#but since it's disney we get the expected ending

[dorkus-mcdingus]

Clothes Make the Man: AKA, me geeking about the fashion of the Halloween guest characters

CW: THERE MAY BE LOST IN THE BOOK WITH THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS SPOILERS UP AHEAD!

Also this is going to get extremely rambly on my end. 😅

I kinda got this idea while I was rendering Skully's doll and it made me realize something.

SKULLY'S PREDECESSORS ARE HARD TO DRESS!

OTL ...

But then again you do also have to think of the time period some of these movies take place in while alongside their inspirations. It is so hilarious to me that I find Rollo alongside Fellow and Gidel (who are both well and alive) are so tricky for me to find a proper wardrobe for them compared to a freaking NRC Alumni who's been dead for many years.

Why? Well, let me break it down.

1. Rollo Flamme

Ah, Judge Flamme Rollo longs to purge the world of vice and sin and HOO LAWD does his design give him that air of power. Of course, due to him being a far less creepy version of the man he's twisted from (and it's kinda the case of every character in this game) where obvious points to obvious that he has to dress similar to Claude Frollo especially with Nobel Bell College LITERALLY being a Cathedral (and it's why I lovingly call it Twisted Wonderland's version of Catholic school)

I guess you could try to fit him in something modern but considering that sorta 15th century Paris look that Fleur City or just Nobel Bell College has in general, it's a little difficult to place him in something that could match his very quiet, serious, and intimidating aura. As if his freaking sanpaku eyes and his fuckass monk hairstyle wasn't enough, the student council robes really showcase that among the student body, he is someone that's held with so much respect and high regard (when they really shouldn't and he knows it) but despite his rather quiet demeanor, you can't help but feel a bit off as if something terrible is about to happen.

I'm sure the people of Paris in Hunchback were not expecting the freaking self-righteous judge to succumb to his lust for Esmeralda much like how Rollo would succumb to his wrath against mages.

Both men are sinful and self-righteous individuals but they carry so much power with how they dress. They're public officials but they hate the world and everyone in it.

Also, I love how Rollo's plan is foreshadowed in his shoes considering that Firelotuses are the freaking buckles! XD

2. Fellow Honest and Gidel/Ernesto Foulworth and Gino

My Italian kings, MY SHAYLAS! HOW I LOVE YOU SCHEMING BASTARDS SO MUCH!

Truth be told, out of all of the villains in Disney's canon, I wanted Honest John and Gideon to get the Twisted Wonderland treatment so bad especially since they're absolute icons in their own right. However, mainly because of how often I addressed Fellow using his JP name (though controversial opinion, I actually grew to like his EN name despite me wishing that Aniplex didn't change it for the sake of convenience. Oh well, makes for a fun headcanon lol) I'm going to address him and Gidel using those names purely out of convenience.

Okay, so what can we tell about these two?

While yes, they do have this sorta flashy showman look to them, you can immediately tell that the two of them aren't exactly well off. However, just looking at them, they do look like a pair of carnival barkers don't they, or at least a circus ringmaster and his assistant?

Yes, yes, this is another obvious points to obvious moment where Fellow and Gidel are supposed to dress as Honest John and Gideon respectively, but compared to the characters they're twisted from, their clothes DEFINITELY got an upgrade compared to the stuff that Honest John and Gideon are wearing with their colors being a little more saturated and embellished with embroidery compared to the tattered clothes they wore. I know Fellow has quite the talent for sewing but if he sewed and embroidered his and Gidel's ensembles BY HIMSELF?! Damn dude, why didn't you go into costume work or tailoring?! Though knowing them they DEFINITELY would pull an Emperor's New Clothes type of situation lmao

Okay, fangirling aside, I think another challenge I have when it comes to picturing them in different attire (aside from their financial situation) is also tied to the fact that Honest John and Gideon were written to be like a vaudeville duo with the two representing a couple of character tropes you would see in comedy acts during that era of entertainment (especially with Gideon taking inspiration from Harpo Marx much like what happened with Dopey. A little bit of trivia is that Gideon was ACTUALLY supposed to talk and his VA was supposed to be Mel Blanc, yes THAT Mel Blanc, but the writers at Disney thought it would be funnier if Gideon didn't speak and acted as a sort of Harpo Marx type character. Although, Mel Blanc did go back and record a couple hiccups for Gideon for the tavern scene).

You can see the sorta old vaudeville-esque inspirations for both Fellow and Gidel kinda but I will admit, to me their style reads more as

"Vaudeville rejects who ended up becoming a pair of carnival barkers."

Especially with how flashy their outfits are.

Their style is so specific to them that it makes it so hard for me to pinpoint what era or aesthetic would work with them because they look like themselves in whatever outfit Fellow manages to concoct, and of course, with Gidel admiring his big brother so much (and him acting as that old fox's conscience in a sense) he's going to look amazing (and cute as all Hell) in whatever outfit Fellow tailors for him.

TLDR: They really don't look like themselves unless it's something Fellow made along with it being cute and unique to them.

Still Fellow, YOU WOULD KILL IT AT FASHION SCHOOL! BRO, OH MY LORD!

OTL

3. Skully J. Graves

And here we are, the man of the hour and the one responsible for making this very ranty blog post. Skully J. Graves, the darling Pumpkin King of Twisted Wonderland.

One thing to point out compared to his predecessors is that this guy is literally MONOCHROME EVEN DOWN TO HIS SKIN TONE! (Seriously, homeboy is as pale as a CORPSE COUGH COUGH! What?)

There is very little color in his outfits with the exception of the bits of gold on his lapel pin and his bright orange eyes. It's elegant as it is spooky which is very much on par with his hero, Jack Skellington.

However, one thing with fashion is that you can tailor a monochrome outfit specifically to your taste by adding texture and HOO LAWDY IS SKULLY THE KING OF OUTFIT TEXTURE!

There's so much detail and texture in his outfit from the rips on his jabot, sleeve cuffs, and the tails on his coat, the haphazard stitches, the skeleton hands on his gloves, his black and white shoes, and even the different type of fabric used on his coat ranging from swirls, stripes (both regular and pinstripes), and even solid fabric to not make the outfit look too busy. His outfit is a bit busy but it has enough balance to where it doesn't take away from Skully's appearance as well as give it that dark whimsy that people often associate with Tim Burton's characters.

"So Dorkus, why do you find it easier to dress Skully compared to Rollo or the Playful Duo?" I hear you ask.

If there's one thing I know about Tim Burton, one of his more iconic looks in terms of art direction is his dark and Gothic romanticization of the Victorian era (a time period in which a lot of people HC was Skully's prime years at NRC) or similar eras to that (CORPSE BRIDE, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AND SWEENY TODD I AM LOOKING AT YOU!)

With that in mind and also with Skully's more monochrome color palette, he in my opinion would look so stunning in Elegant Gothic Aristocrat style or Ouji especially given the fact that both Yana Toboso and Tim Burton have this spooky atmosphere surrounding the mid-to-late 1800s.

Sure, Skully came from a time period with a strict dress code for gentlemen, but it's kinda one that people do romanticize as well as take inspiration from, but hilarious enough, many Halloween traditions we know now did emerge from that era.

So, because of these little factors, I have a certain aesthetic in mind for him and that sort of Victorian Gothic look would fit him the best.

Whew that was long and ranty but that's all I wanted to say.

[fuckyourtriangles]

I finally watched Big Hero 6 and I thought it was meh.

But that was my mistake.

[spookygibberish]

Made a faintly insane list of of every animated movie I have good enough memories of to feel confident ranking, although some of them I would probably move around if I saw them more recently....

[kaythefloppa]

I always point out Bunk’d on the list of shows with a terrible finale (since S3 was supposed to be the last but it effectively did kill the quality of the show) but having watched the final episodes of Bunk’d that aired last night, I can now actually reaffirm that its ending is shit.

Because oh my god is it shit.

[5sospenguinqueen]

WAG In Training - Franco Colapinto x Reader

Summary: When your boyfriend makes the leap from F2 to F1, you never expected for fans to show so much interest in you. However, they seem to enjoy that your comments are… less than professional

Warnings: Suggestive comments

Requested: Yes by anon

F1 Masterlist

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f1 just posted

liked by jensonbutton, officialmpmotorsport and others

f1 starting in monza, franco colapinto will be racing in williams for the remainder of the 2024 season

12,074 comments

williamsracing welcome to the team

alex_albon bienvenida, franco

francolapinto so excited for this opportunity 

→ user1 he’s so polite

→ user2 just wait

user3 he looks like disney prince

user4 not surprised he got the seat. look at those big beautiful eyes. i bet james was like "whatever you say, handsome"

user5 hand veins! 

its_yn so proud of you baby! we’ll have to celebrate later

→ francolapinto i can think of a few ways 

→ its_yn as long as it ends with those fireproofs on the floor 

→ user6 who is this?

→ user7 his girlfriend, and has been since before he was in f2 so don’t start 

→ user8 omg her instagram is so cute. all the pics of her and franco 

its_yn just posted

liked by williamsracing, lilymhe and others

its_yn i heard f1 drivers get the best head. @/francolapinto want to test that theory?

6,389 comments

francolapinto but i already know i get the best. i am always happy to prove it though

→ williamsracing add this to the list of things you can no longer say online

→ its_yn that’s becoming a very long list

user9 she’s an icon, she’s a legend, she is the moment

user10 i never knew how much i needed y/n in my life until right now 

user11 i hope williams never pr train her because she is hilarious 

lilymhe i can’t wait to meet you 

→ its_yn me too! you’ve definitely been my favourite thing about williams so far

→ alex_albon rude

alexandrasaintmleux i like the shade of lipstick

→ its_yn i’ll let you borrow it

user12 y/n and franco are going to take off ten years from james vowels’ lifespan

user13 i love how cute her aesthetic is but then you read her captions

yourfriend uh oh, they’ve found you, y/n. you better delete your old tweets

→ user14 too late. we already have screenshots 

user15 this is unhinged and i love it. is she like this all the time?

→ dennis_hauger yes. and i’m glad she’s gone

→ its_yn oi

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williamsracing just posted

liked by alex_albon, francolapinto and others

williamsracing first post-quali interview in f1 completed

10,998 comments

francolapinto something i have been looking forward to 

→ user1 yeah, hun, we know

→ user2 the interviewer definitely knows

user3 okay but the pouty lip in the last slide? talk about kissable

→ user4 i’d like to nibble on them liked by its_yn

→ user5 i love that instead of disliking all these comments, y/n just joins in

user6 his face in the second slide when he realised y/n was watching him flirt with older women

user7 y/n is stronger than me because if my man was rizzing up all the interviewers, i would throw myself in front of a moving f1 car 

→ francolapinto she’s fine. she gets her own back by flirting with jenson whenever she sees him

→ its_yn it’s not my fault he’s so scrummy

→ jensonbutton thank you, y/n

user8 okay but i love how secure they are in their relationship. she only jokingly told him off and they kissed straight after 

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fc43 just posted

liked by user9, its_yn and others

fc43 i wonder what else is thick

4,044 comments

its_yn i can already feel the bruises on my cervix 

→ user9 !!! 

→ user10 out of pocket

user11 i love that she’s even interacting with a fan page

→ user12 aha she’s everywhere 

user13 do you think he’s into choking? liked by its_yn

→ user13 omg she confirmed

→ user14 yes but in which way? he likes to be choked? she likes to be choked? both?? liked by its_yn

user15 his neck looks so biteable  liked by its_yn

user16 (s)creaming

franco43stan just posted

liked by user1, its_yn and others

franco43stan i’d like to report these photos. they made my 85yr old grandmother have palpitations

11,437 comments

its_yn gnawing at the bars of my enclosure

its_yn actually salivating

its_yn yes, i’ve licked those abs. yes, i’ve done so when they were sweaty 

→ williamsracing we knew we’d find you here

→ user1 oop she’s been caught. they’re going to take her away from us

user2 y/n stronger than me letting her man post videos with a slutty 2 second shot of his stomach

→ user3 girl likes watching us thirst over him

→ user4 makes her feel validated about her horniness

→ its_yn at the end of the day, ladies, i’m the one who gets to touch 

user5 imagine that chain swinging against your back

→ its_yn been there, done that

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francolapinto just posted

liked by williamsracing, landonorris and others

francolapinto my girl

11,437 comments

alex_albon okay, this was sorta sweet if i ignore what these photos undoubtedly lead to 

→ lilymhe you never show photos like this of me

→ alex_albon those are only for my eyes! plus, i have been trained properly 

user6 franco saw that everyone loved y/n for being unhinged and decided to let everyone know that he is also down bad

its_yn why would you post these when you’re all the way in america and can’t do anything about the ache you’ve created! 

→ francolapinto calling you. now. 

→ user7 doesn’t he have quali in 40 mins?

→ user8 phone sex is more important 

williamsracing why do you give us hope that this will be a normal post… and then we scroll? and then we read the comments

user9 i only look at franco’s posts to see y/n’s comments

user10 even if franco doesn’t have a seat for next year, y/n will forever be famous as my #1 wag

user11 y/n and franco mean so much to me. we can’t lose them next year 

user12 franco is cute and all but y/n 🥵

user13 can franco fight?

→ francolapinto he will try 

its_yn if i’d have known we’d get this much attention, i’d have convinced franco to stay in f2

→ francolapinto do not lie. you were so happy for me that you cried

→ its_yn no, that was from how good the celebration sex was

→ francolapinto some of our best work tbf  

williamsracing just posted

liked by jensonbutton, f1 and others

williamsracing couple’s day out? no! couple’s pr training! 

14,880 comments

f1 heartbroken 

jensonbutton finally 

user1 poor james looks like he’s heard things he never wanted to

user2 aha james has been through the trenches 

redbullracing don’t try to silence them

alpinef1team no! let them let their freak flags fly 

user3 james fighting for his life with these two

→ user4 and all the teams opposing him

user5 did they put franco in time out?

→ francolapinto yes :(

user6 just fell to my knees in walmart 

user7 noooo they got to my emotional support couple

user8 y/n looks like she’s had an amazing day

→ its_yn i did! i learnt so much

→ user9 are you going to listen to any of it

→ its_yn no :)

→ francolapinto we’re here for a fun time, not a long time 

→ user10 ^^ franco trying to convince y/n to have sex in his driver’s room liked by its_yn and francolapinto

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requests open

coming up; liam lawson x ferrari admin including cars references

max verstappen part 2 to taste

charles leclerc x sainz reader

tag list

@peachiicherries @rosecentury @c-losur3 @heavy-vettel @evie-119 @raizelchrysanderoctavius @lilorose25 @sillyfreakfanparty @iloveyou3000morgan

[hedwig221b]

Kinda a two part question? Do you have supernatural Stiles recs? (really craving mermaid stuff but all kinds is very loved) and have you thought of writing supernatural Stiles?

and anon asked:

Do you by chance have any creature Stiles or mermaid recommendations? Thank you so much for helping us find stories to read and for writing such wonderful stories!

First of all, thank you! Secondly, to the first anon: I do have a supernatural!Stiles fic, it's called Predators and it's one of my best fics 🖤 I do plan on writing oracle!Stiles, but otherwise, no. Maybe, in the future, I am open to the idea!

So, here are the recs (including merman!Stiles 🧜🏽‍♂️)

Predators (creature!Stiles)

He was born for this. Nature itself whispered into his ear where he should put his hands, how to twirl his tongue just right and when to bite. Stiles knew well enough that his saliva was currently working its magic on this unfortunate man, making him hungry, lustful, and insatiable. Soon, all his thoughts would be consumed by Stiles. And, just this once, Stiles would allow Derek to consume him.

Sui Tollech Gwanna Tach Omen by jackgyeoms (mer!Stiles)

Mermaid AU. Stiles was five when he first realised that not everybody grew a tail when they entered water.

No Oceans Left by zoemathemata (mer!Stiles)

Stiles has always been a merman. He just never knew how to tell anyone. He hasn’t shifted since his mom died.

It’s A-Boat Time! by Fae_vorite, isthatbloodonhisshirt (mer!Stiles)

He could hear the others talking outside, Scott and Isaac freaking out over something and Stiles snapping at them to shut up and help him get inside. “Dude, how the fuck can you expect me to stay calm right now! Seriously, that’s a fucking tail!” “We can talk about it later, just get me inside before someone fucking sees me! I don’t want to end up in a fucking aquarium!” “Christ, you’re heavy!” Isaac grunted. “How much does this thing weigh?!” “Shut up and walk,” Stiles snapped.

The Shells at the bottom of the Sea (mer!Stiles)

The one where Stiles is a seal merman trying to fit in with the sharks.

Mermaider by nothing_left_sacred (mer!Stiles)

“So what you’re saying is; you’re a mermaid princess.” Erica concluded. “Yes, clearly. That is what I am saying. Thank you for putting it so concisely.” Stiles sassed, frowning at her. He wasn’t fucking Ariel; this was so far from being a Disney movie it wasn't even funny. Or the one where a perfectly normal Beach Vacation escalates way too quickly, because this is Stiles' life.

Somewhere to Start by Lissadiane (fae!Stiles)

Stiles has always known that he isn't quite human - the plant life that tends to sprout around him whenever he gets upset or excited gives it away. He's never really fit in among the regular people in Beacon Hills and is determined to wait it out, go to college, and find somewhere to belong. He's forced to abandon those plans, however, after he desperately agrees to enter into an arranged marriage to save his father's life. An arranged marriage with an angry, sometimes furry dude with trust issues. It's all very Beauty and the Beast, without the singing candlesticks.

The Last Chills of Winter by LeeHan (fae!Stiles)

“He didn’t magically charm me,” Derek shot back in his defense. “Oh, so he just regular charmed you?” Laura said with a smirk. “What? No,” Derek growled. “Was he hot?” “No! He just—“ He just had a laugh like a sun shower. Fuck.

Faith, Trust, And Pixie Dust by Val_Brown (fae!Stiles)

Since he was a baby he had kept it a secret. Something that he shared with his mom. But when something comes after him and attacks his pack, he has to share his secret with them. He knows they won't judge him, hello, they sprout claws, fangs and some wicked sideburns. But he changes to the size of a gerbil and has wings and pretty much farts pixies dust on everything. Using his new alliance with Peter, Stiles charges in, pixie dust flying to rescue his pack when they are captured by renegade hunters with a strange vendetta.

Bite the Moonlight & Bleed Gold by raisesomehale (creature!Stiles)

He waits until he and Allison are the only two left in the room. “This is a joke.” Allison says, “Have you ever known my grandpa to have a sense of humor?” “Really?” Derek’s eyebrows are halfway up his forehead, as he gestures to the word that has been printed under Creature Type on the paper. “‘A Merman’? They’re a myth. No one has ever seen one, let alone caught one.” Allison leans forward to skim through a few pages and draws out a photo that she sets back down on the paragraph he’d been reading. In it, a marble white ribcage crests the dark, prussian blue of a midnight ocean, the only part of the body visible besides a thrashing, predominantly red tail, curved jaggedly through the waves. “This image was lifted from Deucalion’s personal channels,” Allison tells him. “His people are keeping the discovery all hush hush, which means they managed the photo, but probably haven’t captured the thing itself yet.” She gives Derek a significant look, “Gerard wants us to get our hands on it first.”

a dying breed that still believes by paxlux (wingfic)

He thinks, Mom, we can do this, we’ll fly.

Hot Pocket Ratio by ShippersList (incubus!Stiles)

At the threat of the alpha pack, all Derek wants is to keep his pack safe and alive. As the last resort, he tries summoning a demon to help with fighting the alpha pack. He gets a bit more than he bargained for. Or, the story where the classic demon deal of "Will you pledge your firstborn to me?" takes some unexpected turns.

There’s A Beast In My Heart (He’ll Only Bow To You) by RayShippouUchiha (creature!Stiles)

“Stiles.” Derek fucking whimpers and if Stiles wasn’t already dying he’d kill himself for making Derek sound so hurt. Stiles just wants to protect him so much sometimes because no one else ever seems to realize that Derek is so goddamn fragile and Stiles hates them all a little bit for not being able to see that. Or In an effort to expel the Nogitsune Stiles is given the bite but it all goes horribly wrong.

A Most Unusual Hoard by churkey (dragon!Stiles)

Stiles turns into a dragon and no one can figure out what he's hoarding…

My Childhood Spat Back Out The Monster That You See by rightsidethru (demon!Stiles)

Appearances can be deceiving. Caught by hunters, Derek immediately dismisses his gangly, fellow prisoner as a pressing concern. After all, the amber-eyed teenager couldn't be more than one hundred and forty-seven pounds soaking wet. What type of threat could he possibly be? (The answer: a large one.)

9/10ths of the Law by tsukinofaerii (demon!Stiles)

Stiles discovers the hazards of growing up a real boy when, at heart, he's not a real boy at all.

You Were Never Meant to Know by Mooneye (demon!Stiles)

“Not a fan of exorcisms, Stiles?” the figure asked as though he were enquiring about the rain. “Not really. I could spew black bile if you’d like more authenticity,” Stiles answered. “Stiles, what’s going on?” Scott demanded, unease growing. Stiles is a demon, always has been, and never intended for anyone to know. Unfortunately, his secret is forcefully revealed and he has nowhere to hide.

Blodrød by Onlymystory (demon!Stiles)

A demon possessing Alpha werewolves leads a crazed pack to Beacon Hills. He's been stuck inside werewolf minds, when all he wants is a nice human meatsuit. Humans in packs are rare these days and the demon is practically salivating at the thought of possessing Stiles. It's strong, and the pack was taken off guard, unable to protect Stiles before the demon takes control. But like the demon says…humans in packs are rare.

Blackbird by skoosiepants (shapeshifter!Stiles)

Stiles groans and drops his face into his hands. “I’m seventeen, I can kind of use mountain ash and I can explode houses when I’m mad enough. How am I gonna win any kind of magic fight?” “We’ll work on it,” Deaton says, as infuriatingly calm as ever. “The important thing to remember, Stiles, is that when everything else is chaos, you’re the port in the storm.” Or- Laura Hale never died, and Stiles is magic.

[masterlist link]

[artist-issues]

“I can’t believe Nani gave Lilo up for adoption.”

oh wow. I mean yeah what an amazing twist

“this new movie is a travesty, the point of the original was ‘Ohana means family, but in this new movie, Nani gives Lilo to the state and goes to college.’” - all influencers currently

oh gee yeah what a travesty

man I never thought about it that way, huh, I guess it is the exact opposite of the first movie. man, I…

I wish someone had like…warned me. Before anyone had to like

spend money on it. I wish someone out here had said, “hey, this movie is going to suck so just don’t go.”

I wish someone had warned me before influencers could earn their keep by paying Disney to make movies they can create hate-content about for the price of admission

Like if only somebody had said “this movie is going to invert and destroy the movie you actually like and get you to pay for it by playing the music you love and flashing a cute bunny-puppy named Stitch in front of you”

I mean. If only there were some way we could like. Be able to tell. That the movie is going to be a bottomless roast of the original. BEFORE anyone had to buy a ticket. If only we could have FIGURED THAT OUT without going to actually see and therefore support the movie.

If only we could. Like, watch the old movie. See very clearly what was good about it (Lilo is afraid of everybody leaving her so that’s why she takes pictures of tourists, I.e. transient people in her life, as if they’re safari animals and not real people / Stitch and Lilo are the same height because Stitch is a future version of what Lilo could be thematically after losing everyone; he has nothing and nobody, and so he’s destructive / Stitch is evil to the core and never even considers “being good” so that makes LILO’s actual love for him that much more powerful, because he DIDN’T do anything to deserve it / Gantu is the villain because you need a larger-than-life bulldozer of a law enforcer to be the one that literally rips Lilo away from her world, to contrast with Cobra Bubbles, who was not an evil insensitive bulldozer but was representing “taking Lilo away” / Jumba is redeemed because if his little disgusting monster that he knows is only built for destruction can find a family that loves him maybe he can too so he helps rescue Lilo, because “after all you put me through you expect me to help you just like that?!” and Stitch says “yes” because Stitch just learned that that’s the kind of love Lilo has been giving him the whole time / Stitch is named “Stitch” because Lilo knows she has a broken family and he ‘stitches’ them back together, and she’s weird and names things after the first words that come to her mind / Stitch doesn’t wear a collar and leash because in Kokaua Town it’s a sleepy little village with no leash-laws where pets roam free, not a big city like the kind stitch was invented to destroy / Nani is Lilo’s example of that unconditional love; she is a freshman, she has had a life of her own since lilo was a baby even before their parents died, she COULD leave Lilo to go back to that life especially when Lilo’s naughty which is why she suggests Nani “sell her’ in their first fight, she’s always afraid Nani will ditch her like her parents left life and tourists leave the island and Stitch leaves them briefly but NANI NEVER LEAVES HER and ALWAYS fights for her, that’s how Lilo knows to love Stitch the same way even though he wrecks her stuff and pushes her down / The Ugly Duckling is in the movie because Stitch needs to understand why he feels empty and start hunting for a place to belong, like what Lilo has with Nani / David needs to be interested in Nani romantically and willing to help even when she won’t go out with him, even after he learns everybody is an alien, because he’s is Nani’s example of unconditional love, doesn’t matter what they can all DO for him / Lilo needs to know that Stitch is an alien because it makes her fighting for him at the end of the movie even after he blew up her house with the other aliens the final knockout blow of her amazing love for him)

Just a few really good things we could see. Like, maybe by watching the first movie. And then easily be able to tell, maybe from like, changes made in the trailer or the casting list. That this remake is going to ruin it. Stuff like that, if we could do that, maybe nobody would’ve watched it.

What a world it would be if that were only possible.

[gotta-winwin]

2019 debut year <> slipping into to the diamond life

word count: 2.3k TW: fatigue, one swear word, woozi being kind of mean italics are in english, bolded words are in mandarin

Cyana woke up to the sound of pots and pans clanging heavily in the kitchen. Rubbing her eyes, she got up from her spot on the bed, padding as quietly as possible past a sleeping Minghao towards the open door. She winced as she walked, her leg muscles screaming in protest and her knees aching from last night's practice.

She found that she was pleasantly surprised at how easy her transition into life with Seventeen was. The rigorous schedule was not unlike her time at Disney, and it helped that she was still shielded behind the walls of Pledis. It also helped that Seungcheol had confiscated her phone the moment she moved in, insisting that she didn't need it and looking on SNS would not help her at all. She was grateful for the little things like that that he did.

Walking into the kitchen, her eyes squinting as she adjusted to the bright lights, she could just make out a blurry figure standing at the stove. Mentally, she scolded herself for forgetting her glasses on her nightstand.

"Who's there?" She asked tentatively, hoping it was one of the members and not an intruder. She was also hoping that it wasn't Woozi, who was often absent from home but came back at odd hours.

"Dino." The blurry figure stated, and Cyana could feel his stare on her. "Breakfast?" He asked, gesturing at whatever was on the stove.

She shook her head. The staff had her on a strict diet as they prepared for her upcoming debut and comeback. "I'm going to go wash up. But thanks."

Dino grunted, clearly still half asleep as he returned his attention back on whatever he was making.

Tiptoeing back into her and Minghao's room, she quickly snatched her glasses before heading for the bathroom. She had learned pretty quickly upon arriving that it was best to wake up early, as the bathroom became messy and crowded the later it got. Splashing her face with cold water and tying her hair back, she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her stylist had died her hair blonde for the comeback, insisting that it complimented her skin tone better than brown. She didn't know how to feel about that. The girl in the mirror looked more like a stranger.

"yue liang~" Minghao knocked twice on the bathroom door. "We're all leaving soon."

She blinked. Had that much time passed already? She knew it was a terrible habit of hers to zone out and realized she had been getting ready mindlessly. She cleared her throat. "I'll be out in a second!" She called, hoping she sounded normal.

Today was a big day for her. The company had organized an interview for Seventeen to promote their new comeback, and she knew the main focus of it would inevitably land on her. Shaking her shoulders, she joined the others by the front door, pulling on her shoes and jacket.

"It's still snowing today, nana." Joshua wrapped a scarf around her neck, tucking the ends into her jacket collar. "You have to be healthy for our comeback."

She gave him a grateful smile. They'd grown close over the few weeks since she'd moved in and her Korean had begun to steadily improve thanks to his help. "Thanks, shua."

Cyana didn't expect how hectic the interview set would be, as she was ushered from station to station, foreign hands touching up her hair and makeup and outfit. The set ran in an orderly fashion compared to the sets in LA and she appreciated the speed in which everything was done. Her stomach was hurting due to the nerves and she couldn't help but feel a impending sense of doom settling on her chest. Getting mic'ed up, she took her seat next to Seungcheol, frowning a bit when she realized she was sat in the middle.

"Do I have to be in the middle?" She asked, leaning slightly towards him to whisper.

He gave her an apologetic smile. "Yes. We look the most balanced that way."

She supposed he was right. She could see them through the viewfinder of one of the biggest cameras, and they looked quite symmetrical.

"You got this!" DK tapped her shoulder from behind, smiling brightly from his place to the left. "Fighting!"

She told herself to relax. They all seemed to believe in her, and she had rehearsed many times over with Joshua while Seungcheol monitored. He must've believed she could do it if they were here now. The red light on the camera blinked to life and Cyana straightened her back. She was hyperaware of the fact that Wonwoo's knees were pressed up against her back, an unfortunate result of their seating arrangement.

"Seventeen interview - You Made My Dawn, take one."

"You did great." Joshua said to her, as the red light ceased blinking and the producer called the end of the interview. "Just like we practiced." She looked up and behind her at his happy expression.

"I think I blacked out during the whole process." She confessed, truly not remember anything that had happened.

He laughed and so did Vernon, who overheard from the very end of the line. "It gets easier. I remember our first interview. No one remembered anything until we watched the video online. It was the nerves."

"You were good." Seungcheol returned to the group, having left to speak to their manager. "They let me watch a portion of it. You did well."

Cyana smiled shyly at the praise. "Thank you. I'm glad."

Raising his voice, Seungcheol addressed everyone as a whole. "We're heading back to the company since a few members from the vocal team need to rerecord some lines for Hug. Everyone else needs to practice our performance for Getting Closer. The spin isn't coordinated perfectly yet."

Murmurs of agreement came from the group as everyone got up to leave. Returning her mic pack, Cyana hurried to catch up with Joshua, looping her arm with his as they followed the group out to the cars.

"We're rerecording things?" She asked, confused. She thought they'd all sounded pretty good.

Joshua hesitated and nodded. "Woozi wants to clean up a couple parts. I won't be going though, he said he just needed you and Jeonghan."

She paled. "Can't you-" She stopped, knowing her request was selfish. Time was precious during comeback season and Joshua was needed with the rest of the group.

He sent her an understanding smile, his eyes shining with warmth. He knew she was terrified. "Jeonghan's nice." He offered.

"I know he is, I'm just-" She paused, twisting her fingers in worry. "What if I say something wrong in Korean? Or if I mess up recording."

They had arrived in front of their cars now, needing to spilt up between three separate vehicles. "They're not scary people, Ana. Even if Woozi might seem like it, he understands that people make mistakes. And you sang beautifully last session. I'm sure he probably just wants to add more adlibs or something."

Cyana nodded, a little soothed by his explanation. "Thanks, shua."

He nodded, knowing that there was much more hidden in the simple thanks. "Anytime, Ana."

The atmosphere within the recording studio was stiff and heavy. It was Cyana's seventh time recording the same verse now, finishing each time only to receive a sharp sigh from Woozi.

"Again." He'd say over the intercom, and Cyana would go again.

She was getting a bit sick of the verse, and her skin was growing hotter by the second from both the humidity of the room and her growing annoyance. She was no stranger to producing, she'd dabbled in it before, and she knew the track already sounded extremely polished. The longer Woozi dragged it out for the more she felt like he was toying with her for the sake of it.

"Jihoon ya~" Jeonghan lounged on the couch behind Woozi, bored. "She sounds great, don't you think it's enough?"

Woozi shook his head. "She sounds great. Not perfect. We need perfect this comeback."

Jeonghan signed. "People will not hear the difference-"

"I will hear the difference." Woozi snapped. He pressed the intercom and spoke into the mic. "Again."

"At least give her some direction." Jeonghan chided. "You're only making her angry."

Woozi sighed, knowing his hyung was right. He didn't really know why he was so annoyed at the girl. Her verse was great, but there was that part of it that was missing. He pressed the intercom again once Cyana was finished. A little better, he thought. "Can you try singing with more strength?" He asked, unsure how to communicate exactly what he was envisioning. "More power, but soft."

Cyana scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion, putting the headphones back on. "Okay."

He was used to directing his members who already knew how he worked and what he needed done - what he was picturing in his mind. Cyana's next try came easier, and he could tell they were almost there.

"Better, again-"

"I think that's enough." Jeonghan cut in, sensing Cyana's growing frustration and Woozi's annoyance. He didn't particularly want to be in the room if they both exploded at each other.

"I'm okay." Cyana spoke, surprising both of them. "Let's keep going. I want to get this right."

Woozi turned his chair around to face Jeonghan, a look of i told you so written across his face. "You can leave if you want, hyung. We're already finished with your verse." He could sense Jeonghan's hesitancy. Rolling his eyes, he added "I'll walk with her back to the practice room. And I promise I won't yell at her or whatever."

The older boy scoffed but still got up to leave. "I'm more worried you'll end up killing each other and we'll be 12 instead of 14."

It was Woozi's turn to scoff, as he turned back to the soundboard and cued Cyana to start again. He had to begrudgingly admit that he pleasantly surprised at her dedication and felt a little bad for being a bitch.

"That one was good." He spoke into the mic, signalling the end of the session. "You're done."

Cyana took a little bit to reset herself before exiting the booth. She paused, lingering near the doorway as Woozi watched her, confused. "Can I-" She breathed out sharply. "Can I listen? Just once."

He frowned, but sat back down and cued up the completed track for her. He watched as she gingerly sat down on the couch, hands bunched in her lap as she listened silently. He was proud of this particular track. It evoked a feeling of home and comfort that only translated well if done correctly, and he had somehow managed to pull it off.

Cyana stood up to leave once the track was over, hesitating again near the doorway.

"For god's sake. Just spit it out." Woozi grumbled, annoyed at her hesitancy.

"I-" She blinked, caught off guard. "What?"

Woozi sighed when he remembered she probably didn't understand. Joshua probably didn't go around teaching Cyana what for god's sake and spit it out was in Korean. "Just say it. Whatever you wanted to say."

She paused. "It's at 135 BPM right now." She said quietly. "I think it'll sound better at 138."

Woozi blinked. Cyana pushed open the studio door and dashed out, scared of what he might say. Rushing in the direction of their practice room, she sighed in relief when she saw Seungkwan and Hoshi's familiar back profile.

"Hi." She breathed out, still breathless from the rush over.

They both seemed surprised but happy to see her. "Hey," Seungkwan replied, handing her a pinny he had been holding with her name on it. "We were just about to go look for you. Put that on, we're filming a choreo video to send to the event people today."

She nodded, throwing it over her baggy tee. "Sorry. Recording took a bit long."

Hoshi gave her a smile. "That's Woozi for you."

"Go get some water," Seungkwan reminded, throwing an arm around both her and Hoshi's shoulders, leading them towards the practice room. "You aren't too tired, right?"

Cyana knew she was a bit worn out. She hadn't slept for long last night, having been up till the AMs worrying about the interview. Her limbs screamed with pain every time someone reminded her she still had to dance. The roll in Getting Closer was killing her. Each time she spun, her world spun, and she had to continue the routine with obscured vision as tv static overtook her view. She gave Seungkwan a bright smile. "I'm still doing great." She lied, feeling better once she saw the relief shining through his eyes. "We're going to kill this choreo." She said, trying to pump herself up.

Hoshi frowned. "Kill this choreo?" He asked, a little confused.

"Ah~ like 'we're going to do very well." Seungkwan deduced.

Hoshi, upon seeing Cyana nod in confirmation, grinned as they entered the practice room. He greeted the others with a loud "We gonna kill this choreo!" and Seungkwan clutched onto Cyana as they doubled over in laughter. Everyone else looked mildly confused, while Vernon and Joshua could only share smiles at the chaos.

Seungcheol clapped for everyones attention as they all gathered in the middle of the room, cameras and staff both ready. Cyana noticed that Woozi had somehow gotten here as well, his own pinny on and his hair covered with a beanie. "Okay. We're going to do this choreo well and with no accidents, okay?"

Collective words of encouragement and cheers filled the room at his words as everyone took their place. Cyana tried her best to ignore how unnaturally light her head was feeling and knelt beside DK.

"Three." The director counted down. Cyana sent a weak smile in DK's direction.

"Two." She ran through the moves desperately in her mind.

"One."

author's note: thank you so much for reading! i know it's kind of on a cliffhanger haha thank you to everyone who's shown this series love ~ ik woozi's kind of mean right now but i promise it will all pay off soon

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

OMG RAVEN YOU’RE INTO EVER AFTER HIGH? I love it but can’t talk about it bc none of my friends have seen it 😭 I wish it was talked about more, especially with how deep their lore runs. I love EAH’s dynamics with the complexities of destiny. If twst followed the same logic as eah’s world it would be so interesting. How would you feel if the worlds were to mesh together and how it would work? You can interpret that in any way you want; the characters meeting or twst being bound to the same rules and societal expectations of eah, or whatnot.

Also who’s your favorite eah character compared to your favorite twst character (Leona)?Jade, right?

And have you read the eah books? I haven’t, but I’m going to try to sometime!

Eah alt account when?

I'm still salty that the Monster High x Ever After High crossover movie never saw the light of day-- Part of the reason why I don't like Disney (I mean the faceless corpo, not all Disney products) is because they have such a strong association with fairy tales that it pushes other interpretations out of the market or it leads to people assuming Disney "owns" those fairy tales. Ever After High's lore and themes run so much deeper than most other fairy tale reimaginings I've seen (and I've seen a lot). It's such a shame it doesn't get the respect and recognition it deserves even though EAH is the one out here challenging the status quo whereas modern Disney is content with mediocrity that appeals to the masses.

I think EAH and TWST, at their cores, share similar ideas so combining them would work well. Friendship, self-identity, defining your own future, questioning what "good" and "evil" truly are... It's all there. I'd imagine that if Twisted Wonderland (or at least NRC) followed the same rules as EAH, then everyone would be descendants of their Disney counterparts. (This is actually a common misperception of what TWST was to new fans; people mistakenly believe the TWST characters are children of the classic Disney villains. This has never been canon.) Unfortunately, I'd have to take away the Disney villains being twisted to be "good" guys in Twisted Wonderland's world in order for this to work by EAH rules, so... There's that to consider. This, in turn, can result in the student body splitting into Royals (pro-following one's destiny) and Rebels (anti-following one's destiny). Perhaps RSA and NRC could be one school in this AU...? Just so we have a mix of "good" and "evil" descended children in the same vicinity as one another. A must-have are the constantly bickering Narrators!! It's only really when Yuu shows up that the majority opinion starts to shift. Maybe then Crowley becomes concerned with students rising up and fighting back against the system that relies on them being complacent to keep the cycle of stories going. I've seen some readings of EAH which theorize that Royals guaranteed a happy ending is a stand-in for privilege, and that interpretation leads into very interesting conflicts when we also consider that magic in Twisted Wonderland is a privilege afforded to few.

To cover just the dorm leaders (because covering all the TWST characters would make this post way longer), I definitely see Riddle, Kalim, Idia, and Malleus as Royals and Leona, Azul, and Vil as Rebels. Here's my thought process:

Riddle is pretty self-explanatory. He comes from a background where he's used to being told what to do by his mother and so he also heavily relies on her strict, unyielding teachings to play by the book when he goes out there in the real world. Riddle is inflexible and hesitant to go against the grain--and, more importantly, he fully believes that following the rules will lead to his happiness... that doing as his fairy tale ordains will lead to a happy ending. What happens to the Queen of Hearts is dubious in the end since it's framed as Alice's dream, so I think that vagueness gives Riddle hope that by behaving himself, he'll earn the happiness he desires.

Leona is a Rebel, and not just because that's the aesthetic of his dorm. Being that he is highly intelligent and demonstrates a lot of foresight, he'd be aware of what future is in store for him and aggressively fighting against that. It would make him more desperate than ever to prove his worth, because not only does everyone see his powers as terrifying, but they also see him as a future brother murderer and dictator that will bleed the land dry of resources. It'd make the situation with his family even more strained than it already is, not to mention the extra jealousy he must feel toward Cheka, who is still too young to understand what's going to happen later.

Azul is someone who acts like a Royal but is actually a Rebel. He acts polite and like he plays by the rules, but clearly he doesn't behind the scenes. I see Azul as the kind of Rebel akin to Duchess Swan... as in, he believes he can steal away someone else's destiny for himself. Azul would constantly be looking for loopholes to save himself. He's put way too much stock into becoming a better, stronger person and he'd want to defend this new life he has made for himself. His obsession with protecting his contracts could translate well here.

Kalim is a Royal because he's mega rich and has been sheltered from the concept of bad things that happen to normal people; he has nothing to worry about. It also helps that Kalim is twisted from a character that doesn't meet a bad ending. I think he'd be aware of Jami's doomed destiny, but Kalim is so ignorant that he thinks it'll just be fine and it'll work itself out. Part of his growth could be being forced to reckon with the reality that Jamil is suffering under the legacy assigned to him and accepting the role that he plays in that by not acting.

Idia is a Royal--or at least pre-book 6 Idia is. He's a very pessimistic guy and repeatedly expresses hopelessness about the future, bemoaning the curse he and his family have to bear. Idia doesn't want to try to fight his fate, he's already accepted that it will happen and so closes himself off from others to save himself that heartbreak. Post-book 6 Idia will have swapped over to the Rebel side thanks to Ortho reviving the hope in him.

Vil is a Rebel simply for the fact that he fights social conventions. He's already out here shattering gender roles, but finds it much harder to breach that expectation that villains are just villains and nothing more. Vil keeps getting rejected at every turn, told that it's impossible to rewrite his story, that his frustrations are the natural result of jealousy and an ugly heart that festers in side of him. He steels himself to prove that notion wrong, working himself to the bone to get up on that stage and stay on it, waiting to be lavished with praise that he truly is the fairest one of all. I feel this would be so fascinating for Vil's own arc about self acceptance; maybe he wears himself down emotionally because he HAS to basically be perfect due to his job but also denies himself normal feelings like anger and jealousy because confessing that you have such "ugly" feelings only validates that you're shallow just like the stories say you will be.

Malleus is a tough one, but I settled for Royal in the end. Maleficent is doomed to be slain by a sword, right? So am I saying that THE Malleus Draconia, who is infamously arrogant about his magical abilities, would lie down and take a stab like that? Of course not! However, I do think that Malleus is initially someone who values tradition and living up to noblesse oblige. As the future ruler of a nation, people's stories are relying on him to play his expected role out, which he'd be fully cognizant of. I also think Malleus would be afforded the luxury of not having to face his destiny as soon as his peers are due to his long life span. This is in part because the person destined to slay him doesn't come into his life for literally hundreds of years. Then when book 7 arrives, Malleus has to deal with his loved ones leaving and/or betraying him as well as the realization that this is his destiny: dying alone and unloved. That'd just break him.

ahdbiqwdbqwli I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS AU FOR FOREVER BUT I'LL CUT IT SHORT OR ELSE I'LL NEVER SHUT UP 😭

EAH has so many good characters and interesting storylines, it's hard for me to pick a favorite! I of course love Apple and Raven's dilemmas, but I feel like it's cheating to pick one of them as my favorite. The whole Wonderland gang is also fantastic... I'm a sucker for their aesthetic, but they're so fun and silly in general. Kitty, Lizzie, and especially Madeline are 👌

Mmm, when I think long and hard about it, I think my favorite EAH character has to be Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty. Firstly, I love all the pink, roses, and bramble in her design. Secondly, I love the layers to why she is the way she is. Briar's a party girl not because "lmao, wouldn't that be a funny haha subversion of Sleeping Beauty" but because she wants to live life up before she falls asleep for 100 years and literally loses all her friends and family to the natural passage of time. That's seriously so smart and such an inventive way to think about the trauma a descendant of Sleeping Beauty might have. Seeing Briar transition from one of Apple's besties and biggest supporters to an outright rebel is satisfying as heck. (Gotta take a moment to shout out this classic moment :3)

I don't know if I would compare Briar to Jade since they're entirely different characters. However, looking at the source material, I'm actually surprised I like Briar as much as I do since I have never cared for the story of Sleeping Beauty. A part of me finds this ironic since Malleus harbors a similar fear as Briar (losing loved ones) yet I see Malleus's desire as way more selfish and self-serving than Briar's. I believe that's because Briar doesn't have the same arrogance as Malleus, so I'm more forgiving with her. EAH's actual equivalent to Malleus is Faybelle, daughter of the Dark Fairy, but I don't like her as much as I do Briar (hence why I'm comparing Malleus and Briar, not Malleus and Faybelle).

I haven't read the EAH books but I want to one day! I'd prefer to borrow them since I don't have enough space in my room for more physical books, so as soon as I find copies at a library or something...

This blog has kind of become a place where I occasionally talk about my other interests, generally as it relates to TWST, my main interest. I'd like to keep it like this since managing multiple blogs can be so draining. It already takes quite a bit of time to regularly write responses to asks just on one blog!

[pftones3482]

The Good

All right - I've had time to collect my thoughts on the new season. I'm going to split them into two posts: The Good and the Not So Good/Bad, just because I know some people don't want to focus on the negatives for shows.

If you want to read my "Not So Good/Bad" opinions, you can read this post.

But for the things I loved about this season, in no particular order, click the "Keep Reading!" Under a cut for spoilers, obviously (and featuring some screenshots)

The voice acting was impeccable. Every single person who came back for their role did an amazing job (but we knew that would be the case)

I was so SO happy they kept in their trend of putting things over the end credits - I was really worried they wouldn't continue that because it's not really a thing anymore, since people don't tend to watch end credit scenes on streaming platforms

Literally everything Stacy and Perry related. I expected "Agent T for Teen" would be my favorite episode, but it was so fun and silly and I'm so happy with how it ended up overall. I loved the Stacy lore drop, and I am SO BEYOND PLEASED that they made them friends. I genuinely think I would have hated this season if they hadn't made the Teal Duo besties

I really enjoyed the amount of Buford content?? It felt like he played a more prominent role in this season

Same thing as above but with Linda - I'm glad they didn't just give her the whole "I want to spend time with my family" spiel in the first episode and then ignore it. She's clearly trying to spend more time with her kids.

Finally acknowledging that Carl definitely has another job(s), and letting him lay into Monogram. I do think there's more to be said for that situation, but I'm glad we got something

The animation overall! There were some parts that felt a little off to me, but for the most part I enjoyed that they kept the character designs the same and stuck with the simple charm of the show

The Haberdasher. Full stop, I want him to come back. I love that he's a spoof on the Mad Hatter, his energy was fun

The episode "License to Bust" is now up there in one of the most solid episodes of all time. It hit all the right notes in a satisfying way. (Also also did anyone else notice the instructor smile after Candace told him to buckle up? It took me four tries to get a screen shot it was so fast lol)

(he's smiling I swear, go back and look at his face for the rest of the driving test)

Ferb food critic was COMICAL (and again with the spoofing of Disney characters, there was a lot of that in this season!)

"Apparently his mother didn't teach him........well, a lot of things. WHICH is why we all have a job!" - I laughed for a solid minute after that line

On that note: "And I thought you were crazy for putting tank treads on a Whack-a-Pest!"

The kids all supporting Candace this season was really cute (she literally didn't make the 'sand castle' but they still cheered for her lol)

"He has a hard out at noon" and then Perry going home and smiling contently while Candace gives him a bath, please they're so cute

Continuing the trend of lines I liked, "I forgot Agent W was missing" in regards to the agents getting de-wormed fucking KILLED me (and was a great callback to earlier in the season when Doof was like "Maybe he has worms!" in the vet episode)

Setting Candace up to be a lawyer in the future

Carl and Brittany's beef (I love Brittany I've only had her for 27 seconds but I want to keep her)

Every single scene with Lawrence, actually. Love that silly man

I genuinely really loved "The Aurora Perry-alis." I've seen some conflicting thoughts on it from folks, but I think it was a nice way to reintroduce Montnessa, it let them tell the audience "hey, we didn't forget about Stacy and Perry," and the animation was really pretty. It also felt like it could fit nicely into Season 3 or 4, which was kind of how I was judging the episodes individually.

My Overall Favs:

Agent T for Teen, The Aurora Perry-alis, and License to Bust

And finally, also in no order, some of my favorite screenshots I took (minus the ones with Stacy and Perry together bc I already posted those and Tumblr has it's limits lol)

Anyway, if you want to know my thoughts on anything specific, you're more than welcome to shoot me an ask!

[yuurei20]

Does Yana have any part in making of the novels and manga and soon to be anime? Since she doesn't seem to have much say on the game...

Hello hello! Thank you for this question!

It is possible that Yana might have very much say on the game 👀

Inside the app itself she is credited as the creator of the game's concept, the main scenario creator, the character designer and the creative director for everything overall.

In a 2020 interview she said:

“I create the scenarios and I write the main story. I am also in charge of drafting, writing, and directing the events and vignettes. On the graphics side I do all of the character design including designing the chibis, all the card illustrations and designs for the props and backgrounds.”

She also explains how she went into her initial meeting with Disney expecting to only do the character designs, but in the end was made responsible for the basis of the entire game.

She is also the creator of the plot of the main story and wrote the lessons in dialogue, on the home screen and when leveling (together with a writer from her personal studio).

She is so involved that she even writes notes to the voice actors and the sound director, influencing the vocal performances, and has approved the English-language localization of the unique magics.

And she has so much say that she retracted Riddle's original, Disney-approved design (which was also of her own creation) in favor of the Riddle that we have today! ^^

Much of this information is from the game's release (the "notes from Yana to the VAs" information is recent) and now, five years on, there is sometimes curiosity about how much Yana remains involved.

She provides us with regular updates on her involvement, with one of the more recent being how she is still in charge of the main story.

Getting into details all in one post will be very long, so here is a compilation of similar asks for reference!

-> What is Yana-san's actual position and importance in the making of Twisted Wonderland?

-> Yana's involvement in the Halloween events

-> How true is that Yana is not involved in the writing of all events?

-> Is Yana Toboso responsible for illustrating in-game assets?

-> Yana created all the original R-cards alone, from start to finish

-> Who are Yana's assistants?

The Novels

Yana says she was in charge of the concept, the in-novel art, cover and fold-out art in the novels, while Hioki Jun (a Twst vignette/event scenario writer) is the author. 

The Manga

The artist and designer behind the 1st and 3rd comic arcs are both from Yana’s studio D-6th, doing background and card art for Twst.

Yana says that her role is overall collaboration, character design and character creation (she says that in addition to creating the basis for Trey’s parents she also designed Riddle’s mother, including her face, but they ultimately left her in silhouette).

It is difficult to tell what Yana means by “overall collaboration," but she has shared a tweet about drawing the characters out herself for the official artists to base their work on.

(This might not apply to the artists of the Savanaclaw or Scarabia arcs, who are not Yana's personal employees.)

The Anime

There was some curiosity after the announcement of the anime, with Yana commenting that she was surprised to hear that it is going to be based on the manga and she is looking forward to what it is going to be like, insinuating that she did not make that decision herself and may not be involved at all.

And the anime's first, original announcement? It credits Yana as the creator of the game, but does not list her as a member of the team behind the anime.

In a different series of tweets from early 2024, she provided more detail about how it is normal for her to not be involved in adaptations of her own work, saying she lets other creators do what they like with adaptations of her work where she is the copyright holder.

And with works outside of Kuroshitsuji, where she is not the copyright holder, she has even less influence in adaptations, saying that she will often not even know what adaptations are being planned and sometimes she is not approached for help. As Disney holds the copyright for Twst, that is possibly what happened here!

まとめ

To put everything together, the game seems to be where Yana might have the most influence out of every iteration of Twst, even five years on.

She also seems to have some influence in the Heartslabyul and Octavinelle arcs of the manga, but this might be an unusual arrangement made possible by how the official artist and layout designer are also both her own employees.

She might have the least (if any) amount of influence on the anime, but that is also where we have the least information :>

[hyuneskkami]

❪ ⭑ ❫ starlight: chapter 5───lee know.

05. disneyland tokyo.

ꕀ cw. beauty and the beast & winnie the pooh mentioned! , mentions of food , cutesy stuff overall ; wc. 0.9k

we split up for the first ride at disneyland because we all had different priorities before we actually began the game.

hyunjin and I ended up at ‘the enchanted tale of beauty and beast’, an animated retelling which included a whole setup of the beast’s castle too. plus, since it was his and my favourite disney tale, we had even more fun.

hyunjin was more attentive towards the camera (for our vlog) because I couldn’t care less about it when I was watching a retelling of my favourite story.

soon after, to begin our ‘quests’, we had to start participating in rides and games together.

in the ‘monsters inc. ride and go seek’ game, we tallied our scores by the end to see which team could ‘reveal’ the maximum number of monsters (the rules of any of the games didn’t make sense, but who cared?).

I dragged han and minho with me to ‘pooh’s honey hunt’, which counted more as a story and less as a game, but for the sake of nostalgia and love for the old cartoon, we went.

lastly, we went to the haunted mansion with mini loudness indicators strapped to our collars to see who could get the least and highest scores.

we entered in a line, one behind the other, but quickly shuffled around (as soon as the door shut loudly) with muffled yelps.

my eyes adjusted to the dark pretty quickly, which I guess I owe to the countless nights I spent in practice rooms without many lights.

I saw hyunjin and felix holding hands tightly. han and jeongin clung tightly to chris’ shirt. changbin’s eyes were wide open, trying to see better. seungmin was as non-chalant as you’d expect him to be. and at last, I looked down to see minho’s fingers interlaced tightly with mine.

“scared kitty?” I whispered to him, and flashed him a grin.

“you wish,” he scoffed. “it’s because you’re gonna get scared later.”

“liar,” I remarked, and he nodded a little.

he was, indeed, a liar. and he knew it when we exited the haunted mansion and the staff told us that his and han’s were the loudest screams to be recorded.

“lee know-ssi and jisung-ssi were louder than the rest. hyunjin-ssi and y/n-ssi barely made any sound, though,” a staff member said.

“how was hyunjin less louder than the rest of us? he’s literally a drama queen!” seungmin protested. hyunjin stuck his tongue out at seungmin and walked away with that attitude of his.

by the time the sun set, the ‘electrical parade dreamlights’, a nighttime light parade, began.

all the members and I were walking slowly as we watched the lights flicker once in a while.

I was reviewing footage from the day, and I came across one video from a rollercoaster.

minho was sitting next to me, and the video was a little blurry. I asked him if he was okay, because of his fear of heights. and the fact that he was sitting beside me, in the first row.

“if you fall, i’ll catch you,” I said to him, joking.

“I already did,” he whispered, smiling softly at me, before the rollercoaster began and the audio was just felix and hannie screaming their lungs out.

I replayed the video twice, just to process what he had said. I hadn’t heard it when he said it on the rollercoaster because of han’s constant bickering from the second row. but… now? now, I was listening to the same clip. twice. thrice.

was I reading too much into it? or… what?

“I need food,” minho’s voice grumbled beside me. he sat down and rested his head on my shoulder. I tensed for a second, before relaxing. his presence felt comfortable, and the heat radiating from his body felt like home.

“you should try winning some time, then,” I taunted him. he pushed his head up from my shoulder and glared at me.

“noona!” jeongin’s voice suddenly boomed like a speaker was installed in place of his voice box.

he came skipping to the bench. “isn’t this footage perfect for the cover?”

he played the video, shoving himself in between minho and me.

the video he recorded was just a few frames long, from the time during sunset, and everything was chaotic… except, my eyes kept straying to a small set of pixelated hands brushing against each other—minho’s and mine.

it felt like a cute detail to leave in the video, and just thinking about it made blood rush to my neck and cheeks.

I compliment jeongin on his extremely clever and strategic cameramanship, and left the ‘loser table’ to go to the winners’ table—my table.

somehow, han, hyunjin, and I had won most of the challenges. we got delicious food as a result, while the other members were given boring meals.

I looked back to a sulking minho and slipped him some of my pudding and a slice of hyune’s chicken pizza. his eyes twinkled as he smiled.

soon after, we ended up sharing all our food with the rest of the members and staff as well, who had worked hard in keeping the chaotic kids in line for an entire day.

we returned to our hotel rooms, and all of us fell asleep in a huge cuddle pile in chan’s room.

prev < m.list > next

[jeffrrandell]

Explanation for the connection I made lol 👇

I'm gonna at least slightly explain Tord and Gravy being roommates. I'm not going to lie to you guys, this was a joke made because when my friends and I were watching "Technical Foul" from 8 Crazy Nights we were like "that's like if Tord crashed at Gravys house tbh" and then it turned into "Tord somehow becomes Gravys roommate after he leaves Edds house, for like maybe 2-3 years. And it's almost like a Disney movie. Tords just happy he has a place to stay, and he knows Gravy is just soooooo nice but man is he annoying. So he's not mean to him, he just is autistic and only ever likes Edd anyway basically. But he warms up to em. Gravy works a ton of jobs, and Tord cleans up around the house. And an odd but actually important detail is Gravy smokes weed (because of all of these jobs), and Tord took interest in that. Getting high together kinda made it easier for his nerves to be calmed down, and it made it easier for him to realize "oh Gravy is just a guy". Of course afterwards, Gravy turns back to jumpy goofy Gravy, but Tord learned to appreciate the energy. Tord and Blonzie were already slight acquaintances, actually before Tord met Gravy. Somehow for whatever reason Tord ends up at the auto shop he works at, probably asked about a pile of spare parts that looked like junk and Blonzie said "take em". So they had that for a while. They're mechanically intelligent together. Plus Tord finds his stunts REALLY cool, as he loves destruction too. He'd love to invent little things for him to try out. They also both have "I'm gonna be silent now" autism. Anyway, he never in his life expected for Gravy to be like "meet my boyfriend" and "oh whataya know, it's the guy that calls me Tiny and gives me spare parts". Not sure if it makes sense for Tord to still be living with Gravy when he gets with Blonzie or not, but either way they'd make a really weird fun trio. Gravy definitely opened up Tords weird side for him. Because Tord is just so closeted around everyone, even Edd didn't know a few secrets about him (for probably crush related reasons, intimidation.) But with Gravy, it sorta didn't matter to him what he told him. He'd listen, and I mean it's sad but. Gravys a huge loser who's pushed around EVERYDAY, and for a bit Tords view on that was "well he has it worse than I do so he can't judge me"

But yeah, they're friends lol

In a WTFuture timeline, this was also a joke that turned out to be something that we all kinda liked. I believe in Tord clone theory btw! Basically one day, Not Tord shows up to Gravys house one day. Reminder that if this is a bad timeline, Blonzie is dead sorry. But yeah Gravy notices something is off about him. Very off. Like, somehow this Tord knows Gravy would call him "buddy" buuut.. Tord never called HIM "buddy". Blah blah blah somehow Gravy is in the Red Army. And I don't mean as a soldier, the last thing Tord wants is for him to die actually. As in any timeline, Gravy will work a million jobs. And that's exactly what he does. I'm talking coffee runs and goofy shit like that. Because to me, yeah Red Leader is "WOAAHH crazy leader man scary he's taking over the world" but it's EDDSWORLD, so he's also "aw man. My helmet stinky" "play just dance with me I'm bored" like y'know. Before this concept, I was like "yup. Gravy is the first to die in this timeline" and then it turned into "Tord wants to keep him alive because he'd be dead bored without him"

And I'm serious it's gets so goofy. To a point where THIS Tord also opens up to Gravy, crying about Edd and being like "I'LL JUST GET RID OF ALL THE COKE IN THE WORLD I CANT LOOK AT IT ANYMORE!!" and then he's like "😲💡" and then Gravy talks about his feelings too.

Potentially as well, since Gravy is trained in medical, he could also technically take care of wounded soldiers and almost act as a doctor but ONLY back at headquarters, he's not allowed to go anywhere he'd be in danger. Anyways. Yup. My sick and twisted mind.

[nickrocketrodriguez]

Will Yasammy be affected now after the US election and the threat of anti-queer legislation? Is JWCT Season Three even possible now?

Answering this from a wider, creative perspective -- looking through your blog, you seem VERY upset by the way this election went. So, I wanna be real with you regarding the status of queer stories and our ability to tell them: The entertainment industry as a whole has gotten exponentially more open to the telling of queer stories since I was a kid. Hell, just twentyish years ago, it was a quite a unique sight to see Willow kiss Tara on Buffy! We've come a looooong way since then: on Disney Jr shows -- DISNEY. JR. -- we were able to include queer parents of children (TOTS). Many queer relationships were in She-Ra: Princesses of Power. Queer dads in The Bravest Knight on Hulu. Heartstopper does fucking NUMBERS for Netflix. We got twenty episodes of Dead End: Paranormal Park! Even in Camp Cretaceous, Sammy and Yaz were shown being openly queer, however briefly! Queer representation has come a long way not just in media for older audiences, but for younger ones, too.

Is it perfect? Is it enough? FUCK NO. The hardest stories to get greenlit are queer stories (and POC stories, but that's another... story). The FIRST shows to be axed the moment they don't seem to take off as huge hits are queer stories (and again, POC stories, but let's stay on track). And that's a huge fucking problem, and I understand why you'd be concerned. I still get concerned about it! My friends and colleagues still get concerned about it!

But people older than me fought so hard to earn their place at the storytelling table, and people like me continue to fight the fight and make strides in making sure that queer stories are told in a variety of ways and media, and for various audiences. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle -- closet? XD -- and there's no putting it back, not completely.

The incoming administration may try to roll back our protections. They may try to hurt us and make us hide and all that stupid shit. But those fuckers are cowards. They're disgusting, stupid pigs who think we're just gonna sit down and allow them to demean and disregard and hurt us in order to make us stop telling our stories. But we won't. We can't. We don't know how to stop.

Any anti-queer legislation will be met with extreme opposition, and honestly... I don't know if I'm naive, but I do not expect much of it to actually come to pass. They may try, certainly, but the discrimination lawsuits they will be met with alone will halt any momentum they might gain, and by the time those cases are settled, these fuckers will be out of power.

I will say, we had to fight a little bit to keep Yasammy *authentically* queer (insofar as making sure they showed each other affection in ways that felt realistic and also subtle but ALSO showing them kissing as any average couple would), but we did not have to fight to keep them just plain queer. Like, no one ever questioned the fact of them being together -- or the fact of them being queer. Everyone, including the studio, was behind it 100%. And I will always be so appreciative of that.

TLDR: Chill on the doom-thoughts regarding queer stories. We will continue to tell them, we will continue to break down any barriers that come up, and we will never back down. You shouldn't either.

[insanityclause]

Over the past 13 years, Tom Hiddleston has died more times than he can recall. “Let me think about this,” the actor tells us, pausing to count in his head. “I think, officially, there were two big ones.” 

He’s referring to his many exits from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the blockbuster franchise in which he’s played shape-shifting Norse god Loki Laufeyson since Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film “Thor”—the son of Asgardians Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (Rene Russo), and the half-sibling of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the god of thunder. 

The character has since bounced between villain and reluctant antihero across five films, a handful of post-credits scenes, and Michael Waldron’s Disney+ spinoff series “Loki,” which Hiddleston also executive produces. The show wrapped its second—and supposedly final—season last November. The finale presents an end for the character, but not one of the aforementioned “big ones.” 

Hiddleston’s first “official” farewell came in Alan Taylor’s 2013 sequel “Thor: The Dark World,” which saw the god of mischief take a sword to the chest to save his beefy brother. “As written in the first script, it was a true sacrifice,” Hiddleston says. Unfortunately for Marvel’s long-term plans, the actor had done too good a job playing the trickster.

“When Marvel [executives] were testing the movie, they’d given [viewers] questionnaires that said, ‘Is there anything you didn’t understand?’ ” he remembers. “Literally every single audience member said, ‘Well, obviously, Loki’s not really dead.’ ” 

In classic comic-book fashion, the character did return, gallivanting alongside his brother in Taika Waititi’s 2017 follow-up “Thor: Ragnarok.” He died again one year later (“big one” number two) in the Russo brothers’  “Avengers: Infinity War.” There were no smokescreens or questionnaires this time; audiences watched as Loki’s neck was crushed by the purple fist of intergalactic warlord Thanos (Josh Brolin). 

Hiddleston remembers arriving in Atlanta to shoot his final scene and immediately bumping into Brolin. “He came up to me, gave me this huge hug, and said, ‘I’m so sorry, man.’ ” 

He meant it, too; everyone meant it. The sun, it seemed, had actually set on Hiddleston’s MCU journey. “At the end of that scene, I got a big round of applause, and everybody was so sweet and kind and gracious,” he says. “I got notes and emails saying, ‘Tom, you’ve done so much for us—what a journey. Come and see us anytime.’ I really thought that was the end.” 

And it was, for real, right up until it wasn’t—when the time-traveling shenanigans of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” blasted a younger version of Loki out of the established canon and into his own series. Over two seasons, the multiversal storyline envisions the title character as a figure who exists outside time and space. Across all there is, was, and may come to pass, there will always be a Loki, in some form, wreaking havoc. 

Hiddleston has long since accepted what this means for him as an actor. Maybe “Loki” Season 2 really was his last time in the role; or maybe he’ll play him until the sun burns out. “I’ve realized that, in human consciousness, that’s who Loki is,” he says. “Loki is this ancient, mythic character, who, in our collective mythology, represents the trickster, the transgressor, the boundary-crosser, the shape-shifter—somebody who’s mercurial and spontaneous and unpredictable who will always confound your expectations and wriggle out from underneath your certainties and convictions. Someone who we need and [who] is necessary.”

Hiddleston pauses, getting emotional. “Maybe Loki escaping death a couple of times is sort of an emblem of who he is in our culture,” he says, grinning at his own gusto. The actor has a habit of being self-deprecating about the depth of the character’s lore. “I spend a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.”

You can tell, and it’s incredibly endearing. Talking to Hiddleston about Loki feels like discussing Shakespeare’s Richard III with Laurence Olivier or Tennessee Williams’ Blanche DuBois with Jessica Lange. They were actors who put their definitive stamps on those roles by returning to the well and constantly digging deeper. 

In conversation, Hiddleston is equally as likely to reference comic-book arcs as he is the ancient, anonymous Old Norse scribes of the “Poetic Edda” or Richard Wagner’s epic four-cycle opera “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” He speaks reverently of actors who embodied the trickster god before him, like Jim Carrey in Chuck Russell’s 1994 comedy “The Mask” and Alan Cumming in Lawrence Guterman’s 2005 sequel, “Son of the Mask.” He also heaps praise on those who played the part after him, such as his “Loki” costars Sophia Di Martino, Richard E. Grant, Deobia Oparei, and—in one very surreal Season 1 moment—“some alligator they found somewhere.” He cites legendary Marvel creators Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Walter Simonson alongside the likes of English essayist Walter Pater and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who once wrote of life as a “splendid torch” to keep burning for those who follow.

“Loki is ‘a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment,’ ” Hiddleston quotes, “and I want to make it burn as brightly as I can before passing it on to future generations.” 

This level of study started before he even landed the role. He recalls the 24 hours leading up to his “Thor” audition, when he was 28 years old. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2005, he quickly earned small-screen and stage acclaim—but he hadn’t yet achieved a major breakthrough. When he received the script for “Thor,” it felt familiar. “I remember thinking, This is almost Shakespearean, this language,” Hiddleston says. “What’s the best example I can [look to] of an actor who managed to humanize and make real this elevated world of myth?” 

He found the answer in Christopher Reeve, who played the title role in Richard Donner’s 1978 blockbuster “Superman.” “He’s masterful in that film,” Hiddleston says. “In a way, it’s a similar premise: He’s a god or he’s a being from a different realm, and it’s not naturalistic in the way that we might expect. He does it so truthfully, and it’s so clear and clean and open and honest. I thought, If I can even approximate or get close to the kind of clarity that Christopher Reeve had in those films, I’ll be lucky.” 

And then, the morning of his “Thor” audition, Hiddleston went for a run, “which is my habit before doing anything unusual,” he explains. 

Running has remained a constant throughout the actor’s MCU tenure. At any given moment over the last decade, the god of mischief was likely doing laps around Marvel’s go-to shooting location, Pinewood Studios (now Trilith Studios) in Atlanta. “Life is movement; I really believe that,” Hiddleston says. 

“I find when I’m running or walking, the repetitive nature of it relaxes the mind and allows ideas and inspiration to come from a deeper place. I see my work as an actor—especially in preparation for a project or a scene—as almost preparing myself to be open and ready to receive ideas, to receive energy from other actors, to receive energy from my imagination.”

Hiddleston found the technique particularly helpful when he was filming a scene for the “Loki” series premiere that he calls “one of the most thrilling challenges I’ve ever had as an actor.” In it, Loki has been poached from the flow of time itself by the temporality-policing Time Variance Authority and forced to watch what is, essentially, a highlight reel of his entire MCU arc. It’s one of the most deeply existential moments you’ll ever find streaming alongside the likes of “Bluey” and the “Cars” movies. Here is a man watching the sum total of his life—his hopes, his dreams, his failures, his own death—play out in a 30-second clip that ends with the cold, clinical words: “End of file.”

“I just kept imagining: If you were afforded the opportunity or forced to watch your own death as a bystander, it would bring about an existential shock and crisis unlike any other,” Hiddleston explains. “It was a scene where I thought, I don’t have a reference for how to play this. I just have to allow shock, disgust, disgrace, shame, disbelief, acceptance, incredulity, and sorrow to exist in the center of me.” 

As an executive producer on the series, Hiddleston had a say as to which of Loki’s many misdeeds would play in the sequence. He chose clips like Frigga’s death in “Thor: The Dark World” and his father’s final words in “Thor: Ragnarok”—moments Hiddleston knew would most fill the character with regret. As production was preparing to shoot the scene, he asked first assistant director Richard Graves for a 20-minute warning.

 “I decided to jog around the stage and internalize as many of those memories of those people, those characters, those actors [as possible]—to try and find the center of my own vulnerability,” Hiddleston says. “Part of the joy of it was just going back to basics, trying to simplify this very complex thing…. Go for a jog, get into your body, allow yourself to be open, and just be there; just feel it.”

One “Loki”-like time jump later, Hiddleston found himself in a similar situation as he was preparing to shoot his final moment of Season 2—a scene that effectively caps Loki’s 13-year arc. Across 12 episodes, the show guided its title character toward a truly heroic end: With all of existence on the verge of collapse, he steps out of time to tie the strands of every reality together. As the credits roll, Loki sits at the center of time, holding in place all that is—alone. 

It’s a lot for any actor to internalize, especially one who’s performing solo in front of a blue screen. With 45 minutes to cameras rolling, episode co-director Aaron Moorhead made a suggestion. “He said to me, ‘Why don’t you go back, if you can bear it, and watch some of your work [over] the last 15 years?’ ” Hiddleston remembers. “ ‘Take it in, see what it means to you, and then carry it when you step out onto the stage.’ ” 

The actor took Moorhead’s advice to heart. And suddenly, without meaning to, he was mirroring the moment that started the series: absorbing the sum total of Loki’s MCU run. But this time, his regret had been replaced with gratitude. Hiddleston watched clips from “Thor,” remembering a time when he and Hemsworth had yet to ascend to the A-list. He recalled working with powerhouses like Hopkins and Russo, and the bonds he forged with the “original six Avengers” in 2011. He thought about how fun it was to film “Thor: Ragnarok” with Tessa Thompson and Jeff Goldblum, and of the more recent friendships he found with his “Loki” castmates Di Martino and Owen Wilson. 

“I thought, What Loki is doing, he is doing for his friends. And so, Tom, why don’t you do it for your friends?” Hiddleston says. “That’s where the two of us met in that moment. And then I was so grateful I had this most amazing crew, and we did it together.”

The actor is, of course, noncommittal as to whether this is actually the end of his MCU run. The franchise is scheduled out until at least 2027, and Hemsworth has mentioned his desire to make another “Thor” film. And if Loki’s past has proven anything, even the most official endings can be undone. 

Either way, it seems to Hiddleston that something significant has ended, even if it’s just Loki’s full-circle arc. “I hope it feels redemptive because his broken soul is partially healed; and you see that this character, who is capable of love, has made a decision from and for love,” he says. The actor cites the “beautiful prologue” of the first “Thor” film, in which Hopkins’ Odin tells his two sons: “Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings.”

“At the end of Season 2, Loki is sitting on a kind of throne; but it’s not arrived in the shape he expected, and there’s no glory in it,” Hiddleston explains. “There’s a kind of burden, and he’s alone. He’s doing it for his friends, but he has to stay there without them. There’s a poetic melancholy there which I found very moving.”

For now, Hiddleston “can’t even conceive” of his life without Loki. He only hopes that he’s lived up to his guiding ethos as an actor, which he sums up with a plea from E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howards End”: “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.”

“The feedback loop for actors is that we get to inhabit a fiction,” Hiddleston says. “But hopefully, that fiction bears the shape of a truth that we recognize about life—that what we do reflects the ups and downs, the peaks and troughs, and the breadth and profundity of all of our lives.”

Hiddleston exists in that space between fiction and reality, the work and the resulting art, the prose and the passion. Long after we’ve moved on from our interview and started casually discussing the cherry blossoms blooming in New York, his eyes light up. He’s made another connection, remembered one more thing—just one last thing he’d like to impart about Loki. 

He spends a lot of time thinking about Loki. You can probably tell.

“I’m so aware that the reason I’ve been able to play him for so long is because of the audience’s curiosity and passion,” Hiddleston says. “I’ve been delighted to find that for a character of such stature, he’s remarkably human. Many of the characteristics that people connect to in Loki are deeply human feelings. That’s been the pleasure, is infusing this elevated character with humanity.”

Even then, honestly, it feels as if Hiddleston, like Loki, could go on forever. Unfortunately, outside of the MCU, time moves in only one direction. Once again, he has to run.

This story originally appeared in the June 6 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe to In the Envelope: The Actor's Podcast to hear our full conversation with Hiddleston (out 6/6). 

[writingtraumaforever]

Courtship: Chapter 2

Notes: Here we go! Chapter 2! And ohhh boy, this is gonna be fun.

Summary: Shadow has been researching the courting rituals of the hedgehog. Sonic unknowingly initiates said rituals.

Chapter Select: Chapter 1, Chapter 3

Link to my AO3!

Start:

They’ve been meeting up for months now. 

Since the night Shadow and Sonic planned to meet at the Green Hills sign, they haven’t stopped scheduling rendezvouses. At the end of each of their races, the person deemed the winner— which is often argued over for far too long— chooses the next meeting spot and time.

Sonic picks the police department rooftop once, Shadow picks the rooftop of the ‘Bean Hill Zone’–previously known as Mean Bean, Sonic picks the back alley of the arcade, Shadow picks the mountaintop right past the town limits. Every spot had to be out of sight and discreet, Shadow having obvious anxiety over being seen or recognized. It kind of hurt Sonic’s heart seeing Shadow feel so… hated. 

Typically, their races would end with them arguing the winner and then picking their next spot before leaving. But they recently began to grow into more of a hangout afterwards. Shadow would stick around rather than rushing off or disappearing. He never seemed thrilled about being around Sonic, but he didn’t seem disgusted by the fact, either. So Sonic sees it as progress.

Honestly, Shadow isn’t half bad when he’s not trying to destroy the planet.

He’s kind of quiet. Very quiet, actually. But when he does talk, he has a lot of interesting things to say. Like stuff about the stars and constellations and patterns in the solar system and how they varied from others. He always seemed attentive when Sonic spoke about earth, too. He’d listen when Sonic would go on and on about his favorite locations around the world, about how chili dogs are man’s greatest creation, and how the Olympics had turned him down three times now to being a competitor–which he thought was discriminatory. 

He was also kind of funny! Which shocked Sonic, honestly. He didn’t really laugh. Ever. But he’d drop the most deadpan, dry humor jokes that always threw Sonic off and had him cackling which usually resulted in Shadow giving a tiny smirk and hum of humor, seeming proud of his joke. He got better with time, too. Seeming to pick up on pop culture references Sonic would teach him and use those to his advantage.

One time he told Sonic to check ebay for a life, and Sonic didn’t know what to do with that.

Speaking of pop culture, Sonic let Shadow borrow his old MP3 player! It was loaded with all sorts of good beats and genres. Shadow didn’t seem to like it at first, finding the headphones overwhelming in his ears. But Sonic told him he could play them through the speaker instead, and ever since, Sonic catches him humming tunes he recognizes now and then..

Once he swears he heard him humming ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift, but he’ll never dare to ask or judge.

They take walks when they hangout, mostly. Slowing down to just trot through the woods or hike along the mountains and end somewhere that seems like a good enough view to chill. They don’t do this on purpose. It just sort of flows that way.

And while Shadow’s personality is a bit difficult to navigate at times.. Sonic enjoys his company. A lot. Maybe a little too much.

For a long while, he kept this a secret from his family under the guise that he was simply going out for a run. But when he stayed out a little too late one night and didn’t get home until 3 AM, Maddie and Tom were absolutely rampant with worry and demanded he be truthful with them. So he told them. Maddie seemed a bit shocked but open. Tom?? Tom seemed.. reluctant is a weak word for it..

‘I forbid you from seeing him anymore!’

‘Forbid me?? Like a disney villain??’

‘What he means is that we expect you to be more honest with us about who you’re hanging out with, but we trust your judgment.’

‘No. No, I mean forbid. It’s forbidden. It’s a rule. I just made it. Forbid.’

‘Thomas..’

‘Ow! Stop pinching my arm!’

‘This is so unfair! You haven’t even given him a chance, yet!’

‘I don’t need to give him a chance! Last I saw that little psycho, he had me pinned to the floor with a gun to my head declaring it justice!’

‘He was confused! He had been brainwashed into believing that revenge is what his sister wanted as her dying wish!’

‘Oh that poor baby..’

‘Baby!? Maddie– did you not hear what I just said???’

‘I know, Tom. I was there. And while it was traumatizing, I think Sonic is right. He deserves a chance. Knuckles had been manipulated and nearly annihilated Sonic when we first met him, too. And look at him now.’

‘..Okay, fine. A chance is one thing, but why does does that chance have to be one we give??’

‘Because he doesn’t have anyone else!... He’s lonely. And he doesn’t say it, but I think he’s scared a lot. He lost his family.. I think he just needs a friend. You can’t take me away from him.. I’m all he has.’

‘....Okay. Okay, I’m crazy for this, but okay. You can.. keep seeing Shadow.’

‘Ugh. Stop saying it like that. You make it sound like we’re dating–’

‘But I want to meet him, first. Man-to-hedgehog. He has to earn my trust and approval. Prove he’s changed.’

‘...Sure! Yeah, he’ll totally be down for that!’

“I am totally not down for that.”

“Whaaaat?? Come on, Shads–”

“Don’t call me that.” “--You gotta meet my folks, or they’ll like- forever be up my case.”

“I fail to see how that’s my problem.” “It’s your problem because that’ll make us hanging out wayyy more difficult. And you can act like that doesn’t bother you all you want, but I so know it does.”

Sonic is waltzing along the railing of a bridge in the woods, Shadow walking alongside him close enough to grab him if Sonic falls–not that Shadow cares.

He doesn’t.

Wobbling in his steps, Sonic continues when Shadow’s only response is a grunt, “What’ll it hurt?? It’s just my parents, they’re not gonna bite.”

“I don’t fear them..,” Shadow scoffs, arms crossed tight as he glares at Sonic, “I simply don’t need their approval.”

“Don’t think of it as approval. Think of it as.. Just getting to know new people! Mom definitely just wants to talk to you. Dad may have.. other intentions, but he’s harmless. Promise.”

“Anyone deemed the Lord of Donuts has to be harmless.” “Exactly! So what do ya say??”

Shadow doesn’t answer, just stops when Sonic hops down to land in front of him with that stupid grin. Shadow huffs a bit, looking off to the side rather than at Sonic. He can see how much this means to him in those big, bright emerald eyes, and it’s tiresome.

He’s never questioned why Sonic cares for these people when they aren’t his real family. He’s never questioned why Sonic stays with them despite not needing to to survive..

He knows for a fact he’d still be with Maria if given the chance..

No, this isn’t a matter of why Sonic cares so much about his family’s opinion. He’s been intrigued and honestly a bit refreshed seeing another hedgehog with a human family..

No, it’s why Sonic cares about their opinion of him that gets Shadow bothered.

Why does he need to be involved??

Though, he has his suspicions..

He’s been reading up on the courting rituals of hedgehogs. He was raised with humans, so he isn’t quite familiar with this part of his DNA’s customs. But from what the earth books have told him, and while Sonic isn’t the same as an earth hedgehog, it’s all he’s got to go off of.

And hedgehog’s pursue their potential mate. Challenge them. Chase them. Then they circle them to feel out their mate.. See if there’s a chance for matching with them..

All things Sonic seems to have done with Shadow.

Then there’s snorting. Where the pursuer will snort at their mate and see if they’ll snort back. Sonic often snorts when he’s joking with Shadow.. And Shadow has joked back in return..

And as far as human customs go when pursuing a mate… meeting one’s parents is definitely part of it. It’s often thought of as a more serious step, in fact.

Shadow has had his suspicions all along of what Sonic’s intentions were in searching him out and very persistently sticking around. This just confirms it.

And Shadow… Shadow has been enabling such courting rituals. He’s been participating. He’s agreed to numerous meetings with this hedgehog. He’s enjoyed their conversations and time together, and he’s not looking for them to end. He’s, in all aspects of the word, reciprocated Sonic’s advances.

So to turn Sonic down now?? It would be cruel, wouldn’t it?? And Shadow isn’t even sure he wants to turn Sonic down. He isn’t ready for any sort of relationship, absolutely not. He still has a lot of trauma he needs to work through, but having Sonic as a companion through it.. doesn’t sound horrible. He’d prefer it, actually. He thinks.

He can’t lose Sonic. He does know that.

And if meeting Sonic’s family formerly will allow them to continue this courting dance they’ve been partaking in to see where it goes, then so be it.

“Very well.”

Sonic blinks, “Wait- what?”

“I accept your invitation to meet your family.”

Sonic immediately grins, his tail wagging practically as fast as the hedgehog runs, “You mean it?” “Why would I say something I didn’t mean??” “Oh, thank you, Shadow!” Sonic jumps up and down excitedly, and Shadow can’t help but smile a tiny smile at the sight of his excitement, “You won’t regret it.” “We’ll see..”

And so Sonic went home to let his family know they’d be having a guest for dinner the upcoming Friday. Maddie seemed nervous-excited, immediately going on about how she’s going to cook up this fantastic dinner for him. Tom seems a on guard about this, but he’s also agreed to go into it with an open mind.

It’s his brothers Sonic really has to worry about.

“So.. why is Shadow coming over again??” Tails asks, spinning around in his chair with a tiny gadget and screwdriver in hand. Sonic has no idea what he’s working on, and he’s learned not to ask since he won’t understand ha;f the explanation anyway.

“Because he needs friends. And we can be those friends,” Sonic assures with a thumbs up.

“But.. he tried to destroy the world,” Tails argues with a knit in his brow, tilting his head at Sonic.

“And he broke my hand! My glorious hand..,” Knuckles adds, holding his fist up dramatically. 

Sonic sighs at this, rolling his eyes, “Yes, I know. And he’s sorry for those things.”

“I have not heard an apology from him,” the echidna huffs, arms crossed disapprovingly.

“That’s because you haven’t seen him since it happened,” Sonic replies, looking between this two misfit brothers, “Look. I know we all have history with him–” “Bad history.” “He scares me.” “Anyway, I also know we all can relate to him, huh??” Tails and Knuckles exchange unsure glances before Sonic is quickly moving to Tails, “Tails, buddy, you’ve felt out of place and alone in the world before! You know how awful it is.. How it can be hard to navigate the right direction without someone to guide you..” “That’s.. true..,” Tails agrees before giggling when Sonic ruffles the fur on his head. 

Sonic then dashes to Knuckles, throwing an arm around him and shaking him roughly, “And you, Knucklehead–”

Knuckles punches Sonic in the chest, making Sonic stumble back with a chuckle.

“I am nothing like that fiend–” “Know what it’s like to have something horrible rip you from your family and be manipulated into hurting others as a way to seek justice for them..”

Knuckles goes silent at that, opening his mouth only to close it again with a thoughtful hum.

“...I suppose that’s true,” Knuckles nods, seeming won over by Sonic’s point.

“Exactly! You too have fallen victim to a Robotnik before– we all have in some way. Everyone makes mistakes, right?? We just gotta recognize those mistakes and grow from them.. So what makes Shadow any different??”

Knuckles and Tails are both quiet a long moment, looking at Sonic, then down, then each other..

Both slowly smile, Knuckles speaking as he looks back to Sonic,

“Very well. We shall allow our rival one trial. But if he fails, I will not hesitate to destroy him before he has a chance to destroy our tribe again..” “Fair enough,” Sonic nods with a grin, looking to Tails who nods in agreement.

“I trust you, Sonic. If you say Shadow has changed, then he’s changed,” the kit beams confidently, full loyalty in his big brother. Though, his smile grows a bit nervous, “But just.. Maybe he can prove he’s changed from a distance?” “Sure thing, buddy! I’ll be between you two at all times if it’ll make you feel better.” “Much, thanks,” Tails breathes in relief.

Sonic grins at this, “Good. Glad we’ve all come to an agreement then. Wachowski bros gotta stick together, right??” “Yeah! Team Heroes!” Tails grins, putting his fist out only for Sonic to fist bump him with a, “Red, Blue and Yellow!?” to which Knuckles then joins the group fist bump with a unanimous, “Hello!”

They all laugh amongst each other for a moment.. Only for Sonic get dead serious once they get quiet again and add,

“Okay. Now we gotta talk about you guys not embarrassing me.”