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englishgiraffe · 4 years ago

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My Love For The Eighth Doctor Books

Disclaimer: This essay is awfully long, the structure is terrible, and it probably shouldn’t have been over 4000 words, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy my insight of the Eighth Doctor Books.

Introduction

Trying to create a character around a brand new Doctor is tricky and Paul McGann’s incarnation is perhaps the biggest example for this. After 1996, he never had a TV appearance to fully flesh out the Eighth Doctor and remember: Big Finish didn’t use the Eighth Doctor until 2001. So writers in 1997 had a difficult task, especially when the Virgin Books lost the rights to the DW IP and were back in the BBC’s rights. Some Virgin New Adventure writers like Kate Orman, Justin Richards, Paul Leonard had come to write for the EDA’s, but new talent had to come in as well. They all had to intricately look at like, what, 40 minutes of McGann’s screentime in the TV Movie, half of which was the Doctor trying to figure himself out from amnesia and the other half is him being thrust into the plot without any way to truly develop his character. So… yeah, I actually can’t blame the writers finding their feet, at least with the VNA’s developing the 7th Doctor, he had 12 stories. Also, trying to pick up from the massive popularity of the VNA’s, and oh my God, I feel so bad for the writers. But, there could be a slither of a chance, maybe the magic they could have brought from the VNA’s can be replicated again. So, did it work? Hell yeah, it did!... just not under the guise of Uncle Terry Dicks. Just…screw everything about The Eight Doctors, it’s the worst possible starting point. But after that blip, yeah, it’s my favourite era of the Doctor Who IP, bar none.

Exciting Ideas

I’ll start off listing the sci-fi elements first before getting into character work. Much like the VNA’s, perhaps even more so, the EDA’s are not afraid to bring bold, extravagant ideas that TV Who could never do, perhaps not even what Big Finish could do, because of the novel format that allows descriptions and characters to fully grow. The Books are able to describe how a planet looks, feels, sounds, even down to taste so effortlessly, and a part of it is how unique, so bizarre, so beautiful these planets are, so… intimate. Could Doctor Who ever do planets like Albert (a planet entirely made out of Grimm’s fairy tales), Hitchemus (a colony world thriving on music and inhabited by intelligent tigers), The Crooked World (much like the Land of Fiction, except all the inhabitants and settings are cartoon-based). Not even Big Finish pulls off such weird and surreal settings and that’s because of the prose style allowing time and dedication to flesh out the multiple planets, without feeling clunky in its description and dialogue, which could plague early BF stories at times. But it’s not just the variety in the settings that make it great, there are also fascinating new ways to tell these stories with different formats. Narratives can be told in a Pulp Fiction-esque, out of order style (The Last Resort), told backwards (Festival of Death), books where the Doctor is barely in it but his presence is booming (Sleep of Reason), books told from the first person POV (The Turing Test, Frontier Worlds, Banquo Legacy), a narrative told from a non-fiction documentary perspective (Adventuress of Henrietta Street), a narrative told in a essay format (History 101), and that’s only a handful of the formats. There’s multiple pastiches and parodies; Trading Futures does Doctor Who crossed with James Bond harder than the Pertwee era, The Tomorrow Windows replicates Douglas Adams’ style down to a T, The Crooked World is basically Doctor Who crossed with Hanna Barbara Cartoons and many more. God, everything is so unique and wacky in this book range.

The Tone and Theming

As for the Books’ tone, it’s certainly interesting. In the VNA’s, because a lot of new talent, and a lack of the BBC reigning things in as well as major inspiration from 90s cyberpunk media such as Judge Dredd, a lot of the books, especially in its first half, were extremely grimdark and gratuitous in order to show shock value for its audience (Timewryn Genesys had Ace sexually assaulted and The Doctor told her to just shrug it off and claim that it was part of the times they’re in and Warlock had unconsented bestiality and detailed animal murder). It was too far in my eyes, despite me saying that DW can be more than a franchise that is just whirling around in a magic police box. However, in the EDA’s, yes there is more sexual content, swearing like bastard, bitch and shit is still a thing, and there can be gory violence. But here’s where the EDA’s success at compared to VNA’s; it attempts to earn it’s adult elements. With the VNA’s, the grimdark nature was so constant to the point of normalisation, with hardly any degree of wonder or wit, especially from its regulars (thank God for Bernice Summerfield bringing some happiness at least). It does address and deconstruct the grimdark nature near the end, but God, even as a depressing cynical man, the likes of Blood Heat, Parasite, Warlock were just too dour for me to truly enjoy. But here, there is moderation and it feels contextual to the overall story. It enhances the story, not pollute it. The Spanish Civil War of 1936 (History 101) is written maturely and handles its mature themes in a thoughtful manner, Suicide and Depression is handled with sensitivity and intimacy (The Sleep of Reason), and when gratituous violence is used, it is detailed certainly but never glamorised and often times extremely terrifying instead of gore for the sake of gore (Eater of Wasps). Hell, even the most comical story, The Crooked World, has introspective themes of free will, the concept of death, existentialism and the value of a soul. But, it’s not all bleak, as said, The Crooked World is perhaps the most comical story since The Romans, anything involved with Iris Wildthyme as well as being weird abstract, is just laugh-out-loud hilarious, Jonathan Morris’ The Tomorrow Windows is pure Douglas Adams wacky humour, and Lance Parkin’s Trading Futures is majorly inspired by Roger Moore James Bond movies. The way the Books tackle true adult themes like Morality, Honour, Sexuality, Gender, Trauma, Redemption, the Philosophy of Nature and Identity, whilst being imaginative, humorous and endearing is… just poignant and beautiful.

The Regulars-Sam Jones

So… the regulars. Well, I’ll save the main two (The Eighth Doctor and Fitz) for last, because they will be the longest. So starting with Sam Jones (and yes, they do the ‘Smith and Jones’ shtick about a decade prior to Series 3), and off the bat, she’s easily the weakest EDA Companion and a bit of a inconsistency. She often suffered from writers who wanted to write her as the worst extremes of ‘Vegetarian Political Activist’, who constantly bitches and moans towards everything without any proper tact. And I don’t mind characters who don’t believe in tact, Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel is one of my favourite characters, but when Sam gives her opinions on everything in a pessimistic attitude without a degree of optimism… yeah my enthusiasm starts to drain really quickly. Doesn’t help that she’ll flip-flop between being a lovesick puppydog for 8, cynical activist or just… woman. But I will say that when she’s written under the likes of Kate Orman/Jonathan Blum, Paul Leonard and Paul Magrs, I absolutely love her character. She’s perceptive yet bright, naïve but willing to grow, cynical but willing to bring in entertainment. And I will say that her backstory is a fascinating deconstruction of the ‘Perfect Companion’ trope that Moffat loved to overemphasise. She had been manipulated, used as a pawn and twisted by the Doctor (although this is accidental) from the events of the TV Movie, and the real/correct one is just a junkie that couldn’t wait to stick a Heroin needle if it was given in front of her. It’s tragic, especially considering that when The Doctor fixes all his companions’ timeline much later down the line, Correct Sam becomes the correct version and it’s revealed that this version never travelled with the Doctor and died of an overdose, despite Fitz knowing her experiences they had together. I also love her exit story in Interference, she had become more enjoyable near the end and the story is able to show her resources. Unfortunately, the inconsistency up until Fitz joins just left me too much having a cold taste in my mouth for me to love her.

The Regulars-Compassion

Next up, the human-TARDIS hybrid and Ice Cold Queen, Compassion. This is a character that I definitely appreciated way more after a first reading. The first time, I thought Compassion was too cold and aloof but on a reread, while she’s never going to be high on my list for favourite companions and I find her the hardest to analyse, I find that she works great as a hard-edged character, her dynamic with The Doctor and Fitz remind me a lot of 2/Jamie/Zoe, only if Zoe was way more upfront about her intelligence and rudeness. Her dynamic with Fitz as well is interesting as at first, they clearly despise each other for their clashing personalities and find each other untrustworthy but overtime, Compassion learns to enjoy Fitz’s goofiness and even learns to apologise. She can be destructive and violent with no emotion put behind it. That said, she becomes a more interesting character once she becomes the first Human-TARDIS hybrid, with the Doctor and Fitz forced to rely on her, but because of her cold hubris and after The Doctor forces a Randomiser thus violating her body, Compassion can become terrifying to The Doctor and Fitz. She does get brilliant material in The Banquo Legacy as well, with her possessing one person and her personality conflicting with the possessed person’s. And she has a decent farewell as well. Overall, I enjoy Compassion, it’s just really hard to analyse her considering that she only has 12 stories with the combination of perhaps a too subtle character arc.

The Regulars- Anji Kapoor

Now onto Anji Kapoor. If it isn’t for another companion that I’ll mention later, then Anji is certainly a close second in my rankings of 8th Doctor companions. And I also say with high praise that the 8th Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor team is my definitive TARDIS team… ever. You wouldn’t get that impression with her first story, as she has the trappings of an RTD Companion that you can pretty much guess a mile off. Stale relationship, life is going nowhere, working class, dead end job, jeez, I heard it all with Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill. The fact that she works in the stock market, an occupation I swear 98% of the population can barely figure out, and I felt like I was never going to like Anji. But Dang… Dang!!! The biggest glow-up happens in her very next story, and it practically sticks until her exit. I always felt that companions inbetween that period of Leela (arguably Tegan) and Anji never really basked in the pure absurdity of what world they were travelling in and never really gave any thought. The combination of new experiences around the universe and her haunting memories of her dead boyfriend was a lot to take in for her, to the point that she never really moved on (in Earthworld, she keeps writing emails to Dave, despite him being dead, and in Hope, she gives the secrets of the TARDIS over to the inhabitants on the exchange that they clone her boyfriend). She fell from grace multiple times, but with the Doctor and Fitz’s help, she was able to pick herself back up before spiralling down. What I love about Anji is despite her caring for The Doctor, she’s very distrustful to him because of his calculating and alien nature and both conflict with each other, their arguments almost feel too real. Anji often considers the options and is usually independent with her financial skills and intelligence. Over the 25 Books she’s in, she has become consistently enjoyable and a delight to read. Witty, clever, full of instinct, and humane, I did feel a proper sense of loss when she left.

The Regulars- Trix Macmillan

On the last companion, Trix Macmillan. She’s probably have the least amount of books in comparison to other EDA Companions (Sam had 25, Fitz had 51, Compassion has 12 and Anji had 25), with her only having 9 Books. Certainly not a lot of time to flesh out her character in comparison, but somehow the writers did it. What I love about Trix and what makes her a stark contrast to the first EDA Companion, Sam, is that Trix doesn’t want to be popular or well-liked. She’s logical, calculating, often devious, and often pretty tactless. She’s the kind of person who would steal a dead person’s identity and money. She treats The Doctor and Fitz not as friends, only acquaintances. But not just that, she can be (intentionally) a walking contradiction. Much like a showbiz actress, depending on what environment, time and crowd she’s working with, she’ll immediately change her personality. To the point that Trix doesn’t even know her true personality, and she is scared that she wants to know what she used to be. She likes being anyone but herself, wanting to become inconspicuous around the Doctor. Her relationship with the Doctor is interesting as well, he is judgemental towards her hobby as a conwoman, believing that she’s only with him and Fitz because she’ll steal whatever she can get. But as time goes on, he learns about her contradictory personality (most likely relates because of his own contradictory personality), and sees her, the real her. And despite her trying to detach herself from The Doctor, she slowly, but surely, opens herself more to The Doctor and Fitz, to the point that she feels hurt when The Doctor accuses her. Even with the short runtime, I found her relationship with Fitz to be really touching, and shows that Fitz’s open loyalty works in tandem with Trix’s cold secrecy. We don’t get much information about her past, but in a way I enjoy the lack of answers, whether she’s just a conartist or perhaps a chameleonic alien, what her relationship was like with her father. And maybe that’s the point, with her shape-shifting and unpredictable personality, she’s meant to be an enigma. At the very least, with 9 books, she had become a fascinating character that was wonderful to read and analyse.

The Regulars-Fitzgerald Kreiner

Now, my favourite companion in all of Doctor Who media, Fitz Kreiner. Better than the likes of Jamie, Donna, Sarah Jane, Ace and Evelyn. Before with Sam and The Doctor, the books were of varying quality, but as soon as he was introduced, even with a bit of a terrible debut story, he brought such humour that made the story just about bearable. He’s a bit of a goofball with some addiction for cigarettes and alcohol, but he starts becoming one of the most complex and special characters in the franchise. He begins as a bit of a James Bond-esque ‘Lady’s Man’, often trying to flirt and womanise, but by his third Book, Revolution Man, the development truly begins. He gets kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed under the influence of alien drugs and forced into shooting a man, with the Doctor forced to finish the job off for Fitz. He’s obviously going to have lasting effects that will damage him in the long run. But Damn, it doesn’t stop there, Interference leaves him in the absolute gutter with him being trapped in a membrane for 600 years, and resents the Doctor for failing to rescue him, and joins up to 8’s longlives enemy, Faction Paradox, and is converted to be a monster, becoming Father Kreiner. And it’s tragic, given his PTSD shown from Revolution Man. But that Fitz is gone, and what stays with the Doctor until the end is a clone of him, with full memories and everything. So thankfully, the loveable oaf never truly went away and only gets better from here. Much like how the 2nd Doctor was perfect for Jamie, or how Ian and Barbara are integral for the 1st Doctor, Fitz is ideal for 8. During the period with Compassion, he wants to prove that he’s the real Fitz, but can’t, because he isn’t. He may have the OG Fitz’s memories, but he can’t dream and thinks that some memories are missing. Even some aspects of his personality are different, like his skills of hiding and blending in easier. He may be a doofus, and hard to catch on certain things, but much like Jamie, he’s street-smart, and is able to spot simple situations that The Doctor wouldn’t give a second notice because of his desire for over-complicated situations. Even with him not being as bright, he’s able to hold off on his own from the Doctor, as in Trading Futures, he’s able to defeat Time Lord-wannabe Space Rhinos (no, not those kind of Space Rhinos) on his own without any of the Doctor’s help or knowledge by impersonating the Doctor, even willing to sacrifice himself. He’s the flame behind the EDA’s for me, the one who is willing to sacrifice everything he has to save whoever he considers family, and the bond that the Doctor and Fitz have together is inspired. He is fiercely loyal to the Doctor, even when he is kept in the dark. They both have a connection towards each other, like a mix between 2/Jamie and early 8/Charley, with Fitz even willing to hold the heavy memories of what 8 did to Gallifrey, even when The Doctor threatens to break every bone in Fitz’s body. He was the best friend that 8 could ever have, I loved their kindred relationship and it was totally worth it having Fitz for 51 Books to become such a developed character. My favourite companion, bar none.

The Regulars-The Eighth Doctor

And now, finally the Eighth Doctor. Before, I used to cite the Eighth Doctor from Big Finish as the definitive incarnation. And don’t get me wrong, I still love him in the Charley, Lucie and even the Doom Coalition era. He has brilliant gravitas in showing intelligence (arguably the most intelligence since the 4th Doctor), dry morbid humour, the right amount of patronising, and enthusiasm, often excelled by McGann’s excellent performance and Shakespearean voice. But, as time goes on, the era becomes more… how do I say… schizophrenic and uneven. Big Finish sort of starts off creating arcs for 8, but then… sort of wander off and never pick up on arcs they’ve created, like the 800 year maroon in Orbis, the angst in Dark Eyes, then finally culminating with Moffat’s Night of the Doctor, not picking up on his hatred for the Daleks after Lucie Miller’s death, and making him too naïve to the Time War, making it as if his journey from BF didn’t even matter.

Then came my experiences with the books. And discarding the first novel, The Eight Doctors, and jumping straight to Vampire Science, Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman immediately gave 8 more nuance than 75% of 8th Doctor material in BF. I should preface by saying this as well: despite my grievances from the Virgin New Adventures, I still think that the character of 7, Time’s Champion and its character work are still crucial to the EDA’s and how it conflicts/supplements 8’s character. 8 is no longer Death’s pet, stuck to the chains of fate, but much like 7, in the eyes of others, he is simultaneously whimsical, dangerous and manipulative, albeit more flawed than 7. When 7 manipulates, it’s more out of logic, thinking about the bigger scope, while with 8, it’s out of passion and love. He often uses his good looks and often childlike grin as a front to scheme, as evidenced in Genocide. But unlike the 7th Doctor, it’s never constant to the point of predictability, and sometimes, even his manipulation messes up due to his conflict with his passion and childlike personality. I’d argue that 8 is the most anti-hero incarnation of all the Doctors, even more than the 7th Doctor, often obliviously selfish, privileged and at times very toxic and callous. He often doesn’t let other people in on his schemes (him faking his own death to his companions in The Banquo Legacy), often clings onto people out of fear of losing them (Sam in Interference), pulls strings for his selfish needs (uses Alan Turing’s sexuality as blackmail to make Turing help him help aliens but on the basis that the Doctor just escapes Earth in The Turing Test), puts others on the brink of death (orders a possessed wasp-human hybrid to kill one of his closest patients to test if his true personality is still there in Eater of Wasps), often be cold-blooded and violent (throws a medic against the wall head-first and then stuffs him in a cupboard in Vanishing Point). In the second half of the Book range, he had lost his memory from his battle and destruction/erasure of Gallifrey, but here’s why this memory erasure works as opposed to other ones, like in Big Finish. For Big Finish 90% of the time it’s used, it’s often to create false tension. At times, it’s fine, but when it’s used constantly to pad out the runtime, my enthusiasm starts to wane out quickly. But Justin Richards as Book Script Editor brings something interesting. For the first time, the Doctor isn’t bitching about where his memory is, but rather, he’s a mirrored version of the 1st Doctor (my second favourite incarnation): full of rage, irritative, deceptive, arrogant and willing to fill his hands full of blood. The difference is there is no Ian or Barbara to hold him back, to make him grow, 8 must be the one to grow and develop himself, he has to make the work into becoming The Doctor. That’s another reason why I adore the 8/Fitz/Anji team so much; they are all broken, damaged people with flaws, and call each other out. But they are also a trio of friendship, love, can bring unity towards each other and most importantly, feel like a family, in fact probably the most family-like team since arguably 2/Jamie/Victoria or even since 1/Ian/Barbara/Vicki. 8/Fitz/Anji have truly descended into tough times (Fitz especially), but this team shows that you can pull yourself back from the depths of hell when you have the right support going for you.

Writers like Lance Parkin, Paul Leonard, Lloyd Rose, Kate Orman, Steve Lyons, Mags L Halliday, Martin Day, Lawrence Miles live and breathe the 8th Doctor, a true Bryon Romantic, poetic and literal with words. He’s a diplomat, rather than a conqueror. He may be brutal, manipulative, and cold-blooded, but it’s equally mirrored with empathy, mischievous humour akin to the 2nd Doctor, and a lust for the unpredictability of humanity. Yet unlike how Modern Big Finish and Moffat’s Night of the Doctor made 8 into an ineffectual pacifist buffoon, Book 8 is certainly an optimist, but he’s also a realist. In Reckless Engineering, he was given the choice between saving the correct timeline in the universe but at the cost of his friends or let the universe collapse… he actually chooses the universe. It’s a shocking moment (especially for Fitz, considering how long he’s been with the Doctor), but even he knows that, but has a responsibility to save the right reality. And with some introspection, nearing the end, he realises that, because there’s a gorgeous insight in The Sleep of Reason, about focusing too much on the bigger picture and the few things is equally as important. To see 8’s goals come to fruition, he brings it to himself that his mission of helping even just one individual can be seen as the greatest thing in the universe. He doesn’t want to remember the events of Gallifrey near the end because at the end of the day, he’s a man who strives for the present and future, not the past. He may not be a good person, he may not be right sometimes, and he may not have a happily ever after with destroying Evil for good, but he’ll still keep going on just to make a difference. That’s why I adore the ambiguous ending to The Gallifrey Chronicles, we never get a confirmation as to whether the Doctor survives his plan against the Vore, we never get what his plan is supposed to be and whatever happens after the battle (besides a song from Fitz closing off the book). I prefer Doctor Who to have an ambiguous non-conclusive ending than what Marc Platt did for Lungbarrow or Colin Meek for Death Comes to Time. This version of Eight has now become the definitive incarnation of The Doctor for me, I adore this character so much.

Conclusion

To me, The Eighth Doctor Books, especially in the second half, truly encapsulates everything that I love about the franchise: superb prose, introspective themes, emotional moments, pushing the boundaries of what Doctor Who could truly do but never accomplish. The writers made something special, and made the range one of the most suspenseful, sombre, intimate, and beautiful pieces of fiction I’ve ever experienced. I love them, and to me, they are my Doctor Who.

#eighth doctor #edas #doctor who #fitz kreiner #anji kapoor #sam jones #trix #wildnerness years

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popculturebuffet · 5 years ago

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Jake Reviews Stuff: Star Vs: Friendenemies

Happy pride all. I’m getting ahead of this one for a number of reasons: 1) It’s pride month and this episode is one of the most shiptastic things i’ve seen with two male characters since Robochris from bravest warriors. I mean it dosen’t quite reach “Creating a skull robot of your best friend because he won’t touch you a lot to make him jealous enough to do that” levels of romantic tension but it tries.

2) My good friend @jess-the-vampire is a tomco shipper, and with things being rough for her I figure she could use this sooner rather than later. 3) Shows are actually coming back with Amphibia emerging from it’s year long odinsleep the same week Close Enough finally escapes from it’s dumpster after 10,000 years to conquer earth before it gets put back in there then escapes again and marries lord zedd.. I lost the metaphor the point is I want to keep Tom train, and other star arcs I have planned, moving at a steady clip.

So with all of that yeah, i’m ready to go. No real exposition to dump again, come on let’s go after the cut!

We open with Marco at his laptop nervous about something and Star coming into his room tangled in christmas lights... so normal day at Casa Diaz. Anyways Marco can’t help star out of her latest self made prison because he’s preording tickets to a Mackie Hand Film Festival. Mackie Hand is Marco’s faviorite martial artist and movie star, who died performing a stunt on himself.. accidentally.. did he give himself a death punch? Is this the same universe as regular show.. please say yes. Anyway as is natural for Marco in the first two seasons as god apparently hates him, the tickets sell out instantly and he dosen’t get them, banging his head against his laptop as Star TRIES to comfort him , saying he might still be able to get them. Marco also says “Good things don’t happen to me”

I mean just look at Season 3. Anyways tom comes in licking a rainbow snowcone for no explained reason other than they wanted to make it obvious this was the Tomco episode. Tom asks to hang out and after Star, understandably at this point given you know, the horrible date where he tried to murder her best friend and the gaslighting a few weeks back, tells him a million times no, Tom explains he’s not here for her.. he’s here for Marco. Marco, given tom’s threatned to kill him twice now and tried to at least once, isn’t biting. Tom naturally has tickets to the festival as a trump card, and assumes that time he kidnapped marco and played him in ping pong for his freedom counts as a friend hang out, and geuinely apologizes for his behavior promising not to get angry. Really while as you probalby know we DO get the reveal later he was partly doing this whole thing to finish his anger managment... I do get the sense this apology, and a lot of this is GENUINE. We’ll get more into the why in a bit, but he does seem to genuinely want to bury the hatchet. Marco pulls star aside and, given the last two times he saw Tom, the boy had some horrible scheme up his ripped sleeves, he understandably, and as it turns out correctly, thinks Tom is once again up to some sort of scheme, star is fully on board. I have. mixed feelings about this. On the one hand STar did forgive tom for the previous episodes mess and Ponyhead for much worse and it does set up the tiny plot curnel of corn that would grow into an entire corn field of her still having some friendly feelings toward tom. But it just feels weird, even with how cahotic star can be to have her flip flop from “Stop calling me” To “You should totlaly go on a date with the guy who harassed me and tried to kill you twice now. “. Especially since next time she has an episode with Tom, She’s fully resentful of him and a bit snarky and spends and episode, in part thanks to aformentioned magical severed ponyhead, suspicious of him playing games with her head again. We’ll get there soon obviously, i’m just saying it feels mildly off.

So Marco decides, much like bart simpson that getting where he’s going’s worth it even if he has to ride with the devil himself and reluctantly agrees. We see the inside of Tom’s carriage for the first time, and see my good personal friend dead horse again on the outside, and it’s really nice.. lit by torches because mood lighting, but similar to his room it’s plushly decorated and even has two serious speakers and according to Tom 6 flatscreens. Damn I wish I had one of those.. that and I wouldn’t have to drive since I can’t due to my anxiety. Plus who wouldn’t want a firey horse skelton sidekick? Anyways Tom offers Marco cold cereal and Marco is frank with tom, pointing out he’s suddenly being nice to Marco after never being nice to him before and understandably isn’t sure he’s even a mackie hand fan but a bit of banter and trivia shows Marco that no, Tom really seems to be telling the truth. Tom then confides in marco that he gets why Marco didn’t belivie him: Most people dont’ get past their preconcived perceptions of him. And here the series does flesh tom out a bit: Tom admits to not having many friends.. which frames the previous two episodes in a diffrent light. Sure his actions to Star are still very much not okay... but you at least see WHY he was so obessive about her: She was probably the first real friend he had that wasn’t a casual aquantince, his own family member, or a pet. Most Mewman kids his age probably weren’t too keen to hang out with what to them was a monster, rich or not, little raicst shits. And in the underworld most people probably just did whatever he asked because they were afraid of his temper or his parents fury, even if his parents are the nicest people in the underworld. So when he lost her, Tom didn’t know how to properly react and while his first attempt to win star back was genuine, it was marred by his refusal to adress his anger or control issues that likely lead to Star dumping him in the first place. While Star’s forgivness HERE is a bit werid, her willingness to give him another shot wasn’t: Tom was SEEMINGLY genuinely trying. He was in therapy, he’d been anger free for several days and most glowingly, when a stranger karate chopped his hand off in a misguided attempt to protect star.. he got upset but instnatlly went into his coping mechanisms. The problem was as I covered in that review.. Tom didn’t WANT to change. That’s the thing about changing: you need to both know there is a problem and WANT to fix it. And even then, as we’ll see sometimes i’ts hard. I know, i’ve had my own personal issues i’ve had to change up as years went on. It’s a slippery slope you have to constnatly climb up. And BMB era tom.. just didn’t WANT to change he just wanted to do what he thought star wanted that would get her to take him back, and couldn’t understnad why she wouldn’t just listen to him and obey, two things not in star’s vocabulary for anyone much less her ex.

So , much like I did, rather than blame himself for screwing things up, he just saw it as Marco being in the way and tried to fix that. And so he sunk to rock bottom.. but it didn’t fix their relationship and it took Marco having an honest conversation, as someone who was also very close to her and knew her well, to get him to see that Star wasn’t going to take him back unless she wanted it.. what he was doing was selfish and self destructive.. and Tom probably realized in that moment he had to stop. He let her go, and thus as I put al ot of emphasis on last time, made his first step to being better. And to me that’s why this makes sense as his next step: While it’s partly to fufill a checklist... you get the sense he really DOES like marco on some level. They hung out, which I do feel tom did genuinely feel was like friends hanging out instead of you know the second highest stakes game of ping pong i’ve ever seen.

The first if your curious. So while part of this is Tom just wanting to get through anger managment for likely his parent’s sake, part of it is also him genuinely wanting to be somebody’s buddy, anybody but a bumbling butler. It’s just being Tom, he dosen’t know HOW to make friends or get them to see past who he is surface wise; a spoiled angry boy and see the inside, a nice kid who just has no idea how to talk to people beyond a surface level or understand them and we’ll see that more both in this episode and as we go. Speaking of going back in the episode proper, two bros drive up and insult Tom’s carriage also wondering if he’s going to his grandpa’s funeral. Fuck you both.. both on general principal and becaause his grandpapapapapapaaaaaaaaaaaa is alive and magnificent.

Satan bless you Relicor. Anyways, Tom is naturally pissed at this and Marco challenges them to a race.. but eases tom off actually following them as, since this isn’t a fast and the furious movie, the police immidelty arest them and we get the blessed image above. Let’s see that again.

NOGODWHY

Not right but it’ll have to do I fear what may happen if I try again. ONE BALLON DICK GIRAFFE LATER, our boys are on a high, as Tom finds there are things more fun than obletarating people. #tomhaskilledmultiplepeopleandisstillthebestboy. Marco is reminded of a song from his faviorite band Love Sentence, and Tom, suprisingy given his My Chemical Romance with a splash of metal astetic, is not only a huge fan but has a giant Helga Patiaki esque shrine to them complete with a cd player with shuffle. Fancy.

We then get a wonderful, shiptastic montage of the two just hanging out, hanging out with a white tiger. Having themselves a party. And given the song itself, sung by 98 Degrees and horrible realtiy show Newleywed’s alumnus Nick Lachey, even says “we used to be enimies but now we have chemistry” yeah I think this is intentional and they are a good ship. Are they my prefered ships for the characters? No tha’ts kelly and flame princess... the last one was recent and I love a good crossover ship sue me. But I do headcanon both as still Bi and still find the ship great, it’s just not my main one.

However the good times can’t last as it is film time... but Tom refuses to let marco leave befor eblowing his top off... dude that’s not how you build a suppportive relationship, you know this by now. Turns out the white tiger I haven’t mentioned to now is actually Brian, vocied my boy Stephen Root who apparently just.. lives at DIsney’s animation studios now as he has a tendency to show up in every other animated disney show. You may know him from Gravity Falls as Bud Gleeful, THe Mayor from Amphibia, or , in non disney voice work, Bill Dautrive. Turns out as I haven’t even tried to hide, Tom was in the final stage of his anger managment class and to get out of it had had to spend 3 hours with the person he hated most. As I said I do think part of it was GENUINE on tom’s part, that he was trying to be what he thought friends were... it’s just he didn’t get that Marco, if grumblinignly, probably STILL would’ve agreed if he were honest. However.. it’s still a step up. While i’ts still a scheme, and his LAST on the show.. it’s more benign after the last two; Instead of being harmful his scheme this time is just “Bribe my worst enemy into hanging out with me and get out of anger managment” it’s still not quite right, but compared to the things he’s done with star, it’s an improvment and a sign he is changing despite himself. He could’ve just kidnapped marco again and forced him to spend the three hours.. granted this might’ve just been Brian saying, obviously no tha tdosen’t count, but still, instead he tried being nice and giving an apology. Even if it was for personal gain on some level, Marco’s words clearly got to him and he’s now trying genuinely unselfish tactics. It’s also notable since he spent the three hours with marco, and at least half an hour of awkarndess before it got all fun, WITHOUT getting angry or falling back on old stratgies and only beefing it at the end because, as i’ve established, he dosen’t get people. So naturally tom gets mad.. while it is a sign he’s getting better he dosen’t do his trademark horrifying demonic EXPLOSION of rage... he’s still being petulant and sore over his failure is mad at marco for pritoritzing the tickets nad destroys them. Marco naturally calls him out, angry over him manipulating him to get some badge , as he puts it, calls him a jerk and a liar, accurate and the worst part to marco? “I WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO FALL FOR IT”

Credit where it’s due while I may not LIKE adam mcarthur as a person...as a voice actor he is excellent and his delivery here is perfect as you do get the pain in Marco’s voice as he genuinely ahd grown to care for tom. Wethere it was friendship or wanting to make out... probably wanting to make out, you get the pain in his voice. Tom admits the love sentence hting wasn’t a lie.. but too little too late.. whcih is marco’s second faviorite love sentence song and leads to another moment of shippy goodness. Seriously I see why this ship exploded in popularity after this. Also I will say both Adam and Rider have damn pretty voices. So Tom does what any romantic lead faced with a third act breakup would do.. say a demonic chant and bring Mackie Hand back from the dead. This is also the first time we see just how fucking powerful tom is. Before we’ve seen him summon his carriage and immolate some stuff and easily reattach a hand.. but this is the first time that we see he’s every pit as powerful as star, who probably could raise the dead she just dosen’t want to. Granted I don’t know why this sort of undead stuff hasn’t been used on say, Moons assitnated mother, but presumibly anti-monster stigma combined with the fact that we don’t know HOW she died or how much was left, and are probably better off that way solve that. It goes a long way to explain why Tom’s family are allies instead of the conquered like most monsters: They have equal , if far diffrent and spookier, magic power and are the only kingdom with this trump card besides the butterfly kingdom.

So as we close Marco tries to use Mackie to get in, the usher dosen’t buy it and a fight insues, but Marco and Tom patch things up, Tom becoming a fan of Mackie now he’s seen what the guy can do and Marco forgiving tom since, evne if his actions were still a bit greasy, he immidetly did his best to try and fix what he broke. The two are friends again despite them both saying they hate each other... but they clearly mean it playfully. The End. Final Thoughts: After the Slog that was last episode this one is a fan faviorite for a reason... well okay 2 reasons. One...

youtube

And two.. it’s excellent. I feel bad it took me years to see this one, but it’s one of season 2′s finest. It’s funny, has great character stuff for both boys, introduces a new ship that’s fantastic and a great new dynamic between Tom and Marco that would carry for the rest of the show. It also beliviebly advances Tom’s character arc: He’s TRYING a bit but he’s still got a bit of the scheming and selfishness that defined his earlier outings, but it’s telling that after this episode, and hurting marco, he stops. This episode REALLY gets him to change that and for the better. Sadly Tom would only make one more apperance this season in Naysaya, an episode I will cover when I cover Jackie and Marco at some point, but has him show up for a cameo when it turns out the episodes antagonist, a curse that takes the form of a sentient head that spills the target’s worst secrets and insecurities when they try to ask someone they like out, is Tom’s fault from back when he was a baddie, and Tom genuinely apologizes and tells him how to vanquish it, if ribs marco a bit since he cast that curse presumibly sometime between BMB and MCC and is delighed and suprised that Marco seriously hadn’t asked anyone out in that time. But it’s a nice bit that shows their not only still friends but Tom is genuinely sorry for some of his earlier behavior. We’ll see more of that as we go and more of tom trying to be better.. he’s made up with Marco, next time we come back to tomtrospective, we’ll see how it goes with Star.

Coming up besides the obvious, as Pride Winds down I’ll have my first steven unvierse coverage, one of the first openly gay couples in western animation, and some asexula pride as we take our first look at Bojack Horseman..’s loveable rommate todd. Until we meet again, stay safe, black lives matter and later days.

#star vs the forces of evil #tomco #marco diaz #tom lucitor #tomtrospective #freindenmies #brian #star butterfly #98 degrees #newlyweeds #love sentence #mackie hand #martial arts #pride month #lbgtq+

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arecomicsevengood · 6 years ago

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A YEAR OF READING ACKNOWLEDGED MASTERPIECES #3: E.C. SEGAR’S POPEYE

So, while the original idea behind this series was for me to read an acclaimed comic I expect I’ll like but had not yet actually read, or to read something I’d read a little of but not its entirety, covering E.C. Segar’s Popeye is something of a cheat. When Fantagraphics began their reprint series, a roommate had the first volume, of what would eventually be six, and I read that; I later ordered my own copy of volume 3, and I own a copy of The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics, which reprints the “Plunder Island” series of Sunday strips covered in volume 4. I enjoyed all of it, but didn’t feel a pressing need to acquire more, and now Volumes 4 and 5 are out of print and command high prices on the secondary market. This motivated me to get a copy of the still-available volume 6, which might seem less appealing because it’s the last stuff Segar did before he died, and health issues led there to be periods of time where the strip was entrusted to his assistants, in sequences not included.

The editors say those strips aren’t good, I’ll take their word for it. Other people have tried to sell other Popeye product, and I’m sure some of it is quite good: There are some people who take pains to point out that the Segar comic strips are not similar to the Fleischer brothers cartoons, but I’m sure those cartoons are good fun, I generally like the stuff that studio produced. I have seen the 1980 Robert Altman movie, starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall, with a screenplay by Jules Feiffer and songs by Harry Nilsson, which is a notorious flop, but with some admirers: Still, it’s a slog, which the comic strip never is. IDW’s comic strip reprint line put out books collection the late eighties/early nineties run of former underground cartoonist Bobby London, what I’ve read of that stuff (just previews online) is unfunny garbage. I think they also were behind reprints of comic books by Bud Sagendorf, and a revival written by Roger Langridge, neither of which I’ve read, though Langridge’s work is always ok; good enough for me to think it’s good, not compelling or transcendent enough for me to spend money on it. It’s all work done by those who have rights to the license, which makes me view it as essentially merchandise, like a pinball game or something. The Segar stuff is where it all comes from.

While other masterpieces of the first half of the twentieth century comics page, like George Herriman’s Krazy Kat or Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo are definitely acquired tastes, Popeye was not only popular enough to make its creator a rich man back in the day, it remains functional as populist entertainment today. I feel pretty “what’s not to like?” about it, and would recommend it to whoever. It’s funny, the characters are good, there’s adventures. The humor is three quarters sitcom style character work and one quarter the sort of silliness that verges on absurdism.

This light touch separates it from the first half of the twentieth century’s “adventure strips” that didn’t age as well, despite having well-done art that would influence generations of superhero artists. Segar’s art isn’t particularly impressive, but every strip tells a joke or two, and even if you don’t laugh at every joke, you’ll appreciate its readability, especially if you’ve ever tried to read a Roy Crane comic, or even Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy. I don’t want to praise E.C. Segar by merely listing works his comics read better than, but it really is notable how many people today are basically trying to do what he did, but are failing at least in part due to not understanding that’s what they’re trying to do. If you want to do a comedic adventure story that becomes popular enough for you to be financially successful, it might be worth reading a volume of Popeye and observing its rhythms. When I was reviewing Perdy a few weeks ago, I was thinking “This basically just wants to be a R-rated Popeye.” I recently found 3/4 of the issues of the Troy Nixey-drawn comic Vinegar Teeth for a quarter each; despite that comic’s high-concept pitch involving Lovecraftian monsters, it would probably have been better if it thought of itself as being a descendant of Popeye, rather than something that could be adapted into a movie. I’ll just phrase it in the format of a popular Twitter meme: Some of you have never read Popeye, and it shows.

Lesson number one, which just sort of emerges naturally from the format of the daily strip, is you’ve got to make jokes, and they can’t just be the same one, over and over again. To that end, you need a cast of characters, who each have their own bit, and who play off each other in various ways. It is easy to see why people don’t do this: Large ensembles grow organically, and most people start telling a story with either a central character or something precisely in mind they want to chronicle. The comic strip, with its long runs originating from a practitioner’s ability to tell a joke, can be a bit freer to stumble onto something that works, without even necessarily having a title character to return to. The collections might be named after Popeye, but the comic strip being collected in these books was called Thimble Theater, which ran for a decade before Popeye showed up and circulation sky-rocketed. For a while, I think the consensus on the early stuff was it was pretty boring and hard to read before Popeye came in and livened the whole thing up, but recently there was a reprint of this earlier material, and I know the dude who reviewed it for The Comics Journal liked it, though I’m sure it’s easy to find someone at The Comics Journal who will like an old comic strip even if it’s bad. Either way, modern cartoonists don’t have Segar’s luxury, or having their work run for a half-disinterested audience until something clicks so much word spreads.

The gag-a-day pace, built around getting into new situations and adventures, itself creates a pressure to be inventive today’s graphic novelists can’t really match. After Popeye is established as a good character, prone to getting into scrapes, Segar can show us the comedy of him caring for a baby. He can also introduce Popeye’s dad, Poopdeck Pappy, that this character looks basically exactly like Popeye but is a piece of shit is a funny idea that would not occur in the early days of planning a project.

One reason why you wouldn’t necessarily do such a design choice is because, if you’re thinking of different media as a way to success, having characters with the exact same silhouette runs counter to the generally accepted rules of animation. Thimble Theatre, as per its name, is based on theater staging, rather than the more expressionist angles of film: We’re looking at characters from the side, usually seeing whoever’s talking in the same panel unless one of them is out of the room. These characters tend to have the same height, basically. Someone once said that looking at Popeye, printed six strips to a page, is kind of like looking at a page of sheet music. It’s not a particularly visually dynamic strip, the amount of black and white on a page is close to unvarying.

This is why I don’t believe in prescriptivism, or a suggestion of rules: I’m pretty sure that Popeye works because it’s not working super-hard to be visually interesting. This would be the number two lesson of what there is to learn from Popeye. I think this transparency in style is what allows this comedy/adventure hybrid to work, though I know others would blanch at this. It’s going for a big audience, and while I think this visual approach serves that end, I know why others, especially those who’ve been struck by later superhero comics or manga, would see visual excitement as the best way to achieve that goal. The audience that read newspaper comics wasn’t necessarily adept at following visual storytelling, and the sort of relationship that newspaper strips could have with a wider readership is not going to be achievable now. The folks that ride for Segar these days are mostly alt-comics people, like Sammy Harkham or Kevin Huizenga, who aren’t attempting the sort of popular entertainment extravaganzas he trafficked in.

Reading Popeye feels like reading, basically, which is a nice, contemplative experience, that not all comics can capture. I read a few pages of it before bed. Obviously, this pace is not how people consumed it in its heyday, but the pace people took it in at, a strip a day, is even more deliberate and steady, and I think, was crucial to its popularity. For a comic to be popular, it has to have characters that are interesting, obviously; there is probably no better way for an audience to build a relationship with fictional characters than over extended periods of time. This speed corresponds to the pace it was created at, one that now seems insanely luxurious to anyone whose workflow is dictated by the internet’s demand for content. It’s a total crowdpleaser, but it existed at a time where crowds could slowly gather. Popeye’s a popular entertainment from an era of reading, listening to the radio, going to plays or movies. It holds up, owing to a basic pleasantness we can understand as low stakes, and that’s helped along by the restraint of the art. It’s telling a story. It’s not a farce, crowded with visual jokes, and it’s not dictated by characters’ emoting either. I love a visually expressive art style, but here it’s important that the visuals remain “on-model,” reinforcing the stability of the characterizations. This sort of thing is also evident in Chris Onstad’s Achewood, which I would argue is the preeminent 21st century character-driven comic strip, with an audience that feels relatively “wide” rather than pointedly “niche.”

Lesson number three to how to make a popular comic is the thought I find myself thinking all the time, which is “Everyone needs to chill out.” The number one impediment to making entertainment that just quietly works is the desire to stand out and make a name for yourself as quickly as possible. This is similar to how the number one impediment to a peaceful and contented life is the demands of a failing capitalism where we are all competing for a shrinking pile of resources. To read these books now is a luxury, an indulgence, and while I don’t much go in for those, reading older comic strips carries with it this sort of nostalgic appeal for an era where it didn’t feel like everything was screaming at you for your attention all the time. As broad as Popeye is, it now possesses a certain dignity, owing to this dislocation in time from its origin. I don’t know if this felt like a feature at the time. I do think that if you are an artist that wants to be successful now, you should do what you can for the sort of circumstances that allow for genuine, long-lasting success to build, which involves a certain degree of permission to fail. Mainstream comics companies, with their mentality of “we’re going to print hundreds of comics a month, in hopes some find a niche large enough to be briefly profitable we can then try to milk for their last dollar and they quickly become exhausted,” act against this. As in a garden, there needs to be space for things to take root and grow.

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theginia · 7 years ago

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for the fluffy ignis prompts how about brotherhood era ignis working himself into the ground basically (i imagine he's v hypocritical about self care) and any or all of the bro (your choice) taking care of him. idk after the trailer i really want someone to take care of ignis but in a low stakes environment ya feel?

Thedigital numbers on Ignis’s alarm clock flick to 5:00am and on cue incessantbeeping shatters the silence of his small apartment.

Witha jolt the eighteen-year-old Chamberlain sits up in bed, a hand coming downautomatically to flick the silence button on the alarm. He sighs, shoulders slumping beneath thesuffocating weight of expectation and duty.

Mechanicallyhe pushes himself out of the bed he’d only collapsed into a mere three hoursago. The reports that he spent half the night compiling and summarizing areneatly stacked upon his desk, though, and the sight of them fills him withmingled pride and exasperation. Pride at his ability to consolidate a mountainof needlessly verbose documents into a sleek and streamlined packet that fitseasily into a small folder. Exasperation at the knowledge that there is a roughly3% chance that Noctis will do anything more than glance at the documents hecarefully prepared, shuffle some of the pages so that it looks like he wentthrough them properly, and then abandon them on the coffee table to be buriedbeneath a mountain of candy wrappers and comics.

Heremembers being told that he is to be the pillar that will support Noctis wherehe is weakest. Lately it feels like Noctis is weak in every aspect of hisduties, and Ignis is being ground down into a fine powder beneath the weight ofNoctis’s demands.

Sighinghe pads into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and fix himself a bowl ofcereal. Moping will serve no purpose other than to take up more of his valuabletime and he cannot afford that. He’s barely scraping together a few hours atthe end of a workday to sleep as it is, and he’s lucky to steal a few minutesbetween appointments to inhale a protein bar or down a mug of coffee. He needsto run his day like a well-oiled machine if he has any hope of performing hisduties to the standards expected of House Scientia. Not working himself intothe ground is a distant secondary consideration as well.

Theday begins like so many others. He readies himself quickly, slipping into aneatly pressed suit, grabbing his briefcase and a thermos of coffee on his wayout the door. He has to stop at tailor’s to retrieve a new uniform jacket forthe Prince, since he noticed that His Highness is showing far too much wrist atthe cuffs. Then it’s off to the Prince’s apartment to prepare a far moresubstantial breakfast than his own and clean up whatever mess thesixteen-year-old managed to make since Ignis left last night before getting himbundled off to school in his new jacket. Then a morning full of Councilmeetings, an audience with the King afterwards, a meeting with Cor regarding theCrownsguard training he hasn’t had time for lately, another Council meetingwhich he will need to excuse himself from early to pick Noctis up from school.If he’s lucky he can get in a few minutes of studying while he waits in the car,and then it will be off to a private tuition session with the Prince, followedby helping him with his homework while also again attempting to steal a fewmoments to glance over his own textbooks. After that he imagines Noctis willrelocate to the couch to play games while Ignis cleans the apartment andprepares dinner. Afterwards he will return to the Citadel just long enough toretrieve a copy of the minutes for the meeting he left early so that when he’sup until midnight summarizing his notes for Noctis he can also review those andadd them to his summary if they prove to be relevant.

Andthen lather, rinse and repeat with little changing day to day other than thespecific subject of a meeting or tutoring session, or whether it’s Cor, Clarus,His Majesty or some other official who monopolizes his lunch hour. The lyricschange but the tune remains the same as his mother was fond of saying.

Theday passes much as expected, in a haze of exhaustion with the occasional momentof coffee-fuelled alertness. Anyone else would have been alarmed by the weak,trembling feeling in his hands, and they would have noticed the dark shadowsinvading his field of vision, dimming and erasing the edges of his world.Anyone else would have gone home and gone to bed long before what happened toIgnis happened to them.

Igniswatches in the rearview mirror as Noctis slowly makes his way towards the sleekblack Crown-issued sedan. The Prince moves with an unhurried stride, his nosean inch away from his phone screen, presumably texting Prompto or playing oneof those mobile games that Ignis fails to see the appeal in. A tiny voice inthe back of his mind implores Noctis to hurry up – they’re already behindschedule, Ignis was a few minutes late picking him up from school thanks tonearby road construction and detours, and they will only fall further behind asthere’s no way to avoid it en-route to Noct’s apartment.

Whenthe Prince is finally within range of the car Ignis unbuckles his seatbelt andopens the car door, moving with fluid grace to the rear passenger door, openingit for his Prince with a modest bow.

Or atleast he intends to.

Hedoes manage to get the door open, and Noctis is about to slide onto the paddedleather seat when Ignis suddenly wobbles in place. As if in slow-motion he seesthe ground swirling before his eyes, rising steadily to meet his suddenly numbbody.

It’sonly when he hits the asphalt with a sickening thump and a jolt of agony thathe realizes that the ground didn’t move, but rather he fell face first at hisPrince’s feet.

Thelast thing that he remembers hearing is the Prince’s startled cry of “Specs?!?”before his senses fade into the merciful oblivion of unconsciousness.

Athrobbing pain and a bone-deep ache greet Ignis when he eventually surfacesinto the world of the conscious. Eyes closed, he carefully takes inventory ofhis injuries. Nothing seems to be broken, probably just scraped and bruised.The worst damage has likely been done to his pride.

“Youwith us there, Specs?”

Tiredgreen eyes slowly open, and a blurry black and white image slowly coalescesinto an upside-down view the Prince’s features, peering worriedly down at him. Ittakes him a few moments to realize that the soft, lumpy something cradling hishead is the prince’s lap.

Mortifiedand ashamed at using his Crown prince in such an undignified manner he attemptsto right himself. “Apologies, Highness,” he murmurs in a voice made flimsy withweakness. “Please allow me to-.”

“Shutup,” Noctis snaps and Ignis goes stiff with alarm. Is Noctis angry with him? Hehas every right to be, of course. All he had to do was pick him up from schooland drive him home. It’s a simple enough task that almost anyone could do, yethere he lies, a broken failure of a Chamberlain.

Ahand drifts into Ignis’s field of vision and for a confused second he wondersif Noctis is about to strike him – which would be grossly out of character forthe Prince, but then again passing out on the job is grossly out of characterfor Ignis. Instead though all he feels is a soothing brush of fingertipsagainst his brow, combing through tangles of fine sandy hair.

“Justlie there quietly, ok? Gladio’s on the way,” Noctis says, his tone soft,tremulous with obvious concern.

Ignishums in quiet acknowledgment and closes his eyes.

Hemust have drifted off again because the next thing he knows he’s laid out atopa marvellously soft bed that feels more like a bed of candyfloss than amattress, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It’s familiar, he realizes aftera moment. He’s just not accustomed to viewing it from this angle, sprawled onhis back. He’s in the guest room of Noct’s apartment, where Prompto usuallystays. There’s even a plush chocobo next to his pillow from the last time theblonde stayed the night.

Hecan hear soft voices drifting down the hall from the next room.

“Ididn’t know, how was I supposed to know? No one ever tells me these things!”

“What,you think the cleanliness fairies come by your place twice a day to pick upafter you? Or the paperwork pixies prepare those reports? Of course it’s Iggy.He does everything for you, on top of his own schoolwork and Crownsguardtraining – which is also for your eventual benefit might I add.”

“I’msorry!” Noct cries, followed by a sharp shushing sound from Gladio.

“Keepit down, Charmless. You’ll wake him. And Titan’s rock hard fucking dick heneeds all the shut eye he can get.”

“Iknow!” Noctis hisses in a furious whisper. “I know that now, okay? I’m sorry. I’lldo better.”

“Goodto hear. Don’t apologize to me, though. Apologize to Iggy when he’s feelingbetter.”

There’sa pause, soft words that don’t quite travel to Ignis’s ear.

“Yeah,he’d like that, Highness. See, it’s not so hard, being considerate of otherpeople, huh?” A sharp smacking sound rends the air and Gladio chuckles. Noctmust have punched him, though obviously not hard, likely not in genuine anger.

Anhour or so later (it’s hard to tell, he keeps drifting in and out ofwakefulness) the door to the guest room creaks open a few inches and a pair ofwide blue eyes peek shyly at Ignis through the gap. Smiling meekly, the young Advisor lifts ahand in greeting before letting his arm flop limply at his side.

“HeySpecs,” Noctis murmurs, opening the door fully and walking into the room. “Howyadoing?”

Elbowsdigging into the mattress, Ignis pushes himself to a partially reclined position.His head spins and he closes his eyes for a moment until the world rightsitself once more.

“Wellenough,” he finally says.

ThePrince moves to sit on the edge of the bed, his pale fingers twisting togetheranxiously. Ignis’s heart jolts at the sight and he forces himself to situpright, blinking away the remnants of exhaustion that still threaten the edgesof his consciousness.

“Hungry…?”Noctis says softly and, misunderstanding it for a request and not a question,Ignis nods and swings his legs over the side of the mattress. “Of course, I’mso sorry, Noctis. What would you like? I’ll make whatever you wish by way ofapology for my earlier failures.”

Noctisshakes his head, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “No, Ignis. Are you hungry?”

Itshouldn’t be a difficult question to answer, but somehow it is. He’s soaccustomed to putting his own wants and even needs aside that he hardly knowshow to gauge his own body’s demands. After a few thoughtful moments heeventually nods.

“Good,‘cause I kinda ordered all of your favourites. Just gimmie a minute to heat itup.”

Warmthfloods Ignis’s exhausted, neglected body. “Highness … Noct. You didn’t have todo that.”

Sapphireeyes roll dismissively. “Considering that you’ve been working yourself into theground on my behalf, Specs, yeah I kinda did. And I need to do a lot more foryou, too.”

Ignisshakes his head slowly.

“Yes,Ignis. I do. Gladio helped me make up a chore calendar so I can keep on top ofeverything around here so you don’t have to. He’ll pick me up from schoolMondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when I have training with him, and he’ll dropme off here afterwards so you’re not running around so much. And, and… I’llstudy with Prompto after school,” at Ignis’s doubtful look he presses on “Noreally. Like actually study. No videogames until we’re done of our homework andeverything, so I won’t need as much help from you.”

“Noctis…”Ignis blinks against the veil of tears obscuring his vision. “What on Eos did Iever do to deserve such a wonderful friend?”

A wetbubble of laughter spills from Noct’s lips. He sniffles, wiping his nose withthe back of his hand. “Don’t be stupid. You’re the best, Ignis. The best. Youdeserve the whole damn world.”

Theirarms tangle together in a tight embrace, neither of them certain who made thefirst move, they simply fall into each other like magnets, only tearingthemselves away from each other when Ignis’s stomach growls, and Noctis,laughingly, heads to the kitchen to heat up the container of tomalley-filleddumplings and wild rice he’d ordered for his friend.

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kaywritesthings · 7 years ago

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Eddie: Eddie was so releived it was all over. That clown and the clowns creative tricks. He heard the sirens all over and knew that something big happened. He thought it might be IT or news of his house, but right now it was Harold's dad murdered. Eddie turned off the news and lean back on his bed. "My mom is not aware you are here." He told Richie. "So, so keep your voice down. " He said. "I will get us snacks, but you have to keep your voice down. Do you think you can manage being quiet?" He stood up and went to the door. He propped his hand on his hip and looked back at him. He had a serious face, that turned into a half smile. the adreneline was still all too high from the killing of the clown. "Well, can you shut your pie hole while I go get us pie?"

Richie: Richie knew on some level, at some adult level of thinking that he should go home and maybe hug his mom or something stupid like that. That was what kids were supposed to do when they just did something dangerous and stupid (and awesome, it was awesome too). He still had adrenaline pumping through him and he knew just about everyone else had gone home and gotten all right with their parents, but Richie couldn't stomach it. He just couldn't. Sticking with Eddie was just...easier. He flopped down on Eddie's bed with a loud sigh, flinging his limbs out as far as he could and practically laying on top of him. "You're just jealous cause your mom wants me so bad," he said. "Hey Mrs. K-" he started to yell, letting his voice get just a little louder before chuckling, the smile draining from his face a little. "You mom can suck my dick," Richie said suddenly his voice actually low this time. "Do you know how many times I called you and she hung up on me?" He pursed his lips. "We did super fucked up shit today. It was like becoming men. We're men now and we didn't have to say any Jewy shit to do it like Stan did. Yeah, we deserve to eat like kings!" His voice rising again as he lifted his arm in triumph.

Eddie: "Alright, you have inhaled too much grey water." He pointed at him. "Shh. Stop wanting to have intercourse with my mom. She's old and you'd get stuck in there." He wrinkled his nose at the thought. "sh." He snapped his finger and went out to get pie. His mom was taking a nap on her recliner. He grabbed some juice boxes and put them on top. He went into the room and sat down. "I heard Bill and Bev made out with tongue." he said. He set the pie down on his desk and carefully cute them a slice. He set the pie down. "I just took like 3 baths and I still feel gross. I hope that will pass!"

Last message was written 4 minutes ago

Richie: Richie thought about it for a second and then nodded, sagely, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "You're right. I heard that women get all sandy down there when they get old. It would be like putting your dick in sandpaper," he said and sighed heavily, flopping back down on the bed when Eddie went out of the room. He would go, but then he'd talk more and waking Mrs. K up from a nap was never a good thing. "What really?" Ritchie asked, for a moment truly surprised. "I thought Bill was gonna be a virgin forever." He shook his head. "I can't belive Bill is pulling more girls than me this summer. It's cause I've had to take care of your dumb asses the whole time," he said, taking a causal swipe at Eddie's hair, ruffling it. "Eds, you're probably cleaner than I've ever been in my whole life." He took a bite of pie and snorted. "And you let me rub myself all over your bed."

Eddie: "Gross, and gross. Stop it. " He said to everything he was saying. He ate his pie and had to remember to change his sheets before bed. "If you want to get a girlfriend, then you need to hang around girls. Duh." He tapped Richie on the head. "Not at an arcade." He teased. "Which I can not believe you go to. There is underage smoking there." He ate his pie and nodded. "Yeah, and I even heard that some people smoke pot. " He finished up his pie and put his plae down on the desk.

Richie: "You mean you don't like talking about your mom's sandy vagina?" Richie said, leaning close to Eddie and grinning in an almost manic way. He snorted. "I don't want a girlfriend. Girls are boring. Except for Bev. She's fine. For a girl." He lifted his shoulder and laughed. "Yeah, didn't anyone tell you? Smoking is cool. I'd do it, but I'm not great at shoplifting," he said, taking another bite of his pie and grinning at Eddie. "Dude, we're practically adults now. We should be smoking pot. Drinking beer. We only have...whatever days till school starts again. We should be living life. The not in sewers kind."

Eddie: "I mean. My mom has cigarettes. If you want to. I guess I should try. I mean I did almost die by clown." He said. He felt a small bit of fear from it, even if they killed it. Or he thought they did. It was stilla round.. He could come back in 27 years. "It was real weird seeing Georgie. even if it wasn't really him." He said. He closed his eyes. "You dont want a girlfriend? " He asked. "Or you cant get one? " He teased

Richie: Richie finished inhaling the pie and tossed the plate on the carpet, mostly because he wanted to get a rise out of Eddie. "Yeah!" Richie said, his eyes getting even wider behind his glasses. "You have to go steal them, right now. Oh! I can distract your mom, she might kick me out, but we'd have cigarettes then." He felt his steam powered full ahead line of thinking studder to a halt at the thought of Georgie. Before, he'd thought of Georgie as kind of annoying, always wanting Bill's time and shit. He'd felt a little guilty ever sense. "Yeah. Weird," he said softly and the brightened, glad the subject was quickly changed. He tackled Eddie back to the bed. "Why do I need a girlfriend when I got you," he said and laughed, tickling at Eddie's sides. "You're naggy and always try to correct me on shit. That's what girlfriends do."

Eddie: "Yeah, well" He kicked his legs to get Richie to stop tickling him. "I am not a girl. you idiot. I am clearly a male." He stated as he stood up. "No, I can get the stupid cancer sticks on my own. " He nodded. He went to the door. "You stay here. " He felt his face flush a tint pink around his freckled nose. He went to the living room and grabbed her cigarettes. He pulled out one. They only needed one. He was not going to spoil his lungs with much. He left the room. She caught him, but only the back of him. "Mommy loves you, my little sweet potato." he went back to sleep. He went into the bedroom and tossed the cigarette on the bed "There I did it. But we can not smoke here. We must go outside."

Richie: Richie fell back when Eddie kicked him, huffing a little bit and holding his chest. "Damn, Eddie, you almost kicked me in the balls!" He snorted. "Your dick's so small you might as well be a girl," he felt compelled to reply, smiling almsot angelically after. He sat on the bed and watched Eddie go, grinning at the flush on his cheeks. Eddie looked pretty like a girl when he was all blushy. It was kind of annoying. But Richie couldn't stop thinking about it. He was thinking about it so hard he was startled when Eddie came back and felt flushed himself, and shook his head fast, sitting up and looking innocent even though he'd done nothing wrong. "Damn Eddie, you're such a badass," he said when Eddie came back with the cigarettes. "I'm an expert of sneaking out of your window," he said and winked, going over and starting to play with the latches.

Eddie: "Yes, you are a real deal criminal." He said as he crossed his arms and watched him sneak out. He looked back at the door, and decided to take the window route too. He carefully removed his body from his room and stepped lightly on the ground. He cut his leg a little on the window sill and huffed as he pulled a bandaid from his pocket. He always had one on hand. He put it over his scar. "The best place we can go right now, is the woods. "

Richie: "Fuck yeah I am. Did you see me down in that well? Only a real criminal can brain someone with a bat like that," Richie said as he climbed out of the window. He looked over at Eddie when he climbed out and winced when he saw Eddie had cut himself. "Are you gonna go on about AIDS for the whole time we're out now? Don't get infected or bleed out on me, I'm too tired to be british," he said and put a dramatic arm around Eddie's neck, leaning against him. He looked up towards the woods and shrugged. THey used to be kinda scary, but now? Nothing really was. "Yeah lets do it."

Eddie: "No, I will not discuss aids, although you should really be worried about the possiblities. " He told Richie. "It's a serious matter you know." He felt Richies arms around him and ever sincesummer started, Richie had been less about video games and more about spending time with the guys, mostly him. He also was a lot more touchy? Which Eddie secretly did not mind. Did Richie know how caring he became during the IT era? Always proteting Eddie before anyone else. The thoughts and the feelings were confusing. Eddie knew Richie to like girls and like them alot. He walked to a old broken down windmill. "Right here is ideal." He stated. "Before we begin I need to check for my inhaler."

Richie: "I'm not going to lick your AIDS blood, I'll be fine," he said and rubbed his palm against Eddie's cheek as they walked towards the woods. "Hey, Eds, if you didn't get a asthama attack while we were killing that fucking clown, I think you're good," he said and stole the cigarette pack from Eddie. "Hey, did you get a lighter too?"

Eddie: "I do not have aids.If I did, then jokes on you. You also will get it. We cut hands and you touched mine" He said, he still had his stupid cast on. "I do not havea lighter, but I do have matches. You never know when you need to make a bond fire."He pulled out a box of matches. "Here." He said. "You start it." Richie: "I knew it," Richie said, his eyes getting wide. "I knew you were evil behind that cute smile and perfect hair," he said and shoved Eddie lightly in the chest. "You're trying to take me down with you." Richie snorted and rolled his eyes. "If I knew you were talking about setting shit on fire, I'd say that was cool, but I know you mean for nerdy stuff." He shook out a match and pulled out a cigarette, putting it on his lip. Or trying to, to be all cool with those guys that just rested it there, but it fell right down to the ground. "I think these cigarettes are broken," he grumbled and picked it up, dusting it off and putting it back in his mouth, clamping down harder on it and lighting the match. He took one pull on it and let out a hacking cough, bending over and feeling like he was choking.

Eddie: Eddie watched him fail with the first cigarette. He saw him hacking and coughing and went over to pet his back. "Richie, maybe smoking is not meant to be for you. And thank god for that." He pulled out his inhaler. "Here." He put itbetween his lips. "Breath in."

Richie: "Hey, maybe it's just a faulty cigarette," he said and coughed again, wrinkling his nose. "I'm going to try again," he added, sitting up and looking a little wide eyed at Eddie when he put his inhaler in his mouth. That was deep. Eddie put this thing in his mouth, and he went on and on about how dirty mouths were. Richie took a breath in and coughed a little more when the medecine hit the back of his throat but then started to breath easier. "Now Bill and Bev aren't the only one's swapping spit," he said and wiggled his eyebrows at Eddie, looking pointedly at the inhaler.

Eddie: "Ew. Why are you disgusting." He hissed and took his ihnaler and put it back, reminding himself to clean it later. "Try again, mister dean. No one is stopping you." He took the cigarette and held it between his lips. He lit it and inhaled a lung ful of smoke. He knew how to inhale something because of his inhaler. He blew the smoke out of his lips and nostrils. "It's not hard." He handed it over to Richie.

Richie: Richie looked at Eddie with an expression of naked admiration. He was a little annoyed that Eddie made it all look so seemless, but he did and it was just...cool. Eddie was cool, with little whisps of cigarette smoke curling around his face. Even with that fucking fanny pack around his waist. Richie was jealous. That's what it was. He took the cigarette, and felt his cheeks heat up again. "I got it started for you, that's why it was so easy. You're just taking credit for my work, jerk off," Richie said and took the cigarette back. He tried inhaling it again and it still tasted like ass, but he kept it down and let the smoke out of the side of his mouth like they did in movies. "Cool," he said and took another gross drag off of it before handing it back to Eddie.

Eddie: "I guess so. I read there is rat poision in these. It's best we not get addicted." He tossed the cigarette to the ground. "There, how does it feel knowing you have rebelled against the law?" He asked. He heard more sirens headed to Harold's house. "Should we check it out?" He asked.

Richie: "You read too much," Richie complained and watched Eddie toss the cigarette. "It sucks the fun out of everything, Eds." He leaned against the barn and considered for a second, putting his hands behind his head. "I do feel like my dick grew an inch," he said, considering. "Rebelling does that to you. You should do it more often." He heard the sirens and frowned. "Fuck yeah. I want to see what that's about." He knew a short cut and took Eddie's wrist, pulling him through the field and ducking under a broken fence.

Eddie: "Ah, my wrist. Be careful. I only have one that is functioning!" He announced as they ran towards the sirens in the back way part. "I don't awnt to hear about your dick. Eddie. No one does." He said. He had experienc his body reacting to some things. One in particular happening when he was watching Back to the future and felt that Michael j fox was... or maybe it was the woman who played his mom. Anyway, it didnt matter then or now. Rickie was holding his arm in a nice way and it was nice in a way.

Richie: "Liar!" Richie called back brightly. "Everyone wants to hear about my dick. Espeically you." He smiled back at him but kept moving, getting closer to the house. He slowed down as they got closer, but he didn't dropp Eddie's arm, his fingers still curled around his wrist, squeezing a little. "What do you think they're all here for?" he asked, a little hushed as the got closer to the police cars in the drivway, lights flashing over the feild. There was an ambulance too, and some guys carrying a gurney into the house.

Eddie: Eddie watched with interested. "oh probably because its a murder." He teased Richie. "Or a sucide, but I tihnk murder. his father liked being in charge too much. Harold probably did it. I mean he looked crazy at the well." He reminded Richie. "I mean people went missing, but now there is a real deal murder. People will want to know."

Richie: Richie knew they really must have been through some shit, becasue the idea of a regular old murder seemed to be kind of...normal. At least compared to ancient evil clown things. "Harold's always been a crazy mother fucker," Richie said and spat on the ground for good measure. "But I guess he was crazier," Richie said and frowned, finding that his hand was slipping lower on Eddie's wrist so their hands were sort of clasped together. "You think Harold killed him?" Richie said and then pointed wildly, hsi voice rising. "Look! A fuckin body bag like in the movies." One of the cops turned as if he heard something and Richie tugged Eddie down into the tall grass with him.

Eddie: Eddie looked at him when he touched his waist. It seemed like a very kind thing to do, a personal touch. He did like rom coms. He watched them in secret all the time. Well not this summer, but like fall time. With his mom. He sometimes dreamed of being the girl. That day Bev was in her undies and everyone was looking, (including Richie) Eddie mostly just dreamed of being her. He knew it was a weird thought that made no lick of sense to anyone. He ducked down on the grass "Well, they have to use a bag to move the body " He whispered. "look." He pointed out. "Harold. They have him in handcuffs!

Richie: Richie tugged Eddie closer when he saw that Harold was being brought out of the house, feeling a sort of protectiveness surge through him. "That asshole is finally gonna get what's coming to him," Richie breathed, and it was almost a relief, knowing that he'd be behind bars for awhile. If not there would be no way he wasn't coming to send all of them to the hospital. "The rest of them aren't gonna believe this shit," he said, shaking his head a little. Richie felt something wild and destructive surge up in him and he stood up and cupped his hands over his mouth. "Have fun getting butt fucked in prison, dickwad!" Richie shouted, seeing Harold turn his beady eyes their way.

Eddie: Eddie surrended her fears to Richie and let him hold him like that. He had no idea why Richie was being like this. a soft kindness that didnt really fit him normally. Eddie snickered and grabbed his leg when he stood up. He closed his eyes and held in a laugh. He stood up and huffed. "I do hope you have some lube with you!" He added as an insult. "come. we should go."HE turned to run before adults saw them and went after them.

Richie: Richie thought for a second that Eddie might chastize him for...well, doing the thing that he did. Being loud and obnoxious. But he joined right in and Richie felt something surge in his chest. Eddie was surprisingly awesome sometime. For a prissy looking kid who always wore a fanny pack he was so fucking cool. Richie let out a loud laugh and started to run, running after Eddie and diving into the woods, starting to bob and weave just in case they were being followed. "I'm teaching you so well," Richie said when he thought they were far enough away, tugging Eddie into a sideways kind of hug.

Eddie: He hugge dhim back. "No, I taught myself!" He blushed. He raced him back to a pile of trees. He stopped to take a breath. "It's getting dark. " He said. "Should we go back? My mom will come looking for me if I dont."He said. "I think we should."He said. He walked with Richie back to his house and carefully helped Richie climb into his bed room. He jumped up and had him help him in. He got into his room and went out to tell his mother goodnight. She was in bed and wanted a kiss. He kissed her and went back to his room. He remove his shirt and pants and went to grab pjs. "You can wear my biggest pjs. They will feet your tall weird ass."He said. "Let's watcha movie?"

Richie: Richie could see Eddie blushing, even in the setting sun and smiled, reaching out to pinch his cheeks a little before laughing and running off again. He climbed back into the window and reached for Eddie, pulling him into the room and then shutting the window tight. He kicked off his shoes and sighed, remembering for a second that he hadn't told his parents where he was, but then remembered they didn't care. He grinned when Eddie came back froms aying goodnight to his mother. "Did you give her a big wet kiss?" he teased and pursed his lips, making kissy sounds. "And don't be jealous, Eds. Just cause everything about me is extra long," he said and raised his hand for a high five, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get one. Eddie never gave him one. Well...no one did. But at least Stan wasn't here to give him shit about it. He nodded. "What you got?"

Eddie: He sighed and looked at his hand. "no" He shook his head. He grabbed a long shirt and shorts and tossed it at him. He knew most of his clothes were too big for him, because he wasnt very fat or tall. He laid on his bed. "oh, I forgot my mom took my tv out of my room for disobeying her. But, that's fine. We could read togetjher?" He suggested with a smile. "Or play board games, or I can ask my mom for my tv? But you have to hide!

Richie: Richie took the clothes and started to change, sahking his head. "None of you assholes have any taste," he said sadly, before pulling on the clothes that Eddie gave him. They were too tight, but kind of okay. He sat down on the bed and sighed a little. "Naw, don't worry about it. You got any comic books?" he asked. "I don't give a shit what we do," he decided after a moment and yawned extravagently. "You should steal more pie though."

Eddie: "I will get us snacks. I have comic book yes, third drawer. I also found a play boy and brought it home. It's still in it's package." He smiled and walked out toget little debbie snacks and juice again. He came back into the room. "Did you find it?" He asked a bit too excited.

Richie: "Dude really?" Richie said, when Eddie said he had a playboy. Richie hadn't ever actually seen one. But he knew it was the holy grail of contraband kids weren't supposed to find. He reached into the drawer and pulled it out, marveling at the cover. There were boobs. And that was good right? He nodded and looked it over, then jumped when Eddie came back into the room. "Yeah, yeah its right here. I can't beleive it Eds. Boobs. Right here."

Eddie: "I got it from the next door neighbor. His wife threw it at him in plastic, and he left it there." Eddie hadnt really looked at it. "Boobs."He giggled and sat down. "Have you ever been kissed before, like really? I havent"

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theliberaltony · 5 years ago

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

“The […] pitch is a mix of idealism and a shouting anger about the system, but at its heart is a hard-nosed math: He’s the only candidate with a sizable chunk of the electorate that won’t waver, no matter what, so a field that keeps growing and splitting support keeps making things easier.”

As I’m sure you’ve probably guessed, this passage seems like it could be about Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican nomination in 20161 — but it’s actually about Bernie Sanders’s quest for the Democratic nomination this year. It comes from an April 2019 feature by the Atlantic’s Edward-Isaac Dovere that I consider to be a lodestar for Sanders’s strategy since it contains a lot of on-the-record reporting from Sanders campaign.2

The article also reveals how the conventional wisdom about how primary campaigns have changed, in light of Trump winning the Republican nomination in 2016 and Sanders’s better-than-expected performance against Hillary Clinton that year. In particular, it reflects several common assumptions in media coverage of the race this year:

In a divided field, the goal is to have the largest, most enthusiastic base.

Reaching out to different factions of your party is not that important — and may even dilute your differentiation from the other candidates. As long as you’re winning the plurality of votes, you’ll win enough states and the rest of the party will eventually come around.

There is no need to make peace with the party establishment. In our populist era, nominations are won from the grassroots up. Voters don’t care about things like endorsements, and “party elites” are largely feckless.

Indeed, if you’d beamed down to Planet Earth from some alien civilization in January 2016 and only seen that year’s primaries, those might be the lessons that you’d take away about how primaries work. They’re a reasonably apt description of the GOP primary, where the Republican establishment belly flopped in trying to stop Trump. The Democratic primary was a bit more complicated. Clinton beat Sanders by a rather clear margin in the end.3 Still, Sanders overperformed expectations by enough as to at least not contradict the notion that 2016 was the new normal.

But focusing on only what happened in the most recent election is a dumb way to do analysis. The media and campaign professionals spend endless amounts of time trying to draw “lessons” from elections because they are so consequential, but you can’t escape the fact that presidential elections happen only once every four years. No matter how many lessons you might try to draw from any one example, you’re still dealing with a sample size of one.

Rather, the history of the primaries — both in terms of how the media covers them and how campaigns wage them — is often one of fighting the last war and overcompensating for perceived mistakes from four years earlier. I’m not claiming to be immune from this either. One of the reasons that I initially bought so heavily into “The Party Decides” hypothesis in 2016 — which implied that Trump’s lack of support from the Republican party establishment would eventually doom him — was because of the Republican primary in 2012, when a series of insurgent candidates (Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum) briefly surged in the polls only to eventually lose to the slow-and-steady (and establishment-backed) Mitt Romney.

But Romney’s win in 2012 was in line with the longer history of the primaries, which underscores that building coalitions across the different wings of your party (Romney tried to unite conservatives and moderates, for instance) is usually a good strategy for winning instead of relying on just one faction. And as you can see in the table below, the establishment usually does win out in the end:

The party usually does decide, after all

Endorsement leaders before the Iowa caucuses where no incumbent president was running for that party’s nomination, 1972 to 2020

Year Party Endorsement leader before Iowa Did they have a clear endorsement lead? Did they win the nomination? 1972 D Ed Muskie ✓ 1976 D Fred Harris 1980 R Ronald Reagan ✓ ✓ 1984 D Walter Mondale ✓ ✓ 1988 D Dick Gephardt 1988 R George H.W. Bush ✓ ✓ 1992 D Bill Clinton ✓ ✓ 1996 R Bob Dole ✓ ✓ 2000 D Al Gore ✓ ✓ 2000 R George W. Bush ✓ ✓ 2004 D Howard Dean 2008 D Hillary Clinton ✓ 2008 R John McCain ✓ 2012 R Mitt Romney ✓ ✓ 2016 D Hillary Clinton ✓ ✓ 2016 R Jeb Bush 2020 D Joe Biden* ✓ ✓

*Biden has not been formally nominated, but is the presumptive nominee.

Endorsement leaders from 1980 to 2016 are based on FiveThirtyEight’s 2016 system for calculating endorsement points. Endorsement leaders in 1972 and 1976 are based on “The Party Decides.”

Sources: “The Party Decides,” News accounts

Of course, a result like Romney’s win in 2012 that confirms your theories and priors can create its own issues — it can make you overconfident. You may mistakenly assume, for instance, that something is true 100 percent of the time when it’s actually only true, say, 80 percent of the time.

But while overconfidence is a serious problem, it’s probably better than assuming that an abnormal result (say, something that is true 20 percent of the time) is the new normal. You can see lots of this upside-down thinking in media coverage of elections since 2016. Because Trump won the general election as a (modest) underdog in 2016, a lot have inferred that underdogs not only can win, but that they usually win. Before the Virginia gubernatorial election in 2017, for instance, a lot of pundits predicted Republican Ed Gillespie would win despite being narrowly behind Democrat Ralph Northam in the polls. Northam won by 9 points instead.

It’s not just the media who makes these mistakes, however. It’s also the campaigns themselves. So while I don’t intend to do a long post-mortem of the Sanders campaign — instead, see my colleague Perry Bacon Jr.’s comprehensive analysis on what went wrong and why — I do want to take a quick inventory of the ways that the 2020 Democratic primary was different from the Republican primary in 2016.

Most of these problems were fairly predictable and known in advance. To ensure you that I’m not engaging in too much hindsight bias — because it’s always easier to say what went wrong with campaigns once you know who won and who lost — I’d point you toward this cautiously pessimistic take on Sanders from April 2019 and this cautiously optimistic one from just after the New Hampshire primary, which reflects how my thinking about the Sanders’s campaign evolved as it was happening in real-time. I started out thinking that Sanders’s factional, us-versus-them, screw-the-establishment strategy was a poor one. But it seemed to be going about as well as it possibly could after New Hampshire with the rest of the field divided.

So here are some potential flaws in Sanders’s strategy — and reasons why the precedent set by Trump’s win in 2016 might not have applied to his chances this year:

First, Democratic primaries and caucuses do not use winner-take-all rules, while many Republican states do. That makes it much harder for someone to be in a commanding position by narrowly winning primaries. Instead, in a multi-candidate race, you have to eventually broaden your coalition to avoid a contested convention.

In consideration of this, some elements of Sanders’s strategy simply never made a lot of sense. Here’s another key passage from that Atlantic article:

He’s counting on winning Iowa and New Hampshire, where he was already surprisingly strong in 2016, and hoping that Cory Booker and Kamala Harris will split the black electorate in South Carolina and give him a path to slip through there, too. And then, Sanders aides believe, he’ll easily win enough delegates to put him into contention at the convention. They say they don’t need him to get more than 30 percent to make that happen.

Sanders’s campaign was right that it could win around 30 percent of the vote with their base and that they could win early states with that amount … but it never really had a plan for what came after that. Dovere’s article makes it sound as though Sanders was actually counting on a contested convention, an awfully risky approach given that contested conventions are: (i) highly unpredictable and (ii) not likely to be favorable terrain for Sanders, given his lack of support from the establishment and that superdelegates would be allowed to vote on the second and subsequent ballots.

Second, Trump’s ideological ambiguity may have helped him in 2016, while Sanders got stuck in a “lane” this year. Trump may not have done that much traditional outreach to different parts of the GOP, but Republican voters from several wings of the party, perhaps not being quite sure what to make of a candidate like Trump who was reactionary on some issues (say, immigration) and quite moderate on others (say, gay marriage), were nonetheless Trump-curious. And that range of appeal was reflected in the primary results. In the Michigan Republican primary for instance, Trump won the support of 35 percent of “very conservative” voters, 37 percent of “somewhat conservative” voters and 37 percent of moderate voters, according to exit polls.

By contrast Sanders ran further to the left in 2020 than he did in 2016, with a message that shifted from economic populism to a broader and more “intersectional” leftism. This shift was reflected at the ballot box, too. For instance, Sanders won just 24 percent of moderates in the Michigan Democratic primary this year (but 63 percent of “very liberal” voters) — as compared 44 percent of moderates and 59 percent of “very liberal” voters in 2016.

Third, the importance that Democratic voters attached to “electability” and to beating Trump may have made them more willing to take cues from the establishment. Electability is a whole subject unto itself that I’m not going to do justice to here. I do think electability may be a teensy, tiny bit overrated as a reason for why Sanders lost. While perceptions of electability probably hurt Sanders relative to Joe Biden, it also probably helped him relative to candidates who weren’t white men: most notably, Elizabeth Warren.

Still, electability was important. In that Michigan exit poll, 58 percent of Democratic voters said they preferred a candidate that could beat Trump to someone who agreed with them on the issues — and 62 percent of the “beat Trump” voters went for Biden.

Fourth, Democratic party elites had an opportunity to learn from Republicans in 2016, and this may have made them more aggressive in backing Biden after South Carolina. One reason to be careful of declaring a “new normal” in any trend involving human behavior is that humans have an opportunity to learn from what happened last time and change course. The establishment’s failures in 2016 may have made partly elites reluctant to weigh in early on in the race this time around. But once they perceived Sanders as the true front-runner after Nevada, and Biden began to gain a little bit of momentum as he surged to a lead in South Carolina polls, party elites got behind Biden at extremely rapid rates. It’s hard to know if this would have played out the same way if there wasn’t 2016 to learn from.

Fifth, Trump’s success in 2016 may have reflected an unusually weak field of alternatives rather than a new paradigm. I’m not going to spend much time on this one, because it’s rather subjective. Were Warren, Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, etc. better candidates than Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, etc.? I don’t know. But Democratic voters were certainly much happier with their field of candidates in 2020 than Republicans were with theirs in 2016, which is some indication that the field might have been stronger.

Sixth, Democrats are a more racially-diverse party, which makes coalition building more essential than it is among Republicans. Sanders didn’t do badly with nonwhite voters — winning Nevada largely on the basis of Hispanic support while also winning the support of many younger black voters. That definitely made him a more plausible nominee than Buttigieg, whose support was extremely white, for example. Still, nonwhite support wasn’t a strength for Sanders in a head-to-head race against Biden, who generally beat Sanders by wide margins among black voters and held his own among Hispanics in many states. And Sanders’s outreach to African American leaders didn’t always go smoothly, with many members of the Congressional Black Caucus backing Biden instead.

Seventh, relying on a fixed base of voters can leave you vulnerable to a turnout surge from other candidates. One rather explicit assumption made by the Sanders campaign was that it could turn out more voters than its opponents. Hence, the campaign believed there was not much need to widen their circle to include others. Even their outreach efforts to Sanders-skeptical party leaders focused on trying to browbeat them into explaining why they didn’t support Sanders rather than explaining why they should support him. Again, from that Atlantic article:

That’s the case Sanders and his aides have been making as they’ve undertaken an outreach effort unlike anything from the last campaign, spending hours on phone calls trying to talk political leaders down from being completely opposed to him. They have a basic script: Start out asking where the support for Sanders is among their constituents, then ask why they think those people support him, and then ask the leaders to explain their own skepticism.

One problem with this attitude is that turnout in an election isn’t fixed — especially in primaries and caucuses where participation is low. You may turn out a certain number of people, but your base will not be constant as a percentage of the electorate if turnout goes up. In Michigan, for example, Sanders got nearly as many votes in 2020 (576,754) as in 2016 (599,000). But Biden got 838,555 votes in 2020, as compared to just 581,775 for Clinton in 2016 — part of a general pattern where turnout surged more in Biden’s best areas. So Sanders went from narrowly winning Michigan to losing it by 17 percentage points.

Perhaps Sanders was a victim of his own success in 2016. That is, he did such a good job of turning out voters in 2016 that it was hard to improve on his performance in 2020. Still, there was never really any recognition that his base alone might not be enough to win — and there were never many efforts to expand beyond his base. Indeed, it’s interesting that Sanders doubled down even more on his screw-the-establishment messaging amidst his success in the first three states — rather than trying to pivot to a more inclusive campaign and unify the party behind him.

I've got news for the Republican establishment. I've got news for the Democratic establishment. They can't stop us.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 22, 2020

Maybe, if a few things had gone differently, it would have worked. Sanders did outlast more than two dozen other candidates, after all. Maybe if Michael Bloomberg hadn’t qualified for the Nevada debate and stumbled so badly there, moderate support would have remained divided between Bloomberg and Biden, and Sanders would have had a lot more wins on Super Tuesday. Maybe Sanders’s “60 Minutes” interview hurt him. Maybe he could have gotten Warren to endorse him. Who knows.

But the Sanders campaign was always pursuing a strategy that claimed to defy the odds, that assumed the old rules no longer applied, and that stuck its thumb in the eye of the establishment. It would have been remarkable if it had succeeded. But it’s no surprise that it didn’t.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Nate Silver

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