#cartoon characters after getting flattened:

[the-meme-monarch]

What do you imagine happens to toons once they die? Does Delilah just have to make a new one or can you Not Get Rid Of Them once they’re made? I remember you mentioning the idea that they just magically heal like actual cartoon characters, so just wondering if you had any ideas on how that would work after they’re brought to the real world!

yeah my headcanons abt toons in general is they can’t die unless someone has the Intention to kill them ! in dw i don’t think they ever had to worry abt that when the museum was operating, Hopefully. but yeah even In The Real World they can still heal from most injuries when you stop looking at them for a minute HGFFHFYGDJFG. so thankfully i don’t think arthur and delilah ever had to figure out what to do if one of their toons Died. That’d Suck Badly

toons can’t usually hurt each other/humans unless they’re acting ‘out of character’ (like that comic i did of shrimpo punching delilah bc he got scared, it wasn’t something he Planned to do, he’s not typically violent, so hitting her hurt like getting hit by a person normally. they can ‘hurt’ each other/humans if it’s part of a joke, but they won’t be in pain or have any lasting damage. like a toon could Flatten a human with a big funny hammer and they’d probably be dazed but they’d be completely fine afterward Because It Was Funny.

i think toons can typically take Regular Not For A Joke Damage and walk it off if they can make it funny, as like a defense mechanism, i guess so long as the one doing the Not Joke Damage isn’t going about it like “I’m going to kill this fucking thing for real for serious this is not an exaggeration i completely 100% have the intention of killing this thing Dead badly”. so i like to think dying is a game abstraction, the twisteds can’t Kill them bc they. mostly don’t seem to have much of a mind. amd well to be quite honest i think twisted glisten and dandy, despite having more of a mind to them, dont want anyone dead

[multi-fandom-imagine]

Day 26: Hanging Stockings

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Character: Husk { Dad }

Naughty or Nice: Nice

A/n: I miss writing for Husk 😩.

Husk sighed as he adjusted the oversized Santa hat perched on his head. “I don’t know why we’re doing this,” he muttered, though a hint of a smile betrayed his grumpy exterior.

Glancing over your shoulder, brow raised with a smile tugging on your lips.

“Because it’s tradition, and it’s fun,” you said, handing him a stocking with his name stitched in wobbly embroidery. “Besides, the kids are excited!”

As if on cue, the triplets came barreling into the living room. Harry, the eldest by a mere two minutes, was holding a massive bag of candy canes. His brother Coltrane followed, clutching a tangled mess of tinsel, while their younger sister, Marilyn, carried a glitter-covered sign reading Merry Christmas that always sat upon the mantle.

“Papa, you have to help me hang mine up first!” Harry declared, practically bouncing on his toes as his tail swayed back and forth.

“No way!” Coltrane protested. “Mine goes next to Dad’s—it’s tradition!”His ears flattening on his head glaring at his brother.

“Actually,” Marilyn piped up, her voice sweet but firm, “mine goes next to daddy's because I made him cookies yesterday.” She flashed Husk an innocent smile, which was only slightly marred by the streak of pink glitter on her cheek.

Husk chuckled despite himself. “Alright, alright, everyone’s stocking will get a spot. Let’s not start a war over it.”

You stepped in, gently guiding the kids to take turns. “How about we let Marilyn go first since she did make the cookies? Then we’ll do Harry and Coltrane you can be next to me....sound Fair?”

The boys groaned in unison but relented when Marilyn stuck out her tongue at them. Husk gave her a mock-stern look. “Don’t get cocky, kiddo. I still get to eat most of those cookies.”

Marilyn giggled as she handed him her stocking, which was pink with sparkly snowflakes. Husk climbed up the step stool and hooked it carefully onto the mantle, right next to his own.

As the triplets argued—again—over who got to go second, you slipped a hand into Husk’s and gave it a squeeze. “You’re doing great, you know,” you whispered then gave his cheek a soft kiss.

He looked at you, his usual gruffness softening. “Yeah, well, you keep me from losing my mind. Can’t do this Christmas chaos without you.”

Finally, after much debate and a few pieces of candy bribes, all the stockings were hung in a row: Marilyn's pink and sparkly one, Harry's blue stocking covered in cartoon reindeer, and Coltrane's green one with tiny snowmen.

The kids sat back, admiring their handiwork. Marilyn's clapped her hands together, her tail swaying back and forth excitedly. “Now all we need is Santa to fill them!”

Husk raised an eyebrow. “Santa, huh? Don’t expect too much. He’s broke this year.”

"Husk"You whispered elbowing his side as the man let out a groan.

Later that night, after the kids were tucked into bed, you found Husk sitting by the fireplace, sipping a glass of whisky and staring at the stockings. A look of content on his face.

“You know,” you said as you sat beside him, “I think you secretly love this stuff.”

He snorted. “Don’t go spreading rumors.” But when you leaned your head against his shoulder, you noticed the soft smile that stayed on his face.

For all his grumbling, Husk wouldn’t trade this chaotic little family for anything.

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Setting: Alexandria

Summary: Your archer was a force to be reckoned with, cunning and fearless. Well, almost fearless.

Warnings: Brief appearance of a spider

A/N: I needed some fluff and giggles after the last couple of days. Thank you, @lazyneonrabbitt for helping me shape this!

*gif is not mine

The stew you were making was causing your mouth to water. Carol gave you the recipe and you decided to make it since there was venison available from the deer Daryl had brought back the day before. Rick and Michonne would have a meal when they returned. Carl had taken Judith out to enjoy the nice weather. It was just you and Daryl. 

The archer was downstairs, most likely adjusting the strings on his crossbow or making bolts. You hadn’t seen him for a little while but as soon as the aroma of dinner made its way down, you were certain he’d come floating up the stairs like a nineties cartoon character. 

You had just added a touch more rosemary and nearly dropped the entire container in when you heard:

“MOTHERFUCKER!”

The only time you ever heard Daryl yell like that was when there was danger nearby. How anything would get into the basement without passing you was a mystery. You quickly moved the pot off the burner and grabbed a kitchen knife, bolting down the stairs. 

“Daryl?!” You burst into the your shared room, looking around frantically until you spotted him, flattened against the wall in the far corner. What in the flying monkey fuck? “Daryl?” You lowered the knife and studied him for a moment. His expression was nearly blank but there was a fear in his eyes that made you question if he was maybe half asleep and still in the clutches of a nightmare. 

“There.” He rasped and pointed across the room. You saw nothing.

“There’s nothing there, Daryl.” Now, you were really starting to worry. 

“Are ya fuckin’ shittin’ me? S’right there!” He pointed again in a more frantic gesture. 

You decided maybe you should humor him just to give him some peace of mind, bring him out of whatever terror in which he was trapped. You made your way over to the other side of the bed, turning in circles, looking up and down. 

“There’s nothing he—” That’s when you saw it. The small, dark blotch on the wall. There is absolutely no way. “Daryl. Oh my god, Daryl.”

“What?!” He barked, still tense and unmoving. 

“Daryl Dixon, are you afraid of spiders?” Your face was absolutely twitching with the need to laugh. Your boyfriend— the rugged walker-killing outdoorsman ‘mess with me and I’ll put a bolt in your eye’ archer —suffered from arachnophobia. “How?!”

“Shuddup an’ get ridda it!” He snapped, watching you warily as you laid down the knife, grabbed an empty water glass, and tore out a page from your journal. You carefully coaxed the little guy onto the paper with the edge of the glass and trapped it inside while Daryl mumbled something about sending it back to hell.

“I’ll just—take this—outside.” You stuttered as a burst of laughter threatened to tear its way from your throat. 

“It ain’t funny!” Daryl hissed, maneuvering further away as you walked by, sliding his back against the wall until his hip bumped the nightstand. 

“Nope.” You let a giggle escape and heard him growl behind you. “Not one bit funny.” When you crossed the threshold and stepped onto the stairs you couldn’t hold it in any longer, doubling over to absolutely crack up and very nearly losing your grip on the glass. 

“I swear to christ, Y/N—” You heard from behind you, coming from still very much inside the room and far away from the arachnid. 

You would never give anyone ammunition to tease him. He got enough of that for being a soft teddy bear around you. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”

[marvelstars]

I do like TWC cartoon because it felt like an oportunity for us fans to see more of our fave characters in a day to day basis and it gave great and individualized personalities to clone troopers to let us know they are people under their armor but I agree with some fellow fans that in some chapters the show takes shortcuts and instead of delving into Anakin´s character when he makes decisions which should by all rights affect him emotionally, they play it for a joke because he will be "Vader"so it doesn´t matter or the show adds extra trauma that should be explored, see the Queen of Zigerria or his rescue of Jabba´s Son or the microchip in clone soldiers heads(the only difference between them and child slave Anakin was that Anakin´s had a bomb while the troopers are forced to obey or the chip makes them more obedient to the Jedi or members in the military) but TCW only shows Anakin mad in general at all those events while the other characters act as if he didn´t had a reason to get mad or he is exagerating because he is a "bad Jedi" tm because aparently his main problem is that he "cares too much" but it isn´t wrong to care and he isn´t wrong that they probably should be doing more for those situations that they are currently doing but the show doesn´t show it and this flattens Anakin´s character and I believe it also flattens the characters around him.

For example Satine and Obi-Wan

This moment is played for laughs while Satine and Obi-Wan seem to have next to zero reaction to Anakin´s action because after all, the man killed was indeed ready to kill them and all the people on their ship with a bomb and if he keep himself hidden he probably would have tried to murder Satine until he managed to do it.

Still I am not a fan of "good guys" who don´t want to kill or have doubts about the idea of murder but are totally fine with other characters who are their allies doing it for them so they keep their hands "clean". In the show Obi-Wan does this with Rex and Anakin. Neither when shows use this trope as a joke.

That makes them hypocrites because they are involved in the murder by accepting or ordering it even if they didnt do the deed themselves. The fact this doesn´t bother them shows they didn´t personally care that much about the act of murder itself, just about the fact they had to do it because it´s distateful for their self image of being a "good person" it´s fine for their allies, already used to violence to do it for them, they are already "grey" but not for them because they are "good". So imo they are also in denial about their personal responsibility in the whole issue.

Obi-Wan didn´t have a problem to cut off a guy arms for speaking rude to Luke in ANH which is the first time we meet him as a character, I don´t think he would hesitate so much in this instance just because Satine is there, he is in canon a pretty pragmatic guy and Satine is a planetary leader who probably had to order the use of force to tackle security with death watch involved in many confrontations with her goverment and if we include the years in which Mandalore was under civil war it´s possible she had to use force to protect herself or her family.

I do understand this was done in jest and to involve Vader´s theme but this definitely wasn´t a Vader kind of situation imo and I believe its interesting to analyze the character deeper motivations and this scene deserved more depth than the one given.

This is also why I regret the show never showing Anakin´s first years as an active general in the war on Bespin, that was a formative moment for Anakin as a leader and warrior and it explains so much about his characterization later in the war but also his trauma over death, the reason why he is so protective of the clones, his master, Ahsoka, Rex, Padme, Palpatine, etc.

[smytherines]

Once again thinking about how Owen was still shaking and grabbing at the banana peel when Curt ran away. Thinking about how Owen tried to point out how absurd it was to leave a banana peel lying around in the first place, and Curt steamrolled him by saying "who gives a shit?"

How Curt dismissed Owen and treated him like a nuisance for chastising him for drinking and leaving shit on the ground, and for wanting to re-lock the safety barricades to limit the explosion. How Curt didn't have the equipment he thought he would because the color of the rocket shoes didn't match his outfit.

How the explosion was Curt's idea, and he could have simply used the watch to send the blueprints and they both would've gotten out of there safely. But he wanted to be cool. He wanted to be a badass. (and personally, I think he probably wanted to save face with Owen after having to get rescued and getting chewed out by his boss)

I don't think Curt was incompetent in A1P1, but I do think he was a cocky asshole with a bruised ego. I have to be honest, I don't understand the impulse to flatten his character into "He was an awesome babygirl but then a sad thing just kinda happened to him, schwoopsie" when his ego and hubris leading to Owen's demise is the entire point of the scene. Curt having faults and fucking up is what sets that character up to have an arc at all.

In the 54 Below concert there's a part of the spoken introductions where Tessa Netting says "when these two spies are together, they are gay and unstoppable," and the next line is "that is- until Curt's ego gets in the way." In the commentary for SAF there are several points where TCB mentions Curt's ego, his hubris, his vanity- because they are important pieces of the puzzle for understanding who this guy is. Without that context, the choices his character makes in A1P1 don't make any sense (which is why I think some people read him as just kinda being a dipshit)

There's a reason he spent four years blaming himself for Owen's death- it was his fault. It's a crucial part of his character development, and it makes him a much more interesting and nuanced character than "he just did a lil fucksy-wucksy" does.

I'm not even going to get into the way the fandom absolutely refuses to engage with Curt's alcohol use, or how they make up details about Owen to make him more of a cartoon character villain (like the idea that he orchestrated the events of the show specifically to hurt/kill Curt when he doesn't even know Curt is there until Curt interrupts the arms deal) or how they pretend that Owen doesn't have a canon traumatic event that informs who he becomes (which, to be clear, is someone who tortures and murders people- thinking of Owen as an actual human character instead of a Snidely Whiplash villain doesn't mean ignoring how fucked up he is)

I probably should have said all that anonymously through the confessions blog like everyone else is doing, but frankly there are so few Owen defenders everyone would probably know it was me anyways. Also I'm just confident I know the show well enough to defend my points under my own name.

I spent days telling myself to just ignore it, don't let my autism win here, but this show is so complex and well-written, and has so much space for a subtextual reading of it, that it really bothers me to see these weird, messy, interesting, fucked up characters sanded down to Good Guy vs Bad Guy

[leafykat]

ATLA LIVE ACTION RANT/MANIFESTO

After watching it I started typing and couldn't stop. Sorry it's really really long and probably not very coherent.

(Since I wrote this, Big Joel put up a vid on his side channel talking about his thoughts on the first episode and he had a lot of points I agree with so watch that too if you’re interested) <- eta: ok jk sorry it already got taken off youtube it's only on his patreon now

I really dislike starting the story with the beginning of the war. It's like they don’t trust the audience enough to care about the protagonists without laying out all the Big Important World Context out right at the start, or they don’t trust us enough to understand non-linear storytelling. I’m trying really hard not to just hate on changes simply for being different than the show I grew up with, because god knows I have my own issues with it. There are scenes that are nearly shot-for-shot, line-for-line remakes of the original, which makes the parts they change really jarring and frustrating. I don't mind the way they combined some episodes or storylines or changed some details, like, June being the one who hits on Iroh instead of the other way around, but other changes just feel like they either miss something fundamental (to me) about the characters or the story or are just… arbitrary, which is almost worse.

One thing that REALLY frustrated me right from the start was that Aang wasn’t actually trying to run away. He goes flying to “clear his head” and gets caught in a storm coincidentally right as he says “ok Appa let’s head home”. Why? Everyone treats him like a coward anyway. Everyone is way meaner to him than in the cartoon about something that, in this version of the story, objectively was not his fault. Why? In the cartoon, he feels intense shame that he wasn’t there for everyone, even though he was twelve and about to be taken from the only person that wanted him to have a childhood, and he got so overwhelmed and scared by what the world expected from him that he tried to run away from it. In the live action, he gets to reunite with the spirit of Gyatso, who says, “you couldn’t have done anything if you had stayed. You just would have died,” (paraphrasing bc I can’t be bothered to give it more views just to get exact quotes) which is fine, I don’t think he needed a spirit world reunion with Gyatso but I can accept it. But if that’s what that gives Aang closure, what is the point of changing him to be less responsible for disappearing? In the cartoon Katara is the one who reassures Aang and helps him process his guilt, representing the people of the present who he can still help. The live action has the voice of the past, the people that he’s ‘failed’, reaching forward in time to absolve him of any sins. And remember that in this version he literally was trying to go home. It just feels like they’re trying to remove moral complexity from his character.

Less importantly (except to me maybe) I think that showing us the Air Temple pre-genocide removes impact of seeing it for the first time in the cartoon. I loved Aang hyping it up to Katara and Sokka, unwilling to believe that it could have fallen. It almost makes the viewer think maybe some of them could have survived in secret. Then, the contrast between his idyllic memories and reality start to sink in. It was an incredibly hard-hitting moment, dulled in live action by the audience having seen exactly what happened to the temple already (including an incredibly hamfisted “you can’t beat us while we have the power of the comet!” line from who I think was Sozin.) I think Momo is pretty cute though.

Another thing that pissed me off was the way they handled the Agni Kai: They combine Zuko's duels with Zhao and Ozai into one, where Zuko not only fights back against his father but gets an opportunity to deliver (presumably) a winning blow and hesitates. This choice weakens important aspects of his backstory and, to me, flattens his relationship with Ozai: 1) That he was never a prodigy firebender like Azula, feeding the inferiority complex that Ozai fostered 2) The Agni Kai was meant to be public humiliation, meant to teach Zuko ‘respect’. It was in front of hundreds of people, and it was a thirteen-year-old child against a full grown firebending master. Zuko prostrates himself and begs his father for mercy. His refusal to even fight embarrasses Ozai by exemplifying the 'weakness' Zuko's mother 'instilled' in him. In his duel with Zhao, Zuko makes a conscious choice to be merciful despite Zhao telling him to “do it” and kill him. Despite knowing how the fire nation views it as weakness, as cowardice, especially in this specific setting. It foreshadows his later choices, and shows his innate kindness. Combining the two duels doesn't allow us to see that parallel nor that growth. Reducing his act of mercy to a mere hesitation in the moment of victory, furthermore, reduces his agency.

In fact, the adaptation softens a lot of Zuko's role as an antagonist, giving most of his actually villainous actions from the cartoon to other characters. They keep him capturing Aang in the South Pole, but Zhao leads the attack on Kyoshi village, they remove the episode with the pirates (s1e9), combine aspects of episode s1e15 ‘Bato of the Water Tribe’ with ‘the Blue Spirit’ (s1e13) and ‘the winter solstice’ (s1e7/8) removing three instances of Zuko capturing or attacking Aang in favor of one with Zhao capturing and Zuko rescuing him. But I guess they add a fight in Omashu. Look, this is inevitable as a result of combining 20 episodes into 8. I don’t really mind streamlining a lot of these episodes, nor removing others (having episodes like ‘the great divide’ and ‘the fortuneteller’ only referenced as rumors Zuko hears in a bar is cute, to be honest), though the change to the Bato episode where Sokka merely has a flashback of his father implying he thinks Sokka is an incompetent warrior is a really unnecessary and bad change, to me. But they took out almost every instance of Zuko posing an actual threat to Aang and replaced it with one fight scene in Omashu. To me, what it feels like is the show runners know Zuko is going to become a Good Guy and thus they don’t want to make him act too Bad.

On the topic of Kyoshi island: giving Aang a reason to go there aside from wanting to ride the giant Koi, whatever. Removing Sokka’s chauvinism, okay, I guess. But it ends up replaced with extremely awkward flirting between him and Suki that feels motivated by nothing beyond each being the first non-relative young adult of their preferred gender either one has ever met. Whether or not you want to have Sokka start off sexist, and that could be a whole conversation on its own, him humbling himself enough to ask Suki for instruction was an important moment of growth for him that he doesn’t really have in this version. And they don’t even put Sokka in the dress and makeup!!! BOO! Also minor moment but I think it’s also sus for the show to have Suki remove her makeup as soon as it’s time for her to be a love interest and then just not wear it again. BOO!! She looked really cool though. It’s not like I think her first appearance in the cartoon is full of depth or whatever, and I think the cartoon turned her into a cardboard cutout as soon as she became a love interest, but it’s like the live action clipped through a wall straight to my least favorite parts of s3 Suki. It’s just disappointing. I also don’t like Aang being able to just talk to Kyoshi and his other past lives so easily but that might just be my cartoon-purist talking.

I didn’t mind putting Jet and Teo into Omashu, even though I think Danny Pudi’s ‘I had no choice’ justification for working for the Fire Nation holds up less well when he’s in a position of privilege in an Earth Kingdom stronghold as opposed to protecting a community of refugees in an isolated air temple. I don’t think they needed to add the Cave of Lovers plot from season 2 into the mix though. Not only that, but to rework that plotline so that 1) Aang isn’t even there, 2) it’s Sokka’s idea to put out their lights and follow the crystals, 3) that’s not actually The Solution 4) badgermoles can sense…. Emotions???????? Sorry that’s so fucking stupid it makes me angry. They include the legend where Oma and Shu learned earthbending from the badgermoles, so why would these giant creatures have learned to sense human emotion instead of the pre-existing explanation from the cartoon: sensing the world through the earth. You know, the thing that connects them to Toph’s earthbending. I guess setting up stuff as far away as… next season… isn’t important. They used the stuff from the season 2 episode “the swamp” for aspects of the winter solstice plot anyway, which is where Aang originally had a vision of Toph and thus was able to identify her as an earthbender in spite of her appearance. I guess they can come up with something else, but it’s just a decision that feels arbitrary. Sokka could have had his flashback without the spirit vision, but since this is before he meets and loses Yue they needed something, I guess. At this point I’m describing these changes not necessarily because I think they’re inherently bad but because I want to describe how fragile this jenga tower is getting, and how unnecessary they feel.

Ultimately it’s like… the things they’re the most faithful to are all the most surface-level easter egg references, while missing or changing the actual soul of the source material. Gran Gran gives the opening monologue word-for-word because Fans Will Get It. They include Bumi’s rock candy trick and lettuce leaf joke but make him resentful and angry at Aang for no reason I can understand. Sokka isn’t sexist anymore, he just has issues where his dad apparently thinks he ‘shouldn’t have lives in his hands’. Ozai is… wait- is he tearing up while he scars Zuko’s face?

I know we all love Daniel Dae Kim but we did not need Ozai so much this season, let alone Azula, let alone Mai and Ty Lee. We especially didn’t need a scene where Ozai praises Zuko to Azula while belittling her. For the record, because people defending this scene seem to think the issue is that the rest of us fail to understand that Ozai is playing his children against each other: That is not the issue. It’s that he did not play his children against each other in this specific way. He uses Azula to show Zuko how much he fails to measure up and threaten his position as heir, and he uses the example of Zuko’s failure to keep Azula in line. If she’s good enough and Zuko is bad enough maybe she’ll become heir. After all, that’s what happened to Ozai and Iroh. They are allowed to change this dynamic in adaptation but personally I think it’s a change for the worse, and the shot of tears in his eyes as he abuses his son lends credibility to an interpretation that maybe he does want Zuko to succeed. Lol. The cartoon focuses on Iroh’s reaction, his inability to watch, instead of Ozai’s… emotional conflict? Or whatever.

Katara and Sokka getting stuck in the spirit world as a replacement for their fever in The Blue Spirit is fine, I think condensing that plot and the winter solstice works decently. It’s fine that they changed Aang’s motivation for finding Roku to be getting info on how to save his friends instead of getting crucial info about Sozin’s Comet. After all, they clumsily introduced that in episode 1. It’s honestly fine (Read with as much cope in my voice as you want.) Combining that with Zuko’s half of The Storm is also…. Okay, even if I’ve already described why I don’t like how they adapted Zuko’s backstory. What frustrates me is that The Storm parallels Aang and Zuko’s backstories in a way that works really well with the events in The Blue Spirit. In fact, they’re back-to-back episodes. But the live action has moved Aang’s backstory to the beginning of the first episode. So instead of getting to see how they’re both constrained by the roles and times they were born into, and how heavily others’ expectations weigh on both of them, we have to have Aang explicitly spell it out for us. Rewatching these two episodes of the cartoon I was just really struck by how efficient the storytelling is. All Aang has to say after he’s saved Zuko is that he misses his friend from the Fire Nation, and that he wonders if he and Zuko could have been friends if they’d been born into a different time. All Zuko has to do is attack him in response. Because we’ve just seen why they can’t be friends in this time, in this world. The live action has to create some plot point about Aang having stolen Zuko’s diary, and Zuko having researched Airbender culture or something. They bond a little bit over brushes before Aang goes like ‘why don’t you turn against your family?’ The conversation (before that part) is cute, just like, not a good replacement for trusting the audience.

I guess once we’ve gotten this far it doesn’t matter much that Katara and Sokka have been captured by Koh, because of course they were. Yeah, they changed how it works, yeah, now he steals your face once you’ve succumbed to despair or something. Whatever. At this point it feels like nitpicking to point out that what made Koh so scary was that he would steal your face if you showed him any emotion at all. Who cares anymore.

^ok I wrote most of that before having seen the last two episodes, which cover the last three episodes of the first season of the cartoon. Dude it got even worse somehow. It’s been a couple days and my friends and I rewatched all of s1 of the original show in the meantime.

First of all, the changes to the dynamic between Hahn, Sokka, and Yue were completely inexplicable to me. Yue gets nominally ‘empowered’ in the sense that she’s no longer trapped in an arranged marriage to a total shithead, but at the same time they made Hahn seem like a… genuinely good guy? He’s humble, asks Sokka for his expertise, and nobly accepts that Yue broke up with him. When asked about it, Yue says ‘he’s great, he’s just not the guy of my dreams’, before kissing Sokka. (They also reveal that she was the sexy fox spirit that flirted with Sokka in the spirit world —I didn’t mention it before because I didn’t think it mattered at the time— so I guess we are meant to believe that Sokka is the boy of her dreams. Which we know from these two and a half conversations that manage to be way less cute than the awkward/shy flirting from the original show.) Even if they wanted to completely change Hahn’s character, Yue’s conflict in the original show was between her heart and what she saw as her responsibility to her people. They could just as easily have kept that element: that she isn’t in love with Hahn, but that for Political Reasons can’t just break things off. That’s way more interesting! But I do love a forbidden romance, so maybe that’s just me. The adaptation does say that they were at one point betrothed, which raises more questions than it answers. If both of their parents were anticipating this marriage so much that they set it up years in advance, why were they okay with her just breaking things off because she didn’t like him like that? Are arranged marriages in the Northern Water Tribe (I’m so sorry I forgot the name they gave it in this adaptation) purely meant to be love matches? There’s no financial or political element at all? Even for a princess? Whatever. Hahn still dies, this time it’s just offscreen. This time I’m actually a little sad for him, if just for his wasted potential.

They actually take out the engagement necklace stuff altogether, including the history between Pakku and Katara’s grandma, and the story of how and why she fled. I don’t really know why but maybe they thought “you lost the so-called love of your life to backward practices” was a weak reason to change his mind. So instead they have it that he doesn’t change his mind but it turns out Katara doesn’t need a master anyway because she’s already good enough to be a master! Despite not having been able to waterbend ‘more than a thimbleful’ before meeting Aang, and us not really getting to see her train at all. Gran Gran gave her the waterbending scroll she stole from the pirates in the cartoon, so I guess we can assume that contained everything you’d ever need to know. She loses the fight but wins the hearts and minds of the people. The women of the tribe support her when she goes against Pakku and go “we want to fight too!” Oh, did I mention this is all after they realize the Fire Navy is at their doorstep, so it’s less a fight about the right to learn waterbending than about the right to fight in war. And then again the issue of Katara needing to learn from Pakku is sidestepped by her magically being good enough now on her own. I don’t actually mind the change to include other women from the North standing up against sexism but to be honest I don’t understand taking out the betrothal stuff. It was a deliberate parallel in the cartoon- women trapped in loveless arranged marriages and also forbidden from learning any waterbending aside from healing. But whatever, it’s a choice. I can live with it.

What I don’t like is the way they’ve undermined Katara’s journey in season 1. Aang teaches Katara how to waterbend at first, and she also doesn’t learn to heal on her own before an elder shows her how to do it. In the cartoon, she’s been trying and figuring things out on her own all her life. Her hunger to find someone to teach her is a major motivator for why she wants to go to the North Pole. We see her struggle, get intensely frustrated and jealous that Aang picks up waterbending more naturally than she does, and work really hard at it. Her dedication and hard work are what Pakku eventually praises about her when he teaches her. He compares her to Aang, who is naturally talented but distracted. This is after an indeterminate amount of time, but whatever, condensed timeline, 8 episodes, whatever. We don’t even see Aang waterbend at all this season, which is kind of wild to me. I guess if you take out the Summer Solstice Comet deadline to master all four elements (which they did) Aang doesn’t really need to rush. Instead they kind of just have Aang have a thing of like “I have my friends to help me” which is….. ok….. Oh wait, is this why they don’t care that much about foreshadowing Toph? Are they just not gonna bother having Aang learn the elements and just have her show up and join them for whatever reason? Is that why they just totally removed ‘The Deserter’? Wait sorry, I’m assuming they’re planning that far in advance at all, my bad.

Okay also like I have to talk about this because it bothers me so much. Zhao was handled so badly. Whatever, have a Fire sage just give him the moon/ocean spirit exposition in a flashback instead of the way it unfolded in the cartoon (I guess we’re already not bothering to set up the great library since the gaang already met wan shi tong, I guess that’s… fine… Appa can get captured a different way, if they’re even going to bother with that plotline in season 2. If they’re even going to do a season 2.) Sure, the moon and ocean spirits are only in the physical realm and vulnerable for ‘only one night’ now as opposed to permanently. Zhao knows this but not that they’re fish. Okay. Whatever. Blah blah blah. Those are personal nitpicks. But what really gets me is that in the end, Iroh and Zuko kill Zhao. Or rather, Zuko doesn’t finish him off, Zhao tries to attack when his back is turned, and Iroh finishes him off (similar to the way their Agni Kai in the cartoon plays out.) In the cartoon, Zhao and Zuko are fighting, Aang-as-Ocean-Spirit grabs Zhao, and Zuko reaches out to try and help Zhao, which Zhao refuses. He chooses to meet his fate at the hands of the spirits he provoked rather than swallow his pride. This is such a good conclusion to Zhao’s character! The live action also fails to set Zhao up as a formidable firebender, which is also not strictly necessary but I think complements other elements of his character well. His first episode in the cartoon includes the Agni Kai between him and Zuko, establishing Zhao both as a firebending master and as someone who values his ambition and pride above all else. In s1e16, ‘the deserter’ we see him as the embodiment of fire’s destructive hunger: he is baited into destroying his own ships in his desire to “win” his fight with Aang. He gloats of how his siege of the North Pole will earn him a place in the history books, and to win he is willing to kill the moon, against Iroh’s exhortations. In the live action, we get a weird revelation that he was working with Azula, and she was the mastermind behind a lot of his plans? Huh? He also “reveals” that Ozai was only ever using Zuko to “motivate his sister”, which is both incredibly heavy-handed and completely redundant. I guess I should mention that the finale has a couple scenes thrown in where Azula is doing firebending training to pass some kind of arbitrary Test Ozai has set for her, while Mai and Ty Lee watch and tell her that her dad is like, being way too hard on her and she knows he’s manipulating her right? Thanks girls!

Anyway, I guess since the live-action completely removed the golden child/failure dynamic between Azula and Zuko we needed something to replace it. The “my father always said Azula was born lucky. He said I was lucky to be born” line summed up that relationship dynamic nicely. Oh well, who needs it. Instead Zuko is good enough to have beaten Ozai in a duel at 13, but Ozai decided he was weak for hesitating. Meanwhile Azula is struggling to meet his expectations. He banished his heir on a mission that, for the last hundred years, was considered a complete dead-end, so that he could, uhhhhh, Motivate her when he miraculously started succeeding. Masterful gambit, sir. Okay sorry to harp on that again. Back to Zhao. Actually, what else is there to say. He has a couple funny lines but he’s just not the same guy at all on either a superficial or deeper level. It’s so disappointing. It’s also just a really weak choice to make Iroh and Zuko responsible for his death. Maybe they couldn’t figure out how to make the special effects look good when the ocean spirit picked him up. It just misses the point of Zhao’s ultimate tragedy, to me. The man so lacking in self-control, so ambitious, so assured in his own superiority, that he saw the spirits themselves as his prey. To be destroyed by the forces he tried to destroy is so poetic! Instead let’s water down Zuko’s mercy and Iroh’s pacifism.

This is all I can remember at this point aside from nitpicks. Do I think the Koh vs Kuruk backstory needed to be spelled out like that? No. Did we need to almost have Momo DIE to get Sokka and Yue to the oasis? Not really. I don’t think the way Zhao “assassinated” Zuko in the live action made as much sense, but we took out the pirates so oh well.

When you get to a certain point I guess the question becomes ‘how much can you change in an adaptation and still call it an adaptation’. What do adaptations owe to their source material? Where does the spirit of a story reside? If the same plot beats happen, does it matter if characters are different? If the characters are faithful, does it matter if events are moved around? If the destination is the same, how much does it matter how you get there? What do I personally want to see in a ‘live-action’ adaptation of Avatar, this show that I loved so much growing up? Well, assuming that “don’t make one” isn’t a possibility, I would have preferred they follow more in One Piece’s footsteps. That adaptation wasn’t perfect either, and it condensed around 100 chapters of manga into 8 hours, but it really felt like it got the characters right. Avatar had a tough job too, but it condensed 7 hours 40 minutes of cartoon into 8 hours of- wait. No. Well at least we got the cabbage merchant.

[tainbocuailnge]

Ended up going cool points and got Ptilopsis. I'm much earlier in the game than I remembered, so I'm just gonna wing it. Used the free 10 roll on the current banner and pulled Wis adel, so that's cool. So far the only character I have any attachment to is Eunectes, any tips/synergy for those three?

fortunately for you ptilopsis is not just cool but also really good. ptilopsis as a unit synergises with almost everyone because her thing is that she increases the automatic sp recovery of all allies on the field when she's deployed, which 90% of units will benefit from, including wisadel, but actually not including eunectes until you've invested far more into eunectes than you're probably able to at this point. more on that later.

my number one tip is always to invest in your 3* units first and actually use them too because they're not only far cheaper to raise but also the best way to learn the basic gameplay principles (what does each class do, how does deployment order work, how do the types of damage work, etc). after that try to get at least two 4* or higher units of each class raised that have different subclasses (i.e. a marksman sniper and an artilleryman sniper) to expand your range of strategic options. resource accumulation in arknights is fairly slow, especially if you're still finding your footing. that's why it's generally recommended to raise some 3* and 4* units first, because they consume exponentially fewer resources and will give you the means to get the stuff for your bougie 6* units. many of them are perfectly decent to even good units in their own right, nobody does what gravel does for example

depending on what you want out of arknights, that means you should either leave wisadel aside for now or raise her asap, because wisadel is an extremely busted "kill everything now" button that will make you not learn how to actually play the game. most super busted 6* need to be e2 promoted to unlock their third skill to do their super busted thing but wisadel can high impact kill everything now right out of the box. if you just want to read visual novel arknights then having a kill everything now button on hand from the start is really convenient, but if you also want to play strategy game arknights i would recommend leaving her for later, because sooner or later there will come a boss you can't just explode with wisadel, and then you will wish you knew how to play arknights.

anyway, eunectes! i like eunectes both as character and unit and i think she has a lot of good qualities that are often overlooked but she might be difficult to use for a new player. her thing is that she has really high raw stats and powerful skills, but she has only 1 block, she only gains sp in order to use those skills when blocking enemies, and she's expensive to deploy. the sp lockout means that ptilopsis' ability to increase sp gain doesn't work on eunectes unless she's blocking. there is a way to make it so she very slowly gains sp even when not blocking (and ptilopsis can make this faster), but it's through the module system, and you can't even access that until you have a unit e2 promoted and at a certain minimum level (lv40-60 depending on rarity).

eunectes' job is to hold dangerous enemies with her sheer raw stats. she is your expensive cartoon piano that you drop on someone you want flattened into a pancake. chapter 3 for example features a few boss enemies that deal heavy splash damage that you'd rather not let close to your frontlines, but eunectes has so much hp and defense they can't hurt her much and enough atk that she can safely beat them to death away from the team if you just point a healer at her. early in the game a lot of dangerous enemies including some bosses are vulnerable to stun, so her s2 is incredibly powerful because they will just not be able to do anything for at least 15 seconds while she caves their skull in. if the enemy can't be stunned or eunectes is getting punched back a little too hard, s1 will give her stats an extra permanent boost so she takes less damage while you point some ranged damage (like wisadel) at it to blow it up.

s3 is the one where she gets in her giant robot and becomes the ultimate Every Stat Ever beatstick but that's behind e2 promotion and i don't think you should prioritise her e2 promotion if you're still starting out, she'll do fine at e1 for a long time. more importantly, to facilitate eunectes gaming you should raise multiple vanguards so that you can produce the dp necessary to actually deploy eunectes when you need her.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Mask (1994)

If you were born in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, you idolized Jim Carrey at some point. In second grade, my class received an assignment to write a biography on our favorite Canadian sports athlete. I didn’t have one so I asked the teacher if I could do mine on Jim Carrey (he was born in Ontario). Four of my classmates asked the same thing. Carrey’s big break was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective but that film has aged so dreadfully its finale is unwatchable – even if you keep in mind it was made 30 years ago. A much better way to indulge your nostalgia for the comedian is to revisit Dumb and Dumber or today's movie: The Mask.

Insecure bank teller Stanley Ipkiss (Carey) finds a magical mask in the Edge City river. After putting it on, the mask transforms him into a green-faced, zoot suit-wearing extrapolation of his inner self. With his newfound powers and confidence, Ipkiss gets even with those who’ve wronged him and romances Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz), the beautiful singer at the exclusive Coco Bongo club. In the process, he crosses paths with gangster Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene).   There have been several attempts to make a live-action Looney Tunes film, none as successful at bringing the series’ violent slapstick sense of humor to life as The Mask (and with Coyote vs. Acme being shelved by David Zaslav, that won't change anytime soon). Putting on the mask does more than alter Ipkiss’ appearance and give him the confidence to say and do what he’s always wanted to; it allows him to pull giant mallets out of thin air, survive explosions, re-inflate himself after being flattened, move so fast he looks like a spinning tornado, etc. Jim Carrey excels at playing loud, outlandish catchphrase-spewing characters, making this superhero origin story (the film is based on the Dark Horse comic by Mike Richardson) the perfect vehicle for him. He also fares quite well as lovable loser Stanley Ipkiss. He has great chemistry with the most memorable character in the film: Ipkiss’ dog, Milo. As far as movie pets go, there aren’t many who have as much personality as this adorable, occasionally aggressive, mischievous and deceptively smart (for a dog) Jack Russell Terrier. The pooch may not have a character arc, but its multiple gags build upon each other and Milo plays a critical part in the story.    If you expected me to name Cameron Diaz as the co-star with whom Carrey has the best rapport, I’m getting to her now. The two actors have chemistry but they don't quite sizzle like they should. Or maybe it’s that Diaz (in her film debut) is so stunning that a part of you dismisses any sparks between them – she should be with you. After donning the mask, Stanley howls like the wolf in 1943's “Red Hot Riding Hood” while he watches her perform at the Coco Bongo. You’ll be right there along with him. Seeing her, you remember the first time you saw Marilyn Monroe. All you can say is “Wow!”, which makes you all the more grateful to see that she can keep up with the dance numbers and comedic sequences. As a memorable aspect of the film, she’s got stiff competition between Carrey, the dog and the special effects but she nonetheless stands out.    The Mask is a pretty standard superhero story that’s elevated by its willingness to go all the way with its cartoon motif, the unforgettable one-liners and memorable characters. On top of everyone previously mentioned, there’s Lieutenant Mitch Kellaway (Peter Riegert), the police officer who suspects Ipkiss – even though no ordinary man could pull off the moves he pulls -, his dopey partner Detective Doyle (Jim Doughan) and several big scenes that will stick with you long after the film is gone. Partially because they are funny but also because they showcase the film’s use of music, dance and cartoon logic.    Special effects can often date a picture. Even if those are still (mostly) convincing, jokes that haven’t aged well can make you regret you ever hit "play". The Mask makes extensive use of special effects. They still hold up. When it comes to the jokes, the film does it right. There is a point where a mask-wearing Ipkiss starts turning into a Pepe Le Pew type… but the fact that he’s too much and that his overly aggressive would-be romantic gestures make Tina uncomfortable are both acknowledged and part of the gag.

I must’ve seen The Mask over a dozen times as a kid (mostly in French and on VHS) but that was years ago. I thought I only remembered the broad strokes but nearly everything came flooding back as soon as I started watching. Part of that I can attribute to repetition but also to the fact that this comedy is packed with memorable scenes, lines and characters. It holds up. (October 5, 2024)

[gtbutterfly]

Quincy and the forest giant part 10

hey, I got this one out a lot sooner than expected! I might try to work on a new story or maybe some one offs between this chapter and the next one. Anyways, this part is a bit more in depth than the last one. Hope you enjoy it! Critism is appreciated! (Sorry I forgot to say that last time)

previous part:

______________________________________________________________

I’ve never understood why in movies and cartoons, whenever one character was tiny and another character was big, they had the smaller character sitting on the bigger one's shoulder. I always thought that it would be too easy for the smaller person  to fall off from there. When people have parrots and other birds on their shoulders, it makes sense, because the bird is holding on with its talons. But with a person, they’re not really hanging onto anything, they're just balancing, and they somehow don’t fall off. If they had to hang onto something, it would probably be the ear, which would be painful for the bigger character. I never realized why those shows always did that until Ella took me for a walk that day. She had me cupped in her hand while she was walking through the forest. Her elbows were bent so I was upright in her hands. After a while, she started carrying me in one hand against her chest while she put her other hand down, and she switched hands a few times, which was a bit disorienting for me. I figured out her arms were getting tired in that position, so I decided to say something when she switched again,

“Um…hey, Ella?” I said,

“Hmm?” The giant looked down at me, “oh, sorry kid, I know changing my hands can be a bit much,” 

“Uh…it's fine…hey, do you want to, like, hold me in a different way?” I asked.

“What other way?” she asked, “this is the most comfortable way I can hold you without you dropping 40 feet,”

“Well…it doesn’t seem too comfortable…” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Comfortable for you I mean,” Ella said. “Would you rather I have you in a fist around your neck again?”

“Um…no,” I said, “uh…how about…I dunno, your shoulder?” I suggested.

“You’d fall in seconds.” Ella said dryly.

“Um…your pocket?” I asked,

“You wouldn’t be able to seeQuincy. That would defeat the whole purpose of going on a hike.” Ella said. “My pockets are too deep for you to see over…do you want to know what's in my pockets?”

“Um, No?” I said, in a mixture of scared and genuinely confused.

“Good.” Ella said, continuing to walk. 

“Um…do you have any ideas?” I asked.

“Hmm…” she sighed, “your too small to walk beside me, obviously,” she said, “maybe…sigh no,”

“Um…what?” I asked,

“Nothing..” she said, starting to murmur something to herself about “me being too young.”, I couldn’t fully make it out. She sighed again. “Maybe we should rest for a second, how does that sound?” 

“Yeah…that sounds fine,” I said. Ella looked around, before slowly lowering herself to the ground, which was covered in leaves and plants, some flattened by giant footprints, supposedly from Ella stepping on them before. She sat with one leg outwards and the other bent towards it. She placed me on the ground on her right side, next to the bent leg, and leaned back with both her arms behind her. I looked around at the forest we were in. The trees were even larger than the 60 foot giant looming over me, their leaves were massive and completely blocked out the sun. The floor of the woods was covered in bushes and shrubs and flowers that took whatever light did seep through the leaves of the trees. Next to me was a foot print the size of a small car where the plant life was completely flattened. It was Ellas footprint, but it wasn’t somewhere she stepped before. I looked up at her.

“Um…do you come to this part of the forest often?” I asked.

“Yeah…part of my job,” the giant said.

“Oh yeah….your job…” I said, looking down. “Um….is it ok if I…ask now….um, what your job is?” 

“I told you, I’ll tell you when I’m ready to,” Ella said,

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I rubbed the back of my head, “um…but….I’m just wondering if you can, uh, just tell me what you do,”

“What do I do?” Ella asked.

“Yeah…uh, you don’t have to tell me how your a giant or anything about the company, or Derrick, or anything like that…I just want to know what you do, that's all..,”

“Hmm…alright then,” the giant sighed, “I’m only telling you because they apparently want me to adopt you, or whatever,” she closed her eyes and sighed again, before looking forward and away from me. “I walk around the forest…and make sure everything is…” she waved her hand in the air as if trying to think of what to say, “normal” she finally said, with air quotes.

“N-normal?” I asked.

“Not normal like, normal, normal like, the way things are supposed to be,” Ella said.

“Um….ok…um, like what?” I asked, tilting my head. She looked down at me.

“That's harder to explain without getting into…y’know,” Ella sighed again, changing her legs to be crisscrossed. She then held out her hand to me. I looked at it for a moment, confused as if we were going to continue walking or not, before climbing onto her palm. Ella stayed on the ground, lifting me upwards to a tree. My gut felt weird being lifted like that, I thought that I would be used to it by now.

“Do you see these trees?” Ella asked. I looked at the tree in front of me. It was thick and wide, much more dense than a normal tree, but not as much as say a red wood. The trunk was brown, and the leaves were much bigger, they seemed like normal leaves, but they were almost a foot long. 

“Y-yeah…what about it…?” I asked.

“These are oak trees, Quincy.” the giant holding me said. “They're the kind of tree your townspeople chop down.” 

“But…they're so big…” I said, “...trees from centuries ago don’t get this big…at least as far as I know,” 

“That's the work of the company.” Ella said. “Its experimental, these are the only trees in the world being grown like this. Since its experimental, there are some worries from the company about these modified trees affecting the animals, or their existence being found out to the public and other companies try doing the same thing,” 

“So…you make sure those things don’t happen?” I asked.

“If an animal mutates or whatever, which never happens, I’m supposed to give it to the company for testing, and if a human is found out here, I’m supposed to take them so that no one finds out about what the company’s doing.” Ella said. “So, yeah, I just walk around and make sure those things…don’t happen,” she shrugged.

“So, you're their security?” I asked,

“That's a way of putting it,” she said dryly. She looked down at herself for a moment, almost seeming sad about something. I looked up at her and patted hand a bit, I don’t know if she felt it or not, she didn’t have a reaction. I looked down for a moment, before backing up and looking up at her.

“So, uh, they were worried about the big trees making…big animals?” I asked,

“Yeah…they never did though, at least as far as I can tell,” Ella said.

“Did they make you big…in the same way?” I asked sheepishly, looking down slightly. Ella turned her head towards me and sighed. She was silent for a moment.

“It's a bit more complicated than that…” she said, before she got on her knees. I could tell she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. She looked forward. “Come on, let's start heading back, I should start making lunch for us,” the giant said, still holding me as she stood up.

“Yeah….um…how does…uh, venison…taste anyways?” I asked. 

“You’ll see,” Ella said, her footsteps vibrating the ground as she walked with me in her hands. She was looking straight forward as she walked. I looked up at her face. She seemed like she was thinking of something, something that was bothering her. She was passively sad, looking forward with her mouth frowned and her eyes a bit droopy and tired looking. I patted her thumb again.

“Hey…um, are you ok?” I asked, looking up at her. Her eyes widened a bit as she glanced down at me.

“...what do you mean?” she asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“Um…you seem..down about something,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. Ella’s eyes shifted to her side for a moment. They flickered slightly in thought. 

“Um…yeah, it's just sort of…been a lot happening lately,” the giant said, “usually things are a lot more..uneventful out here,”

“um…I know what you mean,” I said, “but I meant…well…you seem…sad….”

“It's nothing,” Ella sighed.

“Um..it's ok…” I said sheepishly, “if you're sad…I just…if you want to talk about it ... .or anything…” Ella sighed again, interrupting me. She let out a slight smile, that was clearly just meant to make me feel better.

“It's fine, Quincy. You don’t have to feel bad for me,” She said, rubbing my back a bit with her finger, “honestly…I probably deserve this, anyways,” 

“Ella…don’t say that…” Said, touching her thumb again.

“Its alright Quincy, you don’t know…” she said, sighing again. “I’ll tell you everything soon…tonight…I’ll tell you everything tonight…make sure to hold me by that, ok?” she said, tilting her head. I paused for a moment.

“...ok,” I said, looking down, “...you really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…”

“It's fine Quincy,” she said, rubbing my back again, “you should know…you deserve to know…”

And then she kept walking.  

[repo-net]

Fun fact: In the section of Chapter 4 in UDG where Nagisa leads you to the secret passageway exiting Towa City - in the third fight before his backstory reveal + info dump, you can actually kill Nagisa by accident (or not) if you use Knockback on a Ball Monokuma and make it roll over him. Doing so will instantly drain his health; and obviously, results in a game over and not an alternate route (unfortunately).

Grim as it is, it's also pretty funny to imagine Nagisa just flat as paper on the ground because Komaru didn't aim her shots properly and made him look like one of those cartoon characters after they get flattened by some massive object, lol

[whirligig-girl]

image ID: a 2-4-0 steam locomotive with a frowning face, made entirely out of green slime. A fire and boiler tubes are visible inside. The engine is at a train station and has a red four wheel carriage behind her. End image ID.

From the Guz Style Swap. Eaurp Guz is my Star Trek Lower Decks original character, a slime girl starfleet officer. When I redrew Guz in a bunch of art styles I had one more panel left, and I thought... “what am I missing... what cartoon did i grow up with with a very specific art style that i hold near and dear am I forgetting... oh. oh no. OH NO!” so I drew this cursed and beautiful thing. The very first slimegirl train!

ok let me pretend i can fit this into railway series lore... (awdry, please forgive me)

An experimental locomotive created by the LNER, Guz is a 2-4-0 passenger locomotive made out of metallurgical slime recovered from an alien spacecraft. After her initial trial, she was given to the North Western Railway on loan, indefinitely. Though the goo boiler proved to be a highly successful concept[citation needed], the slime wheels had serious flattening and wheelslip issues, making it hard to climb gradients.

Guz had trouble climbing hills and completely floundered on the steeper gradients of branch lines. In 1929, she was given metal tires, solving her biggest issue. The other engines used to tease her for her composition and her wheel slip.

Gordon would say “Just think of it! Slipping and sliding wherever you go, unable to climb hills at all. It’s disgraceful. You should be preserved, before you get scrapped... or melted down, or whatever happens to engines made of sludge.“ But Thomas had a plan. Thomas arranged Gordon’s coaches early, and Guz backed down on the front of the train. Before Gordon arrived, she melted to a puddle and clung to the rails. When the guard blew his whistle, Gordon started, but he merely slipped and slid, his wheels failing to grab the metals. Gordon was so cross that they had to uncouple him and move him away. The only engine to pull the train was Guz. It would be difficult, but with her new metal tires, she could do it if she had Thomas’ help.

[thejagermeister]

just finished watching season one of the bttf cartoon and. some scattered thoughts/reactions:

its so cute and so nostalgic. any criticism i say here is overridden by the fact that 90s cartoon are so charming i love them

apparently this show is what led to bill nye getting his own show? which is bonkers. he doesn't even speak in the live action segments (but he does have his signature bow tie)

christopher lloyd does live action segments at the start and end of every episode and i solely believe its to remind kids that "this cartoon is about that fun movie you love!"

because the cartoon takes place in 1991-92, marty's in college. he's technically 23. scary

marty rides a 2015 hoverboard around 1991 hill valley like it's no big deal and no one ever questions it apparently

doc has an entire garage of tech contraptions and its all funded on clara's teacher salary which is so funny to me. doc doesn't have a job. who's paying for him to build weather machines?

the amount of times i heard the phrase "spare flux capacitor" is bonkers. they already have the car and the train's flux capacitors and doc made SPARES?

marty hangs out at doc's house a lot but there is a conspicuous lack of his own family. where are george and lorraine? dave and linda? jennifer is there for like three seconds each in two episodes but that's it

jules and verne are so adorable. cute brothers. doc loves them to bits and its obvious. however this also brings me into my biggest complaint about the cartoon

i believe this is partially for the sake of it being a kids show (but even still, characters in "children's media" can still have depth. or at least more than two character traits apiece)

but everyone is flattened into archetypes and are never allowed any depth outside of that. the best way to explain is simply by listing them

doc: smart wacky inventor. says common phrases with fun science words instead ("holy bovine!")

jules: smart kid. has doc's fun science words thing

verne: stupid kid. never allowed to express any interest in anything "smart" for the sake of plot

clara: woman mother wife lady

marty: the most dumbass man in the world and its not a good thing. tries to hit on every girl he meets even though he's technically still dating jennifer i think

seriously they butchered marty so bad. hes not even a himbo bc hes not nice hes just bland

to go back to compliments, i honestly love the fact that we get a biff ancestor/descendant in every episode it's really fun

although we never meet modern day biff (in season one at least, i think we see him in season two?) and it's never explained why everyone is always like "oh no, a tannen!"

the cartoon logic of it all is hilarious from an adult's perspective. they see someone introduce himself as a tannen and they just Know he's up to no good

it really makes you wonder how the tannen family like... even got to biff in the first place. if all the men in his ancestry are Like That

we do see 1955 biff after every end credits roll, saying a silly joke and then he usually gets beat up or falls through the floor or gets pelted with fruit or something. i love it

[fireh0es]

ok so post episode reflection time. i wanted to like the episode but it just wasn't as memorable as other finales, which is weird for me because it was meant to be the 'last' before the move to ABC happened. this episode felt bungled, let me go into why.

1.) okay so this sounds weird to complain about but that bridge collapse sucked. nobody was in true peril, there never felt like there was stakes honestly other than brief scenes with hen and chim. i wanted there to be a serious injury, i cannot lie. i'm tired of the 118 being fine after these things and just bouncing back like nothing happened. it's too episodic, if that's the word. things aren't lasting

2.) speaking of no stakes, bobby was heavily implied to be hurt. he was not. all we hear is that he hurt his shoulder and needs scans. chim was completely harmlessly impaled pretty much, just walk it off. that whole thing was traumatic in many ways and bobby and chim should not have been so scot-free in an episode that required high stakes

3.) chimney had gloves on and wasn't wearing The Ring of Power. -1000 points from Gryffindor for that one babes sorry

4.) i'm not super against buck/natalia as a couple but it felt weirdly rushed because she came in literally last minute for the birth then started dating buck. maybe it's just because i wanted her to show up at lucy's doorstep because i'm a garbage eating goblin with no self control

5.) the eddie/marisol thing. i really really really wanted to hold out hope that she would defy the trope of 'firefighter gets the girl after saving the day'. i genuinely thought she'd be involved in this 'mass casualty accident' that was over in like ten minutes. seriously wtf was this bridge collapse??? where is the drama, i can't see it???

6.) what in the world was that meditation scene? why did we time skip so far ahead that the flashbacks seem like flash forwards??? what is going on with this pacing it's like being dragged behind a truck with a drunk driver at the wheel

7.) the fucking speed they tore through every plot line this episode was unreal. the bridge collapse served us a nothing sandwich in ten minutes flat, the 118 checked in and checked out of the hospital before i could blink. the relationships were slammed in in such short fast scenes they felt forced and sudden. they did the time warp and blew through weeks of development and the birth of a baby that honestly happened so fast idk how much time went by between that and the cute little bwidge cowapse. seriously the pacing sucked, really girl give us nothing

8.) the episode was pretty much only saved by the cast. i cannot describe how disappointed i felt about this finale. despite amazing work from the actors, things flew by too fast, the tone was all wrong from a directorial and production standpoint, relationships felt mishandled. like i'm sorry, henren are going to have another baby in the house and we get... a hug? a time skip and a h u g??? buck has this super moving scene getting to see the life he gave to his friends to nurture and is able to let go and does the time warp into a new relationship, eddie is pressured by chris to call marisol, who didn't even appear until the last 2 minutes (??????????) now they're going on. a date??? bobby is totally fine after being pinned in a metal bin by an suv and an ambulance and a bunch of concrete because apparently bobby has fucking adamantium bones and has +100 resistance to crush damage. like literally i'm not even a little nervous when bobby gets pancaked because he's literally that cartoon character that pops up from being flattened like 'i'm ok!' *insert clown silly noises* where is the writing, sis? where?????

9.) where was the wedding? we get a rooftop meditation flashback/flash forward thing with weird thoughts from all the characters but not the fucking madney wedding???? i wanted to see chim barely survive that bridge collapse and have the viewers thinking he was going to perish before seeing him at the parish in a boyle style butt cast or something marrying maddie because literally being strapped to a flaming gurney wouldn't stop him. instead chim is magically fine and there isn't a wedding. i'm going to eat glass

10.) lucy: i have a sprained ankle *gets in a helicopter and flies out of the series* WOULD YOU LET THE FEMALE FIREFIGHTERS STICK AROUND AND DO THEIR JOBS PLEASE??

god it was just so unsatisfying. imagine if the tsunami episodes plot was over in 10 minutes with no stakes at all. like really?? idk what it is but the stakes in this season have literally never been lower. the earlier seasons had me INVOLVED in the emergencies. things have gotten so goofy lately. most emergencies are comedic and unserious, the writing isn't taking the characters as seriously as their actors, it feels like one of those happy AU fanfics that I just struggle through reading because you know it's going to be saccharine and there's nothing that's going to happen that's gripping which you would expect in a drama series.

[cloudsoffire]

Why Sonic the Hedgehog is an Incredible Character

 essay below the cut (using capital letters in this for the sake of semi-professionalism):

Sonic the Hedgehog is frequently misunderstood by non-fans as a corporate view of what was cool in the 90s. To that, I say yeah. that’s absolutely what he started off as. The guy was engineered to be a counter to Mario. But you know what? Those corporate guys were right. But you also can’t say in good faith that that’s what he still is. Compare classic western Sonic to the Sonic we see today and while he’s still recognizable, he’s way different. Between cartoons like TAoStH, and the early comics, cultural perception of the character in the west was that of a spunky kid with a mohawk who said things like “Way past cool!” They even redrew the Japanese art to maintain this image.

But come Sonic Adventure, the cultures of Sonic merged. He was still a cool guy, but now he had an actual in-game character to go with it. At least an obvious one (we can talk about that in a second). This transition to 3d also marks the beginning of his modern character. Throughout the years, this character has been added to, flattened, and just been undersold, but his core traits are almost always there. Let’s go over a couple of games to get a better understanding of them.

Sonic 1:

Sonic doesn’t have much of an in-game personality in the original game. We know he’s impatient, and fights evil.

Outside of the game, there are the manuals. The US manual describes Sonic as “one tough dude,” and “the real cool hedgehog with the spiked haircut and power sneakers that give him super speed.” Right from the get-go, we can see the “hey fellow kids”ness of it, but it must’ve been what the kids liked, because Sonic absolutely took off in the US.

I can’t find a translation of the full JP manual, but I have found an English version of the story inside. We actually learn a lot more from this than we do from the US manual. Firstly, we learn that this isn’t the first time Sonic and Eggman have fought, and Sonic has a strong sense of justice. He cares for others, and is horrified when he learns that the mad scientist has turned the inhabitants of South Island into robots. He’s still a cool guy, but he isn’t just a cool guy.

Sonic 2:

Again, Sonic doesn’t have much of a personality. This game does introduce his friendship with Tails, and that they trust each other. Super Sonic is also there, but that doesn’t really say anything about Sonic’s personality yet. In Sonic Adventure it’s stated that he draws from the positive energy of the emeralds, allowing him to go super even after Chaos drained them of their negative energy.

Interesting enough, the US manual makes Sonic seem like a bit of a jerk. He’s again referred to as “One tough dude with spiky hair,” but that’s not all. The manual makes a point that “Mostly, Sonic lets [Tails] trail along,” but he’ll often run off and leave his friend in the dust. Not really something you’d see from him nowadays. But then again, that’s the US manual, filtered through our lens of “cool” at the time. What was sonic actually like during this game?

In the JP manual, Sonic is indifferent to Tails. They become friends when the fox starts following him out of nowhere, and Sonic doesn’t stop him. He’s not mentioned to show off in front of him, and even allows Tails to modify his “Favorite machine, the Tornado.“ It’s also suggested that he’s praised Tails for his second tail, which he was bullied for. He’s explicitly mentioned to be cool, but it’s not in your face at all. This Sonic is much more laid-back than his US counterpart. Again, he has a strong sense of justice and cares for others.

Sonic 3&K:

This game is probably the most realized classic game. I could talk about it for a while, but this is explicitly about Sonic. This game shows that Sonic is quick to forgive, but very much not a pushover.

The US manual shows nothing.

The JP manual shows nothing.

Sonic CD:

Again, not much is learned through gameplay that we don’t know already. The animated cutscenes are cool though.

The US manual starts off by shoehorning in Princess Sally, a character from the Archie comics that does not appear in the game. The story at the beginning portrays Sonic as a thrill-seeker, and someone who does things just because he thinks it’ll be fun. This is definitely something that sticks around into the modern age. Outside of this, he doesn’t really display any character traits outside of concern for Sally.

In the JP manual, he’s once again shows few traits, but it does establish his confidence, stating that he can do anything if he has courage. His character profile also says he’s cool and popular with everyone everywhere. It also gives full diagnostics for Metal Sonic which I will be saving for future use.

Since we’re only talking about mainline games, we’re now moving up to Sonic Adventure. The first game with actual dialog. The game where the divide between the US and JP Sonic was, for the most part, removed. This is who Sonic really is. Could I have started here? Yes, but I think the other stuff is still interesting. Did you know Sally was in the US manual for CD? I didn’t.

Sonic Adventure solidified Sonic in a lot of ways, and made him a lot more three-dimensional (pardon the pun) than his previous iterations. Let’s go over his character profile first.

“He’s the world’s fastest, hypersonic hedgehog! With a strong love of freedom, the only thing Sonic hates is oppression. Despite his short temper, deep down he’s a really nice guy who is 100% committed to helping those in trouble whenever and wherever he can.” Perfect! That summarizes his character up to this point pretty well, and adds some other points. And for the most part, that’s how he behaves ingame, then and now. This is Sonic.

But we can go deeper than that. So we will.

Sonic’s main theme throughout both Adventure games is called “It Doesn’t Matter.” Seems a bit odd for a supposed hero, right? Until you take the time to really listen to it. It isn’t a nihilistic song at all, but it still isn’t something you’d give to a paragon hero. This theme is about not giving up, about always following your heart. Sonic doesn’t care about whether what he’s doing is “right” or “wrong” in the eyes of everyone else, so long as he’s following his own way. And sure, that way involves helping others and stopping Eggman, but that outlook on life also means that he isn’t afraid to be the bad guy. Hell, Sonic Adventure 2 starts off with him running away from G.U.N. instead of just waiting for Shadow to act while he was still in prison, thereby clearing his name. He’s impatient, spontaneous, and he doesn’t give a damn what anyone else thinks.

In Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic has the following exchange with Merlina.

Merlina: “If you remove that sword and defeat King Arthur with it, you shall forever be the worst of knights, slayer of kings.”

Sonic: “Guess I can’t be the hero every time.”

In Frontiers, he doesn’t question the sky voice at all because he thinks following its directions will save his friends. When this is brought up, he brushes it off, claiming that if they’re evil, he can just defeat them, too. Sonic completely waives morality if it gets in the way of what he perceives as justice. And sometimes that justice is completely misguided, showcased in how willing to forgive he is.

Surge is someone who’s been hurt in the past, and Sonic recognizes this. He isn’t necessarily wrong to want to give her a second chance, but he just as easily extends this courtesy to Eggman and Starline, the people that have caused them and everyone else untold suffering. Surge has a point when she calls him naive. He is. But if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be Sonic. Sonic wouldn’t kill his enemies, because he believes in them. Would it be better for everyone if nobody had to worry about Eggman again? Absolutely. Has Sonic had the opportunity to kill Eggman but instead elected to let him escape? Of course. Sonic sees the good in everyone, and sometimes it works out for him, and sometimes it just hurts him and others. But he sticks to his guns, in a very non-literal sense. He actually expresses his distaste for using firearms in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic isn’t just some corporate 90s kid that was made as a counter to Mario. He’s an extremely fleshed out character with incredible potential. He’s kind, compassionate, strong willed, quick-witted, and above all someone who lives for his own sake.

Some Sonic quotes to leave you with:

“How can [sealing Chaos (who is currently destroying a city) in the Master Emerald] help? It won’t change how he feels inside, will it? His heart will still remain in turmoil, and his anger just won’t vanish! He’ll just be trapped forever!”

“Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run!”

“Shahra... Will you grant me one more wish? I wish for a mountain of handkerchiefs. Now. Just let yourself cry. As much as you need to.”

“Every world has its end, and I know that’s kinda sad, but that’s why we’ve gotta live life to the fullest in the time we have.”

Sage: “And the voice that commands you. What if it is leading you to disaster?”

Sonic: “If they want to start trouble, I’ll stop them, too.”

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

this technically didn’t follow any essay format, but whatever.

if i missed anything, feel free to scream it at me.

[reggiejworkshop]

"Ice Cream Truck"

While this particular vehicle isn't as popular and widely seen in many neighborhoods nowadays (even though I hear it's been making a small comback in a few areas)

It's been a key source of joy for several kids after school or during the summertime.

I still get memories whenever I think of these. hearing the trucks bright happy jingle, seeing my freinds and classmates rush out and line up to purchase their treats, picking which treat you wanted, and getting one of a popular cartoon character that ended up looking a like misshapen but tasty knockoff.

I've been using a new scanner for my traditional drawings as of lately since my older one isn't working.

While I feel it scans okay, the images are clear and high definition. However, they're a bit too saturated, and a lot of the more subtle shadows and midtones have been flattened out.

Even with making some editing adjustments afterward, I wasn't able to get it to look exactly like how it actually looks .

[poppyseedoncaffeine]

CH. 9

      I am shit at drawing but whatever. chapters just below this pic.

  A/N: I know our favorite blood hobo is dead but... you can't get mad at me cuz every fandom who has a dead character that they like get revived or never died in stories.

        To say Lunar was uncomfortable would be an understatement, perhaps a flat out lie. He had done as Earth had said, he left the room when Eclipse started to play, ate on the other end of the table, he tried to be civil! He really did! But... his mind wouldn't stop nagging him about it, how his EX brother held him in his vice like grip, even after he had left. Lunar was perched on the plastic house in the living room, eyes trained on the sleeping figure. Eclipse had let Lunar put the onsie on him, no problem.

        The hard bit was getting him back to sleep, Sun had always had a hard time getting the kids to sleep, he was never one to sit around and be quiet, always humming or mumbling under his breath. At first Sun and Moon had thought that Lunar would be the same, how wrong they were. It was almost like a flip of the light switch with how fast Lunar's domineer changed. 

        It hadn't mattered though Eclipse had seemed to forget about being sleepy and knew exactly what the Moondrop candies were for and had refused to take one. He hadn't wanted to eat or play or even watch cartoons. He just, didn't want to sleep. Two tried everything, stories, lullaby's, simply just waiting for him to work himself out, even threatening to get Moon. The threatening hadn't worked, but seeing Moon did. Eclipse had screamed, he had hid. It wasn't anything like how the children normally reacted to Moon, they had to fish him out from under the couch.

        Eclipse kicked and screamed, wailing about... bugs... apparently bugs were bad. Lunar fiddled with his fingers, Earth was right, Eclipse was just a kid. He had his own childish fears and worries. But bugs? Out of all things to be scared of, why bugs? Lunar sighed, he should probably go recharge. He jumped off the house and climbed the ladder, only looking back for a second before heading to the theater.

...

        The door to the daycare opened, "WHY CAN'T WE JUST KILL HIM NOW?!" Bloody whined, their feet dragging across the floor as they followed their brother, "Father said that he needs him alive and mostly intact" Harvest replied, actually keeping his voice down, "we can't take him for long, just need to remind him of his place" Harvest yawned, unlike his sibling he actually wasn't exited, children were loud, the job took more forethought than Harvest or his twin were capable of, and honestly he kinda liked this new Eclipse, he didn't talk as much. The two hit the teleport button, Bloodmoon groaned, they were quickly shushed by their brother. The two hovered over the sleeping child unaware of the figure behind them.

        "NAUGHTY CHILDREN~"

...

        Kill Code was not happy. His Twins trailed behind him, whispering not so quietly to one another, as Eclipse lay asleep in his arms. He cared for his twins, truly he did, they were just so stupid from time to time. Eclipse whimpered, tugging the Raccon closer to his chest, huh... when had he gotten a stuffed toy? He needed to throw it out at a later date. KC huffed, what stupid children he had.

        "Go down stairs, don't leave until I come to collect you" both twins dipped their heads and scampered down the stairs, pushing the other as they went. KC walked into the Lab, in the corner was a pile of flattened boxes and a blanket. KC set his charge down, well... more of dropped Eclipse onto the mat. Eclipse jolted awake, eyes locking onto his care taker. KC's smile grew at the frightened scream that left the boy.