#Rad as heck kids

[delcat177]

Me, who volunteered at a science museum of a different volunteer-shirt color, choked with nostalgia over a pop-out cardboard kit of a similarly consistent success rate:

[mikeysagereblog]

⊗ superhero cartoons to watch when little!!! (or big, they're that good imo!!) ⊗

✧.* i've been wanting to make this list for a while now, mainly because i wanna talk about my fav cartoons/open up opportunities for other littles to find something awesome to watch!!! there's gonna be a lot of ranges in age ratings to add some variety for older/younger littles :)

✧.* also, i'd like to put a disclaimer here and say that a lot of these are on streaming services that i own, but other littles may not. i would also like to say that there are ways to get around a paywall if you can't afford certain streaming services!!! you can find full episodes on youtube/other sites for free!!! (just use an adblocker if you're on a site other than youtube if u can!!)

✧.* another disclaimer: any regressor of any age can watch any of these shows!! i just wanted to put the age ratings for those who want to stick to media that's more in their age range!! so, don't feel like you have to limit yourself from watching certain shows just because of how old you regress to!!

✧.* spectacular spider-man (2008-2009, 2 seasons): suitable for 7-8+, but i'd say it'd be okay for littles who regress younger to watch, too!! honestly, my all-time favorite spider-man cartoon!!! not only is it fun to watch while little, you can truly appreciate the show when you're big, too!!! josh keaton's voicework as spider-man is just- ahhhh it's so amazing imo!! the story is really good, the animation/style is just so iconic, and the colors are very easy on the eyes!!! (especially if you're sensitive to bright colors when little/in general) absolute banger of a theme song, too!!!

✧.* x-men: the animated series (1992-1997, 5 seasons): rated for around 7-8+, but i do admit that there can be some scary scenes for especially younger/more sensitive littles. honestly, this show is great!!! i loved all the different story arcs, how colorful the show is, the characters themselves- a lot of cool stuff about this show!!! be warned, there's a sudden drop in quality during season 5... i think they switched animation studios/va's or something because season 5 is NOT the best season of the show, i'll tell you that... 0_0

✧.* x-men '97 (2024-present, 1 season so far): rated for 14+, so this show is more suitable for teen regressors. it's a continuation of x-men:tas, and oh man... this is it. my favorite cartoon of all time!!! the animation is just oh so beautiful!!! the fight scenes are awesome!!! the soundtrack- oh golly the soundtrack!!! the remastered x-men:tas opening is just- wow!!! but, there's definitely reasons why it's rated 14+... not gonna spoil anything, but there's a lot of scenes in the show that can be upsetting for younger littles. trust me, watching some scenes when you're little is just- too much sometimes... (speaking from experience) it's an amazing show, but watch at ur own risk if you're a younger regressor!!!

✧.* batman: the animated series (1992-1995, 4 seasons): i'd say it's for around ages 9-10+, since it can be fairly dark at times. (same goes for a lot of batman related media!!) honestly, this show's pretty good!!! the style of the show is very dark visually, so it's easy on the eyes for those with bright color sensitivities!!! the artstyle itself is also very nice to look at!!! the voicework is amazing as well, especially kevin conroy's (rip) performance as batman himself!!! from what i can remember, the plotpoints were also pretty on-par!! i remember liking the show a lot when i was a kid!! :)

✧.* hulk vs. wolverine (not a show but an animated movie, 2009): this one's rated pg-13, since there's depictions of violence. but, i gotta say- this movie had me hyped up when i watched it as a kid!!! this was part of a straight to video two-movie collection, (the other being "hulk vs. thor") and i gotta say... this movie was awesome!!! the fight scenes were rad as heck, the animation was amazing, even deadpool was in the movie!!! (which, fun fact, was his first appearance in animation!!! other than the 2 second cameo in x-men:tas) very fun movie!!!

✧.* these are just some recommendations!!! i really liked these when i was a kid, and i hope you'll like them too, if you decide to watch them!!!

✧.* (also yay!! finally have a new banner!!! + i updated my blog's theme because nightcrawler is so awesome and he's literally my cg guys!!! he said it himself :3)

[melikedraw]

Hello!

First of all, I love your blog!!! Ahhh also your drawings are so cute I can't-<333

Secondly, how do you think would some of your favorite Kengan characters (maybe with Raian if it's possible) react with a partner who wears only Goth or Alternate clothing?

Ahh this would be so amazing, have a nice day<333

Various kengan men x goth! reader

Ft. Raian, Gaolang, Saw Paing

No gender specified 👍

~~~~~

Waoo thank you 🫶🫶

I chose to focus on goth fits i hope you don't mind 🫠

~~~~~

Raian:

- he's not one to care about your clothes, and honestly, if you're decked out in stuff, it just means more clothes for him to rip off of you, which irritates him a bit

- he would never say anything against it though, if you're happy, he's happy

- loves dark colors, especially blacks, so he quite likes your gothic outfits

- your makeup on the other hand pisses him off

- be for real here, he loves how it looks, you're his badass bitch, but it stains, and he hates that

- also would not let you put it on him, he hates the feeling of stuff on his face, at most eyeliner but any more and he will tweak out

- if you kiss him and leave black lipstick marks on his face he will try to rub them off, but it always ends up leaving a blot of smudged black

- even worse when you rest your head on his chest/ shoulder, because that shit does NOT come off his clothes easy

- note that he likes to touch your face a lot, so some of those stains on himself are his own fault

- other than that though, he finds it's really hot and thinks you're cool as fuck, though he'll never admit it

Gaolang:

- probably found it kind of scary at first, like seeing you in the dark, decked out in gothic attire made his heart stop at least once

- he does get used to it, very slowly though

- buys makeup/accessories/clothing for you!!! (He's loaded, just let him do this)

- supports you with a burning passion, despite not really getting it at all

- he finds the contrast between you outside (decked out in goth clothing) and you at home very jarring, and kind of cute

- definitely watches you put on your makeup, and even let's you put it on him, if you request it

- no photos though (that's a lie, he's a huge softie for you, do whatever you want)

- he's a very patient man, so take all the time in the world to get ready, heck, he'll even help you choose between outfits, he just likes being included in whatever brings you joy

- probably has a sewing kit and makeup on his person at all times in case you need a little touch up

Saw paing:

- "WOOOOAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" -him, probably

- gushes about you all the time, tells you how badass you look in that, how awesome he finds you, stuff like that

- dress him up, put makeup on him, he LOVES it, all matchy matchy with his boo (you)

- he thinks it looks really rad and your outfits were probably what got his attention on you in the first place

- he will keep accidentally licking off his lipstick though, sigh...

- his kisses are HELLA sloppy so he'd accidentally licking off your lipstick too

Y/n: *touching up their makeup*

Random: you look like a mess, what happened?

Y/n: you should see the other guy *points at saw paing who's tongue is completely black*

- when he first met you, he thought you were possessed, probably brought you to mokichi for an exorcism

- once you explain that it's a fashion choice, it finally clicks in his head

- keeps a rosary (borrowed from mokichi) on his person, just in case though (he's kidding, he just finds it funny)

[budbuddnbuddy]

Little obey me headcanons pt 7

A/n: It’s been a while since I came on with one of these babies huh? Well I’m here with a new one now back and better then ever! Enjoy!!!

The Little D’s have transformation powers nothing extremely powerful, they can only really turn into objects or small animals, perfect for sneaking around as that is what they were made for.

With this information in mind, Barbatos was the one to send a bunch of the Little D’s off into different parts of the human world to gain information for candidates, using their disguises as objects and animals to spy on various humans of various different backgrounds….totally not illegal.

While Lucifer and Satan are different looking at first glance they do look a lot alike in the face, the same nose, shape of the eye, the way their brows bend and curve with each and every expression they make, you get the deal.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about Mammon smoking, but after seeing a lot of art and reading drabbles with it, I really warmed up to the thought of it. Don’t get me wrong, it was definitely because of peer pressure and he’s not good at it at all. He just does it to put up his “Nonchalant Bad boy” persona. loser

Yes. There are infact Cliques in RAD, popular demons, Nerds, Jocks, Delinquents, Normies, Gamers, Loners, Social floaters, etc. You get the deal, it’s painfully obvious too. You see it all in the cafeteria like in a stereotypical 2004 highschool movie and yes you are the new kid.

I have a feeling that MC would put Luke onto human world cartoons. Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob, Adventure Time. You get the deal, but I think his personal favorites would be Gravity Falls and Adventure Time. He gives off the vibe that he likes shows with deeper meanings other than your daily life lessons. Ya know?

Also same thing with video games, I have a feeling that he’ll take a real good liking to Minecraft and Undertale. (He’ll fall in love with the sound tracks.)

All Demons have sharp teeth yes however Gluttony demons tend to have longer canines and just sharper and stronger teeth in general. This is how Beel is able to bite and eat all the things that he does, other demons can’t really do that.

It is true that Diavolo had your D.D.D altered so that it would be able to work in the human world when MC left, yes. HOWEVER, MC accidentally left the charger for it in their room in the Devildom so like after 2 days it died. It was mailed back to you after like a week but…I think you can imagine how that week went for the brothers…

“Why the heck ain’t MC returning any of my calls or texts?! It’s been a whole week!”

“lmafo, maybe they finally realized how annoying you are.”

“Shaddup!!”

“As much as I hate to agree with the idiot of all people, it is a tad bit concerning…they don’t usually go longer than a few hours returning a text…”

“Maybe they’re busy?”

“Yeah, Beel’s right…they have a life too ya know. They’re probably catching up on work.”

“Everyone!!! Look what I found!”

“…Is that, their charger?”

“Yeah! I found it in their room! It was still plugged on the side of their bed. Our human can be so forgetful sometimes. <3”

“Waitaminute! The heck ‘ere ya donin’ in there room anyways!”

“Yeah! The hell is up with that? Last time I checked I don’t remember MC’s last words to us being: ‘Asmodeus can come into my room anytime!’ So don’t think you get free reign!”

“Oh don’t act like you two any better.! Mammon, I’ve seen you digging around their closet! You too Leviathan!”

“!!!” “!!!”

“Well at least we found it, now hand it to me so I can mail it to them.”

“No way, I wanna mail it!”

“Nuh uh no way you’ll probably sell it, I’m gonna mail it to them!”

“Hello??? Are you guys forgetting I’m the one who found it? It only makes sense for me to send it to them!”

“I wanna send it to MC too.”

“Me too.”

“That’s enough. All of you.”

With Lucifer being the only one out of the seven to actually know where you live he ends up sending it to you in the mail. Along with some cash to spoil you for the next month of course. Lol.

There are royal guards on school grounds at RAD, though they mainly stay and guard the outside to make sure no intruders get in. If you aren’t wearing a uniform then you can’t come in!

Don’t let any of the brothers come with you to any sort of medical appointment you may have in the future. One cheeky joke from your doctor and they might be killed.

“Well MC your knee seems to be badly infected.”

“What will need to done doctor?”

“We might just have to cut off your whole leg.”

“……”

“Haha! Just kidding! We’ll clean ya up and have you bandaged and sent home in less than 15 minutes. It’s not that bad, don’t be so serious!”

MC’s just like “haha…yeah.” while patting their slightly growling demons leg in a “He didn’t mean it, he didn’t mean it.” fashion. As he’s literally determining the best way to kill the doctor you had for the past 4 years, Sorry doc.

[delcat177]

As a legal adult, I just realized something

I have volunteered off and on at this interactive kids' science museum, which is a consistent blast as a volunteer--seriously, if you have the opportunity to try it, do it, no other volunteer work I know of involves as many lizards and setting things on fire. Not the lizards. RIP Euclid, you are still my sunshine, precious crestie boye <3

The point is, I learned something very early on. We were having some recurrent, non-urgent but mildly headachey issue with patrons...something something, I cannot for the life of me remember what it was--the nature of a museum being interactive, being made of hands-on science exhibits that are meant to be explored organically, especially by kids, means that a lot of time is spent just circling the place picking up things that have ended in the wrong place and putting them back. It's not at all a big deal, it's actually pretty zen, and it shows what exhibits are the most popular, which in turn helps staff develop what kids want to learn about.

However, some exhibits are naturally more prone to this. It varied a lot when I was there, we did our best to keep new stuff coming in, and some attempts at having something in a space worked better than others. Anything with paper had to be regularly patrolled for scraps, for example, and every time we had slime it was expected we'd be Windexing the lizard enclosures a lot. Simple, sensical stuff.

So I can't remember what it was, maybe someone putting coats on the lightning ball, or leaving lunches in the wrong area, or, most likely, that some vital parts of a traveling exhibit kept winding up in the wrong area. It might have been a safety issue, I do recall being scared to death when kids would take a running leap off the stairs onto concrete, "WALKING FEET TALKING VOICES" was a Mantra.

But I was thinking about it, and I brought it up to my supervisor (or whatever his official title was, we were basically all just nerds in green t-shirts)--what if we put up a sign? What if we put up a sign reading "Please don't X in Y", just plain simple text to inform people we didn't want the X in the Y?

He smiled and he laughed, not in a mean way, but in an experienced way, like the one teacher I liked from the fundie school did, and like my favorite college teachers did (everyone there was rad, we were as aforementioned nerds in green t-shirts). And he told me something that I have physically, clinically observed to be scientific fact in multiple locations over multiple years in multiple permutations:

"As soon as you put a sign up, something amazing happens. The writing becomes invisible."

He was right. I've seen this everywhere from museums to McDonald's. I'm *guilty* of this. I'm like everyone, I have stood within Target, searched fruitlessly for minutes on end for something, finally asked an employee, and been pointed thirty degrees and two inches to my left. I've had so many bathrooms pointed out to me, and pointed out so many bathrooms, and for some reason, despite this being so universal, *we're always embarrassed when we ask*. This is because we don't know the scientific law:

As soon as you put a sign up, something amazing happens. The writing becomes invisible.

And it's because we aren't as good at reading them as any of us want to think. Not because people are bad or lazy or morally wrong, but because we forget how amazing it is at all that we managed to turn from a pack of apes scratching BANANA HERE on a wall into a billion-billion people, all of us with our own unique banana hieroglyphics, because to paraphrase Pratchett, if we didn't have the capability to turn this off, we would just stand around with an expression of awe, muttering "wow" to ourselves, and nothing would ever get done.

We aren't *good* at signs. We aren't *good* at legal contracts, that's why we have lawyers.

So the problem becomes an either-or:

Either we need to get better at how to keep X out of Y, or we need to get better at signs becoming amazingly cosmetic.

The more innate problem is that no one has any ideas how to solve either.

Or at least

*I* sure as hell don't, or I'd be way too busy for yelling into hellsite void

I just saw post saying that Ao3 has """""no age checks""""" and all I want to say is THE BUTTON THAT YOU CLICK TO SAY THAT YOU ARE OKAY WITH VIEWING ADULT CONTENT IS THE AGE CHECK.

by clicking that button you are consenting to view adult content and saying that you are of the age where you can legally view it.

IT'S NOT SOME COSMETIC THING

IT IS A LEGAL DISCLAIMER

[smiley-star]

Heya! I loved the fic you wrote! If you have time, can you please write a Lee!Donnie fic? No pressure or anything! I know that good stories take time to write.

(⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠) So I kinda disappeared for like over a month-- well I'm back!!!! It's a Christmas miracle, obviously!!!! (Life comes at you fast :,3) ANYWAY! I had this idea and remembered it fit your request, hope you like it!!! ✨✨💙🫶🫶

As always!🫶 T-cest DNI! That is DISGUSTING. GET OUT.

Teamwork makes the dream work! Or at least the Shelldon go away

Trying to rewrite Shelldon's AI while horribly sleep deprived and a bit confused was maybe not Donnie’s best idea…but at least Leo is here to help him out now, right!?

Who is he kidding? They're screwed.

Lee: Donnie💜 and Leo💙

Ler: Shelldon💜🐢

“Stop moving so much, Shelldon!” Donnie scolded with a yawn, holding the robot down again as he scrolled through lines and lines of code.

“Sorry, brah, what's this for again?” Shelldon asked with an impatient sigh.

“I noticed you seem upset when you can't be tickled like the rest of the dumb-dumbs,” Donnie yawned, “So I'm making it so you can be,”

“Oh,” Shelldon blinked, “Cool, dude! Totally rad to be more like the others!”

“Yes,” Donnie said tiredly, clicking a line and changing the script in it, going down and changing things to work while Shelldon whined and complained.

“How much longer!” Shelldon whined, looking close to flying off.

“Just this last bit, annnnd, done,” Donnie sighed, pressing enter and closing out, “Well?”

“Thanks dude!” Shelldon cheered, flying in the air in a circle and grinning in his little robot turtle way.

“Yes I am incredibly genius and talented,” Donnie said, waving him off, “Now I have work to- EEP!”

He jumped a mile as one of Shelldon's robotic hands appeared from his shell, reaching out to poke Donnie in the side.

“Shelldon? What the heck!?” Donnie scolded, moving away with a huff.

“I dunno dude, this is totes weird!” Shelldon exclaimed, even he looked confused, “I just feel like I gotta tickle you!”

“Huh?” Donnie looked confused, tired eyes staring at Shelldon, “Wait? Did I reverse the purpose of the script!?”

“I dunno dude,” Shelldon said, a mischievous smirk forming on his face as he inched closer to Donnie.

“Shelldon. Don't you dare. I will ground you for the rest of your life!” Donnie said threateningly, slowly backing away and nearly giggling as he did.

“Well dude, y'know what they say,” Shelldon said, smirking evilly, “Cowabummer.”

With that he darted forward, quickly scooping Donnie's wrists in the metal tendrils that came from his shell.

“Shehehelldon!” Donnie giggled, kicking at the robot best he could, “Don't you eeheven think-!”

Before he could make any giggly threats, robotic hands shot out and started kneading into his ribs.

Donnie shrieked, squirming about and giggling as he did, kicking at Shelldon was grinning down at him in the air.

“SheHEHEllDOHOn!” Donnie cackled, “AHA-! StAHAhaAP!”

“Nah, I'm good bro,” Shelldon teased with a mean grin, sending a hand down to tickle at Donnie's underarms, forcing his laughter up an octave.

“SHEHEHELLDON!” Donnie cackled, squirming as his eyes were squeezed shut, “PLEHEHEEASE! STAHAHAP!”

“YOHOHOUR’E SOHO GROUNDEHEHEHEHAHAHA!” Donnie screamed, thrashing violently as hand mercilessly scratched at his underarms and the ones on his ribs switched to his hips, “AHAHA! NOHOHO!”

“Yehehes,” Shelldon mocked with a grin, nearly giggling himself. He never got to see Donnie laugh so much cause of him! It was amazing! Not to mention it was making him feel so calm and warm and fuzzy!

“HAHAHAHA!” Donnie cackled as he squirming, face red as he laughed and thrashed.

There was a quiet humming sound, making Shelldon slow his tickle assault slightly, leaving Donnie giggling but not loudly cackling like before.

“Hey hermano,” Leo's voice rang out, a faint blue light disappearing, “I somehow locked myself outta my phone and-”

He rounded the pile of stuff blocking his view, taking in the sight. He blinked, taking a small step back, “Uh, got places to be, bye!”

Leo turned to run, but yelped as metal circled his ankle and yanked him back, another bit yanking his sword away, “NO-!”

“Dee, what is happening!?” Leo exclaimed as Shelldon grabbed his arms with a metal tendril, holding his arms above his head like Donnie’s were.

“Shelldon has apparently gone mad with tickle power,” Donnie said through residual giggles.

“What!?” Leo screeched, turning to Shelldon, “Don't do this dude! I'll let you race in the lair for however long you want.”

“Sorry, ‘uncle’ Leo,” Shelldon said evilly, “But I like this more than racing!”

Leo squealed with laughter as a hand met his side, “WAHAHIT!”

“SHEHELDOHOHON! DOHOHN'T STAHAHART AGAIN!” Donnie squealed as a hand met his tummy.

“Is your tummy ticklish too, Leo?” Shelldon teased, a hand moving there and skittering it's fingers.

Leo screeched, kicking his legs and thrashing, “DAHAHANIE! HEHEHELP ME-HAHAHAHA!”

“I CAHAHAN’T!” Donnie screeched as Shelldon tickled his tummy mercilessly, “SHELLDON! STAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEEASE!”

“MAHAHAKE HIM STAHAHAP- NAHAHAT THERE!” Leo screeched as a hand clamped on his thigh and lightly squeezed, making him throw his head back in hysterics as he screeched.

“SHEHELL- AHAHAHAHAHA!” Donnie cackled, squirming violently, as Shelldon only cooed and started tickling at his tummy more, “NOHOHO MOHOORE!”

“HOW DOHO WE MAHAKE HIM- AHAHAHA STAHAP!?” Leo squealed, kicking at Shelldon, who narrowly dodged.

The twins eyes met, and they knew they had a plan. Well, sorta.

Right as they both reared back to kick, Shelldon squeezed Leo's thigh and sent him doubling over with a screechy cackle. And then he started skittering fingers along the crooks of Donnie's neck, making him throw his head back with a loud snort that burst into bubbly cackles.

“NO- SNRK, NOHOW NAHAHARDO!” Donnie screeched, kicking at Shelldon as Leo did the same.

They managed to hit the robot, he spun out and forced him to let go, allowing the two to slump to the floor in a flurry of giggles from the phantom sensation.

“Yohou, are soho dead,” Donnie threatened in a flurry of giggles as Shelldon shot off to hide.

Got some more asks to answer, so those should be out soon!!! 🫶🫶💙💙💙💙🫶🫶💙💙🫶🫶✨✨✨

[selkra-souza]

So my main hype for the upcoming Inside Out sequel is the introduction of new emotions, and my main prediction for it is that the new emotions will be characters that appear via fusion of two or more of the preexisting five emotion characters. This is because of three reasons:

The original film already establishes that adults continue having the same five emotions as kids Riley’s age, so that means introducing new emotion characters in adolescent Riley would contradict the lore of the original movie. One could propose the idea of the new emotion characters being temporary, but this would contradict the theme of the original movie, the whole point of that film is that the potential to feel any emotion is always present, you can’t suppress them, you certainly can’t kick them out of HQ, and they most definitely aren’t temporary. Like I get adolescence is an emotional roller coaster of a ride, but subsequent adulthood doesn’t mean you stop experiencing certain emotions, they just become more easily manageable (ideally). This is where the idea of fusion comes in, you get to keep the same five core emotions, while keeping the new emotions ever present because fusion could happen at any time. It’s a win win.

I am a Steven Universe enjoyer.

There’s an emotional theory that suggests that base emotions can be combined to form more complex emotions. It’s a model proposed by psychologist Robert Plutchik, and visualized with a color wheel showing many various combinations of two or three emotions called dyads and triads. Of course, not every base emotion on this model exists as a character in the original movie. This model doesn’t have to be followed exactly, just enough to service the plot. Bam, now there’s a scientific reason for fusion. Calling the fusions dyads and triads would be rad as heck in my opinion.

Like I’m so sure this is what’s going to happen in the sequel that I’m in danger of being upset if it doesn’t, because how else are they going to go about this without retconning the original? I’ve seen Toy Story 4 I’ve witnessed first hand how bad Pixar can butcher their franchises.

[kidlit-queen-competition]

Round 2 poll 11: Amelia Bedelia vs Alanna of Trebond from Song of the Lioness

Propaganda under the cut:

Amelia Bedelia:

The whole series is about her taking figures of speech literally. Relatable because she shows the English language is confusing as fu-

she's very silly, and her books were among my favorites as a kid. her whole deal is that she takes metaphors very literally, which results in lots of shenanigans when someone asks her to do something. i still think about her "dusting the furniture" (covering it with dust) and "drawing the drapes" (drawing a picture of them on a piece of paper) when i clean anything.

queen of literal interpretation!

She's just a silly goofy type

absent-minded/processing issues queen

Well meaning and kind hearted but bumbling maid who’s made generations of kids laugh with her literalist antics

Alanna:

Absolute badass. First female Knight in all of Tortall. The books are all about her challenges with growing up disguising her gender, romance, duty, heroism, and finding your place in the world -- and struggling to accept when it isn't the one you'd expected. In later series by Tamora Pierce you get to see her as a mother, too, which is rad as heck. Totally inspiring character to me as a kid, and one of the first fantasy book/series I remembered reading with a girl protagonist.

[blazehedgehog]

JUSTICE FOR SONIC THE FIGHTERS

Warms my heart to know I actually played a Sonic Championship cabinet as a kid despite the fact they were apparently extremely rare. Whoever that dude was that had his machines in the Wal-mart lobby in Colorado, you were rad. I mean, heck, that's where I played Virtua Fighter 3 the year it came out in arcades. Whoever that person was, they knew what was up.

Anyway, I'm working my way through this video now and it's everything I've always wanted. I've had a soft spot for Sonic the Fighters basically since playing that arcade cabinet and it's always deeply upset me how hard it's been maligned over the years. So many traditional FGC people I've spoken to were always so confused, afraid, and upset by the game. I carry a special chip on my shoulder when GiantBomb played it for Ranking of Fighters and one of their judges tore the game to ribbons.

And, you know, playing this game for 20 years basically exclusively against the CPU makes you wonder: maybe it's just really bad in proper competitive play? But damn, dude, I was having so much fun.

Seeing the competitive scene in this video, hearing them talk about the finer points of the game balance and how it turned into an evolving meta, seeing this game loved and appreciated, it validates so much about how I've felt for so long in the face of the endless "lol bad sonic game" dog pile.

[therummesoccupied]

FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #4 - THOUGHTS

I know! I'm very late! I'm sorry!

It's just... I can't think of a ton to say about this one that I didn't already say about the other three.

The writing is good, there are lots of neat character moments, art is stretchy and fun with plenty of visual inspiration from the games... yeah, it's cool!

Some specific points I'd like to note, though...

I do really love this scene where Fang just straight-up yoinks the Heavy Shinobi's katana and KO's him with it. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't normally think SEGA would allow, since we haven't really seen any character use a sword in canon since Black Knight (if Black Knight is even canon, for that matter).

Perhaps its the anime kid in me, but that was rad as hell.

I've seen a few folks complain about this moment - namely after Fang's proclamation that "Nobody takes what's mine" back in Issue 2, but... I dunno, I think it's fine.

Firstly, the situations are not equivalent. This isn't really a case of somebody "taking" Bark from him as much as him choosing to leave Bark behind.

Secondly, a big part of this comic's story has been the growing strain on the Hooligans' relationship as the story has gone on. His feelings about the other two have certainly changed since then.

Thirdly, I think he pretty clearly... doesn't mean it?? Like, all it takes is Bean looking at him funny and he decides to go help Bark out.

I dunno, this does not seem like a huge deal to me.

I also really like the fight between Bark and the Heavy King.

With the detail they add to Bark accruing damage over the course of their brawl and the little bits of lighting and shadow they add to him, they manage to make Bark look... kinda badass?

Like, I get he was always meant to be a cool fighty guy, but he's also always had that Silly Classic Sonic verneer over him that keeps him from seeming too... I dunno, COOL!

I'm just glad they even went the length to add this little bit of visual intensity.

Speaking of Bean and Bark, though, I must regretfully acknowledge that what I predicted did ultimately come to pass...

The Hooligans have broken up.

(Also I keep seeing Sonic YouTubers refer to them as the "Hoodlums?" That's... not their name? Whatever, it's just weird.)

Anyway, I actually really enjoy this move. It's not often in IDW we get to have a tale end in tragedy, so it's nice to see the conclusion here be so bitter. These are three characters we've been used to seeing together for YEARS, even before IDW Sonic began, and now, they're no more.

Maybe they'll have a heartwarming reunion someday, but thus far, this split has even carried over into the games, as we've seen in Sonic Superstars.

Speaking of Superstars...

That's how our comic ends - with Fang setting off for Northstar Island to begin the plot of Sonic Superstars!

In the time since this issue came out, I've learned this move was fairly controversial, but I dunno, I found it neat! This is the first time I can think of that we've had the plot of IDW play directly into a specific game!

They haven't firmly established if or when stuff like Team Sonic Racing or Sonic Frontiers happens within the comic yet (my personal headcanon is that neither have occured up to this point) so it's cool to see the IDW story so clearly connect itself to the games this way.

It's also neat to see IDW's Classic Era link itself to the Modern Era with Fang ending up in possession of the Warp Topaz, which of course, we will later see appear in the hands of Dr. Starline. I already did my big rant about how much I LOVE the Warp Topaz being here and how it has firmly gotten me onboard the Unified Timeline now, but it's still a very cool note to end on.

It does leave me asking a few questions, though?

Firstly, if Fang has the Warp Topaz at the beginning of Superstars' plot... why doesn't he... use it? I can't think of a single time he teleports or warps around in that game. Heck, his ace in the hole is a big mech of himself that doesn't appear to do anything of the sort.

Then... how does it end up in the cave where Starline finds it? Was there some form of confrontation between Starline and Fang we'll never get to see?

And wouldn't that be SICK??

As weird as the choice to end the story with Fang in possession of the Warp Topaz was, I'm pretty happy with how this miniseries came out! I really hope that, in the future, we get more arcs like this centered around specific members of the games cast.

I like the IDW cast just fine, but... c'mon. You KNOW that's not who we're picking up the comic to see.

The book tells me everything I need to know about them just by the way it puts them in the story.

The reason I love arcs like this and Scrapnik Island is because they take the characters I'm already familiar with from my time with the games - Fang and Mecha Sonic - and tells me things I didn't know about them, puts them in situations I've never seen them in before. Takes stuff I know from the games and EXPANDS upon it!

All in all, this is up there with Scrapnik Island and Chao Races & Badnik Bases as my favorite arcs in the series.

With Fang in the rear view, we head back to the Modern era for the Phantom Riders arc, the first issue of which is already out, and I hope to talk about it before the next one is released this time.

Thanks for reading!

[ask-the-kh-crew]

Ventus and Lea.. Who won the rematch?

Lea: "The kid put up a good fight, for sure! Even tried to do that fancy Icy Slider move without Aqua's help, but my fire melted the ice away before it could hit me. I practically beat him with my raging flames afterwards."

Ventus: "Yeah, right! I still hit you with some really powerful commands Terra taught me recently (also, what do you mean 'kid'? I'm pretty sure we're almost the same age)!"

Lea: "And you think that's enough to take old Axel out? I'll have you know I died and came back many times, but no one axes Axel!"

Ventus: "The real way the fight ended was that he threw his chakras at me at the same time I threw my Keyblade at him, and it caused this AWESOME explosion!"

Lea: "It was pretty rad, but it was so big we got caught by 'responsible adults'."

Ventus: "Aqua wasn't too happy with us: She scolded Lea to hell- I mean, HECK and back."

Lea: "Sometimes I can't help but feel like I'm on thin ice with that woman, but I have no idea why... Oh by the way, Ventus, wanna set things on fire with me, Roxas and Xion later?"

Ventus: "Ooh, you betcha! Oh and thanks for the ask! I like your profile picture!"

[frodo-with-glasses]

Discord Highlights: Theodoc "Trotter" Brandybuck

From a discussion on 4/28/23

Windmill to the Stars:

I've heard vague references to a letter Tolkien wrote to a fan (not included in the volume of the Letters) in which he told her that Merry named at least one son "Periadoc." I kind of like it, especially if the "Per" part is related to "Peregrin" or "Periannath"! What do y'all think? Does this go with the other headcanons we came up with about Merry's kids?

InvisibleWashboard:

I can see it! May steal it and replace one of the other son’s names I have in my one-shot about all his babies!

Me:

Merry and Perry 👀

InvisibleWashboard:

It’s maybe a little too cutesy with the rhyming but I kind of like it, not gonna lie.

Windmill to the Stars:

And Pippin's son Ferry

Me:

THE TRIFECTA IS COMPLETE

meg is me:

It's all -erry

Me:

Always has been

meg is me:

You know what must be done now

Me:

It is done

Windmill to the Stars:

Suddenly imagining the next generation in the Shire with Perry and Ferry and the Master of Buckland and the Thain (and idk if Frodo Gardner follows his dad in becoming the mayor of Hobbiton.)

Me:

Okay wait: Is Periadoc Merry’s first son, or is Theodoc?? This is very important to me

Kasey Gondor:

twins

InvisibleWashboard:

Theodoc is for sure the oldest, at least in my head.

Writing Valkyrie:

Theodoc born first by several minutes

Me:

I LOVE THIS TWINS HECK YEAH Poor Estella, her first pregnancy and it's twins LOL 🤣

Windmill to the Stars:

Technically she could have older daughters but yeah I think we said before his sons were first

InvisibleWashboard:

I've always imagined he had a set of twins, but it was the last two kids he had. Estella was like, "We've had a bunch of boys, let me try and give you your Eowyn. One more!" Then it ends up being twins, but they don't know. A boy is born first, and they're like, "Yay, another kid, but this is kind of a bummer because we REALLY wanted a girl." And then, BOOM. Surprise daughter! And Merry is just over the moon

Me:

ACK THAT'S SO CUTE

Windmill to the Stars:

How many sons total does Merry have now??

Me:

Yes X-D

Windmill to the Stars:

I mean he's not gonna beat Sam probably but still

Me:

He has yes amount of sons

Writing Valkyrie:

All of his sons are his.

Me:

This is true! Accurate statement!

InvisibleWashboard:

I have 6 sons, one daughter in my one-shot that I've written. A boatload of kids, but not a cruise ship like the Gamgee's.

Me:

cruise ship 🤣🤣

Writing Valkyrie:

He needs it. They'd sink a boat.

meg is me:

Which of Pippin or Merry's kids (her honorary cousins) do you headcanon Elanor is closest to?

[There was much discussion in response to this question, but I'm cutting most of it for the sake of time lol]

Windmill to the Stars:

Depending on how old Periadoc and Theodoc are they could be closer to Elanor

Theodoc seems like he should be a bit adventurous And Elanor as well, so maybe they bond over that

Elanor moving into the Tower Hills with her husband but they always welcome her favorite cousin Theodoc who brings them gifts from his adventures

Theodoc is borderline a Knight Errant

Theodoc rides horses and boats with equal ease, he has his own nickname in Bree

meg is me:

What is it

Windmill to the Stars:

. . . Good question

meg is me:

and can he ride barrels

InvisibleWashboard:

Yes, this is the important question.

Windmill to the Stars:

Of course he can!

meg is me:

Yisss

Writing Valkyrie:

He teaches little Bilbo how

Me:

Bilbo Jr. WOULD take up boating just to give his poor mother a heart attack

Windmill to the Stars:

Amendment: he has like 5 nicknames in Bree Theodoc becomes actual Trotter

Me:

Minus the wooden feet, I hope??

Windmill to the Stars:

Oooh yes, definitely! 😬

Me:

I mean…it wouldn’t be so bad if Theodoc was born disabled and still had an adventurous spirit. Kinda rad, actually.

Windmill to the Stars:

Ahhh that's true! New hc

[Bonus]

Windmill to the Stars:

I'm getting way carried away with this, Theodoc wasn't my idea

Me:

Theodoc is OUR idea Communism

Kasey Gondor:

Windmill to the Stars is @windmilltothestars, InvisibleWashboard is @invisiblewashboard, Writing Valkyrie is @writingvalkyrie, Kasey Gondor is @captaingondor, and meg is me does not have tumblr :-3

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - #20 April 1996

Greetings and various apropos felicitations. Once again it’s time for another issue of Nick Mag Highlights! Today we’ll be heading back to the 90’s and taking a trip through issue #20. Ready to see if this “Mega Movie Issue'' is really as mega as it says? Then let’s get on with the show!

Man, that cover is a blast from the past for me, and it might just be the same for some of you. I haven't seen the film adaptation of James and The Giant Peach ever since I was a kid. I forget how I even first experienced it, since I couldn’t have seen it in theaters and I never owned a physical copy. I think a babysitter put it on for me once. 

Whatever the case, despite the time it's been I can still envision a smattering of visuals and emotions from the experience. So it must’ve been good if it’s managed to still stick with me positively all these years later. I guess a grade-a art style and memorable visuals will do that for a film. So as shallow as these behind-the-scenes “previews” tend to be when it comes to Nick Magazine, I’m still excited to go down memory lane and hopefully gleam one or two cool bits of trivia. 

Beyond my nostalgia bias though I’ve gotta say I’m surprised by the lack of promises this cover is making. A preview of James and The Giant Peach and a “Special Flip Book” is all you’ve got to wow the proverbial audience here, Nick? Even issue #1 promised more content on its cover to grab your attention if Ren & Stimpy weren’t enough for you. Let’s hope 20 issues in they weren’t starting to struggle for content.

You can read along too, if that’s what you wanna do. The issue’s right here.

Alright, go ahead and roll your eyes, but I’ve got a thing or two to say about this Cheetos ad. Or rather, “Chee●tos”, as it's called here and would be titled as such until Frito-Lays dropped the hyphen from the name in 1998. Not the worst name change, if I’m being honest.

First off, let’s just bask in the moment for a second. This is a wacky snack from the 90’s, even a “spinoff snack”, if you will, of a still very popular snack brand… that hasn’t been brought back to capitalize on nostalgia! 

Yes, Cheesy Checkers have yet to return to shelves since their discontinuation in ‘98. Suffice to say, I’m stunned. In a world where Ecto-Cooler returned from the grave, Trix Yogurt is still readily available, Boo Berry, Count Chocula and all those other monster-themed cereals manifest themselves every Halloween, and the McRib seems to come back whenever the heck it feels like, Cheetos Cheesy Checkers of all things is barred from re-entry into the mainstream to take advantage of your sorely missed childhood. 

Guess they really just weren’t popular enough? You can’t capitalize on nostalgia if there’s no nostalgia to capitalize on, after all. And yet it seems like a foolproof idea for a snack if you ask me. Waffles and waffle fries have already proven that checkerboard patterns are naturally delicious. And on top of that it even had a rad commercial featuring an awesome Chester Cheetah puppet. What’s not to like? I guess 33% more cheese is crossing the line of “Dangerously Cheesy” into something more like… “Hazardously Cheesy”.

Oh, and by the way. I may have never had a bag of Cheesy Checkers, but I sincerely doubt the snack pieces were that big. You really want me to believe one checker is nearly 1/3rd the size of this magazine page? They don’t even look that big in the commercial.

Just like the cover said, this is indeed a movie-themed issue. And I’ve got good news regarding this: I actually know about movies! Well, I like movies, anyway. Okay, I know more about movies than I do about music, which should mean my dissection of the content at hand will be a little more thoughtful than my retrospective of the music-based issue from last time. Hopefully, anyway.

Can’t help but feel these jokes are trying a little too hard. I guess when you’ve got to come up with twenty and base them all off of movies and TV shows, it can’t be easy. It probably doesn’t help either that there’s only like, three or four good puns in the whole world to begin with.

Anyway, look. Bugs Bunny in Nickelodeon Magazine. Woah.

Well, it’s a little less surprising for those, ahem, in the know. 

Nickelodeon actually aired Looney Tunes shorts for more than ten years, from 1988 to 1999. Once Warner Bros. established their new kids’ entertainment channel, Cartoon Network, they were pretty quick to take back their old school cartoons to bolster their numbers a bit. Although even following the departure of the classic Looney Tunes, Nickelodeon would go on to license other Warner Bros. content for their channel in the following years, airing shows such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures in the early 2000s.

Oh, how convenient! Now I can prove my film expertise by trouncing this quiz and- 

Hey! Some kid already answered two of the questions. Well now there’s no point in doing the quiz now. Its sanctity has been compromised.

But yeah, this book’s been written in just a bit. Sorry if that bothers you, but it’s not like I can clean the pages off. I do kinda wish the scan was totally clean just for the sake of archival purposes, but as long as the marks stay minor I’m not too picky. If anything I guess it helps make things a little more interesting. Kinda adds to the whole “time capsule” aspect of it, doesn’t it?

Shouldn’t be an issue so long as it’s not-

Ah, criminy! The kid got me again! Now this is stepping over the line. Answering a quiz question or two is one thing, but completely solving the hidden pictures puzzle promoting the home video release of Babe? That sours my mood. I don’t even feel like watching Babe now.

This a neat activity: a screenplay for two kids to act out and potentially film like a home movie. It actually caught me off guard with its originality, and in hindsight it seems like a no-brainer. Kids love to play pretend after all, and I know I certainly loved shooting little movies with my family’s cheap digital camera. Well, here kids, we came up with the story for you. Go nuts. Not to mention it's a good excuse to whip up a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Here’s a nifty fun fact for you: The writer of this screenplay activity, David Lewman, has basically been on Nickelodeon’s speed dial since the 90’s. He’s written tons of Nickelodeon tie-in books, spanning a bunch of different franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron, Rugrats, among many others. If you’ve read a SpongeBob book before, I say look him up. There’s a good chance you were reading something of his. 

Kind of nice of them to make a whole game out of their adspace, eh? I mean, I’m guessing the amount of people who played isn’t particularly high, but… uh… The art is cool!

Speaking of the art, you never see these mascots in 2D anymore. Which I find unfortunate because I think they look a lot cuter and tolerable here.  

Also wow, you can see the orange and brown candies before their designs were finalized. Or before their transitions, either or. Very proud of them regardless!

Pretty awesome article here about some of the gimmicks that filmmakers tried out during the black-and-white days of cinema. Love a bit of history alongside my Nickelodeon.

While we’re here, I’d like to contribute my own similar black-and-white movie gimmick factoid that I find amusing:

In 1961, a film called Mr. Sardonicus featured a gimmick called the “Punishment Poll”, where each audience member was given a card to decide the fate of the titular villain, Mr. Sardonicus, by either showing the side of their card with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on it right before the end of the film. Once the total was tallied, the theater was supposed to show the ending with the most votes.

The funny part is that the movie only has one ending. The gimmick was just a total lie and the only ending filmed was the one with the negative outcome for Mr. Sardonicus, so I guess the director was pretty confident that potential audiences would mostly be comprised of sadists that want to see a bad guy get his comeuppance. 

Speaking of the director, Mr. Sardonicus just so happened to be directed by a mister William Castle, who also directed four out of the six films listed in the magazine article here. Guess those gimmicks really were good for profits.

Imagine watching a whole movie while sitting in a pool. Now stop imagining! I don’t like that very much. Your eyelids would prune shut before you could even see the ending. 

Man, all these movie gimmicks and funky types of theaters is making me wish I was around when movies were more of an event. Y’know? The movie theater experience has pretty much been ironed out at this point, so the idea of watching the big screen outside or with the looming possibility of a big plastic skeleton popping out and waving around is particularly alluring. Take note, modern movie theaters, this may be your way of competing with streaming!

What? No, it doesn’t bother me at all that whoever owned this magazine already filled out this Sanrio quiz advertisement. Why would I be ENRAGED and UPSET about that!?!? IT'S NOT EVEN A BIG DEAL!!

… Anyway this ad is weird. I guess they didn't know how to market Sanrio in the west yet*. Cause I'm not exactly the most familiar but I'm pretty confident blaring red and yellow colors and funky multicolor Wow! text isn't exactly befitting of the Sanrio spirit. Also there's not really any point to the quiz. It's not like you can mail in your answers and get a free Hello Kitty lunchbox or something. I guess they just figured that kids love quizzes and will always jump at the opportunity to do them, circling the correct responses in permanent pen ink, and causing them to not consider the possibility that someoNE MIGHT WANT TO READ THE MAGAZINE AD AFTER THEM AND WOULD WANT IT MAINTAINED IN PEAK CLEANLINESS FOR THE SAKE OF THE SANCTITY OF THEIR ONLINE BLOG i must calm myself.

*Which is weird to me, because Hello Kitty feels like one of those characters who’s always been popular. Like Mickey Mouse or Steven Spielburg.

Don’t mind me, just gonna insert this contest page here so that if I ever do the issue that contains the actual responses, I can link back to here and go full circle. Pretty excited to someday see the responses! I wonder what they could be. I also wonder why you had to include a phone number with your response. Maybe Tommy Pickles congratulated you on the phone? 

Okay, so I think this issue might be missing pages. I can’t prove that exactly, considering I don’t have the real thing sitting in front of me, but the way this ad has text that’s oddly cut off on the right side leads me to believe this was a two page spread originally. Maybe not, maybe the magazine was really like this and it's a printing error, maybe they spilled juice on the design document for page two and couldn’t fix it in time for publishing. 

Whatever the case, I really wish I had that Aaahh!!! Real Monsters hat.

A rather understated cover for this edition of The Comic Book, and I can appreciate it. Simple and effective bit of zaniness with a spin on the old “fake-can-with-a-scary-thing-that-pops-out-when-you-open-it” gag. This comes to us from award-winning illustrator Jim Woodring, who’s got probably one of the nicest websites of any artist I’ve mentioned on this blog so far, so kudos. I took a look through his gallery, and it’s a lovely trip, so go take a look if you want some eye candy.

Been a while since we’ve last seen the Southern Fried Fugitives on this blog, one of Nick Magazine’s earliest recurring comic series. Unfortunately they’re not exactly in top form here, I’d say, even as someone who’s not the biggest fan of the comic to begin with. This is essentially a bit of filler so they could make their deadline and finish up the next “all new real adventure” that this episode tells you of at the end. I mean, I get it, this comic usually spanned a full three or four pages, I’m sure they took quite a bit of time. I just don’t really appreciate being shown a gross naked stitched up chicken. 

A great hidden picture puzzle here, I could see kids having a lot of fun with this one and just looking through all the art. I guess my only issue would be that none of the answers are exactly hidden, since almost every figure in the page is related to one of the film titles below. But that’s a small nitpick considering that for just one activity of a much larger publication, it’s still pretty entertaining and eye-catching.

And here we’ve got ourselves what the powers at be call Smudgy and Scribbly. A comic about two inventive robots that I thought were supposed to be pencil erasers at first considering their names. I’m not sure if these abstract little guys ever had more than one or a couple of comics, but I know they didn’t stick around forever, since this is the first time I’m hearing of them. They’re cute! They’re fun! They don’t have a lot of personality per se, but that’s okay, because they eat fruit cocktails. And that’s a lesson for the kids.

I’ve been really impressed with this issue so far! They’ve really been making the most of the movie theme, what with aforementioned stuff like the quality movie gimmick article and the nice hidden picture puzzle. And to top it all off now we’ve even got an interview with Siskel & Ebert, two of the most famous film critics of all time. I’m not even sure how many kids at the time would appreciate this sort of thing, but whoever did must’ve been pretty happy. Said interview was conducted about three years before Siskel’s incredibly unfortunate passing, and three years after being parodied in an episode of Doug.

Anyway, yeah the interview questions are really silly, but that’s pretty par for the course by now. I just think it’s just cool they’re even in an issue of Nickelodeon Magazine at all.

Talking about the calendar included with each issue has become a bit of a tradition for this blog by now, hasn’t it? Although I’m sure I probably forgot to mention it one time. Overall this one’s not bad, it’s chock-full of facts and the little set-up & punchline at the Charlie Chaplin section is a ‘lil funny. And I think it’s sort of themed around artisans, maybe? Well worth being pinned on your bedroom door if you ask me, the only problem is that you’d also be ripping out a page of the Siskel & Ebert interview that’s printed on the back of this. At least the kid who wrote all over the magazine showed some restraint there.

Oh come on… I spoke too soon about showing restraint. The kid ripped out the flip book! What a trick… now I’ll never know what it looks like. At least we have the instructions here, which also could be doubly used for instructions on how to make your own flipbook by following the format, which is cool. Sorry for anyone who clicked on this post because you wanted to see the flipbook specifically. Sorry to you.

Moving past a five page article about the history of movies and movie effects (which is solid but doesn’t have much for me to say about), we now come across the cover story: James and the Giant Peach. And this is an alright interview, but it’s especially good  for Nickelodeon Magazine! The questions for the film’s director, Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, among others), actually allow for some pretty nice informative detail regarding the process of stop-motion animation and how aspects of it work. For an interview intended for kids, this is great, especially for ones with an interest in the medium.

Interviews, interviews, and more interviews! If you’ve ever wanted to learn all that you could ever want to know Kenan & Kel, these are the pages for you. It’s nice to hear that apparently these guys were good friends off set, I guess. But y’know it’s never really bothered me finding out that seemingly inseparable co-stars actually aren’t best friends in real life like it does for a lot of people, I can still watch MythBusters perfectly fine even if I know Adam and Jamie aren’t going to go get drinks together after they finish dropping a car off a mountain for science. Acting’s still a job and I’m not expecting people to become friends just because they both stand in front of the same camera. 

But hey, if K&K really were as good of friends as this magazine says, that’s really cool for them. Pretty lucky too, since this was just mere months away from the premiere of their own All That spinoff show, Kenan & Kel, which ran for four years, and less than a year before the premiere of their own movie, Good Burger*, so being friendly must’ve helped when they were spending that much time together. Not to mention they’re getting back together for Good Burger 2, so I guess when your legacies are so intrinsically tied together, I guess you’re bound to find some things to like about each other.

*One of my favorite comedies by the way, and no I’m not sorry. There’s very few films that match its vibes.

Feels like I should mention the 9th annual Kids’ Choice Awards was just around the corner, which featured such notable moments like Jim Carrey taking home two awards for Ace Ventura and his performance in Batman Forever, alongside Free Willy winning “Favorite Animal Star” for his(?) performance (?) in Free Willy 2: Willy Goes to Chile*. That category in particular got pretty heated, considering he was up against fierce competition in the form of Babe from… Babe. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio won best song. Although Brandy would beat out both Coolio and Michael Jackson for winner of “Favorite Singer”, so it wasn’t exactly a Coolio sweep, per se.

But of course, the real big winner of that night was Tim Allen, for winning “Favorite TV Actor” and being enacted into the Nickelodeon Hall of Fame (yes, for real). All while Home Improvement won ”Favorite TV Show”, which I find is an outright snubbing of the also nominated Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Again, just my opinion.

*(Okay, it was actually called Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, but I like my idea more).

Before we go, I’d just like to draw attention to this winner of a parade float idea contest held in a previous issue, finally presented in all its glory here. No offense to the kid who designed it but I can only imagine the type of child nightmares that could spawn from a giant Elvis making its way down the street, pulled along by his Elvis impersonating minions. Just a thought.

This was a really good issue, I’m actually pretty shocked with how much of it I found interesting and entertaining, even now as an adult. They really put their all into this one and I think the movie theme really paid off.

Some parts I didn’t get to were the aforementioned article on the history of film and film effects, which isn’t a bad read, especially if you’re into the good old days of practical effects. 

There was an interview with at-the-time child star Michelle Trachtenberg, to promote the upcoming release of the Nickelodeon film Harriet the Spy, which featured her in the starring role. I partly didn’t talk about it because I didn’t think there was much to say, and partly out of spite because that movie was pretty bad. Also because I’m running out of available image slots on this post. But mainly the first two reasons! Sort of.

Oh, yeah, and that alien mongrel QZ made another appearance, answering kids’ questions and just looking gross as usual. Avoid page 52 at all costs!

So yeah, that’ll do it! I’m glad I got to tackle another 90’s issue. I’ve also been thinking about branching out a bit, maybe talking about other Nickelodeon books, or heck, maybe even doing retrospectives of some of their shows! If anybody’s interested or has any requests (Nickelodeon Magazine related or otherwise), feel free to let me know. Otherwise I’ll just keep using my little spinner board that I use to make all decisions related to this blog. 

Until next time, have a good one, and keep on reading!

[sl-newsie]

Spelled (Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter)- Ch. 8: Sneaking Out

Later that night I sneak down the hall to meet up with the new students. So while I might be a good witch, breaking some rules is ok sometimes, right? I mean who goes to bed at 8 anyway?

“And where are you creeping off to?”

I freeze and slowly turn around. “Binx, people here think the highest level of fun is going to a tea party. For once I’ve met others who are actually fun!”

“They’re the kids of villains,” the black cat warns in a mocking voice.

“I know that. This is… me trying to help them fit in and feel welcomed.”

“You like Carlos, don’t you?” Binx says with a pointed look.

“I can’t help it! His cute face is sprinkled with freckles, and he punched Chad for me.”

Binx stays quiet- never a good sign.

“What?”

“Magica… Have you learned about your siren magic?”

My-? Oh. Uh-oh.

My hand flies to my mouth. “Oh my God- Binx, what if I spelled him to like me, to- to love me? I didn’t mean to, I- I wouldn’t know if I did. I’ve never actually used it, I just know I have it from my mother. How will I know if he actually likes me or is just spelled to like me?”

Binx shakes his head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry, Magica. You shouldn’t have to deal with this. Why don’t you ask Fairy Godmother?”

“No!” My face twists in horror. “I don’t want anyone to think I’m the cruel, manipulative monster my mother was, especially Carlos! I’ll just… Try to keep things friendly and professional.”

Before Binx can respond I confidently strut towards the VKs room before someone catches me.

“Knock knock. It’s Magica.”

The door opens and Jay’s face pops out. “Evening, trixie! Come on in!”

I groan. “Will you stop calling me that?”

“Nope.”

“I’m telling you, new hair!” Evie exclaims as I walk in. “New hair to match her new clothes.” She turns and sees me. “Oh! Magica! We were just talking about you! Mal?”

“Yup, hold on a sec!” Mal flips through a tattered book that almost resembles the one hidden in my skirt.

“Hey! That almost looks like-!” I stop, remembering that I have to keep mom’s spellbook a secret. “Never mind.”

Mal ignores me and finds the page she’s looking for. “Beware, forswear, replace the old with wicked hair,” Mal chants from the book.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my hair change.

“Wait- What-?” I frantically lift the now fuschia-colored locks in front of my face and look at Mal with my jaw hanging. “What did you do?”

She smirks. “I just helped make you look like a true witch, trixie. No need to thank me.”

“Huh?!” Now I’m panicking and trying to cover it up. “Mal, are you nuts?! I’m trying to keep a low profile as it is, not walk around parading my magic to the whole school!”

But the VKs don’t hear me.

“Oh, I love the color!” Evie gushes as she examines my new look. “Goes well with the dress, and the boots match perfectly!”

“Gotta say,” Jay nods approvingly. “That’s some rad look you’re pulling, trixie!”

Carlos goes to say something, but appears to be speechless as he can’t take his eyes off of me.

God I hope it’s not siren magic!

“Um, Earth-to-Carlos?” Jay waves a hand in front of his face.

Carlos blinks. “Huh, what?”

Mal rolls her eyes. “I know, I know, Magica’s hot now. Get over it and let’s get on with the plan, Carlos!”

Evie agrees. “I will say that Magica’s new fashion style is rather catching, but Mal’s right. We’ve got work to do.”

“What’s that? I thought you wanted me here to pull pranks.”

All the VKs give each other uneasy looks.

“We were, uh- thinking of checking out the Museum of Cultural History,” Mal says with a shrug. The others nod in agreement.

“How is that a prank?”

Evie shifts her eyes back and forth between me and Mal. “It’s… after hours, so it’s still against the rules.”

I give them all an annoyed stare. “Really? Sneaking out after curfew? I’m doing that now! I thought you guys were gonna do some actual pranks, heck a five-year-old could do better!”

“Guess you’ll have to stick around to see us get to the big pranks,” Mal baits me. “C’mon guys, let’s go over the plan.”

“Just let me pack my stuff,” Jay says as he assembles some suspicious-looking items onto a cloth.

“Or you could just leave all this stuff here and pick it up when we take over the world!” Mal states with a pointed smile.

“You sound just like your mom!” Evie remarks.

Mal puts a hand to her chest. “Aw, thank you!”

Jay just shrugs. “You do your way, and I’ll do mine.”

“It’s not good to steal, Jay,” I warn with a scolding finger. “And Mal, I can tell you all want to make your parents proud, but does taking over the world have to be in your agenda?”

“So what, trixie? We’re VKs, we make mischief. It’s what we do,” Jay chuckles darkly.

I bite my lip. “But-”

“Jay! Come check this thing out, man! It’s awesome!” Carlos calls from the TV.

I smirk at the tv. “Haven’t played video games before, huh?”

Carlos shakes his head. “Nah. No internet on the Isle. What about you?”

My eyes widen slightly and I try to phrase my backstory carefully. “No, I was raised in Sherwood Forest so there was very little service. In fact I had my first-ever car ride just a few days ago!”

“Really?” Carlos asks in disbelief. “I knew you were different from the others. What’s it like living in the woods in isolation?”

I tilt my head and think. “Well, it’s… quiet, a good place to practice magic, lots of plants and animals…”

Carlos gets stiff. “Are there dogs?” He asks in a nervous voice.

My brow furrows. “Why would that matter-?”

“Guys!” Mal calls from across the room. “We do not have time for small talk. Do I need to remind you what we’re all here for?”

“Fairy Godmother, blah blah blah-” Jay starts to ramble about something but Mal comes over and slaps a hand over his mouth. She looks over at me with narrowed eyes, then back at the VK group.

“We should discuss this somewhere else.”

Jay tilts his head. “Why? She’s not gonna tell, right trixie?”

I frown. “Tell who about what?”

“Um, tell anyone about our trip to the museum. Right Jay?” She hisses in his ear.

“Ok ok! Just let go!”

Mal’s eyes narrow as she analyzes me, almost from the inside-out. After what seems like eternity she finally gives me a head jerk. “Fine, you’re in. You seem like you could be one of us.”

My face freezes as I try to keep my cool. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’ve got the potential to be part of… let’s call it our villain gang. You’re not like all the other stuck-up prissy princesses here.” She walks up and gets closer, causing me to lean back a bit. “There’s something about you that I don’t get, but don’t worry. I always find out.”

I pray to God you never find out.

“Um, ok? When are we going?”

Mal gets up from the bed. “Right now. Get your stuff, guys.” I hold the door open for all the VKs to exit.

“So you’re Ben’s advisor?” Mal says with a new-found interest. “That’s cool.”

I nod. “Yeah, especially since a student like me with magic usually doesn’t get to be in such a high position.”

Carlos frowns as he sets the gaming consoles down. “Why not someone like you?”

In my head I panic as I try to find an explanation that won’t give anything away.

“I’m… new to Auradon, so people thought it didn’t make sense for someone who’s grown up in the woods their whole life to be made Royal Advisor. But Ben and I have been friends since we were kids, so he trusts me.”

Carlos gives me a smile. “I can see why. If I were king, I’d want someone like you to help out.”

“Why? I’m not the smartest, or the most organized-”

“But you’re actually nice. You listen to people and put others before yourself. Ben’s lucky to have you as his advisor.”

“Carlos!” Mal hisses from outside.

“Coming!” Carlos grabs his jacket and follows us down the dim hallway.

So, does he actually mean that, or is it just the siren magic talking?

Carlos’ POV

Now that Magica has different hair, she’s definitely starting to fit in with us. But I do feel bad though, ‘cause I know her intention is to help us fit in here. I do have to admit that I feel myself liking her more for being so nice to us, but I also notice she’s still acting strange around me. Did I do something wrong? I won’t back down though, ‘cause I’m determined to prove to Magica that Carlos de Vil doesn’t give up easily.

[a-vamp-and-a-half]

"What's special for you? I think you have a cool talent. Skating is not as easy as it looks. I wouldn't be able to do It without falling.

"Heck, you are even a good model for kids. That's a talent too. Not everyone can do that either. Don't subestimate yourself, you are pretty...ehhh..rad!"

"Duuuuude! I'm blushin'!"

[walkawaytall]

Maybe I'm a little bit late but for the fanfic writer asks

8. Is there a story idea you have that you would love if it could appear fully realized but that you do not think you’ll ever write yourself?

And thank you for number 13, I learned another unhinged part of fanfiction history bevause of it🤣😳

It's never too late to ask questions! But it's also particularly not too late this time because I was not kidding when I said I've been trying to distract myself from a stressful thing I have to be vague about right now, and this stressful thing will likely drag on for months, hooray!

Always happy to tell people about My Immortal :D. (I am not, for the record, Tara Gilesbie. Which I suppose is exactly what Tara Gilesbie might say. But I'm really not.) Have you seen the Sarah Z. YouTube video about that whole thing? Because that is a wild ride.

For question 8...Okay, it's funny because you'd think since I wrote these questions myself, I'd have answers for all of them, but the answers I have are...barely answers for this one.

I think I mentioned before that I just like the concept of a fic based on the song "When the Party's Over" by Billie Eilish. It feels very Hoth-era pining to me, but I don't actually have a story of any sort to go along with this vague concept, so I just have an empty document that's titled "When the Party's Over" that's been on my computer for months because I was so certain I would write this, but no actual idea has ever materialized, so I don't know that I ever will write it. But I sure wish it existed, because the idea sounds rad. I mean...

Don't you know I'm no good for you? I've learned to lose you, can't afford to Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin' But nothin' ever stops you leavin'

Similar thing with...I have a document for story concepts, and most of them are actual concepts -- stuff like "Poe knows Kylo Ren", "AU — Leia and Vader are aware of each other’s existence and still hate each other", etc. And then I just have this quote, which is something John Green quotes in my favorite chapter of his book The Anthropocene Reviewed (which is a great book, and the audiobook is read by John. I highly recommend it):

“We did not spend our days gazing into each other’s eyes. We did that gazing when we made love or when one of us was in trouble, but most of the time our gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing. Third things are essential to marriages, objects or practices or habits or arts or institutions or games or human beings that provide a site of joint rapture or contentment. Each member of a couple is separate; the two come together in double attention. Lovemaking is not a third thing but two-in-one. John Keats can be a third thing, or the Boston Symphony Orchestra, or Dutch interiors, or Monopoly.” -Donald Hall

And, frankly, I don't know what the heck that's supposed to mean. I have no accompanying story idea; I just really enjoy the concept of "...most of the time our gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing." But, what was I expecting myself to do with this? I don't know! So, considering how much I like this quote, if I could find some way to make a story pop into existence fully formed around...whatever I was thinking when I pasted this quote into my Concepts document, I'm sure I'd love it.

Thanks for the questions!

fanfic writer asks