#anyway. finally finished this series. about 10 years after i was the intended audience but i had fun :)

[gaygollum]

notes on inkheart: dustfinger is my blorbo lol

notes on inkspell: was fenoglio destined to write this story? do cosimo and dustfinger prove that characters have agency in their stories OR is cosimo only proof that fenoglio truly cannot conceive of a good person and subconsciously creates evil characters even when he tries to create good? what does that say about fenoglio as a person? how does fenoglio’s sense of ownership and entitlement complicate the story? does destiny exist or is destiny created or is it possible to pave your own path, despite the power of the writer? how does a story fill in the gaps from an authors oversight? are all stories alive like the inkworld? are they alive the moment a writer writes them down or does it take a silvertongue to read it out loud and speak it into existence? how does grief and parenthood drive the story?

notes on inkdeath: i hate fenoglio so much its unreal. and dustfinger is my blorbo lol

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

Fic Writer Questions! (you can find me here on AO3 if you're interested!)

tagged by dear @theburialofstrawberries mwah!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

112 yowza!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

750,421 kinda tempted to go delete one word so it can be 750420 which is a far more Pleasing number

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

12ish but some of them overlap: BBCS/Sherlock Holmes/ACD (these are all different bc my bbcs fics are not the same as my own modern fem Sherlock Holmes adaptation are not the same as my ACD Holmes fic; Good Omens; Harry Potter/The Werewolf Draco Malfoy Cinematic Universe; Captive Prince; The Hobbit; Fleabag (it was a crossover with BBCS but Fleabag is the perspective character so it still counts as a separate fandom imo); Doctor Who; The Office; Parks and Rec; Broad City (one a piece for those last 5 but I AM going to write a Parks and Rec polycule fic for @gaykagome)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all Good Omens fics from the 2019 Summer of Good Omens! Susceptible to Summer, Fragments Shored Against My Ruin, Something So Magic, Enter Serpent, and Anything We Like

All of those have over 2k except the last one, but average engagement for me is like 400 kudos or so

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try! It depends on what's going on with me. Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and I figure people would rather I spend my brain power on writing new fics than on writing replies to comments. Wish I had a fave button tho so I could let people know I read and reread comments, because I do!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh I wrote this ficlet series called A Chemical Defect about John and Sherlock's relationship in s3 of BBCS, and it's WILDLY unpopular. People don't read my fic to cry sad tears I guess! John and Sherlock are having an affair in the story, and it ends with the implication that their relationship is unsustainable and that Mary knows about it anyway. I intended to come back to it after s4 and write a more optimistic ending but LOL! Didn't have the heart.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I know this answer is kinda up my own ass, but like. I think stories that feel true to life sort of feel like they end on a beginning if you know what I mean? You don't really consider a chapter of your life closed until you look back on it from the next? SO that said, I think I'd have to say that it's my big BBCS serial The Only One in the World. I spent 2 years writing it, and it ends with John retiring from medicine to solve crimes and write books full time.

Could also be my WDMCU (werewolf Draco Malfoy cinematic universe) series Moonrise, which starts with Draco isolated in his abusive mother's house, trying to cope with lycanthropy essentially alone and ends with him in love and surrounded by found family in a cozy cottage in Hogsmeade, having gotten some lycanthrope rights legislation passed after working at it for years and talking to Harry about whether they want to have kids. Oh man I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written one crossover. It's BBCS/Fleabag, because me and @loudest-subtext-in-tv were laughing about how John seems like one of the horrible guys Fleabag sleeps with basically out of self loathing, so I wrote this fic to make Nattie laugh, and you should read it bc it's so good and so underrated.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, but people don't seem to know that authors can read bookmark tags unless you private the bookmark, and someone once put in the bookmark tag on one of my fics 'writing was meh but it was okay.' Okay so why bookmark it then??

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Fuck yes! I'm not sure what 'what kind?' means? People fucking? Sloppy, silly, and awkward, with lots of laughing. I also really like writing afterglow scenes which are even sillier and gigglier and often involve one character cooking for another. Food as love language is a very distinct pattern of mine tbh

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but occasionally I'll write a post on here where I make some elaborate head canon, and I'll see people in the tags talking about how they want to write fic of it, and it makes me breathe fire out of my nose like a dragon like PLEASE DON'T. The WDMCU came out of a ficlet post I made on here like a year before I actually wrote the 60k series so like!!! Please don't do that!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! To Russian and I believe Chinese. Not my entire oeuvre but a handful of BBCS and Good Omens fics

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I wrote a fic inspired by an RP I did with my gf right around when we met (actually now that I think about it, it's two fics), and I waaaaaaanna do a WDMCU collab with my beloved Sally @clytemenestras at some point if he has time bc he inspired me to even write werewolf draco with his original lesbian werewolf story

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

favorites are hard for me? I always think I'm currently doing my best writing lol so I'll say drarry

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don't post fics unless theyre finished, so I don't have any WIP up on AO3, but I did intend to continue with my fem Sherlock Holmes series, Your Many Tendencies. I just haven't been in a Holmes mood for a long time. Maybe I'll come back to it idk. This particular series is honestly very unpopular? People will just straight up say they don't read femslash, and it hurts a lot. This series feels really personal too, bc it's about a Black autistic nonbinary lesbian, so it does hurt my feelings that no one seems to care, yknow? I mean the people who read it are extremely kind and thoughtful in their engagement with it, but it has vastly less engagement than my m/m fic, and that's painful. It gets literally 1/10 the attention my fics usually get.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Almost all of my writing is romance, but I tend to write concurrently about recovery and found family, and I think I'm very good at doing that in a way that connects with my audience. I once had someone ask if they could use my words in their wedding vows, and I've had people tell me they started doing things with their spouse that my characters do with their partners in order to express love. I think about that all the time. My Impact. It makes me feel like I have a real duty to my audience yknow?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

This question is hard for me like I've been writing so long and so much that I'm literally always happy with my final draft! It's always exactly to my taste, yknow? I suppose I could say that my fics tend not to be terribly plotty but so WHAT? That's beside the fuckn point for me. Plot who? I don't know Her. Also honestly like. Stories feel more True to me when they aren't ruthlessly devoted to plot bc like life isn't like that yknow?

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If you're not fluent in that language, get a beta who is!!!!! That said, I have written scraps of very simple dialogue in French using mostly Google Translate (sometimes I check w Sally bc he speaks French but I am usually too impatient), and I am perfectly well aware that I take my life in my hands each time!!! Also don't do that bullshit thing where it's in italics? That shit is weird and exoticizing. Just write it in quotation marks like normal dialogue.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBCS babey back in 2012. Ended a 5 year dry spell for me after I got my writing degree.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmmmm I think it's probably gonna be the fic I'm working on now that I haven't posted yet, but I know it's called Names for a House, and here's a tiny bit of it

Thanks again Shreya for asking me to do this bc I really love talking about myself. I tag @the-moon-loves-the-sea, @clytemenestras, @tomiano, @gaykagome and @totallysilvergirl

No pressure <3

[comicteaparty]

January 4th-January 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from January 4th, 2020 to January 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What goals do you have going forward with this new year for your story?

carcarchu

well i basically have the same goal every year which is to cover more ground, i made the mistake of making my first comic be a super long 3 part epic so it feels like it's going to take me years to make it even part way through when i try to make my chapters longer however it generally leads me to feeling burned out so i still have a way to go when it comes to finding the right length per chapter that i can put out consistently

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/), this year I finally reach the chapter where all my main characters meet and start interacting - it's where the story truly kicks off. I've spent almost 2 years in setup/exposition mode, and I finally get to exit it properly. I'm so. SO. Excited. And I really want to take my time and do it properly. It's about to get very fun for me, and I hope it will show in the work!

Cronaj

My goals mainly consist of reaching page 100. I'm over 1/4th of the way there, and I believe I can get there before 2021. I also want to reach the introduction of one of the main characters, but I don't think that'll happen this year. This character doesn't appear until the end of Ch. 5, which is somewhere around page 170-180. Am I waiting too long to introduce this character? Absolutely.

eli [a winged tale]

I am almost halfway through Arc 1 and almost at 10% of the story Looking forward to chugging away at it and hope to reach the First Plot Point by the end of the year

kayotics

I guess one of my goals is to reformat chapter 1 for printing (I drew it at the wrong size), and then update chapters 1 & 2 for colors. I’d like to compile the first four chapters into a book, but I’d like all the chapters to be visually similar in color at least.

Tuyetnhi

Gonna try to finish two chapters this year and clean up ch.1 and 2 for printing its gonna be a lot of work but I know it can be managed~

snuffysam

In terms of where the main story will go - Book 3 just started, and Chapter 1 should be finished mid-March. Chapter 2 will be finished early-mid July, maybe even late June? Chapter 3 will be finished sometime in September. And then it's Chapter 4... which won't be finished until like June 2021 lol. But anyway, by the end of the year we'll be introduced to all the important characters of this arc (though we won't have had much time with some of them). Including a character who's so important, I'd almost call them the deuteragonist of the entire comic if not for the fact that they're only showing up 700 pages in, lol.(edited)

Past the actual story aspects - the comic will be celebrating its fourth birthday at the end of February! And, given that the first page of the comic was started on a leap day, it's technically the first birthday the comic has actually had. The upcoming short stories for the year are some of my favorites so far, so that's exciting. I'm also interested to see how the shipping contest & fan-art contest turn out. We'll also be reaching page 750 at some point this year, which is a pretty big milestone.

Deo101

I have a goal for my second comic to get it off of hiatus, and for my main one I would really like to make improvements in the areas I've received critiques! Mostly, I just want to keep making them for another year <3 I don't really have any goals other than to keep on going with it

(also, a preemptive congrats on four years!)(edited)

AntiBunny

Well, having fully reuploaded my archives, I'm letting them update gradually to hopefully attract a new audience over on comic fury. When it catches back up I intend to finish up Chapter 10, and with it book 2. Then I'll finally launch book 3, Coast to Coast, which will allow me to tell more different stories by changing locations.

Kelsey (Kurio)

Hey Vinnie! How goes it?

AntiBunny

Still chugging along.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

The big goal for Wayfinders off course is first of all to launch! In start February (we will find a date today iiih!!) Then at the end of 2020, if everything goes accordingly we should have produced 7 chapters enough for a book Ah! This is all so exciting

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Pretty much my goal is to just keep swimming. I hope to complete more chapters this year. I should be able to finish chapter one of my comic, Eryl, unless I have to take a long hiatus (which, honestly, is looking very likely). Ashes is less time intensive than Eryl and the chapters half as long (only 16 pages each; Eryl chapters are usually 30-35 pages), so I’m going to try and finish at least two, if not three chapters before 2021. But honesty, just getting what I can done and continuing to push forward is my biggest goal.

Mei

I only started My Husband is a Cultist last year in April (https://tapas.io/series/MyHusbandisaCultist) and my goal is to reach that first year anniversary and to keep the train rolling for this comic! I initially wanted to have the rest of this arc completed in 2020, but I've decided to be realistic as I will be making a grad film at the same time (yay), so I just plan to do as much as I can, and to at least have Chapter 4 completed before March, and maybe Chapter 5 after that! I have a lot of story I want to tell and it's hard to stay focussed on it, but I'm doing my best, doing a little at a time!

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

My goals are mainly to become a little quicker and finish the second book in time for the Heirs of the Veils (http://heirsoftheveil.fervorcraft.de/) fourth anniversary next October. Story-wise we want to have all the bits and pieces in place to slowly approach the actual meaty parts of the comic and prepare well enough to finish it in the coming 3 years.

FeatherNotes

Our goal is to have our book fully edited, with help from editors and friends, so we can be more confident in it's true rendition. Im not one to stick to making pages perfect, but there are definitely parts that could use some attention! Other than that, book 4 is on it's way and it's always a main goal to get to print for upcoming cons!

varethane

My goal this year is to get to the end of the first arc of Wychwood! After a year of working on it, I'm roughly halfway there. I'd also like to lern 2 colour better.

Capitania do Azar

This year I hope to get a new book out!! That would be great and also you know, just keep going. If all goes well I can get a chapter out until the end of the year and that'd be cool (but also perhaps a bit too hopeful, since my chapters have started to...get bigger with time..)

SAWHAND

This year my goal is to start posting the comic! And, if it works out, I'd love to get the whole thing thumbnailed out by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!!

DanitheCarutor

My goal is to finish chapter 5 in less than a year. Up until now it's taken a year to finish a chapter thanks to work, chores and the occasional procrastination spell. But in December I quit my depressing job that was a two hour drive away, so I'm hoping to be more productive, even if I get part time work somewhere in town.

twothirty

along with finishing chapter 6 and 7, im also hoping to have all of book 2's script written and edited~

renieplayerone

My goal is id love to get the first chapter or two of kate blast printed

[georgesmithunit1]

Final Evaluation

25/06/18

In this evaluation I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on my final animation as well as the process I went through to create my concepts and illustrations.

Concepts & Illustration Process

The assignment brief required me to create an animation that simulates a point and click game. I had complete creative control over the concept. I needed to create a minimum of one animated character, a digitally hand drawn background, elements of the background that are animated, and the whole sequence was to be a minimum of 10 seconds in length. 

I adhered to all of those points except for one, which I completely forgot about - which was to have an element of the background moving, to be fair, I had planned on it only being minor in the first place (the rotating ventilation thing in the first scene). I came up with the idea of making a fighting-orientated scene for my animation, because I really just wanted to test out some animation techniques that I’d learned before, and also because I thought that it would be fun to animate, as well as entertain the audience. I wasn’t particularly inspired by anything to create a fighting scene, I’d wanted to do an animation like that for a while, so I thought it a perfect time to demonstrate what I could do. I had a lot of planning to do before I even created my background scenes. First of all, I needed to conduct some thorough research on point and click games, as well as anything else that seemed appropriate. I researched a number of intriguing titles which caught my eye when I first saw them, as well ones that I’d already heard of, and even played in one case. Researching those titles was really insightful and helped me with coming up with a solid visual style for my animation. After the research, I was required to come up with an entire 300 word plot for my animation - of course, this didn’t impact the animation itself, but it did help throughout the project as a whole, as it gave me a better understanding of my own story. 

After finishing the plot, I needed to establish a clear visual style for my animation. I had already established one before getting to this point to be honest - and that was thanks to a game by the name of ‘Night in the Woods’. Luckily, I stumbled upon this game while I was researching point and click titles, and was immediately captivated, and even more so after I researched it further. I will share my thoughts on this game a little later on in this evaluation. Anyway, After I’d finished establishing my visual style, which would take inspiration from Night in the Woods, I needed to write about my main character complete with his very own backstory. This was similar to the plot in which it didn’t impact the animation at all, but did help me to get a better understanding of him and add some character depth. After all of this written stuff followed a series of pages in my sketchbook devoted to sketching out ideas of a character design, which adhered to my character description, as well as some sketches of the main enemy of the fight scene. Among these sketches was a character turnaround sheet, which would essentially showcase my main character’s appearance, whose name is Ace by the way, so I’ll refer to him as that from now on. The character turnaround sheet was pretty useful I think, as it helped serve as a reference for whenever I needed to draw Ace. Finally, I sketched out some initial ideas for a background scene for my animation, which mainly included cyberpunk cities etc. There was a lot of planning, which I believe was very necessary. 

Now back to my main character, Ace. He is a very important character to the overall plot of the story, and so I wanted him to look intimidating, powerful, I wanted him to have a strong presence, so that’s why his colour palette ranges simply from white to black - I thought it best to have him wear a trench coat type of thing, because I wanted him to look professional and serious, so I thought this attire conveyed that perfectly. In that sense, I think Ace successfully communicates my intentions of having a strong-willed, physically strong and intimidating character. As for the style, I went with the anime/manga style while I was drawing him, since that’s pretty much all I can do somewhat decently, though I’m completely fine with that. It kind of translated over to the animation, though his design had to be dramatically compromised, since it would’ve taken so long if I’d have animated him exactly according to his illustrations, and maybe I wouldn’t even be done with the animation by now if I had been doing that, since I only finished it on 23/06/18, so a few days ago, at the time of writing. 

Back to the backgrounds again. First of all, I mentioned earlier that my main inspiration for my background came from ‘Night in the Woods’. I really liked the visual aesthetics of that game, the graphics were really pleasing to look at in my opinion. They look as though they were all created in either Illustrator or Photoshop and given effects and textures according to the scene. I think that aspects of Night in the Woods are visible in my first scene, but definitely not in the final scene of my animation, since there’s a lot of details and effects that I used. For my scenes/backgrounds, I chose to use Photoshop alone, no Illustrator or scanning in drawings, since I believed that Photoshop was the best option for creating these scenes, and I still stand by that, as it offers many effects and is much more versatile in my opinion, I do end up using Illustrator later on however, since I needed to create two assets for my scene, which was the green arrow which appears at the end of the animation to tell the player that the character can move on, and the mouse cursor which was very important and a good detail in my opinion, as it makes it look like an actual point and click game. Of course, Illustrator is far superior to Photoshop when you need to create complex shapes which can’t be made in Photoshop in a short amount of time however. I also used Adobe After Effects to animate my ‘Start Game’ scene, as the background was created entirely in Photoshop and could only be animated in After Effects, given what I had planned to do. Back to my scenes, I chose to create them in a somewhat simple visual style as I knew that my animated characters would be excessively simple, and turns out I was right. I do think that all three scenes that I created all adhere to the same general theme of being futuristic and cyberpunk, and certainly communicate my intentions and the atmosphere of my animation. 

Personal Analysis of my Final Animation

So my initial intention for my animation was to do a fighting scene, which I actually ended up with. While I was animating, I was essentially improvising what would come next, as for some reason, I never actually planned out the whole thing using a storyboard. I intended for my animation to be entertaining, whilst still trying to adhere to the project name, a point and click game. Actually,  now that I think about it, I had a second idea kept in my head during the very early stages of this project, which would take more of an adventurous route, which I thought somewhere down the line afterwards wouldn’t be as fun to animate. I don’t think that counts as my final animation changing in the end, since I didn’t choose it to begin with, so if anything, it changed during the early phase, before planning. I think that my idea of creating a fight scene was kind of ambitious, but I didn’t want to go over the top in terms of concepts, so I had to limit my imagination a little there, but as I go on, and learn more and more, I’ll hopefully become more versatile in my skill set, and be able to create very ambitious animations, with camera movement etc. In terms of software knowledge, I had a lot of experience in using Photoshop, since I’d been using it a while ago, and I’d had the opportunity to learn it even more this past year, so I wasn’t limited in my background creation. In Adobe Animate, I was less knowledgeable, however, I’ve actually been animating for the past 7 or so years, on and off of course, on a software called Flipnote Hatena, which was on my Nintendo DSi, so I had learned some basic animation techniques which I developed from experimenting over on that, like smearing, it’s a technique that can be seen in my animation quite a lot - maybe I used it a bit too much, but anyway, it’s when you draw a kind of lazy-looking frame between other frames, to simulate the character or object moving quickly. I may find a way to share some of those animations at some point, I have some good ones on there. Anyway, my point is that moving from that software to Adobe Animate wasn’t too difficult a transition, especially since I’d used it in secondary school before, so I was able to adapt to it with relative ease.

Throughout this project, I haven’t particularly learned any groundbreaking new techniques or anything, though I have absolutely had the chance to develop my already existing techniques and skills. It also helped give me experience with combining different scenes together, and then animating them when they were all together, for example, it was tricky at first when I wanted to combine all of these different scenes, but, after a bit of trial and error, I manged to get them together and start animating the mouse cursor, since it was much easier to do this in After Effects. Along with this, I also used the trial and error method when it came to exporting my final finished animation from After Effects, since that was the last software that I used, which held all of my scenes together, as well as the mouse cursor movement and the green arrow at the end. I remember vividly that I ended up having to export it at least 15 times, since I had to keep messing with the quality to try and get the best that I could. I ended up getting a sub par quality when I rendered and exported at home, and then somehow, when I tried it at school, I ended up with a better quality version, which I have uploaded to YouTube. The quality isn’t the greatest and there are black bars on the left and right sides, but it will have to do at this point. I did look up a few tutorials online, but none yielded any success. 

When it comes to my animation, while I’m pleased with the result, I actually believe that it doesn’t look a whole lot like a game, which is a shame, considering the amount of time that I poured into it. I think that the main problem or reason for this is that it looks too fluid perhaps, and also it just looks more like an actual animation, since the movement is so fast - I think that the mouse cursor which I implemented during the After Effects phase as well the start game screen sort of saved the whole thing from looking completely like just a cell animation. I do have an idea of what could be improved to make my animation look more like a game actually, and I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t think of this throughout the entirety of the animation process. What I’m thinking is that when the characters stop, they could kind of bounce up an down, I think that’s called an idle animation or something - it wouldn’t have been such a difficult task to do as well, so it’s a shame I didn’t think to do it. It could’ve also drawn out the animation a little longer maybe. I think that the smear frames that I mentioned earlier definitely don’t help the animation in terms of it looking like a game, though I saw no better alternative for fast movement, since it would look choppy and weird when a character moves from one side to the other if those were the only frames. If I had all the time in the world, I would’ve increased the FPS to something high, but I didn’t so I stuck with the option that I believed was best.

I think that I did a somewhat decent job at getting it to look like a game in the end. Though when it comes to time management, I started off terribly. When I started animating in Adobe Animate, the FPS count was set at 24. So me doing a completely frame by frame animation, I was drawing out these entire characters every single frame and it was taking me so long - I was getting incredibly frustrated at times, and considered completely scrapping the idea of doing a frame by frame animation. This lasted almost two weeks, with me barely getting anything done, and I was beginning to panic, since the deadline was fast approaching, and I had only done just under two seconds total. I had the idea to create a ‘Start Game’ scene, which could be considered a cop out, though I needed it if I wanted to get even close to the 10 second minimum, or so I thought. I made sure to make this screen look good visually, and so I began animating it after I’d finished creating it in Photoshop. I even added a mouse cursor that would click on a button to start the game - I managed to draw this one out to three whole seconds. I was pleased with it but I realised that I needed to go back to the dreaded 24 FPS animation.

One afternoon when I was working on it at home however, I randomly decided to look at the right hand side of the Adobe Animate document, and saw the FPS button, I decided to mess around with it and move it up and down, and when I played it at 18 FPS, I noticed that the number of keyframes in each second decreased, and the length of my animation so far was now at 4 seconds. So I played the animation that I had so far, and it actually looked better than when it was at 24 FPS, since that was way too fast for what I was doing. I decided to move the FPS down even further, and stopped at 15 FPS after playing it a few times, and realising that this speed looked so much better, the animation was longer, at about five and a half seconds. I was very happy with this turn of events, and became motivated to finish it again. I understand this was kind of unrelated from the start of this paragraph, but I just wanted to explain that as I felt it was rather important to the whole project. 

Personal Opinions on my Performance & Final Work

Overall, I am very satisfied with my animation. I believe that the time and effort that I put into it payed off, though it still has its strengths and glaring weaknesses throughout.

First of all, I think that unfortunately, the negative aspects outweigh the strengths, though I think the animation kind of carries the positive aspects. Anyway, speaking of the animation, I tried to get the entirety of it as fluid and smooth as I possibly could, which may actually be considered a weakness, since that is probably one of the main reasons for it not looking like a game. But set that aside, and I think that it is one of the main good things about the animation, alongside the added effects that I added post Adobe Animate (the green arrow and the mouse cursor), since these two aspects help drastically make the animation look more game-like in my opinion. Back to the animation, I’m very pleased with how I animated the electricity emanating from the enemy, and especially when he is charging an electricity beam, and I think that it is instantly recognisable as electricity, which is definitely a good thing (then again, what else would it possibly be). The backgrounds are also a major plus of the whole thing, I think that they’re all well-made, except maybe the scene where they’re in the sky, it looks a bit strange. Though the first two scenes definitely correspond with each other, and actually look like they’re from the same thing. 

As for the negative aspects of the final animation, the weaknesses, are quite prominent in their numbers, though I think as I mentioned before, the animation definitely cancels them out a bit. Anyway, one of the first negatives to take away would be the the characters in comparison to the background. They don’t really correspond to each other and look out of place, although then again, there are a lot of types of animation out there that utilise real backgrounds and then have 2-dimensional characters moving around on them. An example of this that I remember watching at one point would be Aug(De)Mented Reality, which uses real life scenarios with 2-dimensional traditional animation cels. Another example would be anime (or sometimes western animations) - they draw these often very detailed backgrounds because nothing will be interacting with them, so they can just keep them static, but go all out with the detail. A specific example would be the animated movie Your Name, which does has some animated aspects, though my point is that the background is incredibly detailed compared to the main characters (and all characters for that matter). Back to things looking out of place, the green arrow at the end definitely looks strange, no matter how you look at it, since this time it doesn’t just look weird with the background, it looks weird with the animated characters too, I don’t really see a way around it to be honest, except maybe change the colour or even hand draw the arrow in adobe animate. Something I want to point out is Ace and his attire, namely, his trench coat, which I seemed to have subconsciously changed into a cape somewhere along the lines. Finally, the last thing I want to mention is the movement and speed of actions. Essentially, while animating the mouse cursor over in After Effects, I realised I didn’t have a whole lot of time for the mouse to stop at some parts, namely, near the end of the first scene. I just think that there needed to be more pause between actions to allow for more mouse movement to be a little slower, and those idle animations I mentioned would help with this greatly.

There are a handful of things that I would do differently if I were to redo the entire project, including a couple that would have been really beneficial to me. For starters, I’ll go back to the character movement again, I really think that it’s too fast paced, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you can do a fight scene well, which I did, but I think it lacked different camera angles and movement etc. So I believe that when a character is finished performing an action, they should just pause for a bit, so that 1: I can have slower mouse movement, and 2: it won’t look solely like an animation, as opposed to a game, which is what the objective was. The other very important thing that I didn’t do for some reason, would be to create a story board, because I was improvising throughout the entire thing, and if I just drew out a few pages worth of boxes, it could’ve been a lot more structured, and I may have finished the animation a lot sooner, because I knew what I was doing. Also, this probably goes without saying, but I would have started at a much lower FPS than 24 when I started out the animation, since 24 is just way too many for a simple point and click game. 

But overall though, I am pleased with my final animation and I do think that I was successful in creating an animation which adhered to the project name, and I think I managed my time fairly well, more so in the second half of the project, where I was on a roll with creating the final scene and animating once I’d figured out that I didn’t need to animate at 24 FPS. There were things that I did to speed up the process though, like with Ace’s character - he’s literally transparent, which is a decision that I decided on during the early stages of animating the first scene. He was too detailed a character, since he has different segments (clothes) unlike the enemy, which I just coloured one solid colour, along with the eye. Also, I just didn’t want to deal with the fill tool, which I had to deal with enough when I was colouring in the enemy - I kept trying to fill him in, only to find out that there were still like two or three gaps in the lines, so it wouldn’t fill. Another thing I did was near the end of the animation, I started copy and pasting frames and moving them a little bit instead of hand drawing all of the frames, which is something I should’ve done since the start, but still hand drawn the necessary frames. It saved a lot of time. 

I really didn’t plan on writing 3703 words for this, I think it’s the most I’ve ever written. I guess I just had a lot to talk about.

[the-desolated-quill]

The Wedding Of River Song - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Sigh. Okay, let’s get this over with.

The Wedding Of River Song was never going to work. Let’s be honest. This entire arc this series has been handled so poorly that there’s no way Moffat could possibly have tied up all the loose ends in a satisfying way. So at the time I basically resigned myself to the fact that the Series 6 finale was probably going to be a steaming pile of shit. There was always a chance Moffat could have proved me wrong and surprised me with something truly spectacular, but deep down I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

So how was The Wedding Of River Song. Well believe it or not I was actually quite engaged for the first 10 or 15 minutes. The Doctor is zipping around the universe trying to find out why the Silence want him dead (something the series should have been focused on long before this, but better late than never I suppose). This leads to some pretty imaginative locations. I like the idea of ‘Live Chess’ and thought the crypt of the Headless Monks was very creepy (I could have done without the chattering skulls though. Bit too smirksome for my liking). Moffat even managed to wring some genuine emotion out of me in the scene where the Doctor learns about the Brigadier’s death. If you’re not familiar with the classic series, i imagine this scene must have confused you somewhat. For me it was incredibly moving. It’s very well handled, Matt Smith gives a great performance and it seems fitting that the passing of his oldest and dearest friend would be what allows the Doctor to accept his own death.

There’s just one problem with all of this though, and it’s a problem that’s been hanging over this entire series like a dark rain cloud. We know the Doctor isn’t going to die. If this truly was the show’s final ending, a lot of what happens here would have been a lot more impactful. But it isn’t. We knew at the time we were getting another series after this. We knew at the time that they were planning a 50th anniversary special. So all we’re left with is this feeling of mild curiosity as to how the Doctor is going to get out of this situation. There’s no real emotional investment or tension or anything.

But wait. It gets worse. Oh SOOOOOOOOOO much worse!

So the Doctor meets River on the shores of Lake Silencio, but wait a minute. Why does River need to be in the spacesuit? It’s fully automated. She doesn’t have any control over it. And if she’s being held in there against her will, why is she put in prison for it? She’s clearly a pawn of the Silence. Why don’t the Stormcage people go after them? Well here’s the thing, I say she has no control over the spacesuit, but then all of a sudden she does, which was really jarring. But anyway, the Doctor survives and suddenly the whole of time goes wibbly. While the whole concept of time dying is basically just the Series 5 finale all over again, the idea of history happening all at once could be interesting, but Moffat never actually does anything with it. It’s basically just a bunch of anachronisms and other random shit thrown together. Also if all of time is happening at once, how come everyone is capable of having intelligible conversations?

Let’s jump back to River for a minute. Considering Moffat’s one note obsession with her, you’d think she’d come out of this a deeper and more interesting character, but she doesn’t. River Song is not and never has been a character. She’s just a loose collection of character traits that don’t seem to marry up with each other. She’s in love with the Doctor and seems to have a warm relationship with her parents Amy and Rory, but she also frequently describes herself as a psychopath.

Do you see why this doesn’t quite work? And again, would it kill Moffat to Google what a psychopath actually is? You can’t raise one and one of their defining traits is their total lack of empathy. River Song is NOT a psychopath.

And it’s not just River. Characterisation is utterly butchered in this episode all around. Moffat is once again more concerned with tying up the loose ends to his convoluted as fuck series arc instead of actually exploring what the characters are thinking and feeling. River Song is basically little more than a plot device and I will never buy her supposed romance with the Doctor. It’s not Matt Smith or Alex Kingston’s fault. They’re doing their best, but I don’t think even Helen Mirren could salvage anything form this pile of garbage. Rory is once again shoved to the side and the way Moffat handles Amy’s character borders on tactless. A lot of people complained about how Moffat handled the whole pregnancy subplot, and I suspect he added the scene where Amy kills Madame Kovarian to address the lack of emotional followup to Let’s Kill Hitler, but it really doesn’t work. For one thing, it’s too little too late by this point, and another thing, it feels wildly out of character for Amy. Do you honestly expect me to believe that Amy would kill another human, not to save her baby, but as an act of cold blooded revenge? Fuck off Moffat! The ironic thing is I’ve never liked Amy very much, but I think even I have more respect for her character than Moffat clearly does.

The further this episode goes along, the more it falls apart and the more infuriated I became. Once again we see Moffat changing the rules like he did with the Weeping Angels in order to accommodate his crap plot. Remember when River chastised the Doctor for being a dangerous person that millions of people feared? Well now all of a sudden he’s adored by them now and they’re all desperately pleading for him not to die. Well which is it Moffat? You can’t say the Doctor is a feared monster with no justification only to then turn around and go in the complete opposite direction with equally no justification. And that’s not the only thing. River can’t control the spacesuit until all of a sudden she can. The Doctor can’t remember the Silence until all of a sudden he can. Even the series arc itself starts to mutate. Before it was ‘Silence will fall when the question is asked.’ Now it’s ‘Silence must fall when the question is answered.’ Bit of a teeny, tiny difference there, wouldn’t you say?

But if there’s one thing I really can’t stand, it’s the whole lying thing. For some reason Moffat seems to think having the Doctor and River lie constantly makes for clever twists. Well it doesn’t. It’s just cheap and lazy, and it has the consequence of breaking the audience’s faith in what’s happening on screen. See there’s a world of difference between misleading an audience and blatantly lying to them. Were you touched by River’s shock at the Doctor’s death in The Impossible Astronaut? Psyche! She was lying all the time! Were you moved by the Doctor coming to terms with his own mortality? Ha! Gotcha! He had a plan all along and was lying the whole time! It just rips the emotion out of the whole thing and I won’t be inclined to believe anything the characters say or feel ever again. And some lies don’t even make sense. When the Doctor ‘marries’ River, he whispers in her ear about the Tesselecta disguise and then blurts out to Amy and Rory that he told her his real name. But... why would the Doctor need to lie about that? Why not just tell them the plan? It’s not as if they’re going to tell anyone else.

And then we come to the stupid as fuck resolution. The Doctor uses the Tesselecta to fake his death. But wait. What about the fixed point in time? They were quite clear about that. The Doctor needs to die. He’s not dead, so shouldn’t time still be all wibbly? And then he makes the idiotic suggestion that he now needs to step back into the shadows. Easier said than done mate. How do you intend to do that? Presumably you’re still going to be travelling through time and space and fighting aliens. Don’t you think the Silence might catch on to that, you fucking moron?

And the series arc still isn’t finished yet. We’ve still got the Fields of Trenzalore and the Question to deal with, and do you know what? I couldn’t be any less interested. I mean just look at how this arc was handled. Not only is it poorly written and ill conceived, the answers we get to some of the questions we’ve been asking are all so painfully obvious. Who is River to the Doctor? His wife. What crime did she commit? She killed the Doctor. And what’s the First Question hidden in plain sight that must never be answered? Say it with me now, altogether:

Considering all this River Song bullshit started way back in 2008 with the Silence In the Library two parter, was it really worth waiting three years for such an utterly underwhelming conclusion?

You know this actually reminds me of another show Moffat writes for...

What’s that Moffat fans? You thought I was going to let your precious Sherlock off the hook, did you? Guess again my little possums :D

Sherlock is in my opinion the second worst thing Moffat has ever written (the first being Jekyll). It’s an overly produced, convoluted and utterly pretentious pile of rubbish that only bears a passing resemblance to the source material. For seven years people had deluded themselves into think this worthless excuse for a TV show is actually clever and it comes as a blessed relief to see people finally stop drinking the Kool-Aid and realise what a load of utter bollocks Sherlock really is. Fan reception for Series 4 has been pretty negative and some are utterly confused as to how this could have happened. How could such a once great show fall so far? I have an answer for you. The show was never good to begin with. Series 1, 2 and 3 were just as bad as Series 4. The only thing that’s changed is people’s perception of the show. Fans finally started to realise that all these plots and arcs and questions weren’t going to have any satisfying payoff. Series 4 doesn’t represent the slow deterioration of a once great show. It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s a point where Moffat’s bullshit became so blatant and so insulting that not even the diehard fans could possibly justify it. 

The reason I mention Sherlock is because I feel it’s the best example of Moffat’s incredibly flawed approach to storytelling. His whole schtick is teasing bigger mysteries and more interesting stories to come as opposed to, you know, telling interesting stories. With Sherlock, the focus was on prolonging the ridiculous conflict between Sherlock and Moriarty, to the point where character arcs and smaller stories fell to the wayside. The same is true with his series arcs in Doctor Who. Moffat’s first series is about someone blowing up the TARDIS. Then we come to the Doctor dying, at which point the whole mystery of the exploding TARDIS just gets silently dropped. We get a lot of information about River Song’s involvement, but we don’t have time to properly get to know her character outside of all of this because by that point Moffat is teasing the much bigger mystery of Trenzalore, and so on. Arcs are left incomplete and characters left underdeveloped because Moffat is more concerned with teasing bigger and better stories rather than focusing on the story he’s currently telling. And he tries to keep you invested by saying that all the stuff that doesn’t make sense and have been left unresolved might be explained later on. He maintains the illusion that there’s an interesting story just on the horizon, but the fact is you’ll never get to see it because it simply doesn’t exist.

Now don’t me wrong. If you still like Sherlock, that’s your prerogative. I’m not trying to make fun of you. I certainly wouldn’t dream of taking the piss out of the people who came up with the bizarre theory based on wild conjecture and misinterpretation of evidence that there was going to be a secret good fourth Sherlock episode that would solve all the problems of Series 4. They’re not idiots for thinking that. They’re just the ones that bought into Moffat’s bullshit hook, line and sinker. They honestly thought there was an episode coming that would fix everything and explain all the inconsistencies because that’s what Moffat has led them to believe. It’s a deceptive and fraudulent trick I picked up on a long time ago and it makes it hard for me to enjoy Moffat’s so called ‘good’ stories like The Empty Child and The Girl In the Fireplace because once you notice all his tricks and gimmicks, that’s ALL you notice.

Since I started reviewing the Moffat era, I’ve had a few people sending me messages about what an idiot I am and what an undisputed genius Moffat is. I can honestly understand people’s frustration when a smartarse blogger like myself comes along and starts ripping one of their favourite writers to shreds, but with respect, you’re really just deluding yourselves. I’m sorry to have to break this to you, but a writer that relies on blatantly lying to the audience, changing his own established rules and contorting his characters and plots into unnatural shapes to makes his stories work, whilst continuously making false promises that a future episode will one day make sense of all of this convoluted chaos, at the end of the day is just a bad writer.

When I think of Doctor Who Series 6, all I can think of is wasted potential. The Doctor dying, the Silence, and even River Song could have been something really interesting. And while there were some bright spots along the way (The Doctor’s Wife and The Girl Who Waited), Series 6 was ultimately a lacklustre experience, and The Wedding Of River Song just wasn’t a satisfying conclusion no matter how you try and spin it.

[maximelebled]

2017

Howdy! Time for the yearly blog post! There's enough depressing stuff that happened this year, so I want to try and not focus too much on that; talk more about the positive and the personal. (I am looking back on this opening paragraph after writing everything else, and I don’t think that ended up true.)

I find it increasingly harder to just straight up talk about things, especially in a direct manner. I think it comes from continuing to realize that so many things are extremely subjective and everything has so much nuance to it that I feel really uncomfortable saying a straight "yes" or a straight "no" to a lot of questions ("Nazis are bad" is not one, though). Or even just a straight answer.

I always end up wanting to go into tangents, and I inevitably run into not being able to phrase that nuance. You know that feeling, when you know something, you have the thought in your head; it is so clear, right there in your head, it is crystal-clear to your soul, yet you have no idea how to word it, let alone doing so in 140/280/500 characters. Frustrating!

I guess I could just put a big disclaimer here, "I am not a paragon of absolute truth and don't start interpreting my words as 'Max thinks he is the authority on XYZ' because you'd be quite foolish to do so"; but that doesn't help that much. Online discourse, let alone presence, can be so tiresome these days; not to be too Captain Obvious, but, there are quite a lot of people that delight in engaging those they see as their "opponents" in bad faith.

As a white man, I don't have it that bad, but still, I'll continue to tell you one thing: the block button is extremely good and you should feel no shame in using it. It drastically improves your online experience. (There are some very clear signs that make me instantly slam the button. I’m sure you know which ones too.)

Anyway, regardless, it's hard to get rid of a habit, especially one you've unwillingly taken on yourself, so I apologize in advance for constantly writing all those "most likely", "probably", "maybe" words, and writing in a style that can come off as annoyingly hesitant sometimes.

I started watching Star Trek this year. My Netflix history tells me: January 29th for TOS/TAS, March 26th for TNG, June 3rd for DS9, November 9th for Voyager.

TOS was really interesting to watch. A lot of things stood out: the (relative) minimalism of the sets and the directing was reminiscent of theater, and even though that was, generally speaking, because that's how TV shows used to be made, it was still striking. From a historical perspective, "fascinating" would still be an ill-suited word to describe it. Seeing that this is where a lot of sci-fi concepts came from, suddenly understanding all the references and nods made everywhere else... it was also soothing to watch a show about mankind having finally united, having exploration and discovery as its sole goal. I feel like it wouldn't have made as big of an impact on me, had I watched it a year prior.

I've always thought of myself as rejecting cynicism, abhorring it, but it's harder and harder to hold on to that as time goes on. I still want to believe in the inner good of mankind, of people in general, but man, it's hard sometimes. I think what really gnaws at me most of the time is how so many of the little bits of good that we can, and are doing, individually, and which do add up... can get struck down or "wasted away" so quickly. The two examples that I have in mind: Bitcoin, this gigantic mess, the least efficient system ever designed by mankind, has already nullified a decade's worth of power savings from the European Union's regulations on energy-efficient light bulbs. And then there's stuff like big prominent YouTubers being, to stay polite, huge irresponsible fools despite the responsibility they have in front of a massive audience of very young people. It can be really depressing to think about the sheer scale of this kind of stuff.

What we can all do on an individual level still matters, of course! I try my best not to use my car, to buy local, reduce my use of plastic, optimize my power usage, etc.; speaking of that, I've often thought about making a small website about teaching the gamer demographic in general quick easy ways to save energy. There is so much misinformation out there, gamers who disable all the power-saving features of their hardware just to get 2 more frames per second in their games, people who overclock so much that they consume 60% more power for 10% more performance, the list goes on. Maybe I'll get around to it some day.

All this stuff going on makes it hard to want to project yourself far ahead in the future. Why plan ahead your retirement in 40 years when it feels like there's a significant chance the world will go to shit by then? It's grim... but it definitely makes me understand the saying "live like there's no tomorrow". Not that I'm gonna become an irresponsible person who burns all their savings on stupid stuff, but for the time being... I don't feel like betting on a better tomorrow, so I might as well save a little bit less for the far future and have a nicer present. You know the stories of American workers who got scammed out of their own 401k? That's, in essence, the kind of stuff I wish to avoid. If that makes sense.

Anyway, going off that long depressing tangent: something I liked a lot across The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, was how consistent they were. The style of directing, framing, camera movement, etc. was always very similar. Now, you can argue that's just how 80s and 90s TV shows on a budget, a 4:3 aspect ratio, and smaller SD screens worked, yes, but I do believe there is a special consistency that stuck out to me. I jumped into the newest series, Discovery, right after finishing Voyager (I don't plan on watching Enterprise) and the first two episodes were confusing to watch... shaky cam, a lot of traveling shots, shallow depth-of-field, and the tendency to put two characters at the extreme left and right of the frame.It’s a hell of a leap forwards in directing trends. It all gets better after the first two episodes, though.

I remember alluding to the King of Pain project in my last yearly post. I'm glad I managed to finally do it. I'd talk about it here, but why do it when I've made 70 minutes of video about it? (And unlike my previous behind-the-scenes videos, it's a lot more condensed, and hopefully entertaining.) Unfortunately for me, I completed the video in late June, with only a month left to the TI7 Short Film Contest deadline. So I ended up making two videos back-to-back. I had to buy a new laptop in order to finish the video during my yearly pilgrimage to Seattle. It was intense! And thankfully, I managed to pull off the Hat Trick: winning the contest three years in a row. I would like to think it's a pretty good achievement, but you know how us artists are in general; as soon as we achieve something, we start thinking "eh, it wasn't that good anyway" and we raise our bar higher still.

While I do intend to participate in the contest again next year, I know I'll most likely do something more personal, that would probably be less of a safe bet, now that the pressure of winning 3 in a row is gone. I already have a few ideas lined up...

... and I do have a very interesting project going on right now! If it goes through and I don't miserably land flat on my face (which, unfortunately, has a non-zero chance of happening), you'll see it in about a month from now.

I'm pretty happy to have reached a million views on all three of my shorts; a million and a half on the TI7 one, too... it might reach two million within six months if it keeps getting views at the current rate. It surprises me a bit that this might end up being my first "big" video, one that keeps getting put on people's sidebar by the all-mighty YouTube™ Algorithm™. There's often a disconnect between what you consider to be your best work, and what ends up being the most popular.

This reminds me that, a lot of the time, I get people who ask me if I'm a streamer or a "YouTuber". My usual answer is that I'm on YouTube, but I'm not a "YouTuber". I wholeheartedly reject that subculture, the cult of personalities, the attempts at parasocial relationships, and all that stuff. It's just not for me. Now, that said, I do hope to achieve 100k subscribers one day... I'm getting closer and closer every day! The little silver trophy for bragging rights would be neat.

My office was renovated by my dad while I was gone. It's much nicer now, and I finally have a place to put most of my Dota memorabilia. He actually sent me this picture I didn't know he'd taken, behind my back, in 2014; the difference is striking... (I think that game I'm playing is Dragon Age: Inquisition.)

Tinnitus. I first noticed my tinnitus when I was 20. I vividly remember the "hold on a second" moment I had in bed... man, if I'd known back then how worse it'd get. Then again, the game was rigged from the start; as a kid, I had frequent ear infections because my canals are weird and small. What didn't help either was the itching; back then, they thought it was mycosis... and treatment for that didn't help at all. Turns out it was psoriasis! Which I also started getting on my right arm that year. (It's eczema, it's itchy, it's chronic, and the treatment steroid cream. Or steroids.) Both conditions got worse since then, too.

Tinnitus becomes truly horrible when you start the doubt the noises you're hearing. When all you have is the impossible-to-describe high-pitched whine, things are, relatively speaking, fine. You know what the noise is, and you learn, you know not to focus on it. But with my tinnitus evolving, new "frequencies", I have, on occasion, started doubting whether I was hearing an actual noise or if it was just my inner ear and brain working in concert to make it up. So I end up thinking about it, actively, and that makes it come back. I had a truly awful week when, during an inner ear infection, the noise got so shrill, so overwhelming, I lost so much sleep over it. I couldn't tune it out anymore. It was like it was at the center of my head and not in my ears anymore. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I'm not even sure that I'm in the clear yet regarding that. But, like I said, it's best if I don't dwell on it. Thinking of the noise is no bueno.

Really, the human body is bullshit. Here's another example. A couple months ago, I managed to bite the inside of my mouth three separate times. I hate when it happens, not because of the immediate pain, but because I already dread the mouth ulcer / canker sore (not sure which is the appropriate medical translation; the French word is "apthe"). Well, guess what: none of these three incidents had the bite degenerate into an ulcer... but one appeared out of nowhere, in a different spot, two weeks later. And while mouthwash works in the moment, it feels like it never actually helps... it's like I have to wait for my body to realize, after at least ten days, oh yeah, you know what, maybe I should take care of this wound in my mouth over here. And it always waits until it gets quite big. There's no way to nip these goddamn things in the bud when they're just starting.

But really, I feel like I shouldn't really complain? All in all, it could be much worse, so so so much worse. I could have Crohn's disease. I could have cancer. I could have some other horrible rare disease. Localized psoriasis and tinnitus isn't that bad, as far as the life lottery goes. As far as I'm aware, there's nothing hereditary in my family, besides the psoriasis, and the male pattern baldness. I wonder how I'll deal with that one ten, fifteen years down the line...

Just as I'm finishing writing this, the Meltdown & Spectre security flaws have been revealed... spooky stuff, and it makes me glad I still haven't upgraded my desktop PC after five years. I've been meaning to do it because my i7 4770 (non-K) has started being a bit of a bottleneck, that and my motherboard has been a bit defective the whole time (only two RAM slots working). But thankfully I didn't go for it! I guess I will once they fix the fundamental architectural flaws.

The Y2K bug was 18 years late after all.

Here's a non-exhaustive list (because I’m trying to skip most of the very obvious stuff, but also because I forget stuff) of media I enjoyed this year:

Series & movies:

Star Trek (see above)

Travelers

The Expanse

Predestination (2014)

ARQ

Swiss Army Man

Video games:

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Horizon: Zero Dawn

What remains of Edith Finch

Uncharted: Lost Legacy

Wolfenstein II

Super Mario Odyssey

Metroid: Samus Returns

OneShot

Prey

Music:

Cheetah EP by James Hunter USA

VESPERS by Thomas Ferkol

Some older stuff from Demis Roussos and Boney M.... and, I'll admit reluctantly, still the same stuff: Solar Fields, the CBS/Sony Sound Image Series, Himiko Kikuchi, jazz fusion, etc. I'm still just as big a sucker for songs that ooze with atmosphere. (I've been meaning to write some sort of essay on Solar Fields... it's there, floating in my head... but it's that thing I wrote earlier: you know the idea, intimately, but you're not sure how to put it into words. Maybe one day!)

I think that's about it this year. I hope to write about 2018 in better terms!

See you next year.

[impishnature]

The Light Keeper (Part 15/END)

AO3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14

Rating: T

Summary: A beast lurks in the waters. Stan loses Ford to the waves, the lighthouse his only point of contact and hope of ever getting him back. …He used to love the sea, now it’s taken everything from him.

Lighthouse Keeper AU.

Series of One-shots.

AN: Commission and story collab with @sightkeeper based on their Lighthouse Keeper AU (link above). 

The finale is here!!! Ahh this story comes to a close and I enjoyed every second of it!

.

Part 15: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Legacy

“Hey Stan, would you still like to go sailing together?”

Stan woke up within an instant. For a second he had thought he’d heard… but he couldn’t have. It felt like he’d heard the words through a fog, like the light should have been flickering on behind him and he could hear the wisps again, trying to cut deep into his core, wound him in ways he hadn’t thought he could still get hurt.

For a second his heart beat painfully against his ribs, the blink of a small sail boat with a lone figure out on the deck glued to the back of his eyelids and the stale bitter tang of betrayal and disappointment sitting on the back of his throat.

And then it was gone again. His brother sat beside him, instead of out on the waves without him. It hurt, it always had hurt but it was in the past where it should firmly stay. After all, he had his brother back now, they were finally talking again. They had both done things they regretted in the past, he wasn’t going to bring it up. Wasn’t going to ask- How? Why? How could you stand- No. He gulped down the bitterness, shaking his head at the words as if they were a memory from another time, waking himself up further in the process.

He rolled his shoulders, yawning as he turned to Ford, fully intending to ignore the weird thought that had popped into his head before he froze at the look on his brother’s face. He looked thoughtful, half asleep, but definitely thoughtful and intrigued. It was a look that used to amuse Stan, that gleam to his eye that appeared whenever his brother was deep in thought, the possibilities buzzing. It had been a look that didn’t come out with school work, as much as Ford was good at it all, it never really held his attention for longer than he needed to do it.

No, it was his own projects outside of school that garnered that look. Each filled with complex details Stan couldn’t grasp but still he was happy to listen because his brother would get so excited at an audience and Stan knew deep down that Ford at least tried to explain in ways that would interest Stan enough to keep his attention.

And if not his projects, then their project.

…The Stan’O’War.

That was when Stan was really happy to see that look, the one that now seemed so reminiscent of so many years ago. When the pair of them had stood on the beach and looked out to sea and he knew his brother had been just as ready to leave as he was. There was so much to do, so much to explore and they were going to do it together-

But that was then, when the sea was inviting and full of promise and this was now.

Now he was just a bitter old man who had lost far too much to the waves to want to let anyone he loved near them again.

His eyes followed Ford’s gaze to the foamy seas, his own thoughts more disgusted as his eyes skimmed the waters. It had been the bane of his existence for so long, that that dream of his had been well and truly ripped to shreds by the undertow.

He turned to his brother again, with what he could only imagine was abject horror on his face.

“Please tell me I didn’t hear you say what I think you just said.”

Ford blinked awake beside him, turning to him with a puzzled expression and for a second he breathed a sigh of relief. An apology sat on his tongue, an excuse that he must have fallen asleep, sorry, ignore him, ready to unleash as soon as Ford asked what he was talking about.

But the words died, slipping back down his throat to stop him saying anything at all as Ford studied him intently, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion, though there was an apologetic aura to his body language as he reached out a hand and gripped Stan’s knee. He hadn’t even noticed that his back had gone ramrod straight, that his entire body had locked up when Ford didn’t instantly brush away his worries and let him know everything was OK.

“Stan? Stan, what’s wrong? I only asked…” Ford didn’t finish the sentence, worry and concern overflowing as Stan shook his head.

“No, you can’t be serious.” Stan took a deep breath, staring over at Ford, trying to shake the feeling of impending doom. “Sorry, I must have misheard the question. Shoot, Sixer. Cause right now I’m really hoping that I was asleep and translated the question wrong.”

“Alright.” Ford gave an apprehensive smile, giving Stan’s knee another squeeze as he relaxed. “You worried me for a second there, I wondered what had happened.” He felt San relax as well and gave a small sigh of relief. “That’s it. Sorry for spooking you, probably shouldn’t have whispered anything up here, what with- A-anyway.” He coughed awkwardly, glancing back out to sea, feeling Stan’s eyes on him. There was that small thrill still as his eyes scanned the horizon, that ever present gleam that there was so much to do, so much to explore and learn if only they could get there. He knew, of course he knew, that that insatiable yearning for knowledge and curiosity had got him into this mess in the first place but now his brother was with him again and he felt like a kid again. Like they were sat on the beach, watching the world go by and making big plans together.

He’d thrown himself into research when his brother had been kicked out, anything to not think about anything else. He’d stopped thinking all together about a lot of things – self-destructive, his self-preservation had almost deserted him. He knew that now. Knew that he’d just stopped caring as long as he could solve the next big puzzle thrown in front of him.

He knew now that going off alone, whether on sea or on land, was a bad choice. He just couldn’t trust himself to not get lost within his own head.

Plus he didn’t want to be alone anymore. And he didn’t want to leave his family, they all meant more to him than research ever could.

For the first time in a very long time, not even counting the years below the waves, he finally felt like his thought processes were a little bit healthier in his attitude to looking after himself.

Sure he teased Stan relentlessly about needing sleep but… he just couldn’t resist.

In reality he did know that he needed to sleep to be able to spend time with them all, and he really was trying to.

And so now, sat beside his brother, the early morning rays painting the horizon pink, his thoughts had gone back to what they’d always planned. Not just for research, but because it had always been what they both wanted. His brother was an adventurer at heart, he should never have been stuck in the same place for 30 years, it didn’t suit him. They should have been out, solving mysteries, fighting monsters, the two of them against the world like they’d always said they were going to be.

He wanted to go adventuring with him, wanted to use what time they had left to chase the waves and go wherever the wind took them. Safe in the knowledge that when they returned there’d be people waiting for them, to stop them from going overboard at any point.

A place to call home.

A safety net to make sure neither of them forgot there were people who cared and who they cared about, who they needed to see again.

All the feelings, all the possibilities and wonders of the world were catching up with him on that sleepy warm morning. Everything that he had locked away, deep below his anger and all that bitter resentment after their argument, after Stan was kicked out. Anything good that had been connected to Stanley, all of it, he had pushed as far away as he could because thinking of it brought a wave of sadness that he couldn’t deal with. His anger had been easy, it had given him a drive, given him a route to run down, scorching the earth as he did, but the sadness had always taken that from him, left him lost and painfully alone and wondering where exactly he was running too.

Now, safe in the knowledge that it had all been an accident, that if they’d just spoken, communicated, maybe none of this would ever have happened, those old dreams had reignited. It was all there ready for them, ready for the taking, if only they were ready to go out there and take it.

Wasn’t that what Stan had always wanted too?

The adventure of a lifetime?

Any hesitance that he had had at Stan’s sudden panic vanished out of the window and scattered on the wind. Stan hadn’t heard him properly, that was all, he’d whispered it in a place where Stan was used to hearing whispers while they were both half asleep and it had gotten distorted along the way.

Of course, Stan would be ready to finally go on that trip they’d always said they would.

He should still ask though, that was how it worked, right?

Even if he knew they both wanted it, he still needed to make sure.

Stan probably just hadn’t gotten round to asking him yet.

“What I asked was, whether you’d still like to go sailing? What was it… ‘Ready to sail around the world on the adventure of a lifetime’?”

“No.”

Ford hummed, frowning as his eyes stayed locked on the water. “No? It wasn’t that? Huh, I felt sure you’d said that before when we were kids…”

“No, as in no, Sixer.”

Ford tilted his head, finally turning back to Stan as his face warred between guilt and panic. He felt like a wave had hit him head on and knocked him over, unable to fathom why Stan looked quite so out of sorts, his muscles once again tense and his face refusing to look out of the glass in front of them. “No, what?”

Stan growled, irritation bleeding in through the shamefaced expression. “Ford, this is a joke, right? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? I just can’t figure out why…”

Ford shook his head, a small pained sound escaping Stan at the motion that made Ford feel even more lost. “What? Why would I joke about-” An inkling hit him then, his face turning serious as he straightened his back and turned properly to his brother. “Stan, you don’t still think I don’t want you around, do you? Is that it? I thought we’d been over all this. I want to spend time with you and the kids, I want to do what we always dreamt of doing! Us against the world, chasing the waves- international treasure hunters.” He grinned brightly, trying to coax out a smile from his brother. “I need you by my side to do that, no use being a treasure hunter alone- we’ve seen where that leads me. So, let’s go! Let’s do it! Let’s sail around the world and explore-”

Stan’s voice cut through his like a knife, echoing around the small enclosed room like a maelstrom.

“What part of No don’t you understand?! Why on earth would I ever want to go near the sea after it- after you- after everything?”

Stan was up on his feet before Ford could even register that he’d stopped talking. The words were spinning around in his head, they made perfect sense and yet at the same time none of them registered enough for him to stop digging himself deeper and deeper as he turned to face his brother. “But you always wanted to.”

Stan let out a squawk of disbelief, pacing around the lantern in a nauseating circle for his twin, obviously needing somewhere to walk in the limited space. “Maybe I did! So what? You don’t think things change?” He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “You still do?”  

Ford somehow managed to look affronted, adding to Stan’s ire. “Yes, I thought I was making that obvious.” He shuffled further round to face Stan properly. “Look Stan, we’re not getting any younger. I’ve spent years down there, I want to live now. And part of that is doing what we always said we would! I want to adventure with my brother like we always dreamed. Has it really gone? All of it?”

A small bubble of hope blossomed as Stan turned his head away from him, looking past his shoulder and out to sea, a soft wistful expression on his face as he huffed out a laugh. “Oh wow, Sixer. If you’d asked me before all of this, that night when I came down here… I’d have jumped at the chance. Us two off on an adventure together again…” His expression soured, disgust and bitterness taking over as he continued to stare at the waves, the warm hope popping to fragments of ice as Ford finally understood. “But then it took you away from me.” He locked eyes with Ford, freezing him in his place. “I’ve spent thirty years next to this… unforgiving bay. Thirty years of wondering if I’d ever get you back, of never knowing exactly what happened to you. You think that just vanished now you’re back? That I’d want to go anywhere near it and let it take you away from us again? We just got you back, Sixer, I don’t want to-”

I don’t want to lose you again.

He didn’t have to finish the choked off sentence for Ford to get it.

“S-Stan. That wasn’t-” Ford stood up, letting out the half cut off sentence in a deep sigh. He didn’t want an argument but here they were, with him knowing he was entirely in the wrong for making assumptions, for not getting it. He hadn’t had to live it, he’d been asleep for the most part. Stan would say otherwise, he knew. That the nightmares and what the creature had done to him was far worse than the waiting that Stan had had, but to Ford they were unique experiences. Both painful, both hard, and they had both left them with scars.

Ford wanted to live with the time that he had, it was precious. He needed to push 30 years of sleep into what time he had left and do everything he had ever wanted to do, everything he needed to do.

Stan just wanted to rest. He wanted to protect them all. As long as they were all safe, nothing else mattered.

But they couldn’t always be safe, they needed to live. It almost pained Ford to see how much his brother had changed in that moment. All that gutsy bravado striped away to see the worried old man beneath who just wanted them safe and sound.

Any other time, when it wasn’t Ford that was the issue, he knew he would jump into the fray. But he’d become careful, taken a step back.

He wasn’t about to jump into a fight when there was no need for one, which was what Ford was suggesting. It had taken that long for him to realise that fact. As far as Stan was concerned, Ford had grown more foolhardy. At any other moment Ford might have been proud for Stan’s reckless nature having taken a back seat.

Only he couldn’t be, not in this instance.

Stan had forgotten what wonders the sea held. Forgotten the late night whispered conversations when they were meant to asleep and the excited chattering as the sun set and bathed the Stan’O’War in reds and gold. Forgotten the gleam of treasures, the thrill of discovering things no one else had laid eyes on in centuries. Forgotten the songs and the shanties of the mystical creatures they had both been excited to find.

Now he only saw the monsters.

Now he only saw the darkness.

And Ford ached in the knowledge that he had caused that.

Until just as before, the anger bubbled up, fierce and scalding as a yellow eye flickered when he closed his eyes.

He did this.

“Stan.” Ford took a step forward, arms outstretched but Stan took one back, eyes narrowing and suspicious as he waited for Ford to continue. “Stan, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I wasn’t thinking.” He waited patiently as Stan gave a shuddering nod, still tense but at least willing to listen by the looks of it. “But that’s not- that’s not the sea that did that! That was that thing down there.” Ford pointed, ignoring the ironic look and the derisive snort his brother gave as he pointed at the water. “Maybe he is in the sea but that’s not the seas fault, there’s any number of fascinating, brilliant creatures to outnumber that thing!”

“But that’s the point, Sixer!”

Ford’s mouth snapped shut, a myriad of excuses and thoughts clawing up his throat to escape but he’d let Stan have his say.

If he really didn’t want this, he wouldn’t make him, but he needed to know if that was the case, needed to know there really was no hope, that Stan no longer dreamed of the adventure at all before he gave up.

Stan gestured out along with him. “You think that’s the only- whatever it is- out there? Really? Just the one? That sea is teeming with them! I know my stories are lies and old wives tales so that people respect the sea more- but I also know that some of them are true. Enough of them are true. I can’t lose you again, Sixer! I almost thought I’d lost the kids as well to that god awful water and I couldn’t- I didn’t mean to scare them but-” The words came out in a choke of fear and Ford could see how much he hated that he had shown that vulnerability to him. He turned away, scrubbing down his face and Ford couldn’t help but reach out, rub his shoulder in way of apology. Stan groaned, a deep sad sound as if he couldn’t convey what he needed to with words then and just needed Ford to know what this conversation was doing to him.

Ford did. A sinking horrible guilt making a soft noise bubble out in response to try and comfort him.

“I just don’t get it, Sixer. I don’t get how you could want to go back out there. After what happened to you last time.”

“Well last time I was all alone and listening to voices that I shouldn’t.” Ford tried to make light of it all, add some humour though the look he got in return made him know it had fallen short.

Dawn had broken over the tree line, and yet somehow the room felt colder than it had all night.

“Yeah. Fantastic, that logic’s going to get you far, nerd. ‘Let’s go back out on the sea so another horror from the deep can trick me again’.”

“Last time I didn’t have you to make sure I had some common sense.”

“Last time? And whose fault was tha-” Stan bit his tongue, eyes instantly flashing with regret but Ford didn’t say a word when he’d brought this on himself. He waited patiently as Stan stood up and away, letting his hand drop from him as he turned to face him, eyes stern and determined.

“You want some common sense, Ford? We’re. Not. Doing. It. How about that?” Stan took a deep breath as if willing himself to calm down. “I am not going out on the water and I’ll be damned if I let yo-”

Stan stopped his tirade, head snapping to the side as he flinched away from the glass.

Ford jumped forward to greet him, concern overriding everything else. “Stan? Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, just the wind.”

Ford frowned, listening intently but he couldn’t hear anything. His eyes stayed fixed to Stan who still seemed perturbed, his expression flitting between worry and that ever present fearful anger that he might do something stupid. “Stan, I can’t hear anything.”

“It’s nothing, where… where were we?”

“Stan.” Ford warned, his tone broaching no arguments as he stared heatedly at him. “It’s obviously not nothing, stop trying to hide things.”

“Hide things? I’m being completely honest with you about this entire argument.” Stan dusted himself off before giving him a grouchy sour expression, one that was at least more natural than that awful fear that had been dancing across his eyes. “I just- that nightmares still got me all jumpy, alright? Happy?”

“No.” Ford sighed, patting Stan’s shoulder comfortingly. “Of course I’m not happy that you’ve had nightmares or that we’re arguing or-”

Stan deflated, his voice quietening as he interrupted Ford once more. He took it as a win even if the voice sounded sadder than it had all night. “This isn’t an argument, Sixer. I don’t want to argue with you. I just- the sea isn’t what we thought it was as kids, alright? It was all just wishful thinking. You think that boat would have survived long enough to get us anywhere? Creatures or not it would have fallen apart before we even lost sight of the shore.” Stan’s voice and eyes turned plaintive, pleading with Ford to stop this nonsense. “Do you know how many storms have taken people here, Ford? This little fishing town is filled with them. You think Wendy would have been that angry at me if it wasn’t because we all know what it can do? One bad storm and that’s it.”

“But they still go out there.”

“They have to! It’s their livelihoods, their skills are all based around the water!” Stan gripped at his hair, obviously struggling to get the words out. “It’s… a necessary evil! One that we don’t need in our lives anymore.”

“But it’s not just that!” Ford knew his voice was rising as Stan flinched away from him and in that moment the fight left him. He wasn’t going to force this, it wasn’t worth the way Stan was backing away from him. He regulated his tone, giving it one last shot, one that even he knew was a low one. “Do you not… want to go adventuring with me?”

From the noise that left Stan he might as well have punched him in the stomach. Maybe it would have hurt less. “Of course I do. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. Just us two against the world.” A soft smile graced his lips, the first one Ford had seen since the conversation had started. “And two kids who’d love to join in whenever they got the chance. I’ve had some adventures with them over the summer, let me tell you.”

“You have.” Ford’s own mouth curled upwards, a small light at the end of the tunnel that maybe he was getting somewhere. “And we can still. It’s all right there for the taking, if only you could see that.”

Stan rubbed at his eyes, a bubble of dark laughter escaping him. “Oh, it’s me, is it? Me that has to see that? Ford, you’re the one that doesn’t seem to get it that we can still do that. We can go off and travel, go anywhere we want- why do we have to sail to do that?”

“You want to go on a road trip with me?” Ford raised an eyebrow, glad there was at least some humour in the conversation even if his heart disagreed with Stan. The logical part of his brain  was having a moment of utter perplexity that he hadn’t thought of that, but his heart knew that there was something about the mystery of the sea that still beckoned him in. “You’d kill me within a day or two in that tight a space.”

Stan snorted. “You say that as if I wouldn’t strangle you on a boat within a week.”

Ford let out a chuckle, the words holding no bite. “I dunno, you seem to be doing alright up in here and this room is tiny.”

“Yeah well, if we’re stuck in here any longer with this conversation I might punch you.” Stan gave him a long suffering look that Ford could only shrug at.

“Sorry, I just thought you might still…” He looked away, out to sea, the words stuck in his throat as he tried to will up some way of explaining himself. “I get what you mean. Who cares how we get there as long as get there, right? But… there was always something about sailing away that really grabbed us, wasn’t there?”

Stan paused for a moment, following his gaze again to the crystal clear waters and the vast blue that stretched as far as the eye could see. It had never seemed daunting as a kid, just this breath-taking view, so close and so far that could take them away from New Jersey. “Yeah… yeah it did.”

Ford almost didn’t want to break the moment. Stan’s expression had grown nostalgic, that sparkle that his eyes used to hold when he looked at the Stan’O’War deep within the gaze. “Then… will you at least think about it?”

Stan’s eyes darted back to Ford, watching him like a hawk, scrutinising him as he debated on an answer before letting all the air out of his lungs in defeat.

“Fine. I’ll think about it. Don’t expect my answer to change though.”

“As long as you think about it, that’s all I ask.”

“…What on Earth does he see in you?”

Stan stood in the early morning sun, dawn filtering through the trees behind him. He shuddered as another wave broke along the shore, the fine spray seeping past his layers and making him glower darkly downwards at his own shadow, rippling and twisting at the water’s edge. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, hunching his back, his shoulders high around his ears as he tried to ignore the whispering crash and draw of the waves, the constant ever present sound of the ocean pushing and pulling the pebbles across the beach. His efforts only seemed to make it louder though, as if using his shoulders as a windbreak had had the same effect as putting a shell to his ear, the sound surging up to meet him until he was sure the waves would drown him on dry land.

Or at the very least deafen him.

That almost sounded like the better option.

He huffed quietly to himself, relaxing as his thoughts dragged him out of his spiral. If he never had to hear the waves again, if he never had to taste the tang of salt on the air or smell that godawful stench of brine and fish when the ships made harbour… well, that sounded like a dream come true.

He hated it, hated everything about it. The cold, the wet, the taste, the smell.

The sight of it.

And yet… he couldn’t pull his eyes away.

He glared again at the water, the dazzling turquoise and gold, the sun’s rays hitting the mirrored surface and casting a glittering rippling reflection towards him. Tantalising, breath-taking, reminding him of everything he’d lost, everything he’d ever dreamed of. It sunk its claws into that painful, desperate hope that had been crushed all those years ago when he had been forced to leave his home, his family and that dream behind. Pierced the armour that he had encased it in and let the feeling bleed out and bubble to the surface.

The water called to him plaintively. Beseechingly.

Join us…

He had everything now. He had a family. His two bright sparks were set to go home, he no longer had to worry for their safety in his care. His brother was in the house, still asleep but alive and warm and breathing. Not only that, he wanted this. He was the one that had dragged these thoughts back to the forefront. Had been the first chink in the shell, weakening it for his own mind to fill in the blanks and get the heart of the dream beating once more. He could feel the sun warming him to his core, optimistic and hopeful as it pulled him in. His eyes softened, losing their sharp edge, as they followed the blue waves all the way to the horizon and back again, drifting up and down with their ebb and flow.

A small boat caught his attention, dragging his gaze away from the waves as he felt himself slip into a peaceful daze. He drank in the details, the bright white sail, the glistening metal and dazzling paint casting shadows on the water. Sleek and strong and ready to take on the tides.

A small smile slipped across his face as the boat turned, dark black lettering becoming visible as he watched it from his spot.

“Stan’O’War… no, the Stan’O’War II.” The smile crinkled up further as he continued to imagine, to dream up the perfect boat bobbing on peaceful waters.

For just a second the rational, pragmatic part of his brain tried to stop the musings short but the dream pushed past, bright and scalding and refusing to back down.

He’d scrimped and saved for years. He’d done everything to keep the house, to pay off the debts, to keep the lighthouse in working order wherever possible, to make sure Ford needn’t worry once he returned.

They had the funds. If they were doing this, it had to be perfect.

He wondered where it would go first. What exotic warm places they would find. White sandy beaches bedecked with shells. Unexplored islands and deep forests with foliage the sun could only scatter through, littering the floor in a dappled path.

Old rotten chests filled with glittering gems and shiny gold pieces. Cryptic clues and weather aged maps leading to long lost treasures.

Birds covered in an array of coloured feathers, fish skimming the foam with shimmering scales.

The full expanse of the open water around them, the turquoise, tantalising, glittering jewel that would be their home and the open blue sky above.

The full array of stars in all their glorious constellations when the sun went down and the moon turned the waters black and silver, the pinprick stars reflected in the dark waters as he leant over the railing.

Monsters staring back at him from the dark below the surface. Poisonous glowing yellow eyes and sharp needled fangs twisted in a grin, glistening in the moonlight.

Stan flinched back, blinking away the image. The boat vanished with every flutter, the sun leaving twisted mangled shapes behind his eyelids.

“No. No, what am I thinking?”

His face turned sour, a bitter taste slipping down his throat and sinking the dream to the pit of his stomach. Fear bit cold as another gust of wind blew off the sea, the blue open expanse of sky mocking him, making him doubt the sun had really had chance to warm him or the beach yet at all.

It was all a trick, all a mirage. That was all it ever had been.

A hopeless dream.

But-

“No.” Stan snarled, the sound bursting out of him in a boom of energy.

He’d done so much, he’d worked so hard to be stood here. He’d strived and strived to reach his goal, to pull his brother back from the depths. Night after night, day after day. Wherever and whenever he could he had worked tirelessly.

And his efforts had paid off.

Was he going to throw that all away? So they could follow some childish dream that had never stood a chance?

Could he really put them both in that position? Let them try and fail and start the entire process all over again?

All for the hope that maybe this time- this time it would turn out OK?

That just this once they could have everything they ever dreamed of?

Real life doesn’t work that way.

His scowl deepened, his eyebrows furrowing as he turned his back on the water and started the long walk back to the shack before anyone else woke up.

Goals could be reached, but impossible dreams always stayed impossible. And he would not risk it all again.

He wouldn’t be able to live through losing him again, he knew it.

And if he was the one to give the OK, to let that dream fester and grow in Ford until it couldn’t be ignored- it would be his fault and his alone when everything fell around their ears once more.

He’d never forgive himself.

The sea continued to fool him, to trick him. He couldn’t believe he’d almost let himself wonder what it would be like, almost let the dream bubble up through him and eclipse common sense.

Ford would just have to live with it.

There were other ways. They could go explore the world by road, by air, never setting foot on the open water.

No matter how much it called to them both. Called to his heart, seeped into his pores. He tried to ignore the sun on his back as he traversed the steps, his mind on car journeys and the open road. Pulling up at gas stations, liminal spaces in the dead of night that gave the mysterious vibe his brother longed for as they grabbed supplies and asked whoever was there if they had seen anything out of the ordinary- which would be more often than not in places like those. Songs fizzling softly through an old radio as he hummed along, fingers tapping on the steering wheel. The scratching sound of a pen as his brother scribbled away in the passenger seat, glancing up to smile as he sang along under his breath without realising to keep himself awake.

But it all sounded flat even to his own ears, the images grey, dull and lifeless. He tried to drum up the intrigue, drum up the feeling of adventure, the gleam that the ocean held but the roads were filled with dust and sand, the sun baking and burning the images to a painful white or covered by thick clouds that refused to show the scenes in all their glory.

And worst of all, the image of his brother smiling grew sad and wistful whenever Stan stopped looking at him head on, when he thought he was no longer looking at all.

Why? His fists tightened at his sides as he stopped on the steps up, wanting more than anything to punch something. Why can’t I imagine us adventuring the same way?

Why does it have to be the sea? It’s not fair. I don’t want it, I hate it. I hate everything about it. I don’t want to think about it, to debate it. The answer should be simple. Logical even. Why can’t Ford see that? …Why can’t I?

“I can.” Stan didn’t even know he’d been holding his breath until it hissed out of him. “That’s the problem. All I’ve ever wanted was to go on an adventure with my bro, the sea just got all jumbled up in that.” He scrubbed at his face, letting the words pour out of him. Saying them out loud made them real, made them stop swirling in a vicious cycle in his head. “But even though I want to, I know deep down we can’t. I can’t- it’s not an option.” The words began to stutter, his heart beating fast.

It’s too much. I’m terrified. I can’t lose him again, not now, not so soon.

And the one thought that he wouldn’t even admit to himself that laced all of it, and flashed into his dreams to startle him awake was the image of Ford, disappointed with his answer.

The panicked nightmares that his brother would leave without him- again. Would say that he understood but that he couldn’t stay on land with him and no matter what Stan did, he’d always slip away. Like sand through his fingers, he’d blink and there he’d be, out on the water in the dead of night and the water would bubble and hiss and drag him back down to the ocean floor and nothing he did could prevent it.

He could never do anything right. Whatever answer he chose led to disaster, every turn, every offshoot always led to the same fate.

That cackling laugh, the beady yellow lights below the water, and his brother once again somewhere he couldn’t follow.

And no matter what happened, it all connected to the sea.

The sea would be his ruin. The risks were just too large for him to take the plunge.

You can persuade him, persuade him to stay. You’ll think of something.

Stan nodded to himself, opening his eyes as he continued to walk towards the Shack, the lighthouse tall and imposing behind it.

And in that moment his eyes grew wide, his steps faltering for a moment until the momentum of his thoughts kept him moving upwards, onwards.

He couldn’t leave. It didn’t matter if he wanted to or not.

That monster- that thing was still out there.

What kind of person would he be if he abandoned the gateway that kept him locked down there? If he just left the lighthouse with no one to man it, left them with absolutely no clue how to keep the light from ever returning?

Even now he didn’t understand how he’d turned it on, didn’t know how to make sure it never flickered on again.

And that was his job. He’d accidentally become the lighthouse keeper.

His duty hadn’t ended yet.

Ford would understand that, wouldn’t he?

Making sure no one ever fell for the same tricks they did?

Making sure that creature never saw the light of day, never escaped the prison that held it.

Ford could help him figure out the lighthouse once and for all. Wasn’t that the biggest mystery out there? One worth exploring more than anything else?

“Mr Pines? Mr Pines!”

Stan jumped out of his reverie, too in his own little world to notice anything around him until Soos was stood less than a meter ahead of him. He flinched, hand clutching at his chest, his heart beating a painful tune on his ribcage as he bent down low, thoughts instantly distracted. “Christ, Soos, a little more warning next time.”

“Sorry, Mr Pines, I did call out to you a few times but you seemed to be thinking extra hard.”

“Yeah, yeah, I was.” Stan coughed, straightening up, gaze irritated and put out by the interruption, though he couldn’t stay mad at the apologetic look on the boy’s face. “What are you doing here, kid? It’s hours til we open.”

Soos blinked a few times as if he’d forgotten himself before a bright smile overtook him. “Oh! There was a meeting in town last night and I wanted to let you know as soon as I could.”

“Yeah? It couldn’t wait? I’m kind of busy.”

“Oh.”

Stan sighed, his brush off attempts making his heart sink at the dejected noise behind his back. He didn’t need to look to know what expression was on Soos’s face. “Oh- alright. You twisted my arm. What’s so important?”

“No, you’re right. It can wait until my shift.”

Stan growled, turning back to him and gesturing for him to continue. “Nah, you’re here now. Might as well hear you out.”

He tried to ignore how the guilt eased as soon as Soos beamed at him.

“Thanks, Mr Pines! Well, you see- we had a town meeting last night, an emergency one. They’d decided to leave it until it was clear that everyone was alright before- anyway.” Soos seemed to trip over his words but Stan waited patiently, not wanting to slow the process down by asking questions or trying to hurry him. “After you and the other Mr Pines almost got stuck in that storm-”

“Really? You had a meeting about that? I got us out of there, didn’t I?” Stan couldn’t help the interruption, indignation making his words sharper than intended.

“Yeah! I told them that! But the point wasn’t that you did, but how they could have helped more.” Soos’s eyes flickered to the lighthouse. “How a light would have helped more.”

Stan snorted. “Yeah well, you know all about that light and why it shouldn’t ever be allowed on- hell, I think you knew long before recent events.”

“Of course! Abuelita’s always told me stories, she said they’ve been passed down through the generations.” Soos puffed up, a smirk worming on to Stan’s face at the sight. “You should have seen Wendy’s face when I told her my theories had been right all along.”

Stan snorted. “I bet. All those times we…” He sighed then, his hand going behind his head as he grimaced. “Listen, I am sorry, Soos. There were a lot of times I knew you were right about that old lighthouse but I… I didn’t care. I couldn’t stop, not when-”

“Not when the other Mr Pines was down there, I get you.”

Stan huffed. “You know, Sixer has asked you to call him Ford.”

Soos winced. “Yeah, right- I am trying, but that’s gonna take a while.”

Stan shrugged him off. “I know, I know. But back on topic-” His gaze turned suspicious, worried even as he eyed Soos. “This meeting- you did tell them why we can’t have that light on, right?”

“I didn’t have to!” Soos shook off the nerves, smiling brightly. “They’ve seen how that old lights flickered over the years. I mean, everyone knows, or at least thinks they know, you never went up there so they think all the equipment up there’s a lost cause. Plus what with all the ghost stories you’ve told over the years, no one volunteered to go near the thing.” He turned, shielding his eyes as he looked across the small town. “They’re thinking of building a new lighthouse. Over on the other side of the bay. A proper working one, not just a novelty. That way we have light and you can still keep the Mystery Shack open, or- you know, take a break what with your brother being back and all.”

Stan hummed, thoughts ticking over slightly. The hope had returned, peeking its head up through his ribcage, though he had yet to notice it himself yet.

His words ran away with him though.

“Yeah, a break might be in order. There’s a lot of lost time there we need to make up for.”

Soos nodded understandingly. “Yeah, everyone thought as much. You risked your life and almost lost your bro’s as far as they’re concerned. They want to make sure you take it easy.”

“Oi!” Stan huffed at him, hands on his hips. “Soon enough you’ll be calling me an old timer like Windy does.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is that it? Was she there yesterday?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Soos looked away from him, obviously lying.

Stan sniffed, turning his head away. “You two little traitors, I’m not that old.”

Soos only hummed, his face innocent though Stan saw straight through him. His face soon turned serious though. “So, how’s other Mr Pines doing?”

Stan’s thoughts shifted, smiling away as he thought of his brother’s progress. “He’s doing great! He’s up and about and raring to go. The old nerd wants to get back to his research. Go out on an adventure like we always planned-” He coughed, his earlier thoughts of sailing manifesting again. “So, I’m thinking a road trip might be in order. Us two on the open road, getting to know each other again.”

“What about the Mystery Shack?”

Stan blinked, Soos trying to hide the sadness but failing miserably. He smiled sadly, understandingly. “Well, it’ll always be here when we return. Heck, I’ll charge a fortune when I get back with a whole new bunch of tales. Make exclusive one of a kind tours.” He winked playfully. “Don’t worry, old employees will get a discount.” He felt his heart sink though as his own words tripped him over. “Though, I mean, I could always use a caretaker, you know. To make sure that no one goes near the lighthouse and whatnot… if you’d want the job, that is.”

Soos’s face shifted guiltily, his feet kicking at the floor as he looked away. “A-actually.” He gulped before straightening his back, hope glistening in his eyes as he stood tall in front of Stan. “As I was always your assistant, the townspeople thought if you didn’t want the job as the new Lighthouse Keeper then… the job was there if I wanted it.” He deflated suddenly, worry blossoming across his face. “I-I mean, if you think that’s a good idea. I’d still look after your house! Of course! I’m still your handyman first and foremost.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No, you were the Apprentice Lighthouse Keeper first and foremost.” Stan could feel pride warming up his chest, all plans and thoughts of the future put aside as he looked at the young man ahead of him, once more standing tall in his gaze. The boy had been with him for years when no one else had, the family he had accidentally made for himself, a bond he had tried to pretend didn’t exist. “Looks like you’ll finally be getting that promotion I always promised you.”

“You don’t want the job-”

“Nah, I said, didn’t I? I’m having a break from it all. Besides-” He stretched, giving the boy an appraising look flippantly. “I only ever posed as a Lighthouse Keeper, now didn’t I? You’re young, you can learn all the ropes with a new-fangled light. Can you imagine this old dog trying to learn new tricks?” His smile turned ironic, more thoughtfully and glowing with pride that made Soos puff out under the scrutiny. “Look at you. You’re already doing better than me. You’re gonna be a proper Keeper.”

Soos deflated slightly, a frown marring his features. “You were a proper Keeper.”

Stan snorted, looking down at himself. “Kid, I might wear the uniform but you know full well the only reason I worked on that light was to get Sixer home.”

Soos shook his head fervently. “No. You kept everyone safe. That’s the job of a Lighthouse Keeper, isn’t it?”

Stan raised an eyebrow at him, glancing at himself once more. “Kid, I don’t know what you think you saw over the years but I can tell you that you’re wrong there.”

“Is the whole town wrong, then?” Soos smirked as Stan’s mouth snapped shut with a confused tilt. “I’ve got big shoes to fill, but I’ll make you proud, Mr Pines.”

“I’m sure you will.” Stan muttered, coughing slightly as the sappy words left him. “Right, off with you. Go celebrate with your Abuelita or that girl you keep telling me about or something.” He shooed him away, trying to be gruff. “Go on, quick before I change my mind and make you work longer hours today just because you’re here.”

“But-”

Stan pushed at Soos’s back. “You’ve got a lot of training ahead of you, kid, you won’t be able to celebrate later. And remember- I’ll be trusting you to make sure to keep the tales alive. Make sure no one goes near this old lighthouse.”

Soos stumbled forward, thrumming with excitement. “I’ll do my best, Mr Pines!”

“I know, I know- now get going already.”

“Thanks, Mr Pines. I’ll be back though- as you said I need training, and the best teacher available is here.”

“Heh, yeah right. If I gave you lessons, kid, it would be coming out of your pay check.”

“Deal! Let me know when would be best tomorrow!”

“What?” Stan blinked, Soos dashing off in the interim. “Wait, you weren’t meant to agree to that! It was a joke!”

“Then you shouldn’t have said it Mr Pines!”

And with that he was gone, before Stan could argue any further.

Stan closed the door behind him, leaning against it with a proud laugh.

Soos had got one over on him. “I really am getting old, aren’t I?”

His earlier debating thoughts had been halted, the encompassing knowledge that the light would never have the chance to spark to life ever again giving him immense satisfaction.

He was sure for a second he heard an angry hiss, a sharp vicious sound that whistled through the cracks in the door. His smile grew victorious, feral and filled with teeth.

The town knew, the warning was there without their knowledge of the creature.

It was stuck on the ocean bed and no one would ever need to enter the old lighthouse again, never bat an eyelid at the light not functioning when the new lighthouse shone a beacon across the waves for all, with the trusted keeper making sure it never faltered.

Soos would make a good keeper, Stan knew that, the handyman had proved himself time and time again and pride blossomed thick and fierce in his rib cage.

And then the feeling vanished, leaving him hollow, cold and uncertain.

His smile dropped, his gaze glazing over as he slipped back into his spiralling thoughts.

His excuse against sailing away had just been dashed against the rocks.

That bubbling, fizzling hope had ignited without his say so at Soos’s words, his efforts to dampen it being halted at every opportunity.

If he couldn’t even convince himself, how would he ever convince Ford?

“I thought you were going to wake me from now on if you couldn’t sleep?”

Stan jolted out of his small reverie, looking up only when a shadow blocked his view of the TV. He raised an eyebrow at his brother’s hands on hips, the little scolding lilt to his expression that tried to hide an amused smile. A snide comment was on the tip of his tongue at the large cloak of a blanket that was draped around his shoulders but he refrained.

Even so, Ford didn’t need to know Stan was doing anything other than unwinding for the night, didn’t need to know he’d been yet again thinking about his proposition, had been weighing up all the pros and cons just like he always seemed to do when given precious moments to himself. “What? Its midnight, Sixer, that’s hardly late. I was just watching some terrible movies, that’s all.” He shrugged, taking a swig of his drink before shuffling over so that there was space for Ford to sit beside him. “I’m still not used to sleeping, especially not early, so I thought the drone might help me drift off, that’s all.” His eyes flickered to his brother as he made himself comfortable. “How about you? I thought you went up hours ago. Couldn’t you sleep?”

“I was reading.” Ford sniffed, settling in, draping the blanket he’d had around him over both of them before snuggling closer into it. “I thought after a few chapters I’d feel tired but then I… uhh… finished the book?” His words turned sheepish, scratching at his cheek awkwardly before his face brightened. “Besides, if I’d fallen asleep I’d have missed the chance to watch movies.”

“…You are such a child. Always thinking if you sleep you’ll miss out on something fun.”

“Well in this case, I was right, wasn’t I?” Ford grinned, victorious even as Stan snorted and shook his head.

“Right? I already said they were terrible, didn’t I? Though let’s see if I can’t find something a bit more interesting at the very least.”

Ford watched patiently as the TV clicked, letting the quick images that flowed past relax him as he sluggishly wondered what was happening from the short spurts they caught. He yawned, but tried to disguise it. “Can- can you find something with this Casper in?”

Stan huffed out a laugh, covering it with a cough to try and stop him from getting too loud. “Not on your life. You can find out that one on your own.”

Ford sulked, leaning back in the chair with an annoyed grumble. It only added to Stan’s smile though, playful and teasing, and Ford had hoped for that reaction if he was really honest. “I guess I’ve got my first mystery to solve then.”

“Guess so- oh, this is quite a good one.”

He shook his head, letting Stan explain the first twenty minutes of the movie they had missed without prodding back to the earlier teasing. The steady drone of the movie would have slowly sent him to sleep he felt, but Stan’s animated description of what they had missed was doing more to keep him awake than the screen.

Luckily for him, Stan didn’t seem at all perturbed when he laughed at a particularly bad death scene as it appeared, nor the very wooden monster that shuffled out afterwards.

Not that Stan kept quiet about it.

“What you laughing at?”

“Uhh, just the… realistic nature of the movie.”

“Heh. Thought so. I thought we could do with a decidedly unrealistic one.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

“Good, because we haven’t even got to the best worst bit yet.”

The night continued, the pair getting into the movie more and more as it got deeper into the plot, not because it was necessarily good but because the terrible dialogue and bright pink blood kept waking the pair of them up in fits of giggles.

“Did you see that person in the background?”

“The camera guy? Or the dramatic death that stole the show from the lead?”

Ford blinked, following Stan’s finger to the cameraman who was still on display even minutes after first catching sight of him. He erupted into silent giggles, grinning brightly as they both grew more and more disbelieving at no one seeming to notice him.

“Wow, scrap what I said, this is a terrible movie.”

“That’s what makes it so good.”

Stan bit his lip, shrugging. “That or we’re both more tired than we thought and everything is funnier than it should be.”

Ford nodded along with him, the pair quietening down into a warm, happy hush, small smatterings of mirth intersecting it all.

It was in this warm, glow of a late evening that Ford thought it might be ok to bring up their earlier conversation once more.

He’d given him a few days, he didn’t mean to keep asking but-

The anticipation, the waiting, was killing him.

He didn’t care, or he pretended not to care, about the answer. Only that Stan let him know what it would be.

“Hey, Stan?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you- uhm- you know, thought any more on-”

The air grew decidedly colder before he could even finish the question.

“Never mind. Ignore me, just wondered if you were thinking about… let’s just continue watching the movie.” Ford cursed himself, cursed his insatiable curiosity as Stan’s smile vanished to a thoughtful and conflicted expression. There was something there that made him hopeful, all that confliction, but it also sent a shiver down his spine.

He was causing that turmoil, that inescapable battle that Stan seemed to be locked in.

Maybe he hadn’t made it clear enough.

“Stan, don’t- I don’t mind what the answer is. I only asked you if you’d think about it more, give me an answer then, you know?”

“If…”

Ford’s ears perked up, his back straightening as he leaned forward. “Yes?”

“If I said no… would you still go out there?”

Ford frowned, not quite looking at Stan as the man shifted over to watch him. Too caught up in his own thoughts at the question, he didn’t realise how hawkishly he was being observed, how Stan sat gauging him for any reactions.

“I… are you worried I’d leave you behind again?” The words whistled out into the dead of night. He can almost see them fall flat and heavy in the crystalline air, loud and clear when all he wanted was to drag them back in where they couldn’t sit between them. Stan had frozen where he sat and he could hear his thoughts ticking away, wondered just how much his mind had looped and twisted over that question.

He couldn’t let that question eat away at him any longer.

“Stan, nothing you say will ever make me leave you behind.” He felt more than saw Stan relax and there was a deep seated ache in his core that his brother would- could think otherwise.

“But you want to. Go out there, that is.”

Ford nodded, his fingers fidgeting along the fabric to keep his thoughts in a line. “Yeah, I’d like to but- and this isn’t meant as a guilt trip, I assure you- but it really wouldn’t be the same without you.” He smiled, finally glancing over at his brother apologetically. “I’m not saying I can promise I’ll never go out on the water. There are mysteries on land and on sea that I have to solve, Stan, and if a mystery points out there on the open water… I can’t say I wouldn’t take the chance.”

“Even with that-”

“Even with the monsters out there.” Ford could only hope his determination had overridden Stan’s concerns as his mouth snapped shut.

He watched him give a whistling breath, the air hissing out of pursed lips as he seemed to think everything over.

Ford waited, holding his own breath in anticipation, obliviously hopeful that even if he had no idea why he had asked those questions, that Stan was about to say that he wanted to as well. Wanted to take on the world even with the nightmares that inhabited it.

That was his Stan, the one he remembered, ready to fight the world and win.

The world grew that much colder when Stan spoke again.

“Alright, I get the message. I’ll come with you sailing.” Stan kept his gaze on his hands, his fingers twiddling together nervously. “I can’t have you sailing on your own, I just can’t- so, I’ll come too.”

“No.”

Stan turned, eyebrows furrowed but Ford couldn’t think how to make things right in that moment.

Everything hurt.

Stan didn’t want to sail with him.

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

“What? Sixer, I just said I’d go sailing with you. I thought you’d be over the moon.”

“You said you would. Not that you wanted to.” It was Ford’s turn to scrutinise his brother as Stan’s face twisted awkwardly.

“I mean- I don’t-” Stan sighed, running a hand through his hair before his expression soured. “Fine. Honestly? It’s not the smartest idea you’ve had, Sixer. I’ve been thinking it over and over and over and-” He leant forward, his head in his hands. “It’s not even that I don’t want to, not really- there’s just so much… but what I want doesn’t matter. Not really.”

“It does. Don’t say that.”

Stan waved a hand at him. “No. What matters most is that the thought of you going out to sea on your own terrifies me more than anything else. I mean watching you go under has haunted my nights for near on thirty years.” The words were quiet, muffled, and Ford almost wondered if he was meant to be hearing them as Stan pulled away just enough so that his words rang clear. “What matters is, I can’t stop you going out there. I knew I’d never be able to. And that’s not a guilt trip either, I’m glad that you’re not scared of it all, honestly. But I can’t have you going it alone, so I’ll join you.”

“No. Plain and simple, no.” Ford stood up, letting the blanket drop from him before he squatted in front of Stan. He took his shoulders in his hands, pushing at them until Stan looked up and locked eyes with him.

His eyes seemed so tired Ford almost wished he’d never asked the question in the first place.

“Right, Stan, you listen to me. You do not have to do anything.” Ford shook his head when Stan opened his mouth to disagree. “No, you really don’t. If you really are that scared, then… I’ll think about not going out there.” His brother’s face twisted into a guilty relief, his mouth hanging open, no real sound able to make it past his shocked thoughts. “Maybe, I will go out there, but it wouldn’t be sailing. Not like we always planned. A daytrip or two, that kind of thing… But Stan, when I said it wouldn’t be the same without you I really meant that.” His hands squeezed tighter, his face genuine and sad that Stan had thought otherwise. “And that doesn’t just mean you physically being there. There’s no point us going if only one of us wants to go. I’m sorry if it came across as anything otherwise.” He smiled sadly. “I want us both to want to go adventuring, otherwise there’s no point. And if you don’t want to- that’s OK. I won’t ask again.”

With that, as Stan continued to sit silently, thoughtfully, he stood up, shuffling over to curl back up in the warm. He closed his eyes in silent relief when Stan settled slowly beside him too. “How about you tell me what we’ve missed in the movie?”

“Y-Yeah, OK- and Sixer?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

You don’t need to thank me.

Ford couldn’t get the words out and start another debate, not when his brother’s gaze had softened, relieved and genuinely grateful for his response. He just wanted to get that cosy glow back to the room. When it had been filled with laughter and soft banter instead of cold, thick conversations.

Stan shook off the conversation quickly, for which Ford was eternally grateful, even if his smile seemed less genuine than before. Or as if something was preoccupying him, even as Ford tried desperately to bring everything back around.

Another movie started before he finally felt like the atmosphere had well and truly vanished.

It was a lot later even than that, however, as his eyes drooped and his head rested against his brother’s shoulder that he felt Stan shift and turn his head towards him. He decided not to move, not wanting Stan to know he had disturbed him at all.

“You know, I really was thinking about it. And… part of me does want to…”

Ford held his breath, keeping his eyes closed shut, scared if he opened them the moment would end before Stan finished.

“…That’s the problem. Deep down I want to and it scares the hell out of me.”

His heart sunk, snuggling into the warmth and pulling up the blankets in a feign of sleep to cover Stan more as he shivered. He knew he wasn’t actually cold, and it was the icy presence of whatever his mind was conjuring up that was causing the shakes but it was all he could think to do and still pretend he was asleep.

Stan sighed, tugging at the blanket as well before finally settling down similarly.

He waited until he felt his brother’s breath even out, his muscles relaxing before he sat up slowly, scrutinising him. At least in sleep Stan’s worried frown had eased, his furrowed conflicting emotions evening out to a peaceful slumber.

“It’s OK, Stan. Whatever you decide is OK.”

“Up here again I see.”

Stan huffed, glancing over his shoulder with a subtle childish smirk. “Don’t give me that look. It’s not the middle of the night, Sixer.” He turned away from him, his eyes back on the horizon as he gestured at Ford to join him. “Besides, I did shout before I left, told everyone where I was going. The view up here is great when the sun’s setting.”

“We were a bit busy packing to really respond though.” Ford shook his head, walking to stand beside his brother, his face curious and concerned as he glanced over at him, though he tried to hide it behind a scolding expression. “I thought you were looking for Mabel’s, uhh, ‘Merhorse’ teddy that we couldn’t find so you didn’t have to help pack?”

“I found it.” Stan glanced down, the soft weird teddy still in his hand.

He hadn’t wanted to give it back to her just yet, making up some weird convoluted story in his head that if he didn’t give it back, they would have to come back and see him quicker.

Or at least he could use it as an excuse to phone them or-

“You not ready for them to leave?”

Stan sighed at Ford’s words. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.” He gave a sad smile as he looked up, his plans scattered to the winds behind reality. “But summer doesn’t last forever.”

“And neither does anything else. They’ll be back visiting before you know it.” Ford plucked the small fluffy creature from Stan’s hands giving it a once over with obvious distaste. “And as awful as these creatures are in real life, we can’t have our favourite niece going home without her favourite toy.”

Stan laughed as Ford nudged him. “Alright, alright, I’ll give it back to her.” He swiftly stole it back from his twin, hugging it tight, dignity be damned.

He might have to give it back but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take what comfort he could and pretend he was hugging Mabel for a few moments.

“Good.” Ford nodded, gesturing behind them. “Should we-”

“No- not yet. Not now.” Stan scrunched up his face distastefully. “I don’t want to see their packed bags just yet.”

“They’re still going to be here tonight, and tomorrow morning. We’re just getting what we can packed up ready.”

“I know, I know.” Stan gave another long, deep sigh. “It just makes it real seeing all their bright colours vanish from everywhere.”

“Yeah.”

They stood in silence for a while, Ford giving him the quiet that he desperately needed and hated all at once. It was like trying to school himself, back into what it was like before the two whirlwinds invaded his life.

Getting him ready, prepared.

But he still didn’t like it.

And there was still so much hanging over them.

With another small noise of dissent, he spun, putting the small stuffed creature on top of the lantern so that he didn’t do something he regretted whilst they had their conversation. He took a few deep breaths, feeling Ford’s eyes burning into his back before he finally found it in him to turn back to him, his face once again a myriad of emotions that he couldn’t seem to hide.

“Ford, about sailing.”

Ford blinked, eyes widening before he shook his head. “It’s fine. I thought we’d been over this, I’m sorry for pushing-”

“No, now it’s your turn, Sixer. Stay quiet for a second. This is hard enough as it is to explain.” He ran a hand through his hair, pacing just like he had what felt like years ago when it was only a week at most. He was grateful when Ford stayed quiet, waiting for him to get his thoughts together enough to push through the block in his mind. Though once he did, the words flowed and flowed and he couldn’t get them to stop. “I do want to, Sixer, really I do. It wasn’t until you said that we didn’t need to go unless I actually wanted to that I finally admitted to myself that deep down- I do. I really do. But we can’t. As much as we want to, I know that we shouldn’t. That creature is still out there, and that’s just one stinking bottom dweller- there’s an entire ocean of them that you want to tempt with a little sail boat. Do you know what it would do to me if I lost you again? If it was all my fault all over again-?”

Ford cut his words off, taking quick strides that silenced him. “Hey.”

“I’m just saying-”

“The truth? Far from it. Stan, if anything happens to me it would be my own fault. Just like last time.” He shifted every time Stan tried to turn away, always keeping him eye to eye. “This is everything we’ve ever dreamed about, Stanley. It’s right there for us to take. You just admitted that you wanted to.” Stan hated how his eyes gleamed the way they did. “Don’t you think it’s worth the risks? Worth a try to-”

“No- Yes- I don’t know!” Stan’s arms spread out, hands flitting uselessly as he struggled again to work it out. “I don’t get it. I hate the sea, I’ve sat here and hated it for so long. But now you’re back, I can’t seem to keep hating it. Why? Why do we both want to go sailing still? After everything?”

“Because you know deep down that the sea isn’t the problem. That the creature was.”

“It’s still out there.”

“So are a lot of things- good and bad. You’ll find them on land too. Both anomalies and humans and everything in between. Wherever we go there’ll be dangers, Stan. It’s just a fact of life.”

“It’s safe here.” He knew he should stay quiet, but he couldn’t seem to, not when Ford was knocking down the last few barriers, making it harder and harder to disagree.

“And is this what you want? To stay here?”

Stan shook his head. “No, not really.”

Ford nodded, eyes twinkling brightly. “Is it the sea? Is that too much? We could start with a road trip if that’s still on the table? You said about that before?”

Stan wanted to agree. Wanted more than anything to relax and nod and let Ford make the compromise but his mouth moved before he could stop it, being more honest than he ever wanted to be. “I want to sail.”

Ford beamed. “Then let’s sail.”

“It’s such a bad idea, though.” Stan pulled away, running his hand underneath his glasses with a small self-deprecating laugh. “Story of my life, why stop now?”

“Stan.”

“Sorry, sorry, everything’s just so jumbled in here.” Stan tapped on his head like there was something wrong and Ford pushed his hand away.

“You’re being logical, you’re thinking over every possible outcome, which means you’re taking this seriously. I’m proud of you.”

Stan choked on the words, not really sure how to take them.

Ford smiled sadly, nostalgia washing over them both. “It’s so unlike you, to not power recklessly ahead when you want something. I’m sorry if you’ve lost that ‘cause of me.”

“I just grew up, Sixer. I know, hard to believe.” Stan winked at him playfully, getting a shove. “I guess I might not have lost my determination but I don’t want to pick fights I can’t win, not when there’s more favourable outcomes by staying on the side-lines.”

“We were never meant to sit on the side-lines.”

Stan rolled his eyes, shoving his brother back, without another word, not really sure where to go with the conversation now.

Was that it? Settled? Would Ford stay where it was safe?

…Was he happy about that? Or just resigned?

“Come on.”

“Hmm?” Stan looked up again, his thoughts having threatened to overtake before he felt the hand on his arm pushing him forward.

Ford smiled gently, eyes flicking between Stan and the horizon. “You came up here to see the sunset, right? Let’s stop talking and watch.”

Stan nodded, eyes back on the view. Many a time had he stood up here alone, watching the sun rise and fall, mapped the ever changing colours and wished he had someone to share the scene with.

In that moment, a small sliver of courage overtook, some semblance of it at least, or maybe the need to prove himself to both of them after Ford’s comments on how much he had changed.

He didn’t like to play it safe, it ate away at him.

At least on some occasions he could be himself, even if not in the bigger scheme of things, when the outcomes were far more important.

“Here, the best view is from the balcony.” The door clicking open made the tight feeling around his heart ease. He didn’t think it would until they’d been stood out there for a while, but taking the plunge at all seemed to have made him relax. There was no taking away the offer now, without a decision to make it felt far more natural to open the door wide and walk out before his brother, clasping the cold metal railing to watch the sky turn a delightful pink without the glare of the glass around them.

He didn’t turn as Ford joined him a few seconds later, as if he hadn’t been prepared for the turn of events and had stuttered to a halt for a second. He gave a low appreciative whistle though as his eyes skimmed the view again. “You’re right, somehow it’s better out here.”

Stan gave an agreeable noise in return, trying to focus his gaze outwards instead of nervously following Ford, his protective instincts still flaring up at them both being so high up. He needed to know he could, needed to know that at least some of his fears were unfounded.

“Hey, Stan?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember what Ma used to tell us about the dark?”

Stan’s gaze shot to him reproachfully, almost wondering whether to dignify the question with an answer. “Of course I do. What do you take me for?”

“Yeah? Well, what was it then?”

His eyes narrowed at the smirk on Ford’s face, sibling rivalry taking over before his brain could question what he was doing by bringing this up. “Ma told us we weren’t imagining things when we heard and saw stuff in the night, because there were creatures out there- that’s what started you up on all this weird anomaly stuff in the first place, wasn’t it?” He couldn’t help the quick quip back, amusement taking over as Ford grimaced at his wording.

“That’s only half of it. Go on.”

Stan shook his head, befuddled. “I dunno, what do you want from me? She told us that we should be careful and cautious of what was out there? But never show we’re afraid, ‘cause that makes things worse with those kinds of creatures-”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Ford leant his elbows on the railing, his eyes focused away from Stan as if worried how he might react. “As long as we know something’s out there, we shouldn’t be scared of it.”

Stan nodded, still not sure what was happening. “Yeah, that was it. I mean, what’s there to be afraid of if you know it’s there? You can fight back if you know what you’re up against.”

“Exactly.” Ford shifted, his face exuberant at the admission. “So, it’s the same with the sea, isn’t it? We know there are things out there now… I just don’t want them to win.”

Stan froze as his brother continued to watch him, his thoughts snapping together quickly as if suddenly everything made sense in a way it hadn’t since Ford had asked him that question and turned everything on its head.

He could hear his mother again, her voice soft and comforting but with that quiet strength he had always found far more reassuring.

“I’m here to tell you a secret. There is something in the darkness. And you can beat it, just like everything else. So don’t let fear drag you into the dark. Keep it close, use it to your advantage, and know you can win.”

“Oh.” The switch had flicked, the hesitance, the steadfast ‘logic’ that had stopped him for once plunging forwards crumbled in an instance. Time and time again he had made sure never to let fear pull him down. Had walked, straight backed when he saw things dart around him as he walked to the lighthouse, as wisps and whispers tried to get into his skull, and staunchly he ignored them all.

He knew what was out there, waiting for them in the sea.

So what was there to be afraid of?

He’d already beaten it once.

He couldn’t find the words to say it though.

“I mean, the monsters only win if we let them.”

“Oh.”

“…Is that a good ‘oh’ or a bad one? Because I really can’t tell.”

Stan shook himself, the pained fretful note in Ford’s words bringing him back. He decided to play it up a bit, unable to resist as his twin grew restless beside him. He closed his eyes, gripping the railing harder. “Damn it…”

“OK, bad ‘oh’ it is- just ignore I ever said anything.”

“Appealing to my competitive streak, my one weakness.”

The world grew deathly silent. He chanced peeking an eye open, bursting out into laughter as Ford stared back at him slack jawed. “Trying to catch flies, there, Sixer?”

Ford’s mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he couldn’t quite remember how to speak before he found his voice again. “Does that mean…?”

“That I have no more arguments? Yeah, I guess it does.” Stan shrugged, scratching at his chin. “I said I wanted to, the only thing holding me back is fear- but that’s really dumb, isn’t it? What’s the point of being scared of those things out there? That’s what they want us to do.”

“You really mean it?”

The whisper was so filled with awe, so much anticipation for the future that Stan felt it rub off on him, felt that electric charge, the thrill of adventure finally fill him unhindered. “I really think I do.”

“If you change your mind, I’ll understand.”

“What is this? You getting cold feet now?” Stan laughed, the sound bubbling up as Ford shook his head violently. “Then stop with all that! Just be happy that I agreed.”

“I am- I really, really am!” Ford launched at him, wrapping an arm around him. “I just want you to know you can change your mind at any point. I don’t want you regretting anything.”

Stan grabbed hold of him, grumbling whilst gripping the railing tightly with the other hand. “You’re already making me regret this. That was a terrible idea. Have you forgotten how high up we are?”

“Yeah but we’re filled with them and that’s the fun of it!” Ford seemed to vibrate with energy, eyes lit up and dazzling as his brain started to work through plans already.

“…I guess it is.” Stan looked away, out over the shoreline, over the rocks and rolling waves, out towards where the sun was finally sinking completely from sight, touching the waves for one final time.

Only now, instead of an impossible distance, imposing and daunting, it instead held that childish optimism again. That dream like quality, that sudden urge to at the very least try.

That was where they were headed. On and on and on. Wherever the wind in their sails took them.

And not knowing was half the fun.

“Can we celebrate? Go out for dinner with the kids on their last night here and end today perfectly?”

“Now that really is the best idea you’ve had for a long time.”

We’re here. I can’t believe we’re here.

The excitement that had bloomed when Stan agreed, wholeheartedly agreed that he wanted to go on this trip, had only continued to grow as they had planned it all.

He knew Stan had still had his reservations, of course he did, but with every extra detail, every added precaution and conversation and opening up to one another about what they were hoping for, what they were nervous about, had lifted another weight from their shoulders.

And now here they were, finally on board the newly christened Stan’O’War II.

A dream come true. Finally they would set sail just like they had planned since they were ten years old.

It was hard to keep still. Stan had already teasingly remarked about his childish restlessness on more than one occasion- when they had found the perfect boat, when he found Ford’s giant to do list, when packing was complete and he had nowhere else to store all the energy still bubbling up. Every single time Stan had given that laugh that reminded him of when they were younger, exuberant and just as eager no matter how much he tried to say otherwise.

There was so much to do! So much to explore! He didn’t know where to start!

Should they follow the coastline? See what there was in more familiar waters? Or race ahead? Head straight into open waters and see what lay beyond the horizon?

Both were good options, anywhere was perfect.

The fact that they were doing this was all the incentive he needed to push forward and let the wind take them without a care in the world.

Maybe a plan of action wasn’t always strictly necessary.

The sound of static reached him from the open doorway, pulling his thoughts back to the present with a bright tranquil feeling. Soft music started to filter through as Stan found a station, humming along without a care in the world.

This is what he’d wanted.

This was what home felt like.

Sure the Shack had felt like home, but it wasn’t the building itself. It had been the gleaming sparks that were their Great Niblings filling up all the cracks and open air with just their illuminating presences.

But this, this was their childhood and their future and everything else all rolled into one.

He’d miss the kids, of course he would, but they were still with them.

He shook his head, the thought of the kids reminding him of the task at hand as he continued to fiddle with the decorations they had been entrusted with. The kids had sent a few care packages, promising to send more whenever they stopped off at port for a while and let them know where they were. He was already trying to anticipate what they would send, his elated surprise at their gifts so far warming his heart with pride.

They were such perceptive kids.

The radio for one was a gift from them both, they seemed to have noticed just as much as Ford how quickly Stan filled silences, not liking unnecessary dead air. The chatter in the diner always seemed to relax him whenever they visited, not to mention the inane questions and constant talking from his gullible tourists had somehow settled Stan more than if they were silent once his monologues were over.

He could only guess that it was a comfort, to stop himself from overthinking.

But it seemed Stan wasn’t the only one they had been watching. It was obvious that he liked the warm since coming home, but Stan had already seen to that, an entire box of warm clothing and assorted woollen blankets already strewn across the room. It wasn’t even September yet and they’d both agreed to go to warmer climes as the weather grew colder but even so they were well stocked just in case.

Sure, they had both been sent sweaters. Stan hadn’t been able to stay standing when he saw the octopus sweater that Ford had unwrapped, not until he had opened his own and both of them sat in shocked awe at the lighthouse that bedecked Stan’s own sweater, identical to the one that sat outside up to the actual flashing light near the collar.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s new uniform as Ford liked to call it, making sure the kids knew Stan was wearing it more often than not.

But those had been separate presents, something for both of them.

Stan’s present had been the radio, focusing on sound.

No, instead of warmth, for Ford the kids had focused on lights.

Which was where he found himself now, hooking up the long string of fairy lights that they had sent them, twisting them around as far as they would reach in the cabin so that wherever he looked there was light.

He’d turned them on before they’d left the Shack, a wash of pure appreciation threatening to engulf him when he realised there wasn’t a pure yellow light in sight, all of them switched out for a myriad of other warm shades- white, red, gold, orange- all melding together to make him feel safer and warmer than any blanket could.

A little safe haven on the cold, deep seas.

Because no matter how insatiable his curiosity was, he never wanted to take a trip that deep into the abyss again.

He was happy above the water, it was where they were meant to be.

Safe and off on an adventure.

The best of both worlds. A compromise.

As long as they were careful, the world was theirs.

“Sixer! Aren’t you done yet? The world’s not going to wait forever!”

“Almost!” Ford smiled as the lights flickered to life in front of him. He nudged them all a bit further apart, now able to see exactly where they were needed and where they weren’t as they lit up the small area, dusting his desk and his journal with specks of coloured light. His fingers skimmed across the little bulbs when he was satisfied with their placement, distracted in equal measures by their uplifting glow and by the giddiness in Stan’s voice, his thoughts waylaid from before.

There had been a marked cautiousness to him whilst they were getting ready, double and triple checking everything, making sure they knew what they were getting themselves into and what they would do in an emergency.

But once they were on the boat, all that caution had gone to the wind. He could hear his feet running up and down outside the cabin, tweaking this, fiddling with that. Unable to stop himself wanting to seize the moment and dive headfirst into the journey and worry about the consequences later.

The biggest kid of them all.

But Ford couldn’t fault him. Not when it seemed that seeing the boat had finally shifted the last of Stan’s doubts away and the fire in his blood had ignited all in one fell swoop.

“Come on, Sixer, you really gotta see this view! I was wrong before! The view from the lighthouse was great but nothing beats being out on the water!”

“Coming!” Ford bolted up and out of the small cabin, any thoughts of unpacking the rest of their items vanishing under the glee of what awaited them on the open sea.

It would take time for everything to be as it should be, they both knew that, there was a lot to do, a lot to take in.

A lot to learn. Both about what was out there and about one another.

And time was not on their side.

But they would continue to move forward, small happy chirps and booming laughter echoing through the empty cabin as heavy footsteps reverberated, the ship shuddering as it finally set sail, cutting through the waves. Shiny and new and raring for adventure as much as its occupants.

And unbeknownst to both of them, if you followed the small trail of lights in the cabin, the ones that wound over and under railings, trapped behind anything that would hold it up and keep the lights shining outwards… If you followed each bulb, counting them off one by one, the little fireflies that flickered a bright warm glow all around the room and decked the ceiling in fractured stars…

You’d come across a plug that had never made it to the wall. Both occupants far too preoccupied with the draw of the infinite horizon to remember to finish the job.

But even so each light glowed on, bright and strong and would continue to do so, day and night as dazzling as that first day.

That first day when hope burned bright and even though the lighthouse keeper had passed on his duties to another, the gleaming world of possibilities had opened up before them.

On to a new adventure, a new journey filled with light and warmth and dreams turned into realities.

And with that realisation, as the future finally became clear, each and every place the light keeper dreamed of, each story to tell the kids back home, lit another bulb in the chain. A chain reaction so fast and full of wonder not one bulb was left unlit.

The light keeper had finally turned on the light. And the light had seen fit to stay with him.

His reward for his steadfast service and determination.

All he had to do was focus, keep the things he held dear close to his chest and let them guide him forward. The bright light of a brother beside him, filled with anticipation. The rays of pure sunlight that were his niblings, giving him purpose and guiding him safely home. The pinprick flickering stars, the people he had met along the way and even after all this time, still wished them well and waited for them to come back home.

As long as he kept all those people in mind, ignored the wisps that might darken his doorstep and the darkness that even now tried to slip through the cracks that would take time to heal completely, the lights would continue to glow for him.

And if those lights were to dim on occasion? Flicker and fade and lose their warmth?

If he ever forgot that people cared?

Well, then it’s for the best that neither of them are all alone in the dark anymore.

Sure, there might be a lot of things ahead of them.

Dangerous, magical exciting adventures, trials and tribulations, and a whole world to explore.

An overwhelming journey, both good and bad and everything in between.

They never had been ones to stay put and stay safe. Never ones to stay on the well-trodden trail, to cautiously take a step back and wait instead of carving their own path forward.

But they would always have each other, and there would always be hope to guide them on their way.

As long as they knew where to look.

.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure x There’ll be more in this AU very soon but this story has ended ♥ Thanks again to Ran for giving me this awesome opportunity to write to my hearts content on this one and for giving every chapter a lovely piece of your artwork to really bring it all to life. @sightkeeper You’re amazing, your art’s amazing ;A; love you friend!

[creative-type]

Chapter 218 is Amazing and Here’s Why (Continued)

So I had intended to finish my analysis of chapter 218 of One Piece in one post, but things were starting to run a little long and I split it in two. Here’s Part 1 for those who are interested. For the rest of you, let’s jump in where we left off

I know I say this a lot, but I really like that panel. For one thing, Usopp is using a desk lamp. Knowing him, he probably invented it himself just for the occasion. 

On a more serious note, the entire feel of this scene is completely different than the last time the Straw Hats as a group interacted with Robin. I wrote extensively on chapter 114 here, but what I want to draw attention to now is how the tables have (supposedly) turned. Remember how Robin held all the power and was seated above the Straw Hats while tossing them around like a bunch of punks?

Yeah, that’s no longer the case. Robin is surrounded by Usopp, Zoro, and Nami, the three Straw Hats who distrust her most. And while Usopp’s too much of a chicken to be intimidating, there’s no mistaking Zoro and Nami’s body language. They’re closed off, guarded, and Zoro at least has his weapons close at hand. 

At the same time, the way the speech bubbles are placed draw attention to Chopper and Luffy. You can barely make out a hand, and one might assume it’s Sanji’s, as he’s the only Straw Hat not visible. 

Which, of course, it’s not

This set up is the impetuous for three hilarious pages where Robin one by one wins over the Straw Hats (except Zoro, because he’s a killjoy). I recommend reading the entire sequence to get the full effect. It’s classic Oda humor from start to finish that makes me smile every time I read it

(especially this)

Now going back a bit, Robin tells Usopp that she’s an archaeologist from a long line of archaeologists and has been on the run for twenty years. Never once in this entire “interview” does she lie. In fact, I can’t recall Robin ever  lying in the entire series, except for when she didn’t give Crocodile Pluton’s location. 

There are a couple of different reasons for this. For one, it’s convenient for the narrative if the audience doesn’t have to second-guess everything the main characters say. On the whole the Straw Hats are pretty honest people - Usopp being the obvious exception. (Nami is also a bit of a wheeler and a dealer, but since Arlong Park is more prone to using her good looks and force of will to get her way over straight-up lying. That, or stealing what she wants outright.)

Secondly, Robin has had a bounty on her head for a long time. The Ohara incident was publicized around the world. There’s no reason to hide certain aspects of her backstory when it’s essentially public knowledge. 

Still, it’s interesting to note that the one Straw Hat who is known world-wide as a demon who has betrayed every group she’s joined tells the truth here. It’s obvious that in addition to winning the Straw Hats over, Robin is using her ability to direct the attention away from herself. One might even suggest that Robin tells Usopp she’s an assassin to rattle him enough to avoid more personal questions. She does a masterful job of using each of the Straw Hat’s weaknesses against them. 

It becomes more apparent later on that Robin is an incredibly private person. When Chopper and Sanji are looking for her on Water 7 they don’t know where to even to start, because there are no ancient ruins about, and that’s the only place they can think of where she would go. 

Now, this falls more into the realm of theories and head canons, but since Robin’s whole dream focuses around finding The Truth and since her whole life has been ruined by vicious slander and falsehoods, I would imagine that Robin hates lying more than the average person. She will misdirect, avoid questions, or tell bits and pieces of well-known information without giving context, but she won’t lie.

Moving on, Robin uses the same intelligence and playful nature that was established in chapter 114 to avoid any more of Usopp’s questions (consistent characterization, gotta love it) before having a private word with Zoro. I like how Robin doesn’t even try the same tricks she used with the rest, because I think she knows it won’t work. Instead she addresses him more or less as an equal.

Assuming this is a nuanced and accurate translation, when Robin says “This isn’t that bad” we can make the assumption that she thought it would be bad. It’s understandable that she would think this way - the Straw Hats were her enemies not too long ago - but it brings up the point that Robin willingly stowed away on a ship she knew she wouldn’t be welcome because she had no place else to go. When Zoro affirms that the Straw Hats are basically a bunch of dorks, Robin smiles.

Now Robin smiles an awful lot for someone who wants to die. It’s basically her default expression, and it’s nothing but a front to hide her real feelings. She even smiles when she’s just been stabbed and is about to be buried alive after living a miserable, meaningless life without accomplishing anything she’s ever set out to do. That’s one deeply-rooted defense mechanism.

This is the first time we see Robin really be happy, and her surprise at learning that the Straw Hat Pirates are fun-loving and cheerful even when traveling with a former enemy is the kick-start to Robin’s character arc.

Because make no mistake, the Robin who joined the Straw Hat Pirates was the same Robin who joined Crocodile. All the stuff at the beginning of the chapter helps flesh her out into a fully-realized character instead of a cardboard Vivi replacement, but at this moment Robin’s beliefs about the Straw Hat Pirates are challenged, and a character can’t change if they aren’t challenged. 

There’s a cute Zoro-pouty face to that ends this scene, and our focus swings back to the Straw Hats as a whole. An undetermined amount of time has passed because now they’re talking about the weather and Zoro is back to lifting weights

I don’t know if you can have foreshadowing that’s paid off in one panel, but Oda doesn’t waste a beat with the little clacks of wood against wood. For the second chapter in a row there’s an amazing twist at the end that no one could have seen coming. I already shown this spread in my last post, but it’s so epic it deserves a second viewing

I can’t remember if this is the only time Oda has used a real life quote in One Piece, but if not, it’s one of very few. And honestly, what could be more appropriate for a series like One Piece? The whole composition of this page is beautiful, and all the little details take my breath away. I really don’t get it when people say Oda’s art is ugly, because they’re wrong. 

Anyway, things get crazy for a couple of pages while the Straw Hats try not to capsize. Oda has this thing he does when he uses square or rectangular panels for his dialogue and uneven shapes like trapezoids for action scenes. I think that’s pretty standard procedure for comics (I’m by no means an expert) but here Oda helps sell the chaos by composing his pages so it feels like the panels are tilting with the ship

There’s also a nice gag with Usopp that doubles as a character moment. Instead of grabbing hold for dear life Usopp sits and closes his eyes to pray, completely ignoring the problem in hopes that it goes away. It’s funny here when he gets a skeleton to the face, but it highlights a huge flaw that finally comes to a head during the Water 7/Enies Lobby arcs.

After that we get this sequence of panels

Please forgive my horrendous edit, but I wanted to show how the speech bubble fits into curve of the wave in the second panel and leads the eye through the rest of the sequence even though the individual images don’t really relate to one another. Oda constructs this scene in such a way that we feel the chaos, but he does so in an orderly fashion. Each panel gets smaller and smaller - similar to the “fade to black” technique I talked about previously, and it leads directly the last splash panel on the page

The chaos ends just as abruptly as it began. The Straw Hats are mystified, and, honestly, Oda could have ended the chapter here. It’s such a high note, a good dose of Grand Line craziness after so much focus on the crew. But Oda isn’t satisfied with stopping here. He ends the chapter with what I believe to be one of the best story hooks in the series, tied only with Zou for sheer “WTF, the Straw Hats are going where?” moments in all of One Piece.

Skypea isn’t my favorite arc in the series. A lot of people say the same. But if you can pretend that you’d never read/seen what was coming next and take the end of 218 for what it is - and that’s pure hype - then you’ve got to admit that Oda has done his job.

So that concludes our look into chapter 218 “The Log Pose and Why It Is Round”. To summarize my thoughts on the chapter and why it’s amazing

Ships fall from the sky

Oda never forgets 

But he does lure us into thinking he does

Ships fall from the sky

Robin is established as a “protagonist” without necessarily being a “good guy”

Symbolism

Excellent page composition

Gags that reveal character

Consistent characterization with hints of further development to come

and last but not least

      10. Ships falling from the sky

(Thanks to everyone who has the patience to read this far. Next I’ll continue my Nico Robin study with chapter 253, specifically looking at Robin’s place in the Skypea arc and how Oda prefers stealth development over big character moments. See you next time!)

[notjustonepiece]

Eichiro Oda One Piece interviews

I’ll be adding more in the future. I think it’s nice to have everything Oda says in one place

_____

Jump Festa 2018 interview: Wano in 2018, Straw Hat’s “greatest enemy”, Marineford will look cute released Dec 2017 

Hi, I’m Oda. Are you enjoying Jump Festa? I’m watching One Piece Super Stage with you. It’s fun, indeed. Actually I visit Jump Festa every year to have a dinner with Straw Hats Voice Actors after Jump Festa.

By the way, One Piece will finally enter Wana next year!! Some well-informed audience members might think, “You said the same thing last year, right?” Yes, I did say that because I thought One Piece would be able to enter Wano in 2017. This time I’d like to add new information.

I’ll introduce one of the legends which lurks in the One Piece world. The greatest enemy ever for Straw Hats will hinder their way. Perhaps it will be something related to Whitebeard. Oops. It’s seems I’m being too talkative. Ca you believe Marineford Summit War will look cute compared to that?

Anyway, there are tons of stuff I wanna draw next year as well. I’ll keep moving forward with my full force!! I’m sure you’re gonna love it!!

TRANSLATION BY SANDMAN https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/942320866964025344

Thoughts on Trafalgar Law and other Supernovas in “One Piece The 27th Log” released Dec 20th 2017

Oda: I have to mentioned Trafalgar Law. Actually it’s not too much to say that all Supernovas have more highlights scenes than I imagined. I created Supernovas right before the chapter where they got introduced. None of them existed in my plot notebooks before that chapter. I was in a desperate situation, worrying. “At this rate, Sabaody arc will not be interesting enough.” Then, inspiration for 9 supernovas came to my mind unconsciously. I should have reduced the number of Supernovas since they were too many, but after all, I made all of the mappear in manga!! I’m really surprised they survive til now since I thought about half of them would drop out of the tough New World already. 

They are worst!! They are the worst generation, indeed. I imagined Kid would become an important character, but... Law!! I did not imagine he would become such an important character. Weekly serialization is a wonderland. 

Trivia from Grand Countdown Interview in 2010 and 2017. 

- the plan for breaking up the Straw Hats was already decided when Kuma was introduced in chapter 233. Editor Kohei Onishi advised Oda to spice up the story in Sabaody. Oda replied, “Would it be interesting if new characters appear?”

- only 3 hours after this advice, Oda finished designing all Supernovas

TRANSLATED BY SANDMAN https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/943503687334240256

Oda talks about One Piece being the best selling manga for 10 straight years

I’m honored to hear that One Piece is the best-selling manga for 10 consecutive years!! Thank you for tayllying the numbers every eyar. I keep in mind that I shuld obtain as many readers as possible. I’ve experienced that people can make friends via talking about manga ever sine I was a kid. I love being number one. I won’t forget the feeling of gratittude. I’ll make every effort to make One PIece the best manga in terms of both records and people’s memory!! Thank you so much!!

*According to editors live streaming in 2017, Oda sometimes gladly says, “I have a Guiness World Record” (most copieds published for the same combic book series by a single author)

TRANSLATED BY SANDMAN https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/937307399580299265 

“Super Kabuki 2 One Piece Grand Live" book notes from Oda, interview done in June 2017, book released Nov 11

- It will take another 1-2 years (from June 2017) for One Piece manga to enter Wano arc. An episode about Ace will be included in this arc. “Oda isn't good at estimating time. He was going to burn Going Merry in 2003, but it ended up coming true in 2006.  (source: "10th Treasures", 2007)” - SANDMAN https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/929355487807660032

- Audience/fans sometimes ask Oda about foreshadowing via fan letters, which makes him think, “Oh my god! I haven’t mentioned it yet!” When fans ask him, “What are the names of Luffy’s moves based on, he searches it on One Piece fansite. Oda feels as if him and his audience are working together to create One Piece

- Oda came up with the idea of Marineford Summit War long ago

- Oda says it’s hard to talk about justice through Luffy’s mouth since he is a pirate. So, Oda just puts a simple conclusion that the topposite side of justice is another justice. Oda says it’s one of the main themes of One Piece. 

- Oda’s effort for One Piece is divided into 40% drawings and 60% story

- Oda already has the idea of how One Piece will end ever since the first chapter. In an interview in 2012, Oda said the final arc will be so amazing it will make Marineford War arc look like nothing 

source: https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/929333019466391554 

One Piece Magazine volume 3

- it was originally planned that Doflamingo and Corazon would have no blood relation and that Corazon would just be one of his subordinates. 

- Vergo’s code name was “Sir Dean”

- Donquixote Homing, Doflamingo’s father, was originally called Donquixote Dressking. Homing and Cobra were good friends

- Doflamingo thought “I’m gonna become king of the world” after escaping from Mariejois. Then he formed a crime syndicate in “Downs” in North Blue

- After Roger got executed, Doflamingo made up his mind “ I’m gonna become Pirate King”

- Amazon Lily arc got more sexy than Oda had planned since he was glad that his editor Hattori got hyped every time he drew sexy characters. Hattori jokingly complains, “Your words sound like I’m just a lecherous editor!” 

source: https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/906177340610248712 

One Piece The 23rd Log, haven’t finished One Piece cause of Shichibukai 7 warlords

- I haven’t finished One Piece yet despite the 20 year serialization. The main reason is these guys (Shichibukai). At first, I intended to finish One Piece in 5 years. It was supposed to be a story to fight against pirates called Yonkou. However, I came up with the idea of Shichiukai. I just thought, “It would be badass if these characters showed up.” Then as you can see, it caused this long serialization!!

- Why didn’t I make them Gobukai or Nibukai!!? I thought 7 was a cool number!! That being said, I don’t regret it since I draw what I wanted ... I’m regretting a bit!! 

(”Go” means 5, “Ni” means 2. “Shichi” means 7

https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/900782874021974016

[rumpikerzzzworld]

April, You Will Be Remembered

It’s the 1st of May!! I want to post about some unforgettable April 2019 moments because I want to keep the memories that someday I want to remember again. So many things happened in the month. There were some heart-breaking incidents and of course there were some enjoyable moments as well. I’m just gonna highlight the things I want to remember the most. Here they are!!

BLACK HOLE

It is announced that on 10th April 2019 a group of scientist from the international Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) releasing the image of a black hole to public. This project was began in 2006. It took supercomputers, eight telescopes stationed on five continents, hundreds of researchers, and vast amounts of data to accomplish (source: the verge).  

(cr: Event Horizon Telescope)

I was not someone who understands much about space life, even though I studied the basic knowledge when I was in secondary and high school. However, I appreciated a lot this not easy job. I used to have a dream to be an astronomer when I was a kid, but i have to come to realization that I’m not smart enough to pursue the dream, lol. I’m currently into astronauts’ life though. I watch documentaries, read articles and other sources about astronaut’s and space’s life. So that, it made me happy to read this news. Moreover, one of the computer scientists in the team who led the development program to get the first-image of black hole is a woman named Katie Bouman. She is just 29-year-old when she did that. She is amazing!! I always wonder what kind of method those people use when they are studying. I mean, how could they be so smart? I feel like I’m such a useless and stupid human being. I’m nothing huhu. Anyway, I’m happy to witness the history of the first image of black hole.

GAME OF THRONES

FINALLY, WINTER IS COMING. I might not be the fan of the show since day 1. I just started watching game of thrones in 2017. Ever since I watched the first season, I started becoming a fan and addicted to the show then finished all of the 7 seasons in a few weeks. The show is that addictive, it made me threw any dramas/movies for about 6 months because I felt that the show was too well executed and any other movies/dramas in that time period I was watching the show felt bland. I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to belittle other shows. It’s just the thing I felt that moment. I was so mesmerized by the storyline which literally beyond my expectation. It was so good. I know there are a lot of people who don’t like the show, and it’s okay as everyone has their own preference. But to me, this show is so far my very favourite one.

It took me 2 years to wait for the last season which is season 8 to be aired. I cant contain my feelings as I was so excited about this. AAAANNDDDDD IT’S FINALLY HERE. GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8 IS HAPPENING. 14th April 2019 should be put as a history date as the show was aired on that day. Actually, I’m pretty sad that there will be just 6 episodes. I wish they make it to 10, but who am I to complain?

Okay, back to the show. The most talked episode is episode 3, the Battle of Winterfell, which was shown in that very episode. The episode lasts for about 80 minutes long. The thing that has been waited since season 1 was the war between the alive and the dead. There are so much reactions and opinions regarding the episode, fans are splitted into two groups, the one who enjoyed the episode and the one who disliked the episode as it didn’t reach their expectation. I’m the one who included to the first one, I pretty enjoyed the show although I think it wasn’t the greatest battle in Game of Thrones. My favourite battle was Battle of Bastards as it was really tensed. But, I still like the Battle of Winterfell though. As of now, I want to put aside the negativity and just enjoy the rest of episodes. I’m planning on reading the books after the show is over.

One thing that I really like about episode 3 is the hyped from the people who watched together in cafes, restaurants, and other place. Their reactions were priceless. See these videos that went viral on twitter!!

1    2

ELECTION

One of the most tiring to bear ever since social media era existed is election. The countries that pursue democracy usually conduct election to choose their own leader, including my country. In the past, there weren’t much sources to search about election information other than from tv and newspaper, so that the backlash could be reduced. But it’s different now. In this digital age, people can share everything including the positive and negative contents. Social media as one of the tools for people to do campaign and spread either good thing or black-campaign for the election candidates. ISTG, this is so tiring to witness people bashing each other and most of them have crossed the line. I’m so done!

In Indonesia, for 2019’s election, there were some changes compare to the previous election. They were included the period of time of campaign which was so long (about 7 months) and also adding the other 3 elections of legislative to be held in the same very day. It used to be held in different months, but due to the lack of participation in legislative election so that they were all conducted together.

Indonesian Presidential Election Candidates (Left: Jokowi-Amin, Right: Prabowo-Sandi) 

(cr: Media Indonesia)

I was eager for this to end soon. It finally happened on 17th April 2019. But, something bad happened again. The incident which happened in 2014 was re-enacted as both candidates claimed they win. Even though the quick count results from about 12 institutions showed that Jokowi-Amin led the vote by gaining about 54% votes while Prabowo-Sandi gained around 44% votes. I’m so done with this. I will just wait for the official results to be announced and I wish on that day there will be no chaos happen.

Aside of that, something that breaks my heart is there were a lot of election officers died and fell sick due to exhaustion from working way too hard as most of them working until very late night and some even worked until the next morning because there were so many jobs to do, including counting the vote for legislative elections (DPR, DPRD, DPD). Although there were no major incident happened during the election process itself, but still this thing supposed to not happen. There is definitely something wrong with the system and it should be fixed so that there will be no victims anymore.

MOURNING IN SRI LANKA

21st April 2019 is Easter Day. Things supposed to be calm and sacred on that day. But disgusting act ruined it all. Multiple bombing attacks happened in several places in Sri Lanka, including at churches and hotels. Hundred of people died and many people got injured. Some extremists claimed they are responsible for the attacks, SMH. I wish the ones who dead are resting in peace, while the ones who got injured will get well soon and receive some strength to continue life. and for the terrorists, I wish you die in suffer and go to hell!!

I don’t get why in 2019, hatred ideology is still growing fast in this world. Sadly, in some developed-countries which the citizen are more educated, this ideology also exist. People should learn that the differences that make this world beautiful. Why some people feel like they want to hurt each other just because they have differences in term of race, skin colour, religion, countries, ideology, etc. We need to respect each other differences as long as it doesn’t violate the rule of law.

I think there should be a formal lesson in school to teach students to respect the differences. Parents should teach their children right too. Sadly, I found a lot of parents who taught their children to hate people who are different from them. This needs to be stopped. Everyone deserves to get equal treatment. We all want a better future. We cant reach this as long as we still fight each other because of the differences. Just put aside it and look the bigger picture, the same goal we want to pursue. As of now, i’m kinda sceptical if we can reach peace in the near future. However, someday in the future, I wish the world will be a better place to live in. Amen

(cr: wisdom quotes)

AVENGERS ENDGAME

Marvel fans have anticipated the final movie from Avengers United. They are excited as well as sad as the avengers series come to end. Avengers Endgame was screened since 26th April 2019 in my country. There were so much fans who purchased pre-order ticket in a few days prior to the movie screening. It’s kinda cray because the cinemas are full packed with the audiences. Most cinemas even dedicated all of their studios for this movie as the demands are very high then putting aside the other movies. I feel bad for the other movies as they didn’t get time slot for their movies in cinema because of Avengers movie. I wish this wont last long as other movies deserve to get screened as well.

Okay, back to Avengers Endgame movie. Just in March 2019, I watched Captain Marvel movie and in April, I got to watch the last movie of Avengers. I’m actually not a big fan of Superheroes movies, I’m just a casual viewer who enjoyed the movies and i enjoyed watching this one as well. Avengers Endgame runs for 181 minutes, it’s pretty long. I came to bathroom in the middle of movie though, lol.

Overall, I like this movie as I think everything was executed very well. The cinematography, the sound, the edit, the effect are totally top-class work as well as the casts and their act. It really gives everyone goosebumps during the war between Avengers United and Thanos and his soldiers. I couldn’t blink my eye any second because I didn’t want to miss anything. Even though, I felt like I wanted to go to number 1 again in the middle of war scene, but I held it until the movie was over, lol. The movie is worth the hyped though. It’s indeed a masterpiece. I think I’m gonna rewatch it later. But, first I need to watch several marvel movies that I haven’t watched yet so everything will connect and make sense as I still didn’t understand some part. Anyway, thanks marvel for presenting a very well done job!! Goodbye or See you (?) Avengers!!

(cr: marvel)

Bye April 2019. Welcome my month, May!!

xoxo

mels

[eichy815]

Fall Fusion 2019 (Fox)

In another month, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW are slated to unveil their primetime rosters for the 2019-20 network television season.  Adding an unprecedented complication, this year, is the unresolved standoff between the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and ATA (Association of Talent Agents).

NBC and Fox announce their fall schedules on May 13, followed by ABC on May 14 and CBS on May 15.  Bringing up the rear will be The CW on May 16.

The “bubble shows” for this season, which most likely won’t know their fates until May:  Blindspot, The Village, The Enemy Within, Manifest, A.P. Bio, and I Feel Bad on NBC; For The People, Whiskey Cavalier, The Fix, Single Parents, and The Kids Are Alright on ABC; Madam Secretary, Bull, Ransom, Instinct, Life in Pieces, Murphy Brown, FAM, and Happy Together on CBS; The 100, All-American, Roswell New Mexico, and In the Dark on The CW; and Lethal Weapon, The Gifted, The Orville, The Passage, Proven Innocent, and REL on Fox.

So, as I’ve been doing for the past several years, here is the roster I have dreamed up for the broadcast networks when the Big Five trot out their autumn slates in a few weeks.  I also include potential backup plans for the spring months, depending on which TV series fail or succeed.

When a show is picked up for the fall, it usually gets a 13-episode order – which can then be extended (usually via a “Back-Nine” order), if the show performs well enough.  Some freshmen series fall short of receiving a full 22 episodes (usually with an 16- or 18-episode order).  If the show stays far enough above the network’s average in terms of ratings and demos (the estimated number of viewers between the ages of 18-49, who are coveted by advertisers), it will most likely return for the following season.

As for the series that are held over to be midseason replacements:  they usually get 13-episode orders, as well.  Sometimes, a program that looks like more of a gamble might only get picked up for 6, 8, or 10 episodes instead.  If those shows attain a significant audience when they step in to fill gaps anytime between November and May, they may also find themselves on the next fall schedule.  

There are yet other TV series that are intended to be “limited series” or an “event series” – airing for a finite period of time during one predetermined juncture of the year – similar to many original cable television shows intentionally designed with shorter runs.  Fox and The CW have gradually transitioned to more of a year-round format for their programming, and ABC, CBS, and NBC should follow suit over the next two or three years.  For this reason, we may see more of the broadcast networks “time-sharing” different programs within the same time slots as they transition from winter to spring to summer and back to autumn.

After all, there are a limited number of available time slots on the primetime schedule.  With the frequency of limited-run “event programming,” we should expect to see less of the traditional model where one solitary series occupies one specific time slot for nine months of original programming (followed by three months of reruns).

(All times are Eastern/Pacific; subtract one hour for the Central/Mountain time zones)

(New shows highlighted in bold)

Featured network for today’s column…

Fox

Sunday

7:00 – World’s Funniest (fall)

8:00 – The Simpsons

8:30 – Richard Lovely (with possible Back-Nine)

9:00 – Family Guy

9:30 – Bob’s Burgers

Thomas Lennon’s hybrid comedy, Richard Lovely, would be a perfect fit in-between The Simpsons and Family Guy.  If Richard Lovely bombs really badly, its time slot can be turned over to single-cam freshman Adam & Eve...or, the 9pm hour could temporarily house reality programming (with Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers time-sharing the 8:30 slot).

Monday

8:00 – 911 (fall/spring) / The Resident (winter)

9:00 – Deputy (with possible Back-Nine) / The Passage (winter or summer)

911 would pair well with Stephen Dorff’s new crime drama, Deputy – with both of them running in tandem for autumn and spring “pods” (assuming that Deputy earns itself a back-order of episodes).  The Resident would check in the week after 911 airs its fall finale, and could even run double-episodes throughout the winter if it receives another 22-episode order.  Another option would be for either the new reality competition Flirty Dancing or Season 2 of The Masked Singer to be paired alongside of The Resident once 911 and Deputy take a joint four-month hiatus.  In that scenario, The Resident would likely finish out the remainder of its season during May, June, and July.

The Passage is in an interesting situation, since its Season 1 finale left it creatively in a place where it might work better airing for one or two more years as a 10-episode “event series.”  This may also be a better fit as summer programming (ala Wayward Pines) than in the winter or spring.  Another option would be for The Passage to move over to FX or FXX, where it could organically finish out a pre-ordained miniseries-style run.

Tuesday

8:00 – Last Man Standing

8:30 – Geniuses (with possible Back-Nine)

9:00 – The Cool Kids

9:30 – Patty’s Auto (with possible Back-Nine)

WWE Smackdown! will most likely displace Last Man Standing and The Cool Kids from Fridays to Tuesdays (ironically, Last Man Standing’s original time slot on ABC).  By placing The Cool Kids at 9pm as an anchor, Fox can try out two new sitcoms couched between these solid performers.  Geniuses, a blue-collar family sitcom, would be compatible with Last Man Standing; on the other hand, Patty’s Auto, a sitcom about an all-female mechanic shop, sounds offbeat enough that it could work well alongside The Cool Kids.

Wednesday

8:00 – Empire (fall/spring) / The Orville (winter)

9:00 – Star (fall/spring) / neXT (winter)

Empire and Star would continue to be paired together.  However, when both of them temporarily break during the winter, The Orville can lead off the night for a third season.  Leading out of The Orville would be sci-fi crime thriller neXT.

Thursday

8:00 – Thursday Night Football (fall) / MasterChef Junior (spring)  

9:00 – Thursday Night Football (fall) / Lovestruck (spring)

After football ends, MasterChef Junior could return and lead into the romantic dramedy Lovestruck – featuring Rachel Bilson, Andie MacDowall, and Kathleen Turner, which unconventionally sees the entire season unfold over the course of one wedding day attended by its characters.

Friday

8:00 – WWE Smackdown

WWE Smackdown! arriving here in the fall will mean that Fridays are already spoken for.

MIDSEASON:  The Resident (22 episodes), Masterchef Junior (13 episodes), Flirty Dancing (13 episodes), The Orville (13 episodes), The Passage (10 episodes), neXT (13 episodes), Lovestruck (13 episodes), Adam & Eve (8 episodes)

LATER THIS MONTH (APRIL 2019)

The Amazing Race (CBS)

Life in Pieces (CBS)

The 100 (The CW)

Bosch (Netflix)

The Son (AMC)

Cuckoo (Netflix)

Tales (BET)

Cobra Kai (YouTube Premium)

Top Gear (BBC America)

The Protector (Netflix)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)

Deep State (Epix)

MAY 2019

The Bachelorette (ABC)

Animal Kingdom (TNT)

Elementary (CBS)

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)

iZombie (The CW)

Lucifer (Netflix)

Sneaky Pete (Amazon Prime)

What Would You Do? (ABC)

Beat Shazam (Fox)

Archer (FX)

Good Witch (Hallmark)

MasterChef (Fox)

American Ninja Warrior (NBC)

America’s Got Talent (NBC)

Bill Nye Saves the World (Neflix)

Chrisley Knows Best (USA)

Our Cartoon President (Showtime)

Southern Charm (Bravo)

Good Bones (HGTV)

Fleabag (Amazon Prime)

The Rain (Netflix)

Secrets of the Zoo (National Geographic WILD)

She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix)

Vida (Starz)

Pure (WGN America)

Property Brothers (HGTV)

JUNE 2019

Instinct (CBS)

Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)

Big Brother (CBS)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Celebrity Family Feud (ABC)

Pose (FX)

The $100,000 Pyramid (ABC)

The Wall (NBC)

Claws (TNT)

Masters of Illusion (The CW)

Match Game (ABC)

So You Think You Can Dance? (Fox)

Whose Line is it Anyway? (The CW)

Queen of the South (USA)

Good Trouble (Freeform)

The Affair (Showtime)

Younger (TV Land)

Food Network Star (Food Network)

Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

GLOW (Netflix)

Big Little Lies (HBO)

Queen Sugar (OWN)

Luther (BBC America)

Abstentia (Amazon Prime)

Yellowstone (Paramount)

Riviera (Sundance)

Rosehaven (Sundance)

JULY 2019

Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)

Stranger Things (Netflix)

The Terror (AMC)

Lodge 49 (AMC)

Hollywood Game Night (NBC)

The Wall (NBC)

Dateline NBC (NBC)

Power (Starz)

Suits (USA)

Killjoys (SyFy Channel)

13 Reasons Why (Netflix)

Harlots (Hulu)

AUGUST 2019

Preacher (AMC)

Insecure (HBO)

Ballers (HBO)

The Sinner (USA)

Shahs of Sunset (Bravo)

SEPTEMBER 2019

American Horror Story (FX)

BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

The Deuce (HBO)

OCTOBER 2019

The Walking Dead (AMC)

Below Deck (Bravo)

Ray Donovan (Showtime)

Van Helsing (SyFy)

Mr. Robot (USA)

Andi Mack (Disney Channel)

Shameless (Showtime)

The Man in the High Castle (Amazon)

NOVEMBER 2019

Outlander (Starz)

DECEMBER 2019

Running Wild with Bear Grylls (National Geographic)

Fuller House (Netflix)

Alexa & Katie (Netflix)

Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)

Homeland (Showtime)

Impractical Jokers (TruTV)

JANUARY 2020

Future Man (Hulu)

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access)

Baskets (FX)

Grownish (Freeform)

Grace and Frankie (Netflix)

High Maintenance (HBO)

Schitt’s Creek (CBC)

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020

Good Girls (NBC)

Silicon Valley (HBO)

Scream (MTV)

Barry (HBO)

APRIL 2020

Brockmire (IFC)

Killing Eve (BBC America)

[noelmu]

WEEK IN REVIEW 1/1/17-1/7/17

The new year’s off to a busy start, on both the writing and publication sides. I’m off to Sundance in a week-and-a-half, so right now I’m saying yes to just about every assignment I’m offered, so that I can earn as much money as possible before I go. (I will get paid for the reviews and round-ups I file from the festival, but traveling to and lodging in Park City ain’t cheap, and I don’t figure on breaking even on the trip until later in the year, after I sell some more reviews and features related to the movies I’ll see at Sundance.)

I worked on several pieces before the holidays, timed to run right after the break, and a handful of those saw the light of day this week. For The A.V. Club, I contributed to a piece on getting children into music, which some readers misinterpreted as a guide to turning kids into hipsters, instead of what it was: advice on how best to share something you’re enthusiastic about with your beloved offspring. (For some reason, only music brings these kind of smug and/or skeptical reactions. The other pieces in this series have been about things like superheroes and holiday entertainment, and few have balked.) I also had an essay on the AVC this week about home much I love college football’s much-maligned bowl season.

Probably my most significant article this week though is the interview with Gloria Calderón Kellett and Mike Royce that I did for VICE. I kind of lucked into that one. My editorial contact at VICE, Pilot Viruet, asked me way back at the end of November if I’d be interested in writing something about Netflix’s new One Day At A Time, since she figured I had the Gen X credibility to comment authoritatively on the remake’s connections to the original series. As a fan of Royce’s work on Men Of A Certain Age and Enlisted (and an occasional Twitter correspondent with him), I thought I should try to land an interview, which I guessed would be better than a straight opinion essay.

As it turned out, Netflix made me jump through more hoops than I would’ve expected, mainly I think because I was asking for access to the show and the writers a few weeks earlier than they’d planned. Other critics got to watch the new One Day At A Time at the end of December, as part of what turned out to be a savvy strategy by Netflix to catch people while they were already in a warm, familial mood. The series has been drawing raves since the embargo lifted on reviews earlier this week. I’ve been biting my tongue since early December, anxious to talk about how good One Day is. I’d originally intended to watch just a few episodes to prep for my interview with Kellett and Royce; but after the first couple I cleared my schedule and watched all 13, finishing the finale literally 10 minutes before my phone rang. (I may have still been sniffling over season one’s final scene when I picked up.)

Anyway, I’m glad people are liking it so much. I was afraid its throwback style (shot in front of a live studio audience, just like the original ‘70s/’80s Norman Lear version) would mark it as too square. I should’ve trusted my colleagues more. They’re smart folks. Meanwhile, thanks to Pilot’s savvy and my own good timing, I think I’m one of the first pop culture writers to land an in-depth interview with the creative forces behind everyone’s new favorite Netflix sitcom. But I won’t be the last*. I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more from Kellett and Royce in the weeks ahead.

The A.V. Club For Our Consideration: College football’s bowl season is bloated, but that’s okay Field Guide To Parenting: How A.V. Club staffers got their offspring to just say no to kids’ music (I wrote about how I tried and failed to sway Cady Gray with an old iPod)

The Los Angeles Times Movie Review: Supernatural thriller The Autopsy Of Jane Doe builds tension with pros Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch Movie Review: Despite a bit of dance, slasher movie Pitchfork doesn't stray from tedium New In Home Entertainment: Nate Parker's Birth Of A Nation, Mr. Robot Season_2.0

Rolling Stone 2017 Golden Globes: The Official Drinking Game (I contributed a handful of ideas to this)

VICE One Day at A Time Is the Diverse, Brilliant Future of TV

Vulture TV Review: The Good Place Season One, Episode Ten - Trés Ladies

*Sure enough, an hour after I posted this, my friend Todd VanDerWerff ran an interview with Kellett and Calderón at Vox.

[eichy815]

Fall Fusion 2018 (NBC)

One month from now, an annual tradition occurs.  ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW announce their fall schedules – as well as their backup rosters for midseason.  With a likely merger between ABC and Fox pending – and The CW adding a Sunday night roster to its lineup – that places a little bit of uncertainty into what is otherwise a straightforward picture.

Assuming that Fox and ABC merge as planned, their new entity could still preserve both Fox Broadcast and ABC/Disney Broadcast as separate venues for primetime programming (much the same way Columbia and Warner Brothers simultaneously maintain CBS and The CW).  We just won’t know that specific outcome until another year or two from now.  So, for now, ABC and Fox will probably both proceed as normal...just to hedge their bets.

NBC and Fox announce their fall schedules on May 14, followed by ABC on May 15 and CBS on May 16.  Bringing up the rear will be The CW on May 17.

As far as “bubble shows” straddling the line between cancellation or last-minute renewal:  Taken, Rise, The Brave, Timeless, A.P. Bio, Champions, and Great News on NBC; Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Deception, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., For the People, The Crossing, Designated Survivor, Inhumans, Alex Inc., Speechless, and Fresh Off the Boat on ABC; Ransom, Instinct, Elementary, Living Biblically, 9JKL, and Superior Donuts on CBS; Valor, Life Sentence, The 100, and iZombie on The CW; and The Resident, Gotham, The Exorcist, Ghosted, The Mick, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth, and L.A. to Vegas on Fox.

In anticipation of another chaotic season (as broadcast television adjusts to escalating competition from cable and streaming channels), here’s my proposed Fall 2018 lineup for the Big Five networks.  I also include potential backup plans for the spring months, depending on which TV series fail or succeed.

When a show is picked up for the fall, it usually gets a 13-episode order – which can then be extended (usually via a “Back-Nine” order), if the show performs well enough.  Some freshmen series fall short of receiving a full 22 episodes (usually with an 16- or 18-episode order).  If the show stays far enough above the network’s average in terms of ratings and demos (the estimated number of viewers between the ages of 18-49, who are coveted by advertisers), it will most likely return for the following season.

As for the series that are held over to be midseason replacements: they usually get 13-episode orders, as well.  Sometimes, a program that looks like more of a gamble might only get picked up for 6, 8, or 10 episodes instead.  If those shows attain a significant audience when they step in to fill gaps anytime between November and May, they may also find themselves on the next fall schedule.  

There are yet other TV series that are intended to be “limited series” or an “event series” – airing for a finite period of time during one predetermined juncture of the year – similar to many original cable television shows intentionally designed with shorter runs.  Fox and The CW have gradually transitioned to more of a year-round format for their programming, and ABC, CBS, and NBC should follow suit over the next two or three years. For this reason, we may see more of the broadcast networks “time-sharing” different programs within the same time slots as they transition from winter to spring to summer and back to autumn.

After all, there are a limited number of available time slots on the primetime schedule.  With the frequency of limited-run “event programming,” we should expect to see less of the traditional model where one solitary series occupies one specific time slot for nine months of original programming (followed by three months of reruns).

(All times are Eastern/Pacific; subtract one hour for the Central/Mountain time zones)

(New shows highlighted in bold)

Featured network for today’s column…

NBC

Sunday

7:00 – Sunday Night Football / Dateline NBC (Mar.-May)

8:00 – Sunday Night Football / Little Big Shots (Mar.-May)

9:00 – Sunday Night Football / Genius Junior (Mar.-May)

10:00 – Sunday Night Football / The Blacklist (spring/summer)

Once NBC has finished airing football in the fall (and award show season has concluded), it should stick with the family-friendly two-hour bloc of Little Big Shots and Genius Junior.  Alongside of their March returns, The Blacklist could air what will likely be its final season – the only question is whether its episode order would be for 13, 16, 18, or 22.

In the summer, Sunday can become a refuge for “limited event” series and cheap reality filler.

Monday

8:00 – The Voice (fall/spring)

10:00 – The Between (with possible Back-Nine) / L.A.’s Finest (spring)

One of the most buzzed-about pilots in contention for the fall is paranormal investigative drama The Between, in which Australian actress Harriet Dyer portrays a clairvoyant gumshoe slated to be the second coming of Medium’s Allison DuBois.  There’s no reason why this series shouldn’t be given the plum time slot leading out of The Voice.  Its fall performance will determine whether The Between gets a full season; but if it doesn’t, the Bad Boys spinoff entitled L.A.’s Finest (with Gabrielle Union reprising her Syd Burnett character from the 2003 film) can be ready with 13 episodes to potentially pick up the slack, midseason.

Tuesday

8:00 – The Voice (fall/spring) / Hollywood Game Night (Jan.-Feb.)

9:00 – Abby’s (with possible Back-Nine)  

9:30 – Bright Futures (with possible Back-Nine)

10:00 – This is Us (Sep.-Mar.) / Good Girls (Mar.-May)

If NBC wants to be a competitive network for comedy once again, it needs to expand its comedic offerings beyond Thursday.  The Natalie Morales-led bar sitcom Abby’s could be paired with Millennial-infused workplace/relationship comedy Bright Futures (created by Kenya Barris of Blackish).  Although it may seem like a bit of a risk to pair together a multi-cam and a single-cam in the same hour, The Peacock Network should try out both in the post-Voice hour to see if either of them pop.  The multiracial ensemble of Bright Futures would also offer a compatible segue into This is Us (moved back an hour to 10pm).

Once the 18-episode third season of This is Us concludes in March, Good Girls can return for another limited run of 10-13 episodes.  If either Abby’s and/or Bright Futures tanks, there are a few other viable comedies that could step in as spring midseason replacements here.

Wednesday

8:00 – Chicago Fire

9:00 – Chicago Med

10:00 – Chicago PD

For the third year in the row, I’m suggesting that NBC turn Wednesday into an all-Chicago lineup.  Perhaps this is the year they’ll actually heed my advice.

Thursday

8:00 – Superstore

8:30 – The Good Place (fall) / I Feel Bad (spring)

9:00 – Will & Grace (Sep.-Apr.)  

9:30 – Like Family (with possible Back-Nine) / So Close (spring)

10:00 – Rise (fall/winter) / Manifest (spring)

In the fall, the successful trio of Superstore, The Good Place, and Will & Grace can be joined by Like Family, a hybrid family/romantic comedy starring Lost’s Rebecca Mader and You’re the Worst’s Brandon Mychal Smith.  The underperforming Rise should be given a second chance, perhaps being more compatible in a time slot that might benefit from the carryover effect of Will & Grace’s musical-lovin’ audience.

For the spring, the Sarayu Blue comedy vehicle I Feel Bad and romantic sitcom So Close can be on deck to replace either The Good Place (which only runs for 13 episodes) or Like Family (if the latter doesn’t receive a back-order).  Or, either of those sitcoms could be subbed in on Tuesday night, if a new comedy bombs there.  Since Rise probably won’t get a full 22-episode run, the drama Manifest (a “missing airplane” mystery-thriller featuring Once Upon a Time’s Josh Dallas) can step into that time slot at some point in the late-spring.

Friday

8:00 – Blindspot

9:00 – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

10:00 – Dateline NBC

Season 4 might be the end-of-the-line for Blindspot (depending on what type of syndication package it does or doesn’t receive).  And the reliable utility player SVU should translate respectfully to Friday nights.  If all else fails, NBC Fridays can become an Ellis Island for a menagerie of game shows and reality projects.

MIDSEASON:  

The Blacklist (13-22 episodes), Hollywood Game Night (16 episodes), Little Big Shots (13 episodes), Genius Junior (13 episodes), Trial & Error (10 episodes), A.P. Bio (13 episodes), I Feel Bad (13 episodes), So Close (13 episodes), Manifest (8 episodes), Suspicion (10 episodes), L.A.’s Finest (13 episodes), The Gilded Age (13 episodes)

LATER THIS MONTH (APRIL 2018)

Code Black (CBS)

Quantico (ABC)

Elementary (CBS)

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

The 100 (The CW)

Into the Badlands (AMC)

Westworld (HBO)

Genius (National Geographic)

Archer (FX)

Brockmire (IFC)

The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)

Good Witch (Hallmark)

MAY 2018

Running Wild with Bear Grylls (NBC)

MasterChef (Fox)

American Ninja Warrior (NBC)

The Bachelorette (ABC)

My Last Days (The CW)

Elementary (CBS)

Beat Shazam (Fox)

America’s Got Talent (NBC)

Love Connection (Fox)

World of Dance (NBC)

Colony (USA)

Animal Kingdom (TNT)

Iron Chef America (Food Network)

Being Serena (HBO)

Naked & Afraid (Discovery)

I’m Dying Up Here (Showtime)

Bill Nye Saves the World (Neflix)

Black Love (OWN)

Chrisley Knows Best (USA)

Six (History Channel)

The Cromarties (USA)

Below Deck (Bravo)

American Chopper (Discovery)

Best Baker in America (Food Network)

Total Bellas (E!)

Queen Sugar (OWN)

American Chopper (Discovery)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)

JUNE 2018

Penn & Teller: Fool Us (The CW)

Marlon (NBC)

Big Brother (CBS)

Shades of Blue (NBC)

Masters of Illusion (The CW)

So You Think You Can Dance? (Fox)

Whose Line is it Anyway? (The CW)

Queen of the South (USA)

The Fosters (Freeform)

Preacher (AMC)

The Affair (Showtime)

Younger (TV Land)

Young & Hungry (Freeform)

Shooter (USA)

Nashville (CMT)

The Bold Type (Freeform)

The After (Showtime)

Drunk History (Comedy Central)

Orphan Black (BBC America)

Food Network Star (Food Network)

Teachers (TV Land)

Humans (SyFy Channel)

Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

Hollywood Game Night (NBC)

GLOW (Netflix)

JULY 2018

Trial & Error (NBC)

Salvation (CBS)

Midnight, Texas (NBC)

Power (Starz)

Outcast (Cinemax)

Casual (Hulu)

Suits (USA)

Ballers (HBO)

Insecure (HBO)

AUGUST 2018

Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)

12 Monkeys (SyFy)

The Last Ship (TNT)

Killjoys (SyFy Channel)

Better Late Than Never (NBC)

The Sinner (USA)

Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (A&E)

SEPTEMBER 2018

American Horror Story (FX)

Ray Donovan (Showtime)

Wrecked (TBS)

Broad City (Comedy Central)

BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

Narcos (Netflix)

Z Nation (SyFy Channel)

People of Earth (TBS)

Outlander (Starz)

Project Runway (Lifetime)

Transparent (Amazon)

Van Helsing (SyFy)

Fuller House (Netflix)

Detroiters (Comedy Central)

American Vandal (Netflix)

I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman (Hulu)

The Deuce (HBO)

Better Things (FX)

OCTOBER 2018

The Walking Dead (AMC)

Mr. Robot (USA)

Andi Mack (Disney Channel)

Berlin Station (Epix)

Mindhunter (Netflix)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Lore (Amazon)

NOVEMBER 2018

House of Cards (Netflix)

Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix)

Daredevil (Netflix)

Travelers (Netflix)

The Punisher (Netflix)

Marvel’s Runaways (Hulu)

Future Man (Hulu)

Shameless (Showtime)

SMILF (Showtime)

DECEMBER 2018

The Man in the High Castle (Amazon)

The O.A. (Netflix)

13 Reasons Why (Netflix)

Dark (Netflix)

Happy! (SyFy Channel)

Counterpart (Starz)

JANUARY 2019

Homeland (Showtime)

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access)

Baskets (FX)

Grownish (Freeform)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)

Feud (FX)

Grace and Frankie (Netflix)

Crashing (HBO)

High Maintenance (HBO)

The Chi (Showtime)

Schitt’s Creek (CBC)

FEBRUARY 2019

UnReal (Lifetime)

Channel Zero (SyFy Channel)

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Crashing (HBO)

Big Little Lies (HBO)

The Tick (Amazon)

Impractical Jokers (TruTV)

MARCH 2019

Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)

Silicon Valley (HBO)

Scream (MTV)

On My Block (Netflix)

Alexa & Katie (Netflix)

Barry (HBO)

Billions (Showtime)

APRIL 2019

Brockmire (IFC)

Veep (HBO)

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Bosch (Amazon)

Killing Eve (BBC America)