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[quillandrapier]

As the final episode has now aired I've finally updated the random ghosts episode generator here (x)

You can change the settings to suit you and toggle off the episodes you've already seen but it might be a nice way to watch the series if you are bored following the usual order.

I'll be using it to post reviews under the tag #Ghosts:AnAutopsy

Enjoy the generator and thank you for the last five years guys. You are what made being a fan of ghosts special

[lettingthoughtsflow]

season 1: episode 1 (crush, chop, & burn pt. 1)

alright y'all I'm bulletpointing as I watch so let's go!!

the whole "mrs. and mr. davenport" beginning scene is literally seared into my brain from childhood-i think it's funny how clearly i remember it

when we meet the team they're in these mission suit esque things and seeing as all they do is train, is that what they live in????

davenport saying "i don't want to brag, but i am incredibly smart" when introducing the kids is so wild when you consider the fact that he probably didn't have anything to do with making the kids

i love how offended they get when tasha calls them robots

tasha and leo have such a cute relationship i freaking love it

i know we hate donald, and rightfully so, but this episode really amps me up bc dude you are literally introducing them to your wife and you keep talking about them like plants you're growing

when donald is introducing the kids, tasha's the only one recognizing that they're children

"i wanna go upstairs" 😭

they literally never leave the room, it's not just because of filming and set design, they don't even have a place to run THERE'S A RAT WHEEL

@fairytalesociology said that davenport feeds the kids glorified dog food and they're so right

you can't just feed them food??? even preordered????

they eat, sleep, and bathe in their capsules no one can convince me the man was just looking to be cost effective in getting these inventions perfected (they were not children to him AT ALL)

bree is just a girl and i love her for it bc thinking about breaking into song/dance numbers is so real

If you pay attention to the background you can see chase playing with a random locker for a while and I think it’s so funny/cute

Honestly I with it opened and he was just using his bionic hearing to unlock the locker

i just noticed leo has brown paper wrapped around his textbooks and it reminds me of when my mom and i use to make book covers out of trader joes bags and decorate them 💗

baby chase was insterested in chess club and taking med school courses, he deserved more extracurriculars and hobbies in the show

the early heat vision graphics 😅

"i know a chiropractor in the phillipines" is so cute

davenport is awful but the freaking out performances are great

30 grand for a situation to go away is insane bc what really happened??? like yeah the mascot's head caught on fire but it wasn't like they destroyed the building. and even if it was a bribe to get rid of witnesses, you'd have to adress the entire school bc it was a pep rally

tasha being a mom to the kids is so cute like yeah, they're just kids

bree immediately getting excited about the party with tasha is freaking adorable, we deserved more Tasha fr

honestly i think she was more freaked out about the kids than their bionics

lecturing them about how they were designed for missions is so disheartening bc 1. you've probably told them all about how they're top sercret their whole lives and 2. they are superHUMANS

it honestly feels akin to when a parent tells a child they have to be perfect or pushes them into a career they never wanted

yes bc having no contact with the outside world will prevent their glitches and train them for missions (not to mention real life)

obviously it's the perfect solution

honestly if they socialized they would probably have better emotional regulation and control over their glitches. like you could have at least brought them to a company party (and told everyone to treat them as humans) so they have practice talking to people.

chase really was always in blue plaid from the start huh?

"they are not just science projects, they're teenagers" TELL HIM QUEEN

bro you're going to tell me that you can't reprogram your ROBOT FRIEND to like your WIFE

like he can still be snarky but he literally hates her

i really hope someone gets this, but there are a few scenes where Adam feels more like a regular person than just someone who's core personality is being kind of dumb and reckless, and the ending scene before everyone goes to bed is one of those few scenes

[seancamerons]

i hate my voice so i can't do a podcast. i do not know how to make fan videos. i can barely gif, its so complicated so i do edits/artsy and sometimes i do that. play with my strengths (lack there of) i think i have a good idea.

so with that in consideration, would anyone be interested in me being super in-depth about like written reviews like white wedding thoughts, this paige one here or this piece on caitlin ryan, this lil thing about when doves cry here for degrassi on here or

on some side blog? i have a lot to say and idk.

with boycott the caf gone basically (humourous but true insight/peek into the past), broomheads is mostly about fashion aspects (which i like!) and trends of the 2000s and the djh/high persuasion too. maybe people can suggest topics to share opinions. i gotta do something/contribute to fandom bc the show has ended and there's so much to talk about. just an idea. just wanted to see if anyone was interested or it's something i could pursue.

i do make art, write stories. when i feel like it i do post a lot off opinion pieces, prose, the occasional lovefest but i can have neutral viewpoints, universal comparing contrasting, breaking down things, etc. but i never did like the whole review thing, combined with all this. i think it'd be cool. I'll tag people who are frequently in the degrassi tag in the tags or people who post a lot of degrassi even if we all don't have the same opinions, i think we can all have a bit of fun in our investment the franchise that arguably brought a lot of people together. having different opinions open up debates and such, or looking at things from different povs and perspectives. it could be a good thing with connections to be made. who knows? who is interested? if it flops this is dead. i don't want it to be but oh well.

thanks for reading 😊📝 don't be a stranger. if you're not into it cool don't be mean. that's it.

love always, brimi

[mdhwrites]

My Adventures With Superman Episode 3 Review: A Welcome Chance to Breathe

Non-Spoiler short version: If the first two episodes were a bit rushed and bursting at the seams, this one takes a couple steps back, takes a deep breath in and then strides into right where it should be with confidence. The humor is on point, characterization continues to be really strong, the foreshadowing is good for what’s coming later and the final line has SO MANY IMPLICATIONS that have me excited for where it might go. Also, if anyone was worried the romance wasn’t going to matter, well, I would say this episode puts it to bed that they understand that good romance also plays into character growth and the like and means a push and pull in things which has me increasingly excited to see more of Lois and Clark. Both as individuals and together. Also, has the best Superman fight yet so far I’d say so just very good all around.

Now time for the spoilers!

I’m actually going to work backwards from the ending because it’s a cliffhanger to me that really helps explain how Lois behaves in this episode. After all, I kept going “LOIS NO!” as I watched. Not in a bad way but in a comedic “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” fashion. After all, she lies, steals and tricks even Clark during this episode which does mean she’s having a push and pull with the lesson she learned in the first episode but...

Well, the major goal for the team in this episode is to get an interview with Superman. Even when they technically swap cases to the ‘Inter-Gang’ one, the villains for this episode, Lois is actually using it to just get put in danger so Superman will come rescue them and she can spring an interview on him. She didn’t let Clark in on the plan, though neither told Jimmy. She also never actually gets in the way of the investigation or the like and is doing good work, just for questionable reasons. Also, when this is revealed and Jimmy says it was what they did with Livewire (I also love the idea that Jimmy is going to probably end up naming like at least 50% of the Rogue’s Gallery), we get the great line out of Clark of “THAT WAS ON PURPOSE!?” Poor... Poor Clark.

And potentially poor Lois. Her last line, the last major line in the episode, is “He’s a liar.” She gets her interview after all and Clark is honest. He’s figuring himself out, figuring out his powers, etc. like that. The closest to a lie is not being willing to give a name but she technically didn’t ask for one. Then he says he’s just here to help the people of Metropolis and asks “Isn’t that what matters?”

Well... The first episode brought up whether or not Lois was doing these cases for the people... or for herself. Well, the Superman case is technically not useful to the people. They may want more information but aren’t the crimes going on more pressing if your focus is actually on the people? That’s what makes the first episode justified. It’s kind of what makes her lying and stealing justified too... But not so much the fact that she’s still trying to trap Superman who’s just doing good. Like she pointed out in the first episode: “He wouldn’t have helped me otherwise! Not like he did with the lady and the bib... Or with me and Flip... Or when he brought donuts for everyone!”

It’s starting to build the impression that Lois’ real point of contrast with Clark is that if Clark is optimistic and will always save everyone... Lois is pessimistic but will do what she can anyways. She expects people to be selfish. To look out for themselves. To do whatever they have to to get ahead. She’s taking this same mindset to journalism and it’s blinding her from the people in front of her who are genuinely just good.

But this doesn’t mean she’s a bad person and a little gray morality next to Clark’s white morality is a good thing. She still won’t hurt people and Superman actually states that why he was willing to do the interview was that when he told Lois and Jimmy to go, they stuck around and helped people because Lois’ true nature is still good. She still puts others in front of her... But she’s willing to bend the rules if she thinks it won’t hurt anyone and will help her. That’s not terrible but she needs to be doing it for the right reasons and it’ll be interesting to see the push and pull on this.

If it seems like I’m spending a lot of time on this, it’s actually not because the rest of the episode isn’t interesting but that it’s what matters most to me. I LIVE for characters and interesting hooks like these are my lifeblood. But that doesn’t mean just a good cast playing well off of each other doesn’t work well too, such as the Inter-Gang.

Inter-Gang is three people, Roughhouse, Mist and... I never quite caught their leaders codename and I can’t remember her actual name. They’re good low level criminals though to show that the stolen tech that Livewire got sent to the rest of the thieves in Metropolis is going to be a major player in the problems being caused, at least for now. They use each others real names when doing crimes, they’re generally not good at what they do but they’re also tired of being mocked which makes them prime tinder to misuse and abuse experimental tech, such as the freeze ray they use that then jams and then goes into hyper drive when they smash it with strength gauntlets.

Edit: The leader is the apparently the eventual super villain “Silver Banshee” and thank you to the person who let me know!

And while I got it wrong, I thought he was gaining X-Ray vision this episode, the foreshadowing to Superman’s heat vision and that being what saves the day is done well. His powers are developing now that he’s actually using them and embracing them so he keeps having moments where his eyes go blue and then red, first the color connected to his adrenaline state and then specifically the laser eyes. This gives him a headache and he stumbles a bit but then it moves on until he’s almost frozen, the leader of the gang screams for help after her tech won’t save her and BAM! LASER EYES!

It’s keeping to the show’s formula so far, including having a vision at the same time like when he saved Livewire, but that’s okay for now. We’re still in the early days and the addition of new powers will help keep solutions fresh. Frankly, if this is how the show is going to be in general... Cool. I’m here for it. It’s a good start to what to expect the majority of the season to probably look like and it’s funny, exciting and smooth.

And that includes the animation. There was maybe one time I thought something looked a little clunky but it came off as a deliberate choice for the moment, rather than a mistake or something that needed another pass. Otherwise, the animation was nice and clean and the fight against the Inter-Gang was still short, not as short as Supes versus Livewire though, but satisfying and looked really good, putting one of my big fears from the first two episodes to rest: That this animation studio was going to struggle to do Superman fights well. We already know they can do stuff like Slade versus Livewire well, this is the same team that did Korra after all, but Superman and his flight, and his brute strength, is a very different beast to tackle.

But I have been given good reason to trust in the animation team now just as much as I’m trusting the writers so I’m definitely looking forward to next week.

===========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[jemstarearrings]

S01E09: The World Hunger Shindig

The World Hunger Shindig is the first episode of the series that breaks the continuity and starts being episodic. Naturally that makes it perfect for one of the dull “Charity Good!” episodes where the moral of the story pretty much boils down to “If you’re a Good Person™ and Do Charity™ just like JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS™, you are Good!™ The MISFITS™ are Bad™ because they DON’T Do Charity!™

I know it’s a product of its time, kind of like how cartoons in the 90s had episodes about recycling, but that doesn’t make it any less boring.

The plot is pretty common for a Jem episode; the Holograms are doing a charity concert, the Misfits want to take their place for The Wrong Reason™, so Eric hires Zipper to bump the Holograms off. This doesn’t work, the Holograms end up succeeding anyway, and the Misfits gain nothing. Oh, and there’s a Beatles reference:

Forget about “Paul Is Dead,” we’ve got “Kimber is Pink!”

The most intriguing part of this episode, to me, was the reveal from Pizzazz that she knew Sean Harrison before he was famous.

This actually lends a little more depth to Pizzazz’s hate-boner for the Holograms. If they turned my old flame into a wuss who didn’t even want to hear my music, I’d be pretty bitter about it too. 

Speaking of men having personality shifts, I just want to mention that Rio is a piece of shit in this episode as usual.

Backstage at the Shindig when Kimber's trying to get help, Rio sits there and pouts about how none of the other Holograms have talked to him, especially not Jerrica, "MY GIRLFRIEND!!"

Except when Jerrica spent time with him at the welcome party at the ranch, and when Jerrica wanted him to come with them to ride horses and he decided he’d go set up a stage for ten hours (of course after seeming bummed Jem wasn’t there, only Jerrica, his girlfriend.)

The absolute gaslighting gall of this man. He’s literally the only one who’s kept himself from the girls aside from the ONE time they can’t answer a phone call because they just got hit by a goddamn car and knocked out of a hayride. For all the “good” messages this show tries to send with having the characters be literal white saviors, there are just as many bad ones where Jerrica stays with Rio despite the 500 red flags he puts out every hour

(Aja and Shana can be Asian and black saviors respectively, but that doesn’t change how cringe it is for this candy-colored pop band to fly over a barren African savannah in a thresher and magically grow tons of food for the poor Africans.)

Aside from my nitpicking, this episode really doesn’t have any massive glaring flaws. There are some great uses of holograms (especially when Synergy announces them at the concert just in the nick of time,) but the two “We Are The World”-type songs and the really common plot just don’t do it for me. The cool Misfits song in the middle even has a gross sound effect over top of it, so I’m giving this one a C. Totally average.

Pizzazz's reckless driving earns her a year in jail and $2,500 in fines, BUT, this case is interesting. This is the first time in the series when there's more than one person in the car during a bout of reckless driving, and we all know what that means:

So Pizzazz, Roxy, Stormer, AND Sean Harrison are all charged! This leads to a total of 4 years in jail and $10,000 in fines.

Meanwhile, Eric conspired twice with Zipper to abduct and falsely imprison the Holograms AND to commit charity fraud. Doing the math, this earns the two together about $500,000 in fines and about 3 years in jail.

Grand Total: $510,000 in fines and 7 years in jail! On the bright side, maybe Sean Harrison will get some of his grittier personality back while behind bars? :P

[thewonderofanime]

My Happy Marriage - Episode 3 Review: Our First Date

If you needed some cuteness to forget about Miyo’s trash family, this episode of My Happy Marriage does just that. Filled with the excitement of a first date and the slow happenings of love, it was a treat to sit back and enjoy. Let’s Go on a Date As Miyo and Kiyoka are having dinner, he invites her to town with him to go shopping. He tells her to wear the furisode she wore the day of her…

[autoassembly]

Episode Review: Beast Wars S01 Ep13 "Dark Designs"

It’s been a while since I looked back at Beast Wars, my all-time favourite of all the Transformers shows. So picking up from where I left off last time, it’s back to the first season and Episode 13 as I take a closer look at “Dark Designs”… Dark Designs – Synopsis Dark Designs, written by Ian Weir, starts off with a typical beginning for an episode of the series. The Maximals are off searching…

[flower-boi16]

My Powerpuff Girls Season 1 Episode Reviews

So recently I finished watching all six seasons of the original Powerpuff Girls, so I decided to do a season review series where I review every single episode and rate them out of 10. So without further ado...let's begin

Episode 1A: Monkey See Doggy Doo

This is the first episode of the series (in airing order that is), and it is a pretty good episode. Mojo takes an artifact and uses it to turn the entire world into dogs, and of course, the girls go stop him. As a first episode, it does a good job of introducing us to the series and its characters, like the girls and Mojo.

This is a good episode, not amazing or anything but it succeeds as being an opener to not just the season but the whole series. This episode gets a 7/10.

Episode 1B: Mommy Fearest

The professor falls in love with a woman named Ima, and once he brings her home she grounds and bans the girls from going outside, but it's later revealed that she's one of the main villains of the series; Sedusa, and, she grounds the girls so they can't catch her committing crimes. This episode is fine, it does a good job of introducing us to another one of the series' villains, but there's one part that gets me to lower this episode's score.

That's the scene where after the girls go out to fight crime Ima/Sedusa gets mad at them and when the professor comes she goes and plays the victim card by saying that the girls disrespected her to go and fight crime, keyword is, fight crime, meaning she is mad at them for fighting crime and stopping bad guys. Shouldn't this seem a little sus to the professor? He knows that the girls are supposed to fight crime and stop bad guys, that's their job, so shouldn't he say that the girls are supposed to fight crime? But no, instead he believes Ima and grounds the girls.

Ya, that's enough for me to lower the score a bit, but this episode still is a good introduction to Sedusa, so I'll give this episode a 6/10.

Episode 2A: Insect Inside

The town is being attacked by a bunch of cockroaches lead by a cockroach in what looks like a giant robot suit and the girls need to stop them. This episode is famous for that one joke where the Mayor calls the girls and Bubbles says hi and then hangs up the phone and then the mayor calls again, which is the best joke of the episode imo. This episode got some good humor in it, and the action sequence with the girls vs the giant roach is entertaining to watch. Don't have much to say about this episode other than it being an 8/10.

Episode 2B: Powerpuff Bluff

Three criminals disguise themselves as the powerpuff girls to rob stuff and get out of jail while the real powerpuff girls are sent to jail. I barely have anything to say about this one other than it's decently entertaining, 8/10.

Episode 3A: Octi Evil

Blossom and Buttercup are having a conflict with each other and HIM takes advantage of this by possessing Bubbles' plush toy Octi and making Bubbles do things he tells her to do in order to make the conflict between Blossom and Buttercup worse. This episode is a good introduction to HIM, this show's version of Satan, and the fight at the end of the episode is pretty entertaining to watch. 7/10

Episode 3B: Geshundfight

The Amobea boys stand in the rain too long and they end up getting sick which spreads a sickness across the town. This episode is a good introduction to the Amobea boys, and the plot is decently creative. 7/10

Episode 4A: Buttercrush

Buttercup gets a crush on Ace (the leader of the gangreen gang). This episode is a good introduction to the Gangreen Gang, and, like the other episodes, is entertaining to watch. 7/10

Episode 4B: Fuzzy Logic

Fuzzy Lumpkins goes insane after a squirrel goes on his property and rampages over Townsville. Good introduction to Fuzzy Lumpkins and the episode has some great jokes about him almost killing animals that get on his property as well as some other good jokes and the ending fight scene is good. 8/10

Episode 5A: Boogie Frights

The boogie man blocks out the sun so he and his goons could dance in Townsville. This episode's got a star wars reference in it and it manages to be a good reference while also not feeling forced, I like that. I also do like the creative twist on the Boogie man with him literally Boogeing, and the ending fight is both a good star wars reference and a great fight in general. 8/10

Episode 5B: Abracadaver

A dead magician named Al luison comes back from the dead as a zombie named Abracadaver to haunt the people of Townsville. I remember that I saw a clip of this episode on youtube when I was young and I actually got scared while watching it, this episode, in general, is one of the darker episodes of the series imo, like, the premise is that a dead guy comes back as a zombie and the episode has extremely creepy imagery. This episode got a creative and interesting premise and is very entertaining to watch. Buuuuuuut there's one thing that bugs me about this episode and that's the ending, it's a massive Ass Pull. Like, Blossom is thrown into the spikey crusher thing and it looks all hope is lost but...then it's revealed that Blossom and Abracadver switched places or something??? Ya, the resolution brings this episode down for me but it's still great. 8/10

Episode 6A: Telephonies

The Gangreen Gang do a bunch of prank calls and then they prank call the mayor and end up taking over his office and then they go and prank call the powerpuff girls and they end up going and beating up the villains. Don't have much to say about this one other than this is one of the funniest episodes in the series, it's got great comedy all around. 8/10

Episode 6B: Tough Love

Him mind controls the entire town to hate the powerpuff girls. This episode defiantly an iconic one, it's a pretty decent episode, the concept is creative and the episode is pretty entertaining. Don't have much to say about this one. 7/10

Episode 7A: Major Competition

A new superhero named Major Glory comes to Townsville and starts overshadowing the girls, only for it to be revealed that he is orchestrating the disasters himself just to make himself look cool. This episode is...fine, it's not that memoroble or anything but it's pretty decent. 7/10

Episode 7B: Mr. Mojo's Rising

Mojo reveals his shared history with the professor and makes him give him superpowers via chemical X. This episode gave us some good information on the creation of the PPG's and the fight with Mojo using superpowers against the girls was great. 8/10

Episode 8A: Paste Makes Waste

A paste-eating kid named Elmer accidentally swallows a radioactive fly and turns him into a gaint paste monster. This episode...exists ig. It's just painfully forgettable and most of season 1's episodes are more memorable than this. Not bad, but pretty average. 6/10

Episode 8B: Ice Sore

It's a very hot day on Townsville, but luckily Blossom discovers she has ice powers. This episode was fun, it was neat to see Blossom's new power and the final fight sequence, like most of the other episodes, is solid. 8/10

Episode 9A: Bubblevicious

Bubbles gets tired of always being known as the cute and soft one so she decides to go hardcore. I don't have much to say on this one, it's pretty good and that one joke where the dog begs for mecry is still the best joke of the series, change my mind lol. 8/10

Episode 9B: The Bare Facts

The Mayor gets kidnapped by Mojo Jojo and after the PPG's save them they each tell their own different versions of what happened. This episode is one of my favorites due to it being extremely funny with some great jokes. We also get to see different art styles for each of the girls stories, Blossom with the normal art style but with a pink filter over it, Buttercup with a green art style with some dark shading, and Bubbles with crayon drawings. Overall this is one of my favorite episodes of the season, 9/10.

Episode 10A: Cat Man Do

The girls adopt the cat of an evil supervillain they defeated earlier in the episode, but the cat is actually evil and is mind-controlling the professor to do his bidding. This is another one of my favorite episodes of not just season 1 but the whole show, I like the creative concept with an evil cat taking control of its owner and the final fight in the end was great. 10/10

Episode 10B: Impeach Fuzz

Fuzzy Lumpkins becomes the mayor. This episode is fun, I like the final battle at the end and getting to see the mayor become a badass for one episode was neat. 8/10

Episode 11A: Just Another Manic Mojo

This is another one of my favorite episodes of the season. The girls lose their ball in Mojo's place and Mojo uses this as an opportunity to try and kill them only for it to fail in the most hilarious ways. This is another one of those episodes I like purely for the jokes, this one had me laughing a lot. Easily one of my favorites of both season 1 and the whole show. 10/10

Episode 12: The Rowdyruff Boys

Mojo Jojo creates the Rowdyruff boys in order to defeat the Powerpuff girls. The concept of Mojo creating male and evil versions of the powerpuff girls is a great idea and the episode executes this perfectly, I love all the action sequences we get here with the girls fighting against the boys, this is some of the best action in the show for me. 10/10

Episode 13: Uh Oh Dynamo

The professor creates a robot mech for the girls to in called the Dynamo. Like the last episode, the best part of this one is the action, kaiju-like battle with the girls vs the balloon monster was exciting to watch. 9/10

Conclusion & Overall thoughts on season 1

This was a great first season to the show. It mostly focused on introducing many of the recurring villains of the series, and all the episodes do a great job at introducing us to each villain while also being good episodes on they're own as well. This season had many good or great episodes in it, my favorites of this season were Just Another Manic Mojo, The Rowdyruff Boys, and Cat Man Do. Overall, season 1 is a great introduction to the series.

Score Average: 7.8/10

Season 1 score: 8/10.

So, those were my reviews of each episode of the first season OG Powerpuff Girls. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I'll get to work on the season 2 reviews very soon. But for now...bye!

[confusedgoldenflower]

Why do reviewers of media have to always pull misogyny or other bigotry outta their asses. It’s literally so easy not to, I know because it’s been that way for all the media reviews I’ve seen in which said media is made by men. Even the ones where the dumbass somehow had a job… despite clearly not qualifying because they also didn’t have a clue what they were doing based on the rest of the series/franchise. i.e. Taika Waititi with Thor.

The worst I’ve seen offhand is these two, lesser so Halo… made by men.

[mechanimereview]

Weekly Seasonal Anime Watches: Spring 2024 Week 9

A lot of tension this week from so many sphere of the anime world. All while having more drama placed into this anime watch along with the appearance of Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction. Something which the subtitles are now fully carrying it on Crunchyroll because there is text that is not being translated for us to watch. The show does have a lot of interesting strengths that make me so…

[part5of4podcast]

Review of Ep.01 - The Origins & Boston Deserved Better 2024

Thanks for the review, Q&A is open on our Spotify do feel free to drop us a line.

Can't wait to showcase the next episode to folks!

[allieinarden]

I think in the back of my mind I always thought Phineas and Ferb used the term “evil scientist” instead of the more classic “mad scientist” out of not wanting to stigmatize the mentally ill or something, but in retrospect, clearly it’s because the main characters are themselves mad scientists and Doofenshmirtz and his ilk only differ from them by being evil.

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION -EPISODE ONE AND KICKSTARTER

It's finally here! Please enjoy Episode One of the Holmwood Foundation, Across The Moors.

CW: swearing, threat, static, brief emergency sirens, themes of possession/removal of bodily autonomy, and depictions of violence.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS, OR AT THE ACAST LINK BELOW:

The Holmwood Foundation is a Found Footage Horror-Fiction Podcast, a modern-day sequel to the gothic novel Dracula.

We follow Maddie Townsend (Rebecca Root) and Jeremy Larkin (Seán Carlsen), two co-workers at the Holmwood Foundation: a secret organisation that has been maintaining and studying the remains of Count Dracula for the last 130 years, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker, and embark on a nightmare road trip, carrying Dracula's severed head across the UK, in an effort to stop him once and for all.

If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more, please consider supporting our Kickstarter to fund the rest of Season One. We need £23,000 to make the rest of the season a reality. Tiers start from just £5, and we're offering a range of exciting tier rewards for our backers!

Visit Our Official website for transcripts and Cast and Crew information: HERE

[junkanimate]

And we're back

[mdhwrites]

Arcane Episode 1 Review: A Playground Indeed

I have a LOT to talk about with this because Arcane is an amazing beast even in just its first episode so I’m splitting it up into parts so if you want to skip something, look for the bold text.

1. A Distinction to Be Made (Preamble in how I see this show)

2. Welcome to The Playground (Overall impression and tone)

3. A Crew to Run With (Side Characters)

4. Our Champions (Main Characters)

5. The Personality of Animation

A Distinction to Be Made

So I often worry with shows I’ve heard literally nothing bad that the hype is going to get to me. I’ll be primed to be harsh on it because my brain is hoping to see what other people see in it. It’s just a problem with my brain.

This was not one of those times because this series is already living up to its reputation... Though I’ll actually be critical first in saying that that’s not surprising. I don’t know if this is commonly true for Netflix series but a lot of people are going to judge this against Saturday Morning cartoons or normal broadcast stuff.

That opening sequence with Vander, Vi and Powder tells you this isn’t the same case. It is a confident choice to start so somber, to build pure atmosphere for the sort of hell that used to be this place to contrast it later against the struggling but surviving Lanes that we see later. It’s also one you’d NEVER get out of pretty much anything for broadcast television and dripping with enough money in five minutes to fund probably an entire episode of something like Amphibia.

It is prestige television like something like the Walking Dead so I’m going to try and not compare it to other things like The Owl House, Danny Phantom, etc. like that. It clearly is meant to be hard serialized, more serious, more impressive, etc. like that. I also don’t say this to knock it but it’s an important distinction versus a lot of its peers... Because it’s animated.

Anyone who comes to Arcane wanting a fun, PG-13 animated show is possibly going to be turned away just like those who hear it’s animated but serious might get turned away too. Luckily for me, I’m here for both sides so this pilot was FUCKING AWESOME.

Welcome to the Playground

Now I did compare it to prestige television but I want to start with the fact that unlike your Game of Thrones or Walking Deads, this first episode’s title lives up to it. This is a blast, in more ways than one. The overall energy, after the dreariness of the beginning, is a mix of excitement, tension and energy which is EXACTLY what it should be for an episode introducing us to young criminals trying to stretch their wings and find their place.

I’m trying to stick to this part being overall impression though so I won’t get into too many specifics. Part of what sells all of this though is the breath through the world of Piltover and the Lanes. The dynamic is nothing new but the episode is happy to really showcase each part’s different wonders as well as their dangers, despite how little time we get in Piltover. It makes the contrasts all the stronger and the threats all the more real.

But it never abandons wonder to wallow. This is what allows it to frankly keep up a positive feeling throughout the first episode. That things will workout, even as set backs and issues come up. This was just one bad job after all. What’s the worst that can happen?

Which I know enough to have had a rock forming in my stomach as the show began making it clearer and clearer that there was never a way for this job to go right. Even without light spoilers though, you can tell. It is curdling the sweet, warm milk that it’s trying to lull you to sleep with. That for as tough as Vi is, as capable her crew and how dominant Vander is over his domain, things are turning.

But the show is wise enough to wait. It has things to introduce after all like:

A Crew to Run With

So I won’t actually get into Vi and Powder yet, despite knowing them to be the main characters. Frankly, I think the fact that I can make this section at all though is a VERY good thing. The fact that this isn’t going to be just one line for these guys is even better.

Vi’s two friends are great. They feel like a play on the big dumb guy and small smart guy but they don’t play it entirely straight. The larger guy isn’t just a fat joke like one might expect or a liability because of his weight. Instead, they acknowledge the fact that vikings had very similar builds so while there’s a small touch of him just obliterating a cupcake, you know he puts in the work to at least mostly work it off. He is also the muscle and strength of the crew, alongside the heart. He appears to probably be about as capable as Vi in a fight but not nearly as ruthless. He frankly doesn’t seem to have the stomach to go quite as hard as Vi, nor the drive needed to be the leader, though the caution to be a great advisor.

The rogue of their party has his charm too. Not as good in a fight but more squirrely and scrappy. He’s also got more skills than the others, things that make him more invaluable and that has gone STRAIGHT to his head. He doesn’t see his fuck ups after all or his weaknesses because he always is justified on the team because he’s the one who can actually work the gadgets they need. He does need one proper kick in the ass to get his head on straight but he’s young and pride and ego are all too common for kids.

Vander might have one of the best introductions I’ve ever seen. “Don’t threaten the one who poors the drinks” is such a great line and honestly, the whole exchange is incredible. He is never actually nice to the traders beyond asking if they need anything but the VA does an incredible job delivering threats and joking barbs in such a way that it takes a while for you to realize just how upset he is with these two. When he says “You’ll get used to it” is when the sweetness drops as he makes it clear that this is how it works. You either leave or... get used to it.

It only gets more interesting though as we see him with the kids and especially Vi. You can see the contrast of the man who lived a life that led to him wearing iron gauntlets and beating an enforcer’s face in and the change required for him to now have a family and run the lanes as its boss. He’s not exactly a criminal lord but he can’t live by our sort of morality. The sort of morality that says one blown up building is enough to start a crusade, but he also can’t be so cutthroat as to sell out his own kind, especially his own kin.

A lot of others get good moments, like us learning Ekko is inventive and smart, or just the incredible impression that the villain leaves in his limited time, but nothing I can say too much of at the moment. I do love the fact that even accidental information does push the villain to show sympathy... But only with veiled sympathy. It’s a good way to show the act he might put up to get people to be loyal to him but also the wheels within wheels that he’s turning so as to be ready for whatever is to come.

Our Champions

Just the one shot of them overlooking the Lanes would tell you that these are your main characters: Powder and Vi. Even if you don’t know they’re Legends, you could tell these two and their relationship is going to be a major part of this, though the theme song does spoil that some too, at least once the timeskip that is to come happens.

The two simply have both too distinct of designs and too much importance to each other while not having any of the death flags someone like Vander might (though to its credit, I actually don’t know if Vander is about to bite it and the show hasn’t been too blunt on if that will or won’t happen.) With that said, anyone who thought Powder was the innocent set up to die... I wouldn’t blame them.

Powder is not bad but she suffers from writing that happens a lot with younger characters. Because she is less skilled and able than the rest, the episode centers a LOOOOT of what’s happening with her around that conflict. Pretty much all of the dialogue with her is about how she has a lot of growing left to do before she’s on par with those older than her. It could get a little tedious but I found it mostly fine but that has to do a lot more with Vi and Powder together than Powder by herself.

Not to say Powder doesn’t do right by herself regardless. Her inventiveness is well documented, her frustrations with those inventions but also her love for them is too. One can easily note that when she talks about them not working, she doesn’t discard them or even stop making them. It implies that she blames herself, not her tools which is VERY dangerous for an inventor that young because it means one of the biggest hurdles to learning is gone already. It effectively guarantees that she’ll only get better because she’s ready to get better.

She contrasts well as a more innocent figure though because while she’s willing to effectively make a grenade, it’s only when push comes to shove. It’s not her first instinct and you could absolutely imagine a different timeline where she grows up in a place less violent and so her gadgets wouldn’t be geared towards violence. It’s also just good to show that it does take time in this world for the innocence in someone to be crushed. That it’s not so cruel and scary so as to make someone like her unable to function.

It does cause a bit of a manic pixie feeling from her but it’s reigned in well by the lack of energy she has. She’s still mostly quiet as someone who doesn’t fight or isn’t ready for danger needs to be ready to hide. Again, she contrasts well with almost every other character we see.

This is especially true with Vi. Vi doesn’t talk a lot without a point. She definitely has gang leader energy to her and not in a bad way. She is working to be like her adopted father someday where she’s ready to run everything. This is both in her gruff attitude and her fists... But also in the kindness she’s learned from Vander.

She has a well of kindness and wisdom that is beyond her years. Frankly, it’s easy to see why the other kids look up to her and it’s not just because she can kick ass. She has a confidence that is infectious so when she says she believes you’re ready, you think it too. She’s also able to connect and make her point clear, whether it be through kindness to her sister or roughness to the dumbass on her team.

She really does save the wallowing that could be with Powder. The fact that the two are genuinely open to each other stops a misunderstanding plot and let it actually lead to a really sweet moment about bad days that just hit so well. But... This isn’t her only side. The other side I connect all too well with as someone who got told he was mature for his age.

An anger. This belief that if you are more mature, so smart and so talented, that you ought to be better. Ought to be somewhere other than where you are. You shouldn’t have to deal with fools or scraps or watch the popular kids get to break the rules that always feel so suffocating to you. That anger is starting to form in Vi and it could easily get out of control.

It actually makes a fun parallel to the angry enforcer who gets in Vander’s face. That man very much so looks at the people here, people he sees as skirting the rules and hurting others, and wants an excuse to do something about it. Meanwhile, Vi sees the topsiders ignoring their plight, feigned ignorance making them as culpable to their problems as if they were punching them in the face themselves and wants to do something about it. Wants to release that anger somehow. She doesn’t have the tools or smarts to do it yet though, which makes her sister’s potential all the scarier.

The Personality of Animation

The last thing I want to touch on is just the fact that the animation for this is SO GOOD. This is absolutely one of those shows where you could turn off the volume and still get much of the point of what’s going on. The expressions are incredible, from the big ticket emotions to subtle acting moments that would be hard for even the best actors to pull off and that is not easy for an animator to replicate. Just body language is incredibly on point though, like how Vi sits when Vander wants to talk. Literally the way she sits just screams “I know what you’re going to say so get it over with” because she doesn’t want this talk and thinks it’s going to be pointless because she’s a dumb tweenager who thinks she’s got the world figured out.

In general, EVERYTHING is dripping with personality like this. No two people do something in quite the same way. There is so much care and attention to detail that you really only get with movie animation nowadays, and not even every movie, even from big studios. Not all of them are paying this much attention. A lot of the personality I got the characters came from design and actions and what you can just read on their face and it’s just really impressive.

The fact that it’s BEAUTIFUL while doing this is just the cherry on top. It’s also more grounded and more adult than most kid’s shows in its writing and animation without losing the fun of animation. Honestly, and I know some might disagree with me on this, I’d love it if people took this as a sign that you don’t have to be boring in order to be more adult when it comes to animation. I see trailers for shows like “Fired on Mars” and sure, it looks like it could be fun... But it also LOOKS boring as hell. Like yep, I sure have seen this sort of stiff adult animation a bunch of times.

The fact that Arcane is so ALIVE with its animation is a just a fucking treat, though part of that is absolutely because Riot has the money to back this thing up. They’re not making these as cash grabs so they’re going to make sure that if everything else fails, the animation doesn’t.

And man... They’ve had well over a decade to refine these characters, regions, world, concepts, etc. and I’m really happy that despite their genre of games not demanding it, they don’t seem to have been sitting on their hands. You can tell this is the sort of project that can only be realized so well by having both confidence and polish that takes just a lot, and I mean a LOOOT of time.

And frankly, I feel a bit bad that I hadn’t given it my own time sooner. Hopefully it keeps ticking on as strongly as this first forty minutes.

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I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

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[jemstarearrings]

S01E08: Starbright Part 3: Rising Star

Episode 8 is a nice little ribbon to wrap on the end of the Starbright trilogy. It's not as good as 6 or 7, but it brings everything to a close in a satisfying way.

The Holograms (and most of the remaining production team) quit for real after Kimber almost dies and decide to make their own movie with blackjack! and hookers! The movie is briefly renamed “Jem: The Movie” in the visuals, but I’m assuming it’s some weird error since the music video for Puttin’ It All Together is surprisingly rife with them. They recycle animation from this and other episodes, there’s a weird unshaded shot of Rio that looks like they filmed it off of a VHS tape, and an entire scene of Jem singing doesn’t reach the bottom of the frame.

Meanwhile on the set of the “official” movie, the Misfits rename Starbright to “The Misfits Hit It Big” and rewrite most of the script, adding in scenes where they lounge about talking about how famous and awesome they are. Kind of makes me want to watch “Who’s That Girl,” tbh...

The mean makeup artist, Georgia, makes over Clash so she can spy on the Holograms’ movie set. Spying, in this case, being “sneaking in and stealing random shit.” This also introduces Clash’s habit of going in disguise, but I have to wonder where she got the hollywood-level skills to do it herself after Georgia switches sides.

Oh yeah, and Georgia switches sides and calls out Clash while she’s stealing things from the Holograms. This leads to a fantastic car chase and one of the coolest scenes in the show: Synergy helps stop Clash by projecting a fallen tree across the road, which Clash can’t brake for in time and SKIDS RIGHT THROUGH. The screen goes into three frames and the whole thing gives me Speed Racer vibes.

Then the movies premiere across the street from each other on the same night (who authorized that...) and people hate the Misfits movie and love Starbright, which they line up for around the block TWICE. The Holograms’ first royalty check is exactly enough to cover Ba Nee’s operation (yay!) and Howard gets his studio back because the Misfits wasted so much money on a flop, and everything is back to normal. Woo!

Oh, and Eric is charged for his various crimes, but since I already covered those in past reviews, let’s talk about what happened THIS episode.

Clash stole some lenses, cables, personal belongings, and clothing. This is Petty Larceny and earns Clash one year in jail plus $2,500 in fines. She gets the same, actually, for the reckless driving as she fled the scene, so double that for the...

TOTAL CHARGES: $5,000 in fines and 2 years in prison!