#and also I feel like Ollie was pretty out of character during like the entire thing

[icarian-avis]

Roy character sheet, as promised

[the5n00k]

Scratch in Scratch the Surface vs I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie

[[[spoilers for season 2]]]

Long post sorry

I've been comparing these two episodes a lot, especially after the song Ghosts Aren't the Enemy from Book Marks the Sprite reminding me SO much of Lose-Lose from season 1. The conflicts are pretty similar, Molly has to keep someone from finding out about Scratch because of real and disastrous consequences, although instead of the flow of failed phantoms, this season it's the ghost chaser Chens. They aren't directly comparable since the contexts are different (Libby is a close friend and Ollie is a romantic interest) ((I'M SPEAKING CANONICALLY DON'T KILL ME SHIPPERS)) and the plot of Some-Ollie isn't really "hide Scratch" it's more focused on Molly and Ollie's relationship and how Scratch is reacting to it. Speaking of which:

Scratch's reaction to Molly's concerns about Libby is very dismissive. He doesn't really care about her and he's not super invested in Molly's personal problems either. The only times he's helped her out (at this point in the series) is when it personally affects him or he feels familiar pity for her. (First Day Frights and The Best Concert Ever are good examples of this) He's not completely won over by her antics yet. And while he is concerned for her wellbeing at this point, it's more like the sort of concern and worry you feel when you see somebody who's clearly not gonna be able to make the entire 5k run. Like you're worried but it's better if you just don't get involved. Baseline empathy, really

He does start cracking when Molly asks if she can tell Libby because she's misinterpreting the situation. Even during this, Molly doesn't break Scratch's trust and doesn't outright tell her without asking first. Knowing what we know about Scratch now, I think he's always had a soft spot for friendships and hates seeing them end, even subconsciously. He smiles as Molly runs away to catch up with Libby but he's still not happy about it. Yeah he warms up to Libby but telling anyone about him is a potential danger, especially if they feel the need to tell anyone else.

And in Friend-Off, he didn't really have a justifiable reason to be a jerk to Libby other than Molly's scavenger hunt they were both forced to do. Everything he said (both of them said really) was out of a place of pure jealousy. He even admits that at the end of the episode.

What's important to point out is this entire episode he's only thinking about himself (not an uncommon trend for this character) and is only willing to sacrifice when pushed to do so. Not saying he's necessarily written badly in this episode, far from it, but it is quite a contrast between that and his actions in the season 2 episode 5a segment I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie.

I'd like to preface this with one of the scrapped titles for this ep was "Molly's Choice" and I think that will haunt me till I die that's such an evil title

I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie is a VERY compelling episode. While the set up for it and Scratch the Surface is similar, this one feels like it has more stakes involved. Molly has a crush on Oliver Chen, a ghost hunter, and you can see how that could immediately cause issues. Scratch is even more dismissive towards Molly at points because of this, even colder and snappier than some of season 1a in my opinion. (For good reason obviously) and while Scratch's concerns here are mostly fear for his own safety, it's also jealousy. If he was so worried about Ollie catching him, he wouldn't be around him at all, let alone trying to sabotage the dance.

Molly doesn't take the threat the Chens pose very seriously and dismisses most of Scratch's concerns. (Not that she's a bad friend for this, she just thinks they're silly YouTubers and wants to enjoy a middle school dance) Scratch eventually blows up on her and they get into a rather brutal argument for an episode 5 of a DTVA show. It's presented in the usual silly way but they both say some rather insensitive things to each other in the heat of the moment.

We've NEVER seen them disagree this hard on anything. They've had differing opinions before but neither of them is budging on this one. They split off and you can see what Molly said to him hurt. She seemingly chose what was more important to her. He seemed to look back as if he was debating on going back in to apologize to her for what he said and did too because she just wants to have a good time and he was trying to ruin that. But he decides he's the last thing she needs right now and starts to go home, only to get caught in a spectral snare.

Here's the REALLY important part I need y'all to listen closely:

He had every right to an "I told you so". He had every right to tell her never to see Ollie again and to even consider moving just to save his metaphorical skin. But he doesn't. She apologizes first and he interjects with his own apology for trying to ruin her night. Her happiness is what's most important to him now. That priority shift happened since Out of House and Home, maybe arguably even sooner. He doesn't tell her never to see him again, in fact he IMPLIES that she should be able to do what she wants and he wouldn't interfere anymore. It was Molly's choice to cut it off with Ollie after seeing Scratch in that much danger.

He's still a self centered jerk with possessive tendencies and separation anxiety but it's important to point out that he recognizes Molly as her own person and he shouldn't interfere with her happiness. I think season 1a Scratch wouldn't have even LET her go to the dance with a ghost hunter as her co-chair to begin with. I know I don't need to defend Scratch's actions since most people are on his side in this episode (a weird change of pace) but I needed to get my thoughts out about him and his development so far. My boy has come so far, they feel like good, real friends. Also I'm just gonna reiterate Molly wasn't completely at fault here because she just wanted to enjoy the dance and both her and Scratch had equal fault in this scenario, that's called ✨good writing✨, you don't have to pick a side. THE WORLD ISN'T BLACK AND WHITE, OLLIE

I hope they address Scratch's jealous nature in a future episode, especially since they're hinting towards an Ollie redemption. After the ghost hunting fear is gone, that jealousy is gonna still be there, I'm kind of hoping after that talk outside of the school where Scratch resigned himself to whatever Molly wanted to do, he wouldn't be too jealous of him and we won't have a Friend-Off 2 or something. (Although if he decides to be a little petty and messes with Ollie a little, I welcome that. That sounds really funny honestly)

I feel like halfway through this I just started rambling, I hope my point made it across clearly LOL tldr; scratch is a well written character and he means so much to me and if I see any Molly/Ollie/Mollie slander on my account I will be throwing hands <3

[zahri-melitor]

Finishing out New 52 Birds of Prey I have a whole bunch of thoughts.

Because, despite any superficial appearances to the contrary, this run actually is in conversation with the Dixon and Simone Birds of Prey runs.

Dinah as the leader instead of Barbara (and as far as I can tell, a decision based on giving Dinah a lead book rather than Babs two lead books).

Dinah resigning/stepping down over her ex-husband Kurt is reminiscent of Dinah being removed from BOP essentially for the marriage to Ollie (and then back as soon as that fell apart).

Ra's seducing Dinah (with Lazarus Pit water for *sigh* Kurt, rather than pushing her in a Lazarus Pit to fix her Canary Cry), and the covers of BOP v3 #29-30 definitely having resonance with BOP v1 #32-35 covers.

Can we discuss the two offers of 'Lazarus Pit water'? Because Dinah accepts the first and rejects the second. Which...she took the first and trialled it. But as I pointed out, Dinah also got to swim during BOP v1. So an all out rejection isn't entirely in character. Nor is it out of character of Ra's to offer it to Dinah, given the prior incidences.

(Also there is yet another League of Assassins plot where the climax takes place on a boat. Legacy represent!)

Strix basically being a Cass Cain stand in isn't a surprise to anyone? No? No. Especially as Barbara's relationship with Mary has echoes of the other mentoring relationship (though the age gaps are quite different here)

I liked having Katana on Birds of Prey for a period, even though it's not Tatsu's classic team.

Starling is pretty much mirror image Helena, I feel. Helena was a strained relationship that became close, Starling was a planted spy and betrayed Dinah.

Dinah STILL being terrible at picking guys to date. Never ever ever change, Dinah, I will continue to make faces at all your terrible life choices in terms of guys to sleep with and wait for you to come to your senses.

I still find Basilisk hilarious, btw. "Don't look too closely, we are definitely not Kobra under a different name! We are a completely separate organisation! Truly!" (They're functionally Kobra)

It's always very weird to see Barbara interact with the Suicide Squad not remembering her origin as Oracle. Because...well. In ideal circumstances she goes into high level discussions with Waller to sort out what's happening and stop poaching off each other. But of course, new timeline. Sigh. No Amy Beddoes here. Instead Dinah has a past with Waller (weird reversal).

[apopcornkernel]

funnily enough im pretty sure i did read the actual comics before wfa. i vaguely remember reading utrh first? and then i either watched the movie next or read batman's whole robinjay run + aditf + alpod. and then wfa. i only read detective comics' robinjay after i finished wfa i think. i know i also spedran all of the post-crisis jason's death aftermath/appearances according to the reading list by dailyjasontodd. spedran his stuff post-resurrection too, minus countdown, 52, brothers in blood; i only realized I'd already read outsiders before when i reread it just now, though. which is really funny like the reason i remembered was because anissa and grace got together. that's how i knew I'd read the comic before. i was like oh i remember these gay bitches. i know there was a time after comics where i then dove into fandom and just immersed myself with art, fic, and posts. it was a little weird at first but i hadn't read enough for the other characters to know, and it's very easy to get drawn into fanon bc its satisfying to an extent, you know. ooh, i know i read three jokers early on. i was in love with that artist's jason and i found that one panel really funny (babs "he literally killed a man" bruce "you don't understand... jason's suffering"). i dont remember much about my first batman period. i do know it was all batman tho.

this is getting long.

my second batman period (more accurately termed batman/dc) was mostly me revisiting fics and remembering canon things that made me upset again. oh and also other robinjay stories that i hadn't read before like the cult, etc. but after some time i, and i dont know how this happened, got interested in hal jordan. i genuinely think it was just a fanart i saw of him with white temples. i thought it was hot and imagine my delight when i found out it was canon. and then i found out he turned villain and i was like WOAH I NEED TO GET ON THIS and tada, speedran parallax arc all the way to the spectre. tried reading rebirth and hated it so bad. stopped reading hal after that. somewhere along the way i found myself reading superman. then i dont know how this happened but i got interested in matrix/mae kent specifically and read up on her origin. afterwards i went to death of superman all the way to his resurrection and mae/lex breakup arc. i think this period fizzled out shortly after that. ooh, im checking my gallery rn, apparently i also read death metal and the return of bruce wayne. i dont remember anything about the latter. i remember being pissed at the former. i also read the damian resurrection arc and got really mad at an interview in one of the comics bc it was more of those "bruce feels more strongly for damian than his other kids bc damian is his Real Son" like bitch. No.

OH!! i also read the long halloween & dark victory during this time! this must have been when the batman came out. ALSO READ CONNOR!! i started at the time ollie died and went on until the time ollie came back but connor was now comatose (?). i remember a lot of screenshotting panels bc of how appalling the coloring was, connor's skin color was disrespected so much in this few issues 😭

ooh, interesting. after connor panels there's no more until this year, which would be my 3rd dc period. i reread the long halloween and dark victory, and then finished the last few chapters of the spectre. after that i started young justice but never finished. i reread utrh, and then funnily enough went straight to reading all about steph up to war games. after steph i read some other robin tim issues at random and then i finally read brothers in blood. quick break for batman year 100 and then right into batgirl (this was right after lee and i became mutuals). ooh, spirit world. and then ram v's the vigil. then i read rhato special? special? idk if that's the name but it was like a oneshot for rhato? or was it rhato #0? idk. i laughed the entire time. it was so bad. then i read gotham war, hated it. read some issues of black and white. three jokers again. finally read robins by seeley. robin year one. some pre-crisis jason esp the nocturna arc. tt #29. issues of gotham knights #43 something? + the interview about jason issue. actually i think that's all in the same arc. batman prodigal. pre-crisis talia. mandatory reread of batman #496. tried to start countdown, failed. the cult reread. BIRDS OF PREY!! cry of blood, and then a vichelena binge. the huntress cavalieri! the question o'neil! read a lot of huntress. tripped abruptly into hawk and dove, read a lot of cameos after their solos ended. read identity crisis after seeing the bruce tim panel. read jade (nguyen) in preparation for my comm critical essay. read superman again for the invisible mafia. started both superwoman 2016 and steelworks but never finished. read talia lexcorp arc and Never Recovered. tower of babel. redemption lost (ASS). rucka's wonder woman & the hiketeia. some titans bc of jade. more jade stuff. more huntress stuff (specifically nightwing cameos). read tom fucking taylor nightwing. started but did not finish dixon nightwing after that. started a reread of the spectre. started reading azrael + knightfall stuff but am not finished. was hit with the jli disease (lethal). then went back into superman comics but specifically the start of the lex luthor 2 arc + mae :). and now retracing post-rez pre-morrison jason comics

[daryfromthefuture]

I posted 277 times in 2022

That's 123 more posts than 2021!

132 posts created (48%)

145 posts reblogged (52%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fiddlstyx

@daryfromthefuture

@jayisnotdrawing

@bg-sparrow

@odddelorean

I tagged 258 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#back to the future - 233 posts

#bttf - 223 posts

#marty mcfly - 147 posts

#doc brown - 125 posts

#bttf fic - 73 posts

#bttf fanart - 59 posts

#until i get home - 25 posts

#doc and marty - 23 posts

#bttf 3 - 21 posts

#bttf cowboyvember - 18 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#maybe its too much and ppl may see it as romance? its not too much they are family and if you see it as romance to to therapy

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

happy bttf day, tumblr!

64 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#4

Dary's big essay on "Back To The Future: The Musical"

I finally saw this show on Thursday! And obviously I want to share all my thoughts :D

(the stage already looks awesome change my mind)

Under a cut because spoilers ahead

As soon as Olly Dobson showed up on stage, it felt so real. Bttf the musical live. How awesome in that? He's an amazing Marty McFly.

The first song, "It's only a matter of time", is definitely one of my favorites. It's partly based on the bttf main theme! And I love that.

Lovelovelove that Jennifer gets more appreciation in this show. Her duet with Marty? Amazing. The fact that she played around with his hair to comfort him after his band got rejected? Yes. That Marty took pics of her during the song? YES.

The next song was "Hello - is anybody home?". While it's beginning sounds more darker (still replaying those chords in my head *shiver*, awesome music) it gets lighter as every family member sings and Dave asks everyone if "they want fries with that". It's a longer song in comparison to the others but also one of my faves! Clearly expresses what Marty feels about his home life.

Roger Bart as Doc is a vibe.

The way Marty stays on side being like "what the fuck is going on here" while Doc dances and sings about the time machine and how "it works!" is one if the best things about this musical

They cut out the Libyans and had Doc die of radiation poisoning after his suit ripped. On his ass.

Marty aka the confused kid in 1955 (bonus: everyone around him is singing???)

The Biff understudy was so good honestly

Goldie Wilson also has a bit of a bigger role - he's got an entire song for himself which is also pretty long and he's completely in the center for a while

George has his own song! "My Myopia". Nice one, but rather not in my favorites. He actually sings this while spying on Lorraine

"Pretty Baby" is a good song but the level of awkwardness. Lorraine, darling, you've literally just met this dude for the first time ever, lay off him. The tension in the audience was fitting

Doc: No, Mr. McDonald, sorry, but I cannot make an investment in Scottish hamburgers. (or something like that)

Doc's FACE as Marty tells him the flux capacitor story- afjafbdkaf

Marty: Doc, you've never let me down in the past! Doc: You mean in the future. Marty: *visible confusion*...riiiight.

The song "future boy" <333

George: "I'm your dentist"

Marty, Biff and the fight on top of the school lockers. Just this scene. Our boy took some sort of light tube and played star wars ("Biff, I am your father." "What?" "Ah, nevermind") and kicked Biff in the ass. Too bad this only impressed Lorraine more.

"21st century" is kinda neat but...kinda unnecessary? I loved Doc going crazy though. Guy felt as if he was on top of the world and he deserves that much <3

Lorraine (to Marty): "Pick me up at seven and take me to heaven~" Doc: *CHOKE*

Idk where exactly that was but this was one of my favorite moments of this whole show. So basically Marty said "this is heavy" and Doc replied with "There's that word again, heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future, is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?" And Marty went "wait, what?" Then there was this: Doc: "wait, what?" Marty: "wait, what?" Doc: "wait, what?" Marty: "...wait, what?" Doc: "wait, what?" Marty:... :/ This was especially funny bc Roger spoke louder each time, pulling Marty's leg that way

George and his awkward but adorable dancing

"FOR THE DREAMERS". THIS SONG. I WAS IN TEARS. AW. ALL THE FEELS <3333 The moment Marty went up to Doc, touched his shoulders from behind and said "But I know who you are, Doc. And this dream of yours, it will come true, I know it will. Because I really do believe in you" *sobs* aaahhhhh

Doc hiring Goldie Wilson to attach the cable to the clock tower bc our science boy is afraid of heights 😔

The whole enchantment under the sea dance was done so well?? Like...the decoration, the atmosphere, the set up? Many kudos for this!!

See the full post

67 notes - Posted March 8, 2022

#3

For y'all playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I made some bttf designs that I wanna share for you to use!

See the full post

78 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#2

bucket hat Marty >>>

Also yes I did it I drew my idiots in the cat game

165 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I got the ultimate incorrect quote y'all

377 notes - Posted June 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[hana-the-ghostieee]

hi so remember when i reblogged that gay webcomic??? yeah i've thought of an oc but i have far too many projects that i'm procrastinating on that i really shouldn't think of drawing something else (actually though i've got this very excessive Kyary Pamyu Pamyu fanart with references to past MVs, a cat based on PONPONPON, some Elmy fanart, my enby oc's character sketch, and this cat cafe concept where i drew cats based on foods people typically serve at cafes and a drawing of me and a friend that has left the country and is currently in Canada) so here imma give you some details instead

there may or may not be gore-ish kind of under the cut but also i kind of don't feel like forcing you to read a literal essay

also while i was studying today i was playing the ost of my favorite movie (which is a whisker away if you didn't know) and that may or may not influence what i thought of while creating this character in my head

so they have no name cuz i can't think of one

(she/they)

very talented at art cuz yes i am talented too (i think) but they're so freaking goooooooooooooood

the Protector™ of the queer peeps at said school

pretty much posted the entire thing (as in the romance and the notes and whatever) on this hellsite

has learnt the art of MURDER for this thing.

okay don't cross them.

they WILL LIVE TO SEE THIS QUEER COUPLE LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. so please don't be queerphobic. unless you'd like to be sent to the ER.

anyways they practically guarded Damian and Ollie's lockers before Damian got a phone somehow don't ask

and if anyone other than Damien or Ollie touched those notes on the lockers. the ppor person would probably get dropkicked and end up being severely traumatized and get the living daylights knocked out of their being.

and because that scene in nakineko was a thing where Miyo jumps off ths school building

i thought one day she/they just randomly walks around during lunch, hanging out with friends at like the upper corridors and then suddenly??? some random dudes start being a-holes (i don't use swear words don't judge me) and then they start trash talking about them and she/they is. the most PISSED PERSON ON THE PLANET RIGHT NOW and yells at them to take it back but they ignore she/they and then she/they yells at them again and then they piss her off a bit more cuz they're queerphobic little rats or something and then she jumps off the building into a tree so SHE/THEY doesn't/don't die but ends up getting a butt ton of scratches and bleeding wounds anyways so. she/they walks up to a-hole peeps.

and in the back Damian is RUNNING and carrying Ollie (you read that correctly) and then Damian drops Ollie, half expecting him to pick himself up. um they just arrived to see the tea and im not sure if they know that she/they put their notes under high security cuz i haven't figured that out yet but sometime soon i shall

all the while she/they is suffering from blood loss and after some "WHAT DID YOU SAY???"s and "DON'T YOU DARE"s and stuff the rude peeps are just like "...let's get out of here" and of course because Damian and Ollie were part of the crowd that gathered and they were mentioned or something, um, eyes are also on them or something idk i can't describe a school fight i've never been part of one and haven't seen one yet unless my memory sucks

anyways she/they walks up to the couple and is like im sorry you had to see this :((( but i can't just let them slander you guys like this and then literally just collapses on the floor, head hitting the ground and then passes out

and while she/they is literally just lying there, bleeding out someone finally gets the sense to call an ambulance

and then flash forward to the ER where she/they is rn i guess, not sure what injuries to give them

and that is everything i can think of so far because i'm tired and probably should go to sleep but i can't otherwise i'd forget and then i'd never forgive myself for forgetting something that's related one of the most important posts here

also we need more of that wlw couple as in NEED

[pnf-lover98]

Tstwfm - The roads that weren’t taken

During the ideation and development of my project, several things were modified and even cut out entirely from the original story arc I had envisioned. Today, I’m here to share two of the most significant changes that I made.

1) the Bell cousins

In the early developing of Bia’s side of the family, her stepfather Floyd Bell was supposed to have a cousin named Franklyn. I wanted Bia’s family to have some degree of connection to Buster’s life and interests without him knowing so, thinking that it would have made him and Bia even more meant to be as a couple.

I remember reading somewhere on the Sing Wikia that, in the concept sketches of the movie, the Moon Theater was originally supposed to be called Bell Theater. I took a moment to think that, if the Moon Theater had gotten his name from Buster’s last name, the same thing could have been applied to its previous owner. [Disclaimer: I went and looked it up again and it turns out that I read it wrong the first time around, because it actually says ‘Bellcity’, like the name of the city, and not just ‘Bell’. Oopsies. 🤷‍♀️] 

Said owner and director, judging by the first clips of the first movie, can supposedly be this cat guy:

(Which should also be this dude standing behind Buster's dad ⬇️)

And boom! Mr. Bell had spawned into being, pretty soon acquiring the first name Franklyn. So, in an early stage of my story, Bia’s stepdad was supposed to be the cousin of the guy that Buster and his dad got the theater from! The world is small, am I right?

2) Oliver was meant to be an only child

When I first decided that Bia and Buster were going to get married, I began to want them to have a child as well. And so, Oliver’s character was born.

But as much as I worked on him, Ollie didn’t seem to really fit in what I had envisioned around him; I tried imagining him as Buster’s successor in the Moon family business, but it didn’t feel right. No, Ollie didn’t want to pursue his father’s career. That much was clear.

But what was going to happen, then, if the only heir didn’t want to take on that role? Was Ollie going to grow up and, after his father’s death, sell the theater to someone else outside of the family? That story didn’t feel right either.

And then, all of a sudden, I found the perfect solution: if Oliver didn’t want to take on his father’s role… maybe a sibling could have! A younger sibling, maybe, that would sit there and watch their dad trying to teach Oliver the ropes, passive-learning way more than what their older sibling ever wanted to. A girl, possibly - yes, giving Oliver a little sister sounded like a very nice idea. And little Lena (for the first few days, I tried to name her Lexi before finding her definitive name) was born! ✨

[hikarumkns]

Sk8 Episode 6 (TRICKS)

Spoilers ahead

.

.

.

While I love everything about this show, I LOVED THIS EPISODE THE MOST.

I've been saying for a while now that I've been dying to know more about the characters and although this episode didn't really dive into their lives specifically we got to see them in a totally different situation outside of Skateboarding. First of all, I did the horrible mistake of watching this episode at 5am (TMI: I'm an insomniac) and I'm shocked I didn't wake anyone up 🤣🤣

To start off, Shadow being the permanent "babysitter" is literally giving me so many feels cause I've been in his situation before 🤣 I think we had a lot of relatable moments. Especially this one

I just love how they managed to have all the main characters in the same spot coincidentally and have it work without it being awkward. I would also like to point out that Kaoru is totally against this like 1000% of the time but deals with it so gracefully. I LOVE absolutely LOVE Kaoruband Joe's relationship. Maybe because I'm used to Midorikawa Hikaru being either very callous or elegantly devilish.

On to skateboarding which we got a little of but still worth pointing out.

Now I mentioned this earlier from someone who asked (thank you btw ♥️) I've been dying to talk about this. A trick I want to point out that is so worth talking about called the 360 Boneless. (I recently labeled this as the Nose Grab No Comply which I see now is completely wrong so I apologise for any confusion 😔)

I love this trick cause it's simple, complex and just earns a lot of cool points in my opinion. Add a 360 to it and I'll got yourself a pretty nice trick up your sleeves. At first I thought Joe had done a nose grab no comply since he grabbed the nose but if you look closely, you can see he's actually holding onto his board the whole entire time.

This is a nose grab no comply. Notice how he lets go of his board after he jumps rather than hold onto it.

The more this show progresses the more we see that these characters really are street skaters. They skate anywhere at any time regardless of the situation (literally) and with style lol. They're banging out a lot of tricks that are so simple to do but yet complex and I give thanks to the creators for that because despite this episode not being all that skate oriented we still see something completely new.

This was so much fun to see! Aside from the tricks done by each individual character, I love the angle they chose. A old school photo skate magazine kind of vibe with a good fisheye lens.... ☺️☺️ Just beautiful.

There are tricks that are being pulled off here. Since I'm not too familiar with Langa, who pulls off snowboarding tricks 24/7 and their names sometimes vary, I won't be able to name what he's pulling off here. Reki and Shadow did an Ollie but then you have Miya, Joe and Kaoru.

Miya does a pop shuvit

Joe does an airwalk (I've always loved seeing these during the X Games. I've seen them done on a lot of big jump tournaments)

I'm almost certain Kaoru does an airwalk fingerflip. Which I think would make sense if he's trying to one up Joe with his own variation of the airwalk given their rivalry lol

Most of these tricks are flat ground based which I find interesting given that these guys basically have verts on their S course but we hardly see grabs and aerials tricks. Take Miya and ADAM for example, their tricks are very technical and definitely not meant verts and half pipes. I haven't seen them take a lot of air as opposed to Joe or Langa. I feel like Reki is definitely an all rounder type and we have yet to see him really go at it. He's definitely a freestyle skater from the opening of the show.

I love how in this episode of was a perfect balance of comedy, seriousness and Skateboarding that really blended well together. I do feel like ADAM was a little out of place in this though I think it was still necessary to introduce the inspector and their relationship... If there's anything there. Now we know that ADAM is just that weird character in and out of the course... A little disturbing tbh but that's what makes him a good villain.

Here's to another week

[fantastic-rambles]

You made great points as to why a final Adam/Langa race would happen. It makes a lot of sense narratively, but I do hope they’ll choose a more subversive path in which he does forfeit/quit whether that be during Tadashi/Langa or Adam/Langa. I still hope for Tadashi/Adam to occur since they’ve also built him up as an equal. They’ve made a point that in other races Adam has purposely stayed behind to match the speed of other races, regardless of whether they start together, if he was interested by them. But Tadashi matched Adam’s time exactly in the qualifying rounds. And considering how much Adam has insulted Tadashi about being beneath him, I’d find them going head to head pretty satisfying. Makes me want to see a race where both are going all out since we’ve never seen either of them particularly intense about winning. Adam because of his persona and wanting to mess with his opponent and Tadashi because of his reserved nature. Either way I’m sure it’ll be good.

And I hope that Reki is more secure in himself when facing Adam like you mentioned. If he doesn’t want to go against him again, what do you think would happen? I’ve seen ppl say Reki will probably agree for Langa’s sake and the opportunity to skate, but what if he holds his ground about not enjoying skating with Adam? Do you think it’s possible that could be what causes Langa to forfeit/quit. (That would make Adam so mad lol). It’s probably not likely since they’re our main protagonists, but I think it would a cool demonstration of their character growths. Reki because he wouldn’t skate if it’s not going to be fun for him and Langa because it goes back to the original broken promise + prioritizes the relationship that makes him happiest about skating in the first place. Also, they can get away from what could be considered unnecessary, dangerous behavior that show condemns (when Manager Oka tells Reki that he’s enjoying pain because he’s unhappy with himself). Obviously skating is good for Langa and Reki, but the illegal and dangerous races at S could be framed as self-destructive. Especially when you consider all the injuries and strife surrounding it. I think if the characters were to come to this conclusion at some point (with or without quitting yet) it may make sense plot wise since the whole political scandal/jail thing makes me nervous about S continuing. Considering that Tadashi is the main man in charge of keeping cops away and he currently wants to end Adam’s time there, I wouldn’t be shocked if a confrontation with the law happened there like it almost did that one ep when the race got interrupted.

Oh and don’t worry about rambling at all! I love any long analysis on Sk8. Plus, I can get like that too and definitely edited this to make it more understandable lol.

Yeah, I would love Adam/Tadashi, but I feel like Adam/Langa is more likely. (And technically, Tadashi beat Adam by 2 seconds, though Adam also wasn’t taking it seriously then.) Though I do feel like Langa is probably at a level that Adam finally can skate all-out against him, if it comes down to the two of them.

When Adam insults Tadashi, I feel like it’s coming from all those years of resentment/lost trust (again, not an excuse for Adam’s behavior, but an analysis of it), and I also feel like Tadashi feels that he deserves them (and he himself sincerely believes that he’s below Adam). It’s obvious to me that Tadashi feels guilty for contributing to making Adam what he is today/for not standing up for or supporting him when Adam was younger, and he has been trying to make up for it by obeying Adam completely, no matter what he personally thinks. Because he couldn’t voice his opinion when Adam’s board was being burned, which was probably one of the most painful/significant experiences Adam has ever had, he feels that he doesn’t have the right to voice his opinion now: all he can do is try to pull Adam away from the self-destructive path that he’s on by betting his ability to skate on a race. In terms of skill, yeah, they’re equal, but in their interpersonal dynamics, there’s a huge gulf, which I think would make it very difficult for Tadashi to “save” Adam because Adam has lost all of his respect for Tadashi or his opinions.

I don’t think that Reki will end up not skating against Adam. But if he did, I don’t think that’s enough for Langa to refuse as well. My scenario for Langa forfeiting is that Reki gets wrecked against Adam, which outrages Langa and/or makes him have to choose between going to the hospital with Reki or staying to skate with Adam, and he chooses Reki over Adam. To me, Reki’s growth would come from the parallels between the two times that he skates against Adam: in the first, he’s completely crushed by the difference in ability and runs away, and in the (theoretical) second, he accepts that he will never be a star skater, but he can still enjoy skating even if he doesn’t win.

And I frankly was really pissed by Reki trying to force Langa to promise not to skate against Adam. Yes, he has a reason for it and he’s worried about Langa, but what about Langa’s own feelings? It’s obvious that Langa has fun taking on challenges, and Adam is the ultimate challenge, not just for him, but also for everyone else. If we want to talk about it in terms of relationships, which it seems most of the fandom does, I saw that as a possessive partner trying to forbid their partner from going out and having fun with their friends. Would Adam be a terrible “friend” to hang out with? Absolutely. But if Langa enjoys spending time with him, what gives Reki the authority to forbid him from doing so? So if I’m being entirely honest, my opinion of Reki plummeted after Episode 5 and just kept going downhill until the most recent episode. xD

I don’t think that “S” itself was particularly dangerous initially, other than for Shadow. Most of the skaters that we see seem to play fair and engage in contests of pure skill, even though it’s always been an “anything goes” sort of thing. Of course, it could be because the best skaters won’t get thrown off by petty tricks so it’s not worth trying them, but in the end, the result is the same. It’s only when Adam reappeared on the scene (from other people’s reactions, it seems clear that he’s been missing for a while since nobody could capture his interest) with his Langa-obsession that he started to contribute his own brand of madness, but that’s limited only to him. Unless someone is skating against Adam or Shadow (or that gang in the prelims), the majority of races are just normal races on a challenging track. Yes, they’re illegal (though it boggles my mind as to why: can’t Adam just buy it and turn it into “private property” so that he can do whatever he wants on it?) (though I guess it’s understandable since buying it would be a matter of public record and he’s keeping his skating life and public life separate) (but then can’t he get someone else to buy it for him?), but part of the attraction of skating is developing new things (like when Reki is gushing about ollies) and figuring out how to “skate anywhere,” so challenging locations like an abandoned mine and factory are places that people can do that. Like taking a turn with what Miya/Reki did by riding the board sideways, and improving on it by instead using a Caspar Slide. Or the various ways Langa goes through the factory (dropping down a broken beam, skating down the railing, using Joe’s momentum on the other beam to push himself forward, etc.). I think that Adam must have chosen that place for a variety of reasons, but one would have been its ability to promote improvisation/the evolution of skating in the hopes that he could find someone who would excite him. Which is why he’s so disappointed by Cherry’s “overcalculated”/boring skating.

After Adam gets arrested, though, I think that “S” will shut down simply because it’s Adam’s influence that’s kept the police away for so long. Tadashi takes care of the logistics, but that’s because that’s what Adam’s told him to do. But I don’t think Tadashi will betray him just to get it closed. (I also don’t think he phoned it in the first time, as I’ve seen other people speculate. I do think that the explanation is as it was presented: the prosecutor was suspicious about an area that was taken out of the patrol route, so she used her authority to override Adam’s bribes.) We’re talking about someone who will go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit to protect his boss. He’s not going to call down the police and risk them getting caught up in the net and in trouble.

[selkiewife]

I know i’m late on this but I wanted to talk about The Dragon Demands videos based on the Game of Thrones Season 8 blue ray commentary and the original archived scripts for Game of Thrones, Season 8.

Basically, YouTuber, The Dragon Demands went to the Writer’s Guild Library where he was able to see the archived scripts of Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Both the archive scripts and commentary on the blue ray confirms that most of the destruction in King’s Landing was originally supposed to be caused by the caches of wild fire left by Aerys being accidentally set off by Drogon and not because Daenerys herself “went mad.” The script says that civilians being used as human shields are caught in the crossfire as Daenerys is targeting Lannister soldiers in a strategical maneuver right before she heads to the Red Keep to enact revenge on Cersei. However, Daenerys is never described as specifically targeting innocent civilians needlessly.

My thoughts under the cut:

I have to say, that this makes me feel slightly better in a strange way. I mean, it doesn’t erase the bad writing, the ridiculous way the war against the white walkers ended, the misogyny, the inconsistency, etc etc ETC... but this crucial plot point was the one I just couldn’t let go of because it was just baffling to me. With other controversial plot points, I would disagree with them, but I could at least understand what they were going for and what the motivations of the characters were. But Daenerys turning on innocent civilians was truly baffling to me because it comes out of nowhere, is entirely out of character, her motivations are incredibly unclear, and was not set up at all. But with all the fandom discourse, I had really started to think that maybe I am lacking comprehension skills or something. But no, there is actually a reason it made no sense. The “madness” plot line was added later. Emilia Clarke was never given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable. Emilia was portraying grief and revenge on Cersei (as the original script and directors told her to do) in contrast to D&D’s final editing which was portraying the “mad queen.” No wonder it came across as completely false and bewildering- before we even get into the discussion of whether or not this is in character or not.

I think this is definitely more than just a theory that the script was changed pretty late in development because of all the evidence- it is confirmed by Emilia’s commentary, the Visual Effects team member’s commentary, and also the original concept art. But even if there wasn’t all that evidence, there is also the fact that the original ending makes so many other confusing things in Season 8 suddenly make SENSE.

For example, when Jon confronts Daenerys in the throne room and he talks about the women and children that were burned, Daenerys responds with “She used their innocence as a weapon against me.” Which makes total sense for Daenerys to say if she thinks she is talking about civilians that were used as human shields that died in the crossfire. But it doesn’t make any sense if she carpet bombed the city- although it does make her seem delusional, which is probably why Dave and Dan kept those lines in- hoping it would make her appear “mad,” since Emilia was never actually given the opportunity to portray Daenerys as mentally unstable.

There is also the scene where Jon asks Tyrion, “Was it right?” to assassinate Daenerys and Tyrion responds, “Ask me again in ten years.” There is really no reason for them to have that dialogue if Daenerys really did target and massacre innocent civilians. That is the kind of dialogue they would have if they were discussing someone who had done something more morally ambiguous.

Then there are the lines that are out of place in the final version but that would have made complete sense in the original wild fire version, such as Jon saying “now and always” as he stabs Daenerys. “Now and always” as any Theon fan will tell you, is a phrase that belongs to Theon and Robb and what they said to each other when Theon was pledging loyalty to Robb. Having Jon say this to Dany as he is killing Daenerys represents the ultimate betrayal but also calls back to Theon’s struggle and how difficult it is to chose between loyalties- between families. In this case, Jon is choosing the Starks over the Targaryens. Kit Harrington even says that this is motivation in an interview he gave with winteriscoming.net. But given the fact that in the final edit, Daenerys massacred innocent children and civilians on purpose, Kit’s motivation for Jon seems like a relic of an earlier script:

Kit Harrington: “Jon essentially sees it as Daenerys or Sansa and Arya, and that makes his mind up for him. He choose blood over, well, his other blood. But he chooses the people he has grown up with, the people his roots are with, the North. That’s where his loyalties lie in the end. That’s when he puts the knife in.”

And Yara Greyjoy’s lines. She surprisingly remains completely loyal to Daenerys, despite the fact that she massacred the entire city for no reason:

Yara Greyjoy: I swore to follow Daenerys Targaryen.

Sansa Stark: You swore to follow a tyrant.

Yara Greyjoy: She freed us from a tyrant. Cersei is gone because of her, and Jon Snow put a knife in her heart. Let the Unsullied give him what he deserves.

This kind of conversation only seems plausible if they are discussing Daenerys taking out Cersei after she had surrendered and killing human shields in the process, something I can see Yara completely defending- since she was always in favor of attacking King’s Landing as seen during her war counsel scenes in Season 7.

There is also the Emilia Clarke quote in the behind the scenes video HBO put out after the episode where she explains that Dany was targeting Cersei herself:

Emilia Clarke: “It’s just... grief. It’s hurt. And she has this ability to make that hurt a little bit less just for a minute. And here she is, sitting on this ridge and there’s the emotion and there’s the feeling and the feeling is to fucking kill her.”

Note that she does not say “the feeling is to fucking massacre the city,” or “the feeling is to target innocent civilians.” She says “the feeling is to kill her” as in Cersei Lannister- who is responsible for the death of her dragon and Missandei- and who massacred countless innocents herself when she blew up the goddamn sept lol.

Not to mention all of the set up lines between Cersei, Tyrion, and Varys about Cersei using “human shields” which never came to fruition in the final edit, now make complete sense:

Cersei: Keep the gates open. If she wants to take the castle she’ll have to murder thousands of innocents first.

Varys: Tens of thousands of innocents will die. That is why Cersei is bringing them into the Red Keep

And yet, lol, we never actually SEE Daenerys attacking the Red Keep. We never see innocent civilians inside the Red Keep. We only see civilians being massacred in the streets.

I also remember people who had seen the post Season 8 Game of Thrones Live Concert saying that Ramin switched to footage of the other wildfire scenes in past Game of Thrones seasons during his Bells sequence, instead of showing the massacre of innocent civilians by dragon fire. I use to think he did that because Daenerys was his favorite character. But given what we now know about the original ending, he probably chose to show the wildfire scenes because that was what he had specifically written music for before it was changed- the destruction of Kings Landing by wildfire.

I really wish they had kept the original script the way it was. It still would have been an incredibly controversial ending. Daenerys still goes after soldiers and a Queen who is surrendering- and that action unintentionally leads to the destruction of the entire city. Jon Snow still assassinates his lover and betrays one part of his family for the other. But, it would have at least made logical sense. People would have gone back and forth over whether it was in character or whether it was a good ending. But it would have been something people would be able to actually debate on an intellectual level- the way we debate Daenerys crucifying the slavers (who themselves crucified children) or Jon Snow executing Olly... It is a very grey and tragic ending with a lot of moral questions. It still might have gone over like a lead balloon. But... the ending we have is so much worst because it’s nonsensical.

The only reason I can think that they changed it was to make Jon and Tyrion appear less morally grey for plotting Daenerys’ assassination. They probably knew that the ending would be very problematic and were trying to smooth that over by turning Daenerys into a super villain. Yet they did this too late in the process after already showing Daenerys to be heroic in fighting with the north and then having Emilia Clarke finish her filming still believing she was playing a complex and at times ruthless character but not “mad” or “evil.” And then, there is also the intensely problematic issue with them conflating mental illness with mass murdering super villain. Even if it had been clear throughout the entire season that Daenerys was losing her grip on reality and becoming more and more mentally unstable, it still would have been incredibly controversial and I am not entirely sure it would have made the men look any better anyway.

Even though it is tragic af, at least with the original wildfire ending, all of the characters are incredibly complex and morally grey and you can understand the motivations for everything they do, even if you don’t agree with them. For example, if Daenerys attacks Cersei after she surrendered, it is wrong, but it is also completely understandable. And in my opinion, it’s even more understandable when you remember that Cersei cannot be trusted. She can’t be trusted to send her armies to the north- why should Daenerys trust her to surrender in good faith? This kind of ending would also have said something very powerful about unintended consequences. Even though Daenerys did not intend for so many people to die needlessly, they did because war is horrific. And that message becomes even more powerful if her motivations are understandable. But yeah, this kind of ending would have still been hated and debated but... at least the debates would have been more about the story itself rather than everyone trying (and failing) to make sense of what the story even is.

[psycheswritings]

Nothing’s Fair in Love and War - Six

Title: Nothing’s Fair in Love and War

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Daphne Scott (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing.

Word Count: 4022

Author's Note: Hello, people! Here we are with a brand new chapter. A few warnings before we begin (or after, because is basically information about somethings mentioned during this chapter and it could be interpreted as spoilers, so it's up to you): 1. I know that according to the audio of "The Ballad of Tommy Shelby" the boys enlisted in 1915, but as @andtherewerefireworks​ pointed out, this doesn't fit with the historical facts and informations given by the show (as a lot of other thing's don't, but apparently Steven doesn't give a fuck about it - don't let me get started) so I ignored this piece of information - the boys enlisted in 1914 instead and the world makes sense again; 2. I did some research to know more about military nurses and took a poetic license to ignore the age that was permited for women to enlist at the time; 3. Kugel really is a Jewish dish and I am shamelessly entertaining my headcanon that Alfie does, in fact, cook/bake. Sorry, not sorry. 4. Have I mentioned that sometimes I hate Steven? Because I do. There were somethings that took me a lot of time to figure out between episodes 04 and 05 of the third season and I am still not sure about somethings, so if you feel confused about something you're more than welcome to come talk to me and I can explain it.

Fair warning, as always, if you find any mistakes feel more than free to report back to me; warnings are expecific for each chapter; and your feedback is always appreciated (given the fact that this is a sideblog, answers always are in the name of my main one thanks to dumb Tumblr - @myplaceofheavenorhell​). Also, if you haven't read my "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" post (I really don't blame you), please, start following me on @amysteryspot​.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Summary: Alfie and Sabini make amends and join forces to get rid of the Peaky Blinders. Daphne and Polly have a very pleasing evening and Tommy goes visit May to ensure that things are going according to his plan, only to be met with a question he doesn't want to answer.

Masterlist

Six

Alfie Solomons was never known for a man who has a lot of patience, no, people tend to think that he actually has none at all but that is far from the truth. God knows that he had to have a lot of fucking patience to get where he is now, Alfie is a man who is always waiting for the right moment to do the things that would benefit him the most. And that was what he was doing right now - waiting to see if the decision he has made would, in fact, bring him any good.

The doors of the bakery were opened by two of his men and Sabini came into view - the italian flag on his hands, three of his men behind him and his second in command, Matteo, with a white flag by his side. They approached each other, the Jew gave the Italian the basket of bread that was immediately passed over to Matteo, before he stepped closer to Alfie giving him the standard three kisses on the checks as a form of greeting.

“I can’t help but notice that there is a presence in absence here today. Isn’t Miss Scott joining us?” Alfie was kinda expecting that since the Italian seemed to have a soft spot for the young woman, but the question almost made him frown for entirely different reasons. Daphne had left hours before to go to Birmingham and meet with Polly Gray, she didn’t knew about the meeting or his plans but somehow that didn’t make Alfie worry less about her like he thought it would.

“Daphne is out in another appointment. Just us today, so let's talk, eh?” Sabini shared a look with Matteo before nodding to Alfie guide them through the bakery. The Jew sat on one side of the table with Ollie by his side, cane propped up in front of him, his hands resting on top of it, while Sabini and Matteo did the same at the other side, their men behind them and a menacing silence filling the room until the Italian leader spoke.

“Did you know they was going to take the Eden club?”

“I know about the Eden club, yes.”

“Did you know they were going to do it before they did it? Because that's the one who's in charge, isn't it? The one who knows before it happens.”

“I know what I know, you know. If you don't know, then you don't fucking know, do you?”

“Did you know they was going to take Wimbledon dogs? Harringay? The trotting tracks?”

“Talk, all right? I genuinely want to hear you.”

“You've lost control, Alfie.” Matteo was the one to talk, making Alfie look at him in concealed anger.

“Have I?”

“Everybody knows.” The Italian added.

“Talk to me, Alfie.” Sabini said, interrupting the argument and making Alfie’s attention go back to him again.

“Talk to you?” The Jew paused for emphasis. “All right, I'll talk to you. I'll fucking tell you how it was, right? What happened was this. All the time you were talking about dirty fucking Jews. All the fucking time - dirty fucking Jews, dirty Kikes, dirty dustbin lids…” The Italian leader shared a look with Matteo again.

“Everyone makes jokes.”

“You want to talk about not getting into places?”

“Everybody makes fucking jokes. I didn't know you had no sense of humour!”

“And I ain't going to FUCKING mention, right, the great big fuck off elephant in the room.” Sabini closes his eyes for a brief moment before talking again.

“Look, Alfie…”

“How many of my bookies worked Epsom this last May? None. None. Not one.”

“So, for a few fucking jokes and Epsom, you fucking invite a tribe of savages into the city and just fucking unlock the fucking gates!” While Sabini is yeeling and gesticulating frantically with his hands Alfie is just sitting there, not even bored by it.

“I'm sorry, what are you saying, mate?”

“I'm saying I'm sorry about the Jew thing.” To say that Sabini seemed bothered by his own words would be an understatement because he was completely put off by it, to Alfie’s deepest contentment.

“Are you saying you're sorry?” Patience, patience always paid back in kind.

“Yeah.”

“You're sorry about the Jew thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I want that in writing.” He turned to Ollie. Write that down. He said, ‘I'm sorry’.” Looking at Sabini again he continued. “And also write down that all our bookies can go back to Epsom.”

“He didn't say that.” Matteo barged in.

“Who's asking you?”

“No. Write it down. It's all right. Come on. Alfie's an old friend.”

“My friend.” The Jew gangster says while staring at Matteo and pointing at Sabini.

“Now, admit it, the Peaky Blinders is out of control.”

“Yeah, they're out of fucking control, mate. They come down the canal, they spread like the fucking clap.” Although the kind of problem that the Blinders have gotten to the Jew were ones fairly different, the Italian didn’t needed to know.

“Right. So now they're everybody's problem.”

“Yeah.”

“Alfie.”

“Mm.”

“You and me, we've been fighting since we was at school.”

“Yeah.”

“All right? Now, also, we've been friends.”

“Mm, yeah.”

“You know, it goes backwards and forwards. How much better is it when we're friends?”

“Oh, it's much better, mate, yeah.”

“You write that down.” Ollie looks at Alfie that just nods at the younger man.

“So what we're doing here, right, is we're writing down some kind of a deal thing, right?”

“Yeah, a written deal.” 

“Written deal, good. Well, why don't we discuss the border between the Italians and the Jews going back to Farringdon Road.”

“Farringdon Road”

“Yeah, Farringdon Road.”

“Fuck! That's ancient history.”

“Write down Farringdon Road.”

“No, no, no, write down Camden Road.”

“Farringdon Road.”

“Camden Road.”

“Write down Farringdon.”

“Camden.”

“Farringdon.”

“Camden. Write down Camden Road.”

“Just write down ‘peace’. Just write down ‘peace’, right, between the Jews and the Italians.”

“And war against the gypsies.” Alfie just grumbles to the statement, thinking to himself about how Daphne will react when she discovers his plans. It certainly won’t be pretty and for the first time in a long while the Jew gangster starts to rethink his actions.

  *******************************************************************************************

Daphne was waiting at the parlour in the Shelby family home on Watery Lane, the youngest Shelby was the one who guided her there saying that his aunt was coming in a minute and then leaving her alone since Josiah had chosen to wait for her outside, in the car. The young woman took off her coat and hang it on the coat rack on the wall just beside the front door, deciding to take a look around instead of sitting down.

There were a lot of photographs hanging on the walls and on top of the furniture, most of them were of the Shelby’s children growing up. Daphne recognized a young Ada and a little Finn in one of them, just beside the fireplace there was a photograph of each one of the Shelby siblings but what caught her attention almost immediately was the portrait of the three eldest Shelby boys in their uniforms. Her fingers automatically went to her locket, caressing the metal as a way to soothe her own thoughts.

“They were taken just before they left.” She must have been really distracted because she only noticed that her hostess arrived when she was already closing the door, taking off her own coat and approaching her. The gipsy woman noticed that Daphne was yet again playing with the necklace hanging from her neck. They shook hands before the both of them turned to look at the images again. “I’m sorry for making you wait, there were things that needed my attention.”

“Don’t bother, I’ve had only been here for minute.” Silence filled the room but unlike what Daphne expected it wasn’t a discomfortable one.

“It feels like it was a lifetime ago.” There was this hint of sadness that Daphne knew too well when people who had loved ones on the war usually had when talking about that period.

“And at the same time it seems like it was yesterday.” Polly looked at her then, surprise in her features.

“You’ve been there.” Daphne took a deep breath, not looking at the woman beside her when she spoke.

“Yeah. Whole four years of it.”

“My God, you must have been only a child when it started.” The young woman felt quite amused by the motherly concern in Polly’s voice.

“Eighteen.”

“You’re almost John’s age then. He was nineteen when he left. Arthur was twenty seven and Thomas twenty four.” When Daphne looked at her still observing the pictures there was a hint of a smile on her face. “They were so different, so full of life.”

“None of us came back the same. We all left a part of ourselves there.” As her hand rested in her chest, feeling the all too familiar form of her locket through the fabric Daphne thought that she certainly had lost a part of herself there, a part of her that she would never recover.

“You sound like Tommy.” Daphne smiled at that, shaking her head briefly while Polly observed her with a mixture of admiration and curiosity.

“It’s not the first time that I hear it.”

“Come, I will make us some tea.” They headed themselves to the kitchen were Daphne sat at the table while Polly walked around preparing things for the tea. When the pot was ready she served them both a cup and sat down.

“You’ve caused quite the impression on the boys.” Daphne quietly sipped on her tea. She didn’t know what to expect of the encounter, what she did knew was that Polly was baiting at her, getting her out of her comfort zone to see how she reacted and further analyze her especially now that Alfie wasn’t around. But one thing that Daphne have learned from experience was that people involuntary let their guard down at home and even knowing that Polly had another house to call her own now, this was the one she passed most part of the time in still, the one where she lived most part of the last years and the one she still called home.

“A good impression, I hope.” The gipsy woman looked at her, smirking slightly, the action a little warmer than the cold demeanor that she had showed on the party.

“Ah, it was good just alright! I think Arthur is still teasing John for trying to flirt with you.”

“He had it coming.” Polly laughed, really laughed and Daphne couldn’t help but smile too.

“He sure did, but I gotta say that he is not used at being rejected. None of them are, really.” The young woman choose not to answer that, just smiling and sipping at her tea again and Polly decided to change the subject. “You and Ada know each other for long?”

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Before Freddie fell ill.”

“You’ve met him?” Polly was surprised that the two women knew each other for that long.

“Once or twice, he was more running from the coopers than at home.” Polly scoffed at that, getting up to take the food and put it on the table. “You didn’t approved of them.” It wasn’t a question but Polly answered anyway.

“Freddie was a good man, I just wish that he knew how to prioritize his family instead of the cause.” Daphne nodded in understanding, since she befriended Ada she had had quite some debates with herself about the way the Thorne’s lived. It was hard for Daphne to understand how Ada accepted living on the run because of love, her parents were not exactly the image of true love - an arranged marriage, like the one she was supposed to have if she hadn’t gone to France - even though she believed that her mother had loved her father at some point, the other way around was definitely not true.

“I never really understood how Ada accepted living like that but I don’t have much to compare so I tried not to judge her for it.”

“No lad caught your attention after you came back?” The gipsy woman took a sip of her tea before continuing. “Or during your time in France?” Daphne had a pretty good guess that she must be talking about William since she had seen them together at the party.

“No. Not that way.” The older woman just nodded, eyes trained on the other woman’s reactions.

“Not even Solomons? He is not hard on the eyes and you two seemed quite close.” Daphne laughed at the statement - people seemed to never give up on the subject of her and Alfie being a couple.

“Alfie is family.” The way she said it, so naturally, so devoid of doubt made Polly think that their bound was deeper than she first predicted. Polly was certain that there was more to their relationship than what they let people know - Alfie Solomons wasn’t a man known for his honesty or loyalty, nevertheless, the woman in front of her had been by his side since the end of the war.

It was obvious to her too that the man who was observing her and Tommy from the mezzanine during the party felt more than just friendship towards her but it seemed that Daphne didn’t reciprocate it - which, apparently, left the way clear for Tommy and that’s where the lived the danger. Then she decided to make a bold move.

“Let me read your leaves.” Daphne was quite taken aback by the request, she blinked twice before answering the gipsy woman.

“Why not.” Polly was surprised that she accepted the request so easily - maybe more surprised by that than by the fact that she had requested to read the girl’s leaves in the first place.

“Pour some tea into the cup and swirl it.” The young woman did what she was told. “Now put the tea back into the teapot.” Polly extended her hand for Daphne to give her the cup, after taking it she gave one last glance towards the young woman before starting to analyze the cup.

“There’s happiness in your future but there is also a lot of pain.” Silence filled the room while the older woman swirled the teacup in her hands. “You will be betrayed and have your heart broken. You will also find something that you thought was lost.” Polly rested the cup into the table and looked up to meet Daphne’s hazel eyes in silence for a long time before she finally spoke again. “You seem like a good girl, Daphne, and if I didn’t thought that I wouldn’t say to you what I’m gonna say now: be careful. Love is a good thing but sometimes it can blind us and that’s when we get hurt.”

*******************************************************************************************

When Tommy arrived home at the end of the day one of the first things that he noticed was the teacup resting on the kitchen table. He picked it up, looking at the leaves inside it and directing his gaze to his aunt who was observing him, sipping her own cup of tea while leaning onto the kitchen counter.

“Lizzie’s been here for you to read her leaves again, Poll? You still leading her own…”

“It wasn’t Lizzie.” He recognized the smug look on his aunt’s face - she was leading him to something, the teacup left onto the table was a bait for him to talk to her, it was all part of her plan. He put the cup back where he found it and turned around to pour himself a drink.

“Then who was the poor soul that was believing in your predictions?”

“Daphne. She left just some minutes ago.” He stopped for a brief moment but it was enough for Polly to notice. Daphne had been here? How he didn’t know that?

“Didn’t think that she would be one for these kind of stuff.” He turned around, glass of whisky in his hand and her aunt’s gaze still on him and his curiosity got the best of him. “What did you find out?” By the smile on his aunt’s face he knew that this is what she wanted all along.

“That she is a good girl - too good for you.” Tommy huffed at the statement taking a sip of his drink - he didn’t need any tea leaves to know that. “She will have her heart broken by the man that she loves.” Polly walked to her nephew, stopping right in front of him and holding his gaze. “Will you be that man, Tommy?” He just stood there nursing his drink, long before the woman had left. He had vowed to himself to never let another woman into his heart again, not after Grace, but it was difficult to remember that when he was around Daphne. She was constantly proving him wrong, challenging him, sneaking into his family’s good graces. Would he be the one to break her heart or would it be the other way around?

*******************************************************************************************

Alfie was waiting for her when she arrived home - sitting on his usual chair in the balcony of the drawing room, humming something to himself. Daphne approached him and called his name but he didn’t seemed to notice, to lost on his thoughts.

“Everything alright?” He looked at her then, his attention caught by the hand she gently placed on his shoulder, the woman could tell that he seemed a little off just by the expression on his face.

“Yeah, yeah.” The Jew got up from his chair to stand in front of her. “How was tea with the gypsies?”

“It was just Polly. Everything went fine, she is actually very hospitable.”

“Hum. Good.” He didn’t seemed less tense after her answer. “I’ve made you some kugel for dessert, I know it is your favorite.” Daphne frowned at that.

“There is some special occasion that I’m forgetting? You haven’t cooked in ages.” He stared at her in silence for a long moment before answering.

“No, just appreciating the company, love.”

“Well, thank you, kind sir. I’m just going to take a bath and we can have dinner then.” Alfie nodded at her, letting her go upstairs while he just observed as she disappeared. He really hoped that at least for one time in his life he was doing the right thing.

*******************************************************************************************

As Tommy drove to the Carleton’s property he thought about his next steps. May had showed her interest in him and he was going to play his cards to ensure that his horse would be able to run the Epsom. She had also mentioned having contacts at the War Office and that could grant them information on Daphne. He just wasn’t expecting the extent of the Carleton’s wealthiness.

“Mr. Thomas Shelby, madam.” One of the maids announced him and Tommy entered the room without a second glance at the girl.

“Nice house.” He says as he looks around and approaches May, who is looking at him a little unsure. It was more than nice house, probably the most expensive fucking place he had put his foot on during his entire life.

“Would you like a whisky? Scotch or Irish?”

“Irish.” She turns her back to him to serve the drink and he takes the time to look out the window, taking a cigarette from his case. “Sorry for the short notice. I was passing.”

“We're not quite on the Birmingham road.”

“It was a small diversion.”

“Sixty miles, I checked.”

“That's a small diversion these days.” He says, approaching her and lightening the cigarette that is already between his lips.

“So, I'm a small diversion. Good.” She hands him the whiskey before taking a sip of hers. “Your horse is still out on the gallops, but I had Mickey prepare this report. You can read it now if you'd like, then we can go see her.” May hands him the file with the reports and he rests it on the table, starting to scan the pages as he clears his throat. “Is there enough light for you to read?”

“Yes, it's fine.”

“It's getting quite late.” She sits down on the couch, Tommy doesn’t react to her words and continues to read the report but he notices that she is nervous. “Mickey says she has the lungs of an elephant. She's nimble in the heavy going, but bounces a little on the hard ground. Sorry, I'll let you read.”

“So, he thinks she'll favor good to soft ground, eh?” Tommy closes the file while talking.

“A little juice in the grass.”

“Mm. Well, that's good for Epsom.” He pauses, looking at her and placing his empty glass on the table. “Does he think she's not good enough for Epsom?”

“She needs a lot of work.” May observes as he takes a drag from the cigarette. “The race board will need convincing.”

“I imagine you have some influence.” She doesn’t answer him directly.

“Mm. That's the suggested program for the next two months.” As Tommy goes back to looking at the report, May gets up from her seat. “Your glass is empty.”

“It's fine.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, a bit.”

“I can prepare something.”

“Do you have engine oil?” There’s a hint of surprise in her features as she looks at him. “Before I set off for Birmingham, the car needs oil.”

“I'm sure my husband kept some in the garage. I can get someone to do it.”

“This evening or tomorrow?” They stare at each other for a moment, he waits for her next step.

“Well, we're so far from anywhere, people usually stay over.” She is clearly nervous as she takes a set at the couch again, sipping her whisky. “Especially before cars, when it was just carriages, people used to stay over all the time.”

“But I have a car.”

“Yes.”

“And you have engine oil.”

“Probably.” Her words are all but a whisper before she pauses, nervously looking at the other way. “But it would be very usual.”

“What would?” His eyebrows raising as he waits for the answer, making her admit it out loud.

“For a guest to stay. We have a whole wing called the guest wing.”

“Oh, you…” He almost smirked at the information. “You have a guest wing. Well...” Then Tommy notices that she is crying, silently, trying to hide her tears by facing the opposite wall. He walks to her, calling her name softly and resting a hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her. Thomas never liked when woman cried, most part of the time it put him off because he didn’t exactly know how to react and, in this particularly scenario, it wasn’t something that he had predicted. “Have a smoke.”

“Thank you.” She accepts the cigarette from his hands and observes as he takes a step back to light another, taking a sit at the other end of the couch. “Ignore this. It's actually all right. I put all his photos in a drawer and locked it, as if that was going to make a difference. I'm like a fucking lighthouse keeper, out here on my own, keeping his flame burning. But, of course, when anyone sees a lighthouse they stay clear, don't they?” May observes as he seems to take a moment to think.

“Now, do you have a map? Of the house. Do you have a map? Because I'm not going to be able to find my way in the dark. You see, at midnight, I'm going to leave my wing and I'm going to come find you. And I'm going to turn the handle of your bedroom door without making a sound and none of the maids will know.”

“You don't know maids.” She scoffed at him.

“They hear a pin drop?”

“If there's a man in the house, they listen. They take turns.”

“So, let them listen.” Things were going according to his plan but Tommy couldn’t help remembering his aunt’s words that would keep echoing inside his head for the whole night.

Taglist: @stressedandbandobessed7771​

[doof-doofblog]

"Sweet Dreams!"

Tuesday 31st March 2020

Good Evening everyone! Hope you've all enjoyed your Tuesday, are you all reeling from last night's episode? It ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, right? What's going to happen now Phil is back? Who's excited for tonight's episode? Before we start focusing on tonight's episode, I have a big #SPOILER for you! New pictures have been released of Phil in, what appears to be, a prison a cell! Does he hand himself in to the police after being overwhelmed with guilt? He returned last night after vanishing after the boat crash. After seeing how dismayed and heartbroken Sharon is, does he make the life-changing decision and hand himself in? It is still to come to light that Ian locked Dennis in a room below deck during the boat crash, however Phil still did play a huge part by causing the boat to crash while fighting with Keanu. Is Phil going to end up being put behind bars for years, or can his reliable lawyer, fans will know as Ritchie, be able to prevent Phil from being locked up?!

I'm hoping Phil wont be put into prison for long, he's, personally, one of my favourite characters in the soap and he has such a legendary mark on the soap. What do you guys hope for Phil? Anyway, lets focus on tonight ... there was a hell of a lot going on, but of course the main focus tonight was Sharon and Phil, I'll come to them at the end, shall we start with Dotty?! She's getting herself in a bit of a mess I think and getting drunk, is it a coping mechanism of knowing what Ian did? Saying liars should pay and getting a group of random lads to buy her a drink. Of course Bobby and Peter come to aid, you know, i'm actually looking forward to their love triangle story-line, i'm interested to see how it starts and how it all comes together, will both Beale brothers know each one of them are pining for her? Or will Dotty play them both against each other, it can go so many ways, plus mainly, will it lead to Dotty forcing Ian to come clean? This is one story-line i'm really looking forward too! Also what were the keys he was fishing out of her bag while she slept? Obviously one set of keys was for restaurant, but what was the other set? The Arches possibly?

Another main focus during tonight's episode was Linda and Mick. So Shirley was the one who put a mark on the vodka bottle, Mick looked so disappointed with her. I did kinda feel for both of them during that moment, after everything she has been through, Linda felt she could just have "The one drink!" just to get her through, but you could see the look in Mick's face! That's not the way it goes, with her being a recovering alcoholic, it's the last thing she should be doing, it's just more temptation isn't it? It's kinda like torturing herself I guess, there will always be that craving of just having another, and just having one more after that until it gets out of control. Those words Mick spoke to her ""I choose our marriage" you said, "I choose you!"", it was a feeling of disappointment. Later on, during the scene in the bedroom, it was amazing to hear Linda open up about her life with drink, growing up in a Vic and her father giving her the odd sip of his pint, she has been living around alcohol her entire life, I was really engrossed in that section of dialogue. I thought the script-writers were brilliant tonight can I just add! Also can I just say how such a cute child Ollie is? He has a gorgeous little face! When they were lying in bed and talking to him about moving house, it was incredibly cute, using it phrases the little lad would understand. I think they have both made a good decision though, it is time for them to move out of the Vic, the amount of history that is there for them, they need a clean slate. It's where Linda was raped, where Stuart was shot and Mick was framed, where Mick and Whitney's affair started ... only questions are, who will they sell the Vic too and who will be the new owners of The Queen Vic?! Where will Mick and Linda go?

Now, I cannot not mention Ballum tonight! How incredibly cute were they?! Callum walking in on Ben while he was wrapping his birthday present! Can I just saw how bloody adorable Ben was the way he was staring at Callum when he was sat, with his eyes closed, in his underpants, telling him how he'd always be there for him, saying that it didn't matter to him whether he was deaf or not, if Phil wouldn't be there for him, then he would! Did anyone see Ben tearing up as he was being told these words?! It was the most perfect moment for Ben to say "I love you!" ... and what a beautiful moment it was, i'm sure a lot of Ballum fans were rejoicing, I know I was! I can't have imagined it to have happened at a better moment, even when they were lying in bed together, it was just incredibly sweet as they were swapping presents. I'm hoping there will be a lot of happiness for Ballum in the future, do I dare say a wedding possibly in the future? I don't think there's been a gay wedding in EastEnders has there? Someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but I would love to see Ben and Callum get married eventually, of course it's not going to be a smooth road for them, there will be obstacles along the way, but they make a perfect couple and I think EastEnders will miss a great opportunity if they don't make these two characters wed?! What do you guys think?! Let's start a petition ... "WE WANT A BALLUM WEDDING!"

Okay, now the main event. Everyone, please lets have a round of applause for Letitia Dean and Steve McFadden! What an amazing chemistry these two share on screen! I was gripped by their performance tonight! As soon as it started and Sharon went off the scale yelling at him to leave, you could see how devastated Phil was to be told to leave. When Phil followed Sharon back to the house and she was telling him how he killed his biological father, Dennis Rickman to then (accidentally) kill Dennis Rickman Jr, I think it hit a moment of truth for Phil that he, in the end, was responsible for the death of the two people Sharon loved the most. Even when they were at the Mitchell household, talking in the kitchen, it was clearly both of them are grieving for someone they loved dearly. Phil loved Denny like he was his own, he pretty much brought him up and always looked out for him, he is riddled with guilt, mainly for not knowing that Dennis was on the boat at the time of the crash. I found it very emotional and even I got a tear in my eye when they both started getting teary. I never expected Sharon to apologise to Phil thought for having her affair with Keanu, that was a surprise. Part of me was thinking was she faking it or did she genuinely mean it? She'd said many times that Keanu made her feel in a way that Phil couldn't. But then again, she was right, if she hadn't of had her affair with Keanu, Phil wouldn't have been on the boat after Keanu, Denny wouldn't have been on the boat either and everything would've been okay. The two most powerful characters in the soap and they are both battling with grief and guilt, for them to clash right at the beginning to then being able to talk and understand one another near the end, it shows what kind of history they have both shared. I found very fascinating and I can't applaud the script-writers and the stars of tonight's episode Letitia Dean and Steve McFadden loud enough!

I'm kinda sad that Phil has felt his need to turn himself into the police there at the end. I mean, Ben doesn't even know he's back and Phil doesn't even know about Ben losing his hearing. Somehow it's going to be brought to light to both of them surely? Maybe it'll be Kathy to be the one who breaks the news to them both?! What did you make of tonight's episode? What do you think is going to happen to Phil? But also, what is Sharon going to do now, she's buried her son and she's living on the square alone, not really being able to call anywhere home, what's going to be her next focus? Let me know what you guys think, please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on what's currently happening in the soap, I'd love to hear your theories. Anyway folks, sadly, that's all we have for this week, EastEnders will be back on our screens next Monday! I hope you're all keeping well and getting through this the best you can!

Keep safe and I'll back again with another blog very soon! Thanks again everyone! xXx

[rcyharper]

I’m in a mood to talk about Roy and his struggle with accepting his limits and his status as a hero.

With Roy, I think power struggle is a pretty big part of his character, whether it’s power to overcome his past or his power to help people, it’s always there, but I’m specifically talking about his struggle with power in the sense of him struggling with whether or not he’s good enough as a hero-- the fact that he’s just a human. A guy with a bow and arrow who knows how to aim really well and use weapons.

That’s well and good and all, but I think Roy struggles with the fact that he is only human and the fact that sometimes he can’t do as much as he could.

This is a big example where we see it. Much like Ollie, tries to hide his insecurities from everyone by trying to dismiss them as a joke and being sarcastic. 

I’m pretty certain Lian wasn’t even crying, he just wanted an excuse to leave the room. The fact that that’s been a question on his mind for a long time shows that he struggles with it too. The Titans are very important to him, and I think he struggled with being worried that he might not have been good enough to get a callback. 

I also think that’s why he didn’t rejoin at first even when he was re-invited-- he wanted to stay solo and work on himself, not just mentally, but to actually train to be better. Remember, this is the era when he was working with the CBI and Checkmate, this is where he really got to know his expertise with weapons beyond a bow and arrow. I don’t think he expanded his skills just for the sake of expanding them, I think he did it to try to get better because of this.

I think this whole worry of his comes into play big time when he leads the Titans.

Obviously leading a team the gist of it especially since that was something new to him at the time, but this particular era of the Titans dealt with a lot of space stuff, so that was pretty new to him as well, and it was a big part of his character arc in this run.

And we see him grow into his role, accepting the fact that he is a good leader, that he knows what he’s doing.

By the end of the run, he successfully stops an intergalactic war peacefully, and by that time, he felt that a lot of his worries of whether he could handle the bigger stuff were taken over.

Despite his accomplishments here, we still see him struggle as more events unfold in the future. One big thing that affected him was Ollie’s death. When Ollie died, Roy felt like he failed Ollie, that he let him down (which we all know he didn’t). He felt like him not being asked to take on the Green Arrow mantle or join the Justice League meant he wasn’t good enough.

Joining the JL has always been a big thing for Roy, wanting to prove to everyone and especially to himself that was he was good enough to take on the bigger stuff. We can see it pretty clearly here.

It’s why he did things like this.

We see this develop a lot further in the Outsiders era, after Donna died. She was killed by a Superman robot clone thing. When she was fighting it, Roy was working with Tim on building another robot to stop it, but they didn’t get it finished in time. I think that had a big effect Roy, making him feel he wasn’t good enough to save her. It changed his entire superhero style.

We see him shave his hair, take on a new more advanced suit (one which he’d had built for a while but never used), build a high tech base from scratch all by himself and hand pick a new team to try be more focused. When Roy found out there was a traitor in the team, he did not take that well and set out to find whoever it was. He felt responsible because this team was hand picked by him and he felt a lot of the blame was also on him for picking someone who’d betray them.

One thing we also during this era is that when Mia became Speedy and joined the Teen Titans, he gave her a quiver of arrows that included a Phantom Zone arrow that he’d kept for like 11-12 years for emergencies. The fact that he chose to give it to her is pretty big imo since he gave it to her when she joined the TT, and considering what happened between Donna and a Kryptonian (even though Donna was already back by that point), he was still wary and felt the need to be overprotective.

Anyway that kind of diverged a little but back to the main topic, even after assembling and leading the Outsiders, Roy again was left out a big “heavy” type mission.

This time, it hit him pretty bad, we can see it in the look on his face. It basically put him into full charge trying to go all out proving himself by taking down the Society of Super-villains, a plan that he supercharged and put his full effort into and succeeded with. He then left the Outsiders because he felt like being that type of hero wasn’t for him. Once again, he wasn’t satisfied with who he was as a hero.

When he left the Outsiders, he put his full focus going solo again and when he was offered Justice League membership, that was a huge deal for him. His insecurity about not being good enough made him flat out not believe it.

Again, just from the expressions on his face we see that he still struggles with thinking he’s good enough for this, not believing it, but it’s finally happening. His dream of joining the League is coming into full fruition, he’s taking on the family legacy like he’s always wanted to as Red Arrow while still keeping a sense of independence. 

And even then, he still felt like he wasn’t good enough to be next to the other heroes.

I think Roy’s annoyance with not going on the space mission during Outsiders ties in very nicely with this scene. Power Girl tells Roy she thinks he’s coming there to chase romance, but he never actually admits it himself, and while it may be true to some extent, I think the main reason he’s there is because he wants to throw himself out there and prove to himself that he can handle this stuff.

So basically, to sum it all up, Roy’s always struggled with this insecurity that he wasn’t good enough as a superhero, he always felt like he had to prove himself to others even when he didn’t. He always had to prove himself to himself. It’s why I think him being Red Arrow is so important-- it’s the culmination of all these arcs of him building himself up from his struggles and what he’s been through. As Red Arrow, he was finally fully satisfied with where he was as a person, as a father, and as a superhero. It’s what he’s always aimed for and wanted.

[arrowdaily]

Superheroes, like the rest of us, never really die. They live on in the people they leave behind. Heroes like Oliver Queen return every time they’re remembered fondly, a lesson they imparted is taken to heart, or an ideal they championed is fought for. They pave the way for the next generation, which will pick up the standard that they established and see that it prospers and grows. While it’s okay to grieve and mourn the passing of your favorite superhero, always remember that their legacy lives on.

Arrow’s final season ends next week, and while Oliver’s story may be reaching its conclusion, the world he shaped and sacrificed for lives on—and no one embodies that more than Mia Smoak. Oliver’s wayward daughter we were introduced to last season, Mia has had a remarkable journey that included meeting and fighting alongside her father in the leadup to the Crisis that ultimately cost him his life.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing of all is that journey is just beginning. Tonight’s penultimate episode of Arrow, “Green Arrow & the Canaries,” is a Mia Smoak-centered hour that reveals what her life is like after the hard reset that took place at the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

“This sets up the new future—the new 2040,” explains Kat McNamara, who plays Mia. “Mia’s grown up in a perfect Star City, in a place where she got to grow up with her mother and brother. She’s had every opportunity at her fingertips and has never known any sorrow or sadness other than the fact that her father was never a part of her life. She’s very smart, cunning and has the same wry sense of humor that we know and love, but she doesn’t necessarily have a passion or spark, or anything that really lights that fire in her because given the information that we have, we know what that fire is for Mia.”

That spark comes by way of two familiar faces—Dinah Drake and Earth-2 Laurel Lance—who show up to investigate a kidnapping that has ties to Mia. Of course, both Dinah and Laurel are dealing with the Arrowverse’s strange new world as well.

“Dinah is in a place where she doesn’t understand why she’s there, but she’s settled into it,” explains Juliana Harkavy, who’s held the role of Arrow’s Black Canary since season five. “She’s trying to make sense of this new world that’s been created. In a lot of ways, she’s brand new herself. She’s just discovering herself.”

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that the reacquaintance of these three remarkable women ultimately leads to Mia embracing her destiny as Oliver’s daughter and taking up the mantle of Green Arrow—it’s right there in the episode title. But this is a very different Green Arrow than we’ve seen before, and it’s not just because there’s now a young woman behind the mask. Mia’s previous life as a vigilante has been erased from her memory at the start of the episode, leaving behind a hero with a much different set of skills.

“She has social skills,” shares McNamara. “She has social graces. She interacts with people and she has this joy that we have never really seen before.”

That certainly has an impact on her approach to becoming the new Green Arrow.

“What Mia brings with her—at least, the old Mia—is a very cutting sense of being a survivor,” McNamara explains. “She’s had to go through so much and survive so much that she’s never had the same compassion that Oliver has for a lot of what she does. But now that we have this new version of Mia, she does have that compassion. She has these social skills and social graces that really do inform her character in a new way. It’s a very interesting interplay in the way that things are done.”

Of course, that new way might create some problems for the people not accustomed to it—like Laurel and Dinah.

“It’s complicated!” Harkavy says with a laugh. “We’re all figuring each other out while figuring ourselves out. We’re coming from a very different place in our lives and a very different perspective.”

“At this point, things between them are contentious at best,” adds McNamara. “Just given that Mia has grown up with a life that she views as pretty perfect, and then these women show up and throw a monkey wrench into everything. All of her relationships, everything she knows and loves is suddenly upturned. Mia and Laurel and Mia and Dinah have had their differences in the past, and that’s definitely true now as well.”

While Oliver Queen has had a few different proteges over the years, both in the comics and on the show, it’s been clear that Mia would be the one to follow in his footsteps ever since they introduced her in a series of flashforwards (which tonight’s episode pays off in a big way). That was cemented in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” when Ollie had a special Green Arrow suit commissioned for his time-displaced daughter. Whatever thoughts fans may have on this unique-to-the-show character, they should know that Mia certainly takes the mantle with the utmost respect.

“Given that she got to witness firsthand how her father was a hero, she’s doing everything she can to honor that, follow in his footsteps and do him proud,” says McNamara. “At this point, she doesn’t feel prepared, ready or even worthy to take on his mantle. Despite all the past conflict with her father, she really does respect the hero that he became and the legacy that he built. She views him as a hero.”

Harkavy certainly thinks Mia is ready. “Mia is a direct connection to Oliver, to the Green Arrow, to the legacy,” she explains. “She’s the root. It wouldn’t make sense for anybody else because in a way it’s the same character, but it’s also completely different. I believe Mia is the perfect hero for this story.”

That story, hopefully, isn’t going to end very soon. Arrow’s cast and producers have made it pretty clear that “Green Arrow & the Canaries” is meant to serve as a springboard for a possible spin-off series. However, with a total of six Arrowverse shows now, landing on the exact shape of the potential new series took some time.

“I learned about this episode at some point during season 8 of Arrow,” shares McNamara. “I was told that one of the episodes would be a pilot, but they didn’t really have the concept down yet. It went through many different iterations, but it was a really lovely collaborative process with Marc (Guggenheim), Beth (Schwartz) and the whole Arrow team. Given that we had to shoot this between the crossover and the series finale of Arrow, I give so much credit to the entire Arrow team—the creatives, the writers, our crew, who are impeccable.”

One thing McNamara will certainly get a lot of training in, should the spin-off move forward, is archery. Stephen Amell claims to be a pretty solid archer. McNamara, on the other hand, feels like she’s halfway there. Literally.

“The way we do things on the show is we never fire live arrows,” she explains. “A bow is such a long-distance weapon that if you have a camera six feet away from you, it’s not safe to be nocking a real arrow for anyone involved. All of the arrows are actually CGI. We dry-fire the bow, which is awful for it, but it’s the safest way to do things. So my form in drawing the bow is amazing. We have an incredible archery coach on the show who kicks my butt every time and whips me into shape. That part of archery I know a lot about, but I’m really not sure what my aim is like.”

With any luck, she’ll have many more years behind the mask to find out.

[hellyeahheroes]

Post-OMD/Slott’s unused Spidey characters: Alpha a.k.a Andrew Maguire

So there was an ask about Alpha and it was about what happened to him, and yeah, it was just as @filipfatalattractionrblog​, otherwise known as the admin, said, Slott got tired of him and dumped him on someone else where they got written into obscurity. And that is like a thing Slott or the writers of Post Brand New Day did constantly. He did it with Cindy Moon, he did it with a bunch of Spider-verse characters, he did it with Yuri Watanabe, he did it with Mr. Negative, Screwball, he did it with the entirety of Parker Industries and Horizon Labs. He even did it with Superior Spider-man. The moment Brand New Day started, Spider-man was tossed around a bunch of writers where they all started trying to race to create the next MJ love interest replacement. So there are even more characters that Slott didn’t create that are very under utilized. Not to mention characters created prior to One More Day/Brand New Day didn’t have much fucking screen time during this and thus did not receive any development. So characters like Liz Allen, Phillip Chang, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson(although he got to be Agent Venom), Randy Robertson, Glory Grant, Mary Jane Watson until fans complained, and even Aunt May which made the whole One More Day deal redundant. 

Old school Spider-man constantly hung out with his clique. Post One More Day Spider-man didn’t seem to have many friends outside of his Spider-man persona. And the partnerships that he did make didn’t last.

So, this is where I will go back and detail those lost characters starting with Andy because he is the most egregious. Then I speculate if they can come back, what role should they have.

I fucking hate Andrew Maguire. And apparently, I am supposed to hate him according to Slott, but I believe that is a cop out. He wanted this character to work. Regardless, Andrew Maguire serves as the Peter Parker without any of the selflessness and virtue. “So...Eddie Brock?” No, not as cool as Eddie or as well written.

And subtlety is not a thing for Slott. If you noticed, the character is named after the two Spider-man actors at the time, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield. People say it is a tribute, I personally think he was mocking them. My opinion, but you already know that.As you can see that the origin is pretty much a This Loser Is You trope which is weird because it’s insulting for fans of Spider-man, a character that is renown for being a superhero with everyman problems, to have a character who exists to say Peter is exceptional and you are not.

Andy goes on a Field Trip to Horizon Labs and meets Peter Parker who is about to unleash his newest discovery, Parker Particles. Which by the way, feels like an accomplishment for Peter, but Slott just had to twist the knife on that and have Reed casually say that he discovered it first and decided to leave Pandora’s Box be. Fuck Reed Richards. Anyways, as expected, Parker’s experiment went to shit and Andy decides to to perform his one solo act.

And Alpha is born. 

Okay well, first, Horizon had to settle with Maguire’s parents to avoid lawsuits and Any became the mascot for Horizon labs and then Alpha is born. So they do a check on his powers to see what the kid’s got.

He has the strength to lift a ton which is weaker than any Spider-man, he is bulletproof, has enhanced speed,has energy projection. So if you are following those useless ass stat charts on Marvel wiki, his chart would be...

Intelligence: 2 Normal

Strength: 4 One Ton is his max

Speed: 3 It just says enhanced speed so I am going to assume he can’t break the sound barrier

Durability 5 Bulletproof

Energy Projection: 5 Long Range single energy type blasts

Fighting Ability 2 Normal

What we have here is a powerhouse. Oh and he has a caveat. He can only use one power at a time at the moment. And he is only growing more powerful because Mr. Fantastic points out, Andy is embedded with Parker Particles which are tied to the expansion of the universe. His powers are only going to grow. So Mr. Fantastic decides to place Andy Maguire under Peter Parker’s care. Thus making Alpha Spider-man’s sidekick.

Alpha because no one else in the world has self-control without an Uncle Ben dying decides to market himself as the next best superhero. He gets marketing deal with Horizon to market their inventions, and he also becomes a pop sensation and media darling. Gets the girl that he was pawning after, Chrissy Chen, who I do like btw. I mean he is living the life, amigo.

His new girlfriend even makes him a fan page. 

And this is where there is some credence to the idea that Andy was meant to be hated because the comment section tears him apart with meta commentary. He is called a poochie which is a synonym for Scrappy, a term tor fan hated characters. Which, again, what is the point of a character that we, the fans, are meant to hate? It is counter intuitive and a waste of time. I mean people like Golden Booster, Slott. I just don’t get why bother with this? Of course, Andy’s set up in his origin follows the same beats as Slott’s other creation, Cindy Moon, who he wanted to be liked and cried racism when fans hated her as well.

This is endemic to Slott’s run as a whole. He doesn’t get Spider-man. He wanted to create Iron Man instead of making Spider-man stories. And when he introduces new characters, he doesn’t properly want to build them. Like Kamala Khan had 3 issues of character development before she became a superhero. Her origin was fleshed out. Miles had 5 issues and 14 issues to have a proper origin. Andy literally has just 1 issue that can’t even be considered an origin. It is not his origin story. It is just another problem for Peter to solve and that was the problem with Cindy Moon. She wasn’t a character but a replacement to Felicia Hardy who Slott went and tarnished to begin with.

So Alpha gets annoyed with those comments and decides to prove the haters wrong. Peter has been keeping track of Alpha the entire time so he intercepts him before he does anything wrong. Spider-man takes him under his wing and makes him his side-kick.

First, no. Spider-man has turned down sidekicks from Black Cat without super powers, Ollie Osnick, Sally Avril, and a few others. Miles’ isn’t his sidekick, student, or anything. Miles is his own hero who Peter feels responsible for and he sort of hangs out with.Spider-man doesn’t do sidekicks nor would he take them on if offered. He barely does team-ups and only out of propriety and necessity. So him donning Andy as such is out of character and kind against theme.

Second, the dialogue here does not match Peter’s tone.He is too sarcastic and cavalier about things. Peter is one of the most restrained heroes in Marvel in terms of his power usage. He knows what Andy is capable of. He wouldn’t be so casual. He would be on him like white on rice. He knows the seriousness of Andy’s situation. If he teaching Andy, he would refrain from fighting unless he has to. Peter was a teacher. He should know how teenagers are because he has dealt with them. It is like....okay.

Anyways, Andy being the ambitious little scamp decides to take over and do his own thing.

Okay, this is when I kind of knew that Slott would be an okay Fantastic Four writer.And he doesn’t waste any time reminding people that he is the most powerful hero of all time. 

Ben is beside himself because the little shit used his catchphrase in public, Johnny is ribbing on Spidey because he created a monster, Sue is trying to keep the peace, and Reed is annoyed because of Parker’s terrible decision of telling a teenager that he is the most powerful being in the universe. 

Reed tries again, and reminds Peter that Alpha is his responsibility. He has to essentially babysit Alpha for free. Meanwhile Alpha is letting his newfound success go to his head. He decides to two-time the girl that he was pining for...or he only liked because he felt that she was the best that he can get. You see, Andy is the guy who thinks as people as material to gain. He doesn’t mind using them, but once he outgrows them, he dumps them.

It is like Slott just wants to create the biggest asshole in Spider-man. And I guess that’s okay, but again, to what end? Is Andi going to be a bad guy? No. Is he going to be a reoccurring character? No. So why bother creating him if other writers won’t bother and fans hate him?

After this, Miles Warren aka the Jackal captures Andy easily and Peter has to find the little fuck because he is ,”Peter Parker’s responsibility.” Yeah, I am tired of that too.The Jackal wants to clone Alpha and repopulate the world with his own Alpha Males. No I am not kidding, that is what he calls them. Anyways, Peter tries to stop him but not before Miles Warren congratulates him of “out mad sciencing” him and creating Alpha. 

....I am already bored with this comic so I will speed it up. Jackal unleashes the clones, clones don’t have the Alpha powers because the power is not tied to Alpha’s genetics, Alpha breaks free of the harnesses and kills all of the clones, and saves himself sort of. Well not before saying even more alarming shit.

This is it. This is where he will learn, right? This is where Alpha makes a turn and become the little scamp that we hope for.

Well...can’t say that I am surprised. 

Peter gets fed up and conspires to take his power away from Alpha because the kid just can’t be trusted with them anymore. He is far too dangerous and honestly, Peter was right, but he was wrong the rest of the time.

Here is the thing: Alpha should have never been given these powers and allowed to keep them in any capacity.Peter should have suggested of taking them away from the very beginning and so should’ve Reed Richards and every hero who tested Andy. And I get it, it’s a little hypocritical of a blog about teenaged superheroes to say this, but there is a difference between the teens we usually cover and characters like Alpha. Alpha is in it for the glory and fame. He never has a redeeming moment. He is never humbled and is too self-centered to be humbled.Making him the strongest teen ever without proper guidance and knowing his parents were trying to mooch off of him and didn’t give a shit how much it effected his son, and only cared because of a profit margin should have been a dead giveaway. Someone should have spoken to his therapists or teachers and figured what kind of kid Andy was. It shouldn’t have taken issues of Spider-man testing it out because it was a bad idea from the start.

Alpha continues to use his power irresponsibly until the Avengers demand that Spider-man call him in to deal with Terminus. Alpha does so as he travels from Japan to Manhattan to deal a huge blow.

So good news is that Alpha got stronger. Bad news is that Alpha took out all of the airplane controllers in the vicinity so all planes are about to crash all over the New York area. So think 9/11 except on 30 buildings or so. The Avengers go into scramble mode and try to immediately rescue the civilians which by the way was the first rule Spider-man told Alpha. Guess who isn’t trying to save any civilians? 

So Alpha utterly failed this day. He made a bad situation worse and it shouldn’t have taken this to finally bench Alpha. The moment he disobeyed Peter, was the moment he should have been stripped of his power. I am being serious. But whatever, Alpha gets stripped by Spider-man.

So Alpha got powered down and is normal again.

But wait, there is more. Otto took over Peter’s body and preceded to give Andy his power back, but only a little of it this time. Andy moves to Pittsburgh, his parents divorced, and becomes the new hero of the Burgh. But he accidentally kills someone using his Alpha power, his power has been shown to be cancerous and he unknowingly gave his mom cancer and he doesn’t know it, the person he supposedly killed comes back and becomes this huge cancerous alpha powered villain named Zeta, Alpha stopped Zeta, and then another criminal blackmailed him to stop Andy from fighting crime or he will kill his whole family. And that was it for Alpha.

Can this character be redeemed?

Yes. 

Honestly, Alpha was saved in his mini in my opinion. I know, I didn’t post any pictures because that mini looked like shit. Again, however, the story wasn’t bad and did redeem him a little. He should have been in Miles Morales spot when it came to Marvel’s PS4. He was more suited for it and most of Marvel’s PS4 was Slott’s Spider-man run anyways. It had Yuri, Screwball, Mr. Negative, a sympathetic Doc Ock, and shit. All of these are hallmarks of Slott’s writing.

What would I do to introduce him back to the Marvel fold?

First, Alpha isn’t Godly anymore. He is like a low rent Nova. That stat chart that you saw in the beginning is where he is at now. So as long as he stays at that level, we are good. Second, his new predicament of being blackmailed by a criminal creates an interesting scenario. I would think a criminal would love having a bad guy under his thumb. So I suspect this bad guy, Boss Jimmy Cohen might think of expanding with his brand new super pet.Let’s say Alpha becomes his own enforcer and forces him to. Alpha’s mom dies of the cancer that he accidentally gave him and becomes Zeta 2.0.

So Andy after dealing with a ton of despair decides to come back and help Boss Cohen expand his empire in New York. He starts in Brooklyn, and you know where I am going with this. Andy meets Miles, Spider-man II. I am against having Miles inherent Peter’s characters, but Andy is basically an unused character. He might as well go somewhere so why not with Miles Morales who is getting an expanding list of rogues anyways. A reluctant fallen hero would be an interesting addition.

As for Chrissy Chen, I don’t like wasting characters at all, especially one that is just off the edge of Spider-man mythos. Chrissy still goes to Midtown High. And so does Lana Baumgartner. Instead of creating another character, just have her be Lana’s confidant just like Miles has with Ganke. 

And that is all folks. Now I will be doing a bit more on the forgotten characters of Post OMD Spider-man. A lot of them aren’t teens, so I will cover them on my other blog. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.

@ubernegro​

[doomedandstoned]

Oakland Doomy Bluesers Phantom Hound Roar ‘Cross The ‘Mountain Pass’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Album Art by Molly Stetson & Heather Hughes

I live not far from the railroad and there's something very comforting about hearing a train roll in. It's appropriate that the might and roar of that metallic convoy be responsible for opening the new record from PHANTOM HOUND.

We met them some years back, when the Oakland doom and power blues trio dropped, 'Phantom Hound' (2016), their debut EP. Now Jake Navarra (guitar, vox), Stephen Rogers (bass guitar), and Jack Stiles (drums) are back with a full-length: 'Mountain Pass' (2020). The new spin showcases a sound that's genuinely enticing, much like Guns 'n' Roses' Appetite For Destruction was when I first heard it at age 12 (the first cassette I had to buy clandestinely from my parents).

The riffmaking, from leads to solos, is strong with Mountain Pass, driving each track forward like a mighty engine, from the rush of an opener "The Northern Face" to the grinding blueser "Thunder I Am," the chugging pistons of "Irons In The Fire," and the Matt Pike-like filigrees of "The Southern Face."

Jake's powerful pipes fall somewhere in between Chris Cornell's soaring medium range, the raspy grit of Finnish vocalist Olli Suurmunne (Kaiser, Altar of Betelgeuze), and the commanding force of Australia's Chris Fisher (Field, Lamassu).

You ain't gonna bring me down You ain't gonna bleed me out You ain't gonna kill me now You ain't gonna snuff me out

In fact, if you liked Kaiser's '1st Sound' (2018), this would make a very nice companion.

A pleasant acoustic interlude, "Grace of an Angel" gives us a rest stop from the treacherous uphill journey, leading to the album's expansive namesake track and a very overcast second-half. "Devil Blues" is quite effective in conjuring the rough terrain of the California mountains and the sense of aloneness one feels when traveling deep into the wild.

Steady return into the dark Dealing again my hand the card A whisper, a spark, and a flame Has bitten me again Killing me again the same

We've now travelled from "The Northern Face" to meet "The Southern Face," the Mountain Pass closer. It's a doomy one for sure, though the intrepid tempo gives the sense of determination that this journey will be finished.

"Overall this record is about survival and living for every moment," the band told Doomed & Stoned. "A gritty reflection on what is required to actually live your life rather than be a slave to it."

And now, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you the premiere of Mountain Pass by Phantom Hound, ahead of its wide release on Saturday, March 28th (pre-order here).

Give ear...

Mountain Pass by Phantom Hound

Track By Track: A Listener's Guide to Mountain Pass

We asked the guys to give us a walk-through of each number on Phantom Hound's new album. We got more than we expected and are delighted to share this in-depth breakdown with you from frontman Jake Navarra.

The Northern Face

This song started off early writing sessions for the record as a new riff when I bought a new Jazzmaster not long after that Rob Zombie show. The riff was written hours before my first audition in two years as something aggressive and impressive to take to them. The guys I jammed with didn't get the vision and we didn't click in general so I put it in my back pocket. I brought it home and kept working on it though. My love of all things Alice in Chains carved this track out to serve as our "Them Bones" This main riff would later serve me again on a second song "The Southern Face" I used the main riff from "The Northern Face" as a bridge riff after the second chorus outro in "The Southern Face" but since the song is in B-Standard on the Baritone guitar its nearly unnoticeable. The songs became the beginning and the end of the record pretty early on. Lyrically the song serves as a cry of raw life. The idea being that, we are born into this world and its a fight to stay here. Climbing the northern face is a metaphor for the listener to be the train that has set off to see its railroad completed. (Drop D)

Thunder I Am

I grew up watching old westerns with my grandpa and my old man. There's nobody that doesn't relate to Clint Eastwood's characters and this songs a direct tip of the hat to the attitude portrayed in nearly all of his films. Thunder I Am is essentially that sense of justice that will always rain down. The song wrote itself when I first plugged this guitar into my Orange. Heavily inspired by Down and Soudgarden. (B Standard)

Irons in the Fire

This song directly reflects a love for Down & Pantera. Lyrically a direct reflection on how hard our members work on a daily basis and what it takes to make a band happen these days with all the different DIY elements band members have to juggle. We can never loose faith in ourselves or let the idea of a dream die out. We simply have to stoke the fire and keep it burning at all times. We put some southern style groove at the end of this song to pay homage to some dime style breakdown riffing. (B Standard)

You Don't Know Death

This song was written during The Ether era. How it survived is beyond me. It's tough, fast, and sharp as a dagger so maybe that helped. Lyrically a reflection on the overwhelming amount of death worship. I don't feel like a lot of bands really know what they're talking about sometimes but I was also much younger when I wrote it and far more angsty. I was craving diversity from metal at the time. I simply want life to be valued at its core. Perhaps the opposite of how it sounds I guess. (Drop C Standard)

Grace of an Angel

Throughout 2018 my step mother battled liver cirrhosis. She turned 67 on Dec 11th and passed away two days after Christmas on Dec 27th. She was in my life for 20 of my 30 years and was nothing short of an angel. She brought children into this world for over 30 years in the medical industry working as an RN for Kaiser Permanente. She never drank, smoked, or swore. She retired around the age of 64 and almost instantly got sick. She did her part for a transplant but was denied a liver through the waiting list. It was the single most painful experience of my life as I was there through the end holding her hand and looking after my old man as we all watched helplessly on the wayside. During her pain and suffering she never lost her integrity and showed more strength in her final hours than I think anybody could truly understand. People leave this world in many different ways but she did it as gracefully as only an angel could. I wrote this only weeks before the end. Steve is playing a Fender Rhodes and Jack added some light drums on it. I did more takes of this than any other track on the record. (Drop C)

Mountain Pass

This song started off during the years I walked away from music as the only thing I would play on my only instrument which was the acoustic that I kept. Occasionally I thought of a record that could capture the sound I always wanted to make combining heavy influences and trying to really make a grand opus. Something long and stoneresque calling on some Matt Pike meets Jerry Cantrell riffage. As the years went by and the idea for this record started to form it really honestly felt like we were struggling at every turn to see this record through. Life changes, career changes, the economy, the price of living, the music industry. Its been a struggle for many. This song is an anthem to all of the blue collar workers and dream of the builders putting one foot in front of the other to see their journey through. We have to set examples sometimes or nothing will change. (Drop C)

Devil Blues

This song is tip of the hat to The Blues. When I started playing guitar again I decided to play with a fire and make sure above all else that we were having fun in this band and having fun at our shows. Life is incredibly short and that's all there is to it. This song is about giving into The Blues and letting that feeling live inside you and remind you to stay out late, spend the extra money, go look at the stars, and jump into the ocean. (B Standard)

The Southern Face

The journey ends here. We've fought, we've struggled, we've survived the perilous journey of life and you're all the stronger and wiser for it. a reminder that you did it with your own two hands, your wit, and that not everybody made it. It's not a perfect story and it didn't work out well for everybody. We took losses and we made gains. And when you're done its time to reflect and count your blessings. This song is a steep descent into a smooth arrival back at the destination you set out to reach. This song wraps up the story entirely and leaves a sneak peak for what's to come. You can hear Steve's wizardry as his psychedelia morphs into a trance-like sense of closure and clarity until the train drops you off and carries on. (B Standard)

Wrong Turns & Second Chances: Interview with Phantom Hound

Every band has an origin story. Sometimes if you dig a little beyond the surface and get to know the musicians behind the music, their stories become surprisingly relatable. As Doomed & Stoned is all about both the music and the stories of the heavy underground, we were curious to know more about a lesser known band with a huge sound and grand ideas called Phantom Hound. We got the scoop from frontman Jake Navarra.

The Beginning

We formed in 2013 under the name Hound. Keith Hernandez (bass and engineer) and Dominic Torres (drums) did The Ether EP with me but not long after we recorded and started mixing I got into a motorcycle accident at the end of 2014 and decided to walk away from music altogether. I had been playing music for 10 years at this point and in part of the collapse of my previous band Cast Iron Crow and the continued struggle to keep a band going in general felt that my time as a musician was done. I fucked up my right shoulder and tore my ACL in the crash, had to get reconstructive surgery on my knee, and learn how to use my left leg all over again during recovery.

Because of this and the inability to play any instrument at all I sold off all of my gear except for my acoustic guitar in order to help pay my bills and for nearly two years never looked back. It was in summer of 2016 that I found myself with some free tickets for Rob Zombie. I took my older brother out to see him as we grew up listening to White Zombie and Rob Zombie from all the old Twisted Metal video games growing up. There was a brief moment when John 5 came out on stage at the beginning of House of 1000 Corpses.

The stage went dark and a spotlight came down upon him and he had this glow in the dark Telecaster with the TV screen in between the pickups while an old horror movie was playing on it and had the whole arena at his attention with that ominous riff. My brother elbowed me and said "You're telling me you don't wanna do that anymore? That doesn't look fun to you?" a light bulb went off that night and I called Kieth Hernandez a few days later to dust off The Ether mixes and we spent the fall dialing it in and finishing what we started. I ended up getting introduced to Oz Fritz who's worked with Les Claypool in the past and has some ties in the East Bay Area. I released it digitally that Christmas as a present to close friends and family.

The Rebirth

At the start of 2017, I wanted to really get back into playing again and struggled for some time to secure a lineup. I had two line ups of close friends help me get the ball rolling and things were off to a slow start for a while as we only had the EP material which was written on a Fender Jazzmaster. In the early months of 2017 I acquired a guitar that changed everything. The Hagstrom Viking Baritone. As soon as I plugged this guitar into my amp "Thunder I Am" was the first thing that came back out of it. "Devil Blues" was second and "The Southern Face" was the third. These three songs became the basis for what would become Mountain Pass and for a year-and-a-half my renewed interest in guitar and the blues pumped new life into the band. We played two shows this year and survived only by a slow pulse.

Paths Converge

It wasn't until I met Jack Stiles (drums) in March of 2018 through craigslist and that things got serious. He was the first person in 5 years that was as motivated as myself about the project and we set out to overhaul the band immediately. Jack (44) is a business owner of 10+ years, married, and a father of two little ones with more energy than most people my age (30). Jack has been a drummer for less than 5 years and a bass player of 20+. From sheer motivation he's answered the call and taken every challenge I've thrown his way. Jack strictly plays Ludwig classics and has shaped his playing around the hooks and rhythms these songs call for. A general love for all things music he's been one of the single most important musicians to ever share the stage with.

Through Jack we met Steve Rogers (bass) a few months later in June of 2018. Steve is a guy as casual as they come. (43) 100% Irish. Here's a guy who backpacked the John Muir trail in 8 days and shrugs his shoulders over his accomplishment when you bring it up. An established sound engineer with Dolby in San Francisco he's one of the friendliest people I've ever met. At the time he was pretty upset with his previous audition with some other band because they told him he didn't have the right image. Their loss, our gain. Steve's unwavering dedication to his bass tone filled a huge gap in our sound and with his Ampeg SVT and Music Man offers a brutal low end I didn't realize these songs couldn't benefit so much from. During the recording sessions Jack and I marveled at his ability to convey how these songs should expand with our engineer Chris Hughes. His sense of temp and atmosphere is responsible for all of the psychedelia and the keys hidden in 'Mountain Pass" and "Grace of an Angel."

Phantom Hound, Jake Navarra, and Mountain Pass

In late summer of 2018, the three of us went straight to work. At this time the name "Hound" had become convoluted and our music simply couldn't be found. After much deliberation and research we expanded the name to Phantom Hound. Symbolically this further represented the folklore surrounding the concept of why I chose "Hound" in the first place. Everything from Hell Hounds of the south capturing elements of The Blues, Black Shuck 's and Phantom Hounds of the UK and America to the mighty Cerberus going all the way back to Greek mythology. The Phantom Hound is essentially a guide/gatekeeper between worlds of the living and the spiritual underworld. We felt this helped us fully mature into our sound as were a bit of a mutt ourselves in the sense that we don't particularly fit in anywhere but get by everywhere so far.

As the main guitar player, vocalist, and songwriter it is my primary goal to try and compose records with expansive styles highlighting what the guitar can offer a listener. My own personal inspiration comes a lot from the classic rock I grew up on as a kid like so many, Seattle grunge, Mississippi and Chicago Blues, NOLA sludge, Italian and East Coast Jazz, Californian desert and stoner rock, and even the eclectic resurgence of all things metal in the local Oakland scene.

After rebuilding throughout the summer of 2018 on what had now become the 4th lineup of the band and the 1st lineup of Phantom Hound we came back up for air renewed and rebranded. We spent the winter of 2018/2019 performing, writing, shaping, and designing our brand. Our love for westerns, camping, backpacking, and history brought us to the Theme of "Mountain Pass," which is a loose concept record comparing one's personal journey through adulthood and all of the challenges one faces during those years to construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. In its essence: A perilous journey inward and mission for oneself to see through to its completion.

Producing Mountain Pass

2019 was the biggest year for us by far. We went into the studio with my friend Chris Hughes in May. About 10 years earlier I met him through an old friend back in college down in southern California. During that moment in time I was discovering Sleep's Jerusalem and was so stoked on Sleep I gave it to this transplant from Denver who wanted to get his hands on anything heavy and stoner metal related. Life went on and I didn't see him again for 10 years. During that time he continued to date and eventually marry an old friend of mine from High School and pursue audio engineering up here in the Bay Area at Expressions.

Somewhere along his journey, Chris got connected with the boys in the South Bay in KOOK and they hired him to produce their first album "Kook" and again their follow up "Kook II". This time however and the reason I mention this part of the story is that KOOK is well acquainted with Billy Anderson who came down from Oregon as the executive producer on the follow up record. Chris was able to shadow Billy in these sessions and learn and assist with much of the engineering on this record.

So after not seeing Chris or my old friend Heather we bumped into each other at Bevmo here downtown in Oakland to buy some beer. We instantly caught up having one hell of a laugh that after all these years the chance encounter we had over Sleep led him to working alongside Billy Anderson himself. With Chris fresh off the sessions of Kook II and Phantom Hound locked and loaded with Mountain Pass, everything lined up right and we went into the studio together at Airship Laboratories in Richmond, California and recorded nearly everything but the vocals in the same room Metallica recorded S&M and had a blast combining all our knowledge together and reconnecting as friends.

Chris Hughes took our record to extraordinary levels and our songs gave him a solid platform to apply his newly acquired skill sets on. We continued to perform all throughout the year with as many bands around town as possible as we built our relationships and earned a place here in town. In September of 2019 through Chris Hughes we were introduced to Jeff Wilson from Kook, Heavy San Jose, and Glory or Death Records and got on the bill for his annual Beers in Hell event. This was single handedly the most important gig of the year for us last year as we got to play with tons of killer bands and open for Hippie Death Cult, Kook, Disastroid, Holy Grove, and High Tone Son of a Bitch (which included Billy Anderson on Bass that night). We then played again with Hippie Death Cult in Pacifica a few weeks later and hit it off as friends.

Mastering Mountain Pass

After mixing was completed and our shows for September were wrapped up, we took off into Nevada City to reconnect with Oz Fritz at Ancient Wave Studios. This place is located down a long dirt road deep in the woods of Gold Country. A perfect relaxing place to kick back and watch the record come to life. Oz Fritz worked with me on The Ether EP. He's worked on Primus's Antipop, several Tom Waits records, and Miles Davis to name a few. Oz is straight to the point and gets down to business quick. He was stoked on the variety of the songs he was working with and added a great layer of warmth that comes through the best on vinyl as we've heard with our test pressings. There is a photo attached of us at Ancient Wave with him working his magic. He was once asked by Tom Waits "This mix sounds great but...it needs more brown" and so he figured it out.

The Northern Face Music Video Shoot

In October, we took off to Soda Springs and rented a cabin during filming for the music video. As I mentioned above we filmed in a historical landmark. You can see us at the entrance of Tunnel #6. If you look Closely you can see the scars on the granite as if the black powder and dynamite just blew it up yesterday. The town behind me on the cliff is Truckee and the lake below is Donner Lake. It is my goal to bring our listeners into the outdoors and feel the dirt in their hands and the smell of the woods.

Tragedy nearly took place though as after we finished filming all day on Saturday and celebrating all night Saturday night. What we thought were minor electrical issues with the house itself turned out to be a near fatal one when an electrical short in the gas fireplace sparked around 3AM. The fireplace caught fire thus lighting the outside of the house and chimney on fire proceeding to fill the house with smoke while 9 of us were fast asleep.

At 3:30 AM the smoke alarms went off like a symphony and we scrambled to find the source only to quickly determine that the fireplace was the problem. Black smoke poured out everywhere from behind the fireplace and we used two fire extinguishers in an attempt to put out the flames. What we didn't know and couldn't see was that the fire crept up all the way through the chimney in between the interior and exterior of the chimney. And just like that, within 10 minutes we started evacuating the house and helping each other clear the place out of our belongings, instruments, film equipment, and vehicles. The Truckee Fire Department came out and went to work and kicked ass on the fire while we assisted with information on how the fire and extending the hoses until reinforcement arrived.

In the end we all got out ok and luckily nobody had to go to the hospital. We all got smoked out pretty bad and were pretty shaken up. It was the real deal 100%. That house was on its way to burning down the house. That's the story behind the home footage at the end. If you look closely the entire house is billowing with smoke. We were all fast asleep about 40 minutes before that was filmed.

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