#Foggy rambles

[foggyfanfic]

Did you guys hear Disneyland Cast Members voted to strike?

It was nearly unanimous too, 99% of the unionized cast members voted in favor of the strike. This doesn't necessarily mean they will strike, more that when the union rep shows up to the negotiation table on Monday they'll have that extra bit of leverage. Hopefully that'll be enough to win them living wages and such. I don't have anything intelligent to say, I just feel a kind of way about this subject, I'm going to put my opinions under the cut.

Ok, look, I love Disneyland. Love it with a passion. You know what reminded me this was happening and prompted me to look up the story? I was thinking of updating this card I made for one of the many games I've come up with to play in Disneyland because I have a weird variety of hyper-fixation when it comes to that park specifically.

So I am not speaking an ounce of hyperbole when I say Disneyland is my favorite place in the world.

But! Whoever the hell is making the big decisions around there needs to get their head out of their ass. I don't know if I should be blaming Bob Iger or Josh D'Amaro for the way the parks have been since the pandemic, but I'm going to blame both. I can deal with them experimenting with Genie Plus (I hate it but I'm used to capitalism), and I can sort of deal with the prices (I can't afford them easily but I'm saving up), but Disneyland has very clearly been trying to cut labor costs for a while now and it's incredibly baffling to watch. It feels like the parks are being run by somebody with a business degree from a sketchy "college" and zero experience with the real world.

They're cutting back on shows, overworking their existing staff, and skipping regular maintenance so they can operate the park with a smaller maintenance team. Overall it results in a worse experience for the customer, making it less likely that they'll convert new guests into returning fans like myself. While Disney World is a major tourist attraction that most people consider a once in a life time experience, Disneyland has always had a steady revenue from local Californians that return again and again. If you frequent forums about the parks you hear all about folks who live in SoCal that buy their annual pass (I know that's not what it's currently called, but that's what it is) and use it to get into the parks just to have dinner or rove around and maybe grab a churro. They might not be paying for Iger's next yacht, but those folks are providing a reliable revenue stream, and they go back again and again because for decades Disneyland has maintained a "magical" atmosphere.

And I feel like it's fairly obvious that the front line workers are the ones that make Disneyland what it is. Right? Like I'm not crazy, we all agree Disneyland would be nothing without the hard work of these cast members, right?

Why are they-? You need front line workers, why wouldn't you-? Do they not have years of research and experience backing up how beneficial a well paid staff is? I love the Incredicoaster but if all I wanted was thrill rides, Six Flags is an hour closer and a whole lot cheaper. I'm going for the complicated rides that require their own pit crew like Mickey's Runaway Railroad. Why are we even still having this conversation? I get that people like Bob Iger are a bit insulated from the rest of us, but the relationship between a happy staff and profit is well documented. Why wouldn't they just...? In the Disneyland subreddit a retired cast member post the Benefits Binder he got back when he worked for Disneyland and this thing was thick, it included health, retirement, and stock options. Somebody somewhere must have known that whittling down benefits while stagnating pay was not sustainable. Right?!

Like I said, I don't have anything intelligent to add to this conversation, but to be honest, I think everything intelligent to add has already been added. I'm just annoyed for my own sake and downright pissed for the sake of the cast members. I hope they get everything they ask for on Monday, and if they don't, I hope the strike knocks some sense into everybody it needs to.

[recoveringangelz]

a story in two parts

[pyrogearheartsociety]

10 year anniversary of when the world was supposed to end, on our 18th birthday is so wild to me

[chvoswxtch]

seeing pictures of charlie, elden, and deb back on set together and looking so happy legitimately makes me emotional like we really got them back y’all

we as a fandom fucking did THAT 🥲

[stiffyck]

Can we talk about how Karen definitely has some sort of PTSD because you can't just wake up one day with a knife and bloody hands and a dead coworker on your carpet one and then be fine. You don't get arrested and then almost strangled to death while in custody and be fine. You don't get kidnapped and threatened and then kill someone in self defense and be fine.

Oh my god can we PLEASE talk about Karen and her trauma oh my GOD.

[nickmpreg]

the power of friendship

[skyward-floored]

Get you a man who can do all three

[karda]

sunrise from this morning

[pulim-v]

Okay I see no reason not to post this rn other than inactivity (and I can always tag people so eh)

Oh also relevant disclaimer this might be weird but the feathers on a bird's head are referred to as "hair" in fgcc. Don't ask me why idk either.

Fern's Crush: a Foggy Glasses and Corroded Copper Scene

"Via... we need to talk." Fern said, startling Via with her sudden appearance.

"What's up, Fern? Everything alright?" Octavia said, looking directly at Fern as she took note of his appearance.

Fern looked... messy. His hair was ruffled, her face feathers intensely ruffled, forehead glittering with sweat and chest quickly moving with his rapid breaths.

Fern took a step forward, entering Octavia's dorm room, and she directed him to the bed next to her. As she sat down, Octavia turned off her computer screen, took off her earphones, and directed her gaze to Fern again, waiting to see what she would say.

It took him a few moments, as he sat there silently, still seeming extremely nervous, but eventually he started talking:

"I... I think I have a crush on Spark. I don't know how long it's been, I just know the other day they hugged me and I started blushing and I can't stop thinking about them, and oh gosh what do I do, Via? Please help me, I don't know what having a crush is like, what if they reject me?"

"Oh," Octavia said, startled, "is that it? Like, just that?" She twirled a part of her hair with her finger, pondering on what she'd say to help.

"What do you mean "just that"? I'm freaking out over here!"

"Yeah, sorry about that", Octavia chuckled, "it's just that... can't you just confess to them? I get that it's new to you, but that just sounds like the best option".

"I don't know, it's complicated!" Fern started running his hands through his hair, exasperated "Like, what if they reject me? What if they don't want to talk to me ever again?"

"Okay, let's calm down a bit." Octavia said as she grabbed Fern's hands and pulled them down, placing them on Fern's lap. "Let's just try to imagine what could happen." She said, holding up a hand so she could count. "One: Spark doesn't reject you, everything turns out fine, and you two start dating. Two: Spark does reject you, you move on, you two remain as friends. Three: Spark does reject you and doesn't want to be friends, you move on, I give them a piece of my mind and you go back to being friends."

"It's not that simple," Fern scoffed. "you cant just force us to be friends like that!"

"Yeah, but Spark would have been a terrible person if they stopped being friends with you over this." Fern started to intervene, but Octavia held a finger out, asking him to wait until she was done talking. "Besides, it's better to actually ask them out than to pretend like you don't like them, that just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen"

"That's easy for you to say, Mrs. "I'm clearly in love with Dew but won't do anything about it"!" Fern almost shouted, getting up slightly from the bed.

Octavia felt her face getting warmer. She started to get nervous, so she reached out to her hair to start fidgeting with it, forgetting that it was untied. She took a few locks of hair in her hands and started messing with them, thinking of what to say. Meanwhile, Fern was still exasperated, but seemingly shrunk back into the bed.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for" he said, looking away from his friend.

"Was it that obvious?" Octavia furrowed her eyebrows and bit her cheek, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to calm her down.

Fern chuckled. "Via, you're the least expressive person I know, and your face still turns bright red whenever they talk to you"

Octavia's face started to get even warmer, at which point she buried it in her hands and averted Fern's gaze, looking at the black screen of her computer. She took note of her own reflection in it: her face had a bit of sweat in it, her hair was messier than usual, and even through the tinted screen her snout was visibly reddened. She slowly took a breath, turned back towards Fern, and replied:

"I don't know... that's different... it would be really awkward, I don't want to sacrifice the friendship we have."

"That's what I'm saying with regards to Spark! They're my crush, yeah, but they're also my first friend... I can't afford to mess it up with them." Fern said, her voice clearly strained.

"I... I don't know Fern, I think I understand what you mean a little bit more now. Gosh, I'm a real hypocrite, huh? I'm really sorry for that"

"No need to apologize, I'm just too pathetic to actually take your advice to heart," Fern chuckled and extended their arms, "can I..."

Octavia hugged Fern, running her large hands through his soft hair. She felt his hands grab her back, touching the thin fabric of the simple dress she was wearing. The two stayed in there for a few seconds, with Octavia feeling Fern's heartbeat slow down and his movements get subtler. At one point, she heard a chuckle.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing", Fern said, "it's just that now that I think of it, aren't we both just kinda... pathetic? It's stupid, we don't even have the guts to do something as simple as confessing a crush"

"Hey! Don't say that!" Octavia broke free from the hug, looking directly at Fern. She quickly let her gaze wander, though, contemplating his words. "Yeah... I guess we are..."

"Thanks for this, Via" Fern said, pulling her back into the hug and letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"No problem, Fern" Octavia said, lost in thought as she let her hand run through Fern's hair.

[lights-on-the-ridge]

Karen haters need to understand that when you experience a total disconnect from the people you love and develop a complete hatred for yourself, you will try to find a connection in people you see a all-forgiving. She didn't lead on Foggy or date Matt because she was attention seeking or a blonde plot device, but because her character WOULD do that. She finally found comfort and acceptance from the two most forgiving people in New York so of course she'd eventually start developing a crush of one or both of them.

[dragon-spaghetti]

Alastor has an uncanny sixth sense for when husk's pain days are Worse and those are the days he decides that having him run around doing errands is a grand idea 😊

[foggyfanfic]

Themes vs Realism

Saw an old debate about how isolated the Encanto is and it got me thinking about my own headcanons.

I watched the movie, saw the windows and wine glasses and thought “Oh! They must have trade, glass requires a specific sort of sand and while glass blowers would be relatively common, the odds they had somebody who knows how to make glass frit are pretty low”. And I can back up that argument with research and facts, buying glass is getting more expensive because we’re running low on sand with the right chemical composition, glass frit production would be more likely to happen in towns near silica rich beaches, where as Alma’s hometown looked like it was in the middle of the forest. Nowadays, not every country in the world has the right sand, when I worked with glass blowers they imported their frit from I think a family in Sweden(?) that are like one of the last few people making frit. So glass is actually a very big deal! I digress. Basically, realistically, the fact that they have glass means that they must have some trade.

But that’s completely irrelevant to the movie, isn’t it?

The movie is all about healing from generational trauma, Encanto being completely isolated is better for the movie’s themes. It’s like how we all love the deleted scene where Bruno argues with Alma and says “I wish I was dead” but the writers cut that scene because it gives Bruno confronting Alma on Mirabel’s behalf an extra bit of punch if he was never willing to do so before. Realistically, a deeply unhappy, almost forty adult who is as blunt as Bruno would have had that argument with Alma; thematically, Mirabel’s mysterious Tío couldn’t muster up the courage/passion to confront the movie’s antagonist until he was doing it for love. Realistically, it is actually necessary for Pepa to control her emotions because she can create hurricanes and that sorta disaster could wipe out the village; thematically, Pepa needs to be allowed to let her feelings flow through her without anyone snapping at her about it. Realistically they must have trade; thematically, they must be completely isolated.

There isn’t really a good way for canon to bridge this gap as far as I can tell, in story telling themes usually take precedence over realism, especially in a fantasy setting. But for a lot of people (like me) the funnest thing to do when writing fanfic is throw in a dash of realism and see what comes out of it. Obviously, the way you want to reconcile this is absolutely up to you. I personally care more about the movie sticking to themes than I do it being realistic or conforming to my background knowledge, I’m fully expecting to have most of my head canons disproven when they release more material. That said, for the sake of fic, I think asking questions like “Where are they getting the raw materials to build that” is a great launching pad.

I don’t know how to word my conclusion. That year I spent working with glass blowers is going to butt heads with my suspension of disbelief for the rest of my life? Realism is great for fanfic but not so much in short stories like movies? My head canons will never be canon and it’s better that way?

[franklin-nelson-archive]

I always say that Foggy has such an interesting backstory as his vigilante friend. And I'm not just exaggerating here.

See, Matt was abandoned by his mother. His father died tragically. He learned from an early age not to trust anyone. Netflix's Matt lived in poverty and this makes Matt's life both heartbreaking and even more tragic. I think all of this was necessary to show the fans how miserable that man could be. Most fans feel sorry for Matt, as if the man were some kind of puppy. I caught myself thinking that way when I watched some of his scenes. That sad, crumpled look of his… Anyway, Netflix's Matt became a martyr from his early childhood.

Foggy, on the other hand, has low self-esteem. The result, I believe, of years of abuse and neglect by a mother who chose a lucrative career over her son.

He grew up in a loving home, apparently. In some issues, we can see Anna being a loving and overprotective mother.

In the Netflix series, Foggy's family, especially his mother, is a little… how can I say, toxic, using a little emotional blackmail to get her son to stay and take care of the family business.

All those scenes of Foggy with his family made me feel bad for him.

And I would really like his family to value him as the special human being that he is, which I didn't feel in the series. Maybe that's what made the series so special for me, the fact that I felt a little Foggy in a place, a family that you love, but that you feel like you don't belong to.

I would really like to see Rosalind on screen. I'd like to know why Foggy decided to become a lawyer. I would love to know why he, even though he is brilliant, loving, a great person, has such low self- esteem.

Even more so, I would like to know why he, in the third season, pretended to be strong, when it was totally acceptable to break down.

Some things I'm afraid of and believe I'll never see. But I hope that one day, in a comic or even in a series, we'll see a little of what it's like to be Foggy. Not just the vigilante's friend, but the hero who beat cancer and fought bravely for what he believes in and loves.

[dol-dee]

I'm pretty sure I've already seen some people redraw that one bladerunner 2049 scene (You look lonely, I can fix that) with their pc and a LI but I think it would hit the hardest with Avery.

The scene can work for every LI of course, with another close "best" contender being Sydney. Since Sydney is a pretty lonely person as well. Somewhat isolated due to their parents job and previous position in the church. But Sydney is also.. for a lack of a better term (and I don't mean this in a bad way) a very palatable person. They are kind, they're sweet. They're likeable.

But Avery. Avery is, out of all the LI's such a fundamentally lonely person and it's their own fault too. They're quick to anger once you brush past their chivalrous facade and a generally unpleasant as a person. They're difficult to like at the best of times. They're biggest advantage is that they're rich and make for an easy income. ffs they're own parents don't care for them. withdrawing their financial support from Avery on their BIRTHDAY lol, lmao even.

They don't seem to have any hobbies, besides work and abusing orphans. And speaking of orphans, despite Avery being the person with power in their sugar relationships they still are the one regularly getting dumped.

Just... I can't highlight enough how fucking lonely Avery is and they cope with it by paying impoverished, mostly underage orphans, because they don't know any other way. They're too much of a control freak.

This post turned out way longer than I initally intended. But yeah this is why I think that scene (in isolation) would hit the hardest with Avery. that bitch is in desperate need of human connection. Unfortunately she constantly sabotages herself in that endeavor. So what better than a human shaped substitute.

[chvoswxtch]

i’ve been on a sabrina carpenter kick this past week and i’ve decided it’s cannon that foggy is a sabrina stan and sings nonsense around the office all the time and matt hates it bc goddamn that song is catchy and he finds himself perched on a rooftop like a fucking gargoyle at 2am and he’s singing it to himself bc he can hear foggy belting it 3 blocks away

also foggy definitely blasted feather every single night during s3 after finding out that backstabbing little bitch was alive

[batmasc]

I know you better than you may think.

Pretty people make you more nervous than you like to admit. You wrestle with envy and desire, unable to distinguish between them. You've realized you like being seen as a man, but you don't know how to define man, define yourself, how to stop feeling guilty over it. Don't worry about that right now. There are two gorgeous people looking at you across the room. They're nudging each other bashfully until they finally both stand and walk over to you. Why you? You're not even sure who you are. But they see it. The couple wants a new dynamic, they need a man like you.

But you don't know what they mean, you're not even sure you're allowed to call yourself a man, you think you don't deserve such indulgence. They tell you it's foolish, and if you're going to be their man, you need to believe it more than anyone else. They know what's best for you. You were born to treat them like a good man should.

You're embarrassed when they take you back to their place and command you to try on boxers and a packer. You try to protest, but the moment you put them on, the weight between your legs feels right. They see the change in your eyes. You were so afraid to give yourself this, because surgery is expensive and people are cruel. But you didn't need those excuses. You're here, as you are, and they're begging you to make love to them like the loverboy you were meant to be.