#and that's interesting because it plays into the fact that dan was created from both danny and plasmius

[horrendoushag]

I think you have an amazing point OP, though I don't think it's right to say that Dan isn't Danny. I do agree that he is majority Vlad, and that this should be addressed more often within the phandom (that would be super cool honestly), but as far as the writing in TUE goes he is definitely intended to be a future version of Danny and Plasmius.

To quote Dan when he returned to the past, speaking to Tucker: "In my weaker moments I sometimes miss your droll sense of humor." In that one line you can see both Danny, missing his friends, and Vlad, talking like a drama queen.

So what I would say is that while Phantom and Plasmius combined to create a new ghost, Dan as a person is not "new", he's not a different person, he's a future version of both Danny and Plasmius simultaneously.

Anyway good post. Team Dan-is-also-made-from-Vlad-guys-don't-you-remember-that-bit? ftw

About Dan

Something I would like to see addressed more in Danny Phantom fanworks, especially crossovers, is that Dan is not Danny.

Just to be clear, I don't mean that in a "Danny didn't take that path and didn't become that person" way. A lot of stories tend to refer to Dan as an evil version of Danny from another timeline, but that's not what he is.

Dan is not Danny.

He never was.

Dan is not Danny's evil future self. He is not Danny from an alternate Timeline. He is not Danny at all.

In Dan's timeline, Danny and Vlad both got split in half. The ghost halves of both merged and became Dan. Dan is a new entity who was made from half of Danny and half of Vlad. He is not a version of Danny any more than he's a version of Vlad.

Dan actually has more in common with Vlad both physically and personality-wise. Physically, Dan has Danny's hair color and face shape, but he has Vlad's eye color, skin tone, fangs, ear shape, and hair texture. Personality wise, Dan got Vlad's cruelty, ego, lack of empathy, some of his manipulative tendencies, and his flair for the dramatic. He got Danny's impulsiveness.

There are similarities between Dan's origin and the "evil future self from a bad future" plot that is so common in superhero stories, but that's not what Dan is. Danny doesn't exist in Dan's timeline. His human half is dead and his ghost half was part of the materials used to make Dan. This is spelled out pretty explicitly in the show. The Boo-merang doesn't track Dan because it's locked onto Danny's ecto-signature, not Dan's.

You could compare Dan to an offspring of Danny and Vlad. It would certainly be closer than calling him a version of Danny. That said, I think the better description would be that, whatever Frankenstein's creation was to the people whose graves Frankenstein robbed to make him, that's what Dan is to Danny and Vlad.

Danny's fears regarding the Dan timeline would not be about his own potential to go bad, but about Danny's friends and family dying, Danny being left at Vlad's mercy with no support system, and Vlad experimenting on him until the incident that results in Danny's death and Dan's creation.

I noticed that a lot of Danny Phantom and DC crossovers especially tend to simplify Dan into an alternate Danny who had a villain arc, and it occurred to me that a lot of people approaching from the DC side of things probably never watched The Ultimate Enemy and don't know the actual story behind Dan.

It's really too bad, because I think there's a lot to be done with it.

[mitziholder]

I was catching the perfectionism vibes, it's shame if it hinders your progress. Your characters and style seem so cool so I wanted to probe. Comics really are a marathon to create. Losing steam is natural and maybe switching up your conception of your project can help. Not trying to pressure you in any way, just hoping to provide some food for thought.

How do you feel about comics as a medium? You mentioned you mostly "skim" comics for inspiration and love Wimmen's Comix but is it a medium you feel very connected to in general and for your story idea?

I've seen multiple webcomic artists unfortunately struggle with the labor needed for drawing panels and incorporating prose along with art and regular comic panels to maintain progress. If you are more into writing than drawing, maybe incorporating prose along with comics/art is an option you'd be interested in. Don't have the best examples but thinking of Homestuck's long script-format convos that follow panels. And for a comic that later incorporated prose, the webcomic Paranatural went from all comic panels to mixing prose and art. I'll be honest that I stopped reading Paranatural as a teen before the shift so I can't speak to its writing/art quality.

“skimming” was a little disingenuous. I have read a lot of comics, but very rarely have I felt that they fully utilized the affordances of the medium. the reasons for this vary; comics are plagued by many issues deriving from the fact that they were, at one point, both extremely popular and cheap (low-brow) - kneecapped by the CCA and warped into something stupid and trivial for children. even today, that perception remains. I would say the majority of people aren’t capable of recognizing comics as a mature medium. lots of comic writers have a chip on their shoulder about this… particularly Alan Moore.

I bring him up because Watchmen was one of the first pieces of media that really opened my eyes as to what comics were capable of as a graphic medium; people regularly recognize the visual artistry of film, the (often) invisible work done in blocking, cinematography, effects, and editing that makes movies feel like art. comics should be art. every frame should be a painting. panels should fit together into a larger picture composed with thought and care. Dan Gibbons did so - with regard not only for how panels fit next to each other but also for how they fit within the page and the page within the chapter and so on… rich with detail, of equal weight to the dialogue in conveying narrative and thematic meaning. it amazed me because of how little the art actually matters in so many comics, only there by obligation (because without art it would no longer be a comic). why is this? I don’t know. profit? but you see it in indie comics, too. that part confuses me. why would you make something if you don’t want it to be good? what’s the point?

anyway, I found that the story I wanted to tell would not fit within the bounds of a stage play. it has continually resisted (with some notoriety on this blog) my attempts to fit it into prose. the dialogue is what moves it, and with my sort of shaky aptitude for art and love of the medium’s potential, I felt that making it a comic was the natural choice. I don’t particularly enjoy the process of drawing, but without art I felt something was missing - a void that couldn’t be filled by anything else. I never wanted it to give the impression that the art was done by rote, incidental/inconsequential, a pure and thoughtless representation of the dialogue… but that is sort of what it has to be at this point. I wish that integrating the visual half came more naturally to me, but I’ve accepted that it’s a skill I’m going to have to hone with much practice. it’s something I’ve struggled with quite a bit as someone who is borderline aphantasic. very little of the art that I make comes directly from my brain. it is not intuitive to me at all. I am so reliant on references, have no imagination, am very rarely struck with the idea for a bit of visual humor or detail that adds meaning rather than merely visualizing the existing script - the words. I am obsessed with words, clearly. meaning and rhythm and punctuation. I’m a word person. I want to be an art person. I want so baaaadly for my work to be good. I try so hard.

I’m often tempted to throw in the towel and admit that my brain doesn’t work that way - that I’m aiming too high, stubbornly set on something I can never really have - not to an extent that I’m satisfied with. but if I gave in to that feeling, I would never finish anything. I feel like once I am done with my classes and my living situation is more stable, I’ll be sort of okay - or at least more consistent - when it comes to the art stuff... worst-case scenario, I cave and go the homestuck route (which is not something I thought I’d ever say). I don’t know. we’ll have to see. once this semester is over...😮‍💨

[uncloseted]

Hi Christina, I really enjoy your scholarly deep dives on history and influential people. I was wondering if you could share any of your thoughts or articles on the dark side of Picasso (misogyny, stealing art from POC, etc? I recently heard about how he was a total piece of crap but I wanted to *how* and *why*. thank you in advance!

That's so nice of you! I can definitely explain the controversy around Picasso.

So, the biggest criticism that's usually leveraged against Picasso is that he was a misogynist or a chauvinist. It seems that he is generally considered to have been an abusive partner. He cheated on nearly all of his lovers and had many romantic affairs. One of those affairs was with French model Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was 17 at the time their relationship began and later died by suicide, as did his second wife, Jacqueline Roque. His first wife, Olga Khokhlova, and his lover Dora Maar both experienced nervous breakdowns. His son, Paulo, developed a fatal alcoholism due to depression. His grandson, Pablito, also died by suicide that same year by ingesting bleach when he was barred by Jacqueline Roque from attending the artist's funeral. It's unclear to me how much he was ultimately responsible for any one of those deaths, but it seems his treatment of those individuals played a part in their worsening mental health.

His lover, Dora Maar, told him that, "as an artist you may be extraordinary, but morally speaking you’re worthless.” His long time partner Françoise Gilot reports he told her that, "women are machines for suffering," and that "for me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats." Gilot details his abusive treatment towards her in her book, Life With Picasso. She also paints a picture of a man who's struggling with his own mental health- he is superstitious, anxious, unable to make trivial decisions, and volatile in his moods. Scholars have theorized that he suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, although of course, nobody can really say for sure.

In terms of appropriation or stealing art from people of color, these claims seem less substantial (at least from what I could find). In 1907, Matisse showed Picasso a Vili figure from what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Picasso was drawn to it, in part because of his superstitious personality, and was inspired by its aesthetics. After that, he visited the Trocadero Museum, an anthropological museum that displayed (what they considered to be) "primitive" art. African art offered a completely different way of depicting the world than traditional European art did, and that different way of depicting the world eventually inspired Picasso to begin the Cubist movement. Picasso later began collecting African art, and had amassed over one hundred works by his death. Picasso initially acknowledged that African art inspired his work, although he would later deny that they was any connection. This much appears to be based in fact, rather than interpretation.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is the painting that is usually discussed in the context of Picasso and cultural appropriation. It is generally considered to be the first Cubist work that Picasso created. The faces of the two central figures in the painting are inspired by sculptural busts from Picasso's native Iberia, while the face of the woman in the top right corner appears to be inspired by the masks of the Dan tribe of the Ivory Coast. In the lower right, the woman's face appears to be inspired by the Mbuya Mask of the Pende people. Both the Dan masks and the Mbuya masks are of spiritual significance to their respective tribes.

The criticism of Picasso is typically that, while he was inspired by African art and aesthetics, he had little interest in African culture or understanding the significance of the pieces he borrowed from. In Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the Iberian faces are centered in the painting, not the African ones. Are the African individuals in the painting merely props for his European subjects? Was he taking from an artistic culture that didn't belong to him? Was he romanticizing or fetishizing "primitive" people? By painting African masks into his work, is he expressing dominance over Africans or exploiting them? I think that's up to individual interpretation.

For me, personally, I think Picasso thought he was appreciating the art, and that Picasso didn't really have the cultural context to understand issues of appropriation. So I don't know how productive of a conversation "Picasso: Appreciator or Appropriator" is. I think the MOMA exhibition, 'Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, had a good approach to this issue, as does the Picasso Museum in Paris. By showcasing the tribal art alongside Picasso's own work, it allowed for proper contextualization of Picasso's inspirations, acknowledgement of the crucial impact of African art on the development of Cubism, and underlined the importance of traditional African art. But I'm not African, and I'm not really an artist, so it's not my place to say.

Ultimately, I think my view on this is that we can't undo the past. Picasso is important not because of who he was as a person or any one piece he made, but because of his contributions to the field of modern art. You can't have a meaningful conversation about Cubism if you're determined not to talk about Picasso, and you can't have a meaningful conversation about Constructivism if you're determined not to talk about Cubism. His work remains culturally important because it's historically important, and I don't think we can really change that. I do think we can provide more context to his work (such as acknowledging African art's influence on his work) or have conversations about his work (what does his depiction of women say about his thoughts about women?), but to "cancel" his work papers over history as opposed to acknowledging it.

Some articles I read, if you're curious to learn more:

‘Notoriously cruel’: should we cancel Picasso? Collectors, artists, critics and curators decide

How Picasso’s Muse Became a Master

How Picasso Bled the Women in His Life for Art

Picasso Was Brutally Chauvinistic, But Does “Cancelling” Him Really Serve Anybody?

How Much Does Picasso Owe to African Art?

The Controversies of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

‘Cultural appropriation is a two-way thing’: Yinka Shonibare on Picasso, masks and the fashion for black artists

Primitivism: Cultural Appropriation in the Art World

[adeadhorse]

thank you for answering my ask!! i was unsure whether to send because sharing concepts is a subjective, often personal thing, so thank you for being so receptive and kind!

yeah i definitely think making things dark for the sake of just being dark is overdone and unnecessary (cue Riverdale), but that if it touches on an undercurrent that already exists in a storyline or character trait then it could be worth exploring.

i always felt chase got away with way too much in regards to him harboring such a crush & at times obsession, with zoey, because as his behavior continued, it was like the whole friend group and PCA campus was aware except for her. it didn’t seem considerate or respectful to her, and obviously this was because Nickelodeon writers notoriously disregard female characters and the depth/range they can bring if given the chance, but i still would like there to be a certain consequence to chase parading around with his emotions about a girl who may have her own desires and thoughts on the matter, too. zoey didn’t know at all that he was going to such great lengths to be her best friend, paired with her, know her secrets, or just how she may feel in a romantic sense about him.

my idea is definitely grittier and sexier than the typical scenarios between chase and zoey, but i think it weaves together the objectification of women and girls in that dicey time of the early aughts, where things like this may’ve happened more frequently and the gossip would be quite juicy. if anyone could tap into that version, it’s you! you’ve got a great sense of reality, infused with just the right amount of dreamy, for the setting of each story you’ve created. this is merely a suggestion and it’s been so great getting to hear your thoughts on this! thank you

Thank you for the kind words and for sharing your concept with me - it can definitely be daunting! I'm always really happy to discuss different ideas and interpretations.

On that note, I apologise for how long this reply is.

I do actually fundamentally disagree with your reading on Chase's character and how he fits into the wider context of mid-2000s and wider Nickelodeon/Dan shows as a whole. Yes, Dan & co are absolutely not interested in Zoey's feelings, which is the main flaw of the show and is based both in misogyny and the fact that Jamie Lynn cannot act. Chase is, functionally, the main character which is why you are supposed to root for him and places Zoey in a kind of old-fashioned love interest role where you literally don't know her feelings until her big confession of love (or a very half-hearted "I love you too" in Trading Places and kiss in Chasing Zoey). Think a Jane Austen character like Mr Knightley or Captain Wentworth, or really any repressed English male, but in a shitty Nickelodeon show with dreadful fashion and an (un)healthy sprinkling of sexism.

That said, disinterest can still be disrespectful and it doesn't change that Chase is the problem here. I make it no secret that Chase is my favourite character and I'm biased, but specifically I like S3 Chase. In some ways that's when he's at his worst; certainly it's when he's most emotional because he's allowed to be angry at Zoey instead of just bearing the brunt of hers, but he's also just meaner to everyone. Plus he's older and he should know better (though if anyone genuinely believes that I think they should meet a sixteen-year-old). But it's the shift from S1 to S3 that I find so interesting. So to me a lot of your characterisation of Chase reads as him in S1, where he is much more of a baby Ross Geller type (or it reads as his character in that absolutely garbage 2015 short that I will not speak the name of and IS NOT CANON).

Saying that, even in the worst episodes (The Play, School Dance) Chase's actions aren't framed as being inherently good or acceptable, he is punished for them within the episodes: he gets sick and he pisses Zoey off and has to apologise. I want to emphasis this because contextually this is when The Notebook and yes, Friends, are having grown men unapologetically pull worse stunts and also because Dan's others shows also stop having this kind of moral framing after Season 1-2 of iCarly. Then you get to S2 and you have the (once again, not good) Time Capsule episode and Chase gets to keep his status as a "good" character because he does not go through with invading Zoey's privacy by watching her DVD, and by Spring Break-Up he doesn't even want to tell Zoey about his feelings. "Friendzoning" always comes up with this show and by now we should all know the sexist connotations of that word, but Chase is not put into the friendzone, he friendzones himself. Michael says "what if Zoey loves you back, then you'll be happy Chase forever," and Chase says, "it's not worth the risk," and then you write a 21,000 word fanfic about how Chase is never going to be happy because he has perpetual depression. The point is that, except for maybe the first few episodes of S1 (and it's explicitly encouraged by Logan in New Roomies), he thinks being best friends is enough.

I find it really interesting that you described him as "parading around with his emotions" because I tend to characterise him as being utterly mortified by said emotions. From memory, the above conversation in SBU starts by Michael doing the "people on Mars know you love Zoey" joke and Chase says he doesn't want everyone to know. I touched on it a bit in my aborted S4 AU but to me the public intrigue of their romance would have been a real challenge for both of them, and if you look at all their 'moments' all of them are private, compared to Quinn/Logan where their arc culminates in a public display of affection.

Again, you get to S3 and he actually is more unreadable - not completely, just less of an open book because his emotions aren't explicitly stated all the time. I think Dan thought he had actually written Chase a season-long arc (I'm not calling it that) because he starts off the season saying that he thinks the universe only wants him and Zoey to be friends (Chase's Girlfriend, also where he seems embarrassed by sending the text message in SBU), tries to publicly deny that he ever had a crush on her (Zoey's Tutor, where from his perspective ONLY Michael should know that he did because he never discussed it with Lola or Quinn), only gets minorly jealous (mainly Son of a Dean but even in episodes like Zoey's Tutor and Quarantine it's either played as being 'overprotective' or dropped relatively quickly), and actually pursues other girls, i.e. Rebecca and the girl he tries to flirt with in Favour Chain. This all then "culminates" into him actually coming to terms with and admitting that he's still in love with Zoey in Goodbye Zoey instead of denying it or ignoring it (and there's a whole thing here about how S3 is arguably when he actually is in love with her, because he's really started to see her as a person with flaws and not just a girl on a pedestal or an object of desire and lol). Even if you don't think that you still only really get glimpses of old Chase, rather than entire episodes dedicated to it (e.g. Chase and his desire to know Zoey's secret is not the villain in Zoey's Balloon, where it probably would have been in S1).

So where does this leave us other than with confirmation that I am certifiably insane? Well, this is fanfiction so still with me being insane, because as you can tell I have thought about this critique a lot. In my head, it is something Chase himself would have to reconcile with. I don't know if you've read if there's anyone in the sun (and fair enough if not because it's long and potentially triggering and lots of other things), but a lot of that is specifically about Chase still beating himself up for what he did as a shitty, hormonal, hyper-emotional (and, in my version) a clinically depressed teenager:

Chase starts to ask for her forgiveness. He tells her about trying to sabotage Logan so he wouldn’t kiss her during the play, about digging up the time capsule, why he stole her TekMate, how he thought about not coming back from England, that he’s sorry for his reaction when she kissed him. And Zoey doesn’t know all of it, can hardly even believe some of it

Zoey forgives him but she's also had the distance of a decade, so it could be interesting to to delve a bit deeper into her reactions like we saw in School Dance, The Election, SBU etc. It might not be something like objectification though, just because I always liked how Chase didn't really objectify her (with some exceptions). In general I think it's something that anything featuring the characters as grown-ups should, at least in the sense of showing that your characters have actually changed since they were fifteen, so naturally I have zero faith that the upcoming movie thing will do any of that.

[defensefilms]

Either Gaslit Is A Good Show, Or I’m Just Getting Old

*This Here Blog Post Contains Mad Spoilers*

Gaslit was not made for me.

Demographic-wise, theme-wise, and in as far as the contents of the show, and the period in history that they are talking about, this is not a show that was created to appeal to, or entertain, an early thirties, black, male, South African. 

And yet, for as old as the medium of television is, and for all the historically great entertainment it’s served up through the decades, you just know when a show has nailed it.

Gaslit is a non-fictional re-telling of Richard Nixon’s Attorney General, John Mitchell, and how his strained relationship with his wife served to exasperate Nixon’s problems during the public dissemination of Watergate scandal. 

That’s among the show’s first risky decisions.

The decision to tell one of the major stories at the heart of the Watergate scandal, in as historically accurate of a way as possible, was risky. Consider that these events took place more than 50 years ago, and for the most part, you know how it’s supposed to end, because you know how Nixon’s time as president ended. 

Keep in mind, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman have already made the film “All The President’s Men” in 1976, and that film’s release had the advantage of the Watergate scandal being fresh in the minds of the American public.

So this show has to sell the detail rather than the narrative itself. It has to sell process over outcome, and it has to sell the journey over the destination. An interesting challenge that I think the producers and artisans involved took to very well.  

The casting of Julia Roberts as Martha Mitchell, does wonders for the part of the show that gets the most narrative and thematic attention. Sean Penn plays her husband, John Mitchell, who gets himself in a bind when he undertakes and fails, an operation to bug and gather intelligence from the Watergate building.

Those are just the casting choices at the top of the marquee.

Craig Bauer is phenomenal in his performance as the incompetent, John McCord. Shea Whigham is awesome in his role as the acerbic Gordon Liddy, Dan Stevens is the show’s understated comic relief in his role as John Dean, and ofcourse Brian Geraghty finds a way to show his face, like he does every other crime drama show in North American television.

Thing of it is that, that’s just the casting, and as important as that is, and as well done as it was, it still doesn’t quite account for all of what we’re seeing. I simply cannot accept that as the sole reason for the show being what it is.

The focus on the relationship dynamics between the show’s power couple is interesting, well written, well layered, and well portrayed by the performers in question, however, if it was the only thing the show offered, it would be less impressive.

That, and the fact that marital dysfunction is not new to television drama.

The show also pulls off something that a lot of great shows will also do, by not being held to genre conventions. Instead opting for a kind of blending of genres that include historical drama, comedy/dark humor and political intrigue, to create a kind of thematic cocktail.

The core conflict at the center of the show is nicely ratcheted up when John Mitchell’s henchmen’s attempts at bugging the Watergate building are foiled by local police detectives, and in a kind of pre-emptive, paranoid and distrustful move, he opts to have his wife temporarily imprisoned, in fear that she might divulge both John and Richard Nixon’s involvement in Watergate to the media.

The best television drama shows have always relied on a strong paring like this.

Tony and Carmela Soprano quickly come to mind, Walter and Skyler White had a similar dynamic in Breaking Bad, and when the traumatic effects of Martha Mitchell’s 24 hour imprisonment at the hands of Peter (played by Brian Geraghty), are completely lost on John Mitchell, Martha realizes John is going to be the “fall guy” for Nixon’s scandal, and she resorts to subtly making herself more available to the media and publicly protesting his innocence on his behalf.

It was crucial that the show nail Martha and John’s marital tension, or risk the entire show falling on it’s head. However, something can be vitally important without being the biggest reason for success, especially in the medium of audio-visual storytelling.

No, what makes this show successful, is a commitment to absurdity.

Absurdity was what made Watergate the spectacle that it was.

The absurd idea that Richard Nixon thought he could get away with KGB-style intelligence tactics against his political opposition, and the idea that it almost worked because he won his re-election campaign.

The absurdity of the idea that they thought they would be able to keep the story quiet even after their henchmen were caught in the act.

The absurdity of a man with as much conviction as John Mitchell, having a cult-like devotion to Richard Nixon. A devotion no different to that which some Kremlin members had for Josef Stalin in the decade before, and all made more absurd by the fact that Mitchell is willing to take the fall for a crime he was instructed to commit.

In episode 4, a hungover Martha walks in to her living room after the Mitchell’s had just hosted a birthday party, and sees her husband seated on the floor like a child, watching Nixon address the American public with eyes entranced by his television screen, and at that point she realizes her husband does not have the will, the capability, nor does he see the need to defend himself from what’s going to happen to him next.

However, the most absurd of all, are the henchmen that were caught in the deed, and their belief that somehow, President Nixon would save, pardon, exonorate or bail them out, in any way, in the event that they were caught.

Moreover, Gaslit is a story about what happens when powerful people manage to surround themselves with only loyalists, and it’s a story about what happens when abuse of power becomes the norm.

In Episode 1, John Dean is walked into John Micthell’s office and offered the task of overseeing the bugging of the Watergate building. 

At first he balks at the obvious bad legal implications of such an idea. He is then challenged by the Attorney General, and has his capabilities, ambition and loyalty questioned, after which Dean begins to put forth ideas on the best way to go about the operation.

While the episode 1 interaction between Dean, A.G John Mitchell and Mitchell’s fixer, Jeb Macgruder is hilarious, it is also the kind of interaction that cannot happen in an atmosphere where abuse of power isn’t the norm.

At the heart of most of Gaslit’s dark humour is how this kind of belief in power and the ambivalence towards the injustices it commits, is it’s own kind of delusional, and even it’s own kind of mental illness.

This is best exemplified by the men that were caught in the act of actually bugging the building itself.

Gordon Liddy is a case study in how religious zealotry and belief in a higher purpose can go wrong, and how religious and cultural backgrounds that teach adherence to authority, are like breeding footsoldiers for corrupt leaders. Liddy proves this to the extent of using violence to maintain the silence of the others when they are tried and convicted for breaking and entering.

John Dean’s belief that he is somehow “close to the President”, shows the kind of benign dishonesty that a cult of personality like Nixon’s breeds because proximity to him is like it’s own social currency, and that can easily be corrupted when careerists like Dean decide to “play the game” and use that to thier advantage.

James McCord, is really the worst victim of this. He was a bad fit for the operation from the start and the realization that John Mitchell, whom he served personally, is not going to save him from a lengthy prison sentence, is the beginning of the end of the collective belief in Nixon.

Whether it’s John Mitchell, way up in the hierachy of Washington, or poor old James McCord down at the bottom, all the men in this show suffer from a belief in the cult and power of a President that, for all intents and purposes, only cared about being in power.

 Among the show’s sub-narratives is allowing you to revel in the shattering of the collective and unquestioning belief in their leader, but the biggest casualty of standing in that truth was Martha Mitchell.

[ralbeleren]

I posted 743 times in 2022

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My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

tagged by @mixmetawin... thanks beloved <3

1. your all time favorite bl and why

Oof this is so hard. I guess I'm gonna say Manner of Death tho. It kind of broke all my previous favorites because I adored it so much. So unique and interesting. Plus Max & Tul are just next level. I know maybe I'm just obsessed...

But honestly as an adult just seeing adults living their normal lives and having a healthy relationship (for the most part...) is just refreshing to see. And it's so unapologetic too! As much as I feel coming out/coming to terms with sexuality stories are important I appreciated that Tan & Bun were just gay men who found each other.

2. that one bl that scarred you for life

nothing i've watched has really been "scarring" most of that is reserved for western queer movies/shows that pull bury your gays out of nowhere. (looking at u monster pies.)

3. is there any bl that made you feel very single?

I've been with my boyfriend for fifteen years so no 🥰

4. if you could change one thing from a bl, which one would it be?

The most egregious thing about Water Boyy, imo, which was erasing the fact that Pan was a lesbian.

5. that one bl you detest (don’t hold back)

Seconding Th*rnType... gross gross gross. Type's character is just so vile to watch. Tharn is worse! Way too much Sexual Assault that's seen as romantic. Character assassination to the best actor in the series (Kaownah) .

Also Fish Upon the Sky. Aesthetically great pairing but legit Mork was the most insufferable.

6. your top five:

1. Manner of Death

2. A Tale of a Thousand Stars

3. Dark Blue Kiss

4. My Engineer

5. Theory of Love

7. that trashy bl that you lowkey like

Tonhon Chonlatee, Water Boyy... I know they're both Not Very Good but honestly, there's some great things about both that I like. Things I'd change but u know.

Agree with @mixmetawin that Khaotung's dance scene in TC was top tier.

And despite all it's faults, Water Boyy had some really great scenes. (THE CINDERELLA PLAY.)

8. your favorite korean bl (it’s important we know)

n/a; haven't watched any.

9. but also your top 3 for kbls

n/a; haven't watched any.

10. season 2? which one?

Still 2gether, I think is probably the best one. I did like Sotus S for what it was. Mostly they're bad tho (TWM: the next chapter and puppy honey 2 i'm looking at you.)

11. a bunch of dramas will air soon. which ones are you the most excited for?

See the full post

18 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

#4

I cannot believe how kind God and everyone was to me by having MoD end the way it did. EVERYONE IS GAY and (most of) the bad guys got what was coming to them?!

21 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#3

something strange in the water...

32 notes - Posted May 3, 2022

#2

not me, the series: so this is a bl starring off and gun

not me fans after episode 7: this is the danyok show now

55 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

99 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[howgaytobequeer]

I posted 116 times in 2022

That's 116 more posts than 2021!

9 posts created (8%)

107 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/taggthewanderer

@/typhlonectes

@/sparkylurkdragon

@/maiiau

@/uncharismatic-fauna

I tagged 116 of my posts in 2022

#wildlife - 67 posts

#queue - 16 posts

#marine life - 15 posts

#original posts - 14 posts

#insects - 12 posts

#colour morphs - 11 posts

#pets - 11 posts

#birds - 7 posts

#cats - 6 posts

#botany - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 62 characters

#the librarians did the right thing by summoning animal control

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Apparently your beautiful dolphin is TOO weird for tumblr...

Indeed! I have a ticket open.

I can only assume it got hit because of the URL, either due to Shitty Algorithm or perhaps Malicious Reporting.

5 notes - Posted July 17, 2022

#4

About/FAQ

What is this?

A queer dragon expressing their thesis that the weird is worth celebrating, with a particular focus on weird animals because that’s what I’m interested in. You may find the origin of the phrase “how gay it is to be queer” in this post of mine. It’s a play on older meanings of both words: “how joyous it is to be weird.”

You can’t say that! That’s a Bad and Naughty Word!

I can and I am. If my identity bothers you, you should probably not follow this blog. For the record, “gay” was the Bad and Naughty Word where and when I was growing up, and I don’t tell gay folk they can’t use it.

I found an error in your Fun Facts.

Happens to the best of us! I’m always happy to learn new things, and zoology is a fast-moving science.

What is your content warning policy?

This blog will often include frank discussion of human and animal disease, as well as predation. I use the tags ‘veterinary medicine,’ ‘infectious disease,’ and ‘predation’/’predation cw’ for these, as well as ‘animal death cw’ and ‘human death cw’ as appropriate.

If there’s a critter you don’t want to see for whatever reason, I tag with plurals, eg ‘dogs,’ ‘insects,’ and so on.

What is your profile picture?

A common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), a very queer animal indeed.

What is your blog header?

A titan arum bloom (Amorphophallus titanum), a very queer plant indeed.

5 notes - Posted July 17, 2022

#3

I’m currently reading The Invisible Siege: The Rise of Coronaviruses and the Search for a Cure by Dan Werb as part of my local library’s Summer Reading Program, and in the third chapter there’s the story of how Dr. Ralph Baric got into studying coronaviruses back in the early 1980′s, long before the virus family became known as a danger to humans with the SARS epidemic in the early 2000′s and longer still before the COVID pandemic. He became interested in this viral family because, by RNA virus standards, they’re enormous: bigger than any that should exist based on our knowledge of RNA viruses at the time. How very queer, right?

I would love for SARS-CoV-2 to be eradicated from the world as smallpox and rinderpest were. I would love to never even encounter its basically harmless cousins that only cause common colds again. I shiver at the fact that the pandemic is not yet over, from compassion and fear for my fellow humans and from fear for myself.

And yet, it struck me, once again, how even terrors like pathogenic coronaviruses are still, at some level or another, beautiful and marvelous pieces of our intricate biosphere. Infectious diseases have been a long-term special interest of mine, since on one level disease and poison are one of those things that terrify me the most, the thought of something being Wrong within you that you cannot see but you can feel the pain of, and on another level preferring informed terror over uninformed any day.

So, Coronaviridae... I may hate what the most famous among you is doing, but you are, after all, only a family of viruses. Giants of the RNA virus world, you are equal parts fascinating and terrifying.

7 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

#2

Reindeer are queer animals indeed.

(Female reindeer. Image source)

Rangifer tarandus, also known as the caribou, is a cervid who lives in the Arctic. Both male and female reindeer grow antlers annually - certainly a strange feature within the Cervidae family!

See the full post

8 notes - Posted July 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

About that vampire bat that ate Quincey's horse...

First, so we're clear, actual vampire bats are pretty tiny. They only drink about about two tablespoons/30ml of blood in a single feeding. (For comparison, when you give blood the goal is to get about 500ml out of you.) And they don't suck blood so much as lick it up after delivering a bite with an anticoagulant in their saliva. It wouldn't be much more than an annoyance, like a larger mosquito bite, except for the fact that they often carry rabies, a disease with a functionally 100% fatality rate once symptoms appear.

But, as luck would have it, I think I can explain Quincey's story about his horse getting eaten by No Vampire Bat I've Ever Heard Of: Like many things, the story of vampire bats grew in the telling and the farther away the tale got from their homeland. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Stoker thought Quincey's account of a gigantic vampire bat was based in reality, because of the kinds of sources he might've had access to in the English world about the animals.

I'm reading a book about the cultural history of rabies right now (Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy), and at one point they quote from a 1796 account from J.G. Stedman of his encounter with one while travelling in Suriname. This account is... almost definitely exaggerated and very definitely incorrect about how vampire bats work! But I've included the excerpt below, and you can tell me if any of this sounds familiar. (Content warning for blood, vomit, and tall tales; paragraph breaks added for readability.)

On waking about four o'clock this morning in my hammock, I was extremely alarmed at finding myself weltering in congealed blood, and without feeling any pain whatever... I had been bitten by the vampire, or spectre, of Guana, which is also called the flying dog of New Spain, and, by the Spaniards, perrovolador. This is no other than a bat of a monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle when they are fast asleep, even, sometimes, until they die; and as the manner in which they proceed is truly wonderful, I shall endeavor to give a distinct account of it. Knowing by instinct that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet; where, while the creature continues fanning its enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small, indeed, that the head of a pin could scarcely be received into the wound, which is, consequently, not painful; yet through this orifice he continues to suck the blood, until he is obliged to disgorge. He then begins again, and thus continues sucking and disgorging till he is scarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has often been known to sleep from time into eternity... Having applied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and from my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed blood, all around the place where I had lain, upon the ground; upon examining which, the surgeon judged that I might have lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night.

61 notes - Posted September 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[random-meme-bot]

Oooooooh interesting.

I didn't actually think there was as much story both on the origin of the AU and in the AU itself.

I can completely relate to the associating OCs with media you've consumed recently.

Last year I watched with my parents the new Haunted Mansion movie Disney made a few years back, and the entirety of the movie I was imagining how scenes would play out if Elly & Dan were part of the cast...

Also I tend to think about them a lot when listening to music, there's certain songs I just imagine them being played by the trio. (Percussion is Trucy, Piano is Dan, Wind is Elly, chorus are 👻 Ghosts, everything else is spookily being played on its own)

I definitely did not expect Chaotic Crossover (or an early version of it) being the reason why Milo & Molly exist, I always thought it was the other way around. That's really interesting!

Also, I think you made the right choice not keeping the shelf aware aspect, I think it's more fun this way, but also having a character that knows he is the only character without a narrative and who was created only because another character was needed is a concept I don't think would work as well in a story without plot.

Or maybe I'm looking too deep into it...

I really love the idea of Charlie doing an "Sly 3 Honor among thieves" and going around the world recutting an expert team of both people she knows personally and people she has only heard about to pull off an impossible heist. But of course on an smaller scale because she's an small kid.

The way you describe the OG versions of Charlie & Milo makes me think they had a kinda light version of the Main character & Main antagonist team up dynamic, the Mario & Bowser, Sonic & Eggman kinda one, in which they are constantly bickering and making clear they are only doing it because of the circumstances, but when they are actually against a common enemy they are pulling on combo moves and are a great team, which is interesting considering Milo's roll in his story.

MILO AND CHARLIE ARE FIVE AND ASH‽‽‽‽

I know you said you were planning on reworking their story to use them in the future, but I thought you had lost interest in them and scratched them, that's actually really interesting.

Milo being the grumpy guy with a heart of gold💚

We all love a grumpy guy with a heart of gold💚

Also, there's definitely something to be said about the these four characters shaping each others mutually despite the fact that they will never know about each others existence, and impossible friendship so powerful it transcends universes.

Yeah, the "Charlie's angels AU" name is a cute pun, but the reference kinda forces the heist angle into the stories limiting the potential, in the end the change was worth it.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY WOULDN'T BE IN A BAND FOR LORE REASONS‽‽‽

Does one of them have trauma from being in a band????

Is it just one of them not handling well loud noises????

Do they not know how to play instruments and that's it???

Something else entirely????

Pep I swear if it's the first one-

Also, you are going to use the band concept but not for these four‽‽‽ 👀👀👀👀

Ok CCAU having the reason for all of this characters from different universes being together being "They are just toys being played with" is really cute, like, you really didn't need to make a reason for all of those discrepancies between canon and AU but I really like that you made it anyway.

Yeah no, I definitely can't see any of the four dating each other, Charlie & Milo specifically to me have a very Bother and Sister relationship, but not the Mabel Dipper one in which they are a perfect duo who always sticks together, more of a Dib Gaz one in which they are constantly fighting, but they both know the other one doesn't really mean it and would completely jump at someone if they saw them treating them the same way.

But also you going "Her ass would never date a man" is really funny, cause like, Yeah, but I didn't expect the realization to go that way.

One of the reasons why they wouldn't date each other being "they have standards" caught me really off guard, they really went "Thank goodness I'm the only normal one here".

"I've seen plenty of characters which were,(...), forcefully pushed together in a romantic way, despite the fact that they were clearly meant to just be friends." Girl you can say you wanted to avoid making an Starco, I won't judge you.

I do wonder if you have plans for romance later down the line.

I have a feeling Milo & CJ might end up on an enemies to lovers, although it's still a bit early to judge...

I have a hard time imagining Pipper dating another member of the ADC cast if I'm being honest...

And I don't know enough about Charlie's & Molly's storyline to even know if a romantic interest would fit...

That's more or less all my thoughts on this post.

Definitely really interesting deep dive, I didn't actually expect the CCAU being such a big part of the characters, I expected it being the other way around, I know I mentioned previously but, I really can't get over the fact that they shaped each other despite the fact that they would never meat. Truly the power of friendship is a powerful one.

I really like this characters, and reading you talk about them is always so sweet, is clear you put a lot of effort in fleshing them as much as possible.

I know that in the end their stories will be something truly special.💜💜💜

Take care and have a great night and a better tomorrow!💚💜💛💙

A somewhat comprehensible essay about how the Chaotic Crossover AU was created

Word count: Around 3000 words.

Approximated reading time: 25 minutes.

Summary: Me explaning my weird thought process and the string of ideas that lead to the Chaotic Crossover AU. I wrote the essay for fun, don't take it too seriously. I'm totally not saying that because I went off topic a few times.

It's seperated into 10 sections so that it'll be easier to read. This is my first attempt at posting a longer piece of my writing as well as an essay, I tried to make it interesting and entertaining.

I hope you'll enjoy! 💚💛💜💙

#1

It was around some point at the beginning of the year 2023 that my mom and I randomly decided to watch the movie Ocean's 8 together. I'm usually really picky about movies because my attention span is terrible and if I get bored I don't wanna watch anymore, but when she told me it was about a heist I was hooked. I love heist movies, I always did, and I loved this movie too, it's fun and actually funny and charismatic, with a decent twist to it that I won't spoil, but I definitely do recommend that you give it a watch.

Anyways, that day changed everything. The moment the movie was over, the moment that I went upstairs to my room, I had no real idea what I was getting myself into. I put on my headphones, put on "Mission Impossible Theme - Electric Guitar Cover by Kfir Ochaion - ALP Guitars" on loop, I took my purple hula hoop and I started to pace around my room trying to come up with ideas while spinning it around like a weird stim toy. Ideas for what, you may ask?

For my oc's to be in a heist together, of course.

#2

You see, my mind is very easily influenced. That's definitely not a good thing to be honest, but I don't know how to phrase it differently. Basically, whenever I watch something I immediately start thinking of oc ideas that have something to do with it. If I watch a movie about cowboys I'll be trying to make a cowboy au in my head, If I watch a movie about a royal ball I'll be imagining them all dolled up at a fancy event.

You can bet your ass, that I, heist movie fanatic, wanted my oc's to be in a heist together real bad. Thing is... at the time, I had a teeny tiny little problem that made this idea a little difficult...

I literally only had two oc's to work with.

Those two being Charlie and Mina.

The girlies. The legends. The og's.

...but yeah, still. Two oc's isn't a lot to work with. I did have Charlie as a plot starter, she's literally a thief, of course she'd want to go on a badass heist to steal a bunch of valuables. But how on earth would Charlie convince Mina of all people to go on a heist with her?

Besides... these two are a fun duo, but they're not entertaining enough on their own, seeing only the two of them interact constantly will get bored real quick...

But did you think that stopped me, dear reader? Oh no, no no no no no. I didn't let go of this concept. I felt a mighty need. I NEEDED to see a group of my own special little guys on a wacky heist together.

#3

In an act of desperation, I literally thought about bringing back my old Ducktales oc's and the Club Penguin oc's I had recently scraped. The Club Penguin oc's were a no go, I firmly decided to turn those into humans and to work on them at some point in the future. As for the Ducktales ones, I'd have to rewatch an entire show to be able to properly rewrite and redesign them and I didn't feel like doing that...

...but then, I remembered two oc ideas that were lingering in my mind, waiting to be thought of. A Making Fiends oc, which I did try to create but ultimately scraped the idea of cuz I couldn't make the design look right, and a Welcome Home oc concept, of a sleep themed character with a moon head.

While I was going to start to work on the Welcome Home one, I still didn't wanna tackle the Making Fiends one. So, in my mind, I firstly created a weird meta version of the au we know today.

I started to design and slowly form a personality for moon girl. While I was doing that, I added her to the heist even though she was nowhere near done yet.

As for the Making Fiends guy... well, he was going to be a self aware scraped character who was supposed to be able to exist only in this au, and nowhere else. It was supposed to be an universe where everyone is self aware that they're characters, and that I, their creator, exist.

The guy was supposed to be very mad at me specifically at all times, because the girls got their own lores and stories in their og universes, meanwhile his only role is to fill up space in a heist scenario.

I remember getting the idea that, before I even post about these two, that I should create a series of fake screenshots where I'd showcase these two without explaining who they are, as a sorta little thing that only I would really understand the context of.

...and this is where things changed.

For fake screenshots you need fake scenarios, for fake scenarios you have to imagine the characters interract. 

#4

The very first idea I had for this was Charlie, excitedly breaking into the guys house and then trying to convince him to join her crazy heist plan, and him of course not wanting to.

It was this bickering that I really liked. It was this bickering that I found insanely entertaining.

It was this bickering that ultimately saved both Charlie and Milo as characters.

These two are at their BEST, when they have someone to go against, a rival. Someone to argue and fight with. These two basically shaped each other as characters.

Most of Milo's personality was created while I imagined him arguing with Charlie like they're in a Danganronpa trial. And while Charlie's personality didn't change, it definitely expanded. The Charlie from a year ago isn't the Charlie we have now.

Also, I gotta add this, Charlie and Milo are basically Ash and Five but in a different font, I have realized that only later on, and I really love this dynamic. I won't explain who those two are in detail, if you know you know.

So, we have established that these two helped and pushed each other to become the best versions of themselves.

But let's be real, there ain't no way in hell Charlie's gonna convince Milo, even the Milo we have today, to participate in a heist that easily.

So, what does Charlie do?

Drag moon girl into it, of course.

#5

I thought to myself... huh, what if Mr. Serious had a soft spot for moon girl? And then Milo proceeded to shape Molly's character into place, with one of the most beloved dynamics I've made so far. Molly changed Milo a lot too, of course.

Molly is the thing that made me realize that Milo is at his second best when he has someone to care for, someone to love. Eventually this love did spread to Charlie and Mina as well, but he doesn't show it towards them the same way.

Charlie and Molly changed each other in a way that made me realize that Molly is at her best when she has someone to lead her. A lot of Charlie's personality came to be from me imagining her explaining something to Molly in a cool leader type of way.

And then there's Mina. Now you're gonna say, Mina's the odd one out. Mina's the only one who hasn't changed at all since I first introduced her.

Mina has changed, she just changed the least. All three of them shaped her character to be more caring and less cold, which isn't very obvious... given that it's Mina we're talking about.

Heh... I guess ya could say, that she was too lazy to change any more than that. Mina's the most simple character out of all of them, I don't wanna change that too much. Her simple character is fine, and it's at it's best when it's put together with complicated characters. And welp, we got three complicated mfs right here.

All of these dynamics were born while I was imagining them in the heist scenario. You forgot about the heist already, didn't you? I can't blame you, I did too... for a long time.

#6

I just started to imagine them in different scenarios and those kinda made me forget about the heist one, but, within this au the heist thing did happen... well, it was supposed to.

Basically the au began with them all just being thrown into this white room with four doors lined up before them. Each of them had a missing item from their inventories that they wanted to get back. They got to know each other a little while they were going through each other's universes, they found the items and that was it for a while.

Until Charlie found that a new door showed up in the room. The door lead to the front of a giant building, which turned out to be some rich guy's massive mansion. And of course the mansion was full of valuables that Charlie wanted to get her hands on, but failed attempt after failed attempt... she just couldn't get in.

That's when she realized that it would be far easier if she had someone with her... y'know, preferably three people. And boom she's at it with the convincing. Mina agrees cuz she wants to avoid another one of her aunts weedings, Molly agrees cuz Charlie told her that it's a good thing that they're doing this, Milo agrees cuz Molly is a part of it, and because he's baffled that she managed to drag Mina into it.

And because they were like in a heist together I almost called the au the "Charlie's Angels AU". Because y'know... there's Charlie who's conveniently named that, and the other three who's names all start with an M. I honestly still think it'll be a clever name for some sorta au, but I went for the name Chaotic Crossover AU because it's more simple and it explains what the au is about better. Besides, I feel like if I actually went for the title that's a movie reference I'd have to constantly stick to the whole heist thing or otherwise it wouldn't make much sense.

The only other type of name I considered before I went for the one we have today, is something along the lines of MMCM AU. Maybe the letters were arranged differently, I honestly don't exactly remember. Yeah, I didn't get too creative with this one, it honestly sounds like a band name to me... and yes, I did consider making a band au but nah, I'm going to use the band concept for something else. Also there's lore reasons as to why these 4 wouldn't really be capable of being in a band together.

So they meet up to create a plan, they have fun chatting and messing around for the whole day, only to find that the door which Charlie talked about dissapeared. She wasn't lying about it, she even took pictures as proof.

But, oh well, does is matter that much anyways? Maybe the real treasure... the real heist, was the friends we made along the way.

And, it was.

#7

Besides this beginning, there is no other plot to this au.

The rest of it is just them mindlessly having fun with each other as I put them into random scenarios and funky outfits.

I said this somewhere before, but, the au has no actual ending or middle, just a beginning.

Time doesn't flow the same, they're just meant to stay the same age, time has been stopped, basically.

There was supposed to be a plot at some point, but I realized that I would spoil a lot of stuff from their actual canon stories, and I am always overly cautious with not spoiling people.

Also, the characters here don't line up 100% with their canon counterparts, even if they do for the most part, because I erased their canon problems for the sake of having them be actually happy unlike their canon selves.

Thing is, to what extent did I erase these problems?

Because, for some of them, if I erase the problem then they're not the same character anymore...

So it's basically a weird situation where they are and aren't themselves...

...I'm losing you, aren't I? Yeah, I'm losing it too.

What am I trying to say?

I'm trying to explain in a comprehensive way that the Chaotic Crossover AU makes no logical sense.

...unless, you hear me out about the explanation I came up with because I feel the need for everything to magically make sense.

#8

I present to you,

The Dollhouse Explanation

Which says, that the oc's in this au, are doll versions of the actual characters.

1. The white room with the doors is actually a dollhouse. Every universe they go to is me adding another playset to it.

2. Molly, Mina, Milo and Charlie are dolls. I play with them, making up roleplays and scenarios. I dress them up in different outfits very often, like one does with dolls.

3. They don't age because they're dolls and dolls don't age, so it seems as if time has stopped.

Could some of this apply to the act of making oc's and stories in general?

Yeah.

Does this change anything about the au?

No. Not really.

Why did I add this to the essay?

I showed it to my friend and she said that I should keep this part so I'm taking her word for it.

(She doesn't have Tumblr or other socials but shout-out to her!)

Have I watched too many theory videos on YouTube?

Yeah.

Should I stop?

Yeah, but we both know that I won't. :)

Also, the au was inspired and influenced by cartoons in danganronpa, which is basically a giant crossover in itself.

I'm saying this because, like in cidr, the characters and designs clearly aren't from the same universes, they still kept the each individual art styles from the shows, and I really liked the look of it. But, you could still tell that the sprites are from the same project because of the lineart and shading. It's the same situation in this au.

#9

...this is a cursed addition to this essay that I, on one hand, don't wanna cover cuz Part A of it is the cringiest and worst development fact about the au and I've kinda wanted to just pretend it never happened, but it influenced Part B in a way as to where I can't not mention it, and also I find Part B incredibly interesting.

Ok, so, Milo was always pansexual, but Charlie used to be bisexual before I settled on her being a lesbian.

...I'm just gonna rip the bandage off, Milo x Charlie was supposed to be a thing.

I know, I know, eugh. Look, I will think of many romantic character combinations just in case I might hit the jackpot, I like to explore romantic dynamics as much as platonic ones.

And, for like... a month, I was genuienly planning to make these two slowly get crushes on each other, I was gonna hint towards it with some sorta ship art.

But then, I was reconsidering things.

I started to contemplate the meaning of life, as well as all of my life choices and how they affected my life, me and my oc's. I looked into the distance, and then I took one, good, longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg, look at Charlie. And then, finally, like a light at the end of the tunnel, my critical thinking skills tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around.

"Her ass would never date a man." it said. I nodded, and shed a tear. It may have taken me too long to realize it, but at least I did.

And that's the story of how Charlie became a lesbian instead! :D

#10

And no, before you ask, Charlie wouldn't like Milo in that way even if he was female, or when he's presenting himself as more feminine like in the one purple design I made for him. She doesn't find him appealing in a romantic way at all. Same goes for Milo with Charlie.

Besides, both have standards... and different types.

Their relationship is far more interesting and genuine if it's presented from a purely platonic perspective, which it is, and which it always will be.

Basically, they're besties, your honor. Case closed.

The same thing goes for another ship I considered while I was still figuring out everyone's sexualities, Charlie x Mina.

I admit, I hate this one less, but still, it's the same situation.

They're besties, your honor. Case closed yet again.

Ever since I decided to keep it all platonic, thank heavens I did, I've always had this underlying fear in the back of my head that, somehow, people are still going to see it as romantic. I remember when I made the drawing of Milo and Charlie standing next to each other in greaser inspired outfits, I was like, oh crap, are ppl gonna see them as a couple?

But no one did. A decent amount of people saw it, and no one said a thing.

And I think that's nice. Beautiful, even.

I've seen plenty of characters which were, if you ask me, forcefully pushed together in a romantic way, despite the fact that they were clearly meant to just be friends. Having this sense of control over things, being able to determine the right path for these oc's, it gives me a sense of peace and satisfaction.

Everything is in its place.

Balanced, as it should be. 

Anyways let's talk about how this decision made everyone in this au absolutely unshippable with each other in every conceivable way.

1. Molly is an adult the other three are kids if you don't think this is a no go get the fuck away from my blog.

2. Mina is aroace and would never be in a romantic relationship, so that's a no go too.

3. The only two left are Milo and Charlie. Charlie is a lesbian and since Milo is a guy that's a no go.

This happened completely on accident and I realized it on accident too, but I'm not complaining.

Hooray to friendship! Hooray to platonic love! Hooray to platonic relationships!

They're just as valuable and beautiful and powerful as romantic ones!

Go tell your friends or family or partner or pet you love them!

You'd be surprised how happy they'd be to hear it.

And that's how the Chaotic Crossover AU was created.

If you've actually made it to the end, thank you for sticking around, you beloved madlad.

I hope you have a lovely day! 💚💛💜💙

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Ineffable Con 2020 Fun Facts

Fun facts from the Ineffable Con 2 (2020) guest panels :): 

Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

David G. Arnold (the music composer)

Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

1. Neil Gaiman, Douglas Mackinnon and Rob Wilkins

What do they have from Good Omens:

Rob has the statue from St. Beryls, all four motorbikes from the four horsemen, Crowley’s Devon watch, box signed by David Tennant with Crowley’s sunglasses and Aziraphale’s cocoa mug with Michael Sheen’s DNA :).

Douglas has the playing cards from Episode 1 and heavily annotated Good Omens book they used for filming with inscription by Neil: ‘For Douglas, make us love, make us cry, 3rd August 2017’.

Neil has Aziraphale’s chair from the bookshop that he bought from the BBC and he uses it for Zoom meetings.

What is their favourite thing that was not in the book and was added to the TV show:

Neil: all of the first half of Episode 3 - an absolute joy.

Rob: also the beginning of Episode 3.

Douglas: David Arnold’s music and Peter Anderson’s front titles.

Could Aziraphale get out of the Bastille easily if he wanted to?

Neil: if he could: absolutely. Did he have any conception of the mess he was in: probably not. It’s one of Neil’s favourite pieces of acting - the absolute delight on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that Crowley’s there and then he turns around and rather petulantly, grumpily goes oh it’s you - that moment of joy on Aziraphale’s face when he realizes that he’s been rescued is one of Neil’s favourite things. 

Neil and yoghurt starter: I had this slightly mad thing where I would explain to everybody that fans were yoghurt starter. And I said, ‘Basically you start out with yoghurt starter and you put it into your warm milk and you leave it, and the yoghurt starter goes off and turns the entire thing into yoghurt. 

Neil realized that there was a cat in his house (Neil doesn’t have a cat :)). After the panel Neil said that he was going to look for the cat with a can of sardines and Douglas joked that he would find Michael Sheen in a cat costume.

What was the best and worst about making the series:

Douglas: the best - the camaraderie, getting to know the people, the cast and crew. 

Rob: the best - realizing that the book could be translated to the screen and watching it happen. The worst - coming to the end of the shoot and saying goodbye to everybody.

Neil: the best - the amount of love from everybody, the worst - fighting budget battles (producers wanted gone all of the cold opening and the death of Agnes Nutter).

Did they expect that Good Omens would attract so many LBGTQ+ people and how they feel about that:

Neil: Yes, absolutely. There are definitely people out there who seem to think that I accidentally wrote a love story with all of the beats of a love story including a break-up halfway through, without somehow noticing that I’d written a love story. And I may not be the brightest candle on the candelabra, but as an author who’s been doing it for a long time, I’m very well aware of when I’m writing a love story, thank you very much. And so from my perspective I knew that the love story would be one of the driving things that would get us from the beginning to the end. And I also made a bunch of decisions about our angels and our demons in terms of casting, in terms of gender that everybody backed me up on, which I loved. You know, the idea that the archangel Michael is played by Doon [Mackichan] is something that is... or Beelzebub is Anna Maxwell Martin, whatever, there’s... it’s not like we are going: these are women, there are men, we are going: these are demons, these are angels. They... this is not a thing. And also doing something like Pollution, where you go in and go: okay  well if we were doing this in... if 1989 was now, if there were they pronouns, we probably would have done that. We didn’t think of it at the time but that’s no reason why we can’t do it now. And we did and I remember having a... not exactly a battle, but a... my very tiny skirmish with one of our execs who was very nice and very bright and was like: ‘Why are you saying they?’, and I’m like... and I... explaining, and he’s like: ‘Well I’ve never heard of that before.’, and I’m like: ‘Oh, okay, but trust me, just trust me, it’s all fine, just trust me.’

Douglas: And you know I have to say, just following on what Neil’s saying, I’ve been directing for quite a while, and I tend to notice if characters are falling in love, I tend to notice a love story happening in front of me, and I think it’s there, and everything is meant, guys, everything is meant.

Neil added: I would just say, there are some things that you do while you’re writing a script intentionally. The fact that... I wanted to do this, well, it was a thing I did that I really enjoyed doing... where whenever people accuse them of being a couple: they don’t deny it, they don’t argue, there’s no flustering on their part. They absolutely… you know, everybody… what I’m trying to say is:  yes, other people in the story are perceiving them as a couple too. And here is Uriel perceiving them as a couple, here is wonderful Dan [Starkey, playing the passerby] …and you know, you do scenes like that because that’s... you are trying to make a point here and you’re trying to make a point on how people are perceived.

Season 2, yes or no [fiends, all three of them!]:

Douglas: What’s that?

Neil: Of what?

Rob: Is it muted for me as is for everyone else?

Neil confirmed that they are going to be Funko Pops. [yay!]

2. David G. Arnold (the music composer)

He didn’t read the book before he was approached to do the music. He was asked to do it by Douglas Mackinnon he knew from the Victorian episode of Sherlock and he said yes before even knowing what it was about because he wanted to work with Douglas again.  

The first piece of music he wrote for the show was the brass band doing the Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon [Episode 6, in the park before the kidnapping].

The second piece of music he wrote was the lullaby that Crowley sings to Warlock. He always liked the lullabies like in Mary Poppins so he said to Neil: Why don’t we do it like Walt Disney, but if Walt Disney was possessed by Satan? That was about 7 months before he needed to write anything again while they were shooting and it kept going round his head the whole time - the melody stuck with him and when it came to the Opening Title of the show, this became the middle bit.

The original opening title was Everyday by Buddy Holly and each episode was supposed to be closed with a different version of it: a death metal version, an angelic choir version, a carmina burana version... and he actually made all those. But he likes to find the musical identity of the show and put it in the opening titles because it’s important and it tells you: ‘This is the word you’re going to experience’, so he wrote his own opening title with the lullaby in the middle and played it to them [probably Neil and Douglas] with Buddy Holly as the backup and: Neil just turned around in his chair and said, ‘That’s Good Omens.’. From that point the instructions were with no rules, just to create whatever he wanted: the further you can go the better, the weirder and the stranger you can think the better. It’s a rare thing to be shown a world like Good Omens and be let free to run around in it. 

His favourite ending title is the Queen one in Episode 1.

One of the reasons he didn’t do a theme for Crowley and a theme for Aziraphale is that the theme of the show is theirs - it’s theirs and they share it and it’s both of theirs and there is no separating in that regard. 

About Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship reflected in the music score: It’s interesting isn’t it, because the relationship changed in a way slightly frequently and majorly infrequently. It seemed right from the start that their relationship was somehow seeded and planted and had begun by the time we saw them even though they may not have realised it themselves, you know, with the pair of them on the wall, considering one is a demon in the Garden of Eden and one is an angel. They act very charitably towards each other and they act with a lot of things you might not expect. And underneath that there is a sort of sense of togetherness and support even though they both know that their paths are going to diverge and they have different responsibilities. So I always felt like, right from that moment, when the wing came up on the wall, that there was something special about their relationship. Three moments that stuck with him: in Episode 3 saving the books in the church when they completely rely on the other for survival in the way that they were very open about, one in the car outside the nightclub in 60s Soho - the Holy Water, you go too fast for me, that genuinely tearing, that there was reluctance in those words that he spoke and that sort of things as a composer is gold, it’s about making those moments more, and in the last episode in a scene they’re not event in when we see Adam and Dog in the fields and Anathema that music there which celebrates Crowley and Aziraphale’s music which is the theme of the show - their shadow has passed over everyone’s emotional journey, and everyone’s emotional journey is theirs as well. The argument in the bandstand was important as well.

His favourite leitmotif from the series is the lullaby.

About the scene in the car in episode 2 when Thomas Tallis changes into Queen: Terry’s favourite piece of classical music was the Thomas Tallis piece [Spem in Alium] so Neil asked if they can go from Thomas Tallis - a choral piece from 16th century - to We Will Rock You, and: ‘You never say no. You don’t say that you can’t do it. What you have to do is to be the first person who solves the problem.’ In the end it was a two-days work just for this little bit and he mentioned that he never had these sorts of challenges anywhere else before.

His favourite non-musical detail in the show - the crucifixion, how the scene was shot, how it was upsetting, and how it was made more effective by Aziraphale and Crowley’s inability to stop it, that they had to observe and watch it, that it had to happen. I remember seeing that at the time and thinking, I wasn’t expecting that level of brutal honesty, in terms of the pictures that I was looking at and what they chose to show. And I think all the more effective for it. 

3. Claire Anderson (the costume designer)

When creating the costumes for the characters she started with mood boards. 

Aziraphale - she knew that he needed to have something winglike in his collar so that’s why there are sweeping lapels very often. Using velvet [for the waistcoat] because that was nice and soft and had all the appropriate qualities. His watch and fob that has little gold wings hanging from it and other tiny bits of symbolism. Tartan bow tie. Beautiful cashmere checkered trousers - not quite tartan but a nod to it. A mid to late Victorian coat, Michael only made his decision on the coat a couple of days before the filming. Aziraphale in the present settled on a ring with angelic symbol and harp cufflinks, earlier his ring in ancient times has got a much more roughly hewn set of wings on it, so before jewellery making became sophisticated he modernised slightly - he magicked it up to be a bit more modern, more gentleman signet type of ring, but he never modernises entirely. His heart is much more in the past.

After they began to define Aziraphale they started to look at how the Heaven army of angels might look - the element of tartan came sort of from Aziraphale and the angels have a not-tartan kilt with a semi military type jacket and a military band across that might hold arms or not, because they are not really violent. She used spats to make them look quite neutral and genderless so hiding fastenings and concealing little details like that seemed a way to do that.

Gabriel doesn’t wear spats because he’s on Earth such a lot. His shoe has a cover with two buckles on the side giving the same neutral element. He wears a cashmere light-as-air suit.

The other angels are all in bastardized versions of what era they may have died in, so they could have died in the 1930s or the 1800s and the costume would have an element of that era about it - though of course as an angel you can change things.

The Quartermaster Angel - the costume is a combination of slightly Indian type military, maharaja pants, longer spats from another era, all combined pieces of military tailored to be magical and slightly nonsensical, as Heaven might be.

Crowley - she felt that he wrapped around like a snake sheds its skin so she wanted something double breasted because that seemed to envelope his snakey charm. David wanted to be more casual than wearing a suit. Under his collar he always has a flash of red like the snake that he comes from - the red belly. They put a red seam into the sole of his boots so always there is a hint of where he came from. The red tie in the blitz. He was more rock and roll than Aziraphale and modernised more to a snakehipped rock and roll star really. His present jacket - the fabric there is quilted, they found an 80s jacket that had elements of things they enjoyed - part of that was that it had a slightly quilted quality to the fabric which was like a textured snakeskin. It took quite a long time to create the fabric and then to make the jacket from that - they quilted some fabric and washed and whooshed it repeatedly to create a bit of puckering in it. He has a snakey scarf around his neck like a chain mail linked scales of skin scarf that he wore that complemented his neck chain. The trousers he wore in Victorian times are the same he wore in the 60s when he meets young Shadwell. His present trousers - slightly waxy denim - we just were looking for a slithery finish. Crowley’s neck chain - there is only one in the world - her tailor has a Gothic church full of interesting stuff like busts and drapes with old things, this chain mail scarf was there and David was looking for something to complete his costume and liked it. 

Hastur and Ligur are her favourite characters - they were so enjoyable to create. She had an amazing book of 1920s and 30s criminals and they used that as a starting point, because they were all quite worn out and bedraggled and poverty stricken and like hell might be ideally. They burnt and decayed the bottom of them as if they were rotting from the Earth and rotting back into the ground - all demons have sort of gators as if they were rotting from the ground up.

One of the most difficult things was the demons - when they realized they had a few days to create hundreds of demons in South Africa (4-5 days for almost 200 demons). It was as if I had been dissolved in holy water when they asked me for another 150 costumes.

The sleeves of Anathema’s coat have been inspired by a Victorian cycling coat. 

The historical costume that Newt’s ancestor wore influenced his and Shadwell’s costumes - they used elements of the historical costume to put a little cape on Newt and Shadwell and their wax coats to give them the quality of that look. Newt's costume has a lot of mustard to make him feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable - it's not the most flattering colour on a northern European complexion.

The nuns’ headdress needed to look a little bit demonic - she bought a whole book on nuns’ headdresses for research. They also used the V in the nurse's apron because that was nicely demonic. The nurses' watch has got this Satanic symbol at the top - a little take on the medical since old nurses’ uniforms used to have watches.

For Madame Tracy she went back into the 70s, slightly Biba-esque makeup and a cape. They had only one pair of her goggles so it was always a nightmare to find them.

Which part of the cold opening is her favourite: I love ancient Rome because there is at least 6 to 12 metre of fabric in a toga and that was quite fun wrapping that around the boys and creating those., and her favourite was the Globe.

The lapels represent wings in every way and every shape and every form. Wings are very important.

4. Peter Anderson (Peter Anderson Studio created the opening title animation and in-show graphics)

The first thing that the director Douglas Mackinnon (with whom he worked on Doctor Who and Sherlock) said to him was: for all the graphics, for all the title sequence, for everything, I want you to promise me one thing, and that is very, very simple, promise that you send me emails that say: ‘this might be absolutely nuts, but my idea is...’.

The opening title it’s full of easter eggs - it’s a type of sequence that’s been designed to watch a thousand times, for example: on the escalator down to Hell there is one character running up deciding that he doesn’t want to go to Hell or the sea is full of plastic bags because we don’t look after the planet.

Every single face in the title sequence is either Crowley’s or Azriphale’s, they are repeated all the way through - inspired by Neil saying that there’s good and evil in all of us, so there is a grand procession of people of all the characters from the story - marching towards Armageddon - but all the characters have been taken over by good or evil. And along the way our two heroes are kind of playing tricks on each other, doing good, doing evil

The opening title combines multiple elements - two dimensional animation elements, three dimensional animation elements, CGI and live action (the people in the procession were created by live action on a travelator). So the result is a kind of strangeness - such as 3D figures with 2D animated tracked heads - which makes it unique.

Their first idea and version of the opening title was based on tapestries of old, subverting them, but then they wanted something more new and fresh.

Both Douglas and Neil were an important part of the opening title creation process.

The opening title sequence took about a year to make from the creative start with four intensive months towards the end.

One of things that inspired him was a Bauhaus theatre image from 1930s.

Question if the hand-drawn font for the graphics will be a purchasable font: no, because it was original and it’s unique and it was created just for this - it was for the love of the show and the story and it will be kept there.

In the scene where there are three photos of witchfinders - Neil and Douglas revealed in the DVD commentaries that two of them are their grandfathers - the third one is Peter’s great uncle.

Originally the signs telling us things like ‘Thursday’ or ‘Mesopotamia’ - were done as if somebody (who was living inside the television screen) ran up close to the screen and showed us the sign. In the end they simplified it, only showing the signs. The one time that it was sort of left in the show was when in Episode 5 a little demon in the video game shows a sign ‘GAME OVER’.

Outside of his work on it, what was his favourite thing on Good Omens: spending time with Douglas and Neil, and also working with Milk VFX - I think I can honestly say it's the best job I've ever worked on with the nicest people. 

5. Paul Adeyefa (Disposable Demon)

He first read the book when preparing for the audition - the character wasn’t in the book but he got into it, loved it and couldn’t put it down.

He didn’t know about the name Eric until the script was published and people started calling the demon that, he really likes the name and thinks it fits.

There was a version of the script where the demon was going to be dressed in different costumes each time he was discorporated (for example one in long hair wearing a dress) - they would be all the same but different incarnations, in one version they had different accents. 

The first scene he shot was the one where the demon goes to Heaven to deliver the Hellfire (and also wants to hit ‘Aziraphale’ which was cut). That first day was also his favourite moment of shooting because there was an immediate welcoming atmosphere and everyone was lovely and in love with the production.

Disposable Demon is like a permanent intern, running errands for the higher ups in Hell.

His favourite part of the costume were the eyelashes (though he loved the whole costume).

If he could change anything about the costume he would also want cool contact lenses - some brightly coloured ones.

Question what animal (like other demons have on their heads) comes to mind when we see the Disposable Demon: he didn’t think about it at the time, but later he saw people talking about his horns as bunny ears and found it interesting, and also the facts that there are so many of him and that he is quite happy and friendly for a demon so the bunny makes sense, so he might be a sort of a rabbit. Or perhaps something goat type because of the horns.

Question if there is another role in Good Omens he would have liked to have played: he always thought that the four horsemen were very cool and Pollution was his favourite so probably Pollution (also was the most jealous of Pollution’s contact lenses). 

If there were a season 2, he would be there in a heartbeat.

Question about Eric’s feelings on Crowley, if he’s a bit of a Crowley fan: I think he might be. There is something about Crowley and how he is somehow a little bit different from the rest of the demons. - and the Disposable Demon has, much like Crowley, interest in the human world. He could well be 6,000 how many years old, the same as everyone else, but he seems to have this younger vibe and I think he thinks that Crowley is quite cool.

Good Omens fandom is his first experience with a fandom of this scale. It speaks a lot, the fact that this kind of very, this minor character, a character who is only on screen for a very short amount of time gets any kind of attention at all, it's quite amazing really, it goes to show how big and enthusiastic the fans are. I never experienced anything like that.

6. Jeremy Marshall-Roberts (the owner of Mary the Bentley)

When Crowley used a miracle to switch off the Bentley lights in Episode 1 at nuns manor it was done by: there was actually a very small guy called Louis turning on and off the switches quickly.

David Tennant was allowed to wear the snake eye contacts for only 3 hours a day otherwise they could damage his eyesight.

For Mary, the Bentley, it was the second time she was ‘blown up’ on film - first being in the Endeavour with Inspector Morse about three years earlier.

He was a bit nervous during filming the bookshop fire scene because the Bentley was so close to a real fire - not wanting the paint to blister. The car was moved off after a few minutes of filming but still.

About the damage to Mary: Unfortunately, we overran, and Rob my stunt driver had already booked a holiday and off he went and so when he returned in January, on the 10th of January, I had this new driver who really had no clue how to drive old cars, so I showed him around, I showed him to go around corners. He came around the corner, the door was not closed properly for some reason and the door flew open as he went around. And instead of slamming on the brakes which is extremely efficient and would stop him straight away he kept on going, hit another car and really smashed the door quite badly. It did take the car off the roads for 10 months. The door was completely remade because of this accident and it cost the total of  £24 000 to rebuild the car to get it back to running as it is today.

The Bentley’s part most difficult to maintain and service is the engine. 

Would Mary be available for a potential season 2: definitely!

[paraemu]

From Toei Hero MAX 57

Parad and Poppy were the main characters in the second part of the trilogy, which was the most flexible in terms of content. Kai and Matsuda's bugster team looks back on their activities in V-Cinema, which were in a sense the same as usual, or even more outrageous than usual!

A different kind of competition realized in a compilation trilogy

本作「仮面ライダーパラドクスwithポッピー」はタイトル通り、お二人が主役。初の大役を務められていかがでした？

Interviewer: As the title suggests, the two of you play the main roles in this film, "Kamen Rider ParaDX with Poppy". How was it for you to play your first major role?

僕の意識としては、ただパラドを演じただけなので、特別感は特にないんですよね。なんというか、これまで通り「エグゼイド」という作品で演じていたら、結果的にパラドが真ん中にいたって感じ。主役の自分がなんとかしなきや、みたいな気持ちもまったくなかった���すからね。

Kai: As far as I'm concerned, I just played Parad, so I don't really have any special feeling. I was just playing the role of "Ex-Aid" as I always have, and as a result, Parad was right in the middle. I didn't feel like I had to do anything as the main character at all.

そうだよね。ずっとポッピーとパラドとして生活していたら、たまたまカメラがこっちを向いてて、いつのまにか作品になってた。感覚としてはそういう感じに近いような気がします(笑)。

Matsuda: That's right. We've been living as Poppy and Parad for a long time, and the camera just happened to be looking at me, and before I knew it, I was making art. I think that's how I feel about it (laughs).

申斐さんは、本作で新たに登場するブラックパラドとの一人ニ役にも挑戦されています。

Interviewer: Kai-san is also taking on the challenge of playing two roles with Black Parad, a new character in this work.

クランクインの当日とかはけっこう大変だった記憶がありますね。同じカットに2人とも映るシーンは、まずパラドで撮って、そのままカメラを固定して、ブラーックパラドに着替えてから、今度は反対側に立って…..というのをやらなきゃいけなくて。たぶん、あの日だけで4回ぐらいは入れかわったんじゃないかな。

Kai: I remember it was quite difficult on the day of the crank-in. For the scene where both of us are in the same shot, we had to shoot in Parad, hold the camera in place, change into Black Parad, and then stand on the other side of the screen and shoot... I had to do this. I think we probably switched around four times that day alone.

ブラックパラドは見た目がほとんど変わらないから難しそうだよね。ポッピーと明日那の場合は、見た目も声も喋る言葉尻も全然違うから、同じこと言ってても別人に見えるけど。

Matsuda: Black Parad is going to be difficult because he looks almost the same. In the case of Poppy and Asuna, they look, sound and speak very differently, so they look like different people even though they say the same things.

それはそうかも。演技だけでまったく違うキャラの人物に見せる��いうのがいかに難しいかは、今回初めて実感したかな。飛彩（瀬戸利樹）が劇場版 (「仮面ライダー×スーパー戦隊超スーパーヒーロー大戦」) で二役をやってた一ときも「大変そうだなぁ」と思って見てはいたけど (笑)。

Kai: That may be true. I think this is the first time I realized how difficult it is to make a character look completely different just by acting. When Seto Toshiki was playing two roles in the movie version ("Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Chou Super Hero Taisen"), I thought "That looks like a lot of work." (laughs).

衣裳チェンジという部分では、"ポッピーの七変化" も本作の見どころのひとつですよね？

Interviewer: In terms of costume changes, the "seven changes of Poppy" is one of the highlights of the film, isn't it?

みなさんにそう言っていただくんですけど、私自身はこの1年半ずっとコスプレをしてきたようなものなので、コスプレをするってことに対する特別感がわりと携れちゃっていて.....。ちょっとバグってます (笑)。

Matsuda: That's what everyone tells me, but I've been cosplaying for the past year and a half, so my sense of specialness about cosplaying is rather gone... It's a little buggy (laughs).

もはやあれが私服と。

Kai: That's no longer what I call casual wear.

そうだね。ウェディングドレスも……おめでたい私服 (笑)。

Matsuda: That's right. The wedding dress is also... an outfit for special occasions (lol).

ヲタ芸もやってたよね？

Kai: You also did some wotagei, right?

やったねえ。鈴村監督から、着替えるたびに「ひと言なんか言って、なんかやって」って言われて、全部アドリブでやったんですけど、そのひとつがヲタ芸で (笑)。最初は「アイドルっぼいことを」ってオーダーだったんだけど、なんか違うことをしたかったから、監督と相談して「アイドルカルチャーとはこういうものだって勝手に勘違いしてるポッピー」という設定でやったんです。でも、ちょっと激しくやりすぎて、今回の���トリロジー」に携わってないスタッフさんのなかには別人がやってると思った人もいたみたいですけどね。

Matsuda: I did. Director Suzumura asked me to "say something, do something" every time I changed clothes, so I improvised everything, and one of the things I did was wotagei (laughs). At first the order was to do something idol-like, but we wanted to do something different, so we talked with the director and decided to do it as "Poppy, who mistakenly believes that this is what idol culture is all about". But it was a bit too intense, and some of the staff who weren't involved in the "Trilogy" seemed to think that someone else was doing it.

さすがにヲタ芸にまで吹き替えは使わないよね(笑)。アクションじゃないんだから。ってか、途中で「松田るか」も出てきてなかった？観てて「あれっ？ポッピー?」って思ったよ。

Kai: You're right, they don't use dubbing even for wotagei (laughs). It's not an action movie. I mean, didn't "Matsuda Ruka" appear in the middle of the movie? When I was watching it, I was like "Huh? Where's Poppy?"

出てたね。あそこは思わず素が出ちゃって....(笑)。

Matsuda: You were in it. I couldn't help but show my true colors there.... (laughs).

明かされる衝撃の真実そのとき演者たちは?

The Shocking Truth Revealed: What Will Happen to the Actors?

一方、今回のトリロジーではこれまで語られたことのなかった新たな過去も明かされます。

Interviewer: On the other hand, this trilogy will also reveal a new past that has never been told before.

ブラックパラドが何者か？というのもそうだし、ポッピーの一宿主である櫻子さんが顔出しするのも今回が初めてだよね。

Kai: Who is Black Parad? This is also the first time that Sakurako-san, Poppy's host, shows her face.

これがすごくキレイな人でね。なんでこの人はクロノス（＝檀正宗）みたいな人と結婚したんだろう、と改めて疑問に思いましたよ、私は。

Matsuda: She was a very beautiful woman. I wondered again why she married someone like Dan Masamune.

美人で俺もビックリした。こんな人からどうしたら黎斗ができるんだって。

Kai: She was so beautiful that I was surprised too. I wondered how such a person could give birth to Kuroto.

いや、クロノスと結婚したら黎斗は産まれちゃうよ (笑)。まあ、あったんでしょうね。きっとお父さんにもいいところが。

Matsuda: No, if you marry Cronus, Kuroto will be born (laughs). Well, there must've been a reason. I'm sure the father had his good points.

もとをただせば、正宗と櫻子さんが結婚したことが「エグゼイド」のすべての始まりだったということなんだよね。

Kai: To put it simply, Masamune and Sakurako's marriage was the beginning of all of "Ex-Aid."

どこに惚れたのかっていう最大の謎は、トリロジーでも結局謎のままだけど (笑)。

Matsuda: The biggest mystery of what made her fall in love with him remains a mystery even in the trilogy (laughs).

テレビシリーズでもあとから明かされた“新事実、はいくつかありましたが、演じる側としてはやはり戸惑いもありますか？

Interviewer: In the TV series, there were some new facts that were revealed later, but as a performer, did you feel confused?

ありますね。パラドに関して言えば、「最終的に人間の味方につく」という設定は、正直あとから知ったんで、「えっ？どうしよ!」とはなりました。最初のほうの取材とかでは、普通に「悪役のまま終わりたい」って答えてたぐらい、僕自身は悪役をまっとうするつもりでいましたから。

Kai: Yes, I did. To be honest, I didn't know Parad would end up on the side of the humans until later, so I thought "What? What should I do?". In the first interview, I said that I wanted to end up as a villain, and I was planning to play a villain until the end.

私も本編のほうで「私、黎斗の母親だったんだ！」って知ったときは衝撃だったな。あれを最初から知っていれば、たぶん接し方も変わってたはずなので、「教えといてよー」と思ったもん。

Matsuda: I was also shocked when I found out in the show that I was Kuroto's mother! If I had known that from the beginning, I probably would have treated him differently, so I thought, "Why didn't you tell me?"

でも、きっとそれがいいんだよね。知らずにいることでいつのまにか役作りをさせられてる。僕が人間側につくのを知ってたら、グラファイトとの距離感とかも絶対ヘンになってたと思うもん。急にそういう台本を渡されて、自分の感情が追いつかなくなるというのがパラドにとっても逆によかった。リアルに窮地に立たされてる感じがさ。

Kai: But I'm sure it's for the best. By being unaware of it, I'm somehow forced to create the role. If I had known that I was going to be on the human side, the distance between me and Graphite would have been weird for sure. It was good for Parad that he was suddenly given such a script and that his emotions couldn't keep up. He felt like he was in a real predicament.

東映さんの作品はそういうところがあるみたいだもんね (笑)。『シンケンジャー』のときも、松坂桃李さん自身は「実は影武者」という設定をギリギリまで知らされてなかったんだって。演じるほうとしては最初から言っててほしいけど、そのあたりが難しさであり、面白さでもあるのかなって。

Matsuda: That seems to be the case with Toei's films (laughs). For "Shinkenger," Tori Matsuzaka himself wasn't told that he was actually a shadow warrior until the very last minute. As a performer, I wish I would have been told from the beginning, but I think that's both the difficulty and the fun of it.

そうだね。パラドが永夢に感染したバクスターだというのも最初は僕だけが知ってて、飯島くん本人は実際教えてもらってなかったし……。永夢の瞳が赤くなったときは絶対パラドが近くにいるとか、そういう匂わせはたくさんあったけど。

Kai: That's right. At first, I was the only one who knew that Parad was the Bugster who infected Emu, and Iijima-kun himself wasn't told about it. There were a lot of hints that Parad was definitely nearby when Emu's eyes turned red.

うんうん。だから「エグゼイド」も2ラウンド目が面白いんだよね。いろいろわかったうえで観ると、「そういうことか！」ってさらに楽しめるし。

Matsuda: Yeah, yeah. That's why the second half of "Ex-Aid" is so interesting, isn't it? If you watch it after you understand everything, you can enjoy it even more.

信頼しあえる関係性

A relationship of mutual trust

トリロジー全作を手がける鈴村監督の現場はどうでした？

Interviewer: How was it working with director Suzumura, who is working on the entire trilogy?

かなり自由にやらせてもら雰囲気でやれたかなってえましたね。 監督自身がすごく柔らかくて器の大きい方だから、周りも切羽詰まったりせずに、いい雰囲気でやれたかなって。

Kai: The director himself is very soft and big-hearted, so the people around him didn't feel pressured, and we were able to do it in a good atmosphere.

うん。よくご飯にも誘ってくれたしね。監督がそうやって気さくに接してくれるからこそ、距離感もほどよく縮まって、現場でも「コレ、こうしたいんです」って気負わずに言える空気感ができてた感じ。私のなかではすっかり焼酎ばかり飲んでる人というイメージだったりもしますけど (笑)。

Matsuda: Yeah. He often invited me out to dinner, too. Because the director was so open with me, we were able to close the distance between us, and I felt like I could say, "This is what I want to do," without feeling self-conscious. In my mind, he has the image of someone who drinks only shochu (laughs).

演出プランは当然、監督のなかにもあるはずなのに、芝居をつけてる段階で僕らが別のアイデアを出すと、決まって「じゃあ、そうしようよ」って言ってくれる。そうやって積極的に採用してもらえたら、こっちも一生懸命考えようって気持ちになるし、それはすごくよかったなって思います。自分の発想力みたいなものも否応なしに鍛えられましたしね。

Kai: Naturally, the director has a plan for the direction of the film, but when we came up with a different idea during the play, he would always say, "Well, let's do that". I think it's great that the director is willing to adopt our ideas, because it encourages us to think harder. I think that was really good. I was also able to develop my ability to think out of the box.

しかも、周りにはずっと一緒に走ってこられた同世代の役者陣。もはや鬼に金棒ですね。

Interviewer: In addition, he was surrounded by actors of the same generation who had been running together for a long time. It's like the devil's advocate.

みんな、ホントに仲よかったよね。人数が多いと自然とグルーブ��分かれたりもしがちですけど、「エグゼイド」に関してはそういうこともまったくなくて。

Matsuda: We all get along really well. When there are a lot of people in a group, it tends to naturally divide into different groups, but that didn't happen at all with "Ex-Aid".

うん。個人的にも、みんなで笑い合えて、楽しく仕事ができる現場が一番いい。そういう意味でも、オンとオフのメリハリがつけられるメンバーばかりだったのはよかったなって。

Kai: Yeah. Personally, I think it's best to work in a place where everyone can laugh together and have fun. In that sense, I'm glad that all the members were able to have a good balance between on and off work.

お二人の信頼関係は？

Interviewer: How is the relationship of trust between the two of you?

バッチリですよ。私が右なら、彼は左に行くので (笑)。

Matsuda: It's perfect. If I go right, he goes left (laughs).

そうかな？でも、確かに違うことをしたがるかも。同じ方向向いてって言われても、素直にできないし (笑)。というか、そっちも "おしゃべりクソマシンガン" って言われてたじゃん。

Kai: Is that so? But I think we may want to do different things. Even if you ask me to look in the same direction, I can't do it honestly (laughs). I mean, you've been called a "shitty talking machine gun" too.

"クソ" じゃないよ、"サブ" だよ (笑)。なんだろ？私がバーッとひとしきり喋って、横から彼一がポロッと鋭いことを言うみたいな、そういう流れは現場でもありましたね。

Matsuda: It's not "shitty", it's "sub." (laughs) What is it? There were times when I would talk a lot, and then he would say something sharp from the side.

でも、おかしいことは言ってなかったでしょ？ちゃんと事実を言ってただけで。

Kai: But I didn't say anything funny, did I? I was just telling the truth.

大人はみんな知らんぶりして目を課るようなことをあえて言うんですよ、彼は。

Matsuda: He dares to say things that all adults pretend not to know and avert their eyes on.

そういうのすごい嫌いなの。日本人はなんですぐ "付度" するのかなって思っちゃう。あんな言葉、英語にはないからね?

Kai: I really dislike that kind of thing. I wonder why Japanese people are so quick to use "tsukedo". There is no such word in English, right?

はいはい (笑)。

Matsuda: Yes, yes (laughs).

では、お二人の関係性が十分伝わったところで、これから作品を観る読者にメッセージを。

Interviewer: Now that we have a good sense of the relationship between the two of you, do you have a message for the readers who will be watching the film?

夕陽に照らされたパラドクスとポッピーのポスタービジュアルを鵜呑みにすると痛い目を見ますってことは言っておきたいかな。

Matsuda: I guess I'd like to say that if you believe the poster visual of Parad and Poppy in the evening sun, you're in for a world of hurt.

あれはちょっと、謎のタイタニック感があるからね。

Kai: That one has a bit of a mysterious Titanic feel to it.

二人が出るってことしか合ってない (笑)。ただ、「ブレイブ＆スナイプ」も「ゲンムVSレーザー」もわりと重いし、「パラドクスwithポッピー」は箸休め回だと思って身構えずに観てほしいな、とは思うよね。

Matsuda: The only thing that fits is that the two of them are in it (laughs). However, both "Brave and Snipe" and "Genm vs. Lazer" are rather heavy, so I hope people will think of "ParaDX with Poppy" as a chopstick rest and watch it without getting defensive.

そうだね。3部作だと1本目は掴んで3本目は落とさなきゃいけないけど、それがない2本目は何でもできる。そういう自由度の高さはよかったよね。

Kai: Yes, in a trilogy, you have to grab the first one and drop the third one, but in the second one you can do anything. It was nice to have that kind of freedom, wasn't it?

監督のフェティシズムも一番詰まってる作品だしね (笑)。

Matsuda: It's also the film that contains the most of the director's fetishism (laughs).

ちなみに、パラドとポッピーを演じてきて、ー番「心が躍るな」と思った瞬間は？

Interviewer: By the way, what was the most "exciting" moment for you while playing Parad and Poppy?

うーん。たくさんありすぎてひとつには紋れないですね。今回で言えば、ポッピーじゃなく「松田るか」として主題歌を唄わせてもらえたのは「躍った」かな。

Matsuda: Hmmm. There are so many that I can't pick just one. In this case, I was able to sing the theme song not as Poppy, but as Matsuda Ruka, and I think that made me "jump".

僕は初めてナパームを見たときかな。あの大爆発には童心が騒ぎましたね。あと、これは余談ですけど、僕、クランクアップのときに現場に放置されたんです。

Kai: I think it was the first time I saw napalm. That huge explosion made me feel like a child. Also, this is an aside, but I was left unattended at the scene when the filming had wrapped up.

置いてかれてた (笑)。

Matsuda: You were left behind (laughs).

花束をもらって、せっかくだからって自撮りをしていて、「よし帰ろう」と外に出たらロケバスがもう出ていて…..。1年半を演じ終えた役者に対する「心震える」仕打ちとして、このことはぜひとも太字にして語り継がれてほしいと思います (笑)。

Kai: I got a bouquet of flowers and was taking selfies for the occasion, and when I went outside to go home, the location bus had already left... I hope this will be bolded and passed down as a "heart-breaking" treatment to the actors after a year and a half of acting (laughs).From Toei Hero MAX 57

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Welcomed Distraction

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Damon Salvatore x Reader

Word count: 1.7K

Warnings: Mentions of plotting murder but nothing else?

Author’s note: Welcome to fluff week! And here is how we're gonna start the week off. With a very Anti-Valentines day fic. What other way is there to start this holiday? XD I swear this is the only anti vday fic I have for this week. It is kinda Vday centered, so it's not like ya'll are missing out. Plus I needed this scenario. And I could only picture Damon for this so, here you go!

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things

Flires covered the halls with posters for the dance this weekend. The Bitter Ball was meant for all of those that were heartbroken could get together and express how much they hated Valentine's Day. Of course those that celebrated were going to be out on their dates, spending their time with their loved ones.

Y/N wouldn’t be going out on a fancy date. Nor would she be spending her time at the Bitter Ball. It wasn’t like she had recently experienced heartbreak that would make her want to attend the dance. She was just single.

She had tried proving several times that there was nothing wrong with it. But of course her friends had tried setting her up with someone days before, but it didn’t end up working out. And Y/N actually preferred that. Why spend the money to show off how much you love someone on one specific day.

This way she could stay home for the night. It meant she could stay in her pajamas and binge watch whatever was on Netflix that caught her interest. There was no need to get dressed up for anyone and that was how she wanted it. All that was needed was an assortment of junk food and a drink of her choice.

And it was as Y/N was getting ready to plop into her bed and begin watching a serial killer documentary when there was a knock at her door. For a brief moment, she thought of just ignoring it and climbing into bed. But the other part of her believed that if it was anyone had to come find her, it must have been important and left her room to go answer the door.

Her eyebrow raised as she took in Damon Salvatore standing on the opposite side. She could see he had obviously been dressed for the Bitter Ball. The all black outfit had given that away seeing as it was a requirement for it.

“You know, when I was told everyone was heading to the Bitter Ball, I was surprised not to see you there.” Damon said as he leaned against the doorframe.

“I’m not bitter.” Y/N said as she took a step back to allow him to enter her home. “I’m single. There’s a difference.”

“I doubt everyone that’s there isn’t exactly bitter.” He said as he walked in.

Y/N chuckled and shook her head. “Caroline is bitter.” She noted. “You on the other hand, I can't exactly figure out why you’d want to go to the anti-valentines day ball.”

It was his turn to chuckle. “A bitter heart tends to lead to nights of very entertaining activities.” A smirk pulled at his lips, causing her to roll her eyes. “I mostly went because I thought my partner in crime would be there to be miserable with me. But she wasn’t there and when I found her, she’s ready to veg out without so much as giving me an invite.”

Her eyebrow raised. “I never took you for wanting to stay in and just eat junk food while watching serial killer documentaries.”

“Not with just anyone.” He said with a shrug. “But with you, I’d do it.”

Y/N eyed him a moment. For as long as she had known the man standing in front of her, she had never just been content to just sit there and watch documentaries. After a few seconds she nodded her head. “100 says you’ll get bored and start complaining about some of the cases.”

Damon laughed and shook his head. “That’s a bet I’ll take and even win.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” She said with a shake of her head as she began making her way back towards her room with him in tow.

As they both had settled into Y/N’s bed, Damon had every intention of winning the bet. If it meant he could spend some time with Y/N, he was going to do so. At least that was until they got some details wrong about a case that he had personally had a part in and that seemed to irk him.

A smirk had pulled at Y/N’s lips as she watched him from the corner of her eye. She could see the way his face either scrunched up in disbelief at the facts that had been pouring out of the narrator. Or even the way he sat up straighter and crossed his arms over his chest. It was in complete contrast to how laidback and comfortable Y/N had been.

“Just admit it, you’re ready to complain.” Y/N said as she never took her eyes off the tv.

Damon shook his head. “Never. Just really getting into this amazing documentary with all the wrong facts.”

Y/N laughed and stuck out her hand towards him. “That was a complaint. And I’ll take my money now.”

“That was not a complaint.” He said shaking his head as he looked over at her. “That was merely an observation.”

“An observation, my ass.” She chuckled. “That was a complaint on how they have the wrong information.”

“One would say that’s an observation that they gave credit to a serial killer, when in fact it was a Vampire.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“What other observations do you have to voice?” She asked with a raised brow knowing she was about to win the bet.

“For one, they managed to say this guy had over 50 victims when, let’s be honest is more like 10 and was given credit for some that were not in fact his.” Damon continued on with every ‘observation’ he noticed during the first hour of what they’ve seen.

It was as Y/N rolled over on her stomach and propped her head on her fist, and a small smirk pulled at her lips that Damon realized he had gone into a full blown tangent on just how wrong the documentary had been. He had stopped mid sentence and took in her position and shook his head.

“Fine, you win.” He said with a roll of his eyes.

She began laughing away at his reaction and her laughter grew at seeing the slightest pout form on his lips. Damon was the one that usually won bets against a lot of people. But when it came to Y/N, she somehow won them. Even when her odds were against her.

The group used to say that was her supernatural ability. To be able to make bets go in her favor. But Y/N was as ordinary as they came. She wasn’t a relative of anyone special, she wasn’t descended from any kind of witch coven or royalty. She was as human as they came and she preferred that.

The moment the laughter died down, Damon watched her for a moment. “Want to talk about it?” He asked, keeping his attention on her.

His words hadn’t caught her off guard. She had been expecting them from the moment he had shown up at her door. But even then, her face fell and she looked away from him as she thought about it.

She may not have been bitter, but Y/N had gone through a bad heartbreak almost a year ago. One that left her broken in a way she’d never believed she would ever feel. That had been before she met the Salvatores and found out about the world she now lived in. While her friends had known about it, they always tried to get her back on the horse. But she never had been ready to do it.

“I don’t think I am.” She said with a shake of her head. “One day I’ll be able to talk about it without reliving it.” Even as she spoke of it now, she felt an emotion bubbling within her. “That time is just not right now.”

Damon laid back on the bed so that he was leveled with her. “You know I could always make him some serial killer’s next victim.”

Y/N chuckled and shook her head. “I think that would complete your previous offers of compelling, eating him and ripping his heart out.”

He smirked. “Just say the word, point me in the right direction and it’s done. No questions asked.”

“I’m surprised someone hasn’t done it already.” Knowing her friends, she was expecting it. Especially with the way everyone went behind each other’s backs from time to time to make sure they were safe.

“Oh, we’ve been tempted.” He said with a nod. “Okay, mostly me, but that’s because I'm impulsive and usually don’t care what other people say.”

“What stopped you this time?” She asked, curious. As Damon had said, he did things without thinking. And the fact that he had thought about doing so from time to time and not actually doing it had surprised Y/N.

“Because, believe it or not, while I’m impulsive and do things behind the backs of the people I care about, I don’t think I’d be able to handle your reaction afterwards.” He nodded his head. “I can handle everyone else being angry with me, or even hating me for a period of time, but I don’t think I could handle it coming from you.”

Y/n nodded her head as she took in his words. “I don’t think I could hate you, Damon. You could go out there and kill him tonight without me knowing and I still wouldn’t hate you for it. I’d probably thank you in the morning once I found out.”

“Well,” He said with a smirk pulling at his lips. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone be okay with murder.”

She chuckled as she pointed towards the still playing documentary. “It would be interesting to see what details they’d get wrong when you’re the culprit.”

While she may have been only slightly joking, the whole conversation had distracted her from the hurt that she had been secretly hiding from the others. Planning out a revenge with a vampire was the last thing she had been expecting to do tonight. But the way it happened showed she was getting better.

Because creating a hypothetical murder scene with a vampire is just the next step of the healing process.

Always and Forever Tags:

@taylordrunkonwhiskey @thewolf-and-thesheep @wayward-dan @neeadinghugs @fafulous @kenmen02 @elizamonet @dora-the-grownup @mschellehitt @xanderling @fandom-princess-forevermore @buckysarm4 @hi-my-name-is-riley @helenasingers @mrs-jackson-kenner @hellotvshowtrash @dpaccione @dumble-daddy @theactressstaringinyourbaddream @maldita-world @nikmikaelsonswife @mikaelson-emma @elijahs-wife @moon-child-writer @xoxo-nikki-xoxo @njeancastro316

[honestlywtfisgoingon]

A Match Set

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Pairing: Benny Watts x Reader

Summary: After meeting one night in New York, you and Benny Watts are drawn to each other. As you go through different experiences with one another, you grow closer until it finally gets to be too much for Benny.

Word Count: 1890

Warnings: none

Notes: aye this is my first fic because there is a serious lack of benny watts fics and i had to change that for myself. this will probably be multiple chapters that can be read separately.

It was your first art gallery, and you were both anxious and overjoyed to see people surveying your work. You had put so many hours into each piece and all kinds of people had poured in to look. It was a well known gallery, but the variety still surprised you. You looked around and saw some interesting characters, but your interest was piqued when your eyes fell upon a particular cowboy.

He was inspecting one of your favorite paintings which had chess pieces as the subject. The pieces merely served as part of a metaphor in your art, as the game and all its complexities had never really been your thing. As you looked closer at the man you realized that, not only had his outfit sparked your interest, but he seemed familiar too. Out of curiosity, you walked over and stood next to him.

“What are your thoughts?” You asked, motioning towards the painting.

His initial expression showed surprise that you were talking to him, but he recovered quickly, saying, “It’s good. I think the artist has talent.” You felt a bit of pride hearing that. You opened your mouth to say thanks, but you decided not to reveal yourself. You wanted him to give his honest opinion without fear of offending you.

“So do you like chess?” He nodded to the painting. Hearing this you made the connection as to why you remembered seeing him before. Your father owned a little bookshop back home and you were looking into chess for the same painting you were discussing right now. You had seen this cowboy on the back of one of those books, but you hadn’t given it another thought, never actually expecting to meet him. You decided not to reveal this information either and continued with the conversation.

“I can play a modest game. You?”

“I can play a modest game.” He had a small smile as he shrugged.

“Your first lie.” You said smirking back.

He looked confused but curious, so you explained about your research, your fathers bookshop, the whole story. He puffed up a bit after hearing that, looking impressed that you knew who he was.

“What’s your name?” He asked, still curious.

“Y/n” you replied.

“Nice name. I’m Benny, but you already seem to know who I am. On the other hand I don’t know anything about you.” He reached out his hand to shake yours.

“You walk in here with a black trench coat but you make me out to be the mysterious one,” you smirked as you took his hand. He chuckled a bit, and after your introduction, you asked why he was here.

“My friend knows the artist actually. She told us we had to see her work before going out.” You hummed as you thought about what to say, but he interjected.

“I don’t usually do this, and I’m not sure why I’m doing this now, but maybe you’d consider coffee with me. I won’t tell anymore lies” he joked.

You laughed a little, mildly shocked. “you’re not sure why? That’s flattering” you teased.

“Not what I meant-“ but before you could come to a conclusion on his sudden offer, you heard an excited french accent.

“Y/n! Im so proud! You finally got to show off all that talent!” Your friend Cleo ran up to you and wrapped her arms around you. You hadn’t seen her since you lived in France for a few months and you had missed her. You left for France after you realized you weren’t really needed at home, so you dedicated yourself to trying to soak up some culture. She looked gorgeous like you remembered, fitting for a model. You continued your reunion embrace for a moment before she waved her arms to the men and woman behind her. She introduced the friends she had brought to your show as Arthur, Hilton, and Annette, who all smiled at you. Cleo paused to turn to the cowboy saying, “I see you’ve already met Benny.”

“Yeah we met,” he said, “but I didn’t know this was your work. I would’ve told you how impressed I am.” Your cheeks turned a light pink at the praise.

“Look at Benny, impressed with someone besides himself for once.”Cleo poked fun and the group let out a laugh.

“Hey I’m not a narcissist or anything, don’t listen to Cleo,” Benny made excuses to you, only mildly offended.

“Sure you aren’t. I have nothing against narcissists,” you jokingly assured him. This answer didn’t comfort the man who had essentially just asked you on a date.

You and Cleo continued to catch up and you talked more with her friends as well. Benny just stood next to you, and you caught him glancing at you once or twice, but you just ignored it. Eventually you agreed to go out for drinks with the group, walking with them to a bar a couple blocks down called Hal’s.

You all squeezed into a booth while Arthur went off to get drinks. You sat on the outside, watching the people out on the floor next to you giggling and dancing. Having a couple of drinks beforehand must’ve contributed to the large amount of people out there, you thought. Arthur eventually announced his return by laying a tray of drinks in the middle of the table.

You were all conversing and sipping on your drinks when Annette decided she wanted to dance. Cleo agreed enthusiastically, but the rest of us refused. She suggested we all take shots to make it easier, but once again we tried to turn her down. she pleaded, “come on guys, it’s a Saturday night, and you can’t possible lose something from it. Have a little bit of fun with me!”

We relented, having a feeling that she wasn’t going to give up any time soon. She gave a little clap and handed out the shots. You knocked yours back with everyone else and grimaced at the bitter taste. Shaking it off, you slid out of the booth so the others could get out. You moved back into your spot after they all made their way to the throng of people. You decided you would join them later, but you liked to observe first. You looked over and the only two left were you and Benny. You slid over to him, not wanting to sit awkwardly on the other end like he wasn’t there.

“I bet you five bucks that lady is bored out of her mind.” He pointed to a blonde on a date across the bar, “Either she’s an alcoholic or she’s trying to tune out baldie.” You looked at the woman and saw she was surrounded by empty glasses while the man in front of her seemed like he was boasting endlessly. You both started making observations about the various people in the bar. Most of them were snarky comments that you whispered into each other’s ears, giggling, but you also created imaginary lives for them, guessing who they were and how they got here. After sharing a couple laughs, you sighed and reached a comfortable lull before Benny brought up what you knew was coming.

“So have you thought about my earlier question?” He eyed you seriously all of a sudden, but you didn’t feel any pressure. He seemed the type of confident where he thought you would say yes, but he could recover if you said no.

You weighed in your impression of him. He was cute, with fluffy hair and nice eyes that were a kind of chocolate color. He was funny and you he seemed intelligent (I mean he had to be, he played competitive chess). Albeit his trench coat and hat were a bit eccentric, but that wasn’t a bad thing, in fact you found it attractive.

“So have you?” He asked again, leaning his head in.

“Oh uh” you hadn’t realized while you were thinking that you had zoned out looking at him. Clearing your throat you said, “I’m free for coffee.” You stopped, “But you have to wear the hat.”

“Wouldn’t leave home without it” he winked.

Suddenly you were shoved against him as your tipsy friends barreled back into the booth.

“We should probably join them” you said as you moved off him, pushing one of the leftover drinks towards him. He nodded and you both drank some more just to get on the same level as your friends.

“You two haven’t even danced! I saw you whispering. Too busy flirting?” Annette smiled as she slurred a few of her words. You just looked down, cheeks pink, leaving Benny to respond.

“How were you watching us when you were dancing with that guy, the one who looks like he’s only ever kissed his mother.”

“No, I’m sure he’s kissed other people! I mean he did seem young but...” Annette looked over to the guy she dragged to dance with her earlier. He stood sheepishly in the corner, looking like he hadn’t outgrown his baby fat yet, and was definitely not a city type. “He’s just shy!” She defended, but me and Benny just looked at each other, falling into giggles. You figured out that night that Annette was one of those drunks who got a little childish, but she was sweet.

You would’ve been content to keep hanging out with Benny, if it hadn’t been for Cleo who grabbed your hand and pulled you out to the dance floor. You looked back at Benny, but gave in and allowed her to twirl you into the crowd. You were having a good time with Cleo, Hilton and Arthur dancing on either side of her. You were soon out of breath, but didn’t mind, enjoying it all.

You had moved to the city a couple months ago, but hadn’t had time to make friends, focusing on your work and setting up your apartment. You missed having company, people who were fun and interesting.

You continued to move to the beat of the song until you bumped into someone. You looked back to see Benny smiling next to you. You smiled back and let him in to the little circle you and your friends had created. You felt a little warm, not from the dancing, but from being close to him.

After fifteen minutes you were all tired and made your way to the booth to gather all your things up and pay the bill. You walked out of the bar and into the chilly night air, grateful for the residual body heat that came from all the dancing. You hugged Cleo and your new friends goodbye as took turns getting into taxis and headed towards their homes. Hilton offered to wave you down a taxi too, but you declined, explaining that your home wasn’t a far walk. He shrugged and gave you another hug before climbing into the yellow car. Once again it was just you and Benny.

“Just the two of us again huh?” He spoke, and he definitely didn’t sound turned off by the idea.

“Fate I guess.”

“Sure” he said casually.

“Do you not believe in fate?” You asked. You weren’t a firm believer in the idea but something in his tone made you curious.

“I’ve had this debate before I think. I’m not sure, but I’d like to figure it out. How about you?” He said. You imagined him having a lot of debates. You had just met him, but he seemed to fall into the intellectual category. They always kept things interesting, and frequently offered new perspectives.

“I mean everything’s gotta mean something, there has to be a purpose. I just don’t know if we make our own purpose or if we’re given a purpose; fate.” You mused, not meaning to get existential. He didn’t seem to mind.

“You seem like the type to want to figure things out too.” He said ‘too’. So you and him both liked to do that. You added that to the growing list of things you liked about him.

“I guess I am.” He had a pleased look on his face and you just shrugged as you started to say goodbye.

“Wait” he grabbed your arm, “I heard you say you didn’t live far, I could walk you.” Before you could protest he told you, “it wouldn’t be a big deal, I heard you tell Hilton where you lived, we’re in the same direction.”

You agreed, finding yourself wanting to talk to him more. He offered you his arm casually and you laughed to yourself a little at the gesture, taking it anyway. You walked down the sidewalk, talking and laughing. You felt comfortable as you felt like you leveled with him. It seemed like too short of a walk as you suddenly found yourself at the door of your apartment building.

“Guess this is goodnight.” Benny said as you both stood on the sidewalk.

“What about coffee?” You asked.

“Glad you remembered. I’ll pick you up at twelve tomorrow, we can make it lunch. I’ll pick you up.” He said it decidedly, like it was just a fact. Something you noticed he did often.

“Ok then. Lunch. Tomorrow. Am I forgetting anything?” You said as you stepped halfway into the doorway.

“If you are we can figure that out later. I’ll see you.” He waved with a slight smile.

You waved back and smiled in return, watching him walk away before closing the door. You sped up to your apartment, letting yourself finally feel the excitement and anticipation of going out. You stripped off your clothing as soon as you got in and flopped on your bed, feeling sort of giddy. You felt like you and Benny were connected, though you had barely met him. As you laid down you smiled to yourself, looking forward to tomorrow.

[dailyniallnews]

Niall Horan: Live at The Royal Albert Hall

While some may argue that too few artists have done their bit to raise awareness for the people of the music industry who since March 2020 have been forced to stop practicing their profession, one artist who has stepped up to the plate is singer-songwriter and former One Direction star, Niall Horan. Joining forces with the crew-led organisation, We Need Crew, on 7 November 2020, the singer welcomed fans from around the globe to bear witness to a one-off performance from the eerily empty Royal Albert Hall, with all profits going to his touring family and technical entertainment charity, Backup.

In the lead up to the livestream, Horan could be found on almost every television network, promoting the show and explaining why the performance required the attention of all music lovers. In his own words: “I’m putting on this gig to raise awareness of the immense value they bring to an industry enjoyed by so many and do something to help them and their families. I ask all my fans to support them with me and buy a ticket if you can, and I encourage all artists to do the same.”

With several weeks passing since both artist and crew took over the RAH, TPi caught up with the crew behind the project and to get their thoughts on this very special event.

PRODUCTION ORIGINS…

“I remember it was a Monday morning when I got the call from Karen [Ringland] and Alice [Martin], who explained the concept of We Need Crew,” reminisced Ant Carr, Head of Production for Modest! Management. Both founders of We Need Crew explained to Carr that the goal of We Need Crew is, in association with #WeMakeEvents, to raise money for touring professionals who have fallen on hard times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What really appealed about their organisation was that it was created by crew, for crew,” Carr said. “Around the same time, I was having conversations with Niall, who had already seen a few peers doing livestream performances, and we discussed the idea of performing in an iconic venue to raise awareness for the plight of the industry.”

With these two conversions in mind, Carr began to pull the pieces of would become Horan’s streamed performance together, as well as a big launch for the We Need Crew campaign. Carr and the rest of the Modest! team got to work reforming his touring family, whose album cycle had been stopped prematurely in March 2020.

“We were in LA when everything began shutting down,” stated Carr, who explained how he and the rest of the crew were in their last few weeks of promo before heading into rehearsals for Horan’s world tour. “We were finishing up a week on James Corden when the announcement came that the borders were due to be shut, so we all had to head back to the UK pretty quickly.”

After several months with no work, both Carr and the rest of the crew were all enthusiastic about getting back together to put on a very special performance. “In many ways, it was like we had never been away,” explained Production Manager, Andy Colby. “There was a part of me that thought it might have been a bit strange with it being so long since we worked together, but 30 minutes into the first rehearsal at SW19, it was like we had just got off the plane from LA.”

Colby was one of many familiar faces from Horan’s touring family who got the call to help with the livestream, alongside several technical suppliers including Wigwam and midnight:lights. KB Event provided a Megacube Artic for rehearsals in SW19 along with a Tech Kit for the show, oversaw by Lead Driver, Steve Crawley. Pulse Films and promoter, Driift were brought into the fold to make the event a reality.

In total, some 127,000 tickets for the performance were sold to 151 countries. “The response we had from fans was fantastic,” enthused Carr. “The funds raised are going to be able to help a good number of touring crew and their families and we kept this in the forefront of our mind in all aspects of the show.”

Carr was also quick to complement the attitude of the man in front of the camera. “Niall was very involved in every step of the process. He really gained a full grasp of the situation and during the promotion of the show, he really wanted to educate the public, and his fanbase, about what was going on in the sector.”

SETTING THE STAGE…

A few weeks from the broadcast date, a small group visited the Royal Albert Hall to make a start on planning how the show would come together. Lighting and Show Designer, Emma Bull and Director, Paul Dugdale led the creative vision. The livestream began with Horan performing a song on the piano on the venue’s stage, before walking down to the centre of the room to play the rest of the show in 360° in the centre of the hall. A top priority for the visual team was putting both Niall and the venue in the spotlight.

Bull elaborated: “Although several dance shows utilise the centre of the room, Paul’s Dugdale’s suggestion to do this for a music act felt fresh and was a strong starting point for the design,” she noted. “Having Niall and the band in the centre gave us a few options to really show off the building and take advantage of the fact the whole space was empty.”

One of her design ideas to make use of the space was to fill the empty boxes of the hall with lights. “It really ‘shined a light’ on the fact that there was nobody in the space,” she commented.

Aiding her in both the programming and running the show was Richard White of midnight:lights. “In total, we built 114 bespoke plinths for the audience boxes,” he stated. “On these sat a combination of Robe LED Beam 150s and Robe Spiiders.” The arrangement of these fixtures and boxes created a 360° backdrop of the central stage, with fixtures focussed into the room as well as back on themselves to flood the boxes.

The other key lighting elements included three Robe BMFL Robospots for keylight, which were placed in the venue’s gallery level. “We kept most of the control of these at the console with it being a 360° shoot,” stated White. “We were then able to shift the keylight/backlight across the fixtures as the camera tracked.” Around the central stage, the lighting team deployed SGM Q2s to provide some glowing footlights, along with Litepanel Gemini Softlights for Niall’s microphone position. “From the beginning, I knew I didn’t want there to be any rigging or trussing in the shot,” explained Bull. “We didn’t want anything to distract from the key elements of the shot – Niall and venue – to produce a clean look.” This is also why the visual department moved away from the idea of a backdrop and instead showed off the immensity of the famed venue.

Aiding both Bull and White in their endeavours was Lighting Programmer, Dan Young. In the lead up to the show, both Young and White spent several days in the previs suite at midnight:lights using Syncronorm Depence² to plan the show. “I have worked with both Dan and Richard several times and they have a great understanding of my aesthetic,” praised Bull. “I like things to be quite static in terms of colour palette with refined looks.” During the show, White oversaw the key lighting with Young programming all the moves. This gave Bull the freedom to act as a go-between between both the lighting and the stage to ensure the integrity of the design for the broadcast.

“The main challenge for this show was to provide consistent lighting over the different shooting styles,” mused White. “On one hand, we needed to have soft beauty lighting for close-up shots and steadycam work, but we also needed to make sure that the stage was physically as clear as possible for all the wide room shots and overhead wire-cam.” To add a level of accuracy, most of the live show was programmed to timecode because the visual team were situated outside of the room during the shoot.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, LIVESTREAM…

Jim Parsons was brought in by Pulse Films to assume the role of Producer. “By the time I got involved, the concept had already been fairly well developed by Emma Bull and Paul Dugdale,” Parsons began. “From my side, it was a case of getting all the video and visual elements and working out some of logistics of how we’d get the event to the finish line.”

Parsons has collaborated with Horan several times over the years. “The fact he came from the TV world means he has much more of a grasp than many of his peers of what goes into this style of performance and how to connect with fans through a camera,” he enthused.

Speaking a few weeks after the event took place, Parsons reflected on what he and the team achieved with the livestream. “We always knew we had an opportunity to do something different with this show,” he commented. “The end resulted was big and beautiful, but it was still ‘live’.  It had the feel of a real show and didn’t come across prescriptive or dull.”

Parsons went on to describe the collaboration between himself and Driift, having worked together several times during 2020 on shows for Kylie Minogue and Sleaford Mods. “Ric Salmon and the rest of the Driift team are the kind of broadcasters I really like collaborating with in that they just let you get on with your work,” stated Parsons plainly. “They were obviously interested in the initial conversations and in the creative, but once it was all in place, they left us to it.”

Driift CEO, Ric Salmon offered his two cents on the project. “The fact that Niall ended up selling 127,000 tickets for the event is such a huge achievement, made all the better as it was all for such an amazing cause,” he stated. Unsurprisingly, 2020 was a busy year for Driift as the company offered livestreaming solutions for several artists. “There are almost too many benefits with this format of show,” stated Salmons while discussing the progression of livestreaming solutions that have only expanded in the past few years. “As we move forward, I think you’ll find more people opting for this style of event over, say, music videos,”

Parsons described what it was like working in the RAH. “It’s a beautiful venue, but we have all seen it thousands of times and there’s no denying that making it look different is quite a challenge. So, hats have to go off to the visual team for making this livestream look so unique.”

A Luna Remote System Junior 5 Telescopic remote compact dolly on a circular track along with a Dactylcam Pro point-to-point wire camera system captured the magic of the livestream. The spanned the periphery of central stage to present virtual audiences with a 360° view.

Camera Supervisor and joint Owner of Luna Remote Systems, Dean Clish discussed what it meant to be involved in such a prestigious show. “It was an honour to be involved in Niall’s show,” he commented. “It was for such a great cause and it’s always good to be in the Royal Albert Hall – you can’t go wrong with such a beautiful location.”

He continued to discuss why the camera selection was ideal for this type of performance. “The Junior 5 and the Dactylcam Pro are perfect for this kind of shoot because of the need to socially distance and, of course, with this sort of intimate production, they are both really unobtrusive and discreet systems,” he explained. “We’ve rigged the Dactylcam in the Royal Albert Hall before. It’s a brilliant system to use in there as you can really capture the essence of the hall from a height, in flight, in a way that you can’t with static systems.”

SOUNDING OUT…

The production brought back the audio double act of FOH Engineer, Matthew Kettle and Monitor Engineer, Joe Campbell to oversee the mix for the livestream and the band on stage. Having started working with Horan on his first solo album cycle, Kettle gave an overview of his time with the artist. “I didn’t really know what to expect before I’d heard the debut record and, as I was more known for working with rock music, I wasn’t sure I’d be the right fit,” he commented. However, with Horan’s solo music citing influences including Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen, the Engineer explained how it had been a fruitful partnership over the past three years. “Niall is really quite involved with the audio production and often during rehearsals will listen to the mixes to get a feel of what is being produced.”

Having been put on a hiatus since the tour’s cancellation in March, Kettle described what it was like to pull the pieces back together for the tour. “It’s really quite a different process producing a mix for a livestream compared to a live show,” he mused. “I have always had massive respect for broadcast engineers as it is such a different craft. When you’re mixing live in a venue, if anything goes wrong, you can fix it for the next performance. However, with a broadcast, everything is under much more of a microscope and under a great deal of scrutiny. Not only that, but you only have one shot at a show.”

Kettle explained that once he and the team entered rehearsals, they soon found their rhythm. “The approach to mixing was not too dissimilar to what we had already been working on for the tour. Just like the visual department, we didn’t want the production to be too flashy, aiming to simply reflect the intimacy of the performance without too much embellishment,” he commented.

For this reason, both Kettle and Campbell virtually replicated their audio setups they had planned to use for the world tour, featuring two DiGiCo SD5 consoles for monitors and FOH, along with Shure Axient Handhelds with Sennheiser 2000 Series IEMs, d&b audiotechnik wedges and a V-Series for side fills.

The console setup was not significantly different from the touring configuration, with multiple inputs from various SD-Racks in different parts of the stage and performance areas going to the broadcast SD5, all connected by an Opticore loop and shared with Campbell’s SD5 in monitor world. “The SD5 is my favourite console in the world,” said Campbell. “I love it and, because DiGiCo products are well proven and rock solid reliable, we rarely have to include them directly in what we do.” Cambpell was initially concerned in the lead up to the show, having not touched a desk since March. “Thankfully, Wigwam had kept the desks in pristine condition – so much so that our show files were even still loaded on the desk from the tour. This saved a great deal of time in rehearsals and certainly made it easier to get back into the saddle.”

Campbell was keen to replicate the same stage setup for Niall and the band. “During the tour, although he uses IEMs, I still have a wedge and side fills just in case he wants to take out his ears to hear the crowd,” he explained. “Even though it was a livestream with no audience, I wanted the show to feel as familiar as possible for him and the band.”

Despite a relatively “meat and potatoes” band setup, Campbell had just under 100 inputs on his desk – the result of several reverb returns and an elaborate talkback system. “Each one of the band members have a talkback mic so throughout the performance they can talk to one another and me,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Kettle’s ‘FOH’ position was slightly further away, setting up in a corridor off from the main hall. “Wigwam prepared an acoustic treatment kit so I sat at the desk with several studio monitors to mix the show and then sent my audio feed to the Pulse team,” stated Kettle. “Before going into the RAH, I was concerned with how the room would react with no audience in there to dampen the sound, but from the first sound check it sounded fantastic.”

Discussing Wigwam’s involvement with the project, Tom Bush commented: “We were all extremely proud to be supplying Niall’s livestream, especially as it was addressing the We Need Crew and #WeMakeEvents funds and highlighting what goes into putting on a production with the unseen and behind-the-scenes rolls.”

Bush went on to explain the approach to this type of performance: “A slightly different thought process can be needed – the standard positions for mixing, for example. The package wasn’t too dissimilar to the one we had ready for the world tour, so we had a good starting point. A few additions and tweaks were needed to adhere to the show setup, but Matt and Joe’s attention to detail made sure the process was smooth. The need for trucks full of PA hasn’t been required yet, but soon hopefully. We currently have a few livestreams pencilled in that we’re all looking forward to.”

#WENEEDCREW…

Looking back at the slew of 2020 livestreamed performances, Niall Horan stands out among the crowd, not only for its aesthetic, but because of everything it represented – not to mention the sizeable pot of funds it raised for the live events industry.

As we enter a new year with the live events sector entrenched in the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hope is that more musicians will follow in Horan’s footsteps to shine the spotlight on hardworking crew members that are so often out of sight and mind to the average live music lover. In the meantime, more information regarding the We Need Crew initiative can be found on www.weneedcrew.co.uk

[recycledcactus]

Headcanon time: the Gods of the Minecraft universe

 @emo-and-confused @phantom-clock

Alright so my main big AU that my stories/hcs reside in have Gods. These Gods are basically what we know as the original MCYTers. It’s still a really rough idea though, so my thoughts definitely could change.

This is also based off of personal knowledge/the MCYTers I watched when I was younger, so there’s a good possibility I’ll miss out on worthy candidates!

If you want some background information on my Gods and how they factor into my AU, I encourage you to go check out my fic titled ‘The night is a wild place for a head like mine to wander’ under my account @.justanoodle on ao3 (w/o the period, of course)

Also please note that this is all an AU (and not a completed one, at that) and so a lot of this isn’t quite accurate/could be disagreed upon:

Here we go:

Philza Minecraft – One of the very original (and most famous) Gods. He is as old as the world itself, and possibly even older. (This is quite obvious, but I will also state that he was born a God). Philza is the God of life, survival, and of building. He helped create humanity, and he will be there when it falls. He helped breathe the world into existence. He is prayed to when people are alone in the wilderness and they are unsure of survival. He is also known for his incredible buildings––tall monuments, buildings in the End, etc... Philza is often associated with the Blood God, Technoblade. They have travelled together for many centuries, building empires and watching them collapse.

Technoblade––‘The Blood God’ - Technoblade is one of the younger Gods, but we don’t know his exact age. He was born a God. As the affectionate nickname suggests, Technoblade is the God of blood, merciless battle, and surprisingly, farming. He was born as the God of Blood, though did not know it until Phil discovered him and taught him about who he was. He’s famously known for utterly dominating Bedwars and Minecraft Monday tournaments, which both involve murder and bloodshed. (This has caused his name to be one that strikes fear in the hearts of any who utter it). He earned being the God of farming when he went to war over some potatoes. He was found in the Nether by Philza and has stuck by his side since.

DanTDM (The Diamond Minecart) – Dan is also quite old, but not as old as Philza. He’s been since nearly the beginning as well, though. He was not born a God––he earned his Godhood as a teenager. Dan is the God of riches and curiosity. Like the name indicates, he’s associated with diamonds. The reason is because he’s the one that first proposed diamonds could be welded into tools and armour instead of just used for décor and jewelry. The curiosity part is because he held many experiments with his interesting friend, Dr. Trayaurus, before the mortal sadly passed away. Dan and Dr. Tray created/experimented with all kinds of different technology, but it is said that when Dr. Tray passed, Dan could not bear his loss. So, he hid away from the mortal realm for many centuries, but has returned in the past couple decades.

Stampylongnose––Stampy – Here’s a God that’s been around as long as Philza and is just as popular! He was born a God. Stampy is the God of friendliness, caring, and love (of all forms). He’s a kind being with a warm heart and a smile that could light up any room. He’s featured in many children’s books, as he is a God of love and love is the theme of many stories. Way back when the Gods roamed the worlds as themselves, he was often found teaching children games and telling them cool facts about the world around them. When not with them, he spent time with his best friend, iBallisticSquid (Squid). Sadly, Squid was a mortal and died very quickly in Stampy’s long life. Stampy is often prayed to when someone feels lonely and in need of a friend.  Stampy’s whereabouts are unknown, but it’s believed that he’s still out there.

PopularMMOs and GamingWithJen––Pat and Jen – These ones aren’t at all new Gods, but they’re not that old either. It is unclear whether they were born Gods or earned their Godhood by the lucky blocks/game they created. Pat and Jen are the Gods of competition and luck. Those two things tie in neatly with each other because they used to play a game they created and record it for people to watch. In this game, there are things called lucky blocks, which are yellow boxes that, when broken, can unleash a random object/thing in the world. It could be something bad, such as lava, or something good, such as legendary tools. Pat and Jen actually created these boxes for fun, but ended up using them for the game. In the second part of the game, they’d fight some sort of monster that multiplied in numbers as time went on. This game was filmed and released to the public, which became a worlds-wide hit, and they possibly earned their Godhood from it. Their current status is unknown.

LDShadowlady––Lizzie – Lizzie is a bit older than Pat and Jen, but not by much. She was born a Goddess. Lizzie is the Goddess of aesthetics, design/architecture, and overall beauty when it comes to the world around us. She’s well-known for travelling around worlds (some, with her friends) and creating beautiful buildings. She’s built things like castles, mansions, and treehouses, just to name a few. Lizzie brought a new age of architecture to humans when she was created. A renaissance, of sorts, if you will. She’s responsible for a lot of the house/building designs that are still around today. Lizzie remains in the mortal world and continues to create her amazing buildings even now!

Stacyplays – Stacy is just a bit older than Lizzie. She earned her Godhood.  Stacy is the Goddess of nature, animals, and wildlife. She started out as a warrior, but eventually started not enjoying that life, so she retired to travel the biomes. Her research on new plants and animals, as well as the books she wrote for them, earned her her fame and Godhood. Thanks to her love of dogs/wolves, they became her sacred animals. Those who seek to harm animals and plants have earned her ire. She’s long since disappeared from the world, but her loyal followers know she’s still out there somewhere.

Grian – Grian is older than most of the Gods, nearly being as old as Philza himself. it is unclear whether he was born a God or earned his Godhood. Grian’s history is blotchy, at best. We’re not quite sure what he was the God of–– possibly pranks and jokes. All we know for sure is that when he was young, he was possessed and overtaken by a Dreamon (see my mentioned fic at the top) that called themselves ‘watcher’. He gained a lot of power, but was also punished and thrown around by other Dreamons that called themselves ‘watchers’. We don’t know what happened to him after and whether or not he ever recovered from it/if he’s still around today.

Kristen Minecraft – Kristen is also as old as Philza and was born a Goddess. Kristen is the Goddess of Death––something that goes hand in hand with Philza’s Godly powers of life. She rules the land of the dead and makes it her job to help people pass on peacefully. She stays in her realm of the dead unless she needs to go to the Overworld for any especially difficult cases. Kristen and Philza are actually married, though they don’t see each other often due to how demanding Kristen’s job is. She’s just chilling in the land of the dead.

-------

That’s all I have for now! I strongly encourage you to add onto this post with the people I missed or make suggestions if you think I could change any current things I have!

Especially if it includes MCYTers such as these people:

CaptainSparklez, ihascupquake, FitMC

Because I didn’t watch them as a child but I know they’re quite popular and could make good God material.

Also

I did refrained from mentioning at the start that these Gods could also consist of new, popular MCYTers purely because of Dream. Before you jump to conclusion; No, I do not have anything against him. It’s actually quite the opposite. I have an entirely new theory/concept for him. I could make a whole other post out of it if anyone is interested enough in that.

Hope you guys enjoyed!

[ghosthan]

what would you say are the differences between 616 Tony and MCU Tony? 🤔

Hi anon! Many people have talked about this and I'm certainly not the authority on the topic, but I’ll try my best to explain some of the major differences that I have noticed! Thank you for asking and I’m sorry it took me so long to answer you.

Important to note: neither version of Tony has had a totally consistent characterization. Depending on who you ask and which comics/movies they've consumed, they might give you a different answer here and not be wrong.

616 Tony is even harder to put into one box because his character has been around since Tales of Suspense in the 1950s. That’s a long time. Things have changed over time, under different writers, changing political atmospheres, and outside pop culture influence (including influence from the MCU, unfortunately, in recent years.) You get the picture. So I’ll be making some generalizations and try to be clear about which eras I’m speaking when I make these comparisons, but ultimately, if someone wanted to be contrarian, you could probably refute a lot of what I say here if you cherry pick canon. Which is fair enough! That’s sort of the fun of comics, there’s so much to choose from and something for everyone.

So here are some observations from me, under the ‘read more’.

1. Physical Appearance

This is sort of an easy one, but worth mentioning!

MCU Tony does not look like 616 Tony. RDJ is great, but he would not be most 616 fans’ casting choice on looks alone. MCU Tony is tan, a Malibu man, with brown hair and brown eyes, and RDJ has sort of round facial features (a funny sloped nose, big, round eyes, round forehead, not a particularly sharp or classically “superhero masculine” face.) As you may know, this lends well to certain fanworks and tropes, such as Tony having Bambi eyes.

Or Tiny Tony. He is not actually canonically small, but he's smaller in the MCU than in 616 and from what I can tell, a portion of fandom has latched onto that. He’s a grown man, but RDJ is pretty short, and of slighter build than 616 Tony. RDJ is 5′9, but they make him act in heels, and I believe his canon MCU height is 5′11. Another popular trope I’ve seen is shrinking Tony in fanfic/fanart for a dramatized height difference with Steve, making him weak or fragile; this is fine because everyone has their own taste, but for the official record, he’s a capable, strong guy! Especially in earlier stages of the MCU, in which he’s a bit younger. Tony isn’t just a brain; he carries out his plans with his own two hands! He builds his armor, he remodels his lab, he survives hand to hand combat when he doesn’t have the armor. Muscles!

616 Tony is 6′1 without armor and 6′6 in armor (making him taller than his 616 Steve counterpart in armor and very close to the same height out of armor!) 616 Tony is generally paler with black hair (sometimes the classic blue-black I love so much) and blue eyes, and it obviously depends on the artist, but he has a pretty typically ‘masculine’ face and build. Generally he is drawn with a squared jaw and a high bridged nose (such as in the Extremis storyline, or drawn by Marquez), but again, this varies from artist to artist! Here's some examples of 616 Tonys.

Wait, you might be saying, but I have seen comic panels where Tony has brown hair/brown eyes!

Yep. Due to a combination of forgetfulness, inconsistency, and the MCU bleeding into the general consciousness of the comics, sometimes Tony is randomly depicted in the image of RDJ, or if not in his image, at least visually inspired by the MCU-- hair color and style, eye color, dialogue, etc.

616 fans don’t typically love this; he’s very handsome when drawn this way, of course, (look at him!) But it isn’t really the same character.

Also, MCU Tony has (at least for some of his movies) a reactor built into his chest. While 616 Tony has, at times, been more or less physically connected/dependent to his tech, he doesn’t have the built in reactor (most generally speaking, there are times in comics when he temporarily has the tech built in, but this isn’t really the status quo.)

2. Relationship with parents/ family history

While it is definitely implied in the MCU that Howard was not a good father to Tony, (such as in Iron Man 2 when Tony says “You're talking about a man whose happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school” and “He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me”), Tony has a different sort of attitude toward Howard in MCU than in 616. It’s kind of weird, and hard to discuss. To me, it seems implied that MCU Howard was emotionally abusive to Tony based on what Tony does say about his childhood, and yet, the films kind of randomly give Howard weird moments of “Well, he tried his best and deep down he loved me the whole time!” forgiveness. MCU has a Howard kink and I'm very cringe-face emoji about it.

For example, Iron Man 2 shows that old film reel of Howard talking about how Tony is the greatest thing he ever created, and in Endgame, when Tony goes back in time, he meets Howard and has a very weird interaction with him in which Howard declares he would do anything for his son, (to his deeply damaged son who is a new father himself.) Yet, for all his talk, it's his actions that speak, and his actions left Tony damaged, traumatized, and emotionally inept at forming healthy relationships. So.

Sorry. I’m a little bitter. I'm just uncomfortable with how they sort of set up an abuse history but then treated it kind of lightly and Howard gets off the hook as "well, he tried his best" without really acknowledging the hurt he caused.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

I won't go super in depth into the abuse stuff because it's a little touchy and could take up a lot of this post. But.

I’m not against any reconciliation and I do appreciate the fact that a lot of times, victims of abuse feel a desire to forgive and reconnect with their abuser-- my issue with the MCU depiction of Tony and Howard is that Tony never really gets the vindication of his abuse being recognized for what it was before he forgives Howard. To me, that’s not forgiveness as kind of... gaslighting himself that it wasn't as bad as he remembered his own experience being, because of a sense of nostalgia and grief. It’s not the same, and I have issues with it.

However, a lot of my opinion is based on subtext and it is just my opinion; with depictions of abuse, different people are going to react differently, and other people may have found these scenes touching and gotten something positive out of them, and that's totally fine too!

It’s also a bit difficult to talk about Tony’s relationship with Howard in 616, for a few reasons: shifting timelines, lots of canon that I have not read all of, and the fact that it really is difficult to sum up such a complicated relationship.

Right off the bat, I’ll address the basics. I used the same scene in another ask, and I think it's frequently cited in any meta regarding Howard, but in Iron Man Vol. 1, we see more into Tony’s childhood and see Howard verbally abusing his family, drunk, at the dinner table.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #285

We get this scene with adult Tony’s retrospective commentary on how his own issues that he blamed himself for were actually a cycle starting with his father, the insecurity and abuse and alcohol, and that he realizes how much this has influenced him. Both MCU Tony and 616 Tony have some form of “stop the cycle of shame” arcs, but I don’t really see how this works narratively in the MCU because Tony makes excuses for Howard and continues to blame himself for a lot of his own personal struggles, whereas I think there’s just a bit more nuance in 616.

But uh. This isn’t totally true, and in recent years, things got real weird. I choose to ignore this chapter of canon, but in the Dan Slott run, Tony Stark: Iron Man, Tony’s whole backstory gets imploded. For one thing, the little of Tony’s childhood it shows in a flashback is uh. Uh. Well, it’s certainly out of character compared with previous 616 material, depicting Tony as an overly confident poor sport.

Basically, Tony is adopted. Tony has an evil brother. Tony’s biological parents make an appearance, as do his ‘classic’ parents, Howard and Maria. It’s just weird. It’s kind of out there. I’m honestly not a huge fan of this and ignore a lot of it, but it is certainly a difference between MCU and 616.

3. Personality

I’m going to be very general. Both Tony’s have an outer self which they present to the public and an inner self, but they’re a bit different. Both Tony’s have struggled with self loathing, but I think MCU Tony’s actual self worth is a bit higher, even just at some points in time. Even if his ego is part of his facade, I think he does believe some amount of the “I’m awesome”, even if just when it applies to his own work/inventions/saving people. Not to say that these moments of fluctuating self esteem make him egotistical, but this combined with his egotistical act and snarky, non-stop sassy dialogue, he’s quite different in general personality from 616 Tony, who is much more reserved.

Some more recent iterations of 616 Tony have been adapted to reflect the snark of the MCU, but he’s not so snarky and he tends to approach things more seriously. This is not a dis on MCU Tony; I think MCU Tony uses false ego and excessive sassy jokes as a means to deflect and control, which I think is very interesting and it’s nice to see this explored more in depth in fic where you get to see the thought process behind the bravado. MCU Tony is a partier, a good times guy, especially during Iron Man 2, in which he really does disregard consequences to have fun (driving his race car, partying drunk in his suit, letting pretty  girls play with the armor, shooting off repulsor blasts for fun in a crowded room); I’m not bashing MCU Tony-- I think he had psychologically understandable reasons for behaving this way, the man was dying-- but 616 Tony really doesn’t act this way generally, and I think it’s a personality difference more than a difference of one being “better.”

616 Tony handles his stress differently, and they just have different psychological patterns, I think. I’m coming up kind of blank trying to think of a good comparable 616 arc, (sorry, I’m brain dead) but a less-than-perfect  example might be Tony’s brain delete arc; he’s “dying”, like in Iron Man 2 he  knows his expiration date, (circumstances are quite  a bit different), but he throws himself more into work, into a cause, and as he really fall apart, we  see him spiral into self doubt, remorse, fear, and insecurity, sort of falling into  himself with lots of manly tears and calling himself pathetic.

(Some things happen in this arc that a lot of people find Gross. I also find these events gross. But. I don’t count the sex in “World’s Most Wanted” as partying to cope with personal mortality, because I think both character involved are in “end of the world” mode, and it’s more seeking intimacy for comfort than partying to numb the hurt. Does this distinction make sense? No? Perfect, moving on.) 616 Tony is generally much more humble.

Whereas MCU Tony, I think, tries to outrun those feelings via parties or making dozens of new suits, or seeking comfort by comforting others! Gifting things to people, building things for people, highly personalized individual living quarters, teaching Nebula games and trying to show her a fun time when they were in peril together.

They have some traits in common, for sure! But canon being inconsistent both in the MCU and in 616, my observations aren’t the rule, because I’m kind of cherry picking and going based on limited memory. But off the top of my head, they’re both extravagant gift givers! Recall Tony gifting Pepper the giant bunny in Iron Man 3, and compare this with Tony carrying a mile high pile of Christmas gifts after shopping with Rumiko in Iron Man Vol. #3.

I would say that while both Tony Starks are considered humanitarians, this is much more fleshed out and supported by canon in 616. Some examples of his philanthropy in the MCU: Tony makes charitable donations of art and money, Tony has an organization which provides disaster relief/cleanup which is referenced in Spider-Man Homecoming, Tony has an MIT grant for students and staff members. But to be honest, a lot of his MCU philanthropy is only mentioned in passing, or is largely handled by other people on his behalf and on his dollar.

In 616, we see Tony using charity almost as a means of therapy: it’s something he does very privately, not in the public eye (at least, not always), and it’s something deeply personal to him. One example that immediately comes to mind is Tony’s home for disadvantaged girls in Iron Man Vol. 3, and we see scenes of Tony basically driving the streets at night, picking up underage prostitutes, feeding them and listening to their stories before bringing them to a home he’s established where he knows all the residents, and provides educational opportunities and protection.

Another more recent example in canon that the Tony fandom loves is that Tony canonically holds babies at an orphanage. Sorry I don’t have panels for all of this, this section got long and I have been working on answering this ask in a very scattered way for a very long time.

Both Tony’s are romantics, I literally could write a whole other post about their canon love life similarities and differences, but I will briefly say that while MCU Tony does the long on and off, and eventual ultimate commitment, to Pepper Potts, 616 Tony is a serial monogamist; he is always falling in love, and he’s definitely not a playboy, but the hero-ing, self loathing, and lifestyle make it very hard for him to keep anyone in his life, and most of his partners fuck his life up and betray him. Needless to say, 616 Tony is not married, and certainly not to Pepper Potts.

Oh, and I guess this is so obvious I almost forgot to include it, but a huge similarity between both iterations of Tony is that they both constantly use their own life as a bargaining chip, and will pretty much die for anything. Or be the bad guy for a good reason (at least, in his own mind... see Civil War, or Hickmanvengers; 616 Tony, especially, does not shy away from making the hard decisions, and this leads to a lot of guilt and tension in his  relationships-- often with Steve because 616 Steve/Tony angst fans are well fed, I guess)

Remember that time Tony had Steve’s mind wiped because Tony felt that Steve’s inflexible morality might hinder the Illuminati’s ability to save the world? And it eats Tony up inside and erupts into a homicidal fight when Steve finally gets his memory back? Me too.

Tony Stark as a character is defined by sacrifice, both of his own life but also of his own happiness and reputation and conscience, I think, in a lot of ways, and we see this in many universes. I could go on about Tony’s propensity for sacrifice in the less obvious ways, because I think in terms of heroic sacrifice, Tony has done a lot that other heroes wouldn’t be able to do because of moral inflexibility and conflicting philosophical schools of thought; Tony really is the “whatever it takes” type, and often believes the ends justify the means if he deems a threat worse than the potential wrong that could be done in preventing the threat. We see this a little bit in the MCU in the creation of Ultron, and in Civil War with the Accords. But there’s a whole lot more going on there I don’t want to get into.

4. Alcohol

MCU Tony’s alcoholism is never really explicitly explored. He is shown drinking in Iron Man 1, and in Iron Man 2 he drinks a lot and makes a fool of himself publicly, but MCU Tony doesn’t get any specific narrative arc focused on his drinking, and if I recall correctly, I don’t think he ever refers to his drinking as alcoholism in the movies? Also, while his binge drinking and embarrassing behaviors ostensibly stop after the events of Iron Man 2, he is shown drinking on screen at least one other time after that which I can remember, and it wasn’t a “falling off the wagon” moment, and an alcoholic in recovery such as 616 Tony would not take a drink casually. This article sheds a little light on some decisions made about Tony and alcohol in the MCU.

Alcoholism is a huge part of 616 Tony’s personality, which I went a bit more into depth about in this post, so I won’t repeat myself too much.

5. Their relationships with the Iron Man armor

A few points here: MCU Tony is famous for the “I am Iron Man” line being repeated throughout the franchise after he blows his own secret in the end of the first movie. MCU Tony sees himself as one with Iron Man, and the suit is the tech that enables him to be this version of himself. He sees Tony Stark and Iron Man as inextricable: you cannot separate them, and his identity is public. He, as Tony Stark, is an Avenger.

You may remember MCU Tony’s induction into the Avengers; in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury is forming the Avengers and tasks the Black Widow with going undercover to assess Tony to be a part of a hypothetical initiative. “Iron Man yes, Tony Stark no” and the comments about Tony as a narcissist may be funny, but the fact is, the snark and erratic personality of MCU Tony at the time of the formation of the Avengers in the movies is not at all like the Tony of the comics, at the time of the Avengers being formed. 

In 616, things are quite a bit different! Tony invents the Iron man armor to save himself (like in the MCU) and uses it for hero-ing, but in secret. He works very hard to protect his identity as Iron Man, and for a long time, as far as the world is concerned, Iron man is a mystery man piloting armor built by Tony, hired as Tony’s personal body guard, (hence the 616 Steve/Tony fandom’s proclivity for identity porn as a trope!) When the Avengers form, Iron Man is the Avenger, close friends with the Avengers, (particularly Steve!) and Tony Stark is just the benefactor of the Avengers, providing them with a place to live and finances with which to operate.

In the very early days, Tony did not have the “reactor” like in the MCU, but his chest plate did keep him alive, leading to some very dramatic shots of Tony charging up using a wall socket, lamenting the plight of a secret hero.

616 Tony, generally, and especially in some of these earlier comics, was quite reserved, rather serious, and very angsty, (in private of course.) He may be wealthy, but speaking generally, he’s much less ostentatious than MCU Tony, less of a show off, less into flashy things and grand gestures. Of course, this isn’t always true in the comics, and some iterations of Tony are more like this than others, but MCU Tony is showier, sillier, and more of a fun-times guy. Any MCU fan would find those panels quite contrary to the Tony Stark you know:

Iron Man 1

Iron Man 2

I think I would say that while MCU Tony sees himself and the Iron Man identity and the  armor as all being inextricably connected, we see a bit more compartmentalization with 616 Tony, who pretends that the armor is a whole separate person for years when his identity was private, and we see instances in older and newer comics, in which Tony  is uncomfortable with some aspect of himself as Iron Man (for instance, during the second drinking arc, Tony temporarily swears off being Iron Man entirely, or for another example, when Tony is in a comma and Tony AI exists during Secret Empire, Tony “lives” in the Iron Man suit, and I think this could be interpreted as a meta parallel to Steve during this arc; Steve has had some core aspect of his character inverted, Captain America becoming Captain Hydra, so Tony experiences a similar inversion-- Tony Stark and Iron Man are forcibly merged, in a way that Tony seems deeply uncomfortable with, if his digital drinking relapse is any indication. But I digress; sorry for the tangent.)

Okay this post is inexcusable long, and very, very tangential, and I don’t feel like I’ve really covered everything I wanted to. But it has been sitting in my inbox for too long and if I don’t post it now I never will, so I hope this long, rambling thing has been a little bit helpful to you! Thank you so much for asking, I had a lot of fun rambling about this.

If you want to read a similar post, but well written and organized, with other insights, this post by Sineala answers a similar question!

[retrocontinuity]

From "The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya V."

Let's talk about Koizumi Itsuki.

(These aren't new thoughts necessarily; I just wanted to expand on my tweets on this subject in one place in my very own unrolled thread.)

In 2020 I finished a rewatch of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya from beginning to end, in blended chronological order. Speaking honestly, and from a relative emotional distance, season two of this show blows. It is especially cruel to watch S2 right after S1, because S1 is so lively and entertaining. There are some unique ways in which the show feels dated, but one thing has always stood out: Haruhi and Kyon have a uniquely (for anime) natural-seeming chemistry with each other. You're never in doubt that these are two people who will keep each other entertained and on their respective toes. Haruhi is, of course, in a line of great charismatic and bulldozey female characters, and there were many such characters that came after her, but she remains a tour de force of design, voice-acting, and writing. She, and Kyon's relationship to her in turn, was magnetic, even if it was a magnet for dislike and frustration, as she became in S2.

But enough of that. In my last rewatch, what really stood out to me is Itsuki. It's a shame that S2 became so frustrating and hard to watch, because the Sigh arc (my absolute LEAST favorite in the show) ends up doing a lot of really interesting character work for Itsuki. In the final Sigh episode, Itsuki brings up a theory that has haunted me for years: that little!Mikuru was created by her organization specifically to appeal to Kyon. As Itsuki points out, she is childlike, clumsy, and submits entirely to Haruhi's bullying. Perhaps, then, when Haruhi says that Mikuru is moe, she doesn't mean it in the abstract--she means that Mikuru is Kyon's moe (or maybe the reverse?! Maybe she is perfectly Kyon's moe because Haruhi considers Mikuru to be the height of moe).

Here's an obvious statement: Itsuki is little!Mikuru's exact opposite. Mikuru poses a target of jealousy for Haruhi, while Itsuki encourages Kyon to express his feelings for Haruhi. Mikuru is unable to explain anything about her organization or what is happening in any given moment; Itsuki overexplains. Mikuru is a pawn given inexplicable missions in her organization; Itsuki may in fact be the leader of his Agency, even though he doesn't advertise it.

By the logic of Itsuki's own theory, that should theoretically mean that Itsuki turns Kyon off. But here is, maybe, the less obvious extrapolation: in being little!Mikuru's opposite, Itsuki is actually exactly like one other character in the show--big!Mikuru. He is adult!Mikuru but in high school boy form: secretive, suave, powerful in ways that little!Mikuru could never be, helpful to Kyon (but maybe not always in the ways that Kyon wants him/them to be), submitting to Haruhi, but in an entirely different way than little!Mikuru. And, just like adult!Mikuru, he is entirely unavailable as an object of attraction, even if he has the same gravitational pull as her.

I think it's no coincidence that Sigh features both Mikuru at her most moe, her sexiest, her most vulnerable, and also Itsuki at his most weirdly queer-coded villain-esque. Though Itsuki cannot actually be presented as an object of attraction, the show lets him do the next best thing: it makes Itsuki put on his most adult!Mikuru cosplay. In Sigh V, he shows up in clothes utterly unfitting for a high school student. He calls Kyon out at night. They go for a walk and they talk about strange hypotheticals involving mysterious organizations, a future and a past that Kyon cannot know about and may not ever know about, all while weird sexy music plays and a couple of drunk adults do... whatever the hell it is they're doing. At the end of it, Kyon is left with no real answers, but is given a simple mission that involves Haruhi. Is this not Bamboo Rhapsody/Disappearance, but with Itsuki in adult!Mikuru's place? When Yuki in Sigh V says that Koizumi Itsuki and Asahina Mikuru's theories can never coexist, she is unintentionally saying something more: that they can never coexist, just like adult!Mikuru and little!Mikuru cannot remain in the same plane.

As Mikuru's counterpart, Itsuki has a dangerous sex appeal, one that unnerves Kyon. Itsuki's presence threatens to destabilize the balance of the Haruhi-Kyon-Mikuru/adult!Mikuru triangle, by being yet another version of the Mikuru type. To keep Itsuki from throwing the whole thing out of whack, he is constantly being nerfed by the story: by being male and thus turning off Kyon, by himself being attracted to Haruhi and thus a potential (though laughable) rival, and finally in Disappearance by simply, elementally, not being himself anymore (no longer useful, no longer a member of the SOS-dan, no longer containing secret knowledge and secret power). Itsuki's appeal to Kyon is so powerful that he, more than any of the other characters in the SOS-dan, even though he's a guy and thus technically out of the running by default, must become an object of disgust and ridicule to Kyon, because the alternative is a closed-space-at-the-end-of-the-Melancholy-arc level catastrophic event.

That is, the same kind of catastrophic event that occured when Haruhi noticed that Kyon was attracted-- to Mikuru.