#but it finalized the puppetification

[p-jinx]

Going crazy in the tags for this one, boss

[tentacledsnakelover]

The Owl House Finale Rewrite

I love The Owl House. The story, the animation, the music, the characters. It is no surprise the show stands out as a favorite, including mine. But even being a fan cannot make me ignore the flaws of something, no matter how much I love it. I feel while the story was wrapped up well, the series from a writing standpoint was messy. A lot of my gripes with the last two specials involved not using time wisely, the Collector's character being retconned, and ignoring themes of the show. Here is how I would have rewritten the last two specials. I am by no means a professional writer. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes and I want to give the benefit of the doubt to Dana and her team.

For The Future: The special opens immediately as Luz and her family/friends enter the demon realm. Everyone is on edge after the confrontation with Belos, and everyone with magic is drained, after having used their powers signifcantly in a realm with no ambient magic. Luz offers to bring everyone to the Owl House to recuperate. When they arrive, a wave of starry energy engulfs the house and surrounding area, bringing the puppetfied citizens of the isles with it. Willow and Luz attempt to save Willow's dad from the puppet Owl Beast, but then the Collector arrives with King, having come to play the Owl House game. King is relieved to see Luz, but horrified to see she is now in harm's way. The Collector is shocked too. King kept the Collector from trying to find Luz and her friends by claiming they would want to ruin their game and that the Hexsquad should be left alone. King manages to convince the Collector not to hurt Luz, and he takes her back to the Archives. He leaves the others by encasing the Owl House in a dome at the request of King.

The rest of the Hexsquad and Camila are then saved by a group of resistance members, consisting of Raine, Darius, Eber, the CATTS, and some Hexside kids. Raine explains after the Collector stopped the Day of Unity, Eda attempted to stop the Collector with harpy mode but turned into the Owl Beast. While the Collector dealt with beast Eda, King dropped Raine his collar, who figured out the symbol etched on it neutralized the Collector's magic. Raine has spent the past few months saving the puppetfied citizens, taking them from under the Collector's nose while they play. The Hexsquad's arrival proved the perfect distraction for Raine to save Lilith and Hooty, who the Collector was keeping an eye on due to being important characters for the game, and use the symbol to undo their puppetification.

Raine takes the group back to Hexside, which is hidden using the symbol. The group formulates a plan. Using Lilith's memory of Philip's teleportation glyph combo and her knowledge of the architecture of the Archives, the Hexsquad, CATTS, and Camila, teleport into the Archives, to find and teleport all the puppetfied citizens back to Hexside where they can be safe.

They manage to teleport all the puppetfied citizens to safety, but Odalia turns up. Having been reduced to the Collector's servant, she decides to capture the group in an effort to win the Collector's favor. The group is divided, with Willow, Gus, and Hunter in one group (Willow has her breakdown arc here with Hunter, as she blames herself for getting Luz caught and not being able to do anything). Amity and Camila manage to defeat Odalia and regroup with the kids and the CATTS.

Meanwhile, after having been captured, Luz was brought to the Archives. When they arrived, the Collector dropped Luz to the floor, the impact causing Luz to go unconscious until she is revived by the Collector (While unconscious, she appears in the In-Between Realm, where a mysterious figure tries to get her attention). King is mad at the Collector for hurting Luz, though they try to brush this off, claiming they fixed Luz, and thus it is okay. The Collector asks King to bring Luz to where Eda is being kept underguard by the puppetfied Titan Trappers. Eda is in fact, back in control of herself, and she and King embrace Luz. Eda explains she has seen that the Collector, despite his apathy towards people, is still just a kid, and she has been complying evidence to try and get him to see the error of his ways. However, the Collector arrives, having placed a bug on Luz. The Collector is furious that King lied to them about Eda being stuck in beast form and Luz leaving the demon realm on purpose. The Collector attempts to puppetify the girls but King intercepts the shot, though he remains unchanged.

The Collector now gets nervous, and after being prodded by King reveals Titans are immune to Collector magic, and that he didn't let King know that because he was afraid King wouldn't want to play with him otherwise unless he believe the Collector had control over him. The upset Collector reveals he is the last of his species, who after years of distrust and suspicion of the Titans, led to a war where the two species wiped each other to near extinction. The only surviving adult Titan, King's dad, angrily imprisoned the Collector using the tablets as a catalyst. The tablets were made by the Collector as a gift for the Titans. That way, he could always communicate with the baby Titans, who weren't afraid and distrustful of him like the adult Titans.

Luz, Eda, and King take the Collector on a tour of the isles, trying to get him to understand the importance of empathy and ethics, though the efforts end up striking a nerve with Luz, as the Collector points out Philip thought he was justified by doing what he did, and that Luz also thinks she is justified because she is a 'good guy' too, which worries Luz because she cannot handle the idea of being like Belos. (This references a cut storyboard in which the Collector questions why Luz would say other people but Belos are complex)

The trio are able to make the Collector open to the idea of being more empathetic, and he brings them back to the Archives, where they reunite with the Hexsquad and Camila. Camila and Luz have a heart to heart, which allows Stringbean to hatch. But then they notice the ground below the Archives is shaking, and the sky turns green, with the eye sockets of the Titan glowing blue. The gang realizes Belos is doing something with the Titan, and the special ends on a cliffhanger.

I will try and post my ideas for the rewrite of "Watching and Dreaming later"

[silbeni]

SOME doodles whatevar... Messy Rambling about the Puppet Tskrla chapter under the cut

UM SO SO UH. i don't have the specifics yet so bear with me

Rohan and Ryoma find this tent 🎪 in the deep woods with music coming from within... They were there for other reasons but this is Weird and they decide to go investigate it !!

They discover it's full of tiny puppet performers! They are very friendly and put on a show for them. At one part Ryoma gets pulled onto the stage and they gladly join them (having a theater kid moment)

They try the same with Rohan but he resists and so they just let him watch from the seats.

After the show, they explain that they go around the world looking for talent to recruit. Rohan answers for Ryoma and he drags her out of there. Ryoma's like: why did you do that I was having fun !!! To which Rohan is rightfully like: you can't trust them !! those weird puppets want something from you !! didn't you notice there are no Humans with them..

Argument ensues but Ryoma ends up dropping the issue and going back to the remote place theyre staying at.

Little sidebar: Ryoma has the habit of being too trusting and gullible.. they assume the best out of everyone to a fault,, and they also trust the supernatural a lot more since they're so acquainted w it and have had generally good interactions with it. They have Disney princess animal whisperer mentality with supernatural beings. ANYWAY

*they are just friends during this but they're sharing a room bc Ryoma doesn't like sleeping alone. 2 beds tho.

Rohan is asleep when Ryoma hears a tapping on the window.... They go up to it and it's one of those puppets again!! And they coax Ryoma back into the woods with them...

Ryoma foolishly disregards what Rohan told them thinking he's being too paranoid. And they also ignore Gadzooks when it stirs inside of them

They go back and they tell the puppets that they'll think about the proposal (not really, they know they can't leave everyone they love behind) and after the puppets do some pleading, they agree to do another performance. and another one... And another...

They never get to do it, but they do love performing. It had been a dream of theirs for a longest time but life had come and beat them down so they just. Gave up on it. So now these puppets were bringing that dream to life. And they were drinking up that good energy and praise they'd been craving forever. Felt really great to finally be recognized for their skills, to be good enough

Sure, they had friends and family.. but that isn't the same. It doesn't count when it's coming from them.

But this !! This is genuine! and it feels great, and they just want to savour every moment of it until they eventually have to leave.

The angst is real... Ryoma has so much fun that they don't realize they are ! becoming puppet.

Not until Rohan shows up for the rescue YAAAY. Some puppets try to stop him but they're fortunately perfect kicking height.

When Ryoma realizes they have in fact become puppet, the illusion breaks and they fall limp on the floor. They can't move at all anymore (scary)

Rohan has to fight another puppet for Ryoma (hence the dangling arm) after that they skedaddle,,, and once they're far enough, the puppetification wears off on its own and Ryoma is fine. Well their wrist is fucked but Gadzooks fixed that.

Rohan would've scolded Ryoma for going back but. Yeah there's no need for that now and admittedly he was pretty mean in the way he delivered the message. They both say some words and YAY argument resolved. They both go home after that the end.

[colliholly]

Any headcanons on Spamton's puppetification? Like, acid lake theory or transformation theory?? Both are depressing as heck but..

I'm for puppetification! Never really liked the acid lake theory personally. I like to think Spamton might've fallen into the acid during one of his mansion break-in attempts, but it wasn't what caused him to physically change. (It probably didn't do wonders for his already deteriorating mind, however.)

My headcanon is that whatever magic or otherworldly force that was initially helping Spamton later became the same force that worked against him and caused him to transform. I imagine during Bshot Spamton's final days at the mansion he wasn't doing too hot... fur falling off, teeth growing larger, all that stuff. Guy was a mess :[

[lollytea]

well lolly , since theres only six days left can we get some super wrong or super right predictions from you?

I'm a little late (4 days now!!) Anyways I'm not good at predictions. Here's some silly little wishes instead. I know I'm not getting any of this but I can dream. (Most of these copy n pasted directly from discord.)

- Gus casting a huge terrifying illusion around everything as he gives Belos one long "reason you need to repent for your sins" speech. He walks towards him, shifting into all the people he's hurt over the centuries. Then he turns into Evelyn, then Caleb. I want Gus to be Belos' worst nightmare basically.

- I've seen takes that Gus being the key against Belos and all the grimwalker lore wouldn't fit and has nothing to do with his arc and it shouldn't be his responsibility. But like

Gus has spent his whole life being deceived for being trusting and gullible. Gus going up against a man who has built his life on lies and deception. Oh it would fuck. And all the similarities between Gus and the Collector. Like this part of the story is practically tailored for Gus to slip into. If you know how to write it. And I just hope they know how to write it

Ohhhhh I know Gus already loathes Belos as much as anybody but ohhhhh. He learns the Collector lore and then turns to Belos, eyes glowing like "You lied to him. You said you were his friend but you lied to him."

- I'm not an Amity Blight expert so I'm probably far off. But I've been thinking about it. I'm wondering if maybe her puppetification is JUST her, rather than it being all of the kids. And maybe Odalia is directly responsible.

And considering Amity is overdue for her ✨️Moment✨️ I'm wondering if this might be it. There's a running theme in the owl house when it comes to puppets and puppet masters, and this is directly linked to the characters who suffered abuse and manipulation at the hands of their parental figures.

Hunter got his puppet moment in TTT. Maybe Amity gets something similar in WAD. I know she's HAD her big important moment of establishing her autonomy in EE and then again in COTH. But maybe its one final nod to it. I also find it interesting that in spite of being puppetfied her hand is moving. Like to symbolise this defiance and stubbornness to comply with what Odalia has demanded of her ever since EE

- I've been mostly thinking about the potential scenario of Belos!Luz and GG!Hunter from Luz's POV. Cuz idek if we're getting the actual Hunter or a dream version of Hunter.

But like. It's FUCKED. Because Belos was Hunter's blood relation. He was his family. A terrible twisted version of a family but the only kind Hunter knew.

And then came Luz, who reinvented the meaning of family for him. She confided in him, she trusted him, she loved him. She made that boy her family because she adored him.

So THIS is deranged. Its warping the relationship they've built together into this depraved disturbing thing. The merger of these two family dynamics into one sickening thing. Like Luz was his shelter. But now she's become the exact thing he was running from.

Having Hunter look at her with blatant fear, shrinking himself so he stands beneath her, the horrible emotions that must make her feel. Oh I HATE THIS!!!

And even getting this miniscule comfort of Hunter ripped away from her. Like he was her PERSON. The only one who was aware of the horrible things she's done and she doesn't feel judged by, for several months. Like if all else failed, at least Hunter didn't hate her.

And now THIS scenario which is like "maybe....maybe he should be the one to hate you the most."

- Want a scene where Willow and Hunter gotta split up and there's some kind of antagonist pursuing them. They've only got a moment of peace before it reaches them. And Willow's like "You go ahead. I'll hold them off." (Like she did in LR) and Hunter doesn't want to leave her. But the circumstances are dire and he knows he has to and he KNOWS she'll keep herself alive. But he still worries. So they promise each other that they'll stay safe and Willow turns her back to him after that, preparing herself for a fight and expecting him to hurry off now. But he doesn't. He lingers there for an extra moment, wanting to tell her something but unable to put it into words. Then he zaps himself to her side, hastily smooches her cheek and zaps away before she can recover from her shock.

And then Willow is just. Left there. Stunned. Staring blankly at the space where he once was. And then a smile cracks her mouth wide open. Whatever she's fighting catches up to her and Willow can only cackle giddily, her engine all revved up, and she's all like LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

Willow gets one teeny tiny little smooch by Hunter and it makes her go all "I AM POWERFUL AND I WILL NEVER DIE!!!!!!!"

- Actually overall I believe in a Willow and Hunter comic relief. I think Gus and Amity are both having special spotlight in this episode. And Luz will finally reunite with Eda and King. And idk WHERE the fuck Camila is (smooching puppet Darius or smth). But ya Willow and Hunter are gonn be so cringe.

- Evelyn Clawthorne voice reveal and Irish accent.

- Belos dies an excruciatingly painful death

- Hunter Noceda

- If there is not a big dramatic scene dedicated to Willow and Gus reuniting with their dads I am fucking killing somebody.

[sergeantsporks]

Wait in the newest chapter they use an ice glyph to try and escape. Is the Titan not dead in gilded?

RIGHT I explained that in my author's note on Ao3, but not here. The titan is, unfortunately, still dead.

Watsonian explanation: Luz released a burst of titan magic that restored the Isles after Belos possessed the titan, and there's leftover magic still lingering in the air for now. Luz and regular witches can't access it, but the amplification properties of the Grims' galderstone hearts allow them to still use glyphs for little bit (not permanent, the magic will dissipate)

Doyalist explanation: I planned the Kidnapping and the Epic Showdown Next Chapter pre-finale and sort of banked on glyphs still being around for certain things, and I didn't want to change it. Plus, Belos needed to be able to wake Jason and Ghost up from puppetification, so. Glyphs!

[animation-recaps-by-sean]

The Owl House For the Future Recap

The gang tries to navigate the Collector’s new playground while dealing with the fallout of their fight with Belos. Spoilers below. 

Cause even the shortened season couldn’t even go without some controversy, Canadian itunes leaked the whole episode two weeks ago. Urg, anyway, like last episode we pick up from the end of King’s Tide, except from the Boiling Isles point of view. The Collector rains down stairs turning people into puppets, including Lilith and Hooty. Oh Hooty, We hardly knew thee.

Once back in the Isles, Camilia has a hard time dealing with both what is normal for the demon realm and what the Collector is doing. But I love her little mom moments with Luz. Willow is trying to be everyone’s rock but this causes her to push down her own fears about her missing Dads. Her stress manifests as planets popping up until she nearly smooshes herself with vines. Hunter summons the magic inside him and talks her down and allows her to cry. It’s so sweet. And they hold pinkies. Oh my shipping heart, let them get together!

Meanwhile at Hexside, the kids have predictably fallen into chaos. Boscha is the puppet Queen of Kikimora whose big villain plan is.. Hide in a high school and pretend to be a teenager. Luz doesn’t see her as a threat. Camilia hitting Kiki face with the bat is fantastic!  

And Boscha, whose friends were some of the only teens taken by the collector, just wants Amity back as queen bee so she could get some kind of normal. But Amity just isn't that person anymore. But she can save her friends. I do find it hilarious that Boscha just wants to be the beta bitch to Amity's queen bee. In the end she redeems herself by leading the other kids against Kikimora, which was a pretty fitting end for her.

Without any palismans to eat, Belos is now falling apart. He sees the ghosts of Caleb and the other Hunters; it's about 50/50 between hallucinations and actual ghosts.

Odalia has escaped puppetification by working with the Collector and by working with, she’s basically a nanny. It is going better for her than Preston Northwest’s attempt to work for Bill Cipher. No Picasso face! I still wonder where Alador is.

Eda and Lilith are being kept safe from the Collector by King. They don't do much here but it's nice to see them.

Now to talk about the Collector. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I’m deeply disappointed that they’re going with a ‘wowowo whiddle baby who doesn’t understand the stuff they’re doing’ character. I really love the sinister build up The Collector had when they were introduced. The creepy cloak when they trapped the owl beast up to his excitement at the day of unity in Hollow’s Mind. But this feels like a very different character. I guess there are more sinister evil Collectors mentioned in the lore, and the Collector who trapped the Owl beast and the Grand Huntsman could be different Collectors. I don’t know, I just didn’t want the big bad to get Steven Universed. We still have Belos at least.  

I do feel like Luz’s Palisman was a cheat too. Oh, a snake shifter. Cool would be cool if I knew what the hell that was Luz. I did love how the palisman got hatched though. I love Luz’s little realization that she just wanted to be understood. And Luz calling her mom a secret nerd! So cute.

I continue to be impressed at the show's ability to organically fit in as much plot as it does. It helps that it was a very lean show to begin with, sneaking in plot and set up in even fillery episodes. As opposed to Steven Universe and Star vs the Forces of We Evil which loved to take many brothers with characters that don't back. Which is fine in theory but it left their finals rushed and awkward when they got cut short. I mean we still got one more episode but we don't have much left to cover. Just Collector/Titan lore (differently involving that gold guy Luz saw in the in-between), maybe some more Belos/Clawthrone history, final battle, and the resolution. There is the Bat Queen stuff but that hasn't been brought up since early season two and will most likely to kept in their back pocket in case of a revival.

Grips about the Collector aside, a wonderful part two. 3 ½ out of 4.

[lokisis]

I'm not done

So I mentioned in a post that Spamton doesn't take your soul if he manages to eat it. He just spits it out after laughing at you. You don't die either, so he very clearly doesn't intend to do anything with it once he has it in his grasp. Anyway I had this convo

Shout out to yeenie for being so like-minded lol

And GOD I have so many thoughts about how the suit, and the basement too actually, are corrupted and that's why Spamton’s so fucked up. Puppetification made him. A puppet. But sitting in the basement for days and days, praying to that fucking suit, made his code corrupt. Swatch even says the basement is where they put corrupt code. So Spamton just ended up making himself sicker and sicker.

Neo just fucks him up even more. He's already got a few screws loose; now unscrew them completely. The last thing he could think about clearly, freedom, is the only thing he cares about as Neo. And only when he sees the vines almost gone, or his health almost gone, does he realize he's not doing what he was planning. I mean, fuck, he says, "AFTER EVERYTHING I DID TO YOU...!? AFTER ALL THE [Unforgettable D3als] AND [Free KROMER] I GAVE YOU- YOU’RE FINALLY REPAYING MY [Genorisity]!?" He genuinely has a moment of reflection and realizes, hey, you're just doing what you had to.

And EVEN STILL. He NEVER takes your soul. Not in pacifist, not in neutral, not even snowgrave. If he eats your soul, he will always spit it back out. And I do think it's because he never wanted your soul in the first place. Well, not like that, at least. He doesn't want to kill Kris, he LIKES Kris, and that's why he hesitates.

Actually that brings up another point. Depending on the route you take, you're actively changing his perspective on relationships and how important they are. Pacifist shows him companionship is one of the most important things a person can have. Neutral shows him that more power is what he needs. And snowgrave... well, he thinks himself a God. Gods don't have "companions" or "friends", they have subjects. People to crush under their heels.

Someone tried to say it damages him after the attack. I tested it. Not true. See, there's a mechanic in place where if you hit spamton at all, any damage you do is directly to him instead of the strings. This includes the heart attack, face attack, and the specil attack. If you don't hurt him directly at all during the fight, defeating those attacks snaps the strings instead. Eating your soul never does damage to him, never hurts him, never stops him. He stops himself.

There's so much restraint with Spamton. Something people like to gloss over. He doesn't attack Kris right away, even though he got the jump on them. He lets you ask him questions in his shop; even though he doesn't need to answer, he does. He doesn't go for Kris' soul until he's out of every exhaustable option he has. Restraint, persistence, and PASSION. That's what Spamton’s main qualities are, I think. He's a much more nuanced character than some people give him credit for.

Which is why it irks me when someone says he's dead. He's not. He willingly turned into an item, either to escape reality or to escape you, and is very much still conscious. What does that mean for future chapters? I'm not sure. But I know he'll appear, Temmie posting the dance animation clearly said so, and I can't wait to see him again.

Scuttles back in

AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT SPAMTON

There's so many little details I just love that no one really talks about. Like he definitely knows about his own songs, either because he made them, or he's aware of/already broken the 4th wall. And EITHER option is fucking hilarious. Like yeah I'm aware big shot is a banger, get destroyed with it stuck in your head [little slime].

And also the computer room doesn't have any windows, so how did he see the sun? And it's definitely the sun because he knows about clouds too and they're not in the library. Does that mean dark crystal can show... anything? The implication that dark crystals might just show darkners what they WANT to see, what they CRAVE from the light world, is insane. But Kris only sees the computer lab, which brings up the other, sadder, possibility:

Spamton didn't see the sun at all. It was just the lights inside the computer lab.

Either way, it's so fucked up. Not to mention everyone pegs him as a very... snippy quick to anger kind of guy. Which isn't true at all. The only time he gets visibly upset is when you spam the big shot during Neo. Which is explained by him already being jealous you can do it. But that's in Neo. As regular Spam, he's... pretty neutral actually. Other than the 1 time he takes his frustration out on the dumpster, (which, considering Kris was right there, is a surprising show of restraint. He could've easily started the fight with them right then. Like 90% of the other monsters) he's amicable to Kris up until his last desperate attempt at freedom.

Hell, he realizes what's happening to Kris almost immediately, and starts the battle specifically to see their soul. He even starts the fight with "HEY HEY HEY! IVE NEVER SEEN A [HeartShapedObject] LIKE THAT BEFORE!! MY EYES ARE [[Burning]] LIKE [[DVDs of ANY movie at Half-pr1ce!]] I HAVE A VERY SPECIL [Deal] FOR YOU KID!"

Idk, maybe it's just my bad reading comprehension, but even the stuff that's shouted seems to just be... idk.. like he doesn't actually mean it. Lighthearted jabs. Like if someone yelled at me, "WHAT??? BUT YOU WERE SO CLOSE!!!" while trying to hit a certain number to buy something, I would probably laugh. He's very in your face about stuff, but that's not really a surprise. He's a pushy salesman. You ever encountered one before?

I just. Think he's misinterpreted a lot as like.. super malicious. He's just a salesman. The sale, of course, is something you would never find in stores. But it is a sales pitch, at the end of the day. Something you can't say no to, except that he never forces you to go to his store, never appears again if you don't, and doesn't even get upset if you do Everything else first. Choices choices choices.

Do you think he was ever given one?

[trashworldblog]

love this theory!! if i could throw my guess, its that the professor is gonna be between 1ft 6 to 3ft. we know for sure the professor was ~1ft 2 due to the holiday spectacular song

so he's now taller then 1'2, but if the professor felt the need to comment on his height, it has to be pretty noticeable, so lets round up to 1'6.

and like op said ~6 feet is the max. i agree that the puppetification* (the very scientific term of turning someone into a puppet) makes the things its puppetifying into *roughly* the same size. (although all the puppets this season seem to be much bigger, due to maddison girifalco's skills and talent. this may be important to lore, or could be a practical and artistic decision) 3 feet just kinda feels like the max size for a puppet to be before turning into a straight up fur suit. although it would be so, so funny if shane walked out in a fursuit for the season finale.

So how big is the Professor?

Well, we know that the professor claims he is bigger now because of his Dino dna!

And we see in this family photo that he’s just smaller than his parents, probably just reaching Dad’s chin.

Now we learn in one of the post credit scenes that Dino!Dad is ‘some type of pterosaur’ and Dino!Mum is a Tyrannosaurus. Since both appear to be about the same height (with Dino!Mum slightly taller), I’d say they sit roughly at 3m tall.

*that’s a VERY rough estimate, as tyrannosauruses ranged from 3-6m tall, and it’s not specified as to what type of pterosaur Dino!Dad is, but they are usually on the smaller side of dinosaurs. Given their height relative to each other, let’s be generous and say Dino!Mum is a smaller t-Rex, and Dino!Dad is one of the larger pterosaurs.*

Looking at this graph which I literally pulled off Google, something super interesting to me is the relative height of the human. About….. just reaching the chin?? Maybe around 1.8m tall? 1.93m to be exact?

Interesting. Now I’m not saying we’re getting fursuit Professor, but we gotta look at the facts here 👀

The other possibility is that the professor is only slightly bigger, as Dino!Dad suggests that they may have been shrunk when they became puppets.

While this greatly reduces my former estimate, it does mean the Professor could be about the size of a child maybe? Which would be absolutely adorable, so win win tbh

[garr9988]

Like. I can sort of see the writers' justification for why Nathan did what he did with Slappy. But in my opinion, it just didn't feel like he had been properly set up in any of the prior episodes, nor even this one that finally explained his own backstory, to do something that extreme and nonsensical. Especially after everything he had gone through up to that point.

It all felt too shallow, too rushed.

Not to mention Ben (Isaiah's father). We've seen that puppetification spell two/three times by now, and each time that death was permanent. Maybe he can be turned back to normal if Slappy/Kanduu is defeated and/or the spell is read backwards, but. Nathan (aka, show writers), you have just destroyed any possibility of (a well-written) friendship or reconciliation with Isaiah or any of the other characters.

I was enjoying the show up till now, but the final episode better pull some crazy-ass Hail Mary or it's going down my drain. I know Goosebumps stories are kind of defined by their twists as much as the actual meat of their stories, but you can pull off twists well or you can do... that.

In another timeline, I could see a more justified sequence of these events that I wouldn't be so bothered by. This just isn't it.

In any case, I'm still hoping to get to see Horrorland in live-action.

Watched Goosebumps (2023) episode 9.

Man.