#all the credit for the plot of this story goes to steven universe and miss rebecca sugar

[mxliv-oftheendless]

Last One Out of Sphynxia

Summary: (Modern AU) As part of his effort to be a better person, Bomani agrees, along with Dalila, to go with Masika to a garage band show after Radames cancels on him, while Vinneketh has Date Night with Demon. While picking up snacks at the store, a Mystery Guy walks in... and Bomani is smitten. Craziness ensues. 

Listen, Bomani was trying to be a better person; he really, truly was trying. He realized now that his… he hesitated to call it a “crush” now, because looking back it seemed more like an obsession, but maybe he should stick with crush… his crush (aka obsession) with Vinneketh had resulted in nothing but pain for everyone that got involved in it, even Bomani himself. Looking back on everything, it was really Black Dahlia’s more nonviolent intervention that made him realize how horrible he had become. More importantly, it made him realize he needed to change, and moving forward, he eventually realized he wanted to be better.

His resolution (which he was really trying to stick to) was also making him realize just how lucky he was to have friends like his. Because not only did they all forgive him and his assholery (even Vinneketh), but they all supported his work to be a better person. Their support made it so much easier, and he felt like he had to repay them somehow. So he tried to kick his habit of practically living at Radames’s dojo-gym, and instead tried to spend more time with his friends. Well, really it was mostly Dalila and Masika—he’d decided to give Vinneketh some space (and not because he was a coward, shut up).

So yeah, Bomani was trying. He was really, seriously, honest-to-God trying. But so far it didn’t seem like he was making much progress—well, enough progress for him to be proud of, anyway. He was at the point where he no longer felt pangs of jealousy when he saw the dreamily smitten look Vinneketh got at just the thought of Demon, so at least he had that going for him. But other than that, he still felt like he was going incredibly slowly down the road of growth.

Which brought him to the present. It was a Friday night, and all four of them were in the loft they shared, preparing for whatever plans they had. Vinneketh was in his room getting ready for a date with Demon, while Bomani and Dalila were sitting on the couch, beginning work on a 500-piece puzzle. Dalila had actually invited Bomani to join him, knowing he had no plans and had as a rule struck going to the gym off his backup plan list. And Masika… Well, actually, Bomani wasn’t sure what Masika had planned. But whatever it was, it was making him incredibly excited. The younger man was on his knees the other end of the couch, jumping up and down with an eager look on his face. Dalila and Bomani mostly ignored him, but when they started hearing squeaking they looked up.

“Masika,” Dalila said to him, “you’re going to break the couch if you keep jumping like that.”

Masika stopped and sat down, but made a face at Dalila. “Ah, don’t be such a buzzkill, man,”

“I’m not a buzzkill,” Dalila retorted. “I’m a person who still has college loans to pay off and doesn’t want to spend money on a new couch.”

“We could just make Masika pay for a new couch if he breaks it,” Bomani suggested. “’You break it, you bought it’ and all that.”

“I wasn’t even going to break the couch!” Masika protested. When they both gave him dry looks, he scoffed and waved them off. “Whatever. I’m in too good a mood to be bothered by you two.”

“Are you going somewhere?” Bomani asked him.

Masika immediately perked up again, grinning broadly. “Hell yeah! Radames is taking me to a show!”

“Oh good, you could use a little culture,” Dalila sassed, without looking up from the puzzle. “What is it, Romeo and Juliet?”

Bomani snickered. Masika looked incredibly offended. “Dude, no. It’s a rock show! And Romeo and Juliet’s overrated anyway; I’d rather go see Much Ado About Nothing and watch Beatrice throw her shade.”

Bomani perked up a bit at his answer; their love of rock music was pretty much the bedrock on which the fours’ friendship was founded. “A rock show, huh?”

Masika nodded vigorously. “Yeah! And it’s a garage band show! It’s gonna be a band, in a garage, at a house, with a whole bunch of people hangin’ out and doing stuff! It’s gonna be awesome!”

The door to Vinneketh’s room opened, and he walked out, dressed in mostly black and gold. “Okay, how does this look?” he asked them, spreading his hands out to show them his outfit.

Dalila smiled and nodded, while Bomani stuck with a thumbs-up. Masika grinned and also gave him a thumbs-up. “Looks great! I mean, I still don’t see why it matters—it’s not like you’ll be wearing it for very long anyways once Demon sees it.”

“Masika!” Dalila scolded, even though he was smiling—hey, even he couldn’t deny the truth of that statement. Bomani covered his mouth to hide his snorting, while Vinneketh flushed pink and whacked Masika upside the head as he passed the couch.

He was about to sit down at the island in the kitchen area when his phone pinged in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the screen, then smiled widely. “He’s here!” He grabbed his wallet off the counter and ran for the door. “Bye! I’ll see you when I get back!”

Masika pumped a fist in the air. “Woo, go get some, Vinneketh!”

Vinneketh laughed and waved before opening the door and leaving. He hadn’t even been gone for ten seconds when the door opened again and Radames entered, knocking on the door. Masika perked up and jumped to kneeling on the couch again. “Radames!”

“I almost ran into Vinneketh on my way up here,” Radames remarked as he shut the door behind him. “He shouted hi before running past me. What has him in such a rush?”

Masika shrugged. “Eh, the usual. Date with Demon, round of sex that’ll probably leave him sore in the morning—y’know, the drill.” He grinned at Radames excitedly and hurtled over the back of the couch to stand. “C’mon! Let’s go so we don’t miss anything!”

But the older man had to stop him, looking very regretful. “I’m sorry, Masika… but I’m afraid we can’t go to the garage show.”

Bomani was sure he’d never seen Masika look that shocked, or that crushed. “What? Why?”

“I’m very sorry, Masika, but it completely slipped my mind that Red Lotus invited me and Mr. Beach over for cards.”

The look on Masika’s face made Bomani think it would be perfect for a cheesy teen movie, in the scene where the teen girl protagonist realized her boyfriend was breaking up with her. “Cards? Seriously? Can’t you tell her about the garage show?”

“I tried, believe me, but Red Lotus threatened to hold my mail if I didn’t show up.” Radames suddenly looked up and to the side solemnly. “And she’s not a woman of empty threats…”

Bomani and Dalila had to give a conceding nod at that. They may have all had black belts, but that didn’t mean they didn’t think Red Lotus was the scariest fucking woman they’d ever met. And even Masika, who still looked crushed, had to sigh in concession. “Fine… I guess I can go by myself…”

Radames patted his shoulder mournfully. “Again, I’m sorry I can’t go with you. But I’m sure it’ll be fun without me. I can send you the address of the house if you like.”

“Yeah, okay…” 

Radames left shortly after that. Masika trudged back over to the couch and flopped down beside Dalila, crossing his arms and sulking. “Man, this sucks,”

“I thought you said you would go by yourself,” Dalila reminded him.

“C’mon, man, you know how Radames gets when he feels guilty. I just said that so he’d stop feeling bad about ditching me. I can’t go by myself—half the fun’s going with other people.”

Bomani suddenly had an idea. “We could go with you,”

Dalila and Masika turned their heads to stare at him in surprise. “Really?” Masika asked.

Dalila’s look of surprise changed to agreement, and he turned back to Masika. “Yeah, we could go with you! That’d be fun!”

“No offense, Dalila, but you thought spending a Friday night doing a 500-piece puzzle would be fun,” Masika replied. “Have you guys ever been to a garage show?”

Bomani shrugged. “No, but I’ve always wanted to go to one,”

“And I can too have fun,” Dalila added. “I’m loads of fun. I just decided to do a puzzle because I didn’t have any—ooh, a sky piece!”

As Dalila excitedly went to snap the piece into place, Masika rolled his eyes and looked at Bomani, gesturing to the blond. “I rest my case,”

Dalila flipped him off, making him and Bomani laugh. Masika turned back to Bomani and sobered up a bit. “You sure you want to go, Bomani? I know you’re trying to get out more, but if you’re just going so I won’t be by myself…”

“It’s fine,” Bomani insisted, shaking his head. “I want to go. Like you said, half the fun’s going with friends.”

Masika stared at him for a second, then grinned at him, some of his excitement returning. “All right. Get your jackets, guys, and let’s rock and roll!” He jumped up off the couch and ran to his bedroom, pumping his fist in the air. “We’re gonna throw down in the pit! Woo!”

Since the neighborhood where the garage show was taking place was a bit of a drive away, they decided (aka Dalila insisted) they would stop to get snacks for the road. So they piled into Bomani’s Ford and drove to the nearby 7/11 to get some snacks. They all attracted a couple stares upon walking in, given their black leather jackets and their long hair that would have fit better in the 80s.  

Masika immediately ran for the candy, making Dalila roll his eyes, though he decided not to lecture Masika about acting like a child. Instead he and Bomani went over to the drinks and looked at the selections. “Do we want energy drinks, or beer?” Dalila asked. From the way he was talking, Bomani got the impression he wanted him to say energy drinks. And normally he would. But for some reason, Bomani was feeling rebellious; so wordlessly, he opened the refrigerator, took out a Bud Lite, and popped the tab.

Dalila gaped at him in shock, while Masika, who had come back with some packages of candy, looked on in surprise. “Wow, Bomani!” he remarked. “Not even gonna pay for it first, damn…”

Dalila huffed. “Fine, suit yourself,”

“Can I get a beer too?” Masika asked him.

“No,”

“Too bad, I’m getting one anyway.” Ignoring Dalila’s spluttering, Masika opened the refrigerator and took out a four-pack of Corona Lights.

Dalila shook his head with a disapproving look. “You two… I’m going to have to be the one to drive us home, aren’t I?”

“Probably!” Masika replied cheerfully, while Bomani smiled behind him.

Dalila sighed heavily. “Fine. So who’s the band performing at the show?”

At the mention of the show, Masika grinned excitedly again. “It’s Mike Kroll! He’s got a cool 90s garage band vibe about, like, being nostalgic for the suburbs and stuff!”

“Nostalgic for the suburbs?” Bomani repeated, not even realizing what he was saying. “They’ve only existed for what, seventy years?”

Then he realized what he said, and wanted to faceplant into the Earth’s core. Luckily, Masika laughed, which eased his anxiety somewhat. “Man, I am loving this new side of you, man! Who are you, and what have you done with Bomani Roboros?”

Bomani laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty cool.” He took another drink. “I’m Powerline level cool.”

Masika snorted. “Whoa, man, no one’s as cool as Powerline. But that reminds me; when we get there, we can either just slip in and hang out, or we walk in like we fuckin’ own the place.”

As he was speaking, the doors opened and the bell dinged, and right as he said the part about walking in like they owned the place, Bomani turned his head to see who had entered… and nearly choked on his beer.

The person who had just entered the 7/11 was a man about their age that wore a black leather jacket, a Skid Row t-shirt underneath, and blue white washed jeans and combat boots. But holy shit he looked… the only word Bomani could think of was gorgeous—he had long blond hair that obscured the right side of his face and just added to the overall gorgeousness, piercing eyes that probably could have looked right into his goddamn soul, and… oh God, his lips. His lips were full and pink and probably the closest thing he had ever seen to perfect lips. And to top it all off, he had flawless skin. It was fair, a little on the tan side, but fuck was it flawless. He looked so badass and mysterious and… and so fucking hot.

The mystery guy walked past them to the coffee, and Bomani’s wide eyes followed him the entire way. Masika pointed at him. “Like that guy! Perfect example!”

Some of the Bud Lite suddenly dribbled out of Bomani’s mouth, and he jerked, came back to reality, and turned furiously red as he wiped his chin with his jacket sleeve. His action made Dalila and Masika turn to him in confusion. “Are you okay, Bomani?” Dalila asked.

“U-Uh… I-I… I didn’t know people still liked Skid Row…”

Masika sniggered. “Yeah, that’s what you were staring at,”

“I-I was!” Bomani stammered, flushing an embarrassing amount. “Does he… Does he even know who they are?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Dalila suggested.

Bomani could think of many reasons why he should definitely not go over and talk to this gorgeous mystery guy, but then Masika nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah, do it!” He began to pump his fist and chant. “Do it! Do it! Do it!”  

Not wanting the mystery guy to look over at them, Bomani quickly shushed him. “Okay, fine, I’ll do it, just stop!” He nervously handed his Bud Lite to Dalila, then blew out a breath, shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, and headed over to the coffee machine, his heart pounding the entire way. The Mystery Guy had poured himself a cup of coffee and was stirring it with a wooden stirrer by the time he made his way over. When he standing right beside him, he tried to casually pick up a cup from the stack between them, but his hands were shaking so badly that he instead knocked them all over; then when he tried to pick them up, he swung his hands out a little too far and nearly hit Mystery Guy, who had taken a step back in surprise.

Bomani steadied the cup stack, then looked up at Mystery Guy—oh shit, he was even more gorgeous up close. He gave him a wide, incredibly nervous smile. “Iiiiii…”

Sadly, Mystery Guy looked mildly weirded out. He stepped back, then turned and went to pay for his coffee at the register. Bomani sadly watched him go.

Behind him, Dalila winced at how badly it had gone, while Masika was actually rather amused. The normally cool and calm Bomani Roboros was reduced to a stuttering, awkward mess by this hot Mystery Guy. “Woooowww,” he said loudly, grinning widely. “Wowowow!”

Bomani turned and glared at him, his face completely red. “Shut up, Masika,”

Masika, frustratingly, didn’t stop grinning at Bomani as the trio got back into the car. “Well, ya certainly showed the cups who’s boss,”

“Shut up,” Bomani muttered, feeling his face grow hot. “I just got caught off guard.”

In keeping true to his personality, the grin stayed on Masika’s face. “Sure, man, whatever you say…”

“Shut up!” Bomani dug his keys out of his pocket. “You put in the directions, right?”

“Yep,”

“Great. Now let’s go have the night of our lives!”

He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, then the car started off down the road. For a while, the three men sat in relative silence, the only sounds being the occasional crinkle of snack packages and the rock music playing loudly over the radio. Bomani kept his eyes on the road, occasionally glancing down at the GPS screen to make sure he was still going the right way; Dalila sat quietly in the backseat, chewing on Sour Punch candy; and Masika silently jammed along to the radio, air-drumming and nodding his head.

The silence was relatively comfortable… but as time passed, Bomani slowly began to feel like it was getting awkward. Like, very awkward. Dalila seemed to feel that as well, since right as Bomani began to think of something to say, the blond man leaned forward. “Okay, if no one’s gonna say it, I will: he kind of looked like Vinneketh. You noticed, I noticed, we all noticed.”

Bomani’s grip tightened on the steering wheel and his face went hot again. Masika turned to look at Dalila while he spoke. “Oh…” Then it seemed to click in his mind. “Oh!” He grinned widely at Bomani. “That’s why you were acting like such a goon!”

“It is not!” Bomani insisted, though to whom he wasn’t sure. “That’s in the past; I’m done with that. Tonight, I’m all about the future. I’m a new person who likes socializing instead of spending all his time at the dojo.”

Once again, though, he wasn’t entirely sure on who he was talking to.

Masika crossed his arms and gave him a look of amused skepticism. “That’s what that was?”

“I—shut up! You weren’t over by the cups. I could’ve talked to him. The timing was just wrong.”

Thankfully, his friend decided to let him off the hook and didn’t tease him anymore. But he still couldn’t help but think about what Dalila had said, and think back to how Mystery Guy had looked. At a stretch, he supposed he did kind of look like Vinneketh, but even then not much… but what did that mean? He was over Vinneketh—well, he was trying to get over him—

“Guys! It’s him! He’s riding right next to us!”

Bomani’s train of thought screeched to a halt at Dalila’s exclamation. He and Masika turned to the left and looked out the window. There, riding next to them on a motorcycle, was none other than Mystery Guy. He had a helmet on, but there was no way Bomani would ever forget that hair.

“Aw, no way!” Masika exclaimed.

Dalila leaned over and tapped Bomani’s shoulder. “You’ve got another chance!” he said excitedly.

So this was what “butterflies in your stomach” felt like. “What do I do?” Bomani asked nervously. Should he flash his lights? Should he honk at him?

“Shoot him a look!” suggested Masika. Bomani started to turn his head. “Wait, not yet. Okay, you can look… now!”

Bomani turned his head. Mystery Guy was looking over at their car, and their eyes met. Then Mystery Guy smiled at him… holy shit holy shit holy shit that was a pretty smile.

Then several things happened in quick succession: Mystery Guy revved his motorcycle’s engine and sped past them; the light they were approaching turned yellow; Bomani slowed down; the motorcycle sped through the yellow light; the light turned red; and Bomani was forced to bring the car to a complete stop, and watch dejectedly as Mystery Guy sped down the road out of sight.

“Oooo,” Masika said sadly. “There he goes.” He glanced at Bomani. “I’m sorry, man.”

Bomani didn’t reply, just stared sadly up at the red light. Dalila leaned forward. “Don’t worry,” he said optimistically. “Maybe he’s going to the same show as us?”

“Maybe,” Masika replied skeptically. “But I dunno. He may not even be going to the show. Maybe he just lives nearby.”

His words almost went unheard as Bomani kept staring sadly up at the red light. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to see Mystery Guy again. Maybe he lost his chance when he choked in the 7/11.

But Masika’s words were heard, and suddenly, a wild, crazy, and definitely not legal idea popped into his head.

Bomani’s face hardened. Then, as the opening guitar and drums of “Kickstart My Heart” came over the speakers, he took his foot off the brake… and slammed on the gas.

The car tires squealed against the asphalt, then the car shot down the road right through the red light as the song launched into the intro.

The unexpected burst of speed threw Masika and Dalila back against their seats. “BOMANI!” Dalila screeched.

Masika looked dumbfounded. “Waat the…!” Then a wide grin drifted onto his face, and he began to laugh in surprise and excitement. “Hell yeah, Bomani!”

“Bomani, what the hell?!” Dalila shouted from the backseat, an edge of hysteria in his voice. “The light was red!”

Bomani felt the corner of his mouth quirk up in a smirk. “I know,”

They continued to speed down the road, well above the speed limit, as “Kickstart My Heart” blared over the speakers. Adrenaline ran through Bomani’s system, and he never once even thought about slowing down—he had never done before what he was doing right now. That was more of something Masika would do. And yet here they were, running a red light, speeding down the road twenty miles above the speed limit, chasing after a mysterious guy, and it was Bomani behind the wheel. It felt amazing.

All too soon, in the distance they saw a speck appear ahead of them. Masika pointed at Mystery Guy excitedly. “There he is!”

“What’s your plan?” Dalila asked, still sounding a bit shocked.

“I don’t have one,” And for once, he didn’t care.

“What?!”

“New Bomani. No plan.”

Masika’s grin couldn’t have gotten any wider, and yet somehow it did. Dalila slumped back in his seat, groaning, “No kidding…”

Suddenly, the darkness of the car was lit up by flashing red and blue lights, and they all tensed when they heard the wail of a police siren behind them. The grin dropped right off Masika’s face. “Oh shit,”

Dalila twisted around to look out the rear window, then turned back in panic. “It’s the cops!”

Bomani looked in the rearview mirror—sure enough, driving behind them was a police car, lights flashing and siren wailing. Masika’s eyes widened. “Oh shit!”

All the adrenaline and elation running through Bomani disappeared, and he gripped the steering wheel with whitening knuckles as panic set in instead. What the fuck was I thinking?! “What do I do?!” he asked fearfully.

“Slow down, pull over, and show them your license!” Dalila replied, and from the sound of it he was probably begging him in his mind to please do that.

But another jolt of fear went through Bomani as he realized a very important little problem. “I, uh… don’t have my license?”

Masika began to laugh nervously, gripping the car door and the side of the passenger. “Eh heh heh… oh man…”

Dalila gaped at him for a second, his look almost cartoonish if not for the situation, then screeched, “YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR LICENSE?!”

“It’s in my wallet!”

“Where’s your wallet?!”

“I forgot it at home!”

“Then what do we do?!”

“Gun it!” Masika suddenly exclaimed.

Dalila whipped his head around to him in shock. “We can’t do that!”

“Why not? They’re already chasing after us!”

Bomani bit his lip worriedly as his panic rose. He couldn’t stop; without his license, they’d be arrested for sure. There seemed to be only one option he could take. It was crazy, stupid, and they could possibly crash… but it wasn’t like he had any better ideas.

“They’ll just speed up and keep chasing us if we do that!”

“You got any better i—WHOA!”

Bomani floored it, pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor, and the car shot forward. Dalila and Masika were catapulted back into their seats again, and almost immediately Masika began to laugh elatedly once more. “All right, Muscles!” he crowed.

“Bomani, you can’t just drive away!” Dalila shrieked. “This is serious!”

His eyes were on the road, so he didn’t see Masika’s look of admiration, but he heard it in his voice. “Bomani, dude! You’re a total bad—”

Bomani had jerked the steering wheel as they went into a turn, cutting him off. He wanted to say something you might hear in an action movie, probably about how this is why you buckled up, but instead he turned up the volume on the radio and shouted, “Hang on!”

“Kickstart My Heart” blared over the speakers as the car swerved through the turns and went over a small hill, incidentally passing Mystery Guy’s motorcycle as they went, and slowly getting farther and farther away from the police car. Masika threw his hands up in the air like he was on a roller coaster ride, cheering in adrenaline-fueled excitement, while Dalila cowered in the backseat mumbling “Oh boy…” anxiously.

Finally, Bomani caught sight of a large billboard sign up ahead, and got an idea. He took his foot off the gas and put on the brakes, jerking the steering wheel. The car went off the road and behind the road sign, and when he was sure it was out of view Bomani killed the engine and turned off the headlights. He lowered his head out of view, waving for Masika and Dalila to do the same. “Shh…”

They heard the siren as the police car sped past them, then it slowly faded away out of earshot.

Once the siren had faded away, Masika lifted his head. “Are they gone?”

Bomani nodded. “They’re gone,”

The three of them sat back, all heaving sighs of relief. Bomani still couldn’t quite believe what he’d just done… and had gotten away with. A smile of elation crept across his lips.

Neither could Masika believe it, it seemed, because he slowly smiled and began to laugh breathlessly. “That… was insane. Like, totally fucking insane.”

“I cannot believe you just did that, Bomani,” Dalila said from the backseat, still sounding incredibly shocked. “We could’ve gotten arrested! We could’ve crashed!”

“I know!” Masika said delightedly, turning to look at the blond. “Admit it: that was awesome!”

Bomani turned around as well. Dalila was still for a moment, still looking shocked. Then Bomani saw a hesitant smile inch its way onto Dalila’s face. “Fine… I guess it was kind of awesome…”

Masika grinned. “It was totally awesome!”

Dalila gave a huff of laughter and shook his head fondly at him. His laugh made Bomani start laughing, and Masika followed as they both turned back around and sat back. And for a moment, all three of them just sat there in the car, laughing.

Eventually, Bomani remembered they still had a garage band show to get to, and reached for his keys and turned them in the ignition. The engine spluttered, but didn’t rev up. They all fell silent and stared at Bomani as he turned the key again. The engine spluttered again, then died.

“Now what?” Masika asked.

Internally pleading for it to not be what he thought it was, Bomani looked at the fuel gauge on the dashboard. And just as he feared, the gauge needle was pointed at the E. He slumped in shock and disappointment. “We’re out of gas,”

Masika summed it up best by throwing his hands up in frustration. “Aw, come on!”

Dalila quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a gas station.” He typed for a moment then waited for the results to load. “Here we go! The nearest gas station is… twenty-three miles away.”

They all groaned, and Bomani face-planted into the steering wheel.

Since the car was out of commission, the trio was forced to walk the rest of the way, hoping that once they got to the garage show they could ask someone for help. So they pulled out the black car cover from the trunk so no one would steal it, locked the doors, then set off walking down the side of the road. Houses began to come into view, which Masika said meant they were almost there. He and Dalila walked up ahead, while Bomani trailed along behind, hands in his pockets and head bent towards the ground.

He still couldn’t believe what was happening. He’d driven to loud music, speeding at least thirty miles above the speed limit, could have crashed, and almost got pulled over by the police, all because he wanted to have even a glimmer of a chance with a Mystery Guy he saw in a 7/11. And now they were probably lost, and if they couldn’t call a tow truck or get gas for the car, they would be totally stranded and forced to call Vinneketh. Bomani didn’t even want to think about the earful they’d get from him.

Vinneketh. The thought of him just made Bomani feel worse. He was trying to move on and be a better person—he was trying harder than he probably ever had in his life. And even though there had been many, many times where he ashamedly thought about giving up, he ignored that part of himself and pushed through it. But he didn’t feel like he had gained any progress tonight—a part of him even felt like he had regressed. Dalila and Masika, although they supported him, probably wouldn’t have much faith in him after this. They probably hated him.

Bomani sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. “I should’ve stayed home,” he muttered.

Hearing him, Dalila and Masika stopped and turned around. “What?” Dalila asked.

Bomani stopped walking and repeated. “I should’ve stayed home,”

“Why?” Masika asked in confusion.

“Because… Because then none of…” he gestured wildly “this, would’ve happened! I just—I was so ready to be a new person!” He started pacing around, running his hands through his hair as he rambled on. “I was going to drink beer, and rock out to garage band music, and hang out and do stuff, and you’d all go, ‘Wow, Bomani’s really cool!’ And for just one lousy night, I could feel like I’m actually doing better and I’m still not a shitty friend. But noooo… instead we drove to loud music, chased some Mystery Guy into the night and broke the law. And I don’t even look cool! Look at this!” He opened his jacket so his friends could see the DuckTales t-shirt he was wearing. “I’m wearing a DuckTales t-shirt. DuckTales!” Not wanting to stand anymore, he sank to the ground and hung his head. “I’m sorry, guys… I should’ve stayed home with the puzzle…”

There was a long stretch of silence. Dalila and Masika looked at each other, then turned back to him. “Dude…” Masika began, and Bomani worried he would say he was right. But then… “Do you hear yourself? Who cares about DuckTales—you’re a total badass! You gunned it from the cops, dude!”

Bomani looked up at them in shock. Masika was grinning at him, while Dalila was smiling. “He’s right,” Dalila said. “Who cares about your DuckTales t-shirt? You just drove forty miles over the speed limit, outran the police, and you didn’t crash the car once! That was amazing! I mean, it was totally illegal and you gave me a heart attack, but it was amazing!”

All Bomani could do was gaze at them dumbly. “… Seriously?”

They both nodded. “Seriously,” Dalila replied. “And listen…” they went over and sat down beside him. “You are doing better. I know maybe to you it doesn’t seem that way, but you are. You’re really trying, and we’re proud of you.”

Masika nodded in agreement. “Yeah. And we’re here for you, man. We’ll support you the entire way, and Vin will too, and if anyone tries to mess with your progress, we’ll gladly fight them for ya. ‘Cause we’re your friends.”

Bomani gazed at them both, not knowing what to say. But maybe… maybe they were right. Maybe he was making progress. And maybe he didn’t need to give up. But he did know, knew it with absolute certainty, that they were right about their support.

He slowly smiled at them. “Thank you… You guys are the best.”

Masika grinned. “Yeah, we know. Group hug!”

They hugged, then stood up and continued walking. But they ended up not having to walk for very much longer, as they soon entered a neighborhood from the back and began to hear the sound of rock music. They followed the music, and finally came to a house at the end of the block. Crowds of people were gathered in the driveway and front yard and the garage door was open, showing off flashing lights and the band playing inside.  

They all grinned. “Is this the place, Masika?” Dalila asked.

“It’s the place! I can’t believe it! We must have been pretty close by!”

Dalila nudged Bomani’s shoulder, smiling. “See? It all worked out, didn’t it?”

“I guess it did…” They still had to get help with the car, though. But he figured they could worry about that later.

As the trio approached the house, Masika’s eyes widened and he tapped Bomani’s shoulder. “Look!”

Bomani looked, and his heart nearly stopped. Standing there in the front yard was none other than Mystery Guy, looking down at his phone.

Dalila’s jaw dropped. “I can’t believe it… He’s actually here!”

For a moment, Bomani just stared silently at Mystery Guy. This had to be divine intervention. He’d choked in the 7/11, but he’d successfully shot him a look on the road, so maybe that meant he now had another chance.

Bomani curled his hands into fists, and blew out a deep breath. “I’m going to go talk to him,”

Dalila and Masika gave him looks of surprise. “Really?” Dalila asked him.

For the first time that night, Masika gave him an almost worried look. “Bomani, listen—I know this is what you want to do, but… you can ease into socializing if you want.”

Bomani thought over his words, then looked back at Mystery Guy. And his decision was made. If he didn’t go for it now, he may never get another chance.

He turned back to his friends, smiling confidently. “I’ll be right back,”

Then he rolled his shoulders back and strode towards Mystery Guy with confidence in his step. Both his friends watched him proudly. Their pride faded, however, when Bomani went up to Mystery Guy and stuck out his hand. Masika face-palmed. “Oh jeez, he’s starting with a handshake?”

Then Mystery Guy, after a moment where he looked Bomani up and down, smiled back at him and took his hand. “Oh, he went for it,” Dalila observed.

Bomani started to talk, gesturing to Mystery Guy’s Skid Row t-shirt. Mystery Guy gave a reply, and they started talking back and forth, though Dalila and Masika were too far away to hear what they were saying. Mystery Guy laughed, then said something that made Bomani join in. Then after a moment of talking, Bomani pulled out his phone.

Masika grabbed Dalila’s elbow, eyes wide. “Dalila… is what I think is happening happening?” He sounded like he could hardly believe it.

“I don’t know,” Dalila answered, although he was hoping it was happening too. Then Mystery Guy put his phone in his pocket and waved to Bomani, then turned and walked off. Bomani waved to Mystery Guy and turned back around to them. “Oh, he’s coming back!”

They quickly ran over to him, meeting him on the edge of the lawn. “So… what happened?” Masika asked.

Bomani was looking down at his phone and smiling, and looked up at them. “I asked him if he listened to Skid Row, and he said yes, he did, and we talked about our favorite rock bands. I also said if I was a girl I’d totally throw my bra at Jon Bon Jovi, and he laughed and agreed with me.”

Masika looked like he was stuck between facepalming at what Bomani had said and being happy it went so well. Dalila just rolled his eyes. “And?” he asked.

Bomani looked down at his phone and smiled. “And… he gave me this.”

He showed him his phone screen. It was open to his contacts, and there was a phone number in blue numbers on the screen, with what had to be Mystery Guy’s name written above it.

Both Dalila and Masika gaped at the phone screen. Then a smile slowly emerged on Masika’s face. “Oh… no way…” The smile exploded into a wide grin, and he looked ecstatically at Bomani. “No freakin’ way!”

“That’s his phone number!” Dalila exclaimed. “Bomani, you got his phone number!”

In his excitement, Masika began jumping around with his hands on his head. “Bomani! You just talked to him about rock music and said some dumbass thing about your crush on Jon Bon Jovi, and got his number like it was nothing?! Oh my god!” He laughed happily. “Bomani, you’re a total rock star!”

Bomani looked down at Mystery Guy’s phone number again, then looked up and smiled wider. Maybe tonight hadn’t gone as smoothly as planned, but this? This was definitely a win. And for the first time since his resolution to be better, he finally felt like he was on the right path.

[popculturebuffet]

Animation Reviews: OK KO: Red Action 3: Grudgement Day

Whelp I said i’d do all three in one day and I MEANT IT. And I may do it again just to stay on schedule in the future, but for now i’m just proud and exausted to have gotten this done. And after a rather “eh it has some things but it’s mostly just there” episode” we’ve come to our last episode and my personal faviorite, Red Action 3: Grudgment day. Also as a quick note I forgot red was actually a major part of “I hope this thing flies” back in my first review, but I probably would’ve left it out as while the plot is her racing with Rad, it’s entirely a rad episode, and like plaza prom which I had to realize wasn’t important, isn’t really necessary.  One last where we are in the series thing. We’re in season 3 and as I mentioned last time, RIGHT before the final episodes and one episode before the three part final arc and unrelated but beautiful epilogue that closes out the series. I didn’t go into my throughts on season 2 but it was good, the ending was just a  really sloppy end to an otherwise good arc that i’ll get to. Season 3 is somehow even better, using it’s shorter run time to tie up loose ends and character arcs left and right and , after trying all series to do it, crossing over with Sonic the hedgehog, another thing for another time, and the final episodes, both the wrap up to the story arc “Let’s fight ot the end” and the wonderful where are they now epilouge “Thank you for watching the show”, are absolutley amazing and how you end a show.. and thankfully endings of this calibur became the trend this year given that same year star vs ended terribly and the bad taste is still in my mouth over that one but that’s a story for another bunch of reviews. The point is as I said the crew used the time wisely and wrapped up most ongoing character and story arcs that needed resolution. And given they spent two episodes on it the team decided to pull the pin on red and enid getting together, and solve one dangling issue the fans likely had all in one go. IT’s grudgment day under the cut. 

We open with Rad and Red arguging and KO looking at them in a way that just screams:”Third mom, Rad, please stop fighting”  Enid comes in and wonders why one of her two best friends and her girlfriend are fighting. She dosen’t use the term but given the kiss at the end of the episode, more on that when we get to it, the general way Enid acts about this and the way Red acts around her this ep.. their a couple at this point.  I do wish they had an episode of them becoming offical, adressing Enid and Elodie.. bucnhes of other things but I concede that the crew was blindsighted by having a smaller season and had they you know NOT BEEN CANCELED FOR NO GOOD GOODAMN RESAON, we might have gotten more renid and more stories and a full on steven universe crossover with both sides. But I digress.. CN’s managment is terrible right now... but that’s not the reason for this article so we’re moving on.  Anyways Enid wants to know why their so pissy when she arrives, and Red .. is in the right this time. Showing her growth while she still got heated with rad.

Rad did at least start it, as she simply came in to take enid jelly surfing and was kind enough to ask him to come along.. and KO implictly given he’s there and their buds now and all that. But when rad insults her again she quits the explaning and goes right back to arguing with him while Enid and KO look on awkwardly. Then Red decides to go into a mocking impression of rad, which is not NEARLY as mean as it could’ve been given the guy has canocially, had a super virus get worse because he refused to get rest something the villian that gave it to him was COUNTING on as part of his evil scheme, was left on the floor in pain over his cocoa being too hot, and once confused his 6-11 year old friend for a doppleganger despite having GIVEN said friend his nametag, though to be fair red’s own best friend also thought he was rad and gave him her number, so everyone was kind of dumb that day but still, the point is she has a LOT of ammo. In contrast Rad STARTS light saying she says words like Cowabunga (she only does once at the end of this ep and has not at any time).. before saying Enid deserves someone better and flinging her surfboard... which Crinkly Wrinkly jumps on and crashes into a wall because of course he does.  Anyways Enid is offended at this and reveals rad’s been acting like a raving dickhead to Red anytime she shows up, which were this season 1 would be on brand but after 3 seasons of becoming a better person and an episode earlier this season where he rejected his dudebro friends once and for all, who by the way: Beefer and Mega Football Baby are the worst and I hate them and i’m greatful that their final apperance is rad realizing what a bad influence they’ve been and telling their asses off for their toxic masculinity. But I will however give OK KO credit as their SUPPOSED to be obnoxious, and the crew still dialed back hteir apperances to almost nothing when they realized it went horribly right, versus Rusty whose still mildly to massively annoying, but has yet to be fixed or removed from LIncoln’s crew, despite the show having a good track record for taking problematic characters and fixing them. And i’ve gotten entirely offf topic because all three of them piss me off so much, so let’s move on.  Where were we.. ah yes, since Rad being a dickhead this consisently is now an exception not the rule, Enid rightfully demands to know why and Rad.. makes up two very petty, weak and obviously pulled out of his butt to try and cover the real reason up reasons for his actions: Red didn’t follow him back on Social Media, which is both a website and what the website is in this universe apparently which Is brilliant, and that she took the last bit of cake at prom... you know after he realized he was screwing it up and fixed it all with a homoerotic dance fight. Plaza Prom is amazing. When pressed because Rad fired his stupid friends, Rad hastily challenges red to a power battle, which I haven’t had to cover yet: Basically a hero can challenge another hero to a fight, usually for respect, to settle a grudge or who took the last bagle, and it’s a socially accepted thing called a power batttle. Really given it seems like KO’s world has not had a hero civil war, and the one time we’ve seen heroes on heroes outside of these things has been when POINT was acting shady as fuck and thus needed to be stopped, it seems like a resonable mesure, especially since most heroes just.. shrug off damage from battles and stuff after a bit.  Unable to convince her girlfriend not to punch her best friend in the face, however much he deserves it, Red gives enid her belt with her time capusles inside, so they don’t go off mid fight and gives her an air kiss. Awww. Enid bemoans the fact this is happening for such dumb reasons when KO relaizes they can just use the belt to fix what once went wrong and end this petty fight before rad dies.  First stop, the Bodega a few months ago, which KO proves both by the fact they have mean beans, which theys topped selling months ago and is one of the single best refrences this show did and it’s done a LOT, and the social media feed being from months and months ago, with Beefer bragging elodie beat him up. Ewwwwww.... I don’t wnat to kjnow what he’s into. Gah gotta scrub my brain. ONe brain scrub later Rad needs only one more follower to 100. I hear when you get 100 this happens. 

Rad asks for a follow for follow from Red, who says she dosen’t have her phone. Enid is sure she’s lying, which she is, and follows Rad for her. Also I love rad’s file photo

Seriously they use this any time they need a picture of him. It’s one of the series best runners and is only topped by homer simpsons various terrible ones and this gravity falls masterpiece as being the best stock photo used for a character.

I will use this any time I have an excuse to and I have no shame about that. Anyways they go back but

As things have only gotten more heated at the power battle, so they try the prom to see if that’ll help.  Cue PROM. Seriously why they never did a second Plaza Prom episode is really beyond me. Lot of potetinal with that concept.. plus I like episodes that put tons of cast, main and supporting, in one event together, ever since venture bros. It’s always a fun time. Anyways, Enid wants to stop a paradox but KO has already interacted with his past self.. which is the KO enid’s talking to and a great gag.  So the two seeing Rad and Red both about to go for the cake decide to pull a destraction: Enid goes over and talks to Red to hold her off and get the cake to rad, while KO does what any sane person would do: Jumps onto Rad’s face while yelling rad I love you, and Rad is clearly more annoyed he’s on his face and this has very obviously happened before. .... I miss this show.  Anyway after giving the explination that she’s a shadow clone to explain why her past self is still up there DJing, she offers to dance and the two have a good cute time until enid gets the cake into rad’s mouth and bolts.. and now we get the thing I hinted at earlier. Red talks to the other Alley Teens about it, and notes that while she dosen’t know Enid she kinda likes her.. then backpedals as the teens make faces but are clearly not fooled by they all look really creepy especially Gregg. 

WHelp I have ny nightamres for tonight. But yeah this is implied to be what got Red to ask her out in the first place. Time travel is weird and inconsietent. This does give me a chance to adress the fact that the alley teens.. sorta stopped beiing a thing eventually. I mean their stillf riends as of the season 2 openoer but red and drupe show up for their own eps or supportingroles while Gregg just kinda vanishes, poor person. That being said given this interaction and how close they were I DO think their still friends; I mean gregg and drupe was confirmed by the flash forward as they visit rad’s cafe, but Red would still be their friend, they just all likely have more stuff to do as they grow older: by the end of season 2 Drupe has a buisness and gregg is probably in college. But I expect Drupe would be Red’s best woman at her wedding. I mean gregg would probably be her best person but still. Anyways they return to the present again and.

Yeah that. Their now battling in cars and Enid decides to cut the bullshit and just ask Rad why he’s pissed at Red, asking Red to pause the fight, which she agrees to.  KO and Enid throw rad int he back of his van tied up and ask him to be honest about why he’s so pissed off. After some dithering he says he lo.. lo.. and instead of saying he loves enid, thank god i’m so sick of love triangles, may they die in a fire, like the episode hinted at it’s a swerve. and unlike a vince russo swerve which ends in A “Buff Bagwell’s mother on a forklift match”.. no really

This is actually a great one: Rad’s fully moved on and I like that, evne if the finale does leave it vauge if those bodegamen at the end are theirs or not, given Rad’s her best friend by the end and she and red would need a surrogate, it’s not a huge stretch to say Rad sperm donored for them and is still a beloved uncle and figure in their lives. Anyways the point is Rad’s real beef is.. suprisingly sweet. Turns out Rad’s still pissed at the whole “Teens humilating, burning and spanking” ko thing and Red posting it online. Which is likely to adress the fact they.. never adressed that and was a good call and a good way to show rad’s growth: he’s not jealous , he’s not mad she’s taking up enid’s time, he’s mad that his best friend is dating someone who beat up his other best friend for just trying to help them then put it online for a cruel laugh. Granted Drupe did the same thing and he not only danced with her but is on good terms with her to this day, but odds are given they see her more and she’s in fact the designer for their mission outfits in season 3, she probably apologized off screen while Red figured KO forgiving her was good enough and just wanted to forget it, running away from things as usual. IT speaks to the diffrence in their personality: Red runs hot is stubborn and takes time to admit she’s wrong, Drupe is very chill and as the series goes on very nice, and probably wanted to get it out of the way asap given she frequents the bodega more often, either in the background or foreground.  Anyways after KO reveals he actually enjoys the video as a treasured memory of when he first met the alley teens, disturbing his friends, seriously this kid needed to remerge with his edgelord side yikes, Enid gives rad a headpat and kudos for being normal and Enid decides to take all of them to go fix this.  Back in the past we’re back at the bullying and before past red can post, present red explains she should stop and after clarfying this isn’t an end of the world situation, not an unfair assumption given you know time traveler, she reveals it’s for someone unimportant.. but whose important to someone they care about, and that what they were doing was a terrible thing they’ll be ashamed of anyway. It’s a good scene that shows how far red’s come: from pushing everyone but two people awaya nd treating most like garbage in a vain attempt to avoid being who she used to be, to accepting it, finding love, and becoming friends with someone she hurt and accepting she hurt him. Rad is also clearly moved seeing that Enid did indeed choose wisely. Back in the present. 

... NO not this time. No instead red and rad are pals, talking about how shredded they are and what not, and while Enid finds it annoying, understandably, she’s glad their not trying to kill each other and dosen’t have to buy Rad’s gravestone or visit her girlfriend in prison. In the alterted timeline, which their also aware of by rad’s comment, time travel just go with it, they were already planning on going jelly surfing and invite enid, and implictly ko along. 

So we end on our main trio and Red jelly surfing, Enid and Red sharing a board before wiping out, laughing about it and then, as if you hadn’t already seen the header but fuck it. 

Yup. The subtext just became.. text. Awww. In case you were wondering, I do like them as a couple, especially after this quintology, as it’s made me realize just hwo much they click and how much chemistry they have, and by this point their just adorable, their drama gone and they can just be happy and gay together. And that’s something cartoons are doing more of and tha’ts wonderful and it’s wonderful that, with all else he had to wrap up, Ian felt confirming the gay couples lasted was extremley important, as two others are shown married in the finale. And we’ll get to the finale more in a bit, but first Rad floats by with an “I support this”, to approving smiles, and enid thinking he’s a weirdo. Also I love the meta text of having a character voiced by the shows creator say that.  KO however is sad that the video is gone but ENid says the memories will last. Rad is understandably not sad about it suggests they make new ones and we end on our quintent taking a selfie together. THE END. Before final thoughts, this wouldn’t however be the last we saw of them. The finale has a bit more as it flashes forwards a bit: the relevant part is one shows Enid take over KO’s mom Carol’s dojo. with red, the two kissing again and alllooking over some supsciously familiar kids who look supsciously like the hue troop, but are probably there great grandparents. While Red dosent’ show up again after that, and could’ve gone back to the future eventuallyf or all we know, I like to think she stayed, and that as noted above, she and enid had kids together with Rad’s help given the similar looking kids we see running the bodega... which admitely was kept vauge by Ian on purpose so fans could draw their own inclusion so that’s the one i’m drawing; rad is still there for them aand still family to them, but isn’t with Enid in a romantic sense, if you think diffrently that’s fine. But My ending is these two crazy kids worked it out and are now happy ever after. and that ain’t bad.  Final Thoughts: A fantastic episode with TONS of great jokes, call backs and a great resolution , showing off Rad and Red’s character development greatly,f ixing a possible plot hole and giving fans the kiss that many of them had wanted for some time. ONe of the series best I can’t gush enough about it but I shall stop for your benifit. If you liked this review, subscribe for more, check out the backlog via the convient pages on my blog, and shoot me an ask, wether it’s to suggst an episode or just to ask me about my opinons or yell about them or ask what I think about certain shows or what i’ll cover. And until next time, later days. 

[durpduckogo]

another side of the gem

Or how I would write Steven universe future

So...first we get some light episodes just seeing our favorite characters during this Steven starts acting weird he is diagnosed with PTSD from every thing he’s gone through and goes to train with jasper he snaps and shatters jasper but he can’t fix it Stevens crying he has taken a life he loses control of his powers force fields trap and hurt the residents of beach city Connie runs to him but he can’t stop force discs slam into her and Steven watches the whole thing they aren’t his to control anymore Steven snaps and fully corrupts not into a giant monster thing but a pink humanoid covered in spikes His gem shifts into a diamond he is not Steven but universe diamond the show’s villain 

-TIME SKIP-

opening on a ruined city we are introduced to our new MC puck and their mysterious teacher Zora, who is obviously Connie but for plot reasons no one can tell. The city is patrolled by corrupted gems and their handlers: the sneo people -humans corrupted by Stevens DNA when puck’s hideout is discovered zora and puck, along with peridot, lapis, Lars, and pumpkin travel across the country side sparking the revolution and traveling to universe diamonds fortress before he can enact his master plan turning the entire world into roses room so he can get Connie back. Right before the finale Lars is fatally wounded they have to continue on with out him puck and the rebellion arrive at universes fortress  big speech ending with how they aren’t temps anymore they are the crystal gems! Puck is separated from the group forced to fight the sneo people’s captain, Sadie killer.    An an epic sword fight puck tells Sadie that Lars misses her and gives an emotional speech. This is Steven universe and in SU love always wins..Sadie is un-corrupted she runs to save Lars.  But this story isn’t over because even though we saw it through pucks eyes this isn’t their story. A fast cut to the fortresses throne room Connie with pearls old sword in hand is single handily fighting Steven who steadily is having more and more flash backs first happy ones but they move closer to the present and more of them are hurting those he loves then Connie yells WHY!   WHY STEVEN 

And he doesn’t respond because universe diamond doesn’t know why..and neither does Steven but he can do one thing Steven Chokes out ““I’m sorry” And transforms they have a talk at the end Steven asks if they can still be friends Connie says maybe one day but she needs some space Steven understands  as the credits start to roll we are given scenes of all the characters watching the sun rise and soft music plays 

[appleb18]

Why Cartoon Finales Feel So Unsatisfying

With most cartoon shows coming to an end such as Adventure Time, Legend of Korra, and Regular Show but as time moves on, most finales are rushed. Shows making the same mistakes makes the ending not a very good conclusion. So I��ll be talking about the many problems that I have with finales recently. Steven Universe Change Your Mind will be mention because Crewniverse mentioned  Rebecca Sugar planned that it was finale but of course, Cartoon Network wants it to continue so it counts.

LONG POST

1)  Plot Points 

The first of many problems that I keep on seeing in cartoon finales are the unexplained plot points. When a show points that this will have a major impact later to the episode, they show it and see what will happen with the plot point but most don’t and they either leave it unanswered, out of nowhere or used but it wasn’t written properly

Examples of unexplained plots are 

Star vs The Forces of Evil 

When Marco was fighting a Corrupted Tom and Corrupted Milhorse he got stabbed by the unicorn, leaving a dark purple wound on his chest with dramatic music playing 

But then it didn’t really matter and it “magically” healed somehow 

Then there’s Star destroying The Realm of Magic which caused magic to be gone. While Omnitraxus, Heckapoo and Rhombulus are destroyed but they never showed what happens to the other realms and creatures that use magic such as the Lucitors and Reynaldo the Bald Pate. 

Legend of Korra 

When Korra defeat Kuvia and she was about to use the Spirit Beam but it misdirected to her, Korra can somehow bend spirit beam

How is there another spirit portal? I know the comics explained it but I would like to see it more in detail in the show than the comics

Gravity Falls 

The Bill Cipher zodiac keeps showing up in the opening of the show 

Been shown in the show numerous times and know a bit of its purpose as the show goes on

In the finale, it was about to be shown what it is and does but Stanley and Stanford had to fight each other which cause the zodiac to not work. I do wish what will happen to Bill when he’s in it and see its effects before they fight

Voltron

Why Allura have to die in the finale, was there another way for her to survive than just dying? 

How the hell did Lance become Altean? You can’t just transform a human into one, that’s impossible 

2) Not Enough Time 

Another main problem I’ve been seeing in cartoon shows finale is there isn’t enough time to explore the new things that have been added to the show, character development, and character relationships. Finale just shows it for a minute and then that’s it. 

Examples of this are 

Steven Universe 

In Change Your Mind, when Steven was getting his friends back to reform, aside Smoky Quartz, we get to see Pearl and Steven fusion, Rainbow Quartz 2.0

 Garnet and Steven, Sunstone 

however the main problem with this they appear only once and then that’s it. Although they’ll hopefully make an appearance in season 6 but the lack of Opal and Sugilite, I doubt they’ll be shown again. 

Gravity Falls 

When Stanford and Mcgucket reunited in Weirdmeggedon: “Take Back the Falls”,  it was really a quick reunion and they become friends again. I do wish the team give their reunion more screen than just a minute since they’re best friends for a very long time like Spider-Man and Iron Man in Endgame 

Then there’s when Stanley sacrifice his mind to defeat Bill Cipher, it was truly emotional to have him take responsibility for almost releasing him to the world.

Of course, he’ll recover from his memories but he got it back too quickly, it should’ve taken longer regained his memories. It just downgrades his sacrifice.

Samurai Jack 

Samurai Jack friends came in a minute 

Jack tells Ashi that he loves him. It should’ve taken her a bit longer to break free from Aku control than just that 

Also, there was never a moment of him interacting with his friends beside the Scottsman. He didn’t get to say goodbye nor tell his thanks to them for rescuing him before he goes back to the past! 

Then there’s Ashi fading away because, without him, she disappears which should’ve done when he destroys Aku, not during their wedding 

Voltron 

As Allura dies and saying goodbye to her friends however she never gets to say goodbye Coran, her main man, and her father-figure like why? 

3) The Lack of Main Characters 

It is always important to have the main cast of characters have their last adventure and end the huge conflict of the story but with today’s finale, the main cast doesn’t get to shine, in fact, they don't do anything at all.

An example of this 

The Amazing World of Gumball 

The Gumball family doesn’t get to appear for the finale, it’s mostly Gumball, Darwin and the school. 

Adventure Time 

Finn and Jake, the main characters and they are in the title of the show Adventure Time with Finn and Jake however they were more in the sidelines in the finale. The first half is Finn reconcile with Fern 

Jake having weird dreams 

Then in the second half things get stressful when Finn and Jake haven’t much of a roll to the last episode. Finn goes inside of Golb to save Betty and Ice King/Simon but they get stuck

And Jake gets defeated easily by the monsters. The characters that did the most are Marceline for able to stun the monster for a bit 

Princess Bubblegum finding that their weakness is harmony and she was able to find out because of BMO 

And Betty defeating Glob by using the crown and wishing to protect Simon that caused her to become Golb herself 

It’s disappointing that neither Finn nor Jake, the stars of the show for 9 years, couldn’t do anything in the finale, a similar complaint I have with Adventure Time Mini-Series Stakes but worst

Steven Universe 

Now it’s time to talk about other characters that came to help the Crystal Gems but they really didn’t help at all and it’s Bismuth, Lapis Lazuli and Peridot. They finally arrive to help Crystal Gems to get to White Diamond with Lapis and Peridot new outfits and Bismuth giving Connie a new sword. 

Yet they were nothing more than accessory, just there to show that they are in finale, only serving as fan-service 

Then just when they finally showed up to help Steven, it was already over so they don’t have any value in the finale. 

4) Final Villain 

Recently, the last antagonist/final villain has many issues that I’ll be breaking into two parts. 

A. No Build Up 

It’s always important to have the final villain to appear in multiple and show how threatening they are but as I’ve seen, they appear only a few times with little interactions and not a lot of depth of their depth. 

Golb from Adventure Time first appeared in “Puhoy” at the end of the episode and was mentioned a few times in the last two seasons and he randomly appears as the final villain with no proper introduction and he doesn’t have any history with the main characters 

White Diamond from Steven Universe appears in the background from season 1 - 4

Her only appearances are in two episodes, “Legs From Here to Homeworld” and “Change Your Mind”. At first, she was overjoyed that Pink Diamond is alive inside of Steven 

Then she becomes a dictator? How we get from this to there? Do we miss something? 

B. The Final Battle 

The endgame, the final conversation between two opposing sides and they’ll settle their score once and for all. Unfortunately, their final moments aren’t satisfying and it very anti-climatic of how they were defeated. 

Aku and Samurai Jack never fought each other in the finale. It’s mostly Jack slashing him 

Steven talking to White Diamond like how always does it

Mina Loveberry gets defeated by a Corrupted Milhorse and we don’t see until the end 

The final villain should’ve gotten a great final showdown with the main protagonist but it was sadly rushed 

5) Leaving it in a Cliffhanger/Open-Ended 

The most problematic I have with finales is they leave it in a cliffhanger/open-ended. It doesn’t feel like a satisfying end to the show, more than an episode and or another season

The Amazing World of Gumball ended with Rob going into the void and that’s it. 

and Star vs The Forces of Evil ending with the Earth and Mewni cleaved together and Star and Marco look at each other than the credit rolls.

The series finale should NEVER end with a cliffhanger nor open-ended, it just leaves an poor conclusion to the series, leaving too many questions unanswered! 

Conclusion

Modern cartoon finales aren’t easy. It requires a lot of planning, work and thought to conclude a series and not many got it right. The only finales that did a good job and made me feel satisfied are 

Regular Show 

Over the Garden Wall

And the only show left that’s coming to end and I hope it doesn’t make the same mistakes is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 

Overall I don’t hate nor I say good finales expect for Samurai Jack, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Voltron, their pretty average endings that could've done better.

[grailbot143]

I chose last week's closing credits as this week's featured image. This is meant to be a statement.

Welcome Back Everyone!

As I was not the biggest fan of last week's episode and had every intention of wiping it entirely from my memory, this week, we are going to do something a little different. Instead of a recap of last week, we are going to focus on:

Briefcap Frybo

Consolidated lingering Questions

The Steven Universe World

Characters

Places

Things

Likes and Dislikes So Far

Briefcap from Steven Universe: Frybo (S1:Ep5)

Frybo opens with Steven looking for his pants. Pearl comes in looking for a missing crystal shard. She explains to Steven why the shard is important, but he is too busy thinking about other things.

Pearl leaves to go to town and look for the shard. Steven finds his pants running around on their own and catches them and puts them on. Then he discovers the shard in the pocket and goes out looking for Pearl.

He runs into PeeDee in a Fry suit getting hammered by some birds. After some discussion, he decides to use the shard to animate the Fry costume. PeeDee tells the costume to go make people eat fries, and he and Steven go to hang out in front of the arcade. Existentialism ensues.

There is screaming from the fry place. Steven and PeeDee run to see what's going on. They find a super-testosteroned fry costume force-feeding people. There is a moment when PeeDee's dad, believing the costume is still on PeeDee, apologizes to PeeDee for forcing him to be Frybo and tries to have a touching moment with him. Then the costume attempts to force-feed him fries too.

Pearl shows up and tries to fight the costume, but is beaten by ketchup shot from the costume's eye. Steven takes matters into his own hands (clothes) by animating all his clothes with the other 8 shards. When he adds his underwear to the fighting garment army, Frybo is at last defeated.

They have a Viking style funeral for Frybo and send him off to sea. PeeDee and his dad talk.

Episode Over (thank goodness)

Episode Random Noticings

There is a picture of Rose Quartz on the wall in Steven's house. I don't recall having seen it before this episode. Her gem was her belly button, as it is now Steven's.

I like the whole father/son relationship building plot line. These types of plot lines are far less cheesy once you've seen them play out in real life.

I would like to have heard the story of the armor, the infantry, and all the death that Pearl told at the beginning, but alas it was not to be.

I think this is the first episode that does not have an appearance by each of the 4 Crystal Gems. Both Amethyst and Garnet are missing from the episode.

I am a huge norse fan. I have been my whole life. I love Norse mythology and have always been enamored by the Viking's exploits and amazing feats. I had a 23andMe ancestry test done a while back. According to the test, I am likely descendant from Vikings. I realize this is irrelevant, but the 'Viking' `style send-off was a plus for me. So I thought I would explain why. And I told you guys at the beginning that I love lore and history, and you are reading the blog anyway, so I must assume you don't mind too much.

Consolidated lingering Questions

The Gems:

Where do they come from?

How is power derived from them?

Are all the gems the same, but act differently according to. . . something?

How is magic embued to the gems?

Who is chosen to wear them and why?

Why is a pearl considered a gem?

How is the body placement determined?

by the gem?

by the bearer?

random?

based on the attributes of the user?

What about the gemmed enemies? How do they get gems? Or are they created out of gems?

Rose Quartz:

Why does Rose have to die to give Steven his superpowers?

Is Rose even dead?? I don't remember that explicitly being stated

What would make her choose that?

a prophesy?

desire to give Greg a kid?

gonna die anyway?

Did she give up her gem to HAVE a kid or to EMBUE a kid with the gem?

Did she get to KNOW Steven?

The Crystal Gems:

Assumption: each has unique powers, i.e., Garnet doesn't shapeshift like Amethyst, Amethyst can't project a plan from her gem_

If the above assumption is correct, what exactly is Garnet's superpower?

How old are each of them?

It's suggested that Pearl is over 100.

Amethyst acts a bit like a teenager.

Is she that much younger than Pearl?

Where does Garnet fall?

Why is Steven the only boy? How many boy gems are there everywhere?

The World:

The Lunar Sea Spire was known as the Oasis for Gems on Earth, so I know it's Earth, but. . .

Is it in the same Earth that we are in, but hidden from us, or some sort of alternate universe

Are the gems ONLY on Earth? This would make the nomenclature Oasis for Gems on Earth redundant, so probably not

So far, everything seems to be happening in this town. . . are there other Gems in other towns?

Like every town has a team of Crystal Gems protecting it?

Or is this town some center for universal negativity, so the Gems are focused here?

The House on the Beach:

This is more a curiosity, but I wouldn't mind seeing the fight that took off that statues hands

What is up with the living temple inside the house? Beating hearts, waterfalls, a pool for getting rid of evil spirits. Need much more history and understanding here.

The Steven Universe World

This is just a quick list of things that make this place unique. . . no explanations.

Characters

The Crystal Gems

Pearl

Garnet

Amethyst

(dead) Rose Quartz

Steven

The Townsfolk

The Donut Girl

The Fry Man

Lars

PeeDee

PeeDee's brother? (same hair assumption)

Greg

mailman (I know they mentioned his name, and he mentioned a woman's name. . . darn my memory)

Monsters/Creatures

Centipeedles and their mother

Red Eye

(offscreen) A giant bird with a giant polka-dot egg

The Spirit from the painting that possessed *Together Breakfast*

The Crystal Shrimp

(deceased) Frybo

Places

Around Town

Big Donut

the fry shop

the arcade

the boardwalk (home to fry shop)

Greg's van

the car wash

the storage facility

the Crystal Gem's house on the beach

Mystical

The Temple with a beating heart

the storage unit? Greg said it was magical

(destroyed) The Lunar Sea Spire

the teleporter thing in Steven's living room

Things

Gems

Rose Quartz

2 Garnets

Amethyst

(not a gem) Pearl

Centipeedles' Mothers gem

(pants animating) Gem Shards

(maybe? pretty sure) The Lunar Goddess Statue

Mystical Items

Summoned Weapons

Laser Light Cannon

Red Eye?

Lunar Goddess Statue

Cursed Painting

Food (as it's seemingly important to our little hero)

(discontinued) Cookie Cats

Fry Bits

Together Breakfast

(offscreen) Pizza

(unmentioned) Cupcakes in jars

(not food) Cheeseburger backpack

Likes and Dislikes Far

Dislikes

Not a fan of the important role junk food plays in the show

Haven't found much in the way of music I like, outside of arcade sounds (which I dig)

I don't relate to Steven much. He mostly annoys me.

Why is there not a main antagonist? Are we going to be playing monster of the week forever? Surely we'll get one antagonist we can loath. . .

Season 1: Episode 5 Frybo

Likes

I like that all the answers to everything are not conveniently packaged in an episode

I like Garnet. . . and sometimes Amethyst. . . and I often relate to Pearl

I like Greg and his super awesome van

I like that it seemed like we landed in the middle of a life, rather than the beginning of a story

I like the townspeople and their relationships with Steven

I appreciate that though there are some references a kid wouldn't understand completely, there is so far no blatantly adult humor or sexuality even in undertones

I like the whole living temple thing.

Frybo is, in my opinion, the worst episode so far. I consider taking down the star rating every time I think about it.

I just want to remind everyone, I write these recaps after having seen the episode once, a week ago, and often interrupted by my whole blogging thing. I mainly do it for myself to refresh my memory for the next episode, but since I post it, I thought I should ask your forgiveness if it isn’t exactly perfect (or even close).

[kineticallyanywhere]

Lets make some AU terminology

Disclaimer

I cannot possibly go over, mention, or hit, every single type of AU out there. I only hope to generate and/or explain some terms and invite the creation of more. Some of the ones I've ended up with here are: genre, trope, home grown, canon divergent, toss the canon, butterfly effect, reality twist, classic crossover, transplant crossover, framework, hog wild, character fodder, and world fodder.

Okay here we go

The Genre AU

A genre, or genre-bending, AU is an AU which takes the characters of a given canon and transfers them to a generic or original setting based on a specific genre. These are most commonly fantasy AUs, sci-fi AUs, or modern (realistic fiction) AUs. These AUs may or may not retain many or most of the original canon's story beats and plot elements. Often, however, these elements are translated through the lens of the new genre to take a new shape. For example, a character who's original fantasy story and saw themselves locked in a tower with a dragon, may find themselves in a modern AU with an overly protective parent who's installed way too many parental controls on their computer, phone, or living space. 

A subcategory of the genre AU is the trope AU. These are some of the most common AUs, which take the characters of a given canon and move them into a well-established environment. (Note: this environment is not created by another canon property. Those are considered a type of crossover.) These include coffee shop AUs, high school AUs, or soulmate AUs, and fusion AUs (more on this last one later). 

The Home Grown AU

These are AUs which alter a story or character canon based on ideas or headcanons unique to the canon it alters.  There are two major categories of this:

First is the canon divergent AU. This AU follows canon story lines up to a specific point, where it branches into a new string of events based on certain events playing out differently than they did in the original canon. This could be based on a character making a different decision, or a previous plot element no longer existing, or a new plot element being introduced. Longer canon divergent AUs either toss the canon series of events out the window for something entirely new; or become a kind of experiment on the butterfly effect, reaching similar canon plot beats but in different orders, with different results, and/or to different emotional effect. 

The second category is the reality twist AU. These AUs change a fundamental aspect of the canon world and let a story play out based on that change. These could include characters being born under different circumstances, or powers and authorities functioning in fundamentally different ways. Maybe there's a fifth Hogwarts house, or maybe a magical girl's powers hurt to use, or maybe Green Lanterns all permanently turn green. The world is at your fingertips. 

Crossover AUs

There are two different categories of crossovers, and we're going to start this section by having a short naming party about them, because one of them doesn't really have a name and the other's name conflicts with a specific type of AU which is referred to by the same name. 

The first one's easy, I'll be calling them classic crossovers.

The second category is traditionally called the fusion AU BUT because "fusion AU" also refers to a specific type of trope AU, we'll be having a short interlude here.

Fusion AUs

In 2013, a show called Steven Universe premiered. While it can't take the original credit for the concept or the idea (I don’t know what can, though I hear Transformers has a similar concept), Steven Universe popularized the concept of two characters being able to merge their minds and bodies into a single, new, individual. AUs which incorporate this idea of characters being able to do this do not always incorporate the mechanics by which Steven Universe goes about it, and therefore I classify fusion AUs of this kind as trope AUs, unless explicitly put in the Steven Universe universe. When a fusion AU comes up in conversation without clarification, in modern fan-talk, a typical interpretation is that this is the kind of AU being talked about. 

However, "fusion AU" has, for much longer, been a term used to refer to a certain kind of crossover AU. These crossovers take characters from canon A and transplant them into canon B. For the sake of clarity, moving forward, I will be calling this category of AU (the second category of crossover AU, as mentioned above) transplant AUs. 

With that out of the way, we can go into greater detail. 

Classic Crossovers

The first category I will be calling the classic crossovers. These are the kinds you typically get out of TV shows and movies. In classic crossovers, story-lines and characters stay within their own individual canon and then meet another's canon on the same level. This can happen through the two worlds existing in the same setting all along, or through travel between two universes in a connected multiverse. Classic crossovers include the likes of the Avengers movies, or DCTV's CW crossover events, or some of those classic Disney Channel crossovers. Details of how these two worlds could exist in the same space may be glossed over, or pieced together where they overlap in order to fit the same space, but neither of these options fundamentally alter the canon. 

My own crossover fanfic, Heroes Under Drinking Age, is a classic crossover because it combines the worlds of the shows without altering the initial stories that their canon presented. 

Transplant Crossovers

As mentioned before, transplant AUs involve taking characters from one canon (canon A) and transplanting them into another (canon B). The types of transplant AUs discussed in this section have canon A's characters replace canon B's characters as the focus of the story. There are two kinds of basic transplant AUs: the framework AU, and what I affectionately call the hog wild AU. 

In a framework AU, the characters being transplanted from canon A take on the same rolls as the characters originally inhabiting canon B. This results in canon B's major characters being put to the side or eliminated. If you're making a framework AU, you'll ask yourself questions like "Which of the Harry Potter trio best embodies Luke Skywalker? Who, at that point, would be Leia? Who would be Han?" et cetera, et cetera. A framework AU will largely stay true to the plot beats of canon B, however a framework AU could just as easily go off the rails from the initial line up of characters and venture to new territory based on the new characters involved. At this point, the AU begins to resemble the second kind of transplant AU. 

A hog wild AU does not care to line up character roles from one canon to another. Major events of canon B's world may still take place, but the insertion of canon A's characters do not match up with canon B's original cast, and may consequently alter the world in new ways. Hog wild AUs treat canon B's set up as a playground for canon A's characters to explore, and to allow those characters to be explored in a new way by the author. In this way, these AUs share much in common with generic genre AUs, but the inclusion of a secondary setting with it's own canon solidifies the crossover classification. 

A hog wild AU may or may not eliminate canon B's characters entirely. If they do not, canon B's characters are far out of sight and do not appear within the new story. Transplant stories which include canon B's characters fall under another category,

Classic-Transplant

At the middle of the spectrum between classic and transplant AUs is another type of AU we can call the classic-transplant AU. These AUs transplant characters from canon A to canon B, but retain the characters and story of canon B. Maybe canon A's characters go through the story alongside canon B's characters. Maybe canon B's characters make minor appearances, implying that the new story with canon A's characters is influencing canon B's story. Either way canon B is not fundamentally disrupted by the inclusion of canon A’s characters.

The Fodder Effect

While I'm here I want to talk about a concept I've considered while thinking about transplant AUs: that is, good canon ends up becoming either character fodder or world fodder. 

Character fodder refers to canon which presents characters that are fun, well-rounded, and easy to move from world to world. Canon which can be considered character fodder is largely a matter of taste, but can generally be spotted by the size of the fandom and how prolific that fandom's spread of transplant AUs is. 

World fodder refers to a canon which presents a world which is so well-structured, fun, and inventive, that it's easy to transplant characters from anther canon into it's set-up. World fodder stories are easier to spot, as transplant AUs which use a world fodder canon's world as a model can be found across many, many, completely unrelated fandoms. The most popular world fodder story is probably Harry Potter, given that it has it's own AU title: the Hogwarts AU. Other examples would be Star Wars, or the Hunger Games. 

In Conclusion

This could obviously get even more complicated and I've probably missed a major category somewhere. Hopefully this can at least create some level of ease of talking about AUs, either when describing them to someone or when attempting to build one with someone an wanting to pick a category you feel the most comfortable writing from. For example, I do most crossovers as transplant AUs. From there I usually choose a framework style and refrain from going too hog wild with it. In other words, I tend to enjoy true framework transplant AUs. In canon divergent AUs, I also tend to prefer butterfly effect stories rather than tossing the canon entirely. In other words, butterfly effect canon divergence.

I hope this can be helpful for future AU discussion!

[perispinel]

Adventure Time Finale Liveblog

Already this episode is off to a weird start, starting with a flashforward in the future with two random one-off characters and- OH MY GOSH THEY FOUND FINN’S ARM AND THEY LIVE IN MARCELINE’S HOUSE NOW!

Did Finn like die? THis has to be a fakeout about this.

King of Ooo is alive far int he future? he melted in the fire as wax remember writers? 

Oh my gosh this is why they showed the Enchiridion episode last, Mount Kragdor is back!

the king of Ooo is BMO! Wait why does he have PB’s crown... oh my god BMO outlived everybody. he is unfazed by death

BMO is kickin’ em out already, what a savage

That arm is giving BMO some flashbacks. Awww adorable!

Heh after so long BMO is having trouble remembering Finn’s name.

The plot description said NEPTR was telling the story, they faked us out totally!

Finally, more Betty! 

Finally, more Maja!

Looking at Finn is like “you die eventually. BMO has your arm now.”

Having BMO narrate the whole story makes it sound like a five year old trying to describe World War II. 

Finally Duke of Nuts, my favorite character!

Literally no one likes him, he wants to be MacGyver

Justin Roiland has work while R n M is off

Princess Bubblegum is going the Leia route of going from Princess to General

Oh no a little cake spy.

Huntress Wizard, played by Mona Lisa from Parks and Rec, did a good job getting rid of that sky

Come along with me, it is time for war you seeeee

Marceline and PB better makeout RIGHT NOW Marceline, yes, please reconsider PB Oh geez Marceline is just casually like “I saw people die PB.” Marceline be like “I felt worse” all over us

Finn is right.

W-what? Finn whatcha goin on about with nightmares? I thought he was gonna break the fourth wall

I love when a war begins with someone repeating “WAR” over and over

Yep yep there goes the banana guards. What a great plan

“You’re weird” isn’t what I’d say honestly

He doesn’t know what fruit is apparently

Lemongrab is totally piiiiiissed... Oh he’s just sad.

Gumbald literally is backing UP because of them being serious Finny boy

Hey Fern, remember when I accidentally killed ya? Good times boi

“You’re a toddler” is the cue for “I kill you or you give up”

What a great time for a commercial break. 

Okay, time for my thoughts in-between the show: this is giving me crazy feelings. Like, knowing BMO outlives everyone, regardless of the war’s outcome... wait, BMO said Finn was heroic til the end right? Oh my gosh will Finn sacrifice himself? Well either way BMO probably SAW him die, old age or not. BMO is literally the imbodement of a child who doesn’t understand the consequences of anything. Back to the show!

Nice job making me almost sad BMO.

Unconscious world? That’s crazy man.

So no war? Aiight.

Finn was all like “go to dreamworld and talk things out” and they be like “let’s have a war again”

Ooh cool, let’s get those songs for the album here

Jake is going back to his roots

Ooh let’s get Tom Sharpling up in this guys

Aww poor Fern. 

PB isn’t reluctant at all to kill someone even if they look like Finn, as long as they be an enemy. 

Oh sweet evolution Fern! 

Fern is going the toddler solution, that’s fine.

Okay Greg from Steven Universe, enjoy your appearance while it lasts.

Is John DiMaggio spending the episode in a dream state?

Pinching people in the dreamworld really wakes you up? That’s dope.

W-what? why’d they just vibrate

Fern does sound like a knockoff Finn sometimes honestly. Heh prove you’re tormented Finn! 

Oh geez this is really dark, PB had a messup life. Recreating that scene for some symbolism I suppose!

Ooh subconscious world!

Aww his girlfriend is here- I wish I spoke korean.

It’s nice his kids- oh nevermind. 

Is this symbolism for him being connected to his wife like by the sides?

Hahah we got a fart joke everyone, wrap it up! Just kiddin I don’t care either way

I bet Pb is learning what it was like living as a completely unintelligent being without any choice. Will this cause some empathy?

Yeah repressed memories must smell awful.

Obviously Fern and Finn share the same memories, but it’s cool to see them confront it Mindful Education-style

I missed Adventure Time’s art style honestly. 

Oh I get it, Fern originated from the Finnsword.

Oh wow, all of that took place in the span of one second!

PB and Gumbald are learning empathy now, are we not having a war or?

“No no no that happened next.” Good job faking out the fake out.

I love these breaks telling us small bits of lore and secrets about what’s going on that we’re not noticing. Anyway, I am excited to find out what this portal is exactly- I’m guessing Magic Man, Betty, and Maga’s weird cryptic chant is gonna cause some big bad event. Will Adventure Time end with the end of the world? I’d be mega shocked if Finn just died. Wait why isn’t Marceline in the future? Realistically she should be there UNLESS she got killed, soooo... back to the show!! :D

We saved the day! Big scary baby is definitely good!

Wait Fern is in the real world now???

Ice King was just gonna leave until he had that flashback

It is so cute seeing Betty and Simon’s past, I wwant fanart of them having a happy life.

Did I mention FP is super cute? I love Flame Princess

This is getting quite dark man. Even Marcy is scared.

PB don’t martyr yourself

Aww what a great leader, telling her army to flee in terror instead of dying without purpose!

Oooh Fern is on good side now!

Gumball Guardians are her real children

Is this even a kids episode? this should be rared PG-13 man

I hope all this rogue gallery characters still get lines. oh there they go

Heh Jake and Amethyst have some similarities don’t they

Wow what a dark end for someone, skull cracks open and innards bounce around and endanger people

Ice King is the savior! How cute

This is more epic than Reunited but that’s not fair to say exactly, one is finale and one is a special

Oh no poor bananas, so dumb

Let’s go Jake, doing what he does best and being helpful!

Did Jake explode and die?

Remember when LSP and Lemongrab dated?

Aww Lemongrab and LSP is a canon ship, only straight ship allowed for those two

Come on Ice King, remember who you and Betty are!

Ice King is reciting the song from the episode. Oh my gosh come on dude, replace at least ONE word in the song silly!

Betty is too crazy to not throw a tantrum I guess.

Maga the Sky Witch- Kill Count 1

No no no Flame Princesssss! Maybe she’s okay?

Fernnn! 

Did PB just die? Oh my glob

Oh Marcy’s going back to her roots

Okay PB is alive, it’s fine.

Marceline just had a PLanet Hulk moment right there.

Aww it’s canon now guys! Marceline X Bubblegum eternally and they kissssed! Guys they made up for so long of teasing!

Oh no I think they’re breaking them apart layer-by-layer

Ice King is Simon again, yeyyy!

I love that the moment PB and Marcy are confirmed gay for real they just have them holding each other close to prove it even more

Finally Jakei s confirmed not dead

Oh no is Jake dead, 2.0.?

Finally we have a reason BMO knows what happens. He nearly died.

Okay so... Flame Princess and Fern are taken out while Maga is definitely dead. I have a feeling Marceline might die,or else we’ll need a thorough explanation for why she’s not living in her house. Like I can tell that this character voiced by Willow Smith is Jake’s descendant but Marceline is potentially an immortal I assumed so they wouldn’t have her be gone without explanation. Then, here’s a question: is Jake about to sacrifice himself to save BMO?? Also, BMO straight-up says the world ended so I have a feeling that he wasn’t just being coy.

Oh my glob, what’s about to happen. Jake and Finnn’s home is destroyed. 

BMO is getting deep. Okay HE’S SINGING THE SONG :D

Is this about to have a Rogue One ending? How is this going to end happily?

This song is meant to be bittersweet, no way is this a happy ending song guys.

Is BMO secretly badass? CARTOON CONSPIRACY No it’s just the power of music.

Oh I get it! Discord, Harmony, Music, it all makes sense! 

Oh literally everyone sings this! along with screaming!

They got so many voice actors for this! 

Is he going to explode? Oh my glob?

Here lies Finn. he was a good man. I love him. 

“No one gets to choose how it happens. the most important thing is that we’re here together.” Nice way to make me sad twice

Is Simon going to become Simon forever? What’s going on here? Is Betty going to get her bones crushed???

Aww how cute of you Betty. not making my heart any calmer

Ooh yes he’s Simon again :DDD

Oh my gosh this is a crazy kind of ending

Oh no I’m scared now.

thanks for the reminder of The Tandem Elephant’s existence man. Okay, so... this is crazy. Simon is back, like for real, he’s not dying or anything... Betty is potentially dead... Finn didn’t die, which is dope... my eyes are watering, definitely not about to cry. I can’t believe it I’m emotional over cartoon show wow. Just knowing I have eight more minutes until it for real is all over. Maybe I’ll just like, watch it again so I can pretend it didn’t end yet? No that’d be fake. I normally don’t even cry in situations where it’d make sense so this is telling for me I guess. These commercials really make me appreciate how good the show I’m watching are. :’D Okay so, I don’t think Magi actually died, although it’s hard to tell really since I didn’t get a good look at her. I have no idea what is about to happen but I am freaking out. 

Ultimate Adventure continues now

Oh wow Betty fused with the crystal boi

Simon and Marcy, reunited for real

Imagine how much it must suck to wake up after so long of being stuck as someone else

I DON’T FEEL SO GOOD. is that a reference... Oooniverse?

Okay so Gunter is the future beard boy I guess.

Oh wow they grew a Fern. and found a new sword. 

YES HE SCREAMED. THE BOY SCREAMSSS!

Thanks for disobeying me Finn

Finn officially has the singular arm. Dope.

Future baby boy has a big beard

Finn and Jake can’t live forever, this is the past yes

Ooh the music hole is here again! Epic callback broos

Ooh the hole sings the End Credits Song oh geez

New Ice King is Gunter, old ICe King is Simon

Ooh nice glimpses of what might become of some of our friends in the future

Ooooh Lemongrab and Jake get along better. 

Aww cute his dad is going to space now

Flame Princess and NEPTR friends forever

Jiggler callback! 

Susan is here!

Normal Man is cool!

Huntress Wizard continues to be fun! 

PB and Marcy are still gay, Pep But is still edgyyyy

THE HUMANS ARE BAAAAAACCCCCKKKK

They found the sword oh glorb! 

OH WOW THEY JUST HINTED AT WHAT A FUTURE ADVENTURE TIME SPINOFF WOULD BE LIKE!

I LOVE THE FACT THAT THEY DIDN’T RESET BUTTON US BUT DIDN’T KILL EVERYBODY OR SOMETHING! 

Okay I have a lot of thoughts... that was a ffinale. It really was. It was not something I got disappointed in because they didn’t wrap up anything. It wasn’t like waiting 10 years for 10 more episodes of a cartoon. It was like epic man. I naerly teared up guys. It didn’t end with a Reset Button like some finales would- Everything Stays, but it still changed. Sorry, this post is too long for anyone to read all the way through, but I still hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the last Adventure Time episode. A zillion out of ten guys.

[fyrapartnersearch]

Looking for tales and adventures!

Name:Rhys Age:20 Timezone:Central Email:dotiscat@gmail.com Hey there! I'm looking for long term, descriptive roleplay partners. I do m/m, m/f, f/f (+ any nonbinary or trans pairings!). I am also very wary of being approached with "I only do this gender" because I am very flexible, and just want many different characters on both of our ends. I do not appreciate stereotypical 'top/bottom' and 'seme/uke' tropes (please don't call it yaoi/yuri and/or give anime-esque face claims) and would like for relationships to remain as realistic as possible, meaning switching. I do smut. (Note: I don't roleplay with minors. Please be 18+. If you aren't a legal adult, I will not respond.) Fandoms ----- •Life is Strange (Max/Chloe, Max/literally anyone, Chloe/Rachel, Warren/Nathan, Rachel/Frank) •Game of Thrones (Gendry/Arya, Jon/Robb, Jon/Sansa, Jon/Ygritte, Robb/Theon, Robb/Talisa, Sansa/Margaery [video game>>] Mira/Sera, Asher/Gwyn, Rodrik/Arthur, Elaena/Gryff, Rodrik/Elaena, Mira/Margaery) •The Wolf Among Us (Bigby/Snow, Bigby/Woodsman, Bigby/Bloody Mary) •Steven Universe (Ruby/Sapphire, [aged up] Connie/Steven, Pearl/Rose/Greg, Pearl/Amethyst) •The Mortal Instruments (Alec/Magnus, Simon/Raphael, Isabelle/Simon, Isabelle/Lydia, Jace/Clary, Clary/Isabelle, Jace/Simon, Maia/Isabelle) •The Walking Dead (Rick/Daryl, Rick/Negan, Negan/Dwight, Daryl/Carol, Rick/Shane, Rick/Michonne, Michonne/Andrea, Glenn/Maggie [video game>>] Luke/Nick, Lee/Carley, Lee/Kenny, Eddie/Wyatt, Nate/Russel, David/Javier, Javier/Jesus, Javier/Kate, [aged up] Clementine/Gabriel) •The Last of Us (Joel/OC, Joel/Tess, [aged up?] Ellie/Riley) •Infamous; Second Son (Eugene/Delsin, Reggie/Delsin, Fetch/Delsin) •Marvel (Tony/Steve, Tony/Bruce, Bucky/Steve, Clint/Pietro, Clint/Phil, Natasha/Wanda, Peter/Wade, Peter/Harry, Peter/Gwen, Peter/Harry/Gwen, Wade/Vanessa, Wade/Peter/Vanessa) •Until Dawn (Chris/Josh, Chris/Mike, Ashley/Sam, Sam/Beth, Emily/Jess/Matt, Ashley/Chris) •Borderlands (Jack/Rhys, Jack/Rhys/Timothy, Fiona/Athena, Athena/Janey, Fiona/Yvette, Rhys/Vaughn, Jack/Nisha, Axton/Rhys, Axton/Maya, Maya/Lilith, Lilith/Roland, Timothy/Wilhem, Jack/Nisha/Rhys) •Underland Chronicles (Gregor/Luxa, [aged up] Gregor/Howard) •Uncharted (Nathan/Sam, Nathan/Harry, Nathan/Elaena, Chloe/Nadine, Sam/Rafe) •DC (Bruce/Dick, Harley/Ivy, Oliver/Dinah, Dick/Jason) •Brokeback Mountain (Ennis Del Mar/Jack Twist) •Shutter Island (Andrew Laeddis/Chuck Aule) •Hamilton: An American Musical (Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Alexander Hamiton/Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton/Angelica Schuyler, Elizabeth Schuyler/Maria Reynolds, Aaron Burr/Theodosia Prevost, Philip Hamilton/Theodosia Burr, Lafayette/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton/George Washington, Lafayette/Hercules Mulligan) •Eyewitness (US): (Philip/Lucas) •Heathers: Kurt/Ram, Veronica/Heather M., Veronica/Heather C., Veronica/JD --- I don't do canon/oc, but can be convinced for some, I am all for it! If you don't see a certain pairing you're looking for, approach me with it! I may have forgotten or whatnot and could easily be swayed for that pairing! ---- I would love to chat OOC. Being friends is what really makes this work! I want to hear about what's going on in your life. I want to be someone that you can lean on! If I do not reply to an email within the span of a few days, it may be because it got lost in my inbox. Just send it again if this occurs! I write in third person, past/present tense, and in paragraph form. I'm going to be honest, if you show disinterest with one liners and very limited two-paragraphed responses to my six, then I will most likely not respond. I want to be friends, and get along, but if someone doesn't want to put in the effort, I understand. I know life is busy, and you don't always have time, but if it's a constant one-two paragraphs and not at least giving me a heads up that you'll be gone, I'm not going to accept it when I specified that I just want something over three. :( I feel bad for doing this, but it just gets tiring to try awfully hard and get a disinterested response in return. Original plot ideas ------ •Therianthropic medieval nobles that have to tame the beasts within themselves in the midst of a war. ((This is an extremely descriptive, multiple character plot that I have pre-planned.)) •Super duo/team coming together to defeat a mass villain/conflict •Pandemic survivor must take an immune survivor across the US in order to extract the cure (credit to The Last of Us) •Future where androids/robots are used as helpers for just about anything, for example: Keeping disabled and elderly people company in their homes, doing odd jobs to assist humanity, etc. among this, most people who don't need them as companions are very prejudice against the AI. It is up to our characters to stop the impending war between AI and human. (Credit to I, Robot. Two of our main characters can be a human and an AI! :V) •Assassin roleplay (can be assassin/target, assassin/assassin. historical or modern) •Explorers looking for a treasure on the coast of a tropical island(credit to the Uncharted series! Can be romantic or platonic) •Time traveller gets stuck in time, and another person has to help them get back to the reality they came from. • Oceanologists go to a secluded island to study the plants and sea life in the water, and on a scuba dive, discover creatures unlike anything they've ever seen. People with tails and scales! (Merpeople! :D Can be romantic, like all the others) •Person goes to live in a very wealthy relatives home after they pass away, and learns how secluded the neighborhood really is, with a small village of less than 30 people, and nothing more. Supernatural occurrences ensue, and characters must stop the thing/creature as it starts taking people in the night. •Detective duo goes to a secluded mental penitentiary together in order to solve the case of a patient that went missing out of nowhere. Throughout their journey, detective 1 is separated from their partner, and is put through a series of trials in order to find their missing patient. What they think is going on isn't what it appears to be. (credit to the movie Shutter Island. Heavily influenced on the plot, and will contain many, many triggers. Such as murder, mental illness, and deception.) •Original Game of Thrones House, story, and positions!!! (CRAVING VVVV MUCH AHHH) ------------ Limits: I cannot do pedophilia, mpreg, beastiality and/or furries, gun/knife kink, bathroom stuff, a/b/o, or gruesomely detailed rape/forced sexual interactions. Other than that, anything is fair game. Please don't contact me with a "hey, wanna rp?" I appreciate you adding things about yourself, and things pertaining to the RP like your limits and what interests you most! :) thank you! I apologize if I seem straight forward or offend anyone over some specifics I want, but I promise I am much, much more friendly and relaxed when we talk OOC.

[mismagireve]

Got a few of the fanfic question themed around time! Saturday, August, September, Tomorrow, and Yesterday (PS, sorry that it's a long list!!)

saturday: what gets you excited whilst writing?

When something comes easier than expected, or when I get an idea that really gets the ball rolling!  Alternatively, when I’ve just realized something that I think is very clever and I just can’t wait until everyone gets to see it.

august: are any of your fics associated with certain genres/artists/songs/etc? 

Uhhhhh.  I don’t think I’ve done a songfic before, but my Grima Series is named and themed after the song “Everything Stays” from Adventure Time.  As for stories I haven’t written yet but plan to, I do have some concepts for stories based on songs!

The Villain Of This Story, for example, is a concept based on and named after the song of the same name by Machinae Supremacy.

Oleanders In June is named after a line from the song “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” that I’d planned on having as a recurring motif in the story, since it’s based on the idea of longing for something that you could never go back to.

The series currently named Alta Adalrica Saves Tamriel has installments named after the song “Gently As She Goes”, which I encountered while playing Skyrim and loved so much that it singlehandedly transformed how I was planning on doing my Skyrim novelization.  Additionally, since the player character I was going to have as my protagonist is a bard, I’d planned for all the chapters of her story to be named after songs that I think fit the theme of what happens in that particular chapter.

On the flipside, the series Love Like You is named after the song of the same name from Steven Universe, but has no real relation to the song beyond the main theme of loving someone.

september: share a comment or review which still warms your heart?

Honestly all my reviews warm my heart?  But to pick a specific one,,,, a while back before i’d posted chapter 6 of He Who Invites, a very nice person had gone through all five chapters of the story at the time and left very in-depth comments of what they thought of what was going on in that chapter, what they felt like I’d done well, and what they thought were plot hooks and jokes for further chapters.

I honestly felt as flustered as I was flattered because I had no idea how to react to such enthusiasm and felt like they were giving me too much credit for some of the things they’d noticed.

tomorrow: favourite ways to write fluff?

Domestic shit.  Two or more characters doing something totally normal just to have a chance to show what their interactions are like, like Hero making Drakath a flower crown partly as a joke in Flower Crown, or the Batfamily being a family in The Bat And The Billionaire.  There’s a lot of fluff potential to be had in the everyday affection that a lot of us take for granted!

yesterday: favourite way to write angst? 

Generally I get an idea and just take it to its logical conclusion. Flowers for Mister Mind and Athazagoraphobia originally started as the ideas “What would happen if one of Billy Batson’s villains died?” and “What would happen if Miraak’s memory was subject to normal human limits and he didn’t remember all 4000+ years of his life?” respectively.

I also really like ambiguous endings when it comes to angst.  For example, the “Waking Up With Amnesia AU“ chapter of Prompted to Speak, which originally was posted here as a prompt fill, has an ambiguous ending that makes it seem very unlikely that the situation presented in the story is ever going to get better.

Another thing I like is having a regular story that swerves into angst territory with the last line, forcing the reader to reexamine the story they’d just read within the new context.  Let’s Stop Making The Mistakes Of The Past (And Start Making The Mistakes Of The Future)—which is nsfw—ends at a moment of horrific realization, leaving it up to the reader to imagine what happens next after Hero has put the pieces of the puzzle together.  The last line of A Day Like Any Other Without You builds on a plot point in the source material that the narrator isn’t yet aware of, and Athazagoraphobia combines this with the ambiguous ending for quite the 1-2 punch, if all the people that have been yelling at me in the tags are any indication.

And there’s all your answers!  No worries about the length, this was a lot of fun!  I am going to link to the original list though, so it’s easier for people (and me) to find though.

[musingsofmaniacs]

The Wachowskis - Reloaded

“The real violence, the violence I realized was unforgivable, is the violence that we do to ourselves, when we’re too afraid to be who we really are.” 

                                                                              —Nomi, from Sense8

Imagine if, 10 years ago, a transgender director with 2 back-to-back flops that costed $100 million each, whose last hit happened 13 years ago pitches an idea for a science-fiction series centered around 8 people who somehow are psychically connected to each other, dealing with complex issues including LGBT rights , shot in 8 different parts of world including places as far as India, strewn with little known faces. Now she wants you, an executive from The Studio, to throw your money at it. Of course you will turn it down.

That’s why Netflix has been a gift to the world of television. A platform where you could experiment with bold ideas with corporate backing and without tight budgetary constraints and reach the right audiences. One half of the credit goes to Netflix for agreeing to Sense 8, which had its first season coming out in 2015.

The other half of course goes to the visionary duo of Lilly and Lana Wachowski, the Wachowski sisters. Wachowskis are known to be reclusive as they rarely give out interviews, preferring to let their work do the talking. They started as Wachowski Brothers with a little known indie-thriller about a lesbian couple scamming off millions of dollars. But their watershed moment of course came in 1999 with Matrix. The thinking man finally got an action film, and suddenly the whole world started questioning the nature of their reality, while trying to stop imaginary bullets with their hands.

The film is now an undisputed classic changing the landscape of sci-fi films with slo-mo action sequences, slick trench coats, slicker shades and spartan, monochromatic, and polished backgrounds for depicting dystopia. Blending Buddhism, Advaita Hinduism, Christianity, Messianism, existentialism, and nihilism with green tone, smooth action sequence and eclectic music, The Matrix cemented its position as one of the greatest films ever.

There is No Spoon

The sequels were as bad as the part I was good, and the good times made themselves scarce for the duo for considerable part of the next 10 years. Animatrix got a lukewarm response, though it is a recommended watch. The only hit they saw was V for Vendetta, in which they had screenwriting credit. Amidst this, Larry transitioned to Lana and took a break. Speed Racer went kaput, few short movies went unnoticed, a few more Matrix video-games here and there and we arrive at Cloud Atlas.

Cloud Atlas proved to be the most divisive movie of the year. You either loved it or you hated it. It was one of the most difficult-to-film novels, and the story was too risky for big shots like Warner Bros. to back. Cloud Atlas remains the costliest Indie movie ever made, with a budget of 100 Million Dollars which it unfortunately failed to recover.

I happen to belong to the former category, and Cloud Atlas was the film that truly cemented my respect for the duo, making them one of my favorite directors. It only got better with Sense8. So what gives? Why are they brilliant? Are their movies that good? Eh… not really. Many a times, plot feels not-too-fleshed out. Dialog feels too contrived, and this is especially my complaint with Sense8. Acting can get ham-handed to the point that it makes you cringe. Look no further than the Indians in Sense8, Tina Desai and Purab Kohli for proof. Yikes.

But I am eagerly waiting for the second season. And I was bowled over by Cloud Atlas, as I was when I experienced The Matrix. That siblings to bring to us such brave, bold and risky ventures in the face of a possibility abject failure hanging on their heads like a sword is absolutely worth cherishing. It boggles one’s mind to realise that there are multitudes of stories, events and lives that deserve to but will never see the silver screen, because the executives up there are too afraid to lose money or audiences over it, thinking the masses will not accept it. Or the directors feel discomfited stepping even an inch out of their comfort zone, preferring to stay within the neat little boxes that guarantee profits. How many pointless Marvel, DC, X-Men, Fast and Furious sequels have we had to endure that add no value to their respective universes but are sure shot cash cows because the fanboys will gobble it up like an over-sweetened cotton candy? The permutations and combinations of concepts, arcs, elements, and characters that will make for a cinema experience worth remembering but won’t get made, because they may not get the cash registers ringing or they may not pass the censors, is too damn high.

I know, I know, we live in a real world where real money by real people with real stakes are involved and there is nothing wrong in making honest money by making people forget their blues for an hour and half. But are the directors not doing a disservice to their mind-blowing talent by not taking risks and making the movies they really want to make? Joss Whedon, the man who concocted Firefly, is now stuck with making formulaic Avengers films with Tony Stark’s tired smart-ass lines. Steven Spielberg made the god awful Indiana Jones part IV that brought in the dough anyway. James Cameron will resurrect Avatar, a studio requirement that has him tied up and committed to things he would otherwise dread.

Kids, don’t try this at home. Or during a Nuclear Armageddon.

And that is why, when the duo were free from the clutches of The Studio, Cloud Atlas happened. The ambitiousness of the story, the boldness of the concept, and idea and the audacity to spend big money on it and bring it to life is enthralling to see, filling one with hope that the idea of taking risks and walking along the road not taken is not dead. The film, with its scale, depth, and compassion imprints onto the patron, so that they can take the film with them home. More importantly, if one feels that a homage to Wachowskis for their intentions is like a Nobel Prize to Obama for the same, the film is highly enjoyable and entertaining. Hugh Grant, the crown prince of chocolate boys, plays variety of villains, including a barbaric tribal, and that’s another reason why this is a recommended watch. Better still, Hugo Weaving, ‘Mr Anderson’ and a Wachowski favorite, plays an old mean lady, a Nurse Ratched of old age home if you will.

Which makes their push to Sense8, after Cloud Atlas spectacular debacle, all the more laudable. Sense8 has a gay actor hiding his identity, a transgender woman as a part of lesbian couple, a woman fighting misogyny at the highest level, a policeman who inherited a haunting unsolved case,  and a myriad mix of other sensates, struggling with finding their places in the worlds, that are connected mentally, can communicate with each other mentally, can experience things other sensate is experiencing, can possess a fellow sensate’s body and can make love to a fellow sensate! To top it all, an evil organisation is trying to track down these sensates, like a witch hunt.

The opening quote about violence we do unto ourselves, by the transgender character in the series, becomes all the more relevant when you consider the struggle the directors had with their transition. The character who is hiding his sexuality from the world perhaps resonates with Andy hiding the Lilly in her from the world, until it was forced out of her by an evil brand of journalism that the likes of Daily Mail relish in. A great work of art is, after all an artist baring himself onto the celluloid and audience’s gate pass to the the artist’s mind palace. Lilly’s and Lana’s is a dazzling, formidable, brave, fresh, creative and interesting. Netflix is the gatekeeper in shining armor. Buy that ticket.

PS: Tom Tykwer and J Michael Straczynski also share credits for Cloud Atlas and Sense8 respectively. Tykwer is of course the brilliant German director of Run Lola Run fame and latter is the creator of Babylon 5.

PPS: If you are wondering how I conveniently missed Jupiter Ascending, well, while it does nothing to improve the tonality of this article from that of a fanboy ramble to that of an objective piece, I believe the duo do get a few strikes. Besides, 5 minutes into the movie, I couldn’t stand it. Lilly and Lana still have a bit to go to achieve greatness.

[sharethisgemwithme]

“That Will Be All” instant reaction

[Written on January 16. I was blind to this episode, with the exception of tiny leaks and Youtube screenshots, as well as the title card. Comments related to those spoilers are footnotes, marked with [#].]

The big finish. It's gonna be a tough fit to get all of the loose plot ends tied together. I know a few isolated things that will happen [7], but I don't know how the pieces will fit together. I have some theories though (and this is part of why I didn't just watch the whole thing in one hour; taking a day or two to theorize between episodes is my favorite thing to do). Amethyst guards were in the Zoo, and one of them grabbed Steven and Greg. Now, I didn't see our Amethyst... WAIT. At 11:04 of "The Zoo", the Amethyst saying "Sure you will" had her gem on her chest... nah, the hair and eye color don't match up. Anyway, presumably all of the Amethysts got an "All hands on deck" alert telling them they needed to restore order, so our Amy will be aware of what's happening, and will find a way to get to Steven and Greg, and break them out. I dunno where it goes from there, but that's my hunch. Now... something that I just thought up in the last day or two, that I might or might not have if I hadn't seen the various screenshots. We're told in one of these episodes, I think it was "Heist", that Era 2 began with the fall of Earth, and Peridot was created during Era 2. So gem production (not on Earth, but universe-wide) didn't end after the Rebellion. Which brings up a question: did they ever attempt to replace Pink Diamond? I know there are theories that the gaping hole in Russia was because of whatever was used to make PD, but I don't subscribe to the idea that PD was made on Earth (I also don't believe Rose was either, that's a whole other story). In any event, though, Diamonds must be incredibly hard to make. Is the three-leader system sufficient? Were there attempts to bring out a new fourth leader that failed? Just throwing stuff out there. The one thing that I did intentionally peek at ahead of time was the title card. I wanna know what I'm getting myself in for, and tonight we've got "Written and Storyboarded by: Colin Howard, Joe Johnston and Rebecca Sugar". So YEAH. Now I know. What I'm getting. Myself into. The last explicit RS credit was on "Alone at Sea", and the last time she joined up with an established pair was all the way back at "Keystone Motel", more than 50 episodes ago. Wait. This is JOE, not Jeff. Joe "I graduated from storyboarding" Johnston. We bringing out all the big guns tonight. The only previous times Joe and Rebecca were both credited as storyboarders (alongside Jeff Liu) were "Lion 3" and "Jail Break".

OK, enough stalling. I gotta do this tonight, because I'm back to work tomorrow. As always, I’m watching straight through with no pauses or rewinds; the clock starts as close to “We!” as possible.

0:00 - One last ride, everybody. For now. 0:21 - Silent and foredboding. 0:30 - Oh that's not good. 0:35 - And they found out Amethyst. 0:45 - Party animals? 0:54 - Oh wait. They're Earthlings. 1:06 - Yep, they're pals. 1:23 - I'm gonna need captions. 1:31 - And there's a second Kindergarten gem. Beta. Yeah. 1:42 - Wha? Oh, Carnelian. 1:54 - Well there we go. 2:08 - Hey Holly, go fuck yourself. 2:24 - RUN FOR IT 2:35 - uhhhhh what? 2:44 - THAT'S A SHIT-TON OF BUBBLED GEMS. 2:52 - She's baaack. 3:04 - Aaaaaaaaaaand SHEEEEEEEEEEE'S BACK! 3:15 - OK, its Yellow. She only looked pink because of the room. 3:33 - So these are other quartzes. 4:00 - OK. A song. 4:06 - Pearl duet? 4:13 - And that's a discordant harmony. 4:35 - What's the use of feeling blue? Insert a comma at your own peril. 4:59 - Gems have a use. And without that use... what are they. 5:24 - This is great (as a song), but harsh (as a message). 5:45 - Patti Lupone can fucking sing. But we already knew that. 6:06 - Do you really miss her? You've moved on. 6:21 - That Diamond melody is disturbing at all times. 6:39 - "That will be all". FUCK HER UP, PEARL. 6:50 - And this is not gonna be good for Ruby. 7:05 - Uh-oh. 7:19 - She's freezing up. 7:27 - Become Garnet. Do it! 7:41 - They don't recognize her. 7:58 - So are they gonna go back again? 8:08 - So we haven't actually resolved anything... But we're now ready to escape. 8:23 - Hold on a little longer, Sapphire. 8:40 - If we leave without Holly getting what's coming to her, I'm gonna be pissed. 9:04 - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 9:18 - DON'T TALK. JUST FUCKING GO. 9:32 - Oh shit. 9:38 - And there we go. 9:52 - The other Amethysts love it! 10:12 - Who the fuck gonna shatter them? 10:21 - Please stab her. With your spear, not just your words. 10:34 - OK, that'll do. I guess. 10:56 - Don't apologize for wanting answers, Steven! Answers are important!

INSTANT REACTION - A reasonable conclusion to the arc, and it sets the table for more. Blue and Yellow know Earth is still around, and they might want more specimens for the SUPER CREEPY ZOO, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them back on Earth again in, oh, ten episodes? I'm wondering whether there will be any payoff to telling Connie, Peridot, and Lapis to hold down their respective forts. Presumably if it were going to be a one-line joke, we would've gotten it at the tail end here. Or are they actually going to pick up the Rubies on the way home, and not land until the end of next episode? That was a pretty solid song, I'll have to listen to it again a few more times, with lyrics. Steven is almost going out of his way to learn the WRONG lesson at the end, and hopefully Greg successfully talked him out of it. Wanting answers is perfectly reasonable, especially given the situations he gets put in. Had he been given a steady diet of answers over time, he might have found out about the palanquin (which, of course, HE didn't see in "The Answer", since Garnet was telling him a story; this leads to a pet peeve of mine in "Same Old World" but I'm getting way off track) before Blue Diamond was on Earth, and we could've all had a nice talk about it. Instead, the gems stalled until telling him would lead to a crisis, and NOT telling him also led to a crisis. As I suspected, we basically didn't deal with the Zoo at all, and we genuinely may never see those people again. Which, come on, what the fuck. Physics doesn't matter in SU, so I doubt it, but it'd be neat if the people on Earth spent more than a week waiting for the gang's return. If they weren't using FTL motion, time dilation would result in everyone they know and love being long dead when they returned, but FTL motion is allowed to break all rules. But there was a good chunk of relativistic motion before the warp.

[spryfilm]

“I, Tonya” (2017)

Drama/Comedy

Written by: Steven Rogers

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Featuring:  Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney

Tonya Harding: “I mean, come on! What kind of friggin’ person bashes in their friend’s knee? Who would do that to a friend?”

Towards the end of every year there are multiple films released that are aimed at garnering some awards success as well as, of course, making some impact at the box office, thereby becoming ‘must see’ films. Many of these films are based on real events or use real people as subjects, thereby having something to hook people in with. So we have the new Margot Robbie film “I, Tonya” (2017), that is not only about a real person but is framed by a real event – although as you watch the movie the motivations for that event as well as who was actually involved is called into question. That event was the assault on rival ice skater Nancy Kerrigan. “I, Tonya” might call into question what you know about the subject, Tonya Harding, as well as that incident. Or, it might not, which in the end is the inherent strength and weakness of this film, which leads directly into its motivation as well as actual quality.

Directed by Australian Craig Gillespie probably best known for the Ryan Gosling starring quirky independent “Lars and the Real Girl” (2007) this new film sees him moving into more serious territory along with star Margot Robbie, who you can see wants to be taken more seriously. This is done by taking a well-known tabloid star (in this case Tonya Harding and her brood), the story she is known for, then giving the narrative a twist and throwing in some other camera tricks, such as the famous ice-skating moves the subject is known for. Gillespie has made a technically good film with a narrative that matches the story, however where it gets lost is that it is knowingly does not take itself seriously while it deals with some pretty real as well as serious issues.

The film starts in the mid 1970s with a four year-old Tonya whose mother forces her into figure skating by aggressively pursuing a local trainer and using cruelty and negligence to make her daughter skate. As Tonya grows up, she rapidly becomes one of the best figure skaters in the United States after her mother takes her out of school to focus exclusively on her athletic career. I will not go any further into the plot as much of the enjoyment of the film is not knowing portions of what occurs, particularly in the last half of I, Tonya.

The narrative (as well as the performances) are the unique parts of this film which can be seen in the trailers, so there are no surprises going into it, although it can be quite jarring. “I, Tonya” plays almost everything for laughs which in my mind is a huge error. The narrative plays out with faux interviews featuring all of the principal characters talking directly to the camera as they explain portions of the story, then we see that portion acted out. All of the characters tell their own versions of what is occurring, which means there might be confusion as well as conflicting views of the same events. This is a device used to ratchet up the importance of what is happening as well as reducing the negative elements much like Scorsese did in his often-lambasted movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). That particular device was a mistake then, and it is a mistake here. It literally lets all of the characters off the hook; this is egregious as they are all not the most positive or honest people around. When elements that are being dealt with are parental physical abuse, partner physical abuse, possible rape as well as physical harm to a third person, this is not something that should be made light of. In saying that, I do believe that there is room for humor in all films, but when you treat some crimes like they are treated here it is not fair to let audiences decide what is played for humor and what is played in reality.

There is no doubt that there is a real buzz about seeing some of these actors playing outsized roles, led by Margot Robbie as the titular character Tonya, here she goes from adolescence through to her adult life, all the while being interviewed as the character. Robbie is very good; you can see she has done her homework, but to be honest this does not seem a million miles from her characterization of Harley Quinn from the recent “Suicide Squad” (2016). The revelation (although not if you have followed her career) is Allison Janney as Harding’s mother, who for most of the film is in a breathing apparatus as she dishes on the kind of mother she was (horrible), as well as seeing her in re-enacted scenes being nothing short a ‘Mommy Dearest’. There has been early talk of awards consideration but I think that the performance is possibly too good for this film. The rest of the cast is formidable led by Sebastian Stan as Harding’s husband who here really gets to shine in ways not seen in his stint in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then there is, Julianne Nicholson as Harding’s long suffering coach, in an understated role, she is just as excellent as Janney but not as flashy. Overall all the actors’ carry out their jobs very well, it is just a shame about that the creative choices made by the director, for me these are insurmountable.

One of the highlights of the movie is the way in which the difference in the economic situation of Harding and her family are in direct opposition to how the skating world wanted their skaters to appear. This is not only a tragedy for Harding, but speaks to something more in the psyche of sports not only in the US but throughout the world. There are many signs as to why the skating establishment did not only shun Harding but plainly thwarted her efforts to be a star. Harding wore low-rent costumes, did not have a hair and make-up person, skated to popular music as well as heavy metal and her routines were highly charged. In many ways she was a rule breaker in that she could see that appealing to a wider audience meant she would be more successful than other established skaters. If there had have been more of a concentration on that portion of the story then this might have been a better film and explained her actions in the last third of the movie more clearly.

There are times when a film should be great, it has so much going for it that it should not only live up to expectations but also surpass them. In this case it unfortunately does not, there are very definite bright spots in the film, the performances are all very good as well as the skating work being outstanding which is a main part of the film. In fact the CGI work is not bad considering what is being asked of the special effects team. I do wish the film had moved away from the sensationalist aspect of the narrative so that it did treat all the physical violence a bit more seriously, but regardless of that this is still an entertaining movie on its surface but it will not stay with you much longer after the credits role. This is such a missed opportunity as it could have been an interesting analysis of the media as well as sports and the Olympics. If you want to have some fun with laughs and little depth then this will be for you.

“I, Tonya” is released on the 25th January 2018.

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  Film review: “I, Tonya” (2017) "I, Tonya" (2017) Drama/Comedy Written by: Steven Rogers Directed by: Craig Gillespie Featuring:  Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney…

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Most Anticipated Movies of 2018 (Part 2 of 2)

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Most Anticipated Movies of 2018 (Part 2 of 2)

Continuing the first part which previews some hotly-anticipated sequels in 2018, this second part discusses some of the most promising new movies, spin-offs and remakes in the coming year. To name some of them, there are “”, a female-driven spin-off of Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s” trilogy, “”, a new take on the 1937 film of the same name, and a new iteration of the popular video game by Crystal Dynamics, “”.

In superhero class, of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and of the DC Extended Universe are getting their own solo movies. One of Spider-Man’s arch-nemeses also gets the same treatment in “”. Meanwhile, “” is going to kick off the new “X-Men” movie series.

Aquaman

Release date: December 21

The protector of the seas is ruling his own solo movie in next year’s “”, with reprising the role he first played in 2016’s “”. The world got to see more of Momoa as the Trident-wielding superhero in Zack Snyder’s recently-released “”. In addition to giving Aquman an expanded role, “Justice League” introduced audiences to his powers as well as the undersea kingdom of Atlantis that would heavily factor into the plot of his stand-alone film, which will give more screen time to people around Aquaman like his love interest Mera, who is portrayed by .

Black Panther

Release date: February 16

The first ever Marvel film centering on a black superhero, “” mixes advanced technology and men’s strengths at his most animalistic level in most of its battles. Set in African nation named Wakanda, the story centers on Prince T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther (), who made his debut in “”, on his quest to avenge his father’s death. While some comic-book adaptations were criticized for casting white actors for non-white characters, the Ryan Coogler-directed film embraces diversity, with 90% of the cast either African or African American. Among them are , , and , joined by who reprises his role as Everett K. Ross.

The New Mutants

Release date: April 13

Fox is expanding its “X-Men” franchise with “”. Unlike most “X-Men” films, this upcoming film has much darker tone and some horror genre vibes as suggested by the first trailer. Inspired by the Demon Bear storyline in the comics, the film takes place in present days. and play two of five young mutants who fight to escape their past sins and save themselves. Likely related to Mirage’s ability to create startlingly realistic hallucinations, the movie has a “rubber reality,” meaning that “the place they’re in becomes more spacious when it needs to,” giving a lot for the movie to play with its visuals.

Ocean’s 8

Release date: June 8

Those who’ve been missing the heist-based shenanigans of , , and their team of thieves in the “Ocean’s” movie series must be glad to know that a spin-off is coming to U.S. theaters in mid-2018. Titled “”, it is an all-female take on the franchise, with leading the insanely cool, all-star cast that includes , , , , , and YouTube sensation Awkwafina. Directed by the filmmaker behind “” film franchise, the new heist movie remains connected to the original trilogy, as Bullock’s character is the estranged sister of Danny Ocean (Clooney). As if it’s not star-studded enough, there will be a lot of celebrity cameos, with , , , , and Anna Wintour set to make appearance.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Release date: May 25

A character beloved by most “Star Wars” fans, Han Solo is getting his own solo film. After his standout performance in “”, gets the honor to play the young Solo, with Emmy Award winner at his side as Lando Calrissian. Styled as a space Western film, it centers on the young smuggler before he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. Joonas Suotamo, who played Chewbacca in “” and “”, returns as Han’s loyal sidekick and co-pilot. “” star plays a new character named Kira who is linked to Han, and plays a mentor who has a key role in ‘s journey to adulthood.

A Star Is Born

Release date: October 5

“A Star Is Born” may have been rebooted in the big screen multiple times, but you are lucky to be able to see a big singer like starring in this latest take. Making his directorial debut with this project, also stars as a musician named Jack who meets an unknown talented woman, Ally (GaGa, credited as Stefani Germanotta). As the two begin a passionate love affair, Jack coaxes Ally into the spotlight, catapulting her to stardom. But as Ally’s career quickly eclipses his own, Jack finds it increasingly hard to handle his fading glory. Capturing the authentic feel, the performance scenes were filmed at actual music festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury. And as if having GaGa in the cast is not benefiting enough, the Mother Monster also lent her songwriting talent for the movie.

Tomb Raider

Release date: March 16

“Tomb Raider” is getting a reboot treatment, two decades after the original movie starring was released. As all good reboots should be, it won’t just be an update of Lara Croft. Changing what Lara Croft represents, the new movie sees our primary protagonist as a “survivor.” Moreover, ‘s version of the character will be more faithful to the game, with the 2013 video game of the same name as the basis. Expected to end the series of failure of video game adaptations, “Tomb Raider” tells the engaging story within the frame of an action-adventure film.

Venom

Release date: October 5

Are you a fan of Venom? Then it’s good news for you. One of Spider-Man’s famous arch-nemeses has finally got his own movie. After making his big-screen debut in Sam Raimi’s 2007 movie “”, where he was played by , the host of symbiote is back in this solo movie with taking on the role. Despite being produced around the same time, “”, which is rated R, won’t feature Marvel’s current version of Spider-Man, which is played by . But don’t worry, as Marvel and Sony are believed to be leaving the possibility open for Hardy’s Eddie Brock to crossover with Holland’s Peter Parker in the future.

A Wrinkle in Time

Release date: March 22

The first major motion picture adaptation of the classic novel written by Madeleine L’Engle since the 2003 TV-movie adaptation, “” is a sci-fi movie appealing to both kids and adults. It follows a young girl named Meg, played by Storm Reid, who goes on desperate search of her father. The star-studded cast also includes , and . Those who’ve read the book must know that music is an important element to the plot and it’s interesting to find out how the score composed by ‘s guitarist Johnny Greenwood for the movie sounds like.

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