#I WAS REWATCHING GRAVITY FALLS AND IN THE MIDDLE OF IT I WAS LIKE 'man... this is so awesome but now i kinda also wanna watch amphibia'

[boobchuy]

does it ever mess you up at like how good they implemented sasha's personality before she had any kind of actual screentime? like, you'd think she and marcy were ONLY Bad Friends with how anne seemed to confess how theyd made her do things she didnt wanna do, and that the 'good times' she was talking about was just her making excuses. but by the end of best fronds, you have grime showing sasha anne's shoe. 'now we know that you've been lying to us'

and it makes you think. HUH. maybe she does care. and its just uuueiuruuwuuwueuuwehuauueuuh

[chainsawsangel]

us against the world, just me and you!!

Frank & Willa, Gravity Falls OCs. Commission done by @minilev.

-

I LOVEEEEE how this turned out, oh my GOD!!! I started rewatching Gravity Falls for the trillionth time (as one does) and wounded up creating the two OCs above, Frank and Willa: a couple within Gravity Falls.

I've ADORED them ever since and knew I wanted to get a commission of them thus I asked @minilev for one and they CERTAINLY delivered the vibes of these two and.....I JUST ADORE HOW IT TURNED OUT, THIS LOOKS SO GOOD AND SO AMAZING, SO CUTEE!!! AHHHH!! can't thank minilev enough.

AHHH, THEM!

(below is a little dynamic lore on how their relationship started and a bit of lore on what they're like as characters):

Frank is middle aged, 40 something almost pushing his 50s year old man. He’s on the lookout for a job and Gravity Falls seems to have a spot for him down by the Roadkill County Sheriff's Department. He keeps to himself most times, tries to stay out of the way and….likes his coffee! Some people within Gravity Falls think he’s “off-putting” in terms of his demeanor, he doesn’t smile much and people think he’s gotta have some light in his life. For a moment, it seemed as though that light wouldn’t come….until Willa came along. 

Willa is a younger woman who’s familiar with the town as she work over by the mystery shack. She’s a SWEETHEART who’s also fascinated with cryptics and weird histories. Some people find her weird when it comes to her obsession with that stuff but, she doesn’t mind! Who cares, she can like what she wants. When Frank first sees Willa, he’s already hooked and that light is on in an instant within that smile of hers. 

The two quickly get along and both wind up getting caught up in the crazy antics of Gravity Falls with the Pines Twins and their Grunkle Stan. They also wind forming a love that stands the test of time within the town and….they couldn’t be happier.

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

I saw the ask game by chance so ofc I'm asking for 🩰, 💎, and 🍿. I simply must know more about the lore.

T^T the in the middle of rewatching one piece serotonin boost that is necessary because our man is really going through it rn, thanks cy jdfngkfjgn

🩰 — who is the better dancer?

me. ace gets points taken off because sometimes his narcolepsy triggers and we go falling wherever gravity takes us

💎 — if you and your f/o were in a fake relationship/marriage, who do you think would lose at falling in love first?

i had to go and consult a non-ace simp friend for this one (lmao thank you, hash fjdnfksdjfn) so we're just gonna put their answer here instead lmaoooo

so final answer is that we're gonna say it's ace

🍿 — your perception of them and their perception of you?

me: i think of ace as the sun, original i know. but it is the best thing to describe him, he's both aspects of the sun from the scorch and unforgiving to the warm and gentle. everyone gravitates towards him because of it, myself included. it's a light i don't want anyone putting out, himself included. i think he's someone i was born to love, a beautiful person inside and very much out

ace: he thinks that i'm strong, dependable and someone he trusts with his life (and maybe that he doesn't really deserve me but that's the self hatred talking). but he is also worries about that trust he has in being reliable because it's so easy to trust me when i say things like 'i'm fine' because in the past it was proven i'd say that even if i wasn't. but at the end of the day he considers me a safe space that he gravitates towards like the tide chasing after the moon

(a very stark contrast to how in our first few months of knowing each other as kids, he thought i was annoying and incapable of shutting up lmao)

selfship game

[lovevalley45]

the gravity falls hype has gotten me into a rewatch and while it’s fine to notice lil clues and easter eggs i didn’t pick up on watching like. as a child (middle school) i also died bc old man macguckett showed up n all i could think of was that post like “why was there one bed in the bunker” and someone replying like. well his name. was fiddleford

[saragrekey]

I’m rewatching the Owl House and oh my god it’s so good. When I first watched it, I was pulling an all nighter working on a painting for class so like even though I loved it, I straight up could not remember anything that happened 😭 So it’s borderline a first watch cause I’m still surprised by things lol.

Still, out of the DTVA trio, it’s my least fav, probably bc I just consumed every piece of witch media when I was in middle school that now I’m a little over it 😭😭.

I don’t know between Gravity Falls and Amphibia which is my favorite anymore tho!! I watched GF when it aired and it’s been my favorite piece of media ever for what, 11 years? But watching Amphibia this summer, I stg changed my life. I’ve not been this obsessed with something in a long time. I think especially bc I can relate to the calamity trio and their dynamic more than anything out of the three shows. It feels very personal to me. This was supposed to be about TOH not Amphibia 😭😭

But really these three shows are so unbelievably excellent. Like just home run after home run, which is even more impressive when you think about how hard they had to fight disney for every cool thing in these shows.

Idk man, Matt Braly, Alex Hirsch, and Dana Terrace are all my icons, huge inspirations to me :D I hope I can make something some day that’s even half as amazing as these shows

Here’s a 30 second Eda doodle for reading this far ;)

[mysteriesofmarcy]

Today in my GF rewatch I watched Roadside Attraction. And I thought, "Isn't it weird that I initially liked this episode and everyone else hated it? I wonder why."

So I decided to dissect that very topic.

Now, if you've been following me for a while, you might know that I'm not usually the biggest fan of the real plot heavy episodes. My favorite episodes are the ones with a good mix of plot and character development. I do typically tend to like the straight character development episodes the least, mostly because they tend to feel out of place. And the plot heavy episodes are somewhere in the middle for me.

So why, then, did I like Roadside Attraction so much? I mean, it's a straight character development (or character derailment) episode, and it's by far the most out of place episode in Gravity Falls, and maybe in TV history.

I'll admit there were parts I really didn't like. And they're the same as the parts everybody else didn't like: the cave scene with Candy, Dipper, and all the other girls showing up being at the top of that list, with the scene of Stan admitting that he knows nothing about women being close behind.

But then there were the good parts. This episode was carried by the first act. For Dipper, who is awkward around girls, just talking with a few that he meets on a road trip is a good strategy to get over a former crush. And it's not like he meant anything by it; he was just having pleasant conversations and making new friends, that's all. Nothing wrong with that. And the very end of the first act, with Candy revealing her crush on Dipper, was a great setup.

Act 2 started strong by setting up Candy wanting to sit with Dipper and him being uncomfortable about the whole thing. Now we know Gravity Falls can handle a situation like this because they did it before in The Hand That Rocks the Mabel, and differently in The Love God.

But then Stan gave some horrible advice that Dipper should just accept Candy's offer of a date just to... have a date, I guess? And then the other girls he met at the other tourist stops all showed up in one place? And then they all turned on him and assumed he was into one of them? I mean, Stan was right that Dipper should not have seen any of those girls again. At least, he should not have seen them all at once. And even if they did show up all at once, C.S. Lewis' words come to mind:

(Eros, if you didn't know, is a Latin term for the romantic type of love.)

But none of that really answers the question.

Why did I like this episode if it has such major flaws?

And the answer is two words: Happy Dipper. Happy Dipper is a rare sight to behold. Happy Dipper gives LIFE to any episode he's in. Happy Dipper takes charge of his own life and gets what he wants, not by making overcomplicated listy things or raising the dead or whatever, but by living in the moment. And as he said in the hot tub scene, he had "one of the best days ever!"

So when did Happy Dipper show his face?

In the man cave hot tub (OK, that was Destructor)

In the multibear's cave

After the party in Double Dipper (OK, this one was only written about in the journal)

Putting the bandage on Mabel's elbow on Summerween

Chatting with Wendy while leaving the pool

Having a sleepover with Mabel in their old room

Leaping into the Gideon-bot

Singing the chorus to T8king Over Midnight

Watching movies with Wendy

Encouraging Mabel on the mini golf course

Encouraging Soos in his dating life and on his birthday

The majority of Abaconings!

The Northwest Mansion after midnight

Playing with fireworks and water balloons the next morning

Playing DDAMD with Ford

At his birthday party

And of course, the hot tub at Septic Ridge

Happy Dipper is Good Dipper. That is all.

[thelegendofmrrager]

I miss gravity falls like.... television shoulda just ended after gravity falls was over. nothing's gonna top that

[robintheredwonder]

Helluva Thoughts after EP 2

Might as well post those bc I wrote a lot

Spoilers underneath the ‘read more’ !

From the start Stolas' wife [Stella] seems to not be too 'happy' with having to get up to tend to Octavia. I'll pass this off as her being tired [bc a child screaming in the middle of the night isn't a pleasure] but it also makes me think things started being bad for a while now. I'd also say it's supported by Octavia dreaming that only Stolas was gone, as well as her only having a drawing of him and her in her bedroom. UPDATE-- she also only has a photo of her and Stolas in her room. Stella is definitely not that involved in my mind now.

'I used to think love would be fun' in Stolas' song makes me 100% sure smth started happening early honestly. Even if they were in a forced marriage, it feels like he did try to make it work, maybe, only up until he realized it wouldn't.

'Now all my stories have been told, except for one' makes me sad to be honest. He's sure there's nothing more to his life at this point but his daughter. His daughter is the only important thing for him now.

Anyways Stolas best dad award

On my first watch I felt bad for Stella thinking she was so upset bc Stolas is cheating-- Rewatching it makes me feel like she's upset mostly because it's an imp he chose out of everything, much rather than the fact that he isn't fixing their relationship or working on it.

It's kind of obvious Stolas grew apart from his daughter but I also think he is trying his best. Given what Octavia says later on in the episode, it makes me think he did kind of not realize how much his fights affected her and, with how eager he was to get out, that he was avoiding the family all-together at times.

Stolas' swear words get mostly censored, while other characters' don't. With his line about naughty language it makes me think he censors himself on purpose. Octavia is eating Robo Fizz cereal-- Fun detail but also if Stolas is the one doing the groceries oh man.

Blitzo calls Millie and Moxxie 'M&M' which is their fandom ship-name. Thank you vivzie >:3

I don't know why but the fact that Blitzo doesn't even reach Stolas' waist is very funny to me

Somehow Moxxie being a helicopter mom doesn't shock me

The posters on the wall eye-- 'Does lulu world have a sexy robot?' 'Not lulu world stop sending complains' 'Stop asking' 'Everyone is so mean to me' 'I'd never do that to my bff Lucifer'

This park is just a big reference to the goofy movie ngl-- From Looloo's 'ahyuk ahyuk ahyuk' to the fact that the dad is thrilled while the kid isn't to other mirrored scenes-- good kush

The more I watch this the more I realize the worst thing hell brings you- Capitalism.

Blitzo being a clown previously is so funny to me-- But also it kind of makes sense, in a way? I thought he'd only have a show with his sisters but it makes more sense that he'd be the circus clown. Also makes me wonder if his relationship with his family isn't so good given they were all in the circus but he seems to detest even thinking about it. HOWEVER, he also has a poster of his show with his sisters-- Perhaps there's more to it than I think.

I find it so fucking funny that Robo Fizz copies Charlie's song-- Just further shows that Loo Loo land copies EVERYTHING Lucifer does huh. Speaking of which, they also have an apple mascot-- Didn't Lucifer love apples in this show??

'I don't know what that thing is but I want that thing' - Gravity Falls reference to Wendy and Dipper in Season 1. Vivzie do you have a ship to confess? [Now that I think of it, Moxxie does remind me of Dipper]

This is just me pondering but we see Blitzo purring while here Moxxie is hissing. Can different imps do different things? Are they based off of different animals?

'Does anybody love you, Blitzo?' I know this is meant as a joke but it lowkey hits hard, especially if he doesn't speak to his family anymore.

Stolas' hat changes with his emotions and I think that's really cool tbh

'But home doesn't even feel like home anymore' hits hard honestly. Octavia didn't choose to be in this household, nor did she choose to live with a dysfunctional family. I can't blame her for blaming her dad, even if Stolas deeply cares. It's obvious Stella is angry and that's probably reflecting on her also, not to mention the fact that she has to see her father fall in love; Even if Stella and Stolas never quite got along, she probably still saw the two of them as in love when she was younger and didn't think it's possible for them to fall out of it.

Stolas being unable to finish his sentences makes me think he wants to speak to her about how he feels, but doesn't want to break her heart.

I knew stolas was powerful but motherfucker can turn imps into stone-- Holy shit.

Are we just gonna ignore the fact that Millie got kidnapped--

[spongebob-connoisseur]

sorry you got covid i hope you and your family get better soon my mom and older sister got tested positive just today while me and my other older sister got tested negative but we are taking another test again tomorrow just to be sure hopefully it is the same as today and currently we are staying at my dad's house now anyways i hope you guys feel better soon <3 unrelated and less scary is favorite spongebob moments that made you smile?

Ohh hope your mom and older sister are doing okay! I hope you and your other sister didn't catch it.

I remember last year my cousins all got covid (all 6 kids) they all got better which makes me feel better about it because one of them is also immunocompromised like me. Idk I had this whole panic thing this morning about it xD but yeah.

Usually when it comes down to questions like that, I usually end up holding off because I wanna make SURE what moments to include and not forget anything but this time I'll go off the top of my head.

- all of season 1. Its such good vibes. I keep rewatching season 1 just because it makes me feel so happy. Every frame. Every little small detail. Idk why it just hits?? Just last night I was watching Ripped Pants. Every expression spongebob makes is so adorable. Even how he talks is so endearing. I wanna make a whole post about how SB talks in season 1 because I think its neat.

- the 2nd movie. I know you said specific moments but I love this movie a lot. While the 1st movie is an undeniable masterpiece. It's a lot more sad-nostalgic for me for some reason. It's like a lost happy memory you'll never feel again. Which some people like but I don't. The 2nd movie was so obscure and abstract. People didn't like it much for its obsurdity. It had to be meaningful™ like the first but to me it really was. Even in a small way. It brought me so much joy seeing it in theatres back when I wasn't feeling so well. And it still brings me a lot of joy.

- Modern episodes. I know people tend to detest modern spongebob's overactive joy in the later seasons. Especially paired with extreme expression. But something about it just clicks with me. Its so happy and obscure that it ends up being infectious to me.

Something about it just feels like having that smile dip from gravity falls. It's too happy and it ends up making me feel really happy too. Animated cocaine if you will.

- that Jellyfishing song from Spongebob's Last Stand. I hate the reggae part of the song tbh but the rest of it is that sort of over the top infectious amount of joy. I'd still sing along to it.

Tho my favorite favorite is Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke singing it together at a convention. Tbh I wish I could've seen that live. Oh well.

- mermaid man and barnacle boy song. I already posted a clip but Spongebob and Patrick singing it together. Oh gosh that's so much fun. The way they bounce along too while squidward is annoyed by their antics is so adorable. It also reminds me of when I first watched the episode and I was watching it during lunch hour at the school library and my friend dealing with me bouncing along to the song.

- pretty much whenever spongebob and patrick being friends. I know the middle seasons screwed up their relationship a bit but ignoring that. SB and Patrick have the cutest friendship ever!! Spongebob cares so much for patrick. Patrick absolutely adores spongebob. Sandy's voice actor called them "a friendship like true love" and I stick by that statement through and through.

- any moment with slappy laszlo. You know I had to mention my boy. He's so cute and huggable and unnerving. I love him!! And also because of him I also ended up loving Peter Lorre (the guy whom slappy is parodying)

Idk slappy comes off as so adorable. He hits that spot where he does things that's kinda uncomfortable but also just hilarous because he's just having fun doing his own thing and finds humor in people finding him a weirdo. I suspect slappy is somewhat self aware that he creeps people out and just does further to fuck with people. It makes it further amusing. He just matches my brand of humor too well.

Peter Lorre makes sense since he was pretty baby-faced in his early career. Also the first movie I seen him in Arsenic and Old Lace where he plays a very sheepish and cowardly plastic surgeon who makes whiny puppy noises was too cute. His creepy characters he was known for often come off as too adorable.

Also Slappy is just so huggable. Tbh I kinda wanna make a slappy plushie.

Yeah that's all I can remember. Might make a detailed list in the future actually going in depth some other day. Hope ya enjoy 👌

[jenniferstolzer]

Babylon 5 rewatch Episode 2.22: The Fall of Night

Babylon 5 is at the center of not one but three conflicts as John Sheridan agrees to shelter a wounded Narn cruiser. The Centauri don’t like this. Earth doesn’t like this. The Shadows don’t like this. But Sheridan has a strong moral compass and what he doesn’t like is how much the institutions around him are willing to sacrifice in the name of forging some kind of cursory peace.

Things I liked about The Fall of Nighit

1, Lennier and Vir’s friendship. If you ask me Vir, could be friends with literally anyone. He’s such an understanding soul. Lennier is by nature a little judgey. More closed off. So when they sit down next to each other and discover how much they have in common both of them look at each other like “hello what” and automatically agree to meet again. But even this exchange is done almost like spies meeting and I don’t think we stop to think about that very often. These are the attaches of two ambassadors for two of the most powerful races in the galaxy… they could very well be exchanging state secrets instead of expressing solidarity for their equally frustrating jobs.

2,  The Centauri are apparently willing to put their ships on autopilot and black out from g forces if it means when they come to they’ll be in a better firing position. This seems extremely reckless and VERY Centauri. It is the spacebattle equivalent of the hair. Big. Flashy. Not well thought through.

3, In the wake of the mass driver bombing, Sheridan gives Londo an opportunity to speak and Londo is like “NOPE” and jets before he says something that’s going to get him and his whole race in more trouble than they already are. Garibaldi then reads Londo like a literal book, delivering one of my favorite analyses of the character. Everyone thought Londo was a clown, indulging in opulence, going into debt at the casino, drinking himself to a stupor in public, but Garibaldi was his friend and knows that Londo’s not dumb, he’s actually very smart and his mind moves really fast. His error is in his judgment and priorities and he’s currently in waters he did not expect to tread. He’s scared, and he’s going to keep darting in and out of cover until he feels like he has a handle on things or he gets picked off by a hunter, whichever comes first. Also a very classic JMS line “He’s a pain in the butt, but he’s our pain in the butt.” Hunt for that or similar lines in other JMS stuff, he loves that line.

4, The ache of watching McCarthysim at work is very effective. Zach knows the guys he’s ratting on don’t deserve to be ratted on and even says so. “They’re just fooling around” but we can tell by the level of interest and tone of the Nightwatch captian’s voice that they’re gonna get blackballed. Zach can’t deny that they said what they said, but can tell that ratting them out is the wrong thing to do. In the end he relents with a bunch of qualifications but the Nightwatch doesn’t want qualifications. They want names. Thank you for your service.

5, I love that the guy there to ally with the Centauri is from the Ministry of Peace. So poignant. They’ll get peace all right, by paying off the aggressors.  

6, When the Narn ship was coming under threat by the Centauri warship, Sheridan opened a line to Londo just to spit in his face and hang up. It was amazing. Also during this crisis, Sheridan whips out a law book to smack the Nightwatch guy back in his hole. Sinclair would be proud.

7, Watching B5 come under attack is so emotionally stirring. Even on a rewatch, I don’t want to see it hurt.

8, We have arrived! The scene where Kosh reveals himself. I love that G’Kar is hiding in the plants – like he’s not a huge gecko man who people are going to notice. I also love how plaintiff his voice is, thinking if he speaks on Sheridan’s behalf it’ll help him in the political shitshow he’s currently in. I mean he’s issuing this apology for helping a Narn ship and G’Kar is very very very grateful for that. Also B5 blew up a Centauri warship so he’s pretty grateful for that too, I mean come on… I like that B5 has like a standard subway system in the middle of it and that they let the Puppet Friends ride. I miss the puppet friends. I love that the rotational gravity system means there’s a weightless portion in the center of hydroponics and that we used that to our advantage in this story. Also the vorlons in their native form play on the perception of the lesser races. They are light beings, and humans see them as angels. The rest of the races see them as prophets or gods, but none of these perceptions are perfect. We see wings and white robes and think Angel, but Kosh didn’t appear like a rennaissance painting. He’s got a butterfly look to him, too. The face he wears is a facsimile of a human not an exact human. He’s not perfect, we’re just in awe. Love that.

9 And finally a lot has been said about why Londo doesn’t see anything when Kosh appears. He’s been touched by the Shadows, so he can’t be converted by the Vorlons b/c we’re playing a game of Othello today I guess. Maybe because he doesn’t actually believe in his pantheon of gods so he doesn’t have any deities to witness. Maybe he’s lying because what he saw was his own greed and vanity. The general consensus is the first – that he’s incapable of seeing the light because he’s in the dark. For a fresh take on it, let’s look at the Vorlons through this lens. Kosh said before that if he revealed himself everyone would know him… I take this as being a side effect of being Vorlon. Vorlons are a feeling not an image. Like Magenta. Magenta’s not a real color, it exists on the color wheel because something has to connect red and purple on the color spectrum… but the spectrum of visible light is actually a straight line. The wavelengths for red and purple are far from touching, but our brains can perceive when they’re both present, so Magenta occurs. It’s imaginary, but we see it for real with our eyes. That’s Vorlons. Perhaps Londo saw a shapeless light thing in the sky, perhaps that’s what Vorlons really are… or perhaps they have no visible representation at all until they hit our brains. Our eyeballs behold something, but our brains have to construct it out of pieces. When the rest of the galaxy looked at Kosh they used the color wheel to construct him, but Londo was only given the wavelengths. He saw nothing, because nothing was there to see. I really wish there was another Centauri there to be like “I saw the goddess Li welcoming me to her arms!” and Londo’s over there like “I’m the problem” instead of not really answering that question. Maybe it’s answered in season 3, I don’t know. Did Vir see anyone up there? He must have been on break.

What I like Less about 22

1, So here’s where I’m going to talk about Keffer. I know the origin story…. that he was an unwelcome addition to the cast added per network request, but who the hell is he other than that? I think its remarkable how he slips right out of my head the minute he is off camera. We know he’s a pilot, that he was close to Carlos (whose story/death you may recall I was laughing at in a previous episode because its significance ALSO came out of nowhere), and that he made friends with the GROPOS grunts (who we incidentally learned to care about enough in that one episode that we were sad when they died…. Awkward considering Keffer’s contribution to this episode…) Honestly the most interesting thing about him is that he’s got an old-timey fighter pilot scarf he wears and he believes in ghosts and I bet you all forgot about the ghosts. Honestly, the most interesting thing about Keffer is how he’s a lesson in how not to write an interesting character – and no shade on JMS for that, I know he did it on purpose. Significant things happening to a character does not automatically make them a strong character. Keffer experienced loss, came face to face with the shadows, got in fights… a lot of stuff happened to him, but he was almost always the only named character in those scenes. We cared about the GROPOS because they cared about each other and we responded to that. Keffer was there to play cabbage head and ask questions. He’s not tight with any of our main cast who we’ve had tons more time to grow attached to, and dies for plot reasons without leaving an impact with his loss. Heck, you can see the value of interpersonal relationships on character development in action when the show used a shoehorn to try and force some in in context to Carlos a second and a half before he died. We had him drinking at the bar with command staff suddenly, we had him die as a result of a flight mission Sheridan was part of to make Sheridan feel guilty about it. Everyone was standing around going like “No, Not Ramirez” and if you recall on my previous episode writeup I was LAUGHING at how tortured this sudden human connection was. Keffer could have been made interesting. Follow me on this.

My treatment on how to make Keffer interesting:

Let’s say Keffer was introduced as an old friend of one of our characters – Fraknlin let’s say. He was a friend from the Minbari War days that helped him sneak behind enemy lines. Perhaps he was complicit in the covering up and destruction of Franklin’s notes on Minbari anatomy. As a result, the two hang out in medbay sometimes, talking about old times and comparing the current war to the one they fought together. We learn that Keffer has a fire for justice. Hates bullies. Sees the strong as absolute defenders of the weak and that any stronger race picking on a weaker one is a bigger coward than the unvierse can hold. Then when Carlos gets killed by the ghost he starts researching what it could be. Kosh and Delenn tell him to stay out of it. The audience assumes he’s going to uncover something and bring Franklin and other characters into Delenn and Sheridan’s confidence about the shadows through curiosity and honor, but we’re learning through the episodes that the Shadows are IMMENSELY powerful and have no patience for flies. When he breaks off from his squad to go have a looksee at what he suspects led to his personal friend Carlos’s death, we know this is going to kill him. He ignores the warnings of those who have more awareness and dies to bring back evidence of the Shadows to the station. Sheridan recognizes how Keffer’s curiosity and sense of judgment led to recklessness, something Sheridan himself is prone to. He vows not to let Keffer die in vain, but also states that the proof he got has changed everything… and that Sheridan would have done the same. Killing your men in the name of a mission is never the goal but there’s a line everyone crosses when the safety of the universe is at stake and sometimes things are worth dying for. Franklin walks into medbay, casts a look to the counter where Keffer used to sit all those nights, and turns away.

But that’s not what happen. Keffer’s dead now and I don’t miss him. Glad he emailed the Shadows to ISN five nanoseconds before he died.

Babylon 5 is now the last best hope for victory because sometimes peace is another word for surrender and because secrets have a way of getting out. On to season 3!

[popwasabi]

“End of Evangelion” and the tempting nature of oblivion

(TW: Suicide, Self-harm, Pain, Depression, Mental Health, Death)

“End of Evangelion” is a perplexing movie to say the least.

Not that the original classic anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion” series ends on exactly the most conclusive note itself, but “End” takes everything that transpired in the series and literally destroys it.

The films ends with Earth experiencing the long foreshadowed Third Impact and all of the planet returning to the primordial “soup,” as fans call it, with its main protagonist Shinji Ikari and comrade Asuka Langley Soryu as the only remaining humans left. A pseudo, twisted rebeginning of Adam and Eve’s Genesis.

The film is fairly divisive among the fans to say the least. Some fans consider it a masterpiece for its nihilistic tone and mind-bending illustrations of body horror and others despised it for being too dark and confusing with no clear explanation of anything that happened in the film’s events. Hell, even the movie’s fans have a difficult time explaining what exactly happens in the narrative.

I was somewhat in the middle with it after I watched it the first time not super long ago. It was certainly abstract, and I like plenty of stories that don’t make it easy for me to understand. The animation is definitely the franchise’s best and I enjoyed the character moments between Shinji, Asuka, and Misato. But it was also, as stated before, dreadfully confusing and still to this day hard to makes heads or tails out of with its plot.

But, as with more than a few movies I have revisited this year, 2020 helped me contextualize one aspect I think the story is concretely trying to get across.

(We’ll save discussion of “Rebuild” for another day...)

At my lowest points not long ago, I had this frequent vision that would crawl across my mind.

I imagined being up in the clouds on a beautiful sunny day, but I wasn’t floating or flying. I was plummeting, falling like a bird without wings at a speed that would definitely kill me once I got to the ground. But I never imagined actually hitting the Earth like a meat-bagged, human sized asteroid. I only ever imagined the falling part. The wind reaching a terminal velocity and the air rushing past my body and you know what look I had on my face?

Happiness.

I was confused a bit by why I kept imagining this moribund fall into oblivion over and over again. I wasn’t suicidal, though I certainly have had thoughts of self-harm plenty of times before and general detachment from life. But why the fuck was I so happy? I’m about to die after all!

What I have come to realize in recent years, as I’ve developed a better understanding of my mental health and what makes me tick, it wasn’t that I wanted to die so much as I wanted the freedom that comes moments before it. The feeling of finally letting go and letting fate/gravity do the rest.

Years of my life failing at various aspects of societal expectations and career obligations from not being able to get the girls I wanted to date so badly, relationships ending poorly, not quite applying myself the way I should’ve in college, and working a plethora of unfulfilling jobs since graduation made me yearn for that release. Just that feeling of saying “fuck it all” and giving in to the void.

I wanted to stop feeling out of control. The way the world is structured often feels like you are on a wild, rapid river flowing in one very stark direction but you desperately want to go the other way. You keep fighting and fighting it and realize after a while you are just swimming in place, you tire out and either float where the river wants you to go or you drown. I wanted neither of those things, I just wanted control and unfortunately part of life is accepting that a very large percentage of it is beyond your power to alter.

2020 made this feeling starkly apparent once again as we were hit with a once in a lifetime global pandemic that has killed 2.21 million people and counting. As common people struggle to find ways to handle the loss of loved ones and the fallout from economic instability those tasked with protecting us have more or less ignored the cries of needy. Hell, they’re fucking miffed that we would even have the audacity to ask for $2000 of our own fucking tax dollars to put a band-aid on the situation. Combine this with an extremely volatile two-party system and late stage capitalism, we are about as out of control as ever in terms of how much we actually can course correct our destinies in a period like this.

It is why so many irony-pilled millennials and gen z-ers are posting dank memes about meteors colliding with the earth over the course of the year. We’ve lived through two recessions, two forever wars, and now a pandemic in our lifetimes while paying off our crippling debt with slave wages and yet boomers still wonder why we are near universally depressed as a generation.

(Seriously, everybody needs a fucking therapist right now...and also to dismantle the fucking system that’s making us depressed!)

This is what I feel is the real heart of “End of Evangelion.” The movie is a lot of things, obviously, but, after the events of this year and looking back on the more depressing parts of my life, I feel this film is about the tempting nature of oblivion. Giving up when things are clearly beyond your control so you can get that sweet but twisted, fleeting sense of freedom from it all.

Director Hideaki Anno didn’t feel too entirely different about the state of life when he made this series and certainly by the time he made “End” he was in a very dark place.

So, quick history lesson, “Neon Genesis Evangelion” debuted in 1994 and quickly became a classic among fans of anime and the giant mech vs monster genre. Critics loved it for its exploration of mental health and depression and of course plenty enjoyed the hell out of it for its giant monster/robot escapism as well. Fast forward to the conclusion of the series, critics and fans especially are far more polarized. I won’t try to explain exactly what happens in the ending and frankly I don’t think anyone can, but that confusion led to quite a bit of outcry by the fans.

Hideaki Anno, the series’ director, received tons of hate mail and death threats following the series conclusion. The fans hated how abstract it was, how it had an undecisive ending and chose to dive into the mind of Shinji instead of conclusively describing the events of the Third Impact with plenty going as far as to say he had “ruined” his own series for them. This made him unfortunately quite depressed himself over the ending he felt creatively fairly content with.

(I think it should be clear who Shinji is mostly likely a stand-in for in this anime...)

The fan reaction was toxic to say the least and all too familiar for many creatives who didn’t adequately satisfy the insatiable vapid needs of their fandom. Anno did not take this well to put it lightly. A man who was known as a delinquent in high school and expelled from the Osaka University of Arts much earlier in his life, and dealt plenty with his own bouts of depression, Anno had plenty of his own demons to sort out and quite clearly wanted to explore that mental state in “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”

I’ll be honest and say that I myself was not fond of the ending either when I watched it the first time as a freshman in college, and even went as far as to describe it as everything that was wrong with anime to friends in the years that followed for a while. I felt it was confusing and “fake deep,” existential for no reason other than because it just wanted to and people were “dumb” if they liked it.

When I rewatched it again as a much older adult when it came on Netflix last year, I found it much more fascinating and interesting. A sort of abstract introspective into the mind of a troubled teenager, who I had written off many years prior as a “whiny baby.” Though I wouldn’t say I completely understand it still, I get it much more now and I think it has a lot to say about depression and mental health.

Unfortunately, most fans did not have that reaction back then and as a result Anno made his true conclusion “End of Evangelion” as a response to that negativity.

(You’re welcome, nerds.)

As mentioned before, “End of Evangelion” is an extremely nihilistic film that seems to one up each dark moment as you traverse its spiraling narrative. It’s a film where things never get better. If you go into it blind expecting that big last minute heroic save the day moment, it’s always teased and never comes. Things just end very badly for everyone. Nobody gets a “happy ending.”

While the ending to the original series is strange for sure, it does end on a light note that can be interpreted in a number of different ways but ultimately positive. With the way fans reacted to it Anno decided to write a big “fuck you” to them by, in many ways, smashing his toys so no one could play with them again. He even went as far as to splice in the actual hate mail he received into the movie to quite clearly show to the audience, as their favorite characters met their grissly ends, that this was their fault.

(“Gee, I wonder what that was all about.” ~ a fan walking out of the theater back in 1997.)

In a way though, Anno created something strangely beautiful from that reaction. “End of Evangelion” is about giving up in some ways and accepting our inevitable doom. There are no easy answers, no workable solutions to achieve a happy ending because sometimes in life there isn’t one. Despite last ditch efforts by Misato, Shinji, and the crew of NERV the world still ends through the Third Impact. But tonally it’s not quite pessimistic; it’s actually positive, in a very twisted sense of course.

Set to the song “Komm Susser Tod” by ARIANNE, the film’s apocalypse can almost be described as a celebration. With people “popping” and turning into the primordial soup they all largely have smiles on their faces as they kind of get what they want whether it’s a desire to reunite with loved ones, to be with people they have crushes on, or happiness that they have sought for so long in the embrace of others. Everyone’s depressed! But now they are happy because it’s finally all over, they don’t have to give a shit anymore.

As the planet lights up like a Christmas tree, there are images of suicide and death that rapidly cross the screen in the form of the Angel’s final transformation but again, nobody is truly sad about it. They all have some kind of twisted smile or joy that they get from it. It’s a shocking film, if you’re not already prepared for what’s going to happen, and provocative to say the least.

(Can’t decide if I recommend watching this high or not...)

I had no idea what any of it meant at the time when I watched it several years ago (I watched it well after I had seen the original series), and to be fair there are many ways fans have interpreted what exactly took place in the film and have debated endlessly on its meaning for decades now. But at least in my interpretation, after everything we’ve been through this year, “End of Evangelion” to me is about the sweet release of not giving a fuck anymore.

Whether it’s about Anno feeling that way about his own life or the expectations of his fans or both, the film quite clearly doesn’t care about what people may or may not have wanted for Shinji and the NGE characters and is perfectly fine with the way it all comes “tumbling down.”

(He just wants to be with his boyfriend, guys.)

This past July 4th, city fireworks shows were prohibited in my area because they wanted to limit mass gatherings due to COVID but this didn’t stop people from buying plenty of their own to fire off. In what amounted to a collective “fuck you” to everything and 2020, beginning pretty much exactly at dusk people started firing off their at home lightshows like they were mortar gunners in World War I and did not let up until well past midnight. The entire Southern California night sky was lit up not to unlike the thousands of crosses that filled the screen during the Third Impact of “End of Evangelion” and though it could certainly be interpreted as a moment of people patriotically going “Yea, America!” that night, my head canon was much different. It felt like tens of thousands of people across the region just saying “Fuck it” into the night sky at everything; COVID, our horrendous government, police violence, pending World Wars, environmental disaster, and our collective impending doom from it all.

As these fireworks hit their zenith around 9pm I broke out my phone and started playing “Komm Susser Tod” from the movie and it felt perfect. Everyone just wanted to feel that freedom in the moment, that freedom of not giving a damn anymore. To be removed from expectations, from control, from hatred, from pain and it was kind of beautiful in a sick way.

And that’s what “End of Evangelion” feels like to me now; kind of beautiful in a sick way.

(Not saying the LA skyline looked like this exactly but it felt like it haha...)

There are still many ways to interpret Hideaki Anno’s cult classic, and it’s part of its charm but I think the take away fans should have is definitely not that suicide is ok but that we get it. We understand why people have those feelings and why it feels freeing to desire the void and oblivion. It’s a pity that the series most toxic fans didn’t get that clue through the original finale but Anno, not a person who likes  being shoved around, clearly created perhaps the most twistedly beautiful “fuck you” to that in anime history.

As we enter 2021 all I can say is it’s ok to feel like this, it’s ok to desire freedom from the relentless gloom and doom of the world and people’s prying expectations of what they think you “should” be. No one blames you. At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to survive the apocalypse we have zero control over, so the least we can do is be a bit nicer and considerate of one another. 

At least it’ll make the Third Impact more pleasant whenever it eventually comes...

Happy New Year, everyone! 

Congratulations on surviving 2020! Have fun in 2021...

[theresnosafeharbor4myships]

TITLE: Heat Wave

A/N: This is my first ever Ichabbie fanfic, and I’m nervous to share it with you! Please, I’d love to know if you enjoy this! It’s inspired by my sudden need to rewatch the beauty that was Ichabbie (which I’m doing) and this horrid heat wave that I can’t get relief from. At least this duo can...

“I’m still unable to comprehend how one’s...excrement holding can burst and affect our apartment.”

“We call it a sewer. And it wasn’t the sewer—thank God—it was the pipe,” Abbie explained patiently, her eyes never opening.

“Regardless, if this generation appreciated nature on a grander scale and chose to live more sparsely, then we wouldn’t be required to live adjacent to anyone where their…pipes,” he nearly spit out the word, “forced us out of our abode and into the cabin in the middle of a heat wave.”

“I’m too tired for this,” Abbie responded good-naturedly. “Never thought I’d see you become Oscar the Grouch.”

“Oscar the…?” He turned his head to look at her lying next to him and saw the small smile flirting at her lips. “It’s hotter than Hades. I yearn for the air conditioning.”

“And this from the man who fought a war in full military regalia in the New England heat and humidity,” she teased.

Ichabod watched her in the bright moonlight filtering in through the slats of the blinds, lying flat on her back, wearing only shorts and a fitted white tank top (to his ever-loving dismay and delight). The air from the fan blowing on them lifted the hairs framing her face, the rest of it tied beneath her neck to help keep her cooler.

He’d done the same with his mess of locks, but she seemed much more comfortable than he felt, despite the fact that he also wore shorts and a t-shirt.

“How do you hold your composure in this blasted heater of a room?”

“If I stay still and keep my eyes closed, I can imagine I’m sunbathing on a beach somewhere with a warm ocean breeze blowing around,” she murmured sleepily.

“A beach…” He suddenly sat up. “I’ve got an idea. Come on, Abbie.” Ichabod bounded out of bed, turning to make sure she followed.

She still lay frozen on the mattress, unfazed by his Eureka! moment.

He reached across the bed and grabbed her hand. “Come along, love. You won’t be disappointed.”

“’Cabod, I’m so tired,” Abbie mumbled, forcing her eyes open. “It’s too hot and too late for any bright ideas.”

She saw him raise his eyebrows in excitement. “Alright, alright,” she agreed, gathering her strength and slowly rising from the bed. “What’s this all about?”

But Ichabod was already in the living room and headed for the front door.

“Ichabod,” she called to him.

“Come on,” he encouraged, marching out the front door.

That in itself was strange. Ichabod outside without proper clothes, boots, and that blasted tailcoat—though he’d done without it the past few miserably hot days—deserved her attention.

Abbie got up and made her way outside to find him heading towards the lake. She trailed after him, wondering what he was about. “Ichabod, what’re you doing?”

He’d reached the end of the dock as she approached the shoreline. He turned to look at her, bathed in bluish-white moonlight from both the glowing globe above them and its reflection on the lake before them, and she couldn’t help appreciating his form. He wasn’t muscular by the day’s standards, but she knew the power in his lean arms, knew his lithe figure belied the strength he exhibited. She loved how tall he stood, how he seemed her opposite in nearly every way—height, inner strengths, skin tone, history, grievances—and yet her match. She never got tired of looking at him, of staring into his bright, clever eyes, seeing his large hands flittering around the Archive looking for the next important text or wielding a weapon to protect them, watching his expressive face.

Which, right now, held a glint of mischievousness.

“This,” he stated, then turned and jumped into the lake.

“Ichabod!”

Abbie ran down the dock to the end and peered into the water, its darkness having swallowed him completely. She waited a few moments, expecting him to surface, but as the seconds ticked by and he didn’t, she started to panic, falling to her knees at the edge of the dock. “Ichabod!”

“Right here, love, no need to wake all Christendom,” he teased, suddenly emerging from beneath the dock right in front of her.

She faux-glared at him. “What in hell are you doing?”

“Escaping the scorch with a swim. Care to accompany me?” He swam backwards, away from her, a coy smile on his face, his shirt highlighting his broad shoulders.

She arched an eyebrow at him, and he mimicked the move, a dare if she’d ever seen one from him.

“You’d rather fantasize about the beach than go for a swim?” he challenged, treading water several feet from her.

She stood up, hand on one hip, debating the merits of a post-midnight swim when she had to be up in a handful of hours and watching her highbrow husband entice her with his come-hither looks from the middle of a lake.

Ichabod knew she’d succumb but couldn’t help admiring the view while she debated herself. Her shorts were what she deemed ‘short-shorts’—an iterative phrase he’d found irritating until he’d seen a pair on Abbie—and though she was short in stature, her muscular legs seem to go on for miles. Her tank showed off her arms and shoulders and didn’t leave much else to the imagination; it sat on her like a second skin. Speaking of skin…hers looked smooth and supple in the moonlight. Kissable. Delectable.

“Rather…you can stay there and let me fantasize,” he offered heatedly.

Abbie stared at him a moment before raising her arms over her head in a slow stretch, eyes never leaving his, lips turned up in a sultry smile.

“Abbie,” he warned, drawing her name out a little bit in the way that she loved so much.

Without preamble, she jumped into the water before him. She let gravity pull her down, then release its grip on her as her body buoyed itself to the surface.

“Wooo, that feels good,” she exclaimed as she shook the water out of her face.

Ichabod’s hand grazed her shoulder blade and slid down the side of her body to rest at her hip. “It certainly does,” he agreed pointedly.

“Ohhhh,” she breathed, moving into his space and draping her arms on his shoulders. “No more Oscar the Grouch here, hm?”

She felt his body slightly stiffen. “Who is this Oscar you speak of, and what are your affections towards him?”

Abbie huffed a laugh, drawing closer to him. “My affections are all right here,” she promised as she simultaneously pulled him closer and pressed into him, watching his expression change from indignation to desire as she moved to kiss him.

Ichabod’s eyes dropped closed, his hands spreading wide across her back, holding her in place against him as his feet searched for purchase on the lake floor’s soft sand. When his feet planted firmly, he ran his hands down her back, along her hips, and down to her thighs, hiking them up and around his waist.

She abruptly pulled away from him. “’Cabod,” she startled, the murmured, shortened version of his name only coming out when she was tired or surprised.

“It’s alright, love. I can stand here. I’ve got you.”

He pressed his forehead against hers. “It’s not the beach, but it’s more temperate than the blasted furnace we’re living in.”

“It’s definitely an improvement,” she agreed, languidly happy.

“Mmm,” he hummed against her lips as he kissed her again, this time his hands at her waist, his thumbs sliding back and forth along the edge of her tank top as he leisurely inched it up.

Abbie pulled away from him slowly, enjoying the contrasting cool of the water and the heat from Ichabod’s hands and mouth on her. “I think it’s about to heat up again,” she predicted, pushing an errant strand of his hair away from his forehead.

“Indeed,” he promised lowly, moving in swiftly this time to kiss her as he gradually ambled his way towards the shore and the cabin beyond.

[itsjustaboathome]

✨ Tag 9 people to learn more about their interests!

tysm @holyshit for tagging me, ily kay!! ✨💞

MUSIC

fav genre? i can really hear little bit of everything, but i usually hear more pop, pop-rock and rock

fav artist? apart from the boys I also like Gorillaz and Red Hot Chili Peppers

fav song? I always change my favorite song then ... idk haha ​​but right now I would say another love by Tom Odell

most listened song recently? Kill My Mind by Louis Tomlinson and It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane by Omar Rudberg

song currently stuck in your head? also It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane and I Wanna Be Your Slave by Måneskin

5 fav lyrics?

I know which place I'm from, i know my home, when I'm in doubt and struggling, that's where I go, an old friend can give advice, when new friends only know a half story, that's why I'm always keep them tight, and why I'm okay, i said I'm okay, you know what my mama said?, you know what she told me?, my mama said that it was okay - mama said by lukas graham.

He said: "One day you'll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember", my father told me when I was just a child, "these are the nights that never die" - the nights by avicii.

I'm just like you, even though my problems look nothing like yours do, yeah, i get sad too, and when I'm down I need somebody to talk to, yeah, I feel the same as you do, same stress, same shit to go through, i'm just like you, if you only knew - just like you by louis tomlinson.

Quiero volar contigo, muy alto en algún lugar, quisiera estar contigo viendo las estrellas sobre el mar, quiero encontrar otro, camino ponerme mi vestido y salir a caminar contigo, quiero decirle al mundo que no somos amigos, decirle a la tristeza, que no se cruce en mi camino - bajo el agua by manuel medrano

Maybe we can, find a place to feel good, and we can treat people with kindness, find a place to feel good - tpwk by harry styles

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume I slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

fav book genre? I don't really have a book genre as such, so to speak, but if I don't get bored it's perfect for me.

fav writer? i don't have

fav book? diary of a wimpy kid

fav book series? also, diary of a wimpy kid

comfort book? the four agreements

perfect book to read on a rainy day? any fic is fine :))

fav characters? if it makes me laugh that's my favorite

5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart? idk I don't remember haha

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

fav tv/movie genre? maybe a little bit of everything, i hardly ever watch horror movies

fav movie? uff i have many haha but I'll say back to the future, the nightmare before christmas, aladdin, guardians of the galaxy and the greatest showman

comfort movie? coco and corpse bride

movie you watch every year? on halloween i always watch hocus pocus

fav tv show? gravity falls, himym, sense 8, young royals and good doctor

comfort tv show? friends and malcolm in the middle

most rewatched tv show? i think the simpsons haha

ultimate otp? wilhelm / simon c:

5 fav characters? Luis (ant-man), janis ian (mean girls), tony stark (iron man), emma stone (in all her movies), simon and wilhelm (young royals)

tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

im tagging @goldenmemories @rainblou @bravelylarrie @onlyforthekings @nico-cab @ozziiee @habithlarry @skyyneverlookedsoblue @hearyouhowling and anyone who wants to do this!! <3

[purplepersnicketywrites]

33! (if you're still taking prompts)

33. An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it.

Aha! for krbk this time!

___

“Next time he starts rambling at you about your latest villain takedown or whatever it is, really listen to what he’s saying, yeah?”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it says on the tin, dude. Forget what you think you’re hearing and listen to him.”

—

Katsuki scowled to himself, recalling Kaminari’s words.

Kirishima was in the kitchen, making tea for their ‘watch trashy TV and go over what’s happened in the hero charts this week’ thing. It kept the number one goal fresh and shiny in Katsuki’s mind, and Kirishima clearly got something out of it too.

They’d pore over who’d moved up or down the rankings, try to work out what had affected them, and of course take note of their own positions. Katsuki and Kirishima were both steadily climbing. Katsuki had been involved in more high-profile cases recently but Kirishima was just generally popular and only gaining in momentum.

He had that bright contagious energy that pumped other heroes up, and he was getting really good at interviews. He’d always been friendly, but the classes they’d had on how to deal with the media had taught Kirishima how to be truly charming.

He played up the intimidating, hard-liner persona for sure - emulating Crimson Riot was still one of his core philosophies - but Kirishima had learned how to flash a winning smile when necessary and had a decent portion of the population under his spell. Katsuki included, although he’d been a fan of Red Riot since their school days.

Katsuki couldn’t help but wonder what the public would think if they saw Kirishima the way he was at home. He cried at romcoms like the sap that he was, touched every time by the romance-by-numbers formula. He told stupid jokes and waited with eager eyes for Katsuki to laugh at them. He sang cheesy power ballads in the shower in the middle of the fucking day.

He was a dork, and honestly? Anyone who saw it would probably find themselves more endeared by him. Too bad for all those desperate fans that they didn’t get to be Kirishima’s roommate, ha.

“What are you smirking about?” Kirishima asked, appearing at the arm of their sofa.

“Nothin’,” Katsuki said, accepting the offered mug of tea. He couldn’t exactly just say that he was feeling smug over being the lucky fucker who got to see his best friend’s stupid-cute bedhead every morning when he shuffled out of his room.

“So what’s on the docket today?” Kirishima asked, slumping down next to Katsuki. “Top Fifty? Twenty?”

“Just the twenty,” Katsuki said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening up that week’s ranking changes. “Ha! And would ya look at that, Mr Nineteen.”

“What?” Kirishima leaned in to stare at the numbers. “I’ve broken twenty?”

Katsuki snorted, tilting the phone for Kirishima to see better. “Are you really that surprised?”

“Bro, I never thought I’d get into the hundreds,” Kirishima said. Katsuki frowned to himself. He still hadn’t managed to help his friend stamp out all of his self-doubt over the years, and it rankled at him.

“Of course you got into the hundreds, don’t be fucking dense,” Katsuki said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, you’re still at eight! Nice.”

Katsuki pouted a little. He wasn’t expecting to get into the Top Five for roughly another four months, but he still wanted to beat his predictions.

“That’s to be expected,” Kirishima continued. “You’ve had top hero written all over you since our first year at Yuuei!”

Katsuki snorted. He really hadn’t. Yeah he’d crowed and crowed about it, but back in the first year he’d still been a total shit. He’d earned his words since, but hell, it had taken a lot of hard work and even more introspection to reshape himself into someone halfway decent. Kirishima had been one of the biggest and best influences on him, so he probably deserved about half of the credit.

Oh, fuck, Kirishima was still talking. Rambling, even - oh! This was what Kaminari had told him to look out for, wasn’t it? Kirishima rambling during their hero ranking discussions wasn’t unusual, but Katsuki usually tuned it out in favour of totting up the falls and rises of each of the heroes they were looking at.

“-the flashiest quirk I know, I mean, no one can ignore your explosions. They’re loud, they’re bright, they’re hot - ha, just like you! - So people are gonna take notice,” Kirishima said. Wait, what? “And man, did you rewatch that interview from Thursday? I think you looked really manly, and it makes me laugh to think what you-from-school would say about the way you can handle the public now! You’re still you and all growly and tough, but like, damn! I love that you lean into the lone-wolf bad-boy nerd thing now, I mean. You’re an incredible hero and you look like that, and the public thinks you’re mysterious, and you’re smart? Killer combination, bro. It’s no wonder your popularity’s going up!”

What the fuck. “It’s not going as fast as yours.”

Kirishima blinked at the interruption, like he hadn’t expected Katsuki to be listening. Fuck, he usually wasn’t. “Uh, I mean, mine’s probably a flash-in-the-pan kinda thing. It’ll plateau.”

“Yeah, when you’re the Number Two Hero just down from me,” Katsuki said, watching the light blush bloom in Kirishima’s cheeks. Huh. Could Kirishima blush more than that? It’d be far better than hearing him doubt himself. “That’s if you don’t overtake me.”

“What? Number One? No way, man,” Kirishima shook his head, and Katsuki could see that, yeah, Kirishima’s blush could get redder. It was goddamn adorable.

“Why not?” Katsuki asked, smirking a little at his best friend. “Where’s your competitive spirit?”

“I just wanna be a good hero, man,” Kirishima shrugged. “I’m not in it for the numbers.”

Katsuki waved a hand at him. “That’s the sort of attitude people like. You’re humble, it’s good, but you shouldn’t get complacent. If you go for it, you can get it.”

“Yours is the kind of attitude that has people sit up and pay attention, not mine,” Kirishima retorted.

“You think people don’t pay attention to you? Still?” Katsuki leaned forwards to jab his finger at Kirishima’s chest. “As if any fucker out there could look away once they’ve caught sight of you.”

“They could look away if you were there,” Kirishima said, even though the redhead’s brow was furrowed, he didn’t sound jealous. There was something entirely too fond in his tone, something just a little too warm in his eyes, and Katsuki realised that he was an idiot. Kirishima was also an idiot, they were both idiots, what the fuck. Katsuki put his tea down.

“Only so that they can appreciate what a damn good pair we make,” Katsuki growled. He took away a bemused Kirishima’s mug, too, setting it beside his own.

Then he grabbed his best friend’s face and pulled him into a kiss.

It was barely more than a peck - Katsuki made sure to keep it light - but it was still Katsuki kissing the guy he loved more than anyone else in the whole fucking universe. Kirishima had gasped, and then he had pushed back into it. Just as softly, just as gently, as if they might fall out of this space where their lips were meeting if they tried to be too greedy, too soon.

At least, that was how Katsuki felt. It was like being lit on fire from the inside out. Like the axis of the earth had tilted. Like gravity had flipped and he could fly off into the atmosphere.

After a few eternal seconds, they parted. Katsuki kept his hands where they were, cradling Kirishima’s jaws, and Kirishima didn’t let go of where his fingers had curled into the collar of Katsuki’s tee. 

“You kissed me,” Kirishima said, eyes wide and staring at Katsuki with something like incredulity. “You actually- You kissed me.”

Katsuki grinned as he nodded, finding himself rendered completely fucking speechless by the smile starting to crinkle Kirishima’s eyes. Shit, he was just so fucking happy that he didn’t trust his voice not to crack if he tried to say something stupid and sappy.

“Does this mean you like me?” Kirishima asked, eyes glimmering.

Katsuki managed to croak out a: “Yes.”

The hero ranking results were forgotten as Kirishima leaned forwards and pressed their lips together again.

[seventeendeer]

Top 5 western animated shows?

it would be infinitely easier to make a top 20 since there are tons of cartoons I love with my whole heart, but these are my favorites at the moment!

1. Steven Universe

SU is one of my absolute favorite stories of all time! it’s so special and different from anything else I’ve seen. the characters are so fantastically complex, and it has a really special mood to it. the art style and the music, including the songs, are just so good and bring peace to my soul … I also love a story that’s got plenty to teach its audience, and SU talks about so many important topics with so much gentleness and grace. I also have much respect for the crew for fighting so hard to include queer characters and winning so spectacularly, for someone like me who grew up having to dig out queer subtext in the cartoons I watched so I could see myself in them, SU is just really special. I don’t think anything can ever really replace this show in my heart and knowing it’s on its last stretch is difficult to deal with … but I understand that the story is almost complete and it’s best to let it end the way the crew wants it to. regardless, I’ll always be thankful that I got to see it unfold in real time. the heart and care that went into creating it inspires me to apply that same kind of care to my own art and stories.

2. Ducktales 2017

this is a relatively new obsession for me compared to the others, but this show is like?? actually friggin fantastic and I adore it? it started out strong, but mid-season 2 is where I really got into it and understood what it had been building up to this whole time. I feel like DT17 is what happens when incredibly talented fanfic writers get to participate in an IP they love - it takes the thing it’s based on and remixes it so the narrative is much more interesting and more coherent, has much tighter characterization and goes much deeper into the source material than its ‘canon’ ever did. while I grew up with the extended duck canon in my periphery, I was never all that into it, even when I was a kid (aside from Darkwing Duck. holy shit ya’ll. that show is still so good even now), but this new version is just so masterfully reworked that it totally stole my soul. the creators clearly love the material they’re basing their story on, which also gives it a really special feeling. you can sense how much love goes into the story and characters. it’s also genuinely super, super funny! plus, it’s got some of the absolute best comedic female characters I’ve seen in a cartoon for kids, which says something when you consider the canon it’s based on. I’ve got so much respect for all the work the creators have poured into making a funnier, kinder, shinier version of something they love, and I am h y p e d for season 3!!!

3. Wander Over Yonder

this show is so simple, but it is an absolute masterpiece in its genre! it’s one of the series I’ve rewatched the most in recent years because it’s got such fantastic rewatch value. the comedy is delightfully stupid, the world is peak creative, the small recurring cast is wonderfully faceted, and the animation … so amazing … I genuinely have no clue how the crew managed to have consistently stunning animation on a tv show like this, but man, they really did it. of course, like every other WOY fan, my righteous fury shall never be quelled until the series finally gets its third and final season, BUT aside from that this show brings me nothing but joy!

4. Gravity Falls

ANOTHER CLASSIC ... I watched this show when it was first airing and I was following along with everyone’s theories, and it was such an exciting experience! the amount of detail in this show is awesome, you can really tell the creators were putting a lot of stuff in there based on what they would’ve found cool when they were kids and it gives the series a really authentic feeling. I also feel like GF has one of the absolute best series finales out of any of the tv shows I’ve watched - the culmination of all the characters’ arcs, the consequences of what the villain has been building to, and the emotional/happy but also a little bittersweet ending really made the story. it’s always one of the first series I recommend to folks wanting to watch more cartoons.

5. Adventure Time

a classic! this show has really, really grown on me over its many seasons. I loved that it continued to build its world and develop its characters even all the way up until the last few episodes, it makes the story feel so real. the many different relationships between the different characters were my favorite part, especially Finn and Jake remaining brothers and best friends even as they learned more about themselves individually, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline slowly putting their relationship back together, and seeing Marceline reconnect with Simon. Simon’s story in general broke my heart and then stuck it back together with glitter glue lol. all these characters are wonderful. I think the middle of the series was unfortunately a little weak (it seems to have staggered a bit after Rebecca Sugar left to create Steven Universe), but I think it found its footing again for real in season 7+ and I’m glad it stuck around long enough to get a lovely ending!

[steven-falls]

Gravity Falls reviewed: Tourist Trapped

What I’m struck by when I rewatch ‘Tourist Trapped’ is how many times it tries to pull one over on the audience. We start off with protagonist Dipper’s narration over the peaceful family picnic, only for a fake out reveal that he and his sister Mabel are actually being chased down by some giant monster. So then we’re left anticipating this giant monster, only to be introduced to Mabel’s zombie boyfriend, only for that zombie to turn out to be a bunch of Gnomes, only for all those gnomes to then join together to form some giant living mech, which turns out to be the monster from the episode’s opening.

When all these plot points are bullet pointed like this, they can come across as some abrupt shifts. But the episode actually telegraphs all of these shifts well enough that they manage to flow quite naturally. As Dipper says in the episode’s opening: ‘Rest assured; there’s a perfectly logical explanation. Let’s rewind.’

Before the plot even gets started we’re introduced to our setting and characters. Gravity Falls introduction as a setting is pretty simple: It’s a sleepy town that twelve year old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines have been sent to, to stay with their great uncle (or ‘Grunkle’) Stan. We don’t really see much of the town itself in this episode, just the cabin where Stan lives (Which doubles as a tourist trap named ‘the Mystery Shack’) and the surrounding forest. This helps create the atmosphere that the kids are stuck in the middle of the wilderness. The only major human characters introduced in the pilot are the five main characters; The three aforementioned Pines’, along with Stan’s handyman Soos and the Mystery Shack’s teenage employee Wendy. Most of the supporting townsfolk aren’t introduced until the second episode. As a duo, Dipper and Mabel balance each other out perfectly. Dipper is so curious about his surroundings that he can always be relied upon to move the plot along. Meanwhile, Mabel makes for some great comic relief. Whenever the series goes into a darker direction she can be used to lighten the mood.

The way Mabel is written in this episode seriously impresses me. She provides like half the jokes in this episode and they all pretty much land. 

The highlight for me has to be Mabel’s interaction with the gnomes. I particularly love the part where the gnomes first reveal their true identity to Mabel. The head gnome just keeps rambling on about needing to marry Mabel to make her their new queen while Mabel just sits looking dejected on a rock. The way Mabel trails off while trying to gently let down the gnomes sounds so naturalistic, its like you can feel her cautiously choosing every word. It sounds like such an authentic break up for such a silly situation. 

Honestly, trying to force a twelve year old into marriage is pretty dark, but because the gnomes are small, weird, and not particularly threatening the writers get away with it.

If the jokes aren’t coming from Mabel and her love life then they’re probably coming from Stan and Soos popping up. Stan’s appearances are pretty much just a string of old man and shyster jokes. But there are a couple moments thrown in at the end to show there is some depth to his character. Such as when finally Stan shows some compassion to the twins by letting them take a gift from his shop. 

Speaking of, Dipper’s hat is so iconic to his design that it’s funny to think he just found it in the mystery shack. It’s a bit surprising no one else around town has one.

Soos is also set up as a standard comic relief character. The thing I find funniest about his portrayal is how Dipper actually takes his advice. 

Surprisingly, my favourite character introduction is actually Wendy’s, it’s just so concise. She only has two lines in the entire episode, but they telegraph her character really well.

The first line shows her laid back and lazy attitude toward work, and the second shows her supportive friendship with Dipper. Plus both these moments double as jokes, so it’s not like its needless exposition about a character we barely see in this episode. You could also argue that Wendy’s brief appearance foreshadows how Wendy would be pretty under utilised in the series as a whole, but that’s an issue for future episodes.

After the status quo is established Dipper is sent into ‘the spooky part of the forest’ by Stan. (I love that Stan specifies ‘spooky’). This is where Dipper finds the object that really gets the plot rolling: The journal.

I appreciate how the journal Dipper finds is numbered as the third one. Dipper later mentions how the journal abruptly ends, suggesting that it is the last journal in a set of three.  The audience knows there’s exactly two more of these things to look out for, whereas if Dipper had found the first or second one we would have been left guessing how many of these things there actually are. 

The journal simultaneously drives Dippers actions by flaming his suspicions, whilst it also foreshadows where the plot is going. The journal contains both an entry on zombies, which Dipper mistakes as the initial threat, and also an entry on gnomes, who turn out to be the real antagonists. I particularly like how they foreshadow the gnomes in that joke where Dipper means to show Mabel the zombies page and opens up the gnomes page instead.

The gnome page actually crops up a few times throughout the episode, but its appearances are brief enough that you don’t necessarily predict the final gnome reveal on your first watch through, but it’s there to be appreciated on repeat viewings.  

Whilst the zombie to gnome shift is foreshadowed quite well, they don’t do as much to telegraph the gnomes forming into a giant mech. My personal issue with this shift is that the giant ravenging monster the gnomes form into is like the complete opposite of the silly small creatures the gnomes are portrayed as prior.

The gnome monster does have a cool design however. I like how its sharp teeth are formed by gnome hats. Plus it leads to a chase scene, which makes for a climactic action set piece.

Dipper does tell us in the opening scene that the episode is going to end with a monster chase, so we at least know the direction the episode is going, meaning the gnomes forming a giant living mech doesn’t cause as much whiplash as it should. Although, I suppose if five of them were able to come together to form a teenager, why not a giant gnome mech? 

I mentioned in my intro that the episode keeps pulling one over on the audience. But why does the episode feel the need to pull multiple rugs out from underneath the audiences feet? Well, it shows that everything about Gravity Falls (Both the town and the show) is Not What it Seems, which is one of the main conceits of the show. Obviously everyone who’s watched the show knows this, there’s literally a coded message in the intro saying so. (okay tbf it says ‘Stan is not what he seems’ but you could still apply that to the town as a whole). Not only is this seemingly boring town actually paranormal, but the paranormal activity itself isn’t even what you’d expect. You want zombie survival horror? Too bad, you get arranged gnome marriages instead. 

And really that’s what Tourist Traps purpose as a pilot is; to lay out and introduce the themes of the show. And rewatching this episode after watching the whole series, it’s impressive just how many themes of the show are introduced from the very first episode. For example, one of the main conflicts of this episode is whether or not the twins can trust each other, and this theme of trust comes back in a big way later. 

Tourist Trapped lays out so many intriguing mysteries, from the mysterious journal, to the secrets of Gravity Falls, to the final shot of Stan entering into a secret room behind his vending machine. It’s enough to leave you invested and wanting to find out more. And that’s how you know Tourist Trapped is a successful pilot.