#Rebecca Sugar’s songs for the AT characters inspired me so much too

[astearisms]

fionna and cake drawings before and after watching the episodes so far. it’s nostalgic and somehow cathartic and poignant and relatable and—it just started

[whoreforfluff]

things i like to imagine from songs i listen to

hehehehe i have the ability to imagine but my writing skills are absolute crap. there’s just one prompt that has a specific character because i’m a simp. write your own story for fun if it gives you inspiration!! i think all of them are pretty vague, sorry :(

MOSTLY FLUFF, ONE(two?)(kinda?)HURT-ISH

•you bet i stare (by banes world)- being the kamisato siblings’ childhood friend means going to the estate more often. thoma likes seeing you but won’t admit it

•you might be sleeping (by jakob, clairo)- after the first night of sleeping over at your comfort characters place, you think they might leave when you’re still asleep. you were proved wrong

•dancing (by mellow fellow)- you’re your comfort characters childhood friend. they want to dance with you and tell you how they feel

•is there a place i can go (by trudy and the romance)- you’re stressed and don’t know where to go or what to do. your comfort character comes to the rescue (this song makes me cry for some reason ;w;)

•she makes me wanna die (by jindie)- comfort character keeps trying to court you but you’re oblivious

•someone to spend time with (by los retros)- you and your comfort character has plushies of each other because of shift difference and can’t spend much time together

•last day on the earth (by los retros)- nearing the end of the world, maybe it’s not so bad spending the last day on the earth with them (alternate sad vibe would be “as the world caves in” by matt maltese)

•tú (by maye)- you’re just the best thing that happened to your comfort character, vice versa (this song makes me feel hella fluffy)

•hard to say goodbye (by johnny stimson)- comfort character has to leave but just can’t because you’re flipping adorable

•like or like like (by miniature tigers)- comfort character can never stay calm because you give them too much butterflies, they finally give in and ask you the question

•love like you (by rebecca sugar)- comfort character teaches you how to love, them and yourself :,)

if any of you talented people write any of this please tag me so i can indulge in it. or if you change or combine any tiny bits it’s all good. i hope you guys enjoy this.

[gunterfan1992]

Interview with Half Shy (the songwriter of “Monster”)

For the last few months, I’ve been collecting information for a second edition of Exploring the Land of Ooo that will also cover the production of Distant Lands. This means that I’ve started to look into the new songs that we have been graced with this year, and this of course includes “Monster,” the beautiful track from the masterpiece that is “Obsidian”. And so I reached out to the song’s writer, Half Shy, who was kind enough to chat with me via email about the songwriting process!

(Photo courtesy of Half Shy)

In many ways, Half Shy is living the creative Adventure Time fan’s dream: She got asked by Adam Muto himself to write a song for “Obsidian” after he heard her music through Bandcamp! (I’ve dabbled in fan music before, and the fact that someone from the show might listen to it just blows my mind.) What an opportunity; I am so excited for her!

Since a second edition of my book won’t be coming out until after all the Distant Lands episodes air, I thought it would be best to share my Half Shy interview now. Read on for the fascinating behind the scenes story of how Half Shy and “Monster” came to be..

GunterFan: What is your origin story? How did you get involved in music, and how did the Half Shy project come to be?

Half Shy: I’ve been making music pretty quietly since I was in high school with a keyboard and guitar. I played one or two shows a year after college when I could find a friend or my brother to get up on stage with me, but I don’t really have that performer gene in me naturally. I get too much in my head and forget what the lyrics are to the song I wrote, or what the next chord is. Total brain freeze. So that whole experience is a bit of a mental drain. It’s something I think I’d like to dig into and figure out, but right now I’m really enjoying the time writing.

Even playing a song for my friends I still get pretty nervous. That’s where the name Half Shy comes from. I’ve always been interested in making things that by their nature draw a bit of a spotlight, but at the same time, I am just really quite nervous about the attention.

I recorded my first songs under my old name Hey V Kay in my bedroom and started putting them up online one at a time. When I got enough I thought about packaging it up into an album, but then got really distracted by learning how to fix up motorcycles and going to automotive tech school. When I eventually got back around to it I named the album Gut Wrenching.

After a few years I realized that I didn’t want the day-in-day-out life of a mechanic, I just wanted to know how to fix cars for myself and to have that knowledge in my back pocket. I got back into making music but grew frustrated at the process of writing and recording songs. I felt like I wasn’t able to capture the ideas I had in my head. Like trying to draw on your computer with a mouse. Doable, but it’s not going to come out like you’d hoped.

So these last couple of years I’ve focused more on learning the technical aspect of it, from the initial ideas and lyrics, to the recording and mixing. During that process I put out Bedroom Visionaries, and while writing I happened upon the name Half Shy in an old Thesaurus which felt instantly right. Learning all of that has been fun, I even went as far as to create my own book to solidify a daily writing routine (lyricworkbook.com). All that has been a bit of a tangent from actually making much music though. I should be getting my books in December from the press so I’m really looking forward to getting back into making more music instead of dealing with printing presses, setting up websites, and sourcing ribbon suppliers.

GF: What is the story behind "Monster"? How did the show get in contact with you?

HS: I keep a log of “Song Starters” with neat things I’ve heard in the world, and I would look through it every now and then and notice just how many came from Adventure Time. Eventually I thought well, I have to make a song about this show that just keeps breaking my heart. It was around the time I was nearly done with the first [Adventure Time-inspired] song “In My Element” that I got an email from Bandcamp saying “someone bought your album (Bedroom Visionaries).”

I get maybe one or two of these a month at most so I love to go in and say hi to the person and say thanks, be curious about who they are, [and] what they’re all about. Turns out it was Adam Muto, the executive producer of the show. (I asked and he has no idea how he happened upon my stuff. He guessed that I must have tagged something #adventuretime and he just happened to see it.) So I sent him an email saying, “Hey wow thanks for checking out my tunes. Also... holy crap you’ve made the best show I have ever seen in my life.” [I] played it real cool like. After finishing up writing my second [Adventure Time-inspired] song “Betty” I couldn’t help but fangirl real hard [and I sent him another message saying], “I’m sorry this is probably awkward, but I really love your show and I wrote these songs about it.” He was incredibly kind and shared them with his Twitter Universe, and a while after that I got a random email from him saying basically, “Hey, I’m working on this thing I can’t talk about, would you be interested?” I was like… well you know I’m pretty busy working at a sign shop so I’m gonna have to pass on this once in a lifetime opportunity (J/K. Obviously I fan-girl squealed and said yes immediately).

We chatted a bit about what the project was going to be and the direction. He mentioned there [would be] two Marceline songs in the special, [and he asked if I] would I be interested in giving the love song a try? Trying real hard to suppress my instant imposter syndrome I was like, “Yea, totally I’d be into giving that a shot!” So I read through the story and loved the idea of the dragon mirrored in Marceline, thinking through how they’ve both built up a protective shell, how she grew tough for a reason, but now she can open up and be vulnerable with PB.

From there I wrote the initial demo with the first two verses mostly intact and we went back and forth a few times editing it down into the final version. I recorded the final parts for the show in my little home studio in Seattle.

GS: When you were writing the song, what emotions, thoughts, or ideas were you channeling? Was there any sort of memory of event that you were trying to artistically "catch" or "recreate" with the lyrics or music?

HS: As far as channeling an emotion, generally I’d say just the experience of existing as a human. It can be so hard to open up and be vulnerable. I can remember that feeling even as a young kid—getting really excited about something and having someone completely trash it or look at you like, “Why are you so interested in that? It’s dumb.” [It causes us to grow] a little more weary to share ourselves because we know that hurt and embarrassment. The pain of being misunderstood is something I think a lot of us can relate to. Then having to decide whether to keep sharing those vulnerable parts of yourself or think, “They’re just not going to get it, I’m going to get hurt, so why bother?” and then stop putting yourself out there. You lose a lot with that thick armor though. You might feel protected, but you’re not feeling a whole lot of anything else other than the weight and chafing of it (I had a whole lot of armor-related metaphors that I didn't end up using.).

I struggle with this in songwriting too. I’m not the bolt-of-lightning type. There are pages and pages of cliches, total garbage, bad jokes, and cheesy lines that I have to get through in order to get to something that I am excited to put out there into the world: “Here I did this thing, I know it’s a little (this or that), but I made it... What do you think?” It’s hard to open yourself up to hearing the other end of that question.

I filled about 5 little pocket notebooks just thinking through the story, ideas, and trying to get this song right. I wanted it to feel familiar and honor the past songs of the show ([e.g.,] using the ukulele and referencing a few of the familiar chords from “I’m Just Your Problem”) but also be pretty open and vulnerable and different for [Marceline]. [I wanted to] show that she’s going through some tough emotions but also figuring herself out and growing.

GF: I feel like “Monster” is, at its core, an ode to the “Bubbline” ship. How do you feel about your song being intimately connected to one of the most famous LGBTQ+ relationships in animation? Do you have any general thoughts on Marcy and PB, Bubbline, etc.?

HS: Oh, I’m a total fan girl of Bubbline. The whole story of how Rebecca Sugar and Muto slowly morphed it into this deeper relationship is just great. As a part of the LGBTQ community myself it really means so much to see the representation of characters like yourself portrayed in an intelligent way. Growing up I was too young to fully understand what was going on but I saw Ellen getting cancelled, and [I] heard people around me saying they’d never watch her show again after she came out. That stuff sinks in as a kid and so to have these characters who are not only intelligent, but funny, complex, and unapologetically strong who also happen to be queer is really great. I love that the story here isn’t about their orientation, but that they’re people struggling with how to be open and vulnerable in a relationship.

It feels like something sci-fi and animated shows do so well—to show that ridiculousness of limiting who a person should and shouldn’t love. Marceline is a 1000+ year old half-demon/vampire and PB was born from the Mothergum of an apocalyptic radioactive world, but you’re going to get hung up on them loving each other? It sort of brings it into perspective in a really interesting way.

GF: Do you have any other thoughts about the experience that you'd like to share?

HS: Just how lucky, thankful, and honored I feel to be a part of my favorite show, writing a song for one of my favorite characters. It’s also incredibly cool how the people on the show are so willing to connect and collaborate with their fandom. Everyone [on the production crew] was very open and a real joy to work with.

I’d like to give a huge “Thank you!” to Half Shy for agreeing to participate in this interview; she really was quite amiable! If you’d like to hear more of her music, check out her website and her Bandcamp. You can also follow her on Instragram here and on Twitter here. And of course, here is Half Shy’s awesome video of “Monster”.

[aslongasimhereyoureinvincible]

what your favourite Haikyuu!! ship says about you:

as inspired by Eldena Doubleca5st’s hilarious video series, go check them out!

Kagehina: rivals to lovers you ask, why not rivals AND lovers?

Daisuga: your ideal ship dynamic is team mom / team dad 

Asanoya: your ideal ship dynamic is best summarised by the ‘excuse me he asked for no pickles’ meme

Tsukkiyama: you love snarky assholes with a soft spot for One Specific Person

Ennotana: you just want good things for Ennoshita, and really, who wouldn't?

Kiyotana: either you just want good things for Tanaka OR you’re a firm supporter of Men! 👏 Getting! 👏 Pegged! 👏

Kiyoyachi: you’re not mad, per se, about kiyotana being canon, you just think kiyoyachi had way more chemistry 

Kinonari: you love characters who are in desperate need of more screentime 

Kinonoya: the Inarizaki match means everything to you

Tsukihina: you love opposites attract with a side of heavy symbolism 

Tananoya: your ideal date involves kissing the homies goodnight 

Yamayachi: nothing says ‘date night’ like you both having an anxiety attack over ordering take-out

Daiyui: you are heterosexual 

Hinayachi: Y’know what? Yachi was right, that scene where she and Hinata ran to the train station together was like a shoujo manga

Ukatake: I’m not sure if you wanna fuck dads, but you definitely wanna fuck positive male role models 

Kuroken: either you really like the ‘shy nerd’ / ‘cocky (but secretly also nerdy) jock’ dynamic OR you read the manga and chapter 318 made you fucking lose it 

Kuroyaku: you’re a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of mutually dunking on each other   

Kuroyakukai: you just really like Kai 

Yakulev: your ideal ship dynamic is morosexual / moron 

Shibalev:  you watched the Tokyo No Jin stageplay 

Shibainu: either you’re just here for the pun OR you’re a firm believer in the inherent eroticism of warming the bench 

Toraken: so to the top episode 17 huh? 

Fukutora: you just want good things for Fukunaga, and really, who wouldn’t?  

Iwaoi: either you fucking love angst OR you are deeply disappointed by the general lack of male tsunderes 

Matsuhana: your ideal date involves getting stick bugged, after-which hilarity ensues

Kyouhaba: your ideal date involves being kabedon-ed 

Kiniwa: your ideal date involves your senpai noticing you 

Kinkuni: you firmly believe that nothing brings people closer than mutual hatred for some asshole from middle school

Kyouiwa: this is just the same joke as Kiniwa except you also like bara 

Matsuhanaiwaoi: you think seijoh should’ve gone to nationals 

Ushioi: two options, either you still think “you should’ve come to Shiratorizawa jokes’ are peak comedy in 2020 (they’re really not) OR you love enemies to lovers

Ushiten: your ideal date involves a romantic candle-lit dinner in Paris, after which you are interviewed for a documentary together 

Tensemi: you were the weird emo kid in middle school

Semishira: snarky bickering married couples are your jam

Ushihira: you think the whole ‘ushiwaka and benkei’ thing is way too overlooked 

Ushigoshi: you love one sided rivalries that are met with obliviousness 

Shiragoshi: either you think Shirabu clowning on Goshiki is actually a display of affection OR you just have a thing for straight bangs 

Bokuaka: you are a proud morosexual, you are attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively

Bokukuro: this is just the same joke as tananoya but you like city boys 

Daikuro: you stay up way to late reading single dad au fics 

Bokudaikuro: thick!  👏 thighs!  👏 save!  👏 lives! 

Kuroshou: your ideal ship dynamic is snarky exes 

Daimika: you love that one John Mulaney bit that’s like ‘my wife is a bitch and I like her so much’ 

Sakukomo: /gestures at chapter 394/ I’m sorry for your loss lmao

Sakuatsu you love projecting your insecurities onto fictional characters so you can receive some form of positive affirmation by consuming content about them being loved unconditionally  

Ushisaku: your ideal date involves sharing cleaning tips and being blunt 

Atsukita: you want senpai to notice you but like,, you’re also a brat 

Kitaran: nothing brings two guys together like dealing with the twins’ bullshit

Osasuna: nothing brings two guys together like clowning on Atsumu 

Hiruhoshi: your ideal date involves asking your partner to hold your beer 

Hoshihina: ‘Short Kings Anthem’ by Tiny Meat Gang and blackbear is your personal hype song 

Atsuoi: your ideal ship dynamic is best summed up by that one text post that’s like: ‘you should be addicted to shutting the fuck up’ ‘you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid’ 

Akiten: you shipped akiteru and the og  little giant before it was cool  Akisae: you like hot blonds and Men! 👏 Getting! 👏 Pegged! Saeten: rekindled high school crushes? don’t mind if you do  Akisaeten: They all have two hands  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Atsuhina: you’re a firm believer in the inherent erotcism of stealing somebody else’s man 

Osahina: you think the setter / spiker ship dynamic is really over done  Oihina: brazil fling canon no one can change your mind 

Oisuga: what can you say? you like pretty boys 

Oikage: two options, either your ideal ship dynamic is ‘Love Like You’ by Rebecca Sugar OR you’re just here for some doujinshis 

Ushihina: you like the appeal of osahina buy you just don’t think their rivalry is that well established 

Kurotsukki: you’re a bit too into that whole ‘if he teases you it’s because he likes you’ dynamic 

Terushou: you are firmly situated in rare-pair hell 

Saemiwa: you think Miwa should’ve attended one of Karasuno’s games Miwalisa: your ideal ship dynamic is service provider / client 

Kanotana: you just want good things for Kanoka, and really? who wouldn’t? 

Nishiyaku: this is just the same joke as hoshihina except you prefer liberos  Those two scorekeepers from episode 1: you found out way too late that shipping things for shits and giggs is the gateway drug to shipping things for realises 

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

I don’t need you to respect me, I respect me

I’m gonna miss writing about Amethyst.

As the most sisterly Crystal Gem, a firebrand in the new role of middle child after spending millennia as the baby of the group, Amethyst’s story is about growing from a wild teen to a responsible adult. Like Steven, she feels the need to prove that she’s a Crystal Gem too, but unlike Steven, she already is a Crystal Gem, so she carries a different kind of resentment as she continues to be treated like a child. It’s made even worse by her warrior instincts clashing with her small frame: she lives with the constant anxiety that she’s a mistake, a Gem who came out wrong and doesn’t belong in her family, so she comforts and distracts herself with hedonism and shapeshifting. Her problem goes beyond not feeling respected: deep down, she fears that she doesn’t deserve respect.

But she changes her mind.

“This isn’t normal.”

The Return and Jailbreak culminated the first act of Steven Universe, giving our characters subtle achievements (Amethyst and Pearl casually fuse into Opal, Greg reveals a deeper understanding of the Gems than we once thought, Beach City comes together as a community when Steven is in danger) and huge changes (Steven summons a massive shield, Garnet’s status as a fusion is confirmed, Lapis goes from prisoner to imprisoner). While not an official finale, Beta and Earthlings culminated the second act, narrowing the focus to five characters as they each reach one milestone or another: Lapis and Amethyst find a level of peace, Peridot defends her new home, Jasper succumbs to corruption, and Steven helps his friends but fails to help his enemy.

In a way, Change Your Mind culminates the third act with an even narrower focus. Sure, it gives big moments to a ton of characters (there’s fanservice galore, and we see the three Diamonds in particular take enormous steps), but we zero in on Steven in the same way the entire act has zeroed in on Steven, because this is a story about identity. It isn’t only about who he is, but who he wants to be moving forward, and fusing all the insights he’s learned from his human family, his Crystal Gem family, and his Diamond family into a song that encapsulates his growth over the course of the series.

We start in the most lifelike of the Diamond dreams, so real that Steven still sees himself as Steven rather than embodying Pink. Once again, this connection emerges from sleeping in a location where Pink once dwelled, but while he wasn’t feeling her impatience and rage in Jungle Moon, nor her hardening resolve in Can’t Go Back, nor her whimsy in Familiar, this time they share the same headspace when they’re both locked in a tower.

Considering how bombastic things get in this episode, I love how low-key this final dream remains until White Diamond interferes. We’re as lost as Steven at first, worrying about Connie and baffled at Blue’s recognizable mood but incongruous accusations, but as the truth becomes clear, he transforms into Pink off-screen without any fanfare, both in body and in mind: Steven isn’t questioning Blue’s warning about Pink Pearl, Pink Diamond is apologizing for her own behavior in Zach Callison’s voice. Still, looking down jolts him out of it, and after seeing the Crystal Gems poofed at the ball for a more definitive Steven memory, we cycle in Rose’s horror at her family launching a final attack on Earth. The rapid-fire identity shifts that follow inspired the most haunting piece of promo art for the episode, drawn by Rebecca Sugar herself, but I didn’t wanna display it without a seizure warning.

It’s excellent exposition, hitting the highlights of the Diamonds’ many wrongs and establishing Steven’s fraying sense of self in a way that’s both artful and brief; it’s important to remind younger viewers about the stakes, but Change Your Mind doesn’t pretend that anyone should be watching this episode without context, so it doesn’t prioritize thorough explanation. And despite how frightening the nightmare becomes, Steven gains a new sense of clarity after seeing the pattern laid out in front of him. The Diamonds are hurting him in the same way they hurt his mother, and if he’s going to help everyone, he needs to help himself.

When Blue Diamond returns to the tower in modern day, Steven isn’t afraid, and he isn’t alone. The first of many puns riddling the finale emerges (“Déjà Blue!”) before Connie proves why she’s the perfect partner for our hero, platonic or otherwise. He’s terrible at confronting the people that hurt him—this would require him to acknowledge he’s hurt in the first place, which he’s also terrible at—but if she was comfortable enough with confrontation to call out her best friend when he wrongs her, Blue Diamond doesn’t stand a chance. Connie comes out swinging, loading the bases with candor and sass despite Blue’s confusion over why a human even gets an opinion about this stuff, which makes Steven’s refusal to apologize hit the Diamond like a grand slam.

I love that Steven’s flat “no” takes Connie by surprise as well as Blue, because yeah, it’s uncharacteristically blunt for someone who’s spent his entire trip to Homeworld bending over backwards like he usually does to accommodate others. When he doubles down by explaining that he isn’t sorry about creating a show that celebrates queer characters whoops sorry I mean fusion, Callison makes it sound like the most obvious thing in the world, and this is what upsets Blue enough to inflict her tears on him. We’ll learn even more about Pink’s temper in Steven Universe Future, but the simple act of not bowing to authority makes Steven “worse than ever” in Blue’s mind: violence is more acceptable than insubordination. (Also, violence in cartoons is more acceptable than queer folks just sorta existing in cartoons, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Change Your Mind is about combating bigotry and cycles of abuse, and Blue is the obvious first test. She’s a bigot who doesn’t think she’s a bigot (compared to Yellow, who doesn’t care that she’s a bigot, and White, who’s quite proud of being a bigot). She passively perpetuates a toxic status quo (compared to Yellow, who actively perpetuates it, and White, who established it in the first place). It makes sense that she’s the first of the remaining Diamonds to change her mind, because all it takes for her to realize that something is wrong is thinking about it a little harder.

This doesn’t let her off the hook, of course: Blue’s sloth—the sin, not the animal—might not look flashy next to Yellow’s wrath or White’s pride or Pink’s envy, but she still chose to do nothing for thousands of years rather than contemplate how her actions and her society might have wronged Pink. If it was this easy for Blue to realize she was hurting Pink, it makes it that much more of an issue that it took her this long to figure it out. Unintentional bigots might be the “best” option by default, but they can be just as harmful as intentional bigots, and there’s a special sort of damage that can come from an oppressor who truly believes themselves an ally.

That said, while it’s important to acknowledge her blame (emphasized here when she only stops attacking Steven when he calls her out rather than the Diamonds in general), Blue is also a victim. She’s one of the most powerful beings on Homeworld, but she’s still trapped by White Diamond, and resorts to putting others down as a means of reclaiming a sense of that power. In the same way oppressed people often turn to sexism and racism and homophobia to make themselves feel bigger, Blue (and Yellow) reinforce White’s sweeping bigotry in the same way they echo her family-specific abuse. It’s not a good coping mechanism, in this show or in the real world, but understanding the problem is key to fixing it.

So it still feels like a victory when Blue turns, even though it should’ve happened ages ago, and even though she’s a tyrant. She isn’t just deciding to help Steven, she’s breaking out of that cycle in a way that allows for growth beyond our hero’s immediate concerns. Lisa Hannigan captures this transformation beautifully, shifting from manipulative whining about Pink’s behavior to a crushing realization that she’s the one who’s wrong. And even as she joins Steven’s side, she remains weighed down by her longstanding prejudice: Hannigan stutters as she refers to the Crystal Gems as his family, and her triumphant defense of Steven’s name to Yellow comes with the caveat that she’s still misgendering him.

But before we get to Yellow, we take a pit stop that grounds us back to Steven and Connie’s hunger. It may seem small, but this is a critical moment in establishing Steven’s humanity in a way the show has quietly done from day one: with food.

The very first scene of Steven Universe establishes our hero’s human half in a donut shop, upset about dessert. From there, the next five episodes drill in that Steven will take a unique approach to his magical Gem heritage, and they all involve food in a major way: Cookie Cats, then his father’s saying about pork chops and hot dogs, then the Cheeseburger Backpack (important enough to be the episode’s name), then the Together Breakfast (ditto), then creating a monster based on fries.

It’s not just Steven, either. The first few Connie episodes involve eating and drinking in ways that show hints of growth (worrying about trans fats, then sneaking food into movie theaters) and mark key moments in her life (sharing a juicebox, taking her parents to dinner). Lars’s development is tied with his love of baking, and on top of him and Sadie working at the Big Donut, the Frymans and the Pizzas are so tied to their food service jobs that it’s in their names. And speaking of names, we’ve got Vidalia calling her sons Sour Cream and Onion. It even extends to the Gems: Amethyst’s connection with Earth means she loves food, and Pearl’s greater distance from humanity means she can’t stomach it.

Food is fundamentally something that humans require and Gems don’t, and just like we saw in Lars’s Head, Steven’s physical body forces him to think about his own needs despite his usual focus on others. Both his humanity and his ability to stand up for himself are key to his eventual victory, and what could’ve been a generic transition between Blue and Yellow’s big scenes instead becomes a quiet Steven scene. Steven changing into his usual clothes (including his mom’s star) and Connie changing into her own outfit (including her dad’s jacket) is the perfect finishing touch before we dive back into the drama.

True to their natures, Yellow Diamond gets a starker introduction than Blue’s dream sequence: as the lights burst on, we get two shots focusing on a horrifying number of mutated Gem Shards floating around in the room, then the Crystal Gems’ thankfully intact gems in one big bubble, before panning down to the villain who caused all this pain. The menace is palpable before she even opens her mouth, but Patti LuPone’s low tone keeps the mood from boiling over just long enough that when she loses her cool, it hits like a freight train.

Blue’s passive bigotry endured because she lacked introspection, but Yellow’s active bigotry requires constantly justifying actions she knows are cruel by presenting it as a matter of superior reasoning. We’ve known from her first appearance that Yellow’s seething fury undermines her reputation for cold logic, and now more than ever the connection between her behavior and that of “sophisticated” bigots is clear. You know the type: openly, smugly hateful, but couching their hate as something derived from some deep knowledge about the subject, whether in religious convictions or whatever “science” they can scrape together to confirm their worldview.

Sure enough, even in her rage, Yellow lays down what she sees as a rational explanation for why it was okay to mistreat Pink, and why it’s okay that they themselves are mistreated: if they make exceptions for anyone, even other Diamonds, they must make exceptions for everyone, and chaos reigns. Besides the slippery slope being a fallacy, her argument is punctured by Connie’s second big retort of the night, pointing out that this extreme conclusion of Homeworld Gems living free actually sounds pretty nice. But you can’t force this type of bigot to change their mind through reason; if such a person was actually interested in logical worldviews, they wouldn’t have become a bigot in the first place. You need to change their heart.

Fortunately, emotions are Blue’s domain, so she’s just the person to help. Unfortunately, in the same way she still can’t get Steven’s pronouns right, Blue lacks experience with healthy communication, and strikes a first blow against Yellow on instinct. The ensuing brawl is brutal, switching between the massive scale of two warring titans and the smaller scale of Steven and Connie scrambling to save the Crystal Gems as Blue and Yellow unload millennia of baggage on each other. It’s so important that Blue is the physical instigator here, as it fuels Yellow’s white-hot self-righteous streak like nothing else, and it keeps the fight from being one-sided all the way through: Yellow pretty much needs to be the one dealing the final blow for the scene to stick, so it gets balanced out by Blue’s opening punch.

Blue uses her powers on Yellow, and Yellow uses her powers on Blue, but Steven’s power is talking. So just like with Blue’s conversion, Connie gets the opening words while Steven gets the finisher. When he finally gets her attention after being ignored throughout the scene, he makes Yellow listen to him by using the same food-based expression I mentioned from all the way back in Laser Light Cannon. It’d pack a bigger punch if Greg said “If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs” at literally any other point in the show, but it still does the trick.

Blue was emotionally ready to accept that Pink was suffering, but hadn’t considered the Diamonds’ role in that suffering. Yellow knew that Pink suffered thanks to the Diamonds, but suppressed her emotions to the point where she couldn’t empathize with her sister’s plight. Blue needed to be more thoughtful to change, and Yellow needed to be more in touch with her emotions to change, and thus the stage is set for the Battle of Heart and Mind against White Diamond.

Except that this isn’t the lesson of Change Your Mind. Blue and Yellow show that some bigots can be reached, which is great! But despite their differences, Steven uses the same basic strategy in both: he doesn’t let them belittle his identity, he confidently dispels their wrongheaded assumptions, and he gets help from allies instead of shouldering the burden himself. We spend the beginning of the episode seeing that in the right circumstances this approach can work, but from here we’ll see that with some bigots, it’s a non-starter.

So long as you can engage with bigots while maintaining your self-respect, it can be good work to try and help them see the light. It’s not an obligation, but if you want to change hearts and minds, Steven provides a good template for how to do it. Now the rest of the episode can focus on the bigger lesson: if someone refuses to respect your humanity when you’re steadfast and forthright, it isn’t your job to breathe in their poison, or to hold your breath until you asphyxiate waiting for change.

But more on that after the break!

I Can’t Believe We’ve Come So Far

As we reach the end of the original series, it would be criminal not to acknowledge three long-time storyboarders who are on their way out. This isn’t their final contribution to the series, as only one of Change Your Mind’s twelve credited writer/boarders didn’t go on to work on The Movie in some way (Christine Liu, whose tenure was brief but great), and Hilary Florido stayed on as a supervisor for Future. But I wanted to write the big sendoffs here, as this is the last proper “episode” that these three worked on as regular boarders. So it’s time to say goodbye to Katie Mitroff, Hilary Florido, and Jeff Liu.

First up is Katie Mitroff, who clocked two early knockouts with Alone Together and The Test alongside Florido. Mitroff’n’Florido went on to make other classics like Maximum Capacity and Joy Ride before the former teamed up with Lamar Abrams and the latter teamed up with Jesse Zuke for their next batch of episodes.

With Abrams, Mitroff deepened the lore of the show with We Need to Talk, Steven’s Birthday, Bismuth, Buddy’s Book, Three Gems and a Baby, and especially The Answer. She gave us the harrowing revelation of Back to the Moon, and the most ridiculous episode of the series, Restaurant Wars. Her final partner was Paul Villeco, finishing strong with The Trial, Back to the Kindergarten, Your Mother and Mine, Pool Hopping, What’s Your Problem?, Reunited, and Change Your Mind, 100% of which are either in my Love ‘em ranking or my Top Episodes. (Oh, sorry, spoiler alert I love Change Your Mind.)

It’s strange, because she didn’t work on any of the major episodes of Amethyst’s big arc at the end of Season 3, but Mitroff is one of my favorite Amethyst boarders: she’s the consistent thread between Maximum Capacity, Back to the Moon, and What’s Your Problem?, three cornerstones of the character. She excelled at going outside the show’s usual style, as seen in The Answer and Your Mother and Mine, and it’s no coincidence she helped animate Isn’t It Love? to bring Cotton Candy Garnet back for one last ride.

Katie Mitroff is an absolute rock star, I wish her well and you should too.

[imagine-loki]

Atlas: Space, Jupiter

TITLE: Atlas: Space

CHAPTER NO./ONE-SHOT: 7/12

AUTHOR: fanfictrashdump

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine narrating episodes of Loki’s life with the Avengers based on the songs from Sleeping At Last’s “Atlas: Space” album. 

RATING: T-M

NOTES/WARNINGS: Welcome to my Sleeping At Last’s Atlas: Space challenge, aka Another writing project I do not have time for, but my brain insisted on doing.

This series will be less like a multichapter fic and more of a one-shot compendium, but that they all interconnect in one way or another. It will revolve around Loki and Becca’s relationship (Taking Turns, Glow, Helmet Heists–don’t worry, more Loki-Charlie stuff will be along) and I will use those one-shots as reference to the timeline. Each chapter will be one song, used as inspiration for the story.

Chapter 7: Jupiter

Summary: Tony has warned Loki and Becca about their heart eyes interfering with their work. So, what do they do? They sneak around in secret, of course. Well, sort of secret. (Post Taking Turns.)

Warnings include: Language, annoyingly soft domesticity, self-sabotage (I wonder who -.-). Fluff. All the fluff. 

=

Wrote it down in the winter of 1610 Just a secret under lock and key until then While collecting the stars, I connected the dots I don’t know who I am, but now I know who I’m not I’m just a curious speck that got caught up in orbit, in orbit Like a magnet it beckoned my metals towards it, towards it

Loki sat basking in the warmth of the mid-morning sunshine at the corner of the development lab. He had cleared out a small corner of one of the lab benches and settled in with a few reference books and an empty notebook. In his head, his goal for the day was to uncover the secrets of an ancient tome he had only just found on a trip off-world. Ink marred his fingers, the ball-point pen running as he hurriedly jotted down notes, but his focus was somewhere else entirely. It was with the empty side of his bed that morning, and the faint smell of vanilla and sugar lingering on his pillow; with his favorite jumper, and the fact that it had been unceremoniously tossed on a chair.

He had set course for the lab as soon as he was able, like a magnet searching its opposite charge.

Movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention and he cut his eyes towards it. Becca’s form caused him to double-take. Quiet and concentrated, she tinkered with a prototype for the Spiderboy’s suit. His stare grazed over the elegant column of her neck, craned at a slightly awkward angle as deft fingers took care to place tiny components onto a circuit board. Loki forced himself to continue working, though his body would betray him, only to stare blankly at the object of his affections, like a fool. Shaking his head, he turned back to his notebook and promptly groaned when he noted that part of his notes had been obscured by a rough sketch of Rebecca, bent over her work.

Loki had never been one to indulge in drawing or any other form of art, though he certainly did not lack the ability. His lines were smooth and deliberate, and though looked true to model, they lacked the same warmth and light Rebecca naturally exuded. It did little to capture the dainty shadows of her eyelashes on her cheekbones or the soothing aura that enveloped him as soon as he got near arm’s reach. Nor did it portray his overwhelming need to act cool and collected when he was in her presence, when all he wanted to do was talk until he had discovered every last secret of hers, and she of his.

“What are you doing?” The voice appeared in his ear so suddenly that he started. He slammed his notebook closed a second later. “Jeez, since when are you so jumpy?”

“I was distracted. Didn’t think I’d be snuck up on in the middle of the day in the lab,” he grumbled, turning in his seat to face her.

Almost compulsively, his hand sought to pull her closer, resting at the point he knew that bullet had pierced her skin, months ago. He shouldn’t want to pull her into his arms and kiss her and promise her the world, when he knew full well it could hurt her. But he got so easily swept up in the delicious sweetness of her character behind closed doors and the way her eyebrow quirked when she was about to say something clever and sexy.

Becca brushed some of his dark locks out of his face and behind his ear, taking care to brush her fingers all the way down his neck before retreating. She smiled, something secret and intimate, before sighing. “You know better than to come in here while I’m working, Loki.”

“I wanted to see you,” he breathed, leaning forward until his forehead rested on her collarbone. Becca immediately petted his hair back as a shiver ran down his spine. “No one was here and Stark–”

“Already warned us about dating interfering with our work, and you know it.”

“I’m sorry I cannot resist the temptation of your charms.” He pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat and ghosted his lips over her neck until he felt her resolve melt. “Do you want to tell Stark you’re sick and go someplace else?”

She snorted. “It’s Saturday, Loki. I can go wherever I want.” He righted himself, quick as a flash, narrowing his eyes at her with a frown. “Seriously, glance at the calendar, every now and then.”

“Why are you here, then?”

“My boyfriend was deep in slumber this morning, so I kept myself occupied.” She grinned brightly, cocking her hip to rest her weight on one leg, the shift causing her curves to stand out in stark relief. His fingers shifted from his thigh to the spot where her wide hips flared and just the barest bit of bone jutted out delicately. He was fascinated with how his hands fit so perfectly onto her body.

“Why, pray tell, would you not just sneak into my bed and wait for me to wake?” He growled playfully.

“I wasn’t looking for disappointment so early in the mor–” The wind left her lungs in the form of a yelp as she was thrown over Loki’s shoulder and he blipped out of existence from the lab.

Make my messes matter Make this chaos count Let every little fracture in me Shatter out loud

Despite the fact that every member of the team had accommodations at Stark Tower, Becca had maintained her small apartment in the city. It was across the street from a small community park, filled with trees and laughing children, and not a single concern about HYDRA or alien races or some other world problem. It had quickly become their little escape spot whenever they felt the tower was staring at them too hard or too often.

Becca had been apprehensive of bringing Loki here. No one could ever say that she lived in the lap of luxury or that she had the best and most comfortable furnishings in the land, but this little shoebox was her safe space–her own little world. She feared Loki would have more than a few less than kind things to say about it. Instead, he embraced the familiar coziness of the small sofas and huddled into the warmth of the afghans she would wrap him in when he inevitably fell asleep while intending to devour her book collection. Not only that, but he looked so at peace in her little world. Every morning she woke to him neck-deep in bedsheets and duvets, looking as if he had been sharing that bed with her from the moment she got this apartment, just after her doctorate.

“No, Tony, I don’t know where Mischief is,” she said into the STARKphone balanced on her shoulder as she played with Loki’s hair. The man in question smirked up at her from his place on her lap. “Did you check his room? The library? What does his GPS say?” She contained a giggle when Loki turned to blow raspberries into her stomach to make her laugh. “I’m at home, working on that plasma cannon patent you wanted.” Biting down on her lip, she smacked Loki’s shoulder to deter his agenda of making her break. “OK. Talk to you later, Tony.” When Becca hung up, her eyes narrowed at the giggling man with the bright blue eyes. “I will have to find some way to punish you for that.”

Loki chuckled, his long arms drawing her torso down so he could kiss her. “Mmm… punish away, love.”

“Kinky bastard.”

He frowned momentarily. “You’re the one who insists on following Stark’s rules, not I. Why am I the one being punished?”

Becca rolled her eyes, as if she hadn’t answered this question a million times before. “If he knew you the way I do, we wouldn’t need any damn rules.”

“Darling, if he knew me the way you do, I would have swindled him out of his company with a thorough fuc–”

“Ugh, you’re the worst!” She groaned, but promptly bent down to recapture his lips with her own. He pretended he was unaffected by the precious ache that tore his soul whenever she indulged his ridiculousness, every time she tended to a fissure in his dry, sarcastic armor.

Make my messes matter Make this chaos count Let every little fracture in me Shatter out loud

The breeze that blew through the summer leaves was perfumed with flowers and the lingering scent of petrichor from an earlier shower. It sweetened the secretive meeting under the great oak tree. Loki had walked away in a huff after a disagreement with Thor, and Becca had been at her home all week, working on some paperwork for Stark. It wouldn’t be long before Thor, Tony, or even Natasha went off to search for him, so they enjoyed each other’s company for as long as they could.

“Have you ever been off-world?” Loki asked, back against the tree with Becca resting on his chest, between his legs. He was playing with her hair, making long braids and twisting them into patterns on her head.

Becca laughed. “Have I been to space? No. I have not.”

“I should take you somewhere. There’s so much more than dreary Midgard.” He kissed her cheek as he pinned a braid behind her ear. “I could take you somewhere pretty.”

“I’m sure traveling with someone who’s pissed off half the galaxy is a grand idea, Loki,” she teased, and he pinched her side lightly before chuckling.

“They don’t hate me everywhere.” He considered it shortly while twisting a strand into a rose. “Just most places.”

She half-turned in her spot, leaving Loki to stop his work to attend her focused stare. “Loki, I love…t-to travel. It’d be fun to go off-world with you.” Her cheeks were a deep shade of red when she turned back around, leaving Loki to smile, almost proudly to himself. The smile faltered almost, instantly, the darker side of him chiming in about how it was a bad idea to get attached. She had not been wrong–his reputation would more than likely land them both in hot water. It took more than a minute to bring himself back to the whimsical state of mind he had been in a few seconds prior.

Becca’s phone buzzed and she turned it over to see a text from Tony that read Need to discuss web-shooter patents, followed by Tell Lokes I said hi. “Oh, busted.” She giggled before getting onto her knees and turning to face him. “I’ll see you later, Loki,” she muttered, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him before getting up and dusting the dirt off. “Don’t forget to lock the door behind you when you leave.” She was out of sight a moment later.

Her smile felt like a balm to his troubled soul. But it was still troubled. Why did every little morsel of affection feel like a wound and why did he want them so badly? Was it because of the affection or the pain? Did she deserve to live with this darkness? Would it dim her light? Could he even think about letting her go?

Groaning, he banished all thought from his brain and made his way back to her apartment. He would worry about this later.

[bookworm411]

A Love Letter to Steven Universe

I was eighteen when I first watched Steven Universe. My friends had been trying to get me to watch it for...i don’t even know how long. Years maybe? Because it was a long, long time before I watched the show that they had me listen to Here Comes a Thought when I was feeling particularly anxious one night. I’m pretty sure I cried. I’d never heard a song describe anxiety in such a clear way, and I used it to help calm myself for a long time after, before i even knew who the characters were or what the episode it came from was even about. 

Then I started watching Thomas Sanders on YouTube, and he’s a big fan of the show. The more I watched his videos and heard him talk about it, plus the nagging from my friends, the more I thought about watching it. 

Now, this was after I’d graduated high school, and I wasn’t in the best mental space. I couldn’t get into/afford collage, I didn’t have a job or even know how to start finding one, or honestly have the urge to get one, so I was at home by myself a lot. All day every day, alone with my thoughts and my sense of, well, uselessness as a human being, with only YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu to keep me company while all my other friends were out doing something with their lives.

I’d been depressed for a long time without realizing it, but this isolation only made things worse. 

Thomas Sanders helped. His Sanders Sides videos brought me into a community full of amazing, supportive people. People who...also loved Steven Universe. 

So eventually on one of my long hours trying to decide what to watch after finishing Gravity Falls and trying to fill that void, i decided why not? There were a lot of episodes, it would fill the time for a while. 

Anyone who’s watched the first few episodes of the show know that it’s...interesting. The first season itself is something one of a kind, but those first few episodes with Cookie Cat and Frybo know that the first time experience of those episodes are something you’ll ever forget, for better or worse. 

There were things i didn’t like, of course. there were weird animation moments, Steven was a little bit too annoying at times, Lars was an asshole. 

But oh man, the great stuff. Garnet’s complete mystery, Connie’s introduction episode, Giant Woman, Amethyst's pure chaos, the absolute love between the gems and Steven, The Cool Kids being absolute sweethearts to Steven, Greg being so supportive even if he’s a little distant from the gems, Steven’s clear want to know his mother, Together Breakfast, Secret Club, Pearl and Amethyst slowly starting to understand each other and get along. Fucking Stevonie. Lion. the flashback episodes where we got to get to know Rose the same way Steven did, the songs. 

Don’t even get me started on the songs. 

I was singing along with the opening two or three episodes in. 

I started to loo forward to it, as I went through the show. My days went: wake up, get food, watch Steven Universe, probably do something else for a bit, go to bed. Repeat. 

(like i said, i had nothing else to do) 

I fell in love with the show. I saw a lot of myself in Steven (yes i know i said he was annoying but so was I). In fact i don’t think I’d ever related to a character more. His kindness, his absolute willingness to help anyone who needs it, the love he has for everyone and everything. He was everything i wanted that part of me to be. I was a very eager to please kid, always running errands for teachers, bringing presents for classmates, offering comfort to someone when they needed it. I’m not trying to brag or boast, that’s just...always been who I am. To a fault. 

So yeah, I saw a lot of myself (mostly my younger self) in Steven. It helped me connect to him and relate to him easily. 

But also, as a storyteller, I was enthralled with the world. The idea of the gems, who they are, where they come from, watching the Townies get used to the weird stuff always going on, watching Steven become a Crystal Gem. The art was beautiful and again, the songs. There were just so many things that I loved about the show that only grew the more i watched it. 

Man, I don’t think I’ll ever forget watching Jail Break. Everyone in the fandom talks about it, but it really is just an iconic episode. Meeting Ruby and Sapphire, realizing Garnet is a fusion (which was obvious in hindsight but shut up), Stronger Than You, the baddass fight between Garnet and Jasper. The Lapis and Jasper fusion, the shared feeling between me and the characters at the end of “well. that just happened. what now?” 

I loved learning about Beach City, how the gems were involved in the history of it, how different Steven’s Earth is to ours (39 states?) 

Then, oh man, Peridot, the growing realization of Steven learning how to deal with his mom’s shadow. I absolutely love the episode where he and the cool kids find Peridot’s escape pod. They had the guts to say to the gems what Steven didn’t or couldn’t or didn’t even know he should. 

I could go on and on, about all my favorite plot points, songs, characters, but this is already so long and I’m only on season 2. 

Watching Steven grow, go from this little kid who just wanted to be a part of the team to being the leader of the team was incredible. The show talked about real stuff and showed real problems. Everything from making the gems understand that Steven was still a kid to understanding that a step parent can love you more than your biological one. Even just dealing with loneliness and trying find your place in the world, which Steven goes through multiple times. 

I can’t count the number of times i re-watched the show. It was my pick-me-up show for when the depression was getting me down, when i needed some light in my life. 

During all of this, through every Steven bomb that came out after i finished season four, i started going through my own journey of trying to find my place in the world. I started to go to therapy, eventually. I’ve got a job now, which is nice (if exhausting). I’m 20 now, though, so it took a long time for me to get here, and I’m still trying. 

But there were moments that I always held onto. Watching Change Your Mind for the first time as it aired, getting so excited when a new episode was coming on (it reminded me a lot of when i was little, when i would do the same thing for Teen Titans or some other show. The times before you could just pause the TV were fun yet stressful for your bladder). settling down and watching new episodes with my friends when they came over. Singing Here Comes a Thought to my friend’s son when he was an infant, and then watching him watch the TV as the song played while i was re-watching Mindful Education, and then looking at me, like he recognized it as the song I’ll sing to him sometimes. Man I can’t wait until he’s a little older so we can watch it together. 

Steven Universe Future honestly reflected the person i was when i first started watching the show (on a very superficial level). Steven trying to figure out what to do now that the universe didn’t need him to save it, him trying to see where he fits in again. Him finally, finally coming to terms with the fact that he is not okay, and having that meltdown that finally led to him getting help, and that got through to his family that he needed them, not the other way around. 

I just watched the finale today. I cried like a baby. I’m not afraid to admit it. Watching something that means so much to you end is the definition of bittersweet. 

Seven Universe was there for me in my darkest times, when I needed that bit of light. He brought me closer to my friends, helped me make new ones. Gave me something to love when that was hard for me to do. 

Now, the show didn’t cure me. It didn’t snap something inside of me or anything like that. It was just a comfort. A warm blanket wrapped around me with a cup of hot cocoa on a snowy day. It didn’t make the snow go away, but it blocked out the cold long enough for me to remember what it’s like to feel warm again, and make me want to seek that warmth permanently. 

So thank you, Steven, for everything you’ve done. I’m glad you’re getting the help you need now too. 

And thank you Rebecca Sugar, for bringing this light into the world. For fighting for your vision, gifting us your talents, and being a true inspiration to me and many other creators. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next (hopefully after you take a long deserved vacation). 

I can’t believe we’ve come so far. 

[dagmartoons]

(Under the cut is my goodbye to Steven Universe that I wrote out earlier today.)

It's kind of hard to put into words how much Steven Universe means to me.

I still remember the day it premiered in England. I had seen ads for it on TV and in comics I got at that point (I actually thought Amethyst and Garnet were boys at first; oh how wrong I was). I remember watching Laser Light Cannon that day and just being blown away by the animation, backgrounds, music, story and characters. From that episode onward I was hooked. From that episode onward I loved Steven Universe.

I remember the day I first saw Steven the Sword Fighter and being so scared that Pearl had died. I remember the first time I saw Mirror Gem, all these questions about this mysterious new gem named Lapis Lazuli filling my brain. I remember going online to find songs and videos and clips from episodes that hadn't aired in the UK yet. I remember the day I discovered Garnet was a fusion from one of those 107 Facts videos. I remember the first time I heard Stronger Than You was from a YouTube cover. I remember the Summer of Steven, meeting Bismuth and hearing It's Over Isn't It for the first time. I was so in awe of that song I emailed a video of it to my sister saying it was the best song in the series. It's still one of my favorites.

I remember the night my sister and I discovered that Rose had shattered Pink Diamond. I remember the night I learned that the theory I thought up until that point was so ridiculous and impossible because there's no way Rose was actually Pink Diamond was true. I was speechless. I squealed at Ruby's proposal, I was stunned by the wedding episode, I drew fanart of White Diamond as soon as Legs From Here to Homeworld dropped on the app because I thought she was so creepy and cool, I was scared, overjoyed and just amazed at Change Your Mind that I thought "how is the sixth season even gonna work at this point." I remember seeing the movie when it premiered with my sister, just being so emotionally spent by the end of it and downloading the soundtrack on Apple Music the first chance I got. I remember the Future reveal and being so excited and so scared at the same time for what could possibly happen next. I remember whisper-screaming "holy shit" when Jasper was shattered.

I have so many memories and experiences tied to this show. When I discovered Peridot was my birthstone not only did she become my favorite character (she still is), but I made my own gemsona as well as ones for my sisters. I first envisioned one of my oldest OCs looking like Lapis. I’ve found ways for so many of this show’s songs to fit in my own projects. In one of my old sketchbooks there are at least two pages with just photos of backgrounds from Steven Universe glued on them because they inspired me so much. I started to understand what being LGBT meant thanks to Steven Universe. I watched countless fanmade videos back when I was first really getting into YouTube and dreamed of making my own someday. I don't think there's a show out there that has inspired me and made me as emotional as Steven Universe has, and there likely will never be one like it again.

I think it's safe to say Steven Universe has surpassed the original Powerpuff Girls as my favorite TV show of all time. I doubt there will be another show in the near future with the same level of music, story, characters, themes and animation as Steven Universe. I'm writing this the day before the finale airs so I have no idea what's coming or how it's going to end, but whatever happens I will always be thankful to this show and the people who worked on it for making the last seven years of my life a truly amazing experience.

To Rebecca Sugar, thank you for creating this show and taking me and many others on such a beautiful ride.

To Ian Jones-Quartey, Kat Morris, Jackie Buscarino, Hillary Florido, Lauren Zuke, Ellie Michalka, Jasmin Lai, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, Jeff Liu, Katie Mitroff, Steven Sugar, Takafumi Hori, Kevin Dart, Lamar Abrams and the rest of the crew past and present, thank you all for everything you did to make this show as beautiful and compelling as it was.

To Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz, Estelle, Grace Rolek, Tom Scharpling, Shelby Rabara, Jennifer Paz, Susan Egan, Patti LuPone, Matthew Moy, Kate Micucci, Charlyne Yi, Erica Luttrell, Kimberly Brooks, Lisa Hannigan, AJ Michalka, Uzo Aduba, Christine Ebersole, Sarah Stiles and the rest of the phenomenal cast, thank you for making these characters so memorable and their songs so powerful. I almost met Zach, Deedee, Michaela and Estelle at a con last year but was busy meeting other people and missed my chance. Maybe someday I'll get to meet them, as well as Shelby and Jennifer.

To Aivi & Surasshu, Aimee Mann, Mike Krol and everyone who contributed music, thank you for inspiring and moving me so much with the music you composed for the show and introducing me to musical styles I never really thought of before.

And last but not least, to everyone in this fandom, whether they make their own content or not, thank you. The show may be over but as long as we are all here loving it it will never truly be gone. I know there's plenty of fan content here to tide us over long after the finale.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Steven Universe for all that you've done for me and countless others.

I know I'll continue to believe in Steven for the rest of my life, and I hope you all do too.

[bigsteeb]

To Steven Universe

god, idek what to start off with. I first saw this show on the tumblr tag in high school, I was around the ages of 12-13. I saw steven & immediately said to myself “who is this sweet boy & where do I find him?” I found him, & the gems & the whole su world after a bit of searching & I’ve been hooked since. the original show was extremely charming. the characters were complex & interesting, they all had their own stuff going on I’d never seen anything like it before. of course I stanned steven the second I heard & saw him. I see so much of the younger me in su steven, full of love & compassion for everyone & everything, making sure everyone is good & ok. it was weird I have to say, it was like looking at a mini me sdhghgs.

then we get to future, & it’s message… & steven. I’m not kidding when I say this, everything about steven in future is sadly relatable. his confusion on what to do now that everything building up to where he is now is over, the fear of people leaving him, coming to terms with his trauma. I see so much of myself in him, I feel like I’m understood. I’ve had several bad years that I’ve survived, & steven was right there during them. this show was a comfort for me, an escape, when everything was too much to handle. I’d get home from another shit day at school & catch up on the episodes I missed, being from the uk & being a fan of su sucked lmao. I’d watch the episodes & just zone out of everything around me aside from the show, from steven. I’d laugh & I’d cry & I’d feel better. steven means so much to me, all jokes aside with stanning & kinning, & this show ending & steven finally getting his happily ever after (I hope) it has me hopeful for mine. maybe I will have a happy life in the future.

now to the fandom, y’all are insane. I’ve met so many cool & talented people, christ I only joined the fandom fully back in december of last year & I’m in a group of such incredible & lovely friends & it’s weird to say that. I’ve had… interesting relationships with past friends, they weren't fun lets just say that. so as you can imagine getting to know new people was hard, do they hate me? are they just playing along & then they’ll backstab me like all the others? none of this happened. I’ve had very real moments with them, I’ve had serious moments with them, I’ve had stupid & silly moments with them. I don’t have a clue what I’d be doing without them. they’ve inspired me to be more creative, to be more trusting, to be a better person. this fandom is full of such pure talent its amazing. so many talented writers & artists, you’re all going to be doing some incredible stuff in your futures!!

I don’t usually get sappy but I couldn’t not get sappy at the ending of this series. it’s done so much for the media industry, it’s fans & it’s writers. so many moments from this show have helped people; the song here comes a thought is a go to for those who need a breather, showing gay & enby & intersex & ace rep, garnet’s wedding!! 

this show will never not mean something to me, it physically can’t. & with future coming to a close tonight I’m a bit all over the place. like… this is it. it’s coming to an end tonight. I’ve cried several times today already & expect many more lmao. so to rebecca sugar & the crewniverse, thank you. thank you for steven universe. thank you for making a show that’s garnered the audience it has.

believe in steven folks, because he believes in us.

[shochmonster]

84 Questions

original: https://fuckyeahsurveys.tumblr.com/post/61049002526/84-questions

Put your music player of choice on shuffle and list the first 10 songs Guns of Brixton - The Clash Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys  Chainsaw - Nick Jonas California - Joni Mitchell Make It Wit Chu - Queens of the Stone Age This Woman’s Work - Kate Bush The Bad Thing - Arctic Monkeys Between the Bars - Eliot Smith Drown - The Smashing Pumpkins Different People - No Doubt

If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Would you take anyone with you? I’d take @duoloopo to the UK. I’d like to see places other than London.

What is your preferred writing implement? (eg. Blue pen, pencil, green pen)  I use my iPad stylus the most, but I have this heavy mechanical pencil I really like for drawing. 

Favourite month and why? October. I just love the fall vibe. 

Do you have connections to any celebrities (even minor)? List them. I went to undergraduate school with Rebecca Sugar. We used to ride the bus between NYC and DC together on holidays. 

Name 3 items you could pick up from where you are. Can of seltzer, pencil case, stack of bills

What brand logo is closest to you currently? REAL Skateboards

Do you ever play board games or other non-computer games? Got any favourites? I love Small World and Munchkin. 

A musical artist you love that isn’t well known Laura Stevenson and the Cans

A musical artist you love that is well known Red Hot Chili Peppers

What is your desktop background currently? Thomas Barrow on the beach in the Season 4 Christmas Special

Last person you talked to, and through what you talked to them @duomaxwell02 with my face :O 

First colour name you can think of that isn’t in the rainbow White

What timekeeping devices are in the room you are currently in? Two wall clocks, though one is very old and doesn’t wind anymore. I also have a clock @duoloopo ‘s dad made for me. It’s on the piano. 

What kind of headphones do you use? JBL Bluetooth, noise canceling 

What musical artists have you seen perform live? Foo Fighters (3x), Incubus (3x), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Justin Timberlake, Troy Sivan, Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Queen (but with Roger Daughtry, not Freddy... for obvious reasons.). Probably a whole bunch of others I’m blanking on. 

Does virginity matter to you? Not really. 

What gaming consoles do you or your family own? PS4, PS2, PS1, XBox 360, N64, Gamecube, Wii, NES, SNES, various Gameboys, Nintendo DS, PSP

What pets do you have? What are their names? Two cats, Hemingway and Renji

What’s the best job you’ve ever had? I like freelance art gigs the best. As for ‘normal people jobs’, I once was a sign painter for Whole Foods. That was pretty fun, minus the work drama. 

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Food service. 

What magazines do you read, if any? I’ll pick up Time once in a while

Inspiration behind your URL? My classic original URL was LinkWorshiper and had been since AIM first existed. I picked it because Zelda was the first fandom I ever joined. Now I’ve changed all my handles (except on AO3) to reflect my actual name, as my literary agent thinks it’s more professional. 

Inspiration behind your blog title? Mean Girls. I always chuckle imagining Thomas and Jimmy as some Edwardian version of the Plastics. 

Favourite item of clothing? My Downton livery waistcoat. And the stiff bosomed shirt and collars I have to go with it. 

Are you friends with any exes? Nah. By the time I felt comfortable enough to possibly try, I also didn’t care enough to. 

Name at least one book you loved as a child. His Dark Materials (the trilogy by Philip Pullman). I still love them and am jazzed that he’s writing more these days. 

What’s your native language? If that language has distinct regional variations, which variation? (eg. AU English, US English) US English, mostly a northeastern dialect/accent

What email service do you use? Gmail

Is there anything hanging on the walls of the room you are currently in? So much stuff. I have a mood board full of Downtons stuff over my desk, various DA posters and memorabilia, plus some artwork I’ve done, and some of my JC Leyendecker collection. The aforementioned wall clocks, a San Francisco cable car bell, Sailor Moon and a few other little knickknacks, like my hamsa. To name a few lol. 

What’s your favourite number, and why? 212 because it’s Manhattan’s area code and also because it used to be the notation for one of my favorite ships in an old fandom. 

Earliest moment in your life you can remember? Sitting under the table and looking at my grandma, who was wearing a Cruella Deville dress she’d knit herself. Like, it had the actual Disney character on it. Pretty cool to a little guy, I guess!

What did you have for dinner yesterday? Quesadilla 

How often do you brush your teeth? Whenever they feel gross

What’s your favourite candy/chocolate? Lately, I’ve been into Junior Mints. 

Have you had other blogs on Tumblr? Do you have any other blogs currently? This blog used to have my old handle, linkworshiper. I did a small Whole Foods blog when I worked with them, but it never went anywhere. 

If you were suddenly really hungry, what would you choose to eat? Sushi

What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of? Downton Abbey, though lately I’ve been crazy busy and not as active as I once was. Casually still poking at old fandoms like Zelda and Gundam Wing to name a few. 

If you could study anything, what would it be? More art education can’t hurt. Maybe some formal history education. 

Do you use anything on your lips? (eg. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick) Chapstick 

How would you describe your sense of humour? Seinfeld 

What things annoy you more than anything else? Mouth noises

What kind of position are you in at the moment? Sitting

Do you wear much jewellery? Nope

Who is the leader of your country, currently? Any other levels of government with leaders? (State, region, province, county, district, municipality, etc) Three supposedly equal branches of government, currently being run into the ground by a clown 

Last 3 blogs on your dashboard, not including any of your own @halcyondaze @mab1905 @lavender-hued-melancholy

What do you carry your money in? I try to never carry cash, but I carry a small wallet 

Do you enjoy driving? Why or why not? I like it but sometimes it feels like a chore, especially during a commute. @duoloopo thinks I’m a shit driver so she tries to drive whenever she can, which has pluses and minuses. 

Longest drive you have ever been on? Savannah GA to San Francisco, CA in a UHaul

Furthest away from home you have ever been? Germany 

How many times have you moved house? God, I don’t even know. More than ten. 

What is on the floor of the room you’re currently in, not including furniture? Cat toys, unused canvases

How many devices do you own which can access the internet? Phone, computer, iPad, various game consoles 

Is there is anything that is guaranteed to always make you happy? Thomas and Jimmy <3 <3 

Is there anything that always makes you sad? Thinking too hard about being a failure

What programs do you currently have open? I just rebooted, so only Chrome, Spotify and Photoshop

What do you associate the colour red with? This line in the Kate Bush Song Blue Symphony, which goes, ‘I associate love with red, the color of my heart when she’s dead.’ 

Last strong smell you can remember smelling? The Greek food I ordered in for dinner

Last healthy thing you ate? Roasted veggies

Do you drink tea or coffee, and how much per day? I prefer tea, and I drink coffee for energy, though sometimes I think it just makes me crash harder. 

What do you associate the colour blue with? The sky

How long is the closest ruler you can find? 12 inches

What colour pants/skirt/etc are you currently wearing? Dark blue

When was the last time you drank water? About a minute ago

How often do you clear your browser history? Rarely

Do you believe nude photos can be artistic, rather than erotic? Yes

Ever written fanfiction for anything? Oh God, yes. You can still find it under Link Worshiper on AO3, though some of my ‘classics’ have been removed since I turned them into original manuscripts 

Last formal event you attended My cousin’s wedding

If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why? Maybe inch my birth year up just by two so that I’d stop being called a damn millennial. At my age, I really just don’t relate to the generation even though technicalities make me a part of it. 

Would you prefer to be at a beach or in the countryside? Beach

Roughly how many people live in your town? 52,000

Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? Leonard Nimoy :D 

Favourite place to shop? Can be a certain store or a place where there are multiple stores I haven’t really gone shopping since the pandemic. Right now, it feels like the only place to buy anything is Amazon XD

Do you have a smartphone? What kind? If you don’t, do you want one? Samsung. It’s not a Galaxy but is a new model and a fraction of the price. 

What is your least favourite colour, and why? I don’t think I dislike any colors honestly. 

How do you spell grey/gray? Grey. I’ve got too many British online associates to ever go back. 

Go to your dashboard and describe the image shown in the radar section (below the “Find blogs” link) It’s Umbrella Academy fanart of Klaus. He’s in black and white with this hands over his eyes and the background is red. It’s very graphic. 

What difference is there between how many followers you have, and the number of blogs you follow? 736

How many posts do you have? 8,859

How many posts have you liked? I can’t find the stat D: 

Do you post mainly reblogs, or your own content? Mainly reblogs but I pepper in my own content when I can. Lately, I haven’t had time to do as much fanart though, and I kind of feel like it’s not worth bothering to post my original stuff. Nobody follows my blog for that. 

Do you track any tags? No. 

What time is it currently? 7:33 PM CMT

Is there anything you should be doing right now? Waking up @duoloopo. TIME TO JUMP ON THE BED. 

tagging, if they feel like it: @abbys-little-whippersnapper​ @bumblebarrow​ @irrationalgame​ @downtoncat​ @mab1905​ @duoloopo​

and everyone who I’ve forgotten

[actually-autisticc]

Well I wanted to say this towards the finale but I said fuck it. Let’s do this now. Thank you Rebecca Sugar for creating such an amazing show. Let’s see...I watched it whenever I was maybe either in 8th grade or 7th grade. I was an insecure little bitch and still am, now that I am a freshman in college. It really cheered me up when I wasn’t feeling to great and it gave me something to think about.

I used to have a fandom Instagram account that included multiple fandoms and SU was one of them. I remember raving about In Too Deep with the Cluster or when the reveal of Pink Diamond being Rose. I wasn’t allowed to have the account because my mother found out and became upset I was talking to strangers online. I promised to not get involved with fandom stuff again but HA look where that’s got me. I now have an archive of our own account and I’ve created stories for Bendy and the Ink Machine and SU. I discovered that I’m a talented writer now because of SU and I enjoy it. I’ve also discovered my sexuality because of the show. It helped me realize that I am Bisexual and I should be proud of it. Just because I am different with being highly functioning on the autism spectrum doesnt make me any less human and SU has helped me realized that. Its been my special interest..makes me happy but it hurt when that happiness was taken away. I’m back to loving it.

Thank you Rebecca for touching subjects that not many shows have done like gay/lesbian couples, transgender people, loss of parents, stress and anxiety, PTSD, and most importantly: loving yourself. Those Dove commercials were adorable and I loved them. I am still struggling with loving myself..it’s not an easy process but it’s a process. I’m so glad SU made those and still emphasized that loving who you are is incredibly important.

I didn’t intend on watching SU again before the movie. I somewhat forgot about it until it came out and I was like wow holy shit since when was there a movie. I watched it in my dorm and I instantly fell back in love with SU again and I’m so glad I did. I fell in love with Spinel and her wacky, crazy, feral, goofy self. I love Other Friends because it’s one of those songs that just sticks to you. It’s fun, it’s catchy, and it’s swingy which I love so much. I couldn’t stop listening to it and I guess you could say it was on loop in my head. I fell in love with Spinel because of her story, her character, her voice, HER VOICE ACTRESS love ya Sarah Stiles you fucking queen, her design, just everything. I love the old 1920s style that she is and inspired me to write That Damn Dame.

I am so glad I got back into SU cause I never would’ve found my amazing and beautiful girlfriend. I would have never found something that makes me so happy. I could say so much more but I really can’t cause there’s just too much to say. It’s gonna be hard to let go of such an awesome show but like all good things, they must come to an end. It’s time for it to end. Thank you Rebecca Sugar. We love you and your amazing story. 💜

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe Podcast Volume 3: Episode 5: Reunited

This is Volume 3, Episode 5 of the official Steven Universe podcast, looking at the episode "Reunited," including input from Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey.

The official description:

Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and former Executive Producer Ian Jones-Quartey return to provide a detailed look at the creation and execution of "Reunited." Rebecca reveals her original idea for the wedding, the inspiration she drew from old movies like "Fiddler On The Roof" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum," and why it was so important for her to get "Reunited" made. Rebecca and Ian also discuss the different fighting styles and abilities of the Diamonds, everybody's wedding outfits, Ronaldo's armor and sword, the Cluster, and how the entire Steven Universe series is so informed by "The Wizard Of Oz!"

This, as usual, is bit long so I’ll do my bullet points of interest, with longer descriptions after the jump.

Highlights:

The episode was not originally meant to open with a song. They added the opening number much later to establish plot elements that needed to be fresh in our minds and also set the stage for how Steven was feeling.

They knew the Cluster arc would culminate in arm wrestling way back when they first invented the Cluster arc.

Musical influences for the opening number and the episode itself included For Me and My Gal, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Fiddler on the Roof.

The Cluster manifesting as an arm while the rest of it stays unformed to spare the Earth is described as "very uncomfortable" for the gestalt creature.

Katie Mitroff is credited for much of the opening song sequence, including wedding outfit design, with help from Joe Johnston.

Garnet's wedding outfit was originally conceived as being torn for the battle, but the design they used turned out perfect for showing the mixture of garments AND working well for fighting.

Ronaldo, seen wearing armor and talking to Bismuth at the wedding, is described by Ian as mansplaining armor to Bismuth.

Early concepts of the Ruby and Sapphire wedding started with Garnet actually marrying herself, in an episode known as "If You Love Yourself So Much."

Diamonds in combat were mostly handled by storyboarder Miki Brewster.

Blue's ability to incapacitate others with her sadness was known early on, and Lapis's reaction was an obvious element they intended to include.

Rebecca thinks the Wizard of Oz and Sleeping Beauty are the most commonly cited films in their writers' room, with a little bit of Cinderella for aesthetic.

Blue Diamond getting a house dropped on her is a Wizard of Oz reference.

Lapis being the one to drop the barn on Blue was a satisfying confrontation, as Blue is described as a parent who abandoned her.

Violence following a wedding was another nod to Fiddler, but it was important to Rebecca that the wedding itself be completed.

The Diamonds' invasion could not have happened any sooner or they would not have faced a united, prepared team of Crystal Gems. They now know what they're fighting for.

It's so important to show that communication and compassion for others leads to strength. The show often depicts the best Fusions as being healthy relationships, and Rebecca thinks spending time and effort on cultivating these relationships--and on yourself!--will make you stronger in the next thing you do.

Ruby and Sapphire's wedding was an important story type Rebecca and Ian felt their characters deserved to have. They were created as a classic cartoon couple who managed to get various romantic story types assigned to them throughout the show; Rebecca was determined to champion this mission to let them have this.

Ruby and Sapphire's introduction in "Jailbreak" was met with a decision-maker slapping a specific prohibition on them being a romantic couple. Rebecca had to argue, "But they ARE."

It's so incredibly vital that couples like Ruby and Sapphire are not considered more adult than typical couples in G-rated content.  

Rebecca is grateful and relieved that the wedding has finally aired and they got to do this, but she stresses that this is only one example amidst a hundred years of weddings and couples that communicate an exclusively heteronormative message. There's still so much to do for LGBTQ kids to help them understand they DO belong in a "family-friendly" world.

Though much of the discussion for representation has been about couples, they emphasize they're not just talking about couples here or pushing the idea that everyone's dream should be getting married. It's just that if you do want to marry someone, there is a future for someone who imagines being happy in a non-heteronormative relationship.

The show is designed to give kids tools to handle their own feelings.

Rebecca is excited to include Ruby and Sapphire as a couple that decided to get married after being together a VERY long time. Couples need to talk and know each other instead of jumping into something like marriage.

What's next on Steven Universe? An exploration of what it means for these rebel Gems to be on Homeworld, with Steven "in the palace," and the upcoming episodes are "huge."

The detailed summary is below!

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

We open by discussing the opening of the episode: How did they come to the conclusion that they wanted to open with a song? Rebecca explains that the song was a late addition; originally they were just going to open on Steven banging on a vending machine trying to get some Chaaaaps out (which would echo what happened later when the Diamonds banged on the Earth to get the Cluster out!), but they wanted to set the scene with something that would tie together all the elements necessary to understand the upcoming action, as well as establish what Steven was thinking about and how he felt right then. Music is such a great vehicle to cover emotional complexities, so it made sense to do that with a song.

This episode was a VERY long time in the making, and they had the ideas for the arm wrestling with the Cluster back when they first started planning the Cluster arc. They had to make sure we had seen the Diamonds' arm ships early on so this scene could happen. The song really helped not only check in with Steven and his "manic need for positivity" but also became a great device for showing us where each major character's mind is as we go into this. It could have just been a couple scenes of talking, but the song works so much better.

McKenzie prompts her guests to discuss musical influences for "For Just One Day Let's Only Think About Love." Rebecca says she was paying a lot of attention to old Judy Garland musicals, so she pulled from a song called "For Me and My Gal" which is wedding-themed (she sings a few lines from it), and she really liked how in these kinds of old musicals they'd have people singing and then talking. It's really hard to coordinate, she says, but Ian says Rebecca has always wanted to collaborate with Aivi and Surasshu to do a big Broadway song like this. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was another musical that was a big influence on the switch-between-singing-and-monologuing technique. Fiddler on the Roof influenced the structure of the episode too, since there's a scene where a wedding leads directly to the significant violence of the film.

The Cluster was suddenly brought into this episode after not being mentioned for a while, and Rebecca describes this as being partially the result of "a lot of moving parts." They knew how they wanted it to work, but it was just a matter of putting the pieces together. Steven befriending the Cluster was discussed in a writers' meeting that happened in 2014 or 2015. It was necessary for Steven to befriend the Cluster so it could help him, but it could never actually emerge without destroying the Earth, so that arm that emerges is obviously only a small part of it that almost seems like the Earth itself is fighting back. The arm can't just stay there chilling, though, because the Cluster is uncomfortable interacting that way with only a piece of itself formed.

Now into discussing the characters' wedding outfits, Rebecca credits Katie Mitroff for boarding a lot of the song sequences, as well as Joe Johnston for design. Some of the outfits were planned long ago, like Pearl revisiting her tux, but new outfits included Amethyst's "semi-casual suit" and Peridot's dress. Garnet's outfit went through many iterations, including some ideas to have her fighting with a torn wedding dress. (Gem clothing doesn't really tear exactly, though. Ian and Rebecca suggested the torn bit would have turned into sparkles?) Rebecca really loved the asymmetrical dress situation that was also "born out of necessity" that allowed Garnet's different clothing elements to show and also worked well as a battle outfit.

Ian brings up Ronaldo wearing his armor at the wedding, which Rebecca thinks she might have come up with but wasn't sure. It's all "stuff that happens in the room." Regarding the scene where Bismuth and Ronaldo are standing there in armor, Ian describes it as Ronaldo "mansplaining to Bismuth what armor is." In discussing Ronaldo and his use of the sword he got at DelmarvaCon, they remember that the armor's first appearance in "Keep Beach City Weird" was originally meant to include a bizarre extending baton that he would smack Steven with, but it was flagged as too violent. Ronaldo's "weapon" then became a potato. Ian jokingly says they've got to bring the potato weapons back. Rebecca's like "no, we don't need to do that."

Next, McKenzie wants to know how long Rebecca's been planning Ruby and Sapphire's wedding outfits, since we've now seen concept sketches from 2015 on her Instagram. She remembers drawing it for the first time in probably 2014, and she started pitching the wedding either late 2015 or early 2016. Originally, the concept was to have Garnet marrying herself in an episode called "If You Love Yourself So Much." Conceived as a simpler, self-contained episode, it contained cool images like Garnet dancing with herself and putting rings on her own fingers. They got to use some of that briefly at the reception. This idea didn't get through, but later when she started trying to get a wedding episode, she incorporated the clothing designs we can see from those early sketches, modified later to include the flowers Ruby was wearing in her hair. (Rebecca pulled the idea for those specific flowers from a friend's wedding.)

The next portion of the podcast discusses that epic Diamond battle. Rebecca was really excited to have Miki Brewster do her thing on this fight. The orbs and lasers that Blue generated were essentially invented by Miki, but the sadness wave was an older invention first shown in "The Trial." Blue's ability to incapacitate other Gems with her debilitating sadness in a battle was a really early development. As soon as they knew Blue could do this, they immediately thought of how Lapis would be affected by it and knew they would use it.

Rebecca then brings up the Wizard of Oz and how it directly inspired some elements of Steven Universe. That movie is absolutely a sci-fi/fantasy story. Rebecca feels that the Wizard of Oz and Sleeping Beauty are the two films that get brought up the most in the writers' discussions, with a little of Cinderella for aesthetic. Dropping a house--well, the barn--on Blue was a direct callback to the Wizard of Oz. Torturing the characters, as Ian says, was necessary to get Lapis to a place where she would take the barn in the first place, though Rebecca clarifies that there was nothing contrived about how Lapis acted; it all made sense with her character arc.

Lapis being an original member of Blue's court is mentioned, though they say they don't get to dig into that history, but Rebecca compares Blue to a parent who abandoned Lapis. Having her get to confront Blue and drop a house on her was cathartic. The Diamonds don't take care of the Gems they make. It's part of the problem with their entire system according to Rebecca. Lapis struggled to "take a side," being that she felt manipulated by everyone; now that she's begun to make choices, she can have some control over her life. Lapis always worries she'll do something horrible with power if she has it.

Garnet has a history with Blue too, they point out; Garnet has lots of fear and anger toward Blue, so it was nice to have her standing-up-to-Blue moment tied into Lapis's. This whole arc, from Lapis to Garnet, was about characters making choices for their own reasons. Garnet was ready to stand up to Blue now that she is 100% solid in who she is and why she is together.

McKenzie then asks Rebecca and Ian to discuss their motivation for having the Diamonds appear on the day of Garnet's wedding. Rebecca again cites Fiddler on the Roof and they mention how classic it is to have a wedding and then a fight. It was very important to Rebecca that the wedding itself not be interrupted. It was just the reception after.

(Chronicler's note: I also grew up watching the movie of this musical, and if you haven't seen it, the wedding has the main character's eldest daughter marrying the poor tailor she was in love with, versus the wealthy butcher she was supposed to marry. In the culture of the movie, the Jewish fathers generally chose husbands for their daughters (often through a matchmaker), and Tevye thought marrying Tzeitel off to an old rich butcher was assuring her a secure and rich life. Instead, she was in love with a tailor, and would have been unhappy marrying the butcher. When she begged to wed her love instead, Tevye found himself challenging tradition and questioning his own heart for his daughter's happiness, so this wedding was about new and old finding balance. And then the reception is crashed by the army intent on demonstrating their power and presence. It kinda wrecks the mood.)

The Crystal Gems are able to do what they're doing in this fight because they have recently been reunited in a powerful way by the recent events, and Rebecca brings up the important points Bismuth raised: what do the Crystal Gems stand for NOW, now that we know they were founded on something that isn't appropriate to fight for anymore? Who are they as a team? They have to rally behind Steven, and he has to be comfortable deciding the direction of that, along with Garnet who is now back to herself and has recently gone through some of the same emotional stuff. The Crystal Gems know they can trust each other, no matter what they were originally founded on. They could not have fought the Diamonds cohesively before they went through all this together.

Ian says many concepts they work into the show start with an idea or an image, and they figure out how to get it into the show in a fun way. Rebecca feels they must pull it together with themes about relationships, communication, growth, and emotional stability--and that these lead to strength. Using Fusions to explore this is ideal because they're relationships AND they're characters. Strong, healthy relationships make really excellent Fusions who can accomplish great things. Time devoted to cultivating these relationships and taking care of yourself and your community will lead to strength in your further actions.

In the last leg of the podcast discussion, McKenzie wants to talk about the wedding, and they begin discussing the struggle to actually air this wedding at all. As mentioned earlier, Garnet's marriage to herself was rejected; they wouldn't let it through at all. So Rebecca wanted to find another way to approach it, and describes their approach to their new concepts as being pretty similar to the conversations they had with decision-makers over other controversial episodes leading up to it.

Ruby and Sapphire needed to have every style of love story. "Jailbreak" introduced the characters, and immediately a conversation was born: why do we have this, who are they and why do they need to be what they are to each other, what's the context, etc. Every time these characters surfaced, Rebecca had to explain why she thought they should be able to show what they were showing. "The Answer" was the fairy tale. "Hit the Diamond" was the romantic comedy. "Keystone Motel" was the couple fight and reconciliation. What couple who's been through these doesn't get to have a wedding episode? It's typical endgame.

Ruby and Sapphire are designed to be very typical as a couple, with their fire-and-ice star-crossed lovers vibe; it was important for them to get to do all the things every other couple like them got to do, and there was NO reason they shouldn't get to do it unless the decision-makers were making a special exception for them. Rebecca actually got specifically told that Ruby and Sapphire CANNOT be in a romantic relationship, as soon as she introduced them. She responded, "But they ARE." There's even a song about it celebrating their introduction.  

Rebecca remembers a Valentine's Day post of some kind by Cartoon Network finally listing Ruby and Sapphire as one of their couples, and she almost broke into tears. She wasn't allowed to talk about their relationship at the time, and it meant so much to her to be able to start doing that--at the time, she wasn't able to talk about the characters' relationship OR herself being bisexual, but she knew she should be able to tell these stories to children and that there was nothing indecent about them.

She remembers that when she was directly told Ruby and Sapphire's relationship IS NOT OKAY, she remembered being indirectly told the same thing throughout her childhood. She finally saw it was true, this must not be okay, and she felt how harmful that was to her personally. And she and Ian knew they could not let the next generation suffer that harm. They had to know it IS okay. Rebecca says some of the issue comes with the show being aired in other countries, and in those cases the dialogue is sometimes changed in translation. There are also issues with their show being put in G-rated time slots, even though Steven Universe is NOT a G show. But G shows are always full of love, innocent kisses, marriage! There's nothing more wholesome than that and there's no reason Ruby and Sapphire shouldn't have that. Their love is not "inherently more adult" than what kids get to see from more traditional couples.

If you've never even SEEN a couple like Ruby and Sapphire in a G-rated show, you don't even know what it can look like, and Rebecca felt this lack had become an emergency for today's children. You learn and internalize these messages as a child. This harm mustn't be done to these kids; they will learn that there's something different and not-okay about that kind of love, and even if it seems okay in adult shows that they can seek out, they'll have to unlearn and heal instead of just not being damaged by it in the first place. Ian thinks kids can't learn that anything could be wrong with Ruby and Sapphire unless someone else told them it was wrong, so with children you're free to present the world as if you don't expect anyone to object to it. Then, they'll follow suit.

Rebecca is so grateful and relieved that the wedding finally aired and "we made it." But it's just the beginning--one drop in the bucket that's otherwise filled with heteronormative programming. There's still so much to do for LGBTQ kids to help them understand they DO belong in a "family-friendly" world. Feeling that lack so deeply, knowing there's something different about yourself--there is no way to communicate fully how this knowledge drilled into you as a child can corrupt you into fearing yourself and your own feelings. The exciting feelings of liking someone become terrifying, and you don't fully function as a person.

Rebecca also emphasizes that she's not fully focused on "couples" here. She wants the show to give kids tools to handle their anxieties and battle the challenges the outside world puts on them. She's beyond happy that the wedding has done what it was supposed to do, but there's still so much to do that she feels responsible for doing. Ian comments that it's not like anything has been "solved." Kids need to feel that happy dreams are in reach for someone like them. Rebecca doesn't want kids to get these ideas from Disney weddings that getting married is the primary goal and vehicle to happiness, but they need the freedom to imagine their future with a partner they can have happily ever after with; they should be allowed to be included in the option to have that dream.

In discussing fan reactions, Rebecca points out that they deserved to have a kiss like this twenty years ago. She describes the satisfaction of the wedding as bittersweet--it's not enough. She got to talk to a very young fan about Garnet recently in San Diego--this kid just saw Garnet as Garnet, and loved her and her relationship, but getting to have this was not a long time coming for him the way it is for Rebecca herself and older fans. It's just what it is and there's nothing weird about it for that young fan.

Rebecca also emphasizes that the wedding was a cool chance to bring a couple into marriage after they'd been together for a REALLY LONG TIME. Their choice to get married is very informed, contrasted with some cute cartoon weddings where characters are already in love after they've known each other for a few minutes. Rebecca thinks it would've been cool if Snow White got some time to talk to the Prince about whether they have any compatibility beyond their initial chemsistry. Ruby and Sapphire reflected in the wedding vows saying they are making a decision to change their lives individually and together. They will put work into their relationship, and that's what will increase their strength.

And McKenzie's last question is what do fans have to look forward to next? Rebecca is reluctant to talk about what's next, though she points out that Steven is "in the palace now." Ian thinks the trial they've been through has now led to them getting tested in a new way. Being on Homeworld now, what is that going to mean to each of these Gems who worked hard to get away from Homeworld? Rebecca says these episodes that are coming are huge. She can't wait for us to see them.

[Archive of Steven Universe Podcast Summaries]

[milpedancawira-blog]

Must Watch List

As a person who enjoys watching movies and series(like most do), I have my fair share of favorites. I’ve had a great experience in watching these movies and series and from them, I have actually learned a lot and I’d want nothing more than to share with y’all the joys I have had in experiencing them. So here I have a list of the ones that I highly recommend that you watch...

Her 

“Her” is a romantic drama set in a hypothetical, not-so-distant future wherein technology has consumed us, more than it already has. It was written and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars actors Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. 

Phoenix plays a character named Theodore, and over the course of the film, we see him experience desperation and longing for love as he copes with his loneliness which stemmed from his recent divorce. He slowly develops feelings for his personalized operating system which named herself Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The movie is filled with heartfelt moments and scenes that show you the flaws that come with a seemingly perfect relationship. I just find the concept so interesting, to see a person so driven by his or her loneliness that they could develop romantic feelings for even a computer. Overall it is a great film, before watching it I should probably warn you about upcoming scenes that will just shock and confuse you, but you will just have to cross that bridge when you get there. Lastly, it features one of my favorite songs “The Moon Song” by Karen O and Spike Jonze, you should also give that a listen.

Over the Garden Wall

“Over the Garden Wall” is an animated miniseries by Partick McHale. It follows the journey of two half-brothers Wirt and Greg as they find their way home out of the deep forest they call “The Unknown”

The show gives you a vibe that is reminiscent of the 70s or 80s as it is seemingly set in that time period but not explicitly said, that vibe personally attracted me even more to it. You may become attached to the two main characters, Wirt and Greg, and the development of their brotherly bond as they explore “The Unknown”. Along the way, they meet new friends and by the end of their journey, they reap the rewards of the struggles that they had to go through. You can find the episodes on Netflix and it only has 10 episodes so I recommend you should give this one a watch on if you're into ominous, creepy and eerie things.

Howl’s Moving Castle

Among this list and basically any other movie that I have watched, I’d said this movie ranks number one. Howl’s Moving Castle is a Japanese animated fantasy film by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. The movie derived inspiration from the 1986 novel of the same name written by British author Diana Wynne Jones.  

I don’t know what it is specifically about the movie that makes me gravitate towards it. I feel like I could watch the movie endlessly and each time I would just love it even more. It’s simply beautiful.  If you are interested in watching it I want you to go in fully blind so I won’t say much about the story itself but it is personally the best movie I have ever watched and I highly suggest that you watch it too. 

Karakai Jouzo no Takagi-San

It was originally a Japanese manga series by Soichiro Yamamoto, although it is still ongoing, an animated adaptation of the manga has also been produced by Shin-Ei Animation, which is currently ongoing as well with its second season.

This series is honestly just really cute. Each episode finds ways to make your heart melt as the two main characters continue to develop their relationship, and when something remotely romantic happens between them you might just find yourself screaming like an idiot. Feel free to catch up with the current season, you might find yourself just as in love with this series as I am. 

Steven Universe

“Steven Universe” is an animated television series by Rebecca Sugar. It is the first of Cartoon Networks many animated shows solely created by a woman.  It follows the adventures of a young boy named (you guessed it) Steven Universe as he discovers his capabilities as a half-human half gem. With him are three humanoid aliens who call themselves the Crystal Gems, among them, are Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst who essentially act as the motherly figure for Steven.

Steven Universe is another show that I along with my siblings have enjoyed watching. We have bonded over them and it has essentially become part of us as we still continue to talk about it and make references to it from time to time. It’s a wonderful and heartwarming show with some of the best writing and story-telling that I have seen in any animated series. By the end, you will just be in awe with how so many things tie in together, and with a movie coming by next month and a 6th season following it, I along with my siblings will be having a great time watching it. Luckily, if you haven’t watched it yet, you don’t get to experience the year-long hiatuses the series is also famous for.

So these were just a few of my favorites. Sorry to cut it at five, I just felt that if I added more, then this post would have been way too long. Anyhow, I hope y'all take my recommendations into consideration, and that you find them as wonderful as I did. That's all for now. 

Ramy signing off...

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_(film)

http://www.hd-trailers.net/movie/her/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over_the_Garden_Wall

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3718778/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle_(film)

https://m.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-46633/Howl_s_Moving_Castle.html

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teasing_Master_Takagi-san

https://animepahe.com/anime/karakai-jouzu-no-takagi-san-2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Universe

https://www.amazon.com/Steven-Universe-Poster-24x36-inches/dp/B01HUGZ43Y

[tedlyanderson]

Annotations for Adventure Time: Beginning of the End issue 3!

Did you enjoy my annotations for issue one and issue two of this miniseries? If so, good news! (If not, shove off!) I have annotations for the third issue, right here waiting for your lovely eyes! Obviously, as with the previous posts, this will have great big massive spoilers for the issue, so take that into consideration. Please enjoy, my pals!

Pages 2&3: Okay, there’s a lot to unpack on these pages, haha. First and foremost is a reference to something other than Adventure Time for once: Jake’s monologue on these pages is a loose reference to one of the very best issues of classic Fantastic Four, number 51, “This Man ... This Monster!” In that issue, among other events, Reed Richards travels through the Negative Zone and muses to himself about the nature of reality:

There are cameos on these pages from a bunch of the “cosmic” things of the AT universe, including the Catalyst Comet, the Lich, a copy of the Enchiridion,  Glob Grob Gob Grod, the Finn Sword, and Prismo (in a rare 3-dimensional appearance). There’s also a herd of Time Lards with clocks on their bellies.

Also in this image, note the most minor and in-jokey reference in this entire series: the satellite on the middle-left with the word “FELIS” on it. In the episode “Fionna and Cake and Fionna,” someone asks Ice King where he gets the ideas for his Fionna and Cake stories, and he replies that they’re “beamed into [his] melon every night.” Later that episode, we see him sleeping as a pink laser zaps into his head, carrying images of Fionna and Cake. I chose to interpret this as a reference to one of my favorite authors, Philip K. Dick, who believed that he was receiving knowledge in the form of an information-rich pink laser beam from a satellite called VALIS. So this satellite, FELIS (get it? like cats?), is the source of the Fionna and Cake stories—in my version of the universe, anyway.

Page 4, panel 4: Chronologius Rex declares that he is the lord of Time, not meatloaf. Meatloaf has been established multiple times as Finn’s favorite food.

Page 5: And here we come to the crux of this issue: Finn’s possible futures. Issue 1 of this series was about Finn’s past, issue 2 was about his present, so naturally issue 3 is all about his futures. Obviously none of these should be taken as “canon;” I just came up with three possible paths Finn might take based on what we’ve seen him do throughout the series. I’ll explain my thinking after the third sequence.

All three of the futures are color-coded—the Candy Knight future is pink, obviously.

Page 6: I love Mari’s designs for Queen Bubblegum—the high ‘80s shoulders are great! My suggestion for Old Peppermint Butler was that he be smoother and shinier, as if he’s a candy that’s been sucked on for too long.

In panel 2, the “Dinner Kingdom” is kind of a half-reference to the Breakfast Kingdom in present Ooo.

And in panel 5, note old Finn’s Jake medallion.

Page 7, panel 4: I am not sorry for the “bunch” of banana soldiers joke.

Page 8, panel 1: Beards are indeed a factor in many of Finn’s futures: pretty much every time we’ve seen an older or artificially-aged Finn, he’s got a beard of some sort. I continue the trend in this issue.

Page 8, panel 5: This is a futuristic version of Founders’ Island, the main human settlement outside of Ooo, fixed up and fully repaired. The implication is that Finn not only returned to the human islands, he also helped fix the place up.

The color scheme for the Teacher Finn future is blue, connecting with the water and sky surrounding them.

Page 9, panel 2: I love Teacher Finn’s design so, so much, you guys. I described him as a lovable old professor, someone with his mother’s compassion and his father’s roguish charm, and Mari knocked it out of the park. Note his Jake hat.

Page 9, panel 3: “Homies help homies: always!” is the Adventure Time philosophy in a nutshell.

Page 9, panel 5: Note that Finn is still using his old, trusty sword Scarlett in this future. She’s even more nicked and battle-scarred, but I’m sure she’s still good in a fight.

Page 10, panel 2: Dodging eggs while fighting was part of Finn’s training from Rattleballs in his eponymous episode.

Page 10, panel 2: When it came to Finn’s human wife, I told Mari to make her look a little bit like a human version of Flame Princess. I figured Finn if has a type, it’s her!

Page 11: The third and final possible future is the Space Captain Finn future, which is green-themed for no particular reason. This future is based on the idea that Finn and his Candy Kingdom pals team up with the remaining humans to build a spaceship to take them away from Earth, which is about as likely as anything else in Adventure Time, haha.

Everything in this sequence is of course heavily inspired by Star Trek: the Next Generation, a show that I love and grew up watching. The Minerva A.I. is the ship’s computer, obviously, warning of “excessive sparks detected on bridge.” Jake is Finn’s right-hand-man, just like Riker was to Picard (and Finn even calls him “numero uno,” like Picard’s “number one”). Lady Rainicorn is the equivalent of counselor Troi, Fern is a bit like Data, and Jake’s skateboarding granddaughter Bronwyn is the hotshot kid pilot, like Wesley. Princess Bubblegum is the engineering chief—she always struck me as preferring the role of scientist rather than royalty, frankly—assisted by Frieda and BMO. Flame Princess, upgraded to Plasma Princess, powers the ship as a whole. And Finn himself sports a beard similar to Commander Riker’s—which is appropriate, as a future version of Finn was voiced by Riker’s actor, Jonathan Frakes!

When coming up with these futures, I thought about what the Finn we knew might be most drawn to doing, and boiled it down to three major options: fighting and defending (the Candy Knight future), teaching and training (the Teacher Finn future), or exploring and leading (Space Captain Finn). For what it’s worth, I don’t really have a preference, or any opinions on which future is most likely—one of the strengths of Adventure Time has always been finding ways to surprise its audience with something that makes total sense in retrospect. If Finn does have a “canonical” future, it’s probably something I would never have thought of, but which makes perfect sense.

Page 11, panel 4: Princess Bubblegum yet again mentions “zanoits,” which are maybe some kind of mysterious particle? It’s a funny word and deserves to be used more often.

Page 12, panel 1: I mentioned in my annotations for the previous issue that I felt bad making Susan revert to her simpler speech patterns, since by this point in the series she’s perfectly capable of using big words. I tried to make it up to her by making her the ship’s communications officer, who would use big words all the time.

Additionally, the “Tuffbone sector” is a reference to Meredith Gran’s Adventure Time miniseries, Marceline: Gone Adrift. In that series, Marceline explores space and meets other races, including the Tuffbones, dog-like alien critters.

Page 12, panel 2: Note that Shelby (the worm who lives in Jake’s viola) is wearing a bandolier similar to Worf’s. I was particularly proud of that idea, haha.

Page 12, panel 4: Jake’s exclamation of “Outrageous!” is a reference to another role by his voice actor, John DiMaggio: it’s the catchphrase of Aquaman, from the Batman: the Brave and the Bold series.

Page 16, panel 3: A “dead world” is another bit of unexplored Adventure Time lore: they’re apparently where people go when they die, but they’re not quite the afterlife as we think of it? Or it is, but there’s a lot of them, like at least fifty? Unclear.

Page 16, panel 4: I had to work in the title of the show somehow.

Page 17, panel 3: I wanted to make sure I referenced my favorite song from the show, “Everything Stays” by Rebecca Sugar, and this seemed like the perfect time to bring it up, as Jake discusses the inevitability of change.

Page 17, panel 4: When I described this panel in the script, I specifically mentioned the series Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the weirder depictions of the end of the world you can find. I love the image of the enormous stone blocks sinking into an endless sea.

Page 18, panel 5: Chronologius’s epithet for Jake, “starchild,” references Jake’s actual origin as a half-alien creature. I checked the dates, and apparently I finished the script for this issue just a couple weeks after the episode “Jake the Starchild” aired, in which Jake’s parentage was fully revealed.

Pages 20-21: Finn’s final “confrontation” with Chronologius might feel a bit underwhelming—essentially, all he does is convince Chronologius to give them an opportunity to escape. There’s no big battle, no war of wits; it’s already been established that Chronologius is basically invulnerable, so it’s not like Finn could beat him in a fight. It’s not terribly exciting, but that’s kind of the point: over the course of this issue, Chronologius becomes more sympathetic to Finn and his plight, particularly after seeing all the good he did (and might have done) in the world. So it’s less about beating up some big bad dude, and more about convincing someone to act like a pal. In a way, Finn beats Chronologius by making him into a friend.

Would it have been better if the ending was more exciting, action-packed, crazy-style? Maybe! Looking back on it, I feel like I could have given Mari more chances to do cool art stuff—the first half of this issue has some pretty far-out sequences and nifty new things to draw, but the second half is basically three characters talking against a mostly boring background. Thematically I feel like it’s better to have Finn succeed by befriending the villain, rather than just punching his lights out, but it definitely doesn’t have the same visual impact. Overall, I’m still proud of it, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be improved.

That’s it for issue three! Join me next time for—issue four?!? Yes! This three-part miniseries is in fact a four-part miniseries, ending with Finn and Jake’s adventures through time! Look forward to it, my chums!

[acespacecadet]

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 25, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 51, 52, 55, 58, 59, 65, 73, 79, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93? (sorry if it's too much tho)

These are questions from the Sweetheart ask! Thank you for the ask! (sorry its taken so long for me to answer) I do not mind that you asked a lot of questions, it will give me something to do!

2. What’s the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard in your opinion?

This is so hard to answer! My mind goes to Rainbow by Kesha first so thats what I'm going to say.

3. Hows your heart feeling right now?

It feels fuzzy, like static on a tv. Its the feeling I get whenever I share.

4. What kind of self care is your favorite to do?

I make time for myself and do things like shower, bake, listen to music, watch a movie/binge a show, read a book, do a face mask, and sleep.

5. What’s your skincare routine?

I have pills I take everyday for my acne and then I have two different face washes, one is for the shower the other is for when I wash my face at the sink, then I have two creams I put on my face after I wash it and then I have moisturizer to make sure my skin doesn’t get too dry. So I guess the routine is pill, wash face, use face creams, and moisturize. Sometimes I get lazy and just do a face mask and moisturize. 

7. Do you have any stuffed animals?

Yes, I have a lot of them too. I love stuffed animals.

8. Best trip you’ve ever been on?

I got to go to France and England a few years ago and it was such an awesome experience. 

9. Favorite thing about your room?

The walls because 12 year old me wanted my mom to try and paint my walls tie dye with blue, green, and purple and it still looks amazing.

10. Opinion on love

Love is good, and I think that love comes about in many different ways through family and friends and pets and all the relationships we have in our lives are important, even if people grow apart.

11. Are you affectionate?

I like to think I am! Once I’m comfortable around someone I become a pretty open book because that’s my way of letting that person know I like them.

12. Who do you look up to?

Oh geez it sounds weird to say Weird Al but I think he is great at what he does and he truly is living his best life and doing what he wants to to and he works hard for it. I look up to Rebecca Sugar because she has created this massive story line with characters that are complex and deep and even though Steven Universe is 5 seasons in it has a story to tell that isn’t over and it still feels fresh to me. 

14. Song that makes you happy? How about one that calms you when you’re in a bad place?

So this isn't just one song but listening to light hearted musicals or Weird Al helps me feel happy or at least make me laugh when I'm feeling down.

15. Do you play an instrument? 

Not anymore but I did play the clarinet for just a few years. 

16. Do you do art? Using what?

I just took a drawing class last semester and I used a pencil for the most part and I think that is my favorite kind of art to do for now.

17. Do you dance? What style of dance?

I love dancing but I wouldn’t say I have a style unless ‘white woman with no sense of rhythm’ is a style of dance. I just dance however I feel like dancing! 

20. What’s your hairstyle?

Idk what style you would consider this but I usually wear my hair down like this or in a ponytail. (Face reveal kinda? I put up a selfie once but no one liked it so I deleted lol. Also that’s what I meant by tie dye walls)

21. What weather is most beautiful, in your opinion?

I love warmer days when the sun is out, I think that a clear blue sky is so pretty! And I love when flowers are are in full bloom.

25. Do you have pets? Talk about something sweet about them!

This is Tatters and she just loves taking naps and its so cute when she wants attention because she shoves her head under your hand until you pet her!

30. What’s the most beautiful thing in life, in your opinion?

Even though I think there are a lot of beautiful things in life, friendship is probably one of the most beautiful. I think that being able to have a strong relationship with someone else is great.

32. What instrumental sound is your favorite?

I guess I’d have to say the piano because I think that is sounds so graceful and can make a song sound very moving by just being apart of it.

33. Do you like the sound of wind? What about the sound of rain?

Yes to both but I like the sounds of the real wind and rain, not the digital recreation of wind and rain you can get in an app. Fake rain sounds like tv static to me.

35. What makes you happy?

A lot of things, food, family, pets, music, movies/shows, books, writing, and anything that I think is funny makes me very happy. Honestly sometimes all I need is some alone time, a shower, and sleep to make me happy.

36. Imagine your ideal life, the life you wish to make, what will it look like?

I imagine this everyday. I’m in my 30′s and I live in California in a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that has two floors, the first floor has an open floor plan. One of the bedrooms is on the first floor and I have turned into my creative room where I can write, make art, sew, and make jewelry. The second floor has the other bathroom and 4 bedrooms, one of them is mine, the rest are guest rooms. Outside I have a large yard with a privacy fence and garden where I grow vegetables. I have a job I actually like doing and have enough time to myself to do whatever I want. I eat healthy, work out, and try to get the most out of everyday.

37. Do you wear makeup? If so, what’s your favorite type of makeup or specific makeup product? Favorite store to buy makeup?

I wear makeup sometimes and eye shadow , highlighter, and lipstick are my favorites to wear and I really like Maybelline’s lipsticks. I haven’t figured out what my favorites in the others are. I usually buy stuff from Walmart.

38. Do you wear dresses? If so, what is your favorite dress you own?

Yes I do wear dresses and this-

Is my favorite dress! This is my Belle inspired dress that my mom made for me!

39. Have you ever been heart broken? How do you deal with it?

I haven’t really been heart broken but I know that when I’m down about someone I miss I think of all the good times I had with that person.

40. Who is your closest friend? What do you love about them?

Some of my closest friends are here on tumblr! One is my friend Josh @meadowbro who has a great sense of humor and another is my friend Eileen @calavicciis who has great taste in style.

44. What’s the best song a friend has ever introduced to you?

House of Gold by Twenty One Pilots is a great song a friend introduced to me.

51. Do you feel loved?

Yes, and of course sometimes I feel as though I’m annoying but then I remember that I am annoying but my friends like me despite that.

52. How do you express love to those you care about?

I try to be kind to others and I like to listen when my friends and family talk to me.

55. When is the happiest you’ve ever been?

I was pretty happy as a kid before I had anything to worry about.

58. Do you laugh a lot?

Yes! I love to laugh, almost anything I watch or read should make me laugh at some point.

59. What’s your favorite kind of aesthetic?

I love pastel colors but I also love galaxy things.

65. How kind do you think you are? Is kindness important to you?

I think I'm fairly kind and I think its important to be kind because everyone deserves to be treated in a kind way.

73. Do you like hugs?

Kind of? I don't dislike hugs but I don't hug people super often unless its my family.

79. Have you ever lived in a different country than you currently live in?

Nope! I haven't even lived in a different state before.

87. What did you like most about your childhood, if anything?

Either hanging out with my friends or going to my grandparents house.

88. Do you read a lot? What’s your favorite book?

I used to read a lot but college has sucked the zest out of reading for me. My favorite book is The Knife of Never Letting Go.

89. What are you most nostalgic for at the moment?

Shows I used to watch on PBS like Clifford or Arthur.

90. What’s your favorite personality trait you have?

I think I am patient and I think that being patient with yourself and others is important.

92. When was the last time you truly felt calm, without much of anything to worry about?

Probably when I was in elementary school.

93. Do you worry a lot?

Yes, I tend to stress and worry a lot.

[mite75]

Do all the love asks!

Blush : What do you do when you have a crush on someone?

I either get really shy and have a hard time even looking at the person, or I get extra flirty, but thats really rare and only if the other person makes me feel 100% comfortable to say whatever i want.

Kiss : What’s the sweetest thing someone has done for you?

aaa ;u; um some of my amazing friends sent me valentines gifts last year! i was feeling kinda down because i was thinking about how i used to get gifts from mom, and i was just so touched when i got it ;u;

Cuddle : Which one of your mutuals do you really want to hug right now?

mediocremandy because she’s one of my closest friends and she is the best ;u; //

Heartbeat : What fictional character do you love?

all might because he is just so good ;u; (not in a romantic sense ofc)

Romance : Perfect date?

beach picnic date!! I love the ocean and i love food and its just my two favorite outside things at once!!

Joy : What truly makes you happy?

My family and knowing they’ll always be there for me regardless of if i think they hate me or not ;u; 

Happiness : Who are your kin?

?? idk what this means >_> 

Love : Are you, or have you been, in love before?

nope!! at least not romantically! I hope i will be someday ^^

Beloved : What do you love the most about yourself?

ahh i dont like much about myself >_>;; i guess my shoulder freckles are kinda cute. my hair is okay sometimes too ^^

Sweet: Favorite love song?

Mindy Gledhill- I Do Adore

Cute : What’s your aesthetic?

flowers, cute pokemon, pastel, nature, and umm flannel i guess?

Thoughtful : If you could change your name, what would you call yourself?

i’d want to be called Nicole or Maxine i love names that can have a gender neutral nickname.

Charming : Who helps motivate you?

My family!! I only continue doing things because i want to try to live up to their expectations.

Beautiful : Who is your ideal significant other?

someone who will be okay with telling me they care about me, and I’m not a bother or annoying them. someone with a happy smile. Also someone who will go places with me ^^; i always want to do fun things but i just need someone to say okay lets actually do it!!

Affection : Who do you ship?

i ship deku and shoto! also lapidot and uhh bakugou and kirishima

Kind : What Pokemon would you be?

if i got to pick i’d say umbreon or deino, but personality wise i’d prob be slowpoke!! 

Heart Beat : You’re getting coffee with a celebrity, who is it?

rebecca sugar even tho maybe she’s not the biggest celebrity! I may not be super invested in SU anymore but she inspired me to go into animation and i just want to thank her ^^

Giggle : Do you believe in love at first sight?

no >>; i believe in crushes at first sight tho. You really dont know a person until you meet them personally.

Laughter : Who can always make you laugh?

MY LITTLE BRO!! literally he is the person i can be the most me around and we make the funniest jokes i am always dying

Smile : What do you find attractive?

really warm and happy smiles!!!! it’s like a one hit kill for me. freckles, curly hair, and brown eyes are also really cute ^^

Warmth : What is your happy place?

my comfy blankets ;u; nothing feels better to curl up and play some video games under a fluffy blanket!!

Huggable : What are your favorite flowers?

forget me nots! I’m also very fond of black eyed susans ^^

Soul Mate : Who is your best friend?

uhh i dont have one best friend i have like a max of like 5 at a time. rn it’s ryan,  ness, mandy, and jillian 

Unique : What qualities do you look for in other people?

I look for idk?? specific speech patterns? usually if they show an interest in meeting me i show interest back, but on my own i low key just overhear things they talk about and if i kinda wanna join in i’ll try to be friends. 

Trust : Do you trust people easily?

NOPE! I mean I’m usually okay at trusting people at a basic decency level, like i dont normally think about random people stabbing me or stealing my wallet, unless I’m in a scary location. but i dont trust people when they tell me certain things i guess like I’m very skeptical.

Dearest : What item is most dear to you?

a little mouse set for poking cheese i got after my oma passed away, some of my clothes, because my mom owned them or got them for me, and some of my plushies.