thanks. " The customer service smile has an edge of playful smarm this time.

Tap tap tap.

" ... I would enjoy sketching you sometime. Your facial expressions are intriguing. "

This is essentially his way of asking you out, you presume.

" You've drawn me before. "

He's even given you the pages, pencil depictions of you caught in a selection of moments. Mostly bored to tears and staring at the little universe between the cracks in aged walls.

Shags tuts. " It's quite different when the muse in question is part of the experience. I much prefer it that way. "

You can't help the hint of a snicker that tugs at the corners of your lips as you bag his items to hurry things along. Not that there's anyone else inside right now.

" Mm. And what if we don't have good chemistry? "

The shroom monster hands you his card, not even caring about hearing the total.

" I think we both know that wouldn't be the case. "

Tap tap tap.

It's only a few moments of intentionally creating suspense until you hand him all his new belongings and card.

" See you soon, Mr Shags. "

His grin only twitches for a delightful glimpse of a second before he carefully takes his possessions and leaves.

Playing with fire is fun.

One day, you'll get burned.

[lemonavocado]

i have many many thoughts about the portrayal of elizabeth (and henry) in adaptations of frankenstein and they need to be broadcasted immediately. feverish incoherent raving about this subject under the cut. tw for very brief mention of SA

so. elizabeth lavenza. by the time of the wedding, elizabeth is rather obviously portrayed to be just as morose and brooding as victor is, she just isn't as susceptible to episodes of mania and psychosis so it doesn't seem nearly as dramatic compared to victor's trauma. she's been through the gutter herself, being an orphan for starters, then being adopted into a family and having to assume the role of caregiver in the frankenstein family because of the coercion of her dead mother to not only take her place as the maternal figure in the family but also marry her surrogate brother (or literal cousin, depending on which version you read). then her surrogate younger brother william dies, and the within weeks she has to watch her closest heterosexual life partner justine be unjustly hung by a corrupt justice system. and she vocalizes, actively, her pessimism and hopelessness in light of these many tragedies. tldr she's fucked up and rightfully so, and while she's a little less crippled by depression than victor, she still has the distinct appearance of being rather ill, listless, and tired, especially towards the end of the novel. anyways my point is in the novel, the most important thing about elizabeth is not that she's a woman and victor's bride. yes, that's obviously the purpose she was created for, but shelley went out of her way to give elizabeth an extremely definite and unique character. she's gentle and maternal like most woman in early 19th century literature, but she's also introspective, intelligent, and perceptive. she displays agency and self-awareness repeatedly (her guilt over the locket, going to the execution of justine even when alphonse tells her not to, waxing poetic on the failures of the justice system, asking repeatedly and rather pointedly if victor actually wants to go through with the marriage, obvious anxiety and solemnity concerning the wedding) we also have to take into account that elizabeth's personality is being relayed to us BY VICTOR, and he wants to see elizabeth as docile and femininely passive, even if a lot of her actions themselves in the novel actually seem to contradict that. also, i am peppering in that many people can (and have) made a genuine and convincing argument that victor and elizabeth are not in love and were groomed to accept their union by their weirdo parents - that they care for each other, but the text includes important nuances that make it evident that victor doesn't feel anything for elizabeth like that. it is a legitimate interpretation of the book - dare i say it's the correct interpretation of the relationship between victor and elizabeth. but that's another essay for another day and it's not SUPER integral to my rant here today. it just highlights the complexity of elizabeth as a character.

so. for some fucking reason, writers do not understand this when they are adapting the novel, and do not want to apply more than eight seconds of critical thinking and the absolute shallowest 3rd grader levels of reading comprehension to this character, so they simplify her from what she was in the original novel, freshly complex, opinionated, and introspective to boring useless incest lady. victor is never portrayed with the same amount of nuance he deserves in any adaptation (also another essay for another day), because adaptations also have a very surface level reading of him as "guy who was ambitious and played god which immediately cements him as an irredeemable self-aggrandizing asshole and/or a raging insufferable narcissist who's a dick to everyone around him EXCEPT for elizabeth" but at least SOME adaptations are able to kiiinnnddaaaa capture the sympathy meant to be felt for the character in the novel. not so for elizabeth. her character in basically every adaptation can be boiled down to this: "omg victor my brother let me hammer in that you are my brother. im just going to stand here and look clueless and annoyingly naive for the entire time im on screen/stage. im just a little girl and idk what's going on victor but im gonna stay blindly devoted to you and ask numerous but completely useless questions 🥺 let me stare at you with tender worry in my eyes and treat you like a child even though we have absolutely no romantic chemistry and you're an objectifying dick towards me and we have nothing in common and the audience is actively dry heaving as we sensually make out for no other reason than to have characters in this movie sensually make out. im basically a carbon copy of original-novel-henry expect super boring and super useless because im a woman which means the doylist explanation for why im here HAS TO BE ONLY for the main character to fuck me and to hold the attention of the male viewership. now time for me to get SA'd by the creechur for basically no reason" we can observe something approximating this in basically every frankenstein adaptation i've ever seen: kenneth branagh's (my enemy) 1994 film, the 2004 hallmark miniseries, the musical, and the ballet. also in the 1931 film, but that one isn't really trying to be book-accurate so it doesn't really count for this rant.

with this understanding of elizabeth, writers then attempt to artificially generate more romance between these characters, mostly by, yes, replacing a lot of henry's role in the novel with elizabeth, hence why we see so many adaptations (1994, 2004, ballet) make elizabeth nurse victor back to health in ingolstadt instead of henry, which generates... so many problems. one problem with this is that it just sorta ruins henry's original role in the novel in one go. writers recognize that henry is supposed to be victor's character foil, but now they don't have much for him to do so he can demonstrate that role in the story since they gave all of the romantic tension moments to elizabeth. meaning that in adaptations you can tell the writers didn't really know what to do with henry because he's reduced to a comic relief bumbling idiot (1994, ballet, 2004 to an extent) with his only personality traits being "random xd" and "morals good playing god wrong!!!! 😠" (2004, musical, several independent stage adaptations). they keep him as a character foil, but just replace all of his compassion, tenderness, and devotion with elizabeth, while effectively draining henry of all of his original appeal and charm and stamping those traits onto their already stripped-of-all-nuance elizabeth. so now both henry and elizabeth are not only extremely different from their original roles in the novel but extremely, woefully less charming and complex. this especially pisses me off because it's explicitly stated in the book that henry was victor's only friend precisely because he was victor's intellectual equal, so seeing henry reduced to a smiley idiot and/or stupid generic male side character with Morals fills me with a visceral rage. writers will also sometimes make victor and henry meet in college (ballet, 1994) and try to strengthen the bond between victor and elizabeth by making it appear as though she was victor's ONLY childhood friend and companion. other times, victor and henry will be friends pre-ingolstadt (2004, musical) but most of the relationship development will be between elizabeth and victor. those two have all of the tender bonding moments while henry is just kinda inexplicably there sometimes. but i digress. this post is supposed to be about elizabeth. but IF YOU NEED A CHARACTER TO BE A SUNSHINE SOFT OPTIMISTIC LOVER FOR VICTOR IN A FRANKENSTEIN ADAPTATION, HENRY IS ABLE AND WILLING ARE YOU STEPPING ON MY BALLS

clervalstein is true. anyway

elizabeth is somehow more complex and powerful as a female character than the literal adaptations produced almost 200 years later. in adaptations, the most important thing about her is somebody else. the development of all of her character traits (which usually never go beyond standing around and looking helpless) are solely dependant on victor. she feels more like an appendage of the protagonist than an individual with thoughts and experiences separate from victor, and her character is loosely defined and flimsy so the writers can have her conform to her actions in the book whenever it's convenient and then change things up entirely that completely contradict her characterization in the book whenever it's convenient. i have no idea why the fuck this keeps happening with frankenstein adaptations (it's misogyny) and because it isn't looking like guillermo del toro's film (from what ive heard) is going to be super book accurate, i dont foresee too much of a shift in frankenstein adaptations.

look i get it. it's a movie/play/ballet which lasts like 2 hours and you have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. i understand you have to make sacrifices for brevity and these characters are, frankly, a lot less interesting and exciting than victor and creechur. people didn't come to see john hughes levels of charm and complexity in the side characters, they came to watch the creechur do scary shit and for victor to say IT'S ALIVE 😱 and be an evil mad scientist you love to hate. they came for their values of "it's wrong to play god!!!" and "too much ambition bad!!!" to be re-cemented even though that's not even the original point of the novel. which is why imo if you're going to adapt frankenstein in a manner that does justice to the beautiful and sublime subtlety of the original novel, it needs to be either a miniseries or a REALLY LONG film. it's a short book, but it's very eventful, and imo for an adaptation to work you have to let the audience sit with it. which is why you all need to donate to my gofundme so i can produce an honest to god frankenstein adaptation. in fact, im running for president in this year's primaries :3

just a disclaimer: im not an academic or a scholar or anything. i just like the book. i probably have no idea what the fuck im talking about. but im a very very passionate little guy and this has been my rant

[mdhwrites]

The Grimwalker as a concept was so weird. Mainly that Hunter was all 'ohhhh no we cant tell them im a spooky Grimwalker!' But... why would anyone care? The only reason given is that hes a reincarnation of a guy nobody even knows or cares about. Theres not even like, a spooky myth about Grimwalkers because its got such a vague ruleset and premise. He's barely different from a demon.

That COULD have linked to the demon discrimination plotline youve talked about, but there is none so it cant be that. Which i understand was partially because Dana wanted the gays to just exist, so she scrapped discrimination in general. But, a big part of forming cultures and identity is 'Otherness'. People compare themselves to others and define themselves by how theyre different. So scrapping discrimination ends up making the witchs and demons feel like nothing. They have nothing to compare their identity and culture against because theres just no conflict to spark comparison.

This lack of substance also means the fans don't care about Grimwalkers. See the moring comic where the Grimwalker was turned into ANOTHER way to say 'haha Boscha so cringe amirite? point and laugh because she has nobody who loves her.' even though the grimwalker is to reincarnate the dead.

OH MY GOD I'M SO HAPPY SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED THAT! *SCREAMS BLOODY MURDER* Like I know Mark just writes Boscha how the entire fandom sees her (which hasn't helped me enjoy A Hint of Blue, not that I think it's good regardless) but seriously what the fuck!? Why do that to her except just to be mean!?

*sighs* What were we talking about? OH RIGHT! Grimmwalkers.

So for why Hunter has anxiety, it actually is because TOH is doing a very basic clone/artificial human storyline with Hunter and those arcs are actually a lot more internally motivated than externally motivated. Clone lives a life believing they're their own person, then one day finds out they're not, perceives themselves as less because of this distinction but then in the end decides that regardless of their origin, they are their own person and so throw off their shackles, embrace who they are and become better for it. It has nothing to do with race and while it is baby's first clone story, I also still like it conceptually because, well, there's a reason why it's the default clone story. It especially is good for kid's media because while the clone can struggle with the anxiety of it, their friends never have to actually be bad or discriminatory against them because the point is loving yourself for who you are and not who you were made to be.

But I've talked before about how this basic framework actually has a Catch 22 built into it when it comes to Hunter... Which apparently Tumblr wants to tell me I've never done before. Thanks search function. The short version is that this template requires not only a rejection of what they were made for but for them to become distinctly different, usually opposite, to their purpose/original. For Hunter, he only knows Belos so this takes shape in trying to be the opposite of him. The problem is that the opposite of Belos... Is Caleb. Who Hunter mimics in every action he takes after getting away from Belos. There's literally no way to follow this template without adding complexities like him accepting his true origin and being okay/happy with that, something that was probably unlikely in general but especially wasn't going to happen with the shortening, which I will actually give people for. Because the Grimmwalker twist happens so late, they either had to cut it or had no time to actually do anything with it which like... Why not cut it? You did nothing with it and it actually made sure you didn't have the time to actually have Hunter reject Belos' morality so that his redemption doesn't come across as self serving and for survival more than an actual, you know, change to his beliefs.

As for how interesting Grimmwalkers are... They're just clones. Boilerplate, boring clones. Make a body based on another person, put memories in, BAM! Got yourself a clone. Doesn't get more classic than that. It's hardly even magical honestly besides the components, especially with how it actually doesn't give them magic despite those components, or have weird quirks since they're not actually made of flesh and blood, elements that the fans have had a lot of fun with that the show never does, though admittedly part of that is due to how late it happens. Then again, all magic in TOH is boring so it's not likely they would have anyways. Also, you know, a lot of shows will do a single clone episode and have more fun and magic to it than TOH does with one of their core cast members being one so *shrug*

Now, for the final part, I do want to also touch on the 'other' aspect because while discrimination is one way to do it, you can get this across in other ways. One such way is the core defining trait of the Grimmwalker from a tangible standpoint: He doesn't have magic. In a society that mostly has magic, him not having it is a big deal. It's literally what gives him and Willow their first connection as a couple, as insulting as that scene actually should be to Hunter.

And then Hunter is 'fixed' when he gains his magic. His 'other' status removed because he's a real boy now. *SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*

I have so much more I could say about TOH and 'The Other' (made a blog about a lot of it between writing this draft and publish) but I'll leave it at that so it actually stays on topic instead of the half a dozen tangents I've deleted. None of this makes it good by the way and with how TOH tackles most subjects like this, it's incredibly unlikely that more time would have made it better. After all, being a Grimmwalker is only one of like a half dozen TANTALIZING character/arc concepts for Hunter that are never addressed. The fact that he is trained to kill witches and likely has. His relationship with the Isles because he doesn't have inherent magic. The fact that he is filled with such care for the nation and its government that it blocks out all else in his world. How a sheltered child reacts when they suddenly have freedom and are thrust into the wider world. Etc. etc. that are just footnotes to the writers more than anything to actually build a complete arc around or else they wouldn't have just keep adding to the angst bucket without actually resolving any of it.

So of course Grimmwalkers are bland while being a fine to good concept that's then made terrible by narrative implication or neglect. That's EVERYTHING to do with Hunter.

======+++++=====

Sidenote for this one: It is funny that Dana wanted there to be no bigotry in the Isles when her villains entire scheme is through religious persecution. You know, bigotry. Whole other blog I could go into.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[jinxedshapeshifter]

Something I really like about Deltarune's Snowgrave run vs Undertale's genocide run is the fact that the Snowgrave run has a more psychological aspect, while I think Toby's mentioned he deliberately made Undertale's genocide run boring so it'd be less appealing. Like Undertale's genocide run is absolutely eerie, but it's also not really interesting.

Deltarune's Snowgrave run isn't just eerie, I genuinely think an argument could be made for it being psychological horror. Remember, Kris isn't the one giving Noelle orders. The player is. This is evidenced by multiple bits of dialogue from Noelle in the game, as well as Kris's behavior frankly.

I decided to play a Snowgrave run and as someone who's been manipulated and abused, playing a Snowgrave run myself instead of just watching someone else play it is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had (not necessarily in a bad way though, the fact that Toby managed to achieve that is astonishing). Through dialogue and visuals, it's made clear in both chapters that Kris isn't in control of their actions, the player is. It's why playing a Snowgrave run is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had. Because we're controlling Kris's actions, we're also the ones technically manipulating Noelle, but using Kris as a vessel for it.

Undertale doesn't make a distinction like this, which doesn't just make it not as much of a mindfuck but also means it's not as horrifying unless you overanalyze Undertale. On a surface level, Undertale's genocide run is basically just a regular, less interesting game that includes murder. You don't know these characters (unless of course you've played Undertale before) and killing all of them means that while they are living in fear, it's not for an extended period of time. In Deltarune, you're using Kris as a vessel to tell Kris's friend to freeze people, then kill one of her friends (whether Berdly is permanently dead or not is something we likely won't know until chapter 3, but in the Dark World at least, he's definitely dead, as Snowgrave is fatal).

It's not even that I hate that the Snowgrave run exists; it's great analysis material and adds a great alternate storyline. But dear lord, as someone who's been on the receiving end of abuse and manipulation, it's horrific.

Noelle is ABSOLUTELY traumatized from the entire ordeal

It's very possible that Kris is also traumatized from the Snowgrave route; it's (no so subtly) implied that Kris's soul is what allows us to control them and they rip it out of their chest at the end of both chapters. Kris knows they're not in control of their actions when they have their soul. Can you imagine how traumatizing it was for them to be controlled into doing something they probably didn't want to do? (It's also worth noting that the "Kris is just a vessel for the player" thing was clear as early as the character creation stage of chapter 1, as the character you're told to create is referred to as a "vessel")

Susie's probably traumatized. Seeing Noelle as upset as she is? Hearing her recount everything like it's implied (and who knows if Noelle mentioned Kris or the "terrifying voice" to her)? Hell, she even says "Somehow, it doesn't feel like we just saved the world..." at the end of a Snowgrave run.

Queen being sad that nobody's around is heartbreaking frankly.

You can't tell me Ralsei doesn't know something happened because of a severe lack of recruits. Similarly, you can't convince me that wouldn't be traumatizing for him.

There's definitely more but I'm tired

Conclusion: Deltarune's Snowgrave route is a psychological horror game and nothing will change my mind

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

3 things:

What's a song, band, album, or playlist you want to shout out?

What are your opinions on pets (dog, cat, neither, other)?

Finally, what's a boring fact about you?

Cheers, have a good one.

Oh yes!

Shoutout a band? SEEMING, SEEMING, SEEMING BABY! They're even on tumblr: @seemingmusic

Their music is great and the lyrics are freaking phenomenal poems and I have no idea why they're not among tumblr's favorites like? "The future will be borderless, and red and queer and bold, for I was born to make my kind extinct" (End Studies) "Dreamt of gutting billionaires... But when I woke, blood was gone" (Go Small) you've got the eat the rich be queer do crime philosophy all over it! "Like a tall tree, I am pining to be taken up by the lightning! Strike me! I dare you! I dare you! Heaven, hear me! Like a mantis, I am praying, out of habit, without saying anything, for the bloody sting of a kestrel come to snatch me" (Remember to Breathe) it's got puns it's got self destructive thoughts it's got vague religious implications which I'm not a fan of personally but you guys seem to love it when it's Hozier. And who can ignore "To the gunmen who guard against all of the starving: God will bury you, nature will bury you [...] To the terrified rich man: God will bury you. To the killers of animals: nature will bury you." (The Burial) like don't tell me that doesn't go hard. (Personally I like to think of The Burial as not a threat but a loving promise. It continues "To the worshipper of justice, the reliance on reason, and the fire in your eyes: God will bury you, nature will bury you, time will bury your bones unseen. Total and absolute. Infinite amplitude. Till all the black is ripe and green." and because honoring the dead and burying them is an important act of kindness, I like to think of this as a promise that no matter who you are, no matter who you leave behind to mourn you, you will be buried. You will die and you will return to the Earth and you will be lovingly welcomed, it is inevitable and inescapable, I promise. I know I already rambled about this when I reblogged that worm poem post but I will keep talking about it because I love it and I don't know how many people actually read it.) There's so much more I want to say but I'm on mobile in bed hours past bedtime and this paragraph is probably already way too long and disorganized so like maybe tomorrow but! Regardless of whether you can listen to the music I highly recommend reading some of the lyrics here: https://seemingmusic.tumblr.com/text

Anyway moving on from minor infodump, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by your second question like are you asking my opinion on pets as a concept or my preferences for having pets or? I think humans love to pack bond with things that are not humans and as long as the human is able to meet the needs of an animal to create a mutually beneficial relationship that's a good thing, but ideally you should opt for domesticated animals (animals that have been our companions for so long they are genetically distinct from their wild counterparts) since they are best adapted to living with humans. I was practically raised by cats living with my workaholic single mom and our cats so personally I love cats and probably have a better time connecting with them than I would other common pets like dogs. Currently mom and I are sharing two cats, brothers, but one rarely visits me while the other is obsessed with me but I suspect this is because a) I always have his favorite snack available (potato chips. yeah I don't think he knows he's a cat) and b) I pet him the way he likes best (which is a lot of rubbing and scratching his spine by the tail intermittent with chin scritches, but he wants you to be firm with it as though he were a dog... again this man is not aware he's a cat).

A boring fact about me... Well easy mode is just "I have two feet" or "I ate a sandwich for breakfast today" but let me try to think of something a bit more personal yet still uninteresting... I have watched less than one episode of Supernatural. Yeah that's boring yet specific.

Thank you so much for the ask sorry my reply is a little messy I was already in bed when I got this!

[mcflymemes]

PROMPTS FROM OCEAN'S ELEVEN *  assorted dialogue from the 2001 film, adjust as necessary

you scared?

that is the sexiest thing i have ever seen.

it's not entirely about that.

you said that you sold this.

they weren't expecting that shit!

you guys are pros. the best.

you have lovely hands. do you moisturize?

you know, you lose focus in this game for one second...

why do you think i came to see you first?

if you ever ask me that question again, you will not wake up the following morning.

you want something to read? a magazine or something?

i lost something. i lost someone. that's why i'm here.

thirteen million and you drive this piece of shit cross country to pick me up?

i only have one?

apparently he's got a record longer than my... well, it's long.

why do they always paint hallways that color?

did you guys get a group rate or something?

okay. here's the problem. we're stealing two things.

i only lied about being a thief. i don't do that anymore.

i'm with someone who doesn't have to make that kind of distinction.

watch it, bud.

as you say, i was never charged.

you gotta walk before you crawl.

remind you of anyone?

funny, i never got a check.

how's the game going?

smash and grab job, huh?

you're a thief and a liar.

why not do this?

where the fuck you been?

play long enough, you never change the stakes, the house takes you.

i have a question.

longest hour of my life.

are you sure you're ready to do this?

don't call me a jackass.

it will be nice working with proper villains again.

be specific but not memorable.

ten oughta do it, don't you think?

i'm running away with your wife.

been practicing that speech, haven't you?

don't shift your weight.

say we get into the cage and through the security doors there and down the elevator we can't move, and past the guards with the guns, and into the vault we can't open...

you think we need one more?

i need the reason. don't say money. why do this?

does he make your laugh?

did i rush it? felt like i rushed it.

all right, you proved your point. you broke into my vault.

all right, we'll get one more.

come look at this.

it's not about that.

god, i'm bored.

i did just call you a jackass.

oh yeah, sorry, i forgot to mention that.

he doesn't make me cry.

no, it was good. i liked it.

let's get him out.

congratulations. you're a dead man.

tell me this is not about her, or i am walking. i am walking off this job right now.

you know what your problem is?

are you alive?

you get the cookies i sent?

that was our pleasure.

what do you have against him, that's the question?

don't think i don't know what you're doing.

that's why we're going to have to be very careful.

[lazodiac]

It's time again to look at Thunder Junction's cards and try and divine where each and every one of these bad boys are from.

Also just a note in case people are curious; since Tumblr has a 30 image limit per post, I'll be doing all of The Big Score at the end, after all the colours and stuff. It's my prerogative and I'll do as I please. If you missed the first part, you can find it here! So without further ado, it is time for...

BLUE

While I don't think EVERY mount is from Thunder Junction Proper... newts ARE a creature that shows up in the west. I was initially thinking this could be for Eldraine, especially given it belongs to an archmage, but... ultimately, I think this is a native to the plane.

Another native, and dare I say this is a CHARISMATIC crab. I love the crystals on its back! I also love the blue cacti nearby it? Those are real by the way!

There aren't many turtle-men in Magic. Three, in fact, before this one; the Lagoon Sage, a Quandrix student, and a Kappa from Kamigawa. The Kappa has a VERY distinct look, the Quandrix is a sea turtle, and the Lagoon Sage is a snapper just like the Thunder-Thief over here... and I'm gonna make a called shot and say this is from Bloomburrow as a result!

Homarid are a Dominaria specialty, so this racist bastard is absolutely from there.

Djinn of this type are only found on Tarkir, so this one is easy. He's taken a break from his dragon-infested plane to relax under a waterfall martial artist style, and that's just kinda fun.

This is a tricky one, since the ability is pretty plane agnostic, and the design doesn't evoke much in it... but her collar DOES have the typical three-fang Dimir tell, and it'd fit both colour and what she's doing, so lets go with Ravnica.

Sadly a cursory Wiki glance tells me only that this guy is from America.

... okay okay, taking this seriously; the wings and the scroll and the steps, the name, all the flavour suggests this is from Amonkhet for me. It could be from elsewhere, but this feels the most "correct" for lack of a better term. I wish cards like this would get flavor text reprints down the line though...

These are some home-grown ghosts, and we know from various other stories (Gideon, Elspeth, etc) that when you die you go to the afterlife of the plane you're on... so these are some newly "born" natives.

These unfortunate individuals are from the dead plane of Oregon.

... what? I already used that joke? Okay fine. There really isn't any actual signifiers here, and the only humanoid in the art is too indistinct to tell. Given the content of the card is trying and failing to ford one of Thunder Junction's mighty rivers, I'm calling this card "native to the plane" for lack of anything else appropriate.

Oh hey it's everyone's favorite running gag from Ravnica. Fblthp is an easy one, so instead of elaborating more on our mono-eyed friend instead I'll bring up a question I want any of you reading this to answer.

Didn't they say during the initial preview teasers that there was an important plot event happening in the background of this card? That never bore fruit and I can't remember the exact preview stream I heard it, but I swear I did. I want someone to confirm this for me. I'm abusing my power.

Regrettably, the flavor text makes this spell be sourced from Oko's Home Plane. I do love this weird tumbleweed creature though!

God I hate Oko he's such a scum bag (derogatory).

A personal favorite character of mine, Geralf is an Innistradi born and raised, here to investigate the Thunder of the plane- as well as test how mana bonds work for planebound folk now that they have access to planar travel. Good luck, sir.

An obvious native of the plane. I quite like the flavor of this card as well by the way, it's just a clever way to incorporate the geysers you would occasionally see in the old west.

Another Thunder Junction native! It's wild how many of these there actually are, but wild animals do make up a bulk of cards in Magic so it's not THAT unreasonable.

Fun lore tidbit; allegedly the Thunder only started after the Omenpaths opened up. No one has lived here before that so no one can confirm that is true, and this flavor text suggests otherwise.

One of the only cards showcasing the least important members of Oko's gang of ruffians! Kaervek and Satoru busting out of jail thanks to the help of Annie Flash. The framing of the card makes it feel more like Kaervek's doing the real world (valid, Satoru is a loser this entire story) so I'm gonna call it for Zhalfir here- and yes even though technically everyone from Zhalfir is from Dominaria, it's a plane all its own now. I make the rules here!

The Fomorian made star-key to open up their vault on Thunder Junction, I feel like it is safe to say this was made here. It's got little arcs of Thunder and even looks like a deputy star, so it fits the vibe.

Fun fact; being a six pointed star, plus the fact that in the story they mentioned the sixth slot started glowing purple, I briefly had the idea that they might be implying the Fomorian's know of Purple magic and we'll get it in the big Space set we're getting down the line. Then I remembered Cosmium is purple and a major energy source for the Fomorion people, so nevermind.

I can't confidently say this is from Bloomburrow, given we don't know how big the people of that plane can get- so far they've maxed out at Badger and Fox- but I really don't know where this guy could be from otherwise! Maybe Ravnica? So lets call this Bloomburrow until corrected otherwise.

Incidentally this is one of my favorite pieces of art in the set. Love this fucking guy.

Beyond all the art signifiers, I believe it was straight up said on twitter this is a Therosian Sphinx, so she's from Theros. Good for her. Why is she wearing spurs...?

I'm fairly confident this is meant to depict Stella Lee, and she's from the Atiin people, so that's where this is from! Rundo meanwhile sounds like a Ravnica, but that's just some trivia.

This one I'm not fully sure on. The little bird like flecks of white in his magic, the watery energy... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't quite place it. The red and blue suggests Izzet but then he's a Slickshot, the red-blue faction on Thunder Junction. I'm gonna go with my gut and say Ravnica, though.

Shit like this is why I wish we'd gotten a planeswalker guide...

Blue, so far, has some of the most easy and obvious ones to place, and for this I'm thankfully. This guy is a Stitcher, so he's from Innistrad. Easy as.

She's got some of the Sterling Company aesthetic going on, but I'm a stickler for stupid jokes so I'm gonna say she's from Zendikar. The armor could evoke Sea Gate, and they've always been good with ropes so why NOT translate that to combat?

Like with the earlier ghosts, dead-then-revived means you're native to Thunder Junction... but also this guy is clearly an Obscura from New Capenna, using some of his old magic, so I'mma call it for the big city here.

Oko's big bad gang preparing for the heist of the life-time. Since it's Oko's big idea it's from Oko's stupid plan.

The sort of misty blasts of fire and ice we're seeing here is aesthetically similar to the "gunfire" magic of New Capenna. I love this guy by the way.

Hey wait a second Ashiok can't do stuff like this. They can only read nightmares, not minds!

YEah for those of you who don't know, the Ashiok in this set is actually Jace in disguise! So this is from home-grown celtic Vryn mind-shredding. Our hero(?) ladies and gentlehommes.

An actual Sterling Company goon, though at least this one has a funny joke to his card. I still really like the work they did in making sure every weapon used in the set has the needed arcing loop for Thunder to channel through it.

Oh right the reason why we're here. I'm gonna say New Capenna again, because there's basically no defining traits here. Also god I just realized he's missing the front brim of his hat and it looks terrible. Graywater pay your men properly they can't even afford complete hats!

It took me a bit to realize what was happening in this card. The lady in the back is only choosing the final Spree option here, swapping around the Outcaster and the Hellspur's clothing. Rude!

Clothing swap spells seems like a funny prank to pull at magical college, so Arcavios is where this is going.

I think in cases where I just cannot make any reasonable assumptions based on art, I should look at mechanics. Flashback is usually in Innistrad... but this lady's neckline is WAY too exposed for that Even accounting for the new plane... honestly I give up, the only real identifying factor here is her little lockpick device, which... kinda looks Kamigawan? Lets go with that.

The vibe, the way she wears her hat, and the little phone cord(?) on her belt makes me think of New Capenna. Look some of these are really difficult and I gotta go by vibes!

And that's the 30 card limit, give me a half second for part two!

[jedi-enthusiast]

I'm bored, so here is how I'd fix 'The Bad Batch.'

Caveat: Obviously I would've preferred a show centered around clones like Rex, Cody, Fox, Wolffe, Echo, etc. instead of some random "special" clones we've literally never heard of, but that's not what we got so I'm making a post about what we have to work with. Also, obviously I'm not gonna cover every issue about the show, these are just the main things I'd change.

1. Un-whitewash them. In fact, un-whitewash all of the clones, but that's a given.

In the same vein, though, have them actually look like clones. It makes like 0 sense for them to have to hide or have to wear disguises or what have you to hide the fact that they're clones...when they don't look like clones.

I'm gonna be honest, if they weren't introduced as clones in the show, then I wouldn't have had any idea that they were clones. They look nothing like Temura Morrison or the other clones. Fix that.

Or, hell, if people are absolutely dead set on them looking different, have them hate the fact that they look different from the other clones rather than making them think they're so much better than everyone else.

Sure the Kaminoans might've said something or other about them being "better" then the other clones, due to their modifications, but they're also just as likely to have said something negative about them looking different since they want things to be uniform---not to mention that their "special modifications" probably got more attention on them from the Kaminoans, which would obviously be something that sucked ass and probably got them in more trouble/gave them more restrictions.

I feel like it'd be more plausible for them to want to blend in and not want that extra attention- (and everything that comes with it) -rather than them having a whole complex about being "so much better" than everyone else. Especially considering that, generally speaking, their modifications don't really seem to make them any more "special" than anyone else.

----------

2. Get rid of the animosity between TBB and the rest of the clones. It makes no fucking sense.

No more of the "regs" bullshit, no more of TBB not giving a shit about other clones, no more of the bullying that apparently went on on Kamino. None of that shit.

The whole "oh the regs bullied TBB because they looked different, boo hoo" thing doesn't even make fucking sense!!! 99 looked different than all the other clones and they fucking loved him! Not to mention the importance that the clones place on individuality, distinction, and being yourself---it makes no sense for looks, of all things, to be something the other clones make fun of TBB for!!

And, honestly, given how TBB consistently talked about/treated the "regs," I'm more willing to believe that the other clones started "bullying" them in retaliation to TBB calling them "expendable" and acting like they were so much better than them.

But, that's besides the point, anyway-

Have TBB actually care about the other clones, have them be close, have TBB have more than blank faced reactions to finding out their brothers are being mind controlled---actually have them give a shit and want to help, but they're unable to.

----------

1. In the same vein, get rid of the animosity Crosshair has with the rest of TBB. It makes no fucking sense, given the direction they're trying to take with the show.

It definitely makes no sense for them to have this whole plot/conflict thing about "saving Crosshair" when none of them actually seem to like each other.

In fact, make the whole team actually seem like they like each other---right now they seem like strangers who barely tolerate each other that just got locked inside a 7/11 together. If there's gonna be a show centered around them, that's gonna try and sell the idea that they care about each other or whatever, actually make it seem like it!!

Have them have more emotions about being separated from Crosshair, have them fuck up a mission on accident because they forgot he wasn't there, have them be more than just "😐" at everything, for the love of fuck.

----------

3. Instead of making them boring characters that are basically just stereotypes + a one-dimensional version of Echo, give them actual personality.

Also, assuming they keep the abilities the same, let their abilities actually affect them negatively instead of just being a way for them to one up everyone.

Hunter - Give him a habit of being overly anxious. He's supposed to be a leader and he's supposed to be close to his team, so have him be worried about making a wrong decision so he often overthinks things to make sure that doesn't happen. Have him look up to Cody and maybe try to emulate him, since Cody seems to take sort of "older brother" vibes when he's around other people, people just seem to look to him for answers- (yeah because he's Marshal Commander, but also let me just have this). Give Hunter sensory issues, have him get uncomfortable and irritable and upset when things get to be too much.

Wrecker - Instead of making him "stupid, childish, and strong," actually make him smart---he's supposed to be a demolitions expert, so he's not just gonna be a dumbass. Also, maybe make him really protective over everyone and self-sacrificing, believing that he's the strongest so he can take the things that everyone else can't---have him be reckless, not because he's stupid, but because he doesn't want his brothers- (including the "regs") -to do the same thing and get hurt. Give him chronic pain. It hurts to grow and he had to grow a lot more than the others---plus, with all the injuries he's endured from protecting the others, he's bound to have been a little fucked up by those.

Tech - They wanna make him autistic coded? Great, we need more representation, but don't feed into stereotypes this time. Make him smart when it comes to his interests---engineering, technology, etc---but then also have him be lost when it comes to things that aren't in his areas of interest, don't make him know everything because that's not realistic. Maybe give him anxiety when it comes to social situations, me and a lot of other autistic people I know get anxious because we don't know what's "right" and "wrong" in social situations, let him actually have anxiety related to his social awkwardness instead of him just- 😐 -all the time. Have him be curious about things related to his interests and prone to rambling about them---let him be excited to tell other people what he knows instead of just saying- "I thought it was obvious." I'm not really sure what Tech's special ability is supposed to be other than just "smart," so let's just say he has an eidetic memory or something. Give him insomnia. Again, me and a lot of autistic people I know have trouble sleeping, and also let him have stress related to everyone always looking to him for the answers---let him mess up and feel guilty about messing up because "he's supposed to know everything/be the smart one."

Crosshair - Don't just make him an asshole who's always looking for a fight---maybe just make him quiet but with a sarcastic sense of humor, that way it's a lot more shocking when he starts speaking up against Hunter. Let him also be anxious in social situations since he doesn't know how to navigate them, let him look to Hunter or Cody for cues on what to do. Instead of basically saying "let's leave Echo for dead, he's just a reg" in TCW, maybe have him be vocally supportive of Rex whenever someone else shows doubt---have him understand not wanting to leave someone behind, have him care deeply about his brothers, and then let that make it hit so much harder when TBB has to leave him on Kamino. He's supposed to be The Best Sharshooter Ever due to genetic engineering? Great, give him eye problems. Make really bright lights hurt him, so he has to wear his helmet to make things easier on his eyes---maybe have him struggle with seeing things really close to him.

Echo - JUST GIVE ME TCW ECHO BACK, AND LET HIM ACTUALLY HAVE PTSD FFS

----------

4. Finally, change the direction of the story.

Make more of their story center around trying to help Rex save their brothers and try to figure out how to stop the Empire, not just them apparently having the world’s worst luck and being shitty bounty hunter knock-offs. When Rex asks them to help the Rebellion/their brothers/whatever, have them agree to help and go with him rather than Hunter basically just saying- "welp, that sucks ig, but I only care about my fellow "special" clones, so nah."

Have them join the Rebellion and help Rex free the other clones, use the show to give us a deeper look into the clones---what sort of culture they would’ve developed, the complicated relationship they would’ve had with the Republic, etc.

Give us episodes that center around Gregor, Cody, Wolffe, Fox, Rex, etc. and give us insight into what their lives were like after the Empire took over, rather than just having this show about a random group of "special clones" basically copying the style of The Mandalorian.

[positivelybeastly]

X-Men #6

Getting caught up!

Let's go.

Mmm, this is a good page. It's interesting to see Quentin in a kind of melancholy - it's not a state of mind you see him in very often, honestly, and I have to wonder if it's because of what he saw in Ben Liu's head, the fact that Cassandra Nova is on the board now, or just a general ennui about the state of things as an X-Man. Being a teenage firebrand only lasts as long as you're willing to burn, and Quentin's been burning for a while now with very little to show for it.

Also, wow, Idie, you have the eyes of an eagle that you were able to see that girl pulling a Spider-Man tribute - uh, I mean, the Midnight M, or whatever it's called.

Fun fact - this is the first time in this series that someone's directly mentioned Hank's psychotic villain turn from X-Force. Makes sense it would come from Quentin, since he's the only other member of X-Force on the team and he has the most face time with evil Hank, though I have to call bullshit - psycho Beast was a fucking bore.

Cain and Illyana continue to be hilarious bash brothers. I also like Hank being like 'ix-nay on the beheading-ay while the newbies are around to hear you-ay!' while Ben and Jennifer have little shock lines around their heads.

You will not get me to read Marauders volume 2, Jed. You will not.

So, this is a bit early in the run to have a 'this is what you missed in the series so far' scene, though I suppose having new context means they want to put the pieces together in a straightforward way so that no-one's confused going forward. And it's at least being done with character interactions, and not just a rote recitation of facts.

So, you, uh, ever gonna go and be a dad to those Savage Land mutates you fucked around with and made, Max? No? Mmkay.

Really dancing around the hashtag, huh, Scott?

"Maybe if you'd taken better care of your last resident genius instead of treating him like shit and neglecting him, so that he didn't go insane and blow himself up in a homoerotic stupor, you'd be having an easier time of this, but you're stuck with me."

Don't you fucking dare talk shit about quiche, Quentin.

I genuinely love the amount of play Glob is getting in this series. There's such an obvious affection for him that you can't help but be charmed. Also, a rare acknowledgement of Glob's past as a member of the Omega Gang and the fact that he was one of Quentin's very few friends during New X-Men! Love to see it!

There's that patented Scott Summers paranoia.

Also, I have to say, I love what this issue is doing with Illyana and Idie. As far as I know, these characters have barely, or never, interacted before, and there's just such an easy interplay between them that I already want more of - they tease and poke and prod at one another, in a way that feels younger and more vital than the older members of the team, even as Illyana demonstrates what being on a mainline X-Men team for the last 10-15 years does for your knowledge base.

It also really, really makes me happy that Idie is getting as much play as she is. The people who were worried about her being background fodder for this series really couldn't have been more wrong, she's getting a lot of good development and agency here.

It's something that only really shows up when you're reading continuously, but it's visible here - I like the panel composition in this issue, and this series in general, a fair bit. I like the separation of panels to show progression and create distinct scenes while still creating a larger tableau. Good composition makes you notice it, but doesn't pull you out of the experience, it merely serves it.

Also, oh boy, Hank's getting nostalgic again . . . that only ever means he's about to get depressing.

Yeah, that tracks.

Now, I do like this sequence and this conversation, but I have to pick at something that bugs me here, even though I have to wonder if it's intentional or not.

. . . Max, you and Scott were both on Krakoa. You remember that, right? You were dead for a fair bit of it, sure, but you were around long enough to see the start of X-Force. You were a member of the Quiet Council and Scott was the General or whatever of Krakoa.

You had the power to stop him. You don't get to say that you won't allow it when you both already did allow it. It would have been outrageously easy for the both of you to just waltz right up to the Pointe, grab evil Hank by his hair, and kick the shit out of him for being a genocidal maniac, but neither of you did that. None of you did. You allowed him to continue. Worse, you enabled him, you and your little twink 'I Can't Believe It's Not The Maker' Xavier.

And even before that, you hold responsibility for encouraging Hank to loosen his morals and kill people! You were there during the Inhumans vs. X-Men conflict, encouraging him to double cross the Inhumans for mutant gain! And Scott outright told Hank, MULTIPLE TIMES, that the ends justify the means during the Utopia era! Are you going to acknowledge that fact? Are you going to confront the fact that he internalised YOUR methods? Fucking evil Hank's penultimate words before he was atomised were MAGNETO WAS RIGHT, for fuck's sake!

That's why I like that Hank says, 'Of course, of course.' There's a ring of, yeah, sure, whatever to that, that I like. He doesn't say I know, because he doesn't. He's well aware that everyone saw what was happening to him and didn't stop it, that they didn't care enough to intercede, that Scott was too busy fucking Jean and Logan on the regs to care that one of his oldest friends was turning into the lovechild of Josef Mengle and Henry Kissinger.

I need that to become text. I need it. I know that it fucking sucks, Jed MacKay, to have to answer for Ben Percy's sins, but you cannot have dialogue like this and expect it to fly through uncommented on. No-one becomes a monster on their own.

I really do hope that dialogue choice was intentional and that MacKay is willing to interrogate this. Thus far, he hasn't let me down, but I need this to be the first part of a conversation, not the end of it.

Yeah, valid, I wouldn't want to deal with Cortez either.

Hank is very cute here. Like, he's always cute, but he's especially kawaii here. Hims have the teefs.

Yeah, you gotta get on choosing a mutant name quick, or else you'll get stuck with something like Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

Hoo boy. Yeah, this is . . . that would be a problem. I can see why Scott's pissed. Then again, valid for Idie going for forgiveness over permission, as far as she knew, Piper might have been being abused, and the info she has here is pretty important . . .

All right, roll on issue #7!

This was a good issue! I don't know that it needed the whole 'here's what you missed on Glee' segment in the middle, but it was at least done with enough character and verve that it wasn't boring, and the rest of the issue giving everyone some shine and interactions made it more than worth it - plus, it feels as though the plot is finally starting to move, which was a little bit of a concern with the previous issues.

Be there or be square . . .

[bitacrytic]

Bita! What would you like to see in the coming episodes of MSI? what would tickle you the most??

I don't expect anything funny from this show but it has a way of shocking me. (ie, when Joe slept on the floor and the cat fight)

But there are a few things I'd like to see.

1. An unimpressed Joe.

I loved how stoic he was at the beginning of ep4, but I'd like to see him look completely bored with everything Ming does.

2. A bothered Ming.

I know people might want him to grovel. But I wouldn't mind watching him continue where we left off in the room where he cuffed Joe. I'm very much looking forward to his attempts to force Joe back into his circle. I know the grovelling will come. But I want to see what other toxic tricks he's got in his arsenal before that happens.

3. A confused Tong.

Because whatever haze Ming has been in for two years will suddenly clear and it won't be because of Ming's feelings for Tong. If anything, I'd like to see Ming make that distinction to Tong in a way that baffles him just a bit. (A very long shot of this happening but a girl can dream)

4. A happy Joe.

I've said how much I love the presence of his mother. But more than that, I want him to come home one day and make a mental note of what her presence has done for his mental state. I want him to be eating and suddenly look over at this woman whose lucky son is nowhere to be found, and be so grateful that even though he's dead, even though he's stealing someone else's life, at least he gets to experience this. I want him to note that it is possible to have someone be around you without conditions. I want him to realise that love is possible and that he doesn't have to offer his entire being just for someone else to give back scraps. I want him to learn that love doesn't have to be sexual and that he CAN forge OTHER relationships beyond his work mates and his romantic partners.

5. An absent Sol.

This goes without saying.

◇◇◇◇

I'd have wanted Joe to smack Ming and make a snide comment at Wut, but we all know that's not him so I'm not even going to dream about that anymore.

[palant1r]

why don’t you like the shinigami light theory

OKAY SO

For me, for something to be a good theory as opposed to a fun headcanon or AU, it has to fit two stipulations. First, it must make the events of canon make more sense. Second, it must enhance the thematic resonance of those events. Basically, a good theory answers questions the source material asks, and does so in a way that's satisfying and makes the source material Hit.

A good example of a good theory is Matsuda's chapter 108 theory that Near wrote Mikami's name in the notebook. It makes Near seem a lot less stupid and resolves a few plot holes in the finale, plus it offers a satisfying dimension to Near's character.

Shinigami Light is a fun AU. It's a fun headcanon. It's a fun new way to explore characters, and I've read a few fics that I find pretty good with that premise. But it is NOT a good theory.

First of all, it makes the story make less sense, not more sense. If Light becomes a shinigami, why don't we ever see anything from him again, especially considering we have stories after post-canon? Does it really make sense for light yagami to suddenly gain absolute power and be like "nah im just gonna let the world go back to how it was before kira?" I don't think it does. Also, we're told in canon that all humans go to nothingness after they die. I guess Mu could be the shinigami realm? But there sure are things there. Doesn't seem very nothingness to me. There is also just like. No canon suggested mechanism by which a human could become a shinigami. Obviously not all humans become shinigami, or else there would be billions of them. Can the shinigami king make humans into shinigami? I doubt he'd make Light into a shinigami — considering he interferes with the plan to sell the death note to Literal Donald Trump, I don't think he'd endorse light's particular brand of chaos by giving Light way more power. I guess you could argue that shinigami have to be born somehow since they can die — but I honestly think it makes more sense to say that there used to be far more shinigami and they're dying out.

Second of all, it completely ruins the ending. Like, COMPLETELY. In the manga, the warehouse scene turns Light's character on its head. We are shown that he's always known there's nothing after death, and he's desperately afraid to die. We're shown that, in the end, he was a human like everyone else. His crime was not a grand blasphemy or an overturning of the natural order. He was just a murderer who led those close to him to their deaths — a stupid, senseless, human crime. And that's what makes the ending so satisfying and sad. We're left like Matsuda — gazing with both contempt and pity at a man who used the corpses of ten thousand evildoers to run from his own terribly mundane fear and guilt. But if Light ascends to godhood, what are we even left with? A world for him to look down to from above. Light's vindication. It's the kind of ending that would appear in Light's own childish delusion, a kind of "when I'm dead, they'll all see." It's an ending where Light gets exactly what he wants BECAUSE of his actions with the death note. And I find that ending completely and utterly boring. It doesn't just ruin the ending — there are a lot of lines sprinkled in about the distinction between human and shinigami, and how Ryuk thinks Light is a fine shinigami simply because of the death he deals. That's interesting, and I think the significance of that blurred line gets neutered if Light actually becomes a shinigami.

So, yeah. I'm fine with it as a headcanon. But to me, the shinigami light theory isn't compatible with the best parts of death note. It makes the source material's strengths irrelevant and its weaknesses exacerbated. Do not like this theory.

[thewritersaddictions]

Drabbles: Steddie- Love Bites

Let's just say that Eddie comes back from the dead, and he's automatically drawn toward Steve's energy. There's something different about everything now. Eddie can feel the difference between people now. He's not reading into people's words, or attitudes he just knows how they're feeling.

Eddie is not sure if that has something to do with the fact that he came back from the fucking dead or not. It might have to do with the pointy canine teeth. His tongue keeps licking over the sharp end of them. Eddie more than likes the way they feel, but back to the point. Eddie came back to the world of Hawkins he felt different.

He could see, a distinct line that brought him all the way from his trailer to the Harrington house. Tall, large, and lonely was the house. Regardless of how many lights were lifted on he smelt of loneliness and heartbreak. Eddie had never been one for doing things straightforwardly. He liked the dramatics of it, he liked being crazy and wild.

Let's also just say that Eddie had been dreaming of Steve since rambling with him in the woods upside down. He had wished that he was strong enough to flirt with him, but the gazes that he saw between Steve and Nancy had made him shut his mouth. Regardless of this though Eddie was stronger now, mentally and physically. He climbed the side of Steves house, climbing directly into his bedroom window. A startled Steve was throwing his belongings and screaming bloody murder.

"Steve calm down it's just me!" Eddie had to scream to just get Steves attention. My objects were thrown his way, that was until he caught one of them. Eddie's jean vest. His pins were still stuck into the fabric, it made his heart beat so fast against his chest. "Steve you kept this?" Eddie's voice was softer. "Eddie?" Steve's eyes were blown wide, and his chest fell up and down as he tried to catch his breath.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Steve screamed jumping up from his bed and running over towards Eddie. His arms fell around him, and all of a sudden the energy that Eddie had felt when he first escaped the upside-down was surrounding. His heart raced somehow faster in his chest and then slowed as he notice just how long Steve had held on to him.

"How did you?" Steve looks up at Eddie, eyes glossed over. Tears on the edge of falling. "I don - I'm not sure, I just somehow ended up back here and I followed you." The eyes that Steve sent my way were worry-filled, "I don't mean followed you literally, I mean I followed your energy. Sweet and summer-filled, yellow energy." Eddie muttered as he looked down at the man still holding him.

"So what are you then?" Steve asks Eddie, like Eddie knows what the hell he is, "I'm not sure, I just know that I've got some bitchin' teeth now." Eddie smiles showing off his shape canines. Steve can't help but reach out and graze his pointer finger over the edge of the tooth. Causing him to nick his skin, and blood to flow into Eddie's mouth.

that's the day Steve and Eddie find out he might be a vampire. Might be in Eddie's words like Kas from D&D, like Vecna was D&D.

The rest of the group finds out that Steve has been hiding Eddie when they come over to find the two of them in bed, Steve covered in bits, and Eddie's teeth blood red. It doesn't take long for the jokes and rhyme to fall back into the lines with everyone. Sure everyone is afraid of what might come along nowadays, and half the town of Hawkins has left. But at least everyone is together right.

One night it's just Steve and Eddie. Watching a practically boring movie when Steve shifts and climbs into Eddie's lap. They haven't really labeled their relationship rather keeping it loose and whatever they want it to be. Steve is one for keeping his hands on Eddie, so he obliges letting Steve fall into his lap. Steve's head falls gently into the curve of Eddie's shoulder. "You know you might wanna give me a warning next time you wanna get into my lap Stevie," Eddie murmurs as he shifts under the weight of his lover.

Steve groans, whispering in Eddie's ear, "Bite me!" Eddie without restraint moves latching onto Steves neck with vengeance and sucking, licking, and finally biting Steve. With Steve like this in Eddie's lap, there's nothing he can do not that he wants to go anywhere else. Steve moans. Loving the feeling of Eddie's teeth on his skin.

"Not what I meant… but you know keep… keep going." Steve feels Eddie smirks against his skin, kissing the wounds he's caused. "Of course whatever you want Stevie," Eddie murmurs before returning to his lover's neck and leaving a few more precious loves bites behind in his wake.

Completed on: 04/28/23

Posted on: 05/01/23

The Adults- @yourfavdummy @mothermirkwood

[practically-an-x-man]

How long have you had your OCs, and how much have they changed since they arrived?

Oooh, very good question!!

Let's see....

(long ramble coming up. you've been warned lol)

Preliminary warning that I get a little time blindness for nontangible things like when I first created my OCs, so I'm going more off when I started posting their stories than when they first started taking shape in my mind. I've probably had these guys a lot longer than the dates I put down here, since I tend to let the stories develop and marinate for a while before I start writing them.

Rae/Mira: Okay, technically these two started as one OC, originating back when I was 13 or so and first getting into the McAvoy timeline movies (I'd been watching the original movies since I was a kid but got into the new timeline a little later). Originally, they were one OC who was given the power of healing from Apocalypse, used as a fifth Horseman, and gained silver eyes/silver magic as a result. At that point, it was mainly just a daydream I had to 1. help occupy my mind when I was bored and 2. fix a few movieverse deaths that always bugged me, like Angel's. I split them into two OCs when I started actually writing fanfiction, late 2020 to early 2021, and obviously they've gone through loads of edits and changes to make them the unique, distinct OCs they are today.

Robin: I started posting Symphony in August of 2021, so I created Robin probably a month or so before that. I don't remember any particularly distinct changes, though I know I decided to make her a Cassidy about the same time I decided to make her powers sound-based, so those two fell in line together.

Madison: I started Smoke and Mirrors in May of 2021, but Madison's gone through a few changes leading up to that. Her earliest inklings as a character were just as a slightly-feral fish mutant the X-Men ran into while out on a mission (which is actually pretty similar to her actual introduction in the fic). I wasn't even sure if she'd be a better fit for Alex or Sean (ended up with Alex of course), and originally I had her needing to be in water to survive. Obviously that's changed, and she filled out as a character little by little before eventually becoming the Madison we've got today. Bravo was also a spur-of-the-moment addition, but we love him :D

Ophelia: Started thinking about her as an OC in January 2022, just after No Way Home came out, and didn't make many big changes before I started posting her story. Hers was more a sudden burst of creativity where all the pieces fell together (mainly since I wanted to get her story started before the NWH hype died down), so it was a lot faster of a character-building process. I realized about 7 chapters into Catch and Release that I was very much writing her to be autistic without really realizing it, and decided to lean into that as an aspect of her character going forward.

Jasper: Started Heartstrings in August of 2022, but I know I had Jasper as an OC for at least a year before I started writing that story. I knew I wanted them to be an empath from the beginning, mainly to help Kyle once he comes back from the dead, and I had the general storyline already in place, but the smaller details (their love of music, roller derby, even their genderfluidity) fell into place when I started actually putting the fic down on the page. I also didn't have a name for them for the longest time, it was just a big [redacted] of indecision until I actually started writing and needed to pick a name.

Indigo: I started Bolts and Blasters in May of 2021, though I had Indie for a while before that. Most of her primary details haven't changed, and her story's also been constant, but originally her name was Blue instead of Indigo. I changed it because I wanted her to have a nickname/variation, since she doesn't use a surname. Zero was also a last-minute add - originally she had a raccoon as a pet, but I changed it to be Zero for a bit more Star Wars alien flair

Katherine: Started posting WWFA? in December 2021, and honestly, I struggled for a while with Katherine. I struggled a lot with her name, which is how I eventually landed on naming her after the astronomer Katherine Johnson. Other details, like her being linked to Bastet, her physical appearance, her friendships with Emily and Jace, built up slowly over time. The only thing I started with was her leaving the drawings for Ahk and him getting enamored.

AJ: I started posting Nom De Guerre in May 2021 (no idea why I started so many fics in that particular month), and I honestly can't remember how much has changed about AJ over time. I think she was another rapid development, with fewer changes over time.

Quinn: I mainly mentioned AJ because she led to Quinn. I started Desert Song in October 2022, but I actually created Quinn as a character while finishing Nom De Guerre - as much as I loved Billy and AJ's dynamic, I remember thinking how fun it would be to have someone who was once on his old crew with him (and fell with him in Kyiv), who was eventually who Quinn ended up being. I also wanted to be a bit more daring with her than I'd been with some of my other OCs, which is how the queer and disability elements became so prevalent in her story. It's a lot better this way, though.

Kestrel: I started posting Taking Flight in August of 2023, but Kestrel as a character was developed over about a week in July 2023. I was on a trip for marching band and rereading a few of the Fablehaven books, and all that travel and waiting left me with loads of time to ponder new OCs. I got home, starting writing the fic, and that's where we're at today. In general, I feel like I've gotten a lot faster and more definitive with OC creation over time.

Eris: I've only just started sharing parts of their story, and I don't have a core fic for them yet, but I've had them as a character since The Suicide Squad (2021) came out. Their power set and Amazonian identity hasn't changed, but originally they were a female warrior like Wonder Woman and had a different name (I remember naming her after a lion-themed myth, but I can't seem to find that particular myth now), and they were a lot more altruistic and good-aligned than they are now. I think they're more fun this way, though.

Nikoletta: Similar story to Eris - I've had her since The Suicide Squad (2021) came out, but haven't had a chance to write out her story until now. She's also been through a few changes, though not as many as Eris - namely, her backstory scamming tourists on the streets of New Orleans is new, though her experiences with STAR Labs and the shadows were always part of her story

I have a lot of other OCs that I haven't written out yet, and it's interesting. Some of them are years old, created a while back but without having a chance to write their stories yet, while others are brand new. And like I said, I've gotten a lot faster and more decisive in creating OCs recently. My most recent creations, Easton McKay (a mutant with the ability to make his tattoos/body mods come to life) and Gia Pantazis (a girl who had her life force bound to a patch of clover by HYDRA) , both took shape in a matter of days, and now seem to be well-developed characters.... at least in my head, since I haven't really shared as much of their bios or stories here yet.

[weaversweek]

How poor production on Going Live led to The Wheel

Five Star rose from nowhere to become the biggest band in Britain, and then they fell away as quickly as they'd arrived. By 1 April 1989, the group was really unpopular, and they appeared on Going Live. The Sunday Mirror reported what happened next:

A youngster stunned a children's BBC TV programme with a stream of four-letter abuse at pop group Five Star. The band were answering phone-in questions on Going Live when Elliot (sic) Fletcher blurted out, "I would like to ask Five Star why are they such f---ing c---." As presenter Sarah Greene sat in shocked silence, he added, "They are f---ing p---" before being faded out.

Five Star were a family group. Lorraine, Doris, Denise, Steadman, and Delroy were the children of Buster Pearson, who was also their manager, and who styled them in the mode of the Jackson Five. Signed to Tent Records (prop: B. Pearson), the group made vocal pop with synth stylings. It was the way of the mid-80s. After a couple of small-release singles, "All fall down" very gently grew its way up the charts during late spring 1985, and follow-up single "Let me be the one" gave them a chance to get into the TOTP studio.

"System Addict" propelled them into the top five at the start of 1986, and began a proper Imperial Phase; for a couple of years, we couldn't avoid Five Star, and didn't really want to. Second album Silk and Steel yielded five top ten hits, ranging from sweet love song "Rain or shine" to the yearning horniness of "Can't wait another minute" and "If I say yes". A massive stadium tour was sponsored by Crunchie chocolate bars, and the group won the BPI Award for Best Band. Better than Genesis! Even more fun than Mike + the Mechanics!

Third album Between the Lines was harsher, harder, more aggressive. Five Star gave up the chocolate sponsorship, replaced by toothpaste. But even that wouldn't clean their image from the deliberate dirt and grunge. "Strong as steel" and "Somewhere somebody" were the worst sort of single release - reminding us only of how good Five Star used to be. When the bubble burst, it collapsed quickly. 1988's album Rock the World was even worse.

By early 1989, the group are promoting a forthcoming Greatest Hits album, and new song "With every heartbeat". Reviews were not pleasant reading.

Carol Decker from T'Pau summarised the problems. "Her voice doesn't sound as distinctive as it used to. Now she just sounds like Gloria Estefan. They used to be very good but this is disappointing." Bandmate Ronnie Rogers also reviewed the single for Smash Hits "It's a groove with no tune. As soon as they changed their image every one of their singles has been dead boring." Record Mirror had dismissed the single: "Listening to a 5 Star record is like drowning in a bubble bath."

The hostility continued through the interview on Going Live!. The segment began with a profile put together using clips of the band talking about themselves, which rather over-stated how popular they were now. Sarah Greene, the show's presenter, pointed out how prolific and busy the band had been. "Are you ever tempted to sit back, rest on your laurels for a bit?" No, they're very busy people and have been working on their next album. "Next album? You only put one out last August! Many others take two years to make an album." Was there a lack of quality control at Five Star HQ? Apparently, they're feeling very creative, including a new book which gets a quick plug.

To the phones, and Barbara asks "Why Five Star have changed their image?" No, we've not changed our image, we've changed to reflect our new music, it changes gradually through fashion and our age. Barbara thinks they're more rock 'n' roll, harder, more leather and less of the spacebot matching jumpsuits.

In the studio, Tony asks what it felt like to have a number one hit. "That's a nice question!" says one of the band. Ooh, is someone feeling got at from a viewer asking a difficult question?! They never had a number 1 single in any market, though album Silk and Steel did make its way to number one.

Back to the lions' den, Eliot from Langley - and his dog Tammy, who barks down the phone.

"Thanks very much Eliot, nice to hear from you!" breezed Sarah. "Tammy would have made a lot more sense." There's general sniggering and laughter in the studio audience, carefully kept out of the microphone. Let's move on to the next phone call "I heard that! Did you hear that? Crap!" said the confused caller.

Charlotte in the studio asks if the band get fed up with each other and argue a lot. Of course they do, but they're family and they get along really. Of course they do.

Oh dear. This segment is falling apart. With the producer making the wise decision to drop the phone callers, and two minutes to fill, Sarah asks the studio audience for any questions. Young lad sitting next to Charlotte?

"How many countries have you released records in?" asks the flop-haired youth, after a little false start. Good question. Lots of them. "So there's nowhere left for you to go?" he cheekily asks. Watch that lad, he's going to be trouble for somebody.

Sarah builds on the discussion - have Five Star forgotten what it's like to be anonymous? Not really.

And if they have, it won't be long before they're completely anonymous. Five Star never had another hit album, and had to sell their swank-pad in Sunningdale when the royalties ran out.

The star of the piece was unplanned audience questionner, stand up comedian, and general loudmouth Michael McIntyre. This early brush with stardom doesn't merit inclusion in his autobiography, which begins in 2005.

And we wonder, if Michael hadn't had those twenty seconds of fame in 1989, would he have become such a hugely famous person? Would he have got his own primetime feelgood tv show? With a soundtrack deserving five stars?