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eldritch-edward · 1 year

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDINxWjWSzg (The Japanese VA has some PIPES!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8UKHDQGcVQ (MORE PIPES!) (Helpful for I, as an english speaker, to memorize the voice for Writing Reasons.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VWk2QQzb0U (French and Japanese dub comparison.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLoKcKz1TYo (More French Ed.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfzlI3lO7SQ (The Single Best English Ed Scene.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ZZNVHWOn0 (English Ed singing Brothers.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsMDjutpNzM (Envy, just to be fair.)

If there are songs by the other VA’s, Please Add Them.

(Okay, ramble under the cut.)

Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. I’m off from work, my brain isn’t yet mush, and I have the impulsive urge to spiel about something somehow. I shall now discuss Ed’s voice in the AU (and miiiight touch on Envy/Will’s).

When I write, I often do so with the character’s voices in mind. I tend to play clips of dialogue before writing sessions so that I can more easily hear the characters in my head as I go about transcribing dialogue.

But what the heck do I do about Ed’s voice???

See, I enjoy both the english and Japanese dubs. I also find the voice of 03 Ed to be significantly different from Brotherhood Ed in both phrasing and delivery.

My original solution was for Ed to just use different voices between Amestrian and Xerxian, since some people do that in real life. It would also help to highlight the fact that Ed mostly used Xerxian as a child when he lived with people who also did so (baby Alphonse and Father Hohenheim); thus the voice he uses for Xerxian defaults to the higher tones used in the Japanese dub.

Ed uses a higher voice for Xerxian (Japanese dub) than he does with Amestrian, great, but what else does this logic apply to?

Well, the AU has him be increasingly isolated after Trisha’s passing, then there’s about two years (ages thirteen to fourteen?) during which he and Al travel together, in which Ed socializes more. After that he and Alphonse split up (spoilers but meh) thus Ed sinks back into isolation, only really engaging with others for work while maybe hanging out with one or two other people once a week (or month). Would this affect the way he talks?

Ed in the novels sometimes leans into how childlike he looks and his general vulnerability so as to gain resources (or just because he thought it was funny).

(Actually, now that I think about it, 03 Ed does an extended act of playing the role of broken/defeated (against sun priest guy) or meak (disguise for getting back into sun town).)

(Aaaaand BH Ed does something similar, doesn’t he? Less extreme, but still.)

(Anyways,)

I’d imagine that he’d develop a voice for this sort of ploy, kind of like a ‘customer’s service’ voice but more constant. For this, I tentatively posit that Ed uses the higher voice (Japanese dub, only more sing-song in its cadence) for such a thing (rather than it being just for Xerxian).

As for the voice he tends towards for Amestrian outside of when playing sweet? I want to default to the English Dub (which is what I’m most used to) but actually, I think the French dub might suffice. From the few clips I’ve managed to view of it, it’s a good in-between for the Japanese and English dub’s voices.

The English Dub voice is one Ed uses in this AU, as well, though it is most often reserved for his more colloquial or relaxed moments. The lower pitch is something he would have just naturally grown into if not for the fact that he uses the other two voices so often that they are less variations of his voice and more distinct voices he uses.

The lower pitch, less distinct, more slurred, gentler speech of the English Dub is one he uses mostly when just talking out loud to himself (or when partially asleep or distracted); it is the most comfortable one for his vocal cords, even if he finds doing the other voices a lot of fun.

Eldritch!Ed also tends to sing. Kind of a lot.

These voice differences play something of a part here, too.

To put it simply, Ed doesn’t know what pitch to sing in half of the time. If someone else is singing, his default is to match (or try to match) their pitch. If no one else is singing and he is just singing to himself, he bounces between the three voices he uses. The higher voice is better for fast songs, the lower voice is good for lullabies, and the middle voice is the most versatile– with a slant towards folk ‘cause Ed’s a rural bumpkin at heart.

-_-_-_-_-

Envy has come to use Ed’s form pretty often throughout the years. At the start, his ‘Ed’ voice defaulted to the middle voice (which Ed uses most often) but Envy eventually grows into the deeper tones Ed would have had things been different.

Envy’s Ed voice is notable in that he tends to use more coherent sentences, his pronunciation is clearer, and he keeps to a singular dialect when he talks rather than jumping from one to the next like Elle!Ed does.

Elle!Ed has some fairly mild (if eventually exaggerated per health issues and isolation) fluency problems. Elle forgets words, says things out of order, has several types of mild to moderate stutters (mostly stops, some jumbling, and a little bit of repetition) and he just does not have a filter. He’s a rambly, stuttery, fluttery wee lad and Envy, who lacks Elle’s flavour of brain spice, does not.

Envy is also a lot more consistent, for lack of a better word. Elle will respond to what someone is actually saying (either the literal meaning or the one that is being implied) whereas Envy (who has no issue with social cues, has a filter, and actively cares about social norms) will keep to the emotional logic of a conversation.

Another difference is that Elle, being someone who, in his isolation-dependent lifestyle and occupation, amuses himself with word play and rhythm, tends to work that into his speech, too. Elle can and will rhyme, pun, alliterate, etcetera when talking whereas Envy does not.

(Also, Envy is fully verbal.)

Ramble over, ‘tis Wakerrife sleepy time. Adios.

#edward elric #fullmetal alchemist #FMA VAs #FMA Dubs #Edward Elric's VAs #I want to find the others #Also I need to learn French and Spanish for Reasons.#I need the duuuubs.#Gimme Gimme

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thelemoncoffee · 2 years

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Can you give a detailed summary of everyone's personality?

detailed? no, summary yes

1: Zenko Nao (Furry) -He's perpetually tired, but still manages to be dorky -Insanely passionate about their hobby as a furry, which is how it ended up becoming his ultimate in the first place -They try hard to be extroverted, but due to having paranoia issues and the stress of being internet famous getting to him, they tend to be more introverted than he'd like to be -Very smart, but not where it counts -Prefers to snack all day instead of eating full meals

2: Hibiki Naomi (Poet) -Has really bad depression and prefers to be left alone.... no one ever leaves him alone tho -He's also quiet, really sassy, and hasn't the fuckest clue how to hold a normal conversation -Carries around the notebook he writes all his poems in and looks at anyone who tries to touch said book with murder in his one visible eye. -Due to a mixture of sensory issues and trauma, he cannot stand loud noises and will get overwhelmed by them -Despite this, he somehow manages to become best friends with Neiro.... a talkative drummer.

3: Yoshiko Kie (Geologist) -She comes off as shy and is easily spooked, but the moment you get her going she's a mean ass bitch. -She's like gasslight, gatekeep, girlboss but hidden under a veil that has a striking resemblance to Fluttershy -One of the least developed characters rn -She goes by Iko

4: Fumiko Umemoto (VA) -Another under developed character, but even less than Iko -She's a petty jerk who loves to snark, i still need to give her a not negative trait -She's also a walking reference dispenser and has a seemingly bottomless backpack or props she uses to aid in doing character impressions

5: Kazuhiko Ichigo (Surfer) -A laid back guy who is sounds and acts high, but has never done drugs of any kind, he's just naturally like that -So chill his aura calms others down, is entirely unaware of this -He's pretty selfless, and has a track record of saving fellow surfers before the lifeguards can. -He has no intent to be a hero of any kind and even hates being called one, but ends up frequently seen as one due to his impulse to help -i don't remember why this one is here but on the google doc i have my notes on, there's a bullet point under Kazuhiko's section that just says "mariocart"... so uh... mariocart?

6: Daiki Dekiru (Traceur) -Very much a dumbass, both in the stupid way and in the chaotic way -Peek himbo. stupid, strong, and very sweet -Loud and impulsive, makes you wonder how he hadn't killed himself doing something dumb prior to the killing game -he also has zero filter, as in not only does he say whats on his mind- but he also would share his credit card info unprompted -I got one acronym for you: ADHD

7: Ellodie (Hatter) -She's a walking Alice In Wonderland reference -She's openly very weird and presents herself as chipper, but also if you push her just right she can become super eerie -She'll talk your ears off if you aren't careful, but unlike Daiki she is excellent at withholding information -Queen of nonsense, but also super smart and has a knack for using her nonsense to make sense -Advocate for being yourself despite what anyone thinks, absolutly does not believe in the concept of cringe and actually takes being calls cringe as a complement- to her it's a sign she's doing a great job at openly being herself -MOST DEVELOPED CHARACTER!! i've worked so very hard on her and i love her so -Also she's the obligatory foreign kid, shes's from the British countryside. she tries to not use British slang as to not confused her peers but it does slip on occasion

8: Neiro Shibata (Drummer) -Resident "cool big sister" archetype -She's a bit emotional and cares deeply for people she sees are struggling (why she's besties with Hibiki) -She also tries to be respectful but struggles a bit some times due to that aforementioned emotional-ness, she sometimes says stuff an back tracks when she realizes it upset someone -Uses her drumming as a way to vent her emotions

9: Jun Hanako (???) -Man of few words, he talks mostly in short sentences and lacks any kind of emotion in his voice -Don't let his voice fool you tho, he's a pretty happy guy, he just shows emotion in other ways -He's pretty hardworking and a big neat freak, if the others won't clean something up, he'll go behind them and take care of it -He is pretty secretive though, doesn't share much about himself and what he does say is so basic it feels like you haven't learned anything

10: Chiba Ayame (Hacker) -Protag's assistant/best friend -The straightman of the group, she actively hates when people cut the fool and wants things to be taken more seriously -Blunt as fuck, will tell you the fuck off and hurt your feelings if it means getting her point across -Resents people who can put their honest selves out there and not get hurt (despises Ellodie the most) -Wants to be seen as normal -Hacking is a guilty pleasure of hers, she has no clue how it ended up becoming her ultimate

11: Takao Hagiwara (Swindler) -Loud and totally oblivious to it -Has anger issues and a sass problem, but also is all bark and no bite. will cuss someone out but the second they get pissed enough to take a swing he runs off screaming -Very street smart, everything else... not so much -Will act on his intrusive thoughts if someone doesn't keep an eye on him -god forbid you give him a lighter

12: Masaki Jiro (Astrologist) -Protag!! -He's a bit of a mess, he wants to be on good terms with everyone but is also bad at communicating cause he's a bit of a shut in -Generally cheerful, but does have a mean streak in him that he's trying to work on controlling -Nervous panics, will spiral if someone doesn't intervene -Clumsy and tries to act like he isn't, he'll trip then try to continue what he was doing like he didn't just almost eat shit

13: Kasai Koyo (Lucky Student) -Underdeveloped as hell -Mom friend with the patience of a saint, it's hard to get her pisses off be even when you do she'll suppress the fuck out of it -She has the desire to help others but always feels out of place wherever she goes, being surrounded by ultimates makes this actively worse -Ironically enough, despite being the ult lucky student, she does not believe in luck, karma, fate, or anything akin in nature

14: Kobe Katsumi (Film Artist) -Do you by chance know Reggie Belafonte from Surfs Up? -Cause this man is just Reggie but human -Obnoxiously loud and showbizz-y, kinda sleazy -He's always trying to make things sound more amazing than they are, especially the things he likes -And contrast, he'll do everything he can to burn an idea to the ground if he doesn't like it -Every theater kid stereotype bundled into one shitbag -Also tries to pretend like he's more important than he is

15: Asuka Seo (Pilot) -Underdeveloped as shit -He comes off as snobbish due to how uptight and bitter he is -Dude's actually just super dead inside and wants to be left the fuck alone -Cares more about logic than feelings (cough cough trauma cough) -Do not try to provoke, you will regret it

16: Ohara Susumu (Toy Maker) -Just as huggable and sweet as the toys she makes -Very neutral in a "whatever works for you" kind of way, she'd rather do things others want to do instead of adding in her own suggestions -Has no real friends, her first ever plushie she made (Bridget, the cat plushie) is her best friend -Self sacrificial, if it benefits someone else she'll do it regardless of how uncomfy she is, she doesn't realize this isn't healthy behavior tho and simply calls it "my way of being kind" -gets anxious when people ask her about herself cause she isn't sure how to respond

#ask kai #lead hearts #this took much longer to write than i thought it would

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fizzingwizard · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure: Ep 19!

Wow! That certainly was an Episode!! It was pretty fun from start to finish, though nothing mind-blowing, but it was definitely the ending that made me gasp. Not wholly unexpected to an old turnip like me, but promising lots of fun (and angst!).

Picture of the week: MIKO, THE TRUE STAR OF THE SERIES!!

no for serious are the writers reading my reviews? they keep giving me what I want. within reason I guess. They seem to have an extremely limited budget as usual x’D

but Miko is still adorbs

ok I’m really looking forward to recapping this one so let’s get to it!

So last week I thought the kids sans Taichi and Yamato were abducted by Devimon, but apparently that either isn’t the case, or it was, but then Devimon decided it’s best just to dump the kids back on Earth and hold on to their partners. Because that’s the current situation. While concerning that the kids are separated from their partners, it’s probably best this way, since Devimon appears to be sending Gesomon(?) and Parrotmon(?)

to the human world, if I remember right. It’s hard to remember what happened in the first fifteen seconds kay So when the kids find their partners it will probably be in the human world and they can fight back.

Meanwhile Taichi and Yamato are alone and very Confuse

Taichi tries frantically to contact Koushirou. The others too... but especially Koushirou.

Finally he gets him!! He’s so happy!! My Taishiro heart flutters!

But I was fully expecting it to be a trap. When I saw this still here, my first thought was “Devimon’s forcing him to tell Taichi a lie by threatening him with a gun!!”

of course thats not whats happening. Koushirou is relatively fine and there are no guns (yet). What’s happened is the other kids have been sent back to the human world for reals this time!

This show is not even bothering to hide its Taiyama angle.

They spend the entire episode giving each other Significant Looks like this. The entire episode.

Now where’s Jou through all of this, you ask?

He went to talk to the police. He’s shocked they don’t believe his story about monster attacks and the world ending (well, at least Tokyo ending). I freaking love how taaaaall Jou is. Though it makes Koushirou look like a bean x’D

Jou = beansprout / Koushirou = bean

Koushirou has a much easier time dealing with the news that the police don’t believe them. He’s a denizen of the Internet. He knows how people’s minds work. And he has tons of chat logs to prove it.

People are chatting and spreading gossip and disbelief and complaints, but my favorite is the comment that just says “It’s a flood of fake news” xP

The home team runs into Mama Yagami! Who Sora literally calls Mama Yagami! x’D I mean I know that’s how kids generally refer to their friends’ parents but I still lol’d.

So un... Jou is almost as tall as Mama Yagami. LMAO. I’m gonna assume she’s short. Jou might indeed be quite tall for his age but Sora and Mimi are pretty close to Mama Yagami’s height too. I guess we haven’t seen Taichi standing next to his mom yet! With his hair he’s probably taller than her.

So Mama Yagami is HILARIOUS and I’m so glad that’s a continuing thing in the reboot! She was already that way in 99 Adventure, but we’re just seeing a lot of it now - like every time she’s around. (And we didn’t see it in Tri so I missed that.) Basically she seems like a basketcase. Not a totally irresponsible one, more like just... generally the carefree go with the flow type. Which is not bad. She just also seems a bit, uh, ditzy?? I think Taichi probably grew to be so serious by necessity. Dad’s busy with work and someone’s gotta make sure mom doesn’t leave the house without her keys!

The way Sora just stares at Hikari like “explain??” after Mama Yagami thrusts Miko at her and runs off to get her car with a big smile as if they hadn’t all nearly died recently... bahahaha.

also I love how she doesn’t even bother asking her son’s good friend if she knows where he is after not seeing or hearing from him for three full days

^The face of a boy shouldering the weight of nuclear family life and all its batshitness

Taichi and Yamato determine their priority is find the Holy Digimon. I wish they were a little more concerned with what happened to their friends’ partners, but I guess this is the only goal with solid clues. Anyway before they can do anything they are attacked by Bulbmon Looks like subtitlers went with Valvemon which also works, who looks like a Lego monster creation by an eight year old (and probably is).

He has the Domo face. Grrraaah

Domo is NHK mascot by the way. bahahaha

Next these guys come swarming out of Valvemon. (And if we didn’t already get it, apparently Digimon can construct other Digimon as we’ve seen before.) Nothing is quite as freaky as gas masks. They are commanded by Minotaurmon/Mintaromon whatever.

They too have the aim of Stormtroopers though so our heroes will be fine...

... probably...

... then Leomon finally shows up!! Yay! He looks good! All beefy and scarred and sounding exactly like Zaraki Kenpachi. Uhh. Is it the same VA?? Nothing comes up in the Google search so maybe not but it sure sounds like him. (Minotaurmon and Ogremon also sound like Leomon... while it’s normal for VAs in kids shows to voice multiple characters esp minor ones, it literally sounds like Zaraki Kenpachi is the voice of all the characters in this episode besides the main ones. And Mama Yagami of course because that would be weird.)

Leomon may look cool, but his ride... and his friends... uh, less cool x’D I want to strangle that ostrich thing with its own scarf somehow it inspires violent emotion in me

In the smallest, most shocked voice, Yamato says, “Leomon...?” It’s honestly kind of adorable. He’s clearly remembering what Neemon said about Leomon leading the resistance way back when.

Leomon helps them escape. Taichi very considerately and cutely helps Agumon aboard the fashion disaster ostrich emu thing.

Yamato also considerately helps his partner but rather less cutely xD

Leomon takes them to his hideout and gives them your standard fare of weird-looking Digi fruit. He then proceeds to tell them about Devimon and that he is trying to infiltrate Valvemon yadda yadda.

Taichi is freaking ADORABLE, immediately concerned that by saving their asses, Leomon’s battle plans have been ruined. Leomon waves that aside though. Yamato is equally adorabibble when he asks after Neemon and gets told that they made it to Leomon safely.

Leomon plans to try to get into Valvemon again because he knows Devimon’s put something related to the holy Digimon in there. Taichi is determined to join in. He doesn’t have much of an argument as it why they should be allowed when they just got their butts kicked so easily, but he has a trick up his sleeve: the Burning Eyes of Fiery Passion.

Not to be outdone, Yamato shoots off his Icy Eyes of Cold Determination.

Faced with this twin assault, Leomon has to give in. Ahh, I remember last week when we saw the trailer for this ep and I naively thought Leomon would train them like Piximon did in 99 Adventure. Nope. They’ve just met and they’re already spy buddies.

Okay, okay, yeah Leomon does seem to have some knowledge of the “Chosen Children” and that’s his real motivation. Still.

They break into Valvemon and we get the excellent invention of Agumon riding on Garurumon. I assume because of Garurumon’s advantageous speed. That seems to be recurring thing in this show.

Idk I just capped this because he’s so darn cute

I don’t know why I capped this one though.

They enter some sort of central space where Leomon tells them something relevant to the holy Digimon is being kept. (Lol I already forgot the details of what he said.) There are two protectors, Minotaurmon and Bullmon. Leomon tells the kids to take Bullmon while he faces down Minotaurmon. These guys might have been somewhat intimidating if we hadn’t already got Perfect level evolutions mastered, not to mention the occasional Jogress :P Sooo I didn’t feel too worried.

... uh, never mind x’D Taichi what are you doing

Yamato saves his idiot butt and almost gets in a bind himself. Once again I’m just wondering why they are sticking at Adult level. Whatever. They win of course

Leomon uses his Fist of the Beast King to maim Minotaurmon. His brilliant one-liner? “I have more than one first.”

Bully: *punches you*

You: ow

Bully: *smirk* I have more than one fist.

You: That’s funny, I only have one, but it’s made of titanium *You punch the bully straight through the stratosphere* Quality over quantity!!!!

*cough*

Our heroes approach the secret compartment supposedly holding something to do with the holy Digimon... Yamato gets a look inside and gets the black shadow of true terror over his eyes

becaue floating inside like some kind of Weapon X experiment is... Takeru!!!

Hold on while I put in my ear plugs. Okay, ready, screech all you want now.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

So... okay. First of all, baby Takeru is sooooooo cute <3 I had two predictions about what happened to Takeru last week. Either he ended up in the digital world and was now on his own, or he got abducted by Devimon. I thought the former was more likely, but in hindsight, it should have been obvious that it was the second. This show misses a lot of points where I feel like they could have developed some relationships or thrown in some drama, but it never passes up a chance for Yamato angst.

So yeah, this is pretty much gonna destroy Yamato xD Not only is the baby brother he wanted to protect no longer at home where he can easily protect him, he’s now in the digital world and in the enemy’s clutches.

I BETTER SEE REALLY TRAUMATIZED YAMATO NEXT WEEK. Of course, I expect him to be cool-headed enough to try to save Takeru, but I will be very disappoint if this goes off with no break downs at all. Takeru is always Yamato’s number one priority!

Super exciteddddd

So I give this ep 7.5/10. The .5 is pretty much for ending with a killer cliffhanger. My one real complaint about this ep is how highly plot-based everything is - we finally got the team all together only to split them up, and on top of that, once split up, we don’t even get all that many character moments between Taichi and Yamato. As I said, they give each other lots of Signifcant Looks, but man cannot live on bread alone. However this is par for the course for this show and I know I should stop mentioning it every week because I doubt it’s changing. We will get the big shockers when we get them and not a moment before.

I just want Yamato to cry in front of Taichi and make him all uncomfortable x’D That’s what made 99 Adventure so great bahahaha

Some cool bits from next week’s trailer:

Surprise surprise, Angemon is the holy Digimon! Or one of, anyway. And he is indeed trapped. This makes the “Angemon is Devimon” theory less likely. Let’s not forget that our heroes’ Digimon partners were evidently a band of powerful warriors in the past, but they’ve forgotten much of it. I won’t be surprised if the result of that war played a part in Angemon’s abduction.

Next week they’ll have to fight to save Takeru from being drained, I guess.

And then!! Digi egg! Excite. Also I only just noticed that his hate says TK!!!

Takeruuu <3 My first fav when I was 10. Though my heart has belonged to Taichi for many long years, I still have a special spot in it for Takeru only <3 Even if he does dress like a celery stick

#digimon adventure 2020 #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure reboot #digi spoilers #digimon #fizz watches digimon 2020 #i made edits lets see if they save for once...

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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The Casagrandes Reviews: Operation Dad

In my first look at The Casagrandes, We meet Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s dad Arturo as Ronnie tries to get him to start working in the city to be closer to them.. and when a genuine honest appeal dosen’t work, shenanigans will have to do. Dad stuff under the cut.

This is one i’ve had in the works since my labor day catchup binge of shows, but kept getting pushed back either due to regular coverage or specifically timed things like the bi visalblity day review of “What Was Missing. And with Halloween next month, my time to cover this is running out a bit and I feel it’s a great place to start covering this show so, pitter patter. The Casagrandes didn’t really hook me in at first: It did have two things going for it: An intresting premise A blended family coming together, with our heroine and her big bro being fish out of water in a new family situation. Wheras with the Loud House Lincoln, and by extension most of his sisters, is used to how his house runs, knows the score and knows how to manuvre around it, Ronnie Anne was being dropped into a new situation, with people she KNEW, but only likely from seeing them breifly. It’s one thing to see your cousin once or twice a year, as I did with mine at that age, it’s another to live with them. It had a lot of potential. The other thing was Bobby Santiago, Ronnie Anne’s brother, and one of my faviorite characters across both shows, an endlessly nice guy who while suffering from a terminal case of dumbass, is utterly likeable, helped by his VA Carlos PenaVega, with the spinoff and i’ts build up only fleshing him out more by giving him his job at the Mercado, and showing he has serious buisness acumen in addition to his many other talents.

But what made me wary was the lead: Ronnie Anne didn’t get the best intro on the loud house. You know this, I know this. We all know this. No sense beating around the bush: She was a bully, who had a crush on lincoln and masked it by pummeling him. And this was seen as okay by the show which isn’t as suprising in hindsight as Chris Savino clearly has messed up views about women and harassment, and is thankfully no longer part of this. She did get slightly better once she actually showed up, getting genuine chemstiry with Lincoln and being shown underneath the bully exteriror was a pretty nice kid who shared his intress. Granted it wasn’t perfect as the show madei t clear he was terrified of her, but it did at least also make it clear he no longer had a reason to be, and while she’d prank her boyfriend, or assits his sister during her dark time once a year in doing it, and if your wondering if i’m ever going to watch or cover the april fools episodes .. yeah i’m just waiting you know.. for april fools.

My point is it was kinda mixed and their solution was to soften her up a bit but also act like she and LIncoln weren’t intrested in each other all of a sudden instead of you know, dealing with her past actions and having her make up for them. It was sloppy is what i’m saying and the character while not bad wasn’t in the best positoin to tkae the reigns of her own show. They did add some intresting depth with the move though, showing that Ronnie Anne and Bobby were often on their own, and that Maria moved them to the casagrande household simply because she felt her daughter would be happier NOT having to be the strong one or take care of herself all the time and actually have someone look out for her instead. It was a good emotional reason for hte move and both casagrandes showed up ocasoinally, mostly Bobbi whose still with Lori to this day as seen in the season 5 premiere. It was an okay foundatoin but it would depend on what they did with her character.. and i’m glad to say.. they made it work. The show still has rough edges, mostly having the same problem ducktales and the loud house itself had during season 1 of juggling such a large cast: Most of them outside of Ronnie Anen and Bobby have only gotten 1 episode, and even then CJ feels underutlized despite being amazing, while the adults outside the grandparents feel underutlized. Buuut the show is funny, intresting, has good pacing and unlike the loud house, having already learned that lesson, while Ronnie Anne does get more episodes than the rest of the family, it does feel more like an ensemble show and the focus on her feels less like the show not knowing what it has and more like easing the viewers into the rest of the cast by using her as a viewpoint. Ronnie herself is better, the bully aspects gone. She can still take care of herself, and is still fairly indpentent and clever, but she’s got a sharp sense of humor and a clear love of her family and the fish out of water aspect I hoped for, while not used a ton, still comes up in intresting ways. Overall i’d say the show is off to a good start.. and it has Melissa Joan Heart and Ken Jeong as a married couple and let’s Ken play a diffrent role for once: A dorky, kind dad instaed of any degree of lunatic. That being said given his character her’s last name is Chang, I can’t help but think this and community are in the same universe and that the Changs have just had to put up with whatever insane phase Senor Chang was going througha t the time every time he visted. I mean i’d love to hear Sid tell ronnie anne the time her uncle came over in a napoleon outfit and revaled he’d taken over his community college with the help of a bunch of children. But i’m getting off topic, I gots an episdoe to cover and out of the ones I watched this felt both like a great re-introduction into the cast and was easily one fo the best with a great emotional core and great jokes and LOTS to dig into. So i’ve jawjacked enough, pitter pater. Again!

It’s with this episode we properly meet Arturo Santiago, Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s father, Maria’s ex, and owner of one hell of a beard. Ronnie mentioned him back in friended aka the pilot because fuck that airing structure but not the time or place for that moving on.

We see he video chats his daughter once a day, though today she made hte mistake of doing so on a crowded subway while with her best friend and future wife Sid. NOW we can talk about Sid. Sid was introduced in Friended! over on the loud houd house as part of that mini arc I keep yelling about and will again and again. Sid is Ronnie Anne’s clyde: A best friend whose there as her sidekick, emotoinal support and resident goofus, being a bit of a weirdo and given i’m a giant ass weirdo, you can see why I like her/want to keep her safe from the nightmare that is at last half this fandom. Plus she and ronnie anne are adorable together and have more chemstiry than she and lincoln did.. thoguh the two do have OT3 energy together in his one episode, but that’s for another time.

Anyways as Sid helps her rangle wifi by them by doing the mecha shiva we soon find out Arturo is coming home! Home lord he’s been off in Peru for too longggg. Point is Ronnie Anne is excited, Bobby is excited, everyone’s excited except for Hector who hates him.. and honestly I can see why the contrast. For everyone else, Arturo is a charming, friendly guy who genuinely loves his kids and only is away from them because he has a lot of important work to do and even with that is still an active part of their lives. Buuuut Hector likely sees it diffrently and is likely homing in more on the fact Arturo is barely there in person for his kids and left Maria to do all the raising them by herself, with her own demanding job. It’s not a black and white situation is what i’m saying and.. I genuinely love that. It’s a complex thing to deal with: A parent who isn’t there for his kids but it’s hard to say if he’s being selfish or not. He’s not david from roseanne doing this so he can feel good about not wanting to deal with being a father or the death of his brother, Arturo genuinely just wants to help those who need him, even if he has to sacrifice a lot to do it. Ronnie Anne naturally wants him to move here though and convince him during his visit, and her plan nicely shows off the duality of her charcter: She’s clever and can easily think things through, as his originzation has it’s home office in Great Lakes City so he could still help those in need, just more from the organizational end, as well as i’m assuming GLC’s own homeless and needy. But she also has an 11 year olds understading of complex issues and thus thinks the easiest way to convince him is to take him on a fun daddy daughter day that will make him love the city. Bobby is less optimistic about the plan though.. and that’s because he’s been through this with Arturo already. Granted his job for him was at weenier on a stick because it’s bobby, the boy is a peach of a human being but has the plkanning skills and common sense of a basset hound on qualudes. He just sugest she enjoy the time. And this says a lot about BOBBY too: He’s used to his dad being out of his life, he’s probably been gone for most of it and while he loves him, he’s had ot get used to the fact he’s probably never going to be regularly in his life and while he understands why his sister’s trying this he wants to spare her the pain he went through. It’s interactions like this that to me show the series at it’s best and what it could be: deeper character interactions that really let the characters and voice cast shine, that still mix well with the usual nonsense. Arturo arrives and everyone loves him.. and again it’s easy to see why: he’s kind, friendly and to the kids, he’s their cool uncle who lives in another country and as someone with one of those, It does feel neat. Hell he was my cool uncle when he just lived in chicago or seattle, but somehow he had to top those by moving to fricking ireland. So I get where they come from and really relate to it.. I mean I met mine in high school, my family tree is complicated, but still. So while everyone but Hector is happily remeetinmg their uncle Maria shows up. And it’s awkward, the two not knowing how to greet each other, but it’s very obvious Maria and Arturo are on good terms, it’s just hard when theres so much history there. Speaking of Maria let’s talk about her since this is one of her only scene’s this episode. Maria is one of my faviorites. She isn’t used a ton, but this is more excusable than it is with the Casagrande parents, as the whole point of Maria uprooting her kids to Great Lakes City was to give them company and someone to take care of them while Maria worked the long and varied hours of being a nurse. She’s a good parent, who just picked a rough career, and made the hard decision to uproot her kids, not for her sake, as it can’t be easy living with both your elderly parents, your sister and her husband not to mention 5 kids, a giant adorable pupper and an obnoxious parrot, but so they’d be happy.. which given Ronnie Anne went from having no friends and largely having to be the rock in the house, to having a sizeable friend group plus her cousins, as well as generally being happy while Bobby went from bouncing from job to job to running the family buisness and planning to expand it when he gets older. She’s a good gentle person who still makes time for her kids, and I wish we saw more of her with her spotlight episode, which was about Ronnie Anne trying to spend more time with her, being one of my faviorites so far. I also like the fact that for once in a cartoon a parent with a time sink of a career isn’t demonized for trying to put food on the table and rather than just quit or have a mean boss or the usual cliches, Maria just found a way her kids wouldn’t be alone. She’s awesome. Ronnie Anne first tries showing him how great the city is with home cooking and a warm bed, but the first while nice is something he still gets, and the latter in a nice touch is just.. too soft for him. Ronnie meant well, but understadably he’s just not used to it and makes a cot under the stars instead.. he’s not trying to be ungreatful, he’s just sued to it.

Anyways Ronnie indeed takes him on a montage, with some cab headbonks beacause why use an uber that’s cheeper and safer huh? Anyways our father and daughter do have a montage, and hector gets beaten up by a luchadore because this promotion apparently dosen’t get not to attack the crowd. They really need to stop booking that guy.

Ending on our article image, which is really sweet and a real beautiful shot, Ronnie Anne finally gets to her Ronnie Plan. First Arturo cycles through two diffrent assumptions about what she’s asking him about. He first thinks she’s about to tell him about a special boy or girl in his life, his exact words. He backspaces to include that. She says no which.. I guess okay you have other things in mind but you can’t put off him meeting Sid forever. That aside I do think it’s a good indication Ronnie Anne might be bi, and both her parents just easily accepted it which is great. I could be reading too much into this, and I probably am, but I’ve thought I was before on nickeodeon and look how legend of korra ended.

The next is just hilarious as Arturo tries to let her down gently that he’s not getting back with maria which Ronnie Anne agrees with and was not remotely her point, but I do like as it shows their well and truly done, and it’s nice to see that sort of dynamic with a divorced couple in fiction where it’s not because of lingering sexual tension or anything, just that their apart but have kids to think about and presumibly the split was amicable if again still awkward. Finally Ronnie asks him.. but he gently refuses, since the people he helped need him as much as he wants to stay.. but part of what makes Arturo likeable, especially since he’s in the REALLY throny situation of not being in his kid’s lives in person despite having the opprountiy now, is that he genuinely tries to compromoise, saying he’ll try to up the calls to two a day, and he’ll visit more often. Ronnie Anne sadly and half heartdly says it’s fine and walks off. So Ronnie Anne vents to that girlfriend she apparently dosen’t have that he cares more about her patients than him and Sid sidgests that part of that is simple: He dosen’t feel she and bobby need him since, as I pointed out earlier, their doing better than ever. So Ronnie Anne intitates a second Ronnie Plan: to convince him she’s a troubled youth and get him to stay and reasssmbles her cousins to help. Before we move onto this plan that’s totally a good idea and not a borderline Zach Morris evil scheme, let’s talk about those cousins real quick. Quick fire: CJ is really great, a sweet kid and I wish they’d use him more and generally do nto get why they don’t, Carlota is fine but not all that defined at this point but Alexa PenaVega tries.. and why yes it is kinda weird Carlos PenaVega’s wife and the former star of spy kids is playing his sister. And Carl.. I don’t likes him. I just don’t. He did give me a really good episode, which we’ll be covering next month, but he’s just a little asshole with out the charm of fellow little asshole Louie Duck, who alsos cams people but actually gets consqeunces more often.

That quickfire done Carl does a forgery which depsite me being eh on him, clearly, is a funny bit, to make Ronnie Anne look like she’s failing, but that fails as you’d expect when he can help her with that from Peru. So it’s on to the actual plan: Which really boils down to this.

I mean.. that’s essentially the plan convince him she’s running with a dangerous crowd and is breaking bad, dressing up in punk clothes and making a scene at breakfast. She also gets a really neat new haircut, similar to luna’s but spiky which.. why isn’t this her normal hair? and why dosen’t she at least keep the cool leather jacket? I always get annoyed when a character’s temporary costume change is even better than their default design and htey fail to realize it but whatever. IT starts to work a little but clearly a breakfast tauntrum won’t be enough so Ronnie Anne enlists Sid.. who is frightend,d osen’t recognize her and dosen’t want to get shoved into a locker. .. who hurt you.. tell me.. I have a box to deliver. Just let me pop a quick H on there real quick.

Anyways, once Sid realizes “Oh that’s not a bully come to shove me in a locker that’s just my girlfriend in the middle of a zack morris grade elabroate manipulative scheme”, which happens once a week their fine, she comes up with one last plan: Have her friends, who are neat but need more filling out, dress up like punks bullying her friend sameer. This plan.. makes no sense. For one she was already a bully back home.. granted it was because she liked the kid, which no just no, but it’s heavily implied she did the same to the rest of the lincrew too. .which aside from Rusty isn’t a good look. I mean his face is punchable and he mocked hte idea of them being together despite next season hitting on Lincoln’s sisters, there’s a 1:1 chance he hit on her and she shoved him in a locker as is the natural response to anyone getting asked out by that goober. No matter how hard the show tries to pretend that didn’t happen it did. If her bullying kids didn’t get him to move home back in royal woods it won’t work now.

So they had behind the fish market for their plan, Arturo is directed there.. and sees through it. I mean she’s probably sent him pictures of her friends, he knows who they are and no amount of costumes is going to fix that. I mean you really only changed Nikki’s hair. Why not just have a dance fight. i’m legitly asking dance fights are rad and this reminds me of the venture bros episode where hank, to impress his date, has billy and white pretend to be a street gang to impress his date. Just do that for sid instead of trying to gaslight your dad into staying. But no while he pulls her into the car, Arturo knows this was a stunt and asks why. When Ronnie Anne tearfully reveals she just wanted him to stay.. he hugs his child.. and agrees. He realizes that if she’s willing to go to these lengths to get him to stay, she must REALLY miss her papa. So he plans to call the office to transfer. But then while helping her dad unpack, Ronnie Anne finds something and we get another emotional scene: Ronnie Anne finds the letters he got from the various kids he’s helped, and is moved to tears. Props to Izabella Alvarez for her performance here as she reads the letter and realizes just what her dad’s work does ,and why it means so much to him. He truly helps those who need it and she decides she can’t take that awy from it: Sure her dad won’t be around.. but other kids need her dad more. She has a big family, she misses her dad.. but she can live without her dad. They need a doctor.

So Arutro heads out with a tearful goodbye and Ronnie Anne leaves him a scrapbook of their time together. We then cut to the Santiago sibs playing cards, and being sad about their dad and all that.. when Arturo calls.. and then shows up in person. He took the Headquarters job after all, though a close friend of his we met earlier in the episode but I ddin’t mention will be taking over in Peru, and from earlier clearly wanted to get back out in the field, so it all works out. And it’s a nice character moment; Arturo realizes while his work is important, and as mentioned he does make sure a compient replacment will continue it.. his family can be too and it’s okay to think of himself and them for once. As I said he’ll still be able to help just in a diffrent way and there are probably needy kids who need him here too, if not in the same ways obviously as a doctors without borders type project. So eveyrone shares a group hug and even Hector bursts into tears. And Maria comes in wondering what she missed whiel Sergio asks who wants to tell her. oh sergio.. why didn’t you stay away when you ran away in a future episode. Final Thoughts: Not much more to say. It’s a well done episode with high emotinal stakes, great acting and some great jokes I didn’t get to, and while the plot of “Make absent parent stay by pretending things are bad’ isn’t new, it’s done well enough here. Overall just a really good episode that shows what this show can do and why it’s unique family setup makes for intresting stories a lot of shows can’t tell, and validates this spinoffs existnace. The episode also really fleshes out Ronnie Anne’s character, and givne Arutro’s been gone since the divorce if not longer, it’s resonable to supsect her earlier bullying might have been lashing out at her parents divorce. It’s just good stuff. Keep an eye peeeld to this blog for my regular loud house and ducktales coverage , and some more casagrandes this october. ANd until then, Go Team Venture!

#the casagrandes #ronnie anne santiago #arturo santiago #bobby santiago #maria santiago #sid chang #cj casagrande #carl casagrande #carlota casagrande #the loud house #reviews #animation

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mountphoenixrp · 4 years

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We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

Melody Park, who is known by no other name, a 34 year old daughter of Horus. She is a professor and freelance private investigator.

DEFINING FEATURES: Melody looks slim and unassuming but, underneath her poised and perfect exterior she is incredibly strong with defined muscles. She has miscellaneous scars littered along her body from her work in the FBI. The most prominent being a clean but long scar along the length of her abdomen from her sternum to just before her hips from a surgery she received when she was 25. Her only tattoo is on her left collarbone, written in perfect calligraphy is one word; Fighter. When using her powers her left eye becomes a dark grey and her right eye a deep amber gold color.

PERSONALITY: Melody spent the entirety of her twenties as an FBI Agent and university student. With an IQ of 186, the ability to read up to 25,000 words per minute, and savant tendencies, she was a perfect recruit. This left her cold, distant, calculated, and bureaucratic on the outside. However, the one thing the grueling work as a government agent never took from her was her caring and loving nature. Her moral compass is strong and she fights for what she believes in, even if that means she puts herself in danger. Melody is very passionate and kind to those closest to her, once she gets close with others she opens up very quickly and shows her goofy and silly side. That is once she knows she can trust you. She has always exuded leadership qualities and people tended to look up to her a lot growing up so, she’s grown comfortable with being a sister/maternal figure for others. Her younger brother’s especially follow her every word and cling to every single one of her actions. This has lead her to quickly offer familial support and a place in her family to those who lack the love of a sister, aunt, or mother.

HISTORY: Park Minyoung, also known as Melody Park, was born in Buffalo, New York to Park Hejin or Virginia Park. A young girl in law school, doing her best with what life handed her. In this case it was a child - the child of a god no less. Virginia went on to finish law school with the help of her parents watching Melody whenever they could and her friends babysitting her while her mother was in class. Her mother passed the bar one month after Melody’s fifth birthday. Virginia was a good lawyer and an amazing mother, never failing at the perfect work/life balance. She worked hard as a single mother to give Melody the best life they could have. Virginia was apprehensive at first about allowing Horus time with Melody, always protective of her darling daughter. She was heartbroken in her own way but, she still knew it would good for them both for Horus to be in her life somehow.

Melody was I incredibly smart and well liked as a child, being labeled a prodigy at age six due to her advanced intelligence. Despite being pushed into an advanced level and being years younger than her peers constantly, they still gravitated towards her and followed her. She always ended up having an army of older kids that were very protective of her. After Horus taught her how to use her powers, it was a struggle not to use them all the time. What kid doesn’t dream of soaring through the sky, flying with birds and feeling the wind in their hair? Add on top of that he constant need of approval from the older kids she was always surrounded with, it was hard for her not to show off to gain some points with those who didn’t automatically like her. She mastered the art of flying pretty quickly, nothing felt better to her than the rush of wind through her hair and cold air on her skin.

Life was pretty easy for Melody growing up outside of school and the expectations of her teachers. Her mother didn’t date so, it was just the two of them in their cozy home in Buffalo. Melody ran track, was captain of the swim team, and even tried her hand at soccer. If she hand’t been so young in high school, she’d have been the one all the other kids wanted to be. She wasn’t popular by any means, especially in high school. Teachers used to use her as “motivation” for the other kids, constantly comparing 16 and 17 year olds to a 12 year old can have it’s negative effects on her social circle. She compensated for their quiet disdain of her by being the kindest, sweetest, and nicest person at school. She gained even more favor from teachers and less from peers as she made a point to volunteer whenever she could. The work she did was usually for younger, under privileged kids that had much harder lives than her. Being stuck as the youngest in every group thanks to her advanced schooling lead her wanting younger siblings more than anything, so she worked as a big sister when she could.

After graduating high school at 13 years old, she was quickly offered scholarships all over the country, to every prestigious school and Ivy League university. Melody eventually settled on Columbia as it was closest to home and she could live with her aunt while she attended. It was around this time after she left for university that her mother met and fell in love with a man named Jordan Masters. He worked as a defense attorney who also worked in Buffalo, he was known for representing those wrongly convicted and kids being tried as adults. Melody was unsure of him at first, quickly becoming protective of her mother as this was the first time she’d dated anyone since she was born. It didn’t take long though, for Melody to warm up to the man, they became fast friends. Jordan never tried to replace Horus but, he did his best to support Melody and support her and love her as his own.

This friendship between herself and her stepfather helped her discover what she wanted to do at university. Her first year she’d just been working on core classes and flying through the basic program. She knew there was no way she was putting herself through he struggle of law school like her mother so, she settled on Criminology and Psychology. Choosing to work towards a career in catching the right perpetrators and keeping innocent people out of prison. With her advanced intelligence she graduated with a PHD in both fields by the age of 22 almost 23 years old. What she didn’t know is that for her last two years before graduating, she was being watching by some of the top government agencies in the United States.

When Melody was 17, her mother gave birth to twin boys! Suddenly her one wish came true, she had younger brothers and she couldn’t have been more excited. Those little boys are her world and she loves them more than anything.

At the time of her graduation, Melody had been thinking of applying to the FBI academy and she didn’t have to think about it very long before a recruiter was at her door offering her a place in the training program. Her mother and step father were worried about Melody going into a potentially dangerous field of work but, Melody knew she was perfectly capable. She was told she was one of the youngest recruits in years but, she didn’t let it go to her head. That had been her title among peers since she started school, always the youngest to do this and the youngest to do that. Melody could not lie, the academy was hard but, it toughened her up and she learned that it was easy for people to underestimate her due to her appearance and intelligence. She didn’t look threatening or intimidating but, she could take down someone triple her size in less than 20 seconds.

She flew through her training and was instated as a probationary agent after only two years at the academy. Melody was recognized as a star recruit and was quickly placed where her quick thinking and easily underestimated appearance could be used to her advantage.

From the age of 25 to 34 years old, Melody worked for a team that specialized in undercover and international cases. She was worried about it at first but she was surprisingly good at it. Annoyingly good at it actually. In fact, she was almost too good at being under deep cover for long periods of time. Her team was investigating two large, private security firms that worked with the secret service, suspected of disorderly conduct as well as drug and human trafficking. Melody worked undercover at one of the firms for almost a year investigating them from the inside but, this is when things got messy.

Love is already complicated enough if you don’t add on top of it the threat of national security. It was cliché and she knew it, an undercover agent falling in love with someone they were charged with investigating. There was just something about her that made her forget everything she was taught and every order she was ever given. She fell head over heels for her and she also fell for Melody. Sadly, love can make you blind and foolish… Melody falling for her suspect was against every regulation in the book and it was made worse by the fact that it was discovered she was the one running the entire operation she was meant to be investigating and bringing to justice.

When her lover discovered she was a federal agent, she was out for vengeance and blood. Seeing Melody’s cover and emotional connection to her as the ultimate betrayal of their love. She ordered Melody to be killed but, the agency pulled her from the investigation before the murder attempt could be carried out. If her team members hadn’t rescued her when they hey did, she may have had to expose her divine powers to the organization as well, using her wings to escape. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that however, Melody is now in hiding from the woman she loves… Loved.

The agency wanted to put her in witness protection, to keep her and her family safe. She made sure her mother’s family was safe before she reached out to Horus for help, she didn’t want to be moved all over the US to hide from her mistakes. Horus told her of a place only demigods and gods could go to, an island off the coast of Korea. Her life of crime fighting had ground to a halt all because she fell for the wrong woman. Melody left her family in the protection of her team and the agency she was loyal to for almost a decade, knowing they couldn’t be touched as no one outside of her team knew her family.

Thus begins the new story of Melody Park, running for her life to a city where she will hopefully be untouched by her past mistakes.

PANTHEON: Egyptian CHILD OF: Horus POWERS: Natural leaders; air manipulation, falcon wing manifestation and flight (only for short periods of time, flight drains their energy quickly). STRENGTHS: Brave, Driven, Humble, Intelligent, Poised WEAKNESSES: Stubborn, Cynical, Over-Critical, Stoic, Perfectionist

#kpop rp #krp #kdrama #park minyoung #mp; welcome

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iamthinkinglegos · 5 years

Text

It’s ya boy: Kilroy.

Photo credit: Luis Rubio from Alexandria, VA, USA - Kilroy was here, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3558598

As you can see, Kilroy has visited the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. This iconic drawing answers many questions about itself. Who made this? Kilroy did. Why did he make this? To leave a record of where he was. Where has this fella been? More like, where hasn’t he been? Have you seen the places this graffiti shows up?

But there remain two questions that are not answered by the typical depiction of Kilroy: where did he come from, and where did he go and what was his rhetorical function? Well, I may be the only one asking that latter one, but I digress.

Kilroy: Origins

Kilroy, as we understand him today, came about during the second world war. His exact origins are unknown, but he has an intellectual lineage that can be traced back to 1938 or 1941, depending on which origin story you like more.

The first of his intellectual progenitors is known as Mr. Chad, or just Chad. Chad is a figure whose origins are as shrouded as Kilroy’s. Just like Kilroy, he is a bald (or mostly bald) man peeking over a wall with an abnormally long nose.

Mr. Chad with a version of his catchphrase and a single hair. [source]

There are two prevalent theories on how Chad came into being. The first of them involves a British cartoonist named George Edward Chatterton. Supposedly, Chatterton drew the original back in 1938, and his nickname “Chat” went on to become the name of the drawing “Chad”. [source]

Another story claims that Chad was spawned around the year of 1941 by a lecturer in a school in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. While illustrating the affect of a capacitor in a circuit, the phrase “wot, no electrons” was added to a portion of the drawing that resembled a face.

[source]

There are other variations on that story, featuring electricians and/or military engineers adding “wot, no ___?” to illustrations like the one above. Unfortunately, none of these stories (at least in my mind) really explains why Chad became used widely amongst the military, especially when one considers that shortages and rationing (the things Chad typically complained about) would have affected civilians approximately as much as it did the military.

Regardless of where it came from, this simple design would go on to become Kilroy’s body. The accompanying phrase, however, is even more difficult to pin down. This is due mostly to the fact that “___ was here” is an extremely generic phrase to find graffitied. . . well anywhere really. Fortunately, there is a probable origin of the phrase! In December of 1946, the New York Times attempted to get to the bottom of the phrase’s origin. After holding an event to determine who came up with Kilroy, they landed on James J. Kilroy, a welding inspector who worked in the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. Welding inspectors used a small chalk mark to approve a piece of work. But, that was easily erased by welders so they might be paid twice for their work. Purportedly, Mr. Kilroy decided to mark his inspections with the phrase “Kilroy was here” with a material that was more difficult to erase. This lead to the phrase being discovered in sealed spaces on ships, the kind of spaces that no one had been before. That lead to a competition among US airmen to reach obscure and otherwise out-of-the-way locations before Kilroy could. [source]

Another theory involves a Sergeant Francis J. Kilroy Jr. In this story, Sgt. Francis wrote “Kilroy will be here next week” on a barracks builtin board, to inform his fellows of his imminent return after a run in with the flu. This prompted the phrase to be picked up and spread by other US airmen. [source]

The common nature of the phrase “Kilroy was here” combined with the easily recreated drawing known as “Mr. Chad” and gave birth to a graffiti phenomenon that lasted for decades.

Now before I move on I want to give an honorable mention to Australia’s “Foo was here”. Foo was a graffiti character in much the same vein as Chad and Kilroy. He was also a head that tended to peek over walls, though his nose was of a much more reasonable size. Foo was accompanied by the phrase “Foo was here”. Unlike Kilroy and Chad, Foo dates all the way back to the first world war, and was a creation that followed the First Australian Imperial Force. Foo evolved over the years and by the time WWII came around he was depicted as a gremlin or a devil often within (or having escaped from) a cage. It is also worth noting that unlike the previous stories, there is nothing that can directly tie Foo to Kilroy or Chad. [source]

Kilroy: Functions

Kilroy had many functions over the years. He let military servicemen know where their comrades had been before. Hiding his visage in the most obscure of locations must have been a humorous pastime for some people. But the function of Kilroy that I wish to discuss is his use as a panopticon.

First things first though. What the hell is a panopticon? Without getting too far into it, the concept of a panopticon is this: an object, person, or event that instills in its viewer a sense of being watched, typically in such a way that they mediate or otherwise alter their own actions. A simple example would be a teacher when their students are taking a test. The mere presence of a teacher may be enough to prevent people from attempting to cheat. The implication of authority is also important to panopticons, if you know your best friend is watching you, you likely wouldn’t alter your behavior too much, if at all; if you know a police officer is watching you, you may be less inclined to smoke weed, go over the speed limit, or even jaywalk. If you wish to go a bit more in depth on panopticons you may do so here.

Allow me to start this part by saying that not every Kilroy is a panopticon. Even the ones that are, aren’t to every viewer. Simply put, the groups that spread Kilroy’s image need never worry that the he is watching them. To a certain extent, anyone who draws Kilroy is Kilroy. And since the people who drew him are English speaking (mostly US) military servicemen, and the citizenry they serve, anyone outside of those groups observing Kilroy may see the watchful eyes of the US staring at them.

To share an example of dubious authenticity, picture yourself in the year of 1945. Germany has surrendered and you and the Allied leaders, Churchill and Truman, are going to decide the fate of Germany (after the Krauts started and lost their second world war). As you may have already guessed, you are Stalin: the leader of the Russian people and a ruthless dictator. You have arrived in Potsdam, and are ready to discuss terms with your allies. Upon arriving, you are given a brief tour of the facilities from which you will negotiate. Your guide finally arrives at the grand VIP bathroom, an opulent room befitting one of your status. The guide encourages you to go in without him, for even he is not allowed inside. You take a moment to relieve yourself; the journey here was a long one. You return to the guide and complete the tour. Hours pass. You have completed the first round of talks with your allies, and all the water you drank to sooth your parched throat has come back to haunt you. You return to the bathroom you visited previously in the day, and use the exact same toilet you used last time. As the tight squeeze on your bladder lifts, you notice something that wasn’t there before. A small man with a large nose is peeking at you from over a wall, with the English phrase “Kilroy was here” written next to him. Your knowledge of the English language is limited, but you know enough to say with certainty that an English speaking individual named Kilroy had been in your VIP bathroom. Fury clouds your mind as you somehow manage to keep everything in the toilet bowl. If Kilroy had been here, where only you and the two other VIPs were allowed, where else could this man have been? What else could he have seen? As you leave the bathroom, you use the time spent washing your hands to calm your mind. Perhaps this was someone your aides know about. You return to the conference room, where the translator for the English speakers still resides. Your presence brings your aides to full attention, and you ask them (in Russian) “Who is Kilroy?”. [source, take it with a grain of salt] [also, here is a source that says Stalin had a decent grasp on the English language]

That dramatization of events that may or may not have happened illustrates Kilroy’s use as a panopticon. Once Stalin got context on who Kilroy was, he may have concluded that his actions at Potsdam had more spectators than he anticipated. Which may have then lead him to acting differently than he would have otherwise. Even if it didn’t happen, the fact that it is a story that was told speaks to how others could see his use as a panopticon.

Another story that is even less likely to be true is one involving Hitler. Allegedly German soldiers had found the phrase “Kilroy was here” written on captured US equipment. Hitler, in his infinite paranoia, decided that it could be the name of an American spy. [”source”]

Whether or not either of these stories are true they illustrate how Kilroy is capable of operating as a panopticon.

In conclusion:

We came into this asking hard questions, that kind that couldn’t be answered just by looking at the average depiction of Kilroy. We learned that this iconic piece of American history (probably) came from distinctive British Graffiti, and an American welding inspector. We then briefly considered Foo, before promptly forgetting about him. We finished with Kilroy being more than just a humorous piece of graffiti, and instead saw him act as the eyes of authority: a panopticon. This simple drawing went on to become more than the sum of his parts, and has been immortalized not just on the WWII memorial in Washington D.C., but also in the hearts and souls of all those who carry on his legacy.

#kilroy was here #kilroy #wwii #second world war #til #today i learned

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kingdomheartsloversstuff · 6 years

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How a World Between Worlds is an Insult to Kanan and Ahsoka

Since two whole people wanted to see this I feel validated to write what will surely become a monstrosity but one I feel I need to write to help me process all of my feelings about this episode and Rebels end in general since my ignoring is not helping at all and I realize will never help. Also putting this under a read more because this is basically a 1400 word rant.

To start with I have a lot of issues with the second half of season rebels but this is going to solely focus on Kanan’s death and how poorly A World Between Worlds was handled.

There are many issues with Kanan’s death, especially in terms of what Filoni told us, how no one predicted how Rebels will end. Well let me tell you Mr. Filoni, everyone was DEMANDING Kanan die so either you are very ignorant of what fans were saying or you blatantly lied to all of us. Neither option sounds particularly good to me honestly.

Furthermore (to me at least) Kanan’s death scene was painfully forced, why did Kanan have Hera take him to the fuel Depot? Why did Kanan make so many stops and moved so slowly while rescuing Hera? Why not hold their position and wait for Sabine and Ezra to reach them since it was a lot closer than the fuel depot. Also how on Earth did the Empire even figure out that’s where Kanan and Hera were even heading in the first place? The short answer, Filoni simply wanted Kanan dead and did whatever it took to kill him, regardless if it made any sense story wise.

Some people may argue Kanan needed to die for various reason whether it be because FPJ’s health got in the way or to explain why he never appeared in the OT. If Filoni really wanted Kanan to be alive and out of the picture he could have easily made it happen, even with FPJ’s health. Season 4 was Rebels finale season, any new media for it will be in comics or books so FPJ wouldn’t need to voice Kanan anymore and he did need to appear in a TV they could get a new VA. It happens all the time. Furthermore, one way they could have handled this would be to have them still go to the depot but have Ezra try and pull Kanan away from the fuel tank with the force after the shuttle was pushed away and just have him be badly injured and slip into a coma he doesn’t wake up from through the end of the war. This would keep Kanan out of the picture but with still hope of him eventually waking up and getting the happy end he honestly deserves.

Another option would be for Ezra later on in A world between world’s be tempted to yank Kanan out but instead from his side to force push Kanan out of danger and to safety. Or even to just pull him and to safety and have him stay with Ahsoka after he pushed the shuttle away with Ezra helping hold back the flames to protect him. There are probably dozens of other ways people have written saving Kanan even better but those are just a couple ideas I came up with off the top of my head.

At the end of the day though, that wasn’t the part that made me angriest about Kanan’s death, what really pissed me off was how Filoni wrote a World Between Worlds. Bringing back Ahsoka and then having HER turn around and say Ezra could not save his master is wrong on so many levels. First off, it has Ahsoka ignoring how Ezra saved her life in the same way she is demanding Ezra not. Coming from the woman who was shown regularly to not want to give up on people, who wants to try and do her best to save as many people as possible. How could a woman like that just tell Ezra to just give up and let Kanan die? Once again the answer seems to be Filoni wanted Kanan dead and Ahsoka alive because he felt Ahsoka was far more important and worthy of living and Kanan was not. Filoni in an interview said that somehow Kanan was projecting his feelings of guilt about Ahsoka and Kanan wanted to fix that by bringing her back to life…even though he couldn’t have possibly known about what the Jedi Temple held? How could he have known that? (I’ll give you three guess’s first two don’t count). Once again this doesn’t make sense. Yoda told them to go to Malachor, she knew the risks and accepted them when she went with and stayed behind to fight Vader. She stayed behind because she refused to give up and abandon her master again yet we are supposed to believe seconds after that she would up and abandon Kanan a friend and good person? Your favoritism is showing Filoni, everyone can see it even if you pretend it’s not a thing.

Outside of this being an absolute insult to Ahsoka ’s character, it’s also poor writing and an insult to the fans and their feelings. By bringing Ahsoka back and in the very same episode because she’s so important and deserving of it and then turning around and saying Kanan cannot live and has to die for reasons manufactured for plot in terrible and downright cruel writing. It comes across as Filoni only caring about Ahsoka and her happy ending and not caring at all about Kanan and even saying the universe demands Kanan die and Ahsoka live because Kanan does not deserve a happy ending unlike Ahsoka who does. I say this because however you look at it the force wanted Ezra to bring Ahsoka back, the force itself for some reason decide Ahsoka and only Ahsoka deserved to live because….reasons? Why the universe wants Ahsoka to live so badly outside of Filoni wanting it is beyond me but if anyone had any ideas I would love to hear them (and don’t say so she could find Ezra, Kanan could have done that as well so don’t even).

Though I want Kanan to live and be happy with every fiber of my being, if Kanan really had to die (say because FPJ REALLY wanted him to which I kind of doubt and if so am kind of mad at him if he did) there were ways of doing that without insulting Kanan and his fans so much and it would have been a painfully simple solution, have a World Between Worlds come before Kanan’s death. Now I know what you’re thinking, why? Didn’t Ezra need to learn about selfless sacrifice and letting go by having to watch Kanan die again so he would be willing to be taken away by the Purrgils? No.

For one thing, Ezra already learned that lesson during Legacy after discovering his parents died. Furthermore, Filoni could have made the same impact by tempting Ezra with saving Ahsoka but Kanan telling him not to (I know that’s mean but I am pissed and she’s Filoni’s favorite so unfortunately a lot of anger gets projected onto her I am so sorry Ahsoka ). Or you could still have Ezra save Ahsoka and tempt Ezra with saving his parents from dying in prison. Once again Ahsoka could keep him from saving them, claiming saving her was wrong and that he couldn’t do that again because it would quickly become a slippery slope or what made one person worthy of being saved from death over another. This would not only stay more true to Ahsoka ’s character, but it would make Ezra’s line about wishing he could see his parents again make more sense. And the scene with Palpatine would still happen and work because Ezra’s pain of Kanan’s death would still be fresh in his mind making the temptation just as strong again at the time he sees them in the Temple. Furthermore it would be less of an insult to Kanan because the temple would still be destroyed as in the episode making it not even an option when Kanan dies (something I still think in unnecessary but I want to show that there are even options to have Kanan die and it not be as uncaring and insulting).

I know I’m rambling and this post is getting super long but I have a lot of feelings just about this episode, not the mention the entirety of the second half of season 4. In the end, I firmly believe both Kanan and Ahsoka deserved so much better then what A World Between Worlds gave them. It blatantly refuses to let any Jedi besides Ahsoka have a happy ending and find peace, and it fundamentally insults who Ahsoka is.

I may piss off a lot of people who enjoyed that episode, but Filoni pissed me and a lot of other fans as well who deserve to have their opinions heard.

#SWR #Star Wars Rebels #Kanan Jarrus #Ezra Bridger #Ahsoka Tano

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fandomss-girl-genius · 6 years

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Tuesday-9th girl genius event week: Paris

@girlgeniusevents The longest one, Agatha accidentally destroys some of The Black Market in Paris. Oops. And, side note, how do you all do that thing where it cuts the page in half so you don’t waste everybody’s time?

Word count: 2,264

Warnings: a lot of fire, living things get burned

Agatha walked down the street, humming as she went. She was thinking about her latest clank, which had been acting up lately. The clank was shutting off randomly, and she couldn’t figure out why. Everything seemed to be fine, and the castle couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

“Agatha! There you are, I was looking for you,” shouted Krosp.

“Hey Krosp, I just needed a walk to clear my head.”

“Oh, that clank you were making? I’ve been looking at it, and I couldn’t find anything.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Agatha agreed,”I’ve been thinking, what if the problem wasn’t the clanks body, like we’ve thought, but it’s fuel source?”

“Oh, I see. What was the fuel?”

“Kerosene,” Agatha answered.

“Hmm. So are you thinking she sold you bad fuel?”

“I can’t be sure until I go back to the lab to test it, but that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“Ho! Misstres! I heff ben lookink for hyu!”

“Dimo! I was just going for a walk,” replied Agatha, “how have you been?”

“Vell,” he admitted, scratching his neck, “beink general isn’t ze most fun, I heff to stay beck und plan vile the odders do de fitink, but hy is goot!”

“Good,” said Agatha, “Dimo, it appears we may have to do a bit of fighting ourselves, would you like to come?”

“Ov courze!”

“Then let’s go back to my lab.” Agatha walked down the street, thinking. The lady could of just been ignorant, but she highly doubted that was the case. Madame Silvia was one of the most trusted suppliers of fuel in Paris, so it was much more likely she was being targeted.

“This is really weird,” muttered Agatha, “the fuel cans all have different amounts of contaminates.”

“What does that mean?” Asked Krosp.

“It means-“ said Agatha, brushing herself off and standing up “-That it was not Madame Silvia who sold us that Kerosene.”

“An Adventure! Hy thought that ve had been a leedle slow lately, ve iz due.”

Krosp grinned. “Let’s save Paris.”

Agatha, Krosp, and Dimo walked out of the door, and onto the street. Dimo was right, was a full 2 months after their last adventure (Agatha Heterodyne and the suspiciously large cookies, available for sale in your local bookstores!), she wondered what this one would be called. Agatha Heterodyne and the Kerosene incident? Agatha Heterodyne and the Abduction of Paris?

Here train of thought was broken by Dimo.

“Hey misstres, vere iz her shop again? I think ve iz lost.”

“Don’t worry, I know this part of the town well. We’re going in the right direction,” she reassured.

Krosp looked uncomfortable. “Hey Agatha, what do you think happened to Madame Silvia?” Even with The Master’s constant watch over the city, some things still escaped her. She was strong, but she was still learning.

“That’s what we’re about to find out. Someone no longer fears The Master.” Agatha had slowly deflated, she was worried. Crime in Paris of this scale was almost non-existent.

“Zo, vhat for iz thiz women killed? Did she have any enemies?” Dimo questioned.

“A lot of other fuel traders wanted her gone, she was the best in town. We should visit them first. Any one of them has a motive.” Everyone quieted at this point, and they entered The Black Market.

It was a sight to behold. It had to be rebuilt after a spark had unleashed a seismic replicator on most of Paris, all of the underground caverns had become unstable. Due to this, The Black Market had to be relocated as the caverns were being worked on.

In the night, the luminescent moss shimmered, giving The Market a soft glow. The shops were made from a thick black rock that seemed to absorb light around it. In the open air, the stars shimmered, and made the whole scene appear surreal.

“Madame Silvia’s store is in the fuel section,” Agatha said, pointing to the map. “The store we want is on the other side of the market, where they specialize in Spark technology.”

“Where are we now?” Asked Krosp.

“We came in the south entrance, so we’re in food and beverage. That’s right next to Spark technology.”

“Vhat are dose little black lines?”

“Those are the underground walkways. They take you through the market faster.”

Agatha tucked the map back in her pocket, and walked into the market. As she strolled down the street, she paused every now and then. She would have to get food when she had the chance.

The Gate to the next section loomed before them. The market had been divided into 7 sections, and large gates marked where they began and ended. As they walked into Spark technology, they veered to the right, and found the store they were looking for.

“M & Mme Caron. They were famous enemies of Madame Silvia, they may have done it. Remember, they’ll only know she’s dead if they somehow did it, so be on the lookout for strange behavior.”

Agatha pushed open the door, and a little bell rung. Mme Caron appeared, a short woman with black hair in intricate buns. Her husband appeared after, with a long blond beard.

“Hello mademoiselle! How may we help you?” Mme Caron chimed.

“We came here for fuel,” Agatha replied, “Kerosene.”

“Surely you would have gone to Madame Silvia’s first,” he said.

“Yes, but we found hers to be less than standard. We came here next.”

“Of course,” Mme Caron said. “Everyone knows our fuel is always acceptable.”

Dimo sniffed the air. There were more than 2 people behind that counter, he could smell it.

“Zo,” he said, “vhat sort ov tings do you heff behind the counter?”

“Mostly just scrap metal,” they answered nervously. They were hiding something, he could tell.

“I needs some ov dot. Do you mind if I gets it? The schuff I’m lookink for iz heavy.”

“Of course, pick anything you like! We are always open to pickups!” M. Caron replied. Dimo could smell him sweating.

As Dimo walked behind the counter, the smell became stronger. He carefully followed his nose to the pile in the back. There was someone hiding.

Agatha saw him, and engaged the Carons in chat. “It’s a shame about what happed to Madame Silvia.” She said. It would be better if they revealed that they had abducted her themselves, it would be easier to clean up.

“We have no idea what you’re talking about.” They refused to meet her eye, and Mme. Caron began to hastily reapply her makeup.

Dimo began digging through the pile. He began to see someone, and by their scent they had been heavily drugged.

“Haven’t you heard? Madame Silvia has gone missing. An imposter is running her shop, and gave me bad Kerosene.” The Carons backed to the door. They were planning to run.

“Hoy! I think hy found her!” Dimo was holding up a severely drugged Madame Silvia, unconscious. Turning to the Carons, he asked, “Vhat I vunt to know, iz vhy you abducted her. She vas just your competitor, vhy vould you do this?”

Mme. Caron smiled. “She was better than us. Our business was failing, so we captured her, and had a body double ruin her. We were going to return her after her business was destroyed, but you all tried to play the hero and rescue her.” At this she pulled out a gun. “But now, we have something better. The Lady of Mechanicsburg is worth much more than-“

At this she stopped. Krosp had snuck up behind them, and had a much larger, much more impressive gun.

“I don’t know who you tinks you iz, pulllink out a gun on Mizz Agatha here. Hyu bettah not even tink about pullink vun on me. Ve gots to be going. Ze Lady needz her fuel.” Dimo growled at the Carons, and left the store.

“Krosp, can you clean this mess up until The Master of Paris gets here? She won’t be long.”

“Of course. Make sure to take out that imposter in Madame Silvia’s store.”

“Don’t worry, we will.” And with that, Agatha left to follow Dimo.

“Zo, vere iz dis store? Ze Carons mentioned hyu being vorth more. Ve iz probably beink followed.”

“Yes, I thought that myself. That’s why we’re going to take the underground passages. If there’s a fight, It will be easier to contain.” They came up to a large entranceway, not unlike that of a subway. As they descended, the lights gave off warm, yellow light, keeping the passages at an even level. The tunnel was wide, large enough for 6 people to be laid on end.

It was strangely quiet. Dimo sniffed the air a few times, and could tell people were coming from behind. “Mizztres, vhat kinds of people iz you expecting?” He asked, worried.

“A small group. Enough to quickly surround us, no more than 10. Why?”

“There iz someting coming behind us,” he said, “und vhatever it is, its big. I can schmell 9 people, maybe 10, und ze heff lots ov poison. There iz also someting.. else. It iz fast, und hy dont tink I could take it down. Ve iz stuck.”

Agatha began removing all of her weapons, the poisons, explosives, and traps. She had been building small devises of destruction for a while, and she was fully armed. “Dimo, when they come around the corner, I need you to kill as many of the people attacking us as you can. Leave the monster to me.” She hid in a corner, ready to fight.

The fighters appeared. They appeared to have been highly trained, as Dimo could only kill 3 before they started to fight back.

Agatha spun around at the monster. It was easily 20 feet tall, and appeared humanoid. It had no teeth, but it’s gums were hard, and could probably snap her spine in half. The monster was deathly white, and you could see its veins beneath its flesh.

Agatha quickly realized regular weapons would do nothing. Grabbing a small explosive, she called to Dimo, who was fighting the last person.

“Dimo, we need to leave now! I’m going to blow the tunnel!”

“Hokay, hy iz coming!”

Agatha attached small mines across the support beams, and began to run.

We have 15 seconds before those blow!” They sprinted, just making it out before the first bomb exploded. The monster was not so lucky. Agatha and Dimo continued to Madame Silvia’s shop, with her in hand.

“The imposter will have been warned about us by now. We need to get them, see who they’re working for. We should run.” They flew down the street, and stopped at Madame Silvia’s.

They snuck into the shop. The Madame’s place always smelled like fuel. Everything had a layer of oil on it. Madame never would have let it get like this. The imposter stood at the counter, chatting on a small communication device.

“Yes,” They said, “I’ll keep my eyes open.” They hung up and set down the phone. With a start, they saw Dimo, and whipped out a gun.

“I have orders to shoot you on sight. The Lady Heterodyne is to come with me.” Dimo just glared at them and hit them on the head. They collapsed in a pile.

“Dot vos easy. Dis must be a trap.”

“No, I don’t think so. We caught them on the phone, they couldn’t have set anything up.” Suddenly, they could hear shouts on the street. Flinging open the door, they rushed outside, where a horrible sight awaited them. Several shops were in flames, and the monster from the tunnels was on a rampage.

“Hy knew dot zat monster vasn’t dead!”

Agatha quickly assessed the monster. The explosions had taken their toll on its hide. In some areas, the heat had reduced the once impenetrable barrier to a thin layer of molten slop.

“I know what to do!” Shouted Agatha. “I have to repurpose this, so keep it distracted!”

“Hyu gots it misstres!” Dimo roared at the abomination of science, and began to attack it, while Agatha tinkered with her sonic cannon. It began to fizz as she pored all sorts of fuel down it.

“Misstres, hyu better hurry op! Hy iz havink problems!” Dimo yelled. It was no use, Sparks could be completely oblivious when tinkering with the laws of nature.

The monster continued destroy the fuel section of the black market. It had many abilities they had not witnessed in the tunnels, such as the ability to spit acid. Dimo had almost been melted 5 times, and he really didn’t want to make it 6.

It tore through buildings, laying waste to a small shop for oil, which exploded. The monster shrieked in pain, and large boiled began to appear on its legs. It came crashing to where Agatha sat, opening a can of super heated steam.

The monster screamed and then passed out when Agatha turned the weapon on it. “I used the rays to make the monster believe it was being burned alive. We may need it,” she explained.

“Dot vas a close vun!” Dimo remarked. “Ve gots lucky.”

“Contact The Master of Paris, she’ll deal with it. I still wonder who captured us. I’ll have to ask the imposter when they’re awake.” At this they turned to them, shocked to see that they were gone.

“I’m sure ve’ll find out later. Besides, some vun iz alvays tryink to get us.”

“You’re right. We’ll be fine,” Agatha replied. They walked out of the Black Market and into the Paris streets, ready for their next adventure.

#girl genius event week

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adamarinayu · 6 years

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🎼 donald

So because I’d been at work all day, I hadn’t actually listened to any music when you made this request. As such I decided to listen to music while I napped, and when I woke up whatever song was playing I decided would be the one I wrote this for.

And oh. Oh man. I couldn’t choose just one verse so I did the thing I typically do not do; it’s a proper “song fic,” and I’m gonna divide scenes up between lines/stanzas/sections/whatever of the song. (The chorus will only be used once) I’m so sorry if it seems like this got off track but this is what I came up with.

Wanna make something clear right now: Although I, obviously, do not agree with Vic Mignogna’s views, I don’t deny that he’s a good singer and VA. Just emphasizing that I don’t agree with him and me listening to some of his songs does not mean I do.

How can I repay you, brother mine? How can I expect you to forgive? Clinging to the past, I shed our blood, and shattered your chance to live.

She refused to give it up. Adventure was her lifeblood- even the three children she had given life to weren’t enough to keep her away.

“I’m an adventurer, Donald!” she had said when he begged her not to go with Scrooge. “Just because I’m a mother now doesn’t make that any less true.”

“At least wait until they’re older,” he had pleaded, but she still went. Within forty-eight hours, Della was gone for good and Donald became the sole provider for three little ducklings.

He blamed Scrooge. He blamed Della. He blamed himself. He stepped up, sacrificing his own dreams of sailing the seven seas and exploring the world on his boat in order to raise his nephews.

Scrooge didn’t call. Neither did Donald.

Though I knew the laws, I paid no heed. How can I return your wasted breath? What I did not know has cost you dear, for there is no cure for death.

Sometimes Donald wondered, if he had just gone on that last adventure with them- just asked Grandma, or Fethry, or even Gladstone, to watch the kids for a few days- if Della would have come home with them. Maybe Donald wouldn’t have returned, instead- but then the boys would have their mother, at least.

There was nothing he could do about it now. Only regret. Regret what could have, should have been, and do his best to raise her children in her stead.

“What was mom like?” they would ask as they grew up, and he wouldn’t know how to answer. He wasn’t even sure he knew, anymore.

She loved you. But not enough to stay. She didn’t mean to leave. But it was still her choice to go. She loved her family more than anything. Yet she still left her month-old ducklings home with her brother to go traipsing halfway across the world.

What could he possibly tell them? What could he say that wouldn’t make it sound like he blamed her? So all he said was, “She’s gone. She loved you very much.” He didn’t tell them anything more than that.

He couldn’t bring her back, after all.

And how can I make amends for all that I took from you? I led you with hopeless dreams, my brother, I was a fool.

“Together when we hatched, together when we die.”

That had been their motto- they were two, a duo, never one without the other. Partners, partners in crime, peas in a pod, a package deal.

Born together, die together. Twins, together from start to end. That was why they became adventurers with their uncle in the first place- she his pilot, he his sailor. They would always be together, even while the dreams of their future began to diverge.

He wanted to go on a solo trip- not forever. Not for good. Just one solo trip, sailing the ocean and seeing the world through his own eyes, rather than his uncle or sister’s. Similarly, Della wanted to fly solo- just once. A stint around the world, touring and seeing the world the way she alone could.

They promised that when they finally made those solo trips, when it was over they’d meet up at Ithaquack- he in his boat and she in her plane. They’d be in contact the entire time, maybe even end up in the same place at the same time, and they talked about it often- so often that Scrooge started to get annoyed by their lack of action.

They had decided, we’ll do it for sure this year.

Then she got pregnant and they never had the chance. She was gone, more than one promise broken, and he was left to pick up the pieces.

Don’t cry for the past now, brother mine. Neither you nor I are free from blame. Nothing can erase the things we did, for the path we took was the same.

He spent night after night out on the deck of his boat, staring up at the moon and begging for a miracle. He just wanted her back- was it really so much to ask?

If he could go back in time, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Donald imagined stopping her- changing the flow of time, preventing his present no matter how much he loved those three ducklings. Maybe if she knew the fate awaiting her, she’d choose not to go…

But Donald knew he was wrong. Della would never give up an adventure, not the way Donald would. She loved her family, but the call of adventure was so much stronger for her than it was for Donald. He couldn’t understand her.

She became a mother by happenstance. He became their father by necessity. She was gone. He was there.

That’s all there was to it.

Beautiful mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete. Back through the years we reached for you, alas ‘twas not meant to be.

The children stopped asking about her when they were seven. Whether they realized he wouldn’t- couldn’t- tell them more or they just decided not to ask anymore, Donald wasn’t sure.

They were smart children- too smart. Somehow they had figured out that when Donald said gone, he really meant dead. They didn’t tell him this, though. He overheard them one night when they were nine. He had stopped by their room, just to check on them as they went to bed, and overheard Huey leading his brothers in their bedtime prayer. It was the standard prayer- watch over us while we sleep so we are safe through the night, take care of our loved ones, such things as that.

But then…

“And please let Mom know we love her and hope that she’s happy up in Heaven.”

His blood ran cold and his heart skipped a beat. His eyes immediately began to burn and he backed away from the door. How had they known? He never said anything, and a quick internet search had proven Scrooge had all but erased Della’s existence from the public eye.

How could they have pieced it together? And how had they accepted it so easily- she was their mother. Donald was still torn up about it- yet the way Huey had said it, it sounded like it was just a fact of life.

That was when it hit Donald- for the triplets, it was a fact of life.

They never knew Della, after all.

My dreams made me blind and mute. I long to return to that time. I followed without a word, my brother the fault is mine.

It wasn’t until years later, when the boys were almost teenagers, that Donald came to the realization that Scrooge blamed himself just as much as Donald did, despite denying any blame whatsoever.

“I asked her tae come,” Scrooge confessed when they were trapped, alone, in a cavern. Donald couldn’t see his face, but his voice was no more than a whisper. “She came with me because I asked her tae.”

“I know,” Donald told him simply, staring towards what he knew was a wall. “She told me.”

“I think she wanted tae go home. She didn’t say anything- just kept up with the adventure… but I think she was worried about ye with the kids.” It was so full of guilt that Donald almost felt bad for his uncle. “I pretended not tae notice. Maybe… she’d still be here if I had put adventure aside for once.”

“She loved adventure,” Donald said, almost as if on autopilot. “She didn’t say anything. You had no way of knowing for sure.”

“I should have asked.”

“What-if doesn’t change what happened, Uncle Scrooge. She made a choice, we all have to live with it.”

His chest was hurting and his eyes were burning as he said it, but they both knew he was right. Della made her choice, and while that didn’t absolve Donald or Scrooge of any guilt…

It certainly reminded Donald exactly who his sister was; a strong, independent, adventurous and loving person.

He missed her so much.

So where do we go from here? And how to forget and forgive? What’s gone is forever lost. Now all we can do is live.

Years passed in the blink of an eye, and Donald turned around one day just to realize his (Della’s) little boys were all grown up.

They were roughhousing together with Webby, each of them wearing dark, but light-weighted, clothing as they prepared for their highschool graduation.

Donald was so proud of all of them, and silently wished that Della could be here to witness this moment.

They had found out the truth years ago, and after some… drama surrounding it, they had accepted it (again) and moved forward in their lives. Huey was now off to university to study geology, aiming for a PHD even though he intended to make his home inside the higher ranks of the Junior Woodchucks leadership. Dewey was off to flight school, just like his mother twenty years before him, and intended to return to adventuring once he was finished. Louie was off to a prestigious arts academy, having received a full scholarship when the headmaster attended his school’s art show and saw the family portrait that Louie had spent nearly a month painting on a large canvas. Webby was following her grandmother’s footsteps, already well on her way to climbing through the ranks of SHUSH, and she wasn’t even eighteen yet.

“Ye know,” Scrooge started as he stood next to Donald, leaning on his cane (the years were starting to catch up to him, Donald suspected), “it’s never too late tae live your dream, lad.”

Donald didn’t look at his uncle, instead watching his kids celebrate together. Launchpad would be driving them all to the highschool soon, for the graduation ceremony, and Donald already knew he was going to cry when they walked across that stage.

“I already did,” he said, smiling. Yes, he realized, somewhere along the way his dream had changed- those children were his, there was no point in denying it. All he wanted was to see them blossom and live happy lives. Right then, he could see they were as happy as they could be.

“… But I wouldn’t mind sailing around the world, still.”

Scrooge just laughed, patting his nephew on the back.

Some things never changed.

#Ask #Last Song meme #DuckTales 2017 #Donald Duck

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squidproquoclarice · 6 years

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Fine, now that you mention it I do want commentary on ch3 of MAWAMS, you absolute menace. Also, this is hella good imagery even though it hurt me emotionally so props on that: “Suddenly the whole thing seemed to turn as one single nightmare, like a thaumatrope, that 19th century child’s toy, the disk with a bird on one side and a cage on the other. Spin it fast enough and the two pictures combined, the bird suddenly trapped in the cage.”

I…have only myself to blame for this. Though oh shit, where do I even start. Buckle your seatbelt because this will take a while.Since you mentioned it specifically: the thaumatrope image seemed too on the nose to not use at this point. Lorena and Lucy, watching them die, watching them happy in love with someone else. There’s no way it ever ends well for him with either of them, because he’ll only fail them, and he doesn’t deserve to be happy anyway. It’s all just one big blur of pain, the bird captured and stuck in its cage.I debated skipping the scene where Denise and Garcia go see Lorena. But it’s an important thing for him. He’s waited for four years to see her alive again and he deserved that moment, painful as it is. I deliberately wrote it as somewhat spare in some ways–he’s not focusing on how beautiful she is to him, or looking for too long at her kids to see how much they may resemble Iris, for example. He’s doing his best to keep the emotions in the box and lock everything down tight.I had Lorena come over because Lorena Valaitis is tough and nobody’s damn fool and seeing this strange car and people staring at her house, she’s gonna take notice and confront them. And honestly, because Flynn sort of needed more than to just spy on her walking her kids to the car. This hurts like hell, but it also helps him make more peace with her situation. And on a meta level, Lorena deserves some Goddamn screen time and a voice of her own rather than being simply a concept inspiring Garcia’s emotions, because she’s a really great character to write.As to the house, it made sense for Lorena to live there now. I’d written it as an inheritance from her grandparents that the Flynns used when they were stateside with Lorena’s family. They lived primarily in Croatia, in Split, due to Garcia’s work as an Eastern Europe NSA asset, but as I wrote in the vodka confessions, they were planning to move to Baltimore permanently in the future. So it’s a house Lorena loved. Of course this Lorena whose life centers even more tightly around her hometown will still live there.I had the murders happen in Baltimore because it makes more sense for him to get to Brazil, especially with virtually no money and no resources, if he’s on the proper side of the Atlantic already, and from the look of the cemetery and some the names on other headstones in 1x06, they’re seemingly buried in America, not Croatia, which is what originally made me go for Lorena likely being American. (I think the “wife” on Lorena’s headstone is an angry accusation by the Valaitises of oh look, it’s a wife and daughter taken too soon as more domestic violence statistics!)And it’s another good and bad thing for Garcia. Seeing the house again for the first time since he ran from Rittenhouse is not easy. But seeing it as a place where this didn’t happen, where Lorena’s family lives and it’s peaceful and good, will actually do him some good in the end. But for now the cognitive dissonance is most definitely a mindfuck. The fact Lorena doesn’t seem to have even that “huh, do I know you?” moment both helps and hurts. This is when he knows it’s truly over between them, because it never was, and he’s glad because it means she’s safe. He probably figures Emma will never go after her because this is more or less a punitive peace treaty forced upon him on the Lorena and Iris issue. Rittenhouse kills this Lorena, it’s game on again for him to change history to get both Iris and his Lorena back. Garcia being Garcia, he sees how happy and safe she seems and thinks about how she’s so much better off, how this is the life she should have had and he couldn’t fully give her. At this point he’s basically Pushkin’s Ya vas lyubil as a giant sad Croatian and saying his goodbye to her, and it hurts but he’s OK with it because he’s convinced she’s better off than she ever was with him. Because yes, Flynn has a few self-respect issues.Denise, in that moment, probably is concerned for him as a friend but seriously in awe of how he can control himself in this situation and flawlessly bluff his way through it without even a flicker of the devastation showing. Because Garcia Flynn, albeit a Human Disaster, is also a Very Good Agent. Seeing how the two of them readily play off each other shows Garcia a lot about the teamwork they have in this timeline where they don’t have all the bitterness and mistrust that they do in the original. It’s weird, yes, but he’s grateful for it anyway.It would have been way too easy for Tim to be an asshole, or for them both to be Rittenhouse, and then Garcia has quote unquote the “right” to try to rescue Lorena from this, blah blah. I didn’t want to go that route. Tim’s a good man, a good husband, and a good father. They literally have never heard the name Rittenhouse, except maybe there’s some place in Philly named that?He’s seen Lorena and he knows he has to accept this. But Lorena’s the easy part. Iris is the hard one. Denise drags him to her favorite cop bar in the ‘burbs between DC and Baltimore where she used to live, and given they’re now on the wrong side of town to easily head back to Gettysburg, and it was probably at least a half hour or forty-five minute drive to go specifically to that bar, she’s clearly spending some time and effort on this. And he notices that. It’s what you do with someone who’s been a partner on this years-long mission, who’s become a close friend. You drag them to your favorite bar, buy them a beer, and just sit with them. If they want to talk, they talk. If they don’t, you just silently support.Side note: in this timeline, I do think Denise and Garcia have also bonded over her being a lesbian WOC born of immigrant parents and him being an immigrant, bi, and demi (though I don’t think he has the word to describe the latter–it’s maybe Lucy or maybe even Jiya that defines it eventually) and being in a profession that’s not always exactly the most friendly to non-white, non-straight, and non-native born. And prior to noticing him pining for Lucy, she really was trying to think of a nice woman or man to set him up with. ;) He’s trying to make peace with it so he can carry on, but he’s also kicking his own ass that he handed Emma that information because he so desperately needed an ally. Though notice it doesn’t turn into paranoia: he doesn’t start to regard Denise with suspicion.So: Lorena is fine, but Iris is forever out of his reach. He realizes his mother was wrong–you do have to find a way to let go, somehow, eventually. There’s no hope for Iris. The best he can do is not make himself a worse man trying to bring her back. But he’s struggling really hard to let go, and not feel like he’s failed her as a father. He’s got a clean slate, and Lorena’s happy, but he’ll have to live knowing he owes that to Emma. Fine. Rittenhouse is going to burn for this, and Emma especially, because as angry as he was in 2x07 at her betrayal, it is now 100% personal between them. But Garcia being Garcia, and still so used to being alone and without support, he starts wandering back towards the Dark Side. That sort of cold steely rage we saw from him in season 1: Only the mission matters. You don’t. He’s good for killing things. All right then. Bring it on. He pushes himself through range clearance, and then when they get back to Gettysburg, he goes right to the punching bag to go push the injured shoulder exactly like Abby Kovac told him not to do. Because he can’t be weak when the next mission happens. And yeah, he’s got a few frustrations to work through right then and punches and kicks sound like a great idea.He couldn’t save Lorena or Iris. Rufus died right in front of him. He almost got killed himself, and he’s seeing that it was a very severe injury and he’s not 18 and able to just bounce right back from it. And emotionally off balance as he is then, he stumbles onto the next part of it: he can’t be less than back to normal on the next mission, because he absolutely, positively, 100%, cannot fail Lucy. He can’t lose her. Can’t watch her die. Realizes he almost did in Chinatown.He’s not quite at Sao Paulo levels of emotional breakdown, or season 1 levels of closed-off rage, but he’s definitely Not In A Good Place. And he’s pushed himself so hard he’s exhausted and can’t even punch anymore. And it’s then that Lucy shows up. (Actually, she’d been standing there for a few minutes already trying to figure out how to handle this, and him backing off gave her the opening she needed.) And dammit, Lucy, your timing is impeccable because you’re just what’s needed here. She came, because as much of a screwup as he thinks he is, somehow she does care. He manages to calm down a little, enough to say he’ll go get cleaned up. They’ll talk, and he’s hoping that somehow, she’ll say the right thing as she usually does, and show him a different way. Denise tried, Jiya was sympathetic, but as usual, it’s really only Lucy who has that deep enough bond to get through to him when he’s on the edge of the void.

ANYWAY. Anyone else want to join the Denny’s parking lot fight?

#garcia flynn #lucy preston #denise christopher #500 words meme #timeless #askbox #fancynewbeasly #sorry for the lack of cut but can't seem to get the damn thing to work

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 06/02/2021 (Fredo’s Money Can’t Buy Happiness)

This is an odd, scattered week - a slow one thankfully for the day after my birthday - but we do have a bigger album bomb than I expected from Fredo, even if “drivers license” is still at #1 for a fourth week, blocking EDM remixes of sea shanties because of course, it’s the UK after all. Let’s just get back into REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Now, I predicted last week that Fredo would have two songs debut high up on the chart from his most recent album, Money Can’t Buy Happiness, and the pre-release single “Back to Basics” would rise to the top 10. That didn’t exactly happen, as “Back to Basics” actually dropped out of the chart off of the debut for being one of the lowest-performing Fredo tracks, or at least less successful than the three songs that debuted, as that’s all the UK Singles Chart allows. Speaking of drop-outs from the UK Top 75, they’re all mostly inconsequential, made up of recent debuts like “Wellerman” by the Longest Johns and “Bad Boy” by the late Juice WRLD and Young Thug. In terms of notable drop-offs, we do have some arguably premature falls for minor hits, like “champagne problems” by Taylor Swift, “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco, and, finally, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith. This is a slow week outside of the top 40, so we just have some spare oddities to cover outside of the drop-outs. For our fallers, we have “34+35” by Ariana Grande fading its remix boost at #14, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #30, “SO DONE” by The Kid Yaoi at #52, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #54, “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA at #64 off of the debut and a couple real crashes at the tail-end of the top 75, those being “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #71, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion at #72, “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip at #73 and “Dynamite” by BTS at #75. This may explain the otherwise inexplicable returns for songs that are always clinging onto the back half of the chart, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #74, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #70 and, incredibly, “Mr Brightside” by the Killers at #68, the highest it’s been in a while (and that’s a feat considering how long it stays on the damn chart). For gains, we’re really not picking up much traction here. Sure, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong is back at #73 for some reason, but otherwise we just have middling songs with middling gains, like “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #61, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #59, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles rebounding to #44, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S making a surprising and scary gain to #42 (and I’ll admit, I’ve warmed up to it quickly), “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra clawing back in the top 40 at #39, “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #24 (Please don’t make this a hit) and finally, “Streets” by Doja Cat continuing its rise up to #12. Oh, yeah, and “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter is down to #41 off of the debut but everyone’s forgotten about that song considering how big “drivers license” still is, so yeah, let’s just get to our new arrivals, because we do have some interesting things to touch on this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#66 – “Higher” – Clean Bandit featuring iann dior

Produced by Mark Ralph, Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson

Well, they made a song with 24kGoldn, and that was awful, so... I guess it’s Puerto Rican emo-rapper iann dior’s turn. They might as well remix “Mood” while they’re at it. Instead of Mabel filling in for the singing where 24kGoldn couldn’t on “Tick Tock”, however, we have honestly a less charismatic singer in iann dior playing all the parts, without a rap verse to speak of. Okay, so this could work if he just fills in the spot of generic anonymous singer, and it fits exactly within that mold if he wants to, even though that’ll take away any of the character he had – not that any of that character was likeable or interesting, but hey, baby, he is not your dad, so maybe he’ll blend in well with Clean Bandit’s decreasingly unique production. This is a tropical EDM track where iann dior’s non-existent range and raspy, uncaring tone zaps the energy out of the touches of steel drums and orchestral stabs. This drop is nothing more than a vocaloid loop, and a pathetic one at that, with iann dior’s really gross falsetto proving that Auto-Tune can’t really fix bad singing, not that it needed to be proven. The lyrics here are nothing to write home about, wrapping a love song with ocean metaphors probably just so he can say “I’mma get her wet, oh, baby, then slide”... Gross. There’s like zero build-up to this drop at all as well, so there’s no stakes, no climax, and hence not a good EDM track. Come on, Dan Smith of Bastille wrote this, can’t he get the lead vocal? At least it would sound competent.

#63 – “Grown Flex” – Chip featuring Bugzy Malone

Produced by the Fanatix

Ah, my favourite duo. Apparently this is from a Chip album that I didn’t even know existed, thankfully because it’s 21 tracks, over an hour, with two consecutive Young Adz features. “Grown Flex” is another collaboration with Bugzy Malone, probably here because of the video and the sample of iconic UK bass tune “Heartbroken” by T2, one of the most popular songs in that wave of EDM and a pretty damn great song. It has been sampled before by people like DJ Khaled and Drake but no-one’s made a better song, so maybe these formerly feuding Londoners can make a good song with this sample as the base? That isn’t a question actually, but if it was, the answer would be no. They pitch up the (honestly ahead of its time) vocaloid loop, and put an obnoxious UK garage-adjacent drum loop over it that’s barely on beat with all of the chiptune sound effects distracting from Chip’s also off-beat flow. The chorus is really awkward, with him being off-beat and uncredited female vocal backing vocals with entirely different vocal processing coming in and sounding equally janky. This beat isn’t broken inherently, it could work but it’s too shrouded in these two rappers void of personality. Bugzy Malone is here but his rough tone does not work on this beat, regardless of how much he wants to pretend there’s any melody to his drawl with the Auto-Tune and multi-tracking. He’s still somehow the best part though because, yeah, this is just... incredibly awful. The production is onto something by the end with the horns coming in but they immediately fade out and eventually it just abruptly cuts to some pointless chiptune beeping sounds that have been there the whole time but play alone right at the end for no reason. This is aggravating, I know I’m pretty much nit-picking but there’s nothing of substance to pick apart here anyway. This is pure incompetence and a butchering of a good sample... that they should be allowed to use freely, though, by the way. Abolish copyright law.

#62 – “Ride for Me” – B Young

Produced by Mike Spencer and Pacific

Since everyone seems to have forgotten how to actually make music this week, at least we can always count on B Young... okay, no, but at least he’s given up on trying to be a rapper or R&B singer at this point, as a lane of generic guitar-pop probably would work best for the guy’s voice. I mean, we have an acoustic loop here that sounds like it’s jacked straight from a Shawn Mendes demo. At least the incompetence here is charming, with his rougher vocals being a pretty nice contrast from the otherwise kind of ugly mixing, especially on the flat percussion. I do like the lyrics here, as he’s simply love-struck and enjoys the company of this woman, for more than just sex and appearances. He just hopes that things don’t change and the relationship lasts forever. Sure, it’s shallow but it seems genuine. Sure, there’s some drug references and him being pushy to ask her for no make-up, though it does come off as just enjoying her presence instead of any stuck-up preference, especially since he offers his tracksuit and they end up watching some crap Netflix original film. Yeah, this is just a sweet track if nothing else. Since I did do a full song review for his song “Jumanji” years back, I feel a weird sense of almost parenthood for this guy, like I’ve seen him grow and finally he’s made a good song, even if it’s a bit out of his wheel-house. He’s never not been genuine, just only now that’s given him some more likeability, even if it’s just to make a cute love song. He sounds like a good boyfriend, and that’s really the appeal of the song, so, yeah, good job. I’m honestly kind of surprised.

#60 – “Gravity” – Brent Faiyaz and DJ Dahi featuring Tyler, the Creator

Produced by DJ Dahi

This is the most frustrating song I’ve heard this year so far, I’m almost fascinated by it. Before we get into that, I’d like to say that it’s good to see Brent Faiyaz finally debuting a song relatively high, and this is DJ Dahi’s first ever credited UK Singles Chart entry, although he’s produced top 40 hits before for Kendrick Lamar. Faiyaz has been a bubbling artist in R&B for the past few years, and honestly he might have had the most successful career off of the three artists that propelled themselves off of the back of “Crew” with GoldLink and Shy Glizzy. It was a minor hit that ended up producing no rising stars until around five years later, where we have a genuine hit potentially coming from the guy who sung the chorus, of course with some help from Tyler, the Creator. I do think this song is good but owes a lot to that to the production and charisma of our artists, as I can pick this apart way too easily for my taste. This beat is good, with some incredible guitar work from Steve Lacy as he would always deliver, but feels very aimless, especially with the pointless air horns in the background that if anything distract from Brent Faiyaz, who needs room to breathe. I mean, he’s an R&B singer, of course he does. The beat takes certain left turns during the verses that seem like meanders and if it’s not deflating any of its groove for the sake of guitar loops, it’s got this really tense percussion that does not work for the content or performances here, which are both pretty checked-out, especially Tyler, who’s as stiff as always but without any really interesting lyrical moments or a shift of flow. It’s one of his worst verses in my opinion, and he really goes in one ear and out the other with how short it is, which surprises me because of how Tyler usually either steals the show or meshes really well with his collaborators. So, our two performers are mostly checked-out with little to no chemistry, and the beat is awkward and unfitting for the content, which is about them being brought back down to Earth by their loved ones, hence the name, despite their travel habits due to touring – which isn’t a thing that’s happening right now at all, so maybe this’ll be a slow burn hit before it can really resonate. If we listen to these lyrics more closely, we also don’t get the sense that Brent Faiyaz is even likeable here, as we have no reason given for this woman to not feel uncomfortable that he’s paying little attention to her. Instead, Faiyaz just comes off a dismissive ass to this undeserving woman who is reasonably upset at the lack of time spent with him. It’s never made clear that she’s pestering him, so I honestly don’t get how Faiyaz wants to frame this. It doesn’t help that Tyler has the opposite reaction, longing for his partner when he’s on tour instead of feeling annoyed by her, but ultimately with no interplay so this means nothing. Oh, and if the songwriting weren’t janky enough, the chorus is barely catchy and covered in pitch-shifted multi-tracking that takes any of the focus off of Brent Faiyaz, who’s constantly crushed by backing vocals, being pitched down for no reason with unnecessary censor bleeps when they both swear freely at other points in the song. This type of maximalist production works but only when there’s any grandiosity to make it feel warranted, and if there isn’t that, the gunshot percussion is out of place and there ends up being a lot of empty space. There’s nothing smooth about this, and that’s frustrating as you’d expect these three to bring a really relaxed tune with some great 70s soul vibes and... I mean, that’s obviously what they’re going for here, but it is painfully over-produced and ultimately immensely disappointing. I can see people enjoying this a lot but no, this doesn’t work for me at all. Sorry.

#45 – “Dancing on Ice” – Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz and M Huncho

Produced by Don Alfonso and Quincy Tellem

Oh, Jesus Christ, these guys again... and Yxng Bane, I guess. So, you know what the deal is with this UK ‘trap-wave’ type stuff, right? There’s a vaguely interesting synth loop drowned out by cheap percussion and crap bass mastering, as well as awfully processed vocals from everyone involved. They can trade verses, but more often than not don’t say anything that doesn’t embarrass themselves. You get a sense of really toxic masculinity, misogyny and materialism without any charm in their delivery, inflections or wordplay – which is usually non-existent. Here, it’s not any different. Yxng Bane has some good melodic flows – and I really like his line about his Rolex Presidential Watch being discontinued but since he’s “going Donald”, he wears it anyway – but he also threatens... presumably the listener with gay conversion therapy in the first line of the verse, so all good will’s lost. Nafe Smallz sounds better than usual but his nasal flow is still whiny and insufferable, and M Huncho is here to waste time and sound bad doing it, although he’s probably the least worst sounding vocally out of these three clowns. I misread his line about his rucksack being heavy as “nutsack”, and that’s all the positive engagement I could claw out of this. I ask this every time but honestly, who listens to this?

#21 – “Ready” – Fredo featuring Summer Walker

Produced by Mojam

Much like the end of a Morrisons sweet aisle, past this point, it’s all Fredo. Admittedly, I didn’t end up listening to the record but I have heard a select few songs, this being one of them, and I’m not really a fan. I do like the eerie loop but it seems a bit unfitting for a triumphant flex song emphasising a rags-from-riches narrative, especially since the mix really crushes both Fredo and Summer Walker in this blend of boring skittering trap percussion and the ambiance, making her hook impact a lot less. Fredo’s verses are pretty damn heartfelt, I’ll admit, and I really like his lines about pleading with God that he should be let into Heaven. In fact, Fredo’s bars are pretty consistently great, focusing on how his criminal past in the streets of London refuses to escape him despite his efforts to make it out using rap, and by the end, he sounds pretty defeated when he says, “Yeah, I’m lonely, but that’s just a player’s life”. Honestly, for a song that initially builds itself up to be a triumphant flex song, it ends up just being kind of sad, and that’s fine, more fitting for the instrumental but it really makes the hook feel even more out of place. Ah, well, the song’s fine, really, just a blend of ideas that never really stick the landing together.

#18 – “Burner on Deck” – Fredo featuring Pop Smoke and Young Adz

Produced by RicoRunDat and Yoz Beats

Now this is what I want from Fredo. Now, this is posthumous in Pop Smoke’s case but it’s far from an unexpected feature, as whilst this is one of his first UK drill collaborations, Pop Smoke was known for his pioneering of the New York style of London’s grittier, more menacing drill music, and even named Fredo and Young Adz as some of his favourite rappers. Okay, so he had questionable taste – I mean, Young Adz? - but Pop Smoke felt more of a connection between New York and London beyond just instrumentals, with a shared slang, street culture and arguably most importantly, inequality. This is all cited from a Complex interview, by the way, but you can tell even from his music what a great respect he had for British hip-hop, especially considering his main producer, 808 Melo, is from London. The song itself is pretty great too, relying on these spacey synth loops that build up with more eerie keys before finally crashing into an intense drill beat, with all artists sharing the Auto-Tuned hook, but Young Adz probably shining the most in how he plays off of Pop Smoke’s deeper, rich voice with his nasal whine. The lyrics may be generic gunplay and flexing, but the delivery saves it for me, with Fredo enthusiastically shouting out Gorillaz of all people, and the chorus being way smoother than it would usually be for a drill track, as well as being really catchy. Pop Smoke absolutely kills it here, going with his typical stiff, fast-paced flow for a verse that is really short but just as powerful as he usually delivers. You can tell this was made for this track as well from the interplay on the hook and him shouting out Young Adz in his verse. Fredo pretty much completes the second verse by chiming in and showing more of the charm I enjoy from him as he mentions coughing the bar before he coughs for basically an entire bar. It caught me off-guard at full listen and it still leads in perfectly to the oddly-mixed sombre piano that comes in for the final hook. With a better mix – and even then, it kind of works without it – and maybe some extended verses from both London and New York drill artists, this could bang even harder. Maybe for a remix, this beat could bring the best out of Swarmz, DigDat, AJ Tracey, Hardy Caprio, Tion Wayne, Fivio Foreign even... I could go on, this could be a great posse cut. As it is, it’s still pretty damn good, and again, rest in peace to the late Pop Smoke.

#3 – “Money Talks” – Fredo featuring Dave

Produced by Dave

At first, I was surprised this debuted at #3, which seems high for a British rap track, but then I remembered that the last time these guys collaborated on a single it debuted at #1 without an album attached, and it helped that “Funky Friday” is also a great song, admittedly something I didn’t think at the time. It does make perfect sense that this debuts so high, especially since this album was actually executively-produced by Dave, so given these guys’ track records together and alone, I did expect something great, and, well... okay, so instead of a drill beat as this pretty vocal sample would be fit for, as would the flows, we get a lightweight trap beat with odd vocal and bass mixing. Admittedly, the 808 slides here are pretty excellent, but that’s the only shred of intricacy I see here, which is usually commonplace in Dave’s production. There’s also simply not enough consistency or variety here to make it worth the four and a half minutes, with the chorus being awkward if anything. There’s less depth to the rags-to-riches stories here, with Fredo probably giving more commentary than Dave does, which seems odd but fitting for how checked-out Dave is here. There’s just a resounding lack of anything to this song other than a boring beat and performances that could be a lot sharper and interesting. Sure, Dave flexes his technical piano skill by the end but the beat had already run dry by about two extra minutes before that – this could have run through your second verse, Dave, or you could have added a bridge instead of repeating the chorus. I do like some of the lines here that are obviously more personal and introspective, like Fredo’s conflict with the justice system and Dave explaining how he got robbed when he was a child and to cope with the trauma of this, he started toting weapons. I guess the EastEnders reference is funny but it just reminds me of DigDat making a similar cocaine joke with arguably funnier source material on “Guten Tag”. Yeah, this could be a lot better but it’s not offensive and hey, it’s competent at least. I mean, it’s Dave, it won’t be anything less, just a tad disappointing. I mean, come on, “coochie freshly shaven, man’s got expectations”?

Conclusion

This week is so disproportionately male, huh? Ironically as I say that, none of the women represented here – in the form of soulless EDM production and boring guest feature – get Best of the Week, as that’s going to Fredo’s “Burner on Deck” featuring the late Pop Smoke and, yes, Young Adz, with an Honourable Mention to B Young of all people for “Ride for Me”. Worst of the Week will obviously go to Chip and Bugzy Malone for the pathetic “Grown Flex”, with a tied Dishonourable Mention this week going to both “Dancing on Ice” by Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz (for being gross and offensive) and “Higher” by Clean Bandit featuring iann dior (for being remarkably inoffensive). Yeah, Brent Faiyaz and Tyler are safe there but that’s still a fascinatingly bad song, though I don’t think I’ll make any friends with that opinion. Anyway, here’s the top 10 for this week:

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed and want more of my cacti-branded rambling, follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank. I can’t make any predictions for next week that aren’t depressing, but we may have to discuss death and politics next episode if a certain song gets renewed traction. Happy times. See you next week!

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potatos-library · 4 years

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Normal Is Overrated

hey.. i have manage to crawl back to my old fanfiction account and i was also in am A- team kick lately as i rewatched the old TV series. I wrote this 5-7 years ago.. im not saying i improved now but with the lock down and me getting sucked in the fandom again ( too bad it does have much content now as the movie adpatation? remake? reboot? came out 10 years ago.. i fell in love with the movie that lead me to look for the original). be warned this is written by a fangirl that loved H.M Murdock ( still do. both Tv series and movie)and it can be a bit cringe as people would say..cause i have less skill than some of the youngest and i guess ansty? kids these days or what ever people use now.... ( im only familiar with ansty 12 year olds from youtube andim 14 and this is deep reference) in terms of writing.. but hey this story was my baby for two years back then XD... well long story short heres a throw back for me.

Chapter 1: sleepless nights

" Just shoot me please..." Murdock asked through the covers and pillows of his bed. Face eyed him warily, Face stopped rummaging the closet of his friend.

" What was that Murdock?" he asked, the conman didn't really get what the pilot said. The pilot said something but the pillow and mattress, which he was laying face down on reduced it to an understandable mumble.

" Buddy are you alright?" Face asked full of concern for the man. the pilot winced , 'when was he ever alright?' he thought. Murdock turned to his side not facing Face.

" Fine just peachy!" he said with a faint hint of annoyance. he tired his best not to let it slip through but it did and he hoped Face didn't noticed.

" Ok, if you say so" Face said trying to sound nonchalant but he tainted it with a little worry tone. unknowingly to Murdock Face heard the annoyance in Murdock's words, no weird accent, no nothing and that made him worry. Face went out of Murdock's room and tried to talk to Hannibal about the pilot.

Hannibal was sitting on the couch in the living room of a small house that Face managed to scam. the colonel was reading today's news paper. Face approached him and sat down on the sofa across the coffee table. The small house served as their home and headquarters for the time being. it was a small house but it was cozy enough, they had their own rooms and the house was furnished enough to make it look like a house not a just a temporary settlement.

" Hannibal, i'm concerned with Murdock" he said while flipping through the channels. The colonel lowered the paper he was reading.

" Why? What's wrong with Murdock?" Hannibal asked. B.A came in with ordered out food and some supplies.

" I'm not sure, he's acting strange.." Face thought, then B.A stopped putting the supplies away and

gave him a Murdock-is-always-acting-weird-look " Well, stranger." he added.

" Did he tell you why?" Hannibal asked, his husky voice was now marred with concern.

" No" the conman answered with some frustration.

" What is that crazy ass fool up to?" B.A said after putting the supplies away. they were silent for a moment, thinking what is the best course of action especially in this situation where in they don't know what exactly is happening. they can patch up wounds, as a ranger they had those skills, but none of them had the skills on how to deal with Murdock right now. And they're mentally kicking their self for being useless for their friend. but they're not giving up quite easily.

" We'll just keep an eye on him and do the best we can to help him." Hannibal said returning to reading his news paper. the two mumbled their agreement, they set up lunch and called for their pilot. Murdock responded slowly much to his taste. he just looked at Face for few moments then he stood up and followed him, then they ate in silence. Murdock can feel their eyes on him, it doesn't help that the voices around him was taunting him.

they don't like you.

why would they? you're nuts

they wouldn't want you...

no one will...

Murdock clutched his fork until his knuckles was white, ' Shut up! just SHUT UP!' he mentally yelled in his head he clamped his mouth shut so his voice wouldn't betray him in letting the words slip. Hannibal noticed the internal tension in his pilot, but he decided not to put him on the spot so he decided ask a trivial question, just to divert the attention of the pilot.

" How do you find Chinese food Murdock?" the colonel asked glancing a little bit towards the captain, his voice gentle. Murdock was abruptly pulled out from his little internal battle that he flinched when their CO addressed him directly. the team didn't liked the fact that Murdock is becoming jumpy, but they tried to hide their worried glances to the clinically insane pilot.

" Its fine bossman. but i think its nothing compare to my cooking" Murdock smiled but the expression didn't quite reached his eyes. but his little remarked somehow released some of the worry three men felt.

" don't be cocky you fool!" B.A remarked, while Faceman and Hannibal chuckled. it worked better than Murdock hoped, they weren't that worried anymore. if he keep this up maybe they wouldn't notice that the place was suddenly so crowded with dark creatures lurking around. he would have to deal with them later, he wouldn't let them near his team. The whole day passed like a blur. Bosco was putting much attention to his van, more attention than a normal person would give to an inanimate object. Hannibal just read the paper and smoked his cigar all day while faceman was gone to do some of his business and he didn't return until nightfall with some food. Murdock just spend all his time in his room, he didn't want his team to see him fight off the dark shadows that kept following him, he told them to go away but they wouldn't listen. they taunted him, they told him to do things that he doesnt understand. not that he wants to, he didn't want to listen to them, he didn't want to know what their talking about. but try with all his might to ignore them they're annoying the hell out of him, they begin screaming everytime murdocks finds a comfortable spot.

After dinner Murdock watch some of the late night movie marathons, he sat at he edge of the couch he squeezed him self in the corner of the couch, hugging his knees to his body not really paying attention to what he was watching. Face sat next to him, smiling at him but Murdock could see the worry in his eyes.

" hey buddy, whatcha watchin' ?" he asked, Murdock stared for amoment before answering

" Uhm... the swamp monster, i think." he said vaugely, ' i guess Hannibal sent him on the assignment to watch me' Murdock thought. the conman eyed the pilot but turned to the black and white women screaming in the T.V. they watched the movie quietly, then suddenly Murdock stood up and stomped to the bathroom, all the while Face was keeping an eye on him, he decided to give the pilot some space and didn't follow him to the bathroom. Inside the bathroom Murdock grew more restless, he just wants to sleep but the voices wont let him. He didn't want Facey to see him breakdown, but the voices are driving him against the wall. he saw the edge of the white sink, an idea came to him. It could look like an accident, then it'll be over he'll surely be knocked out. bashing his head against the sink will sure hurt, he braced himself. 'this will hurt!' he thought, he took a step forward but he froze.

"damn!" he cursed under his breath, he cant do it. why of all time his instinct for self preservation was at full blast?! frustrated, he treaded out of the bathroom and went back to the living room, where face was still watching the swamp monster movie. Murdock glanced at his best friend, he didn't have the heart to watch movies anymore, in other situations he'll be thrilled to have the blond tanned conman watch movies with but right now is not a good idea.

" I'm going to hit the hey now faceman." he mustered all the chirpiness he can put in his voice and tried to smile. Face turned to him and smiled.

" yeah sure, goodnight H.M." he smiled once more and turned back to the T.V . Murdock dragged his feet to his room.

Murdock has been tossing and turning on his bed for quite some time now. He sighed and just turned to hi side looking at the wall.

no one would want you..

you're crazy...

you're alone..

He tried his best to ignore the voices but its getting hard and its really rattling his chains.. he kept telling himself that they are not real, but his having ahard time to believe it.

your team will be fed up with you eventually.

its just a matter of time , they cast you aside..

they'll lock you up again in the VA hospital

"No! thats not true' he metally yelled, he cursed under his breath. he's very thankful that Face manage to scam a house where they have separate room. this will be harder o hide if he has a roommate and he didn't want to burden his friends more.

do you really think all of these are real?

you're still at the VA hospital.

all of these are not real..

you're going to wake up in a padded cell...

Murdock felt something yanks his arm he quickly sat up to fight his assailant but he found him self alone in his room. He ran his hand through his brown hair. laid back on the bed, his body begs for sleep but his mid wouldn't let him. he didn't find the confinement of the four walls of his room bothered him.

" yes , thats probably it." he muttered to the voices "what i need is an open space." and an idea came to his mind. Murdock took his blanket and a pillow and carefully walked out of his room. Face and the others were already sleeping. Face retreated to his own room after 30 minutes Murdock said good night. Murdock went out of the house and climbed up the roof. he spread the blanket over the roof, and up his pillow the night sky was blanketed with dark clouds but it didn't bothered murdock. he laid down on the roof gazing at the dark sky.

After a few moments murdock heard a creak, he sat up, there wasn't even a breeze let alone a wind that can cause the creaking sound. Murdock heart was beating frantically, he scouted the surroundings nothing was on sight. then the wind blew and with it came an awful sound.

you cant hide from us Murdock!

The voice wailed, then Murdocks eye grew wide when he saw dark figure climbing up the roof. their cawed hand were reaching for him, their red eyes showed hunger. Murdock quickly got up and climbed down the roof as fast and as quite as he can. when he finally reached the front door he unlocked it with the key he brought with him, of course despite all he still has his ranger instincts and he will not leave the base open for any intruders to come in. once he was inside he locked the front door, backed away as those creatures abused the poor door. But he knew he cant stay in the house. he'll them directly /to his team and he wont have that. he went to the kitchen and went trough the door that lead to the garage. he tripped but he manage to fling his arm forward to catch him self before he hit his face on the floor. he went out through the back door of the garage and locked it before he leaved. he needs to lead those creatures as far from the house as possible.

A/N: ok you may notice that the story seems like familiar, yup it is because the story was inspired from a fanfic entitled Catching the sand man by Shattered Crack. i really like the worked that i used the pattern of the plot of the story to start mine. but I'm not copying he whole stuff imp really am just inspired by it. thanks for reading.

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i will mention there will be an oc here.. yeah she maybe marry sue i guess,, but i dont wanna subscribe to cancel culture... what ever they mean.. i just enjoy it i guess.. and oh in advance.. cause well you know the cliche oc have tragic story? well mine has one.. im certain i didnt present her story well.. and i wrote her with DID.. and now after 5 years.. i may have written it without consideration that it will offend someone.. and im sorry in advance.. the 6 chapters will be a direct copy paste from the old story that i wrote.. if and only if i continue this story i will try to research more about DID.. im not making fun or light of any mental illness and one should see a doctor if they suffer from one.. so its a disclaimer i guess ?

#a-team #h.m murdock #b.a baracus #hannibal smith #faceman peck #a-team movie #a-team tv series #my writing #fanfiction #oc

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cherrycardamom · 7 years

Text

A Wish at 21:21

So I wrote a thing. It’s only the first chapter, but I figured if I posted it somewhere, I’d feel motivated to edit it and keep working on it. :)

Taking a deep breath, Even studies himself in the mirror. This is a new beginning. A fresh start. No one knows him at this new school; no one knows what happened last year, and that means Even doesn't have to feel the constant judgment, the eyes of his peers boring into the back of his skull, and he doesn't have to hear the hushed whispers as he passes people in the hall, whispers he knows are about him. Every time he hears someone say the word, "crazy," he won't have to think, to know that they're talking about him.

Even inhales deeply once again. He gives himself another once over in the mirror. Even looks his best, he thinks; hair slicked back and up, he's wearing his favourite jean jacket, his new shoes, and a pair of black jeans that make his ass look great – if he may say so himself. After a few minor adjustments to his hair aand the collar of his jacket, Even takes another deep breath and heads off to school for his first day.

He's excited about this. He's going to keep his head down, not be too noticeable, not bring much attention to himself, pass all of his classes, and maybe make some new friends... He's just gonna get through it. Graduate, go to college, figure himself out later. For now, he's just gonna do this.

When he walks into the school yard, he's nervously fiddling with his phone inside his pocket. "Just look confident," he tells himself, "It's gonna be fine." Even pulls his hands out of his pockets, straightens his posture, and strides across the school yard to the school building.

Morning classes are fine. It's the first day of school so everyone is sort of in the same boat as him; no one has an advantage on him. If anything, Even's the one with the advantage, since he already took some of these courses last year. Even bonds with some classmates due to physical proximity, but he wouldn't go so far as to think he'll be good friends with any of them. There are questions about where he went to school last year and why he transferred here this year, and Even answers them as generally as possible, giving as few details as he can. He hopes it's not obvious that he's hiding something, but now is definitely not the time to talk about what happened last year.

At lunch time, Even finds a quiet spot in the cafeteria to sit and scribble in the notebook he has reserved specifically for drawing. There are a lot of attractive people at this school, he finds himself noticing. "You have a girlfriend," he reminds himself. "She's basically your best friend. Maybe your only friend." Even hates that he needs to remind himself of this, but if he's being completely honest, he doesn't feel the way about Sonja that he knows he should. But she's one of the only people who knows virtually everything about him, and she hasn't run screaming in the opposite direction. She's been there with him through his most difficult times. He owes it to both of them to make it work. Or at least to try his best. Even feels a deep sense of guilt about the part of him that secretly hopes they'll perhaps drift apart naturally when he goes off to college...

Even pauses for a moment and lifts his gaze from the page before him. As he does, his eyes fall on a beautiful boy with blond curls poking out from underneath a backwards ball cap. He looks like your typical dudebro fuckboy, but something about him makes everything seem to go still around Even. He feels himself flush, and hopes he isn't blushing. Making a conscious effort not to stare, Even forces his gaze back down at his notebook and shifts slightly in his seat. He's infinitely grateful to be sitting down and to have a book in his lap. "You have a girlfriend," he reminds himself again. "But I'm just looking," he counters, "that's okay, right?" Everyone looks. It's normal, it's harmless. It's totally fine. Still, Even feels a pang of guilt. That was how things started with Mikael... But that was merely a curiosity. He's done with that now. Still, Even has never been fully honest about the whole thing with Sonja, and he can't help but feel ashamed that he's still checking out other people.

Even has found himself staring at the beautiful stranger again. Shaking his head, he once again forces his gaze back down at the notebook in his lap. "Stop it," he urges himself.

The rest of the week passes relatively easily and uneventfully. Even is warily making friends, but still chooses to spend his lunch breaks alone, drawing. He enjoys the time for solitary contemplation. Even doesn't see the cute guy again until the following week. He supposes that the guy and his friends probably leave school for lunch most days.

When Even sees him again, his heart jumps into his throat. "Calm the fuck down," he tells himself, desperately trying to maintain a cool exterior. There's just something so intriguing about that boy... And he's really nice to look at. Even has been telling himself all week that he was misremembering and overestimating the stranger's attractiveness, but a second look has proven him wrong. There's just something about him... Something that Even can barely bring himself to look away from. Whatever it is, Even is already crushing hard. "He's probably straight," Even tells himself. Somehow that makes him feel less guilty for looking. Nothing would ever happen, right? That makes it okay. At least, that's what Even tells himself.

That weekend, Even has a date with Sonja. They usually hang out with friends (Sonja's) on Friday nights, but tonight it's just the two of them. Even really likes hanging out in groups, but honestly, he prefers this one-on-one time with Sonja. When it's just the two of them, they can talk about things that matter, rather than the more superficial, "happy," non-threatening topics they stick to around other people.

"Has school been tough on you?" Sonja asks probingly. She's staring up at him, her head resting on his chest.

"Not really," Even replies honestly, "It helps a lot that no one really knows me, right? I've found a few buddies, classes aren't too hard, I've been drawing a lot..." Even trails off. He feels his heart leap into his throat as he finds himself hoping that Sonja will not inquire about what he's been drawing."

Instead, Sonja replies, "You just want to get through it."

Even smiles down at her, "I just want to get through it." She knows him so well. That's what happens when you've been with someone for 4 years, and they've seen you through your darkest hours. "Next year," Sonja continues, "You'll be in film school, and that's when real life will start."

Even smiles. Sonja really does "get him." He runs his fingers through her hair as she begins to tell him about a dream she had that she thinks Even could make into a great movie.

A few weeks later, Even is walking to his usual spot in the cafeteria, and he overhears a snippet of conversation from the cute stranger's table. "The fuck, Isak," one of the guys says, addressing the cute one, "What are you, gay, or something?"

Even sighs inwardly. Will guys ever stop using homophobic language to put each other down? Will that ever change? Simultaneously, Even feels a thrill run through him. The stranger's name is Isak. A cute name to go along with an even cuter dude.

On a Monday lunch break, Even is once again sitting in the cafeteria. He's doodling in his notebook and stealing glances at Isak across the room. Two girls approach Even, and he recognizes one of them to be Sana, the younger sister of one of his old buddy, Elias. She gives him a knowing smile and nod of recognition, but doesn't say anything. Even thanks her inwardly, not wanting to discuss why he knows her and why he doesn't go to Bakka anymore.

The other girl, a short blonde one, launches into a spiel about some sort of "kosegruppa" that she's starting for the revue, but honestly Even is only half-listening. When he glances over in Isak's direction this time, Isak is staring back at him. Even's heart starts racing. All he can hear is his own blood rushing in his ears. Hoping to God he doesn't have a panicked look on his face, Even studies Isak for a moment longer. Isak, however, quickly lowers his eyes, and in that moment, Even is positive that Isak was checking him out. The way Isak looked away so quickly after having been "caught" staring... It was the opposite of subtle. Even is certain that he was equally as obvious in checking out Isak, but right now, he's not so worried about that. His heart is pounding and internally he's screaming. Isak was checking him out. How the fuck is he even supposed to think clearly right now? Even can barely breathe.

He's forced back to reality when the blonde girl finishes her pitch and asks him if he'll come to the meeting on Friday evening. Even nods enthusiastically, maybe too enthusiastically, not really knowing what he's agreeing to. But right now all he can think about is that Isak was staring at him. That was definitely a look of interest on his face, right? And then fear because he'd been caught? Could it be possible he's actually attracted to Even? Even remembers the flippant comments Isak's friends had tossed around a few weeks ago, calling Isak gay. In spite of how awful it was of them to bandy about that sort of language, perhaps there's some credence to the question? Maybe Isak actually is gay. Even's heart is still pounding out of his chest. He glances over at Isak's table again. The two girls have moved on to their table, presummably to ask them to join their club, as well. "Please join," Even begs silently. He needs an excuse to meet Isak. Before now, his interest was just a passing fancy... but now... There's something there, Even can feel it. He needs to find out what it is and to explore it.

At school later that week, Even decides to check out the kosegruppa sign-up sheet. He feels a rush as he scans the page and his eyes fall on the name, Isak Valtersen. Even's heart feels like it's in his throat. This is his opportunity. This is his chance to find out if there's something there between he and Isak. Maybe he's just imagining it, but secretly he really hopes he's not. This innocent little crush has turned into something else, something more, and Even is desperate to discover whether or not it's mutual.

When Even goes home that night, he looks up Isak on Facebook. Even no longer has any social media, but that doesn't prevent him from doing some social media stalking. He finds Isak's Facebook account, and of course, most of the content is friends-only. However, there are some details that are public, as well as a few pictures. The first few are of Isak being silly with friends. Even scrolls down to one where Isak's arms are wrapped around a blonde girl whose eyebrows are far too strong for her face. He feels a momentary sting of disappointment, until he realizes that he's never seen Isak with this girl, and the picture is from the previous school year. They've probably broken up by now. Also, Isak has no relationships listed on his profile, which Even takes as a good sign.

To satisfy his curiosity, Even follows the link to the facebook of the girl, tagged in the picture as Sara Nørstelien. Everything on her profile is public, and it's mostly pictures of her partying. There's no trace of Isak there, and Even breathes a sigh of relief. He returns to Isak's profile and studies the public pictures carefully. A thrill runs through him. He needs to pursue this.

On Friday evening, before leaving for the kosegruppa meeting, Even's standing in front of the mirror again. He can't stop fiddling with his clothes and hair. He wants to make a good impression when he officially meets Isak and he needs to look his best in order to do that. Even's heart is already racing at the thought of it. He's practically shaking with nervous energy.

Finally, he's satisfied with his appearance. With one last tug at the collar of his jacket, Even heads off for the meeting. The entire trip there, he's playing out in his head how exactly he's going to introduce himself to Isak. Hopefully there will be a natural opportunity, but if there isn't, he'll have to make one. He has a joint in his pocket which he intends to use for that purpose, should he need to. Isak seems like the kind of guy who probably smokes pot, and even if he isn't, Even feels fairly confident that he won't turn down the offer.

When he gets to the school's auditorium where the meeting is being held, Even can barely contain himself. He stuffs his hands into his pockets to keep from fidgetting. Pretending to be calm, Even strides over to to the girls leading the group and greets them. As he does, he casually glances over to the benches where people are seated, and his eyes fall on Isak, who is already looking in his direction. Even's heart jumps, but he forces himself to stay calm. The girls thank him for coming, and he tells them he's excited. It's not exactly a lie, right? Taking a bun that's offered to him, Even goes to sit down. Doing his best to look nonchalant, he chooses a seat behind Isak so that he can be nearby in case an opportunity to introduce himself arises.

Soon after the meeting starts, the group leader, who's introduced herself as Vilde, starts talking about a "love exercise." As everyone stands up, Even watches as Isak makes a run for it. Even can't really blame him; he thinks the whole thing is a little awkward, himself. He desperately wants to follow, but knows how that would look. As soon as he has a chance, Even excuses himself to go to the bathroom. He heads for the nearest boys' washroom, thinking that Isak might be hiding out in there. At least, it's where Even would go to hide from people if he needed some space. Even opens the door cautiously, not wanting to surprise Isak if he's in there. The sound of a video game being played on a cell phone echoes from one of the stalls. Even slowly closes the bathroom door and glances beneath all of the stalls, looking for a familiar pair of shoes. Even's heart skips a beat when he recognizes Isak's shoes in one of the stalls.

Suddenly, Even is gripped with fear. What the fuck is he going to say? "Hi, I wanted to meet you so I followed you here, to the bathroom"? Shit. Even really has not thought this out at all. Hands shaking, he fumbles through his pockets for that joint. He stuffs it behind his ear and stares at himself in the mirror. He looks good, at least. The door to Isak's stall opens, and quickly, Even starts washing his hands. Trying his best to appear calm, he glances at Isak in the mirror. He's so gorgeous. Shit. What the fuck is Even going to say? Isak is completely silent, and Even knows that he'll have to do something quick or he'll ruin this opportunity. Even finishes washing his hands, and, panicking, starts pulling all of the paper towels out of the dispenser. "What the fuck are you even doing?" He asks himself. But now he has all of the paper towels in his hands, and he can't do anything but go with it. He wipes his face with the wad of paper towels and throws them in the garbage, heavily aware of the confusion on Isak's face. "Oh, sorry," Even finds himself saying, "Did you need paper towel?" He grabs one out of the trash and hands it to Isak, who crumples it in his fist. At this point, Even is only vaguely aware of what's going on. It's like he's transcended his corporeal body and is watching this disaster unfold from the outside. He pulls the joint from behind his ear, shows it to Isak, and invites him to come outside.

As he leaves the bathroom, Even is mentally screaming at himself. What the fuck was that? "You fucking blew it," he tells himself. Taking a deep breath, Even tries to calm himself. He sits down on the back of one of the benches in the school yard and brings the joint to his lips. Maybe he's overreacting. Maybe Isak will follow him outside. As he lights up his joint and takes a drag, Even catches a glimpse of Isak in his peripheral vision, and his heart jumps into his throat. Holy fuck. He didn't ruin it. Isak actually wants to meet him. "Be chill," Even warns himself. Passing the joint over to Isak, Even studies him. He is so damn good-looking. And, Even notices, he seems nervous. He's quiet, and reluctant to meet Even's gaze. Even is now positive that he hasn't been imagining it; there's a mutual attraction here. There's no denying it. The way that Isak avoids eye-contact, the way he awkwardly takes the joint from Even's hand, his uncomfortable silence... all signs that he's as taken with Even as Even is with him. Deciding to break the silence, Even asks, "Do you know the group leader lady?"

"Vilde?" Isak asks, laughing, "With the 'love exercise'?"

"What was that?" Even responds.

"I had to leave," Isak continues, "I couldn't deal with that stuff. What happened?"

Even has to make something up, since he excused himself soon after Isak and didn't stay for the exercise. "She made us walk around in a dark room," he says, "And if you touched a dick, you had to suck it." Even has no clue what made him say that, exactly, but after a moment of stunned disbelief, Isak realizes that Even is joking, and they both laugh.

A moment later, a girl with short brown hair approaches them. Even remembers seeing her talking to Isak at the beginning of the meeting, and he inwardly sighs at the sight of her. She starts babbling about making groups, and Even is only half-listening because internally he's thinking, "back the fuck off, I saw him first."

"I was wondering if you wanting to pair up with me?" She asks Isak.

"I thought we were in a group together?" Even says, nudging Isak. Even is not going to let this girl ruin his opportunity to get to know Isak.

"Yeah," Isak says, "I had already agreed to be in a group with..." he trails off.

"Even," Even says, extending his hand to the girl, who introduces herself as Emma. Even tries to hide his smug contentment at the knowledge that Isak is playing along. Clearly he's as unimpressed with Emma's interruption as Even. However, to his dismay, Emma doesn't seem to take the hint that they'd like her to leave. She insinuates herself into their "group," and soon, Even finds himself awkwardly scooting over on the bench to make room for her to join them. He stares uncomfortably into space. This is not how he wanted this to turn out. It may not be the end of the world, but Even is frustrated that his time alone with Isak has been cut short.

Even clings to the hope that perhaps he'll get a chance to spend more time alone with Isak when the meeting is dismissed, but Isak disappears amongst the crowd immediately. There's no trying to follow him this time. Even will have to wait for another opportunity. He sighs to himself. In spite of the unfortunate ending to their first meeting, his heart is racing and his spirits are soaring. Even can't quite describe what he's feeling, but he can barely contain the rush of excitement within. The entire trip home, he's grinning like an idiot. Once in his room, Even collapses on his bed, fully clothed. Cradling his head in his hands, he stares up at the ceiling. "Isak Valtersen," he mouths with a smile.

#skamficweek #skam #evak #isak and even otp

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sejinpk · 8 years

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Top 5 pre-2000 manga/anime, for the ask meme?

Thanks for the ask! I’ve read almost no manga, so this is gonna be all anime. Instead of just making a list, I thought I’d go into more detail on what I like about these shows that makes them my top 5. I actually keep going back and forth about which I like more between my #1 and #2 picks, so you can probably consider them a tie for #1.

1. Great Teacher Onizuka

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Great Teacher Onizuka is easily one of the funniest things I’ve seen, whether animation, live-action, Japanese, or non-Japanese. Onizuka’s faces and the noises he makes are absolutely priceless. Uchiyamada’s (the Vice Principal) faces can be equally priceless. The English dub isn’t *good* (and they have a handful of VAs doing multiple roles), but that just adds to its charm for me in this case (I haven’t seen the Japanese dub). I like how Onizuka helps his students through their problems by teaching them how to become good people, not just good students, even though he’s not necessarily a good role model himself. I like how he views them as people, not students. I like how the show keeps its characters around, and doesn’t sideline them after they’ve had their feature episode(s), so we can see how they interact differently with each other as they grow and change.

FWIW, Urumi Kanzaki and Onizuka are tied for my favorite character from the show.

2. Belladonna of Sadness

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Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no Belladonna in Japanese) is an absolute visual treat. Its visuals can be incredibly surreal and metaphorical/symbolic, which I tend to find inherently interesting aesthetically. They can also be pretty psychedelic/mind-trippy at points. The movie was released in 1973, and had never had a U.S. theatrical release until last summer (apparently it had a limited screening here in 2009), when it was restored and shown in 4K. Unfortunately, no theaters in my area showed it, which is a huge shame, as I think it would’ve been incredible to see on the big screen.

I like how the movie handles misconceptions of sexuality as inherently bad: The setting of the story is feudal, so its world’s ideas about sexuality, especially for women, are incredibly limiting. The main character, Jeanne, has internalized that mindset, so she views her sexual awakening as being brought on by the devil. There’s a lot that I’m leaving out, but eventually she makes a pact with the devil, and expects to be thrown into a world of fire and darkness and evil, etc. etc. as a result, but she wakes up and it’s springtime, and it’s lush and green and vibrant. I love that way of conveying Jeanne’s misconceptions about (her own) sexuality and her realizations that her previous mindset was wrong.

Jeanne’s journey and growth and change over the course of the story is something I really enjoyed watching and found very gratifying, both emotionally and thematically/ideologically.

I feel like there’s a lot more I could say about the stuff I mentioned above, including about the movie’s source, and how that informs the movie. I’ll probably write a post about it at some point.

I should also mention that this movie is INCREDIBLY sexually explicit. It had a red band trailer, and is rated Rx on MAL (that’s the rating they give to hentai). I’ve heard it also inspired Kunihiko Ikuhara, one of my favorite anime directors, to work in anime, though I don’t think that’s something he’s confirmed.

3. Mega Man

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Mega Man is the first anime I ever saw, well before I even knew what anime was. I remember getting up super early before Sunday school literally every week when I was a kid (I wanna say it was like 5 a.m.), just so I could make 110% sure I was awake when Mega Man started. Like, it was usually about an hour early, because I distinctly remember watching episodes of two other shows before Mega Man came on.

I don’t think it holds up well in terms of “objective” quality, but at the same time, I also don’t think there’s really anything bad about it. It’s a very average, typical, episodic kids’ show. The animation and (especially) art quality can vary wildly from one episode to the next. The one-liners can be pretty bad, though I have a massive tolerance for (read: love of) bad puns, so that doesn’t really bother me. XP

It’s simple fun soaked in nostalgia, but I also love some of the really silly/doofy absurdities here and there. For example, in one episode, a vampire robot created by Dr. Wily hypnotizes a human character into believing she’s a vampire robot. And she actually turns into a vampire robot somehow, even shooting lightning from her fangs. XD In that same episode, Dr. Wily creates a werewolf robot that actually transforms based on moonlight. In another episode, a robot dinosaur lays an egg, which hatches. And in yet another episode, there are lion men who shoot eye beams that turn humans into lion people.

This isn’t the case anymore, but when I was a kid, my favorite episode was the one where Mega Man X, Vile, and Spark Mandrill from the Mega Man X video game make an appearance. As a kid, the Mega Man X games (at that point it was just the first three on Super Nintendo) were my favorite, so I thought that the episode with Mega Man X was the best thing ever. :’D I still want a full-fledged Mega Man X cartoon/anime, preferably based on the earlier games (up through X4 at the latest).

My favorite bad robot used to be Elec Man, because I thought he looked really cool, and also Vile and Spark Mandrill when they had their one-off appearance. More recently (yes, I do still re-watch this show from time to time), I’ve come to really like Proto Man. In general I enjoy his attitude, and I find it amusing that he compliments Mega Man from time to time. I’ve also come to like Roll quite a bit.

4. Yu Yu Hakusho

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Of the really long-running (70 to 80+ episodes) shounen stuff I’ve seen, Yu Yu Hakusho is easily my favorite. I love the English dub (I’ve never seen it in Japanese), as well as the English-dubbed versions of the OPs and EDs (man, I miss when companies did that). I really like how much character work and moments there are in the relationships between characters. For a show that has the oft-used theme of friendship that so many shounen shows have, I like how Yu Yu Hakusho handles it, where it’s not just characters supporting each other, but it actually feels a bit more…real? Like, I can easily see these characters hanging out or interacting in very normal circumstances. It’s not just, “Yeah, you can do it! Keep going!”

These are the relationships that have stuck out to me the most:

Yuusuke and Kuwabara

Yuusuke and Keiko (mainly in the 4th season)

Yuusuke and Genkai

Yuusuke and Younger Toguro

Genkai and Younger Toguro

Yuusuke and Raizen

Kuwabara and Shizuru

Kurama and Yomi

There are just so many good moments, too. Some of my favorites are Genkai’s “final” words to Yuusuke in season 2 about having to fight with time to find your place in the world; the stuff between Genkai and Younger Toguro (especially in Spirit World) and their backstory; the stuff between Yuusuke and Keiko before he leaves for Demon World in season 4; Sensui’s final moments; the stuff between Yuusuke and Raizen.

I love how the characters all have such distinct voices and perspectives. Like, Genkai’s views of Toguro, what he did, and why he did it are different than Toguro’s views of those things, and both characters’ views of their own past and present are surprisingly nuanced and complex, given the rather limited screentime those things get. And I love how they both, in their own way, sort of become surrogate parents to Yuusuke. And then, at the end of the series, he also has Raizen, and I love the dynamic the two of them have.

I think maybe the best I can explain what I like so much about Yu Yu Hakusho is that it has the fun stuff that a lot of shounen shows have, the fighting and the superpowers and overall energetic tone, but it also has a lot of meat under the surface, and that meat is woven throughout practically all of the character work in the series, which I think is part of what makes the character interactions and friendship themes in the show seem more real and true to life, somehow, than many of the other shounen shows I’ve seen (I think the English dub helps with this a lot, too).

For a long time, Kurama was one of my absolute favorite anime characters because he embodies what I think is sort of the pinnacle of humanity: he has great intelligence, wisdom, and logical abilities, but he also has tremendous warmth, empathy, and caring. And he sort of uses them to augment one another, like a synthesis/harmonization of these two general aspects that we all have.

5. Princess Mononoke

(Sorry there’s no video here. I couldn’t find an AMV I liked, I can’t think of a particular clip that would be fitting, and I wasn’t too fond of the movie’s trailer, either.)

It’s been a long time since I last watched Princess Mononoke, so this entry is shorter and less detailed and/or in-depth than some of the others.

Generally speaking, I like how the man vs. nature theme is handled. It wasn’t simply man = bad, nature = good. Both sides are given depth and nuance. Further, I like how the nature side is depicted as such, where the animal gods behave more…beastly? animal-like?, if that makes sense.Like, I’m thinking of the way that Moro talked to Ashitaka the night after he’s saved by the Forest Spirit. Nature isn’t humanized, but it’s still presented in a way that you can empathize and sympathize with it.

I like how the movie doesn’t sugar coat anything, as well as how the ending doesn’t tie everything up nice and neat with a bow. The way it ended felt very realistic, which I thought was very much in keeping with the movie’s overall approach.

Honorable mentions:

-Revolutionary Girl Utena

-Serial Experiments Lain

-Neon Genesis Evangelion

-The Vision of Escaflowne

These aren’t actually “honorable mentions,”but I couldn’t think of a succinct way to put it. Rather, the first three of the abovetitles are shows that I feel like, based on my first viewing, if I understoodthem better, could very likely have made it into the list. I think this isespecially true for Revolutionary Girl Utena, based on my first viewing, as well as things I’vecome to understand in retrospect about both the show and itswriter/director/original creator, Ikuhara. As for The Vision of Escaflowne, I’m currently watching it, though I’m only seven episodes in.

Again, thanks for the ask! I had a lot of fun writing this! :)

#SejinPK answers #bluepuddingcat #Great Teacher Onizuka #Belladonna of Sadness #Kanashimi no Belladonna #Mega Man #Yu Yu Hakusho #Princess Mononoke #Mononoke Hime

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