#been watching a lot of 80’s movies lately

[wellthebardsdead]

Picture if you will, Overwatch, outnumbered in battle by null sectors increasing onslaught as talon moves in with backup to crush the new age of hero’s.

Tracer running in to save civilians only to get wiped out by flying shrapnel thankfully leaving said civilians unharmed but Lena in peril.

Pharah shot down mid air and spiralling to the ground and Angela stuck behind cover avoiding reaper and unable to help her.

Cassidy is surrounded and Genji is being swarmed by ground soldiers and the backup drop ship still isn’t in sight.

Then suddenly Reinhardt gets knocked to the ground as the carnage slows in motion. Civilians screaming, children crying, gunfire, explosions, all echoed and before they can be replaced with the ringing in Reinhardts ears the first score of a music track plays.

“Where have all the good man gone and, where are all the gods?”

Reinhardt is laying there remembering his past, wondering why he bothered coming back, remembering Overwatch and the good days and how he was treated in the end.

Then right as it seems all hope is lost a blast from a pulse rifle shoots down the omnic looming over him allowing him a chance to fight back. And as the music swells with rapid drums heavy footfalls if combat boots run in time with them as a choir of voices rise up and 76 launches into battle to the cue of ‘I need a hero’

Then as thunder strikes in the background two bright blue dragons emerge from it spiralling down to aid the new Overwatch as Hanzo answers his brothers call, saving the younger Shimada and the cowboy too.

Then right as reaper has Angela at gunpoint a well aimed bullet knocks his gun out of his hands as Ana squares up to him making him back off realising he’s out matched. Angela runs to Pharahs aid and Ana locks eyes with Reinhardt before loading up a boost and taking aim hitting the old crusader.

And as the next chorus to holding out for a hero blares up Reinhardt grabs his hammer and launches himself up slamming the omnic down and rejoicing that backups finally arrived.

And it turns out lucio was up in the backup drop ship the whole time attempting to carefully orchestrate the music in time with the action while Hana caught it on her stream… Hanzos dragons caught everyone off guard though that was a surprise.

~Bambi

[mask131]

So... Wicked is coming back in style. And as such I need to make a little informative post.

Because since as early as my arrival onto the Internet, in the distant years of the late 2000s, a lot of people have been treating Wicked as some sort of "official" part of the Oz series. As part of the Oz canon or as THE "original" work everything else derives from (literaly, some people, probably kids, but did believe the MGM movie was made BASED on Wicked...) And as an Oz fan, that bothers me.

[Damn, ever since I watched Coco Peru's videos her voice echoes in my brain each time I say this line.]

So here's a few FACTS for you facts lovers.

The Wicked movie that is coming out right now (I was sold this as a series, turns out it is a movie duology?) is a cinematic adaptation of the stage musical Wicked created by Schwartz and Holzman, the Broadway classic and success of the 2000s (it was created in 2003).

Now, the Wicked musical everybody knows is itself an adaptation - and this fact is not as notorios, somehow? The Wicked musical is the adaptation of a novel released in 1995 by Gregory Maguire, called Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. A very loose and condensed adaptation to say the least - as the Wicked musical is basically a lighter and simplified take on a much darker, brooding and mature tale. Basically fans of the novel have accused the musical of being some sort of honeyed, sugary-sweet, highschool-romance-fanfic-AU, while those who enjoyed the musical and went to see the novel are often shocked at discovering their favorite musical is based on what is basically a "dark and edgy - let's shock them all" take on the Oz lore. (Some do like both however, apparently? But I rarely met them.)

A side-fact which will be relevant later, is that this novel was but the first of a full series of novel Oz wrote about a dark-and-adult fantasy reimagining of the land of Oz - there's Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, Out of Oz, and more.

However the real fact I want to point out is that Maguire's novel, from which the musical itself derives, is a "grimmification" (to take back TV Tropes terminology) of the 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. The movie everybody knows when it comes to Oz, but that everybody forgets is itself the adaptation of a book - the same way people forget the Wicked musical is adapted from a novel. The MGM movie is adapted from L. Frank Baum's famous 1900 classic for children The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - and a quite loose adaptation that reimagines a lot of elements and details.

Now, a lot of people present Maguire's novel as being based/inspired/a revisionist take on Baum's novel... And that's false. Maguire's Wicked novel is clearly dominated by and mainly influenced by the MGM movie, with only a few book elements and details sprinkled on top. Mind you, the sequels Maguire wrote do take more elements, characters and plot points from the various Oz books of Baum... But they stay mostly Maguire's personal fantasy world. Yes, Oz "books" in plural - because that's a fact people tend to not know either... L. Frank Baum didn't just write one book about the Land of Oz. He wrote FOURTEEN of them, an entire series, because it was his most popular sales, and his audience like his editor pressured him to produce more (in fact he got sick of Oz and tried to write other books, but since they failed he was forced to continue Oz novels to survive). Everybody forgot about the Oz series due to the massive success of the starter novel - but it has a lot of very famous sequels, such as The Marvelous Land of Oz or Ozma of Oz (the later was loosely adapted by Disney as the famous 80s nostalgic-cursed movie Return to Oz).

So... To return to my original point. The current Wicked movies are not directly linked in any way to Baum's novel. The Wicked musical was already as "canon" and as "linked" to the MGM movie as 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful by Disney was. As for Maguire's novel, due to its dark, mature, brooding and more complex worldbuilding nature, I can only compare it to the recent attempt at making a "Game of Thrones Oz" through the television series Emerald City.

The Wicked movies coming out are separated from Baum's novel at the fourth degree. Because they are the movie adaptation of a musical adaptation of a novel reinventing a movie adaptation of the original children book.

And I could go even FURTHER if you dare me to and claim the Wicked movies are at the 5TH DEGREE! Because a little-known-fact is that the MGM movie was not a direct adaptation of Baum's novel... But rather took a lot of cues and influence from the massively famous stage-extravaganza of 1902 The Wizard of Oz... A musical adaptation of Baum's novel, created and written by Baum himself, and that was actually more popular than the novel in the pre-World War II America. It was from this enormous Broadway success (my my, how the snake bites its tail - the 1902 Wizard of Oz was the musical Wicked of its time) that, for example, the movie took the idea of the Good Witch of the North killing the sleeping-poppies with snow.

[thats-godscomma]

Since rewatching Psych, I've been thinking about how weird and arbitrary Shawn's interests are. Sure, late 2000's writing had something to do with it, and maybe a bit of Henry and Gus's influence, but hearing Shawn be so vocal about how he hates certain popular things or (more importantly) refuses to give them a chance BUT at the same time knowing so many pop culture references, it got me thinking.

What if the reason Shawn has so many pop culture references on hand is because of his eidetic memory, and he doesn't actually have as much of an interest in pop culture? Throughout the show, he actively avoids getting roped into big interests and franchises (see: comic books, soap operas, etc.) despite the fact that he genuinely seems excited once he's part of it. In fact, we don't get to see a lot of Shawn's interests at all unless it's based on an idea.

Take being a bounty hunter, for example. According to him, he's obsessed with the idea, but he doesn't make many references to an actual bounty hunter show or franchise. Instead, he just remembers the one bounty hunter he saw as a child and maybe references a movie or two. Because once he remembers something, he's never going to forget it, or at least not for a very long time.

That's why he thinks in references. Everything is a reference if you have a good enough memory. Everything reminds you of something. If Shawn hears someone make a Spock reference, it's in his repertoire forever. But he wouldn't be caught dead watching the shows or movies because that's just too much information. Why on earth would he endure that?

Of course, it also intertwines with his ADHD. He has bouts of energy and trouble focusing. He can't sit still to save his life, and he hyperfixates...or he would if his memory didn't make him averse to it. So if he doesn't want to hyperfixate on an information-based interest, then what does he hyperfixate on? Physical activities. Instead of learning about his favorite daredevil, he tries to be one himself. When he learns about oil rigs, he doesn't get a book from the library. He tries to find oil in his backyard.

This is also where he and Henry differ regarding Shawn's "potential." Henry is correct when he talks about Shawn's "wasted" potential, but he doesn't understand the toil of having this eidetic memory and ADHD. Here's what I think happened: Henry probably noticed Shawn's stellar memory at a young age, realized he has a gift, spoke with his wife about her eidetic memory, learned that you need to challenge your child's eidetic memory at a young age or it'll go away, started the hat game to make it fun and exciting, but then Shawn's ADHD appeared. Suddenly, it made him much harder to raise (because let's be real, Shawn was not an easy child.) Henry didn't know what he was doing anymore, and since it was the 80's, he didn't have the resources to properly understand his kid's behavior, so he tried to find a common interest, and started training Shawn to be a detective "because kids love cop shows." But Shawn struggled to stay attached to one single interest, and when he grew up, he stopped trying to articulate his problems because his mom (the only person who remotely understood his struggles) left, and he blamed his dad for it.

And academics? Those are a joke because what is the point of studying if he already remembers everything? Until, of course, he needs to apply it to a problem-solving test or writing an essay. Suddenly, he's memorizing a math teacher's answer sheet and copying Gus's report.

Yes, Shawn could have been a great cop. He could be an amazing scientist or anything really. He could have been a national spelling bee champion like Gus wanted to be. Even 15 years later, Shawn remembered exactly what word Gus messed up, how to spell the word, and what letter he made Gus slip up, but he didn't want to be on that stage with Gus because that requires so much learning. And so much time. And so much memorizing. And he refuses to sit still for that long when he knows that overloading his head is going to give him migraines.

Also his "I've heard it both ways" probably comes from the fact that people with eidetic memory can still make lots of mistakes if they don't actively commit something to memory. If Shawn only overhears something, he'll still naturally try to fill in the gaps like everyone else, but because he's so confident in his memory, he just believes what he remembers to be true, leading him to repeat incorrect information with confidence. That could also be why some of his references are incorrect due to mixed-up homophones.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about how Shawn is just a walking movie reference because his memory won't let him forget quotes, but then I fell into a rabbit hole of the negative effects of having an eidetic memory as a child, and I am very passionate about how Henry actually tried his best, and people need to stop calling him a horrible parent. Love y'all. Let me know what you think.

[natalie668]

Lost Girl

Lost boys fanfic, will be multi-chapter fic.

Lost boys (Michael as well) x reader.

Watching them through your dream had you worried, most people have 1 or 2 soulmates. You believed 3 is the max amount recorded, yet here you are dreaming of 5 men, well if you can call guys in their 20's men.

Sitting up in bed, you peered over at your phone. It hadn't long stopped beeping its annoying tune, it's 7am and you had to hurry up and get ready for work. Rubbing your eyes you swing your legs over the side of the bed, you peer down at the 5 names written on your arm; Michael, David, Marko, Paul & Dwayne. Supposedly the order of names in when you will meet each of them.

You have yet to meet a single one of your soulmates, but you guessed that having only just had your birthday 2 weeks prior it wouldn't really give you much time to have met them anyway.

Walking out of your quaint little bedroom, you make your way over to the bathroom, stripping off you begin turning the knob on the shower toas hot as it can go, (which really is pitiful) the landlord still hasn't been and fixed it even though you had alerted him to the fact its been playing up since you had moved in when you'd turned 20. You guess you can't rush these things.

After you've gotten yourself ready, you set off to work, you've been working as a receptionist in a Library since you had turned 18. You had been to college and finished between the time of finishing high school and turning 21.

As you make your way through the busy town, you can't help but sigh seeing the various couples holding hands making their own ways to work. Every day you see it, heck you even see it with working in the library. You can't help but just wish that one day you'd meet your own soulmates.

The work day went quickly, answering phones, scanning books through which people came and dropped off, passing books onto those who placed them on the correct shelves.

There was a thunder storm wracking through the sky as you made your way home, you were not going to spend a fortune getting a taxi and get stuck in traffic just to go 7 streets over. just as your were rushing past a tree when an almighty bright light shot straight in front of you hitting the tree a massive crack was the last thing you heard and an almighty pain and didn't see again.

~*~*~*~*~

The first thing you heard was screams, and the second thing you noticed was the fact you were lying on a beach, you could feel the grains of sand underneath your fingers, peering down at yourself you were wearing the same clothes you had gone to work in, yet you were nowhere near home, the nearest beach was 200 miles away and you don't think you would have not noticed going in a car to get there. So where the hell were you.

Standing up brushing the sand off my clothes, I looked towards where I could make out some steps, I set off to see where the hell I had turned up.

As soon as I got to the steps I could see rides, people dressed like they were from the 80s and a lot of people running around. I stumbled forward heading towards a shop which I could see had a newspaper stand out front like I'd seen in American movies. I peer in and spot the year 1987, I stared in shock, I looked to the top corner, it said 'Santa Carla' I felt like I was going to throw up, I could feel myself getting light headed. I stumbled over to a bench and placed my head in my hands.

I had somehow ended up in America in the late 80s, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?

I peered around trying not to throw up, my brain was going a million miles a minute, how the hell had I gone back in time. The last thing I remembered was walking home in the thunder storm and seeing a bright light and then nothing.

I panic, feeling my chest, my arms trying to find burn marks, nothing appeared to be on me, 'I must have died' I couldn't help thinking. 'How else would I have ended up going back in time, to freaking America'. A sob escaped my lips, I couldn't believe this was really happening, I pinched myself sharply on the arm to double check I wasn't dreaming.

I stand up from the bench when I finally feel like my heart isn't going to beat out of my chest, I slowly walk down what appears to be some sort of boardwalk, I get towards the end and lean against some metal bars which over looked the sea. Wiping the tears from my face I start to worry about where I am going to sleep tonight, how I'm going to live.

A sharp pain slices through my arm, I look down at my arm, the name 'Michael' is practically glowing red'. Turning around I spot another person grabbing their arm in pain, his eyes meet my own, his head turns to look me in the eyes as he steps towards me, "Hi, I'm Michael," he says as he takes a tentative step towards me. You can tell he's nervous, hell; I'm nervous. I've just gone back in time, and now I'm meeting on of my soulmates?!

"Uhm, nice to meet you, I'm Y/N" I say stumbling over my words, I look him up and down, he's pretty; wild dark hair, dark eyes. He's beautiful. I can't help but feel plain while stood next to him.

He steps towards me, his hand caresses my arm, in the spot where my soulmate mark is, he looks towards my arm and spots the names written on there. A frown marred his features, he slowly takes in the names; his frown turns into a scowl. It makes his face seem to take a different look, his eyes seeming to yellow out of nowhere, which surely must be the light?

His fingers grasp my wrist bringing it closer to his face, he looks up at me, "I think you should come with me, y/n." he says as he looks around at his surroundings like he's expecting someone to jump out at any moment.

Chapter 2

[a-mint-bear]

Juno is a big horror movie fan

Jack is not

i sat down and finished the "doodle" i started forever ago.

Jack is "chaperoning" scary movie night but didn't think it would be this bad D:

that is supposed to be Jack screaming but it's also funny to think of him silently shrieking while the TV's blaring a scream queen lol

Juno is a big fan of practical effects in horror, and this is a big thing they bond over with Shaun. in another life, they would've gone into film and maybe worked on Shaun's movies making surprisingly sexy werewolf transformations lol

followed by: Juno checking to see if Jack is good when Shaun goes to grab a drink, him givin' a weak thumbs up from the hallway. Juno feels bad and makes it up to him with an 80's romcom night

for a spooky, yandere clown ghost, Jack surprisingly doesn't handle horror well

(me neither, Jack. i like horror movie stories but not watching the actual movies. horror summary channels like Dead Meat, Ryan Hollinger and Found Flix are common background videos while I'm writing/drawing. this was supposed to be them watching a Dario Argento film but i've never actually seen any of them lol)

ive been doodling Shaun a lot lately after i drew this a while back, and happy to say i've gotten better since lol

[final-bae-stination]

This Is What Forever Looks Like (Lo'ak)

Not requested.

Scenario: Lo'ak confesses his love to a human girl.

Pairing: Lo'ak X Fem! Reader.

Fem Reader Description: Red Hair, Pale Skin, green eyes, and freckles.

Third Person POV

She was human, he was Na'vi. They were from different worlds, but that didn't stop them. He grew up with her, and she grew up with his family. She was the unofficial Sully kid, like Spider, except she was more...loved, as we'd say, because unlike Spider, she wasn't the enemy's kid (meaning Spider). She was used to being surrounded by more blue people than her own color, more used to being around aliens than her own species, and she even started acting like a Sully: her and Kiri were the sassy girls, she'd play stupid games and actually have fun with Tuk, and she loved starting trouble with Lo'ak, often laughing when Neteyam scolded them but feeling bad if he got in trouble for her and Lo'ak. But over time, that started changing for Lo'ak, and that scared him. He didn't know what this was, but from looking at his parents, he had an idea. And again, that scared him. You were everything to him, having always been there. He was scared to approach you with this. What if you didn't feel the same as him? What if he made things weird between you two? Everyone started noticing, from Norm and Max to his own parents and older brother. He'd smile more, was less inclined for trouble when you were with him, not wanting you hurt. He'd blush, and because the family was a dark blue, it would appear as a bright purple, which was....obvious, to say the least. Every time you laughed or smiled, that purple dusted his cheeks. He'd glance away when he saw you looking, and the blush would deepen. Kiri started teasing him relentlessly about it, but Neteyam and his parents were more subtle. One day, Neytiri was cooking dinner and she glanced out of her eye, the infamous side-eye Neteyam had inherited, and glanced at Lo'ak. He was sitting in the corner, drawing something on a sketchpad. He'd asked Norm for it, though the family couldn't understand why, and he never said anything or showed them what was in it. Tuk had snuck a glance once, but all she could say she saw was a lot of cream colors and lots of red. That clued in Neteyam, at least: Lo'ak was drawing you.

And he was. It was almost eclipse, and you were sitting in front of the lab. Dr. Max and Norm lived there, as did you, and if you weren't in the jungle, you were in your room, either watching 80's and late 90's movies or listening to music. Right now, you were looking up at the huge figure of Polyphemus, waiting for eclipse (A/N: Polyphemus has no rings and has fourteen moons, the most notable being Pandora). The slight breeze made her hair flutter, tickling her shoulders. About five feet behind her, Lo'ak's heart squeezed. He gripped the sketchpad tightly, the metal swirling binding making his hands sting. "Hey, um...Y/N?" He asked. You turned, your green eyes bright. "Lo'ak!" You crowed, seemingly happy to see him. He smiled shyly, sitting next to you, his tail tip flicking nervously, ears twitching. "I...wanna show you something," He said softly, and his voice deepened, making your stomach flutter with butterflies. "Sure," You said quickly, and he took a deep breath, flipping the pad around. It was you, drawn in pastels. You gasped, eyes widening. He'd perfectly captured your often-dreamy gaze, and your hair rolled over your shoulders like red water. "Lo..." You whisper, taking the pad. "It's beautiful," You whisper, green eyes catching gold. "So are you," He whispered, unable to look away. Your heart stopped, then began to pound. "Lo'ak..." You whispered, scooting closer. He blinked slowly, licking his lips nervously, and your eyes followed the movement before you leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't like you thought it would be. You thought, honestly, that it'd be a little sweet, nothing more. It was sweet, but also filled with so much love you were surprised you didn't explode. His hands cupped your face, huge against your human face, and kissed you slowly, achingly sweet, and the world slipped away and it was just you both.

"YES!" You heard Kiri scream and you both split, breathing hard, eyes wide.

Kiri cringed. "Sorry," She said, and you giggled, then started laughing. Lo'ak chuckled, shaking his head, pulling you closer. Kiri, seeing this, smirked and went back inside. "I've loved you for a really long time," Lo'ak whispered, nose touching yours. "Yeah, I could say the same," You giggled. "Why didn't you...ever tell me?" You asked him gently, your legs hooked around his waist as you sat in his lap. He shrugged, playing with the ends of your fiery hair. "I was scared," He admitted. "I didn't...realize, I guess, that I felt that way until I started noticing my mom and Dad, how they acted, and...I realized I wanted that. With you. But...I kept thinking, like, what if she doesn't feel the same, or something like that." He sighed. Your finger, tiny compared to his, lifted his chin. His gold eyes flicked to yours as you whispered, "I will never not choose you, Lo'ak. In any life, here or in the future, I'll choose you." You whispered, and kissed him again. "I love you. I See you," You whisper. You felt him shiver a little as he whispered hoarsely, "I See You."

The gas giant Polyphemus rose, eclipse setting over Pandora, as you two stayed like that, wrapped in each other and the words I See You hovering like stars.

[miss-bushido]

kiss me, underneath the moonlight

Eddie and Steve are on their third date at a local farm, when the rain starts.

Written for @softsteddieseptember week 4, prompt 'dancing in the rain'.

Rating: T Tags: Kissing, Steve Harrington has bad parents, heavy petting, making out, secret tattoos

The sky had been threatening rain all day. Dark grey clouds, lots of wind. Typical for mid to late autumn. It was a bit of a bummer because Steve had planned this third date with Eddie to take place outside. He knew enough about him now to know that Eddie was obsessed with Halloween and all things spooky. So, a date at a farm on the outskirts of Hawkins that boasted not only a pumpkin patch and a corn maze, but an outdoor set up to show movies in the late afternoon? Well, it was perfect. Eddie’s face had told him that he’d planned it well.

They had picked their pumpkins and put them in the back of Eddie’s van for safe keeping. They had gone through the corn maze- managing to find a few hiding spots to surreptitiously make out in- and they were now sitting side by side in some wooden Adirondack chairs, holding hands and sipping hot apple cider. There was a bag of warm kettle corn at Steve’s feet, and once the projector was set up, they would be watching a double feature of 80’s horror films ‘Children of the Corn’, and then ‘Near Dark’.

Eddie had been ecstatic about the whole thing, but particularly about the second movie. ‘Near Dark’ was a cult classic vampire movie, and not many people knew about it who hadn’t seen it when it was first released. At least not many people they knew. Most people their age preferred movies like ‘Saw’ or the remakes of ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Rob Zombie’s Halloween’. Not many people shared Eddie’s enthusiasm for old horror films, but, luckily, Steve was one of those people. “This was such a fun date, Stevie,” Eddie said, squeezing Steve’s hand before he took another sip of his apple cider.

“I’m glad, Eds,” Steve replied, reaching out to tuck a long lock of hair behind Eddie’s ear. The wind made his hair more wild than it normally was, and that was saying something. “The date’s not done when the movies are, either,” he couldn’t help adding, giving him a wink as he settled back into the chair.

Eddie’s eyes widened at the implication, and he gave Steve a wide cheeky grin. “When you put it like that, maybe we can just find these on Netflix later on.”

“And miss out on this experience?” Steve asked. “It’s not every day you can see a horror movie outside next to a pumpkin patch with a sexy metal head.”

“You’re really not making a case for us to stay when you talk like that, baby,” Eddie grinned, biting his lower lip.

“I guess we’ll both just have to exercise some restraint,” Steve answered, leaning forward to kiss Eddie on the lips. He licked into Eddie’s mouth, tasting the apple cider and the popcorn he’d eaten. “And restraint enters into it…if you’d like,” he whispered, licking Eddie’s bottom lip before he pulled away.

“Damn it,” Eddie muttered, exhaling heavily to get himself under control. Steve grinned and sipped his own apple cider, smiling to himself at the reaction he’d gotten at the implication.

‘Children of the Corn’ started, and he settled into his seat, ready to enjoy the rest of their date. The scenery of Nebraska rolled out on screen, cornfields and all. It reminded him of Hawkins, but then, they were both part of the Midwest, so it made sense.

On screen, the little kid Job had just received his strawberry milkshake at the diner when fat, cold raindrops began pelting them. Seconds later, it turned into a deluge. The bag of kettle corn and the drinks were abandoned as they moved quickly to try and get to the closest shelter. Unfortunately, where they were, the closest shelter was the Boo Barn, named for the children to go into and have a few kid-friendly scares, and by the time they got there, everyone else had already filled it up. The doors were closed to anyone else.

“Well, shit,” Steve commented. They were soaked to the skin, and the rain was showing no signs of stopping.

“It’s okay, Steve,” Eddie reassured him. “It’s just rain.”

Steve turned to look at him and burst out laughing. Eddie’s wild hair was now a mess: completely waterlogged. He looked like a drowned cat, which only made Steve laugh harder.

“Something in my hair?” Eddie asked, laughing as well. He reached for Steve’s hands and pulled him away from the Barn.

Steve took it upon himself to pull Eddie back into his arms and then spin him back out, almost as if they were dancing. The lyrics to a Lady Gaga song came into his mind then, and he sang-yelled:

I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive! Rain, rain on me

He repeated this, pulling Eddie close, pretending he was dancing with him as they made their way back to Eddie’s van, water dripping everywhere once they were seated inside. The rain was still coming down in sheets, fogging up the windshield, turning the whole world outside watery grey as it continued pouring.

Eddie looked out the window and shook his head, water from his hair flying onto the dashboard. “It’s not stopping any time soon,” he said as he got up from the driver’s seat and moved into the back of the van. He had put a thin mattress with some pillows and a few blankets back there years ago. It was handy to have a place to sleep when you were a struggling musician and couldn’t always afford a decent motel room. “I have towels back here,” he said, grabbing a red one out of a canvas bag, and beginning to wring his hair out. “They’re clean, I promise.” They had been in the bag that he’d put back there earlier in the summer when there had been plans to go to the pool. Those plans had fallen through, and he’d just never gotten around to moving them back out.

Thank you, Past Eddie for being lazy.

Steve followed Eddie into the back, grabbing a green towel to wipe himself off. He grimaced at the way his shirt was sticking to his skin. “I don’t suppose you’d have an extra shirt I could wear, do you?”

Eddie rooted through the bag, tongue out in concentration, before he pulled out a black tank top. “This is the best I can do for you,” he said. Steve reached for the tank top, but Eddie pulled it back, eyebrow raising.

“Trying to play keep-away, huh?” Steve asked, lunging forward to grab Eddie by the wrist. He pulled him flush against his body, wrapping his arms around him to hold him while they kissed. He ran his hands up Eddie’s damp back, pushing his shirt up. “Take this off,” Steve breathed, sucking Eddie’s bottom lip before he resumed kissing him.

Eddie responded by pushing Steve’s own shirt up, both of them breaking away from the other to get out of their damp clothes. Once they were both shirtless, they began kissing again in earnest, Eddie moving forward to lay on top of Steve on the blankets. “Is this okay? Is this too much?” Eddie asked, slotting his left leg between Steve’s thighs. From what he could feel, it was not too much, and seeing as how this was their third date, he assumed something would happen.

He also didn’t want to assume and be disappointed. The signs were there, though. And he still had the memory of Steve’s kiss before they got soaked to the skin.

Steve swallowed thickly. “No, it’s not too much,” he said, looking down at where Eddie was pressing into him. “Can you take these off of me?” he asked, bringing Eddie’s hands to the waistband of his jeans. Not everything he wanted to do tonight would happen in the van, but he wanted some of it. He wanted Eddie fiercely, and that need was growing by the minute.

Eddie kissed him once more and then sat up, straddling Steve’s thigh. He unbuttoned and unzipped Steve’s jeans, beginning to pull them down. They stuck a little to Steve’s skin and Eddie gave them a strong pull. As this happened, he pulled down part of Steve’s underwear on his left hip. He looked down, and immediately froze, his face going pale.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked. He glanced down at where Eddie was looking and he froze, too.

Unlike Eddie, whose tattoos adorned him in numerous visible spaces, Steve’s tattoo was hidden. It was a small crown on his left hip, just under the waistband of his jeans. Robin was with Steve when he got it: right after he was kicked out of his house when his Dad found out he was gay. Robin had taken him in immediately, and he had set up in her two-bedroom apartment with the meager belongings he’d managed to grab on his way out the door.

The problem was that Steve didn’t have access to a lot of money. Just what was in his bank account, which his father could not touch, thankfully. He had applied for numerous jobs, but wasn’t able to get much. He was starting to panic around the first of the month before he landed a job as a host at a local restaurant. The pay wasn’t much, but it was money, and he could at least give Robin his share of the rent, and buy some things he needed.

While Steve applied for other, better paying jobs online, he kept seeing people talk about their OnlyFans sites, and how much money they made. He made his own account, Hail to the King, using the pseudonym King Sexy. Robin had laughed herself sick when he told her the names, and the tattoo had followed soon after.

Steve never shared his face. Made sure he had no identifying rings or watches on when he posted his pictures. And especially not when he posted his videos. The only thing his subscribers could see was the tattoo, and they ate it up. He made a lot of money with his content, and there were more than a few accounts who made his live streams very lucrative indeed.

“Why do you have that tattoo?” Eddie asked, voice quiet as he traced the edges of the crown.

“Uh…I uh…” Steve struggled for an answer before something dawned on him. “Wait, does it…You can’t be bothered by it when you have…” he trailed off, eyes roving over Eddie’s torso and arms. If he was bothered by it, he was a major hypocrite.

“No! No, I’m not…I just….” Eddie exhaled and put his hands over his eyes. “I just didn’t realize that you were King Sexy until this moment.”

Record scratch.

“What the- You- I-”

“Yes, exactly,” Eddie answered. His shoulders were shaking, and for a second, Steve worried he was about to cry. This fear evaporated when Eddie burst out laughing, tears coming out of his eyes as he doubled over. “Oh my God, this cannot be my life!” At Steve’s confused expression, Eddie managed to say, “I’m BardsCurse666.”

A laugh of his own burst out of Steve. What were the freaking odds? One of his best customers on his account was someone he was on a third date with.

They fell over one another laughing hysterically, until they physically couldn’t anymore. Eddie was sobbing with laughter, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Oh my God, oh my God.” He sounded like he was pleading, holding his stomach.

Steve managed to get himself under control quicker, though he was still wiping his eyes as he giggled into his hand. He looked over at Eddie laid out on the blankets behind him. “Is this…Does this change anything?”

Eddie snorted. “Hell no it doesn’t change anything.” He reached for Steve’s hand. “Well, I guess the only thing that will change is that I may not be as active on the site. Since I have King Sexy all to myself.”

Steve grinned wickedly and crawled over to him, looming over Eddie’s body. “You certainly do. Let me know if you want to be part of things in the future.”

Eddie groaned and pulled Steve down for a blistering kiss. “There’s enough time to talk about that later.”

“Indeed,” Steve agreed, kissing him back just as fiercely.

[alexisntedgy]

More Mia Cooper + the ghosts headcanons because we were robbed of her growing up with them :(

. She hates The Wizard of Oz but the first time she said that, Kitty had been so offended that Alison eventually had to tell Mia to just never mention hating it (and also that she’d have to put up with seeing it on the tv on occasion, because Alison could never stop kitty or cap watching that movie)

. She inherited her mum’s skill for art, and did a few modern, #aesthetic (tm) sketch-y journal pages for each ghost. She drew things from stories she’d heard, from things she’d seen in the button house archives (her sketch of havers made cap very emotional) and from things associated with their time period. Pat didn’t have the heart to point out the many late-80s items from long after he’d died.

. Fashion comes and goes, and when scrunchies and 80s patterns come back into style, pat is quite proud of her outfits :)

. Lady B thinks a lot of her outfits are atrocious, but none of the ghosts would ever repeat those comments to Alison or Mia

. When she has her first heartbreak, Thomas follows her around in sorrow, repeating vague bits of poetry. When Mia’s sorrow turns to anger, Kitty enjoys following her around as she vents to her friends (oh, and kitty joins in. a lot. loudly.)

. Mia asks where Humphrey’s head is when she’s really stressed and needs to vent, because Humphrey loves to be there for her and really, truly does listen (not that he has a choice once the venting has begun, but regardless, he wants to listen, because it’s Mia)

. The emo phase leaves every ghost shocked and confused- except thomas, who uses her teen angst as inspiration for his poetry, and Julian, who thinks it is absolutely hilarious

. Mia texts Julian photos when she goes on trips away- an awful souvenir shirt he’d find hilarious, a nice beach view for Pat, strange novelties for Robin. and yes, she always brings back a postcard (or several)

. Cap is a little too eager to get her into some kind of sport, because he wants an excuse to run laps around the grounds with her. When she starts practicing for cross-country, Cap is ecstatic and demands (kindly) that Alison time their laps. Alison drew the line at recreating a warm-up routine Cap had designed for her.

. When she’s about 12, Mia demands to know what every major historical event she learns about at school was like, directly from the source(s) itself. She ends up getting extra marks on several papers due to her “impressive” historical knowledge and accuracy. But that isn’t why she asks for their stories- she just wants to know her family history, if you will.

. She asks for Alison to take photos of her with Lady B whenever something big happens in her life. It often takes a few goes, but they always get it in the end. Mia has two sets of every photo of major positive events in her life, and she keeps the ones with lady b in them in a safekeeping box.

. She plays virtual chess with Julian, and works on virtual crosswords with him and Robin. They sit across from each other so it’s like an actual game, and so she can comment on his moves even though she can’t see him

[olderthannetfic]

ONTF, you're older than I am, you're highly media literate, maybe you'll know: what was the appeal of the Joss Whedon style of writing to begin with? Everyone whateverishly wording their phrasey bits in that very Whedon-y way never did anything for me, positive or negative, and the constant need to have comedy during serious moments or interrupt a serious moment with either snark or a remark that nods towards tropes diffuses the tension to the point where I can't get invested. None of his characters ever felt capable of having sincere moments like most characters in other things I watch, and the few moments of that they did have would get undermined by one of the aforementioned flaws.

I do think the "omg worst writer EVER!" crowd is a bit much, because I've seen things so bad that Whedon looks like Shakespeare by comparison. But my half-sister, who is 25 years older than me and thus in her late 40's, swears Joss' style is revolutionary and deep. And frankly I've been wrong about a lot of media I used to hate and I'm open to the idea I'm missing something. It's super likely given my limited media exposure, though I am admittedly trying to work on that and branch out into more genres of media and more formats so I don't become that 'guy who has only seen Boss Baby thinks every movie has Boss Baby vibes' meme.

So. What am I missing? What's the context I'm missing and the key here that will allow me to appreciate the appeal of and enduring fandom for Whedon's work? I am admittedly a fandom baby but I am willing to learn.

--

I mean... I despised him from the get go, other than the Buffy movie, which I still quote that death scene from regularly, so I'm probably not the best person to describe what's appealing about his style.

But one-liners during action are a common taste even if I'm fonder of the sorts of homoerotic 80s trash Ruthless Reviews used to cover.

Ironic distance is also popular and easier to swallow than earnestness for a lot of people.

However, I do think Buffy's original audience was connecting with it emotionally. Look at the part where Buffy's all upset after the most clownishly 1980s take on loss of virginity and heavyhanded metaphors for guys being jerks that just made every writer involved seem excessively middle-aged and out of touch Giles asks if she has any idea what could have happened to Angel. For people who weren't going to high school in 90s California, that bilge was apparently very moving. Certainly, there are parts of Buffy where the quips die down for some actual emotional moments.

People like style. Something that commits to being aggressively stylized will often stand out from the bland clones that surround it. Look at Wes Anderson (another creator I don't particularly like). Whedon's godawful faux-witty dialogue did sound different from other things on TV at the time. He also lets women say some of the one-liners, which is sorely missing from most media.

But mostly, he was formative for a lot of people, and I had to live through many, many years of them earnestly entreating me to give his shitty writing another chance because this time I would somehow connect with this sex-negative parasite and his casting aesthetic that I didn't find hot or interesting.

(I like dumb and campy things. I just like them to star a bunch of body builders from New Zealand, not waifs.)

People always hold up the things they imprinted on as more revolutionary and deep than they seem in retrospect. In Whedon's case, his already obnoxious style suffers from having been copied so much since, but even if he weren't famous or popular, if you were talking to that one person whose adolescence was defined by their love of him, they'd say all this same nonsense your sister does.

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

A few weeks ago I delved into this rabbit hole of watching videos about the In Praise of Shadows hit piece on Wendigoon. Now mind you I don't watch either of these people's content but here's what I noticed during this whole drama.

For In Praise of Shadows I noticed the following (Note for the rest of this post I will refer to In praise of shadows as IPOS because it's easier for me to type.):

He wants ideological purity for horror movies. He doesn't think any conservatives should be allowed in horror. He thinks horror is inherently leftist. Which is odd since you could make the argument 80's slasher films have a conservative bent to them. Were all debauchery is punished by the slasher villain and only the final girl survives by being pure. Also, he accuses Late Night with the Devil of being a conservative movie because some of the transition cards use AI. That is odd to me since if you are going to call that movie conservative it should be by analyzing its themes rather than accusing it of AI. It just makes him seem like a very fragile person.

Most of his accusations are just guilt by association and lying about the youtubers he's complaining about. He accuses a bunch of people I've never heard of being gun crazed guntubers. None of these youtubers are guntubers. He also shits on Mutahara and Shoeonhead for no legitimate reason. I stopped watching Shoeonhead a while ago and distrust her somewhat but even I thought that accusation of her being conservative was completely disingenuous.

He accuses Internet Historian of being a neo-nazi because his birthday being 4/20 which is apparently Hitler's birthday. This stood out to me since you'd think for someone as terminally online as him, he would know what the 4/20 meme is.

He often associates guns with right wing despite there are leftists who use guns. Again, it's a very twitter mentality he has.

He bitches about Wendigoon being supposedly rich. I don't know how true this is, but I am starting to doubt IPOS claims of poverty given his pretentious manners. That and all he cares about is making video essays.

Also, he is whiny about not making enough youtube money and having to walk in a parking lot to a horror convention in North Carolina. To be fair he might have been saying this on behalf of handicap people, but they have handicap stalls for a reason. Also, if you aren't making enough youtube money there's this thing called getting a job. Especially, a part time one which allows for a more flexible schedule for him to make videos. Again, this man is very whiny.

He sounds like a pretentious version of Morakiu. He speaks in a monotone voice with no inflection in his voice. At least Morakiu was funny.

He has twitter brainrot. I say twitter brainrot because specifically he thinks all of Appalachia is white racists. Say what you will about this site many here would have called him out on that. For the record Appalachians are not inherently racist.

He associates aloha shirts with the boogalooo boys/alt-right. He said this while wearing an aloha shirt himself. Now that might be him being ironic but his stupidity cancels it out. Now while the boogaloo boys love their aloha shirts it is not explicitly a right-wing thing. I am a local from Hawaii and many of us here wear aloha shirts regularly so it's not some alt-right thing. I hate how people have now associated something innocent with that. Aloha shirts existed long before the alt-right ever came into existence.

He has this schizo moment where he thinks Wendigoon was trying to harass him by following him on twitter. When it turns out Wendigoon followed him because he liked his Slenderman video.

Pretty much the whole internet pushed his shit in after he spouted all that nonsense. He is a living case of a terminally online leftist with twitter brainrot. On one hand this man was clearly going through a mental breakdown, is delusional and should touch grass/seek therapy. On the other hand, he is a spiteful miscreant who likes to tarnish other people so my sympathy for him is very limited. It's good everyone rejected his ass because I feel like if he did this shit in 2017, he might have gotten away with it given how crazy everyone was driven with the TDS.

Now onto Wendigoon. Despite all this slander Wendigoon forgives IPOS. To me this shows he is legitimate in his kindness and beliefs. Since he was forgiving to someone who did not give him any courtesy at all. Which is doubly ironic since IPOS hates when people slander him, but he is fine with slandering other people. It's like I'm looking at two people diverging form a forked road. One chose the path to hurt people because he was hurt. The other chose the path to help people because he was hurt and doesn't want anyone to suffer. He's honestly far more merciful than I would have been in that situation. The thing was bizarre overall. Hopefully, after seeing IPOS madness people will calm down and not try to cancel each other. Unlikely but hopefully that reckoning will come and people go back to normal.

[mysticfoxdesigns]

Do you have any more Burns family headcanons? I saw your trans Kade post and wanted to know if any other Burns family members are also LGBTQ!

Yes! I do have more headcanons for the Burns family! So might as well just list them all out here.

Burns family headcanons

Charlie

Him and Woodrow are half brothers. Charlie's father is out of the picture, and his mom remarried and had Woodrow

Him, Ezra, and William Fowler were all friends throughout school

All three of them were born and raised on Griffin Rock

The three of them also created go karts one summer that they rode constantly around town. This was the start of Rolling Thunder

Woodrow and him would hike up to Griffin's Crest and camp every weekend. During the summers they would stay for longer on the trips

Him and his wife knew each other as kids but never interacted

He was in the Military during the 80s

He reunited with his wife in the military where she had become a scientist

The military also is where they met and worked with Optimus Prime

They both left the forces when she became pregnant with Kade

After leaving the forces he became a police officer and they all lived on the mainland for awhile

When he became a chief police officer the family moved back to Griffin Rock.

He tries to do at one on one dad time with his kids each month. The activities are typically based on which kid he is with

He has a guilty pleasure for watching old 70s and 80s sci fi movies and shows

Was a mess for a while after his wife died. While nothing major happened that he regretted, it still put a slight strain on his and Kade's relationship

He's just glad that the younger 3 were oblivious to everything that happened after their mother died

He was always the cook of the family. He learned when he was a kid and only continued to improve as he grew older

Chase and him both enjoy riding out to Blossom Vale to watch the stars

Only has become more protective of Cody as the years have gone one, especially with how constantly he is in danger with the tech around town

Always wins at Mario Party

Kade

Main headcanon of course is him being trans, but I also see him as being bisexual

He came out when he was 9 and the family just moved to Griffin Rock. He started socially transitioning and besides for close family friends, no one on the island knows he is trans.

While he is an asshole at times, he cares deeply for his family and would lay his life down for them

He had a close relationship with his mother. She was his biggest supporter when he first came out

His mother dying in a fire was his main inspiration for becoming a firefighter

Has always been protective of Cody since he was born, but that protective nature only grew after their mother s death. He would constantly take time to make sure Cody was cared for when Charlie would work late nights

Never got to properly grieve his mothers death due to him being Dani and Graham's support system. But he would never let them know that

Blockbuster movies are his favorites, the Godzilla franchise being his number one followed by the James Bond movies (basically canon, but I see him as being a huge fanboy outside of what we see in canon)

Dani and Graham both used grimlins as a way to scare him. This led to several sleepless nights for him as a young teen.

In turn that meant he would take over comms for the night or stay in Cody's room watching over him

Was a trouble maker in late elementary and early middle school. Lead to a legacy with all of his siblings

Joined the sports teams in high school. Rugby and soccer were his best ones

Started doing firefighter training at 17 with the NVFC

Had several girlfriends and one or two secret boyfriends during highschool

Got into fights whenever someone was picking on Dani or Graham

Started working in highschool to help Charlie pay bills on their house

The family only moved into the firehouse once Kade had become a firefighter

Him and Charlie would get into arguments a lot of times after the other had gone to sleep. These arguments died down over time as Charlie started to move on past his wife's death

Their relationship is mostly repaired now, but if tensions grow there is the possibility of them getting into arguments again

Most of his ego is played up to fit a fearless persona he created

Past that ego, he is very well accomplished. He has several trophies from his time in sports, and he has progressed through his career a tremendous amount

Him and Heatwave both accidentally discovered that Cybertronian stomachs can handle human food in small amounts. So Kade sometimes will introduce Heatwave to different human foods to see his reaction. So far ghost peppers have had the funniest response

Always wins at Uno and is tied with Cody for Cards Against Humanity

Dani

Growing up with all brothers meant she became a lot more tomboyish as a kid and young teen

Would paint Kade's nails as a kid and still does to this day when its a slow night at the base

Was a fan of the first TopGun movie as a kid. This was her inspiration for becoming a pilot some day

Her and Kade constantly butted heads as kids, but it was always playful and there were never any hard feelings between the pair

Had a hoard of stuffed animals in her room. It was piled in a corner and one wrong move could bury you in them

I see her as bisexual with a preference for fem presenting people

And I feel like she would go by she/they pronouns

She owns dresses but wears them on the very rare occasion

She has an OG Tumblr account like the millennial she is

Speaking of Tumblr, she taught Blades how to use it

Her guilty pleasure shows and movies are romance vampire series. Kade and Graham tease her relentlessly for it

Mrs. Neededlander used to babysit her and TRIED to teach her how to cook. It never worked

She sent an application off to the real life TOPGUN academy. She's never gotten a response though so she has mostly forgotten about it

She wanted to become an EMT after Graham had fallen out of a tree as a kid and broke his arm. Watching the crew work is what sparked her curiosity about it

That inspiration was only amplified by her mother's death

Is always the one to win at Monopoly

Graham

Was picked on being the youngest up until Cody was born

Was diagnosed at a young age with autism

Both Kade and Dani were protective of him once he got into school. They both made sure that he would be safe from bullying

Watching what his mother and Doc Greene and wife did in the lab is what inspired him to pursue a STEM career

He narrowed it down to engineering after joining the robotics program in Griffin Rock's schools

Initially didn't think he would go into the first responder field, but after doing research into the different job opportunities, and seeing Kade and Dani go into the field, he decided to join them

He is also bisexual, but is demi aroace as well

Will completely forget to take care of basic bodily needs if he is wrapped up in a project

Boulder and him constantly stay up late tinkering in the garage

Almost flunked out of college because he couldn't handle being in person for classes. Once he switched to more online classes though, his grades sky rocketed and he graduated top of his class

Several times has fallen asleep at his desk in the garage, but always wakes up with a blanket around his shoulders or having been moved to somewhere more comfortable

Despite what his body type shows, he does have a fair amount of muscle from his work with heavy equipment

Always wins at Mario Kart and Scrabble

Cody

At some point in life he has looked up to each of his siblings

Kade, was when he was younger and constantly being babysat by him. His oldest brother was the 1st one he would see when he would wake up and the last person he would see before going to sleep. Due to this he was the first person Cody would come to when he was a child

Dani, he has almost always looked up to and has never really stopped. Her dare devil attitude helped to push him out of his shell as a kid, allowing him to be the extroverted person he is today. She is the first to propose something fun and crazy to him, which they then most likely see through with the plan

Graham, he looked up to during his time with Pioneer Scouts. Kade and Dani never really joined any scouting activities, but Graham nearly finished the entire scout program. While Graham doesn't really like it anymore, he is always up to talking with Cody about what he was doing in his troop

Of course though, being siblings, they all annoy the fuck out of each other

Prank wars are typically started by Cody

When he was younger there were times when Dani and Kade couldn't hug him when they got home. He was confused at the time, but growing up he realized why when he started to witness the rescues more

Completed all badges in the Pioneer Scouting program

AroAce but him and Frankie joke about being platonically dating due to people at school

Speaking of Frankie she is basically another sister to him. Its to the point where his older siblings will refer to her as their younger sister

Hopes for his own bot one day. However as time passes and they learn more about Cybertronian on Earth, that hope starts to fade

Honestly has no idea what he wants to do in life. Is conflicted on if he even wants to go into any first responder field

Starts out at college as a gen student, but soon switches over to animal based studies

After watching some Game Wardens in action while fishing with friends during college, he was inspired to pursue that job

Kept the fact he was training to be a Game Warden a secret from his family. Finally told them when he showed up to the firehouse in uniform

Him and the bots constantly sneak out of the firehouse to star gaze

He asks them about Cybertron, and what it was like before they left. This has actually helped the bots with homesickness

Blades is always up for teaching him about Cybertronian anatomy

Boulder and Heatwave both tell him about their cultural region's music, even being able to find human equivalents for him to listen to

Chase tells him about different Cybertronian stories and mythology

Quickshadow, High Tide, and Heatwave all use their holoforms to teach him self defense

He wins at Cards Against Humanity constantly, even when he was a kid

General headcanons

There is a separate washer and dryer in the garage for work clothes specifically

The bunker has been expanded upon greatly since the bots arrived. There are actually bedrooms for the bots to stay in, and keep their personal belongings in

Whenever they have to drop grocery shopping or eating at restaurants to respond to an emergency, they can always go back afterwards and pick up where they were. The grocery store worker would hold onto their groceries, and restaurant workers will have their food in to-go boxes or have it remade free of charge

Optimus and his team were at Mrs. Burn's funeral in holoform

And there are most of my headcanons! I didn't include the bots a whole lot, purely cause it would make this even longer. I can definitely share my headcanons of them though if people want!

[ninja-potato-shelby-solomons]

NINE PEOPLE I WANNA GET TO KNOW BETTER

Thank you @bouncydragon and @loricasquamata for the tag. You really made my day 🥰 I miss Tumblr so much 😭 Once life calms down I gotta get back here regularly!

LAST SONG: Never Say Goodbye - Bon Jovi (we were having an 80's day at work and Jon Bon Jovi will forever have my heart)

FAVOURITE COLOUR: Blue/red

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Fire Country. AEW. Also rewatching Interview with the Vampire because they're so pretty. So gay.

LAST MOVIE: I think it was the 4th Harry Potter movie with @saintshelby

SWEET/SPICY/SAVOURY: savoury! Gimme cheese! Gimme chips!

CURRENT OBSESSIONS:  Tommy/Alfie/Peaky. Also just been making a lot of crafty crap lately, it's a great distraction from stress

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED: Where to buy those damn peelable mango gummies I keep seeing. Of course Australia doesn't have them! 😫

Tagging with no pressure: @hoodeddreams13   @wooood1   @red-write-hand and anyone else who'd like to join in 🥰

[fedoraspooky]

I saw that you got into Felix cartoons lately, and I'm curious: have you watched any of the others besides Twisted Tales? What do you think of them? Also, did you know there used to be a live-action Barney-esque TV show for kids that had Felix and a koala as costumed characters?

Have I??

Oh Anon... sweet Anon. *puts my hand on your shoulder* Trust me, I am fighting the urge to become an unskippable cutscene about this as we speak. I'm losing, by the way.

But yes, I have seen... not all of it, but quite a lot, and I'll try not to write a whole novel! Key word being "try". .w.; You... might regret this actually, I'm sorry.

Starting with the 1920s cartoons: aside from the problems inherent in being a product of its time (*cough*racist caricatures*cough*), these shorts were a fun watch! Lots of surreal humor and visual gags. Felix was a scrappy lil' guy back then- stealing fish, getting into fights and getting drunk on several occasions. He didn't have his magic bag 'til the 50s, so he had to get a lot more crafty in using his environment or his own body parts (stuff like pulling off his tail and using it as a tool) to get out of trouble- and if all else failed he'd throw fists or pull a gun. XD Most importantly, he'd run away on all fours when scared, I just thought that was a cute detail. This is probably my favorite version of the character outside of Twisted Tales!Felix. (and the best part is this version of him is public domain now! Yay, free real estate!)

The 30's cartoons: There were only three of these. Idk, I don't have much to say other than they were cute and I enjoyed them. He's deffo more Mickey Mouse-like here, personality-wise.

The 50s cartoon series: This is probs the version of Felix most people seem familiar with- it introduces the magic bag (mostly as a time-saving measure since this show is DEFFO on a budget) and most of the supporting cast that have appeared in stuff since then (the Professor, Rock Bottom, Poindexter, etc). I didn't think I'd like it that much going in, but it kinda grew on me a little bit- primarily due to how janky the animation is, the stilted voice acting, and how out of left field the plots tend to get... It has a lot of what I like to call "naturally occurring shitpost moments". Ngl I've been tempted to make a compilation for funsies, much like I did with 80s Astro Boy... XD That said, it has its charm. Just a warning though, this WAS made in the 50s so be prepared for more "product of its time" moments in some episodes. .w.;

Felix the Cat: The Movie (1988): WHOOO IS THE BOSS? THE DUKE OF ZILL, OF COURSE~ Okay so, this movie? Idk if I'd call it a good movie, but it's definitely strange and entertaining. I watched the hell out of it as a kid and this was the very first animated Felix thing I had ever seen, so I can't really be impartial due to how nostalgia-poisoned I am about it. XD I liked the songs- even the ones that had no reason to be there, like the one that's about the foxes that only show up to piss on Felix and leave. We have a strange attempt at rebooting Master Cylinder as an invention of a bad guy from another dimension instead of being an evil robot guy from space? Felix laughs at the skeleton of someone who got crushed to death in a gold mine and blows a raspberry at it. There's... gyrating lady fish, and a swamp monster that shouts Marlon Brando quotes. The movie starts and ends with a giant disembodied floating 3D felix head... He saves a princess?? I guess??? There's just a lot that happens here.

Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (90s): This one is obvs my favorite of the whole bunch. I know, I know, blazing hot take. It does a good job mixing in the fun surrealness of the 20s cartoons, and he goes back to doing stuff like taking the top of his head off like a hat and using body parts as tools instead of just solving everything with the magic bag (in fact it lampshades that a lot in season 2). It has more humor than just puns (Stares ominously at Felix Saves Christmas) though it does have some of those too (he even gets arrested for it at one point), and most of all it gives him an actual personality aside from "good boy Mickey Mouse clone but also kinda sassy sometimes" (once again staring ominously at Felix Saves Christmas I will get to you later!!). If you only have time to ever watch one Felix cartoon series in your whole life, make it this one.

Baby Felix (2000s) - I'll be real with ya chief I haven't watched this one aside from like one episode. From what I saw... eh, it was okay. I'm not usually a fan of the trend of cartoons having series of the baby/kid versions of themselves outside of a few exceptions (like A Pup Named Scooby and Muppet Babies, but idk that might just be nostalgia talkin'). Apparently he shows up as an adult sometimes in this show and helps out his baby self, which somehow doesn't cause a horrible time paradox? Idk I might watch more of it later, it CANT be worse than the next one, which is... sigh...

Felix Saves Christmas (2004) - This movie is not good. I went in expecting it not to be, and it met my expectations. Is it horrible? I kinda wish it was, so it would've been more entertaining that way at least. Mostly, it's just kinda boring. The humor is puns, and sometimes signs that say a goofy thing on it. It's got music, including a four and a half minute long song that just repeats the lyrics "Snow kids rock, snow kids rule, snow kids... are cool" while said snow kids do extreme sports in looping animations. Most of this movie feels like it's just padding for time so it can be marketed as a movie- if you edited out everything that wasn't relevant to the plot or the main characters, you'd probably have a 20 minute special. Idk it's just sad that this is the last animated felix media we've had in 20 years, since it doesn't look like dreamworks/universal is gonna do anything with him- they're just kinda sitting on the rights. There WAS a comic that came out since then, but I haven't been able to get my hands on it to read it. Maybe one day when I have money. XD ;

ALSO YES, I actually saw that live action show you were talking about! It's not a cartoon, but heck with it i'll throw in my thoughts anyway since we're already here.

Felix the Cat Live (70s): So I found this on youtube while poking around, and I gave a few episodes a watch because I was surprised by the novelty of this even being a thing that existed. Felix doesn't really act like any prior versions of himself here, he's just kind of a nice friendly kid show host who gives the kid characters advice about stuff. The costume itself isn't too bad, though his body's kinda lacking shape- it's kinda just black jammies with a big ol head on top. Interestingly they gave him a red bow tie with white polka dots and his eyes always look a lil sleepy because they're partially-lidded- probably to give him a 'softer' appearance. Also the koala is kind of like a weird proto-Rosco? At least personality-wise. I don't know if he's in anything else. Over all a strange watch, deffo the most obscure thing on this list.

...

So anyway! That's all my thoughts, Anon, I hope this was everything you ever wanted and that you don't wish you never asked me about the funni rubberhose cat. XD ;;

[dreamweaversfavsandthoughs]

Rick and Morty S7 Ep. 7: Wet Kuat Amortican Summer

(Summer finally got her name in an episode title. Only took them seven seasons)

Open your mind, but there are spoilers ahead

My Favs

It’s my emotional cheat day.

I don’t relate all that much to Rick but I do relate to his taste in depression TV, which are baking-related game shows.

We got a Summer-focused episode!

Between the two titular characters, I like Morty because I have a soft spot for a small-for-his-age underdog, but among the members of the Smith family I’m a Summer stan. I really wish I had her confidence and charisma when I was 17.

She doesn’t even know what a Kuato is

I got a kick out of the teens shaming Summer for not knowing what a Kuato is rather than her having a Kuato attached to her.

Summer’s ponytail upgrade

Rick is also petty enough to make “I don’t give my grandpa enough credit” the activation code

Beth trying to wake up Rick with tongs

She has good instincts about that because she wouldn’t have had a hand if she did anything different

“I didn’t design you for dramatic effect”

“You made me sound like your dead wife”

You got him AI garage! We all know Rick’s a drama queen

“You remind me of your grandmother”

😭

Summer’s new girlfriend

She’s so cute and l kinda like her voice. I really hope she’s not a one-and-done and we get to see her pop up ever so often

My Not Favs

Kuato Morty

Poor Morty! His slug/baby body is so gross! I thought they might go in an even weirder direction like Summer’s pregnant with her own brother and I’m glad they didn’t. Like Summer, I haven’t seen Total Recall either

Rick and his lost groove.

I get that Rick has been drinking and watching mindless TV to the point that he is not at his usual mental and physical sharpness but I felt some of his dumbassery (like trying to kick down the door as an example) strained credulity at points. A bit of a nitpick I know.

My Thoughts

I will say the first time watching this episode I didn’t really like it. After several rewatches it has grown on me, but in a ranking of S7 episodes so far this maybe second or third near the bottom. What I appreciate about it though is that this episode is mostly a character study into Summer Smith. We see her frustration with what she perceives as her brother being coddled while she busts her ass. We see that Rick treats her differently because he sees a lot of his late wife in her and knows that she is much more capable in ways that Morty is not. Like Rick, she is not openly affectionate to the people she cares about but she will go to the ends of the earth for them unprompted. Her biggest weakness that prevents her from reaching her full potential is her ignorance of 80’s action movies. Morty is Rick’s adventuring buddy but I always imagined Summer would be his successor or protégé. If anything this episode really makes me crave a proper Rick and Summer adventure. Not as a B-plot or because Morty is occupied with something else (like raising his Gazorpian son) but an intentional Rick and Summer adventure. Well, we have three more seasons left so anything’s possible.

[justafilmfan]

August Movie Reviews

I haven’t been in the mood to do full reviews for a bit so here is a list of everything I’ve watched in August and what I thought!

Re-animator (1985) dir. Stuart Gordon: 5/5 ⭐️ this movie was so much fun! A really campy and beautifully done take on Frankenstein, two grad students (with homosexual undertones) brings people back to life with beautifully done practical effects. Will definitely be rewatching soon.

Bride of Re-animator (1990) dir. Brian Yuzna: 5/5 ⭐️ I can’t decide if which of these movies I enjoyed more, they were both so entertaining but personally the design of the undead bride is absolutely breathtaking and one of my favorite designs of all time. I can’t recommend this movie enough, such a fun watch.

The Truman Show (1998) dir. Peter Weir: 5/5 ⭐️ I am dumbfounded that this movie is classified as a comedy and not a horror comedy, the plot of this movie is genuinely one of the most terrifying things I can think of. (Heed caution watching this movie if you struggle with de-realization) This movie terrified me, made me cry, and had me clapping and cheering at the end. Fantastic movie.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985) dir. Dan O’Bannon: 5/5 ⭐️ As a huge lover of zombie movies I’ve got to classify this as my favorite zombie movie of all time. It’s super funny, the characters are awesome, and the zombie design is fantastic. The Tarman is my favorite zombie design ever and I LOVE how we get a reason for the brain eating from the actual zombies themselves. If you love campy 80’s horrors and zombies this is a must see.

The Evil Dead (1981) dir. Sam Raimi: 5/5 ⭐️ I am a huge evil dead fan so I am biased when I say I love all the evil dead movies. I love a gory horror movie that does not take itself serious at all. It’s so funny and campy and is just a fun watch if you can enjoy a movie without needing to dissect it. The gore and practical effects are so gross and awesome and the demons are a great time.

I Saw the Tv Glow (2024) dir. Jane Schoenbrun: 5/5⭐️ Everyone should watch this movie but if you are transgender you HAVE to see this movie. It portrays the horror, damage, and suffering that living your life in the closet can do to you. I could spend hours dissecting this movie and relating it to the trans experience but I guarantee if you relate to having grown up in any capacity as the wrong gender you will be bawling by the end of this movie. An absolute must watch.

Sleepaway Camp (1983) dir. Robert Hiltzik: 5/5 ⭐️ I love a fun slasher movie that takes place at a summer camp and this one does not disappoint. While trying not to give too much away if you haven’t seen it, some people believe this movie to be transphobic, and while I understand where they’re coming from I completely disagree. I consider this movie to be a trans allegory showing how dangerous it is to someone’s mental health to force them to be someone they’re not and the damage it can inflict to them and others. Great movie with a great ending.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos: 5/5 ⭐️It took me two watches to really appreciate this movie and I can’t fully talk about my thoughts without spoiling it, but this is a great psychological horror with such weird characters. If you’re watching this movie and wondering why every character is SO strange, talks weird, moves weird, and acts weird then just know that is absolutely intentional! Great watch and I recommend a few watches to really absorb the movie!

House of 1000 Corpses (2003) dir. Rob Zombie: 4.5/5 ⭐️ My boyfriend called this movie a love letter to horror and I have to agree. This is a fun campy horror that really has a lot of fun in its character designs and creative kills. It’s both very comedic while being disturbing and bizarre. (And Captain Spaulding is obviously queer coded, just how I like my favorite horror characters to be). A fun watch for any horror fan.

Blackfish (2013) dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite: 4/5 ⭐️ I know I am 11 years late to watching this movie, and although not the best documentary I’ve ever seen, it got its point across very well. I had known about a lot that was in this doc but I still learned a lot that I hadn’t known. A very heart wrenching story about animal abuse at Sea World but with must know information. Even though it brought change (sea world is no longer allowed to capture or breed Orcas) I’m still distraught that Sea World is still operational to this day.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024) dir. Zelda Williams: 5/5 ⭐️ this movie is absolutely fantastic. Campy, funny, aesthetic, and romantic all wrapped in one. The characters were written in such a fun and in your face way. If you were ever “the weird girl” this movie is absolutely made for you. I love Lisa’s character so much and I love how throughout the movie she worked to be herself despite everyone BUT a dead guy wishing she were “normal”. Cinema is so back, this is the kind of movie I want to see.

Edit* yes technically the truman show is classified as a comedy *I* don’t consider it a comedy but I didn’t make the movie lol (well i guess technically a psychological comedy drama but yeah)

[thedujifuji]

I did a Color Analysis on the Outfits of the Doctor for a class

Okay first I want to preface this with a: I haven’t finished Classic Who, nor watched a whole lot of it, but wanted to include it in this analysis, neither have I fully completed 13′s run, but also wanted to include her. I adore her final outfit, but it feels much more like a compilation of references to other Doctors at the last minute than a deliberate choice made with Color Theory in mind. She really got cheated out of a lot on her run, and it makes me upset, because she deserved better. I hope this is taken with heaps of salt, I just wanted to write about Who for class.

Okay here we go:

For live Action TV Shows, I struggled, as I don't really watch that much live-action TV, as I find them boring. The exception to this rule is of course: Doctor Who.

Doctor Who is an interesting case, as Classic Who (60's-late 80's, includes TV movie from mid-90's) and New Who (2005-present) use color, and more specifically, the Doctor's color scheme in very specific and different ways, that are still relatively controversial in discussion online. Doctor Who actually began in black and white, airing on the same day JFK was assassinated. Eventually, the actor who portrayed the Doctor, William Hartnell, had to retire due to health complications, so they brought in a new actor to portray the Doctor, starting a new pattern of "regenerating" the Doctor when an actor wanted to quit the role.

While the first two Doctors were entirely in Black and White, Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor, saw the series shift into color. His outfits reflected this, shifting from a black and white normal suit into velvety maroon suits, or even a normal suit, with a bright red cape to accentuate him. As Doctor Who had originated in Black and White, the designs for enemy aliens had a tendency to be achromatic, grey and dull- Classic Doctors incorporated warm muddy hues to contrast this wildly. This is also explained in-universe, as the 3rd Doctor is the incarnation that is forced to live exclusively on Earth, and is influenced by Earth's vibrancy for his outfits. Every subsequent classic Doctor has some sort of warmth in their outfits, as pictured in the previous poster, which contrast wildly with the lifeless grays of Daleks and Cybermen. The Sixth Doctor and his companion are pictured below alongside a Dalek and a Dalek control console, showing how alien those from our world appear.

We can additionally see how alien the Doctor looks in the TARDIS after having been influenced by Earth.

There is a clear shift however, by the time of New Who.

New Who's Doctors have a tendency to stick to cooler color palettes, making THEM seem alien. There are exceptions to this, namely the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, but they will be talked about later. The colors I would associate most with New Who would be Brown and Green. Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor is very rude, and a bit eccentric, battered from a war in space, he has long lost the whimsical earthy tones that were so present in Classic Who, instead sporting a black leather jacket and a purple shirt, very often seen in green or cool lighting.

The 9th Doctor falls in love with his earth companion Rose Tyler, and in regenerating, is born of that love for humanity. The Tenth Doctor, played by the beloved David Tennant, is a stark contrast from the 9th Doctor, dressing in vibrant pinstripe brown suits. This continues to be the case until he is separated from Rose, after which he dons a blue suit, cool colors returning to signify that he is once again alienating himself from humanity. As he begins to heal, he dons his old brown overcoat over his blue suit, showing he is again allowing his humanity to resurface.

The Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith, dresses in brown, earthy tones, as he's very connected and loving towards Earth and his companions, but after facing dramatic loss, shifts towards wearing cooler tones, namely a purple suit. His outfits are seen in the opposite order of appearance. (Right to Left)

Now for my favorite: Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor! Capaldi's Doctor is much more like the initial Doctors, feeling very, VERY alien, compared to the almost human 11th Doctor. This is demonstrated in his first outfit, a cool dark blue suit. This suit comes with a catch however, flaunting bright red interiors, signifying a truth about the 12th Doctor, he has soul and empathy within, he's still learning how to show it. The series makes special attempts to have the red inlet be visible in scenes where Capaldi gets to show his emotions.

As 12 grows into learning better empathy through his companion Clara, and following a reunion with his wife River Song, Capaldi's Doctor starts to wear a vibrant Magenta/Red suit, signifying a massive change in his character- upfront, honest kindness.

After facing more massive loss, and being on the brink of regeneration, Capaldi's Doctor's new black suit is revealed once again to have a bright red interior in his final scenes, and he is deliberately lit up in oranges and yellows, not from his regeneration energy, but from lighting inside the TARDIS.

Unfortunately, the following Doctor, Jodie Whittakher's 13, does not shift outfits throughout her seasons, instead opting for cooler tones despite being much like 11 or 10. This may be to emphasize her alien-ness despite her warm-hued TARDIS, but to me, it doesn't feel as intentional as before, instead feeling like another way Jodie was given the short end of the stick in regards to Who. Jodie's 13th Doctor deserved outfit theming!!