#I've always loved the first movie the most because of Martha

[xxscarletxrosexx]

Kiss Distance: When Feelings Can't Reach | Linguistic Analyses on Rick & Rachel's lines foreshadow for TwiYor, DamiAnya, and Marthanderson from Ch. 105.5 (PART 1)

This is gonna be a take from the linguistic + literary lens regarding Rick and Rachel's lines from Spy x Family's Ch. 105.5.

Spoilers beware.

So let's talk about the film: Kiss Distance.

On X/Twitter, all I said was my analysis senses were tingling. There was a strong linguistic and creative writing/literary devices indicating foreshadow from the movie, and this just surprisingly got attention.

So now, I'm finally addressing this specific section in a long analysis post.

I cannot stress how much I love Endo-san's short chapters. There are so many things going on in terms of literary devices, and now, I think he plays with linguistics in them. I believe that the last time he did this was during Ch. 90.1 when we learned that Ania's name turned into Anya. I remember freaking the hell out that linguistics was touched upon, cuz honestly, what manga does that? Someone is finally paying attention to linguistics in a story, and it's just further pulling me into my rabbit-hole fixation and obsession with Spy x Family.

Although the chapter is only 5 pages long, it has SO MANY THINGS TO COVER. I won't be able to do that in this post, but I DID cover the entire thing in a video analysis that you can watch here:

What I will mainly cover in this post will be the film: Kissing Distance and the characters (Yor, Anya, Becky, and Martha) watching it + post-watching it. I cannot stress the ridiculous efforts embedded in just 3 pages, so I need to divide these sections into a linguistic lens (part 1) and a literary lens (part 2).

Let's start with the linguistic lens.

Spelling reflects language association + cultural history + maybe it's a meme too.

Spelling reflects language association

At the top right corner of page 2, we've got some English texts on the movie's billboard. "Interesting" and "Entertaining" are stacked on the left while "Movie" and "Theater" are stacked on the right.

Of these words, the word that stands out the most to me is Theater. English experts recognize that there are 2 spellings of this word: theater and theatre. These spelling tell you that it is either American (theater) or British (theatre).

I'm no expert on geography, but I believed that Ostania and Westalis were loosely based in Europe. I think I read someone talk about the architecture in Berlint also reflected European style houses--I'm so sorry that I can't recall who addressed it. The wars also felt like they were influenced by WWI and WWII. But what I do know is English it's my goddamn expertise. I'm not gonna be an uptight ass about pointing out every nook and cranny of inconsistent English, because that's just a whole lot of work for a creator and his team can do, realistically speaking. If Endo-san wanted perfect control in the language he's portraying in SxF, then he would need a dedicated team of linguists to help with translations. It may surprise you but there are many variations of a language (ex: English has AAVE. It's still English but used by this group of speakers--more on this later). But this is a hell hole of work, so I'm giving him so much slack on it as well as the translators handling the translations (like, really. No hate. Thank you for your services <3).

Another caveat: the English translation may also be a reflection of the translators. Maybe they favor American English than British English--who really knows? But I digress.

I'll stick to what I already know of the Ostanian language: It's English (variety is unspecificed, feels American) + Japanese.

Spelling shows cultural history

Next, let's address that these are adjectives slapped on a movie billboard. Normally, American movie theaters do not post adjectives. They post about the movie, the actors, etc. Comments about movies theaters being "family friendly" are subtext under the current film, etc. Here's an example of a movie theater from the 1950s found on gettyimages:

So this brings me to consider that English is being used as kazari eigo which means 'decorative English' in Japanese. In Chris Broad's (AbroadinJapan) words:

"... English in Japan is most commonly used as a form of cheap decorations and prestige, or value to a product and because so few people here understand it, the companies that plaster English all over their products and items rarely bother to check that it makes any sense." Reference:

Maybe it's a meme

This chapter, overall, felt really silly. There were silly drawings, silly play on words, silly foreshadows, etc. I couldn't help but think that maybe Endo-san was throwing in something amusing in these small things (cuz he's got attention to detail). Is it:

Interesting Entertaining Movie Theater OR Interesting Movie Entertaining Theater

It reminds me of:

Endo-san does have a tendency to incorporate memes into his manga/anime. Like... was Anya's jump not a Jojo's meme...? //sweats

I don't know if I'm severely poisoned by JJBA memes but, yeah, I saw it since the day this chapter came out. I just thought:

ANYA = DIO BRANDO

Anyway... whether it was intentional or unintentional (for this section), I love when mangakas incorporate something meme-y

2. Ricky's English Variety

This is where I went berzerk in this chapter with all of these small linguistic details. Ricky's speech says so much about him.

His introduction of himself is that he's a broken razor. Essentially, he's painting the bad-boy ML image. But he's not just any bad boy. He's a bad boy with issues controlling himself/the situation. In other words he's toxic and not good for us healing men/women //joking. However, out of all of these words, the one that stands out to me is shaddup. His speech suddenly changed because romance conflicts need to have a wall between the main couple. In this case, other than Ricky's pompadour, it's his speech. What we have here is a clash between English varieties.

To understand what is variety in linguistics, you might be familiar with these words: language, dialect, vernacular, and accent. Language is the most obvious, but dialect, vernacular, and accent can be a lil confusing to distinguish. So here's a definition and a chart I made to help distinguish them:

- Language: a system of communication that uses words, grammar, and spelling to convey meaning, languages can be spoken, written, or signed-- Ex: English, Spanish, Arabic, etc. - Dialect: is a variation of a language that is spoken by a specific group of people, such as a community, culture, or region. It includes differences in vocabulary, grammar, and how the language is used -- Ex: American English vs. British English vs. Australian English - Vernacular: is a type of dialect that's used by the "common people" of a region. It's a non-standard dialect that's spoken rather than written. Vernacular language is often made up of slang or regional terms -- Ex: African American Vernacular English (AAVE) - Accent: is the way people in a specific group pronounce words, which is also know as the prosody of speech. Prosody refers to the tone and musicality of someone's speech -- Ex: Boston accent

In Summary (a simplified version of the above info): Language is the standard language (aka what you learn in grammar class and in public speaking class) Dialect is born from language where it becomes variations of the language and adopts different grammar, vocabulary, and language use (like American English vs. British English vs. Australian English) Vernacular is a type of dialect used by "common people" and often include slang words and regional terms (think African American Vernacular English, or AAVE) Accent is a type of dialect that is mainly focused on prosody, or how a person pronounces a word (think Boston accent)

Now that you understand the linguistic terminologies, here's a fun exercise to show you what I see:

Ricky predominantly uses the standard English language in the film:

The moment a language's word has a (legitimate) spelling change, it automatically turns into a dialect (which touches on my previous topic about theater vs. theatre).

These are Ricky's English accents:

Finally, this is Ricky using an English vernacular:

POP QUIZ!

Now that you know what English variety is, can you guess which one Ricky has? If you guessed dialect, then you're half a step there. If you guessed accent, you're so close! But the correct answer is vernacular. This is because accent overlaps with vernacular, but accent stops at word pronunciations. Vernacular has accent and slang.

3. Discourse Analysis on Ricky's Vernacular

You should now have a good understanding of Ricky's vernacular, but now let's talk about why this is significant in discourse analysis.

Linguists who specialize in discourse analysis are responsible for analyzing why and how people speak a certain way. Many linguistic features are observed (lexicons, syntax, phonology, semantics, etc.) but what they share in common is who it's presented to. They're looking at the relationship between interlocutors (people who take part in the dialogue/conversation). In other words, depending on who you converse with, the way you speak is affected.

You may have already realized that Ricky is code-switching (a speaker switches between one or more languages and/or varieties) between standard English and his English vernacular.

Now, pay attention to who Ricky speaks to and when he code-switches.

We can observe in the above panel that Ricky uses standard English when speaking to Rachel. This is because Ricky has linguistically profiled her.

How am I so sure that he's linguistically profiled her? Well, because the majority of human beings unconsciously linguistically profile their appearances. Linguistic profiling does have a similar general word: stereotype. The only difference is that based on appearance, we make a split-second assumption and decision on how we talk to that person.

In this case, Ricky spoke first (exercising dominance through initiation) and used standard English. From a linguistic lens, Ricky is telling me: hey, I know I look like a bad boy, and you may have linguistically profiled me as someone who didn't have good education, which would have reflected in my speech, but I'm more than competent to use standard English. And because I can use standard English, I'm on the same equal playing field (metaphorically and linguistically speaking) as Rachel.

But then, notice the moment, Rachel tells him that she hates Ruffians like [him], Ricky's replies with an accent of shuddap (shut up). Linguistically, he's drawing a line between them. This also indicates that they're no longer on the same side before adding his threat: "I'll cut you!"

In this scene, notice Ricky's accent comes back again, but who is it directed to? An enemy or someone from his linguistic background. He uses this accent with an interlocutor of the same English variety background to make it clear to the person he's beaten up that he's speaking in the "language" that they both completely understand.

But, the moment Ricky speaks to Rachel, he reverts back to standard English. What this means is that Ricky is linguistically assimilating/aligning himself with Rachel to show that he's on her side. This can also mean that he's making himself appealing to her through discourse. On the other hand, Rachel makes herself appealing through physical means (her taste in clothing has changed--more on this under literary analysis).

In this scene, Ricky changes appearance (more on this under literary analysis) and he speaks using standard English. But the moment he loses his pompadour, guess what happens?

Ricky goes back to his true self and shows it through using English vernacular.

Rachel has never changed in her English, so she's always been true to herself. It's Ricky who goes through these changes. And it becomes a beautiful and romantic moment of a man undergoing change not only visually but linguistically.

4. Language parallel/mirroring between the anime and the manga

The fact that Endo-san decided to give Ricky an English vernacular in the English translation of the manga reflects his attention to details between the manga and the anime adaptation.

Linguistics in Anime (what you hear)

Maybe you've noticed, maybe you haven't, but Takuya Eguchi, Loid's voice actor, ingeniously incorporated different prosodic features when assuming roles for [redacted], Loid Forger, Twilight, and Robert. Catte-b covers this in her Leitmotifs in the Spy x Family soundtrack. Piracytheorist also provided a video demonstrating Loid, [Redacted], and Twilight's voices. In both posts, Eguchi's changing voice is called timbre (Catte-B and Piracytheorist have a music background). Timbre is defined as:

In other words, timbre is an individual's voice quality or vocal signature. It's how listeners can recognize a singer regardless of what song they sing and how anime watchers can identify a VA's voice by the character's name in another anime--there's just a certain quality in a person's voice that makes them identifiable.

Because of this definition, timbre is unfortunately not the correct terminology. Using vocal/voice timbre when describing vocal register, at the end of the day, is just pitch. Catte-B and Piracytheorist, however, are not wrong in their analyses. They have correctly identified one of the characteristics of speech and even provided vocal qualties (sharp, flat, soft, etc.) but the more appropriate term should be prosodic features.

I want to highlight the most important thing about prosodic features and it's the features that make it up: intonation, stress, rhythm, pitch, and pauses.

Intonation: is the variation of pitch across a phrase or sentence. > in a way, it's creating a melody when speaking. > its purpose in spoken language is to convey meaning. This is usually the case in tonal languages that require a specific pitch to indicate a word. However, in English, intonation is present when we ask a question (the last few words tend to be higher-pitched) vs. a statement which is either consistent in pitch or can sometimes be lower-pitched. Stress: involves giving prominence to one or more syllables in a word. This is achieved through increasing the length, volume, or pitch of a syllable, or by changing the vowel quality. > stress is important for helping listeners understand meaning / word class and distinguish words during rapid speech (ex: address, graduate, permit etc.) > it can be used to emphasize a specific word of a sentence (ex: Where did you go last night? vs. Where did you go last night? vs. Where did you go last night?) Rhythm: refers to the sense of movement and flow of speech. It's a combination of stress, length, and number of syllables. > mostly concerned with syllables and larger parts of speech rather than phonetic segments like consonants or vowels > important for making speech sound flow well and helps us understand what's being said > 2 most common types of rhythm in language are stress-timed and syllable-timed (English typically uses a stress-timed rhythm) Pitch: indicates highness or lowness of sound. > A person's pitch can reflect friendliness and warmth from the upper register (higher pitch spectrum) to mysterious and sexy with the lower register (lower pitch spectrum)--or at least, this is a consensus opinion that I've heard in English-speaking communities when it comes to the opinion of an individual's vocal pitch for both men and women. Pauses: a break in speaking or a moment of silence that can help add structure to the speech. Pauses have several functions: > gives listeners time to comprehend and digest the information > can be used to emphasize words or ideas > helps speakers transition between ideas > prevent rambling > can signal speech breaks, especially in languages that utilize pausing as a prominent cue > can denote high-information content

There are more prosodic features listed like juncture, loudness, duration, and tempo, but this is where it'll get too specific. Rhythm kinda already accounts for duration and tempo. Juncture is relating to annotating pauses (like indicate when a pause is greater than a certain milisecond), and loudness could kinda fall under the category of rhythm.

Timbre isn't listed as a feature, but I think it should simply because timbre is what makes your voice your voice. And because timbre is the "vocal signature", the shouldn't change--not unless you're as vocally talented as Tara Strong, who can easily change her timbre with different characters.

Eguchi-san does, however, have some roles where his timbre does change, specifically as Shuuji Hanma from Tokyo Revengers and Kazuya Kujou from Gosick (he does have some moments when he slips back to his familiar timbre).

Now that you have an understanding of what prosodic features are, you'll be able to hear that Eguchi-san's timbre doesn't change as [redacted], Twilight, Loid, or Robert. I believe Eguchi-san intentionally kept the same timbre for [redacted], Twilight, Loid, and Robert because they're all staying close to home. You can still recognize it's still the same person. But what changes are other prosodic features (intonation, pitch, rhythm, stress, and pauses). The following video is from Piracytheorist's post and the YouTube video is from Calle-B.

Here are my descriptions of the 4 voices:

[Redacted] - Intonation: N/A. Japanese is not a tonal language. - Stress: vowels and consonants are even for syllables - Rhythm: slow and steady - Pitch: low register, feels like it can be the middle (makes sense since this is the voice he's born with) - Pauses: frequent pauses (also, no way in hell you can convince me to measure the mili-second of his pause) - Tone: warm and soft - Other quality(-ies): reminds me of slight head-mix dominant (60% - 70%). In singing, a mixed voice is when a singer mixes his/her/their head voice and chest voice together (you might commonly know this as belting). But with mix voices, the singer can choose to make it an even mix of both head and chest, or leaning to either more head or more chest. Twilight - Intonation: N/A. Japanese is not a tonal language - Stress: consonants, vowels, syllables, and long phrases are rushed - Rhythm: his speed is fast. it's like water gushing out - Pitch: low(est) register. This is probably the deepest voice he can go while maintaining his timbre - Pauses: They only exist when a completed thought is finished. Twilight, BREATHE, man - Tone: cold and sharp - Other quality(-ies): sometimes his low register have a bassy quality to it Loid Forger - Intonation: N/A - Stress: His consonants and vowels are spoken fast in some syllables but also have a slight elongation typically towards the last few words of a completed thought - Rhythm: fast like Twilights, but has an upbeat rhythm to it - Pitch: upper register (it's the customer service voice lol) - Pauses: It's a mix of Twilight and [Redacted]'s. He has moments where he pauses after a long completed thought. Sometimes, he pauses in between a few words/syllables. Pauses feel irregular here--like he doesn't know if he should relax of speed up (as if he's being pulled to either Twilight or [redacted]'s pause pacing) - Tone: sounds cheerful - Other quality(-ies): 80% head-mix voice. The chest voice is still there, but head voice stands out Robert - Intonation: N/A. Japanese is not a tonal language. - Stress: elongated vowels and consonants -- similar to [redacted]. - Rhythm: originally slow and drawl. But as soon as he realizes that "Robert's mission is over", he starts speaking fast like Twilight - Pitch: low register and soft - Pauses: He has similar pauses to [redacted]. There seems to be a lil bit of longer pauses to indicate passiveness (reinforce the boring image of Robert) - Tone: monotone and soft - Other quality(-ies): head voice. The chest voice seems to be absent (chest voice is perceived as the power in singing and speech) as to reflect Robert as someone who is small and doesn't have much personality (as to not stand out during this identity). This voice is achieved by keeping your voice low but above a whisper. When "Robert's mission is over", the chest voice emerges and his head voice becomes head-mix.

Prosodic features are best accurately portrayed in discourse, meaning it's exclusively for speaking, not writing. So, how can Endo-san incorporate any linguistic feature in writing? We've already answered that with the analyses above: spelling.

Linguistics in the manga (what you read)

I've already went into great detail about spelling reflecting dialect, so I won't regurgitate what I've already covered. Instead, I want to focus on the fact that Endo-san actually acknowledges and uses prosodic features to mirror the 2 mediums of Spy x Family. This is significant because it reinforces the mirroring characters between Ricky and Loid. After all, it's going to be a foreshadow. Normally, I'd talk more about foreshadow under a literary lens, but for once, foreshadow is illustrated through linguistics.

In discourse analysis, the way you speak almost always portrays your identity.

Ricky's English vernacular is his real speech. > [Redacted]'s voice is Loid/Twilight's real speech, which often came out in the presence of Yor Forger.

Ricky speaks in standard English to mask his real voice and make himself more appealing to Rachel. > Loid's voice is used to mask both Twilight and [redacted].

Ricky gives up his pompadour (the most important thing in his life--which also happens to be a part of his identity) to destroy the "barrier" between him and Rachel. In doing so, he goes back to speaking with his English vernacular. > FORESHADOW: Loid will give up one or two of his identities for Yor (it might be Twilight and/or Loid). In exchange, [redacted] will come back.

Another possible foreshadow is what Rachel says about recognizing the importance of Ricky's pompadour to him. Because Rachel is a parallel character to Yor Forger, it can be implied that Yor would recognize how important Loid's identity is to him. In a previous analysis, I mentioned that Ch. 90.1, is the closest thing to an identity reveal. When Yor carved out Anya's name as Ania, she never once questioned it. She also didn't question when she had to carve another sign and spelled it with Anya. I'm aware of the caveat in this claim, such as Yor lacking education in Ostanian orthography which is why she doesn't react.

Be it grasping at straws or not, Yor has the emotional maturity to bounce back from the shock of an identity reveal. Yes, Yor would be sad and hurt to find out that Twilight is a spy from the opposition, but she would understand. They know they're both orphans because of the war. Yor already has a positive bias towards Loid based on observing his behavior at home, in his efforts to provide a better future for Anya, regardless of blood relationship. The point is, Yor is already infatuated with him and her feelings for him will influence her compassion and understanding for the person he's become, so bouncing back from feeling betrayal (not the romantic kind) would be faster for her than Loid.

Loid, on the other hand, may have more reluctance towards accepting the identity reveal (this is also mentioned in my Ch. 90.1 analysis). This is mainly because he's been conditioned to be skeptical and overanalyzing. So, he'll definitely need time to brood and reflect on their situation. Or, maybe he just might have already reached a point where he's just tired, and deflatingly accepts the situation. He'll self-loathe himself for being Westalis's best spy only to have married a legendary Garden assassin--seeing both as a win and loss (he'd be the type to say that he should be dead right now because his identity was revealed to the deadliest enemy). The confession of their love for one another just might be the thing to smooth out the wrinkles.

Someone once commented that, technically, losing Twilight as an identity isn't technically a loss. Twilight was born from a sacrifice. Loid technically isn't a loss either since he was born as a role for Twilight to play. Which leaves [redacted]. Like the film for Ricky, [redacted]'s foreshadowed arrival is just an opportunity for him to come in full circle.

PHEW.

This was a long linguistic analysis of these few pages, and in real-time this took me 8 hours to write. I did lose a night of sleep cuz my brain hyper-fixated on writing this. Help. But we're not done yet. The knowledge that you've acquired will definitely be beneficial through a literary lens in part 2.

I'll update this post with a link when Part 2 is finished.

[geekgirl750-writes]

Random Headcanons for the Scream (1996) Group

A/N Okay so I know I've been promising a bunch of fics and they will be coming...eventually. But right now I have major Scream brainrot so here are some of my headcanons for the characters

Warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, Billy & Stu being misogynistic, mentions of bullying, mentions of cheating, brief mention of alcohol, mention of murder/canon typical violence in Scream

Billy is the oldest and Randy is the youngest

More specifically the birth order goes Billy, Tatum, Sidney, Stu & then Randy

Billy & Tatum's birthdays are both in September and are two weeks apart

Sidney's birthday is in November

Stu's birthday is in late March because in my mind there is no way that man is not an Aries

Randy's birthday is only about a month after Stu's, but Stu uses any chance he gets to bring up the fact that Randy is the "baby" of the group to piss him off

For example:

Stu cuts off Randy during one of his rants about how the sinners are always punished in horror movies because, "What do you know about the sex rules in horror movies, anyways huh?! You're such a virgin, I bet you have wet dreams about Jamie Lee's breasts" Stu chuckles, blowing air in Randy's ear.

"Shut up!" Randy argues back, he feels a blush spread across his face and up to his ears.

"Aww look Billy, the baby's blushing. It is true!" Stu laughs louder.

"I'm not a baby! Your birthday is only 3 weeks before mine!" Randy pouts.

"Whatever you say, baby" Stu sticks his tongue out at Randy, devolving into a fit of laughter at his expense.

Randy has autism (I feel like this one isn't even up for debate)

Stu has ADHD and dyslexia

Tatum isn't a natural blonde:

Her real hair color is a shade of brown slightly lighter than Sidney's. She started dying her hair during junior year because she wanted to stand out more

Speaking of hair dying, Stu definitely bleached his hair sophomore year (think Tim Laflour from Senseless) just to piss off his parents

I wouldn't say Tatum is boy crazy but I think she definitely likes knowing that she can hold a man's attention

I feel like Stu and Tatum haven't been dating that long, having only gotten together about 6-8 months before the start of Scream

I also think Stu is Tatum's first real relationship

I feel like Sidney and Casey Becker would have been besties if they had gotten the chance to get closer

Tatum was always secretly a little insecure whenever Casey got brought up but if she had really gotten to know her they would've been friendly too.

I think Stu used to tell Tatum lies about Casey/ Casey & his relationship to make Tatum jealous on purpose

Literally if it wasn't for Stu then Sidney, Tatum and Casey would've been such an iconic girl group

I think in terms of distance Randy and Tatum live closest to each other, their houses are only a few blocks away from each other near the center of town

Billy also lives close to the center but heading the opposite direction from Tatum and Randy

Sidney's house is closet to Stu's with the two of them living on the outskirts of town in the more rural area.

Group hangouts & movie nights are usually at Stu's place because his house has the most space and his parents are rarely home

Occasionally Randy will host movie nights at his house but not as often as Stu because whenever the group hangs out at Randy's, Martha wants to be included

And while Randy loves his sister, they can't really watch slasher movies and drink beer with a kid hanging around

I think before Maureen was murdered the gang would hang out at Sidney's house a lot too

But after she died, Sidney found it hard to have company over because it reminded her of all the memories she had of her mom, like her baking cookies for Sid & her friends, or all the times she had begged her mom to let Tatum sleep over on a school night, and now it was too painful to try and create new happy memories in the house since she was gone

Billy always preferred hanging out at Stu's as he was finding it harder and harder to be at the Prescott's house

Each time he walked through the door he could feel his blood boiling thinking about what was going on between Sidney's mother and his father & how much of a slut Maureen was

Okay so I've found myself struggling to figure out how Randy ended up in that friend group

Because for me I think Sidney and Tatum have been best friends for forever, having been friends since the 1st grade

Stu and Billy have also been friends a long time, meeting each other in the 3rd grade when Billy's family moved to Woodsboro and the two instantly clicked.

But Randy... he feels like a bit of an outsider compared to the other boys and I doubt him and Tatum would have been friends first if it wasn't for the fact they already had mutual friends

I think Sidney was the one to introduce Randy to the group:

Like it's the 7th grade and Sidney and Tatum are a school dance (I'm imagining something like the Snow Ball from Stranger Things) and this group of popular guys come running up to them snickering being like "Our friend has a crush on you! This guy wants to ask you out... we're totally like his best friends." And Sidney can tell something is up

She sees the group of boys gesturing to this geeky looking kid sitting by himself all awkward on the bleachers and instantly knows that he's the butt of some practical joke.

"He wants to make out with you! He told me himself!" The leader of the group laughs pointing at Sidney.

"Leave us alone you creeps!" Tatum yells back, pulling her and Sidney away from the boys before they take off laughing.

And then Sidney is just standing there looking at this poor kid alone on the bleachers and before she can stop herself, she's walking over to him

Tatum is just watching her like girl wtf are you doing?!

Sidney sits down beside him and introduces herself

Needless to say Randy is shocked, like why is this cute girl talking to him of all people!?

"Hey I'm sorry those guys are such jerks! Would you like to dance with my friend and me?" Sidney asks pointing to Tatum

And then it's literally love at first sight for Randy.

Randy spends the rest of the night dancing and talking with the girls and Sidney starts to realize maybe this kid isn't all that weird and annoying after all

After the dance, Sidney and Randy start saying hi to each other in the halls or occasionally eating lunch together until it grows into a fully formed friendship

Also just because Tatum wasn't super open to Randy in the beginning doesn't mean that they're not besties now

Because they are!

I see Tatum and Randy being big time gossip buddies

Like Randy is obviously really nerdy so I see him as being the type of guy other people don't really pay attention to

Which means the more popular students will be gossiping right in front of him like he's not even there and Randy's holding on to every single word

Like one time he was sitting in the library only pretending to type up his English essay because the two girls next to him were whispering about how Christina from his biology class had not only gotten knocked up over summer break but how her boyfriend might not be the father because "Casey like totally saw her sneaking upstairs with this scary-looking guy at Steve Orth's 4th of July party"

And Randy is sitting there feeling like his head is going to explode if he doesn't immediately run and share this news with Tatum so the two can swap theories on who the mystery guy is

Stu likes to gossip too but Tatum is selective with what she tells him because he's a blabbermouth and will spread the stories all over school

I feel like the friendship as we see it in the opening of Scream didn't happen right away

Like usually it was just Billy & Stu hanging out and then Sidney & Tatum, or Randy and the girls hanging out separately

It was until freshman year that the 5 of them all started hanging out as one big group as Billy and Sidney got closer

Randy didn't want to admit it to the girls but I think he was happy at first to have some guy friends around

Although tbh Billy and Stu are more like his frenemies at best with how much they like to abuse and tease him

I like to headcanon that Randy was raised by a single mom, with his dad walking on the family when Randy was 8, leaving his mom to take care of him and Martha by herself

Because of this I think Randy can struggle a bit with his masculinity sometimes

I think before the murders he used to look to Billy and Stu as sort of guides on how to be "manly"

But as he got older, like during junior/early senior year, he started to see just how much of misogynistic jerks the two were

I think Randy is closer to Stu than Billy

Like during the rare moments where Stu isn't making fun of him they actually have similar interests in terms of movies and will chat about that

I don't think Randy ever really liked Billy as he always saw him as a sort of competition for Sidney's affection

But I feel like he tried to make an effort to get along with Billy until the start of their junior year:

Billy's mom had left him and his dad under mysterious circumstances a week before the start of the new school year & Billy had been acting a little more off than usual

Randy feeling empathetic towards him and remembering what it was like when his dad left tried to start a conversation with Billy about it:

"Hey, Billy I know we've never been as close as you and Stu but if you want to talk about y'know... your mom" Randy trailed off, glancing at Billy over the door to his locker, Billy's face unreadable. "Look I remember when my dad left I-"

Before Randy could finish his sentence, Billy grabbed him by the shirt collar, shoving him harshly into the wall of lockers.

"Listen shithead! Your father ran off with his cum dump slut of a secretary," Billy sneered his face inches from Randy's, a look of anger in his eyes that Randy had never seen before. "Don't try and fucking act like you understand any of this."

Billy let go slamming him back into the lockers and storming off, leaving Randy scared and speechless.

Billy gave Randy a half assed apology later that day during lunch, saying all the stress at home was getting to him and urged Randy to keep the whole situation between the two of them

Randy agreed but never truly forgave Billy and lost all trust in him after that

Lastly, this might be controversial but I feel like the queer relationship between Stu and Billy was one sided

Like Stu definitely had a crush on Billy

And Billy liked Stu because he was "different" and "understood him", but his feelings towards Stu weren't as strong as Stu's were for him

I kinda feel like Billy used Stu's crush to manipulate him a bit

Like Stu definitely went along with the murders of his own accord because he's sick and twisted and thought they were fun

But I think Billy sold him on this lie of how the pair would be the two sole survivors and they would go on to create a sequel

While Billy cared for Stu, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him if it meant he could get away with his plan as revenge was always what was most important to him

And one thing about Stu is that guy has a big mouth

He could barely go one day without not so subtly bragging about how he and Billy murdered Casey and Steve

I doubt Billy expected him to be able to keep the whole events of the Woodsboro murders a secret for very long

Which is why I think Billy cut him a little too deeply in the kitchen scene on purpose

Stu was just his muscle and lap dog to help him carry out his big plan

Billy always saw himself as the lone "final girl" in his revenge plot so Stu bleeding out from his wounds wouldn't have been that big of an issue to him

[martsonmars]

[wrote most of this last January — I'm not deleting the tags but LOL — and I'm not changing my answers — not even the last time I cried — but I'll add stuff]

15 Questions 15 People

Thanks @nausikaaa @johnwgrey @shrekgogurt @raenestee @yellobb @stitchyqueer @facewithoutheart @fatalfangirl @prettylightsbigcity @sillyunicorn and at least two more people (whose notifications were eaten by Tumblr) for the tags! I love being tagged in these games even though I don't always participate. [And now it just took me a year...]

I almost didn't participate this time either because I don't like some of the questions, but I really wanted to answer a couple of them so here we are 😂 It'll likely be long so...

[Tagging @onepintobean @brilla-brilla-estrellita @palimpsessed @ileadacharmedlife @technetiumai @thewholelemon @youarenevertooold @iamamythologicalcreature @ic3-que3n @theearlgreymage @messofthejess @theimpossibledemon @artsyunderstudy @cutestkilla @valeffelees. That's 15! If you played last year you can ignore me or play again.]

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not really? Definitely not after a relative (thank god, I'm not a fan of it), but:

a) my mother's religious enough that biblical Marta was on her mind. She used to say that if she had another girl she wanted to call her Miriam, and it wouldn't have happened anyway because when we thought my brother would be a girl — before that “uh there's a penis here” that made me cry because I was used to being a single child by then, and I was already so upset to get a sibling that at least I wanted a sister — I fought for the name Emma, but she did want to play a vague Martha&Mary game. (My brother got a religion-inspired name too, anyway.)

b. there's a song by one of her favourite singers that's called Marta che parla con Dio (I love this song so much!) and she always mentioned it when I asked about my name

c. Marta Abba was an actress and the muse of my mother's favourite writer. I always say that I'm named after her because I like the idea.

2. When was the last time you cried?

I don't remember when I last cried properly (not because I never cry but because I cry too often) but the last time I had to fight tears because I was in public and almost failed was two days ago.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope! I'm baby myself. I used to say I absolutely didn't want kids but now my stance is more “we'll see what happens”. Kids feel like too much — I'm always exhausted when I have to take care of my brother (who's almost 11 now, so not a baby, and still requires so much time and energy) and spending a week with my 3yo cousin reminded me of how it is when they're younger — and I'm not sure I'd want to devote such a big part of my life and my days to someone who, at least at first, would need me so much. But I love kids. I usually joke and say that I love them as long as they're someone else's and they go home at the end of the day, but I think I'd like having my own kid. I want to believe I'd be a good parent. But I definitely don't want to birth anyone, so we'll see what more queer rights or moving to another country life brings!

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I think so? I love sarcasm, but I probably don't use it as much as I think I do.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

This is one of the questions that bothered me because I couldn't think of any physical characteristic, but then I realise that the answer is SO easy: the first thing I notice about people I interact with is whether they pass my anxiety's vibe check.

(What I notice about people I don't interact with is whether they'd be good fancasts. The only faces I remember among all the people I've seen in 3 months of classes in person are: potential Shep fancast & potential fem Baz fancast.) (They're friends btw.)

6. What’s your eye color?

Brown. (I almost found a way to turn this answer into 15 paragraphs too, but I'll spare you.)

7. Scary movie or happy endings?

Happy endings for sure. I'm not a fan of scary movies in general (can't see the appeal), but I'll always pick happy endings. Though I can bear sad movies better than sad books, probably because everything's faster.

8. Any special talents?

I'll skip this one. Not because I don't think I have any special talents, but because what's a talent? What's special? Honestly my special talent is not being able to answer this kind of question about myself (along with “describe yourself in 3 adjectives” and shit like that).

9. Where were you born?

Wouldn't you like to know.

10. What are your hobbies?

I am, sadly, pretty inconsistent about hobbies. The ones that never leave are reading and writing (even when I had my 3 year long writer's block, writing was still at the top of my mind), but other than those two I have a wide variety of hobbies that come and go. Mostly because if I don't master a skill immediately I give up, and so I keep picking hobbies up and then abandoning them and then picking them up again. I'd probably be happier if I stopped wasting so much time on my phone and dedicated more time to getting better at some of these hobbies I've tried, but alas, my brain cannot be coerced into it.

December edit: learned and learning to crochet and I have a feeling this hobby will stay.

11. Do you have any pets?

Nope. I probably wouldn't want a pet that can move around, or one I'd have to touch (I assume you have to touch most pets somehow... but when I helped my aunt with her fish I didn't have to touch them because she had a little net I could use to move them when cleaning was needed, and it was great, so I could probably handle something like that). I'd also be sad about their lifespan.

Honestly, I'll probably only have a pet if someone I live with will have or strongly want one.

12. What sports do you play/have you played?

I did ballet from age 4 to age 11, then I let them fat shame me away from it. I probably would've quit after middle school anyway, but I wish I hadn't let them make me feel like shit about my body because I really love ballet, and I was the best of my group (the examiner from the Royal Academy of Dance said so twice.), and we were going to try point shoes the next year, and I was just a chubby kid.

Then I did archery for 2/3 years in high school. I quit because I felt like I didn't have enough time to do it AND study, and so I didn't want to commit to it to the point of buying my own bow, and the equipment my trainer gave me for free wasn't good enough that my skills could improve past a certain point, and so I got frustrated with it. I'd like to pick it up again someday.

(I almost googled whether ballet is a sport because I feel like a lot of people would say it isn't for different reasons, but then I decided that I don't care. It counts as a sport to me.)

13. How tall are you?

174 cm, I think. Maybe 173. 5’8”?

14. Favorite subject at school?

Oh boy. I could spend hours on this, I'm such a swot (which is why my current struggles with studying hurt so much! I never thought I'd be the kind of person who'd struggle with the only thing I used to be the best at, and yet here we are).

I think my favourite subjects to study are things like history and law. I also love languages so much and I need structure to study them (I struggle to be consistent and practice on my own). I loved scientific subjects and kinda miss them occasionally. I loved all the literature/social sciences classes I've had in my life but most of them are mostly stuff I like to read about and don't really want to study.

[December comment: I didn't post this in January because I didn't finish answering this question. I still don't want to finish because it's too much. I just want to say that there's a difference between subjects I like in general and subjects I like to study, and I think the two categories intersect in the fields of history, languages and law.]

15. Dream job?

There are two wolves inside of me.

The wolf that wants to leave a very specific mark in the world, which is the reason why I'm studying politics. I am not saying that politics are the way (or the only way) to change the world. I'm not even saying I want to be a politician. But there is in me the desire to do something for the world from this point of view, be it through writing or activism or NGOs or European/international institutions and organisations or the government. I'm currently [December] planning to write my bachelor thesis in International Law and talk about the regulation of AI, and my professor says this is a field that's creating more job opportunities and isn't yet as saturated as the human rights job market, so maybe this is something to pursue.

And the wolf that wants to stay in my little bubble and write fiction. Or translate books (though I don't think I'd actually want to be a translator. It's a shitty job). Have a nice house and a family and forget about the world.

I know these aren't necessarily mutually exclusive (in the sense that both could be possible at different times), but I'm not sure what will prevail. I guess it also depends on the jobs I will find when I'm done studying.

I agree with who said they want a job they like well enough but that leaves them time and energy to pursue their actual dreams. Work doesn't have to be your dream, it can be just work. But maybe I'll turn my dreams into work and have more, different dreams in my private life. We'll see!

[spidertalia]

You mentioned in one of your posts that you make state ocs.

Would you like to tell me a bit about them? Once I tried to learn all the states, but I always forget, maybe some thoughts will help me remember :D

of course !! i actually have eighteen of them made already, but i do wanna preface saying i'm making them purely for fun- i'll dig properly into the full history of each at some point, but i just want to imagine them as people today. i've also asked some friends/family who live in some of the states for their opinions, and then use stereotypes and culture of the states for the others.

it'd be a bit too much to cover all of them in a single post, so i'll just cover my favorites.

first off is of course my home state, florida. he's a indigenous hispanic man with some black features as well (since the state has a large hispanic and black population- most of my state personifications represent the race makeup of said state). his human name is Félix Avilés-de Leon. I forget exactly who his first name comes from (they're a historical figure in St. Augustine, but i can't find them again) but his surnames are ofc from the founder of St. Augustine and that legendary ol' explorer Ponce de Leon.

Florida's essentially a copy of aph America in personality, minus the hero obsession. he's loud, excitable, wild and energetic. he's incredibly adventurous with food and will eat pretty much anything. he's also completely unafraid of most animals- he'll pick up a 250 pound alligator snapping turtle with his bare hands like it's a baby, and he'll gush over it too. he speaks english and spanish fluently, along with several indigenous languages. he has a pet alligator named flagler. he likes pirates, roller coasters and hot weather, and is extremely weak to the cold.

also, i base their ages off of first settlement (it's my canon and I get to decide how i make it  😤 ) which would make florida the oldest state, since St. Augustine was founded in 1565.

then there's massachusetts, who i made with help from a friend who lives in the state. his name's william revere, but he goes by bill. he's white with medium length brown hair that he often ties into a low ponytail, and he has an ahoge like alfred, but his represents Martha's Vineyard. he has glasses but prefers to wear contacts. he's super into hockey (even having a rivalry with canada over it) and also fights with new york a lot. he will also fight/argue with england every time they're together. he enjoys objectively bad movies and non-shooter video games, and owns a boston terrier. he also has a boston accent. ironically, considering his hockey rivalry with canada, he's also a big maple syrup fanatic.

then there's california, who i've gotten advice on from two different friends. she's a trans woman and indigenous hispanic- and she's actually siblings with a few states and mexico. mainly, she's the youngest triplet to arizona and texas. she and texas, of course, fight all the time over anything and everything. her human name is currently clara mendoza-vicario, though the surname may change.

california is a HUGE fan of films and movies. she has a massive film collection of over 50,000 films, and she's a passionate fan of the filmmaking process in general. she likes almost every single movie she's ever seen, and she will get into heated arguments with england over movies. she, new york and massachusetts have their own little movie club just to watch movies. her favorite type of movie are ones that had a lot of passion and creativity behind them- for example, films like the batman, into the spiderverse and puss in boots: the last wish. the more genuine passion behind a movie, the more she'll love it, no matter how objectively bad it is.

she's also incredibly economically smart. if the state of california was its own country, its economy would be fourth in the entire world, only behind china, japan and germany. she actually intimidates a few of the nations because of this. however, she's a genuinely friendly person, known for her sunny attitude. outside of movies, she loves music and the outdoors. she's just as good as florida at dealing with wild animals, she's just quieter about it.

the next state i made with two friends from there, and that's ohio. oddly enough, i don't have as much on him, but his name's Chris de La Salle and he has a heated rivalry with michigan. he's a calm, easy going guy who likes adventure, scouting, fishing and rollercoasters.

and with the help of one of my half sisters, i also made wisconsin. ironically, wisconsin is the drunkest state even though she's physically 20- no one knows how she gets her endless supply of alcohol and they've stopped trying to stop her. her human name is Carrie La Baye, and she has dirty blonde hair, violet blue eyes and a curl to boot. she was initially a french colony, so it surprises the others that she's the complete opposite of france- she's outdoorsy, a bit of a redneck, and almost always covered in dirt. she owns a number of ATVs and she loves cheese, beer, bratwurst, fish frys and hunting. she's pretty much unaffected by the cold. she also dislikes spicy food, and is probably one of the weakest to spices.

she's proud, confident, stubborn and non-emotional. she likes to help people and is very family oriented. she's not related to minnesota but is kind of an older sister figure to her. wisconsin and minnesota very much act like siblings- they're very similar in interests, bicker a lot, and get excited together. however they both hate to be mistaken as siblings.

and the last state i'll mention for now is new york ! he was a bit tricky to make considering NYC makes up a lot of the perception of the state, but i tried looking into the culture of upstate new york as well.

new york is an afro-latino man named Theodore Douglass, but he goes by theo (teddy is reserved for only very close friends). he speaks the most fluent languages of any state (english, spanish, cantonese, mandarin, russian, yiddish, haitian, italian, bengali, french, arabic, korean, hebrew, japanese and tagalog, along with a number of indigenous languages. he speaks some polish, hindi, german and greek). he's almost always fighting with new jersey and/or massachusetts. he's incredibly used to the cold, and is also a very efficient and skilled worker, though he doesn't like working. he thoroughly enjoys the arts- music, theater, dance, film, painting, drawing, sculpture- you name it, he loves it. he's surprisingly kinda friends with romano- the two have a mutual respect of each other, considering new york was very eager to learn all about italian culture and food, and was very welcoming to romano in general.

new york is a remarkably intelligent man with a bit of a superiority complex; he's proud and confident, like many of the states, and he's a very fast, diligent worker. he usually only cares about sports when up against his personal rivals, and he doesn't hold back with criticism. and similar to the vibes of nyc, he's surprisingly unbothered and very difficult to surprise.

once again, these are all made purely for fun and all off stereotypes, culture and vibes. i will say i've currently designed florida, california, ohio, maryland, arizona, massachusetts, new york. wisconsin, minnesota, illinois, new mexico, alaska, oregon, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, tennessee and alabama. if you do wanna hear about any of the others, let me know !! i love talking about them ^^

[then-be-a-warrior]

"Two lonely bats crashed in the night."

"They felt a zing! Love at first sight."

"They knew right then they would be husband and wife."

"For a zing only happens once in your life."

"Your zing will come, my love. Cherish it."

-Martha 'Lady' Lubov Dracula (Hotel Transylvania)

[soleminisanction]

What did you think of the new Batman movie?

I frigging loved it. It's my favorite live-action take on the franchise by wide, wide margin.

Quick personal survey to establish my baseline tastes: I unironically love the original 1966 series starring Adam West because it's campy and happy and never fails to put a smile on my face and also Burt Ward was a babe and both he and West were much better actors than they've ever gotten credit for. (Did you know they almost gave Ward the lead role in The Graduate? Did you know they offered West James Bond? That is so wild to me.)

My opinion on the Burton/Shumacher movies from the 90s is meh, leaning positive overall. I dig the design sensibilities but most of the acting and storytelling didn't stick with me. I've never felt the urge to rewatch them but I also wouldn't say I dislike them. I mostly appreciate them as the starting point for the original animated series.

I wanna say that my opinion on the Dark Knight trilogy started positive and then turned sour as time went on but in retrospect I never actually bothered to watch the last one, and when I saw The Dark Knight for the first time it was in a double-feature showing with Hellboy II and I came away from that knowing without a doubt that Hellboy was the better movie so yeah. I will say that, while I think that they ultimately just slapped a Bat-branding on a completely unrelated story and characters, I respect that they gave the version of Batman they wrote the only ending that actually made sense for him.

And the less I say about anything that Zack Snyder has ever touched, the better -- that is a man who wouldn't know a good superhero story if it shoved itself down his throat.

But The Batman, oh man. I loved The Batman. I felt so seen by The Batman. I came away from that movie practically skipping with joy, I couldn't stop thinking, "Yes, finally! Somebody who gets it!" There was so much to love about that movie, I don't even know where to start.

I guess, since I was already thinking about it, one thing that I really like is how Riddler's games all feel almost like something from the Adam West show? But dark, and twisted. Like that "flying rat" pun in Spanish, and the other pun-based puzzles he left around, those were all very much like how they'd be done in the Adam West show, only these had the bloody plot twists attached to them. The "thumb drive" gag had me cackling.

But like, I also really loved how well thought out the themes were. Like, if you're paying attention, the movie explains without ever really spelling it out how the broken, corrupted system of Gotham City created both Batman and the Riddler. It's not "hrr durr the masked hero invites masked super-freaks to come along too," that's been done, it's "this system, this city, is corrupt and broken, and that broken system led two broken men to take extreme measures, one as a hero ultimately driven by the desire to make things better and one as a villain consumed only by hatred and revenge."

Heck, it even explains why Bruce couldn't just throw money at the problem, like all the disingenuous people on Twitter always try to argue -- his father tried that. And the broken system not only corrupted his well-meaning efforts, it killed him to protect its ill-gotten gains. That is such good writing.

Speaking of the Waynes, I also loved the deep lore cuts and, more specifically, how deliberately they were used to establish the differences in this world to the people who were paying attention. Making Martha an Arkham instead of a Kane? Tommy Elliot's father being the reporter who was going to ruin her, a reporter that Thomas Wayne inadvertently got killed? That's good stuff. I can't wait to see where they take it in the sequels.

But the best part of all, for me, was Bruce's character arc and the fact that finally, somebody understood the assignment and showed the arc that, I believe in my heart, every Batman needs: the moment, or arc, or story, or whatever it takes, that moves Bruce away from being motivated entirely by his love for his parents and into to being motivate by his love for Gotham City, his chosen family, and his comrades-in-arms.

So yeah. Suffice it to say, I loved it, I bought the bluray, and I hope very much that they actually talk Warner Brothers into letting them give Battinson a Robin in the next one because his interactions with the mayor's son throughout the movie were adorable and they didn't even talk. I need to see this man taking care of a child. I need it.

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

Interview

BB: welcome back everyone! So good to see you all here today! We're back for a 3rd time here on BB Channel! Like before we're joined by the lil cuties of Ed and Mari. But this time their parents have come to join!

Rex: hello...

Quetz: Hola!

BB: that wasn't a very strong greeting Rex!

Rex: I'm tired right now. Can't this wait?

BB: time waits for no one and neither does BB!

Mari: already this is super annoying! *sigh* so why'd you decide to bring them into this anyways?

BB: the people who follow this blog need to see how they're doing so long after Chaldea too! You two have had the spotlight for a while, so now you should share.

Ed: I mean... guess that's fair.

Mari: should anyone be dealing with this?

Rex: I'd rather not be here either.

BB: aaaww, don't be like that! This will be fun!

Quetz: that's a very hard sell BB.

BB: just humor me at least.

Rex: ...fine

Quetz: what are we even doing anyways?

BB: some of your interdimensional buds have sent in questions about how you guys are doing, and I'm here to get those answers for them!

Quetz: that actually sounds nice...

BB: what'd I tell ya!?

Rex: yeah yeah, pls get started.

BB: fine. First few are from my precious bombardier beetle! First one she asks: do you have any pets?

Mari: oof! Do we!

Rex: currently we have four dogs: 1 German Shepherd named King, a Pitbull named Sparks, a Dogo Argentino named Duke, and a Corgi named Marshmallow.

Quetz: but also we have a habit of adopting older dogs who aren't likely to get a home because of their age or rescues to give them a nice place to stay.

BB: aaawww, well ain't that wholesome?

Mari: we also have mom's bigass pterosaur!

BB: less wholesome. Next one from my dear yellowjacket: favorite foods?

Rex: PIZZA!

Mari: CAKE!

BB: whoa! Pump the brakes you two! No need to get too excited!

Quetz: ...honestly? I don't really have a favorite food. Just a bunch I like to eat and some I don't. If I had to choose, I'd say chocolate.

Ed: I'm a steak man myself.

BB: 2 sweets, and 2 savories. Next up! Who wakes up earliest?

Rex: Quetz

Ed and Mari: Mom

Quetz: ...I guess it's me... hehehe.

BB: honestly I'm not surprised. She's so damn athletic and even used to be a professional.

BB: next! Where do you all like to go for vacations and such?

Ed: mom and dad have a vacation home in Alaska.

BB: Alaska?! Why?

Mari: when warm weather is the norm for you it's nice to go to the cold to change things up.

Rex: yeah, it's actually very nice. Not too many people and beautiful nature sights.

BB: well to each their own. Another from my dear antlion: how long does it take to pick a movie or TV show to watch?

Quetz: hehehe, we're all so indecisive it takes ages to pick. It's not uncommon for us to give up after taking so long.

BB: you should work on that. This next one's interesting. My precious army ant also suggests a round of common household jobs and the like from each member.

Rex: hmmm

BB: she gave an example of like, who does the cooking?

Quetz: well it's both me and mi amor in that case. The kids aren't very creative.

Ed: hey! We're plenty creative!

Mari: no we're not, don't lie.

Rex: we only really ask that the kids clean their rooms and any messes they make. We handle most everything else.

BB: they should really show some independence tho. Can't coddle them forever.

BB: in the next one, Cadence asks about a house tour and if there's a jacuzzi.

Quetz: a house tour feels like it should be it's own thing.

Rex: yeah, but we do have a jacuzzi dude, so don't worry.

BB: next one's from Reen: she asks what would life be if you weren't in chaldea,

Rex: y'mean like now? I mean... it's a relatively normalish domestic life? With less work tho.

Quetz: si, I've made plenty from my lucha career before retirement we don't have to worry about money much. But mi amof still makes money just in case.

BB: well after that she asks: how was your life before and after meeting each other?

Rex: ...kinda sad. Aside from chaldea and saving the world, I was kinda just... stagnant. Go to work, go home and so on. Not much to my life before then.

Quetz: ...honestly, for me it was the same. After the age of Gods ended we didn't do much of anything. We mostly watched over humanity, I've been summoned in modern day before but that was rare and infrequent.

Rex: ...after I met Quetz tho... I dunno things felt... better? She kinda forced her way into my life after I summoned her and... I was more then ok to accept her... before long we had something beautiful...

Quetz: aww, mi amor! I'm so happy to hear that!

BB: ain't that sweet? Like me and my dear centipede. Final one from Reen: if you could build a dream home then where? (Can be in fantasy)

Rex: I mean... where we are now is good.

Mari: yeah, right at the border of a huge rainforest in the Yucatan sounds fine.

Ed: but what about the fantasy bit?

Quetz: hmmm... we don't really look at fantasy much. But maybe a castle of some kind?

Rex: or a Mayan temple? But with electricity and Wi-Fi.

BB: that's fair. Need those memes in your life. Now some from Kaz! First she asks: what kind of gifts do you give each other?

Rex: uuhh, well I like getting mi corazon custom things. Like some personal clothes, or even a portrait of the two of us.

Quetz: ehehehe, I like to spoil mi amor with extravagant things! Golden treasure and the like!

Mari: concerning...

BB: next, how would you spend the day if it's raining outside?

Rex: I actually enjoy rainy weather, so I like to chill near a window or even on the porch listening to the rain.

Mari: it's very soothing.

BB: how quaint. Last one from Kaz: whose good at cooking and baking?

Quetz: hehehe, that'd be me. Tho it might be considered cheating since I use my goddess power to help.

Mari: well no one else is the greatest normally so it's fine.

BB: a good 'ol better then nothing kinda attitude! Now we're back to Cadence but with more relaxed questions: what's the current house look like?

Rex: ....big.

Mari: like three stories tall with a DEEP basement.

Ed: like... 5 rooms too many.

Quetz: we also have an indoor pool.

Rex: the outside looks almost gothic, but partially taken over by nature.

BB: all this near a rainforest?

Quetz: si! Despite the size, all the nearby trees still tower over it.

BB: nature can get scary. I've seen worse and have been worse but still. Another one: how do family events function? Any specific holidays?

Quetz: ...most family events are just us... going somewhere nice to eat nice food...

Rex: do they mean bringing extended family? My family lives too far to visit often

Quetz: ...and I'd rather not speak of mine... things have gotten rocky as of late.

Mari: right, well for holidays we celebrate most standard one, like Easter and valentine's and such. For October we kinda try to combine Halloween and Day of the dead.

Ed: but Christmas is the most important for us! Mom and Dad always make the biggest celebrations for Christmas!

BB: gotta love the holidays! Especially when your mom is santa... still weird to say that. Next one! Any plans for the future?

Rex: eh... not really? I mean I want to prepare Maria to continue the family magecraft, since Ed has no interest.

Mari: someone has to continue on this lost practice.

BB: good to know it won't be lost to time like we thought. Next one! Daily life?

Rex: I wake up, eat, work on magecraft, spend family time, spend time with Quetz, go to bed.

Quetz: I wake up, workout, eat, workout, spend time with mi familia, lovely time with mi amor and then I sleep.

Ed: I wake up, take a walk, eat, practice soccer, spend family time, sleep.

Mari: sleep, sleep again, dragged to breakfast by mom, eat, eat again, mess with magecraft, eat, sit with everyone else, scroll thru my phone for hours, sleep.

Quetz: *sigh* mija, you need to change your priorities.

Mari: mmmmm... No.

BB: bad habits there Mari. Next they'd like to know if your in contact with anyone from chaldea? Other then me!

Rex: here's a real quick list: Marie, Mash, Kiara, Penth, Astraea, Martha, Ishtar, Gorgon, Jalter, The twins, your kids BB, etc etc.

Quetz: too many to list...

BB: nice you haven't lost contact! Next! About that Wedding?

Rex: well... it was eventful to say the least. Not long after completing the china LB. Most of the servants were invited, and most of Quetz's family showed up.

Quetz: si, Martha officiated it for us. Most of my family were so nice at the time... too bad that hasn't lasted.

Rex: let's not mention that...

BB: it was such a nice wedding! You two were so "nervous" you had trouble with your vows! How adorable!

Mari: why the quotes?

BB: no reason... now we're at the home stretch! Good 'ol Ash has some for stuff that technically hasn't happened yet, but you should still be able to answer! What responsibilities will Rex take on when he joins the pantheon?

Quetz: ...well he'll be largely a guardian of life on earth. Authority over things like the jungle itself, volcanos, and even snow... for some reason.

Rex: well it still snows in mexico... occasionally.

Quetz: and we'll be sharing authority over Venus! I wanted to share it with mi amor!

BB: cute! Hmmm, not sure if you cananswer this one just yet? Adjusting to God hood?

Rex: well I got to try it out a bit. Summoning lava and snow is... interesting. But also... my mind felt... odd... but also clearer? Not sure how to put it...

BB: I'm sure when you get there you'll get it... took me a bit after servant fest. And how did the other divinities react?

BB: actually I have some recordings of that to answer, so play the clip!

A screen appears showing recordings of some servants, one at a time.

Ishtar: eh! She's turning you into a god!? ...I guess you've earned it master...

Eresh: what!? Can you do that?! ...guess I won't see you in Kur... then again I don't think you have any link to Kur anyways.

Kama: do you really think your cut out for it? I mean... if it's just for you two to be together then I guess it's fine.

Astraea: godhood is a very big responsibility master. Are you certain you're up to it? Saving humanity is also a big task but at least that has an end point. This is... eternal.

Qin: oh! So you have decided to go for immortality after all?! Tho not the same as my methods, it is still good to see you two will be happy together!

Scathach: immortality? I've strived for death for so long... to see you go for immortality... Hopefully you'll find happiness, where I couldn't...

The screen turns off.

BB: very interesting! Most seem hesitant of it all... I for one think it's cute! Imagine in a thousand years you guys have a double date with me and my dear stag beetle!

Rex: ...a thousand years...

Quetz: still having trouble processing it all?

Rex: yeah... maybe when I get there... it'll be easier.

BB: now for today's final one! A scenario! One of you two goes berserk! What does the other do to calm them down?

Rex: well that has happened before... usually a nice hug is more then good enough.

Quetz: si! I've almost destroyed a few servants a few times until mi amor caught me in a hug! I can't bring myself to harm him... so I stop!

BB: sounds too easy... but I've seen that before so... I'll let it slide.

BB: well that's all the time we have for now! Hopefully you all are satisfied by the answers! We'll be doing this again, seeya!

Screen cuts out, the show's over.

Questions provided by: @hasbbdoneanythingwrong @havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong @has-gilgamesh-doneanythingwrong @renmeo @kazmetic @grievouslyxorvia

Other tags

@haspaulbunyandoneanythingwrong @hasishtardoneanythingwrong @hasereshdoneanythingwrong @hasabbydoneanythingwrong @haskamadoneanythingwrong

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

I saw your tags under the Heathers post and I wanted to ask about it! I've never seen neither of them, but I've been meaning to for quite some time, so... Why do you think the movie is better than the musical? (+Maybe what differences there are/what would you suggest? I've only heard a few songs from the musical and I only understood that there is one obsessed guy who wants to make the school explode as a bonding activity with his girlfriend, who doesn't really support this... Endeavor of his?)

I’m a little amazed anyone is interested in my thoughts on this, but thank you for asking anon.

I will start by saying that both are good and worth seeing. I personally think the movie is better for a number of reasons, but I wouldn’t say the musical is bad (and the songs are quite catchy)

Long rambling answer under the cut.

The first big one that I will go on about at some length is characterization. Frankly, I don’t like that Veronica gets more of a Mean Girls storyline in the musical. The movie starts with her being friends with the Heathers, and doesn’t give us a clear backstory on how she got there. From her narration, we can infer that she’s friends with them because skipping a grade made her feel out of place, and she ended up with popular friends out of a desire to be liked. But, we can infer that they have been friends for a while, given the way that they talk to each other. Like the implication that their croquet games are something they do fairly often, and that Heather Chandler is always the red ball. Heather Mcnamara specifically talks to her like someone who has been friends with each other for a while. Heather Chandler has a picture of them together in her locker. Veronica’s parents also don’t make any comments about her new friends, so we can infer that this isn’t a new development. The impact this has is that, even though she doesn’t like them sometimes, they are still people she cares about and has social ties to.

The musical, on the other hand, has her join their social group at the beginning of the musical. Which I think undercuts her character a little, because these aren’t people she is sincerely friends with. They’re people she’s effectively been hanging out with for a week. It makes the impact different. She can’t make snarky quips back at Heather C the way she can in the movie, or roll her eyes because her friends are doing something bitchy again.

The musical also makes one change in particular that irks me about Veronica: she’s not as smart as she is in the movie. To give a concrete example: in the movie Veronica figures out how JD rigged the bombs, because she listened to his dad talk about demolition. In the musical, he tells her, because she hasn’t figure it out herself. It’s a little change, but it does undervalue her intelligence as a character.

The change to her relationship with the Heathers makes it so that we don’t get one of the moments from the movie that I would argue really understands high school bullying. Candy Store, as great as it may be as a musical number, is a song about peer pressure to turn on a friend. But in the movie, Veronica never was friends with Martha, and this moment is more about neutrality and apathy. Veronica says, “I don’t have anything against Martha Dunstock” and Heather C replies, “You don’t have anything for her either.” Which is an excellent point about why someone goes along with bullying. It isn’t actively turning against someone they like, it is being apathetic about someone being cruel to someone they don’t care about one way or the other.

Who does have a history of friendship with Martha? Heather Duke, who says absolutely nothing about it.

Also, Dead Girl Walking inverts the scene and inadvertently erases the second red flag about JD. In the movie, he shows up at her house, and “how’d you find my address?” is something she really should have asked. It hints that his infatuation with her is not healthy.

Now, to stop banging on about Veronica for a moment. The Heathers have also been flattened as characters. Particularly Heather Chandler, which may come as a surprise to some people. She’s a bitch in the movie, and she’s a bitch in the musical. As much as I love the line “she is a mythic bitch,” there is an issue.

The movie never really gives you her inner thoughts. It does hint that she is more complex than Veronica thinks. The college party really is a telling section of the movie, because there is a scene of statutory r*pe with Heather Chandler. She is pressured into oral sex by an adult man because she has to if she wants to be “cool.” That is followed by a scene of her trying to rinse out her mouth in the bathroom. Then she looks at herself in the mirror and spits water violently at her own reflection. There are two things that are important here: 1. She is not powerful outside of a high school setting. She is still an underage girl being used by an adult. 2. She is disgusted with herself.

Next, the inspiration for the suicide note is a copy of The Bell Jar in Heather’s room. If you take a step back, this is very odd. This girl who supposedly only cares about looks and popularity has a copy of a book by Sylvia Plath specifically about depression and self worth issues. The implication of all these pieces is that Heather C might actually have issues Veronica does not know about.

The musical gives us ghost Heather being snarky about the suicide note (”You’re making me sound like Air Supply”, “I’m bigger than John Lenon”). Which takes a lot of the nuance out of her story, because it takes for granted that everything Veronica made up was wrong.

Heather Duke being described as having “no discernible personality” is particularly annoying, because she does in the movie. She is torn between being bookish and being popular. She caries a copy of Moby Dick. She is convinced to give up her personality in exchange for JD never revealing that she used to be best friends with Martha. She compromises herself for popularity, despite having a personality. That’s the point of her storyline. And on a side note, including, “her mother payed for implants” about a teenage girl who has intense body image issues and bulimia is at least a little gross.

Heather Mcnamara is such a minor character that there is less to say about her. But her genuine insecurity about boys is very sincere in the movie, and the way that Ram’s “suicide” impacted her is telling, even if he was an asshole. And the scene of Veronica comforting her in the bathroom is one of the more touching moments of friendship.

The theme of the movie is much more “being in high school and having social expectations placed on you about being cool is very difficult” and much less “don’t abandon your friends for popular people.” The end of the movie shows that the solution to “living in a society” is not to harm people more by burning it to the ground or blowing it up. The solution is to reject the expectations of society and to reach out to those who are the most put upon by it, as Veronica does by offering to hang out with Martha - who she has had no connection to up until that point in the movie.

t.l.d.r The characterizations in the movie have more nuance than the musical.

[traincat]

Hi! I've been thinking a lot about this and was curious about your opinion- I've seen people online be critical of getting another fantastic four origin story potentially in the movies, similar to how people didn't want another 'uncle Ben sob story' for spidey, in the event of another FF movie would you want to see their origin explored again or would you prefer the story beginning after the fact? Would it make a big difference w their characters like not having uncle Ben to reference did?

So I’ve got a couple of different thoughts on this, but the biggest one is that we need origin stories in our superhero comics and in our adaptations because without them, we are missing a crucial building block in the foundation of characterization. Superman and the destruction of Krypton and his arrival on earth as a baby. Batman and the death of his parents. Spider-Man and the spider’s bite, the decision not to stop the burglar, and the subsequent death of Uncle Ben. I don’t think a lot of people who argue against even referencing the death of Uncle Ben realize the narrative weight involved here, or maybe the absolutely ordinariness of the scenario makes people uncomfortable: there’s no planet to be destroyed, and the fate of Batman’s parents have a certain dramatic quality about it, with the image of the wealthy Waynes, of Martha’s pearls, and young Bruce being made to witness these acts. Peter never sees Uncle Ben get killed. He’s shot by an ordinary thug. This action comes about through Peter’s inaction. It’s not the kind of crime that would make the front page of a paper if not for Spider-Man’s involvement in the capture of the criminal. It is actually, when you look at it, a painfully average sort of crime: an old man shot by another man with a gun during a bungled home invasion. And I don’t know if the aversion to seeing it again comes from a lack of empathy -- the audience refuses to feel for Peter because of the lack of superhero flair contained within the scene -- or from an abundance of this -- they “don’t want to see another Uncle Ben sob fest” because, in that there’s no superhero drama in it, it’s too easy to imagine the same sort of thing happening to someone in your life. But the thing that makes Spider-Man extraordinary has always been taking the ordinary and applying that to a superhero. It’s why he worries about bills. And it’s why his uncle dies in a way that has no flair to it. Peter’s not the lone survivor of an alien planet. He’s not the scion of a made up city’s elite and wealthy family. He’s an ordinary guy from a real city, and his uncle gets killed and that’s it: it’s mundane and terrible and like many people who experience a loss, he rationalizes that if he had taken different actions he could have prevented it, imposing his own responsibility on an event he couldn’t have foreseen. Beyond cementing responsibility in Peter and painting him with a certain down to Earth brush, though, Ben’s death serves another narrative function: without it, we don’t know how Peter functions as a crimefighter. Most Peters, including and originated with 616 Peter, when left to his own devices and without supervillain intervention, target street crime: muggings, drug dealers, assaults in the night, gun crime, illegal weapons. He also doesn’t use guns. Noir Peter, on the other hand, has a Ben who wasn’t shot as a means of murder, and that shows: he believes the mob murdered his uncle, so he cracks down on organized crime. His Ben wasn’t shot, so he has no problem using guns. You don’t have to spend the 40 minutes The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) took to set up Ben’s death, but without even referencing it or letting us know how Peter feels in response to it, there’s something vitally missing from the story and from our understanding of Peter as a character. Origin stories are important because they let us know what set the characters on this path, and people who are impatient with them need to consider that even if they know the story, a new movie will always be someone’s introduction to a character, and those new fans deserve to know that character’s origin story to its fullest. This might not be your first time watching an origin story, but it will definitely be somebody else’s. This isn’t to say the origin always has to be done in full, but I do think it has to be respected within a new piece, and it’s weird to me that some characters get this respect and others don’t.

On the other hand, we have to look at the Fantastic Four’s original origin and its execution within Fantastic Four #1. This is one of those origins that we have to adapt for the times -- and obviously comics have had to do this too as the sliding timescale moves along -- because there’s a big problem in that we can’t have the Fantastic Four steal a rocket because they want to beat to Russians to space. Fantastic Four itself is a little weird about the origin story: Fantastic Four #1 doesn’t open with it itself. Instead we’re introduced to a faceless “strange man” who monologues to himself that he’d hoped he’d never have to fire the signal to summon the mysterious Fantastic Four and prays it will be the last time. We’re then introduced to three individuals who display strange powers -- a woman running out on a society friend by turning invisible; a huge man who is having trouble being fitted for new clothes reveals a monstrous form; a teenager tinkering with an engine bursts into flame. We’re introduced to the Fantastic Four in their already powered state before a flashback takes us through how the cosmic rays transformed them, meeting them in their transformed state before we learn what it was exactly that transformed them. So in a way I do think you could make an argument that they’re suited for fast-forwarding through the origin story and perhaps revisiting it later, but there’s a few things about the origin story that inform the Fantastic Four in very important ways. First of all, the audience needs to understand that these are people who thought of and followed through with a plan to steal a space mission. Making it a planned space mission they’re all legally along for the ride on ala Fantastic Four 2005 automatically undermines the fact that the Fantastic Four are hugely independent free thinkers who don’t let little things like “canceled missions” keep them from breaking into government property and taking a couple billion dollars for a joyride just to prove a point. They’re rule breakers -- more than that, they invent new rules. The audience has to realize that these are people who will defy the government in favor of breaking ground and the discovering the new. Fant4stic (2015) did this better -- Reed, Ben, Doom, and Johnny very much do take an unsanctioned trip to another dimension just so they can be the first -- but it’s very Ultimate-inspired as origin retellings go, and I don’t like that Doom took Sue’s place in the original government property stealing lineup. Second, we need the origin to make it clear that Reed feels very guilty about the fact that the shielding wasn’t good enough and that he is responsible for the transformation of the three people he loved the most.

(Fantastic Four v3 #60)

We also need the origin story for the Ben angle. Now this is a thing I love about Fant4stic (I know, I know, but you all should know who I am -- a Fant4stic apologist -- at this point), and I think it’s actually a good thing about the fact that, going in, much of the viewing audience might already know the origin story: you can use that knowledge of the origin story to build up a lot of tension. If we know something has to happen within the story -- the transformation of the Fantastic Four, the spider biting Peter Parker -- then we have to be waiting for it. The shotgun, so to speak, is on the wall. The first Captain America film did this: obviously, I as a person who was familiar with Bucky Barnes knew he had to “die”, and I remember being on the edge of my seat waiting for it. Fant4stic does this with Ben: we know what happens to Ben, especially, out of all of the Fantastic Four. We know how monstrous his transformation is. We know he can’t turn back. And we know how that makes him feel. So we’re waiting for this horrible thing to happen to him and I don’t think that has to be a drudge -- I think it can be really quite exciting. It’s all in how confidently the creators embrace their source material and their skill as storytellers. 

If there’s one thing I think fans should be advocating being left out of a brand new Fantastic Four movie, it’s Doom. The Doom Trap is a huge Fantastic Four adaptation problem; they need to stop writing him into the origin story alongside them when it erases his own origin, and makes a film that has to introduce four main characters all with complex relationships with each other too crowded when they’re trying to do the Ultimate Big Bad of the Fantastic Four right off the bat. Personally, I’d kill to do another little origin -- the first bad guy the Fantastic Four ever faced -- and have a new film feature the Mole Man as the main antagonist. 

[lovecanbesostrange]

"#imagine we could have had a second Superman movie before BvS..." YES, I've been saying this! I think I wouldn't have been so turned off by BvS. There were things I liked in BvS and things I didn't like, I feel, would've been mitigated if they had an MoS 2 BEFORE BvS.

They could have introduced Lex Luthor, business men and philantropist. Spending millions and millions on re-building Metropolis. Unknown to the public but clear for the viewer, he does this to get favors. Let him buy his way to the Krypton ship, always with a smile “I want to look out for the fine men and women of this city, I’m a scientist, I have great labs, let me help.” And so he can collect data and maybe he can set up events to make Superman look bad. But calm, precise.

A superhero movie should have a villain. I’m not against some fun action. But this is where somebody should’ve dug deep into Superman comics and find a nice B-lister, who can pose a threat, but not like world ending. This is where Lois can also do some footwork, like we see in the extended BvS. She follows leads and uncovers things (let her get a whiff of Lex-Luthor-is-evil, but not having enough proof yet).

And then there is the best thing about BvS. People discussing Superman. I love Senator Finch. Give her the hearing, the investigation. I kinda like the heroic Superman montage, BUT omg stop with the Messiah image. But give me moments like this. Where Superman flies half across the globe to help earthquake victims, where he stops a car chase (by stepping in front of stray bullets that could hurt civilians), the space shuttle thing, and then maybe a moment like with Lois in a war zone, saving her and thus interfering with international politics. Show me this world WITH hope. Show me the building of the Superman statue with lots of people cheering. But also some still being afraid.

Enter Bruce Wayne! He lost buildings, workers, people he knew. He was there (I love that as well, it’s such a good moments at the start of BvS going back to the chaos of the fight against Zod). Let Bruce speak at the hearing. Give him a scene with Alfred discussing weapons based on kryptonite as a drastic measure. Show me a Bruce who has lost much and who is afraid. He has fought villains, but they were always human in nature (even Killer Croc was a human once). If they must give us one Batman scene, a take down of a villain they could use in Suicide Squad (tying that in a bit and having a good background for Bruce talking about how long he’s been doing this already). Still introduce BRUCE and show that he isn’t convinced, that he can’t see the hope yet. He is too broken, yet he cares.

Lois and Clark being happy together! Not just this somewhat melancholy bath scene (which I do like, but the tone feels very heavy).

This universe needs to earn to become “the world without hope”. It is said that Zack Snyder wanted to start in a more bleak world and let the tone get lighter once the Justice League forms. Okay. But then you can’t say “oh look, here’s Superman, he is hope, he’s here for like a couple of months, then he dies and suddenly everybody despairs, because what if other aliens come”. Make Superman the light first, and THEN take it away. Let the world embrace Superman for the most part, with some people being weary “what if we rely on him too much now?”.

And afterwards have a third film, where Bruce is building his weapons and he is searching the world up and down for these meta people. And he is just afraid. Mostly that he isn’t enough anymore. He never got rid of crime in Gotham. He lost a Robin (explain this!!!! don’t just fucking show a costume, the films need to explain important things!!! don’t rely on audience knowing everything about Batman), things are happening and then Lex can wake up his Frankensteined Doomsday, who goes on a RAMPAGE.

I don’t buy into Bruce being all “it’s my fault Superman died” in JL. Lex was creating Doomsday anyway and the kryptonite spear was instrumental in killing him, stopping the threat. (Maybe Superman could have lifted him and throw him into space, after a good duo pummeling with Wonder Woman??????).Also the infamous Martha scene... I get it. It’s about humanizing Superman to Bruce. Making him see. I do understand that. But omfg so clumsy and ridiculous. This is where Snyder fails, a character beat like that is not his strong suit and the script totally failed him. But give me a second MoS movie, show Clark and Bruce and the contrast, earn that line in JL with Bruce being all “he’s more human than I am”.

DC/Warner needs to stop with announcing movies left and right and not building up these heroes as characters. Suicide Squad was horrible with the introductions (and giving Amanda Waller the ball of stupid to set things in motion UGH). And yet, that movie showed me almost more about Batman as a person than BvS. Like that’s his life like without Superman, that’s his level of threat and action.Waller said she was starting Task Force X, so the government would have a plan B for the next big alien attack, for a threat level like Superman-gone-rogue. Ahahahahahahahaha, please explain to me how Harley Quinn or Captain Boomerang are supposed to do jack shit. Deadshot would need kryptonite bullets, you know (also if other aliens come, you need to find weaknesses first). So give me the Suicide Squad battling some kind of threat and weave in Batman watching and thinking “not good enough”. There, more build up for the stupid forced Batman/Superman fight.

CHARACTERS BEFORE CGI BATTLES WITH WORLD DESTROYING VILLAINS!

I’m super okay with the way Cyborg and Flash are introduced in JL. They come with their background stories, I understand their motivation, they help. So they didn’t need a movie all their own before forming a group.