#barely more effort than Netflix

[winepresswrath]

this is the first summer in a long time I've wanted to see so many movies in theatres. I've got tickets for three different upcoming things and only two of them are on Tuesday.

[ynbabe]

Cute situations w/ f1 drivers- ep2.

Asking the drivers if they 'wanna nap?'

Charles:

"Wanna nap?" You asked the man as soon as he stepped into his hotel room, tired and eyes red. You knew Ferrari wasn't some winter wonderland but you didn't know why Charles put up with it.

You had been close friends with the man, since before he'd started f3 too, you knew he bled Ferrari red but this wasn't bleeding this was suicide.

Nonetheless, you were there for him, every weekend, only today there wasn't much to do, he had just come back from some meetings. He looked at you and hummed, taking off team-issued merch and throwing himself on the bed beside you.

You turned on some sad Adele song and faded into sleep, holding the boy close to you, his head resting on the curve of your neck.

Carlos:

"Wanna nap?" You asked Carlos as you both walked into his drivers' room, it was early in the morning at the Las Vegas GP and just as the year before they had messed up the timings and the drivers had to wait till four-thirty in the morning to get on with the programme.

Knowing the both of you, you were sure if you hadn't extended the offer the both of you would have ended up doom-scrolling through Netflix looking for some show to watch fighting off sleep.

"What?" He asked, shocked at the offer for a second before raising his browns and winking at you, "You finally feel my charm didn't you?" he laughed as he climbed onto the small and rickety bed next to you. "Smooth operator strikes again," he praised himself, pulling you close to him, enveloping you in his arms as the big spoon.

You groaned and kicked his shin, making him complain, "Dude you're so fucking lame!" You made fun of the older man who only replied with terrorism (tickling you,) "S-top, stop, I'm sorry," you laughed, trying to escape the death grip he had on you, eventually getting him to stop.

He let you catch your breath as he set an alarm, before trapping you in his warm arms again, both drifting into a comfortable sleep.

Lando:

It was way past midnight but you couldn't sleep, unable to get yourself out of the party high, too drunk to rest your brain. Thankfully you weren't the only one.

There was a barrage of knocks on your hotel room, a slurred voice with a British accent begging to be let in. "Y/n/nnnnn, I can't sleep," he cried once in the room, stumbling over nothing as you both made your way to your bed.

You giggled as he fell, brushing his hands over the cold blanket. You joined him, crawling onto the bed slowly as the room around you spun. You laid on your back, clinging onto the bed for dear life.

Lando noticed and piled on top of you, making you raise a question brow. "So you don't fall off," he muttered, his face buried in your chest.

"Ohhhh, that makes sense," you said, understanding his thought process as the spinning slowed down. "We should nap," you said out loud, eyes shutting due to the comforting warm weight on top of you.

Lando hummed in return, wrapping his hands around your waist, as you pulled one hand up to his and another grabbing his curls for extra support.

Oscar:

There were two things everyone knew about Oscar, he hated waking up early and he loved sleeping. So when his trainer woke him up on a perfectly cosy yet cool Monday morning to exercise, he nearly wanted to kill the man, only stopping because that would take much more effort than simply going through with the workout.

Your apartment was closer to the gym than his, so he happily invited himself in to bitch and moan about his trainer and how that man must have hated him.

Rolling at your friend's antics, you pushed away your laptop, walking from the dining table to where he was sitting on your sofa.

"Wanna nap?" You had barely finished your question when you were pulled onto the Australian.

"I thought you'd never ask," he whispered, as he shuffled on the narrow sofa to get comfortable, you still on top of him, his arms wrapped around your waist and your face buried in his neck.

"Are you using me as a teddy bear?" You asked incredulously, trying to get up to no avail as the man's grip on you was far too strong.

"Yes, now let me sleep," he murmured, already half gone.

George:

George had a habit of pushing himself too far, ever since he was a child. When you guys had just newly become friends, the boy had spent hours trying to find out what exactly you liked and didn't, stalking your Instagram and your family's Facebook.

You had found it endearing but also concerning how he always wanted to be perfect. So when you walked into his house at midnight (you got a key made- there's a reason the both of you got along so well,) and found him staring unblinkingly at his laptop and a large mess of papers spread across the wooden coffee table.

"Dude, what is wrong with you," You whisper-yelled at the man making him jump, pressing a hand to his chest.

"Me? What is wrong with you?" He yelled, panting as you jumped over the back of the couch, sitting right next to him, ruffling through the papers much to his chagrin.

"Shut it, Georgie boy," you smirked at him using the nick name he hated. “What are you even doing, it’s so late?” You asked looking at the taller man who started off in a rant about the car and everything he was doing wrong, making you slide down on the sofa till you head was resting on the backrest. You lifted your feet up to rest them on the coffee table, making George rush to move a stack of papers so they wouldn’t be under your feet.

Perfect. You grabbed the man’s shoulders and made his head rest on your lap.

“What on earth are you doing!” He yelled more than asked, trying to get up but you doubled down.

“George you need to sleep,” you deadpanned as he tried to make you let him go, knowing his pleas fell on deaf ears he gave up.

You raised your brow, “wanna nap?” You asked teasing the boy.

“Only for a few minutes,” he pressed, making himself comfortable, while you tangled your fingers in his hair, “maybe more then,” he sighed and let his eyes shut, slightly watering and finally fell asleep.

Lewis

Lewis had never been a friend to you, he was more like an annoying yet caring older brother or like a fun uncle of sorts. The man was fiercely protective of his friends, even those whom he saw in animosity.

But you were different, Lewis would steal your coffee, eat your food, and push you around but he'd also sneak you Red Bull (much to his disgust,) into his driver's room during late races, walk you to your hotel room after parties and get you souvenirs from races you couldn't be at. Similarly, you loved to annoy the man, stealing his expensive jackets, which looked hilarious due to the size difference, stealing his headphones and running away with them and most importantly coming to him with your problems day or night.

So no, Lewis wasn't surprised when you showed up to his driver's room in the middle of the day, even though Toto had revoked your pass for the day (for bullying George, but it was worth it,). He was ready to tease you but then he saw your eyes, red and tears flowing down your face.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" He immediately came up to you, giving you a once-over to see if you were injured. "Did someone say something, are you hurt?" He asked panicking at your silence. You simply wrapped your arms around the older man, hiding your face in his chest, quietly sobbing and sniffling.

He walked you both to the sofa in his room, seating you down, trying to wipe your tears, "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked as you finally calmed down, using his arm as support to sit up.

You cleared your throat, "No, I just wanna nap," you hiccuped slightly.

"Okay," he leaned back so you could rest your head on his shoulder, giving you one of his airpods to relax, which you gladly accepted.

Lance & Fernando (they aren't always gonna be together but the situations... THE SITUATIONS WRITE THEMSELVES)

"Oh honey that’s not," Lance said pointing to your coloured hair (matching with Alex) and thats how the conversation had started and had ended in a cat fight.

“At least I’m not a nepo baby,” you yelled as you threw a basket of oranges at him, which he dodged, darn those f1 reflexes. The basket itself smacked him square in the face, leaving a red indent across his nose. He glared for a second before jumping over the table you were fighting across and pulled your hair. “Owww, you bitch”

You bit his hands in defence, to which he kicked your shin, screaming you launched yourself at him, crashing the both of you to the ground, “oh my god, okay, truce, truce,” he panted, pushing you off him.

“Just so you can catch your breath,” you retorted making him mock you. In reality, you were definitely much more tired than he was. You were struggling to catch your breath, your head killing you where he grabbed a large chunk of your hair.

You turned to look at him, resting your head on his stretched arm, he was massaging his nose, the bruise turning purple now, “well that was fun,” he turned to face you.

“Sooooo fun,” you rolled your eyes, “wanna nap? My heads killing me,” you are far him in accusation but he glared right back pointing to his swollen nose.

“Sure,” he shrugged, shifting closer to you and closing his eyes. You opened your mouth to make a joke but were interrupted, “there are like a million oranges on the floor right now, I��ll throw one at you,” you accepted defeat and fell into a comfortable sleep.

That’s how Fernando found the both of you, slightly scowling but fast asleep, he took a picture for blackmail’s sake and placed a blanket over the two of you.

PT-2 w/ Max, Logan, Alex, Daniel, Yuki, Pierre, Esteban, Zhou.

[b1mbodoll]

i sent that reader baby trapping jake ask and saw someone ask abt the other way around and what if,,,they both had the intention of doing it to each other and it's just a rlly fucked up relationship ya know (giving netflix you vibes)

pairings: jake sim x f! reader

warnings: babytrapping + breeding + manipulation + stalking + dubcon + jealousy + panty sniffing + panty stealing + pregnancy ment + cervix fucking + daddy kink

💌: this has got to be my favorite idea yet omg???

the relationship you had with jake was confusing. it started off as the two of you fucking whenever you were horny, simple enough right? wrong. so wrong. the longer you two continued messing around, the deeper your infatuation with him grew, wanting nothing more than to be an official couple. but you couldn’t tell him, after all you were the one who told jake you didn’t want a relationship. he respected your wishes but every time he found himself in your bed, he couldn’t help but wonder what you’d do if he fucked you raw without warning. would you let him cum inside you? or make him pull out?

he was obsessed with you, scarily so, breaking into your apartment when you were out, seeking out your hamper and sniffing your dirty panties before ultimately deciding to stuff them in his pocket to take home. he was also constantly following you around at parties and scaring off any guys that tried their luck with you, hiding his anger behind kind eyes and a sweet smile thrown your way, asking if you wanted to head back to his house.

you knew, of course. how could you not? you were just as obsessed with jake, purposely leaving your panties on top of the rest of your clothes in the hamper, blushing when you realized they were missing because that meant jake had dropped by for a visit when you weren’t home. he was so focused on keeping other guys away he didn’t realize you had also been watching him at parties, subconsciously squeezing your thighs together while your eyes were locked on his clenched jaw, your pussy growing wetter by the second.

the two of you had snuck away from jay’s party, jake leading you to one of the guest bedrooms and locking the door behind you. “did you see the way sunghoon was looking at you tonight? fuck, i could kill him. who does he think he is?” he seethed, pushing you on the bed roughly. you could cum just from seeing how angry he was, “don’t worry ‘bout him jakey, ‘m only yours, promise. i’ll even let you fuck me without a condom this time.” the look on his face was comical, almost causing you to giggle at his reaction. “really? you’d let me do that?” he questioned. “mhm! just gotta pull out before you cum, ‘kay? don’t wanna get me pregnant right?” jake couldn’t believe this was happening, he had no intention of pulling out but he couldn’t tell you that so he just nodded, unable to voice his thoughts.

you were just as excited as jake, for weeks you’d stopped taking your birth control, planning to let him fuck you raw sometime soon and now that the time has come you needed to feel his bare cock inside of you. “please put it in, jakey. can’t wait anymore.” he wasted no time, coating his cock in your arousal and sliding deep inside, the two of you moaning as his lengthy cock hit your cervix. it wouldn’t be long before he came but he wanted to savor the feeling of your walls gripping his dick without a condom in the way, fucking you slowly, making sure you could feel every inch of him battering your cunt.

“you feel so good ‘round my cock, think you were made for me. made to take my cum, shit, i wanna fill you up so bad, sweetheart. can i?” he babbled, too pussydrunk to notice you’d already locked your legs around his hips in an effort to force his cock even deeper. “yeah jakey, you can cum. ‘m on the pill,” you lied, hiding your face in the crook of his neck as you felt your orgasm approaching. he sped up the pace, angling his cock in a way that made the tip hit the opening of your womb each time causing you to squeal, pussy creaming around him.

jake was already so close and the way your cunt was squeezing him drove him crazy, hips stilling as his cock spurted globs of thick, creamy cum so deep inside you, you thought there was no way he wasn’t successful in knocking you up. his mind was reeling after his own orgasm and all he could think of was how much he wanted you two to be exclusive, wishing somehow your birth control wouldn’t stop him from impregnating you.

you kept your legs around him even after he’d stopped moving, his cock keeping the obscene amount of cum from spilling out. “gonna make you a daddy, jakey, you can’t leave me now. ‘m so full, it has to work!” you couldn’t stop yourself from revealing your sick plan, muttering about how you weren’t on birth control anymore and how he’d be such a good daddy. jake wasn’t upset though, his cock hardening again inside of you, after all he had to make sure his girl was properly bred.

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Prime Season 3: Final episodes, final thoughts

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of Sonic Prime are out on Netflix, concluding the story of Sonic's adventures in the Shatterverse. I've previously shared my thoughts on the first and second seasons, which I was pretty mixed on, but there were still glimmers of hope. The fluid animation, Shadow being fun in all his appearances, Nine being fairly interesting as a jaded alternate version of Tails, etc. There was enough to make me believe that after some highs and lows there was still the possibility that this show could end on a high note - or at least a decent note.

This did not happen.

Sonic Prime's final season sucks. The ending sucks, and the road to get there sucks. It's left me wondering what the point of all this even was. There are still moments I like that I'll try to highlight, and the animators and voice cast are still clearly giving it their all, but these efforts sadly don't outweigh the overwhelming mediocrity of the story. I would barely even recommend other Sonic fans who are on the fence go out of their way to finish it. I won't begrudge people who got more out of this show than I did, but I think overall I just really, really dislike Sonic Prime.

...The problem, of course, is that all other discussion of the show has been overshadowed by needlessly hostile arguments over its place in Sonic's canon. So we've gotta talk about that, too.

(This post will contain full spoilers for Sonic Prime.)

The show's out of ideas but they've gotta stretch that shit out to hit the 23 episode mark somehow

Season 2 ended with the big twist that Nine decided to betray Sonic and Shadow, taking the Paradox Prism for himself so that he could go turn the empty world of the Grim into his own little paradise, since he doesn't believe he'll fit anywhere else. Nine has made himself the true big bad of the show.

The main impact this has is that now, instead of fighting endless identical Eggforcer bots and members of the Chaos Council over and over, the good guys and the Chaos Council have to fight endless Chaos Sonic-style robots sent by Nine while he goes "grrrrr I need Sonic's energy to stabilize the Paradox Prism." This continues for six whole episodes until the series finale, when the show decides it's time for Sonic and Nine to quickly make amends, fix everything, and send Sonic and Shadow home.

That's pretty much the whole season.

I cannot emphasize enough just how much of this final season is just fight after fight after fight against Nine's bots, and how fucking boring that gets. The season feels like one long, drawn out final battle that did not need to be nearly this long, but Nine had his big heel turn 2/3 of the way through the show and we've gotta fill up the rest of the time somehow. The novelty of the bots being based off of Sonic's friends (including the Chocobo-sized Birdie from the jungle world) really wears off quickly when they're just used as generic, silent mooks that the good guys have to fight by the dozen like it's the climax of an MCU movie. The first episode of the season with Sonic and Shadow fighting the new bots is pretty good, especially because Sonic and Shadow's dynamic is one of the few redeeming aspects of this show's writing, but after that it just gets boring. Three full episodes in a row are spent showing all the characters fighting robots in an empty wasteland while Nine scowls next to a big beam of energy. I found myself missing the in-your-face attitude of Chaos Sonic so much. He truly was one of the best parts of this show.

While the cast is busy fighting all these robots for what feels like an eternity, various things of varying levels of interest happen. There's a halfhearted attempt to have some kind of rivalry between Shadow and the main Grim Sonic throughout the final battle, but it completely falls flat because Grim Sonic has no personality whatsoever. It's like Shadow beefing with an above-average Egg Pawn. (Actually, no, that would be funny.) There's also a death fakeout with the two other versions of Tails, where they make a makeshift bomb and throw it a little too close to themselves on the battlefield and seem to get vaporized. If they had actually died there they would have had the funniest, most pointless deaths in the entire franchise.

I also realized at one point that they were trying to do the Avengers girl power fight thing with the three versions of Amy fighting a bunch of Rouge bots. This was very funny to me. Actually, so much of this is just following the tired MCU formula to the letter. Fighting over a macguffin, two armies just kind of running at each other and clashing in a big empty field, constant one-liner quips instead of actual jokes, the need to take out key targets to make the whole enemy army disappear, a villain who has a point but has to randomly hurt people so that there's an excuse for the heroes to fight him. When combined with how shit the multiverse stuff is, this whole show really is just Man of Action tackling some of the most played out storytelling tropes in modern pop culture in the most bland way possible. What a bunch of hacks.

By far, the one truly fun thing that happens in this protracted final battle is when a giant robot based on Big appears. It doesn't have arms or legs, but it can swing itself around to use its tail like a giant mace, and it can also shoot Froggy-shaped missiles out of its mouth. I wish the rest of the show was even half as fun as this. Again, Sonic Prime has just enough good moments to make you mad that the rest of the show isn't better.

The thing is, all this repetitive (but well-animated) action and the thin excuse plot would be totally serviceable if I just gave a shit about the characters involved. But I don't. I don't care what happens to the pirate version of Amy who goes "arrr." I don't care about what happens to Hipster Eggman. And unfortunately, by the end, I didn't really care about Nine, either.

Nine as a villain

It's hard to criticize the story here without it coming off as a broad condemnation of the tropes at play. The thing is, I like many stories that try to do similar things. I love clashes between heroes and villains that are really just fantastical exaggerations of more personal conflicts. I love stories where a tragic, sympathetic villain lashes out at the world as an expression of the pain they feel, and a compassionate hero just has to get through to them. I eat that shit right up. Undertale is my favorite game ever made. Shit, I love other Sonic stories that do these exact things. And Sonic having to fight an alternate timeline version of Tails also has so much potential for drama!

So I can very easily imagine a version of the show where all this works for me. That just isn't the version we got.

Like I said last time, Nine's motivation is just too sympathetic and understandable for his sudden turn to supervillainy to make any sense. He just wanted to start over somewhere where he can be happy after a childhood filled with bullying and loneliness. Nine betraying Sonic and stealing the Paradox Prism to go make his own world? That tracks! Especially since we don't even know if Nine will still exist if Sonic goes through with his plan to restore his original world! But trying to kill everyone in New Yolk City by tilting the world 90 degrees, intentionally targeting the civilian population because it'll get to Sonic? Nope! Sorry, that's a bridge too far. I don't buy it. He's jaded and antisocial, but he doesn't strike me as cruel. Writing in an excuse about him needing Sonic's energy to fix the Prism does not make this make more sense.

This was really just one of those conflicts where it felt like everyone should stop and talk it out. Instead we got six episodes of fighting before one of Sonic's many, MANY attempts at reasoning with Nine throughout the season finally works. This isn't me pulling some Cinema Sins bullshit where I complain about characters in a work of fiction not always behaving rationally - the real problem is that it's just so damn repetitive waiting for this conflict to resolve. This could have been wrapped up in two or three episodes and instead it takes seven.

A brief aside about that weird Dorkly-ass Sonic Advance 3 flashback scene hacked together with mismatched sprites where Gemerl happens to be present, presumably just because he's a part of the sprite for the Sunset Hill boss, and seeing him briefly makes me remember the extended cast from the games and how much I wish they had just made a cartoon about them instead of a bunch of stock characters wearing the skin of Sonic's friends, but then Gemerl just explodes with the boss machine at the end while Eggman is shown to get away so I guess Gemerl just dies in this flashback

Yeah that sure happened huh

The ending

Despite having a final battle that felt like an eternity, Sonic Prime is a show that just kind of... ends. And that ending is weird and haphazard.

The understanding I had was that Sonic's normal world had "shattered" when the Paradox Prism was destroyed, and from those remnants these new worlds were created. This is why they use terms like "Shatterverse" and "Shatterspaces" and why there's shattered glass/crystal/whatever imagery everywhere. This is a broken, fragmented version of the real universe. Right? Right?? Isn't that the entire premise of the show? And therefore, if the universe has been shattered, then fixing it means putting all the shattered pieces back together. Which I would assume means that the Shatterspaces cease to exist.

So, in the ending... Sonic's world seems to just exist as another Shatterspace. Restoring the Paradox Prism doesn't seem to combine the worlds or anything, it just fixes the broken portal to Sonic's world that exists alongside all the others. So... what exactly was the point of all the shattered glass symbolism?

Things only get more confusing as the ending progresses. Shadow brings Sonic through the portal before the draining of Sonic's whatever energy makes him disappear, and they're transported back in time to right before Sonic broke the Paradox Prism. Only Sonic seems to remember what happened (Shadow might remember, but he doesn't say anything), and with the Paradox Prism never shattered, it's unclear if the Shatterspaces exist now.

I'm not particularly hung up on the time loop ending. It's very much in line with all sorts of classic morality tales like A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, where the flawed protagonist goes through some kind of magical experience and then returns home with a new appreciation for the people in their life. It's always been pretty obvious that was the type of story they were telling. I'm more bothered by the fact that there's no time whatsoever spent on whether or not the other worlds and the characters in them continue to exist. Sonic seems to act like the worlds will go on without him before he leaves, but it's not like we get an ending scene that shows how the other worlds are doing, so they really truly might as well not exist anymore. Sonic just wraps up the adventure from the first episode when he gets home, and before he can explain what happened from his perspective he's interrupted by a mysterious energy wave from off-screen and it's off to the next adventure.

(Despite this odd cliffhanger ending, the show is extremely over and not coming back. I have to imagine this is just a "the adventures never end" type ending and not a hint that more shit is going on with the Paradox Prism.)

This ending is also a terrible resolution to Nine's whole arc, despite him being the driving force of so much of the show. The way I see it, there are are three possible fates for him:

The Shatterspaces continue existing, and things go as Sonic expects them to go. Nine is allowed to make the Grim into his own little utopia, and everyone else leaves him alone instead of punishing him for all the trouble he caused. Instead of finding love and acceptance so he can heal from a lifetime of bullying and loneliness, Nine is allowed to run away, isolating himself from every other living being in the multiverse, and live alone as the god of an empty world with only his own creations as company. Sonic was his only friend, and he's gone forever now.

The Shatterspaces continue existing, but because of the time travel ending, most of the events of the show never happened. Sonic never helped defeat the Chaos Council, so they still control New Yolk City. Nine is back to living in this dystopian city with no friends. He never met Sonic.

The Shatterspaces have been erased. After fighting so hard for his right to exist as his own person and not just a "wrong" version of Tails, when the timeline is altered, he just... stops existing. Along with almost every other character in the show.

Do I even need to explain why these are all unsatisfying?

Misc. thoughts

I skimmed over this, but a lot of the final season is just spent seeing Sonic's friends bicker with the Chaos Council and then Sonic has to beg them to get along to save the universe. It gets old.

We also never really got an explanation for why the Chaos Council exists. They can't have come from other Shatterspaces because there ARE no other Shatterspaces. If the original Eggman was just split into five guys or time travel was involved or whatever, it never comes up. I can live with this, but it seems like an odd omission for a children's show that's constantly bogged down in technobabble explaining the mechanics of its extremely small and finite multiverse.

I have no idea where Shadow was for the first part of the final battle. I figured Nine must have captured him off-screen after Sonic first left the Grim, but Shadow was just... hanging around until his cue in the script, I guess?

Sonic saying "help a brother up" to Shadow was funny

Hipster Eggman pointing to one of the few nameless extras who tagged along for the final battle and going "Who are you? Seriously, does anyone know who this is?" was the only funny thing he did in the entire show

Mangy Tails randomly pressing buttons on the Chaos Council's generator like a curious animal and managing to improve its output was cute

Rusty Rose randomly realizes that the Birdie in her chest actually isn't being used as a power source, and that the Chaos Council was just... using that to manipulate her, somehow? I don't really know how that works but whatever

The Sonic Advance 3 flashback uses the actual boss music from the game, but they can't use the real Sunset Hill theme because they didn't wanna pay Masato Nakamura for using the Green Hill motif, I guess

To my fellow fans of bad games: did you know that Man of Action wrote the story for the bizarre Square Enix game The Quiet Man? The one where the lengthy FMV cutscenes play out with muffled audio and no subtitles because the protagonist is deaf, so you can't tell what's going on? And you had to do a New Game+ playthrough to actually hear the audio and understand what's going on? The worst-reviewed game of 2018? That one? I only learned that recently and it blew me away

So yeah, that's the end of the show. I didn't like it, and I don't think I liked the show much as a whole. I am far from alone in this sentiment, but the reasons why people dislike the show... those vary a bit.

The canon conundrum

More than anything else, it seems like most other discourse surrounding this show has been consumed by one talking point:

How can this be canon? Why is it canon?

I want to state very clearly up front that I, too, am a person who's noticed and complained about the inconsistencies with the games in Sonic Prime. Some of the characters are a bit off - or, you know, completely unrecognizable when discussing the writing of some of the AU counterparts. I think it's lame to say Sonic and friends all live in Green Hill and act like that's the entirety of their world. That sort of thing. But if Sega says it's canon to everything else? Sure. Fine. There's weirder shit in the canon.

Really, most of this can be explained away pretty easily. The show was written at a time when Sega was still figuring shit out and there were looser restrictions. Why does Sonic act a little more immature? Probably just because Prime is aiming for a slightly younger audience than the games or the IDW comics. (And also it's, y'know, written by Man of Action, who people have accused of only knowing how to write one kind of protagonist for years.) Why do Sonic and friends live in Green Hill? Because that's the most recognizable location from the games, and the game world doesn't get enough screentime to justify modeling multiple different environments, so they just focus on Green Hill. Why is this considered canon to the games? Because this is the first Sonic cartoon that outright references events from the games as things that have happened to Sonic in the past.

But announcing early on that Prime would be canon certainly let fans' imaginations wander. It was one of the few things we knew about the show before it premiered. People wondered if characters from the games and comics who had never made any appearances in Sonic cartoons might get their time in the spotlight. We wondered if it would tie into the lore or any existing storylines in interesting ways, like the IDW comics do. But above all else, we hoped that its canon status would mean that Sonic Prime would finally be the Sonic cartoon that was faithful to the source material with no catches. We've literally never seen the actual world of the games brought to life in a TV show. Sonic X came the closest, but that still took its liberties. And so hype built for this Canon Sonic Cartoon.

And then it actually came out, and after a brief intro in Green Hill based loosely on the games, it spent most of its running time focusing on things like "what if there was a version of Eggman who was a bratty teen who just wanted to play video games?" The disappointment among fans is understandable. I am disappointed. Look at how much I've bitched about this aggressively mid cartoon.

Some fans, however, came up with an elaborate theory about the series. You see, when asked about the show's place in the game timeline during a live Q&A, Ian Flynn (who only served as a consultant on Sonic Prime and did not write any of it) said this:

"I cannot answer because I know the answer, and you haven't finished watching the show yet."

A couple days later, when answering another question about Prime's place in the timeline and also about a writing discrepancy, he said this:

"As to where it fits on the timeline, I can't speak to it because that would spoil the show to a degree. So you're just gonna have to wait 'til it's done. Towards the other point, I don't know how much I can say, so it's probably better that I not comment. That's a really dissatisfying answer, I know, I'm sorry, but my hands are kinda tied on that one."

I feel the need to quote Ian directly here, because these very basic statements about how he can't talk about behind the scenes shit or anything from unreleased episodes was GREATLY misinterpreted by the fandom. People clung onto Ian's claim that we had to keep watching like a life preserver. Some took it as Ian saying that the ending would explain everything. Finally, we'd have a definitive answer for every little discrepancy and the apparent differences in worldbuilding. An explanation for why Sega and the producers repeatedly insist this show HAS to be canon.

And to these fans, the only explanation that made any sense... would be if the ending of Sonic Prime pulled a Flashpoint.

As this theory explained, the Sonic we were following in Sonic Prime wasn't the Sonic we know from the games and the IDW comics, and likewise the world he comes from isn't really the game world. This is a different Sonic who fights a different Eggman in a world that's literally just Green Hill. It was a hint that something was off all along! But in the end of the series, this Sonic would sacrifice himself to merge all of the Shatter Spaces together and form a brand new world, and that would be the more visually diverse world of the games and comics. According to this theory, Sonic Prime was canon because it was a new origin story for the entire franchise.

I want you to really stop and think about how asinine of an origin story this would be. Really drink this in. The idea that there was another, slightly different version of Sonic who went on a kinda shitty multiverse adventure and then sacrificed himself to create the real Sonic that we've known since 1991. People convinced themselves this made more sense than the simple explanation that a different team of writers got some stuff wrong and Sega didn't make them change it. Interviews where producers talked about drawing on Sonic's "mythology" (ie: they reference the games in the show) were taken very literally - they must be saying that Prime's story is mythological in nature, and that this show would be integral to the games' mythology. Why bother making a show that's canon if it's not going to be crucial to that canon, after all?

The final episodes dropped, and none of this happened. Because of course it didn't. It was all Sherlock fandom-level copium. But fans were left confused by the lack of a grand reveal of where Sonic Prime fits in the timeline, believing they had been promised this, and they turned to Ian for an explanation. Ian's answer:

It doesn't matter, b/c Prime wipes itself out. It's sometime after Advance 3*, but otherwise, it's moot. I didn't want to sour anyone's expectations or investment by spoiling how Prime resolves, that's all. If you enjoyed it, awesome. Savor it. If you didn't, then you can safely ignore it. Simple as that.

* About a trillion people have um, actually'd Ian to point out Orbot and Cubot briefly appear in the show, but if we're really being pedantic here we don't actually know how long before Colors Eggman built Orbot and Cubot, so it wouldn't be fully accurate to say a story featuring Orbot and Cubot couldn't be set before Colors. Either way, a story set anywhere around Colors, or at any point later than that, could still be described as "sometime after Advance 3." Advance 3 is just the most recent game that has specific in-game events referenced in the show. Yes I can feel myself morphing into the nerd emoji before your very eyes

Anyway, this is the latest reason Ian is getting death threats on Twitter. This time it's over a show he barely even had any input on!

I'll cut to the chase. It is truly wild to me that people are getting this heated over canonical inconsistencies in a series as historically inconsistent as Sonic, to the point that they think threatening Ian is justified. The aesthetics of the entire world Sonic inhabits change every other game. Sonic Chronicles may no longer be canon due to the Penders lawsuits, but it was canon at one point, and it took huge liberties with Sonic's world, moving Green Hill off of South Island and reinterpreting Station Square as a tiny outpost in a snowy alpine forest region. Characters' personalities change from writer to writer and based on what Sega wants at the time, with some being WILDLY different across different games. One game Sonic will be stoic and cool, the next he thinks "Baldy McNosehair" is the funniest thing ever. Sega's STILL trying to figure out what Amy's personality is supposed to be. We still don't have the explanation for how the two seemingly contradictory backstories for Blaze can fit together. There have been multiple huge, sweeping retcons, and retcons to those retcons. Sonic Forces claims that Classic Sonic is from an entirely different universe than Modern Sonic, and the plot only makes any sense if that's true - otherwise, Modern Sonic would have already known Eggman was going to beat him and take over the world when he did, because his younger self had already lived through that war. All of that makes no sense in the newly reunified timeline, but Forces is very much still canon.

For fuck's sake, we're talking about the series where Eggman blew up half the moon and then it looked completely normal in every other game after, explained away as "the moon just rotated so we can't see the destroyed side from Earth." This has never, ever, ever been a franchise where everything lines up perfectly with no issues. It's not that serious.

The real core problem with Prime isn't that things don't line up 100% with our current understanding of canon, or that Sonic's characterization means this can't be the real Sonic, or anything like that. The problem, as I've been saying this whole time, is that the story is bad. None of these discrepancies would truly matter if the story was better. They'd just be nitpicks. The fact that Sonic and friends live in Green Hill would be the farthest thing from my mind if the drama was more engaging, if the villains were better, if the jokes were actually funny, if more of the alternate universe counterparts of Sonic's friends had more than one generic character trait each, if the multiverse was more creative and varied, if the final seven episodes of this show didn't devolve into the third act of an MCU movie and then just arbitrarily end, if Nine's character arc actually had a satisfying conclusion instead of ending with either isolation or nonexistence. Maybe we'd be seeing people talk about more than just whether or not it should be considered canon if the writing was any good.

"Canon" is not real, and it sure as hell isn't worth sending people death threats over. It's a storytelling tool. Real human beings decide what does and doesn't go into that canon, or how much they do or don't want to draw on past stories, when creating a new story. Serving that canon is secondary to creating a story where the emotional truth resonates with the audience. And Sonic Prime failed to do that. That is its true failing.

And finally, to close out...

Since people will ask, here are my current ranking of the Sonic TV shows, now that Prime is finished.

Sonic Boom

Sonic SatAM

Sonic X

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

Sonic Underground

Yes, I'd say Boom is my favorite. It's far from my ideal Sonic cartoon, but it gets a lot of points for being as funny as it is. But the top four are all shows I'd say I like, more or less. They all have their pros and cons.

So now, uh... I guess let's hope the live action Knuckles show coming to Paramount+ is better than the underwhelming synopsis of "Knuckles helps deputy sheriff Wade train in the ways of the echidna warrior" would imply? Maybe we'll get lucky?

[adarkrainbow]

Why was Hansel the meal of the witch?

This is a question I was aked recently, and I thought it would make a good subject for a post. "Why did the witch only try to fatten up and eat Hansel? Why didn't she imprison and fattened up Gretel too? Why did she choose to make Gretel her slave instead of Hansel?"

Which is actually a fascinating question. Now, I do not promise that there is some grand truth or secret meaning behind this. It is just a little detail and some technical workings of fairytales. But it is a point that many authors and rewriters have taken an interest upon, and that if a true well of reinterpretations.

So let's go... Why was Hansel the meal, and Gretel the slave?

If we go by the "canon" of the text (of course "canonical" fairytales do not exist, this is just an expression) - if we go by the Brothers Grimm's text, we... well we do not know. It is not specified anywhere why the witch decides to lock up and fatten up Hansel out of the siblings, and to not do the same thing for Gretel. There is no reason explicitely spelled out or given. Maybe she simply prefers the meat of boys over the one of girls? This absence of justification, and the apparent "randomness" of the choice opens a door for authors who would like to change things: for example in "A Tale Dark and Grimm" (the book, not the Netflix series), it is both Hansel and Gretel that are fattened up by the witch, and she only picks Hansel as the first one to be roasted. The Looney Tunes Hansel and Gretel also were both in the cooking pot of the witch Hazel...

The text only leaves implications for the reader. For example, the need for the witch to have a slave/assistant to help her with the chores is implied by the facts that she is 1) elderly 2) has a very bad sight and 3) walks with crutches (a very important point). So it is understandable she would require a slave to help her - but then why pick Gretel, and not Hansel? Again, the text does not answer. Many people like to portray Hansel as the oldest child of the duo, and Gretel as a younger sister - this is because Hansel seems to be the strongest, bravest and most intelligent one, as well as with how his name always comes first in the text, Gretel being after him. Maybe the witch chose to eat him first because he was precisely older, and thus there was a more developed body to eat? Even if the siblings are of the same age, we can always imagine the very old and present male/female dichotomy that claims that men's body are naturaly stronger, larger and meatier than women's, who have graceful, slender, lighter bodies. Maybe such a concept is at work, putting forward a mindset where a cannibal witch will always go for boys first as a main course, and girls next as an appetizer...

One possible reading of the story is that the witch only had enough place to lock up ONE child and thus had to make a choice. Maybe there wasn't enough room for two kids in her prison for future meals? This interpretation is supported by the ORIGINAL text of the Grimm's fairytale. In the first edition of the brothers Grimm's fairytales (provided by Jack Zipes), there is an explicit mention of the place Hansel is locked in: it isn't some sort of stable or cage as it would later be described, oh no! It is a chicken coop so small Hansel can BARELY MOVE. It is a really tiny prison, in which he barely fits. Of course, on a practical side, it can help with the whole fattening process since having a child eat rich meals without ever moving is certain to make him plump in no time (just look at these horrible industrial farms and how they lock up animals in tiny cages) ; but this detail actually explained why the witch only placed her efforts on one child, and not two: she obviously had only enough to place to lock up one kid, and had to deal with the other in a different way.

But even if we admit all those implications - that the elderly, handicaped witch needed a help, that she had only enough room to lock up one child, that maybe Hansel as an older boy makes a better meal than Gretel - there are still some strange and bizarre logical holes. For example, the witch beats up and starves and exhausts Gretel. This is the complete opposite of what she does to Hansel, who is pampered and fattened up - does this imply the witch maybe does NOT want to eat Gretel? Or does she really have only enough resources to fatten up one child, and can only afford making Gretel more edible once she is done with Hansel?

Again, mysteries upon mysteries. Fairytales are not created to work on practical details or actual psychological processes - they are stories relying on powerful visuals and ancient motifs and a dream-logic-structure. When we are told that the witch locks up Hansel to fatten him up and eat him, and that Gretel is becoming an abused slave, we just accept it, because it works on a set of powerful visuals, such as the malnurished slave sister cooking and feeding her imprisoned and soon-to-be-killed brother. The idea of the sister being reduced to a tool in the process of killing her own brother is a very powerful one, never explicitly stated, but still present and sometimes used by adaptations. There was this German Hansel and Gretel movie released in 2005 that explicitly played on this: the children were never told by the witch her intentions when she locked up Hansel, and for the first week or so of Gretel being a slave and Hansel fattened up, they were left in the dark concerning the real intentions of their mysterious jailers. This was a stark contrast with many Americanized adaptations that have the witch gloating and explaining her cannibalistic desires to her victims, and which opened the door for some interesting plot points - in this movie's case, Gretel being quite jealous and envious of Hansel's new life of feasting and being kindly treated by the witch when she got all the insults and chores. Of course, when they discover the truth, their mutual feelings reverse as Hansel realizes his seemingly "easier" fate is actually the worst of the two.

Still, the text is left ambiguous and open-ended enough for us to imagine TONS of things. There could be a rewrite of the tale where the witch exclusively eats little boys, and hates little girls. One nterpretation of dark poetry of the tale can be found in Znescope's Gretel mini-series. Despite this mini-series having BIG flaws (the choice of the witch's true identity was... quite bad to be honest), it does have a very interestng and morbid answer to the "Why was Hansel the only one fattened up?" question. It chooses to depict this difference of treatment as a sick and cruel game the witch plays with her preys: Hansel and Gretel are both her prisoners, but she fattens up Hansel while she starves Gretel, to make a contrast between the two, simply out of a perverse amusement. There is one particularly striking image of the two children locked in two cages arranged like a weighing scale, with Hansel's cage going lower as he grows fatter and Gretel's going up as she becomes skeletal... It is a nice visual contrast that has been reused by various artists.

Now, I spoke mainly here of the content of the story and of the text itself. However, as I stated before, we must look beyond the story itself to understand why Hansel was to be the meal, and not Gretel. Or rather we need to look at the fairy tale's structure, on a meta-level.

As I said before, the fairy tale works here on a system of duality. Hansel and Gretel are meant to be a yin and a yang, complementary reflections. The boy and the girl, the brave and the coward, the cunning older brother and the crying little sister. The idea that their fates are "split" into the house of the witch not only furthers the anguish of the characters, who at this point were always together but now find themselves separated, unable to face together the same trials, but also keeps on playing on these visuals and motifs. As I said, there is something that many artists read in the tale, in the opposition between a malnourished Gretel and a feasting Hansel. This is part of the same duality of food and famine present all throughout the tale, such as the woodcutter's famished and poor household, opposed to the witch's house made of sweets and with chests full of pearls. The siblings represent two forms of abuse and evilness enacted by the witch, but in complementary forms: with Gretel the witch becomes a domestic abuser and an enslaver, with Hansel she becomes a jailer and an ogress.

One can also read in this an extension of the typical sexist duality between men and women in these old centuries: the fates the witch forces upon the two children can be caricatures of what each gender is supposed to "do" in such a society. Gretel, like women, is expected to do household chores and to cook for her "man" - here it is caricatured into her becoming a slave, and only helping fattening up her brother like some cattle. In return, Hansel, like a man, is supposed to be well-treated and well-fed, but here the caring wife/mother figure is a monstrous hag who only makes him feast so she could eat him later. In fact, it is quite interesting to see how both siblings are dehumanized and reduced to the status of animals - from Hansel being fattened up in the stables like some pig or chicken, to Gretel being fed leftovers like a dog.

All of that being said, there is another much needed argument that must be made: the answer fo thte question can be easily found in the story's structure. This is the most obvious solving of the problem when you consider it all: the story of Hansel and Gretel relies on the idea that the two children must save each other in turn. There is a balance in the tale, which bears the name of the two protagonists as heroes, but one before the other. During the first part of the tale, it is Hansel who takes the lead and the decisions. He is the cunning hero who tricks his parents, saves his sister from the woods, returns home thanks to his plan. Gretel is only seen being scared, and crying, and not doing anything except follow her brother around. In the second part of the tale, within the witch's house, it is Gretel who becomes the hero. Her brother is "out of the race", locked up away and unable to do anything, and it is Gretel who this time has to trick the deadly parental figure, come up with a clever ruse, and ultimately save her brother from death. This creates a perfect balance between the two characters: Hansel starts out as the hero protecting his useless sister, and then it is Gretel who vanquishes her uselessness to become the hero saving her own, impotent brother. The siblings need each other to survive, and thus save each other in turn. This is how the story works. And this is why Hansel must be the locked-up, fattened-up victim, so that his sister can save him. Else it would have been the story of "Hansel", and not "Hansel and Gretel".

All of that being said, a last point must be made about a final theory. A theory and reading of the tale that has been very prevalent and prominent in recent adaptations of the story.

The recent "Gretel and Hansel" horror movie did it. Before the (X horror movie) also did it. Neil Gaiman's Hansel and Gretel also used this idea. The comics Fables toyed with it in a side-way. And this idea is simple: the witch did not want to eat Gretel, but rather wanted to make her a witch like herself. Gretel wasn't the witch's slave, but unwilling apprentice.

This idea is born of course from a reconsideration of what a "witch" is, and the gender questions attached with the figure of the witch. In the original story, the witch is not a witch in the modern sense of the term, in fact she is a monster that is very clearly an ogress by another name. There is no question of learning how to be a witch, or making deal with dark powers, or anything like that. But when you read the tale with the modern sense of "witch", as a symbol of dark and hostile feminity, as a woman of power, who works against the domination of men, or the tyranny of patriarchy - when you consider all the gender questions surrounding real-life witches and the witch hunts, you see the witch's actions under a different eye. Her not wanting to eat Gretel at first, and making her do her chores, and forcing her to live with her, might hint at the fact she still considers her more "human" or more valuable than her brother, who is nothing but food, a mere cattle. Several of the modern reinventions of the tale, such as those stated above, decide to add the twist that the witch actually wants to shape or make the little girl into her image: from a slave doing the witch's chores, she becomes the witch apprentice, who is by her side in everything she does. Some of those readngs remove the elements of abuse towards Gretel, while others do not forget them. Neil Gaiman's take on the story is especially fascinating as the witch is explicitely described as oscillating between periods of sweetness and kidndness, promising Gretel all of her secrets and great powers, and periods of pure hatred and violence where she just insults and beats up the girl - all of it highlighting either the witch's madness, or a form of senility due to her old age.

But this theme of "Gretel as a future witch" or "Gretel as the witch's apprentice" ties in with another subtext well-hidden in the original text, but that many like to weave upon: Gretel as the "daughter" of the witch. In many of those rewrites and reinterpretations, the witch doesn't just treat Gretel as an apprentice, but as an heir or a replacement daughter. This is no surprise since it is very clear that in the original tale, the witch is the dark side of the mother figure, and an evil doppelganger of the wicked stepmother/mother of the siblings. As such, it makes sense for her to impose an abusive and unconsented motherhood upon Gretel - doesn't her forcing the girl to do all the chores not reminiscent of how famous fairytales stepmothers treat heroines like Cinderella? Such a perverse motherhood was already explicit and obvious in her treatment of Hansel: like a mother she nourishes and feeds Hansel (in fact she succeeds where the wicked stepmother failed), but this is all to devour him, in a ritual of "un-birth", she becomes a death-givers who doesn't expel a child out of her womb, but has it return to her stomach. [This is a very common and usual motif among ogres of fairytales, who are all caricatures of parenthood].

More generally, to have the witch act in such a way actually makes the fairytale more "feminist" somehow, but in a quite perverse way. Because in such a reading, we have a women-dominated world. The true active and powerful characters of the story are beings such as the wicked stepmother and the witch, who command, control and influence the other characters - especially the male ones. The father is a weak puppet who can't stand up to his wife, Hansel is reduced to a fat pig in a cage. Hansel did try to escape the tyranny of the wicked woman, but all he could do was push back his doom, and his plans ultimately failed. Gretel, as a woman herself, is given a special treatment - and in the "apprentice/daughter" interpretation, is "absorbed" by this world of wicked, dominating women. But she actually breaks from it, and kills the one that would have "turned" her - and it is telling and interesting that the only one who can have a true an full success, a definitive victory in this tale is Gretel. Hansel's plans work and save them, but only for a brief time, and his last plan fails dramaticaly, before he gets locked up and "out of the story". Gretel meanwhile, when she gets the courage and intelligence to act, proves herself much more efficient and definitive than her brother, as she puts a true end to the threat other them by killing the witch (and by extension killing the wicked stepmother/mother). This is something Hansel couldn't do - all he could was trck the wicked woman, and nullify her plans, but he could not remove the threat of the death and the hunger.

Anyway, as you can see, despite being a quite superficial and silly question, this fact (or rather absence of facts) opens up a whole jar of various interpretations, readings and themes, and proves the hidden complexity of these apparently "simple" stories.

[pwblant]

07. soup and company

early in the morning, wonbin decides to go to the cafe; however, this time, he isn’t coming for drinks. he’s been wanting to ask you since two days ago if you’d like to either go with him to dinner, to the park, or grab a snack. basically wanting to ask you to go anywhere with him outside the cafe.

he walked into the store, eyes scanning the place, but he doesn’t see you around.

“huh, i thought she worked on thursdays?” he thought to himself.

he sighed as he went to the counter to order his usual cloud americano just so that his efforts of getting there weren’t fully wasted.

you look through the door’s peephole only to see wonbin there, surprisingly, looking like a lost kitty standing outside. it was weird how you didn’t seem to hear the knock—you were just sitting on the couch that wasn’t far from the front door.

you open the door quickly, feeling sorry for not hearing the knock earlier. the poor man holding the hot soup and chicken was really convinced he was at the wrong unit, so the door suddenly swinging open really startled him. he let out a little gasp, not expecting this to be the right place.

“omg that was so cute,” you said, teasing him for his reaction.

“u didnt see anything, shut up and take your food.” he said with a pout.

you smiled at him. “why’d you wanna come over? we barely even know each other.” you asked with a puzzled look on your face.

“just worried about you, you live alone too. i’ll be the one to take care of you today.” he said, catching you off guard.

“oh—don’t you have other important things to do?” you ask, doing your best to avoid his eyes.

“no, i don’t actually. today’s my rest day.” he replied.

“then i feel bad if you’d end up spending your time taking care of me. i can take care of myself!” you told him.

“trust me this is way more productive than rotting in bed all day.” he chuckled.

“oh… well in that case, what do you wanna do?” you asked, stomach making a slight noise after smelling the heavenly aroma of the soup he brought in.

“your stomach’s telling us to eat first, yn.” he responded with a little laugh.

as you finish up your yummy noodle soup, you see wonbin eyeing you from the corner of your eye.

you turn to him to ask a question, in hopes of breaking the tension and unbearable silence.

“sooo do you wanna watch something? or we could do something else if you want.” you offered.

“yeah, anything is fine.” he said, his eyes wandering on your face. he looked at your eyes, to your lips, and then your eyes again.

a silence filled the room as you blanked out when you saw him do that. you remember seeing online that what he just did was the Triangle Method. it’s what you do to make someone fall in love with you.

WAS HE TRYING TO FLIRT WITH ME? no no no, never. i must be seeing things—men these days. you thought.

could he tell your face was turning red from his gaze? you couldn’t get that thought out of your hazy little brain. you hoped the warm and dim lighting of the room could cover up the fact that your cheeks were turning into tomatoes.

you try to maintain your composure, “okay, how about Cheer Up? i’ve always wanted to start watching that drama, so why not do it with you?”

he nods his head in approval. the two of you switch locations and move to the couch as you find Netflix on your TV.

it’s only been half an hour and you’re starting to doze off. maybe it’s the effects of being sick.. or that you accidentally took the medicine with sleepy side effects today.

sitting next to wonbin, you unconsciously rest your head on his shoulder as you progressively get drowsier. he doesn’t budge though—he lets you rest your head comfortably on his shoulder as you like.

a few hours had passed and the two of you were still in the same position as you were when this first happened. his arms started cramping, trying their best not to move or else you might feel his movement and wake up. however, he could no longer take it. noticing that you were sound asleep, he gently lifts your head and moves it to rest on the wall as he uses this opportunity to stretch his arms. once they felt normal again, he moves your head back to lay on his comfy shoulders.

he lets you sleep again for about an hour as he uses his phone, taking pictures of you from time to time because he found you pretty even while you were knocked out.

eventually he does have to go back to his place. to him, this was actually a good replacement bonding moment for the two of you. his bandmate was here to pick him up, so he wakes you and says his goodbyes. you were shocked by the position the two of you were in. on top of that, you saw that his shirt had a darker, almost wet looking area. hold on, did you drool on him? oh my this was so embarrassing for you.

masterlist | next

TAGLIST : OPEN (comment to be added)

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[writinginatree]

Nightmare Time is Story Time

Relationship(s): John Wick & daughter!reader, Helen Wick & daughter!reader, background John Wick/Helen Wick

Summary: After a nightmare you sneak to the kitchen for a midnight-snack, trying your hardest not to wake your parents. Of course John and Helen wake up anyway, and remind you you're never too old to let them comfort you.

Warnings: Nightmares, anxiety (from the nightmare), like one swearword

You open the door of your room with shaking hands and slip into the dark hallway on bare feet, making sure to be as quiet as you can.

As you pass your parents' bedroom you hesitate for a moment. You could wake them. They wouldn't mind, you know that. And after the nightmare you just woke up from a warm hug would feel heavenly.

You sigh, and continue to the kitchen instead. After all you're not a little kid anymore, and you would feel like an idiot acting like one by waking your parents about something as silly as a nightmare. It wasn't even that bad, anyway. Or at least that's what you try to tell yourself.

But if you're honest, it kind of was.

You keep catching yourself eyeing every shadowy corner like you're expecting someone or something to come jumping out at you any second. You can't stop shaking, and it's only with a conscious effort that you manage to steady your rapid breathing.

Silly. It was just a stupid dream, and you refuse to wake your parents because of it.

Once in the kitchen you force yourself not to turn on the light; the dim moonlight falling in through the big windows is more than enough to find your way around. You drink a glass of water, still making sure to avoid any noise, and stare at the cabinet containing your stash of candy as you do so. A midnight snack certainly can't hurt. Who knows, maybe your blood sugar is low, and that's the reason your hands are shaking like that, and not the nightmare.

Yeah. That has to be it. No way you're shaking like a leaf just because of a stupid dream. You're too old for a nightmare to affect you like that. Too tough. Cool and collected, that's what you are, and not scared of anything at all. You think you already feel a little better after reminding yourself of that.

And either way some candy is sure to make you feel better. You decide on some nougat, and promptly start cursing at how loud the rustling of the wrapper sounds in the quiet of the sleeping house.

As you eat, you pace back and forth around the kitchen in hopes of getting all the nervous energy out of your system. Maybe you'll be able to go back to sleep if you just tire yourself out enough. In your current state going back to bed is unthinkable. Even now you still feel anxious and twitchy. Your heart has finally slowed to a normal pace, and your hands aren't shaking quite as bad anymore, but the images of your nightmare keep flashing before your eyes. Maybe watching some TV will help set your mind to rest... You could always watch Netflix on your phone in bed with headphones, that way you can be sure the sound won't wake John and Helen.

You nod to yourself, deciding that's exactly what you'll do, when your considerations are proven to be useless. The sound of footsteps coming closer makes it clear you've awakened your parents already.

After a few seconds Helen appears in the kitchen and turns on the light. She leans on the counter beside you with a tired smile, and asks, "Hey. What are you doing up?"

You shrug and try to seem nonchalant. "Just felt like having a snack."

The look Helen gives you tells you she sees right right through you, though she doesn't call you out on your lie. She just starts making you a cup of hot chocolate, and asks if you had a bad dream.

You nod, but don't elaborate.

You don't want to burden her with the horrors your imagination spat out. It's much too easy for you to imagine brutal bloodbaths, scenes like straight out of a horror movie — an unfortunate side effect of your father's old job, and the things you've seen because of it. But it doesn't bother you. Nightmares like that of tonight are surprisingly rare, and the past is behind you. You're over it, and you have no intention of putting such cruel images on your stepmother's mind.

Even if you wanted to tell Helen about your dream, you doubt you'd find the words to describe it, so when she asks if you want to talk about it you only shake your head.

Luckily she's very understanding, and doesn't press the subject. Instead she holds out her arms to offer you a hug, which you glady accept.

When she lets go of you again she asks, "Would you like to come sleep with us?"

You shrug. Going back to sleep might be a lot easier with the comfort of John and Helen's warm bodies beside you, the calm sounds of their breathing. Cuddles. Yeah, you sure could use some cuddles right now. But... "I'm too old for that."

"Nonsense. You're not too old for it if it'll make you feel better. You're never too old to let us be there for you."

"I don't know if I'll even be able to fall back asleep. I'd just be keeping you up."

"Do you want me to read you a story?" John asks, having silently come up behind you. "That always worked."

You flinch and whirl around to him. Normally you don't understand why Helen always scolds him for sneaking up like that — you have the same habit, and usually hear him coming anyway —, but tonight, with your nerves as on edge from the nightmare as they are, you get it. It really can be a little unnerving to have someone come up behind you out of nowhere like that. You don't say anything about it, though. Your reaction was fairly obvious, but that doesn't mean you have to admit he startled you.

Instead you sigh theatrically and complain, "Why did I even try so hard not to wake you guys up?"

"Because you're a very sweet and considerate girl," Helen says, handing you the hot chocolate.

You hop on the counter to sit while you drink it and think over John's offer to read to you. It's not even really a question — there's nothing you love more than having him read to you, even if you're technically way too old for it. The only question is what story you want to hear.

"Can you read me the one with the fox?"

Your dad smiles a little, as if he was expecting you'd ask for that story — which, considering it has always been one of your favorites, is probably the case. "Sure. Where do you have the book?"

"In the shelf opposite my bed."

He nods, and goes to get it, leaving you in the kitchen with Helen.

After a moment she nudges you to get up. "Come on, it's cold. You can finish your hot chocolate in bed."

As you jump down from the counter and your bare feet hit the floor, you have to agree with her — the floor is fucking freezing.

Quickly heading for your parents' bedroom, you slip under the warm covers. Helen settles next to you, just as John enters the room, too. You bury your face against your mother's shoulder and groan when you see what he has in his hand.

"Daaad! I'm not a baby!"

John ignores your whining and sets the ragged old teddy bear down on your legs so it's facing you, before getting comfortable on your other side, so you're between him and Helen.

"I don't need a teddy anymore!"

"He looked lonely sitting on your bed like that," John claims, opening your storybook.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Helen smile, and can't help but smile a little yourself. Despite your protests you take the bear and clutch it to your chest, facing forward so it can see the book too, as you cuddle up close to your dad. Not because you need the teddy or anything, of course. But since it's already here it would be a shame not to cuddle it. And, though you would deny it should anyone ever suggest it, the familiar softness of it's fur against your skin does have a strangely soothing effect on you.

You decide to ignore the smile on your father's face when he glances down to see you holding the bear. And if you hold the cup of hot chocolate to it's face so it can take a sip too, then that's merely an old habit brought back by how much your parents are treating you like a child right now, and certainly not a conscious decision.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Ok y’all it’s time for a grishaverse world-building rant (mainly linked to soc/ck) and there’s a good chance this is gonna turn into a long and rambling post but bare with me.

*CONSISTENT GRISHAVERSE SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the Netflix show, why did they replace Alby’s lion toy with a toy train? I wanna talk about the absence of the lion, but also of all things why did they choose a train?

The train really stuck out to me when watching season 2 and at first I wasn’t my sure why, and just struck it up to the fact that I was expecting a plush lion. I think it’s absolutely notable that they exchanged the lion for a different toy, because the TV show didn’t give us as much opportunity for the foreshadowing surrounding Alby Rollins’ existence as we had in the book, since Van Eck is the key to a lot of the passages that foreshadow Rollins having a child. The fact that Kaz was able to present the lion was what served as “proof” for his attack on Alby, and is one of the best scenes showcasing Kaz’s incredible intellect. Since Kaz had never seen Alby, in fact had no concrete evidence of his existence whatsoever, he based the entire presence of the toy lion on Pekka’s pride in his gang, the Dime Lions. But since the show doesn’t have the opportunity to explain the gang culture of Ketterdam in as much detail as the books, which is obviously understandable and it’s the kind of thing I would expect to be lost in the transition from source to adaptation, they can’t make the assumption that the audience will associate the lion with the Dime Lions, particularly since they haven’t explored the gang tattoos (as a side note the meanings behind the tattoos are just *chefs kiss* but anyway-) So unless they were making specific effort to try and include more references to the lions earlier on, it makes sense to change the toy. It also leaves open the option for later in the show (fingers crossed, I’m praying for good news right now) to bring the lion in for different schemes and to create more anticipation and build up for the absolutely iconic Inej move of replacing the lion with a crow in the last chapter of Crooked Kingdom. So I understand the choice to change the type of toy that Kaz takes from Alby, especially since we already know that it’s Alby being used as the threat in this scene and in the books we didn’t, but of all the options why would they choose a toy train? My best guess is that it’s a nod to the Conductor and the train across the fold in season one, but it kind of annoys me because, other than the train that was added for the show and the tank in ck that is explained as amongst the first of its kind, THERE ARE NO MECHANICAL VEHICLES IN THIS UNIVERSE YET. None!!

We have to remember that the development of a constructed world is based on its needs and it’s understanding of it’s resources, not on mimicking the development of our own world; so although some people are probably thinking ‘well they recently developed flying vehicles, it makes sense for trains to exist before that’ I would genuinely argue that in this world it makes no sense whatsoever. We know from explanations in soc and ck (in Retvenko’s chapter mostly, but also in Joost’s and a few other references) that there has been no need to develop engines for boats because the winds can be calmed or summoned by Squallers; they fill the sails or fend off storms to keep the ships moving, there is no need for development thus far because grisha possess the natural resources to maintain the power they need. But in Ravka the presence of the shadow fold meant it became necessary to develop other options, so progress came about and Nikolai developed the Hummingbird. But it’s very important to note that (to my understanding at least, if you happen to know I’m wrong please feel free to correct me) the Hummingbird is still entirely dependent on Squaller power to maintain its flight, because development is always based on the previous model. Similarly, the tanks being the first motorised vehicles we’re introduced to makes perfect sense in the world we’ve come to know and understand, especially since we’re learning from the perspective of mostly Kerch-born or Kerch-living characters. Jesper tells us that there are very few carriages on the streets of Ketterdam, that horses are a luxury because the space to keep them is a luxury, not because they open up further modes of transportation - this is also emphasised by the knowledge that one of the greatest signs of prosperity in Ketterdam is a house with its own dock. This is because canals are the main way of moving, and since the boats and their squallers are a time-proven method of travel there’s no current need to develop engine mechanisms for boats, and cars aren’t needed because no-one would use them to travel. I’d also like to add that I realise not everyone has access to Squaller power, but the rich of Ketterdam do and they live in an incredibly classist society. In the Barrel, most of the boats are moved by rowing and/or punting, as is made clear at the end of soc when the crew row to meet Van Eck and he is brought by Squallers, and the theme is continued throughout ck.

The most likely place for cars to crop up first, based on what we’ve seen of the different countries, is probably Ravka; the country is a hub of innovation and the fabrikators there are the most free to practice their craft. However, Ravka is also a country that has been at war since it was founded, there is no room for any type of development that does not further their chances of survival against Fjerda, Shu Han, or their own civil war. Other places we might have expected to see motorisation pop up faster could be the farming provinces of Kerch and Novyi Zem, since they could be utilised for tractors and ploughs. But most innovation in Kerch is centralised around Ketterdam, where the engines are currently unecessary, and although I don’t know enough about Novyi Zem to argue either way the auction in Crooked Kingdom may imply that their government’s budget is lower those of Kerch, Fjerda, and Shu Han. (But again, we don’t have bundles of information about the Zemeni government so I’m not super confident there). We do, however, know that Jesper was the only one other than Matthias who already knew what a tank was when they got to Fjerda, and so it’s fair to predict that there’s been at least some development in that area in Novyi Zem, or at least enough interest for news of them to reach the gunsmith Jesper worked with. But let’s assume that the invention did come from Fjerda itself, at least for the time being. This makes perfect sense!! It was mostly likely developed, unbeknownst to Matthias, by the parem-drugged fabrikators being held at the Ice Court. Now that they have access to this power, Fjerda achieves all of the same tickboxes to be the initial place of engine development as Ravka does. Of course, Fjerda is also at war or under threat of it, but I think it’s important to remember that the Fjerdan government doesn’t really see war with Ravka as a threat at all. They see it more as an opportunity to prove themselves, to properly cement their position in the world economy and as a global power, which we know Kerch - or at least the general population of the country, if not the government - does not currently see it as. So it makes sense that their developmental focus would not be on ease of travel for the majority of its people by developing cars or flight machines, but on engines that can be used for dominance: tanks.

I’m hoping I’ve kind of got my point across here even if in a slightly convoluted way, but I want to add Inej’s quote from the scene with the tank to really cement the idea that this was development on a scale they had never experienced before: “They were moving - and not a horse in sight!” Someone who has seen a train at any point in her life, or who has any understanding that trains exist and work, is not going to be absolutely blown away by the concept of moving without the aid of horses. So why pick a train??? I don’t know, I’m clearly thinking far too much into it but I just… I dunno, it bothered me, there were so many other things to choose. I didn’t really mind the train in season one because it was set up like a one-of-a-kind contraption, but the idea of there being toy replicas of steam trains implies a very different level of development in a world clearly implied to be pre- its industrial revolutions.

Anyway, thanks for reading my mad ramblings! I have SO MANY thoughts about world building and structure in the Grishaverse, and world building as a browser topic as well, so if you want to hear anything more please let me know!

[endiness]

Debunking misinformation about Netflix's The Witcher (Part 4)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7]

"The Witcher producer blames dumb American audiences for simplifications to the story."

Any headline and article remotely resembling that is just clickbait — and clickbait with the fairly obvious purpose of inciting the fanbase against the show and the people involved in making it. In the original article as translated by Redanian Intelligence, Tomek Baginski explains some of the reasons for the simplifications to the story such as having to adjust things due to normal tv production problems:

Along with creating shows for a broader audience in general:

Given that he brings up a project he pitched that never even made it past that stage due to American network executives and producers not understanding the moral complexities of it, I think it is fairly obvious that he is not blaming American audiences, or audiences in general, for any simplifications to the story but rather speaking broadly about how creating shows — and, yes, shows largely for an American audience because the studios producing these shows and funding them are usually American — works.

Btw, these are also Baginski's comments about Tiktok — which he made a year before the above comments — as they're usually brought up in conjunction with the clickbait headline to further incite the fandom as they're framed in a way that makes it seem like he made both sets of comments at the same time even though he didn't:

BAGINSKI: I see the fastening of the processes Jacek Dukaj wrote about in his book – “Po piśmie” (“After the script”). We resign from cause-and-effect chains, from the linear narration. This book-like narration. When it comes to shows, the younger the public is, the logic of the plot is less significant. INTERVIEWER: What is significant, then? BAGINSKI: Just pure emotions. A bare emotional mix. Those people grow up on TikTok, Youtube, they jump from a video to video… INTERVIEWER: You’re talking to such person. BAGINSKI: So, it’s time to be serious: Dear children, what you do to yourself makes you less resilient for longer content, for long and complicated chains of cause an effect. INTERVIEWER: You’re talking about something else that’s hidden between your words. What you mean is that you don’t know how to make a show kids’d like to watch. BAGINSKI: Generally, I try to know what people react to and like to watch. Long and complex narratives will remain, it’ll be like a classic shelf in a bookstore. People will still read that, it will be popular at some point. But the edge of the mass audience is moving a bit into the a less linear narration, less cohesive one. I think it’s inevitable. As reading is not natural for the human brain. INTERVIEWER: Yep, you gotta learn it, it’s hard. BAGINSKI: Oh, in this sense, yes. You need a lot of effort to learn to recognise all these symbols. You probably don’t remember that. If you’re a genius, you read when you’re 3. It’s some big effort for your brain, moreover, it’s not natural. The things we receive with our heads… There’s nothing literary there. We have to learn literature. Learn to receive it and write it. It’s like mathematics, a lot of abstract symbols you have to learn to recognise. People who understand it will remain, the people who work on narration, they have to work on texts. But, more and more people won’t need it. Why write if I can record or say it? Why write if I can receive emotions in a different way. It’s a controversial thesis. When Dukaj published it, there was a lot of arguments like: “But I still read! My friends, too!” However, we talk about trends in a scale. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, it’s not about you or your friend. BAGINSKI: We talk about global trends. The success of TikTok wouldn’t be possible without that. It’s happening. It’s just easier to watch and click, watch another one, than read a book and follow all those twists and plots. We’ll see how it goes. I think The Witcher is safe for now, there are still a few more years… Maybe it’s because of the generation.

Which is also clearly just a commentary on younger audiences in general and a general shift in the overall trend of how media is consumed and the type of media being consumed. (Also, like, he even says "I think The Witcher is safe for now." ie this argument doesn't even apply to it currently.)

Also just to add, but here's Lauren talking about the reasons behind some of the simplifications and changes, too:

Which mainly has to do with the inherent problems that come from adapting one media form to another along with having a limit amounted of time and resources in which to tell the story.

"‘The Witcher’ Casting Director Says Yennefer Casting Was To ‘Challenge Beauty Standards.’"

In order to get into it, here is what Sophie Holland, the casting director, had to say in the original article from Variety:

Every subsequent article reporting on the original is, once again, just another example of misleading clickbait designed to incite the fanbase against the show and its cast and crew — and clickbait pushing very blatant racist agenda at that. Because either the articles deliberately misconstrued what Sophie said to somehow mean that she thought Anya was ugly even though Sophie obviously did not think that and she was commenting on how whiteness is seen as the default and standard in beauty and she wanted to challenge that ideal and/or the articles were just outright critical of her for wanting diversity.

[savelockwoodandco]

It's been a year of campaigning and I can't help but feel despondent about the chances of the show even though I know these things take time. I know I'm not the only one as well. I think it's the fact we don't have any sort of sign from anyone official that any of what we're doing is helping. Any real sign of major progress. Just hints and after a while you begin to wonder if it's just our own confirmation bias. There's no clue if any progress is being made at all. A part of me wonders that they're too afraid to tell us any bad news. Another part of me is still hopeful that no news is good news. Idk. I just wish we had anything concrete, some sort of acknowledgement, that we're not screaming into the void and it's not hopeless still and that we're somewhat closer to getting the show saved now than we were last year. Right now its a struggle to hope and I fear its all the more frustrating that situations like last year's strikes probably ended up causing a lot of internal industry changes we may not even be able to account for or that may be affecting how long this process takes. It feels like we know less now than we did last year. Do you have anything to shed some light on this from a different perspective? And if you're feeling sad yourself, all the hugs from me to you and Twitter Mod 🫂. If you don't have any optimism you don't need to give hope to us too since that's an unfair responsibility to drop on you.

Hi Anon! Thanks for the message and for the hugs for both of us!

It's amazing to think it's been a year of campaigning -- us mods have had so many things happen to us since we started this blog, and we're sure it's the same for many of you.

We were pretty sure we'd start to see a sort of 'settling' effect on the enthusiasm for this campaign as the year mark came, and sure enough here it is! That's not a problem or unexpected -- it's hard to keep up efforts and enthusiasm over a longer stretch of time! Having been in many, many campaigns before (successful and otherwise), we're prepared for the long haul, but we totally understand the sort of despondent feelings that come from time to time, especially as the campaign goes on.

A year, in the scheme of things, is really not that long for a campaign all things considered. It feels incredibly long sometimes, sure, but with all the legalities, scheduling issues, rights issues, and everything else that comes with modern TV, it's a pretty short time frame. The hints, good things, and continued momentum from the fanbase and from those directly involved from the show are always heartening, and happen with regularity -- but can feel like very little sometimes. We always recommend taking breaks when burnout starts, and that holds even more true the longer the campaign stretches.

Ultimately, us mods are still as optimistic as we were when we started this blog almost exactly a year ago. There's no 'set' timeframe for renewal/saving efforts -- it can be two months, it can be two years, it can be even longer. Just look at Julie and the Phantoms, whose rights were just barely released by Netflix -- a long time coming (out of Netflix's own pettiness, to be sure), but that's 3 years after its cancellation. The wheels of TV grind slowly, but they do grind on.

As we stand, with having had multiple events with the cast/crew of Lockwood and Co, with Jonathan Stroud, and with more to come -- as well as the outward support of both Agents Stroud and the love CF has for the show, we see no reason to give up the fight. No news is definitely good news -- if there was no chance, they'd tell us flat-out -- and for the time being we're continuing on with the same fighting spirit and enthusiasm that we've had for a year.

Take breaks, take heart, and keep noticing the little things. We're here for encouragement and support whenever y'all need us!

[alittlepudge-neverhurtnobody]

12 and 15 for the ask game!

12. Do you like upset tummies? What kinds of scenarios are your favorites?

sometimes!! emeto/actual sickness is a big no for m but I do loooove the occasional "character eats so much they make themselves queasy" situation. the like, lack of awareness and/or self-control to stop eating before they've overdone it?? uncomfortable burps and hiccups that feel a liiiittle too close to disaster? vaguely threatening belly gurgles when they move too quickly/the wrong way? groans whenever they shift position even slightly because they're sooooo overfull and even a little bit of movement unsettles their stomach and makes them even more uncomfortable??? i also love characters trying to muscle their way through situations while being desperately overfull and trying to swallow groans/burps/hiccups and bracing themselves on stuff to take a break from the churning and discomfort in their gut.

15. Do you have any favorite belly tropes or scenarios in general?

oh MAN there are so many. I love weight gain as healing/comfort, but I also love "character is in a bad place and has gained weight due to depression BUT THEN learns how to pick themselves back up again and live for something WHILE FAT." I love ex-jocks gaining weight and characters gaining after injuries, I love accidental/oblivious gaining, I love crushes that turn into nervous eating or eating to impress the other person (like wow your cookies are so good, i just have to have another!) or overeating because the other person's environment is always full of food and the character is always hanging around them and ends up eating way more than they'd intended. (@pudgyscales recently sent me this song that starts "I gained 20 pounds last week / cause you work at the dairy queen" AND UH, THAT. somebody write me a fic with THAT premise.) I love partners reuniting after time apart and one or both being bigger than they were!

I also self-indulgently love characters being overfull in awkward or inappropriate scenarios. meeting a partner's parents for dinner but oops, they were nervous beforehand and anxiously ate way too much before coming to the restaurant. aw fuck, they didn't have plans today except to hang at their apartment and get stoned and stuffed but the person they're dating texted them to come netflix and chill (tm) but oh god, they're so full and heavy that they can barely move and just waddling down the stairs to the street is a challenge. oh no, they ran into an old flame they're still kind of into but they just came from brunch with friends and really just want to roll themselves home and lie down but the opportunity to tag along to their old flame's charity kickball game or whatever and spend some time with them is too tempting and they spend the whole afternoon hot and sweaty and out of breath and feeling very out of shape, but at old flame buys them ice cream after, so, win win???

OMG edited to add one of my FAAAVE tropes that i can't believe I forgot: characters gaining weight for roles in movies/tv/theater/etc and then not being able to lose it afterward. going to all that effort to transform their Hollywood heartthrob body into something softer and wider and then not being able to undo it and learning to love their new, heavier shape. I am such a sucker for this I want it SO BAD

thank you!!!

ask me a question!

[foxluvrz]

another one but from a few days ago :3

Wednesday : 02/05 —

Well this morning was certainly something LOL. So basically I was ranting to my friends LW and LR about issues I’m having with one of my friends. I was just venting about how he was being immature even though he’s older than me and couldn’t get over a situation that really truly wasn’t relevant but I was getting sort of worked up about it again and said, “It’s been three weeks, like get over it.” and I agree I sounded pissed off but I promise I wasn’t that much 😭

But 🦔 heard me say that so suddenly and was like “Woahh, put away your claws!” or something like that and I apologized and swore I wasn’t saying that directly towards my friends but it was lowkey really funny. But he kept on saying sort of phrases mentioning that and like did this cat-clawing movement with his hands towards me and that was so funny 😭I was really embarrassed at the same time though, but it’s okay!! But then just barely more into class I remember I had never drawn a cat for the day on the board where I normally do and said “Oh shoot, I didn’t draw a cat for today!” and so 🦔 took the initiative and decided to draw one on the board for me 😭 not in the right place but A for effort! :3 One of my friends then asked why it didn’t have a tail and he was like “The tail is behind it, I didn’t want it to look inappropriate.” Which to me is slightly crazy work because I don’t think anyone would’ve thought it looked like anything but yk LMAO. At some point, also, I asked if he wanted us to turn in the word problem we had for homework into the bin and I think he forgot about he because he like just then suddenly remember about it and thanked me for reminding him lol<3 But uh this next thing I thought was kind of sweet, yesterday I asked him as I was leaving school if we would have any class time to work on our slope art project to which he said initially no but then possibly only a little bit—but today he gave us 25 whole minutes to put towards it which I thought was really awesome!! As I was working on it though he came up to me and was like “I have high expectations for you,” and then made a Luke Skywalker reference? I don’t know I’m not a fan of Star Wars at all I fear. It’s because I’m an art kid 💔ALSO he called on me like 3 different times today without me volunteering?? But later on LR was talking about how I was being mean to her and 🦔 was saying how he was trying to work on boosting her confidence? LR and I were both very unserious and for him to say that was kinda random and confusing but it’s okay XD. Anyways, when I walked out of the classroom EA goes, “Mia, why were you being mean to LW?” and I was like, “I wasn’t being mean to her–” and like cut myself off mid sentence to turn around and face 🦔 and when we locked eye contact he started laughing and it made me melt in all honesty. After that though I scampered away after my friends but oh my gosh!!! He knew I knew and his eyes were so pretty and grrrr I need him.

I feel like more recently 🐢 has been more like not necessarily reassuring, but positive towards me in a way. Like he asked LB and I what we got as an answer for the science escape room and when we told him our answer he said “good job” in such a way while looking at me. Also the tone he used was so sweet but that may just be because he unfortunately has a cold. During advisory we were talking about shows and movies and recommendations and he recommended the Daredevil series to me because he said since it was Netflix who was the majority in charge of creating it, it had a lot more freedom with violence and dark themes and such! Also, LW was trying to convince 🐢 to let her get out of taking a quiz she needed to make-up from when she was gone and I was trying to hype her up to just do it and get it over with and was like “If you fail, you fail.” which I admit sounds horrendously idiotic but it’s okay!! 🐢 told me it sounded like something Klaus (from the Umbrella Academy, whom of which is also his favorite character) would say XD! But then 🐢 was like, “Yeah, good advice Mia, if you fail you fail and if you pass you pass. If you fail and your parents get mad just tell them you were taking advice from Mia.” LOL! He said it so lightheartedly too, I love it.

[fictionkinfessions]

Canon outfits... There's a reason I don't want to buy a replica of my medallion now. It may indeed be made of metal, but it'll be cheap, light metal. It'll be shit. Not like the sturdy, solid one I had. That thing could be chewed on by damn near any creature you can think of short of a dragon (probably, never really had a need to test it against dragon teeth) and come out the other side barely scratched. Then again, that metal/alloy/whatever probably doesn't exist in this world? I think there was a special process to making them, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the metallurgy part of that. Maybe someday, I'll be able to commission someone to make me a version of it that has some real weight to it. And maybe I'll accept a shitty version of it in the meantime if I really start feeling unhappy about not having it. I mean, maybe they decided to make it actually solid, but we're talking about Netflix here, somehow, I doubt it. Especially when we're talking about my definition of solid, I feel like I need more weight in a piece of jewelry to consider it solid than others do, which is weird because I'm small in this life so it should be the other way around where I can feel the weight more especially since I'm not that strong (yet; I will get to a point where I could swing around my swords again but we're not there yet).

Oh, and Jaskier was very surprised, my clothes that I wore under my armor were quite soft and high-quality. Cheaper in the long run to get actually good clothes than to get shit that'd be ripped just riding in my armor. Which also tended to not be a very good thing anyway. I think I had shirts older than him even several years after meeting him, and only got rid of them because he kept complaining they were "more patch than anything else" (mostly from the things that got claws in around my armor on occasion and the once or twice in a blue moon I got jumped by something without my armor on) and that he could never get the smell out of them (he decided, of his own accord, to wash my clothes, and if you know anything about Jaskier, you know when he gets an idea in his head, you don't stop him without a great deal of effort and seriousness), he had the second problem again within months but I think he realized the futility of cleaning the smell of monster viscera out of the clothes of a monster hunter.

w

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

My thoughts on the new Chicken Run 2 + other upcoming animated movies

I saw the new trailer for Chicken Run 2 and I'm having a roller coaster of thoughts rn.... I don't know how to feel. I think Netflix is ruining Chicken Run! I won't come after Aardman on this, even though I think there's more they could have done, I don't really know how they could make this work since Chicken Run isn't really their thing. Like, Chicken Run is MORE DreamWorks than it is, Aardman. Aardman had a lot of work and effort put into the movie, but it still counts as being more of a DreamWorks film. I think Netflix is mostly to blame, I also wish that DreamWorks would have more say-so in this. Like, DreamWorks needs to step up and take back what's theirs! Like I said, not entirely blaming Aardman on this, they're neutral and have to be, it's Netflix I'm angry at.

Okay, so this new trailer didn't really feel like Chicken Run. My bestie Georgia and I are huge fans of it, so we felt a little hurt seeing this new trailer. Of course we're gonna watch it, obviously because it's Chicken Run, but we're still not excited for it and have a lot of mixed feelings. We both agree that this didn't have the same vibes as the first movie, where they mostly focused on telling a story of an American rooster with a broken wing who helps a hen and her flock escape from a chicken farm in the UK, because the owners plan on killing them off for food. The story has a lot of heavy topics and fits perfectly for a DreamWorks movie, relating to real life situations. Chicken Run is the best example but also Kung Fu Panda and Trolls were good examples too. I think Chicken Run is mostly known for the serious topics, and I relate to Rocky so much, that's why it's my favorite.

Everyone in the trailer seemed so out of character, especially Rocky and Ginger. Rocky was the main character in the first movie,m and it's okay if they wanted it to focus more on Ginger for the sequel, I totally get that! They barely showed him in this new trailer, however. I'm actually really mad. And when I saw how they changed Ginger's personality, I felt like crying! For so long, I saw her as one of my comfort characters, she seemed tough and strong but also very understanding and sweet in the first movie. It seems like they're just making her the just tough baddie in this and I'm really upset. Like, I didn't see her understanding and sweet side like in the movie. It's so hard to se my favorite characters like this. Plus, them firing almost all the voice actors. Like, Julia Sawalha stills sounds the same and this new lady who's voicing her sounds nothing like Ginger! I bet they only hired her because she's more popular than Julia. I also know there was some drama with Mel Gibson in the past, he might be a little bit of a jerk sometimes but he's still the OG voice of Rocky and there's no replacing him. Disney didn't replace Ellen in Finding Dory and Ellen's not a nice person either. Plus, what did Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels do to get replaced? NOTHING! I heard the voices and those are NOT Nick and Fetcher's voices... maybe favorite DreamWorks sidekick duo and I absolutely can't handle this. At least Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, and Lynn Ferguson are in it still (I feel bad Imelda always gets stuck playing/voicing the worst characters, but she voiced an absolute icon in Big & Small).

To be 100% completely honest, I actually think Babs is the only good thing about this. Like I said, I'm also happy that Jane Horrocks is still voicing her, because I think she's perfect for this role. I love how Babs is the only one who's kind of in character, and also has more screen time. I don't want Babs to just be a comic relief, but I love that she has more funny lines. She's one of my favorites in the first movie, but I think it's safe to say that she'll be my favorite in the sequel. This still doesn't feel like Chicken Run to me, and it definitely doesn't feel like a DreamWorks movie. This feels like Netflix was trying to get ownership from DreamWorks and force Aardman to team up with them... however, I'm still going to watch this. Another good thing is Frizzle, she seems like a sweet character (I feel like they're going to make Babs and Frizzle be a couple, watch them be lesbian. Just watch, I can predict the future). If it were up to me, Babs is better on her own she don't need no love interest.

So after the long rant about Chicken Run 2 Dawn of the Nugget (ew I hate that "Dawn of the Nugget" title), I have other movies I'm way more excited to see. It used to be a Chicken Run sequel I was waiting for almost 3 years, but now there's other movies that look way better. It hurts, because I'm a huge fan of Chicken Run but at least Trolls 3 looks amazing! I don't know how I feel that they gave Queen Poppy a sister but she seems cool. I just hope we get that wholesome Broppy romance we're all hoping to see! I'm also really excited for Illumination's "Migration" which is about ducks, but what really won me over was this movie called "Butterfly Tale" which looks absolutely adorable. I love how it focuses on a boy butterfly and a boy caterpillar, because butterflies were always seen as a "girly" thing so HAH! Boys can like butterflies too! ^u^

Anyway, tell me your thoughts on this! Any other Chicken Run fans here? any DreamWorks or Aardman fans want to add to this too? What about Trolls 3? I'd love to read your comments!

[thekaijudude]

Do you think Ultraman could become more popular in the west if, instead of (or in addition to it, but realistically, it'd probably be exclusive) YouTube, TsuPro put new seasons on Netflix or Disney+ or something? I think people are more likely to stumble upon the series there, especially if the platform promotes it. And parents might find it while looking for something to show their kids.

Oh i was actually discussing this specific topic with friends over our last hangout, on what it actually takes for Ultraman to become more popular in the west.

Tbh rn as we've seen from the latest TsuPro doc leaks that i posted and discussed in detail a few months back, they are actually going in the right direction in terms of expanding into the West, by focusing on building a western Ultraman brand first.

Let us first discuss their efforts in SEA as itll be easier to juxtapose with the west later. Because Ultraman has a very solid foundation in terms of audience exposure to Ultraman in SEA for at least 2 decades already (Especially first 6 series, TDG and Mebius) so they already have a whole generation of SEA kids that essentially grew up with Ultraman to the point where virtually everyone in SEA knows who or what Ultraman roughly is even tho they watched it only in their childhood. This is especially the case in China with Tiga, which is no surprise we then got the numbers for ShinU where it earned 20 billion yen compared to less than a Billion everywhere (outside of Japan) combined, as well as the setup of SCLA (TsuPro's arm in China for official distribution)

(Which is also why there will be an Ultraman movie made in China in 2025 from the leaked timeline but i digress)

So this is where expanding into the West has some issues. Because it lacks the 2 decades-long pre-existing brand identity that SEA has. So, people dont really even know what Ultraman is about or even who he is. And tbh it wouldnt really stand out at first glance as something that is "fun-to-watch" for kids or the general audience in the first place, not to mention the cultural differences would be hard for the mainstream audience to really appreciate and watch more even assuming they start watching it.

The existing Western fanbase is probably too small to really warrant TsuPro putting their series on Netflix or Disney+, and paying whatever amount to promote it either. As before Ultraman:Rising, the Western fanbase primarily consists of a very small group that started watching Ultraman independently and those who pivoted from KR or SS. But based on what I see from years of interacting with the Western fandom, it mainly consists of those who pivoted from Godzilla. This brings me to another point where TsuPro is also waiting for Godzilla (Japanese version) to expand further in the west before piggybacking on their success as more people would at least be easier to pivot to watching Ultraman then.

This is why you see in the leaked documents, TsuPro's western expansion plans are kind of lacking, because 1, they are more focused on expanding in the far more lucrative China and SEA. And 2, they are primarily only building the very bare foundations of a western Ultraman brand.

To recap, the current western expansions include Ultraman Rising, 3 Marvel Ultraman lines (Marvel Ultraman, Ultraman x Avengers, Ultraman/Spiderman crossover manga) and the concluded Netflix Anime series.

(Everything else under the "Global expansion" timeline is more geared towards China and SEA tbh)

So primarily rn, TsuPro is obviously more focused on riding on Ultraman Rising's success to build an image of Ultraman that is more aligned with Western culture, which is why Shannon got the go-ahead to make the 2 sequels (or a prequel plus a sequel, TBC)

(Not to mention, Ultraman Rising was the only "successful" western ultraman media of their list of plans)

Considering that we saw no other plans for western expansion till 2028 in the leaked docs, I suppose the next major change in western expansion plans lie solely on the reception of Rising's next 2 installments

In conclusion, the Ultraman brand has to be more recognized in the West before TsuPro can really expand in the same way as they are doing right now in China, which means actively licensing series to be shown on Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV etc. Currently, they are still focused on building the bare foundations of their influence in the West.

Thanks for the question!

[friendly-neighborhood-boricua]

What Do You Want To Be?

Summary: Sirius has a panic attack that takes a very sweet turn.

Notes: Harry Potter Universe, Sirius Black x gn!reader, modern AU or post-Hogwarts. I got the inspiration for this from a stand-up Netflix special, but I can’t remember the name of it. 

Sirius’s mind worked in a peculiar way. It ran at a million miles a minute no matter the situation, and although sometimes that was a good thing, it often worked against him. The smallest mistake could send his mind down a spiraling drain of anxiety and panic, and despite James, Peter, and Remus’s best efforts, it was difficult to fish him out again. Sometimes, the best thing the boys could do for Sirius was hold his hand and wait it out by his side.

Then, Sirius met Y/N. They were quite good friends from the very beginning (James loved to accuse Y/N of stealing Sirius away from him—all in good fun, of course), but Y/N had never seen Sirius’s descent into his own mind until the two started dating. Sirius had harbored a secret crush on Y/N since only a couple of days after they first met, and, much to his immense delight and utter relief, the feelings were reciprocated.

Now, nearly four years into their relationship, Y/N was the expert in keeping Sirius present and focused, even when his mind was trying to drag him down the drain. (It also helped that Sirius hadn’t had any contact with his mother or father in years, so he was much less prone to panic attacks overall.) James, Peter, and Remus had also gotten a bit better at calming Sirius’s nerves when necessary, but Y/N was still the best at it. 

Sirius smiled slightly at the sound of the door unlocking and took another plate from the sink, hoping to load the dishwasher quickly enough to greet her at the door. The sound of the door closing quickly erased that possibility, and Sirius’s shoulders sagged some; though he knew it wasn’t a big deal, he was a little more than disappointed that he wasn’t—

Sirius gasped sharply as arms encircled his waist, his own pulled tight to his chest in a defensive position. The next thing he knew, the plates in his hands were on the ground, shattered, and he was on his knees, apologizing and trying to pick up the pieces with shaky fingers.

“I’m sorry, ‘m sorry, I didn’t mean to—promise, I didn’t mean it—”

“Sirius.” Sirius’s head shook violently back and forth as if trying to shake away the soothing effect Y/N’s voice had on his mind, and apologies continued to spew from his mouth as he cut himself on the pieces’ sharp edges. “Sirius, love—look at me.” With a gentle but firm hand, Y/N held Sirius’s cheek and guided him to look away from the shards of plate in his bloody hands. 

“‘M sorry.” Sirius was tearful now as he looked into Y/N’s eyes, but they shook their head gently.

“Don’t panic,” they said simply. “What do you want to be?”

The first time Y/N had said this to Sirius was right after he had awoken from a nightmare. He had run away to the Potters’ house only days before, and James had invited Y/N over, knowing they would want to be with Sirius. The two had only just started dating, and although this aspect to their relationship was new, James was sure that if anything happened, Y/N would be able to calm Sirius with ease. Y/N was still awake when Sirius woke from his nightmare that night, and he barely had time to crawl into their arms before he began to shake and cry uncontrollably. And just as James knew would happen, with two simple sentences, Y/N had calmed Sirius’s mind from a racing whirlwind of anger and fear to a light drizzle of emptiness—an emptiness that was at least partially soothed by their presence. 

So on this particular afternoon on the kitchen floor, Sirius’s peculiar mind processed these two sentences very carefully. “Don’t panic” was easy enough; Sirius took a deep (if shaky) breath and forced himself to blink slowly, keeping his eyes on Y/N’s throughout. “What do you want to be?” was a little trickier, but his mind gave him a head start: a good friend, an auror, Harry’s favorite uncle … it was almost like a game, and it distracted his mind perfectly from the panic he was experiencing just seconds ago. And then, his mind threw another answer in his face, and it came flying out of his mouth without his permission.

“Your husband.”

The silence that followed Sirius’s words filled every crevice of the small London apartment. Y/N’s eyes widened slightly, and Sirius’s mind, which had finally quieted for just a moment, began to refill with anxiety.

“Yeah?” Y/N said, and Sirius nodded slowly. They smiled. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up, okay?”

Y/N guided Sirius into the bathroom and cleaned his cuts with gentle touches, apologizing each time he winced at the rubbing alcohol. Sirius could scarcely believe what had just occurred. He had just proposed, right? Usually proposals were a surprise to one party involved—sometimes both parties had a sort of “game plan” before it all—but he’d never heard of a proposal that was a surprise for both people, so did this count? He didn’t even have a ring. Should he have gotten one by now?—

“Sirius,” said Y/N, and Sirius looked down at them. 

“Yes?” he whispered. They gazed up at him with soft eyes, and the stress that had built up in the last minute or so flowed away yet again. Y/N placed a soft palm on Sirius’s cheek, their other thumb rubbing circles over the bone of his right wrist. 

“You feeling any better?” they asked, and Sirius nodded twice. Y/N smiled at that, taking a curl that fell in front of his eyes and smoothing it back. “Did you mean to say that … earlier?” they asked, and for once, Sirius found a hint of anxiety in their eyes instead of his.

Biting his lip, Sirius shrugged. “I mean … I didn’t plan it or anything, and I haven’t got a … a ring, but …” he shrugged again, his eyes falling to Y/N’s where it lay over his bandaged hand. He bit his lip. “But I … I wouldn’t mind, as long as … as long as you’re … happy with it.”

Y/N grinned up at him, light and mischievous. “Do you want to marry me, Sirius Black?” they asked in a teasing tone, and Sirius groaned, leaning forward and burying his face in the crook of their shoulder and neck. 

“Don’t tease,” he murmured, lips pressed to Y/N’s collarbone as he spoke. 

“Well, you’ve got to give a response to my proposal, Mr. Black,” Y/N responded with a faux-innocent look. “D’you wanna marry me?”

Sirius peered out from his spot on Y/N’s shoulder and nodded, a fierce blush burning over his face. “Yeah, I wanna marry you,” he whispered against their lips, which curled up with a genuine smile. 

“We can go down to the courthouse later, if you’d like?” they whispered, and Sirius nodded, pressing a sweet, warm kiss to their lips.