#I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS AND WILL FOR THE FORSEABLE FUTURE

[reysjedi]

I keep seeing posts about how simple it was.

They talked. They admitted how much they mean to one another.

He asks her out.

And 5 years of slow burn is at full blaze.

But it works because their relationship is the most important one in their lives.

They have built trust. They have built intimacy. They understand one another.

They are soulmates.

Only they can understand how much they are putting at risk in their job and partnership which means everything to both of them.

BUT SOME THINGS MATTER MORE

&

IT IS WORTH THE RISK

Meant to be I tell you. Finally on the same page. Finally able to be all they can be to one another.

SOULMATES

[lilareviewsbooks]

Piranesi: 4/5

I believe that this book is best read without knowning anything about it all, though I think you'd still get a kick out of it if you have some information. That being said, I've been exceedingly vague about my critique as to make sure no one gets their experience spoiled. I'm still having to talk about the antagonist's characteristics, though nothing that would ruin the mystery. Just a heads-up if you want to be completely, a thousand percent in the dark. Though I do recommend that, if you're not queer, you look up some of the critiques queer people have made of this story after you've read it, so you can take a look at what we thought was a little bit harmful.

Alright so, first of all: I think this book affected in me in a special way because of My Situation. I'm mentally ill and, recently, have been having a bit of memory problems. I've resorted to journal-writing, and extensive numbering of them to keep stuff straight, and that's very precious to me. If you've read the book any, you know that the main character, Piranesi, also does the same thing, for (kinda) a different reason. Second: I've gotten The COVID and am locked in my room for the forseable future. So yeah, a house full of hallways that never end, out of which one cannot escape, and considers the entire world? Yeah. Relatable. To be honest, I've never really gotten the "I relate to this character" train until right now, when I finished this book, sat down, and thought to myself: this fucking man is me. All he's missing is being gay. And to be clear: there's something very, very queer about the experience of being trapped in a maze of infinite hallways. An article I read about this even argued, successfully I think, that the imagery of a labyrinth is intrinsically queer. The feeling of being trapped, alone, of fighting for movement and safety and of never really having a way out, is something very queer. In Piranesi, its homonymous main character is stuck in an endless house full of hallways and various statues. Their beauty calms him, and he feels profoundly at peace in this maze. At home. The statues seem to pass him messages as he inteprets them: a statue of a Gorilla stands for strength, and to be near it is to be strong, for instance. This being said, it's hard for me (and, if the internet is any indication, for a lot of queer people, too) not to see Piranesi as queer. If not for all of these reasons, then just because he likes to braid seashells into his hair (and then has to take them out because the noise might be distracting, if that isn't one queer metaphor, I don't know what is). This being said, there's no indication on the text of Piranesi's sexuality. It's not even dubious, because there isn't any of that kind of talk in the book... When it comes to Piranesi, at least. With its villan, Clarke does not shy away from talking sexuality. It's mentioned more than a dozen times! And look, I don't subscribe to the school of thought where, just because a villan is of a certain group, the whole group is interpreted as being vilified. However, there are Certain Circunstances where you're like: C'mon. Are you dead serious? Is the Hayes Code back in effect? The villan of this book is a creepy, weird, manipulative and mystical professor who exploits his students' brains and want to learn. His sexuality plays into this significantly. How do we know he's  manipulative? He had his female student drive him to pick up "young men". How is he gross or weird? He kidnapped a young man, implied to be a prostitute, for his own nefarious reasons. Several people, people legitimized  by the book, refer to him as being "sexually deviant", of having weird "sexual tastes" and that that interferred in his malicious activity. His transgressiveness in academia and in the law is compared to his transgressiveness in sexuality, so we know that they are linked: "He crossed so many boundaries. He wrote about magic and pretended it was science [...] He was a gay man when it was still illegal [...] He kidnapped a man" (from Part 5: Valentine Ketterly, page 260 of my Kindle edition) When he speaks and refers to the men around him, he's disgusting. Talks to them in a predatory manner, objectifying them: "that dishy Italian", "you were quite a dish", etc. This is a stereotype and a trope that has plagued gay people, especially queer men, for ages. They've always been represented in media exactly like this: as sleezy, predatory people who will destroy the youth. And, clearly, it's not something that has gone away. Sometimes, we play into stereotypes accidentally. Sometimes, we write a good book and oopsie-doo, our queer representation isn't quite that good. That's alright. But the fact that this is the only queer representation in the entire book further damages the situation. That the opportunity to make a character so queercoded like Piranesi gay was bypassed serves to prove that there wasn't an effort to represent queer people well. And it makes me doubt the good intent that I'm assuming was there from the author. If there aren't any other gay characters except for an offensive excuse for an antagonist, is it really progressive at all? Was the queer representation or the lack thereof really in good faith? I don't know and I don't think I care too much. I like the whole "death of the author" school of thought a lot. As a person whose favorite book is no other that "The Great Gatsby" I think I do a damn good job saying "shut up" to the author and making every character in my vincinity queer as all hell. And I can't help myself from enjoying this read. Like I said, Piranesi, both character and book, speak to me on another level of relatability. And the writing is good! The plot is clever! The character of Piranesi is simply too sweet, and his life in that giant house pulls at your heartstrings and reminds you of the human urge to take care of one another. Do I think this is out of this world, in the sense that this plot has never been done before? No, of course not! Stories about isolation and what it does to people are as old as time, and good as hell, also. But there is a shy originality about Piranesi's wholesomeness. His love for where he lives and for everything around him. And it makes this a compelling and very beautiful read. I wouldn't ever discourage anyone from reading this. The other way around! I'd encourage it, it's a good book! But I'd encourage a critical reading. I'd encourage researching this stereotype and recognizing it on the page. And I'd encourage that you point at Piranesi and call him gay. Just for fun, y'know.

[acciobamon]

lwj: *protects wwx every time*

lwj: *believes in wwx no matter what*

lwj: *allows wwx to touch him*

lwj: *writes a song for wwx*

lwj: *grieves for 16 years when wwx dies*

lwj: *faces a whole clan to defend wwx's place even though he was dead*

lwj: *gets beaten and emprisonned for protecting wwx*

lwj: *adopts wwx's adoptive son*

lwj: *recognises wwx is back in 2 seconds*

lwj: *gets liquor for wwx just because he knows he loves it*

lwj: *tells the whole of China to basically fuck off and kill him first if they want to get to wwx*

lwj: *takes care of wwx when he's hurt*

lwj: *goes against everything he knows to protect wwx and to stay at his side*

also lwj: i like wwx a normal amount

[fillinforlater]

Monday of Appreciation: Part 56

Hello everyone, Smite here!

We are now at a time where a lot of my first fics turn 1 year old. Yay! I think this is a perfect time for an ad, an ad about my new, official AO3 account. Because of Tumblr’s new policy (ew) and for other reasons, I have decided to gradually move my works to AO3 as well. 

THIS DOES NOT MEAN that I’ll move away from Tumblr. This will continue to be my main site for the forseable future, so you don’t have to move lmao. My fics will first be posted here and someday to AO3.

Update: Will there be a fic this week? Maybe, probably, but tbh, no clue.

Enough talk about me. After all, this post is dedicated to these amazing writers and wonderful people that are on here WELL DESERVED! Give love to these cuties:

-1- 

@withcreamandsugar​: Stray ft. Seola

The Isa fic (with the VERY accurate name Feral) was already insane, and this checks the box of heart warming and... other-places warming. I really enjoyed this, easily my favorite Seola character and fuck... I’m craving meat rn lmao

Also: Jazz pog

-2-

@erospandemos​: Her little kisses ft. Jiheon (fluff)

This is adorable. For all fluff and Jiheon enjoyers, this is the way. I can feel myself getting warmer reading this siiigh

-3-

@falsesubmission​: Kinktober: Spanking ft. Ahn Yujin

M A D L A D! Attempting Kinktober, having a full outline and then choosing an excellent kink for our Puppy? Yep, you’re on the map now! I’m excited to see how it’ll go.

-4-

@capslocked​: Vanity ft. Chaewon

I heard someone say that this is perfect in every way. What can I say...

Y E S

Damn it, the tease alone is Oscar Worthy, the actual fucking will blow your mind and ahhhhhhh, I can’t get rid of Chaewon, she is just too hot.

-5-

@writerpeach​: Classroom Copulation ft. Arin

The man. The myth. The legend. The thing’s Arins ass does to you hehe, we need more MORE M O R E. This is just so good!

-6-

@co-reborn​: No Words ft. Tzuyu

I wanted to do some Tzuyu research and what better writer to look for than our adorable C.O. Keep it up, buddy, and you, dear reader, keep your heads up: Something is cumming coming ;)

0.0

What makes my eyes go wide is this:

10,7 followers per day over the last month!

W.O.W, you’ll are amazing!

See you later, byeeee :)

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Final Four: Beaks in the Shell! or JESUS WEPT!

This.. this is a big occasion for me. It’s a return to regular Ducktales coverage.. but it’s also the first episode of the LAST four of the series. It was thanks to Ducktales my blog got a following, first through in character chat things, then through my reviews of this very season. It was starting this last year that took my blog from something I was passionate abbout but did ocassionaly to a vital part of my being and my source of income via one lucky boy who just wont’ let me stop! I kid of course, I thank kev for it, though i’d gladly welcome any other review comissions from you fine folks and fit them into the schedule. There’s a page on my blog for how and if your on mobile you can simply send me an ask or submit to ask about comissiong an episode or episodes of an animated shwo you like and i’ll give you my prices and what not. But it’s thanks to these Kev started comissioning in the first place and thanks to you all clicking on these reviews every week I do them that kept me doing them early on. So I wanted to thank you all. 

Covering the last four episodes is really bittersweet for me. It’s not the end for ducks here: I have most of seasons 1 and 2 to cover, and will be covering a lot of season 1 next month so I can properly cover shadow war for my Lena retrospective, not to mention continuing to cover life and times when I have the space, various birthdays, including Carl Barks Next Month!, and so on and so on. But this is not only the first show I covered on a weekly basis but it’s the first show i’ve covered like that to end. To put it in perspective, Loud House won’t be leaving until it WANTS to and even then nick will probably prepare a second spinoff to follow it up in some form, Amphibia has both the rest of season 2 to go, starting next month!, and a third season renewal meaning while that probably WILL be it i’ll have had two full seasons to cover by the time it’s over, and I went into Close Enough FULLY expecting it not to make it past season 1 as it’s long and harried production cycle lead me to belivie Time-Warner was just going to dump it on HBO Max and be done with it.. and to my utter and everlasting delight the opposite has happened: It didn’t just get renewed but it’s become one of HBO Max’s most popular shows, the flagship of it’s adult animation lineup, and been given THREE more seasons, two of which are coming very soon, and likely will get as many as it wants for the forseable future. 

The point is.. I went into covering Ducktales expecting at least one more season and genuinely not knowing if i’d make it thorugh covering this one, and once this started to really work out for me, to the point from doubting i’d EVER be able to set up a Patreon to having one that nets me ten dollars a month, feel free to contribute if you enjoy these reviews even a buck a month helps, honest. Plus thanks to that ten bucks a month i’ll be covering the five part 87 Ducktales pilot in April and if you get it up to ten i’ll cover super ducktales. But I wouldn’t even had one without these reviews giving me something to start with, and I figured they’d be around for a few more years, at least one more season. I didn’t think the show would just.. end with this season and while the season IS a proper final season of the show, wrapping up arcs, introducing long overdue cast additions, giving us the biggest and best overarching plot thus far.. a good final season dosen’t make it hurt any less. But as a wise Synthizoid once said...

It hurts it’s going.. I wasn’t prepared for it.. but it’s giving us one hell of a last act, and if this episode is any indication, just because the end is in sight dosen’t mean the last few eps before the finale are phoning it in. This is the end... so now i’ve got my emotional stuff and the weight behind it out of the way, for now i’m defintely going to be bawling come the finale and I’m not ashamed, we can dive into the begining of the end. Counting down.. because really when else am I going to get to use this...

We’re at four and under the cut it’s beaks in the shell. Let’s get dangerous. 

We open with a crime in progress as Gandra is stealing a thing for FOWL and Fenton has shown up on the scene to stop her as you’d expect.. along with Huey the boy wonder! He’s finally Fenton’s Sidekick!

Seriously it’s just so sweet to see this little payoff, to see Huey, after talking about it and clearly wanting to assit Fenton however he can, actually participate. Granted he dosen’t have an armor, yet, of his own, but still he’s been through enough stuff to be helpful> plus, Gyro’s reaction to Fenton trying to ge the resources for another gizmosuit was...

Gandra trips up his wheel, and im with 87 Scrooge in Ducktales Remastered, which I finally got to play recently! Horay!, what WAS gyro thinking with that design. Regardless she gets away, and our heroes return the loot off screen. Good day’s crime fighting. 

Except something’s off with Fenton as he’s been working extra late lately and lying to both Gyro and Ma’Ma about it with both suspcious, Gyro because he dosen’t like not knowing things and especially not knowing what his former intern’s up to because he’s a bit of a control freak.. and because he probably can’t go visit his new clone farm and work on speeding up the process of his replacement bodies after moonvasion used em all up without Fenton finding out as he’d tell Scrooge and Scrooge would be like “Stop playing God in ways that could get me a steep fine!”. It’d be a whole thing. The fact Fenton’s also using their now shared intern in Manny and neither is telling him why probably isn’t helping and i’ts only that workplace harassment seminar that keeps him from trying to strangle either of them again. That and Manny dosen’t have a neck.

Ma’Ma is more upset that not only is he lying to her again, more on that later, but .. that she’s figured out he has a new girlfriend and understandably thinks there’s some dark reason he’s not telling her, and unlike Gyro turns out she’s two for two. I mean she is a detective while Gyro is more worried about his clone army, his man horse and his robot son. I mean the last two are valid but still Mama just has to worry about her job and her socially awkward adult son. She has more time to focus on this.

But yes, not only is Fenton seeing someone.. but it’s Gandra again. A bit abrubt but honestly this isn’t the first Fenton episode to move his life fast.. and frankly i’m more lenient on final seasons, or seasons INTENDED to be the last ones in terms of offscreen stuff, as your trying to get everything you can wrapped up in the span of 13-24 episodes depending on how lucky you get, if not less. Sometimes you just gotta use a reveal and some exposition to hurry things along and if presented right it works.. and here it is a while the summary for this episode spoiled the reveal, i’ts still subtly dramatic that not only has hef ully forgiven her.. but their together.. despite the fact she still works for fowl. Wuh-oh.  After the credits we get an idea of what their working on, as Fenton used the gizmoduck suit to enter some kind of VR scape. This is the Gizmoscape! It’s a vast virtual reality landscape.. that looks like a fancy version of the VR Interface from community. Marble pillars, flowing water falls. Though ironically enough Jim Rash’s character is NOT a part of it and despite Fenton suggesting letting him in to help with their glitch problem she’s reluctant as it’s THEIR baby and she wants it to be perfect first before they allow other people in. Though i’m also sure part of it is that Gyro would start screaming JESUS WEPT! over and over. 

Meanwhile Mark Beaks is having a big flashy press confrence to announce the new Waddlephone. Only a 50% chance of exploding! And that’s not my dig at Samsung but the shows as that’s really Beaks sales pitch. Unsuprisingly only one VERY bored looking nerd is there at the confrence. As for why he’s finally fallen so low part of it is explalined in the episode: His attempted thefts of the Gizmoduck suit have gotten stale. As the bored nerd puts it he’s tried to steal it four times already, two that we’ve seen but i’m VERY unsuprised he’s tried again off screen. He’s made it PAINFULLY clear he has no ideas of his own, constantly steals them, and the public’s tired of it. As for why it took THIS LONG.. this is sadly realistic. As the throngs of “hardcore gamers” defending Cyberpunk 2077 before it was released can attest to, internet nerd culture can often be toxic, stupid and defend big personalities even when they’ve CLEARLY done something terrible as long as their doing something they like. Beaks was clearly pilfering enough good products and doing enough antics on social media to still be liked and for them to ignore his blanat and douchey crimes and had enough money on him during said crimes to walk away from it. 

Problem is.. while people can be awful and defend someone despite them not deserving their loyality, being a douche in public and doing VERY terrible things.. you have to have something to earn that loyalty. Waddle had that at first iwth project ta-dah, Waddleduck, various aps i’m sure... but it’s clear from context by this point Beaks has nothing left and no cult of personality to insulate him. Unlike say Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos he dosen’t HAVE some big product to mask his shadier wealth hoarding actions, he just has rampat supervilian attempts to steal someone else’s power armor and a hired hyjacking to get back at his cold unloving mother. Even when he does supervillian stuff like that.. he can’t be bothered to do it originally. The public will, and very sadly, defend you from terrible stuff, we’ve seen it with people supproting Gina Carano even though she’s actively spreading harmful disnfermation and then had the GALL to compare herself to jews hiding from the nazis, and one journalist trying to defend her had the gall to compare this to the hollywood blacklisting if the 50′s instead of you know, someone who woudln’t shut up about harmful dangerous shit finally getting fired for using teh platform said job provided to spread said harmful dangerous shit about masks and the vacine. But if you have nothing to offer.. thieri just going to forget you and move on. He has nothing to offer so they’ll gladly gravitate to some other jackass who can at leasat given them a neat phone instead of trying to steal a superhero suit for the 8th time. Mark realizes if he can’t steal something soon.. he’ll be forced to go with the Nuclear option: MAKE SOMETHING HIMSELF. 

Back at Fenton’s toilet lab, Huey finds Fenton having some cyber makeouts with Gandra... which translates to him kissing the air and Huey feeling evne more awarkd than usual. As for why Huey’s here despite it being late, he got a piece of Gandra’s nanotech during the robbery and figures they can track her. Fenton is.. less than enthused about that for obvious reasons but things soon get worse for our hero as our other hero notices the linkup. And while sidekicks are a good thing in my eyes; They allow young heroes to get proper training, help nuture their talents and prevent assholes from telling them to stop it instead of you know helping them. It’s.. a more common trope than you think let me tell you. 

But Fenton’s discovered the Downside is they can show up anytime, want to hunt your criminal girlfriend down not knowing the full story, and if their a genius like you, figure out what your up to with no effort and really want to try it. Seriously Huey’s almost as smart as you Fenton and will no doubt surpass you one day, this was a matter of when not if and you shouldv’e been more prepared. But Huey wants to try, and while Fenton tries deflecting since he only has the gizmoduck helmet and it only works for him now... Manny comes in with a bunch of vr rigs and Huey dives in.  Naturally, Huey soon running directly into Gandra dosne’t go great.. and given this is huey his natural instinct is to have a panic attack over his best friend, mentor and the only person besides maybe his family, boyfriend and girlfriend that really gets him possibly betraying him and his entire family. Gandra is of course mad Fenton invited someone in when she didn’t want that, and even more someone whose clearly not happy with her and will likely tell on them because that’s basic hue-man nature. 

Fenton explains he didn’t ask for this, so we get easily the best part of the episode: Gandra’s solution to the child having a mental breakdown.. is to summon a weighted blanket and throw it over him, which Huey mistakes for a trap and she explains helps with Anxiety.. and while he struggles.. it really does. Damn gotta get me one of those. Also while his Autisim remains vauge, likely on puprose, Huey having anxiety disorder, while obvious before, is now 100% confirmed. 

So now he’s calm, though his Anxiety meter shows he’s still not happy and Gandra doubts he’ll listen, Fenton can at least try and explain: The two have been seeing each other and working on this in secret.. but it has NOTHING to do with FOWL other than Gandra embezzling resoruces to make it happen. Gandra also explains why the project is so important to her and Fenton via her own backstory: Super Science is a dangerous, unrpedictable field and accidents happen a lot, and given people tend to hate what they don’t understand, hence why the X-Men founded their own island  after getting spat on one too many times, it often gets an unfair bad wrap.. and she shows she’s had to put up with this her whole life, making an intresting lazer thing as a kid that lost to a volcano and getting glared at for it accidently destroying said volcano. And as an adult due to her work’s dangerous and experimental nature, no one would take a chance on it and like many a super villian she had to experiment on herself. It’s also why she worked for Beaks last season and works with FOWL now, only supervillians with thier grandiose ambitions and lack of care for property damage would fund her. 

That’s part, at least, of why this is so very important to her: The Gizmoscap eprovides an invorment where scientests and others can experiment unabated, where the only limit is imagination and those glitches they keep having and any accident can be frozen , dragged and dropped away with no damage. There’s no risk but all the reward and they plan to give it out for free, to let the public use this and let the world grow from it. 

It also fills in a lot of Gandra’s character and gives weight to her last apperance: Her working with Beaks, while hypocritical, now has a tragic edge as he was simply the only one who’d fund her work. Her hatred of Fenton’s corprroate job and people like Scrooge.. is that in general billionares like him usually aren’t good people, and even SCrooge has his clear faults, and she assumed he was just making Fenton shut up and do things just to beniefit him and make him more money.. when Scrooge was instaead paying him to do a genuine public service as gizmoduck, and gives him and Gyro a LOT of leway and a pretty bottomless budget and only turns things down if their way too dangeorus for public release. The tragedy here is if she’d gone to Scrooge.. she never would’ve had to work for FOWL. He wouldd’ve genuinely supported her and likely given her a full ride and a spot in the lab of her own, maybe as an intern but probably on her own merit given how game changing her tech is and how he of all people understands a ballance of risk and reward. It turns her from a very hypcoriticla techie who works with the very people she scorns.. to someone who has no choice and desperatley wants out.  And this is her way out: something new and bold that’, while not hers alone as Fenton co created it, could change the world and make it safe for people like her to do what they do without ridcule, scorn or risk. It’s everything she could’ve dreamed of and more and once it’s done she promises to leave fowl and as the end of the episode bares out, and as her tone makes clear, she’s genuine about it. She also TRULY does love fenton and vice versa and both are desspearte for Huey to keep a lid on things from Gyro till it’s ready, as she rightfully worries if it gets out unfisnished they’ll just be mocked agian.  Naturally being a good soft boy Huey is now entirely on board, because he loves science, and he loves love and this is both. And frankly given what we saw way back in Astro BOYD... .he knows more than anyone what its like to be laughed at and mocked for being diffrent and simply being smart. And even though his family lvoes him.. only one member is as smart as him in the same way, his mom whose still a very diffrent person, and it wasn’t till this season he really got to connect with people his own age like him. And both Violet and BOYD could benifit form this.. everyone could. So he’ll keep it secret for now.  This proves problematic as both Gyro AND Mama are there and both have questions. And while Huey ducks gyro, Mama.. interrogates a small child who she’s defintely met and likely knows has anxiety over something as trivial as her son having a secret girlfrined. You.. you guys might’ve wanted to remove this bit given last year. I”m just saying. Does not play well. The most Huey can come up with is a girlfriend in Canada which fenton plays along with... but given neither her nor gyro are really buying into things, though Mama has a check done on seamstresses in canada just in case because this bit was clearly written years ago and not rerecorded for whatever reason, Huey uses little bulb to fake a gizmo emergency so Fenton can get out of there, go home and work on this himself while Huey stalls and lies. But since his best on the fly lie was “a girlfriend in canada”, which is somehow worse than “who’s Dewey”, and while our boy is many things: excellent at opera, a good friend, a wonderful wingman, excellent at setting a mood, a good son, great at panic attacks, a genius, an expert woodchuck, knowledgeble on quantum mechanics.. the list goes on lying is not one of those things and he seems to be in a pickle. 

Meanwhile Mark is struggling to create, can relate, because he’s entirely creatively sterile. And that’s probably why out of Scrooge’s foes.. he stopped being a threat. He has no vision. And while true the Beagle BOys also don’t besides steal stuff and maybe get our deed back, that’s by design as Ma knows they can’t take scrooge or gizmoduck so why cry. Stick to petty crimes and stuff he isn’t aware of or dosen’t care about. But Magica and Glomgold do. Magica is cunning, if not subtle, and manipulative and when on full blast horrifyingly powerful, and it took everything Clan McDuck had to stop her at full, and she still nearly won without any powers when she came back, and even if Lena can keep her in check now, she still GOT her powers back and got her new arch enemy to defeat her old one. Glomgold while only slightly more comipitent than beaks, and even then VERY slightly, he at least has vision. His schemes are entirely stupid.. but he dosen’t stop coming up with them. They may be his first draft but damn if they aren’t entertaining and damn if one or two haven’t WORKED. Simply stealing a few cents from scrooge and gaslighting him in a devil costume NEARLY drove him insane and cost him his fortune.  Beaks.. has no ideas. He has ambiation.. but it’s to steal the same tech that even if he got it, he woudln’t know what to do with. The ONLY time he’s been a full on threat has been using someone else’s scheme, that Gandra clearly came up with and STILL required piggybacking on the gizmo suit. He has nothing and while it was fine for a while.. eventually h’es left iwth nothing. Glomgold at least has money, magica at least has power... Beaks HAD both.. but had no idea what to properly do with it and now is on his last legs. Even his idea for a coffee cups with aps is taken because of course “even the dumbest ideas are taken”, this is america. Making dumb shit for rich morons is our primary export. But he sees the fleeing fenton, has a breakdown and declares FINE if that’s what fate wants i’ll steal the armor I’LL STEAL THE ARMOR ALL DAY. 

So Fenton heads home to recharge in both senses of the word, and to tell Gandra the timetable’s moved and Huey can hold them only so long. And he seems to be wrong as Huey confidently prepares to answer their questions.. but is seemingly thrown when we get the real reason Mama is so upset: She’s just worried and still a bit hurt from Fenton not feeling he could tell her he was gizmoduck and it breaks her heart that her son feels he has to hide from her again. However while this is genuinely sad and emotional.. the reason he’s thrown is it’s NOT huey, but Louie, whose a bit miffed as he DIDN’T know Fenton was Gizmoduck, and can’t properly bullshit without full info. it’s also really nice that bit FINALLY came up as the rest of the four main kids have known for a while now. But Huey convincnes him to do it.. for 6 months allowance. Frankly the real shocker here is that they actually GET an allowance. 

However Mama.. is again a cop. One who REALLY needs to rethink her ethics.. but a cop, and the best one on the force, and thus has easily guessed this is not Huey, and given she’s probably ran into his schemes before, figures out which one he’d bring in to buffer for him and easily gets rid of Louie by asking him to tur informant on himself, since the REAL Huey would under pressure and Louie instead flees in terror not wanting to get arrested and leaves both the lab and the episode. Though I’m pretty sure i know where he went

So yeah things are not great and only get worse, as Mark breaks into fentons house via the open window and upon finding out abotu the Gizmoscape naturally plans to hack into it and take it for himself. Before he does Fenton talks to Gandra and admits they may have to let other people in and we get another reason: She’s worried she’s not good enough. He reassures her.. and this tender moment is interupted by Beaks who imprisons them, hyjacks fenton’s security system aka a gizmo armor, and while still a creatively sterile douche, does have a decent if horrifically scummy way to profit all of this: use the open coloabreation concept to get the legal right to steal all this and say it’s his. 

Fenton bemaons the fact that Gandra was right, one bad apple spoiled the bunch and unveling it too qiuckly would’ve gone bad as she feared.. but Gandra’s grown and realizes Fenton was also right, and that they needed more people. While the wrong people can ruin a project, collaboration can help, finding perspectives you didn’t see and helping fine tune ideas. Huey, whose collapsed at Fenton’s due to the exustion of lying, wakes up to find Beaks crimes and being unable to just unplug him, as while Beaks is VERY dumb, even he’s not THAT stupid. But Fenton gets out an SOS over morse to tell everyone So Huey does.. and the calvary arrives, as Huey enters the Gizmoscape with Mama and Gyro. And while Mama is pleased to realize she’s right about the girlfirend thing they don’t really have time for that, so once Huey explains the basic concept, he uses it himself to give himself GIZMO ARMOR. AT LAST. 

He also has extra long legs, because of course, just.. of course. Naturally Beaks steals it, and everyone else takes a stab at their own gizmotech armor: Mama daawns a stunning police themed one, Gyro goes for a bulb mecha based on the giant version of little bulb from the great dime chase, an idea brought up by LB, and Gandra goes for a sleek tron esque nanotech number. Beaks take sa bit from each and our heroes wonder how to beat him.. but Fenton realizes that’s simple: Beaks can only copy and steal... they can create. And Gandra uses this against him by pointing that out so he drops his super armor.. to look like Andross from Starfox.. which shows that EVEN when trying to come up with a cool final boss form... Beaks has to steal from something. The rest of the Gizmo Corps, my name for them I own that, Gizmo Legion would also be good, after Iron Man’s iron Legion, suit back up and kick beaks ass as a team. I smell second spinoff.. or first if darkwing ends up hyjacked by Seth Rogen.. who I have nothing agianst he’s just not the one who put in the work for a reboot. 

So our heroes win in an awesome sequence, seirously spinoff and Beaks is knocked the fuck out and presumibly will FINALLY go to jail for good to this as he can get away from a lot but directly breaking into an officer’s house and stalking her son, they can omit the gizmopart and even if Fenton went public.. no one would care and he and Mama can take care of htemselves, as can Huey, Gyro, Gandra and Manny, so it’s not like anyones in danger. Beaks is well and truly defeated: he has no idea, an imminet jail sentence, and no one to back him up. Fenton’s finally got the little boil off his back

So now the big fight is over, Gyro can actually process the Gizmoscape.. and is genuinely impressed.. he tries to hidei t because of course he does.. but it’s clear for someone who himself has constnatly been called crazy and had his ideas blow up.. this is paradise to him. a place where he won’t be judged and has unlimtied funds to experiment with his ideas without having to get yelled at when they destroy a city block or nearly choked to death by his own robot son, daughter or nonbinary person. He also easily fixes the problem and proves Fenton right for wanting to include him, as he points out they hadn’t been DELETING anything, simply downsizing it and it naturally caused stress on the server.  Fenton talks about Gandra and defneeds her to Mama.. whose just happy he’s happya nd someone can take her son. Alls well that ends well right. 

Final Thoughts:  So this was a... wait.. why are we cutting back to fowl.. why is bradford there. 

Yeah turns out megalmanoical diabolical msterminds kinda monitor their employees so he knew she intended to quit and stole resources, and while she plans to leave, he simply calls in a bunch of eggheads who overwhelm her with sheer numbers and has her fined two weeks pay.. and taken to the lost library to indefintely lock her up. What’s that she asks “You have your secrets, I have mine”

So yeah a bit of a downer ending

Actual Final Thoughts: 

This was an excellent capper to Fenton’s character arc. While the Gandra relationsihp is a bit rushed the rest is a masterful capper to his character arc: This episode shows off how he’s changed from EVERY one of his previous three focus episodes, while a major part of astro boyd and how he got his docterate it dosne’t quite contribute to his character arc,  and grown from them: From beware the buddy system! he’s learned to colaberate properly and taken his desire to WORK with other people, like he always did with Gyro but was constnatly shut out, and found a proper and brilliant way to that allows people like him, gyro, gandra and huey to really express themselvs. He’s grown from a niave rookie trusting the wrong people in who is gizmoduck.. to someone whose STILL fully trusting despite constant betryals, but now knows who to trust, and an experinced hero who once freed easily counters his nemisis.  And finally from Dangerous Chemistry, he’s finally got a ballance in his life: inastead of running from gizmo or treating his alter ego as something else.. he’s found a way to use the gizmotech for science, and FINALLY found his world changing invention one so good and so practical even his mentor, despite trying to walk it back, is genuinely proud of him and genuinely in awe.

Every step lead to his happy ending.. well okay his girlfriend still needs to be freed from her insane ex-boss, but that’s just a few episodes away. Fenton has everything he wanted when he started: his boss finally respects him and treats him as an equal, his mom not only knows who he is but is proud and supportive of him, he has a loving partner creatively and romantically.. and a best friend who while a good two decades younger, is there for him and who he genuinely apologizes too for putting so much on him. LIke all the endings so far this season.. it feels like a throughly satisfying end to the journey we’ve been following. This fits in nicely with Penny realizing earth could be her home and that she dosen’t have to constnatly fight to have a purpose, Lena finally accepting magic instead of running from it and thus gaining peace of mind and power to stop her former abuser from hurting anyone else, Goldie finally accepting how much she cars about Scrooge and his family and that she CAN change... all of this, except penny obviously has been built up through three seasons and while I DEFINTLY could see frank and matt returning to all of them.. i’ts nice to get some closure.  It feelsd earned and impressive. The episode is also.. REALLY fucking funny, from the weighted blanket gag to Beaks in general, to Huey yelling at fenton about Mama “She somehow broke Louie!”. It’s a masterful and throughly satisfying end to Fenton’s story. And again we’ll likely see him in the finale but character arc wise.. its a good place to end his. 

Next Week: FINALLY, AFTER 10,000 YEARS, IT’S THE TAILSPIN EPISODE. OWEEOOO, OWEEHHHH. 

Tommorow: We return to the noiry furry world of John Blacksad as everyone’s favorite panther detective battles white supremacists to find a missing girl and we’re introduced to your faviorite sidekick and mine Weekly. 

Later on this week: The Lena retrospective continues with Jaw$, we celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday, and I tackle the awful original tom and jerry movie. 

So if any of that tickles your fancy see you at the next rainbow

[stxrrywildflower]

WONDER || ONE

from germany to france to the states, it was always in the stars for you and tara

MASTERLIST -> PLOT EXPLANATION

meeting tara was something out of luck, though it felt like the universe was secretly rooting for you.

if one thing had changed, even something as small as your dad being late for army training one day, you would never have lived the life you were living.

it was such a strange sequence of events that it felt like if you were pinched, you would wake up, almost as if it was too good to be true.

you and tara held each other together, less like glue but more as yin and yang.

it was a balance, seeing each other in both your worst and best moments. without her, you couldn’t even fathom where you would be. she was your rock, and the same the other way around.

you would lay your life down for her if it came to it, and it did; only once and it was a close call, but you didn’t regret it for a second. tara always joked about being in ‘internal debt’ to you but you brushed it off.

did you love her? absolutely. though you weren’t quite sure if it was more platonic or in fact romantic.

that wasn’t something you realized during your teenage years when you were still young and naive. it carried into your adulthood; you often found yourself longing for the intoxicating presence tara had when she was around you.

any chance of a relationship had crumbled away as you grew apart. besides, you never really knew how tara felt either.

it was a blessing to have tara in your life, she was truly something special. if miracles did exist, tara certainly was one.

︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽︽

virginia, 1982

you were less then happy when your dad broke the news to you that you would be moving.

4,228 miles, that’s how far you would have to travel.

your dad got relocated to germany of all places. in just days you would be leaving your rural home in virginia and traveling to what you were told was an urban apartment right in the heart of berling.

moving away from home, flying eight hours, and leaving your friends for the forseable future felt like hell.

you wouldn’t know where to go, you wouldn’t know the language, and you wouldn’t even know anyone. you were six, almost seven, and barely knew anything past your basic education.

a week notice was given for you and your dad to pack up everything you would need for the move, your house and selling it would be taken care of by some agent assigned to you.

you got to say goodbye to your friends, childhood home, and virginia as a whole before you left for the airport. it did thankfully bring you some comfort.

germany was scary to say the least, it was full of unfamiliar people from both the airport and just those on the streets. sure most seemed friendly enough, but an eight hour flight you barely slept on wasn’t helping.

everything just felt wrong.

places were either too hot or too cold. the buildings in the city towered over you and everywhere you went, there was barely as much as a houseplant. the tallest thing you had to deal with in virginia was a telephone pole.

the usual serene sounds of your former home were replaced by a multitude of things; street vendors, conversations between groups of people, and cars. public transportation was big in the city, you had never been on so much as a bus.

your townhouse was even more different. three stories, four bedrooms, and even a slanted roof you could climb out of a window to sit on.

your room was even more simple. white walls, a full sized bed, and huge windows to view the streets below. your dad quickly reassured you that you could decorate it once you settled in.

but something was missing. it didn’t feel like home.

“i don’t like it here,” you admitted one day while unpacking with your dad.

your dad kneeled down to match your height. his hands moved up to rest on your shoulder. his mannerisms meant one thing, you were about to have a deep talk.

“i know you don’t y/n but trust me, you’re going to love it. you’re going to make a lot of new friends at your school and i’m sure of it. plus, there’s a few other military families here. we’re actually going to meet with one tonight,” your dad spoke. “do you remember me talking about mr. lewis back home?”

you nodded along, mind slowly rolling back to the stories your dad would tell you about his ‘companions’ as he worked with them during training. mr. lewis was always one of them.

you had never met the man, but from what you were told you gathered that him and your dad were close.

“well him and his family moved here as well, they live just down the block and have invited us over. can you do me a favor and go get ready?” you dad asked.

you headed to your room after that, picking out one of your favorite outfits from your half-unpacked suitcase. it sat in the corner of the room by itself, you weren’t ready to unpack it yet. unpacking meant the move was solidified.

despite your age, you were fairly self-sufficient; growing up with it being only you and your dad did that to you.

once dressed, you met your dad back in the main living room.

“y/n,” your dad greeted. “are you ready to go?”

“yes dad.”

as your dad adjusted his tie in one of the mirrors, you took a seat on the couch. the last thing you wanted to do right now was go out. meeting a mystery family in an unfamiliar state was one of the last things you wanted to do.

“i know you don’t want to be here y/n but i promise, this will be good for us,” your dad offered. “i still don’t like it,” you informed him. “and i’m not asking you to right away. just please try and be nice during dinner. that’s all i ask.”

you nodded at that, it was the least you could do.

“now come on, the lewis’ have invited us for dinner. and i know they have a daughter your age.”

[bookwyrminspiration]

hello hello its been a few days but i, the dream nonsie, am back! (also my name actually means "dream" irl 👀) personally, i think a silveny flavored popsicle would be cinnamon-y as u said, but also... sparkly? in a way? not- not like actual glitter, thats disgusting, but.. when u eat it it just *feels* magical. not sure if im making sense lol ^^ aww, glad my crazy dream made you happy! :D ask word limit is getting close so imma continue in another ask if thats okay with you! <3 1/?

hello!! welcome back--i gotta admit I was not expecting this, but it's so nice of you and I really appreciate it <33. I hope you don't mind me compiling this all into one post, that way it's just a little more organized. you're entirely welcome to send as many asks as you want, so don't worry about continuing in others! I don't mind at all!

1. oo that's a really cool name meaning!! I always think it's interesting to hear what other people's name mean, or they meanings they've chosen to associate with them (as some have more that one). Quil doesn't really have a meaning, so I love hearing others'!! The only thing I miss about my dead name is the meaning, tbh, because it was pretty !!

also, I can totally imagine the cinnamon/sparkly popsicle. when you say that I immediately think of sparkling water for some reason, like it's not a taste it's a feeling. you put it in your mouth and it's an experience. you're wild dream was probably the highlight of my day!! something about it just stood out and I kept coming back to think about it. long silveny popsicles can do that to you, i guess

2. oopsie! my bad! when someone says writing I usually just default to the wings au, because that's the writing most people know me for. but!! i'm glad you like all the analyses I've done! I don't think they'll be stopping anytime soon--it's like everytime I answer an ask I get two more, which means there will be a steady stream of them for the forseable future. I really enjoy doing them, so I love hearing that people enjoy reading them! they're mostly just me rambling until I find a pattern or connection to latch onto, and then I build from there. and depending on the ask I might grab a book from my shelf to reference something if needed

also: thank you! The wings au is a pretty big project I've wanted to take on for a while, so it's absolutely thrilling to see people interact with it and talk about it--even if they haven't read it. There's absolutely no pressure on you to read it, just so you know! Honestly sometimes baffles me that I've gotten fanart and so many asks and comments on it, enough so that people who haven't read it still know what it is. like?? my wings au?? silly little idea I had all because of one stray thought one day?

as for writing it while taking college classes: yes! that's what I've been doing! I think i've had a combined total of like three weeks of break since January (i don't get summer), but aside from that i've had four or five classes while writing the au. Actually was taking an A&P class (which are notoriously difficult, even more so on summer schedule) this summer while working on it, which was wild. But a lot of the excited comments and theories and general interaction helped motivate me to keep going.

3. it's not dissapointing at all! I don't expect for anyone to read it, it's not something you have to do in order to interact with me and the stuff on my blog. it's just something I happen to be doing so if you like it you're welcome to engage with it! I actually don't read fanfic very often either, which may be surprising as I write it. Occasionally I binge a bunch of fics in a certain ship when I'm in the mood, but that's only once every few months. Ships just don't hold huge appeal for me, so I don't find a lot of fic that interests me. Also wow! mine was one of the first you've heard of?? that's a huge accomplishment to me, thank you! Where did you hear about it? I honestly don't know where people find my au, so I'm curious.

speaking of reading fanfic, Nattie's (theunmappedstar) fic is one of the few I've read! I haven't talked to them in a while, but they're very accomplished and it's an honor to be considered alongside them in terms of writing!

as for committing to mine, feel free to take your time! no rush! it's always going to be there! although I will say it does just keep getting longer, so be prepared for that. I update every two weeks on sunday, so you've got time. if you do read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts. truly, comments and just hearing what people think are the best motivation. it also enriches the story! I never know what's going to stick out to people or what they'll remember, so hearing from people gives me ideas for scenes in the future! I have a general idea of where this au is heading, but a lot of the details have been impacted by theories and comments. You absolutely don't have to though, just if you'd like I'd love to hear

4. thank you so much <33. I'd love to get back more into traditional art, as i've been focusing on digital recently. I just love how watercolors look! I actually have a few art requests from an embarrasingly long time ago (April) that I'd like to do in a traditional style. I also just haven't posted as much art recently, so I'd love to get back into that. Coloring and lighting were mostly me just winging it, trying to imagine a few colors that would look nice next to each other and then just going for it. Also, i cant even count how many times I would accidentally switch up the light source in in the middle of a piece. I actually took an art class a few semesters ago, so I have leftover supplies from that I could use for some keeper pieces! I've had a few ideas, so hopefully your encouragement can help me get back into that <33

the writer and artist thing: thank you!! both writing and art are interests of mine, so it's so cool to get recognized for both!! I remember when I started posting art I was doing it as a "I'll do this for now until I get to the writing" thing and then i accidentally became fairly well-known as an fanartist and i was just there like wait a minute this wasn't supposed to happen. But I love it!! I love doing fanart and I'd love to do more. But I also love writing! i have some ideas for aus and other one shots I'd like to do when the wings au is done, not that I'm trying to hurry that along. I thoroughly enjoy working on the wings au, and i'm not in any rush to get through it.

and don't worry, you have nothing to apologize for!! i'm glad you feel comfortable talking to me! You don't need to be concise or anything, you're welcome to take up as much space and use as many words as you'd like. I think it'd be a little hypocritical if i didn't believe that, considering how long my responses to the asks i get are (partially why they sometimes take a bit to answer). it was very much so a fun read!! I really appreciate you and wasn't even sure how to respond to everything in a way that conveyed that. I absolutely blown away by how genuine and sweet you are

i really loved this ask, and I've reread it several times because it's just so kind. thank you so much <33

[lolwhy-tho]

I wonder if I had stayed in Tennessee would things be different or would you have still grown apart from me? I wonder about that a lot to be honest. Some days recently I’ve found myself actually dissociating. Not the bullshit I did in high school where I said it just to relate. Some days I never know if I’m awake or not and I have to ground myself with something. Today was really bad in fact. I couldn’t ground myself all day and this is my last ditch effort. Sometimes you disappear for long periods of a time. I wonder where you go. How you think. Are you okay? But see that’s the problem with me is I only care about other people. I can’t seem to sit down and focus on myself. I’ve been so in love with you for 6 years now the days go by so slow, now that we aren’t we anymore. I feel myself floating. Meaningless conversations with random women on tinder that’ll never go anywhere because I never want it to. Meaningless comments on YouTube videos or insta posts. Just for some sort of connection. I think it’s become destructive what I’m doing. Possibly making myself dissociate more and more. Sometimes I stand in the shower in silence with my head under the water so I can’t hear anything but the sound of water. I touch myself in the shower and nothing feels right. My legs feel like someone else’s. My hands feel like a mans but not mine. The only happiness I can seem to find is from masterbation and that only lasts a second. And then it’s gone and I’m thrown right back into a dissociative state or just simply numb. I don’t wanna die. I’m not suicidal. But I feel nothing. I miss the times you smiled at me. That time you peaked around the corner saying hi all cute and stuff. Hands covering your mouth mad at me for filming you. All the times you yelled at me for keeping the seat up? God I never learned. The time you wrote “I love you” on the snow that sat on the hood of my car? The time we took a picture of our footprints together 10 hours before you broke up with me? I’m not angry. I’m just lost. And I think I’ll get better maybe but for now and for the forseable future I’m looking for you in everything I do and there’s nothing there. I miss you.

[sofarkrakow]

23rd edition #GiveAHome - September 20th, 2017

Sofar Sounds and Amnesty International teamed up for a greater cause- to raise awareness of the refugees cricis.  Secret gigs named #GiveAHome took place in over 60 cities around the world with performances of such big names as The National, Nigel Godrich and much more. As for Krakow, we took a chance on inviting such artists whom we know they are simply great at what they do. And by all means they were.

The event was held in a beautiful flat in one of Cracovian districts. Autumn started taking control over the Southern part of Poland, and the rain was pouring down all day long. Despite  bad weather we kept our good spirits so necessary to be ready for action. The first artist to perform that evening was Ed Carlsen, Danish modern classical and ambient artist and composer, backed by a prestigous string quartet Dobry Ton.  At the beginning, Ed recalled the previous time he played at Sofar Sounds Krakow, jokingly mistook Warsaw for Krakow saying he was in Warsaw recently and introduced himself as Ed “not Sheeran”. Beautiful sounds filled the room with magic and created a special climate of warmth, closeness and kindness to one another. It was like the touch of Spring at the end of cold Winter days (that, supposedly, are yet to come later this year to Poland). Ed performed three songs of his 2016 album The Journey Tapes - Close, Rain and Loose - as well as one song from his new album Elusive Frames and one of his older songs. People were clearly moved by the music.

After Ed's concert all of the audience were asked to stay in the room and the representative of Amnesty International's Cracovian agency stood up to tell the story of our special guest – a girl named Batul, who is a refugee from Aleppo. She fled from the war and left her family. At the moment she is studying in Bratislava, but it took her a lot of time. At first she spent a day at the sea, when she was at a boat with, presumably, other refugees. Then she travelled by a bus, a train, and by a car. But mostly on foot. She didn't want to stay in Turkey for some unknown reasons, and were held in a prison twice. When depicting her journey, she frequently used Czechoslovakia, name of a former country which peacefuly dissoluted into Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, so it was hard to tell whether it was the Czech prison or the Slovakian one. When in prison, she decided to go on a hunger strike twice. The first strike lasted for 10 days, the second for 25 days and it left her feeling weak and depressed. After the first strike, she was brought to a court when she was ruled a terrorist because she was a muslim.  A month later she was brought to a second court where a human right organization helped her. She recalled with some kind of a giggle that there were no clothes or even underwear at the prison and at the second strike she also demanded giving her clean clothes or at least to launder the ones she was wearing. She also told she was very sad because of no connection to her family. As for now, she decided to stay in Bratislava to study and teach children Arabic. She considers moving to another country, but not returning to Aleppo, at least not when the Bashar al-Assad's regime still rules the country.

After the touching story of Batul and ten minutes break, a “sad techno” band SALK played their gig, starting with, as the vocalist Marcela Rybska said, half sad, half jolly song Alien. She also said the setlist for that concert was carefully set and the whole band chose songs with topics related to that particular event. Once again SALK charmed the audience with their unique sounds and songs like Taiga  (My Taiga brother/ I found another family/but still the same sky above us), Latarnik about a lighthouse keeper and a house that went out a thousand times, and Sen Zofii about the dream of the vocalist's mother in which she can't recall the path to home. At the end of the song the emotions took control over the vocalist and she cried a little bit. It was a stunning and wonderful concert.

The last to perform were Lor, an all-girl quartet playing amazing, rather folkish, alternative and melancholy songs. These young girls are still in school, and yet they can compose magnificent and skillfully written tunes as though they were doing it for years. They have the talent, the feeling and a remarkable singer Jagoda Kudlińska, whose voice is a reminder of Aurora Aksnes from Norway. And, likely, they have one of the best lyricist of their, so to say, generation – Paulina Sumera – whose mature and well written English lyrics evoke many topics including the need of helping one another. At the event they played Keaton written when Sumera was filled with emotions hard to describe, Cinnamon about the need of being a better person for the sake of oneself and the world, or Bonum (latin for good) about which Sumera jokingly said that it can describe Lor's concerts. The girls created almost spirited atmosphere and everyone left the venue uplifted and more caring about the world's problems. The event was successful and one can hope it would have a positive effects in the more or less forseable future.