#I have only seen like three episodes of ga max

[weaponizedducks]

watching greys anatomy as a house md enjoyer is so funny because you've got the greys team agonising over whether to lie to a patient or smthn and then over on house's team they're breaking into houses every day, they're commiting medical malpractice like it's breathing. chase kills a dictator and he's like 'bro help me cover this up' and foreman does it no questions. they just don't care. hatecrimes md crew tops gays anatomy or whatever all day every day

[rachelbethhines]

Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 60s

So the 60s is the era that Wandavision pulls most heavily from for it’s inspiration. So much so that one could make the argument that each of the first three episodes are all set in the 1960s. Episode one pulls from the early 60s with multiple Dick Van Dyke refences, episode two is very Bewitched inspired, and episode three is aesthetically very similar to The Brady Bunch which started in ‘69. As such it was hard to narrow down the list for this decade and I had to get creative in some ways. 

1. The Andy Griffith Show (1960 - 1968)

The Andy Griffith Show gets kind of a bad rap now a days for being, supposedly, a conservative’s wet dream. People claiming it as such have apparently never actually seen the series. Oh yes, it’s very much set in white rural 60s America and will occasionally present the obliviously outdated joke, but the story of a widowed sheriff being the only sane man in a small town full of lovable lunatics, who prefers to solve his and others problems with negotiation and hair brained schemes as opposed to violence has far more in common with modern day Steven Universe than whatever genocidal fantasy fake rednecks have in their heads.  

As the gif above shows Andy Griffith was very subtlety progressive for its time. Andy was a stanch pacifist, pro-gun control, treated drug addicts and prisoners with respect, and all the women he would date had careers, ect. and so on. It’s not a satire making any sort of grand political statements but the series had a moral center that was far more left than many realize. 

But if it’s not a satire, then what type of comedy is it? 

The Andy Griffith Show excels in what I like to call, ‘awkward comedy’. See everyone in Mayberry is far too nice to just come out and tell a character they’re making an ass of themselves, so therefore whoever is the idiot punching bag of the episode’s focus must slowly unravel as everyone looks on in helpless pity until said character realizes the folly of their ways and the townsfolk come together to make them feel happy and accepted once more. Wandavision takes this polite idyllic awkwardness and plays it up for horror instead of laughs.  

2. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)

The creators of Wandavision actually met with Dick Van Dyke himself to pick his brain and learn how sitcoms were made back then. Paul Bentley also took inspiration from Van Dyke in his performance of the sitcom version of Vision, while Olsen stated Mary Tylor Moore had a heavy influence on her character of Wanda. But more than just being a point of homage, The Dick Van Dyke Show was hugely influential in modernizing the family sitcom and breaking a lot of the unspoken traditions and ‘rules’ of the 50s television era. It’s also just really, really funny.  

3.The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962 - 1965) 

Bit of a cheat here. Alfred Hitchcock Presents actually started in 1955 as a half hour anthology show, but in ‘62 the show got a revamp and was extended into a full hour tv series. I knew I wanted The Twilight Zone to be covered in my episode one recap, but ‘The Master of Suspense’ couldn’t be forgotten. While The Twilight Zone reveled in the surreal and supernatural, Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the thriller genre and made real life seem dangerous, horrifying, and other worldly.   

4. Doctor Who (1963 - present day) vs Star Trek (1966 - present day) 

Just like how westerns dominated the air waves during the 50s, science fiction was the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the 60s. From Lost in Space to My Favorite Martian, space aliens and robots were everywhere. So naturally I had to name drop the two sci-fi juggernauts that still air to this today. If you thought that the rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek was bad then you’ve never seen a chat full of Whovians and Trekkies duking it out over who is the better monster, the Borg or the Cyberman. But which one has the more influence over Wandavision?

Well Star Trek owes it’s existence to sitcoms. As with The Twilight Zone before it, Star Trek was produced by Desilu Productions and it’s co-founder and CEO, Lucille Ball, was the series biggest supporter behind the scenes, lobbying for it when it faced early cancelation. As with all things sitcomy, everything ties back to I Love Lucy in the end. However despite that little backstory, it would seem that the series has very little to do with Wandavision itself beyond being quintessentially American. 

I would argue that Wandavision owes much to Doctor Who though. Arguably more so than any show mentioned in this retrospective. Time travel, alternate realities, trouble in quite suburbia, brainwashing, people coming back from the dead, ect... just about every trope you can find in Wandavision has also appeared in Doctor Who at some point. As a series that can go anywhere and do anything, Doctor Who was a pioneer of marrying genres in new and interesting ways. 

5. Bewitched (1964 - 1972) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965 - 1970)

It’s hard to pick one series over another because they’re essentially the same show. A mortal man falls in love with a magical girl who upends their lives with magic filled hijinks as they try their best not to have their secret discovered by the rest of the world. And both have their fingerprints all over the DNA of Wandavision. 

There’s only two core differences; Samantha and Jeannie have completely different personalities, with Sam being confident and knowledgeable and Jeannie being naïve and oblivious, along with their relationships with their respective men, Sam and Darrin being married and in love at the start of the series and Jeannie chasing after Tony in the beginning in a will they/won’t they affair, finally only getting together in the last season. 

6. The Munsters (1964 - 1966) vs The Adams Family (1964 - 1966)

Fans of these two shows are forever sadden that there never was a crossover between them. Because they’d fit perfectly together. Both shows are about a surreal and macabre family living in American suburbia and disrupting the lives of their neighbors with their otherworldly hijinks. Sound familiar?     

The main difference between the two shows is the way the characters viewed their placement in the world they inhabit. 

The Munsters were always oblivious to the fact that didn’t fit in. They just automatically assumed everyone had the same personal tastes as them. Whenever they encountered anyone who behaved strangely around them they would write that person off as being the odd one rather than questioning themselves. As such the main cast was structured like a stereotypical sitcom family who just happened to be classic movie monsters. 

The Addams were well aware that they were abnormal and they loved it! They lived life with in their own little world and didn’t care what anyone thought of them. As such the characters were far more colorful and quirky as individuals but there was little in the way of refences to other horror franchises beyond just a general love of the twisted and strange. 

7. Green Acres (1965 - 1971) and the Rual-verse (1962 - 1971)

So the MCU is not the first franchise to bring viewers an interconnected universe to the small screen. Far from it, as sitcoms had been doing this for decades, starting with the ‘rualverse’. Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres were all produced by the same company and were treated as spinoffs of each other, complete with crossovers and shared characters and sets. 

Of the three, the last show, Green Acres, has the most in common with Wandavision. A well to do businessman and his lovely socialite wife settle down in small town America on a farm in order to get away from the stresses of city life, only to find new stresses in the country. Eva Gabor, herself a natural Hungarian, plays the character of Lisa as Hungarian making her one of the few non-native born Americans on tv screens during the cold war. Despite her posh nature and original protests to the move, Lisa assimilates to the rural life far easier than her husband, Oliver. Who, as the main comedic thread, can’t comprehend his new quirky neighbors’ odd and often illogical behavior.  

8. Hogan’s Heroes (1965 - 1971) and Get Smart (1965 - 1969)

So as comic fans have been quick to point out, it’s looking like both A.I.M. (Hydra) and Sword (Shield) will be players in the story of Wandavision. To commemorate that here’s two shows to represent those opposing sides. Although in truth, neither series has anything else in common with each other but I need to condense things down someway. 

In Hydra’s corner we got Hogan’s Heroes. A show all about taking down Nazis from within. 

I love, love, love, ‘robin hood’ comedies where a group of con artists try week after to week to pull one over the establishment. The Phil Silvers Show, Mchale's Navy, and Top Cat, just to name a few examples are all childhood favorites of mine. However while those shows had a lot of morally ambiguous characters, Hogan’s Heroes has very clear cut good guys and bad guys, cause the bad guys are Nazis and the show relentless makes fun of the third reich as should we all. In fact I was watching Hogan’s Heroes while waiting for the GA run off election results. Fortunately my home state decided to kick out our own brand of Nazis this year. 

For Shield, we got the ultimate spy spoof, Get Smart. Starring, Inspector Gadget himself, Don Adams, as the bumbling Maxwell Smart. Get Smart, is a hilarious send up of Cold War espionage but the real selling point of the show, imho, is Max and his co-worker 99′s relationship. You can cut the sexual tension in the air with a knife all while laughing your ass off. 

9. Batman (1966 - 1968)

First was Superman and then came Batman. Yet while Superman was a serious action show, Batman was a straight up comedy. Showcasing that superheroes could indeed be funny. 

Also shout out for Batman being the only show on this list to have an actual crossover with it’s competitor, The Green Hornet. 

10. Julia (1968 - 1971)

Since episode two features the first appearances of Herb and Monica, let’s highlight the first black led sitcom since the cancelation of Amos ‘n Andy over a decade earlier. The show focuses on single mother and military nurse, Julia, as she tries to live her life without her recently decease husband, who was killed in Vietnam, as she tries to raise their six year old son on her own.  

The series is cute. It’s more of a throw back to earlier family sitcoms where there’s no fantasy and life lessons are the name of the game. It’s the fact that the main character is a single black woman is what made the show so subversive and important at the time. 

Runner Ups

There’s much good stuff in the 60s, so here’s some others that didn’t make the cut but I would recommend anyways. 

Car 54, Where Are You? (1961 - 1963)

I call this the Brooklynn 99 of the 1960s. Bumbling but well meaning Officer Toody longs to do good in the world and help anyone in need, but often screws things up with his ill thought out schemes. He often drags his best friend and partner, the competent but anxiety riddled, Muldoon into his escapades. 

Mr. Ed (1961 - 1966)

The grandfather of the sarcastic talking pet trope. 

The Jetsons (1962 - 1963 and 1985 - 1987)

Hanna-Barbera often took popular sitcoms and just repackaged them as cartoons with a fantasy theme to them. The Jetsons has no singular show that it rips-off but is rather more a grab bag of sitcom tropes that feature, robots, computers, and flying cars. 

The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965) 

The Outer Limits was The Twilight Zone’s biggest competitor in terms of being a sic-fi/horror anthology series. 

Gillian’s Island (1964 - 1967) 

The only comparison to WandaVision I could think of was that this is a sitcom about people being trapped in one place. But by that point I was running out of room on the list. Still it’s one of the funniest shows on here. 

So yeah, this took longer than expected cause there’s a lot, here. Hopefully the 70s will be easier. Which I’ll post on Friday. 

[papermoonloveslucy]

DINNER AT EIGHT

February 18, 1940

The Campbell Playhouse (1938–1940) was a live CBS radio drama series directed by and starring Orson Welles. Produced by Welles and John Houseman, it was a sponsored continuation of The Mercury Theatre on the Air. As a direct result of the front-page headlines Orson Welles generated with his 1938 Halloween production "The War of the Worlds", Campbell's Soup signed on as sponsor. The Mercury Theatre on the Air made its last broadcast December 4, 1938, and The Campbell Playhouse began December 9, 1938.

The series offered hour-long adaptations of classic plays and novels, as well as adaptations of popular motion pictures. When Campbell’s exerted more creative control over the selection of material, Welles left the show. 

Bernard Herrmann was the series’ composer and conductor. The opening theme was “Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor” by Tchaikovsky.

DINNER AT EIGHT was originally written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber as a play which opened October 22, 1932, at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre, and closed May 6, 1933 after 232 performances.  

In 1933, (the same year Lucille Ball arrived in Hollywood), the play was turned into an MGM film by George Cukor. The role of Kitty (played by Lucille Ball on radio) was played by Jean Harlowe. 

The play was also revived on Broadway several times and was made for television. 

Synopsis ~ The Jordan family are planning a society dinner. The story concerns what they, as well as various friends and acquaintances - all of whom have their own problems and ambitions - do as they prepare for the event.

CAST

Lucille Ball (Kitty Packard)

Orson Welles (Host / Dan Packard / Larry Renault) was three months away from embarking on his masterwork, Citizen Kane, when this radio play was aired. Before Lucille Ball dated Ed Hall and Desi Arnaz, Welles was often seen on her arm at public events. Lucy and Desi later allowed him to reside in their guest house and starred him in an episode of “I Love Lucy”. 

Hedda Hopper (Millicent Jordan) was then broadcasting her own radio show “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood” as well as writing a syndicated column.  She appeared on “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” As an actress, she did two with Lucille Ball: Bunker Bean (1936) and That’s Right – You’re Wrong (1939). Hopper was best known for her flamboyant hats.

Charles Trowbridge (Oliver Jordan) originated the role of Oliver Jordan in the Broadway production of Dinner at Eight although the role was played by Lionel Barrymore on screen. He did two films with Lucille Ball: Her Husband’s Affairs (1947) and A Woman of Distinction (1950). 

Marjorie Rambeau (Carlotta Vance) was only a month away from the premiere of her film Primrose Path, which would earn her an Oscar nomination in 1941. 

Benny Rubin (Max Kane) was heard on “My Favorite Husband” as well as doing an episode of “I Love Lucy” and several appearances on “The Lucy Show.” 

Clara Blandick (Hattie Loomis) had just created the role of Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz, which is what she is best known for despite her many other credits. including four films with Lucille Ball, three of those in 1934 alone. 

Mary Taylor (Paula Jordan) had previously worked with Welles on Mercury Theatre of the Air. 

Edgar Barrier (Dr. Talbot) was previously directed by Welles in the 1938 film Too Much Johnson. 

Ernest Chappell (Announcer) served in the same capacity for TV’s “The Big Story” (1951-57)/  

THE EPISODE

Orson Welles introduces the show, Kaufman and Ferber’s play Dinner at Eight.  He tells the audience that we never see (or hear) the actual dinner in Dinner at Eight. He talks about his three leading ladies: 

Hedda Hopper “who was a distinguished actress before she branched out into her present career of acting and ‘columning’.” 

Miss Lucille Ball “is the beautiful and talented young lady who’s position in Hollywood is becoming increasingly more important.” 

Marjorie Rambeau “one of the first talents of the theatre who is carving out a new career in motion pictures.”  

Welles introduces Ernest Chappell, who does a pitch for Campbell’s Vegetable Soup. 

“Whether you’re having dinner at eight or supper at six.”

As the story begins, Millicent Jordan (Hedda Hopper) is on the telephone inviting people to her dinner party. Her husband, Oliver (Charles Trowbridge), comes in. She tells him how the guest list is shaping up. He suggests she invite Dan and Millicent Packard, although she thinks she’s a horrible woman. Paula (Mary Taylor), her daughter, comes in. She’s engaged to be married to Ernest but is still maintaining an active social life. She’s been seen nightly at 21.

MILLICENT: “Some day I’m going to find out what goes on at 20 -- and at 22, too!”    

Paula runs out. Hattie (Clara Blandick) comes in and she and Millicent gossip about that “Packard Woman”.  As Hattie leaves for her shopping trip, Millicent reluctantly phones Mrs. Packard to invite her to her dinner party. 

The scene cross fades to Mrs. Packard (Lucille Ball) hanging up with Mrs. Jordan.  She is in bed awaiting the doctor with her maid Tina. Mrs. Packard is eating chocolates, guessing what is inside each one. 

Meanwhile, Carlotta Vance (Marjorie Rambeau) barges in while Oliver Jordan is in his office on the telephone. She demands to know why the Customs Office says she cannot own six fur coats. They discuss Mr. Vance’s assets, including a theatre she is longing to sell - calling it a fleabag.  She is a stockholder in Mr. Jordan’s company.  He urges her not to sell.  They reminisce about their younger days, when they were courting.  He once proposed marriage. 

Dan Packard (Orson Welles) enters the office. He recognizes her from her days on the stage.  Before she departs, Jordan confirms that she is coming to dinner next Friday.  Jordan and Packard talk business. The Jordan Line Shipping is in financial straights and he wants a loan from Packard, who promises to consider it. 

Back at the Packards, Dan arrives to find Kitty still in bed. He complains that Jordan cannot handle his business and he aims to buy them out. Dan says he won’t go to dinner there and Kitty is not happy about it. She tries wheedling him and she mentions the dinner is for Lord and Lady Ferncliff.  He says he is going to buy out Jordan using dummy stock holders.  

Doctor Talbot (Edgar Barrier) arrives to examine Kitty. We learn that they are having an affair. The music swells and the scene transitions to...

Mrs. Jordan, still planning her dinner party, looking for one more man to balance her table. Hattie and Mrs. Jordan, suddenly get a brilliant idea for their final guest - movie star Larry Renault.

Meanwhile, Paula visits her paramour, Larry Renault (also Orson Welles). They are in love. She warns him not to drink so much. His agent Max Kane (Benny Rubin) has gotten him a part in a play. He tells her she should just marry Ernest. Renault has been married three times and is almost 40!  His second wife drove off a cliff and his third is now the biggest star in Hollywood.  Paula impulsively says she is going to tell everyone about their love - including her parents! 

Kane arrives and Paula leaves to find urges him to stop drinking and get in shape. Kane breaks the news that the play is off!  The new producer doesn’t want him. He’s been replaced by an English actor. Kane suggests he take a smaller role in the play. Kane suggest he humble himself to the new producer, but Renault is indignant. 

“I’m Larry Renault!  I don’t go to managers with my hat in my hand!” 

At the Jordan home, Carlotta and Millicent talk about the party, including the invitation of Lord Ferncliff, who everyone calls “Stinky”.  When Mr. Jordan comes home, she confides to Oliver that she has sold her Jordan stock.  It seems she isn’t the only one who has sold Jordan stock that day. 

A phone call informs Millicent that the Ferncliffs are going to Florida and can’t come to dinner after all!  Just then, Paula comes home to tell her mother urgent news about her engagement to Ernest. Oliver says he is feeling unwell, and wants to go to bed instead of having dinner. Millicent is at wits end with the party cancellations and her family’s drama!

END OF ACT ONE

Ernest Chappell returns to urge mothers to get their child’s recommended serving of milk by adding it to Campbell’s Tomato, Celery, and Asparagus soups. 

ACT TWO

That night, Renault is drunk. Kane brings up Mr. Stingle, the new producer of the play. Renault bullies Mr. Stingle calling him a hack. Stingle abruptly leaves.  Renault blames Kane, who tells him he’s washed up in show business. 

KANE: “You’re a corpse and you don’t know it! Go get yourself buried.” 

Kane leaves and Renault pours himself another drink - the last one in the bottle. He’s visited by a hotel manager who tells him he’s being evicted from his suite.  He calls the operator and tells him not to put any calls through. Larry turns on the gas.  

At dinner, introductions are made. Seems as if Mrs. Packard already knows Dr. Talbot. Mrs. Jordan says that Lord Ferncliff’s absence is due to ill health. Carlotta brings her little dog, which she wants fed lobster.  She inadvertently announces that Lord and Lady Ferncliff are vacationing, not ill at all.  Everyone wonders where Larry Renault is.  Paula enters and Mrs. Jordan decides they shouldn’t wait for Renault.  

Paula is distracted.  She phones the hotel to speak with Renault and they refuse to connect her. They mention the police and then Paula goes silent.  The police would like to speak with her.  

END OF PLAY

Ernest Chappell, having addressed the women at the intermission, addresses the men in the audience, touting the hearty comforts of Campbell’s Soups. 

Orson Welles returns for an interview with the female guest stars.  Welles insists that her participation tonight will lead to something vile in her column tomorrow!  He points out that her character spent a lot of time on the telephone in the story. Welles attributes the modern gossip column to the invention of the telephone, who he jokingly credits to Don Ameche!  

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell is a somewhat fictionalized 1939 biographical film of the famous inventor that starred Don Ameche as Bell and Loretta Young as his wife Mabel. Coincidentally, the film also featured Charles Trowbridge (Oliver Jordan in tonight’s radio play).

In scripted banter, Miss Rambeau recalls happier days when there were no columns, which gets Hopper hopping mad!  Welles begs Miss Ball to intervene.

LUCY: “On behalf of Kitty Packard, I think Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. Vance ought to call it a day - both of them. Just because a girl likes to have a bit of fun and not sit around like a piece of furniture or something you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths---”. 

Welles interrupts the cat fight to bid everyone goodnight, but not without a reminder that next Sunday, Only Angels Have Wings, starring Joan Blondell. 

‘DINNER’ TRIVIA

This is one of four characters named Kitty that Lucille Ball has played.  Others were in Follow The Fleet (1936), Without Love (1945), and The Facts of Life (1960).

In the 1933 film version, Elizabeth Patterson plays Miss Copeland, secretary to Oliver Jordan (Lionel Barrymore). Patterson went on to play Mrs. Trumbull on “I Love Lucy.” 

A clip from the 1933 film was included in “Toast of the Town’s 30th Anniversary Tribute to MGM”, a program that also featured its star Lionel Barrymore (Oliver Jordan), Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Paul Harvey, who played the New York Times Art Critic in “Lucy the Sculptress” (ILL S2;E15) had his greatest success on Broadway as Dan Packard in the original cast of Dinner at Eight. His role was taken in the film by Wallace Beery. 

A 1955 CBS television version of Dinner at Eight featured “Lucy” cast members Eleanor Audley (as Carlotta Vance), Pierre Watkin, and Tristram Coffin.  She is seen above on “I Love Lucy” with Peter Bucco. 

In the 1989 TV movie of Dinner at Eight, Kitty Packard (the character played by Lucille Ball on radio) was played by Ellen Greene, famous for playing Audrey on stage and screen in Little Shop of Horrors. In that musical she sings about “Lucy”!

The 1966 Broadway revival of Dinner at Eight was at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon), the same theatre where Lucille Ball did Wildcat five years earlier. 

Season 4 episodes of “Here’s Lucy” were sponsored by Campbell’s Soup. The DVD includes a commercial that features Dodie Goodman and Eddie Bracken. Coincidentally, Bracken is credited with introducing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz when they were starring in the film version of Too Many Girls in 1940, the same year as this radio broadcast. 

Campbell’s Soup was immortalized in paint by artist Andy Warhol in 1962. Twenty years later he used Lucille Ball as his muse. 

The 2002 Broadway revival of Dinner at Eight at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre starred Emily Skinner as Kitty (the role played by Lucille Ball on radio). Skinner played Lucille Ball on Broadway in The Cher Show which played at....yes...the Alvin Theatre!

[riotatthemovies]

Van Pires (1997)

Ooohh fuck me. Thank you to my friend Dempsey for sending these dvds my way.. I think thank you?

Terrible cgi crosses with live action in a sense of Superhuman Cybersquad but fully on LSD with more puns then any human can handle. A meteor crashes into a junk yard possesing cars and random garbage with demon souls. Conveniently four teenagers that seem to love 80s metal get blasted and get the powers to turns into half car half human but only after dark. The evil junk monsters need to suck gas to live so the amount of times the characters make weak jokes by saying suck gas and kick gas is mind boggeling. Cgi similar to the worst episodes of Beast Wars blur everything and the live action scenes are so weird and silly you will have no idea what you are watching. I claim the evil Vanpires will be a back up army for the 4 horsemen of the children's movie apocalypse. This was a show that show how aired on the WB and Fox and we all blocked it out of our minds, probably from trauma. There are several volumes of dvds cause this got a full season some how. I recommend episode 2 with the cheesy fake Motely Crue in it. However the end of the first episode ends in fart jokes as they need to drink fuel to survive but when then turn back to humans in the sun light they all suffer from gas.. get it gas..do you get it? DO YOU get it.. gas.. fuel.. farts?

Kill me.

Non stop puns only get worse by the old guy that manages the heroes who is a burnt out rocker in a fake English accent making family friendly stoner jokes that goes by the name of Van He'llsing saying the last name is pronounced like He will sing cause he used to hang out with the Rollingstones. It gets worse with different songs in the credits that sound like terrible Christian rock songs. I don't think this is religious but it does feel like Bibleman quality and dorky humor to the max. Or the people who made this were just super high and cry everytime they watch this sober. The company is the Gentile entertainment group, which is just a family last name that appears all through the credits.

Im watching episode three and the evil leader Count Trakula tells his henchmen to "stop idling " and I don't even think they know they made a pun this time. Oh and yes the villain is called Count Tracula and looks just like Megatron from Beast Wars. In this episode Trakula bites a tank and makes it turn into a demon l that looks like a giant take on Torch from Puppet Master. I know i make shit sound fun when often its really shit, so beaware , this is shit. The live action scenes when the heroes aka the Motorvators hang out and make teenage rock n roll puns while hanging out with the old man with acting skills of an anti drug psa are way more fun then the cartoon action scenes ... aaand yet.. those scenes still suck gas.

One character says to his friend that's getting angry "hey man cool your engines and shift gears , no need to cause a 50 emotion pile up when we can throttle out of here and put the breaks on these guys" Every line is a car pun , EVERY fucking line.

However mind blown that the line "Dont truck with Trakula" is murmured.

So bad that it needs to be seen. But as I finish disc one I feel maybe even I dont have the strength to keep going... pressed play on disc two is like turning the ignition on my mental meltdown revs 0 to 60 death race. See I can do it too.

Random facts:

John Entwhisle added some music to this and their is a rpg of it. What the fuck?

Also the old man Van He'llsing is credited as himself in the credits and has no imdb listening. He is in a wig and fake mustache leading to an internet rumor that he is secretly Gary Oldman, which is fucking hilarious.

In closing may I say They don't even transform into cars!! 

This one left skid marks in my brain.

[ober-affen-geil]

So I have. Done. A meta before. On Michael and Alex outside the trailer in 1x09. But it turns out I have more to say on the matter and a slightly changed outlook so here we go.

I want to start by referring to this most excellent meta because it touches on a lot of the same points as mine, mostly being the massive disconnect between Alex and Michael in this scene. I want to focus on Michael here though, because I’ve already talked a lot about how pivotal this scene is for Alex. (Here is the big one, there are many others.) Also because I believe in this scene, Michael thinks he’s getting that pyrotechnic breakup he asked for in the beginning of the episode, and I am devastated for him.

*Disclaimer before I start: I am not completely disregarding what Alex is going through in this scene. I am focusing on Michael. I am not dismissing, nor undercutting how important this moment is for Alex. It is. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about so. Just be aware I’m not at all giving precedent to Alex’s point of view.*

We start off with Alex pulling up, and you can tell Michael is trying to treat him like a normal customer. It’s killing him inside, but Alex told him it was over and he can be an adult about this. At least he can try. And then he pulls the necklace out of his boot and Alex reacts like he’s hurt and that’s not fair so Michael pushes back to the topic at hand. (What were you saying?)

But then Alex starts to leave walking away again which is just fine by Michael. It’s typical, it’s what he did when they were “together”, why would it change now. It’s expected. But then Alex flips the script. (I’m tired of not saying what I want to say.) And Michael has had it up to here with him.

Because, from Michael’s view, no one has ever prevented Alex from saying what he wanted to say. Not when he’s with Michael. Michael has never found it difficult to speak most of his absolute truth when he’s with Alex, so Alex’s apparent inability to do the same is just one more indicator that Michael’s feelings are not as strongly returned. (See this wonderful meta for more on their love language gap.)

And now not only has Alex apparently decided to make a grand gesture, he’s doing it after he told Michael it was over. Publicly. So Michael is. Yeah. Michael is just about at the end of his rope. (What do you want to say, Alex?!)

And then. And then. 

“That I loved you.”

A sentence which takes the wind from his sails and the breath from his lungs. It literally stops Michael in his tracks it is that unexpected.

Alex doesn’t do this. He doesn’t talk about this “thing” between them. Ever. All he does is accept what Michael gives him and walk away, again and again. So to hear the word “love” from him in relation to Michael, even in past tense, is shocking. But he’s not done.

“And I think you loved me. For a long time.”

And this. Wrecks Michael. Just when he thought Alex Manes had razed him to the ground he finds out there was still a part of him left to hurt. His reaction is of someone who is absolutely destroyed, his only response is “Yeah” because what is he supposed to say to that? Everything he does and says around Alex is designed to show him he loves him and if Alex doesn’t get that what more is Michael supposed to do? “I think you loved me,” as if Michael’s love could ever be doubted. As if he could ever love Alex Manes in past tense.

But no good will come of him trying to correct that. He’s done what he can to say how he feels in the past and apparently it hasn’t worked. So he stands there and listens to Alex stumble over his words. He can’t quite keep it to himself when Alex talks about their connection though, because it’s such a powerful pull. It always has been.

When he says “Cosmic” it’s an argument. It’s a plea, it’s disbelief, and it’s desperation. “This is us. This is what we have, why would you deny that? Why would you say it’s not enough?” But Alex plows over it, dismisses it, and well really that’s par for the course isn’t it. Michael pours his heart out and Alex doesn’t look at it. Doesn’t take it, doesn’t want what it means. Like outside the trailer in 1x02, he will accept Michael’s hands on his body and nothing else. And then Alex says “I want to be friends?” like he’s not even sure about that and Michael just.

I know I already linked to her meta above but I gotta quote @chasingshhadows here because this is it exactly: “This is a man who knows that he and Alex will never be able to be just friends, but who also knows he won’t be able to stop himself from doing whatever Alex asks...That laugh says he knows that what comes next is going to hurt and he’s going to let it.”

It does hurt. What comes next. Because what comes next, so far as Michael knows, is Alex asking a very dangerous question.

“I wanna know who you are, Guerin.”

And Michael makes a choice. If Alex won’t set them alight, he will. Because that look in his eyes as he stalks towards Alex is predatory. It’s dangerous. It’s “if you wanna play with fire, you’re gonna get burned.”

His next line is so, so significant. Aside from giving me heart palpitations, his wording here is incredibly indicative of self-destruction. He douses himself with gas, hands Alex a lit match, and dares him to use it.

”Do you wanna know who I am? Or do you wanna know what I am?”

This goes beyond Michael offering to tell Alex the truth. Look at the wording of the second question, “what I am”. Michael is othering himself. Of the three siblings, Michael is the only one who takes genuine pride in not being human. He has seen the worst of what humanity has to offer from a young age and that has given him an aversion to even pretending to associate with them. Max and Isobel may secretly wish they were “normal” (and by normal, I mean human) but Michael has never wanted that. Michael wants to go home because Earth has never been that for him.

So for him to use this language to describe himself, to play into the picture of the monstrous alien “other” that invades the planet, is him just pulling the pin and waiting for Alex to back away in disgust and horror. He’s braced for it. It’s what he intended to do with that sentence; it’s him slapping the naked truth onto the table and saying “this is the part where you run away.”

But Alex doesn’t run. He doesn’t even step back when Michael pushes into his space. All he does is look at him, take a breath, and say “Yes”. And I would kill for a reaction shot in that moment because Alex just pulled the rug out from under Michael again. But alas. It is left to our imagination.

Anyway. That scene always takes my breath away, even moreso than the Caulfied scene, so I needed to get that out there. A recovery center has been set up for those who need it, complaints may be submitted to my ask :D

[martykirkby]

Any holby or casualty episodes you’d recommend rewatching? Idm how old, thanks :)

(i’m gonna put this under a read more bc it got way longer than i intended it too and you didn’t even ask for descriptions i’m just incapable of being concise ever sorry! i bolded the titles so you don’t have to read it all)

okay so it depends what characters you care about, bc my answers would be different based on who your faves are, so these are my faves to rewatch (but will probs be super biased towards my fave characters)! obvs i’m not saying watch all of them (unless you want to) but i’ve included reasons why i like them so you can decide based on what you enjoy.

holby (i’ve only watched from s16 with a little of s15 and s6 so it’s gonna start there):

intuition (16x11)- dom’s first episode back after his guest stint, and adele’s first ep! this is the first episode i watched when i started watching holby properly bc i was impatient and wanted to get to the dom scenes so i haven’t watched most of the s16 episodes before it but i would probably say watch 16x10 as well bc that’s when jac gives birth and this ep has a lot of scenes about her and emma.

prince among men (16x16)- raf’s first ep in which he’s v v iconic and also i love dom, zosia and arthur and frustrated mentor sacha and there’s that woman who’s like in love with a mummy until she finds out it was a female mummy. also jac and emma!!

one small step (16x42)- again i LOVE the keller trio, this is the first ep where they really bond even if it’s over a super traumatic experience w zosia. and connie crosses over for the first time since she joined casualty, which i rlly liked.

star of wonder (17x10)- a really important episode for zosia’s character and her bipolar sl! also i like christmas episodes

the ides of march (17x32)- another big ep for zosia and the one where she decides to move to darwin

beautiful (17x45)- dom taking a level students on a tour of the hospital and bonding w one of them and quoting that christina aguilera song... i love him

at first i was afraid (17x50)- dom and arthur roadtrip! the karaoke scene! frieda as a patient! elliot’s exit ft some really nice scenes w him and jac!

left behind (18x05)- i just really like all three storylines, i’ve rewatched the mo and wiliam sl a few times just bc i like mo and this ep is the last one of that sl and it’s my fave of them, and you can watch it as a standalone if you already know what’s happened in the eps beforehand.

blue christmas (18x11)- the only one i’ve seen where jac’s past is rlly talked about bc it’s the one where fran reveals they know each other. apart from that it is just a nice christmas ep and i really like all the other storylines going on.

young hearts, run free (18x13)- the ep where dom arthur and morven have to do some scavenger hunt thing in the woods!! and dom has a chicken called henriketta!! that’s reason enough to watch it 500 times tbh

one under (18x21)- for some reason arthur’s patient sl haunts me, but i think it is a rlly good (but sad) ep for arthur as he comes to terms with his cancer test

it tolls for thee (18x31)- arthur and morven’s wedding and i love them

i’ll walk you home (18x35)- arthur’s last ep (as not a figment of someone’s imagination) and it’s devastating but the episode is so so well done and i watch it whenever i need to cry

another day in paradise, parts one and two (18x38 and 18x39)- i just really like all the different storylines in these eps, the patient sl is like. wild and there’s focus on jac being a mother and dom’s grief and sacha and essie i just rlly like them

protect and serve (18x47)- this is the one after the helicopter crash in casualty so i always watch it after watching that one. it’s a good episode that focuses more on the characters than the storylines and i love the crossovers too.

i do, i do, i do (19x13)- an episode in which a main character’s daughter dies has absolutely no right being as funny as this, but the derwood/inga wedding is so so funny and also rlly sweet at the end and the contrast with the elinor storyline is wild (and also something i wish holby would do more often bc recently they’ve done like three depressing storylines in one ep)

the hard way home (19x35)- tbh the main reason i’ve rewatched this ep so much is for dofty which obvs i don’t care about anymore, but it’s also a really good ep just for dom w his steroid addiction and the anniversary of arthur’s death. and it’s damon’s first ep and i miss him

group animal, parts one and two (19x61 and 19x62)- the shooting eps which i also watch when i wanna feel sad, but also they are just really good episodes in general

also the last two eps of s19 after the shooting bc i’m incapable of not watching the aftermath

i haven’t rewatched any s20 or s21 eps except when giffing so i can’t rlly recommend any there

casualty (for some of these just pretend that lofty never existed on holby and his character was never destroyed):

next of kin, parts one and two (26x15 and 26x16)- the second ep is more exciting but you need the first one for context, it’s just classic high stakes drama, the entire ed was on fire bc they stopped filming in bristol so they were like yeah let’s completely destroy the set! and it’s ruth and jay’s last episodes.

duty of care (26x17)- also high stakes drama, tom’s first episode and the first ep filmed in cardiff. there’s a poisonous gas leak AND an explosion.

love is (26x23)- danny dyer did more acting in this one (1) episode than he has his entire career on eastenders i swear. i didn’t expect to get so emo about it.

the ‘ricochet’ eps (26x25, 26x26, 26x27)- casualty didn’t hold back with these eps. they’re v good eps (s26 has some of casualty’s best episodes imo) but a LOT about gang violence and a trigger warning for rape in the second one.

zero sum game (26x39)- fletch’s first episode! i mainly like it bc of that but it’s also fun to see how much lloyd hates him at first.

the #holbyriot eps (26x41 and 26x42)- definitely some of the most tense episodes casualty’s ever done, back when they cared about social issues like police brutality.

rabbits in headlights (27x17)-  the first episode for robyn, jamie and aoife (and ally but she leaves the next ep). i love seeing how far robyn in particular has come, and i loved jamie and aoife as well and seeing them as tiny dumbass students is fun.

unsilenced (27x31)- the fgm storyline, again when casualty used to care about social issues. it’s really well-written, i think.

once there was a way home, parts one and two (28x01 and 28x02)- this is ramin’s first appearance and i love him and jamie and the way jamie basically risked his entire job to help him. the first one is also rita’s first ep!

carrot not stick (28x35)- this one has a patient from 28x33 in, but you don’t need to have rewatched that one to get the gist. lofty and dixie take said patient to visit his dying mother and they go to the beach. they sing dolly parton. lofty steals a puppy. it’s just a really nice episode imo

born lucky (29x05)- this is a sad one, but i really like the relationships between the staff in this one, and i think it was a good final episode for jeff.

entrenched (29x09)- casualty said football fans don’t deserve rights and also lofty makes some points about the futility of war. michael spence is in this episode!

deadfall (29x10), the road not taken (29x26), holby sin city (29x39)- i’m grouping these together bc they’re all the ‘holby noir’ standalone episodes and if you wanna watch one ep and not have to worry about the long running storylines, they work. they’re also completely insane and v fun imo. the road not taken is my fave.

a child’s heart, parts one and two (30x01 and 30x02)- i’m not a fan of it focusing so much on charlie’s life story, but i love episodes just after a crisis and especially when one of the team is in danger bc you really see how much the staff all care about each other. these eps also have the start of louise’s storyline where she switches from a receptionist to a nurse.

high tide (30x27)- lofty’s last episode, jez’s first, and it’s also a really good episode for cal and ethan. and although i don’t really care about any of them except jez anymore, i still think this is a good episode to rewatch just to see like. them as characters.

too old for this shift (31x01)- this is the feature length episode so like. it might not be ideal to rewatch but again it’s the helicopter crash episode, so you really see the staff pull together which i love, and there are appearances from jac and fletch, and video calls from people who have left the show. like i said, it goes with protect and serve on holby so i usually rewatch those together.

mobile (31x27)- i literally just rewatched this episode last night which is why i’m thinking about it, but it’s a really good ep and it’s the one where robyn gives birth and her scenes with david are so well acted. they also link all three stories in some way to mobile phones which i thought was cool.

5 days (31x28)- i love robyn so i really love this episode. there’s a lot of character development imo, from being in denial and optimistic to realising how bad charlotte’s situation is and struggling to cope, to accepting how it is and being there for her as a mother.

one (31x44)- the plot is okay, it’s not something i’d be particularly interested to rewatch apart from the fact it’s filmed in one shot which makes it fun to rewatch.

32x19- max’s last episode and we find out a lot about him! and ofc there’s the zoe and max reunion and i just really like max in this episode.

32x21- bea’s first ep and i love her, also really shows how much a real ed has to cope with and has alicia start the anonymous blog which is v iconic of her.

i haven’t really rewatched any eps that aired after this specifically for one ep (i’ve rewatched every episode jade and marty and archie have been in but i don’t always care about the eps themselves)

[the-elemental-sides]

The Elemental Sides: Chapter 8

Urban fantasy AU: The Sides are four spirits trapped in an amulet. When Thomas finds it and puts it on, he gains the powers of the four elements…or that’s what should have happened, but mistakes were made. Now the Sides have to coach him in their respective elements while Thomas deals with both his new powers and his ability to see into the magical realm. Not only is magic real, but there’s some pretty intimidating stuff out there, and only Thomas and the Sides have the power to stop it.

A/N: It is here! Chapter 8, my favorite number! It’s been about a year since the creation of this blog + the very first chapter of TES. Thanks so much for sticking with me. May this story be finished by 2020!

Taglist: @shinylyni, @hissesssss, @vexation-virgil, @madd-catter, @rptheturk, @nienna14, @ryuity, @asofterfan, @robanilla, @k9cat, @ab-artist, @absoluteamethyst, @a-box-o-jills, @captain-loki-xavier, @lynisnotamused, @literally-just-for-fanfics, @alix-the-skeleton, @generalfandomfabulousness, @lunareclipse-524

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

*** Thomas and Roman, spirits, faced off in the middle of his living room.

“No hitting,” warned Patton. He paused. “Okay, that’s the only rule. Go wild, kids!”

They moved at the same time. Thomas’ hand burst into flame, but it was literally sucked out of his grasp by Roman and thrown back into his face. Since it was translucent, the fire passed through him harmlessly and splashed against the far wall.

“Point to Roman,” Logan said to the book in his hands. He marked a tally on Roman’s side of the chalkboard, but it ended up sideways because he wasn’t looking at what he was doing.

“Three weeks and I haven’t gotten a single point,” groaned Thomas. “Against any of you!”

“It’s about more than just who can fire the first shot, cowboy,” said Roman. “It’s about willpower! You have to really control your powers, not just summon them.”

“Okay.” Thomas swept his hair out of his face, vaguely wondering how Virgil could stand having bangs in his eyes all the time. “Can I try again?”

“More like you can try, again. Patton, count us off!”

“Three-two-one-fight!”

This time, Thomas was a little more prepared. He waited for Roman to pitch the first fireball before catching it from midair and chucking it back. The fire flew back and forth between them before Roman caught it and extinguished the flame.

“That’s cheating!” Thomas protested.

“I think not! I was just getting bored.”

“Boo, lame.”

“I agree, point to Thomas,” said Logan, marking the board.

Thomas fist-pumped while Roman protested. “I was just playing around. Look! More fire! I can keep going.”

“Actually, you should be done for the day,” Virgil interrupted. “I don’t want Thomas to run out of energy. He promised he’d practice water today, too.”

“Aw, but we’re on a roll!”

“No, he’s right,” Thomas agreed. “I’m kind of falling behind with water.”

“No such problems with earth, because I am the best teacher,” Logan muttered into his book.

Roman turned on him. “Are not!”

“Completely am.”

“I don’t mean to brag, but Thomas is pretty darn good with my air powers, considering he’s an Earthbender,” Patton remarked. (He’d finally caught up with Avatar and had completely bought into how they handled elemental powers in the series.) “So maybe he’s just natur-air-ly talented?”

“You’re impossible.”

In the weeks since he’d fought his first shadow monster, Thomas had had a lot of adjusting to do. While he was capable of destroying the smaller shadows when he came across them on busy streets, in buildings, and even in his own apartment, the Sides continued to coach him. They didn’t want another close call like they’d had with that big one in the grocery store.

It didn’t feel like he was making much of a difference, but the Sides applauded him every time he destroyed one of the little bad-vibe blobs. They were even thrilled every time he showed that he was improving with their powers. He couldn’t see any tangible difference in the world around him, but through their encouragement Thomas did start to feel a little like he was becoming a hero.

Meanwhile, besides the Sides, life continued as usual. Thomas was working just as hard on his videos. He was hard at work on his second episode of Cartoon Therapy–which was, of course, based off Avatar.

The first time he showed up to the space they’d rented, already in his Picani garb, Joan gave him a weird look when they met him at the door. “You’re still wearing that necklace?”

Thomas looked down at the crystal. Being huge and sparkly, it was difficult not to notice and impossible to hide under a shirt. “Oh, yeah, guess I am.”

“I mean, wear whatever, dude. But I don’t get what it has to do with Picani.”

“No, you’re right, I’ll take it off.” Thomas reached for the chain. Of course he had to take the crystal off sometimes, for showering and stuff, but the Sides always hated it when they were forced back in the crystal for a while. When he wasn’t in direct contact with it, they couldn’t keep up their mind palace and all the other cool amenities they’d built inside. They had to go back to the dreamless state that Logan explained they’d existed in for the last fifteen years.

He waited a beat just to make sure he had their permission. Roman, acting emissary, appeared. He simultaneously gave Thomas a thumbs down, shrugged, and stuck his tongue out: we don’t like it, but you do what you need. Thomas tugged the crystal off and felt a little lonely when their presences disappeared from the back of his head. After that, the filming session went fine.

Between managing his YouTube career, finding time for his friends, and practicing his steadily improving magic powers on unsuspecting shadow blobs, Thomas was busier than ever. So it surprised him when Patton started egging him to take a vacation.

“Now? Really?”

“Sure, kiddo! Don’t you deserve a mental health day?”

“I’m fine,” Thomas said with a frown. “I mean, I’m holding up okay…”

“He’s right, actually,” Logan said, popping into view in Thomas’ chair (Thomas and Patton were currently in the kitchen trying to cook up some Indian food, and it was going poorly). “We’ve been discussing this. While I agree it’s important to keep your mental state functioning properly, the purpose of this vacation would also be to allow your to exercise your powers in ways you might be less familiar wi–Patton, watch out!”

“Oops!” Patton had thrown a handful of curry leaves into a pan on the stove, which was filled with oil sizzling at max heat. It immediately burst into flames.

On instinct, Patton dodged in front of Thomas and shot a blast of air at the smoking pan. It did nothing but spatter oil droplets all over the table and Logan, who was unamused. Thomas put out the fire by scooping it up in his hands and extinguishing it.

“...Oops.”

“Patton, honestly. How did you ever feed yourself?”

“I get the feeling it involved a lot of ice cream for dinner!”

“Whew.” Thomas exhaled. Fire was actually a lot less scary when you could just kind of...erase it.

“As I was saying,” Logan said in a clipped voice, “by ‘vacation,’ we’re not telling you to hang around at home in your pajamas for three days. No, what we’re suggesting is that you go learn some history....about the origin of your powers.”

“Wow! I could do that?”

“Well, of course. Where do you think we got the crystal?”

“I have no idea! Where?”

Logan paused. “...We don’t know either. Our time in the crystal left our memories, ah, spotty. Some vital details such as this have been lost. However, Virgil, who tends to remember these things best, has an inkling of where exactly he obtained it.”

“That’s right,” Virgil said, appearing–and sitting on the table, but luckily his butt was a ghost at the moment anyway. He glared at Patton. “And jeez, Pat, were you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Oi’l be more careful next time!”

“Pretending I didn’t hear that. Thomas, here’s what I remember. When we, uh. When we decided to test the whole crystal thing, we knew we needed a good one, obviously. We got our powers and then we started searching around for something, some kind of gem, that matched the parameters Logan laid out.”

“Robust. Undamaged. Prismatic. Sensitive to magic—by that, we mean whether it reacted when placed in certain stress simulations involving the shadows.”

“Uh, yeah. So I found a good one in this one super goth back-alley jewelry store–”

Thomas gasped. “Borgin and Burkes?!”

“No? I don’t know what that is? Look, anyway, I found a good one,  s–uhh, I stole it–”

“WHAT”

“–and brought it back to everyone else.”

“You STOLE it?” Patton cried. “But that’s totally against why we wanted it in the first place! Fighting evil! Remember?”

“I know. But the alternative worried me more.”

“Well, I’m not really happy about that, sport, but it’s too late to do anything about it now. Maybe they won the lottery in the last fifteen years and got their money back…?”

“Virgil, do you recall the name and location of this place?” Logan asked.

“Can’t say I do. Well–I think it was near Florida. I remember driving for a while during the night. There was a lot of fog….I could sort of tune into it with my powers, so I could sense the surrounding area. Something was near me, like a big, dark cold spot. It might’ve been a shadow, but bigger than one I’ve ever seen.” He shuddered. “I had to get away from it, so I turned off the highway, drove for a while, stopped at a gas station, and...there it was.”

“Well, that’s vague,” Thomas mused.

“Do you think that we’d be able to recreate your path if Thomas were to search for it?”

“Uh….maybe? It’s possible?”

“That’s sufficient enough for me,” Logan declared. “All right, Thomas, the parameters of your vacation are this. You are to find the location and source of this crystal and interrogate the owners of the establishment for information.”

“Information like….”

“Well, whether there’s a way to expedite your learning process. Whether we can get out of this crystal. Perhaps we can find a way for all four of us to assume solid form without damaging you.”

“And this involves a lot of driving…” Thomas said to himself. “So, if this is really important to you guys, it sounds like we’re going on a–”

“ROAD TRIP!” Patton hollered, throwing up his arms and upturning the pan on the stove, which had been steadily burning their dinner to a crisp the entire time. Oil, curry, chicken, and the whole mess slopped onto the stove and promptly exploded in a shower of hot oil.

“...road trip.”

“PATTON!”

***

[orokinarchives]

Nightwave Series 1: The Wolf of Saturn Six

(Wolf of Saturn Six hype image)

27 February 2019 – 19 May 2019

Series episodes

(Episode 1, 27 Feb 2019, Week 1) Nora Night: "It's a bad moon, Dreamers. Can you feel it? Hm. From my perch, at Nightwave, I listen at the windows of the wealthy and well-to-do. Ever heard of Saturn Six? News to me, too. Turns out, the Grineer have a max-pen floating some six leagues deep in the gas. No one knew about it… 'cause no one ever busted out. Until now, right? Some Grineer meathead they started calling 'the Wolf'. On account of him taking up howlin' at night. Decrypts say he was a model prisoner, doing the time. Fabbin' bombs with the rest of his con brothers. Apple of the Warden's eye, even. But something cracked, and now he's out there on the loose… the so-called Wolf of Saturn Six."

(Episode 2, 13 Mar 2019, Week 3) Nora Night: "It's late. You still with me, Dreamers? Soon we'll see the sun curve over the Venusian sky. A hot blue taste. What's keeping you up? For me, it's the gap-waves, all abuzz with the doings of a certain big, bad Wolf. Why didn't he run? Why didn't he hit that Solar Rail as far as it would take him? Instead, he's stalking those soul-bare, money-huggers 'round Jupiter. My birds are sayin' the Corpus net got flipped. A System-wide message from the Wolf: DELIVER GHARN. Where'd a meathead learn a trick like that? And who's Gharn? Baby, you can guess… he's the Warden of Saturn Six. A big man, too well-dressed for his station, too well-fed for his rank. And he's in the solar wind too…. Think he knows how the Wolf came to howlin'?"

(Episode 3, 27 Mar 2019, Week 5) Nora Night: "An ice-night in Neptune, Dreamers. Hm. Hold yours close and true, and hey… if you're between stops… Nora knows that mood. But our Wolf… he's not alone tonight. Add this with me: the howler breaks out of Saturn Six. But get this… the howling doesn't stop… someone else takes to singing that cruel song. The Wolf knows why, and it called him back to the scene of the crime. Warden Gharn's little side business. Hm. Sellin' Grineer lemons for a Corpus squeeze. So freedom's got no hold on the Wolf, does it? No. It's the sisters and brothers from the joint that matter to him… the pack. We both know what happens next… when a Wolf finds its pack… they hunt."

(Episode 4, 10 Apr 2019, Week 7) Nora Night: "The message read: GHARN IS YOURS. An anonymous gift, hm. I know what this looks like. But the Wolf's too cold for revenge. The Grineer appoint Wardens for life. The Wolf had no choice but to shorten the term. Not payback, just 'never again'. But it was too easy. Days like these, an easy meal means you're taking someone's bait. Alad V's. The Devil in a Corpus cloak. Got the Wolf in an all-new prison, baby. Only this one's not made of bars, it's made of chemicals… hmmm… guess we all know someone like that. The whole lot has been transformed into these 'Amalgam Dogs'… his words. Hybridised, juiced on some Sentient strain. No nice way to put it. I think the pack is coming after you, Dreamers."

(Episode 5, 24 Apr 2019, Week 9) Nora Night: "Passing by that Mercury Junction… shimmering hot, tonight. Word on the grid is the Devil's got his due… hm. Should have known. We saw the signs, didn't we? Sure. The Wolf got tough… tougher. But more than that, the Wolf got smart. Got a pack together. Worked the Corpus crypto. He's his own man now. Leavin' no more tracks. Is this the end? Dreamers, I hope so… but if I were you, I'd keep an ear out… 'cause one of these days you just might hear that howl come 'round your shoulder. This is Nora Night, signing off. Stay deadly, Dreamers."

Capturing Saturn Six fugitives

During The Wolf of Saturn Six, the Tenno could periodically find Saturn Six fugitives in their missions, in groups of three. Defeating them and capturing them would yield Nightwave Standing.

(upon capturing a group of Saturn Six fugitives) Nora Night: "If there's one thing I've learned, Dreamers, it's this: just when you think you've had it all, seen it all, done it all… there's always more."

(upon capturing a group of Saturn Six fugitives) Nora Night: "Life is a cornucopia, friends. A movable feast. An act of guts and trust. Take it when and where you find it."

(upon capturing a group of Saturn Six fugitives) Nora Night: "Does your backbrain feel that reptile tickle of reward? Do you see that bobbing light ahead, floating through the marsh of what is to come, promising you more and more and more? Do follow, Dreamers, into that sweet black tomorrow."

Tactical Alerts

On 10 May 2019 (Friday, Week 11), two Tactical Alerts appeared on Saturn. Both Alerts were identical, differing only in the level of enemies (20-30 vs 50-70). Each Alert involved the Tenno infiltrating a Grineer Galleon filled with Saturn Six fugitives and killing the Wolf. The Alerts could only be accessed by Tenno who had achieved Rank 5 in Nightwave. After completing the first Tactical Alert, the Tenno would receive an inbox message from Nora Night containing 10 Nitain extract.

Inbox message: THE WOLF OF SATURN SIX: New Day's Sun

Dreamer, you're shining all over that bad moon like you were the new day's sun. Shining so bright, I bet you got that Wolf wishin' he was back down in Saturn Six.

But I'll keep watching, 'cause the Wolf's still howling, and I can tell you're about to lay down some hard grooves.

Here's a little something to keep you moving. Courtesy of Nightwave.

After completing the second Tactical Alert, the Tenno would receive another inbox message from Nora Night containing a Rifle Riven mod and a Stratos Emblem.

Inbox message: THE WOLF OF SATURN SIX: Hear that?

You hear that, Dreamer? Silence. No Wolf, no howl. And no doubt in my mind that it's all thanks to you.

Nora knows nothing ever stays quiet, so here's a little something for when the silence breaks.

Until next time, keep you ear to the Nightwave, Dreamer.

These two Tactical Alerts could be replayed until 13 May 2019 in order to obtain all the components of the Wolf Sledge weapon, which dropped from the Wolf. The higher-level Alert featured an increased drop rate for these components (70% vs 35%).

Nightwave Series 1: The Wolf of Saturn Six ended on 19 May 2019, at the end of Week 12. After it ended, the Wolf no longer spawned in missions, unless lured out by Wolf Beacons, purchasable through Nora Night's Cred Shop starting in Nightwave Series 2.

[Navigation: Hub → Dialogue → Nora Night → The Wolf of Saturn Six]

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 21; both raw AND subbed~!

Advance Warning: I have never seen Ryuki, and it’s probably going to show. A lot, if only because I have no connection to whoever the Guest Characters are, and what any issues they bring in could mean. I’ve seen Marcosatsu’s History Of Ryuki though, so that should help a little. (three links, because he wound up doing it in three parts)

Starting off with watching the Raw!

BlackWoz’s Storytime Vault doesn’t have much to offer, aside from a worrying angle at the end.

I’m impressed by Uhr’s control with reversing the damage he’s doing to that mirror. Of course, he’s paying almost zero attention to Schwartz in the process, but there’s a method to his being a little brat this time.

He’s trying to get the attention of some guy in Ryuki’s mirror world.

Sounds like his idea is “So, my new candidate? He’s from another world. Remember how that Tsukasa guy traveled? It’s kinda like that, but not.”

(What was going on in Ryuki?! Also, how many endings is this going to make for that season? Because I seem to remember hearing that there’s like, five? At least?)

I like the touch with Another Ryuga’s name and year – they’re backwards, like you’d see in a mirror.

Sougo’s DEFINITELY using Gun Mode a lot more recently. I like it’s finisher with Double, though – it’s basically a smaller scale version of the CycloneTrigger Memory Break. … What was that one called? Ah, there it is. Trigger Aerobuster.

Names are important. I’m doing my best to get them right.

But it’s basically that, with purple shots in the center of the wind bursts.

… of course, it gets reflected right back at them, because MIRRORS, but still. Points for fighting at a distance, especially with that dragon arm – that was doing some damage, it looked like.

Geiz’s Drive armor is back! (I’ve missed the shift cars, so it’s nice to at least see Max Flare, Funky Spike, and Midnight Shadow’s tires again.)

But again, mirrors.

Tsukuyomi: So, you lost him?

Sougo: Well, yes, but also we had to help the injured construction worker.

Geiz: And everything got sent back at us, so…

blah blah, ‘whats the deal with the time jackers’ blah…

“What IS this Day of Oma you mentioned, anyway?” Good question, bud.

“Well, in our history, it’s the day that Oma Zi-O took over the world.” Geiz, I get that you’re upset. But. Um. What did you just do to that chessboard?

As far as I know, you’re not able to cause shockwaves. Not just by symbolically slamming a chess piece down. ...I don’t know anything about chess, but I’m assuming that piece is the Black King. Wiping out all of his opposition in one strike… along with all of his allies.

Sougo retaliates with “And the one WhiteWoz is from, says that you stopped that from happening.” He uses the White Knight to knock down the Black King, leaving the Knight alone on the board.

And then we have the Time Jackers, trying to get someone else altogether in charge. Black Bishop takes out the White Knight. The Time Jackers are from the same timeline as Tsukuyomi and Geiz, after all.

That day is when the world’s future is decided… ooh, ominous.

… drat, have to skip the next bit of exposition, but while they’re outside talking about… victims? I think?

I hear that same sound that heralded Geiz’s Time Mazine arriving back in Episode one.

Okay, so the victims are all connected to the magazine/journal/website from Ryuki? Makes sense.

Oh man, Shinji’s already dead?! Welp, that’s it, arc over, time to go home. (dusts off hands)

Hm. He covered up all the reflective surfaces – which would include windows and vents. Because Mirror World.

Of course, that poses a problem when you use a gas heater.

Okay, so at this point, while I was watching, Over-Time posted their subs. So I just got the script, went back to the beginning, and started over.

Well, at least BlackWoz is going along with the nicknames for now. I guess he understands the need for the distinction.

Hm. Schwartz seems to think that Geiz is going to be trying for the throne on the Day of Oma. But, sir, have you met this kid? Yes, yes you have, we’ve seen you interact with him. There is nearly no way that Geiz would ever want to be in charge.

...I say nearly, because time travel and predestination and all of that jazz. WhiteWoz is screwing with the kids head.

HUH. Uhr’s logic isn’t even “it’s kinda like that Decade guy”, he was specifically told about the Mirror World by Tsukasa. (insert a certain 10-year-old meme here.)

And what’s even more interesting than that… is that Schwartz didn’t know about the Mirror World.

And we’ve already seen that Schwartz can go to other timelines, as per when he created the Another Shinobi Watch.

Hm, looks like we’re in for another variation of ‘not the Another Rider you think he is’, aren’t we? Another Ryuga has the last portion of his name covered by what appear to be burnmarks. Much like how Another OOO’s year was cracked, so it could appear to be 2016 while actually being 2010.

Oh dear GOD they’ve been fighting Another Ryuga for a WEEK. He just keeps showing up and disappearing. (Because mirrors, not that they know that.)

“Why do they keep getting harder to fight?” Well, Sougo, it’s probably largely because we’re about out of Phase Twos, and the Earlier Heisei Riders were pretty brutal, from what I’ve heard. Plus, you keep getting teleporters involved, so that doesn’t help in the slightest.

Thank you for finally asking what the Day of Oma is, though.

(Low INT, high-ish WIS.)

“Well, what future do the two of you want?” Asks the noodle with a pretty decent Charisma stat. And neither Geiz or Tsukuyomi actually have an answer for him.

(Ow, my heart.)

Okay, all the victims followed Ore Journal online, but it has since gone completely under, since it just couldn’t keep up with the times.

I was right on the money about Shinji, though, he clearly knows full well about the reflection teleportation, and now so do The Kids.

GEIZ I UNDERSTAND YOUR LOGIC. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I HAVE TO LIKE IT.

“Beat him in the time before the attack returns.” Because there’s a lag before the mirror shield shows up, so there’s a brief window of time. But an attack that would take it out that quickly would return just as powerful… directly at where it came from. Also known as the Rider who launched it.

And also also known as Geiz, if he gets his way.

Because a soldier who can’t defeat his enemies isn’t much of a soldier, now is he?

(Thanks a lot, eps 15 and 16. Thanks.)

Aaaand Uncle Tokiwa doesn’t actually know Woz’s name! All he could do for the Watch was clean it up… oooooh...

Sougo’s next powerup has an awful lot of that burnished gold on it. The same, or almost the same, tone as Oma Zi-O’s.

“Hello, my overlord~!” “Not. Now.”

Good boy, Sougo. And you even met this weeks tribute, and didn’t realize it!

I still don’t buy the “he doesn’t remember” thing, by the way, especially given the mirrored surfaces – how would he have known without having been Ryuki? Does he know about all the other victims? I don’t think you’ve actually talked to him yet. But I’ll let the memory ‘detail’ slide for now, since it looks like BlackWoz is actually being straightforward at the moment…

Aaand Sougo’s desperately trying to ignore him. Fair. Since that second Zi-O watch is tied to him becoming evil and all. Decent WIS stat, and also BlackWoz’s idea of ‘subtle’ is very much not so.

Meanwhile, with Geiz and Tsukuyomi… Yeah. He doesn’t plan to come out of this fight. Because what good is a soldier who can’t win?

And also, he, too, knows he is being stalked by his own personal Woz.

“What’s your end goal? If I come out on top, what’s your future like?”

“Just like this, a peace as if time has stopped.”

… Hi, yeah, not here for that phrasing at all, actually. Having just come out of HUGtto! Precure, wherein ‘stopping time so that despair can’t happen’ was kind of the villians whole thing, I’m trusting you even less than before.

Nothing can disturb the peace if nothing moves again, now can it?

But for Geiz and Tsukuyomi, literal veterans who have seen armies destroyed in the wave of an arm… they don’t have that frame of reference, now do they? They might just hear the “a time not unlike the one here” aspect.

“Hey, think I can use that notebook?”

“Nope, nuh-uh, OP reality warper powers are mine and mine alone.”

OOF. Right. Uhr contracted Mirror World Shinji, didn’t he? Which, of course, means that his existence is tied to Regular World Shinji’s existence. Can’t defeat the Another Rider? Take out his other link to living.

WhiteWoz and his “Obstacles are for killing” attitude does not sit well with Geiz.

“Hey, other me! You want revenge on that guy, right? The one who attacked you? Of course ya do! Why not!”

Meanwhile, Regular Shinji looks like he’s having thoughts along the lines of “I’m not going back to the belt! I’m out, man! I finished! I’ve finished like FIVE times already! Let me retire!”

Huh. The smudge over ‘Ryuga’ is gone. Neat. (aaand at which point I realized i’ve probably been spelling it wrong, and went back to fix all the places I used two ‘u’s on instinct.)

Clever, clever Uhr. “You can’t get a watch from a person who never existed, from a world that no longer ever was.”

...well, Schwartz could go to alternate timelines, so… Hey, Geiz, Tsukuyomi, Sougo, did any of you happen to get Tsukasa’s contact info?

Also, Tsukasa, did you have to clue the Time Jackers in on the ‘other worlds’ thing? I’m just saying, that might come back to bite you.

You are coming back, right? You don’t get to drop cryptic ‘I’m destroying this world first’ comments, and give tips to the assorted groups, and then just never come back.

It’s rude.

We need some sort of follow-through on this stuff, at least.

Geiz attempts his suicide attack… but Sougo knocks him out of the kick before he can gain momentum…

“I’m not letting you die, damnit! You still need to make sure I don’t go evil, and I’m definitely tempted by this watch right now...”

and then said watch doesn’t even try to activate.

Aaaand then Sougo gets wrestled into the Mirror World.

(Isn’t that place supposed to be super fatal if you don’t have an Advent Deck?)

Aaaah! The backwards writing, and the fact that some of it is glitching is bad enough. But the lack of sound? Nope, I’m not here for that at all. That’s never a good sign.

Although Kudos to O-T for getting the subtitles for some of those signs. Well done.

So, yeah, sorry Sougo, it’s not 3-Days-From-Now You this time. (But seriously, what happened to him?) This time it’s Evil You.

Not even 50-Years-From-Now Bad-Ending Evil You.

We’re talking a “Terran Empire Enterprise” type of Evil You. … well, at least he doesn’t have a goatee.

OH GOD AAAAGH GO BACK TO SILENCE PLEASE

Distorted belt effects are not okay! Agh! NononoNO!

Oh, and uh... Hey! Remember literally yesterday? When I said I’m loving the ‘parallel self’ juxtapositions that Zi-O’s been doing?

I should probably have remembered that the Ryuki tribute was next, and that I’ve seen the preview screenshots with Mirror Sougo being super creepy.

I may have changed my mind a bit on that juxtaposition love.

MISTAKES WERE MADE.

[turnupswritessometimes]

Banana Fish - AshEiji - Ch3

Title: Skipping Stones

Part: 3/?

Word Count: 2282

Description: A collection of oneshots filling in some scenes that probably didn't happen in between episodes/scenes, but that I like to think did because these boys need to talk to each other.

Edit: This fic is also available on A03 under the same name. I would post a direct link but Tumblr then doesn’t put the post in searches so..

3

Ash was starting to get restless. He felt like a lion holed up in a cage too small for it. The novelty of riding around in a van like Scooby Doo was starting to grow thin – he was sick of service station food, sick of sleeping with two snoring lumps every night and sick of having nothing to do but stare at the world going by them. America seemed never-ending. How could they be sure they weren’t just driving around and around the globe, never reaching their destination?

It was those thoughts that were driving him inside. They were hard to shake. They needed him to go for a walk and clear his head to shake – to look at different street signs and license plate numbers to reassure himself that they had actually left New York. The problem was, he was being kept inside. It was unlikely he’d be recognised, especially so far from Manhattan, but, as Max kept reminding him – he had killed a man and got bailed out of jail. People would still be looking for him. The police were only third or fourth down that list.

Most of the time, he could deal with it. Eiji would bring a brown paper bag into the back of the truck and sit cross legged with him, worrying that he’d picked the wrong sauce or something else stupid. Most of the time, Shorter kept them company.

Then there was that one early morning walk with Eiji. Ash wasn’t entirely sure that it happened. The colours of that morning seemed to bright – too painted watercolour – to be real. But if he concentrated hard enough, he could still remember Eiji leaning against him, his dark, fluffy hair tickling Ash’s cheek and his mouth grinning into Ash’s hoodie. His imagination wasn’t good enough to conjure that up.

Eiji was asleep now. Mixed up in a bundle of jumpers and hoodies and a nylon sleeping bag they had picked up at the first homewear store they could find. Ash hated the feel of them, but they were decent protection against the bitingly cold nights.

He had thought Shorter was too – thought he had simply dropped off to sleep sitting up against the back of the truck. But then a voice came to him through the dark.

“I've seen the way you look at him,” Shorter was just a black shape in the black night. A shadow more than a boy.

“What?” Ash forced himself to look away from the bundle of blankets and out the back of the truck instead. There were plenty of stars, but they were just tiny pinpricks in the night sky.

“Eiji,” Shorter’s voice was low, determined not to wake him. “You like him, right?”

He could have feigned ignorance. Said, yeah, he liked him, they were mates. But the insinuation was too obvious in Shorter’s tone. It made his gut squirm.

“No,” he said, quickly and sharply. “No. I'm not-“

“Bent?”

“No.”

There was a pause. Ash had used the voice he used to get people to listen to him. The one that made boys twice the width of him tremble. Of course, Shorter was different. Shorter had stopped being scared of Ash long ago. It didn’t defer him for long.

“It's okay-“

“I'm not, okay?” Ash snapped again. He hated that patronising tone. He had no parents to have this conversation with – he shouldn’t have to have this conversation. “I'm not like Papa Dino-“ he hated the way it still rolled from his tongue like clockwork. “- or Marvin. I'm not.”

“There's nothing wrong with it,” Shorter was dancing around the word. That was fine, Ash was too.

“You used to call Marvin a fag all the time. You hated him.” Ash’s voice cracked on ‘hated’ and he cleared it. He had thought he had ironed out his voice cracking like that a long time ago.

"Not because he was gay," he'd finally said it and the word was lighter than it should be in the air. "Because he was a paedo and a rapist. They both are. The three are separate from each other. Being gay is the only thing that's not - wrong."

Another car drove into the petrol station, it's headlights like search lights. The white lit up Shorter's face for a moment. He was still wearing those sunglasses. His face was unreadable.

Ash kept his silence, watching the man stepping up to the gas pump. Where was he going, at this time of night? The question wasn't a satisfactory distraction.

“So - do you?" Like Eiji?

Ash didn't want to admit that he didn't know. He wasn't really sure what attraction was like. He wasn't sure how he was meant to feel - how he was even meant to know if he liked someone.

He had liked kissing Eiji. He liked flirting with Eiji, now more than ever because instead of turning him beetroot, it made him grin. His eyes would glance down and then up at Ash as though he was checking that he was still there. Ash could watch that all day.

Was that liking him?

He couldn't ask Shorter that. It was better to deflect the question.

"It doesn't matter. He'll be going back to Japan soon," the car drove away, taking it's otherworldly light with it. Ash was glad, it meant that Shorter couldn't see him hugging his knees to his chest.

"A long distance relationship would probably be safer for him," Shorter's voice was soft and Ash felt a pang of - he didn't know what - jealousy? He was the one who worried about Eiji. No one else.

"Stop chatting shit, Shorter."

Shorter laughed, a sound quickly muffled when Eiji shuffled.

"Seriously - if Ash Lynx can't get a guy to stay with him then where's the hope for the rest of us?"

"You've been in this truck too long," Ash said. He faked a yawn, pushing himself onto the floor. "You're delirious."

"You say delirious, I say I've had my third eye opened. I can see things now, Ash. I can read your mind."

"Right now my mind's telling you to piss off."

Another laugh. He stayed still, not in a comfortable position, but one he could hold. It was barely five minutes later when he heard Shorter beginning to snore.

His head was pillowed on his elbow and he could see the sky. He wished he had the knack to read constellations. He wondered if Eiji could. He wondered about Eiji a lot. There was so much he didn't know about him. So much he couldn’t know about him – because the more he knew about Eiji the more attached he would get.

Ash couldn’t afford to get attached to Eiji. Especially not after Skip. It had proved it. Ash Lynx could not afford to get close to anyone, it only put them in danger. He hadn’t even known Eiji as long as he’d known Skip – he shouldn’t care this much about some Japanese boy.

Some Japanese boy with ridiculously soft hair and stupidly sparkly eyes.

Oh shit.

Oh shit – was that attraction?

The thought made Ash’s heart stop. He lay there in the dark, his elbow throbbing underneath him.

In two seconds, he was scrambling to his feet and clambering over the back of the truck. The ground slipped beneath him in his haste and he almost fell headlong.

He hammered his fists on the driver’s side of the window – right against where Max’s ear was slumped against the glass.

The man jolted upright, his hand hovering over the wheel, before he saw Ash’s blonde hair, like a candle in the darkness. He blinked apart sleep-heavy eyes, rolling the window down.

“Ash? What’s wrong?” he was frowning, his hair sticking up like a porcupine’s quills. Why did everyone think there was something wrong? Why couldn’t he just want a chat with people? So what if it was the middle of the night?

“Can we talk?” Ash swallowed. He was suddenly finding it hard to look Max in the eye. His chest was tight.

“It’s – what – two in the morning?” Max frowned at the dash. Ibe groaned next to him, turning further away from both of them.

Ash shrugged. “It’s important?”

“Mm?” Max’s head tilted to one side.

“Not here?”

Max nodded his head again and again, looking like a bobble headed doll. Ash wondered for a moment if he’d fallen asleep, but then he was opening the car door and pulling on a pair of battered boots. He stumbled down from the truck.

They headed over to one of the pumps, leaning against it. They were all advertising a space to put adverts.

“What’s wrong?” Max fished in his pockets, coming back with a cigarette between his fingers. “Nightmares?”

Ash shook his head, watching the lighter spark and flicker to life. “I have a problem.”

“You think we’re being tracked or something?”

It was all they thought about. Wasn’t anyone else thinking of anything else?

“I think-“ Ash couldn’t believe he was saying it. He fiddled with the gas pump behind him. “I think I might fancy Eiji.”

Max took a long drag on the cigarette, puffing it out in a long cloud. “And that’s – what? News?”

Ash’s middle finger twitched of its own accord. He shoved it into his pocket, taking a breath. Why was this so hard to talk about?

“To me. I – I didn’t see myself ever having a crush, okay?”

Max was silent. He drew out another breath on the cigarette, tapping the end out. Ash’s nose twitched at the smell. Golzine didn’t smoke, that was where he drew the line, but a lot of his lackey’s did. Ash hadn’t been able to place the smell for years. It wasn’t particularly repulsive to him. He didn’t care to try it – he wasn’t about to risk yellow nails and teeth and whatever else for an addiction – though that it would certainly be a way of getting his own back. He could only imagine Golzine’s face if he saw his precious pet with his fingers round a cigarette.

“I’m sorry,” Max said finally.

“Yeah, I know, I had a shit childhood. Can we move on?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say when you say stuff like that, okay?”

“Nothing. I’d like you to just carry on.”

“Fine. Carrying on,” smoke fell from Max’s breath like bubbles. “I don’t see the problem. You and Eiji are good together.”

“He’s - he’s Eiji. He’s nothing like me. He can’t fight, he can’t shoot-“

“I think you like that,” Max wasn’t looking at him. “I think you like that he’s completely out of your world.”

“That’s the point. He’s completely out of my world. He wouldn’t survive in New York – and he won’t even stay.”

“Ibe can’t force him to stay here, you know,” Max spoke slowly, his eyes on the van. “Eiji’s nineteen. He’s an adult. If he wants to stay here – no one can stop him.”

“I hate that. I hate how relentless he is.”

“Hate?”

Ash looked away, letting his hair fall across the side of his face. Of course he did, but it was in a weird hate kind of way. He wanted his emotions to fall into place like they usually did. Love. Hate. They shouldn’t mix.

“Can I try that?”

“What?”

“Your cig?”

“No way,” Max laughed in clouds. “You’re way too young.”

“Oh yeah? How old were you when you first started?”

“Older than you. You’re what, twelve?”

“Just one drag.”

“You’ll get addicted and then where will you be?”

Ash shrugged. “Addicted.”

Max tapped the ash away, took another drag, actually looking as though he was considering it.

“All done,” he said, crushing it under his boot.

“Fuck you.”

“Just tell Eiji how you feel. From the sounds of it, he’s not all too good with relationships either. The two of you will figure something out.”

“That’s just like an adult to say,” Ash muttered. His temper was back like someone had flicked on a switch – he felt it boiling all over him. He started back to the van.

“Oh, thank you for waking up at two in the morning to help with my love life, Max. I really appreciate it, Max,” he heard the man mutter behind him. “Teenagers.”

“Old man. Why am I listening to you, anyway? You’re divorced.”

“You asked. I answered.”

“Yeah, well, never again.”

Max opened the car door, and Ash caught sight of the smirk on his face. He realised too late that he had fallen right into the trap.

“Suits me just fine, kiddo.”

The door closed again. Ash gritted his teeth, his fists curling of their own accord. He wanted to punch the van. He wanted to kick the van. Kick or punch anything.

That was how his anger was – a sudden throb of violence. A sudden urge to kick out. It came and went quicker than a tide. He was just furious and then –

Not.

He breathed out, leaning against the van and staring up into the pin-pricks in the sky. Maybe they were all trapped in a jar, and those little lights were the air holes. A child was watching them with fascination right now.

Ash shook his head – those kind of thoughts were even worse than thinking about Eiji. Those kind of thoughts burrowed into his mind and sat there for days. He’d rather think about Eiji.

Of course, Eiji had also burrowed his way right into Ash’s mind.

Shorter was right. Ash liked Eiji.

He just had to figure out if Max was right too.

He’d never hear the end of it if he was.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

the ultimate citation list for Schneider of ODAAT, volume 1

A reference collection of quotes and details, organized chronologically, for the first 26 episodes of One Day At A Time. Used to create this character guide.

“Can you believe it's only been 10 months since you moved in? I remember 'cause I got my five year sober chip and your mom baked me that cake. I enjoyed watching you guys eat it." 1x01

"You're 40 and you look stupid." “I'll have you know, I was invited to several Pride parades." 1x01

Uses a “very expensive” Damascus steel hammer. 1x01

"I've been doing some outreach down at the rec center, talking to at-risk youth. You guys wanna start takin' bets? Actually, scratch that. I'm addicted to gambling.” 1x01

"Love isn't even real. It's just something your nanny says sometimes to your dad." 1x02

"Hey, I may have money in the bank and two living parents, and four living stepmothers but there is a hole in here. We never had family meals. I ate alone in front of the TV. Oh, don't get me wrong. It was a massive TV. Sometimes my nanny would join me, but only if I agreed to watch telenovelas. This one time, Rosa got jealous of the housekeeper 'cause she was makin' a move on her man, so she threatened to throw live scorpions on her while she slept. Rosa was my nanny. Ex-nanny. Now, stepmother." 1x03

[Lydia and Pen fighting] “It's startin' to feel kinda like home in here.” 1x03

Schneider cooks fancy hipster food. "Nutted quinoa, wilted broccolini with radish micro-greens, and venison carpaccio on a bed of nettles. Grab a cedar plank and dig in." 1x04

"Always interesting to be the sober one at a dinner party." 1x05

"I immigrated here illegally. I'm a Canadian. But yeah, born in the 'Couve, overstayed my student visa, forced to live in the shadows of Pepperdine University. Anyway, it's fine now. My lawyers made it all okay." 1x05

Uses sheet masks, knows about chauffeurs, butlers, estates. 1x06

“The kids barely touched my black olive tapenade.” “Thanks for helping out, but maybe next time pick a food a kid would wanna eat or has heard of.” “Yeah, and maybe next time, don't hand out masks with my face on them.” 1x07  

"The members of my college band have finally put aside our differences and we're reuniting to play at the fair this afternoon. My band, Full Sail, plays yacht rock. These guys were like family. I used to show up at their dorm rooms unannounced and just hang out for hours and hours and hours." 1x07

"We were setting up for the show and our keytarist threw a decorative anchor at me. This is why Full Sail broke up in the first place. Too many passionate personalities." 1x07

Has a magnifying glass in his costume trunk. 1x07

"I know nothing about my grandparents and I never will. And they live in Pasadena!" (but he goes to 'the depot' in Pasadena) 1x09

"I have never seen such un-professionalism. This is why I don't work!" 1x09

"I need to find a new place to get my eyebrows threaded." 1x10

Has a safe. 1x10

"Well, Father believed it's best to have this kinda discussion in a car because you don't have to make eye contact. Plus, you're traveling in the same direction, which fosters intimacy. So we're in the Bentley with our chauffeur, Paco. Father said it's time to have the talk. We came to the next stoplight. He hopped out, Paco told me everything." 1x10

"I didn't get the period talk till I was 12. Paco just called it 'Shark Week.'" 1x10

"When I was a kid, there was an adult section in the back of the video store. Behind the beads. I'd always chicken out and just rent a Jane Fonda workout tape. Still worked. Still works." 1x10

"You'd be surprised how many of my hookups started with 'Ugh!' ...When I was 15, I told Father I wanted to be a professional tap dancer. He laughed. It was that lack of support that contributed to my drinking and drug problem. Oh, do you find that amusing? Because 15-year-old Schneider's drinking peach schnapps out of an unused tap shoe right now." 1x11

"You have a girl over here and you were offering to have sex with me?" - "Yes, Penelope. That's the kind of friend I am." 1x11

"My dad never came to my games. All he ever did was put me through rehab six times and buy me this building." 2x01

"Maroon 5 is the best." 2x01

"Okay, I decided to take a break from dating. See, I realized that women were just another one of my addictions, like alcohol, drugs, gambling, cigarettes, snow globes. The point is, I've broken the cycle of addiction with spinning. Five hours a day, every single day. I have to do it! Plus, it's the perfect substitute for dating, 'cause it burns a lot of energy and also numbs my junk!" 2x02

“Snow globes? Is this one of our family?” 2x02

"I come over, tell him to do stuff to me, he does it, I go home. You should get one." "I think what Nikki was kinda dancing around is that you don't always have to have a relationship with a capital "R." Sometimes all you need is what the great poets of the Renaissance called a junk buddy." "Exactly. You don't even have to like them." 2x03

"See, the great thing about having a green card is you get to live here without having to do all the stuff Americans have to, like vote or serve jury duty or become obese."

"Okay, but at least you vote in Canadian elections." "Mmm. No. Even in Canada, nothing ever changes. Clean air, sensible gun control, free health care. The system's rigged." 2x04

Can picture himself “doing it” with Elizabeth Warren, was Stephen Hawking for Halloween. 2x04

"You have to pay taxes with a green card? I just texted my accountant, and he said 'cause I'm in the highest income bracket, I don't have to pay taxes." 2x04

Keeps on hand: panic room, gas mask, water purification pills, MREs, enough cash to get to Cape Verde by boat. Followed Max on Instagram. Would be honored to be Penelope's maid of honor. 2x05

"I'm very patriotic. Look in that basket. There's a bald eagle thong." 2x06

All Elena's video game equipment belongs to him. 2x06

"Penelope, tell my third stepmother I loved her! Not the second one, though. She was kind of a jerk." 2x06

"Hummer limo's downstairs. My third stepmother used to take me to the racetrack to spy on Father. For the longest time, I thought she was saying, 'Your father is with Rebecca, that horse!' It's like I'm back at the racetrack with my stepmom. What's next? Throw a mint julep in his face?” 2x07

"I love Cuba! I've been there four times. Property manager, job's just temporary. My father owns the building. I'm really a musician. Play a lot of rap-rock-ska. I'm like a male Gwen Stefani. When you're hiring a nanny, make sure she's not too hot. That's how I met my fifth mom. I had four nannies and look at the results." 2x08

Did not speak a word of Spanish when he first met them, is interested in single moms. 2x08

"If you joined an adult kickball team after saying you were too busy to join mine, you are on a long road to forgiveness." 2x09

"Your idea of stress is when your chest-waxer goes out of town." "Roberto is the only one who doesn't make it sting!" 2x09

"I shouldn't have to need these either, but I do. To see. So it's Fourth of July, 2011. I'd been sober for a while, so I thought I'd celebrate with a beer. Woke up three days later in an alley. Then the bowling ball hit me. I was in the gutter for a long time. It's really slippery without the shoes. That was the day I truly accepted that I can't have alcohol or drugs, ever. Not a beer, not a glass of wine, not even six hits of acid at a Grateful Dead show, no matter how well it makes me dance. I kinda get where you're coming from. There's something I want that I can't have for the rest of my life." 2x09

He and Pen are best friends. Also considers Max his bestie. Wants to Netflix and chill with them both, together. 2x09

"My abuelita used to put Vicodin in her coffee. And her lemonade and her sandwiches. Maybe she had a problem. As my father said to me on my ninth birthday, 'You don't need me anymore.' I use my garage for pickling and sea horse breeding." 2x10

Loves puns. "This is Elena Alvarez, my handyman mentee. Or handy-manatee." "The toilet is a cruel mistress. She is flush with complications." 2x10

"Herb and Sherb McGurb. Her real name is Sheryl, but she gets a kick out of Sherb." 2x10

"Bonsai's for dorks. This is penjing. The gentle Chinese art of tray scenery. Now that you're working for me, I finally have some leisure time." "Oh, look, there's little people. Wait, is that my family?" "Could be any Cuban family." 2x10

"I may only look two or three years older than you, but I have the wisdom of that ancient bonsai!" 2x10

"Always take the lemonade. That's Handyman 101! So you watched Jeopardy with them and then what? Well, now we know what your problem is! You fixed their toilet, but you didn't fix their souls. Elena, growing up, I had everything. But I was always alone. I don't want my tenants to feel that way, so I do more than just fix stuff. Apartment 306, macrame with Mrs. Watson. 201, lose at chess to Mr. Roth. 402, listen to all their Cuban nonsense. That's the job. That's what takes four hours. That's the difference between being a handyman and a super." 2x10

Has heard 'you're fired' a lot. 2x10

"After a grueling 30 minutes of thought, Nikki, will you be my starter wife? You're on the rebound. That's the best time to get married. You don't have time to think. So you were never thinking about me? My emotions? My feelings? You used me, Nikki, Finn's mom! And not in the way I like! And that's not all, Sister Barbara. We knew each other. Biblically. And while we were doing it, she took the Lord's name in vain. A lot!" 2x11

"Last night, I was testing the pH of the water in my seahorse ranch and, as I looked at those vomiting little guys, I realized I suck at tests. All tests. Drug, sobriety, vision, IQ, smog. You name it, I fail it!" 2x12

"Have you ever been arrested?” “Does public nudity at a hockey game count?” “There is, uh, no mention of a public nudity charge in your file.” “Oh, you just go to YouTube and type in 'Zam-boner.'" 2x12

"Yeah, they didn't specifically ask if I got drunk and tried to ride a moose, so after that I was golden." 2x12

"How important is having kids to you?" "Never really thought about it." 2x12

"I'll have you know I babysat my babysitter's kids while she was babysitting my dad, so, yeah, I got a little experience under my belt. Oh, it's my cousin Gordy. He still thinks I'm full-on Canadian. All right, good news is Gordo bought it. Bad news is I'm judging a poutine festival in Saskatoon next week." 2x12

"You're the single greatest mother I know." "Thank you. That means a lot coming from a guy with five moms." 2x12

"Fuzzy Afghan she likes, picture of the Pope, picture of a different Pope, picture of your dad, picture of the family, picture of me with the family, picture of me by a waterfall. I'm just gonna keep talking 'cause I'm not good in crisis situations." 2x13

"It's so crazy how we're both immigrants. I mean, I would never compare my story to yours, but the parallels are spooky. You were 18, I was 18. You left your family behind. I left four step-families, a maid, a butler, a chauffeur, and a horse groomer who really got me. But Father was expanding his business to the US and so I had to go. I remember, at the airport, I was crying. But Father put his arm around me and he said, 'Son, only losers cry.' So that was a long flight. You don't know how dirty a dirty look can get until you're crying for a whole plane ride and you're not a baby. I really didn't wanna be in America. So I drank. And I recreated the snowy plains of Canada with cocaine. I'm told I attended classes at Pepperdine University, but I will have to take that on faith. So, I'm in a detox center in El Segundo. This was my fourth rehab. My re-re-re-rehab. I thought I'd been doing a kickass job keeping my drug stuff a secret from all the tenants and then you showed up in my room at that clinic. You brought me sopa de pollo and said it's Cuban penicillin. You told me, 'You eat this, you get some sleep, and tomorrow, you try again.' And then you tucked me in and kissed me good night on my forehead. Forehead kisses are wildly underrated. Just something really comforting about 'em. Then again, it might just be you. Dad never did that. Or my horse groomer. After I got out of rehab, I started hanging around your apartment a lot more, 'cause it helped. Back then, it must have felt like you had this annoying, intrusive guy over. Not like now. 'Cause now you're my family. Don't worry. I haven't legally changed my last name to Alvarez. My lawyer said it was a whole thing, so... Anyway, Pen said no crying, so I'm not gonna. Actually, for once, I agree with Father. Only losers cry. And we're not losing anybody today. Let's hit that oath ceremony soon, okay?" 2x13

[inazuma-eleven-translations]

Animage June 2013 Kobayashi Yuu & Oohara Takashi Interview

Full scans can be found here: http://inazuma.pmsinfirm.org/?p=317

Animage June 2013: Highlight: Grand Prix Kobayashi Yuu (Kirino Ranmaru) and Oohara Takashi (Tsurugi Kyousuke) Interview

Translator’s Notes: THIS is the extent of Inazuma’s popularity in Japan! First place for three years in a row in one of the biggest anime magazines, Animage, not to mention a song from the anime being displayed on a huge screen in Shibuya! I’ve seen them – those screens are massive and I can’t believe IE GO was playing on one! Ares, I eagerly await you. Make my boys popular again~

Regarding the voting method for The 35th Anime Grand Prix: The target of the votes cast were characters who appeared from December 2012 - November 2012 (excluding flashback episodes). This includes Inazuma Eleven GO, Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stone, and Inazuma Eleven GO The Movie Kyuukyoku no Kizuna Gryphon, but all votes for characters that appear in more than one series were added together.

Like a Gallant Flower

Male Character Division First Place

Kirino Ranmaru

Raimon Junior Second Year/ DF Shirt Number 3

A humble boy who contributes to the team with his common sense. It’s a shame he was separated from the main characters in the new series. His gorgeous Keshin Armed form can be seen on page 26.

Flowers Bloom!

Since both winners of the male and female division have flower-based names, we decided on a flower theme feature this month!

BIG NEWS

In response to fans’ ranking of all Inazuma characters!, we can announce a project to turn the most popular characters into figures! For more information, please see page 15.

Male Character Division Second Place

Tsurugi Kyousuke

Raimon Junior First Year/ FW Shirt Number 10

The strong, silent type. He’s usually cool, but when he makes a special move his cry stands out with passion. Be it Keshin Armed, regular clothes, or French armour - any style seems to suit him well.

BACKSTAGE

Kobayashi Yuu

Since Kobayashi-san is used to taking many kinds of photos, even though it was her first time to use a bangasa (oil paper umbrella), as expected she looks wonderful with it~ By the way, the bouquet of flowers on the first page is, naturally, a bouquet of orchids – Ranmaru’s flower. ‘You made your Mom proud. Thank you!’ she said with a smile as bright as a bouquet of flowers~

Oohara Takashi

Oohara-san confessed nervously that he was not used to taking photos ‘It’s my weak point, so I’m really sorry,’. Not to mention, taking a photo alongside Kobayashi-san - ‘Taking a photo with a professional model – this kind of pressure is no joke!’. Don’t worry, you look really cool, Oohara-san~

Thanks to Inazuma Eleven Fans’ passion, it’s a third consecutive victory for Inazuma!

Inazuma Eleven GO took first place in our Anime Grand Prix. Congratulations on your 3rd consecutive victory!

Oohara/ Kobayashi: Amazing! Thank you so much!

First of all, since Kirino Ranmaru took 1st Place, and Tsurugi Kyousuke took 3rd place in the male character division, please share a few words about your victory.

Kobayashi: As with last year, to receive this title is a huge honour and I’m deeply moved. Since I have the wonderful opportunity to play Ranmaru-san, I want to congratulate him! And I also want to thank everyone who voted for him!

Oohara: Putting the fact that he was up against so many great characters aside, I was surprised Tsurugi came third. I really want to express my thanks. I really believe that it’s all thanks to everyone’s support that Tsurugi was able to come this far.

In addition, Tsurugi, Tenma and Aoi’s character song ‘Te Wo Tsunagou’ won first place in the anime song division.

Both: Ooh! (Applause)

Oohara: That was unexpected (laughs). But to be honest, I was really pleased with Tsurugi’s ‘Darou?’. I have a feeling I won’t get another chance in my life to say a better ‘darou?’ than that… Ahh, I got a little carried away.

Kobayashi: Get carried away!

Oohara: No, it’s all thanks to KMC-san (T-Pistonz + KMC) - it was their idea when they wrote the lyrics. I’m really happy that I got to sing with Tenma and Aoi-chan. Thank you so much.

Next, while we call out a few of the top places in each division, let’s look back over the past few years. Second place in the TV Show division was episode 24 ‘Chikai wa kono Kata no moto ni’, the last episode of the Medieval France arc.

Kobayashi: I remember those few episodes well. Even just hearing the word ‘Kata’ (flag) brings back memories. Ranmaru-san was troubled over what kind of role he played for the team, felt some jealousy towards Shindou-san, and after all that thanks to Kariya pushing him forward he was able to travel to Medieval France. I thought together with Ranmaru-san about what kind of role he should play to benefit the team to the best of his ability. I was also moved by Ranmaru-san supported Jeanne-san with those words of encouragement. I thought he was speaking to himself too with those words.

What did you think of his Mixi Max with Jeanne?

Kobayashi: His hair suddenly grew longer, and he wore glasses; it was really beautiful. I wanted to congratulate Ranmaru-san on his full-body transformation.

Oohara: Chrono Stone episode 21 is a top contender for one of my favourite episodes too.

Kobayashi: Oh, thank you!

Oohara: The catalyst for everyone’s Mixi Max is different for each person, but in Kirino-san’s case, he first had to accept himself - he supported Jeanne with his words of encouragement ‘If I can do it, so can you!’. Then it happened all of a sudden. I also like the words Kirino-san said just after he summoned his keshin Brynhildr. ‘My role isn’t to stand at the front line. In order for Shindou and everyone else to focus on attacking, my job is to support everyone!” is what he said.

Kobayashi: That’s it exactly! Thank you for remembering!

Oohara: It made me think that apart from participating in the heart of the battle, it also takes strength to encourage and protect.

Kobayashi: Listening to Oohara-san talk about it now makes me think that everyone in the Raimon Eleven also feels that Ranmaru-san is looking out for them. They know that in a team people who defend are just as essential as people who attack.

To continue, 3rd place was Inazuma Eleven GO episode 44 ‘Ten made Todoke! Minna no sakka!!’, the climax of the first series.

Kobayashi: Fire Tornado DD was so cool!

Oohara: They finally mastered it! That’s how I felt. Could you say it was the showpiece of the first series? After winning the tournament, Tenma says ‘Soccer is definitely happy too. Right, Tsurugi?’ and Tsurugi replies ‘Don’t ask me!’ but in reality I really liked that conversation.

From Oohara-san’s point of view, how was the young Tsurugi that Kobayashi-san played?

Oohara: If you take away Tsurugi’s thorniness, he becomes a very honest child. I thought it was wonderful. Especially the scene where he cries out ‘Nii-chan not being able to play soccer any more is a lie, right??’ - I was really moved. Back then, before we recorded, Kobayashi-san came to me and said very politely ‘This time I’ll be playing young Tsurugi. Thank you for the honor,’. Actually, I should be the one saying thank you! (laughs)

Kobayashi: It was a great honour.

Oohara: Naturally I did kind of want to try playing young Tsurugi too, but I think I couldn’t beat Kobayashi-san’s performance.

Speaking of Tsurugi, he’s had a pretty rough life. He underwent Spartan-style training on a solitary island at distant sea.

Kobayashi: That’s one of Tsurugi’s attractive points, that there’s a lot to him. And when he’s crying out the name of his special moves, it looks really cool. Even though he’s normally calm and composed, he suddenly bursts into blue flames. It always makes me think, ‘how wonderful!’ after recording!

Kirino’s development happened thanks to Kariya nonchalantly pushing him forward.

To continue, in fourth place was episode 29 ‘Jidai o tsukuru otoko tachi’.

Oohara: That’s the episode Tsurugi Mixi Maxed with Okita-san. I was interested in how Tsurugi would persuade Okita-san, but it was more to do with his actions and behavior rather than persuading him with words. I thought that was very Tsurugi-ish.

Kobayashi: Tsurugi is always calm, and everyone watches him from behind, while he tells things like it is. He’s quite intellectual. That episode showed another side to him too. Okita-san might have reminded him of his brother, Yuuichi-san~

Oohara: His brother being in hospital has taken his toll on him.

Kobayashi: I think that’s understandable.

Oohara: Oh, thankfully Nishiki-san and Sakamoto-san also Mixi Maxed. Since they have the same first name, when Nishiki-san Mixi Maxed I thought it was amusing that he said Sakamoto’s full name - ‘Mixi Max - Sakamoto Ryouma!’. I also like the relationship between Zanark and Nishiki. Since the ending was a little bit rushed, I wanted to see more.

Fifth place was episode 18 ‘Minna ga kaettekita!’, the episode where Kinako and Zanark appears and there’s quite a bit of drama.

Oohara: The one where Kurama-san used ‘Winder while wearing his casual clothes. Against some delinquents.

Kobayashi: That’s right, a casual-clothes Sidewinder. There was many different scenes of many differents places in that episode. I was happy about that. Stuff that hasn’t appeared yet in the main story. Even though every character has surely got their own lives, we could only imagine what they’re doing in their personal time so far.

That episode became a turning point for Kirino.

Kobayashi: Ranmaru-san started to show he’s worrying over Shindou-san. Since these feelings are a delicate part of Ranmaru-san’s heart, I tried my very best to portray that was gently as possible. But Kariya-san, with those wonderfully sharp eyes of his, notice Ranmaru-san worrying and reached out to him. I was really glad.

Oohara: Kariya’s developed quite a bit, in these surroundings.

Kobayashi: He has. He went as far as to feign a stomach ache and gave up his place to Ranmaru-san for the Time Jump, since there was a limit. Even the way he talked to Ranmaru-san about it was very Kariya-san-ish. He read Ranmaru-san’s mind. Ranmaru-san, you really owe Kariya-san one!

Oohara: Since we haven’t really seen such a human-like drama like this before, I was happy. I thought it was very tenacious.

In the new series, the troubles continue for our Playmaker!

Now we’d like to ask about what you think of the male character division. Following Kirino, Tsurugi and Kariya, Shindou took 9th place.

Oohara: As always, Shindou-san had a year full of worries (dry laugh). Since he had the best view of everyone’s individual situations, I felt it was expected of him to worry so much but he’s gone through a lot.

Kobayashi: Yes, in the new series too he’s also put through a lot of trouble…

Oohara: Soon enough, there’s going to be a hole in his heart with worry.

Kobayashi: Oh no! We need to take care of him. Ranmaru-san, I definitely want you to escort him if he needs to go to hospital! In the last series when Shindou had to go to the infirmary, Ranmaru-san escorted him there!

When Shindou was Captain of El Dorado Team 02, that was also pretty tough.

Oohara: Out of al three teams, I think Shindou got the worst deal (laughs).

At that time, Kariya was bickering with Beta and started running wildly.

Kobayashi: If Ranmaru-san was there in that situation, I think he’d definitely scold Kariya-san. While I think his mischievousness is one of Kariya’s attractive points, it was just too much for Shindou-san at that time! (laughs)

Kobayashi-san, you’re still a huge Shindou fan like always?

Kobayashi: Yes, I love him! As Tenma-san adapts to being Captain, Shindou-san supports him and looks out for the team. He’s really a person that all the members can rely on! A big part of why I love him is also because of Saiga Mitsuki-san (Shindou’s voice actor).

Oohara: Oh yeah.

Kobayashi: Saiga-san also really looks after everyone after we finish recording. She’s a kind and wonderful person.

When Kirino was watching El Dorado Team 2’s match who was constantly muttering to himself ‘Shindou, Shindou…’

Kobayashi: Yes!

Oohara: In the original script he said ‘Now of all times I can’t be by Shindou’s side…’

Kobayashi: That’s right, he did!

Oohara: I thought ‘Oh, that’s a very typical thing of Kirino-san to say!’ but in the final version it was omitted.

But even without him saying it, the viewers could definitely understand it’s what he was thinking. (laughs)

Kobayashi: But I really, really wanted to say that line so it’s a pity! That’s what I really thought Ranmaru-san felt, from the bottom of my heart. His was urging Shindou-san on with his gaze alone.

Oohara: Kirino-san and Shindou-san have a bond of trust so deep that it would make you jealous. You can really feel those two support each other together. I want to see them together when they were younger. I wonder how they met?

Kobayashi: Me too, I want to see that too! Of course, I’d also like to see more about Tsurugi-san and his brother. I think their relationship as brothers is great.

Since Kobayashi-san is an only child it seems like you admire sibling relationships.

Kobayashi: I do!

Oohara: I wanted a younger sister (laughs).

Kobayashi: I like Oohara-san’s older sister a lot!

Okay then, Oohara-san – out of Kinako (Female Character Division 1st Place) and Beta (same division 3rd place), who would you prefer to have as a younger sister?

Oohara: Kinako!

Kobayashi: That was a quick reply!

Oohara: What I like about Kinako is that she’s so innocent and she really thinks about the feelings of everyone around her, and is kind to everyone. It left a big impression on me when such a cheerful kid like her joined the story during such a difficult time for the Raimon members.

Kobayashi: Her first appearance was funny too. She was wearing the number 10 uniform.

Oohara: Tsurugi lost it to her in a shoot off.

Kobayashi: I’d like to see that story drawn one day. Kinako-san’s Mochi Mochi Kinako Mochi looks delicious. I want to eat it!

Oohara: As for Beta on the other hand, her cuteness and her brutality are two sides of the same coin – I think I like that. She’s a little bit scary, but it’s quite realistic. It’s refreshing to see her voice actor change her voice from sweet to scary in an instant.

Kobayashi: Beta-san makes me a little bit nervous.

Oohara-san and Kobayashi-san’s personal Anime Grand Prix are?

So, we’d like to hear about your personal choices out of Inazuma for the Anime Grand Prix.

Oohara: Out of the TV series, if I look from Tsurugi’s point of view, it’s Inazuma Eleven GO episode 41 ‘Kessen! Amano Mikado Stadium!’.

The one where you practice Fire Tornedo DD.

Oohara: Tsurugi said to Tenma ‘You showed me how soccer should be played,’. They’ve come this far and he was able to express his feelings in words to Tenma. Therefore, I think it was a very important scene. Of course, there are a lot of episodes that I really like, but for Tsurugi episode 41 is unforgettable.

As for the Male Character Division?

Oohara: I wish I could say Sangoku, but (laughs) I’ll have to go with Tenma. If it wasn’t for Tenma, I don’t think Tsurugi could have played real soccer again, nor could he have made such good friends and even his relationship with his brother might have become strained. Tsurugi is who he is today mostly because of Tenma.

You always say you like Sangoku, but what is it about him that you like?Oohara: He was cool from his very first line! I thought his conversation with Shindou-san was really cool. Didn’t you feel it?

Kobayashi: I felt it! The whole team loves Sangoku-san. The time he invited Tenma-san to his house and made roll cabbage for him – I get the feeling whatever he served would have been delicious.

Oohara: All in all, I think he’s a good man, with a good balance.

Kobayashi: When he entrusted the goalkeeper position to Shinsuke too, that was very masculine. No matter how many goals are scored he stays optimistic.

Oohara: He keeps standing up again and again. He doesn’t get discouraged! (laughs)

When Sangoku-san speaks, everyone becomes roused up (laughs). To continue, your second-place character.

Oohara: My favourite female character is Kinako-chan. I was happy when she gave Tsurugi candy. He was standing a little bit further away from everyone, so she took the time to go over to him and he said the candy was ‘Umai’ (*delicious – masculine version) (laughs). In the Anime Song Division, I liked the movie version of the song ‘Niji o Koete Ten Made Todoke!’. I always liked Ten Made Todoke, and Terasaki Yuuka-san (Tenma’s voice actor) said that this song has the power to bring tears to your eyes. You can really feel the characters power up. And in the opening, they literally soar to the heavens and fly through space (laughs).

Kobayashi-san, it’s your turn.

Kobayashi: It’s so hard to pick a favourite episode from the TV series… From Ranmaru-san’s point of view, the Medieval France arc, episodes 18 – 21. In those four episodes I became completely absorbed in playing him. Especially in the last episode, 21, since Ranmaru-san was helping Jeanne-san and everyone else it was very moving. As for the male character section… I gotta pick the whole team!

Oohara: Huh, you can do that? I should have said that too! (laughs)

You feel like you can’t pick just one?

Kobayashi: I just really like everyone! Shindou-san, Kariya-san, and of course Tsurugi-san and Tenma-san. So please let me pick everyone! What should I say for the Female Character Division? I really like Kinako-san and all of the managers, but I think I’ll go with Jeanne-san. She made Ranmaru-san’s heart stronger.

Finally, the Anime Song Division – the ending theme Kirino sang ‘Bokutachi no Shiro’ was left out of the vote ranking this time.

Kobayashi: In the TV series, Bokutachi no Shiro was a duet between Tenma-san and Tsurugi-san – it was wonderful~ Everyone please vote for it next year! Okay, I pick ‘Te o Tsunagou’. I thought it was a wonderful song, like something they’d sing at a get-together or party. It was refreshing to see everyone wearing headbands, and you get the feeling that anything is possible. I once saw that ending displayed on a big screen in Shibuya.

Oohara: Seriously??

Kobayashi: Yes! I just happened to be walking through the street and by chance I saw it playing on the big screen. I was really moved. So it’s left a deep impression on me.

So Tsurugi’s ‘Darou?’ rang out for all of Shibuya to hear?

Kobayashi: Yes~ Tsurgugi-san, you were so cool~

Does Kirino appear in Galaxy?

Finally, let’s talk about the highlights of Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy. In any case, the first match against Teikoku was a bit of a mess, and ended in a loss.

Oohara: Right? I wonder what’s going to happen afterwards. None of us were told anything about what happens next.

Kobayashi: Yes. From the title ‘Galaxy’, I wonder does it imply something to do with outer space?

Oohara: It’s got the longest name so far. It’s really thanks to everyone’s support that the Inazuma series has come this far. From here one too I think exciting things are going to happen, so please continue to support us.

Kobayashi: You can tell from the title it’s going to be a fantastic series. We can only imagine what’s going to happen! I’d be happy if you could get together with your friends and watch Galaxy! Thank you for all your support!

I think perhaps that many readers are wondering when Kirino will next appear in Galaxy (laughs).

Oohara: As expected of such a popular character (laughs).

Kobayashi: What a great honour. I’ll also wait impatiently along with the readers for Kirino’s next appearance! 

--

Kirino and Tsurugi ‘Souji Jikan’ (*Souji is the designated time period where students work together to clean their classrooms and the rest of the school…)

Kirino and Tsurugi haven’t had many chances to interact a lot up until now - what do you think would make them bond?

Oohara: Speaking of which, the first person Tsurugi used keigo towards was Kirino-san. (Translator’s Notes: Keigo is polite Japanese - for example, kouhai should use towards senpai. I made a post about Tsurugi using keigo towards Kirino here:  http://inazuma-eleven-translations.tumblr.com/post/158941896068/use-of-language-to-show-character-development  )

Kobayashi: It was~

Oohara: Since Kirino was very annoyed by Kariya, he asked Tsurugi ‘Don’t you think he’s a Seed?’ but Tsurugi told him something like, ‘Chigaimasu yo~’ (I don’t think so).

Kobayashi: Wah, Tsurugi-san! (She smiles FULL of affection)

Oohara:Well, wasn’t that what he said?

Kobayashi: Yes! They had the conversation under the shade of a big tree (laughs). I’m sorry, but the way Oohara-san said that just now was just wonderful! (calms down). For sure, the first time Tsurugi used keigo left a deep impression. I thought he was someone who understood the importance of being polite to his upperclassmen.

Oohara: He’s quite sportsmen-like, Tsurugi. (Note: Sports clubs are particularly strict about kouhai using keigo with senpai)

When he was a Seed, the importance of sportsmanship was probably pounded into him.

Oohara: Tsurugi’s social etiquette is better than you think. He shares that in common with Kirino-san... I think they could bond over some kind of volunteer activity. Like cleaning the school.

Kobayashi: Wah, souji! Yes, they’d do it to the best of their ability!

Oohara: Also, since Kirino is a second year, he could tutor Tsurugi in the library.

Kobayashi: Wah, if they did that kind of thing I’d be so happy! I think Ranmaru-san would do his best to revise as he tutored Tsurugi-san. Both of them are hard-working so they’d definitely bond!

[randomrambings]

Little Fires Everywhere: My Opinions

(I found this as a draft and I made this towards the beginning of May)

I can't believe that I'll have to say this, but to stop the rainstorm of boohoos and 'how dare you say that about my favorite show', but this whole post is my opinion. I'm not stating facts. It's my OPINION. Okay? Okay, let's move on. Also - Strong language warning. As of writing this on Thursday, April 30th, 2020, I'm on the second episode of #LittleFiresEverywhere after a friend of mine gave me their Hulu log in (Thanks, Max). As of right now, I only truly care about is Pearl, Izzy, and Moody.

The other two siblings seem like dicks to just be dicks, I want to like Mia and Elena, but they seem every involved in themselves a lot of the time. And yes, moms should be their own persons, but the reason why I don't like them right now is that Mia didn't seem to think about staying somewhere because her daughter really wanted to, until Pearl yelled at her. I get that there's a complicated situation there that we're only scratching the surface of. And Elena just seems like one of those moms that need their kids to be perfect. To be model citizens, to wear pastels, to be basically what most people see as the picture-perfect American family, and I hate it. Not to mention how she clearly favors her older two kids over her younger two kids. And then, of course, Lexi flat out STOLE Pearl's letter about her discrimination about wanting to go to her proper math class.

It might've been how I was raised, but I was always taught to be who you are despite what other people want you to be (laugh if you want, but I was raised by young Millennial parents, so give me a break). It just seems like Elena is trying to suppress who Izzy is but anyway she can because she's scared of how different her youngest is compared to her other kids.

Despite me not liking our main characters, I'll balance it out by saying what I do like about Mia and Elena. First, Mia.

I like how Mia is so very caring towards people. Like how she offers advice to Elena when she's being harassed at school to stand up for herself, and how she cares about a co-worker that she barely even knows, and asks her what's wrong, and hears her out once the time is better.

I like how firm Elena is about her beliefs in things, and how she wants the best for her children but doesn't seem to know the best way to go about it. And despite some of her strange ways of going about it, it is clear that she does love her kids in her own way.

The show itself is really good. The characters, despite me not liking a lot of them, are well developed and I feel like I could meet them in real life.

Episode Three has more promise to it.

Adding Lexie's boyfriend, Brian, to the mix of people that I like in this show, because he pointed out how fucked up it was that Lexie stole Pearl's letter for her essay.

Watching Mia do her art is making me want to get back into art too if I'm being honest. It makes me miss it.

Anyway, I still dislike Lexie, but I love the fact that Izzy has a dress with pockets, but I think she looked pretty without getting all traditionally dressed up. With that being said, the green dress is really pretty.

Okay, something's happening at the baby shower and I feel my anxiety rising as each cup of tea is being split. (I also love the subtle relationship between Izzy and Moody. Reminds me a lot of my brother and me when we were still taking turns hating each other).

Mia is going to get into trouble for sneaking into the baby's bedroom, I can feel it. I can feel so much trouble stirring up everywhere.

Mia, why did you tell Bebe? Mirabelle/May Ling is adopted, she gave up her baby for a good reason, legally, the baby isn't hers anymore... Your heart is in the right place, but this was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea.

Is Moody not going to tell Pearl that he clearly as feelings for her??? Or is Pearl going to have to find out the hard way?

I love the mirroring between Elena and Mia towards the very end of the episode.

Episode Four:

I get why Mia did what she did, but that was a little messed up, for everyone involved. It wasn't helpful towards Bebe who was still grieving over giving up her child, and it wasn't helpful to the couple that has the baby and is nearly through with adopting her. In the previews for this episode, I would like to make a prediction to see how right I am.

Mia was a surrogate mother for a couple, and instead of giving up Pearl, she left with Pearl and has been on the run ever since, and that's the real reason why she and Pearl have never stayed in the same place for very long, and that's why she was so reluctant on staying in a seemingly perfect community, and part of the reason why she freaked out when Pearl was escorted home by what looked like a police officer at the time (that and the fact that it was the 90s, and there was terrible discrimination between cops and blacks, more than there is now). I don't want to be right, I don't want this to be a Finding Carter situation, but it would make sense.

I also really like how Izzy and Pearl are kind of opposites of each other, despite how they were raised, and who they were raised by.

Also, for all the moms out there that are scared that their kids are going to be addicted to sex after they do it the one time, and Lexie's line; "It's like when you do it once, it's all you can think about". From a 21-year-old who can very clearly remember what it's like being in high school, trust me, by the time they're like 14 or 15, they're already thinking about it a lot, in a good way or bad way, that doesn't mean that they're doing it, it's just being a teenager. (Sorry for the rant, I just know that Karens and Lindas will watch this show, hear that line and freak out even more than they already are).

"Being gay is a very rare thing". Elena, my girl, buddy, you're so sheltered from sexuality that it makes me laugh.

I really want to know what Mia's dreams mean. Hopefully, there are video essays on it somewhere that I can look at after the episode is over.

Oh my God, why is there always that one guy in these kinds of stories that always give the advice of "Just treat her like shit" or "Be an asshole the whole time, and she'll defiantly fall for you". First of all, no. Second of all, just be honest, the worst that'll happen is she'll say that she's not interested, and as long as you take it gracefully, nothing else will happen. Damn.

Also, am I the only one that finds it weird that Elena and Bill have a schedule for their sex life? Like who schedule's sex when they're not actively trying to have a baby, or avoid that, or they're old and need to make sure that no one's bones are gonna be ackey that day. I can't be the only one that finds that weird.

Elena is playing so dirty in something she should not be even touching right now, my Lord woman.

Why is Mia going through and taking a bunch of stuff from Elena's house, that's really weird?

Elena and Mia are really strange ladies, everyone's thinking about it.

I know that there is still a thing about adoptive parents vs biological parents, and I have no experience with adoptive parents, and I cannot imagine the pain that Bebe is going through, or Linda. But Bebe gave up her baby, whether or not she wanted to, and obviously is mourning that choice, but it was a choice she made. I'm on Linda's side with this, Mirabelle is Linda's baby. Bebe is the birth mother, yes, but Linda is her mom. There's a difference.

TRIP IS DOING HIS BROTHER SO DIRTY RIGHT NOW. TRIP, STOP MACKING ON YOUR BROTHER'S CRUSH WTF.

Can y'all tell that I feel things and think about stuff way too dramatically yet?

Pearl nO---!

Elena oh my fucking God, Elena, what the fuck are you doing.

Trip just spilled the beans after it was almost way too fucking late. Like I know you're a teenage boy with an attractive girl, but my dude should've said something when you were still making out.

Elena just fired shots holy shit. Do you want to start a fight with a mother? Say she's not a good mother.

Holy. Shit.

This show is really going to throw gas on the fire of biological vs adopted real quick... Not that there shouldn't be conversations about this, but its already a loaded topic.

Episode Five

That flashback kind of just explained why Elena schedules sex with her husband I mean...

I know snooping through things is bad, and I know that Izzy doesn't know that Mia snooped through and even took certain things from her house, but it's kind of hypocritical of Mia to be upset when Izzy went through her stuff when not even an episode ago, Mia was taking stuff fro their rooms.

"You should get on the pill" TOO LITTLE TOO LATE MY DUDE.

This is one of the painful mother-daughter scenes I've seen so far. Top 20.

I'm with Bill, Elena is unraveling and she's unraveling fast.

Do they really ask someone would they like to see the sonogram, knowing that they're getting an abortion? It just seems kind of mean.

I feel like Lexie can't stop doing fucked up shit. "If it got out it'd actually matter" so you used your friend's name?? So that if it got out, people would think that she got an abortion??? M'kay.

I never get show siblings. Trip and Lexie give Izzy a whole bunch of shit about how she might be a lesbian, but as soon as Izzy gives Trip a taste of his own medicine, she's the bad guy?

Holy shit I knew it!!!

Episode Six

I. Knew. It!!!!!

Such a weird way to ask someone to be your surrogate, though. Especially when the woman is obviously so young

I'm starting to see why Elena might have some resentment towards Izzy. I just wanna go through the screen and hug Linda and her husband so tightly and tell them that it'll be okay

Like I know that Mia is 18 in this, and can consent, but it's still kinda fucked, having a romantic relationship with her professor, someone of an authority figure

I think Elena might have postpartum depression. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what it seems like. That or just majorly regretting her life choices. Probably both

That is fucked up. It shouldn't matter whether or not Mia is regnant, she deserves to go to her brother's funeral. There'll be more questions about where she is, instead of why she's pregnant.

Episode Seven

That was so cold, April, what the fuck.

Am I the only one that thinks Elena doesn't really love Izzy?

I know what April did was really fucked up, but I want her and Izzy to be friends again.

Take some ownership, Elena, Jesus. Hey Bill, can your wife be accountable for all her actions? Including screaming at your own daughter because she refused to wear a certain pair of shoes?

Shit, Izzy, that's fucked up. Looking at you too, April.

Well, my suspicions of Elena not loving Izzy were just confirmed.

I kind of hope Brian does break up Lexie.

I am so done with Elena's crazy nosy ass. For the love of God please tell me that she didn't tell Pearl. Holy shit, so many moral no-nos happening and there is only one episode left.

Oh, Izzy...

Damn everyone just kind of sucks right now.

Episode Eight

It sucks that Lexie is sad, but, Brian deserves better so, I don't feel that bad about it

"She didn't come from my body...but that doesn't make me any less of her mother."

Would it be wrong to post blame with both Elena and Mia? I mean, if Mia didn't stick herself in the middle of something she shouldn't have, and if Elena didn't try to bribe Bebe on behalf of Linda and her husband (I can't remember his name for the life of me) then it either wouldn't have been this bad or never happened at all.

I know I said I liked Izzy in the beginning, but she's kind of a brat.

I have mixed feeling about Pearl, but I still love her and Izzy

Yep, yep, definitely hate Elena. You can't ask your friend to break the law for you because you got her the job she has.

Busted...

MOODY! I can't believe he just said that about her, what the fuck

And Lexie's choice just fucked up everything for Pearl's reputation.

Can I punch Lexie in the face?

No, Elena, you're not a good person.

Oh my God...

I don't blame them, let them set the whole house on fire. Do it. I'd do it. Fuck Elena.

...That ending left in speechless in so many ways...

[jupitermelichios]

Smaville S1 E20

This is the kind of episode that should kill a writers career stone dead, and yet never seems to.

Sidenote: at this point I would legit purchase and wear a Team Whitney shirt even knowing it’s a decade and a half too late to influence the writers. He deserved so much better

- They must be using up all their leftover budget from the season, because that was a legit helicopter shot

- Whitney is seriously the best boyfriend

- Lana: *sees gas main about to catch fire.* *Doesn’t feel the need to run.* You had better not complain about being injured bitch, because this is your own fucking fault

- Oh hey, is someone going to kill Chloe?! It seems unlikely, but I live in hope.

- Jonathan Kent, purveyor of casual misogyny to the masses

- Lex is thirsty for that stern fatherly approval. It’s a shame he’s too old to be adopted by Bruce Wayne

- The fact that Lana is dating the nicest boy in the school honestly doesn’t seem to occur to anyone as a reason why Clark should stop hitting on Lana

- When Lana says she had a vivid dream about Chloe, you can just see the porn playing in Clark’s head...

- The show doesn’t even bother to actually show us Chloe being kidnapped, it just assumes we’ll believe Lana’s dream sequence...

- I wish I didn’t know you were an asshole Pete, I’d be pleased for you having a hot date if I didn’t hate you

- Never tie someone up without safety sheers, that’s bondage 101!

- Apparently escapology is one of Chloe’s hobbies, good job girl. I mean, it was totally ineffectual, but you got that duct-tape off impressively quickly

- FFS Lana, what the hell did you think would happen if you told the police you had a psychic vision of your friend being kidnapped?!

- Seriously Lex? The National Enquirer says there are aliens in Smallville and you don’t dismiss it out of hand? The fact that they’re right doesn’t make it any less unbelievable

- Clark has supersenses and superspeed, but searching for his kidnapped friend apparently hasn’t occurred to him.

- It’s nice that we’re getting so much backstory for Chloe’s kidnapper... Lol. Literally all we know about the dude is that he exists. At this point it’s almost being framed like Chloe is faking it.

- Okay, where the fuck did the kidnapper get a coffin with a crucifix shaped window in the top?! WHO MAKES COFFINS WITH WINDOWS?!

- “I saw Chloe being buried alive. There was a windmill. I don’t know where it was.” It has been a whole 5 episodes since you told Clark that climbing that thing was your greatest ambition, and you’ve already forgotten where it is. I know your personality consists entirely of blandness and plot convenience but that is some high-level bullshit. Do you just want Chloe to die? Because that’s a motivation I could get behind.

- “I’m going to write an exclusive about my traumatic kidnapping and near death for the school paper” I know the Principle is dead, but there’s no fucking way you’re going to get away with putting that in a school paper. And nor should you.

- Lex I love you, but maybe don’t dig up people’s fields without permission?

- You deserve to lose everything Jonathan, you really do

- “We don’t know if the meteors are dangerous” WHY DO GIEGER COUNTERS NOT EXISTS IN THIS UNIVERSE?!

- “If they find anything, they’ll trace it straight back to you Clark” How? Unless Clark starts giving voluntary blood samples, fucking how?!

- TELL. LEX. THE. TRUTH. YOU. MORON!

- Oh good, Clark taking over running the Torch apparently means he also takes over the insane dream logic duties!

- “Groups of people huddling together during the London Blitz would often find themselves psychically linked.” Oh yeah, that well-known phenomenon, I remember learning all about this in history lessons. It’s actually super common in the UK. We’re all low level psychic.

- “Who would suspect a Cop?” It’s 2017. All sane people.

- “I could have been a great cop, the best cop this town has ever seen” It’s got 3000 inhabitants max. You are already one of the top three police officers BECAUSE IT ONLY HAS THREE POLICE OFFICERS! Why does he think serial kidnappings and murders of middle class white teenage girls would get left to the local beat cops? What the fuck does he think the FBI are even for?

- I want to see a redo of this episode where Lana gets psychically linked to a random nice dude and gets to watch him make oatmeal, pee and watch bad tv while Chloe quietly dies off-screen

- “It’s an alloy that doesn’t exist on earth” Then how do you know it’s an alloy dumbass? Also call NASA. Why does no one in this show ever call NASA? I hate you all and so does science.

- Oh shit, is Jonathan killing people? Who the hell else would have a reason to kill the dude who saw Clark’s spaceship? I always knew he’d crack in the end!

[biinarysttars]

The Preston Theory (TM)

What’s up, my name’s Alhena, and here’s 12 pages of Theory that no one asked for, featuring everyone’s favourite Dan Dan the Cult Man and my favourite Stupid Theatre Boy. It’s got pictures

What is the Preston Theory?

The Preston Theory is something I noticed while watching S2E1 for the millionth times, and the gist of it is that Preston knows Daniel from somewhere. The theory doesn’t cover from where, and is thus incomplete, but has six pretty compelling pieces of evidence.

The pieces of evidence are organized in order that they appear in the episode, and each piece of evidence has at least one screenshot and corresponding quotes from the scene.

Evidence Piece #1: A Cinematic Choice

(3:33) Max: “O...kay?”

In the background of this scene, you can see Preston and Neil. If you look at the next screenshot, you can see that Nurf should probably also be seen here, and probably also a bit of Nikki’s hair. However, neither of those two are here, leaving instead Neil, the person to point out the scientific inaccuracy of Daniel’s Xemuug story, and Preston. But Preston is relatively irrelevant to Daniel, as far as we know, so why should he be there?

(Also, unrelated to the theory, but a thing I like about this scene is how Preston is in what we theatre folk call “neutral position”, or “theatre neutral”; his legs are roughly equal to his shoulders, and his arms hang down naturally. It’s interesting that he does this while in the background.)

Evidence Piece #2: Expression of Fear

(4:14) Space Kid: “(...)I know all sorts of stuff about space.” Daniel: “Well, did you know that all negative emotions actually come from space?”

This scene shows the campers reacting to either Daniel, or Space Kid’s story. Max and Harrison (and maybe Dolph) are looking at Space Kid, while Ered, Nurf, Neil, Nerris, (maybe Dolph,) and Preston are looking at Daniel. The latter group is looking at Daniel in confusion (Ered looks bewildered, actually), except for Preston, who looks... actually afraid. But why? Even before those lines exactly, he has the same expression on his face, and he’s even wearing it before Max calls him out (at 3:24, when he says, “Seriously, freakshow! What’s with the cult leader getup?”)

This scene poses the question, “Why is Preston afraid of Daniel?”

Evidence Piece #3: Flinch

(5:29) Daniel: “Doesn’t the world seem awfully scary?” Nurf: “It does!” Daniel: “Well, what if I told you it didn’t have to be?”

In this scene, when Daniel reaches his arm out, Preston flinches away from it. It’s odd because he was clearly not going to be hit by it, and at this point in his scheme, Daniel wouldn’t even thinking of hitting him. Also note that while Nurf looks intrigued by what Daniel’s saying, Preston looks afraid/concerned.

Evidence Piece #4: Last One Down

Part #1: The Factual Side

(7:07) Preston: “Please! Someone help me!”

The first thing to notice about this corresponds with the title: “Last One Down”. We know for a fact that Preston is the last camper (other than Max, Neil, and Nikki) to be brainwashed (Dolph, Nurf and Space Kid are in the Dining Hall at 6:52, we see Ered at 7:35 mixing some punch, and Harrison and Nerris are adding water and rat poison to the Kool-Aid at 7:38). As important as this is, it becomes more so when you ask yourself how much time Preston was in the purification sauna, which we can figure out thanks to the map in S1E1:

There’s a lot of assumption in this time part, and comparison to Camp Centauri, which I got back from a couple of weeks ago.

While I was at camp, I stayed in the Brant dorm, which was the farthest from the Dining Hall, and it took about five minutes to get there. Based on that, I’m going to assume that it’s the same distance from those farthest two tents from the Mess Hall. That’s not all, though! The counselor’s cabins aren’t even shown on this map, meaning that it’s probably fair to assume that they’re down that back path to the right. I’ll give this the benefit of the doubt and say that David’s cabin is the closest to the Hall (if it’s not, it only emphasizes my point), and only add on another two minutes, for a seven-minute total time. Considering that the trio ran, I’ll take off that two extra minutes for the trip there.

Once Max, Nikki, and Neil arrived, David basically disregarded their claims entirely, and so would be in no hurry back to the dining hall. Even with the campers pushing him, David’s strong as fuck (take him lifting the boulder in the intro for proof; not putting a screenshot because I’m on a roll), so they probably made it back at walking speed, if not, slower, for a seven-minute walk. That’s twelve minutes, so far. They stayed at David’s cabin for thirty-one seconds (I counted), so twelve and a half minutes (approximately).

Once at the Mess Hall, they stayed there for forty-three seconds. Thirteen minutes and fourteen seconds total.

Now, where is the purification sauna?

(7:33) Ered: “Oh, hey guys. You dudes are just in time to help prep for the killer party.”

It’s just past the activity center. You can see the science station, Ered’s skate thing, Nerris’ castle, and as the scene shifts over to Space Kid, Harrison, and Nerris making the killer Kool-Aid, you can see Dolph’s easel.

Since the Mess Hall apparently doesn’t have a back door, the campers went out the front. It probably took another five minutes to the back point of the activity center, and another added on thirty seconds to get around the Mess Hall, since at this point they were walking, for a total of eighteen minutes and forty-four seconds.

The kids lingered outside the sauna for another seventeen seconds. This totals to a minimum of nineteen minutes, and one second.

Preston was in the purification sauna for nineteen minutes. This is clearly way more time than any of the other campers (Neil and Nikki were in there for twenty-two seconds).

Part #2: The Emotional Side

Now, of course that’s not all to this piece of evidence. This piece of evidence starts with Preston’s pounding on the door’s glass, begging for help. This is weird. Why? Well, what is the purifying sauna?

(7:17) Neil: “I’d just like to point out the fucked up implications of specifically you putting specifically me into a gas chamber.” Dolph: “Oh, this is no gas chamber! We just use high-pressured steam and subliminal messaging to deconstruct your psyche, and rebuild you in a form that will please the Ancient Ones!”

(8:02) Daniel: “Brainwashed? No, no, no! I just appealed to their emotions, and showed them the light! People don’t wanna think, Max; they just wanna feel safe-- and feelings beat facts any day!”

So, first off, it’s obvious that the sauna doesn’t harm the campers. The sauna is, well, a sauna-- a place for people to go in and relax. The question now is, why wasn’t Preston relaxed?

The sauna is clearly a place where people don’t have to think, where they can feel safe, so why doesn’t Preston? The sauna is literally just a sauna with some subliminal messaging that fooled the other campers in, presumably, a matter of seconds, so why didn’t that happen to Preston?

An important thing to add on to this theory is that Preston converted almost immediately after Max, Neil, Nikki, and David showed up, when he probably felt a little more safe (or hopeful, at least, that they’d save him).

Evidence Piece #5: Small Smile

(9:22) Max: “Just look at him! In one day, he’s managed to get everyone happy, and working together! Something you and Gwen could never do! Everyone loves Daniel!”

Campers: “We love you, Daniel.”

In this scene, we can see that all of the campers are grinning widely, with their teeth showing, except for Dolph, whose mouth is covered by the table, and Preston, who has a small smile. However, Dolph is shown to be grinning with his teeth during the musical number, at 12:00 and 12:03.

Now, this piece of evidence can be shot down by this screenshot, where you can see Preston grinning in the corner:

(10:59) Daniel: “Why David, I thought you’d never ask!”

Except that I’ve thought of that already. This is just after David has decided that he’s going to fire Daniel, and even when Daniel came up with the excuse that he’s “successfully met every requirement listed in [his] job description, so [David] [doesn’t] actually have the legal to terminate [his] employment”, he doesn’t back down, and challenges Daniel to a camp song-off. The fact that he did this is probably reassuring to Preston, who was probably fighting off the brainwashing best he could (not good enough though, apparently, especially since most of his mind must have given into those thoughts already).

Evidence Piece #6: Better Than You

To finish the theory, I’m going to present you with the first thing I noticed: Preston isn’t in the entirety of the Better Than You number.

At first, I only noticed that he wasn’t in the “La, la, la, la”, and “ooh, ooh, ooh”--

(12:00) Daniel: “I know that might be hard to swallow.”

(12:03) Daniel: “This hurts you just as much as me.”

-- but neither are Nurf, Neil, or Max.

With Max, I thought it just made sense, considering that it was Max, and I thought it made sense with Neil, too, since he was the one that had called Daniel out on his bullshit earlier on. But what about Nurf? I reasoned it off as,

“I think I can assume for Nurf: because of his knowledge of why he is the way he is (a.k.a. knowledge of psychology), he is less prone to being psychologically manipulated”

But even then, I added,

“(That is super, super theoretical though)”

Recently, however, while I was rewatching the episode, I found that Nurf and Neil are both in the number:

(12:39) Daniel: “(...) Like keeping up this camp charade, (...)”

But Preston and Max are still nowhere to be found.

(And you can’t write it off as Preston just never wanting to be a part of a musical number no matter what, because he’s a theatre kid. That’s literally his entire personality.)

Bonus Evidence Piece #7: Reinforcement to Evidence Piece #2

(13:15) Space Kid: “Howdy, Jeanne!”

Notice that Preston is wearing much the same expression he was back at 4:14, and that now, everyone’s expressions match his (minus Space Kid’s), now that they’ve seen this, and know how to recognize it.

And that’s it!! That’s the Preston Theory!! If you like it, maybe you could reblog it, or just like it, whatever floats your boat!! If you want to debate it, that’s cool too!! If you want to add onto it, that’s even cooler!! Thank you for reading!!

[funless-one]

The unexpected iv 23/10

For the last few days I have been receiving calls from the HR team from and oil and gas company that I quite looking forward to working with. They keep on checking my availability for interview. It seems like there are going to be a group interview as she stated that she needed to double confirm the dates with other candidates. 

My suspicion was right as I received the email from HR team. There are going to be three stages of iv; group, test and one to one. However the group iv was named role play. It got me curios, will there be any acting or spontaneous acting. It turned out that there will be three sides which are construction, local authority and the local community. That’s why it is called role play. It make sense. There were papers given to the three sides with different sets of objectives. I got to be on the construction side and obviously the main objective was to get as much profit as possible. There were three episodes of negotiation within the three sides which will involve the budget, regulations and also preference. One weird thing that happened was on the calculation of profit which I was quite disagree on but I didn’t voice out because the invigilator states that the main objective for that exercise is not obtaining the maximum amount of profit but to try find the middle ground for all three sides. By the end of his speech he asked us whether we have any questions. There was silence for about 10 seconds. Then he said that, one way to learn is to ask. Since he had this mindset, I knew that he really want us to ask question and there is no such thing as stupid question. So, I asked him the same question he ask us “what will you do differently if you can go through this exercise again?”. From his answer I can sense the disparate point of view from a person that already been in the industry. It was a good knowledge and a new one for me. 

After that, it was the time for the test. It was a combination of IQ, maths and logic. The questions were hard and tricky. What makes it even harder is that, some of the alphabet in the diagram can’t be seen clearly and it will affect your answer. The time given was 45 minutes which not enough to answer all the question. I did as best as I could and the ones that I don’t have the answer I just pick the answer randomly. 

The face to face interview was the one that interest me. they asked us to prepare a slides (max 5 slides) to describes our best qualities to be selected. It was the first time I had been through that kind of interview. I forgot to mentioned that out of all 14 candidates, only 2 men wearing suits; Me and the other guy. However I am the only one wearing a blue suits. I don’t know whether this will backfire on me. As I was about to start the presentation, I showed them the first slides. I just went for the first reason as the slides number were limited. They asked me to take a step back and explained about myself. They ask about my parents and asked what they do for living. Then, come out other personal questions which is quite rare to be asking in the first iv but I just go with it. I thought that it will be like a proper presentation where they are going to ask the questions at the end of the presentation. I was wrong, it was more like a chatting session. They will interrupt me with questions in between my pitch or slides. They also asked me about any other offer that I get. I was honest with them and told them that I got one. Since then, they kept on comparing the offer that I got and their company. They also asked me on what will I choose if I get the offer and I frankly said that I will choose their company over the offer I get.

In short, I did enjoy the interview but I am not sure that I will be selected; That’s alright, it was worth the trip. We’ll what happen. For now, it is a waiting game.