#anyway EXTREMELY underrated episode

[dongslinger--420]

The parallels between Rutabaga and Princess Carolyn and how they both see lives in terms of film narratives is SO interesting and this really comes to a head in Old Acquaintance when Rutabaga echos his infamous "movie star speech" at the beginning of the episode by calling himself and Vanessa the "good guys" and, as we know him to be a self righteous twat, we assume that this is supposed to be ironic. But then at the end of the episode, we see that he and Vanessa actually did everything right: they gave one of their clients an opportunity and were genuinely concerned when PC tried to change the offer, they let Rachel Bloom (don't remember the name) know the truth about her relationship with PC, and at the end of the episode, Rutabaga is genuinely there for his kids. By contrast, BoJack and Princess Carolyn, the people who we recognise as the protagonists, spend the episode lying and cheating people out of deals, and everything crumbles for both of them at the end. Rutabaga saying "you gotta love a happy ending" is not only ironic to us, as the audience, but from his perspective, it's true. He is the good guy, and he does get the happy ending. And honestly, despite all his slimy and emotionally manipulative behaviour, this episode recontextualises the movie star speech, both because we realise that Rutabaga genuinely does believe that the good guys always win, and because it reiterates that this is a show with no good guys, no one is innocent, and no one will just get what they believe themselves to deserve.

[nenoname]

It's still interesting that TBoB called more attention to Stan's control over his mindscape (And if you go with the interpretation that the lost pages are partial truths that are heavily influenced by Bill, then he's the one insisting that only someone with training should be able to have that much control over the mind.)

Meanwhile we have a memory!Stan. Someone who apparently knows too much and is rather aware for being a simple memory.

From the Wheel of Shame, we know Bill was able dig up all kinds of dirt on Stan but... that wasn't why he was there in the first place, was it?

Bill couldn't find the code immediately despite a memory of Stan opening the safe being a few hours old at most and decided to have Mabel try find it for him (The original concept of the ep had it far more hidden but this was likely cut because of time constraints)

Ford did experiments on Stan's mind which likely meant using Project Mentem and actually looking around his mindscape, and his only reaction was to comment on his jokes-- despite what little we the audience know being enough to render us sobbing wrecks

(yes I refuse to shut up about this part cos the book's intro is extremely underrated)

Stan was able to replace his memories of Ford with the swingset instead and managed to hide Ford in his Bar Mitzvah memory. And that's not even mentioning the lack of visible Portal and Stan o' War which noticeably show up in Ford's dreamscape (the broken swingset manifesting anyway pains me tho)

He subconsciously has misdirects for his secrets that are both silly and manages to disturb everyone too

And while Bill-as-Soos being bored by the vending machine memory is a joke that's basically the crew's way of going "hey remember the thing way back in the first ep that's going to show up in the next one?" and in-universe appears to be Stan slipping up, it's interesting that they had Stan input the wrong code when it's consistent literally every other time its inputted (especially when it shows up correctly in the very next episode)

It's even possible that the safe code that Bill found could have been a misdirect too but we'll never know since the safe got blown open by dynamite.

Stan was able to buy time by making his mind blank despite being genuinely terrified when Bill enters his mind (to the point that he breaks character and uses his own voice to yell), and could conjure up his living room (in colour opposed to his mind's regular greyscale) to make sure Bill didn't have enough room to flee, slamming the door in his face before the effects of the memory gun kicked in.

(EDIT: Random door analysis here)

And maybe the twins eventually told him that Bill had already been inside his mind after their W3 reunion, but all we know was that his conscious self was left in the dark for ages and wasn't really aware of Bill until Weirdmageddon.

TBoB showing McGucket's dreamscape also brings up the idea of the effects of the memory gun manifesting differently to each person. To Stan's mindscape, the memory wipe manifests as blue flames which immediately brings to mind Bill's powers but it's a far lighter shade (maybe to more closely match the memory gun and its eventual fade to white?)

The end of TBoB and the website poem also firmly reminds us about Stan's connection to fire but there's also the question if Stan himself is actually aware of it...

[actual-changeling]

There has been a lot of talk about Aziraphale`s smile in the s2ep6 ending (he is planning something, he is going to rebel heaven etc...) That is not a happy, genuine smile. What do you think of it?

Ah, yes. The infamous elevator smile. This will get rather long, so congrats to you anon for getting me to write GO meta.

A (temporary) welcome back to Alex's meta corner version 2: expression interpretation. Buckle up, people, because we're going to be looking at Aziraphale's face for way too long.

A disclaimer:

Do not tag hate accounts or any accounts known to steal people's posts for the sole purpose of publicly harassing them.

Do not copy and/or repost any of my writing to another account without my express permission. Do not verbally abuse and/or harass me in the tags, replies, reblogs, or my inbox. If you disagree with me you are free to scroll past this post, block me, and move on.

If you want to have a discussion based on mutual respect while being fine to agree to disagree, then you may do so, I enjoy meta discussions as long as they're free of harassment.

Let's get to it.

People interpret his expression as him being confident or having some kind of plan, but those people are nitpicking frames and ignoring everything they don't want to see.

That smile appears right at the end after his face went through a series of different expressions, so let's have a look at what ACTUALLY happens.

These are in chronological order from left to right:

There is a LOT happening in each of them, and they show us something we have seen before—Aziraphale's reaction to not getting everything exactly the way he wanted it.

The first row goes from a more or less neutral, slightly upset expression to one of extreme petulance. He's tetchy because Crowley told him where to shove it for once (and rightfully so, Crowley does not deserve to be treated that way) and throws his second temper tantrum of the day.

Pay attention to the fourth one in particular, we have seen this exact facial expression before.

The one on the left is at the end of their argument about Gabriel in the bookshop, right before Crowley leaves.

This is not someone who possesses even an ounce of emotional maturity, it's someone who is used to getting exactly what he wants at the expense of others and was just told "No" for the first time.

It only gets even better from here (someone save me I need to bleach my eyeballs after this). The last image from the second row provides us with another great opportunity for comparison.

Let's call this one annoyed indignation.

We have moved on from him being purely petulant to begrudging acceptance that he was told "No" and cannot change it. After fucking with the Bentley against Crowley's will (and coercing him into giving it to him in the first place), he is now being told to change it back.

There are very few boundaries that Aziraphale hasn't trampled over in the last six thousand years, and the Bentley is one that Crowley will not and SHOULD NOT budge on. So he tells him no, change it back.

Aziraphale is being the cranky toddler who got told to stop throwing toys at the other kids but wants to keep doing it anyway—that's what this expression is giving us.

We have reached row 3, and I have two more key expressions I want to talk about.

Firstly, the first picture in that row.

As you might have guessed, we have seen Aziraphale wearing an incredibly similar expression before, and I chose what is (in my opinion) an underrated and very character-defining moment.

We are going all the way back to the first episode of season 1 and their conversation on the bench in St. James's Park.

To refresh your memory, Crowley is currently trying to convince Aziraphale that humanity is worth saving by listing everything Aziraphale himself would lose because he couldn't care less about humanity or earth. He cares about himself and himself only.

Aziraphale tells Crowley that, of course, heaven will win, all demons will be tortured for eternity, and it will "all going to be rather lovely". A direct quote from the script book and the episode, by the way.

Why does this matter? Because, dear reader(s), just a few minutes prior to him stepping into the elevator, he expressed that exact sentiment again. His opinions has remained unchanged since even before Eden, and his final argument with Crowley did not change it either.

Hell is bad = hell will lose, heaven is good = heaven will win. And heaven winning will be amazing and great for everyone excluding those that will be tortured forever and ever. Crowley being one of those people is a fact Aziraphale intentionally refuses to acknowledge because doing so would mean having to think about what he's saying to Crowley—and he's not done that ever.

The expression Aziraphale wears in both scenes is condescending arrogance. He not only thinks himself to be better than everyone else, he thinks that, as an angel, he is incapable of doing wrong. That is what he is telling himself in the elevator—you made the right choice, you're an angel, you cannot do wrong, you're on the side of good.

He is egocentric and selfish, and that brings us to the last image of row 3 aka his "smile" in the elevator. This, too, is a smile we have encountered before. Just a few minutes earlier, actually.

This, dear reader(s), is the epitome of Aziraphale's superiority complex and disregard for everyone else.

Before you start typing up your furious response that will be 50% insults and 50% wishful thinking, hear me out.

I have talked about that "I forgive you" before, you can find it floating around my meta tag (and if you ask me very nicely I might even go find it for you), but allow me to summarize my conclusions.

Throughout the final fifteen (F15), Aziraphale is not entirely aware just how badly his words are harming Crowley. The complete lack of self-reflection and incapability of considering anyone else's world view does that to someone, but at least it's largely accidental.

I would be willing to cut Aziraphale a lot of slack for a number of different reasons that I don't want to get into right now. Emphasis on "would" because then he goes and screws up.

For the first time, Aziraphale is being openly and intentionally cruel with the sole purpose of hurting Crowley.

His face goes through a number of similar expressions, which can you observe here:

Cruel smile followed by cruel words.

It doesn't matter what he might have meant or what exactly that phrase symbolizes for either of them, because it's clear that

a) they are both familiar with it

b) Aziraphale has used it before

c) it is always harmful towards Crowley

d) it comes with the expectation that Crowley apologizes and takes the blame for everything that went down.

Aziraphale has not once apologized to Crowley for anything in his entire existence.

That smile in the elevator is Aziraphale convincing himself of and/or solidifying existing beliefs, namely that Crowley is in the wrong, Aziraphale is correct and doing the right thing, and that he is still superior to Crowley. It's him convincing himself that hurting Crowley in the way he did was either unavoidable (it wasn't) or justified (it wasn't). It's an open display of arrogant cruelty and undeserved self-confidence.

Aziraphale does not have a plan. This is not a happy smile nor is it related to any future happenings or actions.

This smile is entirely related to the F15 and his argument with Crowley. An argument which mirrors the first one they have over Gabriel, which, shocker, ends with Aziraphale denying any responsibility or wrong-doing and forcing Crowley to apologize and humiliate himself for something that was not his fault. Aziraphale fucked up, not him, but Aziraphale will never voluntarily acknowledge or accept that.

If they meet again before Aziraphale gets a kick up the arse and some character development, he will demand an apology from Crowley, and I am 100% convinced of that. Quote me on that in a few years if you like, but unless he figures his shit out first, he'll blame Crowley for anything and everything he desires.

So, to summarize, what do I think of the elevator smile?

Aziraphale is, for all intents and purposes, throwing a temper tantrum. I think it's an amalgamation of Aziraphale's current emotional and mental status and the lack of character development. First fight, last fight, both end the same way, both end with Aziraphale learning absolutely nothing.

He's not planning, he's not thinking.

He is telling himself that he is right and everyone else is wrong, and that he alone can change heaven for the better. THAT is the Aziraphale we will come back to in the beginning of season 3, and Michael Sheen did a damn good job of showing us all of that in one credits scene.

[dragon-mantis]

i watched joeys empires a while ago and i really think more people should its awesome and criminally underrated

some of my favorite things from his series:

the sheer amount of times he says some variation of "suffer for the sins you have committed" is unreal (heres a 5 minute long compilation. im pretty sure this isnt even all of them)

some other joeyisms: he calls every passive mob miss mama, calls at least one cat "kitty cat girl meow meow" (the rest of them he just calls kitty-girl), and calls ghasts "ghastly girls"

the convolutedness of the tiger blood princes love life (basically he had a betrothed (the lost empire princess), but she switched with another villager princess and the pauper style. the new lost empire princess cheated on him with another random villager and ran away with him. this ended up being okay because the tiger blood prince turned out to be gay and fell in love with his iron golem bodyguard. yes really)

has a cat named after his real life cat (sakura) who hangs out with him while he plays

constantly spawns into crimson forests prior to xornoths appearance, which i think is really funny

speaking of xornoth, the blue corruption thing. ohhh i could go on about this forever. joey finishes his water temple and asks xornoth if hed be willing to do blue corruption to match the color scheme. xornoth just kinda stares at him and then leaves. a couple episodes later, xornoth shows up (on his own, which is notable bc he usually doesnt come to the lost empire unless joey summons him or he needs something) and says he wants to show joey something. and. he put blue corruption around joeys water temple. gah it makes me insane, because he didnt need to do that. he chose to. because joey asked him to. and like, you could make the arguement that it could have been for manipulation, except that joey was so head over heels that hed do anything that xornoth said anyway, so it would be a waste of time and resources. and also. post putting-xornoth-in-the-crystal, joey goes around the lost empire removing all of the corruption, and he leaves the blue corruption. it stays the rest of the series. they make me ill

hes also got a shrine to xornoth in the basement of his enchanting room that nobody knows about except sausage and maybe shelby. its where he puts the crown

his hair is short, and thus unable to be twirled around his fingers while flirting. does this stop him? no. no it does not. he twirls his headphone cord instead

when he dies at the end of his series (from falling off his temple) there is a compilation of him and xornoth frolicking around, holding hands, getting married, and blowing things up together (xornoth places the tnt and joey uses a flint to light it. #couple goals)

this is getting long but i need to share that in season 2 pirate joe can telepathically communicate with pigs. this is extremely important to the plot. he does this with lizzies council member pig and as hes leaving she asks why it doesnt talk to her like that, so i think we can conclude that this is just a him thing

he is such a loserboy. this is the most important thing. hes got that pathetic swag

anyway go watch joey empires 👍

[lavender-w4ters]

just finished my find us alive re-listen, and i think it’s worth noting how much the show improves over the course of 54 episodes.

like, don’t get me wrong, the early stuff is definitely good, but FUA really grows into something special. gravett’s episode (ep. 38) is one of the best singular podcast episodes i’ve listened to; i found her narrative really compelling. episode 54 is an extremely satisfying conclusion to this part of the show (minus the devious cliffhanger lol). it’s such an underrated show, and i think it’s accessible to people who don’t know much about SCP (as long as you know what a “skip” is); more people should listen to it!

anyways, i’m excited for the new episode in february! hope things don’t go to shit too much for our beloved cast ^^

[theharmonious13]

297 - Night Service for Insomniacs

Y'know what? I'm vibing with the idea of Yanagi providing service for Monomoko, underrated duo all of a sudden

Monomoko finding Yanagi strange makes sense lol

I love Monomoko using any pronouns, makes me feel better for referring to them as a they rather than she/her like the rest of the fandom

Trying to win Monomoko's favour this way was almost a 4D chess move

I like the way Yanagi says 'indeed' in this episode

"Are you trapped?" Omg that actually struck a cord with Monomoko, silence if deafening yooooooo

298 - Crisis Report

Monomoko has sympathy now aaaaaaaaa

Not being able to teleport out of the killing game/science place definitely is a telltale sign of being trapped...

Dr Kan better not find out or I will cry

"You're like me, we're like them." Monomoko pop off

299 - Extreme Measures

Where are they?

OMG HE'S HONOURING KAMIMURA BY CLEANING THE CRIME SCENE

Hasegawa sounds so done with life

Ojima you're so sweet but one moment too late, everyone had SO much time to attempt cleaning crew version 2 😭

Ken is asking ALOT of good questions, it's all just really unfortunate timing

300 - Extra Credit

Class Time, Yooooooo

Can Wada rejoin the student council now that Okazaki is gone? If not Wada will be the peak student... if he doesn't fall asleep in class haha

Watari and the 100 Pencils ✨ - would make for an awesome story lmao

"Yes. Shut Up." I need that Hama line for the soundboard I don't have 😂♥️

I should've known the lesson wouldn't be something traditional, Yokai is very neat and up Hama's alley

Anyways did somebody say YOKAI WATCH-

I just realised this episode will mostly be Hama info dumping, between him and Hasegawa (not in canon) talking nonstop I'm having a great time listening to Tetro all of a sudden (I love both of their voices A HECK TON, they're both unique to me and pleasing to listen to in a way I can't describe/understand)

"But honestly, I kinda think we oughta beat the shit out of them anyway" Hama what happened to your moral compass bro? 😭😂

Poison the river LOL

We're getting the vice versa scene now that Watari got scolded for stealing pencils, Watari scolding Hama for thinking about poisoning the Kappa river 😂

Bro if I were in the cast I'd go to everything I was invited to as well, maybe that's why I got Wada on the personality quiz

~~~

"We even have a teacher" Watari

"Hi" Hama

God to think these two used to be lower in my ranks 😂😂😂

~~~

The Watari begging begins <3

Wada is traumatised by Okazaki... poor baby :/

It's kinda good no other students showed up to class so Hama and Watari could talk to Wada/let him be vulnerable without judgement

Bro this is making me remember when I used to have crying breakdowns in high school/work to do with grief I NEED TO STOP RELATING TO WADA SO BAD

301 - 73.4

Poor Wada... he sounds really rundown

Eating issues are somewhat relatable to me... this episode hits hard despite not being able to relates to Wada's exact situation

Tsuno's death is that impactful... I'm thankful Yanagi apologised to Wada before mentioning her to make a point

I can't even imagine hating food... this is rough

Does the number 73.4 relate to anything specific? I tried a quick google and couldn't find anything relevant

"I want Tsuno to be proud of me." WADA STOP BEING RELATABLE TO ME GDI

Student Spotlight: Watari Nishino

Damn the sass war has already begun 5 seconds into Watari entering the room LOL

I love how easily Watari gets bored

THE EDITING OF WATARI'S SPRITE MOVING AROUND 😂

I love her cackle, she's learning theatrics from Okazaki haha

Love Watari answering Monomoko like she'a in a courtroom lol

Watari knows about the pizza question omg lmao

"I'm fine" Watari don't lie to yourself 😭

She can't even say Okazaki's name... oh the pain, this voice acting is so cruel

I love her attitude of wanting to have someone she can have fun with, and not be thinking paranoidly about the killing game 24/7

Oh my god she blames herself from splitting up from Harada and then not stopping Okazaki's madness somehow... this interviews going to be rough I'm only a fifth of the way through

WHO ASKED THE MARRIAGE QUESTION WHAT?

Guys I'm screenshotting everything Watari says about Mai I love this rarepair so much

I love/find Watari's unintentional commentary about stereotypical gender roles and how she personally would navigate them interesting, idk it itches a weird part of my brain in a good way

I now wonder how many siblings Watari has, until now I had just assumed there were two only, the brother that Watari mentioned pushing into the pool for fun and the sister who whines about Watari using her computer during her introduction video

Poor Watari is so overworked...

~~~

I'm writing Sibling notes here for me:

Seita - Oldest Brother

Nagisa - Younger Sister

Oto and Kai - Younger Toddlers

Unborn Baby

Watari really is being a caregiver/mother jeez...

~~~

The one change question was answered so quickly with being an only child... man I feel bad Watari's childhood was taken away from her too early

Omg if Wada can be apart of Ojima's family please let Watari be apart of Hama's

Really high expectations from her family too? Oh my lord this lore drop keeps getting worse and worse

There was the Tsuno pamper day in canon, we need that for Watari OR myself/the fandom needs to make fanart of Watari going on that life of an average teenage girl package that she's always dreamed of pursuing (going on phone in bed, going to the mall/hanging out with friends, painting nails)

Watari gets to ship people? Yayyyyyyy

Know I'm also screenshotting every single thing Watari says about the romance question

Bro she's accidentally alluding to TSUNO, TSUNO COULD'VE BROUGHT OUT HAMA'S SWEETER SIDE WE WERE SO ROBBED IN CANON

Wait she's trying to set Hama up? LOL

"Hayashi is taken in my heart." Slay queen 😭♥️

Hama x Mai being a bromance sends me lmao

Hiroaki has a major boy crush on Hama? 👀

Watari a Wama shipper, no wonder Von was gunning for requests of them hard this week lmao

Hasegawa x Kamimura in every sense of the word, thanks Watari lol

Hiroaki x Ojima, or Hiroaki x Yanagi - man she's wasting no time with speculating on sexualities lmao

"Tamba will get cooties if she dates a boy" LOL

~~~

Watari pitches her romantic crush fanfic

Monomoko: What?

Absolutely sent me 😂😂😂

~~~

The thinking about murdering question was a really good one for literally any student, thank you so much to whoever submitted that one

She understands Sasaki's reason for killing, we stan two queens

OOOOOO WHOEVER ASKED THE FOX REINCARNATION IS EVIL AND I LOVE IT

Aww Watari... such complex feelings about Okazaki

This whole episode was an emotional rollercoaster, I'm extremely grateful that Watari got 1) An interview and 2) The literal best time for her to be interviewed

302 - Bruise

SHE WAS TEN WHEN SHE GOT KIDNAPPED!?

THAT WAS SO LUCKY THAT THE ESCAPE TIMING LINED UP, HOW DID SHE SURVIVE?

Ojima looking up to Mai just like me fr

"I didn't want my whole life to be about what he did." ...I need to plaster this quote on my wall holy shit Tetro and so many of its characters are deeply relatable/inspiring to me...

UNCLE!? THREE!? OJIMA HONEY COME HERE AND GET A MILLION HUGS WTF

Not being believed was also incredibly fucked

HE'S ONLY BEEN A YEAR FREE???

Not feeling like you belong in your body is something I occasionally relate to... gdi Tetro

I think this has become one of my absolute favourite episodes

303 - Oyasumi

(The Title is) Like Wada's outfit! Goodnight everyone! (jk jk)

Guys I'm gonna say what all the YouTube comments are saying inhales IS THAT CHIBA'S BOOK!? It's a perfect metaphor for her life before and during the killing game

Also obligatory I love Hama's voice to an unhealthy degree and celebrate whenever he gets to talk alot mention

Okay it mentions climbing it HAS to be the book there's literally no way it isn't, suppose it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out though, hah

NOOOOOOOOOOOO I WANT TO HEAR THE END OF THE STORY

Block off the dining room? Can't you take Wada back to his? Or yours? You're strong Hama lol

Also my head canon is that Wada fell asleep in Hama's lap for shipping purposes

304 - Communication Attempt

Lord I'm not ready for this (I'm assuming it'll go badly), I'm writing this comment before I see how long the video is

Quite short... see how we go

Wait omg Yanagi was literally overthinking it, Mai just wanted him not to be a self sacrificing idiot

It's mainly a dynamic struggle to do with independence and emotional attachment styles (even platonically) in a way... I find it very relatable and I love it

Mai softly apologising to Yanagi too ♥️

Hayashigeki jinxing it with "I want to go home" and "We'll make it" 😩

I love how satisfying the pay off of this episode is

I'm a sucker for self inserting, but I often reference irl how I'm a duality of things, I'm cold but I'm kind for example... I love how we see emotion vs logic between quite often between the two of them all the time

I've been relating to Tetro way too much since it started I really love the serious episodes and can't stress that enough

Please I'm begging you let them go on the Azumino trip together

"I'm glad you're hear" MAIIIIIIIIII (I love moments like that also ship is shipping we are so back)

305 - Refuge Post Mortem

KAMIMURA DRAWS!? God he's already my favourite character but this update makes me happy

Hasegawa amused at their height dynamic aww 🥺

Hasegawa having this moment to talk about Kamimura in this context (after his passing) is so heart wrenching to me, especially to Hama who is now learning about Kamimura after he was gone

Hasegawa being proud of Kamimura 🥺😭

The malice and begrudgement in his voice when talking about Okazaki... I absolutely love it

Ken has actual depression now, stop being so relatable king 😩

306 - Corrective Approach

Can we kill Dr Kan somehow? Lol

I don't want Monomoko to die 😩

So did Monomoko get to leave or not? Lmao

[floatingcatacombs]

Teekyuu and Hubris

12 Days of Aniblogging 2024, Day 7

Chronic illness begets a certain amount of magical thinking. Having to deal with your own body attacking itself at random intervals leads many down the path of desperation and conspiracy. That’s is why it’s important to instead channel that energy into little rituals that don’t provide any physical aid but do help establish a sense of control. In my own struggles with sickness, I’ve gained exactly one such ritual related to anime. For whatever reason, my consolation prize for particularly bad health days is shotgunning an entire season of Teekyuu.

This may sound like a huge endeavor, but these are two-minute episodes we’re dealing with, and that's counting the opening. Teekyuu is a moe gag anime about girls in a tennis club who only rarely actually play tennis. Everything plays out at a staggeringly fast speed, like it’s cramming four minutes of jokes into half that time. This works heavily in its favor! Even if only half of the jokes ever hit at best, the whole thing plays out so fast that the failures don’t really stick around in your psyche, but the hits can really add up. Fuck it, I’ll just post an episode, it'll fit within Tumblr's file size limit.

So, what did you think? Actually, don't answer that, just imagine twelve of those back-to-back. That’s the kind of shit that I’m on during the days where my gut has decided in advance to kill me. It is absolutely the kind of show that boils your brain, but sometimes you need your mind simmered for sanity’s sake. And for that, it is my ideal show. If watching Lucky Star is like basking in CGDCT moe, then Teekyuu is like getting slapped with it, repeatedly.

I could honestly end the writeup here, but Teekyuu actually has a surprisingly serious production history surrounding it, which I would be remiss to leave out. Also, I really like the idea of making you spend so much time with this essay learning arcane industry drama that you could have just watched a good chunk of a Teekyuu season. Now then....

MAPPA is a big studio! They took on adapting Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen and the later parts of Attack on Titan and a million other high-profile anime, and are renowned for their fights and animation quality. Of course, they’re also notorious for paying terribly, taking on way too many projects, and absolutely grinding their workers into dust. They’re a company of extremes, but in a way that makes them extremely emblematic of where the anime industry is at right now.

It wasn’t always this way, though. MAPPA started out in the early 2010s with some lower-profile but mostly well-received projects, such as Kids on the Slope, Ushio & Tora, and an original titled Punch Line which one of my friends from high school insists is peak. And during this early period, they were also churning out season after season of Teekyuu. Shin Itagaki is something of a D-tier auteur when it comes to Teekyuu, acting as the director, character designer, key animator, in-betweener, and sound director for almost every episode. Itagaki’s actually got a pretty cool resume – he helped out on Princess Mononoke’s animation, contributed to a few Gainax shows, and wore quite a lot of hats on the underrated stupid comedy brawling anime Ben-To. But Teekyuu is his real brainchild, and it seems to have garnered enough of a following to justify continued releases (of course, the production costs must have also been pretty low).

Anyways, in 2015 Itagaki quits MAPPA and founds his own studio called Millepensee, with him as chief director and his wife handling the business operations.  With this newfound and total creative control, he goes on to make…four more seasons of Teekyuu, as well as two spinoffs. The dude knows what he wants. But that’s his pet project. His wife has greater ambitions, and is steadily growing the studio in order to try and take on a larger project. They manage to get Berserk.

It still baffles me that someone looked at Itagaki’s resume and saw his seven nearly-consecutive seasons of high school girls getting up to rapid-fire antics and decided that he was the one for this job. I guess he had enough cred from his past projects like Hajime no Ippo and Ghibli contracting that they decided he could take a turn at adapting probably the greatest fantasy manga of all time.

It wasn't just going to be his studio, thankfully. This was organized to be a co-production with the 3DCG studio GEMBA, who up until then had only contributed background VFX to various shows, and had never handled an adaptation on their own. So Itagaki's job as director and key animator in pre-production was to handle storyboards and guide the artstyle of the adaptation, making sure it mapped well to the 3D models and animation techniques the studio was using.

When Berserk 2016 was announced, a lot of people were worried that Itagaki’s recent near-exclusive work on moe anime would pose a problem with the Berserk artstyle, but it turned out to be the other way around. He wanted to stay extremely faithful to the original artwork with techniques that the 3D software of the era simply couldn't render in real time, such as cross-hatching that Berserk is known for. Instead Millepensee had to add 2D textures and effects over the completed renders, taking on the laborious and messy task of fixing it in post. That’s why the texturing looks so janky and inconsistently applied in the final project, a lot of it had to be done by hand against a strict deadline!

The information in this section is mostly taken from a very good ANN writeup.

In between seasons of this Berserk adaptation, and right afterwards, Itagaki released Teekyuu 8 and 9. I guess this was his way of letting off steam.  

You’d think that this experience would deter them from CG productions, but in 2020 Millepensee purchased a 3D animation studio, and most of their productions are now in a hybrid 2D+3D animation style with Itagaki directing. Granted, they're all low-rent isekai adaptations, but at least they're still getting work after Berserk.

The saddest part about this failed Berserk adaptation is that it could have gone way better had they just tried a few years later! Hybrid 2D + 3D pipelines started getting really good in the late 2010s, with Studio Orange and his old bosses at MAPPA both mastering the craft on shows like Dorohedoro and Land of the Lustrous. Nowadays it’s absolutely everywhere, and you hardly see anyone complaining, especially when it’s used for a striking artstyle or to adapt something that would be near-impossible to do right with traditional animation. It's probably the only way you could animate the later parts of Berserk sanely, but nobody wants to try again after the 2016 attempt went so poorly (and also Miura's fucking dead). Also sad is how MAPPA really came into prominence just as Itagaki was leaving, with hits like Yuri on Ice and Kakegurui and Zombieland Saga coming out year after year. Though I don’t know if he would have been assigned to any of those had he stayed, and he probably gets a much bigger paycheck now even though he's working on stuff ten percent as popular.

We have drifted far, far, away from Teekyuu, so I’ll just loop back by saying that Teekyuu changes a person. It is kind of evil on some fundamental level. And yet, it is occasionally load-bearing on my psyche, like pushing a reset button somewhere in my synapses. I’ve still got a few late seasons stashed away for when I need them. With the last one coming out in 2017, I think it’s safe to say that there’s no more Teekyuu on the horizon, but what we’ve got is plenty. Its total runtime is almost as long as a standard 12-episode season, even! Someone should just bite the bullet and make a hell-on-earth video upload or torrent that stitches them all together. It might have to be me.

[muchcelebrated]

An underrated Jack moment that I haven't seen discussed at all is the ep with Red's c-section. He's entirely confident in his ability to do it, but the second Red refuses his care he's thinking up the best possible alternative to save her life while respecting her wishes (and of course the solution is Belle). I can imagine someone like Sneed or the Prof insisting they do the surgery anyway "in her best interests" despite her wishes. Jack's unfailingly professional about it all though.

I’m sorry I’m so late to responding to this. Mideterms have been midterming haha 😅

But YES! You get it! I’ve said it before but there’s something so appealing about Jack’s character in that he has that snark and confidence and a little bit of arrogance that’s typical of the quick witted genius prodigy character types. But he’s still likable and not annoying because although he’s an asshole to people like Sneed or Gaines he’s respectful to people who are genuinely good or more disadvantaged than him.

I can’t quite explain exactly what it is other than vibes but he’s one of those “I’m better and smarter and more skilled than you” characters but in a different font because he does very much still have insecurities and morals. His wit and mind still aren’t quite enough to outweigh his station in society so he can’t just do whatever he wants. And like you mentioned with this episode he has extremely strong professionalism that he won’t compromise as a doctor he doesn’t put his arrogance above his patients like I feel we so often see with these types of characters.

I could talk about the storytelling genius of this show for hours lol but the point is yes you’re right that scene is so underrated!

[utilitycaster]

you got me. i binged all of midst in two days and it was great, but now i dont have a lot of other podcasts to listen to. do you have other good fiction podcasts you like?

DO I. I am not the Most Podcast Person I know but I definitely follow a lot because I drive a lot and walk a lot and put them on in the background while I do chores. Also, I'm sticking to scripted/plotted fiction here and not actual play but I can provide some actual play podcast recs too, though none are terribly obscure.

Wolf 359 is a completed podcast but a great binge. It also is science fiction and deals with capitalism and corruption and complicated characters and weird space stuff; it regularly makes the "great fiction podcasts" to check out and I think is closest to Midst in that it's also a tightly plotted work that goes to a natural end point.

I frequently talk about and recommend the Silt Verses and the thematic nature is remarkably close to Midst, but the vibe is very different. It has a lot of folk and body horror elements (audio-only, but they are absolutely present). Also covers the "man what if capitalism and religion were working explicitly in tandem" element of Midst with the added dimension of "what if there were many many gods and and they all demanded literal, physical sacrifices". Sister Carpenter is cut from a similar cloth as Lark and I love her dearly. To draw other comparisons would be to spoil it. It's on season 3, which will be its last. It is extremely intense in that when I fell behind I found it tough to binge without taking breaks, but it's really fucking good. (I also recommend this to people who like Candela Obscura, though that's more for eldritch horror vibes).

The Penumbra Podcast is great because it has two separate storylines (it was originally intended to be an anthology, but people fell in love with Juno Steel specifically). I like both, but Juno Steel is the more popular one - it's set in the future, in our solar system but in space, and follows Juno Steel, a private eye. It's extremely weird neo-noir. There is a homme fatale and a fantastic cast of characters, and it's also an interesting ongoing plot. The Second Citadel is more fantasy rather than sf though it's also kind of in that general New Weird bucket and is even harder to describe but I think it's underrated. It's also on its final season but it's been going on a while so it will take a bit for you to catch up.

Within the Wires is also a podcast I've recommended in the past. It's by the people who do Welcome to Nightvale which isn't listed here both because I assume you are aware of it, and because that's an ongoing slice of life sort of thing; there are plots but there's sort of that sitcom-esque "nothing really changes the status quo" element though the earlier era had some more structured stuff. Anyway, Within the Wires is found audio, so each season is different - the first is relaxation cassette tapes, the second museum audio guides, the third voice memos, etc. There are callbacks/connections between seasons at times, and I would recommend listening to at least the first two seasons in full (which are very strong) to get a sense of the world before hopping around later. The reason I recommend it here is because the worldbuilding is spectacularly done in a way that reminds me of the elegance of the worldbuilding in Midst, and because it's found audio, while it's one narrator per season you will get those weird asides and interesting tonal choices.

Tentative rec for Camlann, a roughly modern day post-apocalyptic take on Arthurian legends and the folklore of the British Isles only because it just started and has 3 episodes. I like it, but I don't know what plot it's building to (nor how long it will be; they have funding for one season but aren't sure about future ones.)

[o-uncle-newt]

Cabin Pressure Advent Day 18: Rotterdam

This is one of those episodes that I don't listen to much, and now that I have I'm really not sure why because it's so, so funny.

For a bunch of the other write-ups I've done, I've generally sidelined the humor- in a "well obviously this is funny, let's talk about some other thing about it instead" kind of way. And I'm going to talk about other kinds of things related to this episode, but I do want to start with how hilarious it is because it's basically perfect from that perspective. All four of the main cast are at the top of their game, and if anything having Martin and Douglas be confronted by their potential replacements only accentuates even more what makes them awesome, and their actors so good at playing them as extremely distinctive characters. All of the jokes about movie-making and airplane safety demos are super funny, and for an episode with a relatively straightforward and uncomplicated plot, the humor and the set pieces need to be top notch and thankfully they are.

This is also the kind of episode that relies on the visual humor that comes from making audio comedy- everything relies on us imagining what the characters are describing/inferring, which a) makes the writing and performing of the dialogue so important and b) allows us that moment of putting pieces together that makes things just a little bit funnier. The comparative descriptions of Carolyn and Douglas in the life jackets, and which fruit they can be compared to, are hilarious not only because it shows us Douglas being punished for making fun of Carolyn when she did the video, but because by doing it via audio they force us to imagine Douglas as looking far worse than Carolyn, which would be potentially doable but a lot less foolproof in a visual scene.

And speaking of Douglas... I always get some schadenfreude from seeing Douglas suffer, if only because he doesn't seem to very much. But I wonder if I'd have the same feeling about it if I'd listened in broadcast order rather than alphabetical, because in broadcast order Rotterdam came right after Ottery St Mary, another Douglas-suffers episode. As it is now, I feel like he's getting a bit more of what's coming to him but in a relatively balanced way (he did, after all, just flatten Martin in Qik and Paris)- I'm curious about people's impressions of these two episodes sequentially.

(It makes me wonder about some other plotlines this season, as well; listening to this right after Qik made Martin's grasping for whatever dignity he can get out of his rank feel a bit more urgent, and even though he didn't get any at the end, his general emotional victory this episode is very satisfying as a bit of a post-Qik followup, and a nice foreshadower that Martin's fortunes will start to turn next season. In the broadcasted season, the episodes are very far apart. And I also think that this episode being so long after Ottery St Mary, with that episode being right after Newcastle all the way at the beginning of the season, made Herc and his role here feel a bit more lived-in than I'd imagine it would feel to have Newcastle, Ottery St Mary, and Rotterdam right in a row. But I'm curious about people's opinions!)

The other thing that occurred to me in the context of previous episodes this season is- I'm kind of sad that JF got rid of the cold opens. Those were always really fun in S1-2. Ah well.

Anyway, a really great episode that I've apparently been SIGNIFICANTLY underrating... that is definitely heading right back into my usual rotation! Tomorrow, of course, an episode that is impossible to underrate, my favorite one of all...

[vampiritea]

I'm rewatching Leverage right now so some random questions for you:

What's your favorite season of Leverage?

What's your favorite episode that's not on said season?

What's your favorite character that's not in more than two episodes?

What's your favorite character/person that one of them has pretended to be?

Who's someone who was on Leverage that hasn't been on Leverage Redemption that you would like to see again?

idk how I became a leverage blog when I only consider myself a casual fan lol

So anyway I've enlisted my sister @werewolfsmile to also answer these questions. You get double answers!! 🥳

v = vampiritea w = werewolfsmile

What's your favorite season of Leverage?

v: bestie I don't even remember where each season begins and ends, how am I supposed to answer this? w: 3 - for all the Eliot angst (honestly 3,4,5 are the best but. 3) v: I'm gonna go with s5

What's your favorite episode that's not on said season?

v: um, idk, the Gone Fishin' Job? w: the Rundown Job s5. ot3 feels to the extreme!

Who's your favorite character that's not in more than two episodes?

v: the Sheriff deputy in the Bank Shot Job. my man is underrated 😌 w: -prolonged deep thought- it would have to be Quinn and Mikel

Who's your favorite character/person that one of them has pretended to be?

v: I actually have an answer for this!!!!! oh but it's not in Leverage, it's in Redemption. I love when Harry pretends to be Eliot in The Walk in the Woods Job (ty w for the episode title) w: I think I have to go with Roy Chappell. Just so fun to see Eliot get sucked into baseball.

Who's someone who was on Leverage that hasn't been on Leverage Redemption that you would like to see again?

v: um. I do not know. w: Quinn, Mikel, Tara, Shelley, Sterling (v: if I let her continue I think she'll end up listing every side character so we're stopping here.) v: Tara could be fun to bring back

Hope you enjoy your rewatch!! ✨

[bobvelsebobsession]

More gimmicks from the straw page and some where comments/questions! My answers may be a bit… long winded so I apologize in advance!

He’s real in our hearts, and in our imagination.

Funny enough, Herobrine was my first nickname. I’ve had A LOT of others. Some people shorten Herobrine to Hero which is fine!

I’ve also been called MC, which was short for Minecraft, by one friend years ago. I’ve been called Wolf as well by kids in high school because of how I was around people and when I was alone.

I’ve always enjoyed Herobrine as a nickname and fits me well more so than it used to. Although Furby is a funny nickname but not the worst one I’ve heard. I knew a dude called Swamp before and there was a reason for that.

I love Divine CEO, I do love a lot of LuLu’s music. Incredibly underrated and I hope more people discover their music! Shame they’re dealing with some asshats doxxing their fans in VRChat atm…

As for when I started simping for Bob… oh that’s a tough one because it kinda just happened? I watched the short when it came out and was pretty excited for more Spooky Month. Tender Treats ended up being my final consideration for sticking with the series as I liked how Bob became the staple for: Oh shit, this guy is actually dangerous and this is becoming more serious.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed when Bob died because I figured he was gonna be a returning villain and I did recognize him as the demon guy from the original Spooky Month which was very cool! I tend to binge the old episodes before jumping to the new ones. I also rewatch it numerous times during October (SPOOKY MONTH!!!)

I was watching it with my friends and even introducing one friend to it which something kinda just clicked with Bob. When the episode originally came out I was still exploring who I was and what I liked. Turns out I like dangerous people and masked people as well! Plus the voice really drew me in, I have a thing for accents and country men is a bit of a weakness among other things. Plus… big boys need more love. I am a big gal irl, and I love people with fluff and meat on their bones.

So rediscovering my love for Spooky Month helped me realize I liked Bob as my favorite character! I mean, I liked him before and he was already my favorite villain. I decided to look up art and VRChat avatars. Thus falling into the deep rabbit hole of Bob enjoyers. Ngl, little sad he’s so popular because I’m not a fan of extremely popular characters.

Plus most people ship him with themselves or OCs, I tend to be… possessive of things I enjoy which is just a me issue due to abandonment problems. I don’t let it dictate how I treat anyone, of course.

Gotta say though, again, glad he’s loved. Everyone in the fandom is usually rather sweet about him but also bully him. But the art I see of him is amazing and I’m glad to see it. One to two time episodes characters that don’t come back tend to get overlooked. Plus him being plus sized usually makes it worse, but this fandom has been quite the opposite about it.

I mean the guy has four dating sims! Two of which are still in production! But anyways, sorry for the long winded response. Y’all are welcome to ask more questions as I’m an open book!

[distant-screaming]

9, 11, 14, 20, 25

hi beloveddd <333!

9. currently watching

in terms of bl not much! I still have hidden agenda to finish from like six centuries ago, and I'm watching pit babe and liveblogging it (though that one might be abundantly clear to quite literally everyone who follows me). I'm planning on watching we are as soon as it's done airing, and that's about it!

11. most anticipated upcoming bl

I'm gonna be so real with you I don't know half of the upcoming bls 😔 so not much! maybe the heart killers? based on what I've heard it seems right up my alley!!

14. bl you think is underrated

omg welcome back to another episode of 'dee does not quite understand what is and is not popular but tries anyway'! let's see, probably my most immediate answer is Kamisama no Ekohiiki, a jbl that literally lives in my heart because I love it so dearly <3 it uses its tropes so well and really creates this wonderful, jbl-esque emotional narrative that made me cry more than once. another jbl I adore is the 4 episode long Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai! this one's just. so cute and fluffy and friends to lovers it makes me happy :)

20. actor you think is underrated

once again I do not understand who is and is not popular ahfjsjdjdjfj 💪‼️ I recently watched tonhon chonlatee with @ranchthoughts (it was a whole thing) and I found pod's acting to be extremely enjoyable!! not sure if he qualifies as underrated though......

25. favorite friends

mmm real life actors? probably either joylada gang (joong/dunk/phuwin/pond) or bo gang (mark/satang/fourth)? I don't interact with them much though. if we're talking about characters, then tonhon chonlatee's friend group is probably my favorite part of the show! I also really love msp's little guys of course <3

YIPPPEE YAY I love having opinions!!!

[adhd-merlin]

merlin S1 rewatch: episode 6

it’s been a hot minute! today’s commentary is about episode 1x06, A Remedy to Cure All Ills. which I re-watched more than a month ago actually, but I’ve been busy.

just some random comments and thoughts (as usual), and not an actual review or analysis.

I think this episode is extremely underrated – I loved it the first time I watched it, and I still thoroughly enjoyed it on my rewatch. yes, it’s kind of a filler episode with a very traditional Villain of the Week format – but it's a great villain.

Julian Rhind-Tutt’s performance as Edwin is great and I love a suave, smooth-talking, scheming villain as much as the next person. The way he manipulates people, never suggesting anything outright but playing on people’s fears and biases, only saying just enough to make them reach the conclusion he wants. Something very Richard III about it. Very Iago.

EDWIN: “No… I shan’t say”

Another thing I love about this episode is the rare (unique?) instance of Merlin showing his magic to another sorcerer whom he isn't suspicious of (the audience knows Edwin is the Bad Guy, of course, but at this point Merlin doesn't).

I can’t think of another moment like this in the series. Freya didn’t actually have magic. There is Gilli, but when Merlin reveals his magic to him he already knows of the boy's intention to kill Uther, and it is a last attempt to stop Gilli from committing regicide without putting him in harm’s way. Merlin's relationship with Mordred and the Druids was always complicated by prophecies and by his role as Emrys.

But there’s none of that here. Edwin tells Merlin that magic can be used for good, and that it can be ENJOYED! which is all Merlin ever wanted to hear. And it’s a bit heartbreaking to see the hope on Merlin's face, knowing all that is going to happen later in the series.

I also loved the previous interaction between Merlin and Edwin:

“It can’t explain love”!! He’s a romantic. He loves love 🥺🥺🥺

I think the writers lost sight of Edwin’s motive a bit by the time they got to the ending. He’s not content with just killing Uther, he also wants to… rule the kingdom? And he tells Merlin they can do it together? (a concept revisited in the Cornelius Sigan episode). I don't think it works well.

I think Edwin’s final evil speech would have been way more impactful if he had tried to appeal to Merlin’s empathetic side, instead of his non-existent thirst for power, and reminded him of all the suffering Uther caused and why he deserved to die. I guess that would be a moral dilemma that deserves more than a few minutes of screen time to be resolved satisfactorily, and we’re already at the end of the episode at this point.

The series does dwell on it in To Kill the King, to be fair, but I think the “why not just let Uther die?” dilemma could have been presented before then. (Merlin's momentarily hesitation at healing Uther at the end is more to do with his fear of being seen using magic by Uther than by an actual reluctance to save the king.)

Anyway. I still think this is a very good episode overall, even with its relatively weak ending.

Other random thoughts:

The random-ass reference to alchemy. Something that wasn’t elaborated on, nor ever mentioned again (??) Missed opportunity imo.

Gaius is made "a free man of Camelot", whatever that means. (Does it mean that he, like Merlin, is not from Camelot? Or is it some kind of special privilege? We don’t know. I think maybe in Love at the Time of Dragons Gaius mentions something about he and Alice coming to Camelot but I can’t remember and I can’t be bothered to check now)

Some excellent display of brotherly concern from Arthur when Morgana falls sick. He's the one pushing for Uther to call for Edwin. We love to see it

Merlin and Gaius all but call each other father and son. DON’T TOUCH ME.

Gaius was 100% ready to let Uther die if it meant saving Merlin’s life. btw.

Gaius and Uther. WHAT ARE THEY

All the heavy hints at Gaius’s acting as a Category Traitor in the Great Purge + the only instance of Gaius talking to Kilgharrah (!!!) I am obsessed with it

The paralles between Uther & Gaius and Arthur & Merlin. I feel absolutely normal about it

“Now, open your eyes, My Lord. I want my face to be the last face you ever see.” -> I don’t care if it’s cliched, this line fucks

MERLIN CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM, AT LAST!! I was starting to worry but finally my baby is back to killing people :)

[cowboymenace]

MJF's year as Champion

MJF has been champion for one year after beating an extremely protected Jon Moxley. He spent the first half being a heel, avoiding conflict and manipulating opponents. Some has been good if not great, his feud with Danielson is one of the best and his match with Ricky Starks is an underrated gem that I don't see many talk about mostly because of both men's trajectory. There has been some bad, the four pillars feud exposed 1/2 of the men as not ready for the main event spot, I won't say who but if you go back to watch the promo battles you can see who I mean.

Enter Adam Cole. Cole was out for an extended period of time and whenever talent is out for that amount they typically return as a face, especially if they're entertaining. After doing his time in the Jericho Pit, he would go after the World Title. MJF and Him would have a match where it came to a draw, and MJF would deny overtime to decide a winner. However, a randomized tag team tournament forced them to work together. This is typically something the WWE would do, a scenario where two guys feuding must work together "CAN THEY GET ALONG" where they do gel but end up turning on each other. Cole and MJF would become friends, with constant teasing that they one would double cross the other. The twist: neither man has.

This would create the biggest buzz in the company. MJF would be seen as one of those guys who would never turn face, but he proved us wrong. It felt like a challenge for Max, trying to prove that he can be as compelling and fun as a face as he was a heel. In the world of wrestling, heels seem to have more creativity, and it may seem hard, but I'd argue it's easier to get people to dislike you. It's hard to get people to like you. MJF achieved that and made moves like a double clothesline and a front drop kick more over than any other move in the company.

Both men would open and close AEW's and modern wrestling's Biggest Event Ever. So how do you follow that? Well by erroneously making MJF the center of the universe, and unfortunately over stuffing the title picture. MJF and Cole won the ROH Tag Belts, which have been turned into trinkets something they'd hang on their Christmas tree. Neither man have worked an ROH Honorclub episode, Cole has the excuse of being super injured at least. You'd think that this would be a good time for a heel team to beat an handicapped team for some quick heat right? Wrong, there's been two instances where MJF has fended off heel teams, once by himself. Alone, MJF began to feud with the hottest heel stable in the company Bullet Club Gold. Jay White would challenge and taunt MJF for months, however he wouldn't get the champ's sole attention. Wardlow would return much to my chagrin to do sloppy powerbombs (the man is a walking tabula rasa) and challenge MJF. Samoa Joe wants a rematch since MJF and Cole heroically cheated to beat him. Also there's a masked man in MJF's devil costume beating up people who are near MJF either as friend and foe.

Oh yes one more thing, MJF has to deal with Roderick Strong and the kingdom. Seems like there's a lot on his plate, seems like he would be distracted and therefore would be more likely to lose? Nope. MJF got """hurt""" during his tag match against the Gunns to build tension for the main event title match but won anyways. He would sell his leg as hurt but then do moves that would worsen his condition because there was a Seth Rollins particles leak in his locker room I guess.

Jay White is a former two time IWGP World Champion. He's beaten every top guy in New Japan. In his first year there he proved himself as a top gaijin heel. Plebians who have no tastes would say he was boring, his matches too long, and he needed interference to win. They're wrong and their money stacks shorter than mini me. Jay White would prove the haters wrong by making a seamless transition into a western heel and as I said before became a part of the hottest heel act. He then went on to lose to a hurt, distracted MJF.

A man of that caliber was just a stepping stone for a rematch against another high caliber talent but I fear that match may be another stepping stone because there's a Wardlow waiting in the wings and a devil to be unmasked. MJF's story feels unfocused and frustrating. I know he's the most over guy in the company, but he's held the belt for well over a year and just doesn't seem to lose even when it wouldn't hurt him to. I imagine Cole destroying his foot and ankle threw a wrench into the plan, but the response to that should not be to sacrifice high quality talent to the wrestling gods to keep things afloat.

I have enjoyed MJF's run with the belt and am pleased he resigned. However don't turn him into an untouchable champion, the fun should be the possibility of him losing. If he wins too much then there's less and less stakes.

[backtothethunder2023]

Recommendation

So Jack and Kira were both on it and it's extremely underrated so far, but if you are ever in the mood to listening to an interview, check out Bradley Steven Perry's and Jake Short's Podcast, which is highly creatively named "The Sit and Chat". Because it's hilarious. It doesn't feel forced, basically it's just a normal conversation with little comments and remarks that make it fun. Bradley and Jake don't take themselves too serious if you know what I mean and it's actually really refreshing.

Here's Jack's episode (filmed during the strike, so he wasn't supposed to talk about the Thundermans, but he still talked a little bit about it anyways XD):

And here's Kira's episode in which she also talked about the new movie: