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orionsangel86 · 2 years ago

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I would like to hear your GOmens opinions! I feel like the fandom is a mix of reasonable and bathshit dumb opinions.

Oh nonny I don't know if you truly do! My opinions are controversial at minimum and likely to get me cancelled by GO fandom at most!

*deep breath* Okay you asked for it. Don't come at me when you don't like what I have said.

I'll put this under a cut cos it'll no doubt get long and ranty and look fair warning to anyone clicking read more, these are JUST one person's opinions. We can disagree on those things. I'm not going around screaming at people that they are wrong and I've kept this all very close to my chest for a very long time now. So please take that with a pinch of salt before you decide to read my rant.

*sigh* this is probably a bad idea but here goes...

The thing is, I love analysing TV and film and literature, and I take an analytical view of things where I try to set myself apart as much as possible from the highly emotional volatile fandom response. (I dont always succeed in this but I try).

One thing I always stress is that characters in TV shows or movies are *not real people* and therefore you can't apply real people sensitivities to them. They are instead frankenstein mixes of what the creative team wants them to be, and every little decision about the characters is carefully thought out. Intention and interpretation matters. My view on a character is not an invalidation of a real persons identity. If I say a character is not X, that does not mean I think that real people who are X are not valid, or that I don't believe in their real life identity. Is this all clear so far? Okay.

Representation also matters and I have seen Good Omens fandom tie themselves up in a frenzie of policing fans and call out posts accusing anyone who wants more from AziraCrows relationship a whole multitude of x-phobics depending on the buzzword of the day. To the point that these fans have convinced themselves that a kiss or love declaration or ANYTHING from AziraCrow that would be considered more explicit than what we got in Season 1 is something they DON'T want because somehow that would take away from the *x-identity rep* theyve decided to claim as canon. But sadly these fans have rather deluded themselves because none of those identities are *canon* in season 1. Even the claims that AziraCrow are gender non conforming non binary etc are not *canon* because *canon* means that any dumbass regular audience member could watch the thing and say "oh. That character is x". Yes Crowley is Nanny Asteroth for a time, but a general audience is just going to view that as male Crowley in drag. Sorry but its the truth. They see David Tennant playing Crowley, they see a male actor playing Crowley, they are gonna view Crowley as a male. Unless it is textually stated by Crowley that he isn't male, then they aren't gonna get it and it isn't the rep you want it to be, because representation should mean that everyone ELSE also notices and learns to understand about those marginalised identities.

Take Sandman. Very gay. Very very gay. So gay that people from the dumbass general audience (the DGA going forward) went online to complain about it being gay because the gay was so very obvious to them, so obvious in fact they claimed *every* character in Sandman was gay and having gay sex and I'll be honest it left me rather disappointed when Morpheus didnt fuck Hob Gadlings brains out in episode 6 like he clearly wanted to, but I digress.

Take OFMD, Jim is a canonical non binary character and the show makes this clear in the canon text without ever having Jim say they are "non binary" or have the clumsy awkward explanation that is clearly for the DGA about it, but instead the conversation flows naturally - are you a woman? I don't know. Are you a man? I don't know. I'm just Jim. Okay Just Jim. We will refer to you by they/them pronouns now. It's all cool.

But Crowley and Aziraphale are characters played by male actors who always use he/him pronouns. Even as Nanny Asteroth no one ever refers to the nanny as "she". So its not clear to the DGA. Them being asexual may be a valid headcanon, but its not canon if its never mentioned. If at some point someone said something to Zira about sex and he said "oh I don't go in for that sort of thing" then sure, that's got some canon merit to it, but otherwise Good Omens can NOT be applauded for being good asexual representation on television.

If your general audience of braindead heteronormative idiots isnt seeing it, its not technically canon. Its implied, subtextual, queer coded, hinted at, etc, but not *canon*. Its not gonna get a GLAAD nomination for representation and a bunch of queer journalists writing articles about it if its only *subtext*.

I don't recall any of the queer media people applauding Good Omens for being queer representation. I recall them all sort of scratching their heads being like "is it...?" and I recall a lot of people getting rather annoyed because NG took a stance online proclaiming that it was an obvious love story when really, from just watching the show... it kind of wasn't?

God this is gonna get me so much hate... *sigh* okay look. I adore season 1. I was totally with you guys celebrating how queer it all seemed to me and loving NGs responses on Twitter to anyone questioning the "friendship" between Az+Crow. I was also online getting wrapped up in the fandom echo chamber claiming it was 100% canon and anyone who didn't see it was a homophobic moron or whatever... yeah... but I've grown up a lot since 2019 surprisingly - the whole Destiel going "canon" and then getting shoved forcefully back into the metaphorical closet was a big eye opener and everything changed after November 5th 2020.

Suddenly, what Az+Crow had in season 1 wasn't enough anymore. It should never have been enough to begin with. I recall my very first watch and how I was seeing all the subtext and coding and clear romantic tropes build and build and then we got to that final scene in the ritz and all I wanted was for them to take each others hands, I watched with eager anticipation and... it didn't happen. I can vividly recall the disappointment I felt at that moment. I didn't need a kiss, or a declaration, but I wanted them to hold hands in that scene. They got so close! Zira leans in and places his hand on the table right by Crowley and my GOD it was like being edged without the pay off. I hated it. I HATED it because it would have been SO EASY but they didn't do it.

I also recall getting quietly annoyed at NG for claiming they held hands on the bus. I watched the slowed down zoomed in gifs of that moment and sorry, but no. They don't. Even if the actors actually DID hold hands, the camera doesn't pick it up clearly enough for it to mean a damn thing.

I totally understand people claiming that Az+Crow are already queer. It's totally valid to see yourself in them and want them to represent you. But the painful truth is that in season 1 of the show, they aren't anything of what you claim them to be. They are two characters who are male presenting who are very good friends to the point that its all a bit homoerotic. The DGA isn't gonna take any time to think about the complexities of angel and demon gender or the lack thereof, they are only gonna see two male actors playing said angel and demon. They aren't gonna think about you and your identity, and they aren't gonna pick up the subtext even if it is painfully obvious. Because they won't see it as gay unless it is explicitly gay.

But Saz, why should we care what the DGA thinks?

Because thats what this whole argument has always been about. Because that's what canon means. No one, not even the DGA are arguing today about whether or not Castiel is gay. No one in the DGA is arguing about Stede and Blackbeard, or Lucius. No one is arguing about the Corinthian or Johanna Constantine. They see that these characters are queer, they accept it. Simple. Because of this, it counts towards representation. Because it normalises our identities. By putting our identities into mainstream stories in such a way that they are unavoidable for the DGA, THAT is what representation is.

When characters and stories keep our identities buried in subtext and allusions and queer coding which quite frankly should have been left in the hays code era, it doesn't count towards representation, no matter what your fandom echo chamber may scream into the void. Or, for that matter, what your creator and fantasy genre author may claim in the void either.

Word of God may help us in a lot of ways, but if they aint putting it into the actual text, then word of god is meaningless in terms of representation as well. Disney claiming Valkyrie was bisexual doesn't mean a damn thing if she never discusses her bisexuality or has any scenes where she shows interest in the same sex. Thankfully that changed in the latest movie, but for a long time it was a problem.

Okay then. So what am I saying? Was NG queerbaiting us with AziraCrow in season 1?

No. Gods I hate that word. Queerbaiting is only occurring when the creators involved maliciously add queer subtext with the explicit intention of gaining popularity among queer audiences specifically with no intention to reward them by actually making those characters queer.

Now, I may not agree with people who claim Crowley and Aziraphale are explicitly queer in season 1, but I also don't think NG ever intended GO to be a queer show. He made GO to be a popular fantasy show as a last wish for his friend Terry Pratchet. He made it extremely faithful to the book in every way (in some ways, to the detriment of the show) and that includes keeping AziraCrows relationship in safe platonic territory. Yes he ramped up the romantic subtext, but I fully believe that this was because he had already decided he was going to further develop the story if season 1 was a hit, but I don't think for a second that he predicted that it would gain such massive traction in queer fandom circles.

No malicious intent to utilise the queer community, no queerbaiting. So lets just stamp down on that accusation once and for all. It's bullshit.

But that changes in season 2. So here is where I have been getting annoyed at GO fandom lately with all this "we don't need it to be explicit! A kiss would invalidate my identity! If they do anything it'll take away from ace rep! etc etc" SHUt UP!

Why do all these fans think kissing is something ace people don't do? Why would an innocent kiss invalidate ace rep? Are you HEARING YOURSELVES?! and okay, even if you are an ace person who does not ever kiss, are you so opposed to words of affirmation too? Are you a hater of love declarations now? Why is THAT such a terrible thing? You are deluding yourselves, and I get why. You are trying to protect yourselves from disappointment because you have spent 4 years screaming at people online and policing people who dare to say that AziraCrow aren't already canonically together and in love and have somehow tied your own identity into these characters to the point that you are frightened that season 2 might disprove your words and somehow invalidate your identity. Gods forbid if they DO kiss now you have lost the precious representation you claimed was so important to you right? But its NOT the case!

If nothing happens in GO S2 then it WOULD be queerbaiting. For the FIRST TIME. Because NG knows now how important AziraCrow's relationship is to the queer fans and he himself has been claiming its a love story for 4 years. If he didn't put his money where his mouth is and make them explicitly canonically queer and together in season 2 then I'm sorry but it would very much be queerbaiting. Keeping the loud queer fanbase on tenterhooks, getting them all excited so that GO trends on social media and then NOT following through? That's CLASSIC QUEERBAITING.

But NG isn't doing that. Because they are going to be together. Because it will be explicitly queer. Because even the trailer indicates this is the case. The season 1 GO trailer didn't include any of the romantic subtext if I recall correctly, it was solely promoted as a silly fantasy show. The season 2 trailer leans into the romance. It'll be explicitly clear - because I don't think NG is stupid enough to not go through with it. I understand why he didn't in season 1, there was a lot more at stake and he wanted to keep it totally 100% faithful to the book, but season 2 is a blank page, open book, nothing stopping it from happening. Plus, in 2023, in a post Destiel confession, post OFMD world, not going there would be just the most idiotic bad for business move the man could make.

So can GO fans please stop making bad faith arguments about why AziraCrow shouldn't be more explicitly together in season 2? Because I'll be honest, it is coming across less like you wanna protect the supposed "Ace representation" and more like maybe you are just uncomfortable with the idea of two middle aged male actors being physically intimate on screen.

Also if NG doesn't have the balls to go through with it, then can y'all please stop protecting him? I love the guy. I do. I think he is a talented genius who has done more for the fantasy genre than anyone else alive today. But gods, if he doesn't let AziraCrow at least confirm to themselves or other people that they have non platonic feelings for each other, in such a way that the DGA understands that this is a non platonic love story, then he deserves all the angry asks and queerbaiting accusations he will inevitably get. Personally, I don't think he's that dumb. So perhaps his fans can also have a bit more faith in him too.

**to anyone who may want to address the spoiler in this post, please don't. I am aware of it and have chosen in this ask to not acknowledge it so that all fans can read this, besides, the spoiler itself does not actually change anything I have mentioned here especially with some of the daft theories I have seen surrounding it.**

Okay I'm done. Rant over. Proceed to cancel me if you must.

#fandom discourse #good omens #good omens discourse #wank for ts #representation matters #queer media

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ofpineapplesanddawns · 1 year ago

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"we didn't mean to kiss. it was never supposed to happen."

Arthur and that oughr. Uh. The guy. The robot dad. The cartoon robot dad DT plays in the show you recommended me. (No I don't know how he can kiss without a mouth that's not important) Or did you have a non cartoon policy? I have written this so i cannot go back and look because mobile and there is cat on my lap so i cannot check laptop. If cartoon is nogo as i am now beginning to suspect it is, i mean. Does DT play any live action robots? I forget. Is there an android tenth or fourteenth doctor copy out there? Surely by now there must be. There are so many david tennants in doctor who. Or just 14 maybe.

You mean his character from Eden? I do have a policy on cartoons, but it's mostly any animal based ones. Also, no one has ever asked for a cartoon so this is a first, haha.

He also played a droid in Star Wars named Huyang (who came to the Jedi temple in a, I'm not kidding, a blue box thousands of years ago, so technically a droid Doctor exists), and I think he was an android in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thing, but I never watched it so I don't really know.

Anyway, since I've never written E92 before and I don't think there's any, ANY content of him within the good omens extended universe because no one ever talks about this series, I'm going for it. I'm making him kiss the bartender.

On with the fic!

It was Earth, that much was clear.

Long occupied with robots, androids only came into being here with the arrival of The Avalon years ago. It had been meant to go to a whole new world while other humans slept for ages back on Earth as it repaired itself.

Now these humans were back, and humans, androids, and robots were living together, trying to make a new life for themselves.

Arthur had been one of the few androids, the most human of them all, to become part of the new Earth. He was still a bartender, as that was all he really knew, but he worked with other androids and robots, helping them learn about humans. He had the most knowledge, he was meant to talk to them, to interact and be part of their lives.

In order to do that, he was given legs to help him move about the robot's old city. It was strange, they were more spider-like than human, but it helped him move about, they would do. He stood out among the other robots and androids, and among the humans.

It was...

He wasn't sure how to put it.

Luckily, he found robots that were kind to him, even if he was different from them. A small group that had learned of humans, who had even raised a child together, a human child. From what the child's 'parents' told him, she was found in a pod as a baby, and they rescued her.

They couldn't leave her to die, even though taking care of a human went against their protocols.

They did a lot of things against their protocols over the years to protect their daughter, and they told him they always would.

A37 was the mother, she was kind and a bit more open to things than her counterpart, E92.

He was the father figure, and the more reserved one, but Arthur had found a kindness in him that was rather human-like. He seemed to have picked that up from his daughter, Sara Grace. E92 had been the one to take him in and help him when he arrived.

He didn't have to do that, but Arthur was grateful for it. He was also grateful for Sara helping to give him legs and for E92 and A37 to get him some sort of work with the other robots instead of just doing things for the humans.

It had been a day of helping both populations with the continuous need to adjust to things, and Arthur felt worn down. He needed to recharge, and found E92 getting ready to do the same after a long day of work in the fields, a job he honestly seemed to enjoy.

"There is only one charging station left." The robot said, voice its usual calm down.

"I am sure we can share it, or we could take turns, depending on battery depletion." Arthur suggestion.

A quick scan indicated that the second option was not ideal, as both were under 20%, and being the advanced systems that they both were, they constantly spent battery power.

"Sharing is better than one of us going into offline mode." E92 offered, gesturing to the pod. "You may enter first."

"I think it's better if you do, I can squeeze in afterwards."

E92 looked at the pod, gave a slight nod with his body, before entering it. Arthur squeezed in, it was tight, but it would work if he wrapped his spider limbs around the other robot's legs. There was some adjusting, but they found a bit of comfort with E92's arms loosely wrapped around Arthur, keeping him close but not too close.

"Will this work for you?" The taller of the two asked.

"I..." Arthur looked him up and down, at the faded paint on the blue and red casing. He had never been this physically close to his friend, how odd that he felt his systems start to overheat, his fans spinning internally. "I think it will do well for the situation."

"Then we shall rest for the night. Good night, Arthur." E92 said quietly, he didn't need to lower his voice, the other robots were already in sleep mode, they would not wake them.

"Good night, E92." He replied just as softly, a hand placed on the other robot. He could feel him powering down, going into sleep mode himself.

But Arthur was awake.

He had been here on Earth for a few months now, adjusting as well as he could here. He was thankful for the few friends he had made here, considering his only other ones were long dead now. He cared about Sara Grace, and A37, along with the other robots from their little family.

But E92 was different. He was someone that Arthur could talk to, spend time with, without having to put on the customer service act in his programming. It was odd, he didn't understand it, didn't know if he could.

But he enjoyed this other robot's company.

He wondered if there was something strange in his programming since coming to Earth, or at least to Eden 3.

Because he was sure it wasn't in his programming or protocol to do what he was doing now.

His lips were pressed to the cool casing in front of him, and he felt his insides running faster, louder, hotter. Arthur blinked twice, and then pulled back.

He didn't mean to kiss him. it was never supposed to happen. It wasn't something robots or androids did.

He tried to put himself into sleep mode, to not think about this. But he was distracted, just for a moment, when those loose arms around him tightened, just a little, bringing him closer to E92.

Best to think about this in the morning.

Arthur has feelings and doesn't understand what they are. E92 has had much longer to feel human emotions so... >.>

Also, I need to watch this again.

If I had a nickel for every time David Tennant played a character associated with the color blue and strong emotions towards a human alongside a villain played by Neil Patrick Harris, I'd have two nickels.

#good omens extended universe #john's drabbles

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kendrixtermina · 1 year ago

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Now, I disagreed with them casting Jodie out of pure tokenism/ just to have done it/ changing it for changes' sake (no offense to her, she's not to blame for the bad writing & could have done so much better with good writing - see the few non-shit episodes like Villa Diodati) - not to the level of crying "ruined forever", just as a tacky dated looking thing like they've done done other dated, tacky looking thing that would ultimately just be a minor cosmetic issue.

Even the one advantage it was supposed to have (fixing the lack of female Anti Heroes ... as if River, Amy & Clara didn't exist) didn't come true cause Chibnall wasn't even capable of writing an anti-hero & just totally changed the character. We didn't even get a "female Doctor" cause what Chibnal wrote there was barely anything like "The Doctor". (nonconformist, anti-authoritarian, humanist, compassionate, confidently eccentric, confident if not a tad arrogant, wordly, nuanced etc.) instead we got shoehorned black & white morality, indistinct plank of wood characters, a lack of understanding about the meaning of anything... i hate it so much & Chibnal should never be allowed near genre fiction again.

But Ncuti's case is emphatically NOT like that. He was a longtime fan from childhood. Casting him is exactly the same as casting David Tennant or Peter Capaldi. He would be a natural pick on his own merits, he isn't being cast because he's black, but rather to not cast the passionate longtime fan guy in this case would be to artificially exclude him. It's not tokenism or box ticking in any way.

#doctor who #fifteenth doctor #ncuti gatwa

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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

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'If there's one thing Wild Blue Yonder has proven about Doctor Who, it's that the show was in dire need of a real space oddity.

Russell T Davies returning to the beloved sci-fi was overwhelmingly exciting for a huge amount of reasons but one of the biggest for me is that he knows just how to write a truly weird episode of Doctor Who - and when I say weird, I mean really quite unhinged.

The second 60th anniversary special, which saw David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate's Donna Noble return, was mysterious from the off, with Davies not wanting to spoil anything about it, even swerving questions in interviews and Q&As when conversations turned towards it - and clearly for good reasons.

It had the luxury of being out there because The Star Beast did all the groundwork. The introductions and re-introductions have been dealt with, the meta-crisis is basically solved, we've had not one but two aliens of the week, and the Doctor and Donna are back in the TARDIS on their way to who knows where? Cue a huge, and completely bizarre, adventure.

Making a pit stop in 1666 to slightly interrupt Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity (oh hi Nathaniel Curtis), the pair end up on a spaceship at the edge of the universe, facing a very slow countdown to self-destruction. Along the way, they meet terrifying deadly doubles of themselves with just a spot of body horror for good measure.

From the off, Wild Blue Yonder is a bit unsettling and really gets into its stride in what could have been a filler scene with the Doctor splitting off from Donna to fiddle about with some spaceship parts. With the episode beautifully cutting between the two rooms, neither the Doctor nor Donna are alone, instead joined by very creepy doubles who have their memories, mentioning Gallifrey, and Donna's grandfather Wilf.

Tennant and Tate's performances have always been brilliant but they reach new heights as their characters are forced to confront gigantic replicas of themselves with sprawling arms and gaping jaws, complete with horrifying smiles. It's certainly not a completely unique concept, with comparisons surely set to be drawn with at least Jordan Peele's Us. But it's executed brilliantly.

It's the perfect question to present to the characters and one that can only be presented with these specials as the Doctor and Donna reunite - can they tell each other apart from an imposter? It's also beautifully simple. After the busyness of The Star Beast, and what looks set to be utter wonderful chaos in The Giggle, we needed a full episode of the Doctor and Donna together. Little did we know we'd get double for our money, plus a beautiful moment with the late Bernard Cribbins at the end.

Doctor Who is no stranger to being completely weird. Many of the most iconic, and most widely loved stories are - including Midnight, Blink, and The God Complex. Some of the weird ones are more divisive (looking at you, Love and Monsters) but Doctor Who wouldn't be Doctor Who without them. As well as the Time Lords and the companions, the Master and the monsters, weirdness is in the very fabric of Doctor Who.

Amid the Disney deal which is bringing Doctor Who into a new era, it's one of the things the show can't and won't let go of and one of the things that makes it so different to everything else on TV. Seeing Davies so seamlessly bring us a new truly mad episode - one that will have non-Whovians wandering into the room and gawping in complete confusion - is just what we needed.

I'm still waiting for perfection from Davies' 60th anniversary specials but Wild Blue Yonder is nearly there. It brings back what I loved about Doctor Who from Davies' first era, with added budget and the scale that affords, giving us a properly bizarre and mysterious adventure.

Long live Doctor Who being absolutely unhinged.'

#Doctor Who #Wild Blue Yonder #60th Anniversary #David Tennant #Catherine Tate #Donna Noble #Russell T. Davies #Blink #Midnight #The God Complex #Sir Issac Newton #Nathaniel Curtis #The Star Beast #The Giggle #Bernard Cribbins #Wilfred Mott

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vintage-bentley · 1 year ago

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Do you watch doctor who? There's just been a new episode and it's just annoying...

I’ve never watched an episode in my life, I’ve thought about starting it but have never gotten around to it! Sci-fi isn’t really my thing. If anything I might just watch the David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker seasons.

I’ve heard about some of the gender stuff from the new episode and it does sound annoying. It makes sense that they’d have to address how the doctor can regenerate into a woman after being a man, then back into a man, so I get that.* Sucks that gendies are running with it though. It’s yet another example of how self-obsessed they are…they’ll see a non-human character who can magically change sex and go “yes! I’m just like this all powerful creature! I am above human limits unlike all those earthly binary gender havers!” Instead of understanding that a girl with blue hair and she/they pronouns is very different than a, I think time lord? Time doctor? Alien?

*Although I find it really funny that they had one singular woman doctor then went right back to men lol. They could’ve easily kept casting women, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if they never had another female doctor and considered 1 woman out of a dozen+ men to be “equal”.

#asks #anon

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professorspork · 2 years ago

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9, 29, 62!!

9. in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

Well. This question is kind of a whole massive can of worms because for a few years there this was, in fact, the plan. Or rather a "skip the middle step" version of this plan. I went to grad school for TV writing specifically so I could write scripts based in other peoples' worlds. Though I had to do my own projects to get in, I've never liked writing original work as much as I've liked playing in previously-established sandboxes-- and the goal was to not have to adapt anything once I graduated, because I'd be getting paid to write about other people's characters.

To make a very long story short, I have learned I am a lot healthier as a person when writing is my hobby instead of my career, and now I don't have to force myself to write non-fanfiction things when fic is all I ever truly wanted to write in the first place. I'll always wonder about what might have been, but I've made my peace with it.

29. give us a spoiler for one of your stories.

Hmm. Well the thing about Newsbees is that it's a canon retelling of two different canons, so half the fun is wondering what I'm going to include and how.

As such, I will give this in the format of TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE. Two of these are accurate spoilers and one is not:

(A) Yang has arm trauma for Adam reasons. (B) Blake and Yang don't kiss until the very. last. chapter. (C) Readers' favorite character is going to end up being Neon Katt and it won't even be close.

62. what’s the weirdest reason you’ve ever shipped something?

What a fascinating question! I love how it's not "what's the weirdest thing you've shipped" but instead "what's the weirdest REASON" because like… how does anyone answer that? I ship things for one reason, and that is because I Feel It In My Bones that it would be entertaining for me to do so.

I suppose the answer is that I, like many fandom people of my generation, did the thing where "I will ship these characters together because I ship the actors as a pairing in some respect." Only instead of writing, I don't know, Belle-from-Secret-Diary-of-a-Call-Girl dating the Tenth Doctor for Billie Piper and David Tennant reasons, I wrote a crack fic about Eduardo Saverin one of the founders of Facebook hooking up at a bar with Olive Penderghast from Easy A for Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone reasons.

#newsbees au

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crowleysgirl56 · 1 month ago

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Thanks to @miranda61 for sharing the link to the interview in the comments. What a lovely interview!

I love how they exclusively talked to him about the non-fictional characters he portrayed, and yet still showed a picture of Aziraphale in the loop of characters photos on the screen (the only fictional character in the loop)! 🤣

Funny how the other interviewer who popped onto the set kept trying to steer the conversation towards David Tennant but Michael didn’t really participate in that dialogue. Also interesting how they asked him about his next big upcoming project and he mentions Nye instead of Good Omens. I know he said something to a fan at the con he was at on the weekend, but I wonder if he’s being steered away from speaking about Good Omens publicly for the moment? (I’m assuming that’s coming from his management or from Prime video specifically preventing him from talking about GO for the moment because of…*gestures vaguely at everything*)

Michael in Good Morning Britain (19.11.2024) :)

#michael sheen #good morning britain #good omens #aziraphale #good omens fandom #nye #national lottery #Michael sheens extraordinary career #not for profit actor #he is too lovely and we don’t deserve him!

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agapi-kalyptei · 5 months ago

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Game mini-reviews #1

A short summary of games I've played recently. All of these are worth recommending, if they're up your alley.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

I've replayed Oxenfree 2 for the second time recently and was pleasantly surprised at the variety of conversations. If you've never heard about it, Oxenfree 1 and 2 is a horror/mystery/walking simulation that lets you have a wide variety of conversations based on what you say (or stay silent).

Oxenfree 1 was a lot more dynamic in the sense you could choose between different people to hang out, while Oxenfree 2 only features one coworker, and instead of being a teenager with teenage friends stuck on an island full of scary portals, you're an adult who has to deal not just with the mystery, but also with three annoying cultist teenagers who are trying their best to antagonize you.

While I still feel like Oxenfree 1 had more replay value, I ended up appreciating Oxenfree 2, and I hope they keep making similar games.

(2023; Steam - Youtube trailer - Youtube longplay)

This Bed We Made

Another lovely narrative-heavy puzzle-light adventure game with heavy emphasis on player choices. You start as a hotel maid in 1950s Canada when being queer is a criminal offense. You end up... either as that, or unemployed, or imprisoned, depends on how you play your cards.

The game does not have horror elements as some trailers might suggest, and is mostly about snooping around and talking to your best buddy coworker about what you find, and making your own conclusions about the pretty well written story. The game has I think 7? different ending variations, and unlike Oxenfree, lets you save at any point, and load from any point.

(2023; Steam - Youtube trailer - Youtube longplay)

Just Cause 3

The best game of the JC series, this one features everyone's favorite grappling hooks and parachute one-man dictator-overthrower expert, Rico Rodriguez, along with an unusually good story for an open world action game. Also features my favorite autistic female character that's not the butt of jokes, and a hot swedish woman who's not treated like eye candy or romantic interest. (Small steps, but for a 2015 videogame this is already progress.)

The gameplay loop is satisfying, and like GTA without the terrible hand-holdy on-rails story - hijack a car or a helicopter, parachute, grapple or wingsuite your way to the nearest enemy base, and destroy it. Rinse repeat. In between, do some more colorful story missions. Enemy bothering you? Tether him to a propane tank, shoot the propane tank, watch the enemy rocket off into the distance. Tether a helicopter to a tank and reel them in together so they can kiss in a fiery explosion.

Also: Featured David Tennant's voice in a minor role.

(2015; Steam - Youtube trailer - Youtube longplay)

Infinitode 2

Along with Bloons TD6, this is one of my go-to listen-to-podcasts-or-video-essays-while-keeping-my-hands-busy fidget toys. It's abstract geometric shape tower defense games, not too hard and with a huge research tree. On Android, Blokada 5 or other network level ad-blocking is recommended.

(2021~2024; Steam - Play Store)

American Arcadia

This game is a mix of Truman Show and Limbo / Inside (the video game, not the comedy standup). It's a platformer that might remind you of classic 2D and 2.5D platformer games like Another World / Flashback / Prince of Persia 1, with heavy emphasis on story and light emphasis on puzzles. A small part of the game is a first-person non-shooter with some light puzzles.

While, by its very nature, you know the overall plot, it's quite nice that the story was fresh enough to be interesting, and more importantly, the main characters were interesting, and extremely well narrated. Huge hats off to the artistic director and voice actors.

(2023; Steam - Youtube trailer - Youtube longplay)

#video games #oxenfree #american arcadia #infinitode #tower defense #just cause 3 #this bed we made

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sherl-grey · 3 years ago

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☕️ the eleventh doctor 👀

Hahahahaha where do I even begin? In this essay I will...

There are a few ways I can interpret this, and I'm not sure which one matches the ask, so:

Matt Smith as the Doctor? Loved it. Loved the energy, loved the light and energy and youth as well as the rippling underlying darkness that flowed over from Ten (and I will admit part of me had trouble forgiving him for simply not being David Tennant, but that wasn't his fault. What a tough act to follow).

The Eleventh Doctor's actual episodes? Oh boy... the toughest thing for me to swallow was just how different the writing was, particularly the characterization of the Doctor himself. I've only ever seen New Who, but the Nine-to-Ten regeneration was very big on "same man!! same man!!" and I didn't get that feeling at all from Ten-to-Eleven, which sucked. One of my biggest complaints is his quicker tendency towards and acceptance of violence that builds up over the seasons. This is a Doctor that's okay with guns, okay with soldiers and armies, okay with morally-grey plots and people, and I wasn't a fan of the episodes that showcased that very flippantly. I did admittedly like some of the character studies like "A Town Called Mercy" where we look at the dark side of the Doctor through the post-Time War lens, but not episodes like "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Let's Kill Hitler" where we got very non-Doctor-ish personality with very little explanation.

The general feel to Eleven's era was "man strapped to a trolley with no control over where he's going" which was a bit of a bummer compared to the fun, adventure-y feel we get from Nine and Ten. Eleven's best episodes were the ones that were just standalone trips--Vincent and the Doctor, the Lodger episodes, the God Complex, etc. The overarching plot episodes, however, were a mess--all I was doing was watching a man perform his half of a script, literally. He had virtually no autonomy but had to keep going, and it was exhausting to watch.

The companions were a mess too--I'll ignore individual flaws for the Ponds and just look at the dynamic. I would've expected Amy and Rory to bring in a very Nine-Jack-Rose feel, where all three of them mixed well as a team--especially since Rory was around for a pretty significant amount of time. But instead it felt constantly like the Amy-and-the-Doctor show, with Rory included either as an afterthought OR for some unnecessarily dramatic contrast/tension with the Doctor (or a romance plot, I guess) until a couple episodes before their exit--and even then, in The Angels Take Manhattan the Doctor almost exclusively mourns Amy in the dialogue.

And don't get me started on River--I'll leave a lot of that alone for now, but the Doctor's entire character has to change for episodes with her in them to work. He positively responds to or mentions that she's a "bad girl," that she's good with a gun, that she just expects him to come when she calls... she's a large part of why his future is locked in, something that should make him furious (as Ten was in the Library), and yet we just see him go from angry and annoyed to suddenly accepting and flirty with very little transition in between. Not to mention--I watched a 4 season arc about his relationship with Rose and how he coped (or didn't) with losing her, and could make the argument that they never really got a true kiss. And then I was supposed to believe that I watched a full, marriage-level romance build within a few (bad) episodes spread across 2 seasons? Nope.

The TLDR is that in general, I like Eleven! I like his character (the fun, nonviolent bits), and I like his potential (that's probably the best way I can phrase that, actually, and it explains why I like to write Eleven in spite of my many complaints). But his era leaves room for a lot of fix-its and headcanons since actual canon content in his era is... *shudders* not typically, in my opinion, well-written or satisfying.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, and thanks for the ask!

#ask #this is just touching the surface but honestly #eleven's era was just a lot

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denaphoenix · 1 year ago

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Me too, girl. Me too.

But also...

Uhm... those tags be seriously wildin'.

Like... how do you correctly comment on these?

My initial instinct was to slide into their dms to assure them that both David and Michael are perfectly capable of kissing guys. But that feels weird.

So I'm doing this instead... (seriously feeling just as weird about that though. Like... there must be a better way. I just... ah fuck it)

Because, dammit, someone needs to make a post about David and Michael being great actors that I trust completely to properly portray ancient queer repressed love. In part because of their filmographies and in part because of what they've already done in Good Omens.

I mean, take one look at Crowley's pathetic attempts at sitting on furniture or the swing of his hips and tell me he's not the epitome of a snakey bicon. Plus, I've SEEN David Tennant kiss guys in all sorts of contexts, and he's done great! (fuck, I still feel like a creep right now. But someone has to say it. I did not explicitly seek for "David tenant kissing guys" btw... there are gif sets. They're educational.)

And while all I have seen Michael do in the lines of kissing guys was a quick peck (and a weird amount of sex scenes), the man has a frankly staggering range of gay characters, and after having seen those, and watching the man reenact that scene from the graduate where Mrs. Robinson seduces Benjamin ( which, btw., has been a truly transcendental experience) I will never doubt Michael Sheen's ability to do anything at all. And as a side note, just look at his eyes and tell me he's not VERY capable of portraying queer attraction. Plus the ox ribs... never forget the ox ribs.

So when it comes to the kissing thing, we're going to be fine. If they want to give us a transcendentally romantic kiss, they are going to. There will be no "kissing like straight guys" in the Sheen-Tennant household any time soon, trust you me.

But also... "yet another"!? I don't know where you were for that first kiss, (where, by the way, they did kiss "for real"), but if that kiss said to you "these people are so obviously straight", and not the CLEARLY SPELLED OUT "I'm going to aggressively and violently communicate 6000 years of pent-up emotions with my very inexperienced mouth and body because my words seem to not be getting through and I'm in physical and emotional distress over it and I simply need to cling on to this one moment for as long as possible because ending it will end it all" on Tennant's side, and the conflicted response of "oh fuck, how fucking dare he, oh damn, this... I want this so badly that it hurts, but I'm also currently feeling a thousand conflicting emotions most of which are stabbing into my mind like knives, and how fucking dare he, oh God, oh, not God, oh no, oh fucking hell, oh..." continued by non-verbal queer ache on Sheen's... then... did we watch the same scene?

I'm so glad we have Michael as Aziraphale... :')

#the kids are alright #i mean the kids are very much not alright #which is why they kiss like 6000 years of repression #but also #not sure on the etiquette here #like #is this how you comment on tags?#i might have gone overboard #lots of feelings #ineffable husbands #in michael sheen we trust #and in david as well of course #good omens #good omens spoilers #go2 spoilers

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nileqt87 · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on WandaVision by a non-Marvel fan

As someone who had only seen a single Marvel movie (The Avengers) and only watched Jessica Jones season 1 for David Tennant (while hating nearly every other character in it), which had none of these characters, I only watched WandaVision precisely because it dared to break the mold and be even remotely ambitious instead of doing the same old CGI cartoon fest over and over. And somewhat because of what Marvel has done to the film industry, television has completely and utterly overtaken film as where emotional, dramatic storytelling now happens.

And okay, I happen to have had a major TVLand addiction growing up and binged a ton of the shows referenced in WandaVision long ago (yep, those very same '50s-'80s sitcoms). I couldn't pass up the retro. Love at first sight. Combine that with what promised to be a tragic, human/non-human romance. Sold. I knew little else about the characters.

For a long time, I've seen female fans (in particular) comment on how part of the reason they write fanfiction for Marvel is that they have to read between the lines just to add the implied dramatic content of the relationship focus variety that never quite gets developed in canon (certainly not up to the standard of what a fic reader expects). I saw a few comments that pretty much described WandaVision as exactly that: a fix-it fanfic before tragic reality invaded Pleasantville. Wanda's whole Hex was essentially a glorified fix-it fanfic.

For this reason alone, I can only hope the success of WandaVision gets them to create a season 2 that is dedicated solely to Wanda trying to put her family (Vision) back together that does the tragic romance justice in a way that giving them side parts in other people's movies just isn't going to cut it.

I feel like Vision's ultimate resurrection or even Wanda's struggle with her grief is better left to her own headline story, whether be it film or television. Television is the only medium that is going to allow the actors to really sink their teeth into this sort of star-crossed, tragic drama and not have it relegated to a minor side-character plot. Either give Wanda and Vision their own movie (hopefully, with heightened focus on character development as a lesson learned from television) or wait to integrate the mind and body of Vision in another season that gives both of them center stage with room to develop it.

Them having their twins for real might also be worth a season 2 in a way that probably wouldn't even work on film, as showing such a feminine pregnancy storyline would be a helluva departure for a Marvel movie that goes from action set piece to action set piece.

I wouldn't even hate it if Wanda's sitcom comfort zone made a few more appearances, even if it is merely the occasional domestic fantasy or dream/nightmare, so there is a way to not completely divorce a potential season 2 from season 1's "gimmick". It could be merely as simple as her pointedly doing something Sam/Jeannie-esque with her magic. Cooking with floating kitchen items would be an easy nod.

Probably not what Marvel is thinking of doing, but as a non-Marvel fan, WandaVision has a real opportunity to pull in new viewers with very different tastes that have so far managed to give the films a wide berth. It would do so much better as a show.

Go the route of giving these characters their own headlined projects and Marvel could have a real juggernaut of a 'ship, as well. My impression was that WandaVision got a lot of fans talking about the characters and their relationship in a way that the previous films and comics had not; some even making comments they had barely paid attention to the characters before the show.

IMO, the mere character descriptions sound like some of the most interesting and fleshed-out characters Marvel has got right now with real opportunity for real dramatic depth. And that's putting aside that Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful characters on the entire Marvel roster. Making a whole television season about a character going through the stages of grief and about a woman who just wants the family she lost back (a woman who desperately wants a husband and children, no less) was very different territory for Marvel. Human/non-human, in addition to having the level of doom that makes tragedies very, very memorable.

There's tropey drama potential there that hasn't been mined with the non-human who becomes more and more "human" (it's the stuff of fairy tales and sci-fi both). Hayward or someone like him could easily be used as a character who doesn't see Vision as equal to humans, for example. Delve into the sort of existential questions about artificial life achieving consciousness no less feeling than a human's that stories like Data on Star Trek, Blade Runner and Bicentennial Man pose. That species difference without the magic of sitcoms could be mined for a gorgeously dramatic plotline. What it means to be human explored through the non-human--one of my favorite tropes.

And of course, it's the stuff of fairy tales--most notably Pinocchio (the once-inanimate learning to and desiring to become real by proving himself worthy and because it fulfills the greatest wish of the person who loves them most), combined with the interspecies romance elements of The Little Mermaid (tragic ending or not--see also the desperate acts taken to achieve this cosmically-denied togetherness, only for such a tragic ending to come of it in the original work).

Given that the MCU movies just lost a bunch of their A-listers, they need something big like this. Marvel needs philosophical and character-driven meat on its meager dramatic bones. Here are two actors who could carry something more ambitious and pick up an entirely different audience. Marvel could get an even bigger female audience with these two, IMO. And it wouldn't be cheap girl power pandering either (I say this as a girl). These characters are legit with incredibly warm, likable, endearing performances behind them. This chemistry works 100%.

I think White Vision having an existential crisis where he's questioning what he is if he has all the memories of a being who clearly can feel every human emotion (the idea that we are our memories), but at the same time knowing that he's only artificial life, would be an interesting lead-up to Vision being fully restored with his full consciousness in addition to the added memories of what he experienced inside the Hex.

A restored Vision would have to reconcile what Wanda did in her grief over him and her family. It's also a glimpse at the life Wanda wants with him, which included something that isn't biologically possible, though it likely is through her own abilities of creation. There's also the idea of balance that he's the one who might hold her back from the brink of going down any further dark paths as a figure of ordered stability for her, while she is key in the chaos of his becoming more "human". The to-be parenthood story is obviously hanging over them.

The situation with Hayward intending for White Vision to remain a mere machine that can be manipulated and used as a weapon in a way that an independently-thinking Vision can't be is also a path to go down. As I said, there's a potential storyline about prejudice regarding artificial intelligence, even if it has all the emotional capability of humans.

And on top of that, Vision is in a relationship with a human, even if it's one who could potentially be the key to restoring his consciousness through her own link with the original Mind Stone. It also furthers Wanda's role as a mother and creator if she can give him back his life in this way. While the heroic Avengers might not question them being "an unusual couple", who says everyone else would be so kind?

I really think he needs to be brought back. Wanda desperately needs him for her story to continue.

#wandavision #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #vision #scarlet vision #wanda x vision #elizabeth olsen #paul bettany #marvel

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Ducktales Reviews: The Town Where Everyone Was Nice! or Scrooge Is the Lindburgh Baby

Saludos Amigos! The Ride of the Three Cablleros has at long last come to the last stop before it’s final phase. It’s been a hell of a ride so far: Our boys have tried to woo some ladies, performed some black magic, had some sort of drug trip, dealt with Donald’s ego, helped goofy ungoofy himself...

“SEASONS CHANGE, TIMES CHANGE BUT UNGOOFY IS FOREVER AND ALWAYS HE IS ALWAYS THERE” ... I created this magificent stalion.. kinda I think he came out of a styigan hole in the universe from the darkest dark in the dark of the dark... I can’t be sure. Our heroes fought an arrogant prince, found a lost city and helped donald get his smile back. All culminating in our heroes going to Spain for some reason, soundtracking Goofy’s win against Horace in Flamico Dancing, somehow that wasn’t a Covid induced fever dream I had but the actual premise of the episode, and then played some soccer with Daisy’s cousin and Pancho Pete. All in all we’ve had some good times getting here and I feel acomplished having made it this far. While I’ve still got quite a ways to go, getting this far means I really made something.. and not just the 80 something dollars it took to comission all of this. And I genuinely just want to thank all of you for reading these as these have easily been some of my most popular reviews and @weirdkev27 for comissioning all of this. It’s been easily one of my faviorite projects so far and I look forward to the final leg of it soon. For now though we have one last adventure before the biggest one starts. But before we can dive into it you probably have a few questions, and since I don’t really need to give Ducktales 2017 a lavish introduction as unlike most stuff so far this show is well and familiar: it’s what got me started reviewing animation on this blog, it’s what got me into the duck community as a full member, and it’s what caught Kev’s attention leading to this entire series. So I have time to answer the questions your probably asking and if your not.. well here’s the answers anyway Wait aren’t you going to cover Louie’s Eleven?: Nope. While I love that episode, I already did a full review of it earlier this year. I saw no reason to completely and utterly redo the entire thing when my opinions toward the episode haven’t really changed. That being said since I didn’t touch on the boys characterizations in that one too much and since I do want this retrospective to be comprehensive, I will talk about Panchito And Jose’s characterization there briefly during this review at the right time as a compromise.

Wait why isn’t THIS the last stop since it came out AFTER Legend of the Three Cablleros: Simple.. it felt unsatsfying to both me and kev to end on this one. While their apperance here IS a good one and a big deal... it’s also ANOTHER guest apperance. It’s something I didn’t quite realize for now but outside of the movie.. every apperance after is them guest starring in another series. Their aperances in Don Rosa’s Duck Comics, while awesome and treating them with proper respect, were still them showing up to shake up Donald’s stories and formulas. They were LITERAL guest stars in House of Mouse, and Roadster Racers was entirely just “let’s shove them in there because we can”. Legend.. is their story. Their moment in the sun after too damn long with all three as main characters and while being a lead is normal for donald, Jose and Panchito really HAVEN’T had that shot outside of their home countries. To be the hero of their own fully realized epic adventure. So it just fits best to have the road lead there instead of have all that happen.. then go back to yet another guest appearance. The other major factor.. is that while Legend came out around the same time as ducktales, to the point many compared and contrast both shows treatment of Donald, this episode is what most non-latin american audiences saw first as it took Disney WAY too damn long to air the series over here.. i.e. until Disney Plus launched, finding it somewhere online was the only option despite the series being produced in america with some really big american names voice acting wise. Point is this came first to some people, so i’m using that as a flimsy excuse to put it ahead so we get a better finale.

Now all that’s settled, let’s dive into “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!” and see what one of the best duck propeties period makes of our boys.

We open in a remote town in Brazil. It’s the Festival of the Flower.. which is a bit off to me. While it DOES kind of make plot sense.. the problem is the lure was written to Panchito and Jose.. Jose whose a brazil native and could’ve possibly been supscious that a tourist invintation wasn’t in Brazilian Portugese, the countries national language and something I specifically researched just to see what it’d be called. For the record it’d be O Festival da Flor acording to google translate, which still sounds neat, Webby could’ve still said it means festival of the flower. It just feels like a missed opportunity from a creative team that’s taken such pains to make the series feel as authentic as possible and clearly put a lot of hard work and research into making each location feel like it’s real world counterpart. But it’s a minor thing and we soon get our two plots for the episode: Our B Plot.. is that Dewey can’t stay the fuck off his phone and is taking pictures rather than actually getting experiences with Louie enabling him, while Webby gets increasingly frustrated at Dewey not actually botherting to experince this unique and obscure culture. We’ll get back to this in a bit.

Our main plot naturally concerns the reason our heroes are here: Donald is reuniting with The Cabs, who in this continuity are his old College friends who Scrooge hates due to having to listen to them practice constnatly and tells the kids they’d hate it worse than his playing the bagpipes.

Bagpipes are objectively the worst insterument on earth. They are loud, unharmonic and generally just obnoxious. I do respect how important they are to Scotland, home of David Tennant, Grant Morrision and .. Alan Cumming and James Macavoy? Wait what? that’s awesome! Point is Scotland is great but I do not like the bagpipes except when Bugs Bunnny is murdering them. Honestly Donald’s college band was probably more like this. Nothing bad at all just mildly pathetic and mildly pathetic is what got Donald a girlfriend, so it’s not a bad look

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That brings me to another point: Scrooge is pretty obnoxious in this episode. It seems like his sole reason for coming was to bitch about Donald’s old college band. He could’ve just sent them a stern letter like the pros at being a cranky old geezer do.

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I do GET why he’s here as there are some REALLY damn funny bits with him in the a-plot, it just feels like they could’ve justified it better. But on to better things as Jose and Panchito enter the scene after Scrooge claims they “weren’t so cool”.. with Panchito diving from a plane and drifting down on his umbrella

And Panchito shows up dramatically playing the guitar. A truly awesome and worthy intro to our boys. So let’s talk about them in this series. Honestly the two really aren’t that diffrent from usual, though Jose’s lady chasing is given to Panchito, his footloose world traveling lifestyle remains in tact as does his genuine charm while Panchito remains the peppy one, just with his outbursts gone as his guns are replaced with cell phones..

Yeah while I do get replacing the pistols because let’s face it the mexican of the group being a gun nut was pretty damn unfortunate, though Don Rosa toned it down and justifed it well, and frankly guns are a hard no for family shows these days unless their laser guns so replacing them I get. But instead of I dunno giving him knives or turning his holsters into pouches carrying his stuff.. he just has two Cell Phones. It’s weird. It dosen’t really make sense other than for him putting on a big shot act and even big stars probably don’t have two phones on them at all times. It’s just a VERY weird update that makes not a whole lot of logical sense and I belivie is thankfully gone by the next ep. The only real issue I have is the two just sorta blend together personality wise instead of being distinct like usual, but that’s also happened in other apperances, so it’s not exactly a new or unique problem, and the two’s voice actors do a great job making both feel like they should.

Speaking of which let’s just go ahead and discuss that elephant in the room: The Cabs were recast for the first time in ages, which didn’t sit well with friends of legend as Eric Bauza, who’d replaced rob Paulsen, was himself replaced by Arturo Del Puerto and Bernado Del Paulo replaced Jamie Camil and Carlos Aquazi as Panchito. And I have mixed opinons on this one: Replacing Eric was a no brainer: while he’s a terrific voice actor.. he’s not brazilian and the crew of Ducktales 2017 perfer to cast actors who match their characters backgrounds, which again adds to the authenicty of it’s globetrotting and scope. They don’t ALWAYS, Cree Summer isn’t, as far as I know, Egyptian and Catherine Tate, while wonderful, isn’t italian. But for the most part it adds a nice flavor to things and frankly I personally prefer it when Jose is voiced by an actual brazilian man. So that change i’m fine with. Not using Camil though... I do not get. Jamie Camil is a throughly talented voice actor, having done TONS of great work lately , vocing Globgor for star vs and not getting nearly enough screen time as the loveable demon dad, and stealing the show as Don Carnage earlier in the series. While that episode is one of the series weakest, he’s still easily the best part of it and I hope Carnage shows up one last time before the finale.

So it really makes.. no sense to me to replace him. Not only is camil a bigger named actor, but he was already on the show and even the defense of “well they don’t want actors playing multiple rolls” ended up utterly destroyed by the end of the season, as Christ Dimatopolus not only reprised Storkules, but went on to play Drake and Melon, and picked up a FOURTH role in season 3 as Hades. My point is the show has no real issue with doubling up on voice rolls, so I scratch my head as to why Camil wasn’t given this part too despite being the obvious choice. Del Paulo isn’t a bad actor and is great in the role.. I just scratch my head why he was needed when a perfect actor for the part was right there and already had experince with the character.

I do think Puerto and Paulo are terrific and do the characters justice, issues with Paulo being there at all aside, and they do a great job and more than earned the roles and I don’t think the mass critcisim of this version of the characters is entirely warranted.. for this episode. This episode while they can meld into each other... that happens in most of their apperances anyway, so it’s not unusual or unique to this series. I will say however that the way their written in their next apperance is utter garbage: they aren’t really given any chances to be distinct, are basically written as one person even worse .. and that one person is a greedy asshole who takes advantage of their friend and never apologizes. I do get why people did not like them in that episode. I do think it has no baring on this one and people should stop bashing these versions as a whole for one terrible episode, especially when Louie has been written pretty badly for the bulk of season 3, yet is still not a bad character. It’s unfair to paint the series as painting them soley as selfish jackasses when it didn’t at first and hopefully wont’ again when they presumibly show up for the finale’s big avengers endgame sequence I hope is coming. For now they aren’t bad and the colors are crisp and the animation nice and bouncy on our boys.

Since we have two plots here, I’m just going to go ahead and split em since honestly, the b plot dosen’t really impact the a-plot until really the last minute and is basically happening right along side it and in concert with it. Sooooo...

The Trite B-Plot: As you can probably gather I didn’t really like this one. It’s basically 5-7 minutes of me wanting to punch a child in the face. Or rather Webby wanting to have fun experinces and actually take in the culture while in town, while Dewey just wants to take pictures of everything, make it seem like he did stuff, and generally is obnoxious to webby while Louie supports him wholeheartdly. That last part is really one of the few good parts of the plot as it’s nice for one of the brothers plots to NOT be about them being in conflict or squabbling but just hanging out and having some fun, doubly so since i’ve had to spend a season watching Louie , outside of a few good exceptions be an absolute dick to Huey and also Dewey once. It’s nice to just see him and Dewey bond over a shared intrest: posting shit online and getting good photos.

And it’s not without GOOD gags: Dewey’s obnoxious captions at one point while Webby continually looses her shit, Louie continually saying “that’s so wise” at Dewey’s bullshit philosphies, Webby’s continued annoyance is delivered great by Kate as always, and the best bit is Webby, utterly pissed at Dewey for refusing to eat Local Cuisine, wolfing down the entire fucking plate, all the dumplings in her mouth at once while Dewey, naturally, takes a picture. Otherwise this is just.. grating. It’s utterly grating to watch Webby GENUINELY try hard to absorb the local culture and really enjoy a once in a life time experince.. while Dewey jackasses about and basically acts like she’s wrong for it and treats his best friend like garbage. Just because i’ts nice it’s not Louie this time doesen’t make one of the kids being a dick without any nuance or character stuff suddenly great. It’s just tiresome.

And SOMEHOW , despite already not liking it the first time watching the episode.. it’s even WORSE now afterlast years. No not because I watched it while having to put up with Coronoavirus induced Chills, but because another show did this plot 100 times better: Close Enough. One of the best new shows of the year, Close Enough had a plot where exes Bridget and Alex, aka yet aother great set of Kimiko Glenn and Jason Mantzokus characters, went on vacation together, but their attempts to have some ex sex fell flat due to longstanding issues we found about through this plot: Bridget has a bad habit of doing what Dewey did, focusing way more on her social than actually enjoying her vacatoin while Alex has a bad habit of befreinding random weirdos who agree with his worldview. Keep in mind this is the same worldview that spent an afternoon connecting garfield to jesus while pissing in a jug for some reason. Point instead of a character just being a smug dick, it ties into actual character flaws that helped us not only learn more about them but lead to a really heartwarming scene where the two admit they jsut can’t sleep together casually with allt heir baggage, and that they still have a lot to sort out. Before given the show their on having their friends show up from the a plot and all of them getting kidnapped by a robot because Josh skipped a bunch of ads and a 5 year old has to solve some issues and prove she’s not dumb to blow up said robot. What i’m saying is it’s even more insufferable watching this after seeing it done a thousand times better, and fucking watch Close Enough. Thankfully unlike Inifnity Train it’s not reliant on you to get a second season as it’s been renewed proving that even in a cluster fuck like 2020 miracles can happen, but it’d still be nice for it to get more fans during the presumably long wait for Season 2. Let’s move past this, i’ll get to the plot relevant bit for the climax when we get to the climax, and onto the reason your all here.

The Main Event: A Life Not Wasted

Okay onto the actual plot. Rewinding quite a bit, the boys meet our boys, and we get some good bits. The boys cool new handshake leaves Huey wanting one only for Louie to simply lick his hand. See this is Louie dickery I can get behind because what did Huey expect? I do take comfort in the fact he has actual friends now who will likely do a handshake, fenton very much included. I’m sure Gyro didn’t want one either so he’s had plenty of time to workshop. We also find out one of the boys was dropped as an egg and well.. given Dewey opens and closes his eyes one at a time for this one moment, the ohter triplets just sorta.. silently agre it’s Dewey. IT does explain why he thought Champ Popular would get over..that and Santa Claus is Going to Highschool being his favorite movie.

So both Jose and Panchito claim to be sucessful: Jose being a sucessful jetsetter and trendsetter, and Panchito being a world famous pop star, never stop stopping. So Donald being donald panics and runs into a alley where Scrooge and Huey join him. Donald is fully convinced he’s wasted his life and has nothing to show for it. Huey rightfully points out he raised three wonderful children and isn’t that enough? Naturally given Donald clearly has some issues related to this subject and Scrooge has develoved into old man yells at cloud, he agrees it’s not important as money. So Huey decides to help his uncle because he’s the good son.. and because the two are easily the most alike out of Donald and his Kids. It’s something I haven’t really been able to bring up before so I was delighted to realize i could now: Besides the obvious people bring up constnatly, I.e. Huey having inhereted the most of the family rage out of his brothers, there’s the fact both are kind of obessive, both tend ot spiral into panic when a situation goes wrong, both are awkward with women, both are frequently ignored or taken for granted by those around them, and both are awkward adorable dorks who I will give my life to protect. It’s why I think Huey has the best relationship with his uncle of the bunch: He’s the only one who at least TRIES to empahtize with him and support him. While the other two do love him, and Webby of course likely has an insanne and horrifying shrine of him, and scrooge and probably della now in her closet.. and of course lena but that’s less out of hero worship and more out of her insane, over the top, very webby version of love. Point is, he’s the one who genuinely sees his uncle as a person who needs help and love. This was best demonstrated in the scene at the bank back in “Who Is Gizmoduck” as Huey tries to get his uncle a loan using the guidebook and is there soley to help the guy and taking time out of his day to visit the bank. Let’s face it though this is huey: he probably loves visiting the bank. They just got new pens! So Huey decides to put his improv badge to good use... so far the only use he’s gotten is Louie laughing at the fact he actually earned an improv badge and urges donald to simply ACT like he’s sucessful. Scrooge balks at this, because as Wonder Woman 1984 taught us nothing good comes from lies.. or from banging your ghost boyfriend while he’s possessing someone’s body without said body’s consent and plan to fully live out the rest of your lives togehter without ever considering how fucked up this is. I will..deal with that movie ... soon. But he soon changes his turn and agrees to go along with it to avoid Jose getting upset and them having to pay for everything.

So Huey suggest Donald keep the lie small, but belivable. Given the law of sitcoms when it comes to anyone saying that and the fact this is Donald, he instead panics and lies that he’s taken over McDuck industries and scrooge has gone full abe simpson in the other direction.

Which is why i’m not enitrely annoyed by Scrooge’s presence: while they don’t even handwave him being here, Scrooge putting on an old man act, and sometimes getting back at donald for it is solid gold the whole damn time and some of David Tennat’s best comedic acting on the show, so it makes up for him being a grumpus. And while i’m not usually not a fan of liar revealed plots, this one works for me.. mostly because it’s rooted in character. Here Donald is lying.. but because of deep seated neurosis he’s yet to fully tackle. While he loves his boys and is proud of htem every day... it’s very clear Donald hates his life and how it turned out. We got bits of this back in House of the Lucky Gander, with Donald’s first thought upon thinking he’s about to die is “I wasted my life” and feeling entirely like a looser. This episode brillinatly builds on that: it shows a Donald who simply feels.. he acomplished nothing. It’s easy to see why as his parents were happy and sucessful at whatever they did from the looks of it and how well taken care of the kids were, his uncle is the richest duck in the world and it’s greatest hero and explorer, his sister is the only one who could rival that record, and his cousin constnatly gets riches and fame handed to him. Donald.. by comparison.. is just a normal guy whose house is in his rich uncle’s pool, who has no job, no partner, and only really the love of his family. He spent his life on adventures he didn’t want to have living int he shadow of someone he grew to resent before the Spear of Selene incident blew things up for a decade. And then when he was free instead of becoming a big sucess... he blew the rest of it being overprotective of his boys and bouncing from dead end job to dead end job. It’s easy to see why he sees himself as a failure despite having lived a good life: compared to everyone else, even his sister who mooned herself, in his life.. he feelsd far behind. And as someone whose felt they were far behind countless times and only now is realizing they haven’t and it’s a marathoon ot a sprint I naturally relate. So his wanting to play big shot for just ONE day, to be the big hero like scrooge, teo be a sucess for five minutes with his best friends.. it’s understandable and relatable.

So Donald continues the ruse, leading to a great bit where the cabs all try to avoid picking up the check “WE can’t all keep whistling nonchalantly” before Scrooge is forced to give Donald the money to in the best joke of the episode.. and I mean FORCED. He and donald get into a fight with their hands under the table and Huey eventually gets fed up with that and has to BITE his uncle’s hand just to get him to do what he shoudl’ve done ruse or no given he’s the richest person there. The reason I take special offense to this.. is that my fairly wealthy grandpa and grandma, my mom’s dad and his wife for the record, would buy us dinner EVERY TIME they were near town, a nice steak dinner with whatever we wanted to most of the time. They knew we couldn’t afford such luxury half the time and wanted to treat us and spend time with us. Since my grandpa’s passing, my Grandma and her New Husband have continued the tradition since then, if obviously not this year for damn obvious reasons, thought hey sent us a really nice dinner to cook for christmas in the same spirit. What i’m saying is when you know your relatives arne’t as stacked as you , you pay for the fucking meal especially since i’ts a special occasion, and even for someone as stingy as scrooge, it comes off as a dick move.

We then get the best scene with the episode, just inching out the climax as the three simply talk, remince on old times, have a good rib like old friends would. It feels natural and wonderful to watch and gets even better when the three hear the radio and end up having an impromptu dance and musical number. Also Jose’s umbrella is also a flute somehow.

Point is the boys have a good time and Donald gets carried away, with the boys planning a world tour. Huey, while happy to endulge his uncle in a badly needded ego boost, isn’t happy to endulge this and scrooge is unwilling ot pay, more resonably this time. Huey eventually talks him out of being a moron and tells him he has to tell the honest truth and while that dosen’t work this does.

So as Donald goes to face the music, we have come to our climax. Phrasing.

The Finale: Ay Carumba

So we come to our finale. Backing up a scene or too to the B-Plot, webby is interviewing a local about the festival when she gets stuck in a loop. So far in the episode we’ve had hints something is up with the people as they go all yellow eyed.. and webby finds out why as she notices the “person” she was interviewing is, in a hilarious and disturbing review.. a horrignly realistic hand puppet.. and upon stealing Louie’s phone, she points out there’s no shots of anyone’s feet.. and the reason why is that the giant flower the feast is about is a mean green mother from outer space and he’s bad. And Webby finding that out’s got him fighting mad. Webby and the boys naturally run to warn the remaning boy and scrooge and they all run out only to get blocked out of town and captured. Dewey looses his phone inside the plant monster.

In a great joke, Scrooge ended up actually throwing his back out with the old man act, so our heroes are all captured and it’s up to our stars to save the day. So while his family is in peril, Donald finally comes clean with Jose and Panchito naturally being upset.. for a second before Jose admits he lied to and an irate panchito.. is forced to admit he also lied. Jose is a flight attendant, hopefully he’ll get his own mini series where he accidently murders a dude on disney plus, which is a nice update of his globe trotting ways, as it’s a resonable way for someone with no money to get around the world these days and Panchito is a birthday party muscian. They all however chuckle over this realizing they haven’t come as far as they thought.. and they still have each other. It’s a nice way of modernizing Rosa’s jobs for them and their hard luck lives he set up and I love this. IJt’s just a sweet emotoinal scene that makes donald, and his friends, realize they aren’t faliures and life isn’t just about reaching some arbitrarity goal.. just like Soul taught me aka the actually great movie I watched on Christmas Day. But since Donald’s family is in peril Jose suggests theys till play the gig.. just like they did ion acapulco thus we get the second best scene of the episode and another worthy rendition of The Three Caballeros as our heroes beat the shit out of the plant, free the kids and the plant straighens out scrooges back.

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It’s beautiful, psycadelic, and utterly awesome. Seroiusly the bright boldend colors are awesome and so’s this sequence. Easily one of the show’s best.. and it’s a show that contiains the greatest scene in television history

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So that masterclass concludes with Donald signing.. badly.. and blowing the plant hte fuck up. Our heroes win and head off in the sunchaser. No idea what Launchpad is up to, probably has another ex in the area. Point is our heroes win, Dewey deletes his photos because “If there was no pics it didn’t happen” (So wise) and Donald decides to get the band back together, prompting scrooge to do an animal house on Panchito’s guitar... you.. you know you have to pay for that right? you aren’t a loveable frat man and he wasn’t ‘singing and I gave my love a cherry. Your obligated to get him a new guitar. You know that right?

So with that the episode wraps. This is a pretty good episode. While the subplot is bad and it should feel bad the main plot is emotional, well done and really adds more depth to Donald’s character while giving us a hell of a show with the cabs. The College Band background gives the boys a unique flavor this time around, not musically but in how they know each other and helps set it apart from the countless other reunions. It’s a truly bright, colorful and fun episode with some great gags and great performances. As I said Puerto and Paulo really knock it out of the park as the boys and while I would’ve preferred Jamie Camil, Paulo was still utterly excellent, though Puerto was the clear standout of the two. While their second apparence would be disapointing characterization wise, overall this was a fun introduction to two of disney’s best into it’s best universe and one of Season 2′s Standouts.

Next Time on the Ride of the Three Cablleros: we begin our massive finale look at The Legend of the Three Cablleros. Donald gets dumped by a nightmare of a person and finds an inhertance, new friends, and some sort of hot adventure god in his new cabana. Good times. Until then goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

#ducktales #donald duck #panchito romero miguel junipero francisco quintero gonzalez #panchito pistoles #Jose Carioca #webby vanderquack #scrooge mcduck #dewey duck #huey duck #louie duck #Abe Simpson #the town where everyone was nice #The Three Caballeros

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