#but this show subtly putting it in a line right in the first episode. like damn are you paying attention from the start

[thelassoway]

Do you ever think about the origin of the name Theodore? No. "From the Ancient Greek name Θεόδωρος (Theódoros), meaning "gift of God(s)" (from the Ancient Greek words θ��ός, (theós) "God/Gods" and δῶρον (dṓron) "gift.""

[ultraericthered]

One Villainous Scene: The Mighty Moonlander

I'm gonna go ahead and say it - Season 2 was the best season of the 2017 DuckTales reboot series, and the Moon arc was the best story arc the show ever gave us. The entirety of the episode "Whatever Happened To Della Duck?" really showcases why it is, but the next time we saw Della on the moon was every bit as revealing, including the true unveiling of this season's main villain, General Lunaris. So let's flash back to May 2019, since when it's been exactly five years.

For his time in Della's focus episode, Lunaris seemed to us like a bold, intellectual, generous and reasonable soldier of what he and his people the Moonlanders knew as "Planet Moon", being visibly and vocally impressed with Della's motherly compassion being able to solve their problem with the Moon Mites and offering her a place to say in the moon's hidden civilization of Tranquility. It was his follower, Lieutenant Penumbra, who was more openly antagonistic and distrustful of Della by contrast. But Lunaris' insistence that Della and her Earthly compassion "may prove useful" to them was a red flag at the end of that episode, and in this one Lunaris reminisces about how his late father had always feared Planet Earth due to the rockets launched from it, gives Penumbra the order to stick with Della and collaborate on a way to fix up the Spear of Selene so that she can return home, and even subtly puts ideas into her head regarding how to set the rocket to launch so that Della may be forced to leave in it.

As the Spear of Selene is about to take off prematurely and Lunaris pleads with Della to leave the rocket manual with him so that the Moonlanders can build their own rockets and visit her on Earth, the viewer should be instinctively on edge and not wanting her to do it, fearing there's a Twist Villain reveal right around the corner. And sure enough, the second the Spear of Selene has been flown out of sight, Lunaris blasts himself in the shoulder with a devious grin on his face. The moment we'd been dreading is the moment he'd been waiting for, where he gets to stand before his fellow Moonlanders and lie to them, claiming that Della was a secret agent sent to Planet Moon from Earth who'd only been pretending to befriend them all (painting onto Della characteristics and deeds that are actually true of him) before she blasted at him and flew off back to Earth where she'll report back to her Earthling superiors and be intent on putting together a massive force of similar rocket ships to invade and conquere Planet Moon, but that he was able to snatch the manual from her so that now the Moonlanders have a chance to construct rocket ships of their own and invade Earth first before such a thing befalls them. And in riling up the emotions of his people, Lunaris makes clear what this is truly all about for him - an assertion of supremacy. A way to "prove that the Moon is the greatest planet in the universe!" Like a true dictator and demagogue, he leads his people in a war cry of "We are the mighty! We are the Moon!"

In Penumbra's talk with Lunaris afterwards, Lunaris shamelessly admits that he'd wanted to prey off of the fear, uncertainty and outrage of his people in order to give them a reason to take up arms and become a willing invasion force so that his ambition to invade and conquer Earth could finally be realized, and he did so by expertly manipulating both Penumbra and Della, and exploiting Della's Earthly compassion. A line of questioning from Penumbra that asks "aren't you afraid" sparks fury in the general, who ellaborates on what drives his actions, that he refuses to cower in fear of some other planet the way his late father did when he built Tranquility and cloaked it, as that is an insult to his sense of pride as a mighty Moonlander. He insists that the Moon is the planet that should be feared, and he will make the Earthlings fear him when the time to invade finally arrives. With a last remark about how he'd seen how much Della had taken a liking to Penumbra due to noted similarities to her brother Donald, Lunaris walks away from the scene looking like the most reprehensible bastard seen on this show, and also one of the most cold-blooded, strategically calculating, manipulative, dangerous characters.

While the writing, scripting, and animation direction for Lunaris are all wonderful, what really brings him life is his voice acting by actor Lance Reddick, who tragically passed away on March 17 of last year. Rest in peace, Lance. You were the mighty. You were the Moon.

[alilyamongroses]

Which is the earliest time Jame Seymour should have been introduced in "The Tudors"? Since Jame had scored a place in Katherine of Aragon's court in 1529, she should have been introduced sometime during the last couple of episodes of s1, along with Edward and their father John.

After a recent rewatch, during the scene at the s1 finale where a nameless girl rebukes Anne Boleyn after her wishing that all Spaniards would be put under the sea speech, I thought that that part should have gone to Jane Seymour. That rebuke could have been one of Jane's first lines in the series.

You’re right, Jane should’ve been introduced earlier. The earliest Jane could’ve been at court was 1527, or more likely 1528, to my understanding. Katherine of Aragon made her speech at Blackfriars in 1529, and The Tudors leaned into the idea of Jane as connected to Katherine - the scene where Mary gives Jane Katherine's cross to help her through labor comes to mind. As for Anne, there were an assortment of... nameless, jittery blonde women swirling around her during the early seasons. The creators could've slotted Jane into one of their places. Maybe they meant to? I know there was some kerfuffle about her casting.

If the comparison scene between Jane & Anne before the latter's murder is anything to go off of, the creators wanted to set Jane up as ideologically opposed to Anne, to some extent. It would've been nice if Jane was given a more self-actualized role in that opposition, rather than being shown as this silly, flighty girl who stumbled into a position for which we're obviously supposed to judge her. I just know she and Katherine Howard are sharing tea cakes in hell.

Sir John's offscreen death in Season 3, and the casually callous way Edward communicated it to Jane, also would've landed much better if they'd introduced Jane earlier. Her and Edward's sibling dynamic is one of my favorites in the show, communicated subtly through shared looks, close ups and such. In Season 2, Jane follows Edward's lead, allowing him to influence her decision making something like a surrogate father. Jane is certainly the passive member of their relationship, but that wasn't used to cast her as stupid, or lesser than the other wives, which I appreciated. Edward asking Jane if she'd like to be Queen once he and his father start planning for it speaks to this dynamic that's sort of childish, in a sweet way - Edward leads and Jane follows, but willingly, not slavishly.

In Season 3, when Henry starts controlling Jane more overtly, Edward remains a man in her life who she's allowed to criticize and chastise, even as he's demonstrated to be brutally unscrupulous in his own right (see: that awful sexualized torture scene.) His wife Anne Stanhope is shown putting horns on him, but Edward barely notices, never mind getting mad at her for it. Compare that to how savagely Henry reacted to the vaguest whiff of infidelity in his Anne. The first one, that is.

It's almost like The Tudors' Henry is a decent public figure, but a monstrous domestic one, while The Tudors' Edward is a monstrous public figure, but a decent domestic one. And Jane is the woman who connects the two of them, binding their families into one, however temporarily. As Jane lays dying, Henry compares her to his late mother, and Jane is introduced to Henry by her own father, himself depicted as this jolly old fat country lord. Sir John's characterization in The Tudors was sparse, but maybe that's a blessing, considering the shaft Thomas Boleyn got.

Which leads me to another comparison. Thomas and George Boleyn's posthumous reputations both took a massive hit with this show. George is rendered not just abusive but sexually violent, the shadow of early 2000s homophobia hanging over The Tudors' portrayal like a pall. His father's depiction is more unfair than offensive, but that's not much of an improvement. This promo pic of him just makes you feel dirty, as Olga Hughes pointed out, lmao. We the audience can assume that Pádraic Delaney's George Boleyn got his cruelty from his father, while Anne (and Mary) are the family's more kindhearted diamonds-in-the-rough, a position that is reinforced by George's atypical protectiveness over Anne, which is ultimately used against him. Jane and Edward's relationship isn't as emotionally intimate as George and Anne's, but Edward and George's duel positions as men who are capable of being both negligent & violent and paternal & attentive sets them up as interesting examinations of the kind of man who takes root in an environment like this, much like Charles Brandon, Eustace Chapuys, Francis Bryan, etc.

The missing piece in the equation is Jane. Henry's fatherhood is well explored, Anne's sisterhood is the most overtly sympathetic part of her characterization, Mary I's conflict as a daughter is what drives her through the whole series. Jane is a sister, daughter, mother and wife, and there are a few shining moments where she really titillates: inquiring about her family's plans, selling the necklace Henry gave her, chiding Edward for mishandling her father's death, protecting Mary no matter the cost, things like that. But her most well-developed relationship is the one she has with Henry, and that one says more about him as a man than it does her as a woman.

How did Jane feel about Sir John that encouraged her to lean on Edward, even though he was easily identifiable as a worse man than his father? How did Jane feel transitioning from Katherine's household to Anne's, especially with regards to her catholicism? What did she think about the dissolution of the monasteries when it first started? Did she want to get married and have children, or did she just know she'd have to one day? What were her prospects before Henry? What does she like in a man anyways?

Unfortunately, we don't know, because The Tudors doesn't bother to tell us. Wish it had been different, to say the least.

[youlooklikeabeeandilikebees]

i know the first episode of series 4 gets a lot of negative comments and it's sort of a weird transitional episode where nina is killed off screen and there's this big shift towards a more sci-fi-esque narrative with the threat of an apocalyptic future and it's all depressing and weird and suddenly werewolf blood is toxic to vampires but i have to highlight how many great moments the episode has:

the introduction of hal, leo, and pearl! love that barbershop scene where leo puts a mirror to the back of hal's head as if he has a reflection

dewi being the dorkiest vampire we've seen on the show

the introduction of cutler! and him making fun of regus and his lines "oh my god that is human skin" about the map and "who'd have thought the old ones would be so difficult to shop for"

tom continuously slipping in comments about how big the house is to try to subtly ask them if he can move in

tom saying "even mcnair gave me a name and he eat me parents"

"TWATTAGE"

annie naming the baby splodge

cutler's trap at the warehouse and the great transformation scene juxtaposed with the vampires staring at eve while nothing happens and they're disappointed

tom telling george "you ain't nobody's father." when you hear something like that from a sweetheart like tom you know he's right

regus not wanting to kill the baby so he keeps purposefully delaying the ritual and also him going "is that somebody's phone?"

that decapitated head just FLYING across the room followed by that badass reveal of george (but seriously how did that head travel so far??)

[fluffnflightillustrations]

A Renruki request: Renji watching anime for the first time with Rukia in the world of the living. Bonus points if they're watching it in Ichigo's house.

"This.... is the masterpiece of the human world." Rukia sat back on her bed, squished shoulder to shoulder against Renji as they shared Ichigo's lap computer atop their thighs.

The theme song brought the characters to life, the bouncy song and sparkling title screen setting the tone for the entire storyline. Rukia really needed to get one of these things for Soul Society. She tried to focus on the anime, but felt just a tad bit distracted, as any movement made by her anime-binging buddy squished up against her was maddeningly warm and enticing. "Wait-- this girl's name is Ichigo?" Renji was grinning ear to ear. "Did you make him watch this yet?"

"I've tried! Orihime showed me this one, and he refuses to watch it. Any chance of a schoolmate finding out could ruin his carefully honed teenage reputation." She snorted.

About three episodes in, Rukia couldn't bother to pay attention to the anime any more. It was alright, but magical girl anime's just weren't her favorite. They worked at a maid cafe as a guise, and they fought aliens as the bad guys. It was just a simple, overused plot line. "That guy's kinda fishy for a love interest."

"Care for spoilers?"

"Rukia, with all due respect, I'm probably never gonna watch another episode of this after today. Dump it on me."

"He's the boss of all the bad guys in disguise."

Renji rolled his eyes. It really was predictable, if even a buffoon like him could figure it out. Rukia leaned her head on his shoulder, very very subtly, so as not to draw attention.

Unfortunately, however, it was less subtle than she had thought, as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They both decided not to comment on it. Did it really need words, whatever this was? What mattered more was not defining this feeling, but relishing in however long it lasted. Defining it could wait till later. She would rather enjoy this moment as it stood.

Only 5 minutes later did the moment end abruptly, as Ichigo slammed open the closet door. "Seriously?? In my closet??"

Rukia launched her pillow at his face. "You know you could knock." Ichigo launched the pillow right back at her. "It's my closet! Not your room!" He rubbed his temples. "I need that back, I have homework to do." He swiped his computer, and made a face at the anime they were watching.

"I'm not even going to ask about it." He put his computer on his desk, and swiveled around to stare at the two shinigami, a scowl on his face, hands on his hips. "I have school tomorrow, I can't have you guys waking me up. Just get out of here soon." He shut the closet door, and his footsteps faded away as he walked to his desk.

Rukia and Renji grinned at each other in the dark. "What do you think we should do for an hour, then?" Renji's smirk was very difficult to make out in the limited light of the closet, but Rukia could well enough hear it in his voice.

"Does it really need to be said out loud?" Rukia smirked back, and rested a hand on his cheek, pulling his jaw bones down just enough to place a soft kiss on his lips.

"Stop making out in my closet!"

He was getting on Rukia's last nerve. "If it bothers you so much, put in your headphones!" Renji just chuckled. This last hour was going to be a fine one.

[yutamayo]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

Oh shit!! No I have never been asked this (you're like my fifth ask ever) so I am very grateful for a chance to share!

Alright, so favorites? It'll probs be for a million diff reasons; the characters will have shaped me/my perspective on things in life bc I'm never a fan of things I don't find meaningful. But I want to make sure this list is based on the actual character and not just scenes/the media itself resonating with me. I chose these characters BC of who they are, their choices, their feelings...

Kaneki Ken

Hideyoshi Nagachika

Biaggio (The Kings of Summer)

Effy Stonem (Skins UK)

Samwise Gamgee the Brave (LOTR)

Armin Arlert

Arya Stark (GoT)

Light Yagami

Edward Elric

Hodaka Morishima (Weathering With You)

I don't think I can put it in any specific order bc I love them all for so many different ways, but here's my lil explanations...

Kaneki: Tokyo Ghoul was one of my first anime/manga, and will always hold a spot in my heart for that reason. Kaneki I love specifically bc of his character development. I'll say it now and I will say it again: character development is one of the biggest things for me. I want to be able to look at a character on the first episode and then at the finale of the show and I want to see two completely different people. That's what we got with Kaneki, but also him as a person; I personally connect with his reserved life and his complications around being a good person vs living for yourself and whatnot. We also will never get tired of a psychological break + white hair I mean, c'mon. The anime did the manga dirty 100% so if you're reading this and thinking Kaneki is shit I really do reccomend the manga; it truly shows the depth of his kindness, his trauma and his strength. Love that for him.

Hide: Fucking ray of sunshine sunflower boy my love. Anyways, I will always appreciate a subtly hyper-aware character. His nonchalance and lightheartedness wasn't a show or anything, but it was intentionally to relax the mood of the people around him all the while taking specific note of the things happening/his surroundings. Plus his dedication to the person he loves; I enjoyed that it wasn't an obvious and intense depiction (although it sucked he got so little screentime) but I do think he's intentionally shown to be someone who doesn't need to make a show of their love or dedication. Hide was in it till the end, and he didn't ever stop to get acknowledgment for that. He didn't need to BC that's just who he was and I love him for that.

Biaggio: The Kings of Summer (2013) is a movie that I grew up rewatching, it's amazing and reccomend it 1000% but my fave character is literally the side character (not the protagonist or even the second main character he's genuinely just there.) He is magnificent. This is partly a comedy movie and Biaggio is one of my favorite versions of comedy, the kind where he is clueless and absolutely on the spectrum, so fucking wholesome deadass funny and badass (I don't want to give spoilers but mans went head to head with a rattlesnake for a friend) and he's even more important to me BC my best friend and I had a special saying from the movie that we used for like personal and meaningful reference. Even going to get the line tattooed on my thigh. "Biaggio's right here." Yes. I'm getting that tattooed. And ik I'm not supposed to hype the media just the character but this movie also has one of my favorite lines in the world that I also want to figure into a tattoo. "I have no idea where he's getting the chives." (Yes, they're talking about Biaggio).

Effy: Skins UK is also one of the shows of my youth. Effy Stonem... When I first watched it she was everything I wanted to be, which, if you know Skins is a real fucking problem. My love for her used to be kinda toxic but my mental health at the time when I zeroed in on her as a character wasn't great. That being said, she probably means more to me BC of that. Her personally; her aesthetic and the way she really did not give a shit about things, but also the way it was obvious she wanted people to know she didn't give a shit, the way she sometimes cracked and asked for help, I loved the way she looked like she was unbreakable even while looking like a fucking mess. Then she turned out to be mentally ill and I resonated even more but not in a good way. I thought ab her over the years on and off, she was also smthn that fueled my ED so when things were bad my headspace was around there. Then the final season she was still a mess, but she was an adult and she was getting her shit done and making the most of her days. I started taking inspiration from that Effy. Got some character development of my own :)

Sam: Lord of the rings is smthn I grew up on (am I gonna repeat this every time...) my fam would watch the 12hr extended edition every Christmas. My main man is Samwise the fucking Brave. This man dedicated his heart and soul to his best friend. He was a dimensional character it wasn't just plain devotion; he saw the potential in frodo when he didn't himself and Sam just reminds me of support systems in general. Also my relationship with my own best friend. I'll never forget the way he cried, the way his heart was in it for a friend. He was strong yet he thought so little of himself. He's someone I can reference when I think of the fact that there are a billion different ways to be strong. And an infinite amount of ways to show love. I'm grateful for that.

Armin: Armin was my fave AOT character from the jump and still is. I saw his potential the moment those babyblues crouched over that mf book and that dumbass bowl cut hovered over the pages. I love him. He's smart, will go all the way for his friends, even if it's detrimental to himself. He grew up, well, is still growing up, and he's pretty much been forced to become confident in himself BC he's aware there's too much on the line not to be. I enjoyed that Armin as a person had those powerful qualities from the start, I enjoyed even more having them knocked out of him and put to use like cracking open an acorn shell.

Also just fucking baby non-binary twink whore baby

Arya: Arya. ARYA. I binged all of Game of Thrones like last year, I was never into the show when it was airing it was just kinda a thing. I tried reading the first book and enjoyed it but decided I just wanted to watch. So, when I start this shit, even when reading I fuckin loved Arya. Tomboy badass who won't take no for an answer and won't say yes if she doesn't mean it. The fact that from the begginging she was my fave, this little girl with trauma and determination (we seeing a trend here?) I will always appreciate that they made her wholeheartedly devoted to her revenge. No half-measures, no room for what everyone thinks should come with revenge; dissatisfaction. She was oh so very satisfied. I love characters that aren't good or bad, just people that believe in their reasons enough to devote themselves to them. And then of all fucking things, the goddamn finale she is the one who saves the world?! My girl, who I knew from the moment she appeared would do great things... Saved everybody's ass. So her.

Light: Okay now death note was actually like the second anime I ever watched and in those days (a decade or so ago) it was even more team L or team Light that it is now, it had it's own fucking Edward/Jacob twilight energy. Anyways I dedicated myself to team Light BC I rationalized his side in the begginging. The best part ab rewatching a show is seeing things in new light. At first he was badass and smart, next watch I realized he was pissboy. Even so, I fucking love him. I love that he's crazy and evil and delusional and has a god complex the size of the fucking Library of Alexandria. I like bad people, I do. I wouldn't irl but I find fictional media is a beautiful way to appreciate the ideal of things rather than the implications of them. So yes, Light lowered the goddamn crime rate and he had a great thing going. I wanna be Misa so bad, they'd have ruled the fucking world, if it weren't for L and those meddling kids.

Edward: Ed, my love. So FMAB was my first ever ever ever anime and my eternal genuine favorite. Edward, aside from the immense familial dedication and love, just really made me smile. I liked seeing his abrasiveness holding hands with his kindness. He made me personally invested in him too?? Idk why there's one scene where he saves/does something but ends up with a metal pole through his side under some rubble and yeah they get him out and it's fine but they didn't really acknowledge it and idk I remember constantly wondering why they didn't acknowledge how far Ed just went or how far he fucking goes to help people. I also love the mecha limbs aesthetic. Can't say no to that cyborg energy.

Hodaka: Weathering With You (2019) is probs my fave anime movie if I really think about it. Hodaka, I truly love BC his actions showed the purity of wanting someone you love to be safe by your side. He took notice of things that were beautiful, like in the way he was in awe of a home cooked meal. He wasn't afraid to yell or cry or push himself to the limit, if it meant protecting the people he loved. I liked that he's a "kid" but the whole time shows his maturity BC all these heavy things were thrown his way. He's dumb sometimes, whiny and essentially unrealistic.

Unrealistic. That's what you say when you've lost the determination to hope. To know and to try anyways. He never lost those things, and we could all take a lesson from him on that one.

~

So there's my silly little (Jesus it's so long) list of the silly little loves of my life. I know I'm gonna end up remembering someone at some point and wishing I had put them here but that's just the dumb bitch juice I had with breakfast talking.

Hope you enjoyed!! Y'all feel free to drop your faves and reasons in the replies!! Inbox always always open, and thank you so fucking much for sending this my way!! ❤️❤️❤️

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: You Make My Heart Explode (21x05)

Teddy and Owen are so annoyyyyyingggg...

Cons:

I'm sad for no Yasuda this week because I know we're losing her soon. I wonder if we're just phasing her out right now with not much more content to follow. It's a bummer.

Lucas and Simone have a romantic moment in this episode and while nothing was super annoying about their scene, I do just want to lodge my familiar statement that they bore me. Just so that's on the record.

Owen and Teddy are not fun to watch. In one sense they are realistically like an old married couple, but only in all the worst ways. Owen is such a whiner, and Teddy is so rude to him, and they both rather unprofessionally let it carry over into their working relationship, and then Richard has to do a Wise Old Man routine and talk to Teddy about it, and Owen has to remember how to be romantic and connect with her so they don't have to schedule sex... it's just so tedious. Better, I suppose, than the kind of melodrama that makes me hate the characters with a fiery passion, but worse than if they'd just fade quietly into the background and walk off of the show while nobody's watching. I can't believe these are the characters that are sticking around, and not Schmitt and Yasuda.

Pros:

I really liked Schmitt and Adams's dramatic helicopter adventure with their young patient! I felt some real tension for them and then felt the corresponding relief when they made it back safe. Amelia making eye contact with Lucas was a nice little touch, checking in subtly on her family... I also loved that Monica gave Levi the validation that he does belong in pediatrics and that she does believe he can be good at it. Schmitt is a lesson in how making a bad first impression doesn't mean you can't ultimately be really successful and find your place in the world. He takes a little longer to figure things out, but he always gets there in the end!

I was right about his love interest dude, too. Turns out, not a cheating thing. A dead husband thing. The comedy of Jo and Levi hiding in Jo's car from their problems as their men accost them from the outside was really funny, but I'm glad they didn't drag things out any more than that. Levi knows the truth now and they can proceed from there. I loved the line about how this is all really new for him, dating after being widowed... it puts Levi in a position to be the one trying to make someone else feel comfortable and safe, which I thing will be good for him!

Jo and Link are never going to be my favorite thing in the world, but I did at least like that they addressed the tension and fear they felt about the pregnancy in the way that they did. Link's fix-it attitude is his own way of coping with his fear, and it clashes with the way Jo needs to emotionally process. That seems like a very realistic conflict for them to be facing!

Blue ends up being an advocate for a member of the janitorial staff who has a serious health condition and can't afford treatment. I like stories about Kwan giving a shit, even though it's not like it's some big secret that he has a soft heart underneath all the attitude. I have a feeling that this will be a story-line that carries through the season, which is something Grey's has gotten better and better about doing in recent seasons - we learn that the hospital administrators want to help this guy get the treatment he needs, but the timetable might prove an issue, as the man has a son with special needs who can't be left on his own. I'd love to see Blue continue to problem solve on this and learn to be a better doctor and person through the experience.

I'm sure I've missed stuff here and there - Ben seems to be settling in just fine, Bailey is still a little anxious about it, the interns are all exhausted picking up Yasuda's shifts, but they're hanging in there. We finally saw potential movement on the Amelia/Monica front, but not a lot of development. Maybe we'll get a Meredith check-in soon? We'll find out soon enough!

7/10

[basingstokemercury]

Bank Run:

so they rob a bank which is a normal thing to do

the writing and characterisation felt rather un-bonanza-like, first comedy episode of the season but it was rather a disappointment

and NO WAY IS JOE 5'11"

the big highlight was adam's expressions throughout that man is a master of reacting eloquently without making a sound

uh i know i had more but the one after drove it all clean out of my mind

The Fugitive:

I was in tears. My eyes are still misty.

Not qualified to comment on the race aspect (which was minor anyway) being neither Hispanic nor white nor American, but what a story! What a setup! Making you think it'll be an investigation on this man but subtly twisting into a beautiful character study on my very own most wonderful cowboy!

I saw the twist coming miles off but they worked it so well which is what counts!

And of course I love it when Adam investigates things so much!

Poor guy having to face all this alone but then is he ever not alone when it really counts oh writers why must you do this...

"I put down roots on the ranch, on the Ponderosa, with my father and brothers"... I'm pretty sure that got a sob. But they cheated! Using foreknowledge is evil! But a similar line in The Savage didn't get that reaction so they must be doing something right even so.

AND HE GOT BEAT UP AGAIN AND WASN'T EVEN WEARING RED THIS TIME

"The great Adam Cartwright" THEY ACTUALLY SAID IT THIS IS GOING UP WITH THE SPITFIRE WHERE THE GUY CALLED JOE A PRETTY LITTLE FELLER

More points towards a theory I've been brewing for some time, that Adam is drawn to men who remind him of Joe.

Especially very young men but sometimes his peers, who are a bit wild and turbulent and need the right crowd to set them straight before the dark impulses and bad company take over...

Lost souls in whom he sees what his baby brother could so easily have been without love and guidance, for whom his razor-judgement wavers because he wants to save them and knows how thin the line is, and sometimes it's not too late but other times he has to accept that people make their own choices in life...

Oh, yeah the crying. Not because the ending was all that dark or tragic or unusually disturbing for this show.

This episode opened Adam's soul, and laid it out, and it was just so beautiful it brought the tears to my eyes.

Maybe that's the most ridiculously cheesy thing I've ever thought or admitted, but it's the truth.

Check out Bonanza, folks. You won't regret it.

[tomato-jump]

A little rant about ok vs great character ‘breaking scenes’

Full disclosure, 1) I’m not a writer this is just my opinion, and 2) I really enjoyed hazbin hotel this isn’t slander power to the hazbin fandom right now shit is crazy I’m just talking about writing

Ok so, I’m sure that the pacing and writing issues in Hazbin are kinda obvious, they don’t take away from the show and I enjoyed it a lot, but it’s there. In my opinion episode four was the show at its best, a lot of people I’ve spoken to agree that episode four is one of the strongest ones (I haven’t seen 7 and 8 yet tho so idk) and specifically angels ‘breaking point’ scene outside the bar/club. Scenes like that are really important for character building, because they, in essence, show you how the characters are feeling. Angels scene was okay, it was impactful, but it wasn’t great, so I’m gonna compare it to one or two other scenes that serve a similar purpose and explain why. (Here’s a hint it’s about subtlety if you couldn’t tell when you watched it)

“This is my escape, where I can forget about it all and how much I hate…everything”

That’s a great line, it’s impactful, but god it’s lazy. Like I get it, but it’s kind of a nothing line, yknow? Like, its abstractttt, but think about it within the context of angel’s character and it doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not subtle, and the key (in my opinion emphasis on opinion) to good writing, especially for big character break scenes, is subtly. This scene is relying so heavily on the shock factor of Angels fucked up storyline to carry all the emotional weight. It’s so horrible that it just has to be impactful, but that means it doesn’t really hit any better or worse with context, which if you really want a good breakdown scene for, it kinda has to. It just kjnda….is a line. That’s this whole scene in a nutshell. It hits, its sad and it’s impactful, but only because his story literally makes it so by default, saying he hates everything doesn’t mean anything to his character. If that doesn’t really make sense, lemme put it like this; if you want a really good scene serving the purpose that this one is trying to achieve, it needs to hit better or hit differently the second time you watch it. Rewatch hazbin again and it’s the same scene, and the same can be said for most of it’s dialogue actually, which while isn’t detrimental to the story, shows that most of its dialogue isn’t really serving a purpose to the story, if each line mattered then each line should mean something once you know the whole story, if that makes sense.

Ok, now I’m gonna compare it to a much better scene from Helluva boss (to prove that Vivzie can do this stuff)

“You didn’t even care-!”

“I did care!!”

Bro ok, instantly this is better. Like this whole scene is so much better it’s a little weird that they were written by the same person. Why? Well, obviously on first watch it’s impactful, it’s got that ‘ghasp he left him to die?!?’ Shock factor, but the real shit comes from the sweet sweet context. What do we know about Blitzø? He’s scared of love, and everyone he has ever cared about he has hurt. He pretends he doesn’t care (a lot like Angel) all the time because he can’t be vulnerable and he can’t let people close to him. He does care. and the more you know about Blitzø the more that like hits because of it. Angel has a similar scream line when he shouts ‘it’s not an act! It’s who I need to be….’ But the problem with that one is that it doesn’t change or feel any better with more or less context, because we know everything we need to know about Angel already. The audience isn’t getting the same sense of satisfaction or payoff for these lines with Angel like they are for Blitzø because Helluva isn’t just telling you about these characters, it’s showing you. Blitzø could have gone ‘I didn’t leave you to die! I had to make a difficult choice and it haunts me and this the effect it had on me and blah blah blah’ but he doesn’t, he panics and tries to explain and he keeps repeating in the scene that he was trying to get help but he can’t explain it all and he just can’t. That’s good writing. Because where Angel jumps into this fully formed explanation of why he’s acting this way, Blitzø doesn’t because Blitzø can’t. Show not tell yknow?

Blitzø’s scene feels different when you know more about his character, to put it simply.

A really good example of this kinda writing is Steven universe, I genuinely can’t explain it unless you’ve seen it but

“Well I think you’re pretty great”

I don’t even have the words for how brilliant this scene is, every time you learn something new about pearl this scene just gets better, it’s so fucking good. She doesn’t even say anything, its all implied and I love it.

However, I am aware Helluva did have a season and a half to flesh out Blitzø, hazbin had three episodes,so I admit a lot of this is just down to the pacing getting in the way, but my point still stands.

Ok I’m going to sleep it’s 12:07 wtf

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 032 - T'Pol's Repressed Memories

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 2 Episode 7 - The Seventh

Looks like we've got another Vulcans want Enterprise to run their errands episode. Specifically T'Pol has been requested to pick someone called Menos up, and hand him over to the Vulcans. Of course, in typical Vulcan fashion, she is very vague about the details of her mission.

She also took Travis with her. I'm not sure why when it is just her who was requested by Vulcan command and she only directly asked Archer to come with her, but at least Travis is seeing some long overdue action, right? No, he's basically put to the side again. This is a repeated problem with Mayweather, the show just doesn't do anything with him, even when they decide to bring him along. He didn't even get any lines until well over three quarters of the way into the episode. He might as well have been any other faceless nameless member of the crew. It's making me start to question why they wrote him into the series at all if they're so reluctant to do anything with him. I can't even really call him a waste of a character, because they never set anything up for him either. Does the show ever get around to doing anything with him?

This is definitely T'Pol's focus episode though. This episode really shook her faith in herself with her repressed memories coming back, and her actress was really good at showing her subtly breakdown over it. The subtle cracks in her voice as she talked about killing Josen were amazing. Jolene Blalock is easily the best actor in this show, and she really got her opportunity to show off here.

The atmosphere in the alien bar was excellent. I love when sci-fi does the whole Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy thing, this was a great example of it. Everything here is so dark and grungy, which is a nice change up from the usual clean sleek ships we've been seeing so far.

There was a nice comedic B-Plot with Trip running the Enterprise while Archer and T'Pol were out. It's a small detail, but I like that Trip has picked up the captain's interest in Water Polo from back in Vox Sola. I loved this stuff. Seeing him go through all sorts of shenanigans as acting captain to prevent the Vulcans finding out that Archer went down to the planet with T'Pol was hilarious.

Parts of the episode kind of reminded me of the Doctor Who episode Boom Town, from the 9th Doctor era. You have the similar personal moral conflict of "We have prisoner, do we have the right to hand them over to the authorities if it means their death sentence. Are they lying to get our sympathies or do we believe them?" Which was a really compelling theme there, and it was here to.

I enjoyed myself here, and I really enjoyed the Character Work with T'Pol. I'm excited to see where this goes for her character arc of embracing a more Human way of thinking about emotions. Really good episode!

[bowtiesnmusicals]

Here is my recap of Slush Fund (Mash-Off).

I am skipping the Drag Race episode. If you want me to do a recap I will but I really just wanted to do the Glee related episode. I know I also skipped the Snixxmas and Darren's Christmas episodes. I can go back and do these if anyone wants me too. I just figured most people bought tickets to watch the live version of Snixxmas and there were other posts about Darren's Christmas episode.

Anyways, now I will actually start the recap.

There are no actual mashups in this episode. Well not song wise anyways.

Matt, Lea, and Cory were on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. This was the first glee magazine cover.

It was announced Johnathan Groff would be doing a couple of episodes. Jenna said he's the nicest person in Hollywood.

The number 1 movie at the time was Paranormal Activity. Lea forced Kevin to watch it. She had a movie night at her house. Jenna opted out because she doesn't like scary movies. Chris might have been there. Actually they aren't sure if Jenna was there.

Austin has taught Kevin to appreciate scary movies.

The day after this episode aired Neil Diamond tweeted Mark. It was the first time an artist reached out after their song was covered.

Jayma sings for the first time in this episode.

Kevin likens Rachel and Puck to when Rachel and Joey dated on Friends. It's just weird.

Kevin says the Thong Song is a classic.

This episode is a lot of cringey Shue. It feels like Acafella's part 2. We see a lot of the adults in this episode. Many boundaries are being crossed.

Mr. Shue doing Bust A Move is also weird. He unbuttons his shirt and touches students faces. It's just a really weird number.

Everybody is getting slushied in this episode. This is where Karofsky says he is on the hockey team.

Lots of tracking shots of slushy cups.

Amber improved the not my weave line.

This episode was the start of the fake slushies. They used it because it was faster to reset and easier to clean up. It did not look as good as using a real slushy.

Everyone had a great time doing Bust A Move because they didn't really have to do anything.

Matt had to do a lot this episode.

Kevin had a teacher that taught him how to fake play the bass.

At the time they didn't see Bust A Move as cringe. They saw Matt as a friend. Whereas fans saw Mr. Shue as a teacher and that made it weird and not appropriate.

When Quinn and Finn get slushied a football player slips in the slushy at the end of the scene.

Jenna and Kevin watched Chris slushy himself. He asked them not to laugh because they only really had one take to get it right. The slushy went all behind him and on the light and got Lea.

Kevin points out Chris' amazing in that scene and Jenna says that's why he is a Golden Globe winner.

Kevin and Jenna vividly remember filming when they slushied Mr. Shue.

This is the first time we see Quinn in regular clothes. Quinn's clothes subtly mirrored what Dianna wore in real life.

You can see the plastic they had on the floor when the slushy Mr. Shue. Matt was actually really nervous. As of this episode 12 slushies was the most anyone had been slushied with but Kevin would soon break that record.

Kevin and Jenna purposely kept it quiet that Tina and Artie had never been slushied. Someone ratted out Kevin.

Kevin quite literally got the Superbowl of slushies.

Will and Emma talking about the mash up's really shows their characters perspectives.

Sue goes on a tirade this episode.

It was nice seeing Sue vulnerable but it was also a bit uncomfortable.

Zach Woodlee the choreographer was put through the ringer in this episode. Brooke the assistant choreographer really came in handy this episode.

Some of the Glee dancers are in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Also Jane is in this show.

The Puck and Rachel storyline makes Kevin really uncomfortable.

The dream montage was really good. Puck and Rachel were funny together.

Jenna didn't have Joey and Rachel on friends. She didn't want them to end up together. She thought it was weird to already be mixing and matching since we hadn't really seen much of Rachel and Finn at this point.

Jenna and Kevin forgot about What A Girl Wants.

Neil Diamond loved glee's cover of Sweet Caroline.

It was a fun number to shoot.

Kevin, Amber, and Jenna recorded the background vocals. to Sweet Caroline.

At some point the cast stopped recording the background vocals would have to learn the song the same day as they performed it.

This is not Kevin and Jenna's favorite episode.

Gold star to Matt for working his ass of in this episode.

Tartie Takes:

Cringe Moment - The whole entire episode.

Worst Dance Move - Thong Song

Favorite Dance - Sing Sing (Jane had a blast doing it.)

Best Song - Sweet Caroline

Best Performance By A Prop - Slushy

Flight of the Bumblebee playing during the slushy montage was brilliant.

Things That Didn't Age Well - Finn's line about a zombie virus.

Best Line - I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat. Then on some dark cold night I will steal way into your home and punch you in the face. (This is Kevin's favorite line of the entire show.) Shue's reply is also great. Didn't work out with Rod. Also Emma's quote about Ken convincing her to be in the same room when the marriage is certified.

Fun Fact - They used something like a karate dummy to practice with the slushies. Apparently you can see it during their Oprah episode.

Shit We Found On Tiktok

Kristen Chenoweth made a Glee tiktok. April Rhodes to the students of McKinley and she signs popular. It was really cute.

Someone found a mistake in this episode. During Sweet Caroline when they are clapping at the end of the performance its the same shot twice.

Someone made an incredible tiktok of a shot of the cast of Riverdale watching something on a laptop and it cuts to Bust A Move.

Next up is Wheels!

[5yn]

If only G-Witch'd had one more episode about [ 5nore ] my lack of creativity wouldn't have cramped me so hard with my vague ideas about how 5 has probably never seen the real sky, real landscapes, nature, weather and climate changes that can be unpredictable and pitiless on Earth when in space colonies all of that had been taken care of as much as possible through terraforming and calibrating of temperatures and climate for human living.

Like he interprets Norea's drawings of decay as a fear of demise and extinction and the show perhaps sort of encourages me to take that at face value but I also feel like it's just in-character too for him to miss the angle that maybe she was also celebrating the messiness and imperfection of nature, the way life persists in struggle, that's so opposed to the sterility and whitewashing of space-dweller living that she despises so much, right down to the sky itself being fake panels. He wouldn't fully grasp this, he has none of the context for why any of this would be worth appreciating or having sentimental feelings or attachment to - he just sees death and in that he sees fear and something to avoid or put off even thinking about or confronting directly. That's how he sees things.

...I also think it's cool how when 5 makes his big proposal speech expressing actual hope (and a desire to understand what she saw in those places she drew that she would immortalize them in art) for the first time ever it's set against a backdrop of the sky panel's lines showing their artifice being clear and glitching in some places. A subtly cynical framing to twist the knife further... Love it.

[witchyfoxelf]

[tv review] ds9 3x01 & 3x02 "the search" (1994)

3x01 “the search, part 1”

i could quibble about how dumb sisko showing up unannounced with the defiant is, but the truth is it’s an incredibly effective bit of storytelling. everyone’s reactions and the fact that it slips right through the station’s defenses really helps both to emphasize that the ship is built to be upfront dangerous in a way starfleet ships usually aren’t and to solidify the very real shift in stakes & tone the show achieved in the previous season’s finale.

the fact that the federation’s response to the haymaker the dominion threw at them at the end of the previous season is to beef up their defenses but also to send sisko & co on a very dangerous mission of peace is something i sincerely appreciate. and sisko is fully bought in. he makes no bones about the fact that he doesn’t especially expect the mission to open a dialogue with the founders to succeed, but that doesn’t stop him from being fully committed to that mission. this is peak starfleet imo. i think the difference between ds9 & tng isn’t so much that picard & sisko are cut from entirely different cloths. they’re pursuing the exact same ends, it’s just that the facts of the situation are markedly different.

as we get deeper into the dominion war, i can think of at least one very specific instance where i think sisko makes a choice that picard wouldn’t, and i’ll be interested to see how i feel about that episode when we get to it, but i appreciate that we get a very clear sign that sisko’s values and the federation’s are lined up much in the same way that it was the case for picard. to rise to the kind of position they’ve both risen to really does require being something of a paragon of virtue.

the other thing that really comes to a head in this episode is all the shit going on with odo. when starfleet assigns a starfleet security chief to ds9, he throws yet another of his epic hissy fits over it, and for what feels like the hundredth time decides to resign. kira, obviously not wanting to lose one of her closest friends on the station, manges to maneuver him into at least accompanying them on the mission to the gamma quadrant. and that puts him in position for his plot to continue for the next episode & a half.

the fact that kira really stuck her neck out for odo here and he repays her by effectively kidnapping her & deserting the ship during a crisis is something i feel like doesn’t entirely get dealt with? like, she’s definitely pissed at him when she wakes up in the shuttle, but odo continues to just do all kinds of flagrantly dealbreaking shit on this show and never get taken to task for it. it’s probably one of my biggest frustrations with the show tbh.

but yeah, ending this episode with the introduction of the founders’ (we don’t know they’re the founders yet) homeworld was an incredibly strong choice. this is both a super eventful episode & a super well-made episode. it’s a great reinforcement of how the previous season ended, and a great start to what the show is going to be about moving forward. a-rank

3x02 “the search, part 2”

i’m going to be very honest here, the first time i saw this episode i straight up never figured out that everything going on on the alpha quadrant side of things was a simulation. and because i watched a few episodes of ds9 here & there when it was airing, i knew for a fact that the wormhole continued to be a going concern later in the show, so when sisko & co stole the runabout and blew up the entrance to the wormhole, i was like, “wait, what?”

watching it now, though, there are enough things subtly wrong with this part of the plot that i’m a little embarrassed i didn’t figure it out? like, i think they did a pretty actually great job of balancing not totally giving it away but also making it very possible for a less credulous viewer than me to have figured it out? like, everything is ever so slightly “off,” but in a way that’s subtle enough that you could be forgiven for just thinking the episode is kinda weird?

i fucking love that the simulation totally nails garak, btw. the part where he pretends to betray sisko & co, and tells the bewildered jem’hadar, “you mean no one told you? you see, i pretend to be their friend… and then i shoot you!” just abruptly changing who he’s betraying mid-sentence like one last little victory lap before he guns them down. just fucking pure, uncut garak.

the way this episode totally flips the a plot & b plot is such a wonderful star trekky move. like, you’re kind of wondering why we’re spending so much time on the odo & kira stuff when it seems so much less consequential than the fate of the galaxy type stuff happening elsewhere, and then it turns out all of that was happening in a simulation literally meters away from where odo & kira have been this whole time.

this is just a fucking awesome misdirect that feels so rewarding. and having it turn out that odo & kira have been interacting with the founders this whole time is such a great way to flip the script considering that the other plot has been all about figuring out who the founders were & what they wanted. it’s such a great way to have these plots intersect.

this two-parter had a lot to accomplish, and i think it accomplished it about as well as it could have all things considered. especially in this era, it was really hard to change the entire trajectory of a television show in a way that feels natural & true to that show’s core identity, and i think they pulled that off admirably here. they cemented the seismic shift that happened at the end of the last season, and actually double downed on that with the bombshell that odo’s been a founder all along. this is truly great television, and more importantly truly great star trek. a-rank

[iamnot-theboynextdoor]

sorry not sorry i'm writing actor meta about the appearance swap

this is going to get confusing when i talk about the layers of aziraphale, crowley, aziraphale-as-crowley, crowley-as-aziraphale, david-as-aziraphale-as-crowley and michael-as-crowley-as-aziraphale. sorry bout it

when we first see The First Day Of The Rest Of Their Lives, we as the audience are not supposed to know that They Are Not What They Seem, and so david and michael's performances are very subtle - so subtle that you're probably not even supposed to pick up on them on first viewing.

i love that in-universe, aziraphale and crowley have to perfectly fool their offices, and out-of-universe, david and michael have to perfectly fool us- at first, and then clue us in. and they do! spectacularly!

aziraphale-as-crowley replicates crowley's "i'm not scared of hell, i talk to other demons like i own the place" attitude, but his tone comes off as a lot more light-hearted then the real crowley's. behind his glasses, he opens his eyes wider, smiles more, even comes off as somewhat friendly. his posture is straighter; even lying in the bath, he's flat on his back, symmetrical with his gestures. his voice is lighter, but david-as-aziraphale-as-crowley keeps crowley's accent the same- until later.

crowley-as-aziraphale eschews aziraphale's politeness and holds his tongue when the angels try to dress him down, but his voice is a lower, less expressive, and he sounds very unimpressed (even when in the bookshop! looking at new books!) he frowns more, circles aziraphale-as-crowley protectively, and is decisively Not Nervous around the angels. the real aziraphale tries So Hard to get in the angels' good graces, downplaying his ideas, laughing nervously, swaying back and forth on his toes. crowley-as-aziraphale looks them all dead on with disapproval. michael-as-crowley-as aziraphale is *very* reserved in comparison to the real aziraphale, he deletes all the colour, tone, pitch, and affect from his voice.

when they sit on the bench together after the plan, that's the audience's biggest and last chance to figure out What's Going On before the official reveal. crowley-as-aziraphale is there, all pretenses gone, sitting like crowley normally does. aziraphale would never sit like that in his *life*. and he's sitting on the left side of the bench, facing camera right, which is where crowley usually is framed (unless he's driving).

and michael-as-crowley-as-aziraphale goes further into the voicework. he drops aziraphale's (or crowley-as-aziraphale imitating his) posh accent, and ends up somewhat midway into crowley's southern english accent. (apparently michael can also mimic david's voice perfectly, well enough to prank mr neil gaiman with, i so badly want to hear that impression)

aziraphale-as-crowley enters and sits, spine straight up, forward-facing, hands in his lap- crowley has never looked so well-behaved. and, of course, he's on the right side of the bench, facing camera left.

and david-as-aziraphale-as-crowley has the *softest*, lightest little voice, in a most-of-the-way-there posh accent (i wish they both had more lines, just so i could hear them talk)

watching david and michael in those scenes is like watching a gradient slowly change, as crowley and aziraphale go through layers of putting on the best performance as each other (but still having a few of their own personalities subtly showing) to blending their characteristics together- when they sit on the bench together (and it's like three lines!) they're sort of half-and-half, each, until they swap back. david and michael's performances in episode 6, both physical and vocal, are going to live rent free in my brain forever.

and i love michael's (i think it was his) idea of a stage show where they'd swap characters every night (he was originally going to play crowley), i'm glad we got a little taste of what that would be like.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

I was the one who added all that content to TV Tropes (I'm currently working on the Adaptation Expansion page episode by episode while doing blog posts for the Animanga Spellbook), so I feel some level of responsibility in correcting some of what you say...

Of course, if the problem is my explanation, then please feel free to edit the page and explain it in a way that makes more sense, since I know you have a TV Tropes account as well.

'[Hiro] was taken out for the "The police and I don't exactly get along" line from Kaju to have more impact in the world's current state of affairs.' - Not true. In the manga, it was just generic policemen, not specifically Hiro.

Jun's surname is Nanashino (七篠).

'[Chizuko's] favorite food is chicken which she’s shown regularly eating though it's only really alluded to in the anime by her wanting to make karage.' - 1) Off the top of my head, she's never actually shown eating chicken (although it's entirely possible that might happen in a chapter I haven't looked at properly - I've only seriously looked at chapters which have been adapted into the anime as of the time of this reply). 2) It's possible the karaage sandwich Chrome puts on a shelf in the anime (end of ep. 4) might be referring to Chizuko's love of chicken, too.

'Her hair color in the manga was strawberry blonde which would dye to pink when she transformed.' - This I did not add and have no source for (unless it's on Sawata-sensei's X account). The only colour spreads in the manga that I know of (as of this reply) are of Berry and not of Kaju, which doesn't help.

'He's shown to have had a few ideas for Chizuko's General outfit with the final design being among them within the manga continuity He also at one point, imagines her as a cherry themed magical girl during the same chapter that he goes into costume as 'Magical Girl No. 2' (episode 6 of the anime adaptation).' - As far as I can remember, there was only the cherry-themed design (which turns out to be a shared thought bubble between Mashirou and Chrome and was presumably cut because it highly resembles Madoka) and the final outfit we see in ep. 9 of the anime/trip 25.

'During a fight with Baryuu Ohmizo in the manga, he changes into a mascot form (in accordance with his animal theming, a bear that retains his signature scar above his nose) as a fade-out against the Supreme General.' - "Feint" was the word I used, so it should be "fake-out".

'He's associated with pigeons in the manga owing to how jumpy in and out of cat form; the kanji for 'island' in his surname is written to the character for 'pigeon' and he gets swarmed by the birds during his original self's debut chapter' - I said "subtly" on the TV Tropes page, since the association is only in that chapter (trip 11/ep. 7 with the final gag of Mashirou's mascot form being swarmed by pigeons being cut from the anime) and trip 63 (Berry conjures a single pigeon to check on Mashirou when he becomes a MyMacaronya (<- Acro Trip's version of "YouTuber") and then conjures several when Mashirou becomes no. 1 trending on MyMacaroni, with one pigeon even colliding with Chrome's face (!)). Also, the characters for "pigeon" and "island" (as shown in Mashima's name, the usual character looks like 島) are extremely similar, but not the same. As shown on the TV Tropes page, the two characters have the same character for "bird" (鳥) on the right side, but "pigeon" has the kanji for "nine" (九) on the left side, while "island" in Mashima's name has "mountain" (山) on the left.

'Two jokes that're manga-exclusive involve him convincing Chizuko to use her magic to make him taller and Tsuki taking Mashirou to a pet show to prove he's not really a cat (Mashirou doesn't set off folks' cat fur allergies for starters).' - The specific wording Mashirou uses in the first instance is to make him "8 heads tall" (instead of his usual 2), hence an elongated Mashirou (<- I describe this scene briefly on the Funny page, so I don't know how you made this mistake). The second instance is not a pet show, but a place that does pet photos (called わんにゃん館, or "Meow Woof Building"). Furthermore, that second instance is Mashirou actually heading to the ferry to Fossa Magna HQ when he gets sidetracked by Tsuki-in-disguise - the proof he's not a cat is in how he doesn't trip off Tsuki's cat allergy.

'He pays a visit to Chrome's base for an assessment in chapter 16 of the manga.' - Trip 16 was adapted into the anime (ep. 10), so he doesn't actually visit for the inspection, but he did plan to visit and called ahead for that purpose before calling it off.

Differences between Acro Trip's Manga & Anime

All details are taken from the series' TV Tropes page for reference.

EDIT: Shout out to fellow Acro Trip fan, @bluefoolskyes for providing additional info regarding Jun and Shizuru!

Manga-exclusive characters

There were 3 characters who aren't present in the anime adaptation:

Hiro Akebi

Kaju's cousin and a local police officer in Naniga City.

He was taken out for the "The police and I don't exactly get along" line from Kaju to have more impact in the world's current state of affairs.

He's a decent driver when going on straight roads but his skills tend to fly off the rails when it comes to turning.

Jun Nanashimo

A self proclaimed 'hero of Justice' and apparently Chrome's junior. Has the appearance of a standard 'swords and sorcery’ media's main protagonist.

He’s not in the anime as he only appears in the manga for a single chapter that’s late into the series run (Chaprer 50 out of the 70 that make up the manga).

Shizuru Zakuroishi

The teaching aide of Chizuko's father who's secretly a magical girl of the villainous sort. Her magical girl nom de guerre takes after the 'zakuro' in her family name.

She doesn’t appear in the anime as the adaptation was greenlit a couple of years prior to her being introduced into the story/the show getting officially announced.

Like Chizuko, she bucks the trend of dark magical girl attire by being one of the very few examples to wear a frilly and girly outfit after transforming in her case. Like Kaju, she has on glasses as a civillain which she takes off prior to starting her henshin.

She gets turned into a goat mascot in the manga.

General

Both Kaju and Chizuko's transformation sequences are done differently in the manga.

Chizuko

Her favorite food is chicken which she’s shown regularly eating though it's only really alluded to in the anime by her wanting to make karage.

Kaju

Her hair color in the manga was strawberry blonde which would dye to pink when she transformed.

The slapstick she goes through in the anime's opening sequence are taken from various chapters in the manga.

Chrome

He occasionaly dons a cape in the manga and when he became an evil mastermind, he commissioned one for his signature outfit

He helps Chizuko train for a sports festival at her school as her honorary uncle.

He's shown to have had a few ideas for Chizuko's General outfit with the final design being among them within the manga continuity He also at one point, imagines her as a cherry themed magical girl during the same chapter that he goes into costume as 'Magical Girl No. 2' (episode 6 of the anime adaptation).

During a fight with Baryuu Ohmizo in the manga, he changes into a mascot form (in accordance with his animal theming, a bear that retains his signature scar above his nose) as a fade-out against the Supreme General.

He has a transformation sequence in the manga that he uses for an entirely normal purpose (Drying himself after getting soaked by downpours). The transformation aspect is parodied with only the top half of his body being without clothes (which Chizuko comments on) and his hair covering the front of his chest.

He has a fixation for toffee apples according to his manga profile

Mashirou

He's associated with pigeons in the manga owing to how jumpy in and out of cat form; the kanji for 'island' in his surname is written to the character for 'pigeon' and he gets swarmed by the birds during his original self's debut chapter

He is able to change back to his original human form under certain circumstances twice in the manga.

Two jokes that're manga-exclusive involve him convincing Chizuko to use her magic to make him taller and Tsuki taking Mashirou to a pet show to prove he's not really a cat (Mashirou doesn't set off folks' cat fur allergies for starters).

Baryuu Ohmizo

He pays a visit to Chrome's base for an assessment in chapter 16 of the manga.

He's shown to have been the one to make Kokoa's kittyage plushie when the latter was younger in the source material.

He gets turned into a lion mascot on one occasion in the manga.

[goldenroutledge]

Rafe and “i’m not worthy of anybody’s love.” “that’s not true, you’re worthy of mine.” followed by the lover breaking eye-contact… + a love confession

troubled waters

pairing: rafe cameron x reader

wc: 1.8k

warning(s): a lil angsty but ends in fluff

summary: in which rafe comes knocking at your door, in need of a friend, but you are ready to give him a hell of a lot more than that.

a/n: YESS THIS SCREAMS RAFE THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING!! 🤍

rafe masterlist

© goldenroutledge , do not copy, steal, or translate my work

Thunder shook your lonely house, amongst the lightning striking in quick and bright flashes outside but visible through the thin curtains. Curled up in a fuzzy blanket in your bedroom, many throw pillows nearly drowned you in them to tune out the noises of nature. So many throw pillows in fact that your TV show was playing at an alarmingly high volume. You could’ve sworn your doorbell went off, causing you to rewind your show 10 seconds to see if that’s where the sound was coming from.

Ok, definitely the doorbell, you concluded as it went off for a second time while the show was paused. Your parents weren’t set to return home from their trip for another week. And if anything, their postponed arrival was because of the storm. Nobody in their right mind would be traveling in this weather.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, you made your way to the front door slowly. Not without grabbing a large knife from the kitchen first, just to be safe. The porch light had been turned off because you weren’t expecting anybody, but the lightning and the street light further away illuminated the shadowy figure standing behind the stained glass door. Whoever they were, they should be thankful you had a fairly large porch that was the only thing keeping them from getting drenched in the pouring rain. In one swing, the front door flew open and left you facing your uninvited guest.

“Rafe?” You quizzed, putting the knife behind your back now that you’d identified the person. Stepping aside, you gestured for him to come inside before shutting and locking the door. “What are you doing here? And driving in this weather? Are you insane?”

A heavy sigh fell from his lips, pulling down the hood of his hoodie for you to get a better look at him. “I should’ve called. I’m sorry.” His line of vision scattered the floor. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Peering up at him, you finally caught sight of his exhausted expression and puffy eyes. You frowned, reaching for him before remembering the knife in one of your hands that made him slightly jump upon seeing it. “What the hell? Why do you have that?”

“Oh, my bad.” You retraced your steps back to the kitchen and put the knife back in its place. “I wasn’t really expecting company at this hour.”

“Right.” He clicked his tongue in response, hands in his pockets. “Again, I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have just dropped in like this. I can go if you want.”

“No!” You debated a little too quickly. “I-I’m, uhm.. I’m glad you came, actually. I didn’t wanna be alone anyways.” You took his hand in yours, knife-free this time, and led him up to your room. “So don’t worry about it. You know my door’s always open for you.”

Rafe’s lips pursed tightly into the best smile he could give at your acceptance. Despite his attempt to look somewhat happy, the sorrow dripping off of him was evident.

To you, at least. Normally you could read Rafe like the back of your hand, and tonight was no different. Figuring out how to get through to him was the tricky part.

The both of you were leaning back on your large array of pillows, offering him a blanket to insulate his shivering body. You pressed play on your show again, shoulder to shoulder with your best friend, leaning into each other subtly.

An episode later, a wave of fatigue came over you, drawing a yawn from your lips as the end credits rolled on the screen. Now it was just you, Rafe, and the pouring rain outside. You looked over to him to see a few tears rolling down his cheeks. He blinked and let them fall as fast as they filled his eyes, mind clearly off in another world.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Rafe only shook his head no, exhaling shakily.

The two of you sat in the quiet for a few minutes, the storm still very much alive but it wasn’t the reason for the pangs of ache in your heart.

You wanted to tell Rafe he’d be okay, and that you’d be there for him. You wanted to tell him how badly it hurts to see him in pain, how much you loved him. But when the time presents itself. This wasn’t about you, not in this moment.

“Can I ask you a question?” He hummed, telling you to go ahead. “Why did you show up here tonight? Not that I don’t want you here, but in this weather, too? Did something happen?”

“I don’t know, Y/n/n. I trust you. I already told you I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Alright. I just need to know you’re okay, Rafe.”

“Now that I’m here, I am.” Rafe wiped his tears away, sniffling as he spoke up again, ready to confide in you. “My dad told me leave. Said he didn’t want to be stuck home with me during the storm, y’know.”

Your eyes remained fixated on him, showing him that you were listening. You held his hand in yours gently for support. “It’s probably better that way, too. When we are stuck home together it just gives him more time and reason to remind me of what a fuck up I am.”

Your eyebrows furrowed in disagreement. “Don’t say that about yourself, Rafe.” You debated, in a strong tone but also a quiet one.

“When you start hearing it enough, you believe it, Y/n. And lately I’ve been really trying— trying to do better for his approval. But nothing fucking works. I can’t stop messing up no matter what I do.” He ranted, hands running through his hair and at this point having let yours go.

Rafe threw the blanket off and stood up, his frame looming over your dresser as he banged his fist down on it in a single motion. “He’ll never love me like he loves Sarah.” An aggrieved sob escaped his lips as he looked up at himself in the mirror.

You followed him of course, moving across the bed and pulling him into your arms immediately. Rafe welcomed you, clutching your body to his and dropping his head to cry in the crook of your neck. In hopes to ease some of his pain, you caressed and curled some of his hair between your fingers.

“I’m not even worthy of his love, either.” He let out as he caught his breath. “I’m not worthy of anybody’s love.”

“That’s not true... You’re worthy of mine.” You argued, unable to stop the words from coming out of your mouth. The both of you froze, though you pulled back, holding his shoulders but eventually dropping your hands from them as the silence passed.

“What?”

Tears now pooled in your eyes, for several different reasons but all of the emotions combined became overwhelming. As much as you wanted to backtrack and erase the words from both of your memories, you couldn’t. You had to let Rafe know someone truly loves him.

“You are worthy of love, Rafe. I hate that you don’t see it.”

His blue orbs glimmered in disbelief, but optimism as they shined with new tears, for different reasons as well. “No.” He protested. “You said I’m worthy of your love.”

“Mhm.”

“So.. what does that mean?” He questioned with a hint of hope in his tone, though he didn’t want to embarrass himself by misreading anything. “You know I’m not good at reading in between the lines n’ shit.”

Reluctantly, you accepted his embrace for you now, resting your hands on his sweatshirt clad torso while his rested on your waist comfortingly. You closed your eyes as more tears slipped out, wishing you were dreaming right now. You didn’t want to face him. His rejection wouldn’t be easy at all, though unavoidable now.

“It means.. I love you, Rafe.”

His reaction wasn’t one you were able to gauge, your heartbeat hammering in your chest. “A-and I’m sorry if I just ruined our whole friendship because I’m an idiot who doesn’t think before I talk. It’s just so unfair that you have to feel unloved, Rafe. It hurts me too and I just needed you to kno-” Before you could finish, Rafe’s lips were on yours, intervening your ramble as he kissed you feverishly.

“Are you done?” He questioned once he pulled away, hands still cupping your face and caressing your damp cheeks.

“I guess so. But I- what was that?”

“I love you too, Y/n.” He confessed, giving you a genuine smile of relief and contentment for the first time all night. “Guess you’re not so good at reading between the lines either, huh. Even though I thought I just made it pretty clear for you.”

“Then maybe you should try again. I’m not sure that I’m following..” You teased, lips hovering over his before he kissed you once again, this time less sloppily but with the same passion.

Pulling away for air, your foreheads rested on one another’s, smiling like fools as the tears shed from you both were the last thing on your minds.

“I love you.” Rafe whispered, pure adoration taking over the look in his eyes.

“And I love you. Never forget it, okay? I’ll tell you everyday if I have to.”

He chuckled at your last comment, knowing there actually was truth to that. “Okay.” He pressed a featherlight kiss to your forehead in agreement. “Thank you.” He mumbled, expressing his gratitude for several of your actions.

Or not even your actions specifically, but how you made him feel. Rafe would never be able to thank you enough. “For always being here, for loving me. Even if I didn’t find out until a few minutes ago.”

“I’ve loved you for a lot longer than a few minutes, Rafe.” You chuckled against his chest at his joke.

“I know.” He reassured smoothly. “But it felt good to hear it. I didn’t know if I was ever going to.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” You conceded. “But I meant what I said. You deserve to be loved.”

His hand ran up and down your back soothingly. “I’m glad you told me. So now we can stop being idiots. Except we’re still idiots, but now we’ll just make out all the time.”

“Is this your way of asking me to be yours, Cameron?”

He scoffed, rolling his eyes in emphasis. “Seriously? I just told you I love you so why would I not-”

“I’m kidding, Rafe. Of course I want to.” You pinched his cheeks in amusement.

“I just had to make you work for it. I never thought you’d love me either.”

He laughed at your antics and somewhat strange logic, rain only tapping on your windows now. “Love was just a word to me until you gave it a definition, Y/n.”

a/n: i wrote this in a p r i l 😟 and forgot all about it. given it’s my one year writing anniversary i thought it would be fun to post another rafe work. the og being called ‘trouble in paradise’ & this one being called ‘troubled waters’ lol what a coincidence. anyways, thanks for stickin with me & my writing for a year <3

taglist: @ilovejjmaybank @missevi @nxsmss @cameronsrafe @msgorillagripcoochie @bibliophilewednesday @tovvaa @rudybarnes @annab-nana @babeyglo @reawritesthings @moniamaybank @outerbankspreferences @laneybobeczko-g @jjpouggues @j-j-may-bank @starrycigarettes @eifhames @outerbankies @pogueslandia @kaysapogue @mildkleptomaniac @whcclxr @mrs-cameron @maybanksslut @it-was-never-meant-to-be-boys @alanniys @sunnymaybank @amourslover

rafe: @vintageobx @chrisevansfuturewife @drewstarkeysbitchh @littlementalpolaroids @mildkleptomaniac @destourtereaux @kookkyra @iammirrorball