#They do not know where Max is they do not know where Iggy is they do not know they've been cloned they just feel a horrible dread.

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

IMMORTAL MAD SCIENTIST BATTLE!!! (Though would Max be immortal at this point, if she was doing all of the mad science on not-Fang? Maybe she's surviving that fight because she understands Iggy doesn't want to kill her.)

Assuming that Fang's death took place where it did in canon, with Dr. HGH committing manslaughter, this is where I see the flock:

The flock's split had Max, hellbent on reviving Fang at any cost; Dylan, her genetically engineered soulmate who has a very hard time saying no to her; and maybe Angel, who helped HGH commit that manslaughter. Maybe she'd want to stay to fix her mistake, because all of her mistakes have been able to be fixed and she doesn't understand why this would be any different.

Then there was Iggy, who refuses to be part of this; Gazzy, who trusts Iggy to make the right call; and Nudge, who loves Max, loves Iggy, loved Fang, but she's no longer a shiny-eyed kid that believes everything will work out fine. She's twelve, which is almost a teenager, which is almost an adult. There are things that she can understand, now, that she couldn't a few years ago. And maybe Angel, who can feel Max's single-minded obsession and realizes that it feels very similar to her own, and it scares her, what she could have become. Better to go with Iggy, whose worst instincts will only effect himself.

It takes a number of months before Dylan dies— a tragic accident that in no way could be forseen or prevented. A little longer before Angel runs, lost to the rest of the world. But that doesn't matter, because a few weeks after, Fang is back, they're back, they're back, and nothing ever has to hurt again. She just needs to get the rest of her family back and everything will go back to normal. They can be a family.

Iggy hears that Fang is alive through a grapevine. Maybe Angel, if she runs into them. Maybe if she was there the whole time with him, she'd be able to know instinctively. He wants to believe the best in Max, he does, but he also knows better. So he tinkers, he experiments, the burns on his arms stop being from fire and start being from chemicals. He stops sleeping. He stops needing to sleep. Angel grows distant, and one day, she disappears, because she's already killed one of her flock, and she doesn't want to see another kill himself.

(I think, in every version, she does not return.)

When Nudge asks, he tells her the truth. When she asks him to stop, when she tells him he's scaring her, he tells her that the world is a scary thing. When she says she'll leave, he protests, says it's to keep them safe, he did this— made bombs that killed innocents, made himself a subject of his own experiments, made himself a monster— so they wouldn't have to. So they could stay naive and innocent and safe.

She leaves anyway. Takes Gazzy with her. He does not look for them, and hopes that maybe, if he provides enough of a smokescreen, something for Max to fear— fear that he'll put Fang back in the ground, or that he'll steal her creation for himself— then she won't, either. Max, Fang, and Iggy all grew up in dog crates, and they have become contaminated land where nothing peaceful can grow. But maybe Nudge and Gazzy will get things right, this time around.

ok but what if: mad scientist max fighting against her science-based trauma so that she can learn how to resurrect/clone/etc. fang because she can't go through life without him but she sure as hell doesn't trust the whitecoats to bring him back, least of all jeb

and as @aviandaleks suggested: max looking at herself in the mirror, wearing a white coat and nitrile gloves stained in blood, and realizing she's become just like them

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

All of Iggy's power-boosts become much more acceptable if you decide that they're not actually power boosts, but instead Iggy "canonical genius who fucks with dangerous things he definitely shouldn't touch" Griffiths taking a page out of Jeb's book and doing horribly unethical science through the first three books.

He only started acting upset about being blind after leaving their home, because it was at that point that being blind became a liability in his life. This grows through books 1-3, until the entire flock is kidnapped and conveniently brought back to the School, where sure, Iggy's a prisoner, but suddenly he has access to supplies and research. And then, oh so conveniently, he starts being able to sense color and have limited sight on white backgrounds (see: in bright lighting).

I think Iggy was gathering information from the Institute for Higher Living (mostly what he could glean through "innocent questions") and from his own memories of the School, to try to give himself a boost. In fact, I think it started in SoF, and that's why Iggy had a breakdown over being blind— what he was trying wasn't working, because he didn't have a full laboratory full of resources or all of the puzzle pieces he needed. And he's not about to talk to anyone else about it, because not only would they probably freak the fuck out about him using himself as a test subject, but he also knows that... frankly, they probably wouldn't be able to help him. Nudge is great with tech, Fang is an investigator at their core, Max is an excellent tactician, but when it comes to biology, to chemistry, to anything that strays to the School, he's the person who handles those subjects.

What's that? They're breaking back into the School? Iggy is 10/10 on board.

What's that? They're getting kidnapped by the School and Angel betrayed them? Not great, but he's been during disadvantages into advantages for most of his life. He can do it one more time.

They're breaking into ITEX now? Even fucking better.

Sitting in the dining room of the Martinez house, after ITEX is distroyed, after several sleepless nights of injections and eyedrops and saying it's going to work this time, he can see pinpricks of light at the edge of his vision. By the time he boards the Wendy K, he can see light. Sometimes, when he focuses until his head aches, he can pick up movement against bright backgrounds. Not much, but enough that he can move out of the way of an oncoming attack. And that's all he needs.

Then he picks up a plastic cup and tastes something on the back of his tongue that he can only describe as blue, and tastes bad, and wonders what the fuck else he accidentally caused.

[just-a-carrot]

i'm desperately battling post-launch depression by playing more dd2 (unsurprising; i've been battling every negative emotion lately with dd2 🤣) and i've had a breakthrough

genzou finally rode in the oxcart with iggy

ok i think i need to explain the mechanic. so there's a semi fast travel function in game where you can hire an oxcart to take you to a different town, and iggy will sit in it while his pawns walk alongside/out front to act as bodyguards (I say semi fast travel because 90% of the time it's interrupted mid-way by monsters attacking the cart LOL). however, i found a post online from someone surprised when their pawn actually sat next to them in the cart once! seems it can happen if they're at max affection, but even then, it's very rare and by chance(???) (they only saw it once in like 85 hours)

after reading this... i became determined to get genzou to ride in the cart next to iggy because i thought that would be so sweet 😌 little did i know how difficult that was going to be... hence:

the oxcart conundrum

strap in because this is gonna be a journey... (with gifs!!!)

i knew that genzou already had pretty high affection so i decided i would just need to attempt to ride the oxcart a lot (i normally don't ride it that often)

many times, i would go to ride the cart, and genzou would kinda stand at the back staring up at iggy as though he really really wanted to get up into the cart... but then as soon as the cart would start moving, he'd quickly run around to the front like normal

one time he came up into the cart and looked like he was going to sit down???? .....but then suddenly ran off and started twisting back and forth as though flustered and like he couldn't decide what he wanted to do LKASLDFAD (ok i'm just making up thoughts for game code now BUT STILL)

i felt like i had to be getting close. but still no matter what i did, he would never actually get up and stay and sit down. i would try different things like running around behind the cart to try to get genzou close before walking up into it. i would try sitting up and back down and getting on and off the cart. one time i literally even just spent like 30 minutes riding the oxcart back and forth between vernworth and checkpoint town again and again in hopes it could trigger but nothing. NOTHING. it was starting to feel like it must be impossible

then... at the most unexpected time... IT HAPPENED

i dismissed both my other pawns because i tend to do that when i'm done for the night, then thought i'd try for funsies to ride the oxcart again...

...this time, when iggy sat down, genzou stepped up in the cart?!?! ...but then just stood there?? even as the cart started moving??? GENZOU WTF SIT DOWN YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO???????

i waited for a bit and he still just stood there even as it entered oxcart mode until finally i got so frustrated i made iggy stand up, which seemed to make genzou all flustered...

genzou ended up going all the way back around to the front of the cart, so i thought it was a no-go and had given up in my mind for this try. so i sat iggy back down. as soon as iggy sat down, genzou weirdly ran back behind the cart again and started acting all weird, like getting up half into the cart...

then like ten seconds later... after it zoomed back out to the standard oxcart view...

he stepped up into the cart.......................

................AND SAT DOWN

i may or may not have made a very unholy squeaking gasp and clapped my hands over my mouth LKJDFALSKDF

IT LITERALLY TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET THIS TO HAPPEN

i know it's the silliest thing and not even that "momentous" but because i'd been trying and failing for so long it felt very big and my heart started beating really fast LOL 🤣

once i had calmed down i got a few more cute shots. once you go into oxcart mode the perspective gets locked and just transitions between a few different set POVs of the oxcart moving along all cinematically lol

it was the first time i didn't "Doze Off" to skip forward 🤣

ofc then however the oxcart eventually got attacked and destroyed by an ogre LKAJDLASD whoops. WHICH LEFT IGGY AND GENZOU STRANDED BY THEMSELVES??? IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT??? ONLY HALFWAY TO TOWN???

i was a bit scared because i didn't have my full party (and night is quite dangerous in this game) but fortunately my levels are high enough now that i was able to make it back ok. and actually it ended up being very sweet, it was the first time i'd had only iggy and genzou without any other pawns and genzou was like, so much more conscientious of iggy??? giving him curatives and sticking closer to him and high-fiving/elbow-bumping a lot more than usual?????? he even started saying things i'd never heard him say before. felt like a whole new experience 🤣🤣 so now i may try to do this more often at least in areas where i won't get completely decimated and see if i can capture some of the cute things he does...💕

ANYWAY WHY IS THIS POST SO LONG I'M SO SORRY THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I ENTER POST-LAUNCH SLUMP AND NEED GOOEY HAPPY FEELS TO SPUR MY HEART

[fly-with-the-flock]

Anyway now that I’m actually working on my rewrite, here’s an updated list of some of the things I’m changing. I did post one of these a while ago, but I’ve changed my mind on some of that stuff and kept other things so I thought I’d make a new list. Some of them are actual canon divergent changes, others are just like, new little details.

Some things are things that I’ve mentioned in other posts, too.

Firstly, everyone in the story is four years older. They still left the school when Max was 10 and lived in the E House with Jeb for two years, but lived there for six years after he ‘disappeared’, instead of just two.

Max and Fang are both non-binary. Max is she/they and Fang is they/them.

Max and Fang are already together before the story starts. I know a lot of people have (totally valid!) criticisms of that ship, but Fax was such an integral part of my teen years and tbh still kinda has a chokehold on me to this day that I have to keep it in, but I did make it queer.

Fang isn’t comfortable being shirtless around anyone but Max.

Fang has a lot of scarring on their chest from the School, which is part of the reason they aren't comfortable being shirtless.

Max made them all continue learning self defence and fighting after Jeb left by watching videos online.

Max and Fang smoke weed sometimes, mostly just to cope with the School trauma. Iggy tried it once but it just gave him a panic attack so he doesn't do it. Max won't let Nudge try till she's at least 17.

Iggy and Gazzy don’t get left behind at the house when they go to rescue Angel. They get to come with the others.

Max taught herself some medical knowledge and how to do things like give stitches using stolen med school textbooks and YouTube videos, just in case any of them ever got hurt. Jeb used to do these things, but after he left, she decided that someone needed to do it in his place. She even pushed her needle phobia back enough to learn how to properly give injections, just in case any of them ever needed it. She still flips tf out about getting needles herself tho.

They have absolutely problem with stealing stuff, unlike in the original where they felt apprehensive and bad about it. They dgaf in my version.

They do still need actual money sometimes tho, so Max and Fang learned how to sing and play guitar and they busk for money while wearing disguises. (I know Max was a terrible singer in canon, but I'm changing that)

They can fold their wings fully into their backs so they’re totally hidden, kinda like wolverine’s claws or a shapeshifting thing? But it's really painful for them to do and they have have huge scars on their backs where the wings go in and out when they’re in ‘hidden mode’. I know this doesn't make total sense but I like the concept and neither does being able to hide them under a hoodie lmao.

Jeb isn’t Max’s dad in this version, but he is her dad’s half brother.

Dr Martinez is still her mother, but she never worked for the School

Her actual dad is Dr Martinez’s husband, Eddie, short for Edmundo, who is also a scientist.

Max was convinced via IVF, but Jeb tampered with the embryo and injected the avian DNA before it was implanted. When she was born he immediately whisked her away to the School and her parents were told she had died.

(Theres is more to Eddie's story, but I'm not gonna go in to that for now, coz it gets kinda long and complicated. He's a good guy tho, he's not evil like Jeb.)

Fang is Native American, but they obviously don’t know the details or specifics.

Max actually looks latina since both her parents are. She has darker skin than in canon and her hair is brown (always, not just sometimes lmfao)

The rest of the Flock have learned how to block Angel from reading their minds.

When they first moved to the E House and Nudge was still young, Max learned online how to care for Nudge's hair and do braids and stuff. Max still helps her with it and they bond over it. It's cute.

Nudge often paints Max and Fang's nails for them; both of them won't wear any colour other than black.

Max isn't hateful of all things girly like in the books. She wore skirts and dresses sometimes back at the E house! But pretty much just wears pants/shorts in the story coz skits are pretty inconvenient when you're on the run and living in caves/trees.

Max and Fang both have piercings, but they remove them all before leaving the E House, coz facial piercings and fighting are not a good mix. Max had a septum and a bunch of ear piercings and Fang had an industrial and snake bites.

They're allowed to swear in my version

Max has chronic pain.

Iggy is a year younger than Max and Fang

There was another bird kid in the school born between Iggy and Nudge, but she died. (possibly was killed during the escape? haven't decided yet) Angel and Gazzy don't remember her, but the others do.

There's probs more but it's like 3am rn and i can't think of them atm. will add more later on maybe

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: “The Star”/“Jerry”

(Fionna & Cake, Eps. 7–8)

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jacob Winkler, & Sonja von Marensdorff

Directed by: Ryann Shannon (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

It is hard to believe that we are already privy to the penultimate episodes of the Fionna & Cake miniseries. So far, this series has been hit after hit. So do "The Star" and "Jerry" live up to what has come before them? Read on for more...

The plot to "The Star" is deceptively simple: Fionna, Cake, and Simon are transported into a universe where Simon was killed by vampires, which led to Marceline being abducted the ice crown-wielding Vampire King (once again played by the wonderfully sonorous Billy Brown) and turned into his protege, known as "The Star." While the world has been almost entirely overrun by vampires, a Mad Max-esque version of Princess Bubblegum is still putting up a hell of a fight (Mad Max Bubblegum is aided in this task by Peppermint Butler-as-a-Tank, a human[?] version of Huntress Wizard, and a non-psychopathic version of Martin). Cake's shapeshifting impresses Mad Max Bubblegum, and so she decides to enlist Fionna, Cake, and Simon's help in defeating the Vampire King and his evil 'daughter.' Alas, as goes the best-laid plans of mice and men... The episode ends on a purposeful anti-climax: Fionna, recognizing that all is effectively lost, forcibly teleports herself, Cake, and Simon away from Vampire World while Mad Max Bubblegum and The Star struggle in the sky, with neither wanting to land a killing blow. The fate of Vampire World is thus left unresolved.

As a major fan of Stakes, I was delighted to be transported back into the world of vampires in "The Star." And this time, the show does a very solid job showing just how powerful and scary these monsters actually are (despite their Kermit the Frog-meets-Nosferatu appearance). And let us not forget Evil Marceline (oh, where to start)! I quite like that Ooo's Marceline is a heroic anti-anti-Christ, but even I found the titular antagonist of "The Star" to be a terrifying delight. It has been a good long while since Marceline has rightly pranked someone, and while I don't know if killing people or sucking souls count as pranks, it was nonetheless wonderful to see her ornery side return—only this time, turned up to 11. You can tell that Olivia Olson had a lot of fun recording her lines for this episode; her performance is energetic, her tone mocking. When I heard The Star taunt Mad Max Bubblegum and Co., it took me back to when I first heard Olson's voice acting in "Evicted!"

It was a clever move having The Star and Mad Max Bubblegum be sworn enemies, as it allowed the series to explore their dynamic as a couple without focusing on their past or present relationship. In the Vampire World, we learn that the two have never been in a relationship together. But despite this, still found themselves pulled toward one another in an almost preternatural way. Who knows… Just as the souls of Finn and Jake seem to be destined to always find one another, perhaps Marceline and Bubblegum are "soul mates" in a similarly metaphysical sense? Regardless, the hesitancy to kill one another that both characters show at the end of the episode speaks volumes as to how they feel about one another, even in a universe where they are sworn enemies. (Man, I really hope we get a Bubbline spin-off one of these days…)

Ah, I feel like I could talk about the Star for days, but there is more to consider, so let me move on to…

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Jim Campbell, & Jackie Files

Directed by: Steve Wolfhard (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

"Jerry" begins with Fionna, Cake, and Simon finding themselves in a dead and desolate world—humorously dubbed "Crapworld" by Cake—that we later learn was created by the Lich's wish in the season five premiere "Finn the Human." (As a mythological aside, when the Lich made his initial wish, it seems that Prismo did not simply wipe out all life in the Oooniverse; instead, he effectively created a copy of the Oooniverse within the Oooniverse. After killing off all life in this bubble dimension, Prismo then transported the Lich to his new wish-altered reality. Really, it is turtles all the way down…) While searching for the Crapworld ice crown, Simon tries to cheer up an increasingly despondent Fionna by telling him the story of how he and Betty met.

Eventually, our heroes run into Crapworld BMO, who upon learning that Prismo's remote is out of juice, attempts to recharge it with his robot heart. This does not go as planned (it actually results in Crapworld BMO spectacularly exploding, which is somehow both horrifying and funny), and Simon, Fionna, and Cake decide to track down Crapworld BMO's oft-mentioned friend "Jerry" and tell him that BMO has passed. Upon finding Jerry, however, the trio discover that he is actually the Lich… albeit a depressed Lich; it seems that after fulfilling his mission of ending all life, the Lich lost a sense of purpose. (I've been there, dude...) Simon sees this as an opportunity, and using the Crapworld ice crown and the Lich himself as a conduits, he manages to summon GOLB just as Scarab materializes to deliver divine punishment.

To be continued!

"Jerry" is a decidedly bleak episode that more than anything radiates the creative sensibilities of its supervising director, Steve Wolfhard. For those out of loop, Wolfhard was a storyboard artist on the original Adventure Time series, and he helped write some of the show's strongest outings (e.g., "Puhoy," "Lemonhope," "Escape from the Citadel," "Graybles 1000+"). Wolfhard has a unique approach to writing, often using humor/cuteness to paste over more existential horrors, and while he did not storyboard "Jerry," the episode nevertheless feels like the apogee of his "voice," brimming as it does with a darkness that is only lightly covered with a veneer of humor. Indeed, many of the episode's funniest moments (e.g., the scene in which BMO cheerfully, stupidly kills itself, the reveal that the Lich has depression) cannot be described as anything other than gallows humor. Wolfhard often joked in interviews that many of the episodes he pitched involved main characters dying. With "Jerry," he finally got his chance.

Ultimately, what prevents "Jerry" from becoming a bummer-fest is the way the episode is interspersed with flashbacks that tell the story of how Simon and Betty fell in love. Despite their being the emotional heart of the episode, I do not have much to say about these scenes other than they are sweet. They largely expand upon details that we already knew, but in doing so, they enliven those details, infusing them with a sense of affect that exposition or background detailing could never convey. There's a couple easter eggs thrown in for die-hard fans (e.g., several relics from the main series are name-dropped, we see when a photograph of Simon from "I Remember You" was taken), and its all tied-up nicely with a new HALF SHY song, "Everything in You." All in all, these scenes are the sweet, sweet eye bleach we need, given the tone of the episode's other half.

My biggest gripe with these episodes is that they both lean too far into Fionna's failures while somehow not leaning in far enough. The former issue is most noticeable in "The Star," the beginning of which sees Fionna follow up her candy genocide by making a series of increasingly bone-headed decisions, one of which leads to the direct death of a character (although, Mad Max Bubblegum was also quite bone-headed for letting Random New Girl put everyone in danger immediately after introducing them to her few crew members). Put simply, I feel the episode excessively plays up Fionna as a gullible girlfail, which seems a bit much. Paradoxically, in "Jerry," the show did not have Fionna properly, fully, believably consider the ramifications of the mistakes she had made; instead, the episode focuses much of its emotional energy on the story of Simon and Betty's relationship. Yes, Fionna does have a realistic breakdown in the middle of the episode, but almost immediately, the show decides to have Simon distract her with more of his own love story. None of this sinks the episodes, but it does make them less than perfect.

For some, the episodes' bleakness might also be a defect: indeed in both "The Star" and "Jerry," lots of characters die, and the fridge horror is off the charts. But while I have criticized the show for such cruelty in the past (e.g., my review of "Wizard City"), the bleakness in these episodes is not meaningless. Instead, it arguably serves to underscore that without Simon Petrikov existing and doing all that he has in the Ooo Prime universe, the world (any world) quickly goes to hell. (This is perhaps most noticeable in "The Star," given that the big twist of that universe is that Simon was killed by vampires, presumably before he placed the ice crown on his head, thus resulting in Marceline's capture and indoctrination by the Vampire King.) Even in his crazed "Ice King" state, Simon is something like a cosmic lynchpin holding together reality! Considering how much Simon/the Ice King is a woobie in the original series, it is nice to see Fionna & Cake accentuate just how important he actually is.

Final “The Star” Grade: A-

Final “Jerry” Grade: A-

[sun-to-sorrow]

So like, reading Maximum Ride again after like 4-6 years and like, there are so many things I’m questioning. For starter Manga reader only because I have this issue of not being able to read other forms of something I’ve already read. Brain kinda shuts down. So like

1) The whole Max, Martina (Martinez?), and Ella thing is just so strange. For starters Max is just awful. Prioritizing a random girl being cornered and has an easy escape route (Max took it after all) over your 6 year old sister who is in the hands of actual mad scientist who you know has actively done shitty unethical things is just, why?! Angel could’ve been saved just a bit earlier if you listened to Fang! But also the whole Martinez has something to do with the school but then it’s completely forgotten.

2) Max leaving the Blind guy and the 8 Year Old alone because “Angel (who is to young to know how to escape the school) might escape and come back here”. Gazzy has little combat experience because he is either told to run/hide or uses bombs and Iggy is BLIND!

3) Iggy really goes between I have the best hearing in the flock to I have normal human hearing. Like sometimes he can hear Erasers (like only twice?) or the homeless people in the subway and most of the time either he’s surprised by them (angel’s kidnapping or the ambush when Max and Fang leave) or Angel finds then before him (the two children). Like, JP make it’s consistent! Let Iggy be the Flock’s alarm so when they don’t have him in the group they suffer more casualties! Especially during when Erasers become robots so Angel becomes useless (like de buff the girl honesty)

4) speaking of Iggy. He has been shown enough times that he’s really REALLY smart. Building bombs, being able to remember recipes to cook, learning and mapping places out (E house and Anne’s place), yet JP literally doesn’t expand or utilize it to its fullest. Iggy could probably be the Flocks brain but no~, he’s to blind to be the flocks brain, let’s have Fang (the right hand man, second command of the flock, has invisibility powers and (I just learned) immortality) and Angel (child with telepathy, mind control, shapeshifting, and probably other things) be the brains and Max (leader and golden child) have moments here and there. The most I’ve seen of Iggy utilizing his brains was lock picking or making bombs/planning out traps. I could be missing some but JP makes it so hard to know.

5) the severe infantilism of Iggy

6) Gazzy still has no new power unlike everyone else (but Iggy’s are pretty shitty because they all are powers to “help him see without him actually seeing”). Like let him have telepathy or maybe a way that only him and Angel can communicate each other.

7) Nudge. Like she isn’t as bad as Iggy and definitely not the worst like Gazzy, but god she’s still really poorly written. She has this whole thing of not wanting to be a freak and wanting to find her family and wanting to be normal and not having to run all the time but every single one of these just stops on a dead note! It like stops existing after like 2-3 chapters and never brought up. Like she’s the most interesting girl in the flock but just so butchered.

8) their looks. Ok I’m not gonna harp so badly on the Manga artist because she is Korean and Korean beauty standards and all that is just bad in general but that’s just cultural differences. But one thing I never understand was that makeup transformation. Angel who has short hair suddenly has hair that goes below her neck. Nudge’s bleached streak somehow stays even though her natural hair should’ve shown by the 9 manga vol. Fang who always was shown with straight hair now has really curly hair. That’s not how hair works and let’s not talk about Iggy and those weird dark tips.

9) Fax and Ella/Iggy (which I learned was canon. I was wondering where all those Ella/Iggy stories came from) I don’t hate straight ships. I just hate these straight ships.

10) oh poorly written trauma handled even worse my beloved. Your telling me Iggy, the one who was awake the entire operation on his eyes doesn’t have trauma. Your telling me Fang, who almost died to an Eraser doesn’t have trauma. Your telling me Max, the one who continuously has a voice in her head, a chip in her shoulder, seeing an Eraser in the mirror doesn’t have trauma?! Angel?!

But like I could continue because there is so much but, there where definitely things I liked. I like how Iggy was drawn. Out of all the characters he looked always bony and skinny and long. Like even next to Fang who is supposed to be the same height he looks so twiggy and tall. Gazzy was so interesting because he was that grey “I suffered through the school but I was also way to young to remember” and I wish it was expanded more. I liked the Ari arc if you ignore every other Ari part in the story. Total was nice if we found nice as before he talked.

Like not to be the paranoid one but if I was in the flocked I would be questioning everything. A Gazzy photo from an abandoned apartment? They could’ve stuck it there after knowing their research was stolen just to trap the flock. Anna watching a new about Iggy’s parents? She purposely put it on so Iggy will be removed. Erasers still finding the flock? Did anyone thing that the others might have chips in them, especially when Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy where attacked. Also how does Fang still have his laptop when he was captured by the institute?

[primeministerofantarctica]

If you were to rewrite the Maximum Ride books, what would you do differently? Also I remember loving the first 3 books when I was 14 and then reading more in the series before thinking holy shit this is bad

first off, only rewriting the first three books bc you're right, there's no saving the rest of them.

i actually like angel being the (secret) main antagonist, not in a "creepy horror movie kid" way that the books seemed to be doing, but in a "you tortured this kid's family and gave her the powers of a god, are you really wondering why she's so fucked up?" as the story progresses she gets more powerful, but she also slowly starts losing herself. she gets saved at the end with the power of love or smth tho bc she wasn't really evil, just scared, and also Family

speaking of (found) family, that's like the one thing everyone agrees it actually does right. i don't know if they should be test-tube babies or "our parents were shitty and sold us to the government", but there's definitely an overarching arc where they're trying to find their "real" families and realize it was right there the whole time. either way dr. martinez is no longer max's bio mom bc 1) that kinda negates the "family doesn't have to be blood related" theme and 2) that was one HELL of a coincidence

no more random powers that pop up when it's convenient and are never mentioned again. how is nudge able to get into that computer in the first book? easy, she just knows how to hack things.

make ari stay dead after his second death (or at least after max actually bonds with him a little and shows him how to write his name), his death might actually have an impact that way

total can stay but he's on thin fucking ice. we're not letting him talk though.

i'll be honest i think there were three different ghostwriters and none of them were on the same page for what the plot was, but imo the school/itex should've been like "well our very official scientific research shows that climate change is going to irreversibly make the planet uninhabitable soon, instead of trying to fix it let's just see if we can make new specimens that can actually survive it". something something corporate greed destroying the earth something something "we didn't want to do anything ourselves so congrats kid, you're the chosen one!" something something "hey isn't this literally just eugenics *cut to iggy looking at the camera like in the office*"

minor thing but make the e-shaped house more obviously self-sustainable. like a vegetable garden and chicken coop and stuff. were they really just going downtown every time they needed groceries?

[boudicasdaughter]

musician here- 15+ years in it professionally- I can! The pop industry can be picked apart pretty quickly, it's not that big.

I like to call it 'the game'.

What music companies do is come up with a brand to target a market, then sign talent to fit that market. Here's The Game: how well each album does determines how much creative control you as an artist have over the next album; you sign for multiple albums at a time, and if you make no money you're done. This means you can be 'shelved' in favor of another artist in your genre; you cannot sign with anyone else but they won't approve release of your next album.

If you come to the table with no writing chops, your job is pretty much to sing what's written for you until you can prove yourself. Example; Taylor Swift used to write pop with the people her teams chose frequently (as you'll see in a moment!), but as a superstar she's been working with Aaron Dessner from The National (and I, a former hater, give folklore a *chef's kiss*)

Aight let's fuckin go let's start with the song that made my mother ban Britney Spears from our house:

there are lots of places that list songwriters, but the easiest way is usually to check the lyric sites (which pull from those places)

Max Martin and Rami. Very famous writing/production team (both men), who have made pop songs for decades now. That album was one of their first projects together. Max Martin you may have heard of before. Here are his Billboard Hot 100 hits; you can see how he writes to the "brand" of each artist:

MAX MARTIN ALSO GOT DR. LUKE FAMOUS. Dr. Luke (of abusing Ke$ha fame) was the fucking guitarist for SNL until like 2007- but he met Max at a house party and they started swapping songs and eventually they wrote a big P!nk song together- THIS ONE:

Their next big hit was "I Kissed A Girl" for Katy Perry (who was discovered and signed as a 15 year old LITERAL CHURCH GIRL SINGING GOSPEL SONGS BY THE WAY!) Are you getting the picture? Dr Luke signed Kesha when she was 18!

Somewhere along the way Max Martin started another writing team called Wolf Cousins, which still functions as a songwriter club where he mentors other men on how to crack the charts. They made 1989 by Taylor and "Talking Body" by Tove Lo and Ariana's My Everything and Sweetener and and and - the list goes on, you can look it up.

Want a different genre? Let's check a song from someone who came to the industry with more influence and social power, at an older age: Cardi B's "WAP" (w Megan Thee Stallion). They're both credited as songwriters, but look at who else is:

Austin, James and Jorden? Yeah, I know em that's these guys, Ayo N Keyz and Megan's ex-boo Pardison Fontaine:

So, this was a kinda meh song Cardi (a brand) was making with Ayo and Keyz (recording) and Pardison Fontaine (writing) - until PF got close with Megan in 2020 and got her involved for some verses, and then they were cooking with sauce:

and THIS WAS THE FINAL PRODUCT! BEHOLD, "HOW TO RECEIVE SEXUAL PLEASURE FROM MEN BY CARDI B"

So yes, I'm sure Cardi/Megan wrote some lines on that song. Only they know who wrote which parts - but my point is this:

If you, as an artist, can't write a charting hit alone, the music companies are gonna stick you in a room with someone who can. Those people - at the company and in the room - are almost always men.

If you want to play The Game, your music gets filtered through the male gaze.

Nothing in pop is exempt from this process.

Everyone uses this model. Everyone. You like Doechii? She was put with Gotye (yes Im serious, the "Somebody I Used to Know" guy). Gracie Abrams? That's Aaron from The National again. Ryan from OneRepublic wrote songs that ended up with Adele and Ellie Goulding. Beyoncé took a song or two from him too, as well as from Ne-Yo and a bunch of others. Jack from Fun/Bleachers has a whole career doing this.

"Fancy" by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX? I see seven writers credited, they're the only women listed. Remember "Glamorous" by Fergie? Six writers, five are men. Miley Cyrus has star power in her brand and can request to work with who she wants, but she doesn't write well - so her new song "End of the World" credits her, and Molly from Alvvays (an amazing musician and songwriter), and then five men. Miley's first big hit that I remember was "Party In The USA" - but she's not even a credited writer. That song came from Dr Luke and a producer being put in a room with 20 year old Jessie J- and they gave 15 y/o Miley that song because it was a winner and she was an industry baby with a Disney brand who needed a song and could outsell Jessie. "Monster" by Rihanna was another big one. That was Bebe Rexha's (written by Jon Bellion and friends) until it was given to sexy sexy Rihanna and Eminem was added for star power. You can still find Bebe's version leaked on YouTube.

Halsey? Last I checked was Nine Inch Nails. Rosalia? Yes, she plays the game too. Selena Gomez- yup, definitely. Camila Cabello? Haha! Lizzo? Yeah, I think her big hits were all the guy who wrote Derulo's "Talk Dirty". I could keep going. No one is exempt from The Game.

You can be smart about it, like Megan Trainor and Lady Gaga, and study music until you're hooky enough to sign with a label who can see you as a writer and you choose your own cowrites, harmless mostly gay men or older family men, but you can't escape The Game.

As a woman: if they can scout you young and train you to be a consistent cowriter (Lana, Taylor, Lorde) - great! If you can write for others and yourself (Sia, Julia Michaels, Starrah) - even better! If you can't write for shit, you can always be a sexy sexy singer (Katy Perry, Rihanna, Dua Lipa) and have the good ol' boys write for you. (Until you're not sexy sexy anymore, at least.)

Male singers have to play The Game too; Bernie Taupin wrote for Elton John, Jimmy Napes writes many of Sam Smith's hooks, Benny Blanco has a huge career writing for the pop charts- but. BUT. Women write for women, sometimes- while men write for men and women, always.

There's a difference between being a singer/songwriter and being a ghostwriter for people. Being just a writer, as a woman? Difficult as fuck. We can sometimes break into that world (Amy Allen for Sabrina Carpenter, Lauren Christy for Avril Lavigne, Kara Dioguardi, Laura Veltz) and live on royalties without fame, but you must still write for the male gaze brand, selling something that can make music videos and tour and partner with huge sponsors- it's still a boys club. Which is why I started the post with Max fucking Martin who runs a literal songwriting boys club. His is very far from being the only one. His just specializes in this Brand Artist trash for young women, and is good at keeping trend-relevant producers around so they've haunted the charts like misogynistic Swedish ghouls for decades. Look up some recent hits and you'll see Dr Luke is out of favor and Shellback is the new hot sound, and I'm sure some new one on the way.

TLDR- there are a bunch of women in music (hello!) BUT we rarely get signed to write unless we can ALSO perform as the face of a brand; unless we can be sexy sexy marketable. Men are the radio heads, label execs, studio owners, songwriters and producers and gatekeepers, all beholden to a $30 BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY.

So yeah. it's a fucking thing. It's at the core of how it works. Women are the face of the brand catered to a market, men hold the power.

Ive been in this since the aughts and it's been horribly sexist the entire time, top to bottom. I've been stuck in those rooms with those men. I've been badgered for sex. I've been groped (and worse) and stalked and threatened and harassed and more, and I know plenty of industry scandals where women took settlement money to stay quiet about sexual assault, discrimination and more. The hierarchy is clear to everyone. Every time you're in the label offices or studio you see some pretty young women with stars in her eyes, being shown around and promised millions by a sleezy old douchebag.

This shit is systemic. Sex sells and the companies that control everything want to make money so they make and sell sex. It's designed to sell over authentic music not produced by a huge team of marketing specialists and predatory and self-obsessed men. Once in a blue moon does someone escape this formulaic hellscape of the music charts I've tried to show here and - lemme tell you - I fucking live for the moments that they do. All of us in the music world constantly have our ear to the ground for aberrations, moments of genuine artistry and authentic creativity powering through to popularity as these huge music corporations fight with each other for space on the charts. I think the most recent for me was Gigi Perez.

When you start paying attention, it's easy to see who's making money for what. The harsh truth, from a woman in music, is that a lot of women in music are just recording artists who decide to play the game and let men write their brand while they tour and dance in music videos, and it's insidious as fuck what the end result is.

fuck this business

anyways go GO FORTH with this knowledge on how to pick apart a pop song and slay. sorry for ruining the radio for you.

oh, and don't fall for the "breakout indie music" schtick either; Chappell Roan's cowriter is Dan from As Tall as Lions and his other recent project was Olivia Rodrigo:

NONE OF US ESCAPE THE GAME

most female pop singers are a face used to market songs written and produced by men, styled and choreographed and directed by men, dressing men's thoughts up as women's thoughts and then convincing the world this is how women think and feel because men's words are coming out of a woman's mouth

[teenageread]

Review: The Angel Experiment

Synopsis:

Six unforgettable kids — with no families, no homes — are running for their lives. Max Ride and her best friends have the ability to fly. And that's just the beginning of their amazing powers. But they don't know where they come from, who's hunting them, why they are different from all other humans... and if they're meant to save mankind — or destroy it.

Plot:

A long time ago, six kids were born from tubes in the School, where they were experimented on by the white coats and made into mutant freaks, with no chance of social life. Each member of The Flock was built to be the size of a grown man, with wings powerful enough to carry them across vast distances. When white coat Jeb rescued the six kids and took them to a hideaway, Max truly thought she could live a normal life. Yet, when Jeb disappeared, it was up to Max to lead her family, and protect them from Erasers who wanted them dead. Quite a lot of responsibility for a fourteen-year-old, but Maximum Ride knows how to handle a challenge. When Erasers find their home and kidnap six-year-old Angel, Max and the rest of her family are sent into a tailspin. Needing to get back their youngest member, Max, Fangs, and Nudge take off to California to rescue Angle, leaving The Gassman and Iggy to watch their house. With adventure underway, The Flock will experience several heartbreaking revolutions, fight many Erasers, gain a member, and more, and their adventure begins with the rescue of Angle and ends in heartbreak. 

Thoughts:

Divided into six parts, James Patterson created the introductory novel for what is going to be a great series. Taking from the third person point of view of Max, but featuring other members of The Flock when characters are separated, Patterson keeps this novel action pack and leaves you itching for the next one. One of the most notable things about this novel is its short chapters, taking up one to three pages. Patterson wraps this over four hundred-page books in over one hundred chapters. While it was annoying at times, it acts as an opening for young readers with short attention spans, to get into this novel and enjoy its adventurous story. The writing is also simplistic, keeping it more narrator based, and has room for vast amounts of action, followed by a lot of plot building and location changing. Where the writing is not the best thing I’ve ever read, the book is enjoyable, and filled with new twists and turns to keep the plot moving and exciting. Patterson works throughout this novel on the dynamics of The Flock, and how this found family works together and cares for each other. From heart to heart from one character to another, to how they stack their fists whenever they land in a new spot. You really feel for these characters, and the connection they have to each other, in a very short amount of time, especially at the beginning where Max is distraught that the Erasers took her baby (Angle) from them. Where The Flock is the majority of the story, the real main character is The Flock’s leader Maximum Ride, after whom the series is named after. Max as a character is instantly likable, and a strong narrator for the story. You can truly tell that Max wants the best for her flock, and is willing to do what it takes to keep all members of her family safe. What will be the start of a very long series, Patterson allows you to get a feel for The Flock, the adventures that they had and what will come, Max as a leader as well as a girl, and a classic story of good vs. evil, or in this case, mutant bird children vs. white coats.

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[welcomehomenewneighborsocblog]

Ranger Barkely ( Welcome Home Oc)

Name: Barkley Warden Residence: Home Headcannon Voice Actor: Max Mittelman Sexuality: Straight Occupation: Forest Ranger Relatives: Birch Warden (father); Maple Warden (mother) Personality: He is a dedicated preserver of nature and animals and will do what he can to make sure they are safe. He has great empathy for animals and can understand them instantly. He often has a big berserk button when someone is careless in nature and will defend it. He will bravely stand up to any obstacle as long as it can help his friends and the forest he protects. As a result, he can rush into things without thinking and has to get himself out when things get tough. He wishes sometimes he can hang out closer to the neighborhood but knows he has a duty to the forest. Background: Residing in the woods of Home he protects the forest from any wildfires or illegal hunters. Unlike many other residents, he lives more in the woods rather than close to the neighborhood but often visits when he can. He comes from a long line of rangers who have protected the woods for years and continues the family tradition. He often comes to the aid of any animals that are nearby and makes sure they are taken to a vet. Whenever the forest needs a guardian he will be there. * He was meant to show reverence for the forest, wildlife conservation, and how to prevent forest fires. * He actually showed up in one episode of the finale season and was planned to have more episodes before cancelation. He is now in the reboot where he's more a of a major supporting character. * He is close friends with Sylvie, Ollie, Julie, Iggy, Frank, and Farley. * He has a hobby of doing leaf and flower collecting for his journal. * He butts heads with Roddy and his siblings due to their careless nature concerning nature. * For not sapient animals, he can instantly understand them. * He has a big role in the movie especially when the forest fire is started by Cary Cash. * In the reboot, he also gets into some tussles with Haggie and ends up cursed by her a few times. Created through picrew.me/en/image_maker/13499…

[definitely-not-a-wasp]

What do you think the whiteocsts fed the flock as kids?

Here's the thing: I can't imagine they'd be fed anything that didn't fullfill their needs. They probably had a very well-balanced meal plan with plenty of fruits, vegetables, starches, and proteins. They're expensive experiments— the Institute has to do maintenance on them for that cost to be worth it, and everyone knows it.

The quality and quantity is where I imagine things fall apart. Probably ingredients from boxes labelled "not fit for human consumption" (eaten IRL by prison and military populations). Something that was often taken away as punishment, or withheld due to testing. Even if it was well-balanced, it wasn't good, which is probably one of the reasons that Max treats good food like the holy grail even though she had Iggy's cooking for four years.

[sextonsharpwinhalstead]

I'm rewatching New Amsterdam and there's something about the way Max treats Helen while she's taking care of his cancer that rubs me wrong.

I know Max is supposed to be this lovable optimistic guy, and that we have to root for him, but there are parts where he comes off as forceful and oblivious. I get why people like him, but I also get why he had issues with Georgia and Helen. He doesn't like to choose.

Yeah this was a common critique of Max and I think it's what's earned him the nickname "Manic Max."

It's supposed to be read as passionate and yes he's in denial. I think it's fear. He wants to be everything to everyone everywhere. My problem is the little tantrums he threw after he didn't get his way.

And I will always be SHOCKED at how he did Georgia. I get why a doctor or the average person wouldn't understand, but I've taken ballet. Georgia was a PRIMA BALLERINA.

Ballerinas training to be at the top practice more than Olympians. 17 hours a day on average. They aim for absolute perfection and then they dance on pointe. The act of LITERALLY dance and twirling and leaping on the TIP of your toes. The ability to even do that isn't even something all aspiring ballerinas can do. If your ankles or tendons or flexion isn't right, or you weren't born with the strength you can't dance on pointe. It literally wouldn't be safe, or you would never be able to achieve it. So those who can, then all aim for perfection and aim to be the lead of a show, most end up in the chorus, if they can climb up a little then maybe they make demi-soloist, but the coveted spot is Prima Ballerina. They are THE best of ALL the dancers and only have a limited amount of time because this form of dance TEARS your body down faster than most athletics. That was Georigia's career which took LONGER to achieve than Max's, yup to even become doctor.

Georgia and Max separated because they both agreed to take a step back from their professions and start a family and Max took the director position at New Amsterdam behind her back. She had every right to leave, and Helen had every right to step back as his doctor and stay on as his deputy.

He always asked what he wouldn't give, or didn't understand was a sacrifice because he would do stuff willy nilly, damn the results. Max always meant well but he was impulsive, and idealistic but it bordered on delusional at times...like "we're going to end racism?" BFFR

And somehow Iggy got saddled as being the narcissists lol.

[nitewrighter]

even before you get to the crisis thing, do you ever wonder how many industries took omnic labor for granted pre-sapience? im imagining like, omnic chocolate as the ethical alternative to child slave chocolate. the nursing crisis solved overnight. you see animosity from human miners towards omnic workers displacing them on the shambali map, because under capitalism that's an inevitable tension, but im imagining some countries smart enough to implement universal basic income and ending up with something like 3/4s automated luxury not-actually-socialism.

and then the crisis occurs and that gargantuan labor sector comes out the other side of it bloodied and inexplicably demanding human rights. imagine your roomba demanding a living wage. imagine your roomba is a war criminal and it's demanding a living wage. serious philosophical query: is it morally culpable for the ankles it stabbed before it was sentient?

but beyond that, at the source, what does a living wage even look like for something that doesn't need food, doesn't need living quarters bigger than a storage closet, and seems to run off sci-fi perpetual motion juice? what makes it even worthy of that consideration? what happens to me, a human who was thoughtlessly dependent on that labor and now has to make radical adjustments to my quality of life? to accommodate the fucking google dots who blew up my hometown?

these would be fascinating questions to build into a world if any writers but those at blizzard were handling them. (and yes i know about karel capek)

That's a thing I'm also frequently asking myself in my fics! I actually love that one line from HALfred Glitchbot on the Hollywood map where he bemoans "mandatory human hiring quotas"--I do feel that partially answers your question, but it also further reinforces the question of what do omnic spend their capital on? I actually imagine they throw significant weight behind legislation just for certain protections, as well as community networks to facilitate safety and quality of life (whatever that looks like) for omnics, and possibly even communally buying land, though I imagine there's also plenty of laws in place that block omnics from a lot of the economic freedoms humans enjoy just by virtue of the fact that omnics do present a real threat to human labor.

We do know that a lot of omnics view themselves very communally from Tracer's London Calling comics, but there are definite exceptions as we've seen with Lynx Seventeen and some of the omnics in Ramattra's short story. We know that omnics in London are forced to live underground, but Maximilien also owns a dang casino, and we know that the Don Rumbotico rum company was a human family-owned operation before Talon bought it out and re-branded it with an omnic mascot (that could be a choice on Max's end, now that I think about it). So there are a lot of cultural questions about the omnic as laborer and how that's perceived and used in marketing.

But yeah it is actually wild how you do see omnics overrepresented in a lot of service industries, creative industries, or high-skill jobs (mainly Omnic waiters whose sentience is actually questionable, HALfred being a director, Iggy being a scientist, and also BOB being a highly skilled butler) but you don't see a lot of mention of the omnic as hard laborer (Cassidy mentions doing farm labor in the Ashe novel, but I'll need to check back to see if he mentions omnic doing farmwork as well.

Then again, this is asking Blizzard, which recently went through major union-busting scandals, to think about labor... which I imagine is a tall ask.

[whateverthedragonswant]

I really loved this finale. It felt like excellent story telling that really connected back to the pilot and came full circle in a beautiful way.

Not gonna lie, I wish Max had stayed but the way it played out really did make sense for his story. And I was beyond happy that he was making Luna a priority while not giving up who he is (like he was practically forced to do in London). I was so relieved with Iggy and Martin, I felt like they were purposely putting me through torture with that one. I think before Wildwin, Iggy x Martin was definitely my OTP of the show, so it was nice to see their story come to a wonderful close. I was so glad that Lauren reunited with her sister, that Floyd got the family he wanted, and that if Wilder had to stay behind, that she got to take over for Max with New Amsterdam. It was an amazing end for a lovely show and I couldn't be more grateful, especially with the Luna twist (my God, talk about spectacular writing, they really did close every layer up minus the one they planned to leave open). I've been watching since day 1 and that to me was definitely a finale worth celebrating.

I know maybe some might not care for the open Wildwin ending, but personally, I loved it. I think Max made his decision back a couple of episodes ago and I think that was really powerful. Despite Max's leaving, what happened between these two and how they left things just felt right to me and open with possibility like the showrunner says here.

You know, when Sharpwin started being hinted at in the show, I despised it. Not because Max and Helen didn't have chemistry, not because Ryan and Freema weren't enjoyable to watch on screen together, but because it felt as if the show quickly killed Georgia off to do fanservice. (and if you've been following me here for a while, you know by now how much I hate that LOL) But I tried my best to give it a shot when it went canon. Despite loathing Helen's response with "I should have never let you in" while Max was happy and glowing, completely in love with her and wanting to show her. But regardless, I slowly came to appreciate it, especially after Helen's speech on the bridge. They had finally showed to the audience, in my opinion, just how real it was for both of them, why it could actually work, and just why Max was making this move. So I was on board. I rooted for the little family they were creating. Then I really couldn't stand it when it became obvious that Max was basically forced into giving up everything in order to make Helen happy by following her to London, though you could tell her heart wasn't fully in it. (I had no idea what was going on bts with Freema's decision to leave the show btw)

For me, not to sound harsh in regards to Max, the moment she jilted him wasn't what had me angry at the pairing again. (that's not to diminish what happened or what he went through) It was the fact that she allowed Luna to call her 'Mummy', allowed Max to keep telling Luna that she was indeed her mom and that they were going to be a family, and then did what she did. Here's the thing: cold feet, I get it. And Iggy was right, Helen was going through A LOT. But doing that to Luna and basically abandoning her...that's unforgivable in my book. Luna had already lost one mom that she never knew and Helen knew that. Tbf to her, she had been hesitant about the mom thing at first when Max went full throttle, but she eventually went with it and formed a full bond with Luna as her mom. And then she just disappears (again, I get it, Freema left the show) from the kid's life, not even making sure she's okay, regardless of where she left things with her dad. Unforgivable.

So for me, Wildwin when it first started being hinted at was such a nice contrast. Don't get me wrong, I love the friends-to-lovers trope, the slow burns, and the whole healing process from a broken heart & falling in love with "what's good for you" but Ryan and Sandra definitely had chemistry, Wilder was there for Max, and I was so glad when the writers went with it. And I was thrilled when Max chose Wilder over Helen, his future vs his past like they say in this article. (and that shot of Luna with Wilder was adorable btw!)

But saying all of that, I'm more than okay with where they left things with Wildwin. I would have been massively disappointed if Max left to find Helen again, taking Luna with him, breaking it off with Wilder in the process. I'm okay with staying open-ended on this one because it leaves things open for possibilities. And while we got closure on the other characters' stories, if you think about it, we really got the theme of "open possibility" with all of them as well. Iggy and Martin have started a new beginning; Lauren and her sister are starting a new beginning together; Floyd is starting a new beginning with his relationship along with his family embracing his dad being around again. And of course, Luna was given her own new beginning as well, which was all tied beautifully to the moments these people chose to become doctors.

I just wanted to gush a little over it. I just really appreciated that they finished out this story right and didn't fall short on anything while attempting to bring it full circle while also bringing it to a close. I will miss these characters but damn if there won't be a rewatch in my future at some point lol.

What a fantastic show!

[squidwardisanoctopus]

Book 2 for those curious

The flock has successfully escaped New York and agreed to the school’s “save the world” plan but we don’t know exactly what it is. They agree to stay with a lab coat woman who claims she is interested in studying them “noninvasively” but tensions are high. Angel and her brother love this, fang and max hate it, and nudge goes back and forth. They do go to school for a little while, but fang and max are troublemakers and don’t last long. The labcoat woman occasionally sends them on missions to other laboratories or fertility clinics or to meet with other mutant kids. Nudge begins posting on social media and gains traction among her classmates.

The group schisms when it is discovered that the labcoat woman had information about the kids parents and didn’t share it. Max, fang, and nudge leave the project to find their families, Angel and her brother stay with the labcoat woman.

Max reconnects with dr Martinez now that she knows they are related and max learns that she was made from donated eggs. She and the gang begin investigating the fertility clinics to find more information about nudge and Fang’s parents, and accidentally discover that itex’s fingers are in more pies than previously known. The labcoat woman lied to them about what saving the world actually means: they’re planning to kill everyone and start over with a world of mutants!

But how does Angel fit into this??

The gang doesn’t know yet, but they race back to the labcoat woman’s house to rescue Angel and Gazzy/Iggy. To their horror, Angel and her brother don’t want to be saved, they know the plan and they’re happy with it. They feel that they are better than regular humans and want to take their place as inheritors of Eden. Worse- Angel explains that she is to be the leader of the new world. Her telepathic abilities have grown and she can now control minds too. She was given these powers by the scientists to make her powerful enough to rule as a god.

The scientist woman reveals that she has an army of erasers in the house ready to attack, but she doesn’t want to hurt angels family so if they join her she won’t hurt them. The flock refuses, and they have to fight their way out of an army of erasers. Iggy/Gazzy is unable to choose between the safety of his flock and being loyal to his sister. The book ends on a cliffhanger where the labcoat woman swears to capture the remaining members of the flock and Max fang and nudge all fly away heartbroken by angels betrayal. At the house, a wedge has grown between Angel and her brother, who cannot abandon her or forgive what she has done to the rest of them.

accidentally remembered Maximum Ride exists and now I have Thoughts on fixing this mess

first of all 6 kids is too much for the main cast. Iggy and Gazzy get smooshed together to form an explosion loving 10 year old who is Angel's older brother. The experiments that resulted in Angel were first tested on him and that's why he is blind. He loves his sister so much but he is also a child and makes bad decisions sometimes. He sometimes clashes with Max about her leadership.

Max is our first successful hybrid and a proof of concept. It took a lot of testing to make Max work, but once they knew she was going to survive long term, the lab began developing more variations of bird kids based on her. She is Dr Martinez's biological child but all Dr Martinez did was sell her eggs in her 20s with no knowledge of what would happen. Dr Martinez is an otherwise normal veterinarian. Max is visibly not white.

Fang is the second successful bird kid and only a little younger than Max. He is very loyal but not a natural leader and the process they used to make him is different than the one used to make Max and the other kids. This only becomes important later when the lab decides they want a breeding pair and aren't sure if Max and Fang could reproduce. He is Nudge's editor for HER blog, he himself is not interested in internet fame.

Nudge is a wannabe influencer. Max won't let her post her face, but she is an avid social media user and eventually learns to leverage her audience to her advantage by leaking secret science information and eventually begins posting about the flock as a unit to her adoring fans. Max hates this so much until it becomes useful. Nudge no longer hates herself, she just feels like a liar for having to hide who she is.

Angel is the "perfected" bird kid. She has extra abilities compared to the rest of them and Nudge and Iggy/Gazzy are considered failed attempts to create what Angel became. She gets preferential treatment by the scientists at the lab and is sometimes a shit about this. She also thinks shes better than regular humans.

All the bird kid powers are related to actual things real birds can do, such as mimicry and having an internal sense of where North is. Angel being telepathic is not a bird kid power but the result of the scientists testing out a new wave of enhancements. Max and Fang, being early successes, don't have a lot extra. Max has a crazy dive from her hawk DNA and Fang gets enhanced pattern recognition. Nudge gets her emotional sense, which is considered a failed attempt at telepathy, and Iggy/Gazzy has his mimicry but nothing psychic.

We follow a 3 book structure in which we gradually become aware that the lab they escaped from is not unique, but a branch of a secret monopoly company set on an eco-fascist takeover. All the kids were grown from eggs sold to evil "fertility clinics" by young women who had no idea what was going on and may or may not want to reconnect with their bird-progeny. The evil plot is that humanity as it exists is too disconnected from nature and corrupted by modern society, so we need to induce a global disaster to wipe out the population and rebuild with our mutant army. The Flock, having had to run and hide for their whole lives, are initially attracted to this plan until they make real connections to people like Dr Martinez and decide they can't let humanity be killed. There is a brief schism in the group over this but they all come together in book 3 to blow up labs and fight back. Ultimately, it takes Max's leadership, Nudge's exposing everything online, Iggy/Gazzy's love of pyrotechnics, and found family love to expose the plot and destroy the laboratories, while freeing mutant kids they meet along the way.

With the secrets exposed and a bunch of mutants released into the wild, Max and co. are now free to just exist without fear of being hunted. Max and Nudge both get to spend time with their moms, but the rest of the group were not wanted by their biological parents and bond with other mutant kids instead. Maybe they all go to school on a government grant or something. I don't feel like adressin the later books at this point this post is way too long as is

[callmebrycelee]

NEW AMSTERDAM REACTION

This reaction is for the season 5, third episode titled "Big Day" which originally aired on October 4, 2022. The episode was written by Laura Valdivia and directed by Nestor Carbonell. Spoilers ahead!

Between The Rookie and 9-1-1 and now this latest episode of New Amsterdam, this has been a wildly shocking and borderline horrific week in television. This week's new episode started with our favorite doctors responding to a catastrophe at a wedding and by the end of the episode, I, as a viewer, felt the strong urge to go bathe in bleach to cleanse myself of the ickiness I felt when certain revelations were brought to light. But hey, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's pick up where we last left off.

Reynolds meets with his mom and siblings to talk about his dad who he believes is bipolar. His sister throws some epic shade at him when she brings up his failed three-way relationship with Dr. Malvo and Dr. Baptiste. Hearing another character talk about that cringy storyline makes it seem even more ludicrous that Reynolds was even a part of it. The rest of Reynolds' family aren't as concerned about the man who abandoned them decades ago as he is, so he decides to talk to his dad alone.

The thing that frustrates me most about Reynolds is that he is a brilliant cardiologist but when it comes to his personal life, he is dumb as a box of rocks. He leads too often with his head and not his head which is why he ends up investing his time and emotions in fruitless scenarios. I get that he wants to have a relationship with his dad, but he doesn't seem to get that the man who is his father is a dumpster fire of a human being. Hopefully Reynolds got the message loud and clear at the end of this episode when his father used his undiagnosed bipolar disorder as an excuse for his past behavior. I hope we don't spend the rest of the final season watching Reynolds pour energy into this rather pointless relationship.

Speaking of pointless relationships, Bloom is still living with her sister. I still don't get why she can't get a hotel somewhere or another apartment - I'm sure she makes quite a bit of coin running an emergency room - but for now she is content to be roommates with her estranged sister. What bothers me most about Bloom's relationship with her sister is that it's codependent as hell. On top of that, they're both addicts and I'm worried that Bloom is going to throw her sobriety out the window for the sake of rekindling her relationship with her sister.

Before I talk about Max and Iggy, let's talk about the main plot of the episode. An explosion at a wedding lands several members of the wedding, including the bride and groom, and a few guests in the ER. We have an older couple who sustain injuries as a result of all the chaos. Reynolds works on the wife who has inhaled several shards of glass that shred her insides and Bloom aids the husband who ended up with his wife's stiletto heel in his back after she nearly trampled him. Honestly I was rooting for both these characters to survive their injuries ... until I found out what was really going on at the end of the episode.

Then we have the groom who was close to the explosion. When he arrives in the ER has lost a lot of blood. The groom's blood type is very rare, Lutheran B negative to be exact, and Max and Wilder scramble to find a supply of it. The closest supply is in Toronto but Customs won't allow it cross the border. With Seattle out of the question, the two doctors learn of a donor in Bermuda so they hop on a flight to the Caribbean with Ben to track down the anonymous donor. After some clever detective work on the part of Wilder, they get the address of the donor and head to her home. She turns them a way because she is tired of giving and giving and all she wants to do is be present for the birth of her grandchild. For the second episode in a row, Wilder guilts a patient into doing what she wants them to do which I don't know how I feel about her weaponizing her deafness but that's a blog for another day.  The donor shows up at the airport and agrees to head to New York so that she can donate blood to the dying groom. 

Then we have a woman and her daughter who were present at the wedding. The little girl is in a catatonic state presumably because of the horrific event she witnessed at the wedding. Bloom enlists Iggy to help and he suggests that the girl be admitted to the psychiatric ward. Iggy spends time with the patient and uses some toys to help her act out the scene that happened at the wedding. When Iggy asks about the bride, it is revealed that this little girl is the bride which means the groom who was dying in the ER was the man she was being married off to.

Naturally all of the doctors are disgusted and the episode does a great job of highlighting how as healthcare providers, they can't be selective about whose lives they save. Iggy talks about how state law makes it legal for the little girl to be married off to an adult man. Honestly now I'm disgusted as well. All of the patients they saved this episode, including the older couple and the groom, were all a part of this child wedding and the only person to object to this awful, awful situation was the little girl's brother who is the one who caused the explosions. I can't believe something like this could happen in this country although a part of me thinks I shouldn't be too surprised because there's a lot of messed up stuff that happens in this country, a lot of it affecting the most vulnerable of the population.

At the end of the episode, Iggy heads to his old home where Martin and the kids are living. When Martin reminds him that it's his turn to be with the kids, Iggy breaks down in front of him and asks if he can see the kid. Martin, of course, obliges his request. I still have hope for Iggy and Martin. I don't think they're a perfect couple but then again, no couple is perfect. I'm hoping by the end of the season they work through their issues and get back together. 

Max at the end of the episode, has a moment with Wilder. They are really pushing this romance and I'd honestly feel a little bit better about it if Max hadn't just gotten out of an engagement. Max has bounced from one woman to another. First it was Georgia and then he went to Helen and now he's moved on to Wilder. Max, you need to take some time for yourself. Work on yourself for a bit. Make peace with things and then maybe you can pursue romance. Another sweet moment of the episode is when Max returns home and asks if he can stay with Luna in her room. I imagine being a parent, after witnessing something so twisted and awful happen to another child, you just want to be close to your own.

That's the end of the episode. Overall, I thought it was a well done episode. I'm glad we got more hospital drama and less personal drama. I'm seriously not interested in Reynolds' daddy issues or Bloom reconciling with her sister. Oh, speaking of Bloom, where the hell is Casey? Casey's been missing in action since the season started. Bring back my Casey! Anywho, back to the episode. I thought the twist was well executed. I was really caught up in figuring out what happened at the wedding. I spent most of the episode trying to figure out where the bride was and she was there the entire time. At the end of the episode, I told my mom that when we first saw the little girl, she was dressed in white and holding a bouquet. I assumed she was the flower girl but flower girls generally carry baskets with rose petals. I still can't believe this girl's mother allowed her to be put in this situation. What's even more frustrating is that it seems like none of these people that were treated in this episode will suffer any kind of repercussions for their vile behavior. But, I reckon that's the most realistic part of the episode. Well done, New Amsterdam. So far you've yet to disappoint. I'm excited to see what happens next week. Until next time ...