#about the musical evolution of these movies so much

[forgedobsidian]

Rewatched Godzilla 2014 in my lil marathon to prep for the new movie, and i just thought you all needed to know that i adore this film and yeah

[zexapher]

A Fond Farewell

With Rooster Teeth beginning its draw down, an era has truly passed. The company has lasted more than two decades. 18 (soon 19) seasons, five mini-series, and cameos and references in Halo itself for Red vs Blue. 9 volumes alongside two movies, a chibi series, Ice Queendom, and its own games for RWBY. And so much more beyond that, RT Shorts, podcasts, Achievement Hunter, The Slow Mo Guys, and on and on. That’s a lot, especially for a little startup launching off a web series. I was listening to “This Isn’t Goodbye, It’s See You Later” by Richie Branson while I was making this little memorial post. It’s a song made for another Rooster Teeth show, Camp Camp, and I have to say it’s some very appropriate music for this moment.

The day the news dropped, I wrote up a little comment in response to Rooster Teeth beginning its closing down, and I thought I’d share some of it here. I grew up with Rooster Teeth, a bit of a cheesy line I know, but it’s true for a lot of us. I was just a little kid way back in the early 2000’s, a kid that liked Halo (a game I didn’t even own for a long time, but played at a friend’s house), and was just getting curious about what I could find about it on YouTube. And that brought me into the world of music videos and skits and montages made for that little game I liked.

From there, I discovered a small web series called Red vs. Blue. I’d sneak onto my folk’s computer to watch it since they didn’t appreciate the language, and in doing so I dipped my toes into the wide world of the internet for the first time. As I got older, I eventually hopped onto Reddit for its discussion threads of Rooster Teeth’s latest show, RWBY. I began my first in-depth fandom interactions, speculating about the show, enjoying the flood of fanart, even got into fanfics about RWBY (those fics have had their own amazing evolution alongside the show) and to this day it’s the fandom I’ve followed and bookmarked the most fics from. All the while I was making friends and bonding with people through the community this company and its shows have created.

Watching the shows and people grow over time was, looking back on it, just like watching myself grow. I was never really a social media/internet kind of guy, until it came to Rooster Teeth. The shows, shorts, podcasts, it all opened up a whole new world for me. It’s sad to see it coming to a close, and I hope it gets picked up in the future. But I’m happy, too, that it’s left so much behind, and had such an impact on me. It’s left me with so many good memories. Rooster Teeth, its shows, those that created and worked on it, and above all the community around it will always have a special place in my heart.

So, I bid a fond farewell to Rooster Teeth and its crew, and anyone who may drift away from the fandom in time. I wish you all the best.

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Leitmotifs in Across The Spiderverse.

Let's talk about how the music of Across The Spiderverse tells us more than what might be obvious. Spoilers for both movies from here on out: you've been warned. 

EDIT: added in one more very important instance.

For those who don't know or need a reminder, a leitmotif is a musical signature associated with a character, an idea, a situation, or some or all of those things together. And for the first Spiderverse movie, Daniel Pemberton made excellent use of at least two big ones. 

To see what I mean, check out this video. If you haven't already. It highlights how music helped tell the story of Into The Spiderverse. 

While this video exclusively covers the leitmotifs in the soundtrack of ITSV, once you know what they sound like, you can hear their inclusion in ATSV.

For instance, Miles' personal leitmotif (that ties together the themes that makeup Miles-as-a-person's journey) shows up both times he attempts to tell his mother that he's Spider-Man.

But the Spider-Person theme, in particular, is all over the place in ATSV. This is fitting, considering it features so many Spideys. Not only is it front and center in Peter B.'s theme and is hiding out in Gwen's, Pavitr's, and Hobie's themes, it demonstrates how Miles-as-Spider-Man has developed between movies: playing throughout My Name is Miles Morales. It's one of the first things we hear when we see the young hero again.

This is an evolution from before, as for most of the first film, the Spider-Person motif plays incessantly for the other Spiders but sparingly for Miles. Whenever it was used for him, it was to show he'd reached a new station in his learning and growth. It plays for him when he first thwips away from Doc Ock and intertwines with his personal theme during his leap of faith to show that he's finally become Spider-Man.

So to have multiple iterations of the Spider-Person leitmotif jammed into the song that plays when we first see Miles again shows how much he's grown.

However....the other places it plays in the movie can give us clues about the nature of the conflict between Miguel's Spider Society and the newly formed Spider-Band. To illustrate this, I want to talk about three specific moments where it's prominent in the soundtrack.

During Nueva York Train Chase, Miguel busts out of the train like a horror movie monster and calls after the younger Spider: "Who do you think you are? Really!?"

Miles answers: "My name...is Miles Morales. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. I'm pretty sure you know the rest, jerk!" He then proceeds to drop, kick Miguel in the face, and then nail him with a ball of webbing.

This is around 2:05 of Nueva York Train Chase on the official ATSV soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton. What do we hear after Miles declares this and then (temporarily) eludes 2099?

The Spider-Person leitmotif.

It's not much later that we hear it again. When? At about 2:25 in the track The Go Home Machine. When Margo Kess, Spider-Byte, decides not to interfere with the titular machine and keep Miles in Nueva York.

This moment is critical. Miguel is trying to stop Miles. Even if the machine doesn't take him home, it gets Miles out of the older Spider's clutches and gives him a chance. And when he gets away, what plays? The Spider-Person leitmotif. The music tells us that at this moment, in trying to escape and save his father and not halting his escape, Miles and Margo are acting like Spider-People.

The music is on Miles' side. The music tells us that Miles is acting like Spider-Man by resisting the Spider-Society. He's doing the right thing.

And on top of that, what do we hear after 2:35 of Start a Band? The moment where Peter B. looks outside and sees Gwen waiting for him? The Spider-Person leitmotif. It tells us that in taking Hobie's watch and gathering her band together, Gwen's acting like Spider-Woman.

It then plays over and over again until the credits role. The music is telling us that the Spider-Band's mission marks them as Spider-People. They are living up to the title. They are doing the right thing.

I don't think the music is the only thing in the movie that points the audience to that conclusion. There's also a lot of subtext, meta, and suspiciously little information about how Canon Events and the multiverse generally work. But this is one of the simplest ways the movie tells us that Miles and the Spider-Band are in the right. 

[bmmmw]

I finished watching cm a few days ago and decided to watch cm evolution, it was the worst decision ever. Cm ended on s12x1, the other seasons were a train wreck, too much emotional cheating from luke, jj and spencer. The only good thing was matt, portia, derek guest appearance and emily's comeback, i loved it, and if I am being completely honest, I had to watch the series final with 2x, idk if they changed writers or what but it was too boring and annoying.

Now, regarding cm evolution, i have only watched season 16, season 17 is not available in my country. My expectations weren't high and rightfully so, the only salvable thing about this reboot is the plot of Elias Voit, Doug, Will going back on the field, Rossi and grey haired Prentiss (it's giving mother🤌🏻). Luke and Tara are just there, like🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️. I felt like the plot line of Will possible dying was a way of maybe, in the future, getting Jeid. I liked Penelope cm but Penelope cm evolution is so out of character, cause you are telling me that the same girl that chide Derek before sleeping with the sister of a victim, did the same thing as him?????? Penelope would neeeever. It's like watching the destruction of alex karev all over again.

Lastly the need of filming the reboot as a movie, i don't thing it was a good call, sometimes the music overlaps with the dialogue n its frustrating.

[littlejazzy]

Do you have good recommendations for AgeRe stories? Something really cute and fluffy? (I'm a lonely regressor and I love reading stories about really sweet caregivers.)

I do!! I adore reading agere fics, so here are some recs! I hope you enjoy!!! 💖

Gen:

Decontamination by SailorChibi - Marvel - Baby!Tony and CG!Steve - After a battle, Steve takes care of his baby - (This one is a Classification!AU/Littles are Known!AU... like, one of the very first ones. Very good and fluffy. If you ever read thorough their fics, (tagged NSAP bc agere straight up did not exist as a community yet) you'll start spotting alot of things that other people were/are inspired from.)

Picnic by SailorChibi - Marvel - Baby!Tony, CG!Steve, Middle!Bucky, Toddler!Clint, CG!Coulson, Kiddo!Scott, CG!Sam W., Kiddo!Peter P., CG!Wade, Kid!Wanda, and CG!Vision - All the Avengers have a nice picnic - (classification!au, but a different verse than the previous fic jsyk. this one is suuuuper fluffy and cute and fun <3)

Less than Five by SailorChibi - Daniel Craig's James Bond - Little!Q and CG!Bond - Q regresses smaller than usual; his daddy makes sure he's taken care of - (classification!AU, first of a series. first two fics are pretty fluffy, but the third has some angst, which makes the fluff even sweeter, in my opinion)

coffee makers and bumblebees by orchidsncrake - Daredevil - Little!Matt and CG!Foggy - Matt becomes overstimulated and after an altercation with the office's coffee maker, Foggy is there to make everything better

Small surprises by undergroundrice - Daredevil - Little!Matt and CG!Foggy - Foggy stumbles onto Matt regressing, and together they figure it out

A Second Shot by mylittlestories - MCU - Little!Natasha, Little!Clint, and CG!Coulson - Natasha didn't have much of a childhood. When she sees that having a second one is possible, she wants; Coulson and Clint are happy to make her family :) - (This one is unfinished, but what's there is just so nice I have to include it!!)

Give your Dreams the Wings to Fly by Honey_Dewey - FNAF Movie - Little!Matt and CG!Ness - Mike gets sick at work, but his boyfriend is there to make everything okay

the road to hope and adventures into the unknown (target) by romansprince - Barbie (2023) - Little!Ken, then CG!Barbie and CG!Gloria - Ken has become human... except he's never had a childhood. Sometimes he feels Fuzzy, but that's something he thinks he can keep secret. As he turns out, he can't, but it works out anyway - (Two separate fics that take place in the same universe/series. The first one/set-up is a little angsty, but the second is more fluffy)

Movie Night by mcschnuggles - Heathers - Little!JD and CG!Veronica - JD unexpectedly drops into headspace during a movie night with the rest of the teenagers; Veronica helps him through it - (Modern!AU, Everyone Lives!AU, this one is kinda angsty, but like, it's canon appropriate, lol - also!!! make sure that you check out the author's other works!!!!! lots of agere fics for a large variety of fandoms!!)

Toffee Ticking Time Bomb by GayCheerios - Star Wars - Little!Anakin and CG!Obi-Wan - Obi-Wan has to find his padawan's stuffie before the inevitable temper tantrum ensues - (classification!AU, part of a very nice and good series that, if you enjoy this fic, you should also check out)

Baby's First Bath by CyberToddler - Beetlejuice: The Musical - Toddler!Beetlejuice and CG!Maitlands - The Maitlands give Beetlejuice his very first bath - ( 👉👈 I wrote this one 😖)

Evolution by Cgetbrmj - The Last of Us (TV) - Little!Ellie and CG!Joel - Series that follows each episode of the show, and explores how these characters stumble upon age regression as a coping mechanism and how much they both realize they enjoy it. - (Slowburn agere, as it explores how it develops naturally between both characters. This one DOES contain some angst as it relates to the show, but overall is as fluffy as its setting allows)

Reader-Inserts:

The Doctor's Office by agerefandom (tazia101) - Twilight - Little!Reader and CG!Carlisle - Reader goes to their first check-up in their new town and unexpectedly regresses; thankfully, their doctor is more than understanding - (I can not emphasize enough how much I love this one. Hits all the right buttons, I'm so happy/thankful I found it before I had to establish care w/ a new doctor, it's just- so good)

Sugary Sweet by agerefandom (tazia101) - Twilight - Baby!Reader and CG!Alice and Jasper - A comfy, happy morning with your vampire caregivers - (be sure to check out the writer for more fandoms!! lots of agere fics, including gen and reader!insert!)

little life at the mansion by myworldoffanfiction - X-Men - Little!Reader and CG!X-Men (the main gang lol) - First chapter is a busy yet comfy morning while living at Xavier's Mansion. Second chapter is a fun Summer evening - (this one is sooooo sweet 😭)

Play Pretend by Vinnies_Comfort_Corner - Scream (1996) - Kiddo!Reader, Flip!Stu, and CG!Billy - You and Stu play pretend while waiting for Billy to come home - (if you enjoy this one, make sure you check out their other regression fics!!! there's even one with a petreg puppy!reader!! and other horror media!!)

Red Stained Fingers by CyberToddler - Scream (1996) - Little!Reader, CG!Stu, and CG!Billy - Unorthodox sensory play with diy-ed fake blood, lol - (I also wrote this one 😅 it's sugary sweet, I promise, lol)

[thislovintime]

“‘I had my conditions,’ [Tork] clarifies. ‘I didn’t submerge myself in the Monkees as they stood. I wanted to submerge myself in the Monkees as I’d hoped they’d be. The reason I became disenchanted and left is because we did do what I’d hoped we’d do, which was make an album together (Headquarters), and there was no follow-up album. ‘I thought we were capable of being a hit musical group as well as a TV show cast, and I had hopes of our doing that. But in fact, the personnel weren’t right, because none of the other three wanted that; only me. That left me out in the cold.’ By 1968, the group began laying down tracks individually in separate studios with session musicians, with only a scant few tracks containing more than one Monkee — an idea that predates the Beatles’ fragmented ‘White Album’ by several months. Although that album never came out, two of Tork’s solo efforts turned up on his last album with the Monkees, the soundtrack to Head. With one bold stroke, the film and album effectively put an end to the Monkees. ‘The characters were not close to the actual us but a good representation of what Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, who wrote the movie, wanted to convey about us,’ Tork says. ‘In the original script, each of us gets out of the big black box in his own way. They wound up cutting some of the scenes. ‘Micky blithers his way out, I philosophize my way out, Davy bangs his way out — that part stayed in the movie — Mike tries to con his way out. That would’ve given you a better view of their view of us.’” - Arizona Republic, April 5, 2001

“Mike, he cons his way out. [Peter] loves his way out, Micky just says: ‘I’m happy. I’d rather sit here and have no one bug me.’ Me? I fight my way out.” - Davy Jones, Manchester Evening News, May 8, 1968

“The movie portrays them with not so much sweetness and brightness [as the TV show]. It’s a much heavier and far-out thinking group. I wouldn’t call it uncharitable. I thought it was expanding my sense of who they were. There’s a boxing scene in which Micky says, ‘Take this, you dummy.’ Suddenly the music changes and Peter appears in the corner, Christ-like, and says, ‘Micky, I’m the dummy. I’m always the dummy.’ The point was that he was always asked to be the dummy, so here he’s acknowledging it. But he’s also the one who’s given the longest speech in the movie about spiritual evolution, which he’s learned from the guru in the steam room. I was trying to give him a chance to be himself, but in a symbolic way. He is that way today, by the way. In other words, The Monkees became what they really were.” - Bob Rafelson, MOJO, June 2002 (x)

[beeblybub]

Phantom of the opera Arcane AU ideas

This has been eating away at my brain for weeks dear god I need it out

Big shout out to @thehistoriangirl for getting my brain started on this!

So this would be post act 2 when Viktor is Machine hearld (Idea from @thehistoriangirl ty again!)

The reader is either an aspiring singer and dreams to one day sing for all of piltover

But for now they’re just a choir member

Not 100% sure if it’d be set in an opera house or like a music branch of the academy

Zaun is kinda like under ground, similar to the Paris catacombs so I thought it would be neat if there was a route that was close to emberflit alley that perhaps viktor would go to listen to the muffled sounds of music and singing from above.

One day he hears the reader practicing alone and falls in love with there voice

He despised flesh and valued machine much more. Humans are weak and should rebuild themselves into a new era of glorious evolution (or idk he’d say something like that)

Except there was something about the reader….. something so ethereal about there voice.

A voice that would echo from underground and soothe his long stagnant heart

One day he hears them praying for an audition for a solo to go well (Angel of music moment woahhhhh)

“Please angel give me your guidance and luck and allow me to succeed in this audition.”

Something in Viktor takes over and he responds

“Truly there is no need for guidance or luck with such a voice like yours.” (Idfk Viktor would say something fancy im bad at writing)

“Angel?! Is that you?! Have you come to guide me?!”

The reader asks excitement clear in their voice

Viktor didn’t want to disappoint them or creep them out so he just went with it

“Uh…. Y-yes! I am your guardian Angel of music hear to watch over you and protect you from harm.”

And of course over time they bond and become friends

The rest hasn’t really come to me

BUT

I can see Jayce being Raoul in this AU ! It would create a great clash between former friends.

Jayce has the same kind of loyal and almost arrogant nature as Raoul

Like in both the play and the movie Raoul tells Christine that he’s gonna take her out to dinner but she says no multiple times but he doesn’t listen

Jayce is probably like that

I also think it would be interesting if instead of having a dead parent be the person who ‘sends’ the ‘Angel of music’ aka Viktor it could be the reader believing Sky sent the Angel of music

Idk maybe they could be childhood besties or something 🤷

Also make for good angst moment bc Viktor accidentally killed sky

Anywho that’s really all my thoughts! I would love to hear y’all ideas!

To any of you who write fanfiction plz feel free to take these ideas and run with them but please PLEASE tag me I need something to fuel my hyperfixations

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

mordred through time (movies, tv shows, opera and musicals)

Part 3: From 2002 to 2010

Other Parts: Part 1: From 1949 to 1981 -> here Part 2: From 1982 to 2002 -> here Part 4: From 2014 to 2017 Part 5: From 2018 to 2023

Complete list of part 2 media with extra information and some of my thoughs regarding the evolution of Mordred’s role is under cut.

In part 2 I talked a bit about how in movie adaptations (since Excalibur 1981) Morgause disappears and Morgana takes her role as Mordred's mother. Here I wanted to note how we actually have a very big gap of Mordred movies in the 2000s. Most of the media in this video are recordings of musicals or opera or tv shows.

Another small point is that we have here the second instance of Mordred in a romantic relationship (the first instance being Mordred and his lady in "Sword of Lancelot") in Merlin BBC, where his love for Kara is a central part of his character development. The third and only other instance will be in a webseries (in part 4!).

2002 Merlin the Return: Craig Sheffer plays an over the top extremely evil Mordred in this tv movie. He is still Morgana's son, and he is the main antagonist (and a wizard). The movie is - an experience. It mainly focus on modern day characters meeting time travelling Arthur and Merlin.

2003 Gary Hughes' album "Once and future king": The song is "The Hard Way", one of the two songs sung by Mordred (the other being "Demon Down"). This album (divided in two parts) has a total of 20 songs sung by different artists each interpreting an arthurian character. It is an interesting narrative musical that follows the rise and fall of Arthur. We do not know if Mordred is Arthur's son.

2003 recording of Albeniz's "Merlin" opera: This is a 1902 opera that is rarely performed nowadays. This recording is the only available dvd of it, and Mordred (a baritone) is played by Àngel Òdena. Mordred is the main antagonist alongside his mother Morgana.

2003 Camelot, Papermill Playhouse: I was lucky enough to have some bootlegs videos of Camelot performances so I decided to put them as well. It is pretty interesting to see how Mordred's "The Seven Deadly Virtues" and "Fie on Goodness!" gets campier, more comedici and sillier! Here Mordred is played by Barrett Foa.

2005 Camelot, Bad Hersfeld (Germany): Another recording of the Broadway musical, here fully translated in German! This is the website of the open air event. Unfortunately I could not find the name of the actor.

2008 Camelot (Live from Lincoln Center): Live from Lincoln Center used to be a tv series dedicated to filming and sharing musicals and performances. This is thus another Camelot musical adaptation. Bobby Steggert (who is now a therapist!!) played an over the top, super-campy, queer coded Mordred! This is probably the first time we have a Mordred that is so obviously queer coded in his presentation.

2008 Merlin (BBC): This 5 seasons tv show was extremely popular, so much it led to the rise of a bunch of arthurian tv movies that were probably trying to ride "Merlin"'s popularity. The show is episodic-like, slightly comedic, and focuses on Merlin and Arthur. Mordred appears as a child (not related to Arthur or Morgana) at the end of Season 1 and he was portrayed by Asa Butterfield (not in video). Then he returned as an adult in Season 5, potrayed by Alexander Vlahos. This is another instance of a sympathetic Mordred. While he ends up being a villain and finding an alliance with Morgana, the show makes a point to explain his reasons. At this point this is the second time we see a sympathetic (but still villanous) Mordred on tv. Interestingly this is also the second time we see a Mordred who is in a happy romantic relationship (there are only three instances, it seems, in all media!), as Mordred is in love with a woman named Kara.

2009 Merlin and the Book of Beasts: This is a fantasy tv movie that focus on Merlin helping Arthur's daughter reclaim Camelot. It features a baffling performance from Merlin's actor (not sure what the director or the actor himself was thinking), and a villain called Arkadian who is supposed to be Mordred and Arthur's son. Here we go back to the role of extremely evil Mordred, and Arkadian also kidnaps his half-sister to marry her and continue the Pendragon dynasty. Mordred (Arkadian) is played by Jim Thorburn.

2010 Avalon High: This is a tv Disney channel movie adaptation of Meg Cabot's novel by the same title. The movie butchers the main story of the novel and tries to surprise its viewers by changing the character's arthurian selves. The protagonist Allie is now King Arthur's reincarnation (instead of the Lady of the Lake), and William (her love interest) is... unknown character instead of being King Arthur. The novel has William's half brother as Mordred, but the movie changes that and now it is the teacher (Mr. Moore) who is revealed to be Mordred, while Marco is just a misdirection. Mr. Moore is played by Steve Valentine.

2010 Merlin and Arthur the Lion King: Continuing our journey into sympathetic Mordreds, we have another one here! This movie is one in a series of tv movies/dvd movies by variation of "Arthur" and "Merlin" in the title. My personal theory is that the hope is that people would find the movie by googling for more popular media (ex. "Merlin 2008 BBC", "King Arthur 2004"). In this animated kids movie, Mordred is a kitten and one of Arthur's friends. He first works with Morgana to stop Arthur from becoming king, but then ends up deciding he does not want to betray his friend anymore. This might be one of the few iterations of a completely redeemed Mordred in movies/tv!

Extra note: 2003 is also the year Heather Dale (singer) released her album "May Queen" which has one song that in my opinion seemed to be sung by Mordred or to Mordred: "Crashing Down". Because it is not certain but only my interpretation I did not add it.

In the same album we also have "War Between Brothers" which reference to Mordred (sung by an external narrator). A previous album ("The trials of Lancelot" in 2000) also contains the famous song "Mordred's Lullaby" which is sung by Morgana to Mordred.

[otakween]

Digimon World 4 - Final Thoughts

Whelp, that was...something. This game is objectively bad, but I still had a good, brain rotting time. It falls into the "game to zone out on the couch to" category. The lack of much story, characters or dialogue means I got in some quality podcast/music time as well. It's pretty similar to Digimon World 2 in its crappiness, but I found DW4's gameplay more satisfying. I think DW2 has the more appealing art style though, so they even out to the same rank basically. Full thoughts below!

Notes:

So this is loosely based on the Digimon X-Evolution CG film I posted about before. I was disappointed to see that the opening credits are just a hodge podge of scenes from said movie. That's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. I picked Dorumon to control in honor of the film's protag (and since it would be a more novel experience).

I found any weapon aside from the guns to be a colossal pain to use, so I just used guns and guns alone for the entire game lol. At least I was able to get tech points quickly that way!

This game has the most unbalanced difficulty levels ever. It's either stupid hard or stupid easy. Luckily, the stupid easy moments are far more frequent. Every time I fought a boss I braced myself only to just button mash my way to the end in like a few minutes. Most of them were jokes. On the other end of the spectrum, the beginning of the game was weirdly hard because I would get mobbed by enemies and massacred in like two seconds (this is when I realized I should be using the guns lol). It's hard to have much strategy because most battle moves you can do (spin attack, charged attack, block) suck control-wise. My strat for most of the game was either the ole "shoot and run" or just to get up on a high ground where I was invincible. The latter move kinda felt broken and was part of what made the game stupid easy.

Thank God I emulated this game. Although it's mostly easy, there are definitely moments where it's easy to die. Some dungeons will lock you into the tightest corners and then just spawn like a jillion enemies out of nowhere (the Otamamon and Infermon were the WORST). Some of the harder bosses had some pretty cheap moves too. Save states were the VIP, as usual.

The plot of the game is really basic and the writing is just as wonky as DW2. Basically all you need to know is that there's a virus that's bad and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't get any deeper than that and there are no twists or turns. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Leomon are the only characters with significant dialogue (none of the bosses talk) and they really don't have anything interesting to say (I did like Ophanimon and Seraphimon's models tho)

The dungeons were definitely better than DW2 in terms of visuals/layout, but the enemies felt super repetitive. You get maybe 3 types of enemies per dungeon and then you just fight those same 3 again and again and again.

The dungeons are unreasonably long slogs with no way to save in the middle of them. I had save states so I was okay, but sometimes a dungeon would take me over two hours?? Like wtf. I know kids have a lot of free time but some of them aren't even allowed to game for 2 hours straight!

Of course, I played this single player. I actually think it'd be really fun as a multiplayer game? Like, that's probably what it was actually built for. There are actually some moments where you can't go to certain parts of dungeons without a buddy :'(

The bosses were mostly big bads from the series/movies which was fun. Made it awkward when I defeated them so easily though lol

All of the walkthroughs for this game suck lol. The one I used for the majority of the game the guy literally kept writing "I don't remember what happens in this dungeon. Just go through it." LOL thanks for nothing, bud. He said "I don't remember" sooo many times it was comical.

I poked around on the internet looking for info for this game and it seems the general consensus in the fandom is that it's pretty abysmal. Still, there are people like me that got enjoyment out of it regardless.

The little noises Dorumon made when attacked were very cute

I never bothered with digivolution. You don't get digivolution until late in the game and if you digivolve it reverts you to levl 1. Nuts to that!

I also didn't bother with any side quests because they sounded extremely not worth it (some of them don't even have a reward?)

I was pretty under-leveled at the end of the game (barely scraping level 30) but I felt like I had infinite healing basically because I had so much MP. That's another aspect of the game that felt broken.

The ending of this game was SO anti-climactic. I defeated the boss, returned to the hub world expecting a cutscene, and then it went straight to credits. No dialogue, no thank you, nothing. I had to go around and talk to people to get some thank yous but they didn't sound that appreciative really lol. Where are my flowers!? 😭 This took me over a month of tedium!

One part of the game that I did find pretty hard was the Storm Train where you have to get to the end of a train track while hitting the right levers while simultaneously fighting of a ton of enemies. If I had to do that without save states, I probably would have given up lol

I never really regret beating a video game, even if it kinda sucked. It's especially nice to check off another game in a series (even though the World series isn't really connected). I give Digimon World 4 a 5 out of 10.

[lost-technology]

Laughing through the Decades with Immortal Plants

So, in re-reading one of my reblogs - regarding Vash finding the little joys in life and relating it to happiness index, generational angst and proving something to someone with the top musical style of my generation (and yet how we who are alive and remain have found our ways out of darkness...) This lead me to thinking about the running joke in Bojack Horseman (video-ed in someone's Youtube video above, cut together out of context) about different decades' music and landscapes and how much I'd laughed at these various pardoies of musical styles and the "stereotypical decades" of the Hollywood street-shops and advertisements when I'd watched the show because I HAVE LIVED THROUGH EACH OF THESE DECADES. Yes, I'm old. I get the joke (as do most viewers of Bojack, I expect, given its target demographic) because they are parodies of worlds I've been in. The running gag here works best if you remember the 1980s, the 1990s and the early 2000s. (At least, if you are American - the gag is American culture). I just had the thought: Is there anything with Vash like this? He's been engaging with the culture of Planet Gunsmoke / No Man's Land for the last 150 years. Surely, he's watched the human culture grow and change and it couldn't have been "wild west" all the time. There, canonically, is a bit of Mad Max and Star Wars thrown in (and maybe even a bit of Fallout). There was definitely a survivor-scrapper culture in the beginning and it leveled out into more stable communities, cities. That might have been when the more "western-frontier revival" culture came in. In Trigun Stampede there is definitely a more urban culture with Jul-Ai being very Blade Runner looking (I have not seen that movie, but that style-influence is all over pop culture), leaving the "wild west" to the outlands, rural culture. But there's gotta be other stuff, little things - like various musical styles through the decades, various fashions, something in the distinctions between decade-cultures, cultural evolution, all those things you don't notice passed you by until you see something that makes you nostalgic, or someone's doing a parody of it or is just so out of place to current times. In other words, I'm wondering if Vash ever watches some kind of No Man's Land play or something in which he winds up laughing his ass off at either the *inaccuracy* of a period-piece because he lived through that decade that no one's alive to have been in anymore or, like me, finds himself laughing his ass off at something in parody of decades he's lived in, but it stretches out waaaaay farther for him? I can imagine Vash nodding and going "Yep, that was the Stardate 080s alright! I can't remember why everyone was wearing legwarmers then, it was just a thing!"

[lunarblazes]

NEW PINNED since it’s been a couple years (jesus i’ve been here too long)

hi! i’m luna/arion. i use she/he pronouns and i have been hit by the multifandom beam of diffusion. sorry about that.

things i like:

hermitcraft

traffic smps

minecraft in general

marvel comics (specifically x-men, nightcrawler, ms marvel, miles morales spider-man, black panther, and daredevil!)

x-men evolution (though i haven’t finished it, just got to s3, no spoilers!), x-men: the animated series, x-men 97, the fox x-men movies, just all the x-men, okay,

marvel snap. please play it. please i need more friends to play with me it’s a fun game,

critical role

dimension 20

rolling with difficulty (haven’t finished the first season yet though, no spoilers!)

ttrpgs in general (my beloveds)

assorted indie video games

epic: the musical

the odyssey (currently rereading and reading the illiad for the first time)

the mandalorian (even season 3 i’ll fucking fight you) and to some extent other star wars (i watched rebels and tbobf as well)

art!

i do artfight! in 2024, i am team seafoam and my user is roseblazing.

my art tag is #luna’s constellations, my fic tag is #lunar prophecies.

other blogs i help run:

@low-quality-comic-characters: exactly what it says on the tin. give us a follow, it’s real fun!

@dailypearldoodles: though we’re on an indefinite hiatus right now, you could always look through the past artwork!

@lunarrolls: my critrole/d20/ttrpg sideblog. i got nervous about posting it here, for some reason, so i made another blog.

@hermbi-discord: the official group tumblr for all the mods of a discord server i’m in called hermbi discord! it’s a hc/traffic/empires/etc centric server, technically, though these days it’s much more multifandom. you may dm me to ask for an invite anytime ;^)

ask box is always open, come yell at me about anything! enjoy your flight losers

[averyreaderofmanybooks]

A list of the fandoms I am in. (And how often I interact with content from that fandom.)

Wilderlore (I am very active in the Wilderlore fandom, it is a very underrated fandom.)

DC comics, specifically Batman and stuff about the Robins (My new favorite hyperfixation.)

Dead Pate (I didn't play the game but I watched someone play the game on YouTube and I love the game.)

Wild Kratt's (I loved watching the show as a kid and I still love it.)

Supernatural (I check the Supernatural side of Tumblr often, I also introduced Supernatural to my brother so my entire family likes Supernatural.)

Buzzfeed Unsolved (I loved Buzzfeed Unsolved)

Watcher Mystery Files (I was so happy when I found out that Ryan and Shane were going to continue doing ghost hunting and things like that, I also love puppet history.)

Hamilton (I listen to the musical while I work and I watch the musical sometimes.)

The Music Freaks (I loved this show so much.)

Llamas with hats (I thought the show was amazing but there was also a lot of gore so if you don't like blood or gore then don't watch it.)

The Stanley Parable (I haven’t played the game, but I have watched Evan and Katelyn play the game. Also, I think the game is great.)

The MCU (I am trying to get caught up on all of the Marvel movies, but there are a lot of them so it’s gonna take a while for me to get caught up.)

Nimona (I loved the movie, and I’ve read quite a few stories on Ao3, they have become one of my new coping mechanisms.)

The Inheritance Cycle (I haven’t re-read the books in a while, but I’m really excited about the movie and the new book.)

Hermitcraft (I have only watched a few of Grian’s videos and I’m not really caught up on any of the recent episodes.)

The Owl House (I loved the show, and I might re-watch it at some point. )

Gravity Falls (There is no words in the english language that can express how much I love this show, I haven't watched any of the episodes in a long time, but I might re-watch it.)

She-ra (I f*cking love this show and started re-watching it, and then I started watching Supernatural.)

PJO and all of the book series that came after it (I can’t decide if I want to re-read the series or not, but I think it is an amazing book series.)

SCP (I watch a few videos sometimes but I haven’t been that interested in the fandom.)

The Dream smp (I haven’t been very interested in the fandom since the ending.)

The life series (I watched a lot of Grian's Limited Life videos but I didn’t watch the last episode, I watched a few of Grian’s Double Life videos, but didn't watch 3rd Life or Last Life, but I’m mostly caught up on Secret Life.)

Evolution smp (I loved it.)

Sweet Tooth (I liked the first season and was gonna watch the second one with my family but we never had time to watch it.)

Origins Smp (I used to like the Origins SMP but I haven’t watched many of the videos about it.)

Empires Smp (I loved the first season but I didn’t really like the second season.)

100 Days in a Hardcore Minecraft Apocalypse (I loved the video but I haven’t watched it in a while.)

SCU/Slimecicle Cinematic Universe (I haven’t watched many of the videos.)

Hazbin Hotel (I don’t often interact with this fandom and I don’t know why.)

Amphibia (I loved the show but I haven’t been very interested in it recently.)

Wings of Fire (I haven’t really interacted with this fandom since I finished the most recent book.)

Warrior Cats (I haven’t read the recent book, I stopped reading halfway through “The Broken Code” but I might continue reading, eventually.)

(I will probably edit this list if any of this changes.)

[smolhoneybat]

hi! i've been a fan for quite a while. i really admire how you seem to articulate, i found myself becoming more introspective with every video. also it's really nice to see someone talking about games and series i really love. aside from that, i wanted to ask if you had any recommendations like games, books, shows, movies?

hi hi!! thank you so much, pinning the words down is hard but worth it haha 💛

Ooh I have so many... obviously there's the games and shows I've talked about on my channel but standouts would have to be Darkwood, Nier Automata and Arcane but ALSO

Games: -A Space for the Unbound: chill fetch quests in a small town in rural Indonesia, finish your summer bucket list with your gf, pet cats, dive into the subconsciousnesses of your neighbours!

-Ender Lilies: metroidvania platformer with some tight controls like Hollow Knight, gorgeous artwork and music, you play as Lily, a young amnesiac priestess trying to purify the spirits of the dead and stop the plague ridden rain that won't stop falling, you're small and weak but you recruit different spirits to fight with you but it never feels overwhelming or bloated, really enjoyed it

-Signalis: survival horror as an android looking for her gf, she made a promise and she's going. to. fulfil. it. Dystopian future in space with lots of good old rusty machine body horror, strange senses of time and memory and there's some puzzles in there too.

-Sunless Sea: Victorian London was moved underground by bats. Don't worry about it. Go sail the seas and try and turn a profit without losing your mind from the Horrors ^.^ (deceptively a lot of reading in this, plays like a management sim meets VN)

-Omori: 4 years ago Something happened. Omori dreams his days away in his room, carefully not thinking about that Something. Some of the game is in his colourful dream worlds and some out in the real world. Fights are always tinged with emotional rock paper scissors as how you, your friends and enemies feel will affect the fight! He's about to move house and an old friend comes knocking on the door...

(-alsoPathologicisgoodyesI'moneofthoseyoutubers)

Books: -Va11-Hall-A: I...don't know whether to put a VN under games or books so I'm putting it between the two. You're a barista in a cyberpunk kinda world, you listen to patrons while making them drinks and chat. (It's chill but sometimes gets pretty heavy and has a lot of mature topics in it for the record.) -Deathless by Cathrynne M. Valente: an alternate history book that has one foot in the Russian Revolution and the other in fairytale. Marya Morevna marries Koschei the Deathless, and goes back to his kingdom. She makes friends with various folklore creatures, checks in on her sisters who all married birds and her old and new lives begin to collide.

-The Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir: sci-fi necromancers vie to become the next right bony hand of God, first book is a murder mystery, second is a grim tale by a survivor of the first but something is Wrong and you know it is, third is an oddly domestic political tragedy and I loved them all so much, cannot recommend the audiobooks in particular enough (as the first is a murder mystery, all the voices the narrator does are both incredibly well done but let me pinpoint exactly who was speaking even when I couldn't remember their names, also she voiced Daniella in Haunting Ground!)

-The Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch: small orphan becomes a conman in fantasy Italy. Ends up being drawn into some political intrigue and fucks around finds out, frequently!

-Children of Time: Spiders! Once upon a time an arrogant scientist decided to infect monkey with a virus that would encourage rapid evolution within cooperative species but...it reaches jumping spiders. They have their own form of sign language with vibrational tappy patterns against the ground and wiggling their palps! Scientist's consciousness has melded with an AI and is waiting for her monkeys to become intelligent enough to contact her

Misc: -Dungeon Meshi: do you want to learn about the ecosystem of a dungeon while also figuring out how to cook the creatures inside and watch a guy with a monster special interest live his absolute best life? Yeah you do! (I'm really enjoying this rn so ye)

-Mabel: podcast about a home health carer for an old lady who's only living relative, Mabel, is missing. Anna, the nurse, starts leaving her voicemails like a diary and slowly gets drawn into family secrets, fairy logic and goes exploring places she shouldn't (this one does not shy away from heavy topics including serious child abuse and its effects so if that's not for you then leave this one be)

[shadesofgrace88]

I watched Elemental for a second time last Friday night. It was really neat to take in more of the details (background, music, character design, etc.) this time--while also still enjoying the movie. I really wanted to appreciate it on the big screen again and help the box office (even if it was a little). It was just as exciting and touching to watch as the first time.

[I kind of wish this was the title screen in the movie, but alas...]

Now, some further thoughts...

🎨THE ART🎨

I got the art book as soon as it was available, but made myself wait until I watched the movie to open it. I got it a month before the movie released. Legit left the plastic on, haha. The art in it is so mesmerizing. I do wish some of the behind-the-scenes 3D stuff had been added as well, or even a single layout from the movie. (hopefully some bonus features for the DVD!)

As much as I love and admire 2D art (which the art book is full of), I'm not sure if that alone would have displayed the emotions this movie needed and portrayed as deeply. I'm also pretty sure 3D has always been Pixar's thing anyways...Correct me if I'm wrong though!

But reading through the art book and learning about how they handled the process, how long they studied certain things for animating and creating this world was so fascinating. Finding ways for it to connect and work together made my art-loving heart so giddy. I remember coming across a Twitter post where one animator talked about how they managed to animate fire hugging by putting two matches together. Sounds simple, but it's so interesting and with the level of lively detail given to the fire characters, I imagine it was difficult to construct and render.

On the second watch, noticing when Ember lit up when happy was so cool. It wasn't just a smile or happiness of the eyes, but the entire character! I also found the stretch and squish of the characters to be really fun and cute. How the different elements reacted to their world was cool. Wade's hair! It's a wave that constantly moves! There's so much detail hidden in so many little things. The way they reflect onto one another. The glow from her fire. I love the outline to their characters. I think the art book referred to it like a membrane? It's more visually pleasing being kind of sketchy and not just a slab of bold lineart.

There are so many stunning panoramic scenes throughout the movie that showcase the brilliance of the world-building and characters. Such as the rainbow shot in the gif below. I honestly love the underwater scene so much. I found it more romantically alluring than even the Tangled boat scene.

💞THE ROMANCE💞

It's not just a slap-them-together-and-call-them-a-couple kind of romance, in my opinion. They have a plausible meet cute into not really "enemies," but they each have their reasons for the events that mesh them together. They have arguments. Like, realistic arguments...For a "kids movie." (I honestly hate that mindset so much because I prefer animation over live action stuff, but that's an entire essay, so moving on). The arguments aren't petty and stupid or miscommunication. They help each other to grow without being controlling or overbearing. And omigosh, THE CONFESSION! The date montage!

The romcom moments matched the evolution of a typical romcom beat sheet. (I'm writing a few myself so I've referred to it often). They have individuality as much as being a unified couple. Their relationship progresses fluidly along with the story. Low key kinda sad the gif below was just promotional, haha. She's like a gremlin teasing him 🤣

🎶THE MUSIC🎶

Gosh, the music. I get so excited with how well it matches the movie overall, and how well it crencendoes and grows quieter at just the perfect moments. There are so many scenes where it's just chef's kiss, but I don't want to spoil them, so...yeah. It's so whimsical. The Firish music is imagative and charming. Some of the musical bits reminded me of Spyro the Dragon, which is my favorite game series.

Thank you Thomas Newman for bringing Elemental alive with such a gorgeous score. And to Lauv--"Steal the Show" is such a bop.

✍️THE WRITING✍️

One critique I've seen a lot from people is how the story is unoriginal. To be honest, tropes exist for a reason. It's not the tropes that's the problem, it's how they're executed. And Elemental does it splendidly. Me personally being a hopeless romantic, I of course adore the romantic aspect of the film, but the relationship between Ember and her father is so vital to the story. It's practically why the story even kind of exists. Especially after watching it the second time and catching how many beat sheet moments align with her and her dad. When Ember said THAT near the end, I was crying even more, because...relatable.

As for the immigration part of the story, I can't speak much on it since I haven't had to experience that. It doesn't feel like my place to talk about, but from what I've read from others who can relate to that, they've mentioned it being well done. I hope this message of the story can find more audience, because as much as I enjoyed the trailers (that teaser was perfection--no plot spoilers, simple, cute, awesome introduction to the setting and characters), the official trailer and TV spots did not do justice to the heart of the story, in my opinion. I really kind of despise how much they advertised the "toot toot" joke when it could've involved more about the central theme of the movie. Like I said, Ember's relationship with her dad is so important.

Whoever marketed it as "Romeo & Juliet," I have a question...Why??? That play is a TRAGEDY. Just because "they can't be together" should not have meant they passed the advertising as a story similar to Romeo and Juliet. Wade and Ember are also more clever, lol. People are saying they haven't seen Elemental marketed, while others say it's been everywhere (signs, billboards, etc.). BUT, either way it was marketed poorly. The official trailer really should've delved more into the family and father/daughter dynamic more. For releasing Father's Day weekend, why was that not a decision during marketing???

By the way, it's not just Zootopia but with elements like I've seen people saying. This is an actual romcom, meaning the romance is actually crucial in it. I ship Nick and Judy, but it's not confirmed--let's wait for Zootopia 2 though, which announced back in January. Both films handle discrimination (and I love Zootopia), but where Zootopia has an actual villain, the "villain" of Elemental is the pressure Ember feels being an immigrant daughter and the opposites attract. External forces vs internal. Just because it's a modern city in both films, it really seemed like it had to be that way for Elemental. Like how the elements live among their world. The intro scene when the parents first arrive paint such a good image of the setting immediately.

I also feel like Wade and Ember are older characters. At least 20s, considering the passage of time mentioned and worrying about careers. Which is cool to me as an older audience member. I really want Elemental to survive and possibly maybe continue the story in some way, but after reading an article stating that a writer said there was going to be a baby at the end...Like, please don't. Let them live first, lol. As a couple. As Ember getting new experiences. Let her have her internship. What's Wade doing after they move? If they did a kid route, please do it as an epilogue or later short like Carl's Date. I just hate how society/movies/books are like "the couple has to have kids to prove their love" kind of thing. Bro, I think Wade has proved his love...

Anyways...

The casting was also terrific! Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie really did an awesome job bringing Ember and Wade to life. The emotion in so many scenes hits hard. Side characters were done really well too. I know some people wanted air and earth to be shown more, but maybe they could be more in the future? In the art book, the reason water founded Element City was because it was assumed the most opposite to fire.

I've read that people will just wait until it's on Disney+ because of fast releases anyways. Cheaper too, I guess. But Elemental really deserves to be enjoyed at the theaters with good sound quality and epic graphics. As much as I can't wait to own this movie to re-watch at home whenever I want, I'd gladly wait an extra few months to let Elemental shine in theaters to try to make it's money back and more.

Again, I'm begging people to give Elemental a try. It touches on so much more than romance, even though it did an amazing job as an official animated romcom. Family is a subject that is just as important to the core of the film. It's fun, funny, and artistically and musically awesome.

Thank you to Peter Sohn for pitching Elemental. For getting this story told and made. Thank you to each and every Pixar crew member who helped bring this world alive. I appreciate your time and effort put into this movie so so so much. You deserve so many awards and love for this project 🩷

PS, hubby found the classic Pixar "A113." Did you spot it?

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork on the set of Head, April 11, 1968; photos by Michael Ochs Archives.

“I’d always had deep doubts, ever since the session for ‘Last Train To Clarksville.’ I walked in there with my guitar and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart looked at me with derision and scorn, like, ‘Guitar in your hand, you fool!’ That was the end of it for me. Right there I was done with The Monkees in large measure.” - Peter Tork, Head 1994 liner notes (x)

“When The Monkees were big, I couldn’t handle the pressure. I missed the easy, street-level camaraderie of my Greenwich Village days.” - Peter Tork, Uncut, 2019

“[M]y personal belief is that Bob [Rafelson] is an evil-minded man. He likes to bring people down. Bob was often unsupportive as a human being and distinctly negative — and I was on the short end of that.” - Peter Tork, MOJO, June 2002 (x)

“The movie portrays them with not so much sweetness and brightness [as the TV show]. It’s a much heavier and far-out thinking group. I wouldn’t call it uncharitable. I thought it was expanding my sense of who they were. There’s a boxing scene in which Micky says, ‘Take this, you dummy.’ Suddenly the music changes and Peter appears in the corner, Christ-like, and says, ‘Micky, I’m the dummy. I’m always the dummy.’ The point was that he was always asked to be the dummy, so here he’s acknowledging it. But he’s also the one who’s given the longest speech in the movie about spiritual evolution, which he’s learned from the guru in the steam room. I was trying to give him a chance to be himself, but in a symbolic way. He is that way today, by the way. In other words, The Monkees became what they really were.” - Bob Rafelson, MOJO, June 2002

“When I recorded ‘Can You Dig It,’ the guitar solo originally ran about three or four minutes all by itself. We cut that back to a minute and a half. Bob Rafelson took a pair of scissors and snipped off the end of it. He didn’t ask me to shorten it, which I would have been glad to do. He just chopped it off. Son of a bitch! I have a lot of gripes about that, but that’s neither here nor there.” - Peter Tork, Blitz!, May/June 1980 (x)

“We gave him a watch and our blessing when he left. We never thought of replacing him — there's only one Peter Tork in the world. Who knows, maybe in two or three years' time he'll come back?” - Michael Nesmith, Melody Maker, March 1, 1969

“Peter and I were the bulk of the playing ability because we were musicians. But when Peter left it rather unnerved Davy and [Micky] — and I changed my mind [about quitting]. After all, the personal appearances were pretty well satisfying, the music was fun, and the whole thing was fairly lucrative. And Davy and [Micky] left alone would have been in real trouble.” - Michael Nesmith, Disc & Music Echo, September 19, 1970

Q: “So, when you left, did you want to be known as the former Monkee or did you want to erase that part of your past —” Peter Tork: “I tried to erase it.” Q: “— and start anew.” PT: “I tried to erase it completely.” Q: “How do you do that?” PT: “Well, you just don’t do anything connected with it, just absolutely refuse to have anything to do with it, and… basically what I did was I retreated into — I wound up retreating into Marin County, California, which is just north of San Francisco. And there I worked, I belonged to a worker-owned restaurant, waited tables and was part of the cooperative that owned and operated the restaurant. Nominally owned the restaurant; it was actually owned by this guy whose parents had left him some GM stock, and he bought this thing and the co-op was supposed to pay him to buy him out over the long haul. I think they have done finally, I think it’s now a real workers’ co-op. And I worked there, and I retreated, and nobody said anything to me about my Monkees past except one or two guys said, you know, 'I’m glad to see you just on the street schlepping around,' that kind of thing, which made me feel good. I belonged to a few groups; I belonged to a thing called the Fairfax Street Choir, which had 35 voices in the rock section and was very hard to stage. (laughs) Those little coffee house stages, 35 guys and women. And I also belonged to a kind of second on the bill act in San Francisco called Osceola for a year or so. And that kind of thing. And nobody said anything about The Monkees to me.” - NPR, June 1983

[mask131]

The evolution of Wednesday Addams (2)

I saw in a few big articles online people write about how the Wednesday from the 1960s sitcom was “changed” from Chas Addams’ original concept, and how the 90s movies returned to the “true roots” of the character. To that I will disagree heavily: Wednesday Addams, as played by Lisa Loring is actually a more fitting adaptation of the original Wednesday. 

In the sitcom, the character of Wednesday was designed to play fully on the idea of a “creepy child”. She is creepy because she has morbid and unnerving interests: she keeps a beheaded doll named Marie-Antoinette in honor of the French Revolution (that her grandma told her about) and likes to bury her in the graveyard ; she likes raising spiders as pets, her favorite one being named Homer ; she plays with explosives just like the other member of the family (and in fact gets into trouble for using her uncle’s explosives instead of her own)... 

But she is also a “child”. She is a full six-year old girl, with all the “six year old-girlishness” it implies. She is sweet-natured, friendly, gleeful. She is a ballerina who likes to dance (in a black tutu, of course), and she is innocent enough to not understand that a “family tree” is not an actual tree. This contrast is what makes her character: she is this cute little girl who plays with dolls... if only to recreate a version of Little Red Riding Hood where Little Red gets eaten by the wolf and dies. [Which in itself is actually, ironically, the original version - but Americans back in the 60s still had their dreams]. 

Kept from the original cartoon too, beyond her quiet cheerful nature, is her sensitivity. She is an artistic child who likes to paint and write poems (even though they are quite disturbing ones), and she is very sensible when it comes to all sorts of child-beliefs and child-content. When she heard from a neighbor that witches weren’t real, she became really scared, until her family held a séance to invoke the ghost of their old aunt who was a witch ; and when she first discovered Grimm’s fairytales, where dragons were killed by knights, she ran crying into her room ; and there is an entire Christmas episode dedicated to making her believe in Santa Claus again. 

But one should not underestimate Wednesday Addams, because her sensibility makes her as much distressed and sad as it can make her fierce and angry. When a boy insulted her family, it was she who punched him in the eye (and not Pugsley as everybody believed), and she is deceptively strong as she can use martial arts to bring to the ground her own father. Let’s just say she is one tough little girl. 

What else to say about Wednesday Addams? The sitcom identifies her middle name as “Friday”. She has a particular kinship with Lurch the butler, that she usually treats more as a friend than anything (she notably convinced him to dance ballet with her). The sitcom removed the occasional “bullying” of Pugsley so that the two are now siblings going along perfectly with each other (well... can the actions of the original Pugsley be even considered “bullying”? Since from Morticia’s point of view, it is clearly Wednesday who acts in an abnormal way for not attacking back...). And it was the first adaptation to have Wednesday’s hair be in braids (as I pointed out, in the original cartoon Wednesday’s hair isn’t braided). But beyond that I don’t have much to add, because in truth Wednesday was a secondary character of the series, which was much more focused on Gomez, Morticia and Uncle Fester. 

The only thing I could add comes from “Halloween with the New Addams Family”. It is definitively a... weird piece of media, but I have to bring it up as it is the special designe to conclude the original sitcom and that gathered back almost all of the original actors. And it is the only canon answer we have (for the 60s sitcom chronology) about the future of a grown-up Wednesday. Wednesday, now between 17 and 19 years old, is shown to be a student at a music academy, where she trains to master the piccolo (and she masters it well enough so that each sound she plays out of it breaks the glasses around). Her musical ear is also what later helps her family when she notices coded sound-messages being sent to her for help. Wednesday is still wearing a bigger model of her childhood dress but, in a fascinating way, the switch to color in this special makes it so that you can actually now see the actual colors of Wednesday. As in, in the sitcom her hair and dress seemed black due to the grey palette - but in the special, her dress is revealed to be blue and her hair brown. And she also still carries her beheaded Marie doll around as a young woman! Which is either cute or disturbing depending on how you see it...