#but very subtle and vague (in the broadcast)

[fuck-you-im-the-president]

Tubbo softly hummed in appreciation, curling up impossibly closer to the older ram. He was too sleepy to focus entirely, but he tried to stay as awake as possible.

In his efforts to stay awake, Tubbo started hyper–focusing on the news broadcast. It was easier to focus now, since he was slowly forcing himself out of this sleepy haze.

The younger ram wanted to enjoy the affectionate attention for as long as possible, wanting to have an extra special reason to cherish all of this.

This was nice regardless.

Schlatt glared at the screen when a video of a speech—Schlatt talking on screen with Quackity next to him, Tubbo a bit behind Quackity but still close—showed up on half of the screen, showing the weather on the other side.

Quackity said something in the speech with a slight stutter at the beginning and substituting a word for Spanish when he didn't know it in English. A news reporter once again mentioned Quackity in an unknown context, but mentioned an injury of some kind.

“Stupid.” He grumbles, but rubs his eyes and gets more comfortable. The screen switches from the broadcast to ads of various restaurants, and Schlatt looks up at the ceiling.

The president didn't try to stay up very long like Tubbo had, alcohol making sleep so incredibly easy. His face settled that slightly annoyed-looking expression he's always had when he sleeps, and his hoof kicks absentmindedly.

[sgiandubh]

Dear (returning) Considering Anon,

You wrote this and you have been blocked. Again. Fair enough, make as many clones as you wish: I shall not answer anymore.

You took a hefty chunk of your time only to write this and be read on a very early morning start between urinating and brushing my teeth. I should applaud your dedication, but I won't.

If you wish to insinuate I hacked into their account, you are, once more, laughably wrong:

As I said, someone from your own camp inadvertently pointed the way:

Not an approximate payroll - a budget estimate. Two different things, as Claire was not cast at the time. Simple basis for further negotiations and in no way the final figures. Series' renewal was announced on August 15, 2014, 1 (one!) day after the broadcast of the first episode. Any negotiated raise was, therefore, involving both of them and their agents - we also know they 'had each other's back' since very early on - no need for me to further develop, you know exactly what I mean:

That email was either hacked, or 'erroneous': the twain shall never meet, like Kipling's East and West. Too subtle for you? The appropriate term is 'vague': a vague enough 'we', for me not to base my reasoning on it alone.

Diana Gabaldon 'Erself confirmed the fact that there was not much to do, other than going on with the shooting of Season 1 and certainly no time for any exterior relationships. But hey, why bother, the Screeching Banshees know best, right, since they are happily 'adulting' in their corner (the nerve!).

You guys are always grasping at that paper the way people usually grasp at straws, with zero critical approach towards the many legitimate questions that 'marriage' leaves perfectly unanswered. If all marriage papers in the universe reflected deep love and commitment, we'd probably be living in a perfect, ideal and (between you and me) very boring world. In this case, the mismatch is obvious, a shitload of details do not click, the Happy Couple systematically looks as if pushed to the gallows with bayonets, rather than being a part of glam events, that house still looks, as we speak, emptier than Mrs. Havisham's living room and the commonly 'owned' businesses are, likewise, empty shells (spare one of them and for a very precise reason). And that is just scratching the surface of the itch, darling. Your inability to question whatever you are so opportunistically fed tells me more than you'd certainly want about yourself, that being said.

You are correct, shooting ended yesterday. Perhaps it's time for you to move on and find another obsessive fandom to pounce upon: after all, there are so many interesting series out there! After almost one year and a half in here, I am still amazed at your intolerance and your very credulous conviction that you are somehow doing God's work, every single day, harassing people who dare to think differently, simply because they know differently. And no, unlike you, I am not basing my very firm stance just on the interactions I see between them during promo, two historical trolls ridiculous lies or the social media findings of another obsessed troll.

The comparison between SC pics and Sam/Greedy Driver ones is simply grotesque. Dropping names as Lily (who?) won't make me believe you are one of the insiders, either.

On top of it all, thank you for the wonderful final idiocy:

Romanian for bustard is 'dropie'. I remember watching them roam near my grandparents' home, many moons ago and can absolutely confirm they do run fast.

You should take heed, Anon. My question for you will always be why. Why are you doing this and exactly what do you hope to achieve?

[petra-creat0r]

Deltarune: Fool's Fate Ch. 7 Secret Boss

We finally get to the Studio Dark World! The only chapter other than Chapter 1 of Fool's Fate to be set not in Hometown!

I think I first started coming up with this guy around the fourth of July, it's just taken me a bit to draw them and flesh out their lore. Anyways, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen I present to your, your host, the one, the only, the darling deer with the charming voice, Ray D. O'Skelly!!

Ray's name should be obvious. It's a pun on radio. They're a radio host. Not a lot to explain there. Though when first coming up with their name and concept, I did look into 30s and 40s era radio hosts to try and pull inspiration from their names. Red Skelton was one I landed on since Skelton is similar to "skeleton" and I already knew I wanted this boss to have a skeletal face to resemble 30s era radios. Eventually I shorted it to Skelly to flow better with the O to go with the radio pun.

I don't really have a text quirk for Ray yet? Best I can think off is their voice sounds staticy or they get interrupted by ads/song lyrics similar to Spamton and Bitsy. I do know that they can't actually speak because of the well... whole thing that happened to their face. Their voice comes through their microphone. If anyone has any ideas let me know. Maybe a sound board situation?

Since I imagine the studio world being similar to what I think Chapter 3 will be like, being based off movies and film rather than TV, and Bitsy is already animation theory and I've got Casper to cover Woody theory, Ray is radio theory. Video killed the radio star. The theory I forgot to include in my original poll when I was first coming up with Bitsy despite being one of my favorite ideas. Aside from being based on an old-timey radio host, I also vaguely pulled some subtle inspiration from Alastor from Hazbin Hotel. Mostly just in the fact that Ray is a deer along with their color palette, radio theming, and some of their demeanor.

Backstory under the cut

Ray O'Skelly used to be the talk of the town, the bees knees, the cats pajamas! The voice heard across the globe and broadcast to nearly every station. MTTWood's very own home town darling and host of the most tuned into radio channel in all of the studio world. Ray's radio show had it all! Music, news, even radio plays performed by the deer themself! It was the age of radio and Ray was monarch, surely there was no way their popularity would falter any time soon.

At least... that's what Ray thought before the leader of the studio world signed a deal with some folk from this up and coming "Television" Dark World.

At first, the TV World didn't pose much of a threat to Ray, or at the very least it couldn't yet compete with the popularity of their radio show. But over time, the alternative form of entertainment started to gain more attention and views than Ray's show gained listeners. Especially after the appearance of a supposed Knight in the other Dark World and the merge of most of the channels into TennaVision. According to the public, Ray's show was getting old and bland. The music they played went out of style who knows how long ago, and people would prefer to watch the news and Ray's "radio plays" rather than simply listening. Ray either had to adapt, or fade away in obscurity.

That was when Ray met a man. A man offering aid, offering salvation to the deer down on their luck. The man offered to help Ray "get with the times" as they say, and rise back to fame. Help get their radio show back in the public zeitgeist and to surpass the competition. Almost without thinking, Ray took the man's offer, desperate to stay relevant through whatever means necessary.

The man made good on his deal, helping Ray by suggesting a few changes to their format here and there. New music, updated segments, notes on Ray's tone and how to better appeal to masses and be "hip with the kids", the works. Ray wasn't particularly for all the new changes, but they were desperate. Desperate for attention, desperate for fame and adoration. And fame and attention they got. It was almost as if, whoever tuned into the station would HAVE to listen. Ray's listenership was through the roof, all thanks to the man...

Perhaps it could be said that fame and power corrupts, because at some point, listeners noticed a shift in Ray's demeanor. Once the soft-spoken and well mannered host with the most, they got more prideful, vein, sadistic. Either from all the attention going to their head, or perhaps from a great Truth revealed to them about the nature of their existence breaking their mind. Whatever it was, it twisted the once charming radio host. Twisted them into an arrogant yet still devilishly charismatic individual with an ever captive audience.

Eventually, Ray's pride got the better of them. Even after the man left, Ray still maintained their popularity and fame, yet their ego wouldn't settle for just that. Ray had a captive audience at their disposal who would have to listen to anything they said. Any idea they suggested could be implanted in as little as a whisper and the right frequency. Ray could control this town. Could bend it to their every whim and will. Which is just what they tried to do. Before their operation got shut down of course.

Turns out, an old acquaintance had played stool pigeon and cried wolf to the authorities. Even if Ray tried to charm the guards, it was no use. Their studio was taken from them and shut down and they were cast out onto the rainy street. Yet even stripped of everything, Ray wouldn't let anything stop them from reaching the top. In a makeshift studio down in the darkest corners of MTTWood, Ray continued to broadcast their signal to who ever would listen.

That is until the children of a star and their friends found themselves in the studio world...

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

hehehe. It might've taken me a bit to come up with but this was fun. When I designed Ray, I knew they were a little charmer, but I also wanted to have them be twisted. I imagine after the studio Dark World is sealed and Ray ends up staying at the Blook house with Spamton and Poly, they act like the sweetest little darling. Only to still be manipulating people through subliminal messaging in their radio broadcasts. I'll have to play that out some time.

Anyways, only 3 left to go! And one of those I already have so it's really just designing the secret boss for the Town Hall world and then the Festival world. The later of which I already have a vague idea for.

[ethicstownpod]

5?

If you're the writer, how did casting/producing change how you thought about the podcast?

To start, I let everyone whose character only played a minor role in S1 decide as much or as little as they wanted about their own character. They had jobs, first names, and vague character arcs, but I wanted to leave room for people who really wanted to have a hand in their own character development. So there are lots of aspects of characters you’ll hear more from in S2 that you have the wonderful cast to thank for.

Artemis actually changed the least. Liz got her so dead on. She’s maybe a little bit more fiery than Artemis was on paper, but that works really well. Artemis is barley holding on as it is, I don’t think a quieter kid would’ve cut it!

January changed a lot a lot in some very subtle ways as I got to know Rhys and what he was best at/what he liked to do. January isn’t someone we really root for, by the end of S1, he doesn’t even have to be someone we can sympathise with, but it is very important that we see his point of view. And more than anyone it was important that Rhys could see where January’s coming from.

So he had to be so sorry. Because Rhys is so sorry, all the time. Rhys hasn’t done a murder, he’s just sorry.

Every single thing January did had to feel like the worst thing ever to him. He doesn’t actually do anything all that terrible in eps 2-7. His second biggest crime after assassination is really just “being a little bit stupid.” But because he did that first awful thing he feels like everything he does is awful. He feels like there’s no going back and being a good person, so he digs.

He was a more volatile and unapologetic person before. In fact, his radio station wasn’t even originally an emergency broadcast. It was just a fun little hobby he did where sometimes he felt like talking about crimes.

Rhys!January is fckn riddled with catholic guilt, lol, he needs the Confession Format. (Ftr, Rhys is not Catholic, just an expression)

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: “Vision of Hope“

Plot threads coming together as we approach the home stretch and season finale arc, lets explore some sewers today!

Kanan has deemed it safe enough to enlist help training Ezra again.  Fortunately this time they are solidly on the ground and taking precautions. XD

This exercise is a little bit similar to the one Anakin put Ahsoka through in Trials of the Jedi.  Only, you know, it has an actual achievable goal and endpoint (redirecting a blaster bolt into the target helmet) and Kanan doesn’t force Ezra to keep getting knocked unconscious over and over again.

Nice detail in Ezra sensing bolts coming and ducking, moving before they even remotely reach him.

Please help him, he’s so tired.

Seeing that Ezra’s distracted, Kanan calls a brief halt.  I do wonder if Ezra’s own anticipation of catching Gall Trayvis’s broadcast, while he’s open to the Force and letting it help him deflect and dodge shots, is what triggered his vision.

The boy does tend to accident his way into Force breakthroughs lol.

This full-body eyeroll is such a typical teenager thing.

The “Shenanigans” leitmotif comes in here, in playful synths.  Then the Force ring sound effects starts and it crashes to a halt with a note of cymbal percussion.  The strings take over with high frantic ascending trills that drop away into the full-on soundscape of Force noises, only a strained trumpet bleeting out halting notes of Ezra’s theme.

There’s a pulsing heartbeat sound underneath everything too.  Also love the wavering effect on the sides of the screen to indicate the vision.

The amazement when Kanan tells Ezra he deflected every single shot into the helmet, aww.

He looks so proud.

You know in hindsight it’s really not surprising that Kanan assumed Ezra had graduated to tracking through the Force in “Legacy”, given how often the kid had already surprised him. XD

His face.  *sobs*

I haven’t been commenting on it much but pay attention to whenever the titlecard pops up without its normal bombastic fanfare.  Usually a sign that things are serious.  I remember we went a solid streak of like five episodes in Season Four without a single fanfare and it was STRESSFUL.

Kanan brings up the very likely possibility that Ezra’s desires are coloring his vision, making him see what he wants to see out of it, which again goes to show why the Jedi teach discipline and clarity of mind when tapping into the Force.  You bring your own emotions and junk into the connection with you and they can trick you even more than the already cryptic and vague visions can.  “Your focus determines your reality.”

We’ll revisit this concept later in the series.

Zeb going for a headsmack while Sabine chooses a shoulder bump.  Sabine has this adorable devilish grin right before she lays it on him.  It turns softer and more playful as she passes.

Ezra smacks Zeb back as he runs into the Ghost, cute.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra twirls his helmet before sitting down, lovely little character touches like this make the animation feel more natural and immersive and realistic.

Hngh, Ezra’s eagerness in these early scenes hurts.

Lol, Sabine leans in when Ezra mentions the mural, the artist in her is intrigued.  And without missing a beat she pulls up the correct schematic.

This is the biased shipper in me but I’m loving their comfortable proximity, you can see Sabine slip out of her seat in the booth and kneel or crouch next to Ezra who’s on the stool.

Kanan once again warning Ezra not to put too much stock in his vision and Hera raising an eyebrow like, “Mais, c’est quoi?”

“He had a what now?”

Hi Zare!

Zare is exiting state left into his own spinoff adventure lol.  (Really gotta get myself a copy of his books.)

Ezra’s eyes are really pretty this episode.

The crew talking about Ezra’s tragic backstory. :(

That old Ralph McQuarrie concept art put to use in lovely fashion.

*has a plan*

*DOUBT.jpeg*

And Chopper straight up murdered his first other droid lol.  And also very nearly takes Kanan’s head off.

The sass on this droid. XD

Always found it cute how Ezra doesn’t get indignant or offended by Sabine implying he smells like the sewers but glees up like it’s the most exciting thing in the world that she’s paid enough attention to him to tell.

Even Kanan’s like, “Okay, can you not be embarrassing about your obvious crush for like two seconds?”

Hi Trayvis, you dirty lying snake. :)

This shot of Ezra and Kanan igniting their lightsabers together for the first time is pretty sweet.

“Padawan Jabba.”  Snrk, love that Kallus remembered that.

Oooooh lookit the way Zeb’s bo-staff lights up the smoke!

Hera’s blaster has a very unique sound that I like.

The “Shenanigans” cue comes back but it is a lot less fun and upbeat.  Some of the chords sound transposed to minor key.

Trayvis starting pinging me the moment we saw him in person, honestly, just something about him and the way he talked was way too slimy but his hesitance to actually escape here definitely got me suspicious.

Good thing Kanan was reviewing blaster bolt deflection earlier lol.

SNAAAAAAAAKE.

NO ONE LIKES YOU. >:(

“How will you find us?”  “I can smell you, remember?” <3333333

Love to see Sabine initiating the banter for once.

Even Hera is like, “THAT’S CUTE GUYS BUT WE GOTTA GO.”

Trayvis digging for leads to other Rebel factions like the lying rat he is. >:(

Aaaaaand this is why Hera doesn’t tell the others anything, Ezra’s so eager to believe Trayvis is an ally that he’s just talking openly in front of him.  Disaster averted only because Ezra thinks the Ghost crew is literally all there is.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The consistent wafts of air from the fan that blow Ezra’s hair.

The sharp-eyed can tell that Hera adjusts something on her blaster moments before handing it to Trayvis.

EVERY SINGLE SHOT OF THE BETRAYED LOOK ON EZRA’S FACE HURTS ME PHYSICALLY AND PERSONALLY.

Bbbbyyyyyyyyyy. :((((((((((((

Hera’s furious Mama Bear haymaker to Trayvis’s face is... satisfying.

I love the sound Ezra’s saber makes when it’s turned on, it sound so unique to normal lightsaber ignitions.

And then there’s one last distorted iteration of the “Shenanigans” cue and Ezra’s death glare game continues to be on point.

Hera’s turn to comfort Ezra this time, though Kanan’s flat, “I saw this bratty kid who constantly caused me trouble.” gets a chuckle out of him first.

“Shenanigans“ comes back, properly in the woodwinds section and major key again to close us out.

Oof.  This episode isn’t one I particularly rewatch that often, since it’s kind of a bummer.  Our potential ally turns out to be a fraud and a spy, all the work the crew has done only seeming to put bigger and bigger targets on their backs.  But this is a franchise about hope, about enduring until the dawn breaks, so our heroes escape to lick their wounds, regroup, encourage each other, and try again.

And next episode they make some big splashes.  Boy oh boy. :)

[hxneylavendxr]

so. how about that i7 episode huh. *collapses on the floor*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11dies

SO THE FIRST PART LET'S START THERE (im going to scream and cry about the whole episode right now so cut)

kaoru anesagi i fucking love you with all my heart she deserves so so much for giving nothing but her all and working her fucking ass off for these boys her crying alone is enough to break my heart and the way not a SINGLE ONE OF HER FUCKING TEARS IS JOYFUL. IT'S ALL BECAUSE HER BOYS HAVE LOST IT ALL!!!!! SHE CAN ONLY FEEL GRIEF RIGHT NOW ARGHH STARTS BITING

and then the trigger live in the rain... the way it goes through all our idols stopping what they're doing to watch the broadcast on their phone is heartwarming and Well, you know me, always very excited when we get a live performance in this anime and i looooooove love secret night, i have the choreography bits from their anime debut with it memorized so, to the girls who were mouthing the words during the performance, me fucking too i was doing the dance and singing along even for the whole segment with yamamitsunagi (of course except for the brief moment where i had to go "Don't even say that right now dude. don't even go there There is no sakura haruki that bitch is dead and gone i swear don't even with me right now")

.....which leads us to TENN FUCKING CRYING ON STAGE AFTER THE SONG..........AAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHFUCKKKKKKKK DUUUDE an d and riku monologuing about it this is such deep ass shit for an idol show it's ridiculous Tenn Kujo is a strange strange little guy and i want to punch him for it and cradle himin my arms because everything is okay but also he needs to get his shit together but also life isnt fair to him but but :((((

(plus those girls who ran all the way from fuck knows where to get to trigger in the rain oouughhh my heart these in universe fans are so wonderful and passionate it's so relieving whenever they show their undying support)

so im reeling over that right. only half way through. and i play the idolish7 video game so i have a vague memory of the plot outline, right? we get to the scene where iori is rewinding clips of riku and i pause to hold my face. LET MEOUT WE CAN'T DO THIS NOT HERE NOT NOW I DONT WANT TO WATCH THIS ANYMORE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NO this meta arc is so incredible and interesting from a writer's point of view and from an anime consumer point of view even but for Fucking Sake dude they are IDOLS just HAPPY LITTLE POSITIVE IDOLS CAN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE AND MAYBE SAVE THIS TOPIC FOR LIKE..A REGULAR SHONEN JUMP OR SOME SHIT come on (the way iori is the only one who didnt watch the trigger live because he was too busy being weird and breaking my heart. whatever)

then that WHOLE ASS SCENE where the environmental symbolism ISNT SUBTLE AT ALLL with riku sitting in the dark half of the room while iori is in the light AND I DONT EVEN NEED TO SAY IT DO I. HEARTBREAKING, VOMMITING MY GUTS OUT, MAD AT IORI, MAD AT THE WRITERS, MAD AT THE WORLD

the way he full on WHISPERED with ALL THE DESPERATION OF THE EARTH AND HEAVEN AND HELL IN HIS VOICE didn't i promise to make you a superstar? don't go anywhere without me

if i7 was just a smidge more popular iori nation would be fighting for their fucking lives on twitter right now. im telling you i can see it and im getting a headache imagining it

and then we went there again with the live! i love perfection gimmick :)! i have every bit of choreography they gave us memorized from the iori center arc (normal well adjusted behavior) and the lyrics are particularly easy to sing for japanese learning beginners! so when i tell you i started kicking and punching the air when riku didn't do his fucking part with me. and then he goes and starts CRYING. I AM SICK I AM SOOOO SO SICK

and iori's. speech his revelational speech to tsumu. i was screaming and eating my entire fist i was really trying to get as much of my hand into my mouth as i possibly could that was the most painful thing to listen to i think we all need to never watch an episode of idolish7 again and we will all be okay. im not even going to get into picking apart his points and why i feel so strongly about them being brought to light we'd be here for 6 more hours But but the way he DOUBLES DOWN when tsumu tries to take him off of it and just like i mean like iori, girl, so true, so insightful, but this road will only lead us straight into hell. Please

i dont want to give stupid ass kujo whom i punch through my screen (physically, for real i start hitting my screen when he shows up on instinct) the time of day but when he says that tenn is just doing what riku does... sapping empathy out of the fans to regain trigger's bearings.........fuuuuuuuck let me ooooout

and of course. finishing off the shitshow with the zool ed that fucks severely. by that point all of the life has been drained from my body but i must dance because it still goes hard. a lovely way to end evey mental breakdown this forsaken show bestows upon me

[nyas weakly and collapses onto the floor with you]

[noddytheornithopod]

Alright so if Dan's oddly vague "probably next Summer" is indeed true (look he knows the answer, is the mouse holding him at gunpoint for a mere basic timeline confirmation???), it obviously does beg the question of how this is going to be addressed in-show.

Like, he also said it's basically the same show, so that means Doof is back to evil, and Candace is still busting. The latter has some room to it (especially if it's a literal compulsion she has), but the former would probably need some explaining.

Like, viewers will need a catch up on why he's evil despite the series finale being "ok I'm not evil now". Probably means they will have to address the spin-off pilots(?) and... yes, Milo Murphy's Law. Anyone who knows me knows my feelings on the trajectory MML went on, but I think they could just vaguely explain his time between Summers as "I went and did some shit, it didn't work out, so now I'm stuck back here". I do think it will be interesting to get into the character motivations behind it all though, like is it just a case of being directionless and nothing working out (ha ha accidental meta commentary), or is there more to it?

As said with Candace, I do think it's easier to have her back to busting. Candace Against the Universe was the closest we got to closure for her, but well apparently it takes place before Last Day of Summer so it obviously didn't stick. OCD is a bitch. There's obviously the post-Summer episodes showing her still, which are a weird enigma in themselves (two episodes that take place on Halloween night lol), and if you ignore my weird broken timeline theories, it does even show in Happy New Year she "relapses". So point being, I think it can work. Same with Doof even if that's harder to justify. What if she also falls back into busting cuz she struggles to know what to do and that causes a mega relapse cuz old habits die hard (again, kind of meta too lol)?

Hmm, what else is there to cover... I guess they'd need to address Vanessa's OWCA internship, if that ever went anywhere. There could be potential subtle changes too because it's a year ahead of the original run, how those would look I have no idea.

I do wonder if the opening of the next episode is going to be one big "we're back" song (it feels very in-character for the show to do), but I also wonder if they could use it as a way to explain what happened between Summers, any necessary changes. On that note... what if they get more specific and deliberately mirror the Curtain Call song? The fourth wall hasn't been set yet, and they just explain what's been happening. Also, it would be cool if the episode started with Phineas opening the door and waving HELLO this time.

So yeah, many possibilities. All I ask is that there's none of those stinking probability ions in the revival. I'm trying to keep the MML salt to a minimum, but I do think despite personal biases for ease of non-MML viewers MML refs should be throwaway and simple. Obviously that's a bit harder when they make some big changes to PnF lore in that show, but if it's not important, most that's necessary is a nod to what happened without dwelling on it. But please... no probability ions. I'm begging you.

To be positive again, I do think a "next Summer" allows for more creative freedom, so if they wanted to drag in MML and (probably more likely for show synergy) Hamster and Gretel guest stars, they could. Would be harder to do if it was the same Summer.

I guess another thing worth wondering is... how will the show be broadcast? Disney TVA stuff airs on Disney Channel/XD usually, but The Proud Family is proof this isn't set in stone. I mention this because PnF is HUGE on Disney+. I won't be surprised if it airs on Disney Channel, but the Disney+ userbase makes me wonder if that will be the primary broadcast method for the show now. Could also be synchronised. Hard to know for sure, but I know marketing has to take the Disney+ viewerbase into account.

Okay I think that's everything about the whole "how will the show be back" topic, so yeah. Guess we'll see sometime next year how it looks. Also, I promise I'm going to try as hard as possible to be quiet about probability ions. I swear. :'(

[gctchell]

name. Alastor. alias. The Radio Demon. Boudreaux in the presence of duplicates. age. 128. gender. Male. sexuality. Heavily male-leaning. Particular about women. species. Radio Deer Sinner. occupation. Radio Host, Overlord, and Facility Manager at the Hazbin Hotel. scent. Haunted by an old, rich cologne and an undertone of black coffee, mixed with the subtle ozone & dusty chemical smell of old radio tubes. This scent intensifies and becomes more acrid the more demonic he becomes, almost entirely overriding the others. song vibes. Me and the Devil / Smile Like You Mean It / What you won't do for love / Alastor: Chase Theme, DBD

Alastor based on Pilot. While he can follow the series story, does have caveats listed below.

Chatterbox by the mile and charming as liquid gold, Alastor is a charismatic radio host with a passion for his work and has a great penchant for murder & cannibalism. He's landed a supporting role of the Hazbin Hotel, non-believing but aiding in the goal of Charlotte "Charlie" Morningstar and her path to proving the validity of redemption. He'll not take kindly to those who challenge the Hotel itself, or its owner.

His human life was full of trial & strife, but hard-earned success in the face of adversity. He was good to his mother, murderer to his father, and ascended to become a regular voice on the New Orleans radio wave broadcast system. However, since he was a child, he's been haunted by a specifically demonic entity who has latched tight to him when finding promise in the the young Alastor. You hear tales of how people say they see the Devil in the eyes of certain children? Well, this man is counted amongst the genuine ranks. Lucifer has had a claim & clutch on his soul since almost the beginning.

As he grew, Alastor noted his darker tendencies. He slaughtered his abusive father when he was a teenager and saw fit to rob him of his ribs, steal his skull and spine, take his heart, and feed the rest of him to the gators of the swamp. This is where he had his first taste of the cannibalistic brush as well, smoking what he had of old Boudreaux over a roaring fire and picking the bones clean. He kept those very bones and polished them, making dice from some of the spinal column and knives from the ribs. He also made four shot glasses from the rest of the spine he deemed fit to use for his craft. His skull he marked for Lucifer and kept on a personal altar. All these items were brought down to Hell with him when he fell.

At heart, Alastor is a domestic soul and a gentleman. Very much enjoys keeping a happy & healthy home, and tends to sink his claws in very deep to those who find themselves swept beneath what could be considered found family. He's very guarding of those he gains affection for, very fussy.

gentle notes & divergences:

He has a specific code when it comes to his victims: Abusive, slimy, trafficking, pimping, wretched men - especially those who prey on women.

He is not an abusive contract holder with Husker. He is playful, he is pestersome, and he holds genuine amicability towards the man.

Alastor's contract holder can vary depending on the plot, but by default he is contracted to a pilot version of Lucifer. He does not have the same dynamic with Lucifer as the series Alastor does - his is built on respect & fear of the Devil. I do not automatically apply this to Lucifers who wish to interact and keep the contract holder vague.

I will not be playing with the aspect of VooDou - I respect the closed practice and do not want to misrepresent. I am swapping it out for folk magic.

Does not have a contract with Charlie, told her the information regarding the angels & the weaponry for free.

Absolutely no Ch@rlastor or Radio@pple. Not interested in Staticr@dio.

[rxwords]

☆ ── ─ @villrhjarta​ ; ᴘʟᴏᴛᴛᴇᴅ sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀ  ·.ﾟ.⋆⋰⋆ .ﾟ·.

      CONSCIOUSNESS WAS GRADUAL IN its appearance , encroaching in paced yet intermittent intervals upon his mind. regaining memory & sensation of his person was slow , leaving him in a nether space of vague awareness. nought had broken beyond the groggy bleariness that belonged to those just waking , still trapped between the foggy veil of insensibility & alertness. 

      SUSPENDED HE WAS ONLY for a few moment longer ere perception of the physical world collided with the first conscious thought he had , realising  he was laying down , had him recalling the fight in a mere blip of a moment for his memory to return had as well brought forth every hurt his body had endured then to the forefront of his mind. 

      A LANCING ACHE CENTRED itself at his side , stinging with a fierceness that only rent flesh could. subtle was another mirrored pang that echoed along his leg , seeming to encompass the entirety of the lower portion of the limb , but it was a pinch in comparison to the fire that struck through his torso. 

      BREATH HITCHING , INVOLUNTARY WAS the lowly sucked in gasp once his brain registered the harm he had taken & attempted to catalogue its severity. rendered momentarily inert by the suddenness of the pain , the bliss of unawareness was fleeting missed , but halbarad knew it was better to be awake & feeling rather than entirely senseless when travelling by oneself. let alone when there remained the possibility of enemies still afoot. 

      MOVEMENT AT THE EDGES of his peripheral had halbarad’s grey eyes snapping towards the source , a low sibilant breath slid past his clenched teeth as the swift motion tugged at his injury in such a way he couldn't surprise the shudder than trailed down his frame , but steadfast he remained in keeping his eyes open & trained now on the shadow that had caught his eye. gaze now narrowed , despite how ill intimidating he must look in this very moment , laid out & hardly able to lift himself onto an elbow , he wouldn't allow such unsurety to be broadcasted. to a stranger no less.

                             〈 〈   ➸   〉 〉

                               ❝ Remain where you are & state your purpose. ❞

      AIMING FOR A LOW pitched demand , deep & near enough to a growl as a man was capable of , halbarad was sorely disappointed at the lack of strength behind his words. not so in will or tone , for there lay plenty within his words & the conviction that walled up behind them , but blood loss & pain had sapped at his tangible prowess , leaving his voice a touch hoarse & breathless. 

      IF FOR NOUGHT ELSE it would show an adversary he wouldn't be taken nor ended without a fight , no matter how feeble a battle it may be. small comfort though it was , those were the sorts that one tended to hold dearest during the darkest of moments. halbarad had held many thus so dear during his long years , as the times of this age drew blacker & a gloom cast about the lands. many turned to the smallest of brightness to keep hope & to purpose. gathering strength from those thoughts , he stared down the other the best he could from his recumbent position. 

[luveline]

idk if you've done anything like this but maybe a rockstar!james where he introduces his relationship to the world/his fans ?

this was SO FUN tysm for your request! ♥ fem!reader | 1.1k words

James had asked specifically before he did what he did if it was okay. You love him and think it's sweet that he wants to, so you tell him to make sure he uses a good picture. 

Some huge magazine had asked him to do a video for their website. You know vaguely when it gets uploaded because suddenly friends and even acquaintances are texting you repetitively. It's not long after that when The Marauders superfans start requesting to follow your twitter account. You'd set it to private beforehand, though there was nothing of interest there anyways, only retweets and Spotify links. You're glad you did when the notifications start and don't stop. 

You turn off your phone and open up your laptop, navigating to the magazine's website, where the front page boasts your pretty boyfriend's face right at the top. You click the video link and wait for it to load, heartbeat as quick as a mouse's.

The introduction is quick. James sits behind a white table wearing a black, nondescript short-sleeved t-shirt. His fancy watch catches the light as he leans forward. "Hey, I'm James Potter from the rock band The Marauders, and today I'll be showing you guys what's in my bag." 

He picks up a much cleaner version of his rucksack, new for the shoot. His actual rucksack sits at the bottom of your bed. You move your socked feet out of the way so you can compare it to the fraud on screen. It'll be fun to poke fun at him tonight over his lies. 

There's not a lot of guidance to the video. He takes things out one at a time and gives some story behind them. There's a battered pair of drumsticks and a cleaner pair swiftly follows. James goes through them quickly, so a spare is always a good idea. The drumsticks are followed by a piece of drum gum in a plastic case, and a wrist brace for his dicky left arm. 

He pulls out his chapstick with a subtle smirk. 

"And my book," he says, pulling out a messed up paperback. You roll your eyes when you see it because it's not his book at all, it's yours, and he's wrecked it completely. 

A bookmark sticks out about halfway through. "I got this recommended to me by a very pretty girl. Beautiful women seem to always have the best taste in books. I don't have to tell you guys," he says with a wink. He puts the book with everything else he's unveiled so far. "And it's a damn good book." 

You flush warm with pleasure.  

He pulls out some amazingly expensive headphones, an adapter for his electric drum kit, a different pair of noise cancelling headphones, his custom earplugs, his phone charger – again, new for the shoot – and a familiar notebook. 

"This is for everything." He pulls it open to a random page and broadcasts what's clearly not his own handwriting. "I hate transcribing. Remus has done it for me here," he confides. "You have to love him." 

You can imagine the twitter uproar as fans sing the band's bassist's praises. You do have to love Remus, he's an angel, and you'll have to have a word with James about taking advantage of his friend's kindness. 

He turns it to another page. There's a sketch there of a tree you don't really recognise. James draws a lot, more than you could ever keep track of. He's even painted you a landscape or two in heavy gauche before, gifts with awfully sweet dedications on the back. 

He's very good. "For sketching and things. This was a sycamore outside of the Point House arena. It had those helicopter seeds falling from it. You remember when you'd pick those up as a kid and throw them back up into the air?"

The camera person says something and James nods passionately. "Right, we'd have races too! Simpler times." 

It cuts to James pulling out his wallet and his phone. They ask to see his phone wallpaper and he obliges. It's a photo of him and Sirius as kids. They could only be thirteen or fourteen in the photograph, but already Sirius holds his wicked charm like a knife, a sharp smile and a sharper gaze, though his arm around James shoulder is languidly placed. 

"Yep, he's always been like that." 

And finally, his wallet. It's nothing fancy. You can't afford anything as quality as he could himself but he hasn't tried to replace it since you bought it. He peels it open and makes a joke about nobody stealing his identity. 

He smiles wide. "Here's the most important thing in my bag. No, not my card." 

He pulls a piece of white paper from the fold between deft fingers and then turns it to reveal you, a photo of you.

You'll admit you look pretty. There's nothing fanciful to it, just you giving him a soft smile with your hair done up, your head tilting ever so slightly toward your lifted shoulder. 

"This is my girl." He pulls your photo toward him and looks down over the top, no bravado, no charming comment. He smiles at you. "Doesn't she look nice here?" 

The camera person says something again. James looks up, waiting for them to finish before he grins. 

"Yeah, this is my girlfriend. Y/N." 

There's subtitles for the camera person's next question. "This is the first time you've talked about having a partner publicly. Why now?" 

The truth is just the unfortunate consequence of fame. Smear campaigns, hatemail, paparazzi, invasions of privacy. But you can't hide forever. And it feels nice – feels incredible, like your cheeks might bruise from the ache of your smile – to be shown off. 

"'Cos I wanna take her on vacation for our six months, and I want the first photo people see of her to be this one, rather than her drooling on my arm in the airport." 

You laugh. 

"Six months, you've been together?" the camera person asks. 

"And counting. Best six months of my life." 

The interview moves on. There's a few layover shots of the bag's contents. You can't help but feel embarrassed at your face on a clear display next to his wallet, though a binging notification catches your attention before you can pick it apart. 

You click on the notification, an email. It opens, James' voice in the background talking about the new album. 

It's unsurprisingly from loverboy himself. 

Answer your phone!!!!! sent from my iPhone.

You email him back. I've had to turn it off. 

Oh fuck. Are you okay?

You pull the email tab to the side and watch James smile and say goodbye to everyone watching. 

Yeah, I'm perfect. Facetime me?

On you like a rash. 

[tsintotwo]

(Part 3/4)

3rd post talking about Tom Sturridge in his projects (Earlier: Parts 1 and 2)

Being Julia (2004)- Movie about a stage diva and her midlife crisis + resolution (affair w/ younger man, disillusion, value of family). Tom plays Julia's 17y/o son. He is 100% a classic upper class Brit boy in this- all white shirts, sensible haircut, and blinding good looks. Small role, but he's pitch-perfect. This is one of his earliest works (edit: his first role as a grownup actor, actually!), but you can't tell at all from the movie. Also, our boy has just always had a very nice voice, huh.

A Waste of Shame (2004)- Who are Shakespeare's sonnets really about? This BBC tv movie was a fictionalized exploration of that. It is on youtube...in Spanish- which, even if the dubbing wouldn't have thrown me off, I don't speak anyway. But someone very kindly uploaded all of Tom's scenes and that's what I watched. Shakespeare wrote a bunch of gay poems about a 'fair youth'- W.H. We don't know who this really was irl, but in the movie W.H. is earl Will Herbert, played by Tom. Now, this is what Shakespeare wrote: "A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted/Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion..." So, clearly they needed someone really, really pretty for this role. Tom says bet. Wouldn't say he embodied the androgynous vibe, but a VERY fair youth indeed. AND charming. I could totally see The Bard writing 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' about him. Not seeing the whole movie, I can't be sure, but it seemed like the guy playing Shakespeare (Rupert Graves)... didn't, uh, slay? I mean, Tom's switching it on (we all know what that's like) and his vibe is like 'meh'. We could have more chemistry (which was supposed to be the POINT). But, oh, well.

The Boat That Rocked/Pirate Radio (2009)- Man, a proper British comedy is such. a. DELIGHT!!! This movie made me laugh hysterically and lifted my heart in a way few things have recently. It's about a pirate(=unlicensed) radio station in the 60s that broadcast govt. unapproved content- from a boat. It has an ensemble cast, but Tom features pretty prominently- he's often the audience-POV character. Big names in the cast, and Tom was on par with every single one of them. Honestly, after a while I stopped seeing Tom and just saw 'Young Carl'- his character. And I loved Young Carl. Just- do yourself a favor and watch this movie, okay? (I wish Tom would do more comedies)

Effie Gray (2014)- About the (terrible) marriage of famous art critic John Ruskin and his wife Effie. Effie (Dakota Fanning) eventually falls in love with painter John Everett Millais- Tom in the movie. This movie... is a bit too straightforward imo, it could've been more nuanced (but then sometimes it's too subtle, to the point of making things vague). What I LOVED tho: loads of shots in this look like gorgeous old paintings. Anyway, about Tom: this is actually the movie where he felt most unlike Tom to me (well, except Sandman. I've racked up HOURS looking at this man at this point, and still when I see Morpheus, I just see Morpheus- non-human Dreamlord, not a human actor. Anyway). Tom as Everett looks different (handsome still ❤️) in period clothing and with a beard, but that's not it. He's... grounded in this. We see his quiet air of compassion and conflict, love blooming from kindness and sympathy. Zero sexy vibes, silent attraction, patience and respect. Just, so clean and pure *chef's kiss* (I will say tho, in usual Tom fashion we see every subtlest thing he feels on his face and eyes whereas Dakota is... blank a lot of times. Not the best performance from her.) The movie sort of has an open ending and I had to google this-but Effie and Everett irl ended up getting married, yay! (And had EIGHT children- all right babes!)

Skin (2019)- (Plot: What if Alexa was your grief counselor?) Tom's character is a wreck in this short film- he's gross, broken, and slowly killing himself. As the film requires, he's been shot very unflatteringly, and the camera is on him 100% of the time. So, at the end of the 11 minutes, when your heart is absolutely breaking for him, you know it's not because you were attracted to Tom, it's because he's just that good. Gosh, I watched this 3 times already. A little gem. (Watch here)

I think one more post and I can wrap this series up, 'cause all that's left is Tom's cameos, mostly. Then I might do a bonus ep with links to performances/interviews/fanvids that are worth looking at imo. We'll see. Till then.

[steveyockey]

this is so vague sorry but im pretty sure u reblogged an article a very long time ago about lgbt media and the idea that some of the most important things we have to say to each other aren’t comprehensible to straight people. do u know which article im talking about? i think it might have been about queer eye

you my dear are thinking of a substack entry by the lovely huw lemmey of bad gays (the podcast AND brand new book!) fame

This is fundamentally different to gay stories for straight allies. Within all of those stories, it’s conceivable that the queer view of heterosexuality might make an accusation of misdeed or oddness in which the heterosexual reader is complicit. But in the gay story for the straight ally, there is always a more pressing concern: to make the good heterosexual feel included. While it may be in some way important to “see yourself on screen”, what good is it if you don’t see yourself within the context of a wider queer culture, if the purpose of your story as a queer person is solely to confer some moral benefit, to offer a fable, for a straight life? It feels like, as queer individuals are ever more present on our screens, actual queer stories are increasingly absent. Mainstream manifestations like RuPaul’s Drag Race feel more like an outreach project for straight people, offering an exciting chance for people to watch competitive TV without having to endure heterosexual men, than anything that speaks to and for queer people. Even the more specific stories of gay life that slipped through in earlier seasons, testimonies against shame, or even the rare invocation of queer solidarity, seem to be replaced with a series of self-help mantras based on personal growth and self-realisation. 

Which brings us back Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. After two seasons, the show abbreviated itself as simply Queer Eye, losing the important dialectic that drove the engine of faggotry at its inception. Cancelled after four years, the show was resurrected in 2018, and the differences between the two versions seem to illustrate both the marked increase in visibility of queer people (the new show being marketed as a huge Netflix production) but also the change in the function of queer community and stories on television. Gone is the antagonism between the lifestyles of the feckless straight and the functioning queers, a dynamic that seemed to overturn supposed heterosexual superiority. Gone is the spirit of an unleashed, even unhinged sexual libertinism, a sexuality that potentially scared the straights. Instead, the queer is a combination of a nurturing, positive cool mom, not like the other moms, and a cheerleader whose own life stories and struggles against the odds help to guide a heterosexual through to a better you. “Ask not what you can do for your queer, but ask what your queer can do for you,” it seems to say, leaving unspoken the real nature and social context of traumas, traumas that are only ever hinted at as signs that these things too shall pass....

A recent commissioning brief I read for a broadcasting opportunity that claimed to be “for and about LGBTQ+ communities” included the following paragraph, which I include here not to pick on them but because I think it sheds a light on one of the reasons for this subtle shift. “Queer perspectives are central to popular entertainment and learning,” it began. “What is key to their success is not only reflecting these characters and issues authentically, but creating a space for a broader audience to engage with the world seen through a Queer lens.” What if the things queer people need to say to each other, the things that we say amongst ourselves, don’t create a space for a broader audience? What if the very point of queer culture is the exclusion of the figure of the heterosexual? What if the things queer people want and need to say and hear with each other are things that straight people might find challenging, unfair, accusatory? 

[true-blue-megamind]

FAN THEORY SUPPOSITION SUNDAY: The Warden

SPOILER WARNING!  It’s still a thing, and, if you haven’t yet, you still need to watch Megamind.  (If you have seen it already, however, you need to see it again.  Because it’s awesome.)

Yes, yes, the post is three days late this time.  Real life has to take priority and such. So sue me.  (Don’t really do that.  LOL!)

For that same reason—or more accurately because this week has exhausted me—I will attempt to make this post shorter than usual.  We’ll see how that goes.  My money is on “not well.”  LOL.

Anyway, today we’re going to look at a subject that often divides the Megamind fandom: the Warden and his relationship with Megamind. There are several fan theories—I mean, suppositions—surrounding this, but I’m going to be focusing on a few of the main ones.

The first of these is that the Warden was actually a father figure to Megamind when he was young, allowing him to be raised in jail not out of cruelty or disinterest, but because it was the only way to keep him safe from shadowy government agencies that otherwise would have performed all sorts of experiments on the blue alien.  This both accounts for why a child would be allowed to grow up in what is clearly a high-security prison for dangerous adult criminals—something that, admittedly, needs some sort of explanation—and fits with widely accepted sci-fi and comic book tropes. (From Area 51 to mysterious “Men in Black” type organizations, fiction is full of government agencies created to study extraterrestrial life and technology.)  Some even go so far as to suggest that the Warden may have tried to adopt Megamind officially, but was blocked from doing so by these same entities. On top of this, such an idea also offers room to re-imagine the Warden as a much more interesting, complex, and sympathetic character.  Indeed, there has been some excellent fan fiction written about this pseudo-parental relationship.

Art: Fathers And Sons Day by tabbydragon

There is some evidence to support this.  The first is that, although the Warden behaves harshly toward Megamind in the “jail-break” scene near the beginning of the film, Megamind himself seems to be trying to engage in a playful exchange: pranking the older man, wishing him a good morning, and even teasing him.  While some say that this is simply Megamind’s personality as well as his determination to always appear indominable, others suggest that, perhaps, the blue man is trying to recapture a lost amiability between himself and the prison Warden.  It is possible that, when he was younger and less villainous, Megamind might have exchanged friendly jokes and greetings with the man in charge of the jail he called home.  It has even been suggested that the Warden is so hard on the blue man at the beginning of the film not because he hates Megamind, but because Megamind’s life choices have hurt and alienated his father figure. This idea finds some support in the facts that, when Megamind leaves jail to confront Titan, the Warden wished him good luck, and at the end of the movie, that same man seems genuinely happy as he watches the television broadcast of his one-time prisoner being named Defender of Metro City.  Finally, there is some evidence from the comics which, although not truly considered canon, as I’ve mentioned before, do offer some material for fan theories.  In the “episode” entitled Bad Minion! Bad! Megamind runs into the Warden in a bar, and the latter offers the former advice.  There is certainly a somewhat fatherly feel to the scene.

The second theory is exactly the opposite: that the Warden either did not care for or outright disliked the former supervillain.  Unfortunately, as fun as the Warden/Father Figure concept is, this second, darker idea has far stronger evidence to support it in the film itself.  (Try not to hate me, everyone.)  These clues range from the obvious to the subtle, but there are quite a few of them to be found.

During the first scene in which we see Warden interact with Megamind, he doesn’t behave like an angry, disappointed father—at least not a good one.  He isn’t merely surly toward Megamind; he is absolutely nasty. The Warden verbally condemns the alien, telling him that he’ll “always be a villain,” and essentially steals what he believes is a gift for the blue man, even taunting him by saying: “I think I’ll keep it!”  This hardly seems like the actions of someone who once felt any sort of affection for the extraterrestrial.  That same portion of the movie holds another clue as well: the screens monitoring Megamind’s brain activity.  Indeed, in original concept art for the film, the system appears both more invasive and more nightmarish.  It seems that, far from protecting Megamind, the Warden may have actually allowed him to be experimented upon.

Next, there is the newspaper article at the beginning of the title sequence, which bears the headline “Hometown Boy Makes Bad.” It’s hard to see what the paper says, of course, even if you bother to really notice it, but luckily for us Liz (Demishock) wrote a wonderfully thorough blog post which, among other things, provides a transcript of the “news story.”  In it, the Warden is quoted as referring to young Megamind as a born villain as well as abnormal.  

You don't know this kid. I've watched the little criminal since he was in diapers. This kid is just a bad seed. I've got experienced, hardened criminals in here who are afraid of him - I mean, have you seen the size of his head?…  It's not like he's a normal kid… I mean, have you gotten a good look at his gigantic blue head? I don't know where you come from, but where I come it's just not right.

Granted, there seems to be some truth to what the Warden is saying, as the article also mentions that Megamind, who can hardly have been more than seven years old at the time, has basically been put into solitary confinement for the safety of other prisoners following an unnamed incident, adding that the other inmates “refused to point fingers for fear of retaliation.”  (This fits with the fan theory that young Megamind would have had to both fight and develop a fearsome reputation in order to protect himself. You can read more about that in the post How Strong is Megamind?) However, the Warden seems to dwell a lot on the fact that Megamind looks alien, and he displays an obvious dislike for the young boy.

Finally, there is evidence hidden in the school scene, although it’s easy to miss. In an amazing two-part video series, Megamind: A City of Deception. YouTuber The Theorizer illustrates several hidden clues about Megamind’s early life and how it it led him to embrace villainy.  (I will very likely write another post going into more detail about that at a later date.)  One thing that The Theorizer discovered is a seemingly innocuous detail in the background during the popcorn scene.  Take a moment to examine the images below.  Look closely at the blackboard and you’ll see a paper cut out of a school bus.  Look even more closely at that and you’ll find something odd: the bus is full of crayon-drawn children except for one figure: an adult male, riding in the back of the bus, who looks suspiciously like the Warden as he appears at the beginning of the film. 

In a movie where so much attention is given to small things—I mean, seriously, the animation team actually went through the trouble to write a news story for a paper that was on the screen less than ten seconds—this cannot possibly be a coincidence.  (You can learn more about the artists’ amazing dedication to detail in my post What’s Hidden in the Animation?)  Although it is vaguely possible that Megamind, painfully aware of how much his appearance was despised, chose to draw the Warden’s face instead of his own, most fans believe there is a darker reason for this oddity.  

Think about it: the Li’l Gifted School for Li’l Gifted Kids is built close by a jail with a strangely similar name: Metro City Prison for the Criminally Gifted.   It’s clearly a small academy, yet the only two known aliens in the city—who, by the way, have extremely different social backgrounds—both just happen to attend there.  And now the prison warden appears to be somehow involved with the elementary school?  It’s bizarre.  Add to this the fact that the young alien adopted by a privileged family—a boy who possessed super-strength and laser vision—seemed inclined to be a bully, (as is made obvious by the kickball scene,) and a disturbing fan theory emerges.  Adults realized that Wayne Smith, the child who would eventually become Metro Man, might prove dangerous if left unchecked, and came up with a plan to turn him into a hero instead.  Wayne was showered with praise, conditioning him to seek public approval, but a superhero needs a nemesis.  The strange-looking, unwanted blue boy who’d already been labeled a criminal would have seemed like the obvious choice.  If this is true, then Megamind was purposefully, albeit covertly, groomed to become a supervillain from a young age, and the Warden played a major role in doing that.

So there you have it.  Two competing fan theories concerning the Warden’s connection with Megamind.  Both have some evidence supporting them, and there are fans who are firmly dedicated to one or the other.  Which is true?  Did the Warden care for Megamind like a son but distance himself when the boy turned to villainy?  Or did he judge and despise Megamind but come around to liking him when he finally realized what sort of person the blue man was deep down?  The fact is that those questions can be argued for hours on end.  No matter which of these suppositions you prefer, however, the mere fact that even a minor supporting character is complex enough to offer room for this debate speaks to the impressive amount of work and devotion that went into creating this amazing animated film.

[libermachinae]

Fault Lines Under the Living Room

Part IV: Touch - Chapter 13: Twisting and Snarling

Also available on AO3 Chapter Summary: A hunt is on and the jig is up. Word Count: 3272

---

Gigatron had known, upon entering the throne room, that it was his destiny to have found this place. Why else would the the throne, a grand centerpiece from which he could observe every move of his soldiers, be so perfectly fitted to his frame? From here, he’d known, he would lay the foundations for the campaign that would bring the universe, at last, to its knees before the Decepticons. A place like this was reserved for champions and kings, and his claim over it proved that he had the makings of both.

So the reports concerning the Autobot infiltrators concerned him little. In the hours since their arrival, Startle and Sweeper had alternated rushing inside with alerts to the effect of, “The grounder was spotted in the midst of sector Z4, driving inbound,” or, “The slagged shuttle intercepted and we lost visual.” They treated each announcement as if it were news. Gigatron was well aware Deadlock was headed in fast with an Autobot hanging off his spoiler. He knew his current regiment would struggle and ultimately fail to catch him. Everything was progressing as he had always expected it would, so he stayed in his throne and waited them out.

He knew, as he answered the latest hail to his comm, that while victory would inevitably be his, this would not be it.

“Report.”

“Sir,” Vanquish said, “Deadlock got away.”

“Explain.” Vanquish was among his best, the captain of his security forces and first choice for rare away missions. Hellbat had handpicked him, and Gigatron trusted no one’s judgment more. Clearly, a few years separated from his roots had done nothing to blunt Deadlock’s edge.

“We thought we had him cornered,” Vanquish said. “There were three blasters aimed at his head and a sniper up above. Pothole moved in and he took an unlikely evasive maneuver over the wall at his back.” He grumbled, his pride hurt. “He’s fast, sir.”

“Any sign of his companions?” Gigatron asked.

“No, sir.”

“Is he injured?”

“No, not that I could see, sir.”

“You had him cornered and didn’t shoot him.” This was why he so eagerly awaited Deadlock’s arrival; idleness had proven unkind to his own mechs. Deadlock, whether he ended up serving as idol or an example, would bring them back to the caliber Gigatron expected of those under his command. First, though, he had to get here, and Gigatron was growing tired of being patient. It seemed that afford this encounter the gravity it deserved, Deadlock had decided to turn it into a game. Fine. Gigatron could humor him, if only briefly.

“I’m taking my team,” he decided. “Return to base and await further orders. I don’t need you all broadcasting my location to him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gigatron cut the comm and made to gesture to Hellbat, only to remember he had left on his own errand. He waved instead to the next nearest mech, Sweeper, who straightened to attention.

“Get my squad ready,” Gigatron commanded. “We’re joining the hunt.”

~*~

Seated in the Decepticon shuttle, hovering at the far edge of Decepticon territory, Ratchet barely moved. There had been a cough sitting in his engine so long it felt like the fumes were corroding his pipes, but he batted down commands to clear it even as his internals stung and his filters felt heavy. He could distract himself by tapping against his knee, but the feeling was starting to overwhelm his rudimentary distraction technique. 

It didn’t help that his other main distraction was judging him, harshly. Rodimus hadn’t said so much in words, but he found it amusing that Ratchet was holding himself to such stringent demands when there were easier solutions. Each time he felt the wave of derision, Ratchet shot back with the simple point that Rodimus wasn’t speaking for a reason. Both of them were silent as Drift slipped into the base, desperate not to distract him but unwilling to cut the comm for even a moment, the crackling feedback of his malfunctioning comm suite their only sign he was still operational.

There had been so many close calls getting him in this far, and he still wasn’t all the way to the target yet. Somehow, he planned to sneak a pair of potentially unwilling Decepticons back out of their fortified base, and then once outside somehow maneuver around the patrols, which were growing more aggressive with each near miss. They’d all known going in this would be a dangerous, difficult operation, but Ratchet kept wondering if they could have done more to prepare. If they’d gone in not just watching one another’s backs, but being—

Rodimus intercepted the thought before it could go any further. Regardless of the fact they kept looping back to it, now wasn’t the time.

“I’m in,” Drift whispered, offering an ideal distraction.

“What are their defenses like?” The words tumbled out of Ratchet, followed by a hacking filter cough that he immediately muted himself for. His fans were still spinning when he jumped back into the channel.

“—very spare,” Drift was saying. “Could’ve walked in through the front door.”

“That’s not normal, right?” Rodimus asked, assuming the answer but trying to avoid saying something stupid in front of the expert.

“It’s not like there’s standard practice out here, but no,” Drift said. “A group with that sophisticated a defense system normally wouldn’t leave their headquarters unattended.”

“Is it possible it’s a decoy?” Ratchet asked.

“Sure,” Drift said nonchalantly.

“As in a trap?”

“Uh-huh.”

Ratchet didn’t bother adding anything else. Rodimus’ thoughts were bland and resigned; a mental shrug, perhaps a pat on the shoulder. Ratchet accepted it as the best he was going to get.

“Any signs of Grit?” Rodimus asked to fill the empty space.

“Not yet. Have an idea where he might be, though.”

“Thought you said they don’t keep standard practice in these places.”

“They don’t.”

Ratchet was going to push him further on it when he heard the subtle click of disconnection.

“Drift?”

No response.

“Drift?” he tried again, pointlessly.

“What—did he—”

He did. He did, Ratchet was certain, because the last tone of a comm being broken was completely different from one shut off manually. That knowledge, combined with Rodimus’ unending confidence in Drift, allowed them to stave off the cascade of panic they felt at being shut out so suddenly.

“Why would he cut us off?” Rodimus demanded.

Ratchet briefly wondered if they were coming to rely too much on their mind link, losing touch with how to understand other Cybertronians without it. The passing thought was swept along in the tide, though, inconsequential compared to their much more pressing concerns.

“He found something.” And now he was facing it all alone.

“Not alone,” Rodimus reminded him. “He’s got us.”

He wasn’t wrong. Ratchet reached out and held onto Rodimus’ certainty, feeling Rodimus do the same as he started to input the commands for takeoff.

~*~

Gigatron slammed one taloned foot to the ground and roared, echoing through the barren canyons. Another dead end and no sign of Deadlock. The little shuttle had made one appearance but fled the moment Gigatron gave chase, leaving him once more to wait for reports full of almosts and nearlys.

The tracks Drop Down had found led to a cliff with no apparent follow through. Same with the trail Sweeper had slithered over. Now, Rageor was chiming in, claiming he had found something. Gigatron flapped his wings twice and took to the air, homing in on the provided coordinates. Rageor stood before a tall cliff face, two members of his squad on either side of him, facing something hidden between the three of them. Gigatron let himself drop, brittle dust stone buckling beneath his feet as he landed and sending a cloud up into the air. He coiled his necks up to their full height before he stepped forward, flames licking his teeth.

“Show me,” he demanded.

Rageor nodded and stepped aside, revealing a mech cowering against the wall. Blocky and tan with green accents, his utterly plain appearance would have made it possible to mistake him for a neutral, were it not for the purple insignia splashed on the back of his shoulder. Gigatron turned to the captain of his vanguard, who raised his hands and took a step back.

“That’s not Deadlock,” Gigatron growled.

“He claims to have information,” Rageor said, turning his face away when the flames came close. Gigatron turned one of his heads to the unknown Decepticon, who cowered from the direct attention and squirmed as though trying to press himself into the rock itself.

“Well?” The thrill of the hunt was waning, glory still at bay, and Gigatron’s patience was wearing thin.

“Dr—Deadlock, he brought me here,” the Decepticon said, “on his shuttle. Rickety little thing, meant we were in auditory range the whole time.” He gulped as Gigatron pawed at the ground, talons driving furrows into the soft stone. “He and his Autobots, they were trying to be vague, but they had something on their ship. Some kinda weapon.”

“And?” Gigatron asked, unimpressed. He hardly needed to ruffle his platelets to reveal his own flying arsenal. If this Decepticon intended to use this weapon as a bargaining chip for his life, Gigatron wasn’t sure which side he was undervaluing more.

“And they specifically didn’t want you getting at it”

Hm. Hadn’t he heard a refrain like that before?

The Decepticon froze as Gigatron straightened, each of his hands rising high to scan the distant horizon. Deadlock might have been the key to this planet’s greatest asset, but Gigatron hadn’t gotten where he was by limiting his prospects.

“All patrols, update priorities,” he announced. “It seems there is a second prize in our midst.”

~*~

“That is what we are, that is why we’re here. Machines of war, of—”

Hellbat broke off mid-rant, which was fine, because with two guns aimed at his head and the tip of a sword digging into his back, Drift was only half paying attention. The rest of his limited focus was on Grit, kneeled at Hellbat’s side with his hands bound behind his back and plating locked tight as a blast container. The stone army he had tucked to the side for now, concerning but not an immediate threat while they remained in their dormant state.

“What? Gigatron, sir,” Hellbat snapped, glaring at the ceiling as though he could see his commander through the stone. “You can’t—we need the Autobots alive.”

Drift did his best not to react, though the blade digging harder between his shoulder panels suggested he didn’t do well enough.

“What’s—I don’t know—what do you care about some cheap Autobot weapon? We have the army, remember? That’s—”

Drift’s control slipped. He flinched from the edge of the sword cutting into his subplating, but it didn’t stop him from switching his comms back on. Security be damned, they were already compromised.

“Gigatron knows about the Enigma,” he rushed to say. “Get off the planet, go, they—”

“Hey, enough.”

He thought he heard the blip of a response before the gun pointed at his temple twisted around and came down hard against his helm. His vision went to static as he went down, not from the blow itself but the audible POP as his busted comms suite finally gave out. A hand grabbed his drooping shoulder and hauled him upright again, while another forced his helm up to meet Hellbat’s optics.

“If you tell me where the Autobots are, I’ll promise to put them into stasis before I begin the harvesting process,” he said. “It’s a much better end than they’ll find in Gigatron’s maw, I assure you.”

Helm swimming with pain and spark frantic with worry—please, let them somehow find a degree more sense than they had displayed throughout the extent of this ordeal—Drift somehow managed to find Hellbat’s optics and lock onto them.

“You know, you almost remind me of them,” he said. “You’re all terrible at compromise.” His voice sounded hollow, and when the next strike came he sagged down to his knees, waiting for the pain to fade and the static to clear. He tried pinging his comm suite but got nothing, not even the echo of a signal failing to reach its destination. He was fully cut off.

“Go,” he heard Hellbat bark. “Gather your team. You know what to do.”

“But sir—”

“Once I’ve gathered everything I need from him, you can do whatever you please with what remains,” Hellbat promised Vanquish. “Now go.”

The blade drew away from his back, followed by retreating footsteps. He peered up at his remaining guards, guns still aimed, and Hellbat, who had drawn out a pair of stasis cuffs. Drift glanced at Grit. The returned look was weary, but not yet beaten. The silent dialogue that passed between them might not have been precise as a comm, but it was much faster: Drift only had to leap back as Grit threw himself at Hellbat.

Both guns went off, their near misses giving Drift an opening to draw his swords and rush them. Movements simple, cuts clean: one guard down faster than the time it had taken him to get up. The other fired again, forcing Drift to dodge to the side and back. The remaining guard circled Drift, finger wrapped around the trigger and clearly waiting for him to make the first move. Drift let him, maneuvering himself until his back was to the hallway, the guard standing between him and the stone army.

Down on the floor, Grit didn’t have a way to pin Hellbat, but he was keeping him occupied, both of them twisting and snarling around each other as they fought for the advantage. Hellbat managed to curl one leg between them and shove Grit off. He rolled into Drift’s path, who hauled him up without taking his optics off the guard. Hellbat rose to his pedes with an almost insulting level of patience, dusting off his armor and brushing his hand over the minor dents Grit had left in his plating. Drift shoved Grit behind himself, swords immediately coming back up when he saw the guard twitch.

“Go,” he said without looking back. “I suspect your teammate needs help right now.”

“Which one?” Grit growled. “They’re both—uck, never mind. You want these two for yourself? Have at ‘em.” He took off, awkward gait echoing through the empty stone halls. Drift didn’t know how he would get out of the base with his arms bound, but with so much else riding on him he couldn’t worry about it.

Hellbat’s guard twitched, tempted by the easy target into opening a window. Drift spun his blade forward, going for the gun, but Hellbat shoved him to the side. The scuffle was enough to break the gun’s aim, but now it was pointed at Drift as he rolled to the side and threw off Hellbat. He swept out a leg, knocking over the guard, and used his momentum as he stood to kick the gun to the other side of the platform.

He made to chase after it, but a flash of movement to his other side caught his attention: Hellbat had taken off. Drift gave a second kick to make sure the guard stayed down, then rushed to the edge of the platform, Hellbat touching down at the control panels in the middle of the room.

“Enough of this.”

“Hellbat, don’t!” Drift launched himself over the barrier, knowing he was already too late.

“Maybe a few of you will be left well enough intact for me to finish me work, maybe not,” Hellbat said. “It doesn’t matter; destiny will have its way.” He pressed something on the panel and the whole room began to hum.

~*~

Comms were still online and broadcasting, but they hadn’t used them since Ratchet finally gave up trying to hail Drift. Since then, communication had taken place entirely within their heads, ideas and plans and anxieties cascading and mingling until once more it became a challenge to remember where one started and the other began. Unlike before, though, the overlap in their minds did not overwhelm. Instead, their shared fears were pushed down under the joint weight of their assurance and commitment, elevating a single priority above all the noise of their eddying thoughts: find Drift.

Rodimus was hovering in a canyon near the base as Ratchet moved in. To speed his approach, Ratchet was keeping the base between himself and the orbital cannon, a risky move when they didn’t know how desperate the Cons were. This was the best their combined processors could come up with, though, and addressing all of their doubts would have wasted time better spent searching for Drift.

Rodimus watched their surroundings, looking for any sign of the Con hunting parties that had hounded him and Drift on their way in. The world below was as still as the stone that made it, though, no glints of passing armor or bored blaster rounds to pinpoint the enemy. He knew they had to be out there (unless they were already back in the base, a possibility they weren’t ready to think about yet), but the deep valleys and harsh shadows were working in their favor. There was a real possibility he was being sought just as intently by mechs who would see him long before he found them, but he didn’t dare to leave his post in case Drift came running out of the base, in need of urgent pickup.

It was thanks to his vantage point he was able to witness two arrivals at nearly the same time. The first was the Decepticon shuttle sailing into view, dodging between the tallest rock formations with a dexterity that shouldn’t have been possible for the unwieldy shuttle. The second, and the more startling, was a beastformer of immense size twisting out of the shadows, many eyes locked on the approaching ship while its body rippled and coiled, preparing to spring.

Rodimus shouted something, more sound than word and utterly inconsequential. Ratchet swallowed his panic and the shuttle swerved into a tighter turn than it was designed for, swinging out of the way of the incoming pounce but directly into a stone peak. Even at a distance, Rodimus swore he could hear the terrible sound of rending metal, rattling Ratchet’s thoughts and shaking his control. Rodimus dropped the speeder into a dive, aiming for the shuttle, but Drift’s ship was already spitting out its own complaints, shaking like it was on the verge of falling apart. He could see Ratchet’s ideas forming in real time, and no, stop, that was a stupid idea, don’t—

Got each other.

The Decepticon shuttle’s thrusters heaved up to full burn. There wasn’t the space to gain much speed, but the momentum was enough, slamming into the beastformer who belched flames and raked claws across the cockpit. He was aiming to tear his way inside, but before he could he was smashed into, then through a stone wall, the entire nose of the shuttle lost into a band of an explosion and an outpouring of thick, black smoke.

“Ratchet!” Rodimus yelled, unable to tell whether all the panicked, fearful thoughts were shared between them or just his own processor knocked into hyperspeed.

The shuttle’s engines ground it forward until something gave and they flared out with a series of pops and bursts. The entire craft was forced upward once more before the thrusters finally burned out and it slumped, the angle of the hole it had made forcing it to turn like a final wave goodbye.

[amphtaminedreams]

The Women of Euphoria and Personal Style: Lookbook no.8

Hi to anyone reading,

I hope you’re well considering everything going on! It feels weird to want to talk about fashion or TV shows or red carpets or whatever when 90% of my Google searches are COVID-19 related but there you go. It’s all about trying to power through as normal (minus the social interaction) and pretend the world isn’t ending, right? Queue nervous laughter.

And as if things aren't shitty enough, production of season 2 of Euphoria has been postponed until further notice. 

Okay, in the grand scheme of things, having to wait a bit longer for a TV show isn’t catastrophic but it does just about sum up the transition from 2019 to 2020 thus far that after HBO redeemed itself by broadcasting Euphoria in the summer following an ending to Game of Thrones that has made the whole series unrewatchable, the glimmer of hope in me reignited by the prospect of series 2 this year has been quickly dashed. 2021, I’m rooting for you, because it doesn’t seem like things are getting better any time soon, and in all seriousness, I think everyone needs a break from the collective suffering of the last few months.

For me (and undoubtedly for many others if the hundreds of makeup looks and styling videos are anything to go by), Euphoria’s effect on the world of fashion and beauty is unprecedented. I really can’t recall a TV show in living memory that has had as much of an impact on the way young people dress. I mean, this might partially be because the style of the characters already kind of caters to and draws from the target audience but also, aside from Blair Waldorf did anybody really give THAT much of a fuck about what anybody in Gossip Girl wore?

The draw of the styling on Euphoria is that it has something for everyone. The style of each of the main girls, Rue, Kat, Maddy, Jules and Cassie, all of whom I’ve attempted (emphasis on attempted!) to base (emphasis on base!) outfits around, is varied and distinctive but still so current and realistic at the same time. It’s also consistent; even if you don’t own the specific pieces worn by any of them, similar shapes and details reoccur enough in different looks throughout the series that it’s not hard to create an outfit which matches your favourite character’s overall vibe without buying anything new. That’s kinda what I have attempted to do here and without further ado, I’m gonna get on with it! First up:

Jules (Played by Hunter Schafer)

When it comes to whose style is the most experimental, Jules is the obvious answer. A lot of her outfits are what I imagine a cartoonist in the near-distant future will envision their cool girl protagonist wearing. Whilst her ensembles are generally whimsical and girly for the most part, there’s usually a few slightly punk-ish finishing touches thrown in there too be it through chunky shoes or bold makeup or that incredible mesh trench coat she wears in the series finale with the trans symbol on the back which, honestly, deserves a moment of silence. 

There are definitely nods to current fashion trends sprinkled throughout her wardrobe too. I'm not going to lie, despite someone at work seemingly thinking it was an insult to tell me I look like someone who does (I still don’t know but this person has a Rick and Morty keyring so I don’t give it too much weight), I’ve never watched any anime. BUT, that being said, given the abundance of anime screenshots posted by all these aesthetic oriented Instagram and Tumblr moodboard accounts, I have a vague idea of what some of the more iconic characters look like and a lot of Jules’ looks seem to be very much modelled after or at least inspired by them. In a way, I see a lot of her looks as a blend between modern “e-girl”, Y2K skater chick (yes, I’m thinking early Avril Lavigne), and 2013 Tumblr “hipster” a la 2014 Joanna Kutcha and Charlie Barker, and though on paper that sounds like a nightmare combination, it works. I know-if that sentence were a Depop description I would’ve just gained 30 followers.

When it comes to my own interpretation of Jules’ style, it’s definitely something I like to channel when I’m putting together a proper OUTFIT outfit. Meaning an outfit I actually put effort into and thus will most likely want to get a good photo in, lol. The way her character dresses is almost quite Christopher Kane in that it’s fresh and unusual but still understated enough that I wouldn’t walk into a room wearing any of these feeling like I’m doing a Rick Owens runway.

I’m not TOO far out of my comfort zone but still at the same time, I’d be trying something new and maybe a little bit more zany than I'm used to. As for noting where any of these pieces are from, only a few have been bought in the last 6 months, but from left to right clockwise I have marked out those that have in case they’re still available (though be wary of the fact that it seems a lot of online clothes stores are still forcing warehouse employees to work in close confines at the moment and so perhaps aren’t operating the most ethically):

LOOK 1

Corset-Jaded London

Shoes-TK Maxx

LOOK 2

Dress-Motel Rocks

Boots-Koi Vegan Footwear

LOOK 3

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 4

Dress-Jaded London

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 5

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 6

Mesh Top-Depop

Hair Clips-Urban Outfitters

Kat (Played by Barbie Ferreira) 

Eurgh, Kat. 

I LOVE THIS BITCH.

If I had to choose my favourite character in the show, it would be a very close toss-up between her and Rue, and though I think Rue might just about nab the top spot for her relatability factor, Kat is the girl I want to be or wish that I had been when I was at school. I mean, there’s definitely an argument to be made in that a lot of what she’s doing with her cam work could be seen as a means of validation (Sam Levinson has basically said everyone on the show has some kind of an unhealthy coping mechanism and I would guess due to the circumstances in which her cam girl career was borne and the fact she’s underage, this would be hers) but I do think in other ways we really see Kat reclaim her power and recognise herself for the smart, capable, gorgeous woman that she is. Honestly, the definition of divine feminine energy, and I would completely let Barbie Ferreira/basically Kat if she was also actually 23 dominate me.

Plus! Her! Style! Is! The! Bomb! Definitely the easiest character to base looks around because if I’m totally honest Kat’s energy is pretty much just what I want to emulate in every day life. 

It’s either pieces that are typically feminine, cutesy, and even slightly preppy at times drenched in everything grunge OR vice versa where you have something semi-gothic and then add a colourful, more playful touch in there that harks back to the beginning of the series before Kat had began to explore her identity and sexuality and dressed slightly more Forever 21.

I’d say, not yet with my whole chest, that on a good day the outfits I put together when making an effort aren’t too far off something Kat would wear, minus the more overtly BDSM touches; if wearing a ring choker in London is enough to get me a creepy comment from a gross middle aged shopkeeper (because I apparently forfeited my right not to be perved on when I decided to buy a bottle of Oasis summer fruits), then you can only imagine the kind of looks wearing a full-on harness would get in my conservative OAP dominated hometown. Not the most doable right now, especially considering the only time I get out is to work and to go for a run. The chafing I could deal with but the horrified glares of pensioners whose M&S prawn mayo sandwiches I’ve ruined by simply being in their eyesight not so much.

LOOK 1-

Corset-Urban Outfitters

LOOK 2-

Bodysuit-Depop

Skirt-Zara

Harness-Ebay

LOOK 3-

Co-ord-Depop

Lace-up Corset-Missguided

LOOK 4-

Dress-Vintage

LOOK 5-

Belt-Ebay

LOOK 6-

Coat-Topshop

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 7-

Fishnet Top-Ebay

Skirt-Urban Outfitters

Maddy (Played by Alexa Demie)

Not gonna lie, I was kind of scared to do Maddy. I’m scared to be posting this, lol! Alexa Demie has played this character for a single season and she’s already one of the most iconic women to grace our screens in years. This is a huge undertaking and I don’t have the bank balance or the body confidence (lmao) to raid IAmGia. 

And this is where I want to stress: THESE ARE NOT OUTFIT RECREATIONS. THESE ARE INSPIRED BY. I HAVE ADDED ELEMENTS OF MY OWN STYLE INTO THEM. PLEASE DON’T DRAG ME. I KNOW, I’M NOT ALEXA DEMIE. I WOULD NEVER ASSUME TO BE ALEXA DEMIE. I’M NOT ABOUT TO TAKE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN LIKE THAT. So now we’ve got that out the way (wipes bead of sweat off forehead), let’s continue. 

Everything about Maddy Perez is extra. She has very much been established as a centre of attention character, and her outfits are a key part of that. They’re daring, they’re hyper-feminine, and they are always glamorous. We’re told that she competed in beauty pageants when she was younger and it’s clear that level of excess and coordination and glitz and all-round-boujeeness wormed its way into her DNA during that time. Even the “depression” outfit she wears to school following Nate becoming violent at the fair is costume-like, a 2019 Bratz doll Off-White street style collaboration.

Do you know how HARD I had to try to be HOT!? For these photos. Alexa Demie is one of those blessed women who doesn’t have to try at all, and that translates into the character completely. At any given moment, Maddy could add or remove one item or clothing and be let straight into the VIP section of a club, and that, honestly, is inspiring to us all in these dark times. 

One thing I tried to keep in mind is that she always looks polished and coordinated, I.E the kind of look I would prepare for a night out is something Maddy would wear on an average day. Co-ords and delicate prints seem to be more subtle wardrobe staples along with mesh and PVC and glitter and feathers and fur and basically anything that toes the line between expensive looking and tacky. Yes, I am aware we may toe different sides of that line but please let me stay delusional and believe that’s not the case for 5 minutes. Much appreciated xoxo

LOOK 1-

Bodysuit-Jaded London

LOOK 2-

Bralette-Depop

LOOK 3-

Co-ord Suit-Boohoo

Bodysuit-Boohoo

LOOK 4-

Dress-Motel Rocks

Shoes-Schuh

LOOK 5-

Bodysuit-Zaful

Trousers-Depop

Coat-Topshop

LOOK 6-

Dress-Zaful

Belt-Zaful

LOOK 7-

Top-Jaded London

Hair Clips-H&M

Rue (Played by Zendaya Coleman)

I have a complicated relationship with Rue as a character. When I started season 1 of Euphoria, I was like “Oh my god, this girl is the worst. Jesus, she’s so negative and draining and willingly self-destructive and-”

Then, oh my god is this what it’s like to live with me!?

I will say, to my own credit, that I don’t think I've ever been quite as hard to deal with as Rue (a lot less smashing stuff up and a lot more moping), and to HER credit, by the end of the season we come to realise she’s been through a fucking lot and so it makes sense, but wow. I don’t think I have ever seen a teen show handle drug abuse and mental illness in such a brutal way. It’s quite a talent to be able to show a character cause so much pain to those closest to them and yet do so through a sympathetic lens. And issues aside, whether it’s her occasional social awkwardness or her relationship with her family or watching bloody Love Island (still quite surreal to see Zendaya Coleman witnessing the Amy/Curtis drama unfold), Rue is just my favourite character to follow. 

Her style, though. AH. The thing is, I can hardly drag it, because it’s pretty much what I wear when I’m moping about the house-or just any time I can get away with it to be honest-to a T. I want to stay true to character, but that being said, creating a “Seth Rogen”-esque outfit that’s worth posting on here is difficult. So, with the same kind of artistic license that had me wearing berets whilst cosplaying Maddy Perez, here is the best I could do:

I know, I know, it’s probably too much colour and jewellery for Rue but this is as toned down as I could do and I tried to stick with the key silhouettes we see from her throughout the season; I mean, I can’t see her wearing leopard print but the structure of the coat in outfit 1 is very similar to the one seen in Shook Ones pt.II. I think the bottom line when it comes to her character is keeping things effortless and not overly-feminine; you want to mix street style, athleisure and your dad’s wardrobe favourites like your life depends on it. Plus messy hair and smudged makeup, both of which I’ve already got down according to the completely inappropriate number of customers who’ve asked if I'm tired at work so thanks for that guys, and glitter tears. Lots and lots of glitter tears.

OUTFIT 1-

Dungarees-Vintage

OUTFIT 2-

Trousers-Depop

Cardigan-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 5-

Beanie-Depop

OUTFIT 6-

Shirt-Boohoo Man

Sports Bra-TK Maxx

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Shirt-Jaded London

Cassie (Played by Sydney Sweeney)

Style-wise, Cassie is a hard one. When putting outfits for her character together, I found myself gravitating towards a direction that’s probably a bit too bohemian for her character, under the guidance of loose terms like “girl-next-door”, “floaty”, “delicate”, you get the idea. She definitely feels the least fully-realised in terms of all the main girls and I think it’s fair to say she’s probably got a bit of self-discovery to do. Most of her storylines in the season are dictated by her relationships to other people: McKay, Maddy, Lexie, her parents and so on. 

Nevertheless, I tried to stick to the airier, more traditionally “pretty” pieces whilst still channelling the confidence and ease with which Cassie pulls them off. Sydney Sweeney has the most incredible figure and I feel like whilst the clothes the on-set stylists put her in flatter that and don’t hide anything, they’re still the focus. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything more inherently sexual about her character than any of the other main female characters despite the way the men within the narrative view her, and I think it’s a testament to the the wardrobe department that to me she still gives off big modern Disney princess energy and a certain innocence even whilst we hear her being continuously sexualised by her male peers. 

If anything, Cassie probably dresses the most like an actual teenage girl, and her style, whilst less distinctive than the other girls, still does a good job of capturing the youth and romanticism of her character. 

The colour palette of her wardrobe tends to be quite neutral, with a couple of pastels thrown in there, and if there are any details, they’re usually quite dainty. Similarly, Cassie is probably the least experimental when it comes to her makeup; we don’t really see her wearing the bold eyeshadows or liners or gems like the other girls at any point.

OUTFIT 1-

Bodysuit-Motel Rocks

Hair Clips-Bershka

OUTFIT 2-

Dress-Jaded London

OUTFIT 3-

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 4-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Hairband-H&M

`OUTFIT 5-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Jeans-Zaful

Headband-Primark

OUTFIT 6-

Top-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Dress-Urban Outfitters

Hair Clips-Boohoo

SO, I guess that’s it for my Euphoria lookbook! As always, let me know what you think (nicely pls, my ego is fragile lol) and I’d love to hear your opinions on the show too! I really haven’t got this excited over a new TV show in ages and I just think that it does everything so excellently-from the writing to the cinematography to the soundtrack, you can tell each element is so carefully and purposefully constructed. It immerses you into the dramatic highs and lows of being a teenager in a way I haven’t seen since UK Skins and I never thought I’d watch a show which held a candle to that. 

In terms of what I’m doing next, I’ve got a very delayed fashion week masterpost in the works as well as something to fill the Met Gala shaped hole in our lives, which I hope to get up over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you read to the end, THANK YOU! And I hope you’re staying safe and AT HOME where possible. I know this self-isolation feels never-ending and if I’m honest, it is having a hugely negative effect on my mental health, but NHS staff are doing their very best with the shitty recourses they have and whilst it seems that our government have thrown workers under the bus once again, we can all do our bit to combat that by slowing the spread of the virus. Also thank you to anybody who’s out working now in such a scary and uncertain time! I work at a grocery store and can say from experience that the best way to show this thanks is just through kindness and following employee’s instructions without giving them grief for it. Everyone’s scared right now and the best we can do is pull together and look out for each other, as difficult as that might seem at times.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, and like I said, stay safe! Thanks once again if you read til the end or even if you’re just here for the photos. Appreciate it more than you know either way!

Lauren x

[makaylajadewrites]

Origin

Summary: Bria Monique was an entity created from lonely nights, complex textbooks, and an abnormal fascination for makeup. She creeped out of the mind of a boy suffering from an identity crisis at the young age of sixteen, but said boy was in a division all his own anyway.

Potential tws: N/A

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Bria Monique was an entity created from lonely nights, complex textbooks, and an abnormal fascination for makeup. She creeped out of the mind of a boy suffering from an identity crisis at the young age of sixteen, but said boy was in a division all his own anyway. Still recognized as a child yet more intelligent than most adults, he was living on the cusp of childhood and adulthood, and he didn’t know who he was. He had stumbled upon drag by mistake, really. The LGBT alliance at Caltech had been messing around in one of the theaters, and while sitting somewhere in the empty rows, waiting on a lecture that wasn’t due for another few hours, Spencer was entranced by the performance, even if it wasn’t meant for his eyes to see.

“Work it, honey!” A voice called, filled with positivity and encouragement, as an individual in a rather extravagant getup strutted across the stage and posed for the nonexistent audience, a smile spread across their painted lips. Young Spencer didn’t know what to think, because his mind quickly supplied that the individual was in fact a man but with every aspect of femininity taking over his existence. He was gorgeous, whatever he chose to identity as, and Spencer briefly wondered if he could look like that too. The individual was powerful in their own way, and the sheer confidence they expressed in the simplest of movements was enough to make Spencer somewhat fascinated. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, but it had his attention, and he settled in then and there - he wanted to try. Spencer ducked down slightly to avoid being seen as the individual crossed the front of the stage, and fortunately he wasn’t, but as soon as he got home that evening from riding the bus, he walked to the nearest drugstore, compelled by his own curiosity to test out what he had saw; an experiment of sorts.

He picked out a small tube of peach lipgloss, a pink and green mascara, and a shimmery pink powder - he didn’t know what it was for, but it was eye-catching, so he wanted to try it and see if he could be that confident in himself too. When he made it home, Spencer discovered that Mom was having one of her episodes. He got her to bed with a bit of stubbornness on her part, and once he was sure she was asleep for the night, he found himself in the bathroom, staring at his reflection in the mirror above the sink and just pursing his lips slightly, quick to point out many of his own flaws. His nose was too small, his cheeks were too gaunt, his forehead was too big, his lips were too feminine, his brows were too bushy… Everything was just wrong and he found himself avoiding his appearance quite often.

He glanced down to the three articles of makeup on the marble counter, swallowing nervously and reaching for the mascara first. Luckily, he had seen Mom apply it before, so he knew vaguely how to put it on without gouging an eye out. He pulled the wand out of the tube with a little pop and stared at the black cosmetic with a tension in his jaw before setting it down again and sighing heavily, his head falling.

Was he really about to do this? Was he really this low?

Yes, yes he was.

Spencer looked up again with a newfound sense of determination, and slowly and carefully, he swiped the mascara on his top and bottom lashes, realizing that they were a lot longer than he originally thought. He batted them several times, and he realized he already looked a bit different from his usual state. He then picked up the powder, overlooking it critically before swiping his index finger over it and patting it across his cheekbones. He turned his head from side to side, seeing how the light reflected over the applied powder. It was somewhat subtle, but definitely noticeable, and it seemed to accentuate the structure of his face. He did the math in his head of symmetry, and since most symmetry enjoyed a center point, he dabbed a bit of the powder on the tip of his nose too.

But he wasn’t done just yet. He was really liking the makeup so far, as sparse as it was, but the lipgloss was what did him in. He swiped the fruity-tasting gloss over his cupid’s bow and across his full bottom lip, and the person he saw in the mirror was no longer Spencer Reid. He didn’t know he could look like this, and when he saw his reflection smiling back at him, he actually felt pretty. He cupped his cheek in one hand, overlooking every fine detail and realizing that makeup could do so much for him. His fascination spiraled from there.

When he was eighteen, he entered into his first drag show. He was fresh meat, but he had two years of experimentation under the belt that definitely helped him when it came to makeup and wardrobe choice. But he didn’t have a name like most queens - that was the most difficult part for him.

One day walking across campus, to and from class, he saw a poster taped to the wall that said Be Unique and he knew then and there, that it had to be close to that. Bria Monique was the result, and although it wasn’t exact, it was close, and it held meaning to Spencer. That was all that mattered, after all. Some drag names were funny, clever, and others were normal. Spencer didn’t need his name to be something extravagant. It was important to him and the very birth of his drag persona - that was crucial.

His first show hadn’t been easy by any means. He had never performed before, and he was new, but fortunately the other queens held his hand through it and gave him a whole new support system that he hadn’t known existed before. So, when he came off of the stage with tears in his eyes, believing he had made a fool of himself, they were there to tell him that he did good, and that this was just a stepping stone for him and his development as not only a drag queen, but a person. He was empowered, more than he had ever been, and it quickly became an important piece of his life.

It was never something he broadcasted, but he didn’t necessarily keep it a secret. Drag queens didn’t often come up in conversations between FBI agents, so he never really had to disclose it to anyone. It wasn’t relevant in his work life, and he never thought it would be until he had gone and practically revealed himself to others. The first mistake of forgotten nail polish all the way to fixing Penelope’s makeup — they were both slip-ups, but they happened and it was too late to take it back now. Besides, his team supported him regardless, and even though they most likely saw him in a new light, he was not judged or treated any differently. The brilliant Dr. Spencer Reid, who happened to enjoy the extravagant hobby of drag, was not viewed any differently than he was before. His input was still just as valuable and his work was still credited to him and him alone.

He was the same person, just with an alternate persona he used for performing, and his team’s acceptance was probably the greatest form of support he could ever hope for. He had struggled through many hardships in his life, and he was just happy to know that the revelation of himself to his peers was not one of them.

Derek’s support alone was enough. He had told that man just about everything there was to know about him, from the emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his father and schoolmates to taking care of his mother from the age of ten to eighteen. Their relationship didn’t sway because of Spencer’s origin; the hardest part of all was accepting that he found someone who loved him for him, and he didn’t think he would ever get over that.

<-Part 6: The Performance | Part 8: What a Woman->