#I know Dipper's real name because I learned about the series through journal three

[goldenchan-fx2thepeacock]

Don’t Go Running Off Into Danger, Even If I Do pt 2

So, I have no clue what a publishing schedule is. So here, have more of this dumb fic at 11 pm. FUCK SLEEP! SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!

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Chapter 2

Danny and Jazz managed to finish just in time to put everything away before their parents got home. He’d actually managed to have a ghost free night. But the peace wasn’t going to last. And this wasn’t about ghosts. He got slammed into his locker.  “Hey look, it’s Fenturd. What’s with the dumb picture of Phantom? You’ll never be on his level,” Dash said and laughter broke out. Danny groaned. At least they didn’t know he was trans. He’d be beaten twice as much if they knew. The locker door closed and locked.  “Seriously Dash? I have to get to class!” He yelled through the metal.  “Whatever Fentina. No one cares! Oh hey, it’s fresh meat!” Dash went away from Danny’s locker. Danny had found out a way to make it so he could open his locker from the inside without it being outerwardly compromised. He jumped out. It was those kids from last night.  “Leave them alone Dash. They haven’t even been here for a day yet. The rules are that newbies get a probation period,” Danny crossed his arms.  “I don’t know Fentoenail. Would you like to take their beating?” Dash mocked him. Danny sighed. He’d have to do this.  “Any day,” 

Danny regretted everything. Dash had hit him twice as hard as normal and his locker trick wasn’t working. Everything hurt. He was going to miss Lancer’s class. At least his ghost sense wasn’t going off or something. Lancer wouldn’t miss him. Suddenly, his locker opened and he tumbled out. He yelped. “Are you okay?” The girl twin said.  “No worse than what I’m used to,” Danny brushed himself off.  “You didn’t have to do that,” The boy twin told Danny. “Yeah, I kinda did. The probation period is sacred. Dash knows that,” “Probation period?” The boy said. “A rule we made up last year. If Dash really wants to break it, I take the beating instead. Fenton gets to take the beating so the new kids don’t have to,”  “That’s not fair. You should report him,” “Nah, he threw like four perfect throws last night and is exempt from punishment,”  “Football?” The boy gave Danny a knowing look.  “Danielle- I mean Daniel Fenton to the main office,” The loud speaker said. “Oh come on! At least it was probably just a misread,” Danny was fuming. The beating plus being deadnamed was getting on his nerves. “We have to head there too,” The girl said. Danny shrugged and let them follow him.

Lancer called them all in at once. “Sup Lancer. Can I help you?” Danny leaned against the wall. “Mr Fenton. You and I both know that you need to show me more respect. W-what happened to you?” Lancer looked up from his papers. “Just a certain football star. Nothing I can’t handle. He broke the probation period,” “That’s a rule between students. I have no need to enforce it,” Lancer sighed. “I have no clue why you of all people were chosen for this, but you are too be Mr and Ms Pines guide around the school,” “Jazz not good enough for you? Had to pick the ‘slacker’ Fenton?” “Daniel, mind your tone. Jazz is our top student,”  “We all know I’m destined to fail in life. Can I get their timetables?” “Yes of course. Listen Danny, both you and I know you’re capable of better grades. I don’t understand why you don’t try,” Danny wasn’t in the mood for Lancer’s pep talks.  “I’ve got more important things to worry about,” Danny grabbed the papers and stalked off with the Pines Twins on his heels.  “Why didn’t he do anything about Dash?” the boy asked. “He has no reason to. Not like I’m about to ask,” Danny handed them their timetables. He’d seen that the girl was named Mabel and the boy Mason. “We’ll start with your classes Mason,”  “I prefer Dipper,” “I’m not calling you by a dumb nickname. Let’s go,” Danny growled.

Just as he was about to lead Mason to his first class, a royal pain in his ass showed up. “Daniel! I require your assistance, little badger,” “It’s bound to be another plan to get in my mom’s pants. Go away,”  “Now, don’t be like that. I’m the mayor after all. You should be honored,” “Plasmius, shut your goddamn mouth. I. Don’t. Give. A. Fuck,” Danny said so that only Vlad could hear.  “Well, something’s got you in a tizzy. I’ll ask later. I should tell you though, it’s about Danielle,” “What did you do to Dani?” Fury. Wait, he had to get the kids to class.  “Nothing. It wasn’t me. You should ask your ghost hunter girlfriend,” Vlad grinned. Fucking Valerie.  “Come on kids. You’ve got to get to class,” Danny ignored Plasmius. Valerie was going to die. 

At lunch, he purposefully turned into Phantom and waited for Valerie on top of the school. She took no time at all. “What. Did. You. Do. To. Dani,” He glared at her.  “I didn’t do anything to her! You’re going down ghost!” “Am I really?” Danny was pissed. She wasn’t getting any mercy today. He teleported behind her.  “What the... HOW?” “Where is she?!” He growled. “What do you care? She’s always off on her own,”  “Does it look like I care Valerie?!”  “How did you know?!” “I know more than you seem to think. Tell me where Dani is. NOW!” He froze her feet. She looked terrified.  “What’s wrong with you!? Why do you care so much about her? Ghosts don’t have feelings,” Danny lost it at that point. The laughter was dark. Hollow. Horrible. Val’s terror was visible.  “Don’t have feelings? DON’T HAVE FEELINGS? FUCK YOU! I’M SO TIRED OF ALL THIS!” “Phantom, calm down,” Val was terrified. Danny wasn’t done. The rings were threatening to come down and expose him to her.  “So you admit this is real? Would you like to know how it feels to die Val? How it feels to live on the line between life and death? Wait, I can’t do that! You don’t have a deactivated portal in your basement that I can make you turn on while your inside. I don’t have a stupid jumpsuit with your dad’s face on it so I can take off the that sticker. You don’t have parents that threaten to rip you apart molecule by molecule for just exsisting! You don’t have to see a future where you become evil because you cheated on one test and your family all died! Can you even begin to comprehend what I go through? Ever been cloned? And forced to do something incredibly painful so that one clone can get fixed and watch another get lied too? And that’s just the brunt of it Valerie. Keep telling me how I don’t feel. How I’m nothing!” Danny screamed at ice engulfed their feet. Val’s eyes went wide.  “D-Danny?” She said quietly. “Congratulations! You aren’t as niave as the rest of Amity Park! How does it feel?” He’d snapped. “Calm down! I’ll tell you where Dani is!” She shrieked. That hollow laugh came back. But instead of an angry rant afterwards, he just sunk to his knees and screamed. It wasn’t a wail. It was a scream of pain. Of being done with the world.  “I can’t do this anymore,” He sobbed and the rings went down. All that was left now was a beaten, broken Danny Fenton.  “You should change back. I’ll take you to Dani,” Danny nodded and followed her.  “Sorry I broke down. I’m just sick of people telling me that I can’t feel. That all ghosts can’t feel. You don’t even bother talking to us, ya know?” “Ghosts lie,” “And so do people! I’ve talked to the ghosts. Listened to them. Heard their stories. I protect people, but I protect them too!” “How do you know those aren’t just acts?” “Cause they make sense. I’d have the same response if it was me. If my parents burned down the place I was in because I got caught being gay,” “I’m confused,” “Ember. I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone. But you need to know that they all have reasons for being the way they are. Skulker’s family was hunted, so now he hunts to prove his strength,” “Maybe we should talk to you more,”  “Maybe you should. No one asks to die,” “But your parents say that ghosts don’t remember their lives. They’re the leading experts,”  “That’s like putting a ten year old in a room of babies. They’re the expert by default in that situation, but an adult would be the expert the moment they walked in,” “Why don’t we know about that,” “Dying is traumatizing. Even half dying is traumatizing. It’s taboo to mention it unless you’re told. No one explains it until they’re ready. And talking about a life before that is almost wrong,” “How did you learn?” “Skulker told me during the Christmas Truce. Ember told me one day when she just wanted to be left alone, but I did too. I guess things end up working out in weird ways,” “The Christmas Truce?” “On Christmas Eve and Christmas, ghosts have a truce. No one is allowed to fight anyone that day. The Ghost Writer broke the truce and Walker got to haul him off in just means,” “We really know nothing about ghosts, do we?” “No, you don’t. They even have a party. I got invited last year. Skulker let me make the star! It took me weeks to get it right,” Danny smiled at the memory. He’d made a scale model of a blue giant that went through it’s life stages.  “So there’s a whole society?” “A government. Systems. Main rules. Taboos. Just cause we’re ghosts, doesn’t mean we don’t have a system,” “I’m sorry,” “What?” Danny nearly froze. “I’m sorry that I made so many assumptions. I never should’ve chased you or any ghost like that,” “Keep them out of Amity Park and send them back to the Zone. Most ghosts forget that living is dangerous, so they just rampage. I keep trying to talk sense into them, but they’re pretty stubborn,”  “What about the dog?” “Dog? You mean Cujo? I was trying to stop him from trashing Axiom. He was trying to get a toy. I’m sorry that recked your life Val,” “My life? Wrecked? When compared to you, my life is a dream. It’s not like I died,” “I guess you’ve got a point,”

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Thanks for reading. I just like fics where Val finds out, and this one seemed like an okay place to stick it. Dani is fine. I’ll fill you in on that next chapter, but I should get some sleep.

[somedayonbroadway]

Somewhat cursed (?) idea: Newsies/Gravity Falls (or a series like that).

Oooohhhhh...

Okay, so I’m gonna be completely honest, I didn’t grow up watching Gravity Falls. I was a Phineas and Ferb type of kid, but I always appreciated the idea behind Gravity Falls and I did watch the first couple of episodes the other day to get a little bit more of a feel for this AU.

Okay, so those of you who read my stories and my outlines know that I am a sucker for angst, so this AU is gonna be less of a children’s cartoon and a little bit more… well… not real… but… I don’t know… more angsty?

Anyways, here we go!

Gravity Falls AU

Characters

Jack Kelly — Dipper

Racetrack Higgins — Mabel

Katherine Plumber — Wendy

Medda Larkin — Stan

Just to be clear, the personalities here are not an exact match 😂

Anyways,

Jack Kelly

A seventeen year old orphan.

He and his little brother are sent to a new placement in a town called Gravity Falls with a foster mother, one Miss Medda, who has a fascination with the unexplained.

Jack has never really believed in the things she seems to find so amazing.

He loves horror movies but often tries to rationalize them which drives his little brother just about insane.

He’s OCD and a bit of a control freak, but it’s the thing that typically keeps him out of trouble.

Before Medda, he and his little brother had been in a few less than nice homes, so Jack was used to keeping Race occupied and out of the house.

During the first week with Medda, she gives him an old, mysterious book that has an odd number three on the cover

Jack becomes obsessed with the book and studies it, not necessarily believing it’s real at first, but talking about it like it is

He has ADHD and has trouble sitting still

Often overthinks scenarios and obsessively makes lists when he’s overwhelmed or trying to figure things out.

He loves to explore and loves to figure out the history of wherever he’s placed, even though he often believes it won’t last long.

He has a massive crush on one of Medda’s employees and flirts with her often

Jack is first introduced to the supernatural forces around him during a walk in the woods

He catches one of his neighbors, a boy named Charlie, practicing magic in the woods.

After the initial terror is worked through, Charlie becomes Jack’s friend. One of his best friends.

He’s told he has to keep it a secret from everyone, though most of the town is involved in theories and mysterious phenomena

Jack is forced to let the secret out when he discovers his little brother new friend, Graves, is a vampire

This is when Charlie, more affectionately known as Crutchie, tells Jack more secrets about the town and introduces Jack to Albert, a vampire who promises to help Jack’s brother

After this incident, Jack quickly gets swept up into the world of the unexplained 

He’s terrified of ghosts. He doesn’t like that they don’t have many rules

Racetrack Higgins

The little brother to Jack and basically Jack’s whole world for a long time

He’s fifteen.

He’s slightly naive and a hopeless romantic

Though he loves horror movies, he prefers romance dramas.

He always seems to be full of energy, despite being slightly abused before. Jack always took the brunt of it for him.

While he’s always curious and a bit of an adventurer, he’s often forced to stay back by Jack

He has ADHD, just like Jack.

Often, he attempts to lighten the mood and is seen as ridiculous and over the top, but Jack knows it’s mostly for his sake

Unlike Jack, Race hates to make plans and enjoys running in head first and winging it

Again, Race is a hopeless romantic and is perceived as a bit of slut by most of the kids at many new schools that he attends. Despite this, he remains optimistic about finding a boyfriend

Graves is the first person to show interest and Race is infatuated with him

It’s because Graves wants him to be

Jack tries to tell him he’s under a spell of some kind, but Race tells him he’s crazy

Graves lures Race into the wood, planning on kidnapping him and feeding his blood to his flock

Albert, Jack and Crutchie save his life and Albert becomes Race’s best friend.

Race is understandably frightened after this encounter and spends a lot of time in Jack’s room, finding the book that Jack has annotated and color coded

He becomes obsessed with the book too

He memories almost every outlined supernatural being and ways to deal with them

He eventually dates someone named Drake, a telepath with telekinesis who nearly kills Jack after becoming obsessed with Race

He is extremely creative and gets Jack out of trouble time and time again by thinking outside of the box

Though it appears to most that Jack is extremely protective of Race, most underestimate the lengths Race would go to protecting Jack

After many odd and dangerous dates with many boys with bad agendas, Race eventually meets Spot

Spot is a dark angel, also known as a demon

Jack and him don’t get along.

Race really likes him

Eventually, Race gets bit by Graves and Albert has to suck the venom from him before he turns into a vampire

Katherine Plumber

Katherine is an eighteen year old part time employee and Medda’s Mystery Shack.

While she’s very peppy and girly, she’s never afraid to get her hands dirty and join Jack and Race in figuring out Gravity Falls mysteries.

She knows Jack has a crush on her, if not from him flirting, from Race who constantly tells her.

She treats Race like her own little brother

While she enjoys hearing stories about the unexplained and the supernatural, she doesn’t believe any of it exists until her and Jack and Race and some of her friends get trapped in an abandoned convenience store

This is the first time she sees how brave Jack can be as he is the one who convinced the ghosts to let them go  

While she introduces herself as Plumber, her real name is Pulitzer, though she doesn’t like to admit it.

Joseph Pulitzer is a rich businessman trying to buy the town. He wants to cut down the forest which would cost many mythical beings their home and Medda her business

When Jack and Race are new to town, many are hostile towards them as they’re outsiders. Katherine always stands up for them.

Though she is extremely girly, she has tremendous strength and is a really good fighter

She speaks three languages, English, Spanish and French and dabbles in Latin

Though she loves Medda, she often finds ways to blow of working and even has her own set up on the roof that she shows Jack

It’s the first place they kiss. Jack makes the first move and she can’t help but kiss him back even though she has a boyfriend at the time

She adores her boys and every person Jack befriends that belongs to the supernatural world.

She has amazing survival skills taught to her by her five older brothers. These come in very handy when her and her boys are in trouble.

Medda Larkin

Miss Medda Larkin is a supernatural enthusiast

She takes Race and Jack in after learning that their mother was an old friend of hers.

It is eventually discovered that it was their mother who wrote the book they’re so infatuated with

She runs a Mystery Shack, a tourist shop full of regular merchandise and odd ones

When Jack and Race first arrive, she lets them have one thing each, for free.

Jack takes a baseball cap and Race takes a necklace

Medda has known about the unexplained since she was a child.

Medda often sends the boys on odd errands which mysteriously get them into trouble

She is extremely protective of Jack and Race loves them unconditionally.

Medda is the only person to know that there is not only one mystery journal, but three.

She gives Jack the third journal in hopes that maybe he’ll find something she hasn’t.

She tells them a story about a young woman who went missing deep in the woods and asks Jack to try and solve the mystery.

That woman was Jack and Race’s mother

Not even Medda knows what happened to her

What do you guys think? Wanna hear about other characters? Let me know!

For Snyder as Triangle Bill, click here!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[sage-nebula]

Top5 shows/anime/movies you'd recommend.

Ahhhhhh, so usually I try to tailor recommendations to specific people—like, I won’t recommend things to people that I know don’t align with their tastes. The issue here is, I think most of the things I’ve seen that you would like are things that you have already seen (or played, et cetera). So that makes it a bit hard for me to tailor recommendations, hahaha.

That said! I’m going to try anyway to pick out five things that I think you haven’t seen, but that I think you would like. :3

Gravity Falls — So, you’ve probably seen me reblog a lot of Gravity Falls things, and you might even know a bunch of spoilers (in fact, I think I did tell you some things when telling you how Dipper and Mabel reminds me a lot of Jude and Leia), but I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there as a recommendation anyway.Gravity Falls is an American cartoon that spans two seasons. The main characters are twelve-year-old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines, who are sent to Gravity Falls, Oregon to spend the summer with their great-uncle (“Grunkle”) Stan. Grunkle Stan runs a tourist trap (basically a really gimmicky place designed to lure in tourists and sell them things) called the Mystery Shack, which is filled with a bunch of “supernatural” things that are really just a bunch of, well, gimmicky scams. (Like, a centaur that’s obviously fake, things like that.) He employs a young man named Jesus “Soos” Ramirez as his handyman / regular employee, as well as a teenage girl named Wendy to work the cash register (whom Dipper develops a crush on).Anyway, at first the twins aren’t too enthused about this (Dipper less than Mabel), but one day while hanging signs for the Mystery Shack up in the woods, Dipper comes across a mysterious Journal that details all of the supernatural phenomenon that occurs in Gravity Falls, as well as the “darkness” that lurks within the town. Dipper is deeply intrigued, and from there on out dedicates himself to solving the mysteries of the Journal (as well as the mysteries of the town) with Mabel’s help.The show actually has a really dedicated myth arc, so while there are episodes that feel “monster of the week” ish, the characters actually develop and grow as the show goes on. The myth arc is also hinted at as early as the very first episode, and there is no drag—it doesn’t take time for the show to get good. The focus is very much on family; while the kids do get crushes on various other characters (such as Dipper’s crush on Wendy), romance doesn’t play into the show at all, and instead the emphasis is very much on the familial bonds between the Pines family, and honorary members of the Pines family (such as Soos). Finally, though there is a real supernatural element to it, and while sometimes things can get a bit creepy, there is a lot of humor to it, too, that is very often on point. Oh! And while Disney tried to act like Beauty and the Beast featured their first gay couple, they’re wrong! Because Gravity Falls aired on Disney XD, and it has a bi-racial gay couple in the form of the police officers, Deputy Durlin and Sheriff Blubbs. They’re not canon until the last episode, but it makes all the build-up before then worth it, especially since it often seemed played for laughs. (So like, had that been it I would have been mad, but since they’re very obviously canon, it’s all good.) I feel like I’m doing a bad job recommending this, but I feel like you’d like it! And it’s only two seasons (and is now completed), so it’s not like it would take very long / you’d be left in a lurch. It’s a really good show and I think you’d like it a lot. (Fandom Safety: Ehhh, depends. There are some creepy gross ships in the fandom (BillDip being the biggest one), but for the most part there isn’t any major Discourse™ at the moment, either. Pretty chill for the most part now that the show has ended.)

Over the Garden Wall — Another American cartoon, but more of a miniseries, really. This one is only ten episodes long, and is also completed, so it would be a really quick watch if you wanted to give it a shot.Over the Garden Wall follows brothers Wirt (older) and Greg (younger) as they venture through a mysterious land / forest called The Unknown. They need to get home, but they are lost, and soon they are found by a talking bluebird named Beatrice who convinces them to follow her to a woman named Adelaide, whom she swears will be able to get them home. Though Wirt and Beatrice don’t get along well at first, the boys agree to follow her, and so the three end up venturing through The Unknown together. Along the way they meet a wide variety of beings and creatures, some friendly and some not; and they are also ever-pursued by The Beast, whom a woodsman has told Wirt and Greg will do unspeakable things to them should it catch up to them …As I said, Over the Garden Wall is only ten episodes long, and to be honest it starts off kind of slow. I wasn’t really taken in by the first episode. However, it became more interesting in the second episode, and by the third I was hooked. It has a sort of fairytale or storybook feel to it, and is actually a lot more mature than it lets on at first. There’s also a nice mystery element to it, given that Wirt and Greg don’t remember how they came to be in The Unknown at first, and the reason why they’re there (and strong hints as to what The Unknown actually is) isn’t revealed until near the end of the series. As mentioned, it’s only ten episodes long, so it’s not a very time-consuming investment. I really recommend it!(Fandom Safety: Pretty safe, I think! I haven’t looked at the tags in a long while, but I can’t remember any Discourse™, and it aired a couple years ago. I think going in the tags would probably be safe.)

Voltron: Legendary Defender — This one is on American Netflix. I don’t know if it’s on Belgian Netflix, or how easy it would be to find on other streaming sites (though knowing the internet, I’m sure it could be done), but if you can find it, I do recommend it.Voltron: Legendary Defender is an American cartoon that is the reboot of a show that … was originally an anime, and then was “dubbed” (kind of? I think it was massacred when it was dubbed, though), and then had another American cartoon made after it and was just … kind of really a mess. The original anime / cartoons aired back in the ‘80s and are So Bad It’s Good, but you don’t have to have watched those to understand Voltron: Legendary Defender (I mean, I sure haven’t).With that said, Voltron: Legendary Defender has an ensemble cast and is a futuristic sci-fi show about an intergalactic war involving many different alien races, but one primary alien threat in the Galra Empire. The primary cast is made up of two aliens (Alteans, specifically), and five humans. The Altean members are Princess Allura and her guardian / personal attendant, Coran. They are the last remaining Alteans in the galaxy, and they are the holders of the universe’s greatest super weapon, Voltron (more on that in a minute), as well as a giant space castle which also functions as a spaceship (and can open wormholes—it’s pretty neat). The humans, meanwhile, are Takashi Shirogane (most often just called Shiro), Keith Kogane, Lance McClain, Hunk Garrett, and Pidge (Pidge has a full name as well, but that’s #spoilers). Together, these five are the Paladins of Voltron, and they are the most active defenders of the universe, fighting against the evil Galra Empire.And what is Voltron, you may ask?Voltron is a giant humanoid mecha robot. More specifically, Voltron is a giant humanoid mecha robot that is comprised of five multicolored robot Lions (that are also spaceships). The Black Lion forms the head, the Red Lion forms the right arm, the Green Lion forms the left arm, the Yellow Lion forms the left leg, and the Blue Lion forms the right leg. Separately, each Lion can fly and fight, with each Paladin serving as its pilot. However, when the Paladins come together they form Voltron, the only real threat against the Galra Empire and its emperor, Zarkon.And to explain the plot a little more indepth:10,000 years before the series began, the Galra Empire was ravaging the universe, with the Altean Empire putting up a damned good fight against them. However, a wrong decision on the part of King Alfor lead to the Altean Empire’s defeat. In a last ditch effort to save her, King Alfor put Allura (and her attendant, Coran) into a 10,000 year sleep, and split up the Lions of Voltron in an effort to keep them out of Zarkon’s hands. While Zarkon did manage to recover the Red Lion, the others were scattered across the universe … and the Blue Lion was sent to Earth, where it is eventually found by Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge after they all come together by happenstance, and find the Blue Lion when Keith leads the others to it (given that it has been calling to him). The Blue Lion awakens for Lance and accepts him as her Paladin, and—while they’re investigating the Blue Lion to see what it is—it ends up taking the five of them into space and to the castle, where they awaken Allura, learn that they will be the new Paladins of Voltron, and that they have an intergalactic war to fight against Zarkon.While this probably sounds like it would be a dreary (if bizarre) war show, it really isn’t. It’s not perfect, but the character banter and dialogue is very often on point (especially since Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are all teenagers), the animation is great, the voice acting is superb, and all around it’s a very fun show to spend some time with. There are two seasons currently, and the third is set to air in September. It’s a very fun, very interesting show, and it’s very easy to get drawn into it. The characters are all great, too. And let’s put it this way: I went from, “It’s fun, but I don’t care very much about it” to one day almost missing my exit because I was too busy thinking about Voltron while driving. So, there is that. (Also, I feel I’ve done a terrible job explaining, but … it’s a fun show with robot Lions. Just trust me on this.)Also, the Lions do have some degree of sentience. The Red Lion being protective over Keith is one of the best things ever, and at one point Lance becomes very defensive when he thinks Keith is trying to take the Blue Lion from him, saying, “Blue and I are very happy together! VERY HAPPY!!” So, there is that, too.(Fandom Safety: TERRIBLE. HORRIBLE. ONE OF THE WORST FANDOMS I’VE EVER SEEN. DO NOT APPROACH. EVERY TIME I GO INTO THE TAGS TO LOOK FOR COOL FANART I LEAVE FEELING MISERABLE. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS, WATCH THE SHOW BUT STAY FAR, FAR AWAY FROM THE FANDOM.)

The Great British Baking Show — For once, not a cartoon! And not American, either! What are the odds!! Three of the seasons are on American Netflix (seasons five, four, and six, I think, in that order). I’m not sure how to go about finding the others, but if you can, I’d highly recommend it.The Great British Baking Show (also called The Great British Bake-Off) is a reality show in which twelve (or sometimes thirteen, I think) amateur bakers compete to win a baking competition. The judges are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (yes, those are their real names) and the show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyic, a comedy duo. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Ugh, a reality show? Why would I want to watch this?”I’ll tell you why.Unlike most reality cooking shows, where there are sabotages and there is drama and a lot of nastiness, The Great British Baking Show is peaceful and sweet. It’s soothing. There is no nastiness, there is no drama; there are no sabotages to ruin anyone’s chances, and even though it is a competition, everyone is generally very supportive of each other. If they have time, they help each other out if they see one of the other bakers struggling. The hosts, Mel and Sue, often offer helping hands and encouragement as well. And even when it comes to the judges, though Paul can be rather blunt, they aren’t cruel or spiteful toward the contestants. This isn’t like cooking shows with Gordon Ramsay, where part of the appeal is him screaming insults at the contestants. There’s none of that. It’s just a very uplifting and positive show all around, even though one baker is always sent home at the end of each episode.Each episode is about an hour long, and I find that they’re very good for anxiety attacks. They’re very nice to just watch and be soothed by. A+++, highly recommended.(Fandom Safety: Very safe!! I mean, it’s a peaceful reality baking show, so I don’t think I’ve seen any Discourse™. I think the most you’d get is people not liking your favorite baker, but w/e, honestly? Pretty safe. Far better than Voltron’s fandom. Then again, so is every fandom, so like …)

And … I’m actually blanking on a fifth one that you haven’t seen, but that I think you’d like. Because like, I could recommend shows like The Office (the U.S. version), but that one can be kind of … sarcastic and realistic in tone? (Like, things often go wrong / the characters often fail at things on The Office, it has that element of realism.) And I’m not sure you’d like that. And then there’s Arrested Development, but that’s even more jaded and cynical, everyone on that show is an awful person and that’s the point. And I remember that you had trouble with Parks and Recreation because everyone talked fast and used a lot of political terms, and I feel like even though The Office and Arrested Development aren’t political, there’d be a similar issue there. I feel like they’re not easily accessible for people whose first language isn’t English (especially with all the business lingo thrown around).

But yeah, those are at least four recommendations of things I think you’d like! ^^ Let me know if you end up checking any of them out.

[burritodetodo]

Burrito Reviews: Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch's baby, is certainly one of the best animations of this decade. It was short for a series, with only two seasons that hit really hard on popular culture. Like a boxer who has three chances to hit his best punches to his rival, GF hit a jab, a cross and an uppercut on time. The story is about twins named Dipper and Mabel Pines who go to a town in the middle of the woods in Oregon to spend the summer in their great-uncle's shack, but everything turns funny because Gravity Falls has a bazillion mysteries and creatures.

At first sight, you see the episodes as random stories that happen on wacky town summertime. As the first season goes by, an arc develops quietly. Finally you figure out that the season finale is very strong, resolving some aspects of the characters (like Stanley, but I'm going to talk about they later) but foreshadowing others. The second, and last, season is the power-up of Gravity Falls awesomeness because the first one showed a promising series that could be big. Hirsch decided to end the summer on that second season (it was his decision) and he and his crew put all their effort to make it big for real.

Second season has two parts: the first one develops the twins' relationships with their friends and grunkle more. Wendy tells Dipper they can't be together despite she thinks he's very cool. Pacifica admits her family is horrible. Mabel realizes she can't crush with every beatiful boy she sees. Soos learns to move on and talk to girls. Stanley that he can make people like him with his heroism and not scamming them with his hypnotic personality. And the Twins that they have to move on with their lives. The second part is about a massive download of revelations: Stanley's experiment, Stanford, McGuckett's backstory, the experiments and lairs around the shack... and Weirdmageddon, a three-parter series finale that was one of 2016's big events.

Through 40 episodes, a lot of whacky things happen in that town: from evil gnomes, selfish unicorns, dinosaurs or an abandoned UFO to anti-gravitational experiments, Feds, a portal to a multiverse and a all-powerful demon who is 1000% chaotic evil. But these events couldn't be possible if it isn't by their main characters:

Mabel Pines: a complete sweetheart. To me, she steals the show due to her kindness, her possitive attitude towards things no matter how hard they are (with the exception of what happens on Dipper and Mabel vs The Future), her happiness 24/7 and of course her cuteness. She even made a little pig cute and cool!

Dipper Pines: a full time curious guy who could annoy with his paranoia. Despite that, he is really heroic and can do anything for the ones he love. He can even forgive horrible persons (ahem, Pacifica) but act super awkward to her crush, no matter if it's Wendy or Candy.

Stanley Pines: the other guy who steals the show! Come on, Grunkle Stan has such a personality that can buy anybody. No surprise the Mystery Shack and its fake attractions have a lot of visitors. And he makes money with it! I admit he is a manipulative scammer and cheater, but he could survive. I think Stanley is the best alternate-universe version of Evil Dead's Ash Williams, that's why I love this antihero.

Stanford Pines: great uncle Ford is like watching Dipper but much more older and wiser. If he wasn't, how could he write the three journals? He is unsure like his grandnephew, that's why he got trapped into the multiverse or losses against Bill.

Soos: the multi-clerk of the Shack is a lovely guy. Despite having a sad backstory, his possitive attitude made him go further. Don't let his abuelita apart of that development. He is a friend who is where he is being needed, but also Soos can be very naive.

Wendy: the kickass cashier of the shack isn't a regular teenager. Raised by a family of lumberjacks, she knows more than one thing when action comes. Besides, she's a super cool and nice character that could get along with almost anybody. Fun fact: Wendy is quite similar to Regular Show's CJ, both voiced by the same VA.

Bill/Gideon: both villains have something in common, which is their charm. But the evilness of the kid doesn't compare to the triangle demon. They are really mean and have different purposes that involves the Pines. In fact, Bill Cipher reminds of Loki: a Scandinavian god that tricked people with his promises and winning over them.

The secondary characters have their own too. They make Gravity Falls (the city) special. More than a common small town, lost in Oregon's forests. You want a super smart hobo to build you a mecha, or having a pie on Lazy Susan's diner. Even the gay (?) cops are really cool!

On Gravity Falls it's not all about mysteries and rare creatures. Many times it turned very emotional, mainly the young twins relationship and their support on hard times, or when we know about Soos' childhood, or even the excellent A Tale of Two Stans!

In my opinion, I can't not relate with Dipper and Mabel relationship. No one who has siblings could not. Another thing I loved from GF are the inception of TV shows and TV ads into this TV show. They were very original and funny that reminds of Rick and Morty's Interdimensional Cable saga on a PG show. And the post-credits scene, like Marvel's movies! It wasn't over 'till it was over.

Alex Hirsch assembled an incredible team (animators, writers, voice actors/actresses, etc). In fact, on voice acting he mixed people who worked on Adventure Time and Regular Show (Niki Yang [also storyboarder], John DiMaggio, Linda Cardellini, Sam Marin, Justin Roiland), casually shows created by his pals Pen Ward and James Quintel respectively. Even Hirsch himself did great as Stanley and Soos. Gosh, he also got JK not quite my tempo Simmons to do Ford or Jennifer Stiffler's Mom Coolidge for Lazy Susan!

As said in the beginning, Gravity Falls is one of the best TV shows of this decade, even animated and in general. It followed the tone that had Adventure Time or Regular Show, a "kids" show that is not for kids only which many teens and even adult people could feel atracted to. That's why its series finale, Weirdmageddon, was one of the best events of 2016. Although having problems with air dates and some sort of mismanage by Disney on the final episodes, this series will be remembered as one of those who paved the way to reinvent animated storytelling.