#Silly Narcis she didn’t mean you

[missbunmuffin]

Repost from TikTok

Aran never pulled up his god damn pants

[chyrstis]

2019 Writer’s Year in Review

Tagged by @amistrio! Thank you so much, because this was a lot of fun to tackle, and apologies to everyone for the wordy set of paragraphs ahead! And for my rambling.

Word count:

It’s been a weird year. Because nothing really took off until late June, and I’ve really been trying to make up for lost time every since.

I was able to get in a little over 100K down in total, and I’m honestly grateful for every second of it, because I wanted so badly to start writing again, but wasn’t sure what would do it. Guess this silly game’s it!

Number of smut scenes:

Uh, well...four total, I want to say? (there’s more in my wips, but we’ll leave those alone for now)

And considering the fact that I was majorly rusty writing anything to begin with, I didn’t think I’d be writing any smut at all this year, so whoops. Goes to show what I know. XD

New things I tried this year:

Hopefully this isn’t a cop out, but jumped into a new fandom for one. :D It’s been quite the trip ever since, and I’m incredibly lucky to have met the people I have so far. It would’ve been a completely different experience otherwise, and I’m glad I was able to. And I’d like to give @sharky-broshaw a special shout out here, because without her encouragement to even pick up FC5, this wouldn’t have been possible at all. (and also, she’s one of those awesome people mentioned above, as well as you, so <3)

Tried the Comic Sans font trick for my wips, switching to writing with it in the hopes it’d keep me writing consistently. It’s honestly been the thing I’ve used consistently ever since switching from Calibri to it back in October, and I think it’s safe to say it works? Or its become easy enough on the eyes to not bother me much while using it, but I’m not about switch back now.

Took part in a gift exchange for the first time after waffling for two weeks on joining up. Simply put, I was terrified of what I’d be able to make for it, and that my gift was going to fall apart or fall short, but it turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun all around.

Jotted down notes, dialogue, and scenes on my phone, first suggested by @statichvm! I would’ve lost so many stories, exchanges, and moments to my forgetfulness otherwise, so this is totally a habit I’m going to keep up with for the long haul. (and Macy, you’re also one excellent person to have met here, and I hope you don’t mind me sending you some <3 this way too)

Favorite thing I wrote this year:

I really want to say the Exchange fic / I won’t ask for much (but just this once, I’d like you)

I spent a good day or so wondering what on earth I’d want to tackle for a Sharky/John fic only for the silliest idea to hit: what would a romantic comedy be like with these two? One with 100% more blackmail and arson? The outline practically wrote itself after that, with a few more tweaks later on for some added development.

After that every day from November onward I’d jot something down for it. Then I’d write a little more, and while it was a story that came together pretty easily, it was long. Absurdly so, considering the time constraints I was working with, but I seriously don’t think this idea would’ve come to me at all or have been written without this, so I’m glad for the push (and the person that inspired it!) and that it was given the chance to exist.

I also had free reign to indulge in a lot of my favorite tropes, write two characters that I love, throw more than a few curveballs at Sharky, and have John discover a whole new set of expressions to make at Sharky in general. ...All while including lots of banter and teasing and pining.

So this was definitely something I was heavily invested in finishing, as well as being able to share it with @finefeatheredfarcryplayer. It would’ve crushed me to abandon it otherwise.

Favorite fic I read this year:

Shoot, I’ve mentioned a few here, here, and here, but here’s a few more, and all from FC5, because I’m still digging that game a bunch.

This fic by @outranks which is an old favorite of mine, because I’m absolutely weak for Sharky/Dep/John in any form or fashion. The intimacy and ease with with they all play off of each other here’s fantastic, and I love how this is is a small peek into how well they could compliment each other.

The Deputy and John meet pre-game by @seedsplease. I may have gone through nearly every fic available in her masterlist (and will likely do so again, because I love her work that much), but I really couldn’t get over the tension here, and how it really did seem like a snapshot of a moment that could’ve happened before the game started.

Why Can’t We Be Friends? by @finefeatheredfarcryplayer. I was checking in on this series back during the summer offering up an alternate means of resolving FC5′s events peacefully, and it’s been fascinating to see the story’s journey from that point onward. There’s a lot of moments that I love in this series, and I can’t wait to see where it’ll lead to at the very end.

Lyrical Alternatives by @narcis-the-monk. I fell in love with this series months back, and really could just keep on reading story after story in this AU for as long as it could go. Not the least of which is due to how the relationship between Sharky and John plays out here, and it’s equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking as it progresses. Mostly the first, but when the second hits, oof.

Writing goals for 2020:

Actually attempt NaNoWriMo this year, or failing that at least get more down in an outline for either of the original stories I want to tackle. I’ve put this off writing anything for either for too long now, and I really should start getting some those ideas down.

Write a little (or edit) every day

Possibly keep a short record of what I tackle from month to month

Read more. I know this is a little weird here on a writing goals list, but reading really does get the old idea center going

Tagging: @twistedsinews @guileandgall @marymay-fairgrave @sneaky-apostate @jenchwuq and anyone else that might be interested! 

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Worship”

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Not worshipping this one, that's for sure.

Salesperson: It's a beautiful sunny day, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, we got Townsville's largest donut-shaped diamond on display, and there's not a supervillain in sight!

No, this isn't a Narrator monologue, but it sure sounds like one. All it really needs is a "The City of Townsville", but apparently, that's optional in this show. A saleperson is showing off this one-of-a-kind diamond shaped like a donut, and he decides to tempt fate by specifically saying there's no supervillain in sight.

Sure enough, two supervillains arrive: the Fashionistas. They're able to bash through the walls, persumably through Barbarus's raw strength. They really don't do any joke about the donut shape, but they do talk about how they kidnapped their best friend. It's a play on "a diamond is a girl's best friend", which we know because Bianca actually had to explain it.

The salesperson refuses, so they use some perfume. Suddenly, he’s happy to get rid of it! She then talks about how this is such a lifesaver for her, wearing the jewel like one. They can’t even stay consistent; is it a donut, a best friend, a baby, or a life-saver? What is the name of this perfume, according to a female voiceover that says its name every time it’s used?

Worship. Just as the bottle says, it brainwashes people into doing their bidding. This is essentially what they did in Fashion Forward; the only difference is that it's a perfume that hypnotizes people rather than a scarf. That almost distracted me from noticing that Barbarus apparently forgot her lipstick for this shot. Almost.

And yes, this voiceover and text happens every time Worship is used, just so you don't forget it! It's almost like it's trying to use it on the viewer. It's not working.

But first, Dateline: Townsville, hosted by one of the generic newscasters from previous episodes. This episode is constantly interrupted by these newscasts, and all I can think of is that this is their way for this show to have a narrator without bringing back the Narrator.

The Fashionistas break in the newsroom to give him a little bit of Worship, and the newscaster starts to praise them as these great people. This looks like the start of a running gag, but we'll see how that goes.

The Powerpuff Girls finally confront the Fashionistas after they rob an armored car. They sure took a long time to actually fight crime in this episode! Bubbles is wowed by the armored car, because she's like that "I Love Lamp" guy from Anchorman. Blossom is sarcastically wowed that they're up to their old tricks! Either this is a sign of continuity, or they're just referring to how they're stealing stuff.

There is one reason to believe the latter: they decide the best course of action for these people is to just stay perfectly still while they spray perfume on them. Apparently, they didn't watch the news.

This perfume ends up being stronger than that rainbow that somehow didn't affect them in Painbow, since it affects them pretty well. Under the effect of the perfume, they fly off and grab every Ruby in Townsville to give to these fine fashionable women. They didn't even get told this, they immediately knew what they wanted to do.

Eventually, the perfume wears off, and the Puffs realize that they just helped the Fashionistas steal. Bubbles is worried that they're becoming too helpful, but Blossom corrects her and says it must have been that perfume that made them do it. Buttercup has an idea.

Buttercup: What are we going to do, cut off our noses? But our faces would look terrible without one!

I would imagine this would be an okay joke about how the girls don't have visible noses, but it doesn't really work when the show decides to give them nostrils for this one scene. Sad to see that return.

The episode reboots, possibly recovering from a fatal lack-of-nose-related error. We cut to a shoe museum, where the main attraction are glass slippers owned by Cinderella's...horse. Yes, with that pause, because the joke isn't just that these were owned by a fictional character known for losing her shoes. It's that these shoes belong to a animal owned by a fictional character known for losing her shoes.

Barbarus breaks through the walls once again, who would have guessed that "breaking through the walls" line in the intro seems to refer more to the Fashionistas than the Powerpuff Girls themselves, and they ask for the shoes.

Tour Guide: We can't afford another robbery, we're on a shoe-string budget!

No, put more emphasis on that line! Some people might have missed that joke. One spray of the perfume, and he just hands them over. Somehow, they missed the opportunity to make a joke about how they don't fit. I mean, it is Cinderella.

The Powerpuff Girls manage to show up before they're able to run off this time, this time, their "noses" are covered up. Bubbles decides to cover her ears with them, too, because she's the silly one! Most of the humor is in episode is just to make Bubbles conform to the stereotype of her hair color.

Bianca knows that these noseplugs are going to stop them from actually winning. I will say this is a little clever: they use it on the crowd, and say something on the lines of "we can't stop the Powerpuff Girls, but maybe they can!"

Somehow, they interpret this as suddenly get some pitchforks and torches, and chase the Powerpuff Girls out of Townsville. They don't even command them to do anything. It's like they forgot how their own plot devices work!

The Reboot Puffs get scared off by this, and the Fashionistas run off with the shoes. Yes, because this group of eight people are going to stop these superheroes that can lift buildings full of people. Considering a previous episode had the Powerpuff Girls get bashed by the ordinary human of the two, that's not too far off.

We get another news bulletin from Dateline: Townsville, detailing their plan that they somehow have gotten. They have a blimp named the Bikini Bomber, and I am glad to know that they didn’t forget the Fashionista’s last names. This blimp has a giant vat of Worship to spray on everyone in Townsville to make them their slaves. Again, this was their plot in Fashion Forward. One thing I should mention is that the newscaster is no longer under the spell of the perfume. They could have made these news segments an okay running gag, but we got the “silly Bubbles” jokes instead.

This time, the Reboot Puffs were watching the news, but all they can do is lament that they can’t do anything to stop this from being the worst day ever. I can think of a few worse days, actually, and I don’t just mean the day they make up where they apparently fought a sludge monster at a vomitorium. It had to have been made up; it involved fighting a monster and apparently winning.

Proving even more that the reboot's Professor Utonium is a terrible parent, this random stranger just barges into the house. Thankfully, she's not here to kidnap them, she's here to pretend to not want to help the girls with their situation...and then doing it anyway. I could see where this character could go.

She's a rival perfumist who made a perfume named Divine. This perfume was stolen by the Fashionistas, and turned into the mind control formula. She will not help the Powerpuff Girls, because that's her running gag. That, and they use a music track that ends up being louder than her voice at one point.

...and we get either a parody of those weird perfume ads, or the show just gave up. It has it all. We see our lovable Sitcom Dad swimming in a pool, showing off a six-pack that he has to fill this episode's muscle quota. We see Blossom going back in the Ada Lovelace costume, which seems to only be used to have a girl in a pretty dress. I'd say that's an insult to Ada Lovelace, really. Also, lots of random stock images of animals, most of which aren't even necessary.

It's not all random, as there is a slight theme near the end: we see the same Sitcom Dad swimming in green water and turning into a stock image of a fish, and then a slideshow of garbage. There are a few shows that come to mind when I think of "slideshow of garbage", and you can guess what show I'm thinking of at the moment.

This was all leading to the Powerpuff Girls' new fragrance: Disgust. How fitting. They're going to use this to counteract the perfume. Speaking of which, here's Buttercup summing up what just happened in the previous scene.

Buttercup: What just happened? Did anyone else's brain just go artsy-fartsy?

More of the "fartsy", really. See, if we point out our segments are pointless and nonsensical, that makes it not pointless and nonsensical! The Powerpuff Girls go into the Bikini Bomber. They decided not to use their noseplugs, for the episode's benefit. The confront the pilots of this dastardly blimp, only to be called out by the Fashionistas standing right behind them.

One of the biggest jokes of the episode, and it's just something stolen from Airplane. Using these blow-up autopilot balloons as a distraction, they start spraying more Worship. So, here were the Reboot Puff's options:

a. Avoid the cloud, and take out the Fashionistas with a spinning back kick.

b. Fly up to the vat and stay perfectly still while the perfume cloud hits them right in the face.

Huh, should have picked A. They do try to resist it this time, possibly trying to use the same power that made the hypnotizing BFF bracelets not work in Frenemy. It doesn't work, and now they're praising them again. We suddenly cut to a shot where some people point at the blimp and say how fashionable it is. Clearly, that was important.

Bianca tells them to give them the vial, so they can persumably throw it in the garbage. They could have told Bubbles to do it herself, but instead, Bianca tells Bubbles to do what's best for them, and she interprets this as throw the vial into the vat. It took me a few viewings to figure out how this makes sense, and all I could gather is that the perfume doesn't overwrite that they still see the Fashionistas as villains. I think.

Thanks to that, we get this lovely shot of a blimp covering Townsville with what looks like fart gas. I'd like to say this was intentional, but if it was, they would not resist adding the fart sound, too.

Right before this gas hits them, we see the Mayor having a press conference dedicating a whole day to these villains that robbed the city throughout this entire day. It's here where they do have an explanation to why the Powerpuff Girls had to watch the news instead of getting a call on their new fancy phones: because he had a visit with them.

Much like the newscaster, neither the Mayor nor the crowd seem to be under the effects of the perfume, but he was going to go through with it anyway. This would make a lot more sense if Worship's effect was permanent and Disgust was the andidote, but as shown by both the Puffs and that newscaster, that's not the case.

We cut to yet another Dateline: Townsville segment, this time finally giving this episode the fast pace it really needed. The blimp gets caught on a radio tower, the Fashionistas parachute down to an angry Disgust-fueled mob. They could have just had cops arrest them when they landed on the ground, but that would be a sad reminder that the Powerpuff Girls don't just bash crooks into jail anymore.

I will say this: there is an okay joke involving a smoke bomb at the end with Nostrilla Dupont. Yeah, they waited until the very end of the episode to finally give that perfumist a name. It would have fit a lot better in the episode that actually used smoke bombs as a running gag, but I'll take any quality I can find.

Does the title fit?

They may have considered a double meaning, with the name of the perfume used in the episode and the way it makes everyone worship the Fashionistas.

How does it stack up?

I could see this plot doing well, since even this show did a better "Fashionistas hypnotize people" episode, but the slow pacing and constant interruption with the newscasts just does not do it for me. I like the idea, and the character of the week is pretty fitting, so I can't do the joke that this episode did my job for me, but it's a pretty low Neutral.

Next, will this reboot improve if my favorite Reboot Puff, relatively speaking, gets multiplied three times? Probably not.

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