#but some i WISH i could just take clips of the animated show they're in that doesn't exist and edit them together to the song

[hell0mega]

when it comes to songs you have for your OCs there's a difference between a song that people would hypothetically make AMVs to and songs they'd make animatics to

[duhragonball]

Daima 1: Conspiracy

So I don't really want to liveblog this show while it's still ongoing, but I'm not sure how else to describe what I'm doing. What I want to do is delve into the show's characters and plot, and kind of get into what makes it tick. I just saw Episode 4 earlier today, and I just keep finding myself impressed with the way Daima keeps getting story beats so *right*. So maybe if I write about it enough, some of that talent will rub off on me.

To start us off, Episode 1, "Conspiracy", is 32 minutes long, and as far as I can tell, this is done to accommodate a ten minute segment that introduces the audience to the Dragon Ball concept. It's a lot like the opening sequence of Super Hero, but longer and more detailed.

If I hadn't seen it myself, I would be tempted to call this a mistake, because a ten-minute lore dump is pretty tiresome for an audience to sit through, but it turns out to be highly effective here. eight minutes of this is two of the main villains, Gomah and Degesu, watching a highlight reel of the Buu Saga and reacting to all the crazy stuff that happens. This works for the following reasons.

First and foremost, Dragon Ball Z kicks ass. Most movies and TV shows would benefit from having their characters just vegging out and watching about 65 episodes of DBZ in a row. And it's a visual feast, because Gomah has some magic dome with dozen of screens floating all around them, so they can see everything going on, and all of the footage is gorgeously re-animated for this episode. They could have gotten away with using clips from Dragon Ball Kai, but they went the extra mile and made it special.

Second, this is a great way to introduce the villains and demonstrate their relationships with the other characters. As they watch, it becomes clear that Gomah and Degesu know the bad guys. Dabura is their king, Babidi is their enemy who enslaved their king, and Majin Buu is a monster capable of conquering all of creation. They also know the Supreme Kai, because Degesu is his brother, and they don't seem to like him very much. They also recognize Piccolo and Dende as Namekians, as well as the Dragon Balls. Apparently they have that stuff in their own Demon Realm too, but they didn't know the Namekians had left the Demon Realm to settle in the outer universe.

On the other hand, Gomah and Degesu have no knowledge of the Saiyans who fought against Majin Buu. They don't know how Goku and Vegeta transform or shoot light from their hands, and they have no idea how they can be powerful enough to keep challenging Buu and holding their own. Degesu suggests that they might be Majins themselves, except they don't have pointed ears. Apparently Demon Realm races all have pointy ears. The exact distinction between Majins and Demons is still unclear to me, but we'll get into that later, I'm sure.

The point is that it makes sense for Gomah and Degesu to watch all this footage. They knew Dabura had left Demon Realm for a rare trip to the outer universe, but they didn't know why or what happened to him. Then they find out Babidi mind-controlled him into helping with this Majin Buu plan, which is a huge threat to their kingdom. Then Buu kills Dabura and Babidi, and then gets defeated himself by a band of warriors they know nothing about. Oh, and there's Dragon Balls on this one planet and they're easy to use and grant three wishes. Any one of those developments would be huge news in Demon Realm, but Gomah learns about all all four all at once.

That's the key, I think. If you opened "Empire Strikes Back" with eight minutes of the Emperor watching clips from "A New Hope", it would suck, because all he really needs to know is that Luke Skywalker used the Force to destroy the Death Star, and it doesn't take that long to get that information across. Also, his reaction would be pretty muted. At most he'd kind of look irritated or intrigued. Gomah pulls this off because he has a conniption every time something important happens. When Dabura dies he's horrified, then Degesu reminds him he's next in line for Dabura's throne, so he's overjoyed to be the new king, but then he starts panicking again because he knows Babidi will send Buu after him next. It's fun watching him squirm over this eight-minute scene, because he has so much invested in each new development.

To use an example from Dragon Ball, there's an episode of Z where Master Roshi explains the history of the Red Ribbon Army to Maron. It happens some time during the Goku vs. 19 fight, so we're already knee-deep into the Androids Saga. The flashback was probably worth doing just to bring newer viewers up to speed on why Dr. Gero hates Goku so much, but most of the characters in the show already know the story, so there's not really anyone else to tell it to except Maron, a filler character who doesn't care and vanishes from the show soon afterwards. That scene only happened because the anime needed to pad out another episode so the manga could "catch up" to their production schedule. I think fans at the time at least tolerated it as a clip show kind of thing, but it served no purpose aside from keeping the TV show from skipping a week. If they had done that kind of thing for multiple episodes in a row, I think they would have risked losing viewers.

Anyway, the next six minutes of "Conspiracy" show Gomah discussing this new post-Dabura world with Degesu and Degesu's sister, Dr. Arinsu. This sets up the plot. At first, Gomah is bewildered by the events of the Buu Saga, but Degesu assures him that with Buu's defeat, his reign as king is now secure. With Babidi, Buu, and Dabura out of the way, there's no one left to oppose him. But Dr. Arinsu reminds him of the warriors who defeated Buu, and what might happen if they decided to come after Gomah next.

So it looks like these three characters--King Gomah, Degesu, and Dr. Arinsu-- are the main villains of the series. The important lesson here is that they work because they have very different motives and goals. If they didn't, then there would be no need for three villains at all. It could just be one bad guy.

This was something that GT and Super both struggled with back in the day. Lots of fans point to Baby as a highlight of GT, but Baby constantly surrounds himself with Machine Mutants and Tuffellized slaves who basically agree with everything he says. The Super 17 saga featured Dr. Gero and Dr. Mu teaming up to control two versions of Android 17, and all four of them had a single motive to share between them: Kill Goku. The two 17's merged together, and Mu turned on Gero, but it hardly mattered because their agenda was so thin.

Meanwhile in *Super*, Goku Black and Zamasu were literally the same person. This was probably intended to be creepy and weird, and I suppose it did help illustrate Zamasu's narcissistic worldview, but it also limited the possibilities for the story. There was never going to be any dissension between the villains, so every time they talked to each other it was to congratulate themselves on how well they agreed. Then they merged together and it didn't matter, because they were so alike from the start.

The Super movies corrected this problem well. Frieza and Paragus had very different plans for Broly, and Magenta and Dr. Hedo had very different plans for Hedo's creations. There were also characters like Berryblue and Carmine who basically backed up their leaders, but they still had their own personalities. Berryblue liked to press Frieza's buttons a little, and Carmine was a lot less diplomatic than his boss.

In Daima, it goes like this: King Gomah wants to secure his new position as ruler of the Demon Realm. He's weak and he knows it, which is why he seems to receptive to the counsel of Degesu and Arinsu. Meanwhile, Dr. Arinsu depends on the research funding she was getting from King Dabura. Gomah isn't too keen on continuing that funding, so she suggests that he might be in danger from the Z-Fighters. And that convinces Gomah to go to Earth to defeat them first.

This is where the Dragon Balls really shine as a story engine. It sounds so simple that it feels weird to explain it, but you collect all seven balls and you get a wish, so there has to be a discussion about what the characters wish for. Gomah wants to use one wish to neutralize the Z-Fighters, but he'd get two more, which leads him to consider another desire: The Evil Third Eye. We don't find out much about this, except that it's really powerful, and the previous Demon Kings used to have it before it was lost. So it makes a lot of sense for Gomah to want it, since he's all about consolidating his power.

What about Degesu? Well, for the most part he sure seems like he's content to play the faithful advisor. Somehow he wound up working for Gomah, and now that Gomah is king, it seems like his career is really paying off. But while Gomah is considering his third wish, Degesu asks if *he* could get a wish for himself. Gomah says he'll think about it, and we never find out his answer, but it's enough that Degesu asked at all. He must want *something*, and that something must not fit into Gomah's plans, or else Degesu would simply talk Gomah into wishing for it himself.

And that's what makes this trio so interesting. Gomah's pretty much an open book. We know exactly what he wants and why. Degesu wants something, but he's playing a long game, and it might be a while before we find out what it is. And Dr. Arinsu... Well, she wants funding for her research, but I think it's also clear that she wants Gomah to go to Earth and set this story into motion. How does that get her funding approved? And why didn't she just go to Earth and try to use the Dragon Balls to make her own wishes? Very mysterious.

The funny thing is that these three could easily be described like they were some fan OC's. "Hey, here's my cool villain team. Their leader is Dabura's son maybe, and the other two are the Supreme Kai's brother and sister, so they're like Kai's, but they're *Dark Demon Kais* and they're evil." It just goes to show that every character is somebody's OC. What sets the good ones apart is the personality and motives you give them. Stop worrying about power scaling and what color their auras are, and start thinking about what they want and how their goals conflict with other characters' goals.

Once Gomah is ready for his trip, he brings along Neva, an ancient Namekian who is apparently the only one who didn't leave the Demon Realm to settle in the outside universe. Neva created the Demon Realm's set of Dragon Balls, but he also set up powerful guardians called Tamigami to protect them. So no one in the Demon Realm can actually use the Dragon Balls to get a wish. This vexes Gomah to no end, but he figures he can still make use of Neva's abilities to exploit the Earth's Dragon Balls.

As it turns out, Neva has the power to immediately locate Dragon Balls, even when they're stones. He can also summon them together instantly, and on top of that, he can force them to reactivate for an immediate wish. So he's a pretty impressive guy. Dende can't even stop them, because his only leverage here is that he knows the Dragon's name is Shenron, except Degesu took notes during their viewing of Buu Saga, so he already knows how to summon the Dragon.

And that sets up the big wish to make Goku and the others into children. Gomah reasons that the Earth's Dragon would never be able to grant a wish for murder, so he figures the next best thing is to make Goku and his friends small children instead. This way they'll be weaker and easier to deal with. And that's the part everyone knew going into this show. The first episode closes with that de-aging scene, which is pretty impressive to me. We all knew it would happen, so it seems like a weak cliffhanger, but it works because the beginning and middle of the episode sets it up so well. We now know how and why the gang got turned into children, and we also know that there's more to this than just making another wish to undo it.

The stakes aren't entirely clear yet. Gomah seems like he'd be content to reign over the Demon World unchallenged, but if he could defeat the guys who beat Majin Buu, if he could obtain the Evil Third Eye, then maybe he might consider picking up where Babidi left off. With no one to oppose him why can't he conquer the outside universe for himself? And there's still the question of what Dr. Arinsu is planning behind the scenes. Oh, and maybe Neva is more than the senile Namek that he appears to be. So there's a lot to unpack. Oh, and also some blue guy was spying on Gomah when he cooked up this whole plot, so we'll have to find out what his whole deal is.

There's other stuff to talk about in this episode, like the timeline placement, Kibitoshin getting unfused early, and that shot of mpreg Goku with his polycule, but like I said, I don't want to do a whole thing on this show while it's still airing. For now, I'm just basking in the glow of this unfolding plot.

[myloveforhergoeson]

hold on.... just thought of an online songs au where daisy put in the link to a performance by brand new day instead.... out of the three which would daisy be most enamored by and what would her dynamic with each of them be?

oh... oh wow.... my friend i love you and your big beautiful mind... this is such a cool little concept. a foray into original fiction LMAO

first, to share something slightly on topic, roxy exists in the os universe lmao. she's with james because i made her and i said so!!!!!! in this world, the thing with bnd still happened, so they're not together anymore, she moves schools and she's focusing on her own thing :)

so au of an au, daisy accidentally finds a brand new day video. right off the bat i think the music is entirely too much for her unfortunately; even though kendall sings pop punk music too, she's kind of micro-dosing with his acoustic versions. it's going to take some time for her to be like "oh wow, okay this is cool" because like all the music she listens to comes from her grandparents and church...

if she were to find herself interacting with roxy, mag, and dani i think her dynamic with each of them would be pretty different!

roxy and daisy would be friends, i like to think, but the two of them don't really have much in common. they both like to read, so that's a nice start. roxy doodles in her notebook sometimes and daisy loves to draw. but other than that... rox is super into pop culture and the latest happening and daisy lives in a completely different world. so i think their dynamic would mirror the one she and kendall will have in online songs when they first start seriously talking; just kind of showing her the ropes of tech and pop culture and whatnot. i don't think either of them would be romantically attracted to the other, but i do think secretly they'd each think the other was so cool and sweet and nice in their own special ways. daisy has traits roxy wishes she did and vice versa!

mag and daisy... look. i'm a sucker for good girl x bad boy. gotta be one of my fav tropes. but... bnd's music is still too much for dais right off the bat so i think that mag wouldn't really fuck with her after he learned that lol. his one goal in life is breaking the music industry and he's not really wasting time interacting with or talking to people that don't really slot into the future he's set up for himself. but i mean he wouldn't be dick to her or anything. i can see him like joking around with her about her lack of pop culture knowledge and telling her the crazy celebrity conspiracies he def believes in. maybe if they were older and mag mellowed out a bit more, he could find himself attracted to her if they had more in common. i don't see a world where daisy ever really finds herself attracted to him though.

dani and daisy is interesting to me... she'd probably find herself enamored with them more than the other two. there's still the music barrier i fear, but, dani comes from a pretty traditional and religious family like daisy does. i think that despite their religious upbringings being different, they could relate to each other on that front! i do think she'd find the drums more interesting to play than guitar just because it's so much more animated - so if she found a really good clip of dani drumming i could see her watching that a lot like she watched kendall's video :) i also imagine that of the three, dani is most chill. they're slightly more introverted than mag and roxy are so their energy level would also be way better for daisy to handle!! i think given time they could find themselves in a little something-something :p dani is pretty fond of nature too, just like daisy is too. they can have some sweet hikes all around minnesota and virginia

idk what do yall think? maybe i just don't like mag so much i'm not able to see his similarities to kendall lol. because, i mean, daisy is going to learn that kendall has a mean streak eventually so... hm. interesting!! tysm for this cross-over question i just ADORE IT <3

[c0ntr0lledchaos]

oh god the brain rot.

generation loss brain dump under the cut as I go back and analyze the vod

so, my first thoughts are the set is very different in this episode, and we see that the more gl!ranboo moves around. The first episode was very much a stage-like set while this one was set in what looks like a mall. if that has anything to do with this episode showing more characters becoming aware of their situation and it not being just a show anymore idk.

It's fairly obvious that while looking for the key in gl!Charlie something happened so that the act was dropped for a couple seconds and what was 'really' happening was shown. I wonder if that was due to the person who has been communicating with gl!ranboo (I'm assuming they're 'the savior') trying to hack in.

that last point also makes me wonder if at the end of this, we will see clips from the first episode shown in a 'new light' and see what was actually happening. I already saw someone point out that the bowl of slime looked the same as the guts. was gl!charlie covered in blood actually? Were some of the ingredients not what they seemed?

Mr squiggles saying 'Hey new friends!' to a group of people tied up with bombs around their necks was just the start of all the creepy vibes I was getting from them this episode

THE HAT. Mr squiggles did not like the hat. the hat is defiantly the one gl!Sneeg wore in episode 1 but it is also implied it was planted in this episode since Mr. Squiggles says 'Who put that there.' (That is later confirmed by the savior as he was trying to save gl!Sneeg as well) as soon as gl!Sneeg put the hat on he immediately started freaking out and his eyes start darting around the room. we already saw that the slime was guts but what else did he see I wonder

the chills I got when the showfall masks came into view

gl!Sneeg gets back in place, the mind-control mask is removed, a new hat is put on his head, and the person doesn't even bother to handcuff him again before leaving, confident that he wouldn't try to escape. then everything goes back to normal and gl!Sneeg is notably using his 'streamer voice'

in that scene the camera also focuses on the puzzler's face a few times, showing a look of what I believe was confusion. he didn't know what was going on but was aware of what was happening unlike everyone else

Mr squiggles also goes on as if this is the first time they are acknowledging gl!Sneeg

again, Mr squiggles with a cute little animation saying 'I like them all, I wish they could all live' just unsettling now

The puzzler seems to have just a little bit of knowledge about what is actually going on, hinting to Chat being in control of helping during the choosing of who gets to live and also when gl!Sneeg and gl!Niki are about to go through the tunnel

shout out to @twilight-trix who translated the winding:

"Ah it's simple you just have to find the cage"

"The cage that's in Charlie remember?"

"Another piece is in a jar of something sweet"

"The last one comes at a price :/"

the fact that all the other victims were kept alive means they planned for all of them to die in the games and puzzles. for gl!Niki's death even though Mr squiggles had already said a price needed to be paid, the puzzler still acts surprised that she had to die even though he was the one who killed her

also, I scanned the QR code, it just takes you to the genloss website. buy their merch, this shit is fantastic

this fucking screenshot has no business being that creepy

so showfall grabbed the back of the mask and the light on the logo came on but what exactly did that do? did it just up the filtering considering what was 'really' about to happen would have been pretty gruesome. EDIT: so I didn't notice before but the mask flashed and turned off as Ranboo went to leave the room. maybe the mask only works for so long before it has to be turned back on?

again, the puzzler seems as if he is talking about chat, saying that someone is saying his puzzles are too easy and 'is this one too easy' before another pipe puzzle shows up on the screen. he even finish the puzzle for us

gl!ranboo said a few things threw out the episode that sounded like generic videogame protag dialogue but it felt strange having the prompts like 'where should I search?' but not giving us the option to actually choose. I wonder if that is due to the first episode being a point-and-click style while this one was more dedicated to puzzles. is he still stuck on point-and-click mode? or are the other NPCs searching before we even get the option?

speaking of protag dialogue, gl!ranboo says 'It must not be the way, maybe there is somewhere else' in the same tone while staring hard at gl!Ethan, the next person to die. I've been thinking about how much control showfall has over everyone in this episode since they seem to have at least a little control over everyone except the savior trying to help gl!ranboo. I don't think gl!ranboo knew that gl!Ethan was next to die but I also don't think he is the one talking when he says stuff like that. just like a game's dialogue is supposed to prompt the player in the right direction, I think showfall is using him to prompt their show in the direction they want it to go. not all the time but at least sometimes

he also does not react at all to gl!Ethan dying or the pool of blood, speaking again in the same tone

and now that gl!Ethan has died, gl!ranboo is the first to say the other door is the exit even though he had just said that it must not be that door. he even volunteers to go first! I wonder if in the next episode, gl!ranboo will feel guilt over the deaths he was forced to help cause

the puzzler is fiddling with the detonator, working on it for some reason. why?

'I hope he's ok' gl!ranboo says in the same unfeeling protag voice. there is a chance he is just doing it whenever to drive home the fact of he is a protag but whatever

gl!ranboo solves a freaking Rubix cube in less than a minute then immediately says that he doesn't know what to do. yes, it might have been just an excuse to flex his Rubix cube skills but him saying that after makes me think. Gl!ranboo is a really smart person but is being controlled by showfall to forward the plot whenever they see fit. just how much of the actual gl!ranboo have we seen and how much has been showfall speaking through him?

I think this is further proven when he declines to solve the other cube in favor of looking around more even though we saw how fast he could do it the first time

the puzzler says he had been prototyping toys that go on people's heads, could he have helped make the mask gl!ranboo is wearing? what if he is an ex showfall employee and that's why he seems to know a little bit about chat

I think the fact that the camera remains on the empty chair for so long means that showfall was not prepared for us to go into that room. gl!ranboo was not supposed to go in there

the puzzler knew he was going to die but didn't know how. he knew that showfall was going to kill him

the puzzler tells gl!ranboo to go, to be set free, and gl!ranboo ignore it. once again showing how he is under Showfall's control

even while the savior talks Mr squiggles is trying to tell gl!ranboo and us not to trust him

gl!ranboo looks at all the cameras, looking at the one that was following him just as it fades out

closing thoughts:

the cast is made up of npcs, gl!ranboo (who is the only playable character), and the savior who is not under showfalls control.

the 'vilians' are not actually villains, seen as gl!charlie (and I do mean gl!charlie and not cc!charlie) played a random person this episode and also the villain from the first episode. the npc's are random people who have had personalities programed by snowfall to help push the protagonist forward, like most story. I made a joke to my partner about gl!sneeg being 'factory reset' when the mask was put on him but I think that is more true than I realized.

the puzzler is still an npc but is special, he was on showfalls hitlist for some reason. I am going to go ahead and guess he was a former employee and because of that he has managed to retain some of the information even after being put in the show. that is why he knew he was going to die and spoke to chat a couple times.

finally, gl!ranboo, the only playable character but not to us. I belive it is showfall who is 'playing' gl!ranboo and is simply letting us make a few choices along the way. that would explain why we didn't get to control gl!ranboo as much as we did in the first episode. we are the viewer's, not the players. why we get to control him at all? I'm sure that will be discovered in the next episode now that the fourth wall is gone.

also, the mask is definitely who gl!ranboo is being controlled so storywise it would make sense if at the end of this, when he truly brakes free, he takes it off. while I'm not entirely sure if that is going to happen I have two guesses on what might happen if it does.

he takes the mask off and this is the biggest fucking face reveal ever that will be extremely difficult to beat

or he has some really cool gory sfx makeup under it that will be horrifying.

I will not be disappointed no matter what happens though so until then, we will just have to wait for the next episode.

[meowstix]

ok so uh. here's my Big List Of Changes I'd Make To Bakuten Shoot Beyblade. off the top of my head.

s1:

be less 🤨 about some of the one-off teams. racism in beyblade is a whole can of worms that i don't feel super confident in talking about overall (seeing as how i am well. very much white) but at the very least there's a couple things that stand out as questionable and this is definitely the easiest fix in regards to that

that's about it

v-force/2002:

WHY THE HELL IS EVERYONE LIKE NOTICEABLY PALER. give them some fucking sun jfc (this also applies to g-rev)

this is one of the larger ones but include atleast an episode or two showing teams from s1. in particular i'm imagining neo-borg early on (see ozma defeating yuriy in the manga), the ppb team during the america eps, and. ok i'm admittedly not sure how you'd work baihuzu and the euro team in there but whatever

psykick should not exist. make zagart be responsible for everything from the start and call him out on all of the fucked up shit he's responsible for

instead of doing a bunch of random goon episodes make them do silly filler things with Maybe a goon thrown in at the end

g-revolution:

rubs hands together. there's a LOT to go over here for starters either treat daichi better or don't include him at all. if you were to opt to remove him then have kyojyu fight alongside takao instead

i don't actually know what to do with the world tournament but it definitely needs a full overhaul. on one hand the character balancing was doomed from the start but also i do kind of wish team cybers was there.

on the topic of the world tournament remove tao entirely. we did not fucking need the "pervy old man" archetype in beyblade. who the fuck thought that was not only okay but necessary

MAKE BARTHEZ SOLDAT MORE RELEVANT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THEY'RE ONE OF LIKE TWO INTERESTING THINGS HAPPENING.

speaking of which lean more into takao's struggles with fame

let kai and yuriy be anything more than Edgy. let them have depth. please. (i know yuriy did get to have depth for a bit but in his case i mean during the world tournament)

ideally i think takao vs kai, and really takao's battles with all of his teammates, would be a showcase of how far they've come since the start of the series. call back to their first encounters, show how they've changed, all of that stuff.

and speaking of kai. oh boy. time for the bega arc. for a long ass time i struggled to think of a reason for kai to join, but i think i've got it. after not only his loss to takao but possibly other fights during the world tournament, kai genuinely feels like he's falling behind. volkov takes advantage of this and while kai ultimately knows not to trust him, he's desperate.

this then ties into his conflict with brooklyn. brooklyn is in a similar position to how kai used to be at the start of the show, albeit less uh. Violent. so, kai not only learns how to deal with his own conflict, but also helps brooklyn deal with that same inevitability of burnout.

also, remove the whole aspect of brooklyn not enjoying beyblading because i can definitely see why the beyblade anime would be hesitant to have a character quit beyblading because they fucking hate it. this also fully allows the moral of brooklyn's story to change from "just work hard lol" to "you will never be perfect, and that's okay."

god dammit this could also tie into takao abandoning what the media and public expect of him i just now realized this one IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER I TELL YA.

you know the clip that's like "you're taking everything i say out of context to make it sound like i think coolsville sucks" and they cut it down to "i think coolsville sucks". i want more of that vibe

here's probably The most major change. the justice 5 matches? to hell with that. instead go for a hades city-style break in, allowing everyone to showcase their own unique strengths even outside of beyblading, and letting all of the main characters win their own respective fights.

and lastly, and this is the most crucial thing: cut it with that attitude of being Cool and Edgy. you are a fucking beyblade anime, embrace that! stop trying to act like you're Above power of friendship and silly spinning tops! have some fucking whimsy in your life.

oh also i guess like. acknowledge sacred beasts existing even if they're not really plot relevant. i kind of forgot about that

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

part three of the Vast!Jon AU that is taking over my life

Have some Martin.

Danny Stoker is part of this, now?

Yes, EVERYBODY HAS TO CRY. Shut up.

---------------------

Martin’s frilly, pink apron is almost too saturated on camera, but he knows that’s how the viewers love it. He’s even added a pop of lip gloss today, a shade between the apron and the hearts it bears.

“Now, you’ll know it’s done in two ways,” he says, donning his thick oven mitts - wildly orange, but the hearts on them match his apron exactly. “First, the smell. You’ll recognize it after you’ve baked this recipe about six times. There’s nothing quite as good as these orange-cranberry muffins when they reach this stage, and if you’re in a place where you can smell it, it’s incredible. Fortunately, there’s a more reliable, less woo-woo way, too.” He waggles his eyebrows and gives a brilliant smile.

It’s his on-camera smile.

And his applying-for-jobs smile.

And his meeting-new-people smile.

It is sweet, and hopeful, and his eyes aren’t quite closed, and his chin is raised, and it comes across as open and kind and not quite vulnerable enough to invite hurt.

Sure, some people try, but they're trolls, and he just blocks them.

“Behold: your secret weapon!” And he brandishes a toothpick.

Tim laughs off-camera.

Danny mutters something like, “Yeah, they’ve never seen that before.”

“Yeah, well, maybe they haven’t,” says Martin, turning to them for the briefest moment before smiling back at his livestream. “The toothpick is your greatest weapon - well. After learning how to fold instead of stir, anyway. Look, this little guy can tell you if it’s ready, better than a thermometer, or knocking on it, or whatever else you've been told. Let me show you. Now, I know from the smell that the muffins aren’t ready, so I get to show you what it looks like when they’re not.”

He does.

The muffins need a few more minutes, and that is perfect, because he shows the camera how batter clings to the toothpick.

“Time for an awkward cut,” he says, and then there is an awkward cut.

Because there���s nothing to do until the damn muffins are done.

Fortunately, everybody loves the wait for it animation: a tiny version of him with anime eyes, huge, red curly hair, a chef’s hat, and his ubiquitous apron, prancing back and forth from the counter to the stove in an unending loop.

“You’re nearly there,” says Tim, who gets it, who understands why Martin is fucking distracted today.

No one who didn’t personally know Martin would know.

Anyone who does know him could clearly see he is a mess.

“I,” says Martin, and doesn’t finish his sentence.

Jon’s plane went down. That is all anyone knows. That is all anybody can tell him.

Neither tears nor manipulation will bring more info, and so Martin must wait.

He is not okay.

“Ready?” says Danny, keeping them - as always - on schedule. “Three, two….”

“Look at this!” says Martin a moment later, drawing a clean toothpick from the middle muffin. “Now, we’re talking. Oh… everyone, I wish you could smell this.” 

And he does one of his little moans.

Those moans are what made his channel.

Someone tried to make #BlackwoodMoan work for a while (like that movie with Samuel L. Jackson), but the fan base rose up and declared Martin too good, too pure to be associated in such a way.

#MartinMoan is the hashtag.

There are gifs.

It’s a high sound, sweet, freakily innocent, and it somehow brushes against every illicit desire any human has ever had for anything. He’s seen compilations of it, clipped together in a tapestry of embarrassment.

He doesn’t mind, exactly? 

He did make the sound on purpose. He knew it was effective because it actually got Jon flushed and stammering, and damn near nothing else did.

Martin had merely underestimated just how effective it would be out in the great, wide world.

“They’re perfect,” he says, and takes the time to show the camera the light golden muffins, speckled with red - a perfect batch of orange cranberry baked good from scratch. 

The stream ends with him opening one up, peeling the cap off with indescribable satisfaction, adding a tiny pat of butter, and indulging.

The eye-roll is a thing too, like a hungry shark, but that one doesn’t have a hashtag.

“Recipe in the description,” he mumbles, sounding like he’s been fucked within an inch of his life. “My team will answer any questions. You have got to make this. We’ve also included dairy and gluten free options. Bake well, my lovelies, and enjoy your life.”

Bake well, my lovelies, and enjoy your life. He’s ended every single video with that since day one.

Since before Tim and Danny joined him.

Since before he had the courage to tell anyone he was doing this, even Jon.

As always, he means every word.

This time, however, when the camera light blinks off, he bursts into tears.

#

“He’s got to be okay,” says Tim, who knows Jon, thinks he’s funny, and appreciates how much Martin loves him. “We haven’t gotten a list of deaths, or anything, and they have to release that, as far as I know.”

“They do have to,” says Danny, who barely knows Jon, and doesn’t really like him, but certainly wants Martin to be happy.

“Only to next of kin,” Martin points out, and sniffles.

Tim and Danny both pause.

“He doesn’t have you listed?” says Tim.

“I’m his friend. We’re not anything. Of course he doesn’t,” Martin snaps, and feels bad for it immediately after.

Tim and Danny give one another that look.

“Right,” says Tim. “Not anything.”

Martin rubs his face.

Danny gives Martin a side-hug - too strong, like a mountain man, but well meant. “He’s going to be okay. Have faith.”

“The plane went down.” Martin’s voice is… cold. Almost mechanical. A tone he’d never use with anyone who didn’t know him well. “It hit a gods-damned mountain. What am I supposed to have faith in?”

“Love?” says Tim.

“Actually, yeah. Love,” says Danny.

Martin gives them a look.

They look back. Two brothers, good friends, who’ve been part of his show and part of his life and helped him navigate the mess with his mother and helped him work out his feelings for his childhood friend and now want to help him work through potential grief.

Or his potential… faith, maybe?

Martin can’t seem to fall either way - acceptance of Jon’s death, or hope for his survival. He’s left at a lurching, ugly crossroad with no name, the sign worn beyond legibility.

He sniffles.

“Gonna be late,” says Tim.

“Yeah,” Martin sighs, because somehow after everything, he still has to go to work.

Patreon helps. The baking show definitely makes things easier. But it’s not enough to support his mother. Full-time care facilities aren’t cheap.

Martin tries to smile. “Good thing I’m in the kitchen, right? Don’t think I’d do so well facing customers today.”

“You would, though,” says Tim, and pats him on the shoulder. “Never seen anybody fake it as well as you.”

“Gee, thanks?” Martin says, dry.

Tim ruffles his hair. “Come on. Let’s get the lead out, or… I dunno, something punny.”

Danny never tries to pun. He also has no sense of timing. “I’ve been thinking of taking another job,” he says out of nowhere.

“What, now?” says Tim with fond exasperation.

Martin latches onto the subject change like a leech as he hangs up his apron. “What? I thought you were getting promoted.”

“Yeah, but kayaks just aren’t doing it for me anymore,” Danny says, and ignores when Martin rolls his eyes, reaches into his wallet, and hands Tim a fiver. “I’ve been thinking a lot about supernatural stuff lately, you know? All the things we can’t explain, but every culture and every society has them, all the way through history. And you know, the chances of that are pretty slim, because it’s not like there were fax machines in the stone age, and - ”

“So what’s her name?” says Tim.

Danny looks constipated. “What do you mean, what’s her name?”

“It’s always some date who gets you into a new interest. Come on, Danny, it’s been like that since secondary.”

Danny shrugs. “Caught me. How about I let her explain? We can do dinner tonight.”

“I don’t…” Martin starts.

They both look at him.

“You are not backing out,” says Tim.

“I’m supposed to see my mum,” Martin mutters.

“And it’ll be done in about fifteen minutes when she can’t stand you anymore and throws you out,” says Danny, who really has never had Tim’s charm.

Tim smacks him.

“Hey!”

“No, he’s right,” says Martin. “I’ll come.”

“Good. You’d better, or I’m taking some of this one’s leftover mountaineering gear and hogtying you to the back of my bike,” says Tim.

That image actually gets Martin laughing, which he didn’t think he could do today.

The brothers leave first.

Martin’s flat is tiny. Uncomfortable. Distinctly not sound-proofed. He has one window, room for his lovely kitchen setup, and three folding chairs or a Murphy bed, but not at the same time.

Somehow, when the Stokers are there, it never feels crowded.

It doesn’t with Jon, either, but that’s different.

All kinds of different.

Martin locks up, sighs heavily. Somehow, he has to get his brain in gear to handle four-star sous-chef work tonight, and he’s really not sure he can do it. Antoine can be such an ass, even on the best of days, and he always seems to know -

“Excuse me,” comes a voice.

Martin yips and drips his satchel.

“Sorry about that,” says the man, sounding not remotely sorry. Sounding, in fact, deeply amused. “You are Martin Blackwood, aren’t you? Little different without all the getup,” he says, absolutely cheerfully.

He’s some sort of sea captain?

Outside his flat, which is scary as fuck. “Hi?” says Martin, attempting to pick up his bag without taking his eyes off the guy. “Um. Can I help you?”

“Actually, I can help you,” says the man.

Maybe a fan?

Maybe a sicko.

Martin is very still. “Right,” he says, noncommittal.

The man laughs.

It’s… it’s a really good laugh. The voice is good all around, honestly; so is the expression, and body language. This man isn’t aggressive; taller than Martin (which is unusual), he keeps his hands in his pockets, leaning slightly away, as though determined not to violate his space. “I can tell I’ve spooked you, which isn’t what I was trying to do.” 

Martin can see no reason to be unnerved by this man.

Martin cannot escape the feeling that he should be, though. “Then why’d you track down where I live?” he says.

“I didn’t. I saw you by accident.” The man points. “Heading over there, to the Tube. But it works out, because I actually do want to talk to you.”

“Right,” says Martin.

The sea captain smiles. “Nice and cautious. Good! Let’s not drag this out, eh? You won’t have heard of me because I like it that way, but what I do is help out independent talent. People like you, in other words. Here.” He holds out a business card.

There’s a QR code on it.

Martin takes it, carefully avoiding contact. “Right,” he says.

“That’ll tell you all about it,” says the man. “I won’t scare you any longer - really am sorry about that.” He’s absolutely not sorry, and it shows.

Martin is damned good at reading people. It’s how he’s survived. The fact that he can’t get a bead on this guy is scaring him even more than the sudden appearance. “Sure.”

“Have a good day, Martin,” says the man. “I look forward to your email.” And off he walks.

Martin looks at the card. It says, Lukas Entertainment. That’s all.

It’s thick cardstock. Raised lettering. Definitely expensive. 

Martin looks back up, but the man is gone.

Martin’s gut says there is no way he made it to the Tube that quickly.

Martin’s head says he’s being absurd, and just misjudged how long he stared at the card.So that was freaky, he thinks to himself, and is already texting Tim about it before he gets to work.

[ben-talks-art]

Nimona was so great I wish it was a show

After seeing the trailers and clips and hearing about the premise I was really excited about watching this movie.

It looked fun, the main lead looked awesome, the animation seemed charming, it just looked like it was going to be a good time while exploring a very relevant theme even for today.

And long story short, that's basically what it was, just a really good fun time exploring a really relevant theme. It was as super solid movie with a super solid main character.

I don't think it's perfect but it did what I hoped it would do, showing this tiny girl with a sharp-teethed smile being awesome and kicking ass.

(Spoilers for the movie below)

For those who don't know the premise, the movie tells the story about a man about to become an official knight who gets framed for a murder and ends up getting hated by the whole kingdom forcing him into isolation.

Once Nimona finds out about this she considers the idea of becoming friends with him since people also hate her for things she never did, so at least they could be hated and hunted down together.

The guy doesn't trust her at first but with time they start to get along and develop some absurdly charming chemistry and eventually through their combined efforts they managed to make people see that neither of the two is as bad as everyone thinks.

At first I was a little skeptical since I didn't want to see yet another "Last of Us" or "Logan" story about some grumpy old dude learning to be a father after taking care of a spunky little girl, a trope that I'm just freaking sick to death of seeing so much, but they handle it really well in here by instead of making it a father-daughter relationship it's more like just two outcast friends hanging out.

He's not raising or taking care of her. Heck, if anything, she's the mentor figure making him realize his views of the world aren't as simple as he thinks.

And like I said, they have such a great chemistry. At first it's the usual "simple character gasps at weird character" routine, but they drop that after some time and it becomes more about him just going along with her antics and joining in on the fun.

The best part of the movie is just these two hanging out and being weird together. I could watch a whole show about them just having fun doing whatever, I just love seeing them that much.

Their interactions are so enjoyable to watch, a lot of it coming from the voice acting doing a perfect job showcasing their personalities. I just adore hearing them talk to each other. There is so much emotion and character in their voices that I feel they could just be reading a phonebook and still would be fun to listen to.

Which kinda brings me to my one problem with the movie...

The two leads work so well together and are so likable and charming... That they kinda make the rest of the story feel just a tiny bit lacking.

The major plot involving the crime mystery is... sadly not that interesting in my opinion.

You've seen these scenes before, you heard these lines before, you know what's gonna happen and how they're gonna solve the conflict, you know exactly who the culprit is and why they did it the second they appear on-screen.

It's the usual "who's the real monster" story and "people who fear what they don't understand" plot.

It's not bad, and it's sadly still relevant to remind people that they shouldn't hate on things just because they're too afraid of the unknown, but it's just a story we've seen so many times already and there isn't really that much new here.

They play around a little with the idea that the kingdom is always trying to be under the light because they are afraid of what they can't see in the shadows with several shots of the knights being literally under sources of light at all times and in the climax of the movie we see a being literally hides their true self under several layers of shadows, and stuff like that is handled really well, but when you come down to it it's still the usual story about the dangers of making assumptions under the wrong or lack of information.

One thing they addressed that I really really liked was how they point out that kids are taught from an early age to discriminate as if it was a normal thing to do and why it's so hard for adults to let go of this discrimination since it's basically like rejecting what your entire life has taught you.

I think the story should have leaned more on that. Instead of being about solving the mystery of "who did it?", it would have been, in my opinion, more interesting if it was about Nimona showing her friend how he's been slowly brainwashed his whole life, kinda like what happened in How To Train Your Dragon where the main lead has a scene of him realizing that everything he knew about dragons was wrong, or even in this movie's creator's other work, She-Ra, where the female lead, Adora, realized she and many others were being lied on by the bad guys her whole life.

Or heck, they could have turned this into some sort of "Beyond Good and Evil" setting where our two leads go around finding proof about the lies of the government and work underground to collect evidence and show the citizens the true colors of the kingdom and through that bringing the people to their side.

I don't know, I just feel like the idea of having these two working together to reveal other truths would be more engaging than just the usual "scared people do dumb things" plot.

Again, the scenes with these two working together once they got on the same page were my favorite parts and I really wished I could have more of that.

But I know why we can't have more of that. This is a movie with three acts and we need to do the usual movie with three acts thing, establish the conflict, explore the conflict, and solve the conflict, all while introducing all the relevant characters, setting up their motivations, and having them go through some character development by the time we reach the end so we can pass on the moral of the story.

And sometimes when you need to focus on all that you end up with not enough time to focus on other elements, which is why I really feel this would work even better as a show so we could have more time dedicated to the two leads just being great and doing cool things together, exploring this world and maybe even adding other characters for them to interact with.

I feel like Nimona's biggest flaw is that its leads are way more interesting than the story they're in.

For instance, the fact that Nimona has shape-shifting powers is freaking awesome and leads to tons of cool and creative scenes of her just going from one shape to another... But it also feels like a bit overkill for the problems they come across.

I kept waiting for some sort of big epic battle where she would have to face some sort of squad of super-enhanced knights or something, or maybe they would go How To Train Your Dragon 2 and reveal they also have a secret evil shape-shifter on their side for her to fight, or maybe they would do it like in the series Kipo and have the big villain copy Nimona's power so they could have a transformation fight in the same way they did it in the Sword on the Stone movie.

I don't know, I just feel like Nimona's antagonists are kinda boring for how cool she is. She barely even interacts with them when I think about it.

But yes... I know that's not the point... It's not about Nimona punching some cool bad guy in the face as if we were in a Marvel movie...

it's about sending the message of how adults keep trying to find faults and problems in things that have no faults and problems just because of their upbringing, fear, lack of guidance, or outside manipulation, and how much that behavior needlessly hurts the innocents who have no means to resist and how that corrupts the young into following their example and keeping the cycle going.

It's about how when you treat people like monsters they start to consider becoming monsters as well, showing how powerful our actions and their consequences can be even if we don't think about it.

It's about how hard it is to sometimes see that we are making a big mistake that's keeping us from stepping into a whole new world of possibilities that might be even better than the world we have now because of how scary it is to leave your clear comfort zone and adventure through the unknown.

It's about a whole bunch of relevant themes and messages that can help people become even better people...

That said... It is a little hard to look at a character THIS cool and not go "I wish she would fight something cooler."

Like... Look at all the promotional images of her grinning while starting to shift into a dragon and tell me you don't want to see her in some super big epic battle against some really cool villain. (Or maybe that's just me? 🤔)

But... Then again, that does fit into the message of Nimona not having to be what people think she is or want her to be and instead learning to accept her for who she really is, just a girl that wants others to stop finding non-existent problems with her.

So, yeah, I'm not gonna get angry at a movie for not being exactly how I wished it was when the whole idea is that we often get too angry at things for not being how we think they should be.

Bottom line, I like Nimona. I love the leads, love the voice-acting, the transformation scenes, the chemistry between the characters, the interactions...

The message is kinda "been there done that", but many people still need to hear about it even today so, who am I to complain...

I just wish I could see the leads hanging out more and doing more things outside of this main plot. I feel like this works as a great pilot for an ongoing story with these two and would be more than happy to follow them in other adventures (the movie literally ends with the walls to a whole new world breaking down ala Attack on Titan).

So... Can I get a sequel or a tv show, please?

[numetaljackdog]

what i'm listening to 6/8/2023 (song notes under cut)

spot. link//yt link

Laura Les - Haunted: haunted. by laura les.

Death Grips - Hacker: nothing super unique to say about it other than that it's genuinely just one of the best songs. like probably ever. we know this

Limp Bizkit - Clunk: smiles. it's me. clunk is nowhere near my favorite song on three dollar bill y'all but it's like. the best of the bad songs. it never could have been a single bc it doesn't have the strength and the hook is wimpy as fuck but i have fun with it :) i like the part where fred says clunk a bunch of times and i like the breakdown :) come closer i am normal about this album

Ada Rook - TRU U (Live at ELECTROPUNKz 2023): ah, rook's performance at electropunkz. another thing that i am normal about. i believe i've professed my love for the album this song is from before, so i'll save that ramble, but i had a lot of fun with the live ep here. and tru u is such a fucking banger i love every second of it, from the silly anime sample at the beginning to the little pause in the last chorus where the word "death" intrudes. i've said before: ada rook makes the music that i wish i made. this remains true

Danny Burstein & Jessica Hecht - Do You Love Me?: i've had Theatre on the Brain for the past week or so, which led me to listen to the soundtrack to a show that my high school did (although i didn't work on that show myself, i knew people who did). fiddler on the roof is a good show imo, and while i don't really feel qualified to talk about some of the more complex subject matter of a lot of the play, this song is relatively accessible and also drives me a little crazy. i just can't get over the careful, straight-faced profession of love between two characters who never considered before that their marriage might be anything more than a practical and social necessity. it's a tribute to the fact that sometimes love is unglamorous, sometimes it's really as bland as spending all your time with someone just because they're there and while that might not be the fairy tale we all like to imagine, it doesn't make the love worthless. tevye and golde SAY that it doesn't change a thing, but i don't think we're meant to believe them. it doesn't change their often grim material lives and daily realities, true, but i like to think that knowing there's love between them will make the rest of their days just that tiny bit sweeter. i'm so normal about this

Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea (Live on MTV Unplugged): links to this post. it's just so crazy to me. we had five or so years of kurt cobain screeching the most agonized poetry the music industry has ever seen, cutting through the bullshit of shiny happy pop music and voicing the blood and death and sickness of an entire generation, and now they're just remembered as that one old band who did the song you hear people playing at guitar center. i command of you. actually really listen to this band, take the time to go through some deep cuts, listen to the weird little eps and bonus tracks and shit. there's so much to uncover. this song came on shuffle at one point and i just was floored by it all once again, so it's here as representative of the sentiment

Cab Calloway - St. James' Infirmary: i've been obsessed with an old betty boop cartoon that features this song, which i put in the youtube playlist. you might have seen a clip from it making some rounds on tumblr, but the full thing is worth a watch. cab calloway was known for his flamboyant performances, but all that energy takes on kind of a dark, unsettling tone when placed in the context of the moderately-fucked-up cartoon. good stuff

Billy Joel - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song): i've never been much of a billy joel fan but i've felt the need to explore more of his stuff after getting into this one. it came on the radio in the car and i was on an easygoing road so i got the chance to really LISTEN to it, y'know. like i've probably heard it in passing a million times, and my dad and i would always make fun of the "heart atTACK ACK ACK ACK ACK" part, but when i really listened to it... it's a damn good song! got that earnest, heart-aching singer-songwriter realness. who knew!

Skee-Lo - I Wish: TWO new todd videos since the last WILT, so you know that shit is making an appearance. i genuinely really love this song, i think it's so fun and creative with an *amazing* sample, i kinda wish skee-lo had gotten a little better than he did. you should follow my nu metal tournament blog, because i'm gonna put a bunch of other non-nu metal polls up when the bracket's done, and skee-lo is gonna make an appearance. i need more skee-lo warriors, basically. that rabbit in a hat thing is bullshit though

Caravan - The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again: this is a find from charlotte charlottan's "Intro to Prog" playlist that i immediately fell in love with. it's so floaty and lovely, while managing to both gesture towards a wide variety of themes AND be catchy as all hell. it's good song, basically. i know nothing about caravan so that's basically it, but it's even got dog in the title :V

Parkway Drive - Boneyards (Live): it doesn't technically count as a repeat bc this is the live version!!!! i just love this shit so much. relistening to horizons after having not heard it for so long was such a breath of fresh air (this was like 3 months ago and i'm still talking about it lmao). i love the big stupid breakdown so much, boneyards has nearly permanently entered my rotation of songs to imagine myself performing. i also just love to imagine like. picture going to some punk or metal festival around the time horizons came out, and parkway is there, and your buddy is like yooo come on we GOTTA see these guys they fuckin kill live. and you're maybe not really familiar with them but you figure it's worth checking out. and they play this song and you're like damn yeah this is pretty good. and then the fucking breakdown happens!!!!!! i feel like you'd just be standing there and realize wow. i'm going to die in this pit. and that's really the feeling i'm pining for

Scatman John - Scatman's World: now some of you in the crowd may be familiar with our friend the scatman.... i've personally had my eyes opened to a whole slew of scatman hits that i never even knew about thanks to the enthusiasm of local scatman expert violet gec (hi violet!!!!!) and although this particular track is one i already knew of, i expect a lot of you might not know it. go ahead and take a step into scatman's world, baby! it's a beautiful place! and also the song will get stuck in your head despite your inability to mimic the sounds he makes!

underscores - Count of three (You can eat $#@!): i'm a pretty casual underscores fan, i just know songs here and there, but i do really like what i hear. count of three is SUCH an earworm, and i love a good "fuck you" song when it's done correctly. i also just appreciate the quality of the censoring job in the title. it's not perfect but there's effort... a lot of people just pick four random characters but here, $ obviously looks like S, # is similar to H, and so on. these are the kinds of things i think about

Bring Me The Horizon - AmEN!: continuing to ask the question of "what the hell are these guys doing ever and why does it sound good." first of all, we have to address the lil uzi feature. that makes... two? i think it's just two fuckin international pop stars that bmth have collaborated with. i mean, i know uzi is a rapper but considering rap's dominance in the pop sphere and their sheer popularity, i think i'm justified in calling a pop rapper a pop star. it's been said to death, but it's just crazy that these guys have become one of the biggest rock acts around considering where they started. as for the song itself, it's not like... my favorite? but it's cool, it's catchy. i don't find their lyrics nearly as impactful now as i did when 1. i was younger and 2. they wrote about suicide and nihilism and shit all the time. i guess the themes are still dark but it all just kinda washes over me now. i'm just here for the heavy heavy and the big chorus, and that's what i got. so i'm happy :)

Everclear - I Will Buy You A New LIfe: as you may have seen, i had a big sappy emotional moment for a few days at the end of last month, and that had me returning to my roots. post-grunge. a genre with no shortage of lame pop rock relationship tunes, including this one. i even made a playlist of sappy songs, of which this was one. i just like the idea of pledging all these expensive things to someone you love, but doing it as kind of a joke. like the sentiment is real, but you both know that's never gonna happen, because all you really have to offer is yourself. and hopefully that's enough. it's like if two princes by the spin doctors was less fun. i fuck with it mildly

Third Eye Blind - Jumper: that's right folks. not one, but TWO mellow and corny 90s rock tunes. i have nothing to say about this song other than that it's pretty good and, more importantly, you should watch the most recent trainwreckords video (told you we'd get both todd videos in here). i've even conveniently included that very video in the youtube playlist :) DO IT

Kesha - Eat The Acid: i listened to and enjoyed the new kesha album, but this single was definitely the song that stuck in my mind above all the others. it just made such an impression. even in her current era, i don't think i or anyone else expecting... this. it's very psychedelic, and while it doesn't completely deviate from pop by any means, i think it's a pretty bold step for her and i hope it pays dividends. i would be 100% down for more strange experimental kesha, i wanna see where this goes

Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do with It: tina turner is featured on two WILTS in a row... if only the circumstances weren't so unfortunate. as i'm sure i said last time, she was a fantastic vocalist, and her biggest hit here gave her the space to really holler. i thought it was fitting as well to put this song right next to eat the acid, as both are the returning singles of women finally casting themselves free (or at least attempting to) of the figures that tied them down and abused them in the music industry. What's Love might reek of the 80s, but it's the good 80s. and for the record, i went back and listened to the full album and found a lot to like about it. RIP to a legend, for real

Roxy Radclyffe - YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ME: another song whose presence is moreso indicative of a broader listening trend. i've been really interested in this artist's work recently, although i haven't had the opportunity to really dive headfirst in yet. i discovered her through a rym/bandcamp rabbit hole and was fascinated by the quanitity of projects she has running. i would recommend checking out her neocities and poking around, i've found some interesting stuff so far. definitely the kind of thing i think my crowd of oddballs on tumblr dot com could enjoy

[yanderes-galore]

REQUEST ARE OPEN ✨✨✨

(It's okay if you want to take a break from some fandom, that's normal and that's alright ~ no worries ~)

Can I request a scenario or hc, whichever you like (could be sfw or nswf is up to you, surprise me 😎) of Garai and/or Hyde 👉👈 ? You can do it separately btw

I want more of those bois 👀😳

THANK YOU PANTHER ❤️

Garai has been requested so I will give you some Hyde to flesh the wolf man out ^^

Let's do HCs then Scenarios later when I can figure out how I want to write him.

Yandere! Hyde (OC) HCs

Possible Trigger Warnings: Yandere behavior, Stalking, Obsessive Behavior, Possessive Behavior, Murder, Manipulation (?), Mentioned NSFW.

- Hyde's a gray wolf hybrid who usually lives in the woods.

- His eyes are green and his fur and pelt clothing are a dark gray.

- His clothing is a gray pelt like a wolf, but he also has some fur that grows on his skin. Usually around the more sensitive areas (Pits, groin, ETC-)

- Hyde excels at being a hunter.

- No need for weapons, he does just fine with his claws and fangs.

- He's normally actually quite calm.

- Hyde usually only hunts when he needs to and will typically leave humans alone unless they challenge him.

- They're keeping to themselves, so he will keep to himself.

- No need for unnecessary trouble.

- Then there's the events that happen in his first one shot, Halloween Day 8.

- It's very,,, uncharacteristic for him to go to such limits for a human.

- For him to lose his cool attitude and devolve himself to just a feral animal is new for him whenever it comes to you.

- You could meet in a variety of ways, you can choose if you wish.

- Hyde can easily hide his features and look more human, so you could meet him in the city.

- When I say hide his features, he just puts on a beanie and extra baggy pants to hide his ears and tail. A hood is also added while the pelts are hidden away in his woods.

- He just needs to try not to open his mouth....

- You could also meet him in the woods as another example, maybe you were lost and the wolf decided to pity you.

- It's up to you, really. How would you like to meet him?

- Either way, Hyde soon learns you live close to his woods and always sits and watches you from afar.

- It takes time before he just can't take it anymore when he sees you speaking with other humans.

- You always smell like them.

- It makes him gag, ears pressing themselves against his head in disgust.

- You should smell more like him....

- This feral mindset he adapts in the one shot could be when he's closer to rut....

- A possessive nature unlocking within the wolf that makes him want to give in.

- So he does, He tries his best to isolate you in this moment of mental weakness.

- He knows what he's doing is wrong but...at the same time he's a wolf-

- Is this not normal for him?

- Isn't his feelings for you normal to have?

- I'll add some other small things now, hopefully I gave some character to him ^^

- Hyde, when disguised as a human, will have his tail wag when excited within his pant leg.

- It takes him forever to stop it so he usually has to flee from the scene to not give away anything.

- His diet is primarily meat. He could eat vegetables but he prefers not to.

- "They just aren't the right taste...."

- You could try fruits, though.

- Hyde's pelt typically shows his chest. He likes the breeze.

- Hyde would not mind it if you treated him like a domestic dog. Especially when he's in a rut.

- Hyde may actually have to wear gloves when disguised, too, as his nails are sharp.

- That or he clips them.

- Hyde has a very strong bite.

- Hyde is also quite swift and fast, perfect for a hunter.

- You know how his chest is shown most of the time, right?

- Now imagine belly rubs.

- Hyde likes biting ;)

- Whenever writing Hyde, I now always associate the song INCOMING with him because I listened to it while writing his one-shot 😅 I found it through Genshin. Feel free to listen to it.

- So far that's what comes to mind, if you have any other things you wish to speak about Hyde let me know ^^

[pawpadink]

Art Feedback Session - Spookydoesstuff

"Our task was to make a mock intro to a show using our own original stories, either ones we had in the past or ones we made in class. I used Adobe Animate, which isn't very traditional for art to begin with.

I wanted something dramatic and more anime-esqe (inspirations being Persona 5's 2D animation, as well as the Cowboy Beebop intro.

The render itself didn't turn out as high quality as I had hoped, but that's on me for not figuring out how to render in a higher quality. With my time crunch (I had put off working on this until I had 1 1/2 days left, on top of a project for another class.)

I feel this could have been better? But I'm satisfied with it. I just wished someone had said something, even just asking about my characters (I dont generally ask here, at least about these specific ocs, just because I've had them so long and I want to give out more of their story through context and art. But in that class no one had seen them before and I would have loved explaining their story better than just 'alien cats')"

-- Spookydoesstuff

So! Let's start with the good. The color contrast is lovely, the bright red against the monochrome is a classic high tension color combo that really sells the adversarial stress of the scene. The characters themselves each have their own unique silhouettes, which means if you just filled each of the characters in with pure black and then showed me their reference sheets I could easily identify which character is which. The line work here is very crisp and clear, which for animation lends very well to streamlining and simplifying things. Your style itself applies very nicely to an animation style, again, thanks to its general simplicity will make the whole animation process much easier than a more detailed or complex style or design.

When thinking of areas of improvement, the first thing that is brought to my attention is expression. With the four-eyed cat in the second image, at a glance it's hard to see he's furrowing his brow a bit and his current expression comes across more as a neutral expression than a concerned, worried, or frustrated expression. I would recommend here adding a bit of emphasis on the expression with the eyelids or eyebrows so that it goes into the general shape of the eye instead of just above it or add a stylized eyebrow so it is more visible against the dark fur. Due to the thin line art, the line that marks where he's furrowing his brow is hard to spot.

Your art would also benefit from expression through body language! Cats, in particular, are incredibly expressive through body language. The ears in particular here are showing no emotion- Cats when anxious, scared, or angry will pin their ears back. Perhaps a bit more emphasis on bristling fur too- in the nape of the neck and the tail. Fluffing of tails is not just fear, but also aggression when raised high or thrashing. When curved it's fear. The nervous cat in the second picture might want to be keeping her head a little lower, as nervous cats will duck down, especially if submissive. Of course, since these are not standard cats, you are welcome to take these cat behaviors and alter them to your alien culture's standards! Go wild!

Also, look into playing with the line of action a little more. Even with characters that are standing still, exaggerating some curves in their body will add a hearty dose of personality. Plus, look into the 'law' of stretch and squish- I use the term law here loosely, it's more of a guideline.

(Here are some image scans from a book called Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair, and there's a lovely tutorial on expressions from the comic Lackadaisy here!)

Next I'd like to mention the shading. There is a bit of an inconsistency between the way you shaded each character. Although lighting direction was ignored for style here, the particular techniques used for each piece should remain the same throughout each frame of an animation, each panel of a comic, or between related images in general. In the second photo, the highlights on the four-eyed cat almost looked like fur patterning, so maybe refining that highlight by making it a little darker would make it more obvious it was a highlight and not a change in fur color?

I think if you were given a little more time you would have managed with the shading, but still something of note to keep in mind for the future~

Finally I would like to address the environment... or the lack of it. The bright red background is lovely, especially in this grey scale-pop style of colors. My only issue is that it feels like they're floating in some red void- you have the darker red to denote the ground, but it doesn't feel very consistent with where the characters are placed and there's no shapes in the background to denote any kind of environment- no tree silhouettes, no building silhouettes, or any other objects that could denote where the characters are.

Above is an example from Persona 5 which kind of shows what I'm talking about. Looking at some perspective tutorials will actually show you a way you can manipulate the floor or gradients to help add some solidity to the ground. With this style I wouldn't even say you would need to add nearly as much detail to them as Persona 5's art- just some dark shapes and perhaps a gradient of sorts to give a sense of location to the scene would help.

Overall, wonderful job! My first impression was 'Oh hey this looks like something from Persona 5!' so you really got that feel you were looking for. You also immediately get a sense of relationship here- from an outsider's perspective with zero previous information on who these characters are or how they are related. You can clearly tell the four eyed cat is protecting the female cat in the back, and there's a sense of either accusation from the one-eyed cat or threat, and that the other two almost seem to be distressed as if they were once close to this character.

Keep up the good work, don't feel discouraged with the lack of feedback from your class. I really feel with a bit of practice in terms of expression and body language you can really make some great waves with your art! You have a great foundation.

In terms of art program recommendations, my wife and I both use Clip Studio Paint. You need the EX version for feature length animations unfortunately, but the PRO version is much cheaper and lets you do some very short animations however it is a very powerful illustration and comic tool as well. Krita is a totally free program that will let you animate as well and has a pretty robust illustration feature itself, but I'm not sure if it has anything specific for comic making.

A big thank you to Spookydoesstuff for being our first review and for being so pleasant to speak to! Please check out more of their art and their blog by clicking here to go to their tumblr!

[tycoons-official]

Tycoons Off Duty (2017)

Run time: 6-10 minutes

Genre: Reality Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Tycoons Off Duty' is a video clip series that is uploaded to Tycoons' official YouTube channel, showing their daily lives behind the scenes through raw, minimally edited footage either recorded in third person view or 'vlog style' as Tycoons wanted the viewers to feel like they are a further part of their life. The first vlog was released on the 25th of January, well over 3 weeks after promotions for 'Tycoons The Album' and 'MAFIA' are done.

• These clips show their slow/lazy everyday routines that mostly include watching television on the sofa, playing games and eating snacks together, or occasionally they'd go out to buy groceries, run errands here and there and maybe even greet fans on the side. Most of the time the siblings are even shown bickering, having silly fights and taking care of each other like how normal siblings do, and many people find these antics to be endearing, funny and —for the most part— relatable.

Cooking with Carmen (2017)

Run time: 15-18 minutes

Genre: Cooking Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Cooking with Carmen' is a video series that stars Carmen cooking dishes and baking desserts of all sorts, whilst also showing off her culinary skills and using them to boost Tycoons' popularity. The series was created upon the fall season when Tyke has to go away to do his annual military service after doing his initial one.

• Carmen isn't as flashy with her 'acrobatics' around the kitchen as other chefs are, but she makes up for it in food presentation, flavor and aesthetic. The company's team also decided to occasionally allow a bit of ASMR to the videos before cueing back in with some soft accompanying music.

• Capos enjoy this series as it shows a different side of Carmen they'd never thought they'd see, being such a bold, sexy, stoic character on stage, and they found it fascinating and endearing. They seem to be highly interested in how Carmen could've become a chef instead of an idol by how talented she is (or, how talented she's made to seem) and made fanfictional 'alternate universes' or 'AU's where Tycoons are running a family-owned cafe with Carmen was the head chef and Tyke was the Barista. Tycoons themselves enjoy reading these fanfiction stories and get shocked or rather amused by how accurate or inaccurate the way their Capos interpret their personalities without even meeting them.

A Talk with Tyke (2017)

Run time: 15-18 minutes

Genre: Talk Show

Status: On Hold

• 'A Talk with Tyke' is a show that stars Tyke as the main host. It is predominantly a talking show that discusses upon several random topics ranging from school bullying to internet dating to socks, accompanied by funny animations and picture scenery inserts that filled the empty space of green screen behind Tyke, that would sometimes cut into view as he made mistakes while talking or if he's laughing too hard and needed a break or if he said something too funny that even the staff had to laugh. The show is often seen as a 'sibling series' to 'Cooking with Carmen' where his sister is mainly starred, and Capos seem to really like the coincidences.

• The show covers on a certain topic, as mentioned before, and at first Tyke starts talking a little more seriously about it but until the half end of the video is when he starts making jokes as funny edited scenes cut in from everywhere else. There have been recent collaborations with Tyke's own sister and other Tycoons Carmen, Stray Kids' Changbin and Woojin, TWICE's Momo and Chaeyoung, and Park Jimin of former group AOA.

• Capos that were also fans of a show called RuPaul's Drag Race often compare this show to one called 'UNHhhh' that features two of it's former contestants for it's comedic use of flashy edited pictures and sound effects, floating words and funny topics. They've dubbed it the 'Korean UNHhhh minus the drag', though again, this is debatable.

Tycoons' Secret Wish (2018)

Run time: 30-45 minutes

Genre: Reality Show

Status: Ongoing

• 'Tycoons' Secret Wish' is a show that stars both members of Tycoons and is about the idols meeting certain fans who have been struggling with familial, social, monetary or internal battles and had friends and/or family members secretly sent ask letters to JYP Entertainment's main building with the special secret wish code, also known as, 'I call upon the Godfather' as well as a proper reason as to why they wanted their friend/family member to join the show and have their idols see them in order to be accepted by the show. The show is meant to promote the idea that idols can help those struggling hard by listening to their concerns and offering moral support from said idols' experience. Being that Tycoons have witnessed and experienced unfair deaths, inequality and a deteriorating hope during their childhood, they are considered well versed in this moral giving concept.

• The series would always start with Tycoons leaving the JYP building and telling the viewers about who their visitee is, what their background is like, whom sent in the ask letter, and why they would need to send in the letter. Then the duo will get in their transport car with one of their managers and go to the location of the visitee and meet them by surprise which comes into the idea of a 'secret wish.'

• Capos enjoy the series and is dubbed by Vogue as one of the best foreign television series to ever grace the TV screens all over the world, however, this is of course debatable. Unfortunately this show was published a couple months before Tyke has to leave for his annual military service after serving his initial one, and had to stay on hold for a couple of weeks so Tyke can come back and rest, and also regrow his hair back.

Tycoons Off Duty

• In a scene from episode 15 of season 1 [by far the most controversial and popular episode to this date] the episode starts off with Carmen greeting the camera with a croaky morning voice ["Good morning Capos, and everyone who's watching this, Tyke's asleep, and I'm Carmen, and together we are Tycoons"] before momentarily setting it down on the kitchen counter, taking what looked to be medicine pills from the kitchen cabinet above her before bringing them, paired with a glass of water, back into the bedroom where Tyke was still sleeping peacefully on their queen-sized bed that they were sharing for the time being. She sets the medicine on the bedside table and proceeds to wake him up, with much convincing and bribing with candies, Tyke soon wakes up and takes the pills that Carmen just took out.

• People of course speculated what those pills could be and on one of their Vlives held not long after this episode aired, Carmen explains to some questioning fans that Tyke does suffer from an illness that needed medication and specified on it being depression. She clarified that she was giving him prescribed medicine given and approved by his psychiatrist and their agency. She even mentions earlier in the Vlive that she already asked permission to their manager about 'breaking the news' to the Capos. [By that she meant telling them about Tyke's depression]

• This ruffled some Korean Capos the wrong way and they began spreading rumors and derogatory comments about Tyke on his and his sister's social media, saying that they should just stop being idols if they had such severe mental problems or if they're just trying to use the illness as a marketing ploy to catch the attention of the public. However the international Capos praised Carmen for being transparent about Tyke's mental illness and Tyke himself for being able to carry out the duties of an idol whilst harboring a mental illness which they presume from other idols' lives and troubles to be extremely demanding physically and mentally.

• By breaking the flawless, perfect image that idols are supposed to uphold, Tycoons both knew that they were going to have to dip into hot waters and apologize whilst also defending themselves by saying that they hope that the media will understand and never forget that music is how Tycoons themselves cope with their internal troubles, and hoped that this terrible and toxic the privilege that fans feel over their idols' personal lives and information will never happen to them or anyone else.

Tycoons' Secret Wish

• In a scene from episode 10 of season 1, Tyke is seen asking his present manager at the time Hyejeong a request to the bathroom while a female fan came into the shot and head locked him, before dragging him towards a room, whilst Hyejeong fought and tried to free the poor idol in the girl's grasp. Carmen darted out of the visitee's room and threw a strong punch at the fan before they were separated by Tycoons' security sent to prevent mobs [or flying sasaengs] and keep the idols safe. The fan seemed to be crazed with awestruckness and love for Tyke as she was giggling and sending kisses towards his direction as he laid on the floor, still shocked and trying to process everything that had just happened.

• Apparently, the fan that had done this to Tyke was a sasaeng and Capos managed to find pictures of the girl at fan signs, concerts, airport arrivals and many more locations, and the visitee felt embarrassed to say that said fan was one of her kpop crazed cousins that originally introduced the visitee to kpop and Tycoons. The girl didn't end up apologizing in her apology nots even though she did say that she regret what she did but hoped to let Tyke notice her next time. [Edit: He didn't SKSKSK]

[caranfindel]

Recap/review 14.04: “Mint Condition “

THEN: Michael's gone. Supposedly. Dean feels bad. Ghosts are a thing. Salt circles. Monster Kaia's magic spear.

NOW: A comic book/collectibles store. The camera pans over a variety of figurines and memorabilia, including a poster for the movie Hell Hazers, which you may remember from Hollywood Babylon, (thank you, Continuity Fairy!) and briefly pauses on a poster for the movie All Saints' Day before showing a television. Someone's watching Shocker TV, showing scary movies "24 hours a day, all week long." We see clips from Route 666 and that movie they were filming in Hollywood Babylon, whose name escapes me, as well as from a movie we will eventually find out is All Saint's Day. Cut to a guy unpacking a box of collectibles under the watchful eye of a long-haired freak right out of All Saints' Day. I keep waiting for this guy to realize he's being watched, but I am the one who eventually comes to a realization - that's not a guy, it's a statue.

The guy unpacks a box and literally drops it in shock. Because it's haunted, right? No, it's just a Thundercats collectible figure Panthro, in its original box. (No one in my house knows anything about Thundercats, but I assume this is a real character.) He stuffs the box in a backpack, and then his phone rings. The incoming call is a video call, which is weird, because people this age don't even call each other, let alone via video, but it makes for better television, so we'll let it go.

The caller is a girl named Sam, who is apparently his boss. She immediately starts berating the guy for his bad customer service, which resulted in a negative Yelp review. He promises to do better and confirms that she's coming over for game night. Stewart picks up his bag and a set of keys on a Batman keyring and locks up the store, under the watchful eye of the creepy statue.

(Boy, this is a lot of recap before we even get to the title card...)

We see Stewart at his house, arguing with a pizza delivery place. Panthro is sitting on a table and he turns and looks at him. It's surprisingly well done, BTW. Stewart turns to see Panthro on the floor, gets closer, watches Panthro swing his mace, and then screams.

Title card!

Bunker. Dean's lying on his bed, eating pizza and watching Hatchet Man: All Saints' Day, which is a gloriously cheesy salute to the 80s. Well, I'm glad he finally got a TV in his room, but does this mean the Fortress of Deanitude is no more? Is it full of refugee hunters now? Aw, that's sad.

{Sidebar: I wonder if this movie is called All Saints' Day because they knew the episode would be shown on All Saints' Day, and were being meta/clever? Or is it just supposed to be a riff on the Halloween franchise?}

Sam comes in and asks what he's doing, and when Dean looks up, he's shocked to see the Beard of Despair is gone. "Why are you so surprised?" Sam says. "Obviously, judging from my glorious scruff, it's been a few days since I shaved. Have you really not seen me in a day or two?" (No, he doesn't really say that.) But Dean says "it's so smooth; it's like a dolphin's belly." And it's not. It's really not. And as much as I love the scruff - which is quite a bit - I'd also like to see Sam's pretty face smooth as a dolphin's belly sometime. Just sayin'.

Sam (still) wonders if Dean's okay, since he hasn't really come out of his room in a week, which I guess explains how he missed the Big Shave. Dean expositions that Cas is "showing Jack the ropes," because if Jack wants to learn how to be a hunter, there's no better teacher than Cas, right? Absolutely no one. And with Monster!Kaia and Michael "in the wind," and his home full of strangers, Dean apparently figures he's got nothing better to do than hole up in his room watching Hatchet Man movies. (Is Hatchet Man the franchise, and All Saints' Day just one of the titles? I'm having trouble getting a grip on this.)

He knows Sam doesn't get it, because Sam doesn't even like scary movies. "Our life is a scary movie," Sam points out. And speaking of which, he's found a case. He shows Dean a YouTube video of a bloodied Stewart describing his Panthro attack, and I wish I could take credit for this catch, but I saw it on Tumblr... look at the left side of the screen. The "Recommended for You" videos are about zombies, a conspiracy theory, and how to clean your sink, which are all very interesting, but look at the "Up Next" video.

IT'S A FUNNY CAT VIDEO. HAS SAM BEEN WATCHING FUNNY CAT VIDEOS?

Oh, Sammy knows just what he's doing, and I love him for it. He's all, we don't have to take this case involving KILLER THUNDERCAT TOYS if you're not interested, but he's got Dean exactly where he wants him.

His smug little face at the end of this scene gives me life.

Guys, I was so ready for this. A MotW, and Sam giving Dean a hunt he knows he'll enjoy just to help him kick his Michael blues... This is the show I'm here for!

The guys show up at the comic book store dressed like absolute dorks, in short-sleeved shirts and ties. Sam has a pocket protector. I don't know why. But it's single-layer Winchesters and I'm gonna embrace it. Looks like this episode is happening on Halloween and not on All Saints' Day, because they're accosted by costumed children outside the store. Dean comments that Sam still isn't a fan of Halloween (which we've known ever since the pilot; thanks again to the Continuity Fairy). Sam confirms.

Apparently this red mask is a character Jensen voiced in an animation? And of course Jared was in House of Wax. Pretty deep meta here, Show.

BossLady!Sam is there, wearing a red plaid shirt, and Dean comments that she's like Sam's twin. "I don't know what you're talking about," Sam says, as he and BossLady!Sam tuck their hair behind their ears in sync, and I die.

That’s me, in a puddle on the floor.

“Soft, delicate features," Dean points out. "Luxurious hair. She's like your Wonder Twin." All of this is true, Dean, and good on you for noticing that your brother has soft, delicate features and luxurious hair. Sam notices a guy stocking the shelves - black All Saints' Day t-shirt, shortish spiky hair, lollipop just like the one Dean snagged at the door - and says "if that's me, then that's you over there."

Dean's distracted (and delighted) by the Hatchet Man statue, giving him the name David Yaeger. {Sidebar: did you know the word jager means hunter in German?} His doppelganger encourages him to push a button that plays his catch phrases from the movie, including "we all do bad things sometimes." Which is, like Dean's motto. Dean's joy is infectious and adorable.

BossLady!Sam finishes her business with the police and asks what she can do to help the guys, offering "Funko Pops, Magic cards," and given the number of Supernatural Funko Pops decorating my office, I'm pleased with that shout-out. Sam asks about Stewart as Dean asks about vintage Hot Wheels, and Dean, I am very sad to inform you that Hot Wheels apparently never made a 1967 Chevy Impala.

The guys introduce themselves as Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, The Husband points out) from Campbell and Sons Insurance (hee!), wanting to speak to Stewart. Presumably not about Hot Wheels, unless he got run over by one. They'd gone to his place, but his roommate said he moved out. Or got kicked out. BossLady!Sam explains that Stewart is an "acquired taste" who makes a lot of online enemies, and he can be found at his mom's house.

I still don't understand why the guys are dressed like nerds. Is it a Halloween costume? Because we've seen them as insurance agents before, and they were wearing regular suits.

Mom's house. Mom puts a couple of mugs on the table - one is a superhero (Flash, maybe?) and one is decorated with cats - and announces that Stewie will be up in just a minute. Dean reaches for the superhero mug, even though it was placed in front of Sam, but the joke's on you, Dean, because we now know Sam likes cats! But more importantly, Dean has added a pair of black Clark Kent eyeglasses to his getup. WHY? I mean, it's hilarious, but WHY?

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE.

We hear Stewart pitching a fit in the basement. He stomps upstairs and sees the Winchesters, and I know the guy in the store was supposed to be Dean's avatar, but this guy is wearing a RED SHIRT WITH A SQUIRREL ON IT. COME ON .

Truly a Red Shirt of Bad Decisions.

We learn that Sam is aware of Fortnight, and Dean notices the smell of burning sage. Stewart explains that he dated a goth chick who told him it would bring good luck, but he broke up before they could "merl." Dean's as confused as I am about "merl," but Sam explains it's MIRL - Meet In Real Life. Dean asks how he knows what that means, and Sam very quickly changes the subject. And this opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities, doesn't it, regarding Sam's online activities and his knowledge of MIRLing, and that would certainly be an entertaining rabbit hole to go down, and I hope some of y'all indulge in that, fic-wise or meta-wise or whatever. I look forward to reading it.

Anyway. Sam asks about the Panthro attack, and Stewart jumps in to say he made it up. When Dean presses, he gets mad and kicks them out of the house and then we cut to an exterior shot and WHAT THE FUCK? NOW DEAN HAS A TACKY CHECKERED BLAZER? It's like he's slowly turning into Matt Foley from SNL. At some point in this episode he's got to say something about living in a van down by the river.

Dean refers to Stewart as "Big Bang," which reminds me that I meant to ask, when we first learned his name, if he was a shout-out to Stewart the comic book store owner on Big Bang Theory. {Sidebar: Would this be a reciprocal shout-out, since that show has a character named Kripke? Is there a connection I don't know about?} Given Stewart's Wiccan girlfriend, they think the toy might have been under a spell, and they decide to check the house for hex bags later. Although I don't know how she would have left any in the house, since they never MIRLed.

Later. The guys are sitting in the car, still outside Stewart's house, when a little lumberjack and vampire walk by. Look, it’s Dean and Benny!

Sam’s instructing someone to use lamb's blood and "stay safe," because he's still Chief, Dean, whether you like it or not. Dean asks "seriously, what is your deal with Halloween," and "don't give me that 'every day is Halloween for us' crap." It's kind of odd that he doesn't already know. I mean, we already know. His life is Halloween. And his mother died two days after Halloween. {Sidebar: Is it just headcanon, fueled by fanfic, that John got blind stupid drunk every year around the anniversary of Mary's death? Or is that canon?} The conversation is interrupted when Stewart's mom leaves the house, and the guys have to duck - toward each other - to avoid being seen. It's ridiculous and hilarious and I love it.

Dean could have just taken off the Clark Kent glasses.

Sam suspects Stewart changed his story because he's being brutally mocked online. And he won't say the word bitch. Is this something we can't do now that we're airing at an earlier hour, Show? Then Stewart comes out of the house, bloody and screaming for help. Dean goes inside, gun drawn, and follows a trail of blood to Stewart's man cave (um, boy cave?). As he gazes at a Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster, he hears a chain saw, which hurtles into the room and barely misses his pretty head.

Hospital. Stewart's mom, still in costume, sits at his side and thanks the guys for saving his life. She wants to go home and get his favorite pillow, but they convince her to stay. "Everything's fine," Dean tells her. "Everything is not fine," he says to Sam, as they leave the room. He says he swept the room for hex bags and found nothing, but the EMF went crazy. So it's a ghost. Hey, guys, you should have watched the "Then." We already knew that. Dean is going to stay at the hospital and keep Mom from going back to the house, while Sam asks around to see if anybody "got dead lately."

At the house, Sam finds the light switch in the Den of Stewartitude doesn't work, even though a lamp and computer monitors are turned on in the room. He laughs at himself for being startled by the Panthro toy and says "nice, Sam, smooth," and for some reason this just almost makes my heart burst open. The toy isn't putting off EMF now, which he finds odd. Then he looks at one of the monitors and sees a group photo of Stewart, LadyBoss!Sam, Dean's doppelganger, and an older man.

Back at the hospital, Dean's doppelganger is standing outside Stewart's darkened room. He is wearing an army green canvas jacket and has acquired some scruff of his own and he's just such a precious little mini Dean; I can't stand it. He asks what Dean's doing there, and Dean says he's just keeping an eye on Stewart. "He must have awesome insurance," Doppelganger says. Which is very funny, and also very Dean, because he says "awesome" so much. I love it.

Dirk explains that Stewart is a jerk, but he's his best friend, and he's there when Dirk needs him. They eat pizza and watch movies and who else does that, my friends? You know who. Then the guys bond over their love of scary movies, and it looks like the franchise is actually called All Saints' Day. I'm sure you were really dying to know. Stewart comments that no hospital would ever be that empty, and Dean says he's been to a lot of hospitals at night, and "trust me, it gets pretty empty," and at first that's just heartbreaking because I figure he was at these hospitals because John or Sam were injured. But maybe he's just thinking about hunts in hospitals. (Again, I need to differentiate fic-fueled headcanon from actual canon.) And then Dean says he likes to watch movies "where I know the bad guy's gonna lose" and yep, my heart is definitely broken.

Sam shows up at the store and asks BossLady!Sam if anyone close to Stewart has died lately. She explains that Jordan, who used to own the store, was kind of a Willy Wonka to her, Stewart, and Dirk (Aha! His name is Dirk! Which is close to Dean, and hasn't Dean actually been called Dirk before?). He died and left the store to BossLady!Sam and Dirk. Not Stewart, because he fired him twice for stealing. But she hired him back because he's a friend. It seems like Stewart has better friends than he deserves. She tells Sam that Jordan was cremated, and then we see something frosting over behind her.

Sam is adorable, trying to look casual as he pulls out his EMF meter and it lights up like a Christmas tree. He tells her it's a carbon monoxide detector and she needs to leave. He starts to tell her she's in danger, and then the David Yeager statue smacks him into the comic book display and knocks him out cold. Even though he hits it with his back. (Handwave!)

When he wakes up, BossLady!Sam is terrified but unhurt. She gets a quick version of the "monsters are real" speech and finds that the door is locked, and Hatchet Man took the keys. He throws something at the door, but it's shatterproof glass. Apparently Jordan was serious about thieves, which explains why he's so keen on killing Stewart, that Panthro-stealing little asshole.

He calls Dean, who's fanboying with Dirk about horror movies, and tells him it's Jordan's ghost. And the David Yaeger figure is on its way. Dean can hardly believe his luck. He pours a ring of salt around Stewart's bed, having given him the speech, and orders him to stay in it. Boy, it's a good thing they reminded us what salt is for in the "Then," or else we'd be really confused right now.

Store. BossLady!Sam figured out what I did, that Jordan wants to kill Stewart because he's a thief. She says she's been taking money out of his check to pay for what he steals, but Jordan wouldn't know that. Sam breaks his lockpick, and then asks if they have any cleaning supplies.

Hospital. Ghost stuff starts happening in Stewart's room, and Dirk panics and flees. Dean takes a hatchet out of a fire emergency box, even though I think that would probably set off a fire alarm. (Handwave!) Dirk's mom is carrying a tray of food from the cafeteria and comes across the Yaeger figure. She drops her tray and screams, just like the woman in the movie. Dirk shows up and puts on a stern face and tells Jordan that if he's going to kill his friend, he has to go through him. Oh Dirk, you sweet little thing, you're channeling Dean so hard now and I adore you. Jordan does come for Dirk, who says "crap" and runs off. There's a funny sequence where we cut back and forth between Dirk and some hospital guards who are watching All Saints' Day and ignoring the actual mayhem happening on their monitors.

Meanwhile, Sam is mixing drain cleaner and something else in a Scooby Doo lunchbox. {Sidebar: I'm not a Scooby Doo fan, but I love the show's constant references to it and the way the Continuity Fairy always remembers Dean's a fan.} BossLady!Sam asks how he learned to do this, and he says "I had a messed up childhood." It's funny because it's true. He hangs the lunchbox bomb on the door and they hide behind the desk. After it blows the door open, they both slowly peek over the desk and simultaneously say "cool." I'm starting to love Sam and his little doppelganger too.

Hospital. Dirk hides in the morgue (no, Dirk, never in the morgue!) and gets a scary hand on his shoulder, but it's Dean. Then a body on one of the gurneys sits up. Yeah, it's Yaeger.

At this point there's a fake movie promo for All Saints' Day III: The Reckoning. It starts out "Three Years Ago," which reminds me very much of a certain scene that starts out "Twenty two years ago." Looks like David Yaeger was killed in a fire on October 31, 1983, which is two days before Mary Winchester dies in a fire. Oh, you clever, clever show.

Back to the show. Dean gleefully fights the Yaeger figure. At least he's gleeful until it seems he's not doing very well. Sam and BossLady!Sam show up, and she's wearing Jared's coat from the EW Halloween photoshoot last year.

Bless you, Show.

She figures out that Jordan must be attached to the Batman keychain. Meanwhile, Dean is cornered, and about to get axed, when precious little badass Dirk stabs Jordan in the back. It doesn't kill him, of course, but it gives Dean a chance to get up and start losing the fight again. The Sams run in and BossLady!Sam figures out that alcohol will help them burn the keychain faster. Whoosh! There goes Jordan, and the statue falls lifeless to the floor.

Aftermath. The guys tell Dirk and BossLady!Sam that everyone is safe now. The Impala scene starts with Dean thanking Sam for "giving me a win." Sam asks him to stop hiding out in his room. "What happened with Michael, you said yes for me, for Jack, for your family. You did the right thing." He says nothing Michael did afterward is Dean's fault, and he needs to stop blaming himself.

"I'm never gonna get over it, okay?" Dean says. "I'm just not." And once again, Sam could say "yes, I understand how you feel, because I've been there too," not to make this all about him, but just to commiserate and show Dean that he's not just blowing off his horrific experience, he knows how bad it was and he might have some good ideas about getting past it. And once again, he does not. But that's okay. What isn't okay is what happens next. Dean asks again why Sam hates Halloween, and Sam tells some ridiculous story about having a crush on a girl in sixth grade and throwing up on her at her Halloween party, and you know what? I just refuse to accept this. WE KNOW WHY SAM HATES HALLOWEEN. AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A GIRL IN SIXTH GRADE. I don't know why you're doing this to me, Davy Perez. You're usually so good about canon. I cannot accept that Sam Winchester, whose entire life has been Halloween, whose mother died two days after Halloween, is distressed because of something that happened in sixth grade. I'm going to pretend this part never happened. Who's with me?

Dean says that next year, he and Sam are going to wear couples costumes (and if you happened to be wearing your shipping goggles, I think I heard you squealing). Batman and Robin. Bert and Ernie. (!) Rocky and Bullwinkle. (!!) Shaggy and Scooby. Turner and Hooch. Ren and Stimpy. Thelma and Louise. "We just it in drive and go." {Sidebar: Who wants the show to end that way, Thelma and Louise style?}

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, one of those useless security guards finds the Yaeger figure in the morgue. The guys left it there? Oh well. It's a good horror movie ending.

So! For the most part, this was just what I needed after three episodes of mytharc. A good MOTW with lots of humor and nods to canon. On the other hand, there's that one thing. But since I'm ignoring that one thing, I guess this was a fantastic episode! What did you guys think?

Please help me stay unspoiled, thanks!

[lomappreciationblog]

Final episode review for the LOM Anime!

Well, here we are at the end of our journey! I will be making another (hopefully shorter) post about my overall thoughts on the anime.

As usual, link to the episode here:

And for the final time: spoiler warning for the finale of the anime, and general spoilers and discussion of the show!

I really wish I wasn't saying this but...

The final episode...isn't very good. It's definitely not the ending the show deserved.

I feel like it could have been much better, but as it is some things about it really fell flat for me and lessened the impact so much that I'm left more disappointed than anything.

Hm, well, to discuss it - it's the final showdown before Shiloh and Elazul versus Sandra, Serafina and the Lord of Jewels. I was hoping to see the Lord of Jewels take his boss form and we get a good boss fight, but given the anime's shying away from prolonged fights I didn't expect to see it - I was proven right.

What we got instead is a whole lot more clumsier.

Like in the game, Alex initially appears in his jewel shop merchant guise, only revealing themselves to be Sandra, at which point Shiloh realizes there was no way about it, Serafina really did kill Esmeralda. Sandra also reveals the Lord of Jewels and states their plan to heal Florina using the Teardrop Crystal that the Lord of Jewels will make from the stolen cores.

Sandra then sends out two Jewel Beasts for Elazul and Shiloh to fight, where Elazul gives the Sword of Fate to Shiloh in an admittedly cool scene where the sword cleaves the Jewel Beast in one stroke. However, soon after, Serafina arrives with Blackpearl's core, and Shiloh realized that from the start, ever since he met Serafina at Geo, she had been hunting down the Jumi herself and most likely tracked him down to find Elazul and Pearl. The episode shows clips of their previous meetings for good measure, though as a viewer, ever since episode 6 and 9 you're probably already reviewed those previous encounters in a different light. Which is a still a shocking revelation and all, but er, rather awkwardly, the scene transitions to Sandra trying to kill Shiloh. Was he...just standing there spaced out and thinking to himself? I don't blame him but...

Meanwhile, Serafina puts Elazul down, and so our heroes are incapacitated. However, the Lord of Jewels still needs a core, and Elazul offers himself, saying it would be better to die for Florina, but Alexandra steps in and offers theirs.

Serafina tries to stop Sandra but is too late, and now it's revealed why Serafina is so loyal to Sandra - Sandra found her as an abandoned baby, adopted her and raised her.

Which is a pretty intriguing plot development - at that point, Sandra was already, well, Sandra, and probably well on their way to murdering Jumi and all that. But she still took in Serafina and raised her as her own, which means they're practically parent and child. That's really significant, since it does mean that Sandra cared for someone other than Florina at that point in their life. What was their thought process like? If I had to guess, Sandra didn't want to see another life thrown away, but rather unfortunately, this is revealed way too late for any proper developments.

Gah, this is why I think another episode to space it out would have worked!

Anyway, Serafina sort of shuts down after seeing Sandra sacrifice themselves like that, and even though Shiloh pleads with her to find another way to save the Jumi, she beats him down. She tells him that she plans to at least make Elazul Florina's new knight and Shiloh should protect him, but Shiloh refuses, saying Blackpearl already is, and besides, he cannot accept the death of so many Jumi. So Serafina stabs him through the middle, ending the fight.

And then...the Lord of Jewels kind of...disappears...

It's not really clear what happened - the scene whites out while he screams and then Serafina and Shiloh are in space with the other Jumi cores.

I guess they were somehow transported into the Sparkling Vortex, the room for the boss fight in the game?

But it's just weird because the Lord of Jewels is gone, he doesn't appear any more on screen after that. In the manga, they also skipped over the boss fight with him, instead, what happened is that he explodes from the concentration of so much Jumi cores, leaving only Pearl and Toto, who then sheds a Teardrop Crystal.

In the anime...I don't know. The only safe thing I can assume is he failed to bring together the cores and also sort of exploded or something.

...I think the boss fight would have made more sense.

Anyway, Shiloh and Serafina are now left with all these cores and they once again see the memories of the Jumi - Esmeralda and the other guardians wanting to share Florina's burden but unable to, Sappho regretting not being able to heal Marina, and a special reveal - Blackpearl actually asked Alexandra to help turn her into a guardian in the event she couldn't find the Mana Sword. Which, again, is very interesting - so Blackpearl did plan into turning into Pearl if things continued going wrong, but from the looks of it, when Alexandra injured her core in the desert it was more out of frustration and anger, and not exactly to turn her into a guardian to replace Florina.

Buuuuut again this revelation is played a bit too late imo.

Still, experiencing all these Jumi's emotions, Serafina's reserve is finally broken and she breaks down in tears, coming back to Shiloh. Serafina realizes that the Jumi did care for each other and comes to regret what she's done...

Which, writing this, the episode's flow makes more sense, but watching it felt a bit awkward. Serafina points out Shiloh is crying, and he tells her she is, too. They both start to turn into stone, and Shiloh starts to ask Serafina something but stops, but she confesses anyway - not a love confession, she tells Shiloh she regrets betraying him and Esmeralda. To which Shiloh says he knows that's how she felt.

Serafina then says that she hopes she meets him again with the other Jumi, and then they turn into stone. Their tears, however, become teardrop crystals that revive all the other Jumi. They show Elazul and Pearl meeting up again, and Esmeralda, and Sandra leaves quietly. However, Florina, Rubens, Diana, Sappho and Marina and the other Lucky Clover sisters aren't shown on screen, which is a bummer and I feel would have closed off the episode nicely.

But they become pretty faithful to the game again after this, showing it storming over Fa'Diel with Bud and Lisa watching and talking about how the sky cries when a Jumi cries. We get a nice montage of the different locales and then the ending shot of Serafina and Shiloh saying "We're home."

They do know how to pull at my heartstrings though, playing the original Song of Mana with the Swedish lyrics. As a nice touch, the credits is changed so that all the Jumi are shown smiling and with their eyes open.

Writing this down makes it sound more sensible, but watching it feels a bit awkward, mainly because of the visuals...I wish I don't sound so nitpicky, but here we go.

Look, I have nothing against reusing frames, especially if it's characters just talking. You don't need to animate whole different shots for that. But- it's the final episode. If they had to use their budget it had to be here - but it definitely sticks out that to indicate Sandra was walking, they shook the frame of her talking up and down to indicate she was moving. That is just...bizarre. And they did it twice. What happened?? That was incredibly low-quality for an otherwise good show.

There were also a lot of close up headshots of characters in this episode, especially when Serafina and Shiloh were having their final talk. And I get that the scene has to make their eyes the focus of the shot since they were crying, and that's very important to the plot but the fact that that Shiloh's eyes were so big and in focus...and they wanted to animate his talking, so his face is a bit squished up in the frame to allow his mouth talking also be in the scene and the end result looks much more goofy than dramatic. I dearly wish it didn't, but that's how it is and it takes a lot of impact out from what should have been an emotional scene.

I'm also not sure how I feel about Serafina and Shiloh reconciling. It happened much too fast and the scene is careful enough to not say Serafina is forgiven or anything, but Shiloh must have the soul of an angel to not hold any grudge against Serafina when she basically killed him. I mean, Shiloh is cinnamon roll extreme who sees the good in everyone, but he didn't see Serafina's flashback, that was purely for the viewers' benefit. So it is still strange how sympathetic he is to her.

I wished there was an extra scene where they were allowed to talk after being revived because that's uh, that's a lot of stuff to unpack. It feels very weird she goes home with him after, given everything I think it would have been more in character if Serafina went to look for Sandra. I don't know, I just don't feel I like how it resolved Serafina's side of the story, which is real shame because the choice of making her an antagonist is otherwise played so well.

So that's how it is. I just wish the final episode was much better, it just leaves a sour note that of all the episodes that had to fall flat it was the final one. But I did see that the official LOM anime account indicated there is a director's cut, so maybe there's something there that can fix the final episode.

Oh and man, they really did drop Inspector Boyd into the void, they didn't bother to show him after episode 4. Poor guy.

Overall thoughts on the whole show will be in another post seeing as this is so long already. Thank you to everyone who's read any of my ramblings!

[ninawritesastory]

The fact that voltron will admit to no wrong doing... hurts more than I thought it would. The people defending them I don't know if they're naiive or just hardcore no criticism types. Whatever, I'm leaving this crappy show I hope their ratings drop.

I think it might be even worse than that; not so much that they’ll refuse to admit it, but that they may honestly think they’ve done nothing wrong. Queerbaiting happens all the time; even LGBT people themselves have been guilty of it.

And the attitudes surrounding queerbaiting kind of remind me about the attitudes surrounding rape. Like, on the surface we all agree it’s a bad thing and shouldn’t happen, but when presented with actual instances of it there will always be people who tell you you’re just making it up.

“You weren’t queerbaited, you’re just reading way too much into things!”

“But they said Shiro and Adam weren’t getting back together, so that’s not queerbaiting!”

“They can’t possible be queerbaiting, they said Shiro was gay and he had a boyfriend! They were even gonna get married!”

Like…I wish I could say I see their point, but they don’t really…have one? The thing about LGBT rep is that, for so long, everything had to be subtext. Even in real life, it was all subtext. There were secret codes in LGBT communities way back in the day, like lesbians giving each other violets or the presence of green carnations in the gay community. Even today, so much of it is subtext. That’s why things like Pride and media representation are so important. The LGBT community has spent centuries living their lives in subtext. Small clues, unspoken cues, complicated work-arounds, the works. And we’ve been getting more and more vocal about getting out of subtext.

This is why it’s so important when a character is explicitly linked in canon to an LGBT identity. It’s pulling us out of the subtext. I could handle Lance ending up with a woman and still being bi so long as it’s explicitly addressed. Because unless it’s explicitly addressed in the show, it’s just subtext. And maybe Word of God.

Queerbaiting isn’t solely a result of the show itself; if the VLD team had never made such a big deal about eventual LGBT rep, if they’d never been evasive and coy about certain animation and direction decisions, if they’d never gone so far as to tag clips and trailers with a popular gay ship, none of this would be as big of an issue as it is. Because there would be nothing muddying the waters, so to speak. If they’d kept quiet and not made a big fuss about LGBT rep, the accusations of queerbaiting would be much less well-founded.

But they were pretty vocal about LGBT rep. And they were pretty vocal about Shiro being gay being a last-minute addition. Especially since Shiro was slated to die after Season 2. (Which, at this point, that might have been a kinder fate.) And in terms of the Shiro and Adam not getting back together thing…that’s one thing.

Even the best relationships can encounter conflicts that they can’t successfully overcome. That would’ve been fine. But instead of giving us Shiro and Adam even alluding to the state their relationship ended in, they gave us nothing. Absolutely nothing, after hyping Adam’s existence to such an extent where it wasn’t a stretch to think he’d end up playing a major role this season. I can’t remember hearing more than one or two things about Veronica, and she played a pretty big role; but Adam was mentioned multiple times and killed off quicker than the victim in a Law & Order cold opening. That’s where the queerbaiting comes into play. And that’s what makes it all the more vile.

As far as Keith and Axca go…if there had been any reasoning behind it, I could’ve been more lenient. But they’ve only interacted, what, maybe twice before over the course of the whole show? I know a lot of us treat it like a joke when we say shit like “A man can live and die for another and share an incredibly deep and obviously romantic bond with him and everyone says it’s just friendship, but a man and a woman share a pencil and suddenly romance is alive,” but jesus tapdancing christ. Keith and Lotor having a thing would’ve been more believable in terms of the actual content. Hell, Keith and Rolo would’ve made more sense.

And maybe I’d be more lenient on the whole “Keith is straight” concept the show seems to be suddenly angling for if they hadn’t had Allura—canonically and repetitively stated to be an extremely beautiful and attractive woman—fall right into Keith’s arms and he didn’t so much as flinch. I have never met a straight man in my life who could handle that close a contact without losing it in some capacity.

But I feel ya, buddy. You do what you need to. I’m in too deep enough as it is, so because I’m a stubborn ass I’m going to be seeing this trainwreck through. May you find better programming and an abundance of positive LGBT rep wherever your life takes you, anon.