#I think that fits Emerson

[aceghosts]

Who Would Direct Your OC's Life?

Hey everybody! I was tagged by @strangefable and @voidika to take this uquiz. Thanks! 💙

Tagging: @sstewyhosseini, @marivenah, @detectivelokis, @baldurrs, @jinfromyarikawa, @fourlittleseedlings, @clicheantagonist, @direwombat, @nightbloodraelle, @vampireninjabunnies-blog, @dickytwister, @astorythatwritesitself, @captastra, @indorilnerevarine, @derelictheretic, @harmonyowl, @purplehairsecretlair, and anyone else who wants to do this!

Blue Murphy

Sofia Coppola

Does Lana Del Rey inspire you? Be honest.

Commander Rooney Shepard

Kathryn Bigelow

You're so deconstructed and complex, wow. Love that for you!

Hunter Delaney

David Cronenberg

Yeah… You're literally a freak.

Blake Maddox

John Carpenter

They're after you, aren't they? What are you waiting for? Run!

Emerson Wright

Abel Ferrara

Stop clogging the prayer line with your guilt and shame, baby. Go for a walk or something, sometimes <3

[80smen-fanclub]

i know he doesn't get much screen time but could you maybe do a Charles edit? idk what a good song for him would be though.. no pressure, of course! :)

Believe me, if you won’t specify a song, I’ll find a banger like this😌 hope you like it!

[shrikebrother]

i had to change my cool looking younger kieran culkin icon it feels too much like false advertising

[stumpyjoepete]

Thinking a bit more about Megalopolis (see prev post). It's not really the case that the script is as disjointed or schizophrenic as my post makes it out to be. The central plot is pretty simple: an egotistical city planner has an ambitious and futuristic vision for redeveloping the city, and he butts heads with the Mayor and others who oppose him in this. He ultimately succeeds in building his utopian "megalopolis". Everyone is happy, the end.

And yet.

There's this... intense centrifugal force that prevents everything from cohering into a unified whole. It's like a puzzle where all the pieces are cut from the same picture, but upon closer inspection, no two pieces quite fit together. Or like that collection of nonsensical objects. A fork where the tines and the handle are connected by a chain. A watering can with the spout facing the wrong way. A quick glance leaves you confused, and that confusion is only deepened by further contemplation.

I think this is especially clear in the pseudo-intellectualism of the title cards, narration, monologues, and quotations/references:

Laurence Fishburne does this heavy-handed narration at the beginning and end of the movie (and several random points in between). And there are these associated title cards that look like they were made by applying an "Ancient Rome" theme to some PowerPoint slides. "Or will we too fall victim, like old Rome, to the insatiable appetite for power of a few men?" My brother in Christ, you are making a movie where the hero is named Cesar, and the happy ending is when he successfully pulls a Robert Moses. This is not a story about power corrupting or good intentions going awry. What are you doing???

Cesar Catilina interrupts Mayor Cicero's speech (where he is introducing a plan to build a casino) in order to lay out an early plan for "megalopolis", which is an ambitious and long-term alternative to the (short-term) casino plan. He prefaces his megalopolis pitch by reciting the Hamlet soliloquy. What exactly does Coppola think "To Be Or Not To Be" is about? He must thinks it means, "I am a dark and brooding bad-boy intellectual", since it's hard to see how "I'd like to kill myself, but I fear death" fits into an argument about the importance of long-term thinking in urban planning.

Cesar says several negative things about "civilization". "[Imagine] humanity as an old tree with one misguided branch called civilization... going nowhere." (Shot of notebook shows an illustration with 'war' and 'cruelty' offshoots from said branch.) "Emerson said the end of the human race will be that we'll eventually die of civilization." (Note: unsourced, probably fake quote.) "Civilization itself remains the great enemy of mankind." Umm... you're an urban planner! You're doing a high modernism. What exactly does it mean for you to call civilization the enemy? Is "megalopolis" somehow anti-civilization because it looks like a Georgia O'Keefe painting instead of a bunch of straight lines and right angles? Will the "war" and "cruelty" branches wither and die when buildings have labia?

Also, there's this amazing line read that completely inverts the meaning of a fake Marcus Aurelius quote (the quote was attributed to him by Tolstoy but is not actually something he said). "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape... finding yourself in the ranks of the insane." Why did you put in that pause??? Fake Marcus Aurelius is turning in his grave! You're supposed to be fleeing FROM the ranks of the insane! I suppose this isn't really inconsistent with the characterization of Cesar, it's just such a fucking batshit thing to say.

All of the cargo-cult intellectualism listed above could perhaps be excused if the vision that the film is supposedly about had any content whatsoever. Or, alternatively, if the movie was about something more substantive, and the vacuous megalopolis vision took place off-screen in an epilogue, like the "happily ever after" of a children's story. But no! The movie repeatedly interrupts the plot to grab you by the shoulders and scream in your face: "I have a vision! For the future!". And then--now that it has your undivided attention--it shits the bed like a man who has just polished off an entire bag of sugar-free gummy bears and washed them down with a fistful of Ambien:

"Conversation isn't enough. It's the questions that lead it to the next step. But initially, you have to have a conversation. The city itself is immaterial, but they're talking about it for the first time. And it's not just about us talking about it. It's the need to talk about it. It's as urgent to us as air and water."

"Mr. Catalina, you said that as we jump into the future, we should do so unafraid. But what if when we do jump into the future, there is something to be afraid of?" "Well, there's nothing to be afraid of if you love, or have loved. It's an unstoppable force. It's unbreakable. It has no limits. It's within us. It's around us. And it's stretched throughout time. It's nothing you can touch. Yet it guides every decision that we make. But we do have the obligation to each other to ask questions of one another. What can we do? Is this society, is this way we're living, the only one that's available to us? And when we ask these questions, when there's a dialogue about them, that basically is a utopia."

After the revolution, we won't have conflicts anymore; we'll have dialogue instead. We won't have a need for the "jobs" and "sanitation" of "now"; we'll have the "imperishable" "dreams" of "forever". We won't have problems that need solving; we'll all be too busy asking each other questions. Now, if everyone could just shut up and get the hell out of the way and let Cesar implement his vision, then "everyone" will soon be "creating together, learning together, perfecting body and mind." A chorus of children's voices gradually morphing into Laurence Fishburne's, chanting, "One Earth, indivisible, with long life, education and justice for all." It's eschatological anti-politics made entirely from cotton candy. Please, for the love of God, stop making Adam Driver monologue at me! Let's get back to Aubrey Plaza stepping on horny fascist Shia LaBeouf!

The incoherence of Megalopolis's vision is compounded by how anachronistic its depiction of our fallen world is. There are some half-hearted (and ham-fisted) gestures in the Clodio sub-plot towards the dangers of Trumpian populism, but the script was first written in the 80's, and it's extremely obvious that Coppola is writing about New York City in the preceding several decades. The city's finances are in dire straights. (There's literally a "Ford Tells City: Drop Dead" reference!) The city is full of slums, the streets are full of crime, and the elites are all decadent. (For Coppola, decadence means that ladies are doing cocaine and smooching each other in the cluh-ub.) The main character is Neo-Roman Robert Moses, and the conflict of the film is about urban renewal. In case you, like Mr. Coppola, have not been made aware, slum clearance is not a major political issue in 2020's Manhattan.

Two thirds of the way through the movie, a falling Soviet satellite provides a deus ex machina, blowing up the financial district and clearing space for megalopolis to take its place. Ironically, a previous attempt to produce the film came to its abrupt end when two planes flew into some buildings in the financial district. Perhaps you heard about it. The financial backers of the film at the time considered Megalopolis's plot a bit too close to current events for comfort and withdrew their support.

But Coppola's depiction of Manhattan was already decades out of date by then. Moses stepped down in '60. Jacobs' book railing against urban renewal came out in '61. The Power Broker came out in '74. One presumes popular opinion of Robert Moses soured in the following years. The crisis of the city's finances that peaked in '75 was over by '81 when NYC balanced its budget and reentered the bond market. The crime wave of the 70's and 80's had receded by the year 2000. The demand for housing in NYC proper is as high as it ever has been, and it's only getting higher. Megalopolis imagines America as an incoherent mishmash of several decades of mid-century NYC, dressed up in the toga of the late Roman Republic, calling out for (Robert) Moses to part the slums and take us into a promised land that is literally beyond any description, and whose only concrete feature seems to be glowing people-movers.

A Robert Moses with the power to stop time, at that!

Oh, did I forget to mention that part? Cesar discovers he has the power to stop time in the opening scene of the film. I forgot because it's literally irrelevant to the plot. Time stops a few times, and then it starts back up again, and the events of the film just plod inexorably forward. For a movie as temporally dislocated as Metropolis, perhaps that's just as well.

[asexual-squidward]

I noticed very few of the posts on the LOST fan accounts I follow include ones with Michael Emerson in them - so I did a deep dive into Pinterest

(Dads going on a hike)

Carrie picking a fight with Matthew Fox for beating up her husband so many times

This photo of Michael and Terry is them out of character but everyone uses it as a photo of Locke and Ben for shipping purposes and I find that hilarious

(I think this is their last day filming so putting this at the end seems fitting)

[lillypad910]

Blurb: Sex on the Beach

(Not what you think)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x f! Reader

Word count: 1029

Warnings: drinking/alcohol consumption, fluff. Not proofread, sorry for any errors!

Summary: Eddie, Steve, and Robin go to the bar for Rob’s birthday. You are there with your friends, checking out the guys who come in, but a certain metalhead catches your eye. He orders the drinks for his friends, but his order shocks your whole table, but you take it as an opportunity.

A/n: this is so short but I thought it was a fun and cute idea.

Emerson! Reader is coming, I promise, it's just a LOT

It’s Robin’s twenty-first birthday as she, Steve, and Eddie sit around the apartment she co-owned with the two men. “So,” Steve speaks up first, “To celebrate our dear friend Robin, I propose we go to a bar. It’s her twenty-first, she has to drink.” Eddie nods, “I’m down, haven’t gone drinking in a while.”

You are sitting in a booth in the corner of the bar, your friends giggling as they check out some of the guys around the room. “Oh, three o’clock, just coming in. Those two are hot.” One says as she gestures loosely. You and the rest of your group glance over as you watch two men and a woman walk in.

One of the guys has around shoulder length hair, neatly done to be swoopy, his jacket is red with a yellow undershirt, blue jeans that perfectly fit him. “Look at that ass, damn.” One of the girls says.

The girl has chin length hair, her jacket collar is up a bit but you can’t tell if she meant for it to be or if it just hasn’t been fixed.

Then there is the second guy, the final individual of the party. “He’s totally a hard liquor guy.” One of your friends comment, “I mean come on, that punk rock look is screaming whiskey.” “Look at his hair,” another comments. He is very attractive, definitely right up your alley with dark long curly hair that reached past his shoulder blades. His eyes are dark in color, probably brown but it’s hard to really tell in this lighting. But it is his clothes that draw you in.

Lots of denim both as jeans and a vest. His leather jacket underneath with a band t-shirt and chains that hang by his belt loops.

The trio had made their way over to a table a good ways from yours but you couldn’t stop staring at the second guy.

“How about you go up and order us the first round, Eds?” The first guy speaks up, you could barely hear him but you were listening way to hard to miss it. Eds…? God, what names use the nickname Eds…? Edward? Eddie? Wait, Eddie is a nickname for Edward also, right??

You can’t think straight with how much alcohol you had already consumed so far tonight. Your fifth beverage sits in front of you on the table, half drank and the ice starting to melt.

The guy, Eds, makes his way over to the bar, “hey, uh, can I get a bud light?” “Tap or bottle?” “Tap is fine, and a screwdriver, and…” the guy thinks for a moment, and your whole group goes dead silent trying to listen.

“Can I get a Sex on the Beach?” Your whole table spits. Alcohol flies across the table from every direction. You just sit there, eyes wide as you watch the guy give the bartender a wide smile. “Sure,” the bartender is completely unfazed, “is that all?” “Yep!”

You quickly stand, catching your entire table off guard as you quickly make your way over. “Excuse me,” you catch the bartender’s attention, “can I get a Sex on the Beach?” You ask, trying to act like you didn’t hear the conversation before. The bartender smiles at you, “sure! I’ll have all that out for you in a moment.”

You both stand there a little awkwardly, your fingers play with your short dress as you wait for your beverage, glancing at the guy next to you.

He taps his fingers on the countertop, a soft hum can be heard from him as he waits with you. First the beer is sat down, then the screwdriver, which he quickly returns both to his friends, before coming back. “And here are those two Sex on the Beaches.” You smile at the bartender, “thanks!” Eddie picks up one of the glasses as the bartender steps away. You give him a smile.

“I didn’t realize we ordered the same thing, good choice! It’s definitely one of my favorites.” You blush a bit, trying desperately to hide the fact that you ran to order one for yourself because you just had to strike up a conversation with him. “I’m (y/n), by the way.” You quickly throw in your name, hoping he catches on.

The guy smiles at you, “Eddie. Glad to see someone else appreciates a fruity beverage. I’m sorry to cut off but I should get back to my friends. Bye, (y/n).” He gives you a small wave and steps off.

You watch him walk back to his friends before walking back towards your own, a little deflated from the lake of interest he showed.

Eddie steps back up to his table with his friends who look at him, wide eyes and arms open. “What the hell was that??” Steve asks. “What?” Eddie asks, slipping back into his chair. “Dude she was totally hitting on you! Get back over there! Get her number!” Robin slaps him on the shoulder. “What? No! She just complimented my drink choice.” Robin and Steve both roll their eyes, “Eddie, she gave you her name. Women don’t just do that if they aren’t interested.” Steve speaks up and Robins nods in agreement.

“You think…?” Eddie glances back over to you, watching you sit your drink back down on the table only to catch you glance at him. “I’ll be back.” He sits his drink down and walks back over.

“Hey,” Eddie greets you and your friends. “Hi, Eddie.” You give him a smile. “Could I… Could I possibly get your number?” He asks, looking a little nervous about your answer. Your group giggles a bit, but you can’t help but blush, “I honestly thought you weren’t gonna ask.” You grab a napkin from the holder on the table and one of your friends digs in her purse for a pen, handing it over to you. You scribble your number down and write your name with a little heart next to it. You fold the napkin up before slipping it into his hand, “Call me later, ok?” You smile and he smiles back, a slight blush on his cheeks. “Definitely will.”

Tag List

If you wanna be tagged on future posts, please send me an ask or comment!

@cagethemunson

@cherrycolas-things

@spikeybatt

@r-a-d-i-0-n-0-w-h-e-r-e

[noandnooneelse]

Here's the thing about how Jeeves, at the beginning of the stories, doesn't quote, and only starts after a certain amount of time. I've been digging around in the Annotations again, and found this:

About this scene:

‘You want time to think, eh?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Take it, Jeeves, take it. You may feel brainier after a night’s sleep. What is it Shakespeare calls sleep, Jeeves?’ ‘Tired Nature’s sweet restorer, sir.’ ‘Exactly. Well, there you are, then.’

This is EDIT: one of the (unless I missed any others, it should be the third time Jeeves quotes anything or anyone, there being an Emerson-quote (fitting in well with his established expertise in philosophical matters), and one instance of him quoting Kipling’s “The Female of the Species” before that) first times in the entire series that Jeeves is quoting anything. Now, Bertie is usually the one who gets quotes wrong. But But we know that, later on, that's Jeeves' thing, he does that frequently, he regularly monologues about poetry, to the point where Bertie has to ask him to return to the point at hand. But he doesn't do that yet, and here, he's mixing up his quotations - this one isn't by Shakespeare, instead, it's from Edward Young's Night-Thoughts.

So if this is a new thing for him, something he's only just learning, that'd explain it, because he just plain doesn't know. He is, in this scene, just saying the first thing that comes to mind, absolutely panicking, and meanwhile, Bertie is blithely unaware of the crisis he's just caused Jeeves, because of course Jeeves knows everything and is 100% trustworthy

[marypsue]

You know, for years I've been thinking "the whole half-vampire situation and 'kill the head vampire and free any half-vampires' thing in The Lost Boys is so unique, I've never seen that particular approach to vampire turning in any other vampire story, and it really fits the story well, I wonder how they came up with it" and.

It's Dracula. It's literally just what happens in Dracula. Michael Emerson and Mina Harker 'having to kill the master vampire whose blood (which you ingested) is slowly turning you into a creature of the night in order to become human again' handshake meme.

[sam-keeper]

The Visitor aka STRIDULUM (1979)

Ha ha yeah, wooo YEAH

da daaaaa dadadaDAA DAAA DAAAAAAA DADADAAAAA DADADADADA DA DAAAAA YEAH!!!!

This is the most prog rock movie I've ever seen in my life. This is spiritually being painted on the side of a van. Does it have a good plot that makes sense? I don't know, asshole, does Emerson Lake and Palmer's seminal classic Karn Evil 9 part 2 have a good plot that makes sense? I'm telling my kids The Visitor (1979) is Star Wars.

I noticed a pattern when looking at other reviews of this film: they fall back on comparisons, as a slight. Well, it's sort of The Omen, and it's sort of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and it's sort of Carrie, and a little Battlestar Galactica and maybe The Birds... which all sounds very derivative, I suppose, until you actually a movie smashing all those things together, and realize, wait a minute, that's bonkers. It feels like critics grasp for these comparisons while foundering in The Visitor's psychedelic sea, desperate for a point of stability. None of these references offer stable landmarks, though, if you hope to predict where the film will veer next in its crazy pursuit of cool ideas and weird setpieces.

Not that the comparisons are totally off base, mind. This IS the story of Katy Collins, a Wicked Little Kid in the vein of the Omen's Damien or Carrie's... Carrie. It's just that this generic convention of the Bad Seed gets set up at the beginning of the film with a bizarre cosmic encounter between an old space wizard and an apparition of the devilish little girl in what looks like a blizzard on mars, followed by a whole ass monologue by "A Jesus Figure" about cosmic psychic spirits of good and evil dueling it out across the planets, delivered to a bunch of bald, white robed children. Hell yeah. But! But. Katy Collins is otherwise a classic, average evil psychic kid who kills people with telekinesis. And uses it to rig professional basketball matches for her shitty step dad, possibly at the behest of the satanic businessmen he answers to who are REALLY giving some serious drone hive vibes what with the way they all turn their heads at the same time. Oh and she's got a pet hawk that murders people at her behest. No, trust me though, it's a really derivative movie. Not like the movies we have now like uhhhh

[sweating] uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Better touchstones than typical blockbuster fare might be the mind-expanding chaos of paperback epics--Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show, King's Dark Tower, Morrison's The Invisibles. Here's some other fun facts: it was directed by Giulio Paradisi (it's a heavily italian production) but he directed it under the brilliant name "Michael J Paradise". The italian title was "Stridulum", which I guess is latin for something like a harsh or shrill sound or shriek, which fits the whole repeating War Between Birds motif and the use of bird cries in the soundtrack. Oh, and one of the guys playing basketball in the first scene with Katy is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actual famous athlete. It's sort of a bizarre and improbable movie!

But I don't think I'd be nearly so dazzled by all the crazy shit this film throws at the audience if not for Katy herself, played brilliantly by a young child star Paige Conner. She's written and performed in a way that suggests malice, yes, but a childish malice, a bit of a put-on, a belligerent front that gets more and more petulant and uncontrolled as John Huston as the space mystic Jerzy (yes) Colsowicz (get it) confronts her with the limits of her own powers. There's this sequence where Jerzy and Katy play pong against each other. Jerzy, smiling, accuses her cheating by speeding up the game with her powers. Katy, giggling genuinely, gloatingly informs him that no, she sped up the game using a switch on the game console. Later in the film she tries to drop a fire escape on his head, of course. In that conversation, though, there's this charming chemistry between them, the chemistry of a smart young person and an older adult willing to treat her, not as a peer exactly, but as a thinking being, not just a Thing to be smacked into shape. This dynamic is crucial to the climax of the film and its ultimate conviction that no matter how ghastly Katy is, there's more than just evil to her, which might not be the most seasonally horror-forward message but is honestly pretty damn refreshing. Like I don't know if The Visitor is as good a film as The Omen (ok, I know that obviously it's not) but on balance it's probably got its heart more in the right place. Perhaps notably along those lines, one of the horror subplots of The Omen involves possibility of a woman getting an abortion, whereas The Visitor explores the possibility of a woman being impregnated against her will. While it may lose out on form, The Visitor might just win the long game on its politics.

Also some shitty teens get thrown through a plate glass window, and there's a whole sequence where a big truck's lights are treated exactly like an approaching spacecraft, and it's awesome, I don't know what to tell you, I love this shit.

Read more horror reviews like this all season on my Patreon

[aceghosts]

OCs as Horror Tropes

Hey everyone! I was tagged to do this uquiz by @nightbloodbix and @cloudofbutterflies92. Thank you for tagging me!

Tagging (Opt In/Out): @bbrocklesnar, @marivenah, @alexxmason, @captmactavish, @carlosoliveiraa, @amalkavian, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @voidika, @confidentandgood, @clicheantagonist, @theelderhazelnut, @cassietrn, @captastra, @direwombat, @strangefable, @katsigian, @inafieldofdaisies, @simplegenius042, @onehornedbeast, and anyone else who wants to do this!

Rooney Shepard

just catholic trauma

(tw for implications of self harm here) god is judgment. every action is weighted, every action is watched. tally marks on a scoreboard, on skin, your body on a golden scale, and you can't shed enough weight to stop it from tipping. worship isn't enough. sacrifice isn't enough. guilt lays across you in layers. blankets, sheets of snow, cling-wrap cutting off your circulation. you can't save yourself, but you can never stop trying. fire licks at your heels, a constant reminder of what is inevitably waiting for you.

Hunter Delaney

meat as horror

meat hooks and conveyor belts and cold metal. the warm eyes of a stupid animal, completely unaware of the watering mouths that await it. "cut here" lines drawn on the body, slabs of steak that bleed and bleed, unrelenting. are you hungry? would you kill to stay alive? you feel like prey, or maybe like predator. sinew is stuck between your teeth, and gore dribbles down your chin. don't chip your teeth on the bones. you feel like the top of the food chain, and don't see the eyes gleaming behind you.

Riley Callahan

family as a cult

you will never need anyone else. outsiders will hurt you, aim to corrupt you and ruin you and leave you in pieces, but your family will always be there for you. everyone has the same eyes, the same smile. the same sickly yellow light cast over their skin. the same tastes, the same food that melts to gray sludge on your tongue. family recipe. hugs last too long, touches linger and sting like sunburn. don't stray too far. if you come back looking like a wolf rather than a sheep, the dogs will eat you.

Emerson Wright

flowers rotting as a metaphor for death/decay

stems droop, go yellow like aged teeth. petals curl, go dry like paper, like corpse skin. the beauty of youth can only be preserved through unnatural means. roses drowned in silica gel, pins behind the eyes. glass vase, open casket. everyone is watching you. why aren't you moving? are you too weak to grow toward the light anymore?

[thevindicativevordan]

My Adventures With Superman: S2 Review

Another season down and it's time to take stock. SPOILERS BELOW!

My feelings fresh off the finale has me just as high on the show as I was last season. MAWS continues to be the best adaption of Superman since the Donner films. Furthermore I've realized that MAWS is extremely close to what the original Ultimate Marvel was. Everything in the 1610 universe ultimately came back to the Super Soldier Serum. Here everything connects to Krypton: all the villains in some way tie into it, Superman and Supergirl obviously are it's Last Children, Krypton reshaped the entire galaxy - potentially having wiped out the GLC and fought Apokolips! It's an entire universe built around exploring the impact of an imperialist Krypton and that's what sells me on the concept. Strikes me as funny in the wake of "Absolute DC" trying to offer an Ultimate DCU around the same time. Now moving on to the three major areas of concern:

The Trio

Clark - Our boy did not have an easy time of it this season. Constantly being faced with xenophobia, struggling to find a place for himself, relationship issues with Lois, his cousin turning out to be a brainwashed warrior, and then the evil AI that ran the Kryptonian Empire trying to turn him into a weapon. His character arc from S1, learning to embrace the weirder sides of himself instead of suppressing them, continues this season. Literally so in the case of unlocking his remaining powers like arctic breath, but also mentally. Brainiac attacks his self-image in order to undermine his sense of self-worth. Telling that even a Kal raised in a fake simulation of Krypton doesn't fit in with Kryptonian society any better than he does on Earth. I love that Lois gets him to believe in himself again by inverting the famous Lois & Clark line. Here, Superman is not what Clark can do - Superman is who Clark is. By believing in himself and following his heart, this Superman comes to realize that home isn't a place but the people you're with. Home is Ma, Pa, Lois, Jimmy, and at the end of the season Kara too.

Lois - Last season only began to unpack her daddy issues, and that was the focus of her arc this season. She loves Clark and she loves her dad but she can't overcome her massive inferiority complex caused by her dad's treatment of her growing up. She could never count on him to be there for her and she ends up projecting that on to Clark. Also she has a bad habit of emulating her dad's paranoia, she's willing to go right for the kryptonite to take out Kara, and doesn't trust other Kryptonians off the bat. Her arc culminates when she affirms her love for Clark in the Black Mercy and when she urges Kara to overcome the Eradicator programming, instead of doubting Kara's inner goodness.

Jimmy - Finally gets his own romance storyline with Kara and it was as cute as Clois! Glad Jimmy stopped being a third wheel to the Clois drama and got his own relationship difficulties to cope with. Also glad that we got that episode where Clark and Jimmy bro'd it up at the Science Expo and Clark told Jimmy how much he valued their friendship. Was asking for that in S1, and we finally got that moment here. As expected. Jimmy lost his billions but I think getting a Kryptonian girlfriend and saving Superman from Brainiac were worthy trade offs.

The Villains

Brainiac - Completely won over on this Brainiac. Emerson might have supplanted Burton as my favorite Brainiac voice. Eschewing the typical cold and emotionless Brainiacs, this take is joyfully malevolent. He takes pleasure in Superman's shock and outrage over the enslavement of the Kryptonian Empire's Foes for use as training fodder, he spitefully targets Earth first after stealing Superman's body, he gaslights and mocks Kara for daring to stand up to him, he's overseen the genocide of multiple planets (including Krypton) - he's pure evil. Even monologues at one point about how he's been "infected" by compassion on account of raising Kara and he needs to purge himself of that weakness. Brainiac alone justifies MAWS going with an imperialist Krypton instead of the usual isolationist take, we wouldn't have gotten this fantastic performance otherwise.

Amanda Waller - Never been more hateable than she is here. She tries to kill her old friend and colleague Sam with zero hesitation or remorse, experiments on civilians and is willing to kill them to cover it up, treats her underlings like crap, no surprise she and Lex hit it off. At least by the end of the season she's been deposed and is on the run, finally gets some measure of comeuppance for her actions.

Lex Luthor - To no one's great surprise, "Alex" did indeed turn out to be Lex Luthor. Amazing how MAWS pulled off exactly what DCEU Lex was trying to be, an evil techbro in the Zuckerburg mold, and in doing so reinforced how absolutely terrible the DCEU take was. Lex here is recognizably Lex: he's ego-driven, weaponizes xenophobia against Superman, reveals he was the one who actually created the Parasite suit, synthesizes kryptonite cores for the Metallos, acquires his business competition AmerTek, and is generally a condescending dickwad. Love that whenever he's being particularly evil, we get the iconic anime villain shot where the glasses become opaque. After this season he finally has the Lexcorp building Only thing left to do (besides give Lex a shave) is really develop the feud between Lex and Superman. Right now Supes doesn't even know Lex, and Lex has merely been using Superman as a sacrificial lamb for his own advancement. I do not want a sympathetic Lex, I want this to be the guy that Supes actually dislikes intensely.

Deathstroke - Fully settled into his role as the designated jobber at this point. Admittedly it's fun to see him be smug only to repeatedly get his ass spanked by Superman and others, but I'm not happy that they're keeping him around for S3 as Lex's underling. He's no threat to Superman at this point!

Damage - Weird choice, bad design. Don't really care if he shows up again or not.

Atomic Skull - Sounds cool, looks cool, only complaint is that he barely got any use! Showrunners I am begging you to bench Deathstroke, or outright eject him from the show, and start focusing more on the actual Superman villains. Since Waller's Task Force X seems to have been disbanded, could we possibly see him get a job as a cop like in the comics? I would support Atomic Skull being the anti-Superman element in the Metropolis Police Department while Maggie Sawyer finally debuts to contrast with him.

Livewire & Heatwave - After the heist and finale episodes I'm fine with them exiting from the show. Livewire in particular felt completely jarring and disconnected from how she was characterized in the AmerTak episode, she went from being willing to hurt kids to giving Lois a pep talk on the power of Love and saving Metropolis. Mitigating circumstances to be sure with Brainiac trying to destroy the Planet, but the S2 finale definitely felt like the show redeeming the S1 villains and shooing them out.

The Supporting Cast

Kara Zor-El/Supergirl - Now I can't say she's my favorite Kara yet, but I can share that like most of the MAWS cast, she easily could attain that status if she keeps getting used in S3. Poor thing, she exchanged the trauma of being old enough to feel Krypton's loss acutely for the trauma of having been brainwashed into being a worldkiller. Benefit of that is the show wrote them more like siblings because they were the same age, and I adored that. Episode 7 was one of my top 3 favorite episodes of the series thus far, watching them tease each other was heartwarming.

When Superman realized she had a crush on Jimmy and started to tease her, that was one of my favorite Superman/Supergirl moment ever! Both her and Kal are looking for the place they belong and they find it in each other by the end of the season. Excited to see what becomes of their relationship, and Jimmy's romance with Kara, next season.

Perry White - Remains the GOAT Perry. His evil laughter when Jimmy complained to him about the new interns not listening had me laughing right alongside him. Oh and changing the nickname Jimmy gives him to "Per-Per" instead of "Chief" goes a long way to justify why Perry finds Jimmy annoying and hates his nickname. Showing up to take Waller to task for arresting Jimmy and Lois in the penultimate episode, distracting her while Steve jailbreaks them? Most badass thing any version of Perry has ever done.

General Sam Lane - Complex is the only word I can use to describe him. Clearly he loves Lois and we get an entire episode dedicated to showing that, but he's still a bad dad who is responsible for her attachment issues. By the end of this season he's come around to Superman's side, and I have to admit I'm not a fan of that. Wish he was staying as an antagonist, but as long as we don't have Superman working with/for the government in S3 then I'll cope.

Cat and Steve - Ronnie was a non-entity again this season, I don't think she even appeared, but wow did Cat level up to be my favorite take on her alongside MAWS Steve being the GOAT Steve Lombard. Cat's speech to Lois about how as reporters they cover the story but they don't become the story shows that underneath her gossip exterior lies a woman of principles. Steve meanwhile cemented himself as the best bro you could ask for, and I loved his pep talk to Kara

Vicki Vale - Her shonen style rivalry with Lois over the AmerTek story gave me life. Conceding gracefully to Lois after being outscooped and offering Lois a job in Gotham, plus appearing in the penultimate episode to support Perry confronting Waller made me actually respect her. Still don't like her for smearing Superman in S1, but you can see that she is what Lois is on the road to becoming - albeit with more principles.

John Henry Irons - My guy in the flesh!!! Needs a proper war suit and to get that shield filled in but he's here and a pretty straightforward adaption to boot! Worked at AmerTek, built weapons for them, realized they were corrupt and has to atone by taking them down. Seeing him show up again in the finale was thrilling, I hope that he continues to appear in S3 as an ally of Kal and Kara. We've got a proper Superfamily being built up, now all we need is Kon.

General Thoughts

Blatant Darkseid tease or misdirection? Sure looks like an Omega Beam, but Brainiac makes it clear he's the one who "destroyed" Krypton. Jor-El was trying to negotiate a peace treaty with "their enemies" which does leave open the possibility that said enemies were Darkseid and Apokolips, and Brainiac has the Parademon mind scan.

Brainiac says he used "Krypton's greatest weapon" against Krypton, and that did not seem to be Kryptonite. Could he have sent the entire planet to the Phantom Zone instead? Would certainly align with the line about "casting Krypton into hell".

S2 ends with Superman being pretty much as happy as can be. He and Lois are back, he saved and redeemed Kara, Waller is deposed, he doesn’t appear to have any emotional problems left. I’m thinking S3 is going to have Lex and Zod as the Big Bads, and instead of being a conquerer, Zod is going to break out of the PZ and be utterly ruthless about bringing all of Krypton with him.

I bet the show does a take on the New Krypton storyline, with S3 having Zod succeed and then Kal and Kara have to choose between their adopted and birth worlds (maybe even their adopted and birth parents in the Kents vs. Els for maximum drama). Do they want to go live on New Krypton with the Els or stay on Earth? Plus Zod will probably be revealed as Nemesis Omega, and they'll set up a war coming between Earth and NK with Sam Lane and Zod leading the two armies. Then S4 will be Darkseid, with Apokolips having learned that their old foes are still alive

Metallo needs to get a proper adaption next season. I know these weebs have watched Cyberpunk Edgerunners, give me Metallo in the vein of Adam Smasher!

PLEASE BRING IN BLOODSPORT, he's in the bloody comics for God's sake! No excuse not to have him next season.

They better have plans for a proper Jack Nimball Toyman because that Winslow Schott take was lame

Bring Parasite back next season, not having him at all this season made me realize how great he was as a villain. Oh and bring Mxy back too!

Kryptonian armor enhancing Kryptonian abilities like heat vision sold me on the concept. Funny how right as the live action take reverts to the trunks, MAWS gives Superman a new suit without them. I like the new suit myself.

Lana ended up being the one person on the leaked voice actor list to not show up is odd. Was her part cut perhaps, or was that the one fake name on the list?

Wyatt has said that when MAWS Superman becomes the confident self-assured "Superdad", that's when the show is over for him. Keeping that in mind I feel like S3 needs to kill some characters, specifically the Kents. Right now Clark has his safe space in Smallville, a loving relationship with Lois, a brother relationship with Jimmy, and a good reputation in Metropolis, and now Kara too. Logically he should be confident and self-assured, meaning they need to undermine that if they want the show to continue. Clark suffering the death of his adopted parents, right around the time his birth parents return and offer him a place on New Krypton? Certainly would be how *I* would blow up his new happy status quo.

If Superman is no longer going to be fighting the government, you know who would be a great villain to bring in? Red Cloud. Having a villain work at the Daily Planet in undercover mode like Superman would be a perfect way to keep the focus on the Planet cast.

[collegetennisoriginstory]

Spoilers for the Halloween update: This is an appreciation post for all of the brilliant Halloween costumes, esp those that come courtesy of the tennis team. The costume choices made were just 👌👌 chefs kiss. They're so good!!! The Max-Deepal Mario Kart-Banana duo in particular was just inspired!! I think I laughed for like a solid 5 min when I read that scene. Tobin as Spiderman was also so sweet and fitting!! And you gotta give a shoutout to the adorable Jacks-Emerson moment!! Also, I can't decide which is funnier: the fact that Tobin and Deepal somehow was somehow able to coax Rayyan, the Egyptian-American, to go as a toilet-paper mummy; or the fact that Rayyan's first pick was just to put on cat ears and be done with it. It's giving Karen from Mean Girls haha ("What are you?" "I'm a mouse, duh.") Did they have to buy the cat ears? Does Rayyan just have cat ears on standby lmaoo?? Love these goofballs so much 🥺

Ahhhh!!! I'm so glad you liked the Halloween costume ideas! Shout out to my wonderful CT:OS discord crew for the fun brainstorming sesh.

Rayyan being Egyptian american is precisely why I thought the toilet paper mummy idea would be hilarious.

And yes, Rayyan absolutely has cat ears just lying around. Last year's secret Santa gift. They've not worn it yet, but Halloween seemed like the perfect time.

Ooh and, the Tobin spiderman costume just felt like too good of an opportunity not to make a reference to that library date, many chapters ago :)

[emersonfreepress]

How did you decide which characters would be gender selectable vs fixed? That’s always been so fascinating to me!!

I actually couldn't decide 😅 I knew I wanted to have an even amount of gender ROs and needed 1 more boy and 1 more girl. But I couldn't decide: did I want to stick with writing Vivian or explore Vincent? Did I want R to be the rebellious bad boy or bad girl?

So I didn't decide! I wanted to write both versions of those characters 😄 and here we are. Overwhelmed lololololol

I initially had the silly idea of having all the cisgender ROs be gender selectable. Then I started learning how to code this shit and realized that was NOT going to happen 😆 I still kind of love the idea of f!Gabe, f!Jack, and gender-swapped Emersons... but it was scrapped way before it was ever serious. Nothing about personality would have changed, but too many backstories and childhoods needed to be assessed and changed depending on gender. Like, fascinating stuff that I would love to write and explore — but it's just too much writing. There's a whole crime plot waiting on me!

Like, the childhood Gabe had would spit f!Gabe out quite differently... I kinda don't wanna think about it 😐 since I won't commit to writing it anyway. m!Jessie's childhood would be super different from a spiritual standpoint... f!Jack would be under a lot of pressure from her dad's side of the family to fit in and be popular... The Emersons would have to be completely — just completely rewritten oh my gosh. This I actually do kinda wanna explore on my own 'cause I think it'll give me a fuller read on their parents. Plus, how does m!Heidi's character develop since his dad actually gives a shit what he does and invests in his future?? What's a f!Curt like with basically no familial attention and oversight??? I have no idea but I kind of want to!! 🤣

[hellishchrissy]

Not exactly a prompt but I’d love to hear your headcanons about how Gareth and Eddie became friends, and how Eddie will react to Gareth and El getting together 😄😄😄

Ooh I love this!!

from what I've gathered, Eddie was doing his senior year for the first time in 1984-ish, the year Gareth was a freshman. that year was pretty shitty for gareth, as had been many years before -- he wasn't exactly fitting in at hawkins high, and his father had left their mother during the summer of 1984.

so, like the cliché of a misfit kid with authority issues he was, gareth was thrown into detention. a lot. for mouthing off to teachers, for skipping class, for getting into fights (and often getting his ass kicked. as time went by, the fighting didn't exactly cease but gareth was no longer the one losing them)

eddie was already the self-proclaimed king of the misfits, a title he wore like a badge of honor. gareth had a dislike of his theatrical personality and shit he pulled when all he wanted to do was eat his lunch, and so the younger kid kept his distance from munson and the hellfire club

that was until the day gareth and eddie found themselves in the same detention, lounging in the back row as they had done many, many times before -- just never at the same time. gareth had had his drumsticks with him, as he liked to sneak into band class during whenever he could and play the drums. the ones at home were from his father, shitty and worn down and gareth hated them. and he hated his father.

the silence in the classroom was consistently broken by the tapping of drumsticks against wood, and eddie was getting pretty fucking sick of it. he was tired, and he had a headache, and now this scrawny freshman was pounding an inconsistent rhythm into the desk like there was no one else in the room.

eddie avoided the gaze of the detention supervisor when he slipped his way across the back row and sat next to the kid, his hand slamming onto the drumstick to stop the ruckus

"if youre gonna make noise, might as well do it right, emerson."

gareth was confused as to why the dude knew his name, because he sure as shit had not told him that. or anything else, really. ever.

but of course eddie knew his name. he knew the names of every kid with musical potential in their school, and he knew them by heart. and gareth emerson had been one he had been keeping his eye on for a while

and though gareth had rolled his eyes when eddie had invited him to a jam sesson (eddie remembered thinking that the kid had an insane, shitty attitude and that was kind of perfect). he hadn't exactly responded, but merely given eddie a death stare that actually made the older guy slightly uncomfortable because why the fuck did this freshman look like he could actually kill someone?

but nevertheless, the kid had shown up to play with corroded coffin, replacing the former drummer that had moved to indianapolis three months ago

and so, gareth emerson and eddie munson sort of became friends. gareth still kept his distance and kept the others guessing, because he despised the idea that he'd be perceived as following someone else's lead. and yeah, maybe the guidance counselor was right in saying he had "authority issues" or whatever the fuck, but he knew that however he chose to be a part of corroded coffin or hellfire, gareth would do it on his own terms

and he did. eventually, he actually did start considering the guys his friends. but he sure as shit never took an order from munson. and if he did, which of course he didn't, it was with gritted teeth and lewd hand gestures

eddie grew incredibly fond of the kid with his troublemaking tendencies and never-ending distaste for "the system". it didn't take long for him to consider gareth to be one of his best friends.

and though gareth never said it out loud, it eventually became mutual. it took six months, maybe a year.

when el hopper and will byers returned to hawkins after joyce byers and jim hopper get together and moved in together, hellfire gains new members. or, you know, one member who actually plays. but el is often there, either with max or with mike, following the game with bright brown eyes. and at first, it's great. new blood, whatever that helps keep the club afloat

then eddie starts to notice the eyes. gareths gaze lingering on the girl for a beat too long at lunch, sneaking an almost non-existent look at her when she left their table or walked by gareth in the hallways. his eyes, man. it's like they're drawn to the girl, following her even when she clings to the side of mike wheeler. during those moments, eddie can swear he sees a flash of annoyance in gareth's eyes, an expression that almost reaches the rest of his features before he catches himself.

then its gareth talking to her. gareth, who usually took around six months to warm up to anyone if you were lucky, the guy who kept even his friends at an arm's length. he's talking to el at lunch, during hellfire, in the hallways. and there's something guilty in his entire being when he does it, the little bastard.

and that's how eddie knows.

well, that, and the fact that gareth is no longer an asshole when el is around. the sarcastic edge of his tone is almost dull whenever he speaks to her, the way he explains dnd to her and offers the rest of his fries to her or whatever weird and completely out of character shit he keeps doing

but, to eddie's surprise, gareth is a man of honor for once. though he seems to indulge in little flirtation with the girl, he still keep his distance whenever mike is around. he doesn't cross the invisible line, which to eddie is unbelievable. gareth had crossed many lines, maybe even a few with girls who weren't exactly single, and maybe he had gotten his nose broken once because of it. ancient history.

but it's still pretty sad to look at the guy pining after the girlfriend of mike wheeler

"you know, im surprised you actually have some honor in you, emerson"

"i have no idea what you're talking about, ed"

"im just saying. if you're gonna pine, do it with some dignity"

that earns eddie a glare so sharp it makes him throws his hands in the air, shaking his head

"i just hope you know what youre doing"

"im not doing anything, dipshit"

"yeah, you'd better fucking not"

and time goes on. and though the group is as close as ever, anyone with eyes can see the relationship between el and mike cracking and straining. gareth might notice it more than the others, but who knows. it's not a surprise to anyone when the couple ends up splitting up, vowing to stay friends.

to eddie's surprise, gareth doesnt swoop in like a vulture. he actully give el space and support. fuck, he must really like the girl.

he does find shitty excuses to talk to her, though. at her locker, at lunch, at hellfire. he's being a good friend to her, to mike. for once in his life, gareth cares about not wanting to be an asshole.

and then one night, it kind of changes. they're hanging out at the wheeler house, the whole gang sprawled across couches and lounge chairs and carpeted floors in the basement, and el looks at gareth across the room. really looks at him, like in a way that pierces the air and makes gareth almost choke on popcorn in a really uncool way. and then el smiles.

gareth definitely chokes on his popcorn

that night, she asks him to walk her home. the byers-hopper house is only ten minutes away, but will is sick at home and el doesnt like walking home alone in the dark. and gareth agrees. of course he agrees.

his hands are shaking a little when they walk home, the ten minute walk stretching into one of 30 minutes. gareth is not a nervous person, so why the fuck is he nervous? they talk about everything and anything, and his hands are fucking shaking when she looks at him.

when they reach her house, gareth (the gentleman, as all of hawkins high knows) walks her to the lit up porch and stalls there, looking at her. it's not the first time he's walked a girl to the porch, but it feels like the first girl that actually matters.

they stay on the porch for around 20 minutes more, gareth leaning against the wooden column. he feels himself leaning closer every now and then, and el doesnt exactly protest. he can swear he sees her shift closer too, close enough to touch, to smell. to taste.

they stand there talking, gareth looming over her, leaning closer. his curls fall over his eyes when he leans so close that he can hear el's breath hitch in her throat. he stops when he's close enough for their noses to touch

"i'd really like to kiss you, but your dad has been staring at me from the window for the past five minutes and i'd really like for my head to stay attached to my body."

and like on cue, chief hopper flicks the porch light on and off a few times, like a warning shot in the quiet night. it makes el and gareth burst into giggles.

a few weeks later, gareth does kiss her. and it's the best thing he's ever fucking done.

[riordanverserpdatabase]

Welcome back users!!! We apologize for the delay, but it is time to get our Head Counselor event running!!!! Here are today's Polls and Results!!!

Cabin 1 - Zeus

Congratulations Finley Zavala, our only applicant for Cabin 1!!! You will be listed in the Database as a Head Counselor form now on until you resign!!! Here is Finley's Application response!

Finley, Why would you be a good fit for head counselor? @braving-the-storm

I would be a good fit because I'm a good communicator/problem solver, I can adapt easily, I'm willing to learn and I'm always here to listen.

Thank you for participating, Finley!!! Congratulations again!!!

Cabin 2 - Hera

There is currently only 1 Camper reported in Cabin 2, and she did not apply, but we will honor the cabin with a space anyways!!! Thank you Cabin 2!!!

Cabin 3 - Poseidon

Our first vote!!! Please put in your choice for Head Counselor of Cabin 3!! (We will link campers form cabin 3, but anyone is allowed to vote!!)

Propaganda below for each of them, taken from their applications!! Emerson, Why would you be a good fit for Head Counselor? @that-stupid-child-of-neptune

I'm very responsible... most of the time. I'm good at keeping up moral. I also have a dog for if anyone is sad! I know I'm a roman demigod but I spend most of time at camp half-blood!

SK, why would you be a good fit for Head Counselor? @daonedaonlyskh

it would be funny if we were to make one of the youngest members of the cabin head counselor. I like being helpful and tend to do well in leadership positions. I will also give you a cookie (of your preferred color and variety) if you vote for me.

Cabin 3, Please tell us what you think!! (This is for the Database, so whoever you choose will be listed as Head Counselor on our page and linked when new campers arrive with the title as well!)

Anjali Eliza Mastroti @poseidons-favourite-daughter

Cordelia (Cordi) Campbell @totally-not-a-mermaid

Elizabeth @yourfavoriteearthshaker

Kaia @kaia-roleplay

Kallias @ocean-struck-boy

@that-dam-daughter-of-poseidon

Lilly @unhinged-as-hell

@poseidons-hyperactive-kid

[fuzzkaizer]

Systech - overdrive

"Have you ever played a pedal that stuck with you forever, even though you knew in your heart it was totally weird, and nobody famous ever used it? For me, yeah, tons of them. But if I had to pick one that best fit these criteria, this one would be it. This is the Systech Overdrive. Before we dive in, let’s talk a little about where it was made.

There was a time when, of all places, Kalamazoo Michigan was an epicenter for musically related things. Apart from being a city referenced by Looney Tunes and the hometown of Glen Miller’s gal, Kalamazoo had the Sound Factory, which was a collective of sorts that featured guitar luthiery, a recording studio and electronic gear manufacturing. The facility sat front and center on Kalamazoo Avenue, smack dab in the middle of the city, and attracted visitors from all over.

Of course, if it was some random outpost of nobodies, the name wouldn’t carry any weight. However, the Sound Factory was shored up by three relatively heavy hitters of the early ‘70s. One such was Greg Hochman, Keith Emerson’s Moog technician. He was joined by Bryce Roberson, otherwise known as Uncle Dirty of Chess Records fame and a relatively unknown person named Charlie Wicks. If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you’ll recognize him as the man behind ProCo—the Ratfather.

Together, these three developed Systech, which itself was short for “Systems & Technology in Music, Inc.” That mouthful of a company was responsible for the Harmonic Energizer, a little-known yet highly influential effect that provided a deep filtered sound in addition to some crunchy drive and sharp resonant peaks. You might know it as one of Frank Zappa’s signature pieces. And while this Overdrive effect wasn’t that, it was derived from the Harmonic Energizer and shares a handful of characteristics.

Basically, if dialed in just the right way, the Harmonic Energizer will make short work of an entire speaker cabinet and anyone in the audience. This is because it was designed to provide a staggering gain of 55dB, enough to cause serious damage to your gear or hearing. The Overdrive was created to get some of those tones at non speaker-shredding levels.

If you’re thinking this unit is some kind of proto-Tube Screamer, think again. Because this was the early ‘70s, nobody had really decided exactly what “overdrive” meant. And though Maestro (coincidentally, also in Kalamazoo) had created one of almost every effect under the sun, pedal fever wasn’t quite here just yet, so Systech was essentially “winging it.” With that said, the Overdrive is actually a pretty aggressive fuzz sound. And to that end, the fuzz circuit is pretty unique. The entire affair contains two transistors—one a JFET input buffer—and one dual op-amp with a handful of other components. Even the topology is relatively simple, but the simplicity ends with the schematic.

The EQ control works unlike pretty much any EQ control you’ve ever fiddled with; as much an EQ as the whole unit is an overdrive. Instead of a simple tonal adjustment, the EQ control is actually an active bandpass filter, in the same family as a wah circuit. With a simple twist of a knob, you can adjust this filter from 122Hz to 900Hz. As you might imagine, the EQ control sounds relatively cocked-wah-esque, but the sound is much more aggressive than any wah on the market before or since. The reason has to do with the Q factor, essentially a bandwidth control. A wah’s Q is set by its 33K resistor and is much wider than that of the Overdrive, so the tone is a little more rounded. While a wah’s filter is a rubber mallet, the Systech Overdrive’s is a tack hammer. While the sound is curious, the thing really comes to life when you crank the EQ control, as it gives you a nice punch in the mids. You lose a little definition when you get to the bottom third, but man is it fun to play with.

“Distortion” is just what it sounds like, but curiously enough, “Gain” is about as close to a volume knob as you’re going to get. Much like Distortion, if you turn it all the way down it kills the entire signal, but it sits behind a final gain stage. If you have the guts to crank both Distortion and Gain, you’re richly rewarded with gobs of gooey sustain, but the flipside is that your amp is likely screaming “uncle.” Worth it? Your call. I say go for it.

Many people say Zappa used a Systech Overdrive, but alas, he did not. However, when you play it, you can definitely see the similarities between this unit and the fabled Harmonic Energizer. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s close enough for rock and roll."

cred: catalinbread.com/blogs/kulas-cabinet/systech-overdrive