#Lord I have watched a lot of cartoons

[writingquestionsanswered]

What's "Filler" vs What's Relevant

Anonymous asked: How do you know when something is “filler” that needs to be deleted, or if it can be kept? I often see advice saying "your characters should talk about nothing but the plot... no frivolous banter or silly arguments, because it's useless, self-indulgent, filler-fluff." But then I watch or see things and it's like, hm... there sure are a lot of things happening here that aren't plot relevant, yet the audience adores it. For example, in a popular episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, called "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," nothing relevant to the main plot (stopping Fire Lord Ozai) happens. Instead, characters shop and go to a spa, rebuild a zoo, and go on a date. Part of the episode is even dedicated to one character's running off after having a nightmare. Nothing that we learn or that happens in the episode is ever relevant again as far as I recall, yet 19 years later, people still talk about how much they love that episode. So, I’m really confused as to what counts as useless filler/fluff vs what's important information. How do you tell the difference?

[Ask edited for length...]

First, it's important to note that a Nickelodeon cartoon from twenty years ago is not a great measuring stick for how to write fiction in 2024. ATLA, from what I've heard, is an amazing TV show, full of heart and top-notch character development. But it was also a cartoon created for and written to be enjoyed by children as young as age seven (the low end of Nickelodeon's demographic at the time), so it was following different guidelines from what you'd be following if you're trying to write a short story, novella, or book.

Case in point, the ATLA episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" is what's known in television as a "vignette," which uses short, self-contained stories unified by concept and theme to explore character relationships, growth, world-building, and to expand on themes that are important to the overall story. So, while the episode may not have contained plot-relevant elements, as get a glimpse into the minutiae of the characters' daily lives in Ba Sing Se, the characters and their relationships are still pushed forward, even if in only the tiniest ways.

And, again, this is a TV show with 61 episodes, not a short story, novel, or book, all of which are structured differently than a TV show.

On the Subject of "Fluff"

I want to be clear about the fact that if you're writing fan-fiction, fluff is just fine. And even if you're writing original fiction, you can get away with a little bit of fluff... you just need to be clever about it...

Filler, Fluff, or Relevant?

If something is absolutely necessary to move the story forward or understand it, it's plot relevant.

If something doesn't move the story forward and isn't critical to the reader's understanding of the story, but it helps them understand the characters or world in a way they didn't before, it's probably fluff that's been dressed up in a plot relevant costume. (That's the "you need to be clever about it" bit from above, which we'll get to in a second...)

If something isn't necessary to move the story forward or understand it, and it doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding of the characters or world, it's filler. It's just words on a page that serve no purpose, and it should be cut.

On the Subject of "Moving the Story Forward"

To clarify, in case anyone is wondering, "moving the story forward" means advancing the plot from one scene to the next scene. In other words, to use The Hunger Games as an example, Prim's name being drawn in the Reaping moves the story forward, because it forces Katniss to volunteer in her place. It moves the story from Katniss being a bystander at the Reaping to being a tribute. Another example, using Twilight, when Tyler's van skids into the parking lot and almost smashed into Bella, it forces Edward to use his otherworldly vampire strength to save her, which confirms in her mind that he's not human. It moves the story from Bella being curious about this weird boy at school to realizing he is something else and wanting to know more.

Dressing Up Fluff to Make it Relevant

Let's say you're writing a story about a young woman who stayed in her small town and went to community college while her high school besties went off to a college she couldn't afford, and now they've returned and she's trying to maintain these important friendships while struggling with feelings of resentment, jealousy, and feeling left behind.

Now, let's also say you have an idea for a really cute scene where your protagonist and one of these friends goes to a museum together for an afternoon. And as it stands, nothing plot relevant happens in this scene and it doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding of the characters or world. It's just something silly and fun you think would be cute in your story. How can you turn it from fluff to relevant?

To start with, look at your character's internal conflict... wanting to maintain the friendship while struggling with jealousy and feeling left behind. What could happen in the museum that could play on that? Maybe they stop in front of a reproduction of the Venus de Milo and the friend starts talking about the semester abroad she and the other friends did in Paris. This is a perfect place to explore the protagonist's feelings of jealousy and being left behind. If the character talks about her thoughts and feelings in that moment, either inside her head or with the friend, it gives you a chance to expand upon these feelings, explore why they're happening, and even to add further conflict. Maybe she confronts the friend and it doesn't go over well. Or, maybe she lies about something to feel better about herself, and that creates problems later.

Another option would be to look at the next plot point that needs to happen. Is there some way this scene can be used as a stepping stone between two existing scenes? Could something be added to this scene that raises the stakes or or makes the next scene more interesting?

While I'm sure there are some scenes you just can't make relevant no matter how hard you try, usually you can find a way if you just take the time to brainstorm and try out different ideas.

One Last Note...

On the rare occasion you end up with a fluff scene that has no relevance and can't be made to have relevance no matter how hard you try, write it anyway. Then, take it out, save it someplace safe, and hang onto it. These kinds of stories make GREAT incentives for things like newsletter sign-ups, subscription perks, web site bonuses, etc.

I hope that helps! ♥

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[worstqueerbaittournament]

Submission message: howdy, would like to submit keith and lance from voltron (lmao)

Submission message: BBC Sherlock and Moriarty / BBC Sherlock and John Watson

Additional propaganda: Now Keith and Lance on the other hand was a whole fucking mess that they then shoehorned in an hetero romance to try and "fix it" but by lord it was bad, everything about voltron is so fucking bad

Anyway this is my Klance propaganda : They were actually bait

Klance's queer baiting by the team was the worst!! We had to deal with NETFLIX ALSO GETTING IN ON THE QUEER BAITING!! If you searched up Kkance during the times for season 6-8, the SHOW WOULD POP UP. The directors would make jokes about it being canon, even Lance's VA got in the joke!

Their queer baiting was the worst for anyone who was even looking for an ounce of queer rep in that show. The only queer rep we got was a man who died after not even 5 minutes on screen, and shoehorned in the credit scene of a gay wedding of a character that was neither Keith nor Lance.

I do not know Agatha and Sophie, so I can't argue that klance was bigger bait or not, I just know voltron was mean lmao. the creators said stuff like "lance will be someone's first choice!" (meaning NOT ending up in a relationship with allura bc she very much chose another guy over him) and heavily implying he would be Keith's 1st choice (or a guy in general bc of point number 2). point number 2: they also released official art showing how super cool and diverse the main cast was! race! gender! LGBT - they had shiro (who was......canon gay but that's a whole other can of worms) and lance hold the sign with LGBT on it and then did absolutely nothing with that w lance at all (he hit on allura, so obvi he's not gay, but at least bi or smt) (UNLESS you count the scenes where he's flirty with keith). I just remember going into the last few seasons being like "klance probably won't be happen be honest with yourself there's like no queer kids shows!! but damn like it so could tho!!! because of how much it's been teased both in the show and by showrunners like I can't have no hope with the way the producers talk about it!" lmao I should have had no hope, but i genuinkey believed there was a possibility it could happen. and actually I discovered after the fact that i think one of the writers for the show who was the main advocate for klance (they had a lot of diff writers for eps, which led to lots of character butchering but ANYWAY) left not terribly long into the show I believe bc he didn't like the direction it was moving in and didn't want to be tied to the show anymore. so it's not like fans just made klance up either - it was written into earlier episodes with the hope and plan to continue developing later, and then just nothing ever happened with it besides INTENSE teasing it to keep queer fans around. esp after shiro's relationship was literally only a flashback and then his fiance thing or whatever got blown up before we even got to watch him interact w shiro as we knew him in present time in s7, so I think they kept being like hmmm klance and the stuff about lance being a first choice before s8 to keep ppl around. also esp bc klancers made up such a big portion of the fan base. then they made a horrible szn and ended it w a flashforward to shiro marrying some random background character who maybe had 1 line? I just remember hitting the flashforward and being like uhhhh who is this dude??? but they did that to hit those diversity points wow first gay marriage in a cartoon or smt idk it doesn't count to me really. so anyway voltron in general is queerbait lol but klance is because it started out as a legit possibility and then they said sike! but only maybe sike bc u guys are mad at us burying our guys in s7 so maybe klance could still happen haha okay now we're serious no it's not happening. anyway I think klance is p bad queerbait and a vote for them is a valid vote, not just u liking the ship.

#im sorry but johnlock is a household name in ther queerbait trenches

I don't know much about blaze runner, but this website made me endure Johnlock FOR YEARS, that ship makes me so fucking angry, and it's so much bait, the whole fucking show is just 4 kinds of bait in a trenchcoat trying to pass as something good, and Tumblr(and the rest of the goddamn world) ate it up like a five course meal. So anyway that's why I'm voting Johnlock

[thirdeyeblue]

“Nine would have treated Martha better than Ten did”

I need to talk about this argument that never seems to stop circulating.

Note: Not a venomous/anti post. There’s more than enough of that across fandom spaces as is, and this is supposed to be a place for ✨sweet, blissful escapism✨

When making this argument, people seem to envision a scenario in which Nine never met Rose.

While I can appreciate a good hypothetical, recognizing Rose's significance to the Doctor (Nine and Ten) is essential to understanding why things with Martha played out the way they did in the first place.

In the third series, the Doctor is grieving. This grief is deliberately threaded into nearly every script, whether spoken aloud or not (and these are just a few examples):

He's burning in Rose’s wake the entire time Martha travels with him, which is why it’s so frequently called upon: It’s 100% deliberate in framing his grief. He grieved as Nine too, of course— having been fresh on the heels of the Time War — but then he met Rose, which changed everything.

Back then, he was still a rude, traumatized pain in the ass, but we watch Rose soften more of those jagged edges with every episode as they grow closer; as he lets his guard down and forms a deep connection with her.

He falls in love (against his better judgment) and it's game over.

And yes: provided S1E1 had been titled 'Martha', one can realistically assume things might have unfolded similarly to how they did with Rose. However, it wouldn’t have been that way just because the Doctor was Nine and “Nine was different” — it would be because he wasn’t already in love with someone else. The same can't be said for the start of S3.

Think of it like this: if Rose AND Martha had been in that cellar — if Nine had taken both of them along with him in S1 — we’d eventually be looking at the most melodramatic love triangle ever, what with him living in close quarters with two brilliant, gorgeous, compassionate young women... But Doctor Who is plenty “soap opera” as is with just one woman in the TARDIS.

(I certainly wouldn’t object to reading that fic, though)

Now, regarding the unrequited elephant in the room…

His inability to be romantic with Martha isn’t because he thinks her lesser, nor is it for lack of compatibility. It isn't because Rose is any better than her. It certainly isn’t just because he’s Ten.

It’s really only for one reason, which can't be denied — and now I’m a broken record:

He is still in love with Rose.

(cut from a tenrosedaily gif)

Nine is Ten, and Ten is only such a mess in S3 because he’s just lost the love of his life. Martha merely got caught in the crosshairs of a volatile Time Lord in mourning, and yes — it sucks. Absolutely.

But it also feels dismissive to chalk Ten and Martha’s relationship up to little more than some sort of mindless dance of pining, jealousy, and toxicity.

Ten trusted Martha with his life over and over again — and hers, with him. He constantly praised her brilliance, happily carting her around time and space with no intention of letting her go. In the BBC’s extended universe of novels/comics/cartoons/etc, there’s so much depth to their relationship: love and trust and trauma and sacrifice. They had their own special bond as mates, their own complexities — so it’s a bummer that it's forever overshadowed by the other things.

I’m not denying that there was a lot of stuff that sucked/was for sure toxic about Ten's S3 behavior, but so many of the things I've seen him catching flak for can be directly attributed to being A Clueless Fucking Alien Idiot (not a trait that’s unique to Ten) — as well as his flat-out obliviousness to Martha’s feelings.

So yes, I agree: if Rose never existed, he would have treated Martha differently as Nine. He also would have treated her differently as Ten. Certainly.

But Rose did exist, and when discussing canon, it matters.

“He tells me that he absolutely, 100% loves Rose... He tells me how my daughter; my wonderful, beautiful, clever little girl saved him from himself before… And he says that’s all because of me! I made her into the Rose Tyler that saved him.”

-Jackie Tyler, Flight Into Hull!

Martha got the short end of the stick in S3. She came round at the wrong place and time, but that doesn't mean it was all bad. It doesn't mean the Doctor didn’t adore her. It certainly doesn't mean the time they spent together was wasted or worthless. They were brilliant!

Sure, he could be a twat, but let it be known that he was a twat with Rose as well, both as Nine and Ten. I’m sure Tentoo can be plenty infuriating, too. So while I'll defend Ten (and Tentoo) into the ground forever and ever and ever, I'll concede that he's fucked up.

The Doctor is a certified Pain In The Ass. It’s one of the things I love so much about this character — dynamics.

But never forget that Martha was goddamn tough as nails and overcame every bit of it. She moved on with her life, and the Doctor moved on with his. One can only pray that, when they inevitably drag her back onto the show (which feels inevitable if I'm honest), we see at once that she's been living her best life for all these years.

[six-eyed-samurai]

Firstly congratulations on your followers! :) Secondly maybe the prompt R is for Romance from your yandere list with either reader and Rengoku or Dabi(from mha)? You don't have to do it if you don't want too, but I hope your day's good!

SUMMARY: A drunken game on the rooftop was not how you imagined would be the reason you were suddenly locked into a basement by none other than Dabi himself A/N: TY TY! Sadly my Yandere Alphabet is actually for neutral characters, however I can still pull off the R is for Romance for you! I was having a good day, ty, my best friend came back today lmao WARNINGS: This is yandere, so MDNI and in no way do I condone this sort of relationship. Also alcohol, swearing, maybe OOC Dabi (I did my best I'm sorry) My inbox is still open if you would like to request for the event!

"Good Lord what letter comes after M?"

"O, stupid."

"Shut it Panda Eyes." You threw the bottle cap at your companion. He went cross eyed tracking it but maybe he was just drunk.

You both were, actually. Very much inebriated on top of some rooftop (how did you get up there again? Never mind it was going to give you an even bigger headache to try and remember) of some building in some place you had long forgotten during the alcohol binge you two were on. You wouldn't have pulled this sort of dumb stunt usually but after a successful night (successful...something. Ugh, what sort of damned drink had Dabi bought?) he had convinced you that it was good to celebrate. Just you and him, the after party.

An after party with lots and lots of alcohol. There was still more and you reached for another bottle, tilting it back. Then your eyes narrowed, turning to the turquoise pair staring at you. "Bullshit! You liar, it's N!"

"If you (beep) knew, why ask?" Dabi chucked his bottle cap at you. The caps littered the ground everywhere around you both, actually, as the both of you had agreed that it would be the punishment if the other was unable to continue the game.

The game, right. You had made a dumb joke about a team-building exercise and what a great time it would be to do it now even though the rest of the League wasn't here, then Dabi had followed it up with a sly suggestion of Eye Spy. You elbowed him and complained it was boring. He jabbed his finger into your side and in the end the both of you agreed to play a game of Word Association following the alphabet. Only problem was the both of you were idiots.

"I forgot! You got it wrong as well!"

Dabi rolled his eyes. "Just get the hell on with it."

"Okay! N for uh...nap?"

"Boring. N for...nonsense."

"You're boring. O for...obsession."

Dabi raised an eyebrow, taking another sip. "O for only."

"P for...platypus? Shit, what was that cartoon? The one where that duck thingy - platypus, sorry - wore a hat?"

"What the hell do you even watch?" Dabi snorted. "The first thing you think of is platypus?"

"You literally said M for magnesium just now," you grumbled, finishing your bottle and snatching his.

"After you said L for Bozo. That doesn't even make sense."

"I changed it off to L for love!"

"Once again, ew," Dabi sighed. "P for perfect."

"Q for...queue."

"So original. Q for queen."

"I hate you so much." You threw your head back. "R for-"

"Romance."

A beat of silence. Then you burst out laughing. "What in the actual-?"

"What? Your L got me thinking," Dabi protested, oddly defensive, going as far as to turn away.

“Thinking of someone?” You teased, crawling closer.

“Yeah.” Dabi smirked and you ignored the twang in your heart to widen your grin.

“Hmmm….anyone I know?” You blinked. “Actually, I can’t believe I never asked before. What’s your type? Tall, short, long hair, freckles, innocent, bratty, big ass?”

Dabi arched an eyebrow. “You thinking of somebody?”

“NO!” You flushed and blamed it on alcohol. “I’ll tell you my type if you do.”

“And what is your type, princess?”

You decided to ignore the nickname. “To be honest I don’t really mind as long as he’s…uh, nice? I dunno. Just someone who can show me a good time.”

“Had no idea you were into that.”

“I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!” You whacked his arm. “Like, I want a guy who’s gonna come over on time, pick me up, take me to a place not necessarily dinner. Maybe an arcade date, mall date, anything is fine. Just talk and listen, you know? And drive me back, walk me to the door, say goodnight and shit. ‘Cause dating for me is getting to know someone really well and…yeah, know them inside out.”

“I have no idea whatever the (beep) it was you just said. You’re so eloquent when drunk.”

“Shut up. Like you’re not. I just want a gentleman. Respects boundaries and all that shit but I want someone - oh god this sounds stupid - who’s gonna make the effort with me to be our first and last. Does that make sense now?” You flopped onto your back. “I need another drink.”

“That? That’s it?” Dabi snorted and laughed. “Your ideal romance?”

“At least I can pull!” You realized you both were out of bottles and groaned. “Your turn.”

Dabi paused for a moment, then suddenly his face loomed over you in another smirk. “I’ll sum it up in one word. You. Can I take you on an “arcade date, mall date, anything is fine” tomorrow?”

And somehow you wound up anxiously pacing around the entrance of the local arcade Dabi had said he’d take you to anyway. You had already purchased some tokens, thanked God you hadn’t overdressed in your panic earlier, taken a few sips of water and what else? Right, fret your brains out over whether or not this was just a horrible joke made while inebriated.

“What the (beep).”

***

Because you’d be lying if you said you didn’t fancy Dabi himself.

Ain’t no way he had basically just confessed like that. Nuh uh. He was probably just as out of it like you were and in the blurred haze made a mistake. A stupid mistake that was twisting your heart and insides hard.

Yet why were you here? Because you’re delusional that’s why. And because the way he had said it last night seemed so sincere.

“Well, well, looks like I failed in being the gentleman, huh?”

“You did,” you quip out of habit, but your tone’s shaky. “No pick up?”

“I have no idea where you live,” Dabi said smoothly. “It’s alright, I’ve got plenty of ways to make up for it soon enough.”

“I dunno. You’re not a gentleman.”

***

But he was and it was…insane. Absolutely amazing and flattering and oh good god you couldn’t even describe it but it was completely INSANE how much Dabi proved you wrong with this behavior over the next six months of you and him dating. Because he kept proving your wrong, each time, that in fact he COULD BE a gentleman when he wanted to.

He came to go pick you up and followed you home. He always knew exactly what you wanted on the menu after pulling out your chair. He listened.

Dabi made the effort to be your first and last, like you said, unlike the flings before. He said as much on the last date. You were utterly head over heels, besotted, infatuated with him even more so when he admitted he had liked you from the start but wasn’t sure when was a good time to tell you.

So of course he was the first one you called in a panic when you discovered the camera in your bathroom.

You couldn’t believe you never noticed it before - and it terrified more that it could’ve been watching the unsuspecting you for god knew how long. It was only pure chance that you had suddenly spotted a peculiar glint in the mirror when wiping off the fog, partially hidden by your shower curtain. Oh god, oh god, oh god-

“Dabi?”

“Yeah, princess?” The crack in your voice had been exceedingly audible, as was his concerned tone. “You good?”

“There’sacameraspyingonmeinthebathroomIdon’tknowhowlongit’sbeenthere-”

“There you go again,” Dabi sighed, but his voice was placating, reassuring. “Slower this time?”

You took a deep breath. “I found a camera. In my bathroom. Some creep’s SPYING ON ME!”

“Get out of there right now and calm down, alright, sweetheart? I’ll be over in a minute.”

“You think the heroes put it there?”!”

“Doll, they’re horrible but they ain’t perverts. What’s so interesting in your bathroom besides you anyway?” Dabi’s joke came out tense and you heard a lot of background noise. “Look, like I said, get out of there. Don’t try to take it down-”

“Oops…”

“I’ll be over soon,” Dabi repeated and hung up.

You steadied yourself before examining the camera in your hand, sitting against the ladder that you had used to get up there. It was an ordinary CCTV looking thing and you had used a towel to cover the lens before taking it down. The wires stuck out and pricked at your palms.

Who would be watching you like this?

You needed air - the bathroom was too cramped suddenly. You ran out into your bedroom and threw open the window, dumping the camera on the ground, dry heaving while leaning out. You finally calmed down sufficiently to slide down the wall with a groan, tilting your head back while you anxiously waited for Dabi to show up.

Shit. No, no, no-

There was another camera hidden by the curtains.

Hysterical tears began streaking down your face. How long you had been there in a sobbing panic attack you didn’t know, barely hearing your front door open and the footsteps thundering into your bedroom. You didn’t register anything until you were suddenly wrapped up in Dabi’s arms, head tucked against his chest as he awkwardly stroked your hair.

“Hey, calm down, alright?”

“I’m scared. I’m so damn scared that someone’s been watching me all this time. You know there’s another camera? I found another.” You hiccuped and exhaled. “Okay, okay, I’m calm now.”

“Great. Let’s get you a drink of water and we’ll talk.”

He led you to the kitchen and poured you a glass, the both of you seated at your small dining table while you fought to clear your head. Dabi watched you intently, tapping his foot on the ground.

So you had discovered the cameras, huh? A bad thing, but the fact that you had called him meant you had no idea it was him…just as well, really. Dabi could use this to his advantage - make you more dependent on him.

He internally chuckled. You hadn’t noticed the burn on your wall near the cameras then, when he had accidentally caught a wire aflame setting it up.

But outwardly he twisted his face into one of concern.

“We can’t report this to the police,” he started. “You’re a known member of the League.”

“Then what? I’m not staying here anymore!”

“You could live with me.” He caught your expression and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that, but you sure are eager, huh?”

“SH-SHUT IT!”

“Back to the point. Your stalker might’ve put up some other cameras, not just your bathroom or your bedroom window. You could live with me while we look for the bastard,” Dabi said, quite convincingly. “I’ll take care of you. Ideal romance, right?”

You snorted a half laugh at that. “You really do surprise me - wait.”

Dabi raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“The camera.” You felt yourself turning cold. Frozen. No way could it…”I didn’t tell you where I found the second camera’s location.”

“I found you crying underneath the window, princess. Sorry if I made the wrong assumption,” Dabi said apologetically. Inside he wondered if you were going to force his hand. His grip on the cup tightened. Stupid mistake.

“No…not only that.” You leapt your feet. “How did you get into my house anyway? I never took you here or gave you the key. You only ever walked me to the front door but I didn't tell you which floor I lived on or which apartment block. I locked the door, I’m sure. And how did you know where my bedroom was?”

“I could hear you weeping your eyeballs out from out there,” Dabi scoffed, getting to his feet as well. “I busted down your door.”

You backed away. “How did you know where I live then? And - and that day, when I nearly got mugged, you just showed up out of nowhere. Do you have a tracker on me?”

He said nothing.

“You put the cameras there, didn’t you?” Your whisper came out hoarse.

Dabi stepped closer and suddenly you realized exactly what a powerful presence he was as he leaned closer, trapping you against the table. “I did it all for us, y’know? For you. I had to know everything to keep you safe, be the perfect guy for you. Wasn’t that your ideal romance? Thanks for the tip, by the way, that night on the rooftop. It helped me realize exactly how to make you love me like I love you.”

“I don’t love a monstrous creep like you!”

His eyes flashed with hurt and heartbreak. “You will. Please.”

Dabi must’ve put something in your drink, you also realized; your knees buckled and you blacked out.

***

You awoke in a dark, stuffy room. Not like you were expecting anything less.

And he was right in front of you - that you didn’t expect. You would’ve lunged at your former love if you could, but the effects of whatever had knocked you out hadn’t left your body yet, making everything a blurry photograph and your limbs jelly. Something like cold metal bit into your wrists as well. Dabi just stared at you flatly.

“Why?” The word slipped out before you knew it. “If you say you love me, why? Why all this? Just for your sick idea of romance? You’re sick. You’re so sick I don’t know how I never knew it before. You…really are a damn villain.”

“You won’t let me protect you anymore. Keep watch.” Dabi shrugged. “I tried to do it your way, be your gentleman. Then you made me do it my way. You think I want this too? Rather see you happy and oblivious, really, but it’s not like you gave me a choice.”

“You never gave me a choice from the start!”

“I did,” Dabi corrected coldly.

You were grasping at straws and he knew it. “You think everyone’s not gonna notice if I just disappear?”

A warm hand suddenly clasped your cheek. Dabi really did look like a devil, you thought blearily, with all that staples and burns in the dark, with that expression.

“I faked my own death. I can fake yours.”

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Back in the Fold

[mysterious circle of robed figures] JK Rowling: hello children Rowling: sssay hello to graham lineham Linehan [wearing tinfoil hat]: freemasons run the country Jesse Singal: but mommy Rowling: i know we were all pretending he didn't exisst for a while Rowling: that changes now

Rowling: sssee hiss extreme levelsss of divorcednesss usssed to be a liability to our hate movement Rowling: but now that being extremely divorced hassss gone mainssstream Rowling: he'sss an asssset! Elon Musk: eyyy you know da jews, they maka my wife leave me

Rowling: to think that only a few yearsss ago, cccyberssstalking, death threatsss and appearing drunk on live televisssion were consssidered gouache Rowling: but today, there'sss no bottom! Rowling: and itsss all thankss to your tirelesssss effortsss! Rowling: well done, graham!

Linehan: don't worry, i have a new plan against the trans Rowling: yesss? Linehan: i'm going to rally father ted fans Linehan: see, if you liked a sit com back in the 90s, then you're obligated to join my hate movement Linehan: there's no better way to connect with today's youth

Linehan: Father Ted fans will flock to my aid Linehan: there's no one more likely to be on board with hating queers than someone who liked a comedy that made fun of catholicism

Linehan: after all, think of the success that you had turning all your harry potter fans into loyal terfs Rowling: uhhhh Linehan: i mean, they did all fall in line right? Rowling: Rowling: Rowling:

Rowling: look, i don't need harry potter fansss Rowling: i have new fanss Rowling: fanss of me Rowling: the adoration of the world'sss children meansss nothing to me compared to the adoration of 12 mumsssnet possstersss named rossemary

Rowling: i might have given up the love of the world'ss children but look what i gained Maya Forstater: i'm gonna get that cartoon alien one of these days, i promise dark lord!! just watch! Julie Bindel: [red tape across mouth] mmm Rowling: yeah i Rowling: i really gained a lot

Allison Bailey: [sweating, desperately clutching briefcase] i won't drop it... i won't drop it Tatsuya Ishida: i'm drawing communist lesbian joe biden with a huge dick Elon Musk: mama mia dissa post issa banned for not being racist! oh!! Rowling: yeah Rowling: really gained a lot

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, semifinals of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Lord Hater and Commander Peepers :

Lord Hater is the self-proclaimed "universe's awesomest evil-doer", an immature, attention-seeking manchild with electric powers and a short temper. He rules the Hater Empire with Commander Peepers as his second-in-command (technically third, after his beloved pet spider-xenomorph, but who's counting), however it soon becomes *very* clear that the cunning, remorseless, hardworking Peepers is the *real* brains behind the empire. Peepers might be frustrated at Hater's incompetence at times and isn't above manipulating him to reach an end goal, but he'd never dream of usurping him because, well, he's really gay and in love with him (as much as he can be in an early-10s Disney cartoon, anyways). Hater might take Peepers for granted a lot of times, but as his oldest friend and closest confidante he's the one who Hater is closest to. Whether it's invading other planets or kicking puppies for fun, these two are *delightfully* terrible jerks and the epitome of gay wrongs. 

Commander Peepers is both Lord Hater's right hand man in villainy AND his jilted stay-at-home-wife-guy (Also in villainy. Hater is really good at getting distracted from productive and efficient villaining.) Lord Hater was the greatest villain in the galaxy thanks to how well he and Commander Peepers worked as an evil team to run the Hater Empire!

Lord Hater conquers planets and is such an edgy bastard. Peepers is the actual brains behind the operation. Peepers is often pushed aside by Hater, they are besties and yet Peepers is always pining for this guy who will never notice. Peepers is so horribly gay for him if you watch the show he wants his stupid boss so bad. Peepers is so scared of him season 1 but then starts yelling BACK in season 2 and has to deal with him like a babysitter or something and yet STILL idolizes him and that’s just such a fun dynamic. His password is H8RNP33PRS43VR (Hater and Peepers forever). They are so evil and everyone fears them and they are villains and they are gay and the side of the fandom that draws them as a married couple that needs counseling is absolutely correct. The fanart of Hater openly liking him back is wonderful but I swear you don’t even need that. They are so gay and villain you have to love them they are

Villains that conquer planets and do evil stuff, my favourite characters, not really canon but they are the best :)

For Wu Zetian x Gao Yizhi x Li Shimin: (propaganda from previous poll here)

They are in a poly and are so morally gray and I love em. The triangle really is the strongest shape

They're gay because they're all bi (literally in Shimin and Yizhi's cases, kinda more implied for Zetian). Zetian and Shimin tortured a man for information (and also because he tortured them first) while Yizhi cooked back in their apartment. They made a plan to destroy their government and take over instead. Yizhi killed his dad because he was talking shit about Zetian and trying to sway his trust in her (it didn't work lmao). Instead of a love triangle (it REALLY seemed like that was what it was heading towards) they all love each other and would (and have) committed atrocities for each other. There's a whole thing about how they're stronger together (like, metaphorically and on the battlefield (Shimin and Zetian pilot a giant mecha together and Yizhi balances them))

They're a canon polyship who are all a bit deranged and down to kill for their goals and/or to protect bae. Two have tortured a man to death together and came home to the third making celebratory cookies for them. 

What's more gay wrongs than trying to take over your country and torturing a man together

[sugarpasteltmnt]

You write unhinged Leo so well, and I really like how you write him. I was wondering if you had tips on unhinged characters 😂, or do you just get inspro from existing characters 👀

aksdakjsdh thank you so much ;w;

And honestly???? I’m not totally sure how to give tips— but I love, love, love unhinged characters in media, so I’ll use them as examples

(long rant below lol)

I’ve always been a big fan of silly, ‘crazy’ characters in animated movies and cartoons. I grew up on Batman the Animated Series and the original Teen Titans, which were full of silly, fun tragic characters.

Don’t get me wrong, i love a good edge-lord— but as a tot i thought the colorful, theatrical, insane bad guys were more fun to watch than the big scary serious ones (ESPECIALLY if they had a good villain song. A+ good shit)

(From left to right: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Joker from Batman the Animated Series, Mumbo Jumbo from Teen Titans, Martin from Secret of Nimh 2, Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls, and Spinel from the Steven Universe movie)

And not just bad guys!! There are a ton of unhinged good/neutral characters that i absolutely adore.

(From left to right: King Bumi from ATLA, Clara from Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and, of course, our silly 2018 turtle boys)

((There are many more characters in both categories, but I’ll slide these examples in here for now))

My personal brand of “Unhinged” or “Crazy” characters definitely leans on comedy. That’s what i enjoy seeing and reading! I personally like it because it can help keep a story fresh and interesting. There’s an element of surprise and unpredictability with what a character might do, and i love that!!

I also really enjoy a touch of feral behavior in my unhinged characters. The lack of clarity and the danger that imposes can be a very fun tool to use, no matter the character’s moral compass. (I’m feral for feral behavior lol)

And impulses. Whether a character has a few screws loose or is generally a goober, they like to act on impulses. This often goes hand-in-hand with comedy, and that’s something I enjoy!! We get a lot of moments like that in Rise, and that was one of my favorite parts of that TMNT iteration.

But as far as writing goes, it’s been tricky for me. All of the characters I grew up or love have been visual— trying to find a good balance for reading has been a puzzle I’ve been figuring out as I go.

I read a lot manga (lol nerd) and comics, and I love how thoughts/dialog are depicted. Especially the really dramatic or impactful moments. (I’d add examples but I’m already at the Tumblr image limit LAME)

As strange as it sounds, I try to capture that “impactful visual” style in my writing. If I had ANY advice on writing unhinged characters, pay attention to pacing—

Short. Fast. A calculating thought. Perhaps a run on sentence that lacks punctuation to represent the rushing and disorganized thought process. A question? An answer with little thought. Is this moment amusing; describe how. Is it upsetting; describe how. Are the thoughts starting to scatter? M aybe s o…

Big moment statement.

Action or plan of next big move. Flow should never seem too uniform. Even in normal writing. Don’t be afraid of accentuating— but don’t overdo it. Remember, unhinged characters are impulsive. Have fun with that.

Just as a quick and dirty summary— when it comes to unhinged characters, I like to use comedy, feral behavior, and acting on impulses. I also like to keep it as visually appealing as possible for characters to give the eyes a little treat after reading walls of text. I like to use fun text formatting to help with the fun too (But don’t overdo it! Don’t make it feel like a chore to read) (<- says the girl who goes into way too much details sometimes lmao whoops)

But ultimately— have FUN!!! Unhinged characters are fun, so make sure you have fun writing/drawing/creating them!!

[angel-gidget]

Gidge's Guide to Amethyst

I did one of these a while back, but with reeaallly low-quality images. These days, there’s more Amethyst stuff out there, and that’s worth an update in its own right.

Amy’s first appearance was technically in Legion of Super-Heroes #298 which featured a “pull-out preview comic” to entice people into picking up the maxi-series. I’ve yet to get my mitts on it to confirm if it’s just sample art from the maxi-series, or has dialogue/art never seen anywhere else. Regardless, your best starting point is probably gonna be…

I. 1980’s 12-issue Maxi-Series (+ follow-up Annual)

High jump-through-portal fantasy. Fantastic creatures, creepy villains, magical royalty, intricate world building that explains some things and lets your brain fill in the gaps for others, and consistently gorgeous art. Can’t recommend enough.

The annual shown takes place after the maxi-series and sets the stage for the ongoing series that follows.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💎

II. 1980’s 16-issue Ongoing Series (+ follow-up Annual)

While there is a lot of fantastic stuff going on with the ongoing series, it is more of a mixed bag.

While I am forever in love with cover of issue #11, I remember turning to page 1 and wondering what the heck happened to the inside art. It’s not bad, really. It just doesn’t meet the high bar of the covers (or earlier interiors). Looking back, I realized the art was getting less detailed well before that, but my reading was all over the place as a kid bc I’d just read whatever issues I could find.

This here, at issue #12, is actually a good place to stop. By which I mean, the next 4 issues + special reek of grimdark edge-lord bs that doesn’t even make sense without reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, if you wish to proceed…

The final issue of the ongoing is technically a cliffhanger, and the Special grants the writers the extra pages they need to finish wrapping up their whole Lords of Order & Chaos/Dr. Fate tie-in.

After this, someone in DC editorial raised their pencil and went “Hey! What if we made the Gemworld the origin for one of our Legion of Super-Heroes villains?” And thus…

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page DC’s Showcase via Amazon or Abe Books (Note: no color art for showcase, only black & white) (Also note: Showcase contains both Maxi and Ongoing series)

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ⚔️

III. 1980’s 4-issue Mini-Series

This thing is all kinds of whack, but it is gorgeous. I get the impression that when Kieth Giffen and Mindy Newell were assigned this sucker, they just read a summary of the OG series and winged it.

Probably not, since they technically wrote those final issues of the ongoing, but that’s how it feels. Despite this, it’s grown on me like a fungus, and the mind-blowing art by Esteban Moroto is, like, 98% of the reason why.

Amethyst is always at her weirdest when Dc is trying to tie her in with the rest of the DCU. In this case, the mini is supposed to explain how a Legion of Super-Heroes villain has origins that go back to the Gemworld. Why? Idk. But if I remember correctly, it was even part of the advertising for this series.

Get it by Patron methods: … you can’t. There are no re-prints of any kind and it’s tough to track down. If ye crave this treasure, best ye look to piracy, matey.

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 🔮

IV. 2012’s DC Nation Amethyst Cartoon Shorts

In hindsight, these may have been made as the advent of the Sword of Sorcery series, but they really were a charming sip of water after two decades of nothin’. A cute lil’ standalone series that turns the Gemworld into a video game. Amy is then, of course, sucked into it.

Fun fact: the producer, @briannedrouhard is on tumblr, and often posts art and further ideas she had for the series.

Watch it: Full Series is officially free on Youtube. 👸🏼

IV. 2013’s Sword of Sorcery: Amethyst

This New 52 eight-issue (9 included the ‘0’ issue, oy) series got my hopes up after all those years, but I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed by the completely new supporting cast. Apart from Amy herself, none of the original characters made it into the series.

It feels likely a completely different fantasy series with an “Amethyst” label slapped on it. That said, Aaron Lopresti’s art is beautiful, and this version of Amy—Amaya—eventually joined the New 52’s Justice League Dark and picked up a bit of a cult appreciation over there.

That said, I’ve had some spoilers for her time on JLDark, and the storyline is just a bit… too… dark for my tastes. So I’m quite content to see her nu52 series retconed, even though I did nearly collect all 9 issues.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 💜

V. 2019’s Wonder Comics - Young Justice: Gemworld

Remember how I said Amethyst always gets weird when she collides with the greater DCU? Yeah, forget I said that. Never mind. Most brilliant combo idea since peanut butter and jelly.

No, I’m not biased not at all bc I’m a big Young Justice fan. Nope. Ok. Maybe a lil’ bit. While the continuity here is it’s own thing, there are a lot of nods to the original Gemworld in the world-building.

Does this series fully explore the potential of all the ideas in it? Frankly, no. YJ fans complained a lot about the lack of breathing space in this series for a reason. But I’m still happy with it and happily re-reading it for the fun ideas it slaps together.

If you are reading this for the Amethyst, however, there isn’t much point in reading past issue 6, aka volume 1 of the trade. After that point, Amy stops getting much spotlight, though she remains on the team’s roster until the series’ end.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. ✨

VI. 2020’s Wonder Comics - Amethyst Miniseries

The fact that both this series and the YJ one appear under the “Wonder Comics” label is a bit misleading. They do not share any continuity at all. However, the opening splash page of the first issue references multiple events from original Amethyst continuity!

Later world-building details make it clear that this is a different version of Amy and the Gemworld, but Amy Reeder’s affection for the original series remains apparent.

Get it by Patron methods: Dc Universe Series Page TPB via Amazon or B&N

Get it by Peasant methods: Over here. 👑

VII. 2021’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld by Shannon & Dean Hale

This one is actually a kid-oriented graphic novel. Again, with its own continuity and world-building. I think the thing that stands out to me the most about this take is that the Hales give Amy a kid brother and make him quite relevant to the plot.

It’s pretty stand-alone and not really marketed as a comic book per se, but it is charming and the art is quite cute.

Get it by Patron methods: Graphic novel via Amazon or B&N Get it by Peasant methods: Over here.

🏰

In Summary:

“Original” Amethyst Continuity (by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and later Kieth Giffen & Mindy Newell ) is contained in Volumes 1-3. This is made of up the Maxi-series, Ongoing, and Mini-series from the 80's.

New52 Sword of Sorcery Continuity (by Christy Marx) is completely separate and self-contained.

Wonder Comics: Young Justice continuity (by Brian Michael-Bendis) is separate and self-contained, but has many nods to original continuity in it.

Wonder Comics: Amethyst mini-series continuity (by Amy Reeder) is mostly separate and self-contained, but implies that it shares events with the Volume 1 maxi-series.

Kid-friendly properties like Brianne Drouhard’s DC Nation shorts or Shannon and Dean Hale’s graphic novel make for fun additions, though they were not marketed as though they might tie in with any comics.

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

Meet Husk🐈‍⬛🎰🪄

Made my own take on Husk for fun! Ngl I ended up changing alot more than I thought I would.

Made him a Tuxedo Ragamuffin cat. They’re said to look the closest to rabbits, to fit with the whole Magicians and rabbits thing, without loosing all the fun stuff with his cat theme 🐈‍⬛.

Made his coat a more dark gray with greenish tint!

Gave him a vest, a popular thing for both bartenders and magicians to wear, plus a popular 70’s fashion. Made it poker table themed. Also added stripes @a-sterling-rose pointed out it could connect him with Alastor who's also got stripes.

Added a nametag unto it!

Gave him a shirt, made the collar sharp as that was also an iconic 70’s look. It’s been said he died around the 70’s.

Went with green, @the-burd-lord helped me out here, suggesting it fits best with his personality(also can mean renewal and rebirth), plus it’s often seen as a color of fortune and luck along with red! I also added gold as it also shows fortune and can symbolize a gold heart 💛 I can totally see him and Mimzy argue over who pulls it better.

I'll admit. Garfield Def inspired me in how to design Husks body build. I really digged @skwtches style on Husk especially with the body change!

Instead of hearts I made his main symbol the Ace of Spades ♠️ with its significance to life, death and luck. Also added more clubs as they’re also revolved around that.

“The spade represents a leaf of the "cosmic" tree, and thus life. Along with its companion suit, clubs, spades represent fall and winter and the power of darkness. In the Tarot, they symbolize intellect, action, air, and death”

Made his Hat more crumpled and added an ace card into it🎩♠️

Added rolls on his pants(still has suspenders the vest just covers) and added diamond and club patches!

Gave him a watch that looks like a casino chip 🎰🪙

Made his eyes with gold with green irises! Also made his eyebrows shorter and white.

Made his hands and feet more cartoon paw like with gold claws.

Untied his bow tie. I imagine he only ties it, if Alastor tells him to or wants to make himself looks more charming and presentable..

Beer Belly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHISKERS!!!!!!!!!!

I know the picture doesn’t show it but he def does still have a tail but it’s shorter and fluffier looking(one of Angels many favorite things about Husk)

For the suit order on his wings and vest buttons, normally the order power wise is the Spade, heart, diamonds then clubs but instead the hearts at the bottom, to show his hearts the most vulnerable, how he’s very guarded and protective about getting hurt from caring too much💔. Instead the diamond replaces the heart as he’s able to gain profit/fortune well(just has trouble keeping it due to his gambling and buying booze a lot) and then the clubs as his lucks always going back and forth♦️♣️

For his wings I missed the old suit symbols the pilot wings had so I brought them back and made them bigger. And did some research and the dots on Husks new wings are Roulette board circles which I think is cool so I kept those but reworked it to look part of a roulette wheel too.

Also made takes on other Hazbin characters, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Alastor Niffty and Baxter🍎🦋🕷️🦌🐛🐟

What do u think? How would u redesign Husk? I’d love to know💖

[ipostwhatiwant1202]

Being Their Friend Headcanons:

• you don't like someone? collectively, the guys don't like them either (even though they never met them, they all have beef with your 80 year old aunt susan)

• if you're a girl and you got your period while you're with them, expect mild panicking from raph and/or mikey cause how are you not dying??? (once it's explained, expect princess treatment)

• game night and movie nights on the weekends. monopoly is banned

• head pats and hair ruffles all. the. time.

• if you're short (under 5'5) expect to be the designated forearm rest

• if you wear makeup, expect lots of questions, like how does the eyelash device not pinch your eye?? and why can you remove your eyelashes???

• sleepovers are a thing and it will be a huge fight on who's bed you're gonna sleep in (spoiler: you always end up on the couch with mikey clonked out on the recliner)

• self defense training cause obviously

• leo tries his best not to parent you, but does it unintentionally. you're comfortable enough to call him out and he appreciates it. you end up parenting the guys together...a lot.

• mikey is your go to fun and cuddle buddy. it's not uncommon for you two to be seen playing video games or curled up watching some cartoon on the couch

• donnie and you bond over tv shows and you tend to gossip with him quite a bit. his sleep schedule is all messed up, so if you want to cause trouble at 2 am, he's definitely your guy

• raph is the brother you never wanted but always needed. very loyal but he can and will call you out on your bs. playful banter and stupid nicknames are strong.

• lord help you if you're sick/hurt and you say nothing. they will r i o t

• you cook for them (or bake...or bring them snacks if you do neither) all the time

• leo likes to have tea with you in the morning when you sleep over cause you're not a morning person so you keep quiet

• raph can and will bench press you randomly. you're reading? not anymore, you're now being used as a weight

• you want to find out if the girl who bullied you in elementary school is pregnant with her step dad's baby? donnie's on it

• you need a hug or someone to let you vent? mikey will get all the snacks and drinks galore, he's all yours until you feel better

• you make them watch the eras tour movie and you were shocked to know they all knew the words???

• splinter just kind of adopted you and you're now his child. congrats! you don't have to do the hashi, but instead have to do the guys' laundry when you act up

• they kiss your head all the time

• annoying little shits when you're mad..they'll tighten all the jars so you have no choice but to talk to them..or put everything on the top shelf

• you're a girl? congrats! the guys are now all hardcore feminists for you and april both

• you're in the lgbtq+ community? cool! you now have four attack dogs protecting you

• oh you're on horomone treatments or transitioning? leo reminds you take your supplements, raph will help you buff up if you want, donnie is making sure your transition is going smooth, and mikey is your number 1 hype man

• it's not uncommon to find one of them passed out on your couch

• it's also not uncommon to find them all in your apartment eating take out when you get home from work

• you suffer from a mental illness such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc? prepare to have 4 mother hens watching you closely at all times

• 'i love yous' are not uncommon

• overall, they would make the coolest and bestest friends

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, TangoTek, 6/10/24

((This is the funniest one yet, good lord. Things get wild starting around 2:08:00.))

8:30 Tango opens the stream hot, calling Chat jerks and telling them his shirt is red. Chat is skeptical. Tango wishes everyone a happy Monday and pushes out a video. He was waiting to put his video out until Pearl pushed hers out, and she pushed hers out just a few minutes ago. Tango tells everyone they can leave now and watch the video, which is “only” 51 minutes long. It’s a double video, stuff with him and Pearl, the copper farm, and hilarity with Tango and Zed. Today’s job is finishing the aquarium. He thanks the chat for subs and donos.

11:00 Tango makes some funny noises, explains that every time he messes up a take in the video, he just makes the cartoon noise and cuts it off. About 40% of his clips end with complete brain-farting. A chatter asks if he’s seen the League of Legends show. Tango doesn’t know much about it. Chat says it’s called Arcane, Tango says it sounds awesome.

12:00 Pearl appears and boops him, surprising him. He demands to know why he is being booped, Pearl tells him that she’s been standing around up above him but he didn’t notice her. He blames his powers of observation. Pearl offers him some apology redstone for the terrible timing of her video push. It seems like she was waiting for software that took a long time, but she dissolves into wailing before the full explanation is rendered. Tango assures her that it’s fine and tells her it’s a good video. He asks if she finished all the detailing and she tells him yes, it’s all done. Tango asks if he can take the chat over and play Wordle, and they make tentative plans for later. Pearl leaves.

13:40 A chatter asks Tango if he had fun in Zedaph’s hole, Tango says of course he did. Tango explains the water kitten aquarium he and Zed started. He is having a hard time making words happen today. Chat is alternately sympathetic and laughing at him. He goes to find more copper to put on the top of the aquarium. He says he has a new copper farm and it is working. A chatter asks about Wordle, Tango encourages them to go watch Pearl’s video, because Wordle is amazing. A chatter teases Tango about stream and video at the same time. Tango jokes that it’s always feast or famine with the Hermits. A chatter writes Tango a poem. Impulse is still sick after his vacation, but he had a great time.

17:20 Chat is still trying to figure out what color Tango’s shirt is. Suggestions include maroon and rust. Tango begins placing copper. Today’s challenge will be finding axolotls in the lush caves underground. Chat says Joel has some that can be bred, Tango says maybe, but an adventure might be more fun. He looks at the wheat farm and says he has 10 stacks of hay bales now. He consults with chat about details to add to the aquarium before putting axolotls in. Chat has lots of decorative ideas. A chatter suggests warped logs for the animation effect, Tango likes that idea. A chatter asks about Tango’s megabase this season, he says it is the steampunk factory. He also tells Chat that the copper farm will eventually have a steampunk airship built around it, something that the video audience doesn’t know yet.

21:50 Tango wants decorative and functional copper pipes in Minecraft. Chat suggests using lightning rods as pipes, but they are too thin. The Skizz scream noise goes off a a piglin dies to the extermination machine, Tango jokes that nobody even notices it anymore. He goes to get buckets. Chat reminds him to be very very careful not to waterlog the floor, which has farmers beneath it. He promises to be careful.

23:40 A chatter asks how he doesn’t take fall damage in his drop shaft, Tango explains the powdered-snow-under-carpet trick. In chat, Xisuma asks everyone to not go to the End Dimension. Tango begins placing water in the aquarium. Doc signs onto the server and X asks him specifically not to go to The End. Doc tells X he is already there, announces he is joking, and then asks why he needs to steer clear. Tango notices the exchange and says he doesn’t go to The End anyway, then suddenly realizes he kind of needs to get more shulkers and gear. X explains that he is currently moving mobs and Doc agrees to stay away.

26:30 Tango continues placing water and considers where to put the warped logs. Cub signs in, X asks him to not go to the end. Cub immediately makes the same joke about already being there. Xisuma yells “twice!” Doc laughs.

27:30 Tango places a patch of warped wood. He likes it. He heads on a quick nether adventure to get more. He asks chat about water kitten husbandry. Chat advises him that they can drown on land if given a place to get stuck. Tango finds a pillar someone made of warped logs all the way to the ceiling and decides to steal it. It’s a little terrifying. Someone mocks him for “being that guy” and leaving a single floating log. He says that nobody cares what the nether looks like anyway. He solicits fun ideas for a shroom shop from chat. Chat thinks it should be a mushroom or a warped tree. Someone suggests a shroom monster. Tango likes that, something like Treeza from S8. Pearl whispers that she would be willing to help, Tango says that would be great but he would just be watching slackjawed while she builds. She says if he teaches her redstone, she will teach him to build a monster. Tango thinks the monster needs to have a lot of puns involved, a pun name and a pun dispenser. Its name can be Fun Guy.

34:00 Chat suggests some more punny names, including Fun Gus and Mike the Myconid. Tango gets a bit lost on the way home, but makes it back to the nether hub. A chatter jokes about the monster having a warped sense of humor. Tango returns to the aquarium to place more warped logs while chat puns at him. He is now excited about building the shop. Next episode might not even take 16 days!

36:30 Tango checks the wheat farm, no flooding yet. He returns to placing water. Chat is upset that one piece of warped wood is out of alignment. Tango does not care. He finds a deep hole and wonders what is down there. He jumps down the hole and declares spoilers for the video that just came out. There is a hole in the bedrock going into the void. He leaves it open in case Zed comes over to visit.

40:00 More water placement. A chatter suggests hanging a fox with a torch in the void as a dynamic light source. . Tango likes that idea. The aquarium is starting to get very dark. A chatter asks what water kittens are. Tango explains they are axolotls, but calling them water kittens is more fun.

42:50 Tango needs sea pickles. He makes a graceless exit from the tank and looks for his sea pickles. He remembers he was going to add a few oxidized grates for steampunk style. Grates can be waterlogged without looking stupid. He puts away some water buckets. Mrs. T appears and asks what he’s doing. He says he is making a tank, she asks if it will have a pineapple in it. He says Gem makes the pineapples, not him. He begins placing sea pickles. She asks if there are other colors of sea pickles. He says no, but he could place coral. She wants pink coral. He is not shocked about this. He offers to put in a pink axolotl for her. She asks if that’s even a question. He shows her the copper grates and says it’s a grate idea.

45:15 Tango starts to tell Mrs. T about the shroomlight farm idea, but her lunch is ready and she leaves to get it. He places more grates into a sort of pipe structure and asks Chat if they like it. Mrs. T comes back and asks what the grates are for. He says for steampunk reasons. The vote goes against the grates. He tells Mrs. T about the shroomlight shop and all the puns. She is in favor of it, but in the “being supportive of my spouse” sort of way. She suggests “Shitake the Fun Guy” as a name. A chatter asks who Tango is talking to. He welcomes the chatter to the stream. Tango finishes “Watering up his hole.” Mrs. T sighs. Tango says if she wants more of that humor, watch the new video. She says ain’t nobody got time for a 51-minute video.

49:00 Tango waters the hole. He gets very close to finishing before flooding the outside of the tank. He decides not to waterlog the ceiling. Time for decorations. Mrs. T says to call her when it’s time to show off the kittens. Tango needs more pickles because the tank is still very dark. Chat suggests glow lichen. Tango goes to look for glow lichen. Chat cannot spell lichen for love or money. Tango does not have any glow lichen. He thinks about using froglights. Chat suggests robbing Skizz, but the problem with robbing Skizz is you can’t find anything.

53:00 Tango attempts to rob Skizz, going one chest at a time. He finds some moss , but the lichen may be out by the pyramid. Impulse signs onto the server. Tango finds some twisted vines, but they cannot be waterlogged. He finds a squid head and some vines. He goes to look in the pyramid chests and finds glow lichen. He steals all of it. He finds a Tango head. Chat suggests leaving one lichen behind so Skizz can bonemeal it. Tango agrees that would be considerate, but does not do so.

56:30 Tango returns to the aquarium and learns that you cannot waterlog heads. He adds lichen to the tank. Chat suggests a head on an armor stand, but Tango thinks that’s a lot of work. The lichen doesn’t seem to be adding much to the brightness. He tries a twisted vine, but it does not waterlog. He accuses the vines of hating fun. He places and bonemeals some kelp. Tango asks about who sells coral, Chat tells him Gem. He says he should buy Gem out because it will make her happy. He starts to drown. He finishes kelping and says he will snip the kelp down to size later. He also thinks about placing a wet sponge.

1:00:00 Tango’s phone rings with its boomer ringtone. He hands the phone to Mrs. T and tells her to change his ringtone. She agrees cheerfully. Tango thinks they may be done building the tank. Chat reminds him to get the coral. Mrs. T shames Tango for having two “Settings” buttons on the first page of his phone, one line apart. He says when one has his powers of observation, one must adapt to it. He heads for the coral shop.

1:02:00 Mrs T begins cycling through ringtones. Chat says each is more boomer than the last. Tango finds the coral shop. Chat suggests using the Skizzle Scream a a ringtone, Tango says that would be great in public. Tango decides he doesn’t want coral blocks, only coral fans. Chat starts making jokes about Onlyfans. He buys several colors of coral, including pink, and says since Gem doesn’t have an ender chest, he doesn’t have to pay. He pays.

1:05:00 More ringtones. Tango assures Mrs. T that chat is really enjoying this. Tango flies to Two Tek Delay and checks his stock. He doesn’t think he’s sold any pistons yet. He needs to do some restocking. He heads back to his factory, showing Mrs. T the giant firework along the way. He explains how much work it was, how many temporary blocks. Chat points out that Scar would do it too. Tango agrees, but says he wouldn’t do it. It’s almost water kitten time.

1:07:50 Tango puts pink coral in the tank to appease Mrs. T. She wants other kinds of pink coral, the kind that is not so flat. He asks how she knows more about coral than him. The tank is so full there is almost no room for more decorations. Chat says he needs yellow coral. He leaves the tank and looks in. The coral is invisible. Chat says the blue glass was a bad idea. Tango blames chat for choosing blue glass in the first place. He says they can swap it out, but for what color? Chat wants clear glass.

1:11:00 Tango puts his coral and other decorations away. He finds clear glass and says this is going to be an interesting swap. He also grabs shears for the kelp. Chat wants a sponge, he says he will go back for it later. He trims the kelp in the tank to stop it growing. Grian signs on, Chat is excited. Tango begins carefully and quickly replacing the glass piece-by-piece. He predicts that the next thing Chat will demand is the Connected Glass resource pack. Chat agrees that he definitely should get that. He steps back to look at the first few rows and admits that the unconnected glass does look pretty bad. HE says he may do that next. He says he doesn’t like using things that will make things look nice for him but bad for others who visit. Chat points out that everyone else is already using connected textures. Chat is not sure about what the best way is to get connected textures. Tango says Chat is always right and never right, and his job is to sort out the consensus. A chatter says the blue glass was better.

1:17:30 Tango continues discussing datapacks versus modpacks with chat. Tango pauses the game to go choose a datapack that will give him connected glass. Chat helps him navigate the menus. He finds Unobtrusive and selects several glass options. He downloads the pack and implements it. Chat is mildly concerned that clean borderless glass will be invisible. The world renders back in with little stripes on the glass but no borders. Chat says clean and borderless are not compatible. Tango can live with it. Chat likes it. He and chat continue discussing the possibilities of resource-pack altered glass.

1:22:50 It’s water kitten time! Chat reminds him again about the sponge. Tango finds some wet sponges in his ender chest and places two in the aquarium. He thanks the chat for donos and subs. Tango is excited about a new version of Clank coming out. He looks at the tank and is satisfied. Chat is full of suggestions for armor stand scuba divers, shipwrecks and treasure chests. Tango says he might get Cleo to do an armor stand. He asks for how to breed water kittens and tells chat that the plan is to try and find wild ones, give up after five half-hearted minutes, then go breed Joel’s.

1:28:30 The adventure begins. Tango flies around looking for azalea trees. He realizes he’s forgotten an ender chest and goes to steal one from Zed. Zed does not have one. Tango figures maybe he won’t need one. In chat, Pearl warns Tango that the lush caves nearby kinda suck. Chat is full of advice on finding lush caves. Tango admires Scar’s portal as he flies by. He finds Jevin’s head farm and is confused by it.

1:32:50 Tango realizes that the other thing he forgot is a bed. Impulse sleeps, averting a crisis. Tango finds a tall hill with cherry trees on top and calls it Magic Mountain 2.0. It is already hollow, meaning the Magic Mountain crew could’ve saved a lot of time if they started with this one. Chat says it’s time to relocate. Tango finds a pillager outpost and releases the iron golem just for chaos’ sake. More flying, more looking for azaleas, more getting lost-ish. Tango realizes that without his ender chest, running out of rockets could be a serious problem. Chat spots an azalea tree, but the stream delay makes things difficult.

1:38:20 Unable to find what Chat says they saw, Tango flies onward. He looks around in a spruce and ice biome for a little while, then decides that the rocket situation is too precarious and he should head home.

1:40:00 Tango spots an azalea, and a lush biome that starts on the surface. He notes down the coords and begins to dig, harvesting the rooted dirt. The hole opens into a lush cave canyon. Tango goes exploring.

1:43:20 Chat notes that this is not a very good lush cave. Tango agrees. He fails at some parkour and makes a joke about 39th place skills. He starts digging down further, following the rooted dirt. Tango really wishes he brought his ender chest. The hole opens into a much better cave, except it is full of hostile mobs. Tango flees. He also did not bring a bow.

1:46:30 Tango predicts that he will die down here and it will be horrible. He updates his coords. He remembers that he forgot a totem of undying. He is surprised he hasn’t seen any water kittens. Chat informs him that they have seen some. A chatter helpfully tells him they look like pink lizards. Tango begin clearing out the hostile mobs to help the mob cap and increase his chances of survival.

1:51:00 Tango catches his first water kitten, a color that is hard to pin down but is probably pink. There is great rejoicing. Pearl is stream-sniping and cheers along in game chat. He catches a second one, a brown one, and asks chat if they should go for more. Chat says he should get more colors if he can.

1:55:00 Tango searches fruitlessly for several more minutes. Chat contemplates how nice it would be to have a bow. They suggest that Tango should collect small dripleaf. Tango says he doesn’t even know what that is. Chat says it is dripleaf that is small.

1:56:40 Tango finally hits the axolotl jackpot and finds a whole family group. He is very excited because one of them is pink. He catches a pink one, gets jump scared by a spider, then catches two yellows and another pink. The last yellow baby gives him a run for his money, but eventually gets bucketed. He celebrates his 39th place skills.

1:57:30 Time to go home, but how? Tango begins working his way out of the cave with gravel, sparing use of rockets, and digging straight up.

1:59:40 Tango reaches the surface and rejoices. He is right on the edge of Joe’s build. He pokes around the build, looking for a portal. Chat directs him to one and he gets to take a shortcut home. Back at the factory, he puts away the rooted dirt and other goodies he collected. Chat wants him to name the water kittens, but confesses that they will not despawn if not named. Chat convinces him to name them for fun. Tango is disappointed that there is no way to know the color while they are in the buckets. Chat is full of name ideas. He names the water kittens Swim Shady, Pumpkin, Hockey Puck, 39th Place, Water Smitten, and Swimpulse.

2:06:30 Tango releases the water kittens into the tank. Swimpulse is pink. He asks if they will jump out, then covers the hole to prevent it. He looks at the tank and is pleased. The tank looks good. Chat is very happy.

2:08:20 Tango hears a fart noise. He checks to see if Skizzleman is on the server. He is not, but Chat confirms they heard the fart. Tango begins searching for the farter. Scar drops down the elevator and says hello. He claims he had nothing to do with any backend exhaustion. He is the burper, not the farter. Tango suggests he must’ve burped on the wrong end. Scar says again that it wasn’t him, and that he came out to compliment Tango on his ask-a-lottles. Tango proudly shows off the tank. Scar offers to thin the herd if needed, but Tango says he’s going to grow the herd instead. Scar asks if it is possible to breed axolotls, and Tango explains yes, they do it by ripping Nemo to shreds. Scar thinks that is cool.

2:10:20 Scar and Tango have a conversation about connected and clean glass textures Scar has the same pack that Tango does. They both think that the stripes are just too white. Scar says it’s better now than it used to be, when glass was really terrible. He made his own texture pack back in the day that smoothed wool and wood, cleaned glass, and made mushrooms bigger. Scar suggests that maybe the tank needs a turtle or a dolphin, and says that he could help with that. Tango likes the idea of a turtle. He asks if Scar can deliver one. Scar says he can deliver anything, with a 50% chance of it being alive on delivery.

2:12:45 Scar is distracted from the turtle conversation when he catches a glimpse of the factory’s object-moving infrastructure. He is fascinated by the way that the blocks bob up and down “Willy Wonka style”. Tango admits that it’s just lag, probably because Doc’s on. Scar asks if Doc is still on a rampage about his stolen diamonds. Tango says he doesn’t know, but they agree that it’s pretty funny Doc is mad about stolen diamonds when he literally uses diamond ore for building blocks. They both hope that whoever the diamond bandit is, they keep going and take more. Tango implies that maybe Scar was the culprit all along, but Scar insists it was not him. He has to stay on Doc’s good side now because of his many crimes against the guy in Season 9. He remembers the tunnel bore disaster, where Grian banged and then he banged and there was a whole lot of banging and in the end he had to hide in a toilet.

2:15:10 Tango asks if Scar wants to do something dangerous. Scar immediately says yes. “Like really dangerous?” Tango presses. Scar nods. Tango tells Scar to follow him. He leads Scar over to the hole. Scar asks if this is where Decked Out 3 is. Tango confirms it totally is Decked Out 3. Scar looks down the hole and asks where it goes. Tango encourages him to drop down and Scar does, using his elytra for a soft fall down the two-wide hole. Tango follows, expecting Scar to have fallen into the void, but find him two blocks away in a two-deep hole in the bedrock. Tango tells him he missed. Scar gets himself out of the hole and immediately falls into another one. He climbs out, says “Jeez, there’s holes everywhere!” and instantly falls into the void hole. Tango cackles madly.

2:16:10 Tango freecams into the void and finds Scar rocketing around under the bedrock, calling for him and looking for the hole. Tango encourages him to “follow the sheep!” Scar makes several passes by the hole before managing to find it and shoot through it. Tango cheers and pops back into his body just in time for Scar to die of experiencing kinetic energy. Tango tries to figure out where Scar’s bits went. He uses freecam to search up to farm level, where he finds Skizzleman wandering around the edge of the hole. Chat informs him that Skizz (who is also streaming) has collected Scar’s things.

2:18:20 Tango flies up the shaft and finds some of Scar’s things at the top of the hole. He also finds Scar, who bounds over yelling “THIS IS A HELL-HOLE MURDER CHAMBER!” Tango compliments Scar on doing a great job getting out of the void. Apparently falling into the void resurrected all sorts of traumatic Season 8 memories of being thrown down the Boatem Hole. Skizz is nowhere to be seen at this point. Scar asks where the rest of his stuff is. Tango says he doesn’t know, but that he suspects there is someone else around here. Scar threatens to shove an askalottle in their face. He jumps back down to the hole and asks if he flew all the way up here, even as Skizz makes an appearance. He is wearing Scar’s hat and giggling.

2:19:10 Scar greets Skizz as “Skizzie-lizzie!” then asked Tango if he really flew all the way up that hole. Skizz thanks Scar, telling him that he has been streaming for seven seconds and he already has what might be the best blooper reel moment ever. He explains that he was sneaking up on Tango and happened to turn around just in time to see Scar for a tenth of a second before he exploded. Skizz returns Scar’s things to him, telling him that he made himself into a chest to collect Scar’s stuff for him. Scar, who is digging in his ender chest, suddenly realizes that he has found “The Flatulenster” who was making the fart noise earlier. Tango laughs. Scar confronts Skizz, who tells Scar to put his ender chest back on the ground and open it, then look for the “thank you” he owes Skizz. Tango points out that Skizz was not online when the fart occurred.

2:20:30 Scar thanks Skizz for saving his things and apologizes for fart-accusing him. Skizz doesn’t even know what Scar is talking about. Scar proceeds to tell Skizz the tragic tale of his visit to Tango where he just wanted to compliment some asskalottles and was accused of a fart he did not commit. Skizz commiserates, saying that the same thing happened the last time he streamed with Tango, and that he suspects it is Tango’s fault and/or imagination. Tango insists that his chat heard the fart too. ((The fart noise is audible on VOD review.)) Scar says they need Mrs. T to confirm that Tango is a fart-denyer.

2:21:50 Skizz is still wondering why Scar exploded. Tango explains it’s because he jumped down the hole. Scar leads Skizz over to the hole and encourages him to jump down, saying it’s fun. He tells Skizz that it is cool, and the reason that he died was because he came up too fast and had an accident. Skizz leans over the edge for a better look and Scar, in the least surprising act of Betrayal-By-Scar since The Lion King, kicks him down the hole. Skizz yells and begins attempting to rocket out of the hole with limited success. Scar insists he needs to go _down_ the hole, it’s super fun! Skizz manages to escape the hole and says no, because he doesn’t want to die. Tango and Scar assure him he won’t die (if he’s competent, Tango adds parenthetically.)

2:22:40 Resigned, Skizz asks if there’s a side he needs to jump down, then flings himself into the hole. He does a perfect full-send fall, right into the void, and falls out of the world. Tango shrieks in horrified delight. Scar calls down the hole that he feels bad now. In chat, False says “oof.” Tango demands to know why Skizz didn’t deploy his wings. “He would never have survived Boatem,” Scar observes dolefully.

2:23:10 Tango sees that Skizz is not in a group for chatting and opens in-game chat. “dude. for real. wings.” he types. “YOU HAVE THEM” Scar adds. Tango does not understand why Skizz did not just press space bar. False pipes up in in-game chat: “It’s Skizz, this is on you guys. :p” Tango says he can’t even feel guilty because he just doesn’t understand. Scar highlights a comment from Skizz’s chat about “40th place skills.” Impulse says that False is right. Skizz leaves the game, to howls from Scar and Tango. They decide that they will have to assemble a care basket for Skizz to help him replace all his lost bits. Skizz rejoins the game.

2:24:15 Tango and Scar leave the hole. Scar can’t believe that Decked Out 3 is down there somewhere. The pair begin digging through their things to find stuff for Skizz. Scar says he will give Skizz a special pair of wings. Tango asks if they will auto-deploy. Skizz reappears, naked but for an elytra, and tells them to gather round and shut up. He tells them that he is going to give them a list of what they owe him, and that it’s coming back. Tango, barely able to talk from laughing, asks if he owes Skizz a space bar. Cause if that’s broken, he will definitely get Skizz a new one. Skizz stutters, then screeches “SHUT UPPP!” Tango loses it. Skizz tells them that he fell into the void and rocketed upwards “like a beast” but it wasn’t happening because he was falling AT TERMINAL VELOCITY, JERK. He demands to know why that hole is there, it makes no sense! (“That’s what she said,” mutters Scar.)

2:25:50 Scar asks why Skizz didn’t use his space bar to deploy his elytra. Skizz protests that he did, and that the first time he left the hole they gave him a bunch of static about how he was supposed to go down the hole. He thought that the little black square at the bottom of the hole was carpet. By the time he realized he was in the void, he was too deep to rocket out. Tango presents Skizz with an elytra named “Spacebar” and tells him that might help him next time. Skizz sighs. He tells Scar and Tango that the bow he had on him was a top-shelf bow, his only good bow of the season, and it was a gift from Grian. He also says his axe was amazing and it’s gone. Scar, who has been yawning through this, tells Skizz to stop complaining and they’ll work it out. Tango tells Skzz they’ll make him a care package. Skizz tells them he ALSO had a briefcase of five thousand dollars. Scar tries to give Skizz the HotGuy bow, but Skizz can’t accept that, so Scar tells him he’ll make him a “Hot-something” bow. Tango begins working up some enchanted diamond armor with the armor and books he has in his storage. Skizz claims that he’s not even complaining, he’s just stating something that happened, and it’s that his friends were JERKS. Offscreen, Scar opens a shulker box and tells Skizz to grab a pickaxe. Skizz sounds a little intimidated as he asks Scar why he has so much awesome stuff. Scar says it’s because he is awesome. Tango creates “Boots of Speed Falling.”

2:28:15 Tango gives the boots to Skizz, who gets a pair of pickaxes from Scar as well. Skizz is starting to feel like he’s making out pretty well. Scar tells the story of the time he lost his shovel in the mail system and Tango replaced it with a vastly inferior shovel. Tango disputes the veracity of the story. Skizz wants to know when he gets his bow. Scar tells him he’s going to make it, and that it will be a HotGuy bow with a different name. Skizz assumes it’s going to be Spacebar again. He demands to know why Tango didn’t tell him what was down the hole. Tango points out that if he had, Skizz wouldn’t have jumped. He just assumed that Skizz would have plenty of time to react during the eight full seconds it takes to fall into the void with wings.

2:29:20 Skizz says he’s gonna do it again. Tango tells him he won’t remiburse him this time. Skizz says he knows, he’s going to use his unenchanted wings and make Tango hold the good ones. Tango offers him rockets. Skizz waffles a little about doing it. Tango encourages him. ((Scar is mostly still and silent during this period because he is mocking Skizz on Twitter.)) Skizz approaches the elevator drop shaft and worries he’s going to lose his wings here. Tango tells him to take his boots off, at least. Skizz says he’s going to take it all off. “I bet you are,” says Tango, kicking him down the drop shaft. Skizz screams “STOP IT!” as he falls. Tango follows him. He attempts to prank the shaft and kill Scar, but is a second too slow. Scar plays the Inside Joke horn.

2:30:50 Skizz goes to unequip himself and tries to get Scar to put down an ender chest. Scar eventually puts one down. Tango tells Skizz that the real challenge is to fly to Zed’s base through the void. He tells Skizz that Zed has a big hole and he just needs to head west. There will be a pink sheep to light the way. Skizz doesn’t realize that it’s possible to survive in the void long enough to fly anywhere, drawing derision from Void Veteran Tango. Scar says he gets it, Zed and Tango are setting up a hole-to-hole network the way that there is a crack-to-crack network in Magic Mountain. Tango confirms this is exactly correct. Scar complains that the crack network is all hype and no substance, he wants to join the hole network. Skizz suggests that Tango should go with him on the trip, but Tango says he needs to go to Zed’s and make sure his hole is ready to accept. The recapper is very upset. Chat is beside themselves.

2:32:30 Tango heads for Zed’s base while giving Skizz travel advice. Skizz needs to turn on hitboxes so he will see the sheep better and fly due west. Scar doesn’t know what Due means and demands and explanation. Tango confirms that the hole is very much open. Skizz cackles, and Tango says he really needs to watch Tango’s new episode. Skizz reiterates that he can’t believe they let him die. Scar points out that Skizz kinda let himself die. Skizz disagreed, saying he got himself out of the hole and they told him to get back in there. Tango tells him to get in the hole. He and the Chat experience the radio play version of Scar leading Skizz back to the hole into the void. Skizz asks if Scar will do it too. Scar yawns and says no, he has all his stuff on him, then says fine. Skizz is pleased. Tango freecams into the void to watch while Scar and Skizz prep for the jump.

2:34:45 Skizz announces that he is going. “I’m going. I’m Going. I’M GOOIIIINNNG!” he yells. He immediately dies by falling from a high place. Tango puts his face in his hand. Skizz declares that the thing is stupid. Scar declares that he is going and yells his way down the hole, ending with a disappointed groan. He has popped his totem. He dives into the hole anyway and quickly becomes visible to Tango, who attempts to guide him in. Scar heads for Tango and the safety of Zedaph’s base while treating him and the Chat to a barrage of perhaps the most atrocious phrasing in the history of accidental dirty talk. He escapes the void and immediately dies of kinetic energy again.

2:36:00 Skizz demands another pair of wings so he can get back to the hole again. Tango demands to know how many wings Skizz could possibly need. Scar asks Tango to collect up his bits because he has suddenly realized he needs to go. Tango collects Scar’s possessions where they are scattered across the bedrock. Skizz interrupts and demands attention to say that he demands somebody do something. Scar tells him the adults are talking. He asks Tango to pack up his wings and rockets for him and Tango confirms he has them. Skizz says this base is dumb and he hates it. Scar leaves. Skizz tells Tango he needs to collect his wings from the edge of the hole before they despawn. Tango heads back to his base to get the wings, arguing with Skizz the whole time.

2:37:40 Tango jumps down the hole, successfully deploying his elytra for a soft fall. The wings are not there. Skizz tells him to look harder. Tango freecams and looks around, but there are no wings. They argue about the wings for a few minutes, and then about the deployment of Skizz’s spacebar and how he possibly could’ve died if he was flying correctly. Skizz wants his wings so he can try again. Tango asks rhetorically what Skizz wants him to do as he begins to ascend the hole. Skizz says he wants Tango to catch him and jumps in the hole. He falls past Tango and dies from a high-place fall. Tango arrives at the top of the hole and sings a bar of “Strangers in the Night.” Skizz says “Whatever” and starts talking about how he was throwing dice in the alley. Tango has no idea what’s going on and asks Skizz if he’s been drinking. Skizz says no, and Tango suggests that maybe he should. Skizz tries to explain that he was channeling the United States of Whatever. Impulse drops down the elevator shaft.

2:40:10 Tango informs Skizz they have a guest, then moon lands at Impulse until he joins the group and says hello. Tango cheers that Impulse is back from the dead, though still kind of dead. Impulse sounds pretty rough, but says he came over because he found something. He asks where Skizz is, but Tango doesn’t know. Skizz killed himself to get back to his base quicker, but is on his way back. He comes down the drop chute, and Tango doesn’t have the heart to sabotage him. Impulse presents Skizz with an enchanted elytra. It is also called Spacebar. Tango is confused and asks Impulse if he found them, and how. Impulse said he was in the void and caught them. He is clearly lying. Tango says now Skizz has two spacebars, and he is probably going to need them with the way he flies. Skizz agrees, because he is probably going to spend one now on another attempt.

2:42:00 Skizz begins quizzing Tango on what he does to successfully jump down the hole. Tango’s answers are not entirely helpful, probably because Tango is so used to elytra flying that some things are muscle memory. Skizz challenges him to jump down the hole and not deploy the wings until he is in the void. Tango tries to push Tango down the hole again and Skizz yells at him that he is naughty. Tango refuses to take the challenge. Impulse admits that the wings he gave Skizz were a pair of Scar’s wings he found one day and kept. Skizz is okay with that. Tango asks Impulse how he’s doing. Impulse is still not feeling good. Skizz tells him there’s something down this hole over here that will help with that. His attempt to fool Impulse rapidly derails into a retelling of his own story of hole-related woe, and Impulse is not convinced.

2:44:20 Tango tells Impulse he named a water kitten after him. He opens up the aquarium and lets Impulse jump in to meet Swimpulse. Impulse is charmed and admits he thought it was going to be something rude. Impulse decides he will try to get through the hole-to-hole connection. Skizz is offended that Tango cares about Impulse being set up properly, when he just kicked Skizz down the hole. Impulse points out that Skizz should’ve known he was in for something, being as how this is Hermitcraft. Skizz, mimicking Tango, asks Impulse if he wants some soup. Impulse actually would like some soup. Tango notices Scar’s tweet and dissolves into laughter. Skizz and Impulse both laugh too. Tango goes and finds Impulse a bed. Skizz continues complaining.

2:47:45 Impulse sets his spawn. Tango directs him to the hole, and then he and Skizz head for Zedaph’s base. Skizz nearly falls into Zed’s hole. Impulse falls from a high place. He loses his elytra. Tango apologizes for his defective hole. Impulse falls out of the world. It was tactical.

2:51:40 Impulse tries again. He makes it down into the void and heads for Zed’s hole. He flies cleanly up into it and survives, then immediately says “I’m going back” and dives into the void. Tango follows him and immediately gets lost. He figures out where he is and somehow smashes himself into the space one block above the void. Skizz, who is too afraid to jump into the hole, demands an ender chest so he can put his wings away. Tango invites both of them to join the hole network.

2:53:00 Tango and Impulse have a conversation about hole architectural improvements while Skizz goes on in the background about all the cool stuff he has and doesn’t want to lose by jumping into the void. He asks where they are. Tango says they are at his hole. Skizz says they can’t be at his hole, he is at Tango’s hole, then realizes he is at Zed’s hole. Impulse tells him to get his holes right. Impulse does a clean free-fall from the top of Tango’s hole into the void and catches himself with a rocket. Impulse calls it exhilarating. Skizz finds a box to put his stuff in and prepares to jump again. Chat says this is why women live longer than men. Tango agrees. Skizz jumps in the hole. He realizes he is using exploding fireworks moments before he dies of being exploded.

2:57:00 Skizz respawns at his own base. He tells Tango he owes him more wings. Tango just laughs at him. Skizz realizes he stashed his gear in Zed’s fireworks box and accidentally picked up a stack of Zed’s fireworks instead of his own rockets. He tells the others that he has a problem because now he has to keep trying until he succeeds. Tango points out that he’s going to run out of wings fairly quickly at this rate. Skizz tells him to shut up, he has to believe. Tango asks what they can do to help. Skizz asks Impulse to get his stuff from Zed’s place, because he needs wings and rockets. Tango starts laughing all over again about the exploding fireworks thing. Tango asks if this means Skizz also dumped a whole stack of Zed’s (very expensive) custom fireworks down the void too. Skizz says of course it does.

2:59:20 Skizz decides to make another attempt at the hole. Tango and chat are just listening to the drama unfold at this point. Impulse jumps down the hole and flies over to Zed’s place through the void. His casual flexing at this point cannot be overstated. A chatter posts a clip of Skizz’s firework-enabled demise from Skizz’s POV. Tango watches it with great delight, treating chat to a reprise of Skizz’s screaming. He compliments Skizz on his amazing death and they discuss the thought process that goes through one’s head when one is flying in the void with half a heart left and nothing but exploding fireworks. Impulse arrives at Zed’s and finds Skizz to help him ready up for another attempt, notably by making sure he has flight rockets. Tango’s chat is empathizing with Skizz’s chat in the clip, who clearly knew that Skizz had taken the wrong fireworks and were trying to warn him.

3:00:30 Another attempt is made. Skizz was not ready, but successfully dives into the void. Tango watches the Void from freecam and encourages him to follow the dangling sheep. Skizz and Impulse successfully make the flight from Zed’s hole to Tango’s. Tango congratulates him, then says it’s actually fairly low-risk. Skizz asks if he’s maybe considered making it a bigger hole. Tango says he thinks the hole network should be everyone’s normal means of traveling. Skizz asks about the sheep on the lead, Tango describes the process of dangling a sheep in the void. Skizz realizes he left his stuff at Zed’s house. Tango encourages him to go back to Zed’s house the cool way, but Skizz is extremely reluctant. Tango jumps into the hole and goes to Zed’s house. Skizz and Impulse go the uncool way.

3:05:15 Impulse, Skizz and Tango look at Zed’s contraptions, playing with the elevator and the enchanting table game. Skizz asks how the enchanting game works, Imp and Tango explain very badly. Skizz plays with the game for a few minutes and realizes that the only reward is the ability to enchant one’s items. Tango asks Skizz if he needs anything replaces from his adventures, but Skizz says Tango and Scar fixed him up. They agree that it was a very funny adventure and Tango leaves. Impulse says he will stay behind to fix the enchanting game, which is now mysteriously broken.

3:09:30 Tango returns to the factory. He agrees with Chat that his face hurts from laughing so much. He summarizes the accomplishments of the day and tells Chat that the VOD will be uploaded soon. He reminds Chat that his new video is also up now. He thanks Chat and raids into Skizzleman, then ends his stream.

[oneatlatime]

The Journey to Ba Sing Se Part 2: The Drill

Could I have Appa back please?

The Previously On segment actually didn't spoil anything for once. Nice.

I do like these tank things. In fact I like all Fire Nation technology. Not what it's used for. But the designs are neat. And more interesting than most actual military tech. You ever look at something techy, and think to yourself 'there was an artist involved here,' because that's the impression FN tech gives me. It's not beautiful, but there's a pleasing toothiness to it.

Excellent sound design on the metal screechy moving bits. And is that tank escort really necessary?

I know this is a kids' cartoon, with characters that are designed to be the audience's age. I know! And usually I can suspend my disbelief and forget that I'm watching children do very adult jobs! But this caught me so off guard I laughed. The Fire Nation's big secret project to break through the wall once and for all, that would be an absolute career making achievement for whoever is in charge, and they've given it to a bunch of teenage girls. This is where my suspension of disbelief stops.

Can you imagine the meeting where this was proposed? The Fire Lord being like "Who can lead the attack on Ba Sing Se? We lost Zhao at the North Pole, does whoever it is who occupies his equivalent rank in the Army want the job? Or even Zhao's second in command perhaps? Or how about: three middle school girls, two of which aren't even members of the military? Doesn't that sound like a good plan?" And of course all his advisors have to agree and be like "that sounds like an excellent plan your lordship; did you have any particular girls in mind or should we go scout out the local Claire's?" because the last guy who disagreed with him got his face blown off. I don't care how viciously talented Azula and friends are; a country that puts eighth graders in charge of invasion plans should have lost the war in year one, not still be winning it in year 99.

Did that random commander guy just smack Ty Lee in the face?

Problem the first of this plan: unless the Fire Nation has invented pocket dimensions or bags of holding, there is no way that that drill, even stuffed full of soldiers, would hold enough people to take a city that seemingly contains every single refugee in the entire Earth Kingdom.

Do you think those refugees got preferential treatment for arriving on an Avatar powered elevator?

"I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge." OWN IT BABY!!!

That's one hell of an irrigation system they must have.

"He was quickly expunged." Was he? I got the impression he quit. Of his own accord.

Something tells me like forty guys throwing rocks won't stop that thing.

So... what was Mai doing that whole fight? Hanging decoratively off a rope?

I'd forgotten how stupid Earth Kingdom generals were. Luckily Sokka is there to vicariously express my opinion of them. A reverse beat up Sokka quota fulfillment!

Toph is such a little shit and I love her.

Aang sure does put up with a lot sometimes. Part of being the Avatar. It's a good thing he has such patience. Can we talk about how lucky the world is that Aang is the one tasked with putting up with nonsense like this? Imagine if Sokka or Toph were the Avatar. There would be casualties.

I like complaining too buddy. Nice to see Sokka's worth being recognised. Now can we do that outside of a life or death situation too please?

I joke about Zuko's dumbass behaviour, but let's be honest, it's inherited.

Jet. Fuckboy. You do not make it easy to even slightly like you. Guy is missing the point as much as Zuko usually does. Going straight MEANS leaving the freedom fighters behind. It doesn't mean reforming them somewhere else. And what Fire Nation threat are you going to find in Ba Sing Se for your Freedom Fighters to fight? You know, if this idiot was actually serious about fighting for Freedom rather than blowing stuff up for fun, he'd fudge his age and enlist in the Earth Kingdom Army.

Four points: How does Katara know Ty Lee's name? Is this confirmation that waterbending healing cannot remove a Chi block? I love that the trait that gives away Ty Lee's identity is the fact that she cartwheeled away. I love Sokka. Just in general.

There is no way this girl is not tripping.

Can you imagine how loud standing right next to that drill must be?

ABS

Normally I'd say that one earthbender trying to slow the drill down with spikes will work even worse than the Terra Team who tried and failed with like 40, but this is Toph we're talking about. It could work.

These children are so polite when they're committing industrial sabotage. Truly, they were raised well.

Do you ever get the feeling that whoever is in charge of designing Fire Nation armour is into a few things that he's trying to repress so hard that they're coming out in all the wrong places?

Jet seems to have lost all the manipulative abilities he had in his episode. Suddenly he's very bad at reading body language and keeps saying the exact opposite of what he should.

New achievement unlocked! 1000% agreeing with something Zuko said! That was a pretty stupid move.

Cups made out of leaves are neat.

Katara, you can't have it both ways. You can't look to Sokka to make the plan, then get snippy when the plan correctly plays to all of your strengths. He physically CAN'T bend. Either you come up with a better plan yourself, or you do as the guy you appointed planner suggests.

Points in favour of allowing Katara to murder people, exhibit 1.

Confirmed: Sokka is catnip for girls.

Even in comparison to the others, Ty Lee has a bad case of cartoon physics.

Did Katara just disarm herself? That'll come back to bite her in 3, 2, 1...

Mai gets a second personality trait! Yay!

There is no way this is actually practical armour. This is someone in procurement with a thing for sweaty bulging muscles and puppy masks.

And thus, the log ride was born. Later versions would go on to perfect the concept by introducing a log.

I felt Sokka's mud freakout in my bones. Looks like Katara giving away her water isn't going to be a problem.

Petition to let Katara say bitch. The voice actress said Circus Freak but I know what I heard in my heart.

Remember that time Sokka smacked his forehead so many times that his face was permanently red? My turn now.

Aang. I know you love your friends. But maybe a battle on top of a moving machine of destruction in the midst of an aerial assault from your idiotic allies while facing off with the single most powerful and amoral firebender in existence, isn't a place to bring your pet lemur?

Beat up Sokka quota fulfilled by little sister. It's surprising that isn't the case more often. I know Sokka took it too far, but if you don't want him telling you what to do, maybe you shouldn't have looked to him for a plan?

Toph is here! Day saved.

Finally some sense re: Momo safety.

Time for the Western showdown. There's even something that could stand in for a water tower in the background.

If Azula had just struck at Aang the second he got knocked unconscious, rather than waiting until he woke up for dramatic purposes, she would have won this. I give Zuko Hell for being a theatre kid, but he's not the only one in the family.

I would love to know what they make Fire Nation boot soles out of. They have supernatural traction.

I take back everything I said about pet safety. That was a really cool Momo assist.

Aang invents the pneumatic hammer.

I LOVE that the cut braces had an effect after all. Sokka's contribution counts!

I bet this guy's wishing he'd been eaten by a giant fishman like Zhao right about now. Have fun explaining that one to the Firelord!

HOW is Ty Lee still alive?

HOW does Azula still have knees after that drop?

HOW does Mai have such perfect timing?

ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN

They really ought to put wheels on all but the back car to reduce friction and save energy. Then again, if the Earth Kingdom is one thing, it's stupid.

So... Jet's change of heart lasted a bit less than one episode. Good job fuckboy!

So precious.

So Pretty.

Final Thoughts

This was like 90% action, with the other 10% being split between Zuko & Iroh plot stuff and Sokka playing comic relief. So there's not that much to talk about here really (she says, having found a whole post's worth of stuff to talk about).

Sokka had his bossy pants on, admittedly because he was asked to don them. Aang got to do some proper Avataring. Katara and Toph got to exercise their bending muscles. I'm not surprised that Toph was absent for much of the middle of the episode, because - let's be honest - given the right tools, Toph would have finished the Drill in one move. And then they'd be out of episode.

Actually, Mai got to have a personality beyond Too Bored To Live this episode. This is probably the most personality I've seen out of her so far. She's much more expressive when she's with just Ty Lee, rather than Ty Lee and Azula.

And Zuko! Had! Common! Sense! Iroh had to be a dumbass for Zuko to shine, but Zuko was, once again, the most reasonable character in his little B plot. For future reference: If you want to make Zuko reasonable, all you have to do is nerf his uncle and juxtapose him with a terrorist.

I loathe Jet. Always have, probably always will. But I'm still disappointed in him. His 'turning over a new leaf' - if it was sincere at all - lasted like 10 on-screen minutes. I feel sorry for Smellerbee and Longshot. I don't think their faith in their glorious leader is going to be repaid. He seems to brush off Smellerbee's opinions.

The strangest thing this episode was how few lines Azula had. I guess maybe they were using silence to try to show how calculating and collected she is compared to others, but honestly my first thought was that the voice actress had something going on. A cold? A previous engagement? It felt really weird to hear her speak so little, since previous episodes have shown she's not averse to gloating and dramatic monologues. She didn't even have much in the way of facial expressions.

I think the winners this episode were Mai, who got to have a personality; Zuko, who got a turn with the brain cell; and Aang, who got to work out pretty much all the bending he knows so far and successfully Avatar.

I did notice with some of the shots of Aang moving the big boulders the idiots were chucking down, that there was a kind of fuzziness to the air between Aang and what he was moving. Was I seeing the actual bending energy (Chi I guess) moving?

[orchideous-nox]

what kind of books/movies do you see everyone reading/watching???

I love yapping about books and films, anon, how did you know?

Okay AHHHHHHH so many thoughts. I'm going to include modern films though

Remus - I think he loves Lord of the Rings (both the films and the books) and some Greek Mythology classics like The Odyssey and The Iliad

Sirius - Boy doesn't read. What's a book? Films though, I think he likes a good action film. Maybe something like Bullet Train with some comedy in there, or like John Wicke and he spends who whole time like "Keanu looks so good in a suit, don't you think?" and stares until you agree.

James - James says that he likes films like Blade Runner, but when he's home alone he's watching Krrish. I could see him being into Star War too. In terms of books, I think he prefers non-fiction or maybe like a sci-fi book, idk too much about those.

Peter - As a kid, he was reading Goosebumps like there was no tomorrow and loved the Swiss Family Robinson. I think he'd also like Star Wars with James and maybe Indiana Jones. I could see him enjoying Stand By Me and The Goonies as well, he's be really into classic 80s movies.

Lily - Anne of Green Gables all the way. I think she got called Pippi Longstocking when she was younger and has refused to have anything to do with it since. Lily would love the tv show Anne with an E. I think she likes watching the LotR films with Remus because she loves the women but would complain that they don't have enough to do. She's also a lover of Wuthering Heights, I feel. And The Princess Bride.

Mary - OUR ROMCOM QUEEEENNN!!! Her favourites are Clueless, The Notebook, The Proposal and whenever she watches Love Actually she gets irrationally angry at Harry before he's even done anything to hurt Karen, it's just a vibe. She reads those smutty romance books with the cartoon covers, but also loves Janes Austen like Emma and Pride and Prejudice. She's also into Eve Babitz and Joan Didion I feel.

Marlene - She reads a lot of biographies and autobiographies. One time someone caught them reading Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and they hated all men for two weeks, even James who she was normally friends with. I think films...I want to say Bend it Like Beckham but that feels so obvious. She can also recite a lot of The Devil Wears Prada but that's their girlfriend's fault. Marlene could probably be a horror film buff? That seems kinda fun.

Dorcas - Like I just mentioned, The Devil Wears Prada. I think she also likes period romances like the 2005 Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. She'll also watched Bend it Like Beckham...and there is absolutely no link between those three films that would explain why she likes them. In terms of books, I think she would enjoy some Stephen King, her and Marlene have a joint love for The Shining and Carrie.

Pandora - I've been thinking about this and I think Pandora would be a big fan of Guillermo Del Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth. Maybe also The Dark Crystal? In terms of books, I think she let Marlene borrow her copy The Bloody Chamber but she also likes Maya Angelou.

Regulus - Motherfucker is so pretentious. He is reading Russian novels and glares at anyone who calls him out for it. I think if Regulus watching films, he's watching very deep and thoughtful films, ones that either aren't particularly popular but are good for discussion. I couldn't name one though so 🙃

Barty - No.

Evan - I think he could be into horror novels or like psychological thrillers. The first one that came to mind was I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid, but I think he could fuck with The Picture of Dorian Gray which doesn't fit the same vibe but it makes since to me I think. Also medical journals and books about the human body. I've said previously that I think Evan would really like films like Martyrs and The Idiots and I stand by that. Maybe also Un Chien Andalou.

Xenophilius - I mentioned earlier in this post that I think Xeno fucks with folk stories so that's what he'd be reading. Maybe like a classic dystopian such as 1984? I am struggling with films though, I genuinely have no idea.

[t00thpasteface]

Glad to see someone who appreciates Adam West's Batman, its one my all time favorite Batman's besides the "Brave and the Bold" and it has the best Joker.

as with most things, you can blame my mom's influence. she's ALL about the campy comedy and she's been bugging me to watch the show for YEARS!! it's kind of a btas situation for me where i've seen countless random snippets and scenes and memes but rarely if ever have i sat down and watched it On TV, On Purpose. my dorky uncle also loves it and he's liked a lot of the same nerd stuff as me since before it was cool.

but i've loved every bit i've seen and now i'm kind of in that state of "i really want to watch full eps of this show but i can't until i'm actually sitting down to watch it with that person who really wants to watch it With Me" :P i'm sure you've been there...

still, it definitely colored the shows i actually watched, so the cultural osmosis is real. basically every cartoon i loved as a kid had some incredibly campy over-the-top batman spoof at some point or another (mermaid man and barnacle boy, radioactive man and fallout boy, ultra lord, catman, the list goes on) and even some actual adam west guest star episodes (like fairly oddparents and the simpsons) so like. that's what i've associated batman with from day one. even the things that aren't about batman still do pastiches of 60s batman. i guess that's what happens when you grow up in the 00s, aka the 60s revival, when everything was peace signs and miniskirts.

plus i've gotten a taste for dorky 60s and 70s tv since being in quarantine with no cable or streaming services, with star trek tos being an obvious fave, but i'm also insane about starsky and hutch. may as well throw another one on the pile (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

[littlestpersimmon]

I just discovered your art and you have *such* a uniquely gorgeous style! It's so soft and so vivid at the same time that looking at it feels like wandering into a childhood daydream. I'll absolutely be keeping an eye on your future commission slots - take care! <3

thank you! it really means a lot to me. I like "living in the past", or like, I always try to draw these distant memories I have of sitting near dad while he played a bunch of tabletops with his friends and making my own version of all the stuff they did. There was a lot of dark fantasy and warhammer, but my first real and vivid memory was when my dad took me to see the two towers at the cinemas- I just remember thinking about lord of the rings over and over.. Eventually watched Bakshi's cartoons and read all the books. When we were homeless, my mom gifted me a copy of Beren and Luthien and for the longest time, that book was the only possession I've ever had.

And I guess looking back on it, everything from my childhood seem so much brighter and more. Saturated. And drawing is the only gateway I can make back to those memories and stories. And the only way I can truly connect with people.

Here's my childhood copy of the hobbit!

[delyth88]

Random late night thoughts on falling into a fandom.

I'm not really the sort of person who gets excited about a lot of different shows and characters. I mean I enjoy them, but I don't fall in love with them often. I joined Tumblr in 2017 because I saw Thor Ragnarok and then caught up on the MCU and fell in love with Loki. And that's been pretty much it till now.

I'm as old as Tom Hiddleston, so when I was a fan of the Lord of the Rings there wasn't a fandom culture like this online, and Tumblr wasn't around till 2006 even if I had known about it. So without the ability to interact with other people about the movies I loved, they eventually receded in my consciousness.

With Loki and the MCU I found other people who loved him as much as I did and wanted to talk about it! And I discovered fan fiction. So much awesomeness! And there were a lot of excellent stories that really got inside his head and fleshed out the movies and the issues he was dealing with. It meant that I remained fascinated for years. I still am.

I also discovered Tom Hiddleston was a charming and decent man and cared about this character I'd come to love and was actually interested in talking about him - so naturally I devoured all the interviews I could find. I’m not generally one for following actors – it’s a bit of a gamble as to whether they’ll be a jerk or not, so I’m pretty cautious.

Over that time I've watch most of the blogs I know move on to other things, and new people discover how awesome Loki is. But I've never found another character that's captured my imagination quite like Loki. And I've kinda wondered what the magic combination was.

Now I think I've figured out a couple of things in the last few weeks.

I started a rewatch of the X-Men movies, and as it turned out about half of them were not a rewatch but watching them for the first time. (I'm still mildly angry at myself for missing them when they came out - it would have been fun to be in the fandom at that time.) I watched them most evenings I had free and sometimes parts of a movie over multiple nights.  And I think this is one of the things that hooks me into a universe and really makes me care for the characters. 

It was a similar thing for me with the MCU.  There was a lot of canon material already out there by the time I came to it, which meant I was able to immerse myself in the world over several months, and with everything relating to everything else it really helped create that feeling of a real world where these people really exist and the stakes and their relationships with each other are real. It also meant that I got to see Loki grow and change over several movies and several year (sadly not always for the better imo), but again I think this helped with the illusion of real people.

And I think inadvertently I’ve done the same thing with X-Men. I came into it with familiarity from the cartoon as a kid and the original movies, so I was already disposed to like them.  I very much enjoyed the Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart era, but I still didn’t fall down the rabbit hole until part way through Days of Future Past.  I hadn’t seen First Class before, and that was a very pleasant surprise.  I had no expectations and they were far enough removed in age from the previous films that I didn’t find myself comparing them too much. First Class had so much heart! Lots of heart-warming moments getting to know the characters, and some that pulled at the heartstrings too.  I saw that in one sitting.  If I’d watched that over multiple, I may have been hooked earlier. 

I found myself initially enjoying the whole world and how all the characters fit together after First Class.  I was also a little surprised and unsure about this portrayal of Charles Xavier.  He’s always been a favourite character from the Patrick Stewart era, but just in a “I slightly prefer you over the others” kinda way. I suppose that did lead me to pay particular attention to the younger version of Charles. But this new version had an unexpected charm. Now usually I run a mile from characters that are cocky and too self-assured, which objectively Charles is here, but for some reason everything else about him and the film led me to liking his attitude and his heart.

By partway through Days of Future Past, which I watched over multiple evenings, I was actively looking forward to getting home at the end of the day to see more of this character.  And for a brief few days while I finished off the movies I think my hind brain was treating this like looking forward to seeing a real person. Which I found kinda fascinating, and since it doesn’t happen often I paid a bit more attention to this process.

The final nail in the coffin for me was Charles’ aching “You abandoned me!” on the plane. At this point I was 100% rooting for this character and following the next two movies from his point of view.  I was really impressed with how consistent his character seemed to be throughout the first three films of that timeline. After following Loki for so many years I know what inconsistent character personalities can do. :/ It should go without saying therefore that Dark Phoenix didn’t really do it for me.

So I think my recipe for falling in love with characters boils down to three things:

Have a decent amount of material to watch, and watch it in quick succession.

Have a character with strong bonds to others and who has scenes where they’re emotionally vulnerable. Obviously it helps if they’re a good actor.

Have consistent character writing, and believable, compelling, motivations.

And bonus point 4: Have a community to talk about them with.

Oddly, I’d put off watching the X-Men films as late as I could, because I felt I didn’t really have as much headspace and time to give them as I thought they deserved. And I’d half thought I might fall for Magneto, given Loki was my favourite character. They have a lot of similarities – both have had to endure terrible pain and loneliness in their lives, and have been the outcast for one reason or another. They’re both characters whose allegiance changes. The sympathetic villain with a persuasive motivation. They’re both powerful manipulators of the world around them, and of course there’s a very broad similarity in looks (i.e. tall white guy with dark hair).

But no. It was the shorter, less conventionally attractive character, who was the steadfastly ‘good’ one of the pair that stole my heart. The one that could have been really quite boring in contract to Erik.  But I think it was how in so many scenes I feel like I could just see this man’s heart laid bare.  He really tried, and kept trying, to help his friends, and believed in them and the rest of mankind. You could just see the light within him. I initially viewed them as a pair similar to Thor and Loki, but I’ve never found Thor such an engaging character even though he has a similar function and some similar traits.

My brain has decided this is now my blorbo and has dedicated a larger than reasonable section of my mental CPU to him for the meantime. It’s almost like a real crush on a real person. Which is such a strange thing, when you think about it.  Or it just shows there’s a threshold where your brain goes, okay we have enough data points now, we can start caring for these people. It reminds me why I felt like I did for the weeks after Infinity War.  As far as my brain is concerned this is someone I genuinely care about.

It makes me a little sad for people I know who don’t care for stories in this way - books, movies, or television. It’s a joyful, if sometimes inconveniently scheduled, thing to fall in love with people in the tales we tell each other.