#5 love letters netflix movie

[zee-rambles]

Lets. D0. This.

(Please note: Post will be updated as I find more resources and think of more strategies)

(Please do not re-use gif without permission…unless it’s to save Rise…)

Mutant May

YOU can watch Season 1 and Season 2 of RISE right HERE!

So I’ve seen a a lot of people still wondering if Rise of the TMNT can be saved.

There’s is a lot of hope, especially with the boom of fans joining the fandom after the movie dropped last year, people making more art on tumblr, twitter, tik tok, and so on. But also a a lot of doubt, especially after JJ Conway’s post on twitter.

BUT…I still think there is a chance…a GOOD chance. WITH ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW! Why?

We live in the internet. Information is more then easy to get out now thanks to social media. There is all kinds of ways to get the word out to people. Let’s abuse it. 😎

Fans have brought back shows before.

We need a MAJOR push through social media, more fans, more art, it’s up to us…and I think we can do it!

Fans convinced Netflix to bring Sense8 back for a finale

Fans convinced fox to bring back “Futurama” after it was cancelled in 1999.

Hey Arnold got the jungle movie thirteen years after the show was cancelled

Animaniacs got a 3 season revival 22 years after it stopped airing.

Brooklyn 99 was cancelled in 2018, and the fans convinced NBC to pick up the series.

Arrested Development was canceled after 3 seasons, but AFTER it was cancelled, it grew an audience and they made it come back!

Fans saved the original Star Trek in the 60s with letters.

They did it. Why can’t we?

So what can we do?

Well…

1. PETITIONS TO SAVE RISE that we can all sign…

PETITION 1 (The strongest one, but the more petitions signed, the better!)

PETITION 2

PETITION 3

PETITION 4 (save the content that was cut/we missed)

PETITION 5! (Make an ROTTMNT season 3)

2. Pester Nickelodeon and Netflix on social media (THE BIG ONE Y’ALL, THIS IS THE MOST DIRECT AND IMPORTANT)

Be polite, be non-toxic (don’t be rude or mean, the boys would not want that, and the Nick/Netflix won’t listen), but be LOUD, PASSIONATE, AND ANNOYING! Ask for DVDs of the show/movie, and then BUY THOSE DVDs!

MAKE SURE TO ASK FOR THE FULL ORIGINAL CAST AND CREW TO COME BACK, INCLUDING ANDY SARIANO AND ANT WARD.

Sample DM/Letter (but try to come up with your own. Too many repeats and they will ignore it)

“Dear Nickelodeon/Netflix/Viacom, I can’t tell you how much Rise means to me, and I really love that you put the show on air. But it was not fair that the show was cancelled before it got the chance to reach the audience it deserved, only because of a few bad reviews and a lack of advertising. The show is great, there’s tons of fans, tons of art, and people, including me, want so much more! Please bring it back! We want the original crew to come, Flying Bark, for the show to get it’s full second season restored, and it’s five season run like it was originally intended. People hated the 2012 TMNT when it came out, but it got it’s chance and now there are people that love it. Why can’t Rise of the TMNT have the same? It’s clear that the creators love their work and there’s a growing fan base for it. Rise just came out at the wrong time, but it deserves it chance to shine.”

The more personal you made the letter, the more you say what Rise means to you, the better.

As for me? I’m sending them a picture of Pizza Pigeon with the #wewantmoreriseoftheTMNT and #saverottmnt

Request movies/seasons on Netflix.

Ask for Rise Season 2, another season, another movie. Just keep asking!

Nickelodeon’s facebook page (Look, I know that facebook is a relic at this point, but the more people go there and PESTER Nickelodeon, the better!)

Rise’s facebook page

Leave good reviews. Share. Leave TONS of comments

Nickelodeon’s instagram

Nickelodeon’s Twitter page (treat carefully, there be Musks out there…only use if you are over 18)

Nickelodeon’s TikTok

Niceklodeon’s letter inbox

Nickelodeon, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036

Rugrats was brought back because fans bombarded Nickelodeon with letters saying they wanted it back. Might as well cover our bases. This one is a BIG DEAL!

Nickelodeon’s Corporate Number

1-212-846-2543 Call them! Annoy them! Ask how we can get their attention! Tell them why you love this show! Why it deserves to come back.

Contact Paramount

Paramounts Request form

Official Fan Page Rise’s Instagram

The more followers the better.

Netflix’s instagram

Netflix’s facebook

Netflix’s Twitter (Treat carefully. There be MUSKs out there…only use if you are over 18)

SPAM NICKELODEON’S EMAILS!

feedback@nick.com

contactus@nick.com

Letterbox@nick.co.uk

help@paramountplus.coM

If anyone has any more, any deeper more direct points of contact, or more ideas, please share!

3. Leave good reviews for Rise anywhere and raise awareness everywhere you can!

One of the key reasons Rise did not do too well because it was unfairly review bombed before people could give it a chance…so get out there on tik tok, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and ESPECIALLY youtube.

Make reviews! Analysis! JOKES! Support other content creators! When the Rise Reanimated video comes out, share it like no tomorrow!

No one paid attention when How to Train Your Dragon came out, but word of mouth and people saying it was good, made it the success it was. Let’s repeat history!

Anytime there is NEW RISE CONTENT on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel, watch it, share, spread it.

Share this post on social media, across various sites, use the information here to spread awareness about how people can help and what they can do. Be relentless! (Like Leo in Lair Games)

Ask influencers to review, react, and give RISE a chance without placing judgement.

4. Make. ART!

Draw, Write, TWEET, Make MERCH, Sell MERCH, Make Tik Toks, Videos on YouTube, posts on instagram, discord, what pad, demanding more Rise, spreading the word, and just showing how much you love this show! Not only will it attract attention, but it’s also good for all of us. There will be more Rise content either way.

Make sure to @ nickelodeon on ALL of your art! SPAM THEM! ANNOY THEM! DROWN THEM IN LOVE FOR THIS SHOW! Demand DVD’s and Blue rays of the SHOW AND THE MOVIE! It’s not fair that we can’t have access to it!

PLAY THIS GAME!

If you see official Rise MERCH in the while, buy it if you can! Also support as many rise content creators as you can. If you can’t draw? Write! If you can’t create! Like! Share! Comment! Support each other!

Rise April ART Challenge

Keep in mind…there WILL be pushback.

Companies as big as Nickelodeon and Viacom care about their bottom line: $$$…money. BUT pushback, whether they are taking down your videos on Tik Tok, striking artists on twitter, mean that they’re taking NOTICE. So don’t. Give. UP!

One last thing to remember: DO NOT harass fans for enjoying other versions of TMNT

Even though Rise is the first and only TMNT I have ever loved, I don’t believe in shaming other fans for looking forward to, or enjoying other TMNT series. Gatekeeping like that was what stopped Rise from (heh) Rising as high as it should have. All Rise fans are welcome, and all TMNT fans are welcome. Rise deserves to reach more fans, it deserves another season, and it does not need to knock down other TMNT series to do it. Show them your love and your need for more Rise, without making other TMNT fans feel unwelcome.

Share, spread the word, give it your best shot! A village can move MOUNTAINS! SO let’s do it.

So that in the near future…we can MAKE THIS JOKE!

[ox1-lovesick]

✶ ─── TOMORROW X TOGETHER AND THINGS WITH THEM

🍇 pairing. txt x gn!reader genre. fluff warnings. mentions of food, pda (?), wc. 50-100 each

🍇 type. headcannon , reaction

🍇 a/n. abandoned the tyun and hyuka fic for now 💀 this is like a filler fic or something i have such bad writers block. i know for a fact that soobin crochets

% YEONJUN

late night walks ; gentle kisses to your knuckles ; catching him staring ; errands to the convenience store at 3 in the morning ; holding hands ; sharing earphones ; leaning your head on his shoulder ; sharing lip glosses ; netflix marathons ; fashion shows at 2 am ; spontaneous dance sessions ; late night drives ; candid pictures ; slow dancing ; cooking ; sharing jewellery ; kisses through the phone ; matching jewelry

% SOOBIN

comparing hand sizes ; feeding each other ; interlocking pinkies ; desert before dinner ; baking ; sharing clothes and jewelry ; 1000 piece puzzles ; movie dates ; crocheting together ; croc shopping dates ; clothing hauls ; editing vlogs together ; food fights ; disney dates ; couple cosplays and halloween costumes ; pillow talk about the future ; tying your shoelaces for you ; giving you his jacket when it's cold ; matching socks and bracelets

% BEOMGYU

kisses in the rain ; hand-written love letters ; bouquets of roses ; sleeping in together ; doodling on each others hands ; scented candles ; bickering for fun ; backhugs ; raindrop races ; long bus rides ; sharing earphones ; picnic dates ; photo albums ; half anniversaries ; forehead kisses ; impromptu karaoke nights ; guitar lessons ; secret handshakes ; build-a-bear dates ; feeding each other ; pillow talk ; hiding tomatoes in his food ; painting each other's nails ; holding open the door for you

% TAEHYUN

long and warm hugs ; locking pinkies ; poking his dimples ; falling asleep on his chest ; cheek kisses ; stargazing ; library dates ; cooking for each other ; communicating through morse code ; study dates ; reading together ; sharing cutlery ; pinky promises ; kisses to your knuckles ; post it notes with messages ; holding hands ; feeding each other ; falling asleep on the phone with him ; playlists dedicated to each other ; gentle kisses ; powerpoint nights ; "5 more minutes" mornings ; flowers "just because"

% HUENINGKAI

naming all his plushies ; palm kisses ; zoo dates ; buzzfeed quizzes to see who'd survive the zombie apocalypse ; breakdancing in the dining room ; pokemon impressions ; piano lessons ; holding hands, everywhere ; kisses to the tips of your fingers ; pillow and tickle fights ; sneaking juice boxes and animal biscuits in your lunch

★ OX1-LOVESICK all rights reserved. do not copy, distribute, translate, alter or repost my work without my explicit permission.

[jhugas]

‘I OWE HER MY LIFE’- Jeon Jungkook

Masterlist

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

Genre: angst, fluff

Pairing: comforting, idol!Jungkook X sad, 8th member!F!Reader

Summary: You love Bts and Army, but you don’t think you’re made for this lifestyle. So you’ve been considering leaving the group. But how will Jungkook, the one that loves you the most, react?

Warnings/tags: mention of sasaengs, and death threats (only mentions, no details), reader feels depressed, Jungkook is extremely attached, Jungkook comforts you, sad Jungkook, crying, hugs and a lovely Jungkook.

Word count: ~1,2k

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

It’s been a long time you’ve been in BTS, the biggest band in the world… maybe around 5 years? You’ve had tours, fan meetings, collaborations, invitations… but also had death threats, sasaengs, people ringing at your door, and harassing you in the streets.

You’re a strong woman. Very strong. But you had limits, and limits got crossed over. This wasn’t the life you wanted; you just wanted some money to help your family. But now, you have the money without your family. You had to leave them from a young age, and with so much work and pressure, your relations with them got damaged. You believe that they won’t come back no matter what. But then, what was all of that for? Working so hard day and night since you’re 13, for nothing but money and fame.

Realizing how much better your life would’ve been without fame… tears form in your eyes. You love Bts, and you love Army, but maybe you weren’t made for this.

‘They‘ll understand. They love me too’

you reassured yourself, scared of expressing the decision you’re considering more and more; leaving Bts. Leaving the cameras, fame, and infinite money for an easier life. You try to imagine how Bts will react…

Namjoon, the one that you grew up with, that made you who you are today, comforted you every needed time and that considered you as his own sister.

Jin, that considered you as his very own daughter, bringing you to school and cooking for you.

Yoongi and Hoseok, bringing you to your bed when you fell asleep on the couch and went to the school reunions for parents.

Taehyung and Jimin being your closest friends you ever had, your big brothers, teasing you and bickering each other all the time. But always being there for each other.

And Jungkook that… loved you deeply. Very deeply. More than anyone else.

He always gave you lovely gifts, like portraits, drawings and paintings of you, and even tried sculpting you. Once, he gave you an album full of pictures he took himself of you, to prove you you were beautiful at your most insecure time. He gave you letters all the time, and was the type to write “Jungkook, you’re not so secret admirer :) ” as a signature. And always gave you the best Netflix and chill nights. Buying popcorns, letting you chose the movie, buying channels just for you, making his bedroom cozy with cute lights and more.

You were hung up on his walls. Said you were his love, passion and happiness as a person. And said he’d be your guardian angel the day he leaves.

“I’m not scared of dying because I know we’ll never really be too far from each other. In our next life, we’ll meet again, and love each other like we always did.” he said…

Tears roll down your cheek. How are you going to tell him? Will he get mad? Sad? Tons of questions go through your head as you blow your nose and throw the tissue. Will he hate you? Understand you? Does he feel the same thing? You blow your nose once again and throw the tissue. Suddenly, the door opens.

‘Y/n!! Why are you crying?!’

Jungkook comes in running and gets in front of you making sure to close the door behind him. He looks at you with worried eyes as you wipe away your tears, acting like nothing happened.

‘Y/n Im not joking! Please baby, tell me what’s wrong. You can talk to me you know it.’

He whispers the last part, taking care to not frighten you and to make you feel safe, protected. As you look at him in the eyes, you sitting on the edge of the bed and him crouching down to talk to you, he cups your face in his big hands, gets closer and kisses your forehead.

‘Jungkook… I… I’m not sure what to feel about being in Bts anymore… I’m scared, and lost… It’s not like I really want to leave but it feels like it’s the only way out…’

You look down, scared of how he’ll react. He’ll think you’re a traitor, you think…

There’s a silence. A long one. You wouldn’t be able to tell how long it was nor if it was uncomfortable or not. But it felt like hours. You hear him taking a deep breath in before saying in a weak voice:

‘Y/n… you can’t be real. You’re not thinking about leaving Bts right? You’re joking?’

He asks, sounding like he was about to cry. You slowly nod, making him understand that yes, you were indeed, considering it.

‘What’s wrong? What made you think about this? Y/n Im ready to do anything for you. Anything! Tell me what do you need I’ll do it! I’ll give it to you!’

He sounds desperate. You finally look back at him, tears still rolling down your cheeks but he gently wipes them away with his thumb. He gets on the bed and hugs you tight. His chest moving irregularly, strongly. And his arms holding you extremely close to him.

‘Im just… I’m tired! I’m tired of everything. I’ve tried having breaks, I really did! But nothing have worked…I’m exhausted Jungkook…I really am… and I’m sorry…’

You say. Your nose gets even redder. You almost can’t see due to the amount of tears your shining eyes are holding.

‘Put the blame on me. Put all of your worries in me. Give me all of your stress, fears, pressure. I’ll take it. I gladly will.’

He gets back.

‘Give me all of your pain. I know you’re suffering so put it all on me. Please.’

He yells in a whisper. He doesn’t want to scare you and he meant everything he said. He’s ready to do anything for you, even if it meant dying, or getting tortured till the end of his days.

You saved him and always comforted him when he wasn’t feeling good. So that’s what he told himself: ‘I owe her my life’. From the moment he realized how important you are to him, he knew he’d dedicate his whole life to you. There wasn’t any point in doing anything without you. And in fact, you were his whole life. He always did the most for you. He hugs you again…

‘It’ll be all right… I’m here… I’m right here.’

He whispers onto your neck, slightly laying a few kisses on it. You hold tight onto his hair and let your body rest in his strong arms. Tired from crying so much, you fell asleep. He laid you down on the bed, changed your clothes for pajamas, and stayed beside you. He spent the whole night cuddling you and whispering good things in your ear such as ‘you’re strong’, ‘you can do it’, or ‘I’m right here’.

He let you sleep as much as you needed and instead of not leaving until you wake up, he decided to make your favorite breakfast then decorated and cleaned the whole apartment.

He was right. It’ll be all right, he’s here…

Masterlist

Thank you for reading! If you liked it please like or reblog ^^

@dolliecat @icyllic ^^

[sagegreenfrogs]

being delusional is my greatest strength

ATTENTION ZUKKA NATION THIS ONE IS FOR YOU

as most of us in the ATLA fandom know by now, there's gonna be both an adult gaang movie coming out at some point and the live action netflix show in 2024

and I may be connecting some dots

for the adult gaang movie:

1: we don't know who Izumi's other parent is besides zuko

2: TLOK comics say that zuko worked to outlaw homophobic laws input by sozin

3: we have no idea if sokka and suki stayed together/had kids

4: in the ATLA comics zuko and mai break up, and reconcile- but don't get back together

5: ATLA has always been ahead of its time in terms of representation of POC, disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, etc.

for the live action

1: it is going to be canon-divergent, this was confirmed because some characters will be appearing in season 1 that weren't introduced until season 2 in the og show-

2: Mike + Brian (atla creators) left the project in 2021 because of "creative differences" when it comes to ideas

3: netflix loves making money off of gay people.

4: when Mike + Brian left, and when the "creative differences" emerged, was AFTER the explosion of zukka-

sidenotes:

there are official, fully canon letters to zuko from uncle iroh about their lives- and therefore, about the gaang, in "The Legacy of The Fire Nation" the one about sokka contains... this.

"the prince and the fool. but is that all you and sokka were, or were to one another? no, I think not.//and sokka needed you, zuko..."(continues but I'm cutting it off here bc this is all that matters.)

these projects were announced after ATLA really got popular again over covid- AFTER ZUKKA BECAME POPULAR-

DO YOU SEE. WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS.

I AM MANIFESTING CANON ZUKKA IN AT LEAST ONE OF THESE PROJECTS-.

[lokiondisneyplus]

Marvel Studios has reshuffled the release dates for its slate of television shows.

What If…? Echo, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos, now titled Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, are among the titles receiving new dates. The move comes amid Hollywood’s strikes as well as a general pullback at Disney+.

The writers strike began May 2 while the actors went on strike July 14, significantly impacting production and development. At the same time, sources say Marvel wants to focus its efforts to make each title an event for fans and audiences. The studio has decided that spreading out its content is a more prudent strategy.

It’s a far cry from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, when Marvel unveiled plans for Phase 5 and Phase 6 of its movies and television shows. 2023 particularly heavy with shows, with five planned. (Only the spring’s Secret Invasion, October’s Loki and as The Hollywood Reporter can reveal, What If…? season two remain of that plan for this year.)

THR poked around the Marvel scheduling changes and here’s what sources say is the new rundown:

As previously announced, Loki season two will be the only show to hit this fall, debuting on Disney+ on Oct. 6. Despite what some call superhero fatigue, expectations remain high for the Tom Hiddleston-Owen Wilson-fronted series that centers on alternate timelines. The season two trailer had the biggest digital debut of a trailer for any Disney+ series, and season one remains the most-watched Marvel series on Disney+.

The second season of Emmy-winning animated series What If…? will debut around Christmas Day, although it should be noted the animated show is not a holiday-themed series. Like the namesake comic on which its premise is based, What If…? is an anthology series that looks at key moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how they would look in different timelines. Jeffrey Wright returns as the voice of the Watcher, the alien narrator. What If…? was originally slated for an early 2023 release.  

Echo, a spin-off from last year’s hit Hawkeye, was originally announced for Nov. 29 but has now shifted to January 2024. The series stars Alaqua Cox as a one-time head of a criminal organization who returns to her hometown in Oklahoma to come to terms with her past. The series, which centers on a character who is deaf and of Native American descent, is described as having a grittier and more grounded tone than some of the other Marvel series and will feature appearances by Daredevil and villain The Kingpin. As previously announced, all the episodes will drop at the same time.

Next on the schedule will be X-Men ’97, the animated series that acts as a spiritual and tonal continuation of the classic 1990s series that aired on Fox. The series, first announced in 2021, was originally planned for a fall 2023 debut but will now premiere in early 2024 The show is being described, by sources who have seen it, as retro and a love letter to the original. A season two remains in the works.

Agatha, the WandaVision spinoff starring Kathryn Hahn, was originally announced for a winter 2023 release has been pushed back to early fall 2024, where it will serve as a lead-up to the Halloween holiday. The show, which completed its filming before the strikes, was previously titled Agatha: House of Harkness and then Agatha: Coven of Chaos before falling on its currently name, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.

Ironheart, a show focused on  genius-inventor Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) first introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was to have dropped this fall but that is now off the schedule. It finished shooting but its completion is affected by the strikes.

Daredevil: Born Again, a continuation of the Netflix series in the MCU, was expected to debut in spring 2024, paused in mid-production amid the strikes. Wonder Man, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, was also paused in mid-production.

It is unclear where on the calendar the three series will end up.

[looosey]

Movie Review: The Half of It (2020)

Okay @notesoncrocs! I've finally watched it, and got dang!

Synopsis: Chinese American high school senior Ellie Chu lives in suburban seattle, and makes pocket money writing her classmate's english papers. She doesn't know much about love, just literature and music, and has a crush on the only girl who might understand her... but she's also the school's it girl. When a jock Paul asks her to write love letters to this same girl, she says yes to just ONE letter. But one letter becomes two, and messy messy messy friendship, lovers, and love of all kind.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Movie Review

So I watched this with my mom. So I was simply grateful to see queer asians represented on American film.

Ugh!! Paul and Ellie's friendship, and how they are, in real time, forming their young, naive, understanding of what love is, is so... precious. So coming of age. The two of them are like characters from a YA book you grew up with and never want to let go: flawed, cringy, but already cozy in their place in your heart.

The movie itself was beautiful as well, in terms of color palette and camera placement, and I don't think the art ever got in the way of the story-telling. And the references to literature, movies, and philosophy never got too obnoxious, but was just enough to understand the world of Ellie and the writer. All this to say, the movie was natural and not forced at all.

My Thinklings

I really really liked what the characters had to say about love. Paul and Ellie continuously circle the idea that love is the effort you put into letting the other person know they're loved, as opposed to magically finding your destined other half. This idea seeps through the movie, into the romance and the friendship and family: for example, Ellie and Paul start in a pay-for-play relationship, but do so many small things for each other with no expectation of any return at all.

The same idea must've struck @notesoncrocs because she mentions that last scene of him running by the train tracks, futilely... but for her to know. I just sit here now, wanting more out of my life, especially to DO more personally for others around me. Like if this is not the meaning of life/How can I say I have lived?

I'm basically done, but also a small thinkling I have is about liking white men. In general, Ellie and her dad are the only non-white characters in the movie, which is such a strange choice. Is that just what seattle is, or was this isolation a necessary simplification for the deep-rooted dissociation that goes on in a POC with a crush on a white person in high school. Paul is a straight white jock, i.e. Hollywood's default love interest/America's default high school heart throb. This movie did good for me in terms of "reverse representation"(?): seeing this type of guy be a genuine friend for an Asian gay nerd girl was strange in a good way, and made me think for the first time in a while that white men could be... friends.

The Half of It (2020) is on Netflix. I recommend to iHouse!

[drowninginredink]

How did it take me until April 3, 2024 to realize that Lemony Snicket is absolutely a trans woman and someone needs to get her some E, stat?

- Lemony is always, always, always hiding her face. Well... okay they cut it from Netflix, but in the books and movie, the most iconic thing about Lemony is that in every photograph, she's managed to hide her face. And yes, allegedly that's to hide her identity, but like... Is it? Or is that an excuse and really Lemony just does not like her face because it's too masculine? God knows most pre-transition folks hate being photographed

- Have you seen the way she talks about Beatrice? Have you read that letter from The Beatrice Letters? "Summer without you is as cold as winter. Winter without you is even colder," "I cherished, you perished, the world's been nightmarished," "When we first met, you were pretty and I was lonely. Now I am pretty lonely." Straight men do not write about women like that. Lesbians do. Especially that letter. Do you think that a straight man wrote "I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you next Tuesday" or "I will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from skim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory" or "I will love you if you don’t marry me. I will love you if you marry someone else – your co-star, perhaps, or Y., or even O., or anyone Z. through A., even R. although sadly I believe it will be quite some time before two women can be allowed to marry?" Absolutely not. Those are obviously the words of a lesbian.

- Pretty much everyone important in Lemony's life is a woman. All of the people closest to him: Beatrice, Kit, R, Moxie, and Ellington. Sure, he does interact with other people, but those are the 5 closest relationships indicated by the text. Obviously you can be a man with all female friends, but how many times has a "man" always gotten along better with women and ended up not being a man.

- The audiobooks are (mostly) read by Tim Curry, and we all know he plays a pretty famous transsexual

- Lemony strikes me as very self-sabotaging. Now, this is my own opinion. One could believe that all of the mess that Lemony is in is purely VFD's fault. Maybe VFD forced her to take the blame for Olaf's crimes and generally end up buried so deep in accusations that she had to fake her own death and go on the lam. However, I can see an absolutely self-hating Lemony who volunteered to take on the role that she did. Who chose to be the fall guy. And why would she hate herself so much? Dysphoria. A deeply dysphoric and closeted woman who figures that since she isn't happy with herself, she might as well be the one to have her life ruined by the schism. That way all the actually happy and good people don't need to have their potential ruined.

- Similarly, Lemony never actually jumps in to save the Baudelaires, merely writing about them from afar. She is, to put it bluntly, a coward. She tells herself she's doing something to help them, but won't intervene in the way they really need. Why not? Because she's so deep in self-loathing! Again, that could just be because of her failures in life, but like... What if she also hates herself because of repressed dysphoria?

- Lemony is just generally really, really, really, really sad. And look, I know I'm aromantic as hell, but do we really think that's *just* because she lost the love of his life? Or do we think maybe something else is making her that gloomy?

- Look I just really want Lemony to have a way to be happy. And there's no bringing Beatrice back. But. HRT? Sure. I bet there's HRT in the snicketverse. Why not? I take the reading that Beatrice and Bertrand had Violet at like 20, which makes Lemony only like 35. He's 35, and yet she's completely given up on life. She is just a shelll of a person. She doesn't actually interact with anyone and spends all her time researching terrible things that happen. She's too young to be resigned to misery. I want Lemony to have a way to be reborn and find some form of happiness again. Thus, I would like to blame some of her misery on living as a man, and propose that transition could save her.

- Again. Lemony hates pictures and doesn't like to show her face. Give her some FFS! Stat!

- Come on. Beatrice and Lemony are an iconic couple. You cannot tell me that if given the choice, you want them to be M/F when they could be F/F

Okay. I rest my case. Now to submit to @couldtransitionsaveher

[lilly-chou-chou]

cherry do u have recommendations for movies one should watch for self love and stuff like that?

movies that make u feel at home and make u feel hopeful and happy to be alive.

asking you this cause i know you know alot about movies from different cultures and languages.

Ah hello! So sorry for late reply!

1. Little forest summer monsoon/autumn winter (watch original Japanese film)

A beautiful calm film about a young women fed up with her city life coming back to her childhood countryside house.

2. Lift boy (available in Netflix)

A heartwarming story about an Indian boy having to give up his passion to support his family but along the way he find a mentor who guides him and gives him immense hope.

3. What are the odds? (Available in Netflix)

An offbeat film with indie and bizarre kick which includes some of the most heartwarming plotline and gives justice to "awkward badass girl" persona.

4. Little big women (available in Netflix)

Story of women overcoming grief, anger, dysfunctional families, facing social stigmas, communicating and resolving issues and coming closer. A film played by women for women.

5. You are the Apple of my eye

A story of troublesome but kind hearted boy and uptight straight A girl and along their weird friendship find other people who are just are quirky, weird snd one of a kind like them. Make sure to watch both Chinese and Japanese version.

6. Love Letter

One of the best that Japanese cinema has to offer. I won't reveal anything about this because this film is an experience. Watch it and then you will know how magical it really is.

[lesbianboyfriend]

tagged by @angelinsects thank u sunshine my love kiss kiss

favorite color: i seriously don’t even know…it shouldn’t be this complicated but. probably green! but i’ve also had a strong affinity towards red lately but only in specific circumstances. and obviously not red and green together. and i have a certain fondness for pink…

currently reading: freshwater by akwaeke emezi!!! it’s soooo good so far i’m loving it! i’m also still listening to an indigenous peoples’ history of the united states by roxane dunbar-ortiz which has been rlly good and super informative! i think i’ll probably finish it on my drive later today

last song: umm my sister was playing k-pop in the car but i don’t know the song titles. the last thing i listened to by myself was letters from the great comet

last series: i haven’t been watching a lot of tv lately…honestly i think it’s the same as the last time i answered this which is that i got halfway through season 5 of miraculous ladybug. i still need to finish the rest. last time i checked i couldn’t find a good website to pirate the rest but maybe it’s better now. and also i think it might be on netflix?

last movie: bound 1996!!! sososos good thank you to all my beautiful mutuals who posted about it and also i think nat for specifically recommending it to me one time a while ago for getting me to watch it

currently working on: the evil. um my classes end friday and i have a service learning project that i put off so i have about 6 more hours of transcription work to complete and then i have to make a poster like describing my work and connecting it to the class material or whatever…idk basically it sucks so much!!! also like u sunny i am moving out soon so i’m packing!! and trying to like get rid off stuff i don’t want and clean

going to tag! @hauntinghouse @romcomfemme @angelprotocol @exitmusicfrafilm @dreamertrilogys if you guys want ^_^ love u!!

[ckret2]

show about a war between two magic horse nations (unicorns vs pegasus maybe) full of tons of drama and tragedy between the characters but the actual war is fought with like glitter bombs and rainbow lasers.

FASCINATING concept, but no that'd never make it on TV in the 80s because the producers would be like "well girls like unicorns AND pegasi, they wouldn't know who's the bad guy" and "little girls don't like war stories, do they?" Unicorn Vs Pegasus War is like Steven Universe or Netflix She-Ra levels of narrative complexity. For a girly 80s shows you gotta dial it back, gotta drain out the depth, gotta make it palatable not to 5-year-old girls but to the mothers of 5-year-old girls that the producers dread receiving an angry letter from.

We have clear unambiguous good guys and clear unambiguous villains, the heroes are fighting for causes like Colors and Friendship and Sharing, and the only times the hero/villain lines are blurred are when a villain goes "gee, now I understand, nothing is more important than telling your friends you care!" and becomes a good guy.

There's like ten good guys and two bad guys tops, to make them easy to keep up with, and the good guys are Things The Production Company Thinks Little Girls Probably Like (ponies, teddy bears, princesses) and the bad guys are Things Little Girls Probably Don't Like (weird short balding guys, balls of brown fuzz, a single inexplicably cool-looking goth girl that the 8-year-old queer girls immediately fall in love with).

The good guys are bright, pretty, and cute, and the villains are grey and purple, MAYBE dark red, and acid green if they're doing magic. Acceptable hero aesthetics: hearts, clouds, stars, rainbows, smiley faces, pink things, jewels but only in a cute way not a luxurious way. Villain aesthetics: broken hearts, pointy things, shadows, fangs, and desolate gray wastelands with no hope or life that will haunt you for years.

The good guys' combat capabilities are usually defensive magic focused on shielding people, creating barriers to bad guys, and mystically repairing damage. The bad guys' combat capabilities are almost always dependent upon trickery, kidnapping, theft, and property damage, rather than actual physical violence. Nobody gets hurt, unless the bad guys accidentally injure themselves (played for laughs).

The heroes always clearly unambiguously win with no tragedy or sadness and they all like each other, unless two need to develop a short-lived rivalry to learn an Important Lesson about being nice to your friends. Bad guys are petty, mean, and bully each other, except for maybe one stupid good-natured henchman who doesn't realize he's a bad guy. Conflicts are quickly-resolved, black-and-white, and typically low-stakes. (If they're high-stakes, it's in an abstract way, like "if we don't stop him no more flowers will bloom!" and not "he's going to murder somebody.") Movies can have an actual scary villain but ongoing series must have recurring comedically ineffective villains, and also even the scary villains have goofy motives like "wants to destroy friendship" or "just, like, super selfish and bad at sharing."

This—this is the essence of the girly 80s cartoon. This is my target.

I'm not saying this how to make a good girly cartoon. I'm not saying a good girly cartoon shouldn't have narrative complexity, high stakes, or interesting character depth. I'm saying that ain't how the 80s did it, and THAT'S the genre I'm parodying.

[book--brackets]

The Letter for the King propaganda:

1) It’s Dutch! (De brief voor de koning)

2) In 2004 it was chosen as the best Dutch children’s book of the last 50 years (it was published in 1962!)

3) It was finally translated into English in 2013, leading to a recent - very non accurate Netflix series (There’s also a Dutch movie from 2008, which is more accurate)

4) I just really really really love it and it’s sequel, Secrets of the Wild Wood is one of my favourite books of all time. It has some really great characters and a very fun setting that leaves space for so much headcanons. I love it so much that I even made a uquiz about it and try to write fanfic because there’s a big lack of it

5) It has a map

If you’d like to vote for The Letter for the King, it’s in poll #20!

[hypocrisssy]

Date Questions

1. What is the best way to confess your true feelings to someone?

2. What is the best way to ask someone out?

3. What are red flags on a first date?

4. Is sex on the first date okay? Why or why not?

5. Describe is your ideal date.

1. Just come clean and direct to the point. But handwritten love letters are cute too.

2. Personal, pero minsan shy tayo. Sticky note na lang. Hihi. Sticky note cutie.

3. Pag touchy lalo na without consent. As an introvert mapapa like wait lang, di pa tayo ganon magkapalagay tho. Respect my personal bubble muna.

4. Not really. Not unless you agree na sex lang purpose nung date. Kebs lang siguro.

5. As a homebody, ideal date na para sa akin yung netflix and chill. But not THAT definition of netflix and chill. Haha! Yung movies lang tapos chips or pica. Ipagluluto na lang kita then warm hugs with warm tea or coffee while nagchichismisan about anything. Kilig. Hihi

[miraculousbuggaboi]

Sappy long post about the Miraculous Awakening Movie incoming (of course spoilers abound)

I’ve been watching Miraculous Ladybug since Season 1; probably halfway through S1 is when I started. I have known Ladybug since the very beginning.

I remember seeing the PV,and how many times the infamous Ladynoir rooftop moonlit scene is done over and over again. I remember being excited for Season 2, 3, 4- now I’m waiting on all of 5, the final season to come out all at once so I can see the conclusion. I remember losing my mind over Chat Blanc. I remember absolutely losing my mind, over and over, over new Miraculous holders and many false reveals, lol. It’s been a wild ride.

Whatever the ending, this movie had me so excited. It is wild to see where these kids came from and now where they are. How good they looked, the production value, the singing- it was jaw dropping. It had me running around in circles in my apartment thrilled out of my mind (Looking at you, Hawkmoth). From a series on Disney/Nickelodeon to now a whole ass movie on Netflix to this degree… it makes my heart soar.

Despite my pros and cons on the movie and despite its flaws, overall the movie felt like a love letter to the series as a whole. I loved it. ❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️

[davidmariottecomics]

Transformers, Till We Meet Again

Hello! Or should I say Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong! 

Earlier this week, Transformers: Shattered Glass II #5 came out from IDW Publishing. Written by Danny Lore, drawn by Guido Guidi, inked by Matt Froese, colored by John-Paul Bove, lettered by Jake M. Wood, edited by Riley Farmer, and supervised by me. It's a fun issue with Soundwave, Slicer, Ultra Magnus, and a Titan, where everything goes wrong and comes to a head. I highly recommend it. It is also IDW's last Transformers comic of 2022 and beyond as we part ways. As such, I wanted to take some time to talk about Transformers--my personal relationship with it, my many years on the franchise as an editor (and occasionally a writer), and some behind-the-scenes stuff that you probably don't know and that I won't get in trouble for talking about. I promise it won't be filled with too many TF jokes and that while it is meant to help memorialize a great achievement, it is neither sad nor regretful. You'll see Transformers again. 

My Time with TF (Pre-IDW)

I genuinely cannot remember a time in my life when I didn't know about Transformers. My first exposure was through Beast Wars. I was pretty little when it started airing, but as I started making choices about things I liked and wanted to watch, it became a pretty clear favorite early on (right up there with The Lion King). A driving force of that was, of course, also the toys. I liked the show and when I was getting old enough for the toys, I started getting some. I got one of the basic figures that came packed with a VHS with the first couple episodes of Season 2 on it. It was great and I watched it a lot, but also supremely frustrating because it only included "Coming of the Fuzors, Part 1" an episode that ends on a cliffhanger for the subsequent "Part 2"! 

As a brief and not too embarrassing story: My Depth Charge is still in really good shape and one of my all time favorite TF toys. I think part of why he's always been kept so nice, despite how much I played with him as a kid, is he was a reward. If you're a parent looking to toilet train your kid, apparently a bribe of a Transmetal is a pretty good way to go. 

And slowly but surely, my love for Transformers got reinforced. Our local Hollywood Video had a small selection of TF VHS--I checked them all out off-and-on, but none so often as Transformers: The Movie (and, TBH, the G.I. Joe Movie too). In many ways, that was my early intro to G1. The other big pillar, honestly, since we were in a gap between comics publishers, was Wizard and Toyfare, the big nerd magazines of the era. My dad worked in comics publishing and would regularly bring them home (or I'd read them at his office) and while I was too young to get a lot of the humor, I was old enough to know they thought they were funny and to start to glean insight on what pop culture stuff people liked. 

Beast Wars begat Beast Machines, which I stuck with. In 2001, the original Robots in Disguise cartoon came out--it wasn't so much a hit for me as a show, but I liked the toys. That's also the year Titan Books picked up the license to reissue some of the Marvel comics, which had been out of print for years, and that Dreamwave picked up the license to do new TF comics. Things start to get a little jumbled, but somewhere around there, I got a volume or two of the Titan stuff and a little bit inconsistently got some of the Dreamwave stuff too. I bought in big with Armada, fell out again around Energon (for toys, cartoons, and the comics). And in 2004, my dad left his job as Editor-in-Chief at IDW Publishing and we moved to Arizona, 2 hours away from our local comic shops. 

Being outside a small town in Arizona in the mid 2000s was a very different experience from being in the city growing up. Besides not having a comic shop nearby or a toy store, there was only one small video rental place that we didn't really go to much (especially as we ended up early adopters of Netflix sending you DVDs in the mail) and TV and Internet could both be spotty at times. I was going into middle school anyway, so things were bound to change, but my media consumption definitely pivoted and Transformers was kinda left behind, expect for picking up vintage Beast Wars figures when I found them, the occasional dip back in with the likes of the first live action movie and TF Animated, and IDW having picked up the TF license (and also given me a bunch of their earliest issues). I started with Infiltration #0 and read every issue of every series up through to All Hail Megatron. And I only stopped, really, because I wasn't getting to comic shops very often and AHM was such a radical shift from what came before that I genuinely thought I had missed some transition series/issues and didn't know what had happened and kinda gave up. For a long time, that was kinda status quo--I'd dip an occasional toe back in, pick up a few toys now and then, but for me, TF was primarily a nostalgia based thing--reading my old comics (and pouring over the Beast Wars Sourcebook in particular--where I met my all time favorite TF, Randy), collecting my old toys, and watching Beast Wars and Transformers the Movie. 

My Time with IDW (Pre-TF)

Skipping ahead another decade or so, fresh out of college, I got a job at IDW. It's a much longer story, but that's the short version. I was initially brought in as an assistant for Chris Ryall and Scott Dunbier, which brought me to my first Hasbro book, ROM. Chris was co-writing it with Christos Gage and as Chris's assistant, I got looped in. And, almost immediately, I also got roped in by David Hedgecock to help him out with the fledgling Hasbro universe--starting with some uncredited assistant work on Revolution, and joining the editorial team on Micronauts, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, and Revolutionaries (a team-up book of characters from Transformers, G.I. Joe, Action Man, M.A.S.K., ROM, and Micronauts). I was working on Hasbro books and with Transformers, but only on the periphery. But the big thing that came of that was I started working with John Barber, who had recently left IDW editorial, but was co-writing Revolution, writing Revolutionaries, and writing Transformers/Optimus Prime. We became friendly and--in an effort to do my job well--I started reading through EVERYTHING so I could be almost as knowledgeable about all these threads he was pulling as he was. And some combination of deep diving into the IDW Hasbro catalog, my own pre-existing TF knowledge, and the lasting mind-addled facts I had absorbed from Wizard actually made me a pretty good fit for the job. 

By the time we're working on First Strike, Hasbro has become my wheelhouse at IDW. But despite being a part of planning a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover (primarily), I'm still not actually working on TF or Joe proper books. That's all about to change though because IDW's about to go through some major changes in staffing. Ryall leaves (he later comes back), David Hedgecock is promoted to editor-in-chief and has additional responsibilities that limit the number of titles he can edit. Sarah Gaydos briefly becomes more involved with the Hasbro universe stuff before she goes to Oni. And Carlos Guzman, the current TF/Joe editor, announces he's leaving too. I start getting handed a lot more responsibility coming off the event, starting with Transformers vs. Visionaries (also worth noting--in the background of all this, Joe Hughes and I are getting Sonic the Hedgehog up and running). Controversial decision: we decide to kill Kup (again, kinda). And I write a eulogy where I mistakenly call Trailbreaker "Trailblazer" (I'M SORRY!). It's a book that was definitely affected by the behind-the-scenes changing of the guard as well as taking on heavier editorial direction because it's being posed as a bridge series between First Strike and Unicron. 

And this is where I'm quickly having to come in to my own. The Hasbro Universe is being shrunk to a few titles: Optimus Prime, Lost Light, a couple Annuals wrapping up Till All Are One and Nick Roche's Wreckers, the joint G.I. Joe/M.A.S.K. title: Scarlett's Strike Force, Rom and the Micronauts, and Transformers vs. Visionaries--all knowing that Unicron is coming and that that'll be our big--perhaps final--event. Carlos, John, Nick, Mairghread Scott, and James Roberts have all kinda planned their stuff to the end, so I get to start continuing Carlos's plans, but it's comics and things always change. 

Dawn of a Bold New Era Okay, I know at this point, we've mostly been talking about my personal relationship with TF and the landscape as I was really getting brought in--which is maybe a little dry. You're here for the juicy stuff--the secret stuff! So let's talk about when I actually came onto TF. 

Besides taking over the rest of the IDW1/Hasbro Universe titles, my other big project as I'm coming into things is all the build up to my personal favorite live-action Transformers movie: Bumblebee! It's supposed to be more kid-friendly, so a big initiative is some Bumblebee stuff for kids, which ended up being the Bumblebee-Win If You Dare OGN and the Bumblebee-Go For the Gold one-shot. Those books, by James Asmus, Marcelo Ferreira, Valentina Pinto, Maria Keane, Athilla Fabbio, Josh Perez, Tom Long, and Nicoletta Baldari on covers (psst--TFWiki people, if you're reading this, the Go for the Gold cover is misattributed to Marcelo, but it is Nicoletta. k thx) were a heck of a learning experience. Like all our TF books, I'm very proud of them, but suffice to say, I don't recommend doing a graphic novel, even a short one, on anything resembling a regular comic timeline. But it was really exciting because it was the first (and currently is the only) Transformers original graphic novel. It's also one of the few Transformers comics that was also run through Volkswagen as Bumblebee was officially a Beetle. 

Something that came up a few times while we were working on it was requests to actually make it more distinct from the movie. James wasn't given access to that script, but a few of the things he proposed along the way just so happened to be pretty close to what was in Bumblebee and so had to be tweaked. Which also led to the very interesting experience on the other side of things doing the Bumblebee Movie Prequel. If you've read it, you know it's a super fun, purposefully kinda campy spy adventure inspired by The Avengers (the Steed & Peel kind, not the superheroes) and like Moore Bond films. It is also working off an older draft of the movie that was more in line with the other movies. That was the last of our Movie books, which had started way back in 2007. I think it was really appropriate to both start and end with a prequel to the latest movie and, particularly with this being a John Barber/Andrew Griffith/Priscilla Tramontano joint, having it also be referential to some of our other previous movie comics. 

The other kinda funky thing about the Bumblebee Movie Prequel is as it's in progress, at IDW, I've gone from editing my boss, Chris Ryall, on ROM, to editing my new boss, John Barber! The week after John starts, I think, is when the Unicron #0 FCBD issue comes out. And with that, we publicly announced that we were coming in on the end of a universe--a big event that was Transformers focused but a hurrah for everything that IDW had been building since I was a kid reading comics and everything that had been building when I came in at the still pretty early start of the shared universe. Something I ended up having to do twice, but that you can pretty clearly see in the run up to Unicron is I tried to get as many long-time people involved as possible. From bringing folks in on covers to the wrap-up shorts for the universe we had in Unicron, and the creator interviews about the history of IDW1, I wanted to celebrate the "Transformers Legacy." 

I'm afraid it's been long-enough I don't have a lot of particularly funny or interesting stories from that era. Bless Kei Zama and Josh Burcham for getting Randy in Optimus Prime (even if he did immediately die). Big ups to all the creators, of course, who stepped up and helped out as we closed in on the end--some of whom came into tight deadlines or big shoes and always kicked ass. Nick Roche and I had two close-calls: 1. In Requiem of the Wreckers, there's a scene that was supposed to be Quickswitch, but we had just killed him over in Visionaries, so that was a pretty quick and dirty pivot to Sixknight. 2. There was a typo on his cover for the last issue of Lost Light and fortunately it did not go to print saying "We Achieived Something". I'm glad it was fixed, but it was pretty funny when James Roberts noticed it. 

I also got to be the kissing editor! The first on-page, romantic (non-KISS Players) kiss happened in OP #21 between Aileron and Arcee, and then there were a few more kisses between bots across OP, LL, and Unicron. And, later, I got to put a kiss in Wreckers, which was very exciting! 

And--one thing I pretty much never got right and which, again, I profusely apologize for--is we never properly credited Jenevieve Frank. She was supposed to get a special thanks for the last issue of Optimus Prime and I messed up getting that in print in the original run and in the TPB and my third shot where I would've gotten it right, the final IDW Collection--well, we didn't quite get to collecting it in that format. So, I'm sorry, Jen! This is one of only 3 regrets I have for the series, besides "Trailblazer" and the one I'll get to later. 

Because of how comics production timelines work, though, as we were nearing these ends and coordinating shipping the final issues of Unicron, Lost Light, and Optimus Prime to land in shops in the right order, we had also already begun the work of planning IDW2. That actually took it's first steps with Carlos before he left. Working with Hasbro, we looked at some pitches that were very fun and by great creators, but that didn't quite work and brought Tom Waltz in to help write some new directives for pitches. Tom's also the one who brought Brian Ruckley in. The only thing I think I can say about some of those earliest drafts is there was a time when the role that was ultimately filled in IDW2 by Rubble was originally going to be a human. I'm glad that wasn't the case because I think it gave IDW2 a really unique identity to not have any Earth stuff, but suffice to say, there were some very different versions of what it could've been with that simple a change. 

Angel Hernandez was one of those things that was so obvious it was in front of your face, literally. John, Tom, and I were looking for an artist for the series and coming up with all these names and I was walking to John's office to talk about something else when I passed a series of "from script to final page" posters we had hung up for display in the office. It was the sort of thing we liked to show kids and visitors who didn't know much about how comics get made. These pages, in particular, were from Star Trek/Green Lantern and drawn by Angel. I don't know what it was, but on that pass, it clicked: Angel was the guy for the book. We had spent all this time talking about it, but he was right there between my desk and John's office the whole time. 

And so, in 2019, we launched a bold new era, IDW2. A twice-monthly series through the first 12 issues and a Transformer story genuinely unlike any other. With the new series, we wanted to bring in new creators. I am immensely proud of everything that everyone brought into the fold but special shout-outs to Brian, Angel, Anna Malkova, and Beth McGuire-Smith, who did a lot to help define this new universe early and often. 

When we collected that first 12 issue as Transformers, Vol. 1: The World in Your Eyes, I was talking with Justin Eisinger in the books department about what we wanted Cryssy Cheung to do with the covers and fairly quickly settled on the idea of having each one feature 2 major players from that part of the series. In describing the first cover, Tom said that it should be Bumblebee and Rubble. I agreed. Justin and Cryssy have hit on the idea of featuring alt-modes on the back cover. So Justin asks for reference. My answer was to send a bunch for Bumblebee and to explain that for Rubble "he's a baby and then he's a corpse." Accurate (and if you haven't read it, sorry for spoilers), but something we'd joke about for a long time after. 

Transformers Galaxies was our first real attempt at expanding. We got some really cool folks to work on that. A lot of the "rules" of the series actually came out of working on the first arc, Constructicons Rising, with Tyler Bleszinski and Livio Ramondelli. In developing that, we realized that to truly embrace the idea of "Galaxies", all the stories would be expanding the universe, but outside of Cybertron. There was a lot of coordination between Sam Maggs and Brian and the editorial team to make sure the Gauge story spun out of Arcee/Greenlight: Run properly, and then fed back into the ongoing at the end of the series. There was a lot of coordination between everyone to make sure that characters weren't in two places at once and the rules of the universe all followed. For example, Brandon Easton pitched his arc to be in-universe, but also in line with the War for Cybertron: Siege cartoon that he had also written for. But by the time we were working on that arc, it had become pretty obvious that the IDW2 comic and animation didn't line-up too well, so there was a bit of tweaking to make it fit better. 

There were two stories that were pitched as part of Galaxies, but that ended up elsewhere. What ended up as the Transformers 2021 Annual, "Light/Star" started out as a pitch from Brian for a Galaxies arc, as did what became Transformers Wreckers: Tread & Circuits. 

Also around this time, we got Riley Farmer at IDW! You should know Riley! She was the assistant/associate editor on Transformers (and eventually the editor on TF: Shattered Glass & Shattered Glass II). She's my co-editor on Sonic. She's now editing My Little Pony and many other things. She's without a doubt one of the best editors currently working in comics and one of my best friends. So, shout-out to Riley! As much as I think TF can be a trail of my own editorial growth, the same is largely true of Riley. 

Writing Transformers

At one point, Wreckers: Tread & Circuits would've been issues #13-15 or 16 (pitched as three but already might've been expanded to four) of TF Galaxies. But then things changed and Galaxies came to an end at #12 and we launched Escape. Which means that Wreckers was pitched before my actual first TF series, co-written with John Barber, Transformers vs. the Terminator!

The origin of that series came from, as much as anything, early solicit text. We were still on the hunt for a creative team (at that point, I was going to edit it, which obviously changed) and I wrote some early solicit text just to have it done early and realized that was the pitch. The whole thing was written to be the classic Terminator set-up, but with a late twist of the robots controlling the future being the Decepticons and the freedom fighters being the Terminators. And like that, it came together. I pitched it to John and Tom. We set the story beats and then John and I wrote it. It was fantastic getting to work with long-time collaborators Alex Milne and David Garcia Cruz. And Tom and Riley were excellent editors. 

A couple pieces of extra trivia about that series: I think there's at least one kind of oblique reference in the script to the fact that when I lived in Tucson, AZ, one of the local news stations called their traffic camera system "Skynet". In issue #3, there's a jokey reference both to Terminator and a Prince song. That was added specifically because John Barber is the biggest Prince fan I know and I thought it'd be funny. It also ended up being kind of a running gag of referencing Judgement Day, the big catastrophe from Terminator. And this book was particularly special to me because way back when, TF artist Don Figueroa and my dad, Jeff Mariotte, did the Terminator Salvation movie-prequel for IDW and it was nice to write in a universe my dad did too. 

And the Autobots that are seen are all very carefully chosen. Something that we see to an extent in IDW2 and later Beast Wars and in this and Wreckers is a recurring idea that your average Autobot is not a warrior, but a civilian who stepped up to do the right thing. It's why Velocity, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Wheeljack all play prominent roles in TF/Terminator and why Circuit and Minerva are part of the team in Wreckers. Maybe someday to be seen in some form, there are a few more pitches I put together at various times that play off of that idea. It's something I quite liked and obviously would return to again. 

Speaking of Wreckers, let's talk about that! So, it was pitched wayyyyy back when, before TF/Terminator, even though it came out afterwards, right? While it lines up really well with some eventual Hasbro plans--Leadfoot in the Wreckers line, the whole Velocitron Speedia 500 line, and Minerva and Skullgrin getting Legacy toys--that wasn't intentional! Some specific additions did get added right around scripting, when those things started to be in place, but a lot of them were just coincidental and it was cool that we got to have the characters in the books get some new physical representations/get the designs early so we could have them match in the series. 

In terms of the cast list, a lot of folks had very particular reasons for being there. Thunderclash I loved from his appearances in MTMTE/LL. Aileron and Circuit were directly influenced by RID/Transformers/OP. Hot Shot had been the main character of a pitch that didn't move forward. And Knockout and Breakdown were pulled in from Till All Are One. Minerva, like I said, was specifically chosen because I liked the idea of the Wreckers having a medic. A lot of other folks were chosen just because I liked them and they fit as racers. And spoiler for another story that may never happen--had we gotten another series, some of the would-be-Wreckers featured at the end of issue #4 would've made it to the team (Star Saber and Leadfoot for sure). 

What other secrets can I spill about Wreckers? Because it was originally pitched so early into the 2019 run, at one point Anna Malkova was suggested as the artist because she hadn't yet transitioned to being the main artist on the ongoing. I'm super happy I got to work with Jack Lawrence on it though. I love them both and I think they both worked on the proper book for them (though TBH, I'd also love to do something with Anna in the future!). When it was greenlit, one of the first things I did was send the pitch to Nick and Simon Furman for their blessing as the Wreckers guys. I'm very honored our series gets to stand alongside theirs in Wreckers history. 

Outside of my crossover book, it was also in this period around the end of IDW1 through, really, to pretty deep into IDW2 that we started doing a lot of crossovers and, from that, also started doing what I think of as the standalones. 

Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and My Little Ponies, Oh My! 

Here's kind of a strange thing to think about: When we did Star Trek vs. Transformers, Transformers/Ghostbusters, and My Little Pony/Transformers, none of those were actually the first time TF crossed over with those properties. Back in 2011, IDW did a very interesting crossover series called Infestation--a semi-crossover between Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, and IDW original properties Zombies vs. Robots and CVO. And MLPs showed up for a panel or so in Tom Scioli and John's excellent Transformers vs. G.I. Joe series! 

These were all great fun to work on and are one of those cool things where you get editors who maybe don't usually work together co-editing a book, or editors who used to work together reuniting, or maybe my favorite version--Megan Brown asking you to give one read at the script stage and one read of the final PDF and call out notes, but she really edited both MLP/TF series! 

Crossovers are always an interesting experience, but I think I only have two crossover things worth sharing that I'm able to share. One is when Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, and Luis Antonio Delgado were first tapped for TF/Ghostbusters, they did a promo piece with an early concept of Ectotron. I own that piece as a T-shirt I bought at Gamestop, despite the fact that it was not the final Ectotron design. Licensing is complicated--comics are complicated--and it's always fun when you find stuff like that which came from an earlier version but made it to production. The other one I can think of is Transformers/Back to the Future had a bit of weird timing to it. I co-edited the series with my pal Chase Marotz, but slightly before the last issue went into production, Chase changed departments at IDW. While it didn't really affect the book, it was interesting having an extra learning curve of figuring out the BTTF approvals system for the last issue, because Chase had been dealing with it the rest of the series. 

Besides the crossovers and IDW2, we were also looking for new ways to bring TF to people, which lead to so many amazing books. I finally got to work with Simon Furman, as well as the phenomenal Guido Guidi and John-Paul Bove, on Transformers '84 (a series that drew from both the original Marvel G1 and Marvel UK). I got to fulfill my childhood dream of launching a new Beast Wars series (with favs Erik Burnham & Josh Burcham) that eventually got picked up by editor Jazmine Joyner (who I spent this weekend hanging out with and who helped me double fulfill my dream by letting me write a story in the Beast Wars Annual). We did the amazing swords-and-sorcery story, King Grimlock, with Steve Orlando, Agustin Padilla, and Jeremy Colwell. Riley took over and did two Shattered Glass series with Danny Lore, Guido, Dan Khanna, and a bunch of other amazing contributors. And I got to team-up with my old buddy Nick Roche, the first IDW TF artist, E.J. Su, and colorists Rebecca Nalty and Brittany Peer (at the end) for Last Bot Standing, a series that acts as an excellent sign-off to everything we did. A last TF story, even though it wasn't our last and, frankly, it's TF. The stories never end. 

I was hoping to get some other stories in, but frankly, we're running long already. The only bits I'll mention in particular are 1. Jaz managed to do something I could not. Initially, we were only using American Beast Wars characters for the series, but Jaz, Sam Maggs, and Lanna Souvanny managed to do a story all about Skold and Powerhug! 2. Speaking of Beast Wars, I believe in the big battle spread in the final issue, Josh Burcham's got a Sonic the Hedgehog joke with Armordillo (another favorite character of mine). 3. Last Bot Standing developed while Nick Roche and I were working on Scarenthood, his excellent creator-owned series with Chris O'Halloran (and in which Becca and I have a brief cameo). 4. Signal Lancer has a very brief role in Wreckers: Tread & Circuits. He was also, at one point, slated for LBS, though he didn't make the final cut. 5. In the first draft of the lettering for the Veteran in LBS #3, none of the haikus were formatted. They were just lettered regularly. If you think they're obnoxious to read as haiku, they are actually harder to read without the proper formatting. And 6. Again, to add context for the TFWiki folks--Nick and I mutually agreed that a haiku of "Damn"s was more reasonable than a haiku of "Shit"s. 

What Could Have Been

Okay, so, I can only say so much about anything. If you checked out our awesome Transformers: Best of the Rarities (including some real treasures that haven't been seen before and may never be seen again), you might've noticed something about Transformers: Collision Course. A few finished covers for that series were included, and obviously, it was never published. What I can say is that much like when building up to Unicron, the goal was to bring in as many longtime contributors as possible, some in new ways. It would've featured elements from everything seen on the covers. It would've gotten kind of weird, in a very fun way. What it would've been actually was pretty different than originally conceptualized. And it would've said goodbye. Maybe some other time I can share more, but that's about all I can say now. 

I mentioned regrets earlier and this is my third one. Not that we didn't publish Collision Course (even if it might've bumped me above Carlos Guzman as the person to edit the most TF comics)--in some ways, I'm glad we didn't. I kinda don't mind not saying an official goodbye. My regret is there was always more to do. There were plans and things we'd like to do and I hope some of them find a home sometime. But the big loss is I wanted to work with so many more people. Writers, artists, colorists--folks who I'd have loved to work with for the first time and folks who I've worked with so many times but would've done TF with forever. None of that's going away--I'll still find ways to work with those folks--but had I had 100 more issues, I still wouldn't have had enough time to work with the many, many amazing folks on all sides who made TF magical (or who would've and the timing didn't work out). 

And so, finally, thank you! Thanks to Kelly Johnson, Michael Kelly, Ed Lane, Tayla Reo, Ben MacCrae, Matt Clarke, Mark Maher, and the team at Hasbro, Isabella Weiss, Beth Artale, Carlos Guzman, Sarah Gaydos, Chris Ryall, Denton Tipton, Chase Marotz, Tom Waltz, Megan Brown, Bobby Curnow, Jazmine Joyner, Andy Schmidt, Tom Long, Jake Wood, Johanna Nattalie, Shawn Lee, Neil Uyetake, Chris Mowry, Christa Miesner, Gilberto Lazcano, Nate Widick, Justin Eisinger, Alonzo Simon, Zac Boone, Lauren Lapera, and the whole IDW crew past and present, Simon Furman, John-Paul Bove, Andrew Griffith, Brian Ruckley, Casey Coller, James Roberts, Livio Ramondelli, Josh Burcham, Alex Milne, Nick Roche, Fico Ossio, Priscilla Tramontano, Sebastian Cheng, Candice Han, Sam Maggs, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Winston Chan, Angel Hernandez, Agustin Padilla, Eduardo Alpuente, E.J. Su, Heather Breckel, Aline Baumgartner, SidVenBlu, Luis Antonio Delgado, Dan Khanna, Dan Schoening, Erik Burnham, David Garcia Cruz, Ed Pirrie, Ben Pirrie, Matt Froese, Rik Mack, Gigi Dutriex, Danny Lore, Rebecca Nalty, Steve Orlando, Ochopante, Phil Murphy, Valentina Pinto, Umi Miyao, John Yurcaba, Kei Zama, Guido Guidi, Evan Gauntt, Jack Lawrence, Evan Stanley, Thomas Deer, Jeffrey Veregge, Tom Scioli, Marcelo Matere, Marcelo Ferreira, Anna Malkova, Beth McGuire-Smith, Stefano Simeone, Josh Perez, Kate Leth, Cohen Edenfield, Saren Stone, Brendan Cahil, Brenda Chi, Cachet Whitman, Ron Joseph, Nelson Daniel, Gabriel Rodriguez, Chris Panda, James Raiz, James Marsh, James Biggie, Jim Wilson, Jim Stafford,  James Asmus, George Caltsoudas, Mairghread Scott, Freddie E. Williams II, Andrew Wildman, Stephen Baskerville, Ian Flynn, Nicole Goux, Nicoletta Baldari, Nick Brokenshire, Sebastian Piriz, Jeremy Colwell, Max Dunbar, Francesco Francavilla, Corin Howell, Philip Johnson, Maria Keane, Brittany Peer, Red Powell, Juan Samu, Cavan Scott, Blacky Shepherd, Reggie Graham, L. Kershaw, Ashe Phillips, Zoner Siyu Hemu, Tyler Bleszinski, Brandon Easton, Billie Montfort, Peri Mercer, Shane McCarthy, Don Figueroa, Patrick Ehlers, Dan Watters, Nahuel Ruiz, Geoff Senior, Nick Marino, Andrea Bell, Lanna Souvanny, Ryan Miller, Chris McFeely, Jim Sorenson, Tony Fleecs, Adam Bryce Thomas, Mike Johnson, Ilias Kyriazis, Stephen Byrne, James Stokoe, Cary Nord, Mateus Santolouco, Marcelo Maiolo, Alex Horley, Paul Harding, Bryan Lee, Dave Wilkins, Cian Tormey, Gavin Spence, Gavin Fullerton, Philip Knott, John Allison, Mina Won, Rui Onishi, John Wycough, Martin Gee, David Rodriguez, Aubrey Sitterson, Sean Ryan, Cullen Bunn, Mags Visaggio, Lane Lloyd, Gavin Guidry, Leonardo Ito, Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou, Christos Gage, Matt Frank, Christian Ward, Luca Pizzari, Hal Laren, Diego Zuniga, Suna Margevich, Zerob, Lantana Gao, Jamel Jones, Ronda Pattinson, Colm Griffin, Camila Fortuna, John Jennings, Andy Duggan, Emilio Lopez, Anthony Pugh, Sebastien Stone, and the likely dozens of other creators who I never got to work with but who touched this big beautiful series! Extra special thanks to Riley Farmer and John Barber who absolutely deserve their own callout. And thanks to the people who facilitated my love of TF over the years so I could bring my passion to this series for so long, from my parents, to my partner Becca (and their TF who's in the last issue of Wreckers, Honk)! Finally--seriously, finally--thanks to you! Thanks for reading TF at any point in the IDW run or for, god help you, having read through this whole long post. 

With that, I'm calling it for the year! It's unlikely you'll get anything til January, but I guess not completely impossible if I want to share some wrap-up/resolutiony type stuff before the new year starts. If this is it for 2022, thanks for joining the first year of my blog and my website and the first few months of my newsletter and my Tumblr if you're reading there! Happy holidays and see you next year! 

Things I've been enjoying this week: Jaz Joyner came and visited yesterday and that was awesome! Honkai Impact (Video game). Chainsaw Man (Anime & Manga). Spy x Family (Anime). Star Saber (Toy). The Simpsons (TV show). Lego Masters (TV show). The promise of reading time that comes with an extended holiday break. And, of course, Transformers. 

New Releases this week (12/14/2022): Transformers: Shattered Glass II #5 (Supervising Editor--Our last TF book).

New releases next week (12/21/2022): Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island #3 (Editor)

Final Order Cutoff (12/19/2022): Godzilla Rivals: Round 1 Collection (I didn't have anything to do with this, but I feel obligated to plug Godzilla!) Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King #5 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog Vol. 13: Battle for the Empire (Includes the milestone issue #50 - Editor)

Announcements:  Becca and I have started applying for cons in 2023! Hope to have some updates on those soon! 

In the meantime, you can pick up some of my work at the shop on my website and you can get Becca's stuff at their website. Pochita keychain pre-orders are only open for a couple more days, so get on it! Supporting us now can help us get to those cons! 

And with Twitter going sideways yet again, as a reminder, you can find me on other socials through my website or at my Linktree. 

Lastly, a plea for my peers with hiring power in the industry. There's literally a list above of some of the most kick-ass, dedicated, and amazing creators I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I want all of them to continue to thrive, so please, if you have stuff, hire them for it. Even if I am also trying to hire them. Make a better offer. Steal them from me. I'll be salty about it, but also, will sleep happily knowing that these folks are getting the recognition they so richly deserve. Also, hire Becca while you're at it. We're both hoping to be able to announce some new comics stuff in the new year, but take advantage of getting them before they blow up!

-David

[appletreeduty]

5, 21, 30, 52!!

aaaaa thank you Alexx! I love asks :)

Questions not usually asked:

Q5: Do you like to use post-it notes? A: I love the idea and look of them, but I end up ignoring them half the time :( Q21: What's your least favorite movie? A: This one is tough. I should say Meet the Feebles because it's so horrible, but I will 100% watch that movie over and over. Probably The Notebook, or the Netflix remake of Death Note, or any Adam Sandler movie.

Q30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper? A: My fiancee died when we were 21. I left him a letter before they put him in the ground. So, 6 years ago.

Q52: Do you think musicals are cheesy? A: Yes, in the best way. The structure of a musical, when done well, will use the music to its advantage and bring more emotional depth and nuance to a story. Are there bad musicals? Yes, just like there are bad films and bad books. But overall I think musicals are a great way to convey certain types of narratives.

[pikablob]

I posted 9,129 times in 2022

118 posts created (1%)

9,011 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nach0-reblogs

@furashuban

@aroacesonics

@discoursed-dracula

@sailor-arashi

I tagged 658 of my posts in 2022

#ask pika - 90 posts

#friends - 73 posts

#fanfiction - 20 posts

#<;33 - 15 posts

#hilda the series - 12 posts

#oh - 11 posts

#bon bon <;33 - 10 posts

#yes - 10 posts

#toh - 9 posts

#hilda netflix - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#me when a song about a girl pushing a man down a ladder is the theme song of a character whos most famous appearance is as a corpse

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

tag mutuals you wanna get to know better!

I was tagged by @wallywestfest - honestly the fact you’d even consider me for this makes me really happy thank you so much!! <3

favourite time of year: hmmmm... prolly either early summer or around the winter holidays :))

comfort food: spaghetti bolognese, but specifically the M&S ready meal version I’m sorry I have 0 shame and it’s good XD

favourite dessert: toffee!! Is guud

things you collect: kids’ books! Picture books, graphic novels, and illustrated middle-grade stuff mostly. I also have a pretty sizeable collection of figures (Funko Pop & Nendoroids included) and I collect model trains (mostly OO9 for those who know what that is!!)

favourite drink: milk; just, a lot of milk XD

favourite musical artist: The Oh Hellos 90% of the time, but also Stan & Nathan Rogers, and Grace Petrie :))

last song listened to: Fogarty’s Cove, Stan Rogers

last movie watched: oh this is hard just because I don’t watch movies much XD I think the last one I actually went to see was Spirit: Untamed (what can I say, I liked Riding Free XD)

last series watched: either Hilda or Harriet the Spy depending on what counts (because I’m just using bits of Hilda for fic reference rn)

current obsession: Hilda, as always; also Infinity Train, Harriet, and The Owl House a bit.

dream place to visit: hhhhh there’s so many but probably Newfoundland :))

place you wanna go back to: Tromso, Norway; it’s genuinely magical in winter

something you want: well there’s a certain art commission I’m really excited to see finished motivation to write more and more money for commissions :))

currently working on: another Wildflowers Fic (Hilda S2 fix-it hurt/comfort) - Hilda writes a letter in this one!

I tag @pikawarrior @nach0 @starlit-lion @discoursed-dracula @dallasurr @strawcherrydeercake @furashuban @sarasplenda @stargazer-sappho (no pressure) and anyone else who wants to! :))

31 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

#4

I’m having so many feelings about Little My right now.

From the outside, she’s just another one of the Mymble’s many kids; the smallest member of a huge family, who’s never had her own space, shuffled from place to place and raised by an absent guardian who really doesn’t seem to care much about her at all. Of course she’s turned out loud and abrasive; she had to be, to make herself big and take up space and force people to pay attention, because otherwise she’d get lost in the shuffle.

And then she comes to Moominvalley, and meets Moomin and his parents, and she forms a real friendship and chooses to stay and ends up adopted. And sure, she’s still loud and abrasive and a troublemaker, but she’s a neglected child (her mum didn’t even realise she’d stayed behind) and for the first time she has a real family and friends in the bargain and it’s just really getting to me right now.

I haven’t seen the whole show yet (I don’t mind spoilers) or read the books (I know she’s not the same in those I don’t think she has this side of her), but do you think she ever worries about her place in the home? Do you think she’s afraid on some level, deep down, that they’ll want to get rid of her, just like how they wanted to get rid of the rest of her old family? Do you think she pushes the boundaries sometimes, just to make sure she’s really loved?

IDK, I just have a lot of feelings.

33 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#3

I love the new starters!

See the full post

35 notes - Posted February 27, 2022

#2

Asking about fixing S2 of Hilda! :D

(I watched it, but my brain is very much like a sponge, so there may or may not be some holes in my memories of it. But I'd love to hear your opinions on that!)

Okie, so, I've talked about my problems with Season 2 before, but I'm going to go over them in the most detail I can here, before I explain how I'd fix them. Sorry in advance, but this is going to be long.

My Problems:

Fundamentally, Hilda is still my favourite show, and more of my favourite episodes are in S2 than in S1, but there's one big thing that ruined the season for me, and that's what it did to the relationship between Hilda and Johanna. Season 2 wanted to have an arc where Hilda makes mistakes and needs to learn not to lie to her mum, but instead, in the narrative presented, Johanna is the one in the wrong to me.

It's absolutely a cycle. Hilda lying about her adventures makes Johanna worry, which makes her more protective, so Hilda needs to lie even more. But The Troll Circle establishes pretty plainly that this cycle started with Johanna; when Hilda runs outside the wall by accident, her immediate reaction is "Mum would kill me if she knew."

And the way Johanna acts when Hilda comes home proves that she's right; Johanna has become more restrictive and isn't letting Hilda do the things she used to. She wants Hilda to be safe, I accept, but this is after a whole season where Johanna repeatedly says that she loves Hilda for who she is, and explicitly includes her adventures in that (see The Bird Parade and The Troll Rock especially).

Because it is a part of who Hilda is; "such is the life of an adventurer" is her mantra, and even Season 2 itself establishes that she's been allowed to roam freely on her own in the wilderness since she was about 6 years old, the same wilderness that Johanna wants to keep her from in The Troll Circle.

Hilda's choices aren't "lie to her mum" or "be good", they're "lie to her mum" or "give up being who she is". Johanna's the one who changed, and it's not even properly acknowledged; they try and retcon the troll from S1, and just claim that things have always been this way between Hilda and Johanna when that's just not true (I'd argue The Troll Rock implied Johanna knew about it anyway).

The show does try and show Johanna's side, especially in The Fifty-Year Night, but that's one of the reasons it's my least favourite episode. I know she finds it hard, being so harsh on Hilda, but she doesn't have to; she should have been more understanding at the end of The Beast of Cauldron Island, it's her fault things got to that point, and nobody's forcing her to be more protective. She needs to realise she's being unfair and that she hasn't handled this well, and as a result it feels like the narrative is guilt-tripping Hilda for her mum's mistakes.

The Stone Forest hits into the same issues; I'm not going to deny that what Hilda says to her mum in that argument is genuinely hurtful, and that she shouldn't have said it, but she's an upset child. The resolution of that episode is that Hilda needs to stop hiding things, but the conflict was caused by Johanna being restrictive and honestly, more than a little selfish; I'm not trying to bash her, I know why she wants Hilda to stay home and spend time with her, but she should have let her go.

I'm glad that things seem to be back on track in The Mountain King, but when Hilda has to promise not to hide things at the end of The Stone Forest, it doesn't quite work as a resolution for me, because while I do genuinely appreciate Johanna telling Hilda she loves her for who she is, she doesn't promise to let Hilda be herself or make any apologies of her own. It's "you have to talk to me" not "you can talk to me", and for me that's the distinction that really ruined the season.

And all of this comes from one, single place:

Everything I've just mentioned, including all three of Johanna's worst scenes (the dinner in The Troll Rock, Hilda's first grounding, and the argument over Dungeon Crops in The Stone Forest) and the resolution that I didn't think went far enough, are lifted directly (including a lot of dialogue - although some of it, especially in that final resolution, is said less kindly in the graphic novel) from the graphic novel Hilda and the Stone Forest. And this is the fundamental problem; Season 2 of the show has to adapt this story, which is a problem, because Season 1 of the show made substantial changes from the graphic novels, that honestly made me think that maybe there wasn't a way to do the Stone Forest arc well in the show.

In the graphic novels, Johanna is not a good parent. She's not as bad as the tie-in novels, where she genuinely reads as abusive in all but one, but she starts out as a generic "overprotective parent" stock archetype, and only really breaks out of that a couple of times (she's actually very good in Hilda and the Bird Parade, but in a completely different way from the show version of that plotline). Hilda in turn is a little more selfish and rebellious, so their whole dynamic is different.

And The Stone Forest, in both versions, has Johanna at her absolute worst. It's actually my least favourite graphic novel, specifically because of how awful Johanna gets in the beginning, which is basically just an extended falling-out combining all of her worst moments from Season 2 and making them even worse. And that's where the problem crept in, because in order for the Stone Forest arc to happen, Hilda has to try and sneak out via Nowhere Space, and Johanna has to try and stop her, and the whole thing needs to be precipitated by a mother-daughter falling out.

So the solution the show's crew took was to try making Johanna more like her comic counterpart, and to space the arguments that start The Stone Forest out across the whole season so it doesn't feel abrupt. But the two versions of Johanna are fundamentally different characters, and Comic Johanna is already a bad parent who's flaws aren't acknowledged in this arc, while in the show she's a realistically flawed but genuinely amazing parent and those flaws are addressed in Season 1.

And the result was just making Johanna almost as unsympathetic as her comic counterpart in Season 2. I don't even think that it really cured the abruptness, because it's still an awkward retcon in the first episode, and there are still episodes in S2 where Johanna is firing on all cylinders (The Deerfox and The Yule Lads - which actually handles a mother/daughter dispute caused by Hilda really well), so to me it feels less like a relationship that's having ups and downs, and more like a relationship that's fundamentally changed but only sometimes.

(There are other problems with adapting Hilda and the Stone Forest, namely David and Frida, but I think the show actually handled them well).

So, How Would I Have Done It?

I'm going to rule for this that we have to keep the fundamental plot of The Stone Forest; Hilda gets in trouble with her mum, gets caught when she tries to escape, and has to learn a lesson about being open after she and her mum get out of the Stone Forest. For a while, I genuinely wasn't sure how to make that work within the show in a way I'd be happy with, but in the end, thanks partially to the tie-in novels of all things, I do have a solution: we're actually going to build up the relationship shift, and it's going to have an acknowledged shared responsibility.

The Troll Rock happens almost as it does in canon, but there is no moment where Hilda thinks her mum will 'kill' her for going outside the wall. She still gets home late, and there's still a little awkwardness in the conversation, but Hilda gingerly admits the truth:

"Well, I was going to go to David's... but then I saw this elf getting kidnapped by a dirt clod with legs, and me and Twig kind-of had to go outside the wall to save him."

And Johanna just gives a patient sigh; there is a bit of tension in her voice, she's clearly not 100% happy with this, but she also accepts that this is her daughter:

"That was a good thing to do, sweetheart, but please be careful outside the wall. You know I worry about you."

From there the episode goes on as normal; barring one thing. I'm torn between cutting the "you never told me about that" exchange entirely, and changing the tone of it. In the latter version, instead of suspicion, Johanna is genuinely just surprised, and Hilda's response is something like "Wait, I didn't?", but either way, things go on normally from there; we've established that there's going to be friction between Hilda and her mum, without making things bad immediately.

The next big change is that The Eternal Warriors doesn't happen. It will, eventually, but I'm taking a leaf from the tie-in book Hilda and the White Woff, and saving it for later use. Every other episode gets shunted up by one space, but is otherwise unchanged until we hit The Beast of Cauldron Island, where I'm going to make a major change.

Instead of Hilda just lying, we're going to build on The Old Bells of Trolberg; when Hilda reaches the flat, she's reluctant to cancel their picnic, but she is prepared to explain things and possibly even ask for Johanna's help. But when she gets inside, Johanna is apologetic, and before Hilda can explain, she does:

"I'm really sorry, Hilda, but we can't have our picnic today after all."

"Why not?"

See the full post

39 notes - Posted February 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

16,713 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →