#everyone go watch this specific scene in this episode it's at the 30 minute mark

[bumblingbabooshka]

Incredibly important scene from 'Parturition'. Reading it doesn't do it justice - Tuvok is obviously gearing up to tell Janeway his plan (he literally stands up to do so) and then visibly deflates when Chakotay steals his thunder. Janeway for her part is obviously pretty amused by the whole thing and as she walks away we see Tuvok glaring at Chakotay while Chakotay's like '!?' back at him - what'd I do!?

[Pictured Above: The Aforementioned Moment]

[bigyikes97]

I posted 341 times in 2022

That's 341 more posts than 2021!

75 posts created (22%)

266 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@a-treatise-on-velociraptors

@yuzu-all-the-way

@funnytwittertweets

@curioscurio

@beyoncescock

I tagged 266 of my posts in 2022

Only 22% of my posts had no tags

#yuzuru hanyu - 52 posts

#attack on titan - 19 posts

#me - 15 posts

#omg - 11 posts

#demon slayer - 9 posts

#oof - 9 posts

#shingeki no kyojin - 8 posts

#attack on titan spoilers - 8 posts

#kdrama - 6 posts

#best boy - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#he was so passively going along with everything while also seeming to have an unreasonable grudge against yo han that i couldn't understand

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I would re-watch Strangers from Hell because now that I live in a tiny apartment filled with strange people I understand how things progressed the way they did

how easy it is to go crazy when craziness is all you know, how the people who surround you become your world and standard of normalcy, how people can get under your skin and draw out the worst in you while your focus is so hyperfixated on the stew of psychopathic behavior that you can't even see what's wrong anymore, especially when that person seems, at first, to care for and understand you...it's given me food for thought and a hefty impetus towards introspection. I'll definitely be thinking about this show a lot in the future. Bad company truly does corrupt good morals.

HOWEVER,

I ALSO got physically ill at that (human? question mark?) BBQ table scene when the lights were flashing and THIS man was like

It was truly ADVANCED DARKNESS and I got such awful heebie-jeebies i had to drop it then and there. maybe I'll finish it later...or maybe not!!! I think the lesson was great but it was a bit much for me

10 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#4

wait i figured it out

If eyes are like OuO it is my favorite

See the full post

15 notes - Posted November 30, 2022

#3

Just started Devil Judge because I heard it referenced alongside "The Merciless"

Looove the concept and I think there's a lot that can be said about it, as for the plot, idk what's going on yet but THIS GUY ^^^ is GORGEOUS ^^^ so I'll keep watching~ hehe~ i had a crush on him like 10 years ago from Protect the Boss and holy guacamole he looks the SAME but now EVIL??? Or...NOT??? NOT SURE?? (I drew awful fan art of him as a young kpop teenager before that was a thing!!! It was TVXQ! era in a small town, someone looked at my sketchbook and asked 'why'd you draw an angry Hawai'ian man' and I answered "actually this is Ji Sung he's a Korean actor" and then they're like 'why'd you draw an angry Korean man' I've remembered this interaction for 10 years) First ep was a lil confusing but as per Kdrama rules you must give it at least two eps before drawing a conclusion.

Also everyone keeps saying things like "Lawful husbands" and from the amount of trespassed space bubbles and mysterious stares in the first episode I'm expecting some bromance or maybe ANTI bromance?? bro-loathing?? I guess there will also be a point where I'll say "oh, that's what they meant", we'll see!

20 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

#2

A VERY SPECIFIC CROSSOVER:

See the full post

24 notes - Posted November 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If the idea of Goncharov's *story* appeals to y'all (like, outside of the meme, if you were like, 'oh, I would watch that movie if it existed'), "The Merciless" should probably be on your watchlist

It's a complicated angsty relationship gangster tension plot-twisting ride of a tragic violent shoot-em-up heartbreak-fest and I have so many feelings about it hhffsdfghhghghhhhhh

(and it got like an 8 minute standing ovation at Cannes if that is convincing to anyone)

ALSO in the running for "existent gangster movies that are literally earth shaking in scope and layers of analyses" is my all-time favorite "A Bittersweet Life"

(100% on Rotten Tomatoes btw)

See the full post

51 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[wellntruly]

RUSSIAN DOLL

Russian Doll Season 2---not that great---is honestly a gift to me personally, as now I am always going to have the perfect talking point for my perpetual position: STRUCTURE ABOVE ALL (in storytelling)

This is going to be an excuse to finally write at any length about Russian Doll Season 1, one of my favorite pieces of television, but it's going to be about 2 too, a remarkable instructional case that sets off in contrast so many of the things that make Season 1 a masterpiece of the medium. I actually understand better now what is so important to how Season 1 works, because of which elements Season 2 thought it could leave out, and it couldn’t! The post about making ratatouille.txt. Anyway there will be spoilers for the plots of both.

The main thing though, the most essential tomato in the sauce: Russian Doll Season 1 couldn’t be anything but television. If you ran it all together into one 3.5 hour watch, which many of us did, the story and rhythm is still completely distinguishable as eight distinct episodes, each with their own internal arc and tone that you can easily recall later---the episode where Nadia thinks the yeshiva is haunted, the episode where they’re going through Alan’s day together looking for clues, the episode about Nadia’s childhood trauma, et cetera. This was something I thought about a lot in 2019 when I first watched it, how it binged so well yet still has this nicely chaptered form. Like an album, co-creator Leslye Headland has described it, you can listen to the whole thing through but it’s composed of individual songs. This is a really good analogy. Another would be: like television. But in the era of streaming limited series that just formlessly run on to their end, often without even opening credits* to set off new episodes anymore, that classic television structure can be rarer and rarer to find. 

In fact, if you look ahead to just the next season of this show, you won’t find it! Russian Doll Season 2 is no longer a story built episode by episode, like building blocks that each contain their own kernel of color and meaning, it’s a concurrent & continuous narrative that has just been arbitrarily cut at about each 30 minute mark. You can tell by how this time, it is much more difficult to recall later which episode something happened in. Somehow the episode where we finally find out what Alan has been up to is also the episode where Nadia and Maxine go off to Budapest for like 36 hours---that should not happen! That is so befuddled! It’s something you might not pinpoint at the time, but this simple lack of internal episodic cohesion is absolutely a part of what makes this season feel more scattered and unsatisfying compared to the first one. 

It’s so interesting that it feels more jumbled, because on paper, Season 2 actually has a much more clear and specific topic it’s addressing, what it’s About, than Season 1 does, with its poetic, (theatrical), open-ended conclusion that just doubled down on letting everyone draw the takeaway that mattered most to them. No one is writing explainers this time of all the different themes, or self-effacingly airing their extremely niche pet theories about the Tompkins Square Park Riots that turn out to have something there. There’s no need: Season 2 is expressly about inherited trauma, all roads lead to Rome (or the past, rather). Yet by the time this journey wraps up, what is the impact of this new season? Rather less? The widely middling reviews and near entire lack of Season 2 on my dash when everyone had been posting about Season 1, all seem to indicate yeah, less. 

What I think these two seasons demonstrate so well is that the power of narrative art forms often depends less on just what their ideas are, than how those ideas are being conveyed, what storytelling methods are being used to get at them. The interests of this season are absolutely of a piece with the first, in fact I think most of it was first brought up in the scene where Nadia and Alan are getting drunk at the bar. He mumbles that her necklace is pretty, and she lays out this history of her family fleeing the Holocaust and the story of the gold coins and how her ill mother in her delusions lost them, all but one, and she’s blithe and sad and drunk, not as drunk as Alan but in keeping with him, her eyes are a little bright and she’s feeling confessional and shocking, and it’s so powerful. There is so much in this inter-generational tragedy to delve into, and Season 2 is doing that! It’s about these things and these characters we were already invested in, this should be great, so why does it fall flat when we’re actually watching it? STRUCTURE.

Okay, so these two seasons are basically going about themselves from opposite directions: 

Season 1 is structure-led: it sets up a framework (death time loop), and the characters are set loose to quite literally batter themselves against it in an attempt to find meaning (each other) (healing) (self-peace). Our two protagonists are constrained at nearly every turn by this shape the show has place placed them in, yet the sparks of their humanity bumping into it creates some of the brightest parts---the amount of revealing Maxine & Lizzy moments that come from Nadia refusing to leave via the stairs after episode two; Alan hurriedly telling a gasping Nadia where he’ll meet her if they’re dying as blood starts to trickle out of his ear; the fucking song. (*Oh we’ll come back to this!) 

Season 2, meanwhile, has a different starting point: it sets up a discussion topic, and pretends to have a new structure (time train), but from the very beginning, the rules of the 6 train change depending on whatever the story wants to be about at that moment---it’s story-led, 100%. Season 1 was beholden to its form, to the point of occasionally feeling like both we and the characters were trapped in one of Nadia’s video games. Season 2 is not actually constrained by any form at all, but instead of this freedom letting the show burn brighter, we lost those edges to spark against. Everything ended up feeling more diffuse and watery, until our lead characters were literally wading through it. Notably: apart. (We’ll get to this too!) 

Season 1 tells a story that can be understood to be about a lot of different things, in a setting that is so wonderfully specifically one thing---culturally, geographically, calender-ly. Season 2 tells a story clearly understood to be about one thing, in a setting that now includes three different cities, four different time periods, and eventually a sort of collapsing multiverse of timelines. They’re opposites!

And I think I have an idea of why one (1) works better. We're going briefly to the stage, actually. (Hang with me!)

In an interview on the Little Gold Men podcast about his adaptation of Tick, Tick...BOOM!, Lin Manuel Miranda said something that caused me to say for the second time (the first time was when I was watching Tick, Tick...BOOM!), “Aw man, you’re a good director.” What he said he was this:

“Yes, the musical theater truism of the opening number establishing the rules of the world, is important. You have to tell the audience how to experience this show, and how does the singing work, and what are we watching. But I also learned on Hamilton that every number is an opportunity to renegotiate that relationship, and crack it open a little more and bend the rules here. […] Establishing all those rules with every song and pushing on those rules, so that by the time we get to the end of the show, we can literally stop time.” 

As a nerd for structure, this really spoke to me. Sure it’s initially about musical theater, a unique medium with its own tool set, but it also applies perfectly to a season of television like Russian Doll Season 1, where instead of each song, it’s each restart of the time loop that is an opportunity to re-establish the rules while also pressing on them.

Speaking of songs! Let’s get to this now: the diegetic music cue of Harry Nilsson’s ‘Gotta Get Up’ playing on each restart is such a stroke of genius. On one level, it let them hack the no-credits format of Netflix’s recent years---it’s now the credits song! It signifies one little narrative close and the start of a new one! We’re humans, we love patterns, and we also love when patterns alter in satisfying ways. Studies on people who experience frisson, goosebumps while listening to music or even just watching or reading a narrative, have found that it usually comes at key pattern moments, either when the current pattern breaks, or when it reforms into a pattern from earlier. The same ‘Gotta Get Up’ track playing from the same exact spot every single time was a thrill of repetition, but ALSO an incredible barometer for how the show was making us feel at that moment, as the song’s tone would almost seem to alter as we went on. Sometimes it would feel more manic, other times more ominous, others more hilarious, more moribund, more surreal. It’s so eerie when it’s playing in Maxine’s now fully empty apartment, and so joyous when it’s playing and everyone’s back. 

Because Russian Doll Season 1 is perfectly following that musical theater adage. As Lin would have it, each 'song' (each restart): an opportunity. Season 1 is miles more rule-bound than Season 2, but that doesn’t make it static at all. In fact, it’s continuously using what we know of the structure to reveal new things to us, either by something’s sudden absence or sudden appearance in what we had grown to think of as a sealed loop. Paradoxically, each time we learn another rule, the world expands.

Most importantly, indelibly: the end of the third episode---

Nadia: "Hey man, didn't you get the news? We're about to die." This guy in the elevator: "It doesn't matter, I die all the time."

Fun fact, so I get frisson? I got frisson just now simply thinking about this moment. IT’S PERFECT TELEVISION WRITING. It feels WILD, it’s SO surprising, but it’s also not actually breaking our rules at all, it’s simply revealing to us a new person who is also subject to them. And we didn’t know!! The panic over “spoilers” that has grown up in recent years is, I think, rather overblown, but I will say that’s one thing about Netflix keeping Russian Doll a secret and just dumping “a new Natasha Lyonne show” on everyone with no warning one week in February 2019: we didn’t even know there was a second lead character. If I had seen even a single still of Charlie Barnett before watching it, I didn’t remember. Top ten TV moments of my life!! And that we KNEW the next episode was going to start with him looking into a mirror, you just knew it! That predictive joy of pattern & surprise!

And then the existence of Alan immediately offers so much. For starters, someone for grousing, gravelly Natasha Lyonne to play off of (wonderful), but what I think I might find most moving is the discovery that bears down on you the minute we start that next episode---'Alan’s Routine', it is tellingly titled---that oh, oh he is trying to handle this completely differently. I know I keep saying similar things, but it’s my refrain: it’s the structure that is allowing us to so quickly get this depth of characterization, and a deeper understanding of Nadia as well, just through their differing responses to the same time loop. It’s so important to what that season is trying to do with its central existential pondering that this be happening to them in the same way, but because of who they are as people and the circumstances of their personal histories, they’ve each started to build up a totally different mythos of how and why it works (god, god, it’s so good).

But then in Season 2, we actually barely get Alan at all, and even when we do they're quite cordoned off from each other. I love Alan and missed him, but it's not just that---I love them together. Nadia sets off Alan at his best angles; Alan sets off Nadia at her best angles. I really think another part of what makes the developments of this season feel oddly skimmed over sometimes is that neither of them has the other there to question and comment and collaborate. Imagine Alan providing cover for Nadia, heist-style, as she slips into that Budapest auction house basement, and then supporting her with the emotional weight of what she finds there. Imagine Nadia's reaction to Alan's reaction to getting catcalled by Stasi officers who see him as his young grandmother.

I do think that even without the unavoidable comparison with the story of connection that had come before, the writing of this season would have still felt disjointed between them, Alan’s unrelated Berlin B-plot tacked on to the clear A-narrative of Nadia and the krugerrands. Sure, stories don’t always have to have the fates of the characters intertwined to be moving, but it generally makes for more rewarding experiences when there are these thematic echoes, these exchanges between people, when they change each other. Part of the beauty of that first season of Russian Doll was that as it went on, we all began to realize, Nadia and Alan too, that it was only going to be through helping each other that they were going to be in less pain. I don't know if I can save myself, but perhaps I can save you. It’s lovely.

Season 2 is more of an individual journey. It’s basically Nadia and Alan now doing work on themselves, on their own. It is a stepping back from where Season 1 ended, or maybe a step inward I mean? And I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, just as I don't think that every story has to be highly structured to be any good (of course not!), but I do think that more loosely organized individualism can be harder to manage from a storytelling perspective. It can, as this second season does, tend toward meandering. It can, as this season does, lose awareness of rhythm. Those patterns, building and breaking and reforming. Those constraints that create beauty. Season 2 cut itself loose from form, when it needed structure more than ever.

But hey, it really did make me fall even more in love with that first season, and I don't know if I would have thought that was possible.

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 29: 3x09 The Tholian Web

Today’s episode, The Tholian Web, was completely new to me and I came in with no expectations at all. I wasn’t sure about it at first but ultimately I really liked it!

In uncharted territory looking for lost ship the Defiant. Space appears to be breaking up. Idk but for some reason this sounds very familiar.

Like truly I don’t know what this is reminding me of but hasn’t space broken up before?

And now there’s a mysterious object! Nothing is going Kirk’s way today at all.

“Fascinating.” / “Explain.” Truly the root of this relationship.

It’s the Defiant! Looking ghostly.

Uhura’s on the case already. You don’t need to tell her how to do her job.

Scotty and Sulu looking badass together.

Conveniently, it’s another constitution class, allowing all the sets to be reused. (Though also I do think it makes sense only a large ship like that would be in uncharted space.)

Look at them in those suits. They look like they’re going to the grocery store in May 2020.

How do they know this isn’t an illusion? Because “we can see it, but the sensors don’t pick up anything” screams “illusion” to me. I wouldn’t want to beam into open space!

The triumvirate + Chekov, fourth wheeling again. (My mom suggested he’d be incapacitated soon, which is fair--he IS the red shirt in this scenario.)

All of this is feeling very familiar--missing ship, unusual space phenomenon, people going mad--but I'm not sure if it's repetitive or classic.

NO mutiny ever? That seem unlikely. Also didn’t Spock literally commit mutiny? Chekov would appreciate knowing this.

Kirk manages to look intense even through the space suit.

I find it really weird he doesn’t know the captain of this ship. Like, first off, he knows everyone, and second, there only about 12-14 constitution class vessel Captains so I really do think they know each other.

“Spock, stay with me.” Don’t have to tell him twice.

Lol the ship looks so silly just...drifting away. Adorable, but silly.

Seeing an Asian man in sick bay reminds me how few Asian people there are in Starfleet. Like... 1.

“What the devil?” That’s a Southern man there.

Is the ship actually dissolving or is it an ILLUSION? (It’s actually dissolving.)

Uh, the transporter’s not working? That’s not good.

I love how Scotty hears that and immediately abandons the bridge, like there is NO other man for the job.

O’Neil’s face when Kirk asks to be beamed aboard is hilarious. Human embodiment of the :O emoticon.

“You too, Spock.” He delays ordering Spock back to the ship because he KNOWS Spock’s going to argue.

“Completing the data set” yeah okay. He just doesn’t want to leave Jim alone. Especially in the extremely suspicious circumstances of there being 4 people and 3 transporter spots.

He’s vanished!

Spock is NOT having this.

The fabric of space is very weak here. Sounds legit. And there are many alternate dimensions that are very close at hand. So in other words... Kirk is literally stuck in an AU right now.

This is sorta like The Alternative Factor but way better.

You know it’s serious when they break out the fish eye lens.

When Bones rushed in, I was expecting him to sedate Chekov but Spock has it covered.

I feel like Spock is extremely concerned for Chekov here. Like it’s subtle, but just the attention he’s paying to him. And Sulu is obviously very concerned too.

His “environmental unit” only has so much oxygen. What a great name for a fancy spacesuit.

Spock will not believe Jim is dead!! Never. (This is the plot of the whole episode in 8 words essentially.)

That’s an alien!

“According to the Federation, this area is free space.” ...Okay, that sounds a little colonialist. In his defense, he doesn’t press the point. He basically says, kay, we’ll go as soon as we’re finished rescuing.

And I appreciate the Tholian’s respect for that even though surely he must feel gaslit by Spock--rescuing WHO there are NO other ships??

Also I like the look of the alien.

Nifty lab equipment there.

MCCOY FIGHT SCENE.

Wow that orderly was easily disabled lol. I guess Chapel hypoed him but it really looked like she just tapped his shoulder and he fell.

Hmm, there are still 30 minutes left so something tells me this Kirk rescue mission won’t work.

Captain Kirk is not in his designated area. I repeat Captain Kirk has wandered away from his designated area.

The space was disturbed by the Tholians. I guess they weren’t factored into the delicate calculations.

Something about this exchange really screams Southerner meets Alien. Like more than most McCoy and Spock exchanges.

You can tell Spock is thinking about this whole "nothing’s being transmitted, it’s just the nature of space; everyone's already sick" thing but also not caring because CAPTAIN KIRK.

Now they’re being fired upon! A lot is happening here.

“Renowned Tholian punctuality” lol. Always a sense of humor on this one.

Spock’s face when Sulu questioned his order was 100% “Did I stutter?”

“I know you don’t like to use the phasers.” Because he’s a pacifist.

Well he changed his mind on those phasers fast enough.

“You’ve lost Jim.” UM no I think NOT.

Everything happens so much.

“That is the mark of a starship Captain like Jim.” I mean Spock is no Jim but there’s no need to be rude about it

“Doctor, go to your room and do your homework.”

Aw, the ships are kissing.

Now they look like little weaving shuttles. Adorable.

Hmm, it IS a web. Appropriately named episode.

“We shall not see home again.” Lol Spock way to be the Most Dramatique as always.

Tholian web screensaver Windows 98.

No, not a funeral!!

“This service requires my attention, Mr. Spock.” Crying emoji.

(I’m with Spock in almost everything in this ep but come on, you can’t ban McCoy from Kirk’s funeral, that’s just rude.)

This seems more like an assembly than a funeral tbh.

[agonizing scream] is also how I feel about Kirk “dying” and that’s why Generations isn’t real.

AOS Kirk would 100% approve of a brawl at his funeral.

Sulu and Uhura <3

“Each of you must evaluate the loss in the privacy of your own thoughts.” Spock definitely will.

Wait, that was it? The whole eulogy? Both Kirk and Spock really suck at eulogizing the other.

McCoy probably could have skipped this honestly.

Wait, Kirk left his space husband and his BFF a final in-case-of-death message? Noooooooooooooooo I can’t.

McCoy is so insistent they watch it and Spock is like “nah, that makes it too real, not gonna do it.”

“The Captain’s last order is the top priority.”

Why does everyone always assume Spock wants power? He obviously doesn’t. He could be a Captain if he wanted, probably. He’s early enough in his career where he still has time to become a Captain, too--eventually he does! Most of his career and literally every statement he’s ever made would kinda imply he’s not interested.

Also, if he didn’t care about Jim and he just wanted to take over the Enterprise, he would have left 3 hours ago? Like multiple people were saying he should? Including Bones??

“He was a hero in every sense of the word.” True.

McCoy is being VERY mean today.

And now he’s mad at him again for fighting the Tholians instead of leaving without Jim! Like which is it! What did he do wrong? At least pick a specific thing to criticize lol.

"I need not explain my rationale to you or to any other member of this crew." That’s true but also all I can hear is “I love him. I’m in love with him. I must have him back.”

What is that art work on the wall? That’s new.

I don’t get how Bones isn’t getting this. He KNOWS about the “warm, genuine feeling.”

Vulcans clearly aren’t immune to the...space weirdness. But yes, another pot shot at his alienness is always welcome lol.

“I AM in command of the Enterprise.” You tell him.

Finally, the secret message!

Omg Jim is literally dead and he’s still reassuring Spock. What a good boyfriend. I know this is the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but you got this bb.

Now he’s lecturing them both from beyond the grave and getting everything right and they’re just standing there like chastised schoolboys.

That “take care” was so soft.

“It does hurt, doesn’t it?”

“What would you have me say Doctor?”

Like??? I can’t stand this.

Uhura! At home.

I like that twirly thing they have in their quarters; very efficient use of space and also I want one.

I also love that her chair has crocodile arms.

Kirk shows up in the mirror just to be dramatic and disappear again.

“Of course you saw him. We’d all like to see him.” Lol. Yes, yes, he’s still with us... in our hearts.

If the Tholians complete the web, what will they do with what’s inside? Eat it?"

“Are we any closer to the cure for space weirdness?” / “No. Except also yes.”

Love all the vague science that goes into solving their problem at the last minute but also extremely quickly by any objective standard.

Is Chekov restrained with seat belts?

Whereas Uhura’s just chilling. She knows what she’s about.

Ghost Kirk! Ghost Kirk!

"Do you suppose they're seeing Jim because they've lost confidence i you?" Damn bones, harsh. I thought we were done with this.

Pretty distressing that everything relies SO much on Scotty lol--arguably the MOST critical single member of the crew.

“I’m  sorry.” Glad to hear him say it, finally!

“He would just say ‘Forget it Bones.’“ Adorable.

I feel like everyone’s simultaneously thinking, ‘Okay, we ALL see that, right?”

I am overwhelmed by the longing in that shot of Spock trying to reach Kirk through the dimensions. Like, we’ve established everyone loves him, everyone misses him, everyone wants to see him, but Spock actually approaches him and tries to meet him...

“We were separated. He couldn’t touch me.”

I want to know Scotty’s opinion on Spock’s crazy statue.

So Spock shouldn’t have fired those phasers? Because they... did something... bad to the dimensions? But what other choice did he have, other than to leave without Kirk?

Wasn’t Scotty literally just saying this wasn’t fixable? And now he’s like ‘eh, I can fix it in 20 minutes and get you 80% power’?

The antidote is derived from a nerve gas used by the Klingons...that’s honestly rather hilarious. They’re good for something I guess.

“It simply deadens certain nerve inputs in the brain.” / “Any decent brand of Scotch’ll do that.” Starfleet’s finest lmao.

Lmao Mccoy's no longer drugging the crew he's straight up killing parts of their brains with booze and deadly nerve gas. The man must be stopped.

Noooo don’t give Scotty the whole bottle. We’ve already established the ship doesn’t run without him.

They still gotta get out of the web.

If I shipped McCoy/Spock I would DEFINITELY ship it in that little moment where they look at each other over the glasses.

I have no idea what happened but they seem to be free. Bye Tholians!

Kirk back in the chair where he belongs <3

“No problems worth reporting”--I mean that is technically true, I GUESS.

Kirk is trying to get the gossip.

“Only what one would expect when humans are involved.” / “What humans?” The oxygen hasn’t fully returned to his brain, I see.

Also he is completely lying about understanding McCoy’s explanation.

Sulu and Chekov are having a great time listening in. Collecting future gossip for the cafeteria.

“M-my last orders. That I left for both of you.” He’s adorable.

"The crisis was upon us and then passed so quickly that w-we...." Lol yes the crisis came and then 4 hours later, it was passed! Just like that.

I totally get that Kirk wants them to admit they watched the tape. It was his orders that they watch it first, plus he knows he said helpful stuff and he wanted to be helpful! But I also get why they don’t want to admit they saw it, because it is rather awkward to admit they watched his last words when he’s... not dead.

That was a great ep overall! I really enjoyed it.

My only two complaints are that there wasn’t enough Kirk, and I wasn’t fond of Bones’s characterization. I mean, I get that he was affected by the... space weirdness and maybe his usual prejudices were purposefully exaggerated to show that but it still felt like he was constantly piling up on Spock and in the most unhelpful way. Like, they often disagree, in part because they have different general philosophies, and Bones often misunderstands Spock. But Bones wasn’t really offering anything helpful in terms of command advice, and his criticisms were both repetitive and incoherent. Did he want Spock to leave Jim behind or not? Was firing the phasers bad or necessary? Is Spock doing too much to save Jim or is he just out to get rid of him and take command? And again, he had like 6 moments where he said something cutting and cruel and...one or two of those go a lot farther to show the point. I also just... Bones really, really doesn’t get Spock, and I can see how he’d get meaner given the space aggression. But he’s not cruel. And he and Spock are friends, and he does know that Spock loves Kirk more than anything. So I did not find him IC overall.

But I did really like Spock and his characterization. I could feel all the emotion in him, so pent up and controlled but so present--especially in the moment when he held the tape Kirk made, but in so many other places as well--the “funeral,” the first moment after Kirk failed to materialize, reaching for him on the Bridge...

I also liked this portrayal of Spock in command. He is a good commander and he has obviously grown a lot since the Galileo Seven. But he’s not Jim, and the show is clear about that. Kirk is not replaceable and his job is not easy. I’m not even sure that Kirk would have done much different than Spock--he wouldn’t have left without one of his crew, and that probably would have involved firing on the Tholian ship. But when Spock did it, it really felt like he was overwhelmed, frustrated, and not thinking--he didn’t want to, but then Scotty said he should, and he did. Kirk would have made the decision, not been pressured into it. Would it have mattered? It comes out to the same, but I think it would have been a different scenario. Kirk only ever makes his own decisions--then he can own them, no matter what. That didn’t feel like Spock’s decision, and it affected others’ confidence in him (cough cough McCoy).

I would have to watch again to see if I thought there was any other choice.

This ep made me think of the cave scene in ST09 where Ambassador Spock meets Kirk and thinks he is HIS Kirk, come on purpose to find him. Because obviously Kirk is like that: he comes back from the dead, he finds Spock no matter what, he comforts and reassures and supports him no matter what. He would cross dimensions, he’d travel through time, he’d become No Longer Dead, if that’s what Spock needed.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see Kirk’s adventures in the AU lol. I think he was lying about being alone in the other universe. I want to see the fic where he was actually in the AOS verse lol.

Even though there wasn’t enough Kirk in this ep, I appreciated how strong his presence was anyway, seeing everyone love him so much, and seeing just how effective he is as a Captain by comparison with Spock, who is good and who did get them out of the situation, but who lacks that certain... Captain’s quality.

And it outright was a great Spock episode, and a good Spock and McCoy ep except for all of the OOC-ness in McCoy. I’m starting to feel like actually there’s a pretty significant amount of Spock and McCoy stories (this one, The Paradise Syndrome All Our Yesterdays, even Bread and Circuses) and I wish there were more Kirk and Bones stories, too. They are best friends after all!

Next is Plato’s Stepchildren, which is a pretty meh episode, but not awful.

[miraculouscontent]

Oh boy.

[Pacebreaker]

Because I’ll have to keep bringing it up otherwise, let me start out by saying that the pacing in this episode is atrocious. I’ve seen some bad pacing in Miraculous before but this is close to the bottom of the barrel if not the bottom of the barrel.

Let me run down how this episode breaks up its scenes:

Fighting/Resolving Gigantitan: 2 minutes and 18 seconds (0:30-2:48)

Setting up the plot: 1 minute and 7 seconds (2:48-3:55)

Establishing characters feelings and waiting for Chat to arrive: 4 minutes and 35 seconds (3:55-8:30)

The most awkward get-together in Miraculous history: 3 minutes and 45 seconds (8:30-12:15)

wErEdaD, i Am hAwK mOtH: 1 minute and 25 seconds (12:15-13:40)

That Scene With Chat and Sabine That No One Wants to Talk About: 45 seconds (13:40-14:25)

Weredad Brings the Dupain: 3 minutes and 40 seconds (14:25-17:30)+(18:00-18:15)+(18:20-18:40)

Marinette Saves Herself: 55 seconds (17:30-18:00)+(18:15-18:20)+(18:40-19:00)

Ladybug Saves Chat and Tom: 1 minute and 15 seconds (19:00-20:15)

Resolution: 1 minute and 47 seconds (20:15-22:02)

This episode wastes time on scenes that don't have value so that scenes that should have value get no time at all. This episode serves to be little more than a Tom akumatization episode, yet Weredad doesn't even have 4 minutes of screen time.

And for what? By the 7 minute mark, I was officially bored. Everything drags on and on despite the fact that it's blatantly obvious where things are going to go. The timing for some scenes even sound correct at a glance, but then the scene itself shows up and it's all over the place. In the scene with everyone having treats, Tom just jumps from awkward topic to awkward topic.

And the scene with Gigantitan didn't need to be anywhere near as long as it was. The episode spends too long re-establishing Ladybug and Chat's relationship when one or two lines would've been enough. The pacifier was an extra detail that not only isn't resolved, but that didn't need to exist.

Marinette got a giant lucky charm jammed through her room; Chat could've just wanted to check on her and found it weird that she was on her balcony so late at night (unless she'd been watching the action, which gives him the idea that she's a fan of his). The episode even tries to run with the idea that Chat would always be there for Marinette and always check on her, but he certainly wasn't concerned when her room had been destroyed late at night when she was likely inside of it.

And then the episode spends so much time establishing how characters feel about the situation when it's already been made clear. Adrien talks about it to August (I've noticed that this show doesn't care to have characters just think to themselves instead of talking out loud) about it first, then talks to Plagg, then talks to Plagg again the next day.

The pacing doesn't just need tweaking. It needs an entire makeover.

[Dia-slog]

The dialog in this episode is so contrived. It's so stilted.

Let's start with the very beginning of the episode, since that's where a huge pacing issue is. Because the episode wants to re-establish Ladybug and Chat's relationship (which it already does later in this scene and verbally by both leads later), it has Chat flirt with Ladybug mid-battle and wastes a scene of Ladybug slamming into an Adrien billboard just so she can fawn over him.

Put bluntly, it feels like one of the chibi shorts with dialog and the show's models, right down to the fact that everything is a lot of "jokes" (Chat trying to kiss Ladybug before she gets flung off so he misses his chance, the billboard, Ladybug's giant lucky charm that was apparently useless since it's in the same place during Miraculous Ladybug which means it was just a gag of Ladybug holding something heavy and also a reason for Tom to rush to Marinette's room despite the fact that an akuma being near their house at all is more than enough reason, etc.).

And I have to talk about that scene with Chat finding Marinette because there are so many things wrong with it. Not Marinette even, because I get that she's anxious and panicking and went for the first thing that came to her mind that would distract him enough, but there are serious issues with Chat's dialog.

Firstly, Chat sees Marinette on Marinette's own balcony and somehow finds that suspicious. Chat has been to Marinette's house multiple times as both Adrien and Chat; there's no excuse for this.

Secondly, Chat starts out mentioning Ladybug's de-transformation. The scene is very clearly set up for Marinette to think that Chat's about to suggest that she's Ladybug. It's not, "This isn't the first time I've seen you near a fight," or "This isn't the first time I've caught you right after a battle." If Chat is trying to imply that Ladybug isn't around but Marinette is so Marinette must be one of his fans, it still makes no sense because, again, Marinette is at her own house.

This episode already had pacing, dialog, and character problems, but even the setup was inherently flawed.

It didn't have to be about a big misunderstanding. If it had to be about Tom getting akumatized out of anger for Chat, the episode could've had Tom seeing Marinette and Chat together multiple times (whether that's because Ladybug de-transforms and runs into Chat, who takes her home, or a meta joke on how a lot of akumatizations tend to happen around Marinette), which then leads Tom to think that Chat must love Marinette (if the episode wants a misunderstanding so badly, it can be a small one: maybe Tom does talk to Marinette, but she thinks he's talking about Adrien when he refers to her love life), only for Chat to explain that he loves Ladybug and incur Tom's anger because it's as if Chat is leading Marinette on. That even brings up the fact that Chat has an issue with mixed signals.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, but the narrative needs to stop pointing out Marinette's lying as the core issue without offering solutions. Tikki does it all the time and she never learns. Marinette rightfully argues with Tikki that she had a reason for doing it and, once again, Tikki deflects and keeps focusing on what Marinette caused. Instead of offering solutions and instead of offering comfort, Tikki waffles around the issue and leaves all of Marinette's arguments hanging without a proper answer.

Tom isn't safe from poor dialog choices either. In fact, he might be one of the worst examples, whether as himself or his akumatized form. To keep the plot going, Tom has to constantly brush off what other characters say, except when it's relevant to the plot they're trying to tell. This means that Chat and Marinette can't be blunt until the moment where Tom is meant to be akumatized.

This also means that Chat has to sit there while Tom rambles for eternity and asks Chat pressing questions. Chat sits there eating sweets they offered him when he knows that he's about to reject Marinette. It pads out the episode because the writing is panicking to build up the big moment and it's the same thing with Marinette's big reaction to Chat: a big setup.

The episode doesn't even know what it wants to be either. It seems to want to establish Marinette and Chat's feelings on each other at first, but there's a complete 30-second derail of dialog re-establishing Adrien’s issues with his father just so it can come back for a 35-second scene with Weredad later.

And because of poor pacing, the dialog in that scene with Weredad is rushed beyond belief. Tom's whole reason for getting akumatized was a want to never let any boy near Marinette again, but a 10 second speech from Chat suddenly has him like, "okay then actually--"

And speaking of Chat's speech, it's completely ineffective from a comparison standpoint! Adrien wasn't even isolated in this episode. In Season 2 "Glaciator" or "Captain Hardrock", MAYBE, but the problem is rarely isolation nowadays; it's Adrien's dad being so rarely there for him.

That's the difference. Tom was actively caring for Marinette and Adrien's dad is just too strict. Fixating on the over-protectiveness would've been so much better.

And...isolation? Weredad has specifically said that he was going to be there for Marinette. Gabriel isn't there for Adrien, but Tom would be for Marinette. The comparison between Gabriel and Tom isn't invalid (honestly, I appreciate a little nuance ignoring the fact that humanizing the main villain might not be a great idea), but it boils down to little more than something only established for Tom in this one episode.

Here's a thought: maybe instead of the episode focusing on something that's here and gone, it can focus on something that can be slowly improved and has already been a thing.

How often have Tom and Sabine comforted Marinette? How often does Marinette have to go to someone else for comfort? Heck, the only scene in this episode of one of the parents comforting anyone is Sabine comforting Chat (and trust me, we'll get there).

Maybe the parents learning about listening to Marinette? This could've addressed the fact that Gabriel and Tom+Sabine are on opposite sides but have similar problems.

Gabriel is very absent and doesn't listen to Adrien. Tom and Sabine are very attentive (or at least they think they are) yet don't pay attention to Marinette's feelings unless Marinette makes it clear (whether verbally or otherwise).

"Gamer" was Tom and Sabine constantly interrupting Marinette and Adrien's time together despite Marinette's clear discomfort, even going so far as to talk to Adrien about the fact that Marinette talks about him all the time.

When Marinette got home in "Lady Wifi", looking wholly exhausted, Sabine asked no questions and was like "oh hey Alya brought your bag home go get some exercise to help work on your forgetfulness ya scrub."

"Simon Says" had them ground Marinette as if that would solve all her issues (disregarding the fact that it's a ridiculous consequence when the place she was absent from were school activities which they can't stop her from trying to go to) instead of looking at things emotionally and worrying about why Marinette is missing classes.

It took Marinette having her privacy invaded and sobbing hysterically in "Troublemaker" before Tom and Sabine actually do anything of value and, even then, they fight off the people running the show instead of one of them being upstairs to comfort Marinette.

Even disregarding the fact that "overprotective father" has already been done (both in the show and done to death out of the show), it's aggravating that Tom and Sabine both have actual issues that could be addressed but the writing pushes them in a different direction. Sabine rambles about how she always tries to calm Tom down, but she made very few attempts and most of them led to her just smiling and letting Tom go about things.

The dialog feels wrong because it is wrong. It's not natural or flowing because the episode is holding this tightrope of a plotline as all the characters desperately try to walk across it without falling.

[Fairy Tale of Woe]

I'm keeping this one simple. From my calculations, this episode has, at most, six minutes of screen time on Weredad and his vine prison.

Six minutes is not anywhere near enough time to mash together multiple fairy tales so it’s a jumbled mess. It's nothing more than a set piece.

Fairy tales rarely mesh well together. That's why they're their own self-contained stories. I see what they were going for with Marinette being trapped and saved and fairy tale romance and whatever, but it just doesn't work.

And why fairy tales at all when it comes to Tom's character? Tom might dream of Marinette having a fairy tale romance, but Tom doesn't explicitly reference fairy tales or act like he's a huge fan of them. He's obsessed with baking for the episode instead.

"Reflekta" gave Juleka a very vibrant and attention-grabbing appearance to fit with her want to stand out. "The Evillustrator" turned Nathaniel into the hero in his story. "Stormy Weather" made Aurore into a weather girl who could force all her predictions to come true.

"Weredad"...why would Tom want to be a wolf creature? Powerful and quick on his feet, I can understand, but why a wolf? He's a baker and talks about it often in the episode, so this just doesn't fit at all.

[That Scene With Chat and Sabine That No One Wants to Talk About But We're Gonna Talk About It]

Oh, Chat. Chat. Chat. Chat.

I really hope this isn't a trend. I'd prefer to not go into each episode of Season 3 worriedly wondering, "Is Adrien/Chat going to do [the thing] again?"

So...the scene.

There are a total of three major issues with this scene.

First issue: Chat not going into enough detail about what he did wrong. The episode fixates on him not returning Marinette's feelings, but he stayed way longer than he should've when he only went to reject Marinette, brought her a rose thinking that would somehow help the situation, and kissed both of Marinette's cheeks to greet her. It's frankly no wonder why Tom was so sure that Chat was in love with Marinette; just like Adrien, he's constantly mixing up his words and the actions he takes.

Second issue: Sabine comforting Chat at all. I have no issue with Tom and Sabine doing things outside of Marinette, but this is a huge offense. Marinette went up to her room “sobbing” and instead of going up to check on her, Sabine stays downstairs to talk to Tom. Tom goes overboard, sure, and he didn't go upstairs to Marinette either, but he thought Marinette was legitimately hurt and he cared. Sabine makes her stance pretty clear at the end of the episode by basically saying that "oh marinette is strong and she can handle herself." Sabine is hardly involved in Marinette's life unless it's a special occasion or "hey marinette clean your room or i'll go through your emails," yet the second Chat comes in all upset, Sabine is immediately at his side and comforting him while also side-giving a "told him so" at Tom's behavior (something she gives to Tom personally at the end of the episode too). I'm all for Marinette's parents having confidence in her but this doesn't qualify in that field. It's just bad parenting.

Third issue: This has to do with the actual thing being talked about here: specifically, Sabine telling Chat that his feelings are valid. I can forgive Sabine on a few points, because she doesn't have the full story, but Chat says right in front of them that Ladybug keeps rejecting him. That's a big red flag. It'd be one thing if Chat simply said that he was in love with someone else, but even then, this is shown as a good thing that Sabine is doing for Chat when it's not. This is enabling Chat to keep on loving Ladybug and keep on pursuing her because that's what he feels is the right choice. If anyone should be told that their feelings are valid, it's Ladybug. Ladybug is constantly made to feel bad about rejecting Chat in any endeavor, but when it's time to start giving out sympathy cards, Ladybug doesn't get one. Chat's right, Sabine's right, but Marinette/Ladybug is wrong because she doesn't agree with Chat.

Chat can learn that it’s fine if he’s not in love with Marinette, but not that it’s fine if he continues pursuing Ladybug against her wishes.

[Nomance]

It's honestly difficult to talk about the details being discussed in this episode without derailing into a 3000 word discussion about "Will They, Won't They" plots, but I'll try to keep it brief.

This episode was a mistake. I don't mean that it's a mess all over because of the pacing, dialog, and character moments.

I mean, it is, but that's not what I’m referring to.

I’m saying that the idea for it never should've been approved in the first place.

"Will They, Won't They" is very thin ice territory that needs to be handled with care and grace. With the love square, the show gets around some of the problems by having the protagonist and deuteragonist already technically be in love with each other, but having the conflict be getting them to see the other side of their crush in the same light.

It was never a good idea to directly address Marinette's feelings for Chat and Adrien's feelings for Marinette in this way. There is no feasible way it could've gone well.

People do not like it when shows trying to directly retcon and/or put new meanings to scenes that were originally supposed to be vague and open to fandom interpretation.

Adrien does not love Marinette. That's just a fact. There's no denial, no hidden meaning...it's just the truth that the episode points out multiple times without even a shred of restraint. If there was any remaining hope left that Adrien loved Marinette after Kagami came in and Adrien showed genuine interest in her, this episode completely crushes it. If Adrien did love Marinette in any way, there would've been a moment of him acknowledging that instead of constantly shooting down the notion to Plagg.

That means that all of these

were lies. They were teases. They were bait. They didn’t mean anything.

And Chat's entire personality in this episode constantly 180s from having a massive ego to being totally self-conscious. He swaps from "obnoxiously egotistic" to "reminding everyone that he isn't in love with Marinette" to "getting another stamp on his sympathy card because he needs one more stamp for his free sundae."

Once again, mid-battle, he's flirting. Instead of helping Ladybug hold back Gigantitan, he not only ignores the battle entirely to flirt, but he tries to kiss her. Ladybug is flung into the air, slamming into a billboard, but Chat doesn't apologize for being distracted. Instead, he catches her and continues flirting like fighting Hawk Moth isn't serious to him at all.

He hasn’t learned anything. Chat faces no consequences from flirting inappropriately because any damage done while he's distracted with chatting up his crush (who is in love with someone else and he is aware of that fact) will immediately be fixed by the magical ladybugs.

This is the episode where Chat gets his feelings for Ladybug validated and it starts in the worst possible way for it.

This was never Marinette's episode. This was never Tom's episode. This is Chat's episode.

There's so little focus on Marinette being amazing and saving herself because this isn't about her. That's why there's no big moment of Chat being like "whoa Marinette saved herself she's even more amazing than I thought." Chat never even learns that Marinette broke the rose herself; he probably presumes that Ladybug did it. He fawns over how great Ladybug is for "saving Marinette" when it was Marinette herself who did that (the episode easily could've had Marinette mention that she broke the rose and then Ladybug showed up). Ladybug gets credit from Chat for the things that Marinette did, furthering the divide between the "two girls" in his mind.

Chat gets the big speech to Weredad. Chat gets the screen time where he talks about his feelings. Chat gets the sympathy and comfort.

This episode wanted nothing more than to make Chat feel valid. That's literally it. It's why everything is so contrived and Tom's overprotectiveness comes out of nowhere.

It's also why Adrien is not even mentioned once by Marinette's parents.

Tom and Sabine know that Marinette loves Adrien. That's been canon since Season 1. It's not like Marinette fake-confesses and they presume that he must Adrien behind the mask, which is why Chat stays so long so he can convince them otherwise (which would've actually been funny and left Adrien freaking the heck out for multiple reasons; bonus comedy with them deciding that he must not be Adrien in the end).

Marinette "confesses" and there's not one word from Tom and Sabine about Adrien, who they actually seemed to like and were rooting for Marinette to be with. Neither of them ask if Marinette had a fight with him or if Marinette just changed her mind.

And Marinette is the one who's given the "hints" that she might be in love with Chat, what with her being unusually angry at the idea that Chat might've changed his mind on who he loves when she "wasn't interested."  And sure, she's given lines about being happy that Chat isn't in love with her, but Chat's the one being put in the right and given sympathy. He's the one whose feelings we're told are valid.

Thus, the only reason Marinette isn't included must be because her current feelings aren't.

Listening to what a lot of people were saying about this episode, I’ve heard it be related back to fanfiction. To a degree, I can understand.

"Weredad" does have a lot of traits of fanfiction, what with its plot and simultaneously having the writing ability of amateur fanfiction.

But, in reality, "Weredad" is not like a fanfic.

A fanfic would progress the characters’ emotions, however sloppily. A fanfic would care enough to make a plot like this matter. A fanfic would make the characters’ feelings change in some way from start to finish.

A fanfic would be better than this.

[wittypenguin]

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

This is a broken film which was supposed to be the amazing follow-up to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. People who saw the rough version of 2½ hours thought it was a much better film than Citizen Kane in every way possibles with the final scene being a sad but incredible moment in movie-making history, and a scene which Mr Welles never equalled in his career. That version will never be seen. This post is as uneven as the film, but I can’t blame Studio Executives for that.

Brilliant. Simply brilliant. 

George Minafer (played by Tim Holt) is a first class shit head of an asshole. He treats everyone so badly I’m surprised he came back from College with all of his limbs.

Eugene: [0:42:00] I'm not sure George is wrong about automobiles. With all their speed forward they may be a step backward in civilization. May be that they won't add to the beauty of the world or the life of the men's souls, I'm not sure. But automobiles have come and almost all outwards things will be different because of what they bring. They're going to alter war and they're going to alter peace. And I think men's minds are going to be changed in subtle ways because of automobiles. And it may be that George is right. May be that in ten to twenty years from now that if we can see the inward change in men by that time, I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline engine but agree with George - that automobiles had no business to be invented.

Set in the very earliest of days of the horseless carriage’s development, this is so very prescient. 

After 30 minutes of film setting the circumstances of the world in place, we arrive at George’s Life Changing Event: the death of his father, Wilbur Minafer, who we’ve only heard speak two sentences, I believe (he had more, but they were cut, much to the consternation of a thus-uncredited Don Dillaway, probably). 

Right around the sixty minute mark, however, things get pretty compressed. Isabel Amberson Minafer and George are off to travel the world and never return, go to Paris, then Isabel’s health fails, they do return to town, and then she dies. All in about 10 minutes. That’s a lot of material in so little screen time, and most of it is delivered by people who explain what they saw happen, not us actually seeing it ourselves. 

There are a couple of huge jumps in the time-line which are each covered with about 10 seconds of film and perhaps 20 words of dialogue. Stuff like ‘gosh, isn’t it sad that Billy fell down the well?’ are fine to set up an episode of Lassie, but when you use something akin to that in order to replace five years or more of character development, the viewer certainly feels cheated. Well, I did, anyway. 

Then, at 1:22:00, we see George praying at his mother’s bed, and the VO says he has his comeuppance. Right there, at 1:23:30, this should be the end. 

George Minafer gets hit by an automobile — the infernal thing he said he despised. He now has no income to support his Aunt at all. 

And — Goddamn — the final scene is the purplest thing you’ve ever seen. 

Agnes Moorehead [above] and Tim Holt [below] in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) — — — —

See, originally, the thing was a good 50 minutes longer, but Mr Welles left the film in the hands of his editor, Robert Wise, while he zoomed off to the next project, shooting his ⅔ of a portmanteau documentary film in Brazil called It’s All True, which was to be his 3rd film as stipulated in his contract for RKO. When the studio looked at The Magnificent Ambersons in its rough working length of 50% more than they bargained for, they told Mr Wise to get cutting. So, Mr Wise consulted with Mr Welles just before he left the country, making those few cuts he knew about. The deal was that the studio would pack a Moviola (a film viewer thing used for editing purposes that looks like part of one of the old ‘watch a movie inside a wooden box!’ things at penny arcades and so on), a working print of the film in its extant form, and some editing people, onto a ship or an æroplane to Mr Welles in Brazil. That didn’t happen, because by this point the US had entered WWII and it was nearly impossible for either Mr Wise or an editing assistant (a ‘cutter,’ in cinema parlance) to fly to Mr Welles, or vice versa, owing to travel rationing. A telephone line was set up specifically to aid in consulting with the director (this was 80 years ago, after all), but the story goes that the studio supervisor told to liaise with Mr Welles avoided answering the phone when it rang, specifically to avoid the input, plus a series of written communiques were crumpled up and thrown away without even being read. So, Mr Wise, in consultation with the studio as well as star Joseph Cotten, were forced to start guessing as to how to proceed. He cut a bunch of stuff, then shot some quick coverage to paper over the gaps in the story. The end result is that Mr Welles didn’t speak to Mr Wise for decades, was angry at his long-time friend Mr Cotton for a bit, and this episode probably cemented in the director his life-long distrust of Studio Big-Wigs as nothing but a bunch of meddling bean counters who wouldn’t know a good movie if they got their dicks caught in the sprocket holes of it. 

I like to think that last sentence would have made him laugh. 

The performances of everyone are incredible. Tim Holt shows that he’s not just the western star which he was known as at the time; he’s capable of nuanced and sophisticated characters as well. Agnes Moorehead, as Geiorge’s Aunt Fanny Minafer, is an example of how an actor can make bold, large choices and be entirely believable in a film setting; her ‘mad scene’ is riveting. This film really is the story of these two characters, and how they cope with a changing landscape of financial challenge and circumstances. =Had the film not been gutted, we would have been able to see more of them, and that is the greatest loss to my mind.

On its original release, the film was shown on at least one occasion as a second feature on a double bill with Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942). The second feature. Brother!

Sadly, a reconstruction of the film as it was intended isn’t possible in the way other films of his have been — eg: Touch of Evil — because the footage excised was either destroyed or thrown away. 

[left to right] Richard Bennett, Agnes Moorehead, Tim Holt, and Ray Collins in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) — — — —

To add insult to injury, the Brazilian ‘good will’ documentary aimed at welcoming the South American neighbour into the arms of the US & Allied forces, It’s All True, was never completed: only about ⅓ of its footage survived (probably 200,000ft of Technicolor® nitrate was tossed into the Pacific in the 1960s or ‘70s, and there was much more than that originally), and the stuff that has survived was mostly repurposed in the DesiLu Productions stock film library. So there’s two films in a row that didn’t happen correctly, the second of which didn’t happen at all. There’s a documentary about It’s All True available and it’s worth your attention, as the last ⅓ or so is a reconstruction of the story of 4 guys who sailed on a raft thousands of kilometres to lobby the Brazilian government for basic rights to be extended to people in the outer reaches of the country. It’s only got some sound effects and music, but unlike ‘silent films,’ there are no inter-titles for dialogue. Mr Welles essentially invented a whole new filmmaking technique. 

[left to right] Tim Holt and Agnes Moorehead in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) — — — —

The films of Mr Welles are basically a list of ‘things which didn’t get made at all,’ punctuated by ‘things which weren’t finished’ and ‘things which others messed around with.’ Thankfully there’s a few works which he made and have his vision properly realized. Those are cherished. 

Watching the first hour of this film is the last sort… and then it becomes someone else’s picture. Alas. 

★★★★☆

[hornyliverpudlianputz]

The art of making The Monkees

I got an ask recently to do a post on the cinematography of The Monkees TV show. Well. I love an excuse to rant about all things film so here it is! (Thanks again for the ask anon!) To start. What is cinematography? Simply put, it is the art of film making. More specifically, it is all the work that goes into making each shot look exactly the way it needs to in order to convey the “artistic vision” of the director. Things like lighting, framing, focus, camera movement, frame rate, and filters. Everything shot with a camera has it. How does it apply to The Monkees? Well..

The Monkees, having started its run as a typical 60s sitcom, actually didn’t push a lot of cinematography boundaries. (Head is another story, but that is for a different post.) Towards the end of the second season it was starting to play around a lot with editing and writing, but not so much cinematography. That’s not to say the show didn’t have it, like I said everything shot with a camera has some amount of cinematography. So. What I can talk about are elements that The Monkees did use, because it has some great examples of some classic cinematography techniques.

Let’s do lighting first. Lighting is one of those things in film and TV that you don’t really notice unless it’s done badly, or if it’s very, very dramatic. Lighting tells us where to look in the shot, if it’s outside or inside, what the temperature is, and whether it’s day or night. Compare these two shots from inside the pad, facing the window: x x

In the first shot, it’s obviously supposed to be daytime while the other shot is clearly night. How do we know this? A combination of scenic design and lighting. The backdrop outside the bay windows has been changed in the second still to reflect a nighttime view. The lighting in the second shot is also much more shadowy and slightly dimmer. The first shot is very cleanly lit in its entirety, mimicking a room that is lit by a large bay window on a sunny California day. Then there’s this beautiful shot which has some thematic implications x:

Notice the shadows of the harp strings on Peter’s face. That could have been avoided by simply not lighting Peter directly from his right side, which means the fact that the shadows are there is deliberate. This is the point in the episode (”The Devil and Peter Tork” of course) where everyone realizes that Peter has apparently accidentally signed his soul away in order to play the harp. The vertical shadows on his face are not only ominous and unsettling, they also create an instantly recognizable image of bars, as in a cage or a prison.

Later in that episode during the “Salesman” romp we see some great examples of dramatizing the lighting using obvious color and glare. In fact, because of the crazy camera angles, we can actually see the lighting instruments being used on set x :

There’s also some great use of colored lighting for comic effect in “The Audition”, both when Peter has “hay fever” and when he is “sea sick” x

Notice how the other boys are arranged around Peter so that none of them get in the field of the colored light. You can also see some spill over from the light on Peter’s shirt, and obviously his hands are affected when he puts them near his head.

Now let’s talk filters. These can be used on either lighting instruments or the camera itself. The boys actually do a short bit with some of the lighting frames (these include both texture and color filters) in one of the “minute short” interviews, watch here. I’m going to discuss camera filters here, which are essentially the same thing except when used they cover the entire shot evenly rather than affecting only the area hit by the light. (For example, in the above bit with Peter a light filter was used, not a camera filter.)

These are a little trickier to spot as any color filter over a camera is designed to be subtle, but they do use a texture filter in “The Chaperone” and it’s in a really classic way (I can’t get a good source on this gif, but it’s not mine):

Notice how the image is a little “fuzzy”? It’s not because the camera is foggy, here’s a shot from immediately before this (same problem as above, no good source but not my gif):

See? No fog. That texturing technique was very commonly employed in the 60s to “soften” a shot or make the mood more romantic, usually when a very pretty girl had just entered the room and a main character sees her. Here the point being made is that the General is instantly smitten with “Mrs. Arcadian” because he thinks “she” is very pretty. The cinematographer used a camera filter to cue the audience with a technique they would have been familiar with to hammer the joke home.

Camera movement. This covers a few new terms so you get a vocab lesson with examples! A “static” shot is one where the camera is still. It’s not moving at all, it is simply focused in one area and all the action happens within that frame. This and the next type are probably the most commonly used shots in The Monkees. (Like I said, they didn’t push too many boundaries on this front.)

A “pan” or “panning” shot is one where the camera is stationary, but swivels from side to side on a fixed point, usually following a subject walking across a room. 

“Tilting” is doing the same but vertically rather than horizontally. So the camera is in a fixed position but “tilts” up or down to follow something that would otherwise move out of frame.

A “tracking” shot is one where the whole camera moves, usually on a dolly or tracks (hence the name) to follow action sideways. This is typically used in large areas, like when a subject is moving down a street. (In this case, the Monkeemobile)

A “dolly” shot is similar to a tracking shot, but instead of moving the camera side to side a dolly is used to “push in” or “pull out” on the subjects. This is used in place of zooming in/out.

A “crane” shot is one where the camera is physically put on a crane to lift it either away from or towards the subject. This can also substitute for zooming in/out.

This variant on a crane shot was accomplished by putting Davy on the crane with the camera which is both hilarious and cool:

Here’s a behind-the-scenes picture that makes it more obvious x:

Finally there is the “handheld” camera which is exactly what it sounds like. A camera person will physically handle the camera, usually on their shoulder, and track the subject themselves. This is typically gives a jerky, “homemade” feel to the shot. The Monkees uses this technique frequently during romps or in the early episodes during dancing scenes, because the bouncy shot makes the viewer feel like they are being jostled.

Next we have framing and/or focus. I’m putting these two in the same category, partially because they are very similar and partially because I don’t have any good examples of The Monkees actually “using” focus. Focus, firstly, is exactly what it sounds like. Focus determines which object or subject is in “perfect” focus and which are in “acceptable” focus. Obviously this affects exactly what the viewer is looking at in a frame. When the focus is “raked”, it’s visibly changed from the foreground to the background, or vice verse. Like I said, The Monkees don’t really play with focus that much, so I’ll leave it alone.

Framing, on the other hand, is a different story. Framing is also exactly what it sounds like, it’s how ever the shot is “framed” in terms of what subjects are in it. Usually it’s characters who are talking or reacting to events. But framing also includes zooming in/out, and The Monkees frequently used this for comically dramatic effect.

Here, for example, in “Too Many Girls” it’s used as a gag reveal:

Or in “Royal Flush”:

In this bit of course, Mike zooms himself in:

There is also a “tilted” frame, which is different than a tilt shot. A tilted frame is where the camera is physically tilted so the frame is on a diagonal. This is usually used to create a sense of unease or “unreality”. The Monkees use it in “Captain Crocodile” when they do the “Frogman and Tadpole” bit, to emphasize the point that this is completely fictional within The Monkees universe. x

Last but certainly not least, frame rate. The Monkees plays with this quite a lot, especially early on, so it’s a big one to cover. Frame rate describes how many frames (the still images on a film strip) are moving past the “eye” per second. The film standard is 24 frames while the TV standard is 30. (I have no idea why they are different.) Because the industry standard will always be to play the film at a rate of 30 fps, a camera person can speed up or slow down the end result by shooting fewer or more frames. 

This is called “undercranking” or “overcranking” in reference to when film cameras were hand operated with a crank. When a shot is “overcranked” deliberately, you end up with more than 30 frames captured per second of real time. When this is played back at a 30 fps rate, you see the results in slow motion. 

The opposite, “undercranking”, means that you have captured less than 30 fps in real time. When an undercranked scene is played back at a 30 fps rate, the image speeds up. Sound familiar?

Now. Having said all of that I do need to make a point about The Monkees specifically. Cinematography in general is basically the reason that “blocking” exists. (Blocking is essentially choreography for not-dancing, it is worked out beforehand exactly where actors will stand/move within a scene and at which cue they move on.) Blocking needs to happen mostly so that lighting and camera movement can be planned in advance. Lighting especially, shadows in the wrong place can really mess up a shot, but also if the specific type of camera equipment to do a certain shot isn’t on set, the shot can’t be done. The camera operators also need to know who their mark is and how/where they will be moving so they can properly do their job.

This means that physical improvisation is very, very difficult to actually do. Verbal improvisation is no problem, but when an actor is moving around unpredictably it takes a damn good camera operator to keep them in frame. Not to mention the fact that lighting is now a total crapshoot. But, you may say, The Monkees is known for improvisation! Correct. What happened with The Monkees is basically “planned improvisation”. What I mean is, the camera/lighting crew went into the scene knowing there would be improvisation. I assume this was typically employed during romps, but who knows in the second season.

There was an interview (or maybe commentary I don’t remember) where someone talked about Micky letting the crew on set know that he was going to be improvising during that scene. He told the lighting crew to lights the set as evenly as possibly, and the camera crew to be ready to follow him “up”. I believe it was actually “The Chaperone” romp because it’s the only one I can think of where Micky goes climbing around like a maniac. And when you look at some of it, it’s clear that the camera person was having a little trouble following him around.

Watch here when he jumps off the balcony:

You can see when he lands the camera person overshoots slightly and Micky goes partially out of the top of the frame.

Compare to this scene from “Monstrous Monkee Mash” when Mike falls down the stairs, which was likely scripted (if it’s not I am very impressed with the camera operator) x:

The only time that Mike goes out of frame is when his leg gets caught on a step, which was likely an accident. The camera moves exactly to a set point that was probably planned in advance. In the second gif, Mike stands abruptly but remains nearly perfectly in frame. Again, probably because it was planned in advance.

But I digress. Point is, even though The Monkees didn’t experiment too heavily with cinematography in their heyday, they did put it to excellent use both practically and comically.

[strictnoodle]

Sanjivani 2

Now that the show has reached the 30th Episode mark; my overall impression about the characters and everything else. (wonder how much has changed and how much has stayed the same from my first post?)

**warning: long post + spoilers ahead!**

The Seniors:

Dr. Shashank Gupta An amazing father/mentor. He's too good at heart to the point he believes a hospital can run on goodwill alone bless his heart, no wonder Sanjivani is drowning in debt The way he seems so understanding to everyone else except his own daughter baffles me. I did not like it when he slapped her. Yeah she was a tad out of line, but he could’ve just opened his mouth and cleared the misunderstanding. With the way he was trying to shut her up, I'm pretty sure that was not the first time Anjali said that to his face; why not clear the misunderstanding? I refuse to believe he actually has romantic feelings for Juhi. Honestly, ousting Juhi from Sanjivani just because Rahul asked him to is the most redicules reason they could come up with.

Dr. Juhi Singh Still the badass COS that she is, deserves the position no questions asked. I love it every time she takes charge. Whether it’s handling Vardhan, Anjali or the junior residents, she’s doing an amazing job. I was hoping she doesn’t interfere with the father-daughter relationship, but then again I understand her desperation to clear things up. And boy, did she get more than what she bargained for. Seems Rahul and her are no longer together but reasons are still unclear. I’m not a fan of the ego clashes she’s having with Dr. Shashank. I get the emotional shock she’s in, but why can’t these characters just talk to each other?

Dr. Anjali Gupta ice baby, ice. Very ambitious. Would do anything to prove her self to her father even if it meant stabbing him in the back that luxury ward meeting? yikes. For her Juhi is an obstacle that’s always been between them, which is understandable as i’ve explained here. She firmly believes her dad is in love with Dr. Juhi and he has done absolutely nothing to clear it up. She craves her dad’s recognition so much she seems to be projecting it towards Vardhan? Anjali baby, no. She holds a soft spot for Dr. Sid and I really wish they’d explore more of this. I still want to see more layers of Anjali other than “the insecure daughter”.

Mr. Vardhan Makhija Still a douche. He’s the only character that speaks sense when it comes to how to run the hospital business wise. He’s been obsessed about the Luxury ward since the first episode I expected something other than a... beauty spa? who goes to a spa in the house of death and deceases? Psychopaths that’s who  Seems like he’s using it as a cover to run some questionable/shady business Rahul is probably involved too. Can’t tell if he really has a thing for Anjali or he’s just manipulating her for his own means or both. I was honestly surprised he was worried about Sid seeing as he had no issues wishing death to Shashank? I can't with him.

The Juniors:

Dr. Siddhant Mathur A huge soft teddy bear. Very kind. Just when I started wondering why would they give him a playboy image, they shove a scene to remind me of his ways ugh, men are the worst! I love how he’s following Shashank’s footsteps with the mentoring. Very patient and understanding when dealing with people, especially with Ishani. Carries the weight of being an illegitimate over his head and he hides the pain really well. Still not a fan of his ways and can’t say I'm not glad they toned it down. I mean really punching that guy and taking his blood without consent? I’m pretty sure that falls under organ harvesting. Can't tell if he likes Ishani romantically or it’s because he’s just caring by nature, but he’s definitely attracted to her. I find it cute how bothered he is that she likes nothing about him. (Why did they change the actress who played his mom? And why was she hiding from Dr. Shashank? He better not be that idiot long lost father so help me god.)

Dr. Ishani Arora An Alien. An Alien from outer space who’s learning how to be human. jk, lol. or am I?. Socially awkward, doesn’t know proper human behavior and a diagnostic machine and thank god they toned that down. An emotional mess. Her germophobia stems from her background which she uses as a shield to keep people at a distance. Craves family and motherly love so much it honestly breaks my heart. Fiercely protective of those she calls her own slapping a guy twice her size for Asha? Absolutely fearless. An idiot, but fearless. Emotionally unstable; hence, the up and down behavior. Has been deprived of affection most of her life to the point she gets attached to anyone who shows her any form of affection. Can be self aware, as in did not hesitate to admit her mistake and apologize. A none believer and has issues with god. Life made her Cynical.

Sid/Ishani pairing I like the softness. I like how Sid respects her boundaries and tries not to touch her without permission. I liked the pace of their relationship but then the last two episodes happened and the level went from a soft 10 to a 100 in record speed, add the ‘L word’ they used for the promo and label me freaked tf out. I was very relieved when Ishani said “dost” in the episode even that was a bit of a stretch but i’ll take it. I’m hoping it’s just a developing of a crush thing and nothing else.

Dr Rishab Vaidya Such a horrible horrible person. If anyone deserves a slap from their parent, it’s this one. Watching his ass get handed to him by Ishani was the highlight of the week for me.

Dr. Asha Kanwar This girl grew on me so much. Very competitive and has a valid reason to be. She’s in a race against time and her family. Always has her friends’ back, be it Ishani or Neil or anyone. I’m hoping her competitive nature doesn’t land her in trouble one day. Desperate people almost always end up doing something foolish.

Dr. Aman Gehlot This guy is too laid back for a first year resident. Seems he went to Sanjivani to follow Asha. Very protective of her.

Dr. Rahil Shekhar My absolute favorite out of everyone! I love him so damn much. Such a sweet soft guy, would do anything for his friend. I love how he took charge being the Second Year Resident and guided the rest in the ‘rescue Sid emergency procedure’. The second son of the Mathur household. I would literally watch 20 full minutes of him just doing laundry Give me more of him!

Dr. Neil Lama Lau I still cannot wrap my head around how he managed to enter medical school when he faints at the sight of blood? Probably became a doctor for his dad.

Performance:

I didn't write anything much the first time because I wanted to give the actors a fair chance to settle into their character, and I supposed 30 episodes is more than enough time, no? I honestly have no complain from the senior cast. Rohit’s 3D glasses need to go tho, asap.

My main issue is/was with the junior cast, specifically Namit and Surbhi. Since we don’t see much of the others I'm not really bothered about them, Now:

Namit As much as he’s nailing the laidback carefree attitude, he’s really really bad in emotional/intense scenes. I swear that phone conversation with his mom on the bench gave me secondhand embarrassment and I hate secondhand embarrassment. Every time Sid cries, I'm reminded of that face babies make when they’re fed something sour you know, all crunched up and stuff?. What was that death bed scene? And what is the Director doing? Your actor does subtlety really well, use it. And writers work around your actor’s weaknesses and utilize his strength fgs.

Surbhi: Some scenes she’s a pro and the other scenes i’m watching an amateur leaving me a whiplashed. Ishqbaaaz was the first show I've seen her in never seen Qubool Hai and I’ve noticed then Surbhi is a director’s actor(?). This actor-director team need to set tf down so they can get their shit together and agree once and for all how they want to present this character. Volume wise, personally I don't fault her much because Surbhi’s voice tone is naturally loud. Having a loud family myself a best friend too, these people really don’t realize how loud they’re being unless someone points it out to them, in this case the Director. I’m just glad it toned down considerably from the first couple of weeks.

Anyways, both are getting a pass from me so far since I'm just watching the show for fun; hence i’m not that bothered. But acting wise, both really have a lot of work to do like, a lot a lot. The directors need to up their game as well, half the issues would probably be solved if there was proper guidance and a clear vision between Namit/Surbhi and the Direction team.

Editing & everything else:

Still all over the place. One minute the doctors are wearing gloves, the next it magically disappeared? There’s no consistency with the scenes most of the time. Thankfully they worked on the lighting. It is much better than the first couple of weeks where we could barely see anything.

Finally...

The overall plot started okay-ish toned down considerably from the melodrama of the first weeks but then it was Cliche City the last two episodes. I'm hoping they go back to their previous pace because I liked the overall mellowness of the show. I don’t like how they’ve cut down on the medical cases. I mean it is a medical show? Where the main set is a hospital? And all main characters are doctors? smh. I personally prefer one medical case running for the entire week. That way there will be no super speed diagnostic and no miracle one minute cure happening. 

I still catch up with the show on the weekends as i’m not yet heavily invested in the show I could sign off any minute. What I do like most is the grey shades of the characters, They’re not easy to like and makes picking them apart quite fun.

[drorystory-blog]

Can I produce a HIT Podcast in 1 WEEK!?

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1S0kPVzKO4&feature=youtu.be

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYtMBNSMTbU

In this thread I’ll be going through the exact steps I did to finish this challenge on time. I’ll be breaking it down into what I did on each day.

Day 1: Sunday

Came up with the idea (I was inspired by the DND Improv Show in the Winnipeg Fringe). I got a cast of improvisers together. Made prompts to inspire the actors. Ronnie and Bradley came by and did about 40 minutes of character development and then improvised their scene for the microphone. I enhanced the scene with music and effects afterward. I recorded everything into Reaper and with a Rode NT1-A. I sourced all my sound effects from YouTube and downloaded them through YouTube - mp3.

Day 2: Monday

Mark, Adam, Raegan, and Karanveer came to record their scenes. After about an hour of character development, they took to the mic in groups of 2 and I recorded. I edited their scenes afterward, adding in sound effects where appropriate and a beat when Adam and Mark start dancing. I have a lot of fun making sure the sound effects enhance the story by bringing it to life a little more. In editing, I noticed that Adam and Mark were heading towards their friend from college who’s been highly successful and Raegan and Karanveer were just caught by the King. It made sense that the King and the friend from college was the same person.

Day 3: Tuesday

With everyones first takes done I began thinking of a logical, dramatic way to tie up episode one. It seemed there had to be an Evil King character so I went towards casting it. I decided that I will play the Kings assistant then my girlfriend said she wanted to do a role later on so I let her do it (I played the guard and the kid waking up at the end). I wrote the script for the end of the episode. The script had 6 additional scenes and was about half of the total time of the episode. I contacted a graphic designer I quite like to make a sketch of an image for the series. He wanted 60$ per character so I decided on 1 character and he agreed to take his price down to 50 for a shout out in the video. I started scheduling people to record their last lines.

Day 4: Wednesday

As much as I’d like to keep the script improvised, I couldn’t get actors on the same day so with the written script I was able to record the remaining lines of 2 characters on this day. I wrapped Adam and Raegan. I produced Gnarbelarbezub’s rock and roll doorbell by using some guitar samples on top of the doorbell melody I made in Logic. I layered the Logic Melody with an electric guitar plug-in. I got a few samples of art from the graphic designer. We’re narrowing down the final product but overall impressed with this guys professionalism. His Instagram is @kumobleu. I still needed a king and a narrator so I asked Connor, my girlfriend's coworker and old improv teacher and Brooklyn, a host at the radio station I work at and they luckily both said yes. I was particularly happy to have Brooklyn on board because she was my main teacher at the radio station and I was proud to be able to say that I had a project with her.

Day 5: Thursday

By the end of this day, everyone’s audio files were in for me to start slicing together. I got this day off work so I could have actors in and out all day. I had Connor over at 1:30 to record all his lines, we recorded Audrey’s lines at this point too. With Audrey's help, we finished the script for the narration and sent it over to Brooklyn who sent me the recordings within 2 hours. Very impressive. I quickly recorded my guard lines. Mark, Ronnie, and Bradley came over at 6 to record their lines and Karanveer finished his lines up at 8. I had all the files that I needed so I got to work piecing the story together in Reaper. I had 9 scenes and ended up staying up til 5am to finish getting everything together.

Day 6: Friday

Woke up around 11 and started downloading my stems from the 9 scenes. My coworker, who produces a show at the station let me use his studio after work so at 4 I hopped in, uploaded my tracks and started mixing in Pro Tools. I didn’t mess too much with EQ because I’m not confident with my ear for that yet, basically, I just made sure the volumes were all good. I put a limiter on all the speaking tracks. It was difficult to get the improvised scenes good. The first 2 scenes took me 4 hours to get because the limiter was crushing it too much and I was getting lots of distortion when I’d listen back. I do like the improv scenes so in the future, I may try to give them on their own mic channels. That’s one way I’d like to see this project grow. The improv scenes are a little more natural-sounding than the others. During the scene where Slevin and Dorgy are communicating through the intercom, I had 2 beep channels, one was EQ’d so that it would only play the lows. The intercom voices were lowered and filtered as well to make them seem a little distant. I was mixing in the studio and finally finished at 1am. I got the art earlier in the day and am 100% happy. Listening to the podcast as a whole, with Brooklyn’s narration felt really great. I’m proud of myself.

Day 7: Saturday

I put all my vlog footage together and made a video in Final Cut Pro and at the last possible minute titled this project: How to Fail at Magic Without Really Trying, Episode 1: How to Love One’s Elf. There were a few different title options and I had a very hard time picking but this one was the most popular with the cast.

If you have any questions about anything specific, I’d be happy to answer. :D

[recentanimenews]

Anime in America Podcast: Full Episode 3 Transcript

  The Anime in America podcast, hosted by Yedoye Travis, is available on crunchyroll.com, animeinamerica.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

  Episode 1 Transcript: In the Beginning There Was Fansubs

Episode 2 Transcript: Robots, Real Estate, & Silvio Berlusconi

  EPISODE 3: THE LONG CON(VENTION)

---

Disclaimer: The following program contains language not suitable for all ages. Discretion advised.

[Lofi music]

Alright, I’m sure you know the scene: people dressed up as their favorite characters, giant halls packed with toys and hamster plushes, hour-long lines to pack into a room to get a glimpse at creators and actors. Even if you’ve never been to an anime or comic book convention before, you know exactly what they’re like. You’ve seen the photoshoots, read the reports, or probably saw that one episode of Community where they go to an “Inspector SpaceTime” convention. Inspector Spacetime.

  Conventions are a huge part of fandom. In 2020 alone, there are 62 anime conventions scheduled for the United States. And that doesn’t even include all the comic book and movie conventions that have anime programming, like San Diego Comic Con. Before all of this, before you could go to a different anime convention almost every single weekend in a year… it all started in a hotel room in Dallas. This is Anime in America brought to you by Crunchyroll and hosted by me, Yedoye Travis.

[Lofi music]

The year was 1983. The inspiration? Star Blazers, the adaptation of Leiji Matsumoto's Space Battleship Yamato that aired in the U.S. in 1979. It was pared down from the original—names were changed, scenes were cut, and the violence was dialed back—but it still became a cult hit. So what do you do when you love something so much you just want to share it with other people? You start a convention.

  The idea of conventions was not new, not even in 1983. Science fiction conventions date back to the 30s, but back then it was like, seven dudes in someone’s house reading Isaac Asimov, or some shit like that. Over time, it morphed into something that more closely resembled the modern fan convention formula—fans, panels, dealer’s rooms, special guests, and cosplay, although that specific word wouldn’t enter the lexicon until much later. Soon, fans started organizing conventions for other stuff too, like Star Trek, horror movies, and comic books.

  Why was Star Blazers so special though? Up until then, most of the anime shown on broadcast television was episodic. So you could show any episode, in any order, and no one would know the difference. Not so with Star Blazers. By many accounts, it was one of the first serial anime series to air in the United States.

[Star Blazers season one theme]

You had to watch every episode, in order, to follow this rich storyline of intergalactic warfare, cosmic politics, and a brave crew recruited to retrieve technology from a faraway planet to save life on Earth from the ravages of alien nuclear technology. It was the stuff of science fiction dreams, and a lot of people were hooked.

  So in 1983, three guys—Mark Hernandez, Don Magness, and Bobb Waller rented some space at the Harvey House hotel in Dallas, booked some merchandise dealers, and hosted Yamato Con 1. Their video room promised one full season of Star Blazers, as recorded off the TV, minus the commercials, and the Space Cruiser Yamato movie in its original Japanese.  Back then, not everyone had a VCR because they were still incredibly expensive. The average price of a VCR in 1983 was $500, uh which, given inflation, is more now. So just think- consider that.

  And that didn't even count the VHS tapes, which cost $15.99 for a blank 90-minute tape. So just the idea of being able to sit around all day watching Star Blazers with other like-minded fans seemed revolutionary and very costly. Need I remind you, it cost a lot. Yamato Con even had a dealer room, with eight merchants selling everything from model kits to manga. About 100 people showed up, which is a lot when you think about how this was way before the Internet and message boards made it possible to advertise your event on a wide scale.

  There is some controversy about whether Yamato Con was technically the first ever anime convention in America, but it’s certainly one of the earliest instances of a con being devoted entirely to anime. At that time, there were already anime screenings at science fiction conventions around the country, and yes, of course, obviously it was a lot of Star Blazers. 

[Lofi music]

Here's Jim Kaposztas, who in 1983 convinced New York’s oldest science fiction convention, Lunacon, to start showing Star Blazers in one of their video rooms. Side note, if his name sounds familiar, it’s because Jim is also credited with making the first ever Anime Music Video or AMV, or those videos you used to watch in like 2006 where Naruto would dance to The Pussycat Dolls or whatever it was. In Jim’s case, it was a montage of the most violent scenes from Star Blazers set to the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” a tribute to the British TV series, The Prisoner. Which, I’m not sure, I don’t understand how that works as a tribute, but that’s fine.

  Kaposztas: My first exposure with anime at conventions was Noreascon Two, that was the 1980 World Science Fiction convention in Boston. There was a group called the “Cartoon/Fantasy Organization,” or C/FO for short, run by one Fred Patten, and he was screening anime in a small room at part of the convention. One of the things that he did was he was showing this movie called Lupin the Third Castle of Cagliostro and he was running a survey for the distribution company, Tokyo Movie Shinsha. So people would come in, they would watch this subtitled movie and then fill out forms, but other than that he was running all sorts of anime that was popular in that time frame from a lot of the early giant robot shows, to Space Pirate Captain Harlock, some of it subtitled, some of it not.

  Yes, before the internet was dominated by our very privileged sub versus dub debates, some fans didn’t have a choice but to watch anime in its raw Japanese.

  Kaposztas: Back then, there would be people that would narrate it which, from time to time it’d be like part right, possibly right, and bordering on some Mystery Science Theater 3000. 

  Okay. Let’s take a quick trip back to 1981. Reagan is president, crack is at its height, and Post It Notes were just invented. It’s December, Philcon 3, and budding anime fans are hungry for anything anime. Jim Kaposztas again.

  Kaposztas: They were screening the original Space Battleship Yamato, they were screening whatever they could get a hold of. I’d seen loose episodes of Space Runaway Ideon, Mobile Suit Gundam, and a lot of the times it was people figuring out “okay, this is what’s going on in the show,” and such. Usually there would be parties like on Friday nights and Saturday nights, people would put up little signs. In the case of Gammalon Embassy it’d be a picture of Deslock that says “Gammalon Embassy, Room Whatever!” And it’d be somebody with a VCR and a bunch of tapes and they’d show stuff and try and explain it to people. Used to get like 20-30 people packed into a hotel room, staring around a small television monitor. 

  Jim Kaposztas was addicted. He went to Lunacon in 1982 in costume, dressed as Captain Avatar--the first commander of the starship Yamato--complete with the beard, and all the other stuff. I don’t know what that guy looks like, so I wish I could give you more information, more of a visual. But you guys have Google. 

  He runs into a guy named Rob Fenelon who tells him, "Hey, I have all these Yamato tapes from Japan, but no VCR," so Jim drives the 30 miles home, just to get his giant VCR, and drives all the way back. They screened Space Battleship Yamato all Saturday night, then they do it all over again on Sunday morning. Months later, Rob gets in touch and says, "Hey, why don't we put together a video room at a convention?" They made a bunch of contacts, screened some anime with the local Star Blazers Fan Club, and a year later, at Lunacon 1983, started what eventually became known as the Star Blazers Video Room. And to fill time between screeners, he would include anime music videos, the aforementioned anime music videos. The first one he made took hours to make, and required the use of two VCRs. And thus was born the AMV, all thanks to Star Blazers.

  Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, where it was actually a lot easier to stumble upon manga in the wild thanks to the large Japanese-American community, Fred Patten was doing his best to raise anime into the limelight. Patten, who tragically passed away in 2018, was one of the godfathers of the American anime scene, spending a lifetime promoting and writing about anime and manga.

  In 1977, he co-founded America's first anime club, the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization or the C/FO for short. Around that time, he even became friends with Osamu Tezuka, who was "bewildered but flattered" that so many American fans took the trouble to figure out the plots of his manga, for a language most of them couldn't read. Tezuka was so flattered, in fact, that in 1980, he convinced Devilman creator Go Nagai,  Lupin the Third Creator Monkey Punch, and a couple other manga artists to go to San Diego Comic Con with him to check out the American manga fandom for themselves. That same Comic Con, both Tezuka and Patten were presented with Inkpot Awards—Tezuka for the film Phoenix 2772, and Patten for “Outstanding Achievement in Fandom Services and Projects.”  

  So while anime video rooms, Japanese guests, and even anime conventions have been around since the 80s, it wasn’t until the 90s that the convention landscape as we know it today really started to take shape. And once again, it started in Texas. As things seem to do.

[Lofi music]

Once again, there’s a little bit of controversy on which convention was technically the “first” anime con, but Project A-Kon is definitely the oldest continually running anime con in the U.S. that still exists today. The first one took place the weekend of July 28, 1990 at the Richardson Hilton in Richardson, Texas, and had an attendance of 380 people, which if you remember earlier, 100 is a lot. So now it’s 3.8 times that.

  According to its flyer, it was the “first animation con run BY fans, FOR fans,” with guests like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animator Louis Scarborough, Jr., Animag editor and publisher Trish Ledoux and Jeffry Tibbetts, and celebrated Disney animator Tex Henson. Tickets were only $4 a day, $6 for the weekend, and included access to two video rooms, a masquerade dance, a dealer’s room, an art show, a model contest, and something called… Japanimayhem, which they described as a “LIVE”—all caps—”anime-style RPG”. 

  All that at $4 a pop, obviously your next question is “What is Japanimayhem?” What the fuck is that? Who knows? Japanimayhem was a card game released in 1989, designed by Mark Camp and Stephen Grape, with the alluring subtitle, “A Game of Violence on Video for Anime Lovers.” Basically, players represented parodies of anime characters who competed to see who can rack up the most victims in a killing spree. Which… hmm. For those parents who blame violence on video games, here’s a little bit of fodder for you.

  But I digress. Back to Project A-Kon. Hopefully you still remember Star Blazers from... literally two minutes ago? It is the anime that inspired so many anime video rooms and fan gatherings in the 80s? Well, it was also partially responsible for Project A-Kon. When Star Blazers was being rerun on TV in 1982, it inspired a high school student from Denton, Texas named Derek Wakefield to turn his science fiction club into a Star Blazers fan club. Thus, the EDC—the Earth Defense Command— was born. The club grew in size, eventually putting Derek in touch with the Star Blazers Fan Club in New York—the same fan club that Jim Kaposztas and Rob Fenelon worked with to organize a small screening of the series before they launched their own video track. And now you see how everything is all related.

[Lofi music]

1983, Yamato Con. EDC wasn’t involved with the event, but some of the members did show up and distribute flyers for the club, and one of those flyers found its way to an attendee named Meri Davis, who not only went on to later head the EDC… but also Project A-Kon. You see, by the late 1980s, the EDC had morphed from a Star Blazers fan club to more of an anime club in general. A really organized anime club, that had regular meetings, local chapters, fan zines, newsletters, screenings, and a tape distribution service that helped the anime scene in Texas grow like wildfire. So when one of them said, “I wish we could put on an anime con,” the wheels started turning, and from that Project A-Kon was born.

  Once again, everything always comes back to Star Blazers. By the way, if anyone wants to learn more about this time period, you should definitely check out Dave Merrill’s blog, “Let’s Anime,” which is a great resource on that entire era. We’ll drop a link in the show notes just so you can check that out, ‘cause we’re nice people.

  By 1990, the anime scene in America had really taken off. Thanks to the efforts of all the dedicated fan organizations, the growing availability of VCRs and fansubs, and writers like Fred Patten, Trish Ledoux, and Helen McCarthy, who was spear-heading the anime fan movement in the UK, anime in America was getting to be a big deal. So big that even the Japanese studios were starting to pay attention.

  To tell this story, we gotta jump back to the 80s once again. You might be familiar with the name Studio Gainax. They’re the Japanese studio behind legendary titles like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann. Well, the founders started animating as a hobby, creating short videos in 1981 for an Osaka sci-fi convention nicknamed Daicon. Like many cons, it was a pure labor of love. At that same con, the group of fans also had a table where they sold garage kits, which were these small-batch resin models that would only be available for a limited time at certain conventions. They were so successful that the following year, they launched a company called General Products, with the goal of making model kits that were actually licensed. At the same time, they continued animating under the name Daicon Films.

[Daicon IV Opening]

This was before the two officially combined to form Studio Gainax, one of the first studios that had animation and merchandising under one roof. And General Products was actually really successful. They had two brick and mortar shops in Japan, and they helped organize the Wonder Festival in 1985, a toy and figure show that still runs twice a year today. 

  At some point, it made sense to expand overseas. Gainax’s animation division had already dabbled in the US market in 1987 with a movie called The Wings of Honneamise, a coming-of-age tale set in an alternate world about a man who becomes the first person in space, amidst political turmoil and conflict. It’s a love letter to what humans can achieve when they dream and work together, but that’s... not really what American audiences saw. The version that premiered at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood was heavily edited, hastily dubbed, and renamed Star Quest. And it umm… it didn’t do too well. It bombed. And it basically disappeared until it was re-translated and re-dubbed in the 90s. But General Products wanted a piece of the American fandom pie, so in 1989, they launched GPUSA. They stuffed the catalog full of shiny new anime merchandise, but they wildly overestimated fans’ interest in their products. For starters, a lot of those titles hadn’t even made it overseas yet, so anime fans had no idea what they were even looking at. So due to poor planning, GPUSA flopped and closed its doors a few years later. But not before they sponsored… AnimeCon.

  You might better know AnimeCon by its modern name: Anime Expo. Kind of. Which, I’ll get to it later, it’s… you’ll understand soon. AnimeCon was run by Gainax, Studio Proteus, and two anime clubs: UC Berkeley’s Cal-Animage, and Bay Area’s CA-West. It was scheduled for three days, starting August 30, 1990, a couple of months before I was born, at the Red Lion Hotel in San Jose, California. Because of Gainax’s connections, they were able to get an incredible line-up of Japanese guests, including Kenichi Sonoda, Katsuhiro Otomo, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Gainax’s own Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Toshio Okada, and amazingly, Leiji Matsumoto. And just a quick round of applause for getting all of those names in one go, first take. 

  Before we get ahead of ourselves—Matsumoto ended up cancelling his appearance, but the convention was a huge success regardless. It drew around 2,000 attendees, in comparison to the previous 380 and 100 figures that we dropped earlier. That was five times more than Project A-Kon 2 that same year, which had about 500 attendees. 

  Sadly, there never was an AnimeCon 2. They just ran out of money, they went broke. But from the ashes of AnimeCon rose the SPJA, the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation. A collection of Bay Area sci-fi and anime fans, they officially incorporated in April 1992 under the leadership of Mike Tatsugawa, who in 1989 had co-founded Cal Anime Alpha at UC Berkeley. They struck an agreement with AnimeCon to purchase their assets and obligations, and on the Fourth of July weekend, 1992, they put on the first ever Anime Expo. But all was not good in paradise.

[Dramatic music rises in the background]

There was a generational rift in Bay Area fandom, and it split into two camps-- East Bay versus South Bay, C/FO versus Cal Animage, the new kids on the block. The result was two competing anime conventions scheduled for 1993, held on back-to-back weekends, only 40 miles apart. 

[Dramatic music fades]

Anime America was set to take place the weekend of June 25 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Anime Expo was scheduled for the following week, July 4th weekend, at the Oakland Convention Center. It seems like July 4th is a bad time to host an anime thing, but maybe that’s just my opinion, and maybe I’ll be proven wrong in the next couple paragraphs.

  Anyway, the industry was not pleased. In fact, they flat-out refused to support both conventions. In December of 1992, Viz founder Seiji Horibuchi wrote the con chairs of Anime America and Anime Expo a stern letter, pleading with them to either make nice or separate their events.

  Here’s a little snippet of the letter, which was co-signed by publications and companies like Bandai, Shogakukan, Studio Proteus, Animerica, Animag, and of course, Viz.

[Piano music plays throughout]

“Dear Convention Chairmen,

We, the industry professionals listed here, do not believe that there should be two ’93 Bay Area anime conventions in close time proximity. It’s as simple as that… Japanese guests don’t have time in their busy schedules to attend two conventions. Retailers don’t have the resources to set up for two conventions. And there’s no way the fans (those outside the Bay Area, anyway) can afford to come to both cons… We’re writing to let you know we’ve talked among ourselves, and that we’ve all agreed that unless (1) there is only one Bay Area anime convention, or (2) Anime America and Anime Expo are separated by time and/or distance, we all withhold our support from both conventions… We would like to hear from you by January 8, 1993—a new year for a new convention. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll have to assume you do not wish our support… Please, won’t you consider our proposal? We don’t think we’re being unreasonable. We freely offer you our full support—the combined forces of the entire American anime industry—if only you’ll put aside whatever has been holding you back and do what’s right.”

  So, they were not- they weren’t mad. They were just… disappointed, I guess. That’s a lot of words to just say “Hey bro, chill! Relax. Move the conventions. What are you doing?” This could’ve been a Tweet. It could’ve been a Tweet.

  Spoiler alert, both conventions went on as planned, both had Japanese guests, and both had attendance counts north of 1,000 people. So… suck it, anime industry! Ha-ha! Both had an industry presence, as well, with A.D. Vision, informally known as ADV, opening their first preorders ever at Anime America for their subtitled release of Battle Angel. And surprise, Seiji Horibuchi ended up going to both conventions. Look at that, look at God.

  Even with the fan interest, it became clear to the SPJA that change needed to happen. In 1994, they moved south to the Anaheim Convention Center, a few blocks away from Disneyland, of all places, and they’ve stayed in Southern California ever since. For the most part, they’ve always taken place on or around Fourth of July weekend. One big change, of course, is that it’s a lot bigger now. Last year, they reported around 115,000 unique attendees. For reference, that’s about the same number of people who live in the entire city of Berkeley. So [exhale]-hWow that’s umm.... that’s a come up, right there. That is a come up.

  Sadly, Anime America closed its doors after its 1996 event, but the Bay Area isn’t without anime cons. These days, there’s about a half a dozen events that fans can go to scattered throughout the year. 

  The 90s were a really great time to be an anime fan. It’s nothing like it is now; fans are just straight up spoiled now, they got everything. All their anime streaming on demand, all the Hulus and the Netflixs. But the 90s were really good. Anime was getting distributed left and right, and you could even pop down to your local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and rent a tape for a dollar. For the younger listeners, Blockbuster is like… it’s like Netflix, but you had to umm... you had to look a person in his face when you rent porn. [Silence] It’s like that.

[Lofi music]

Even though it was a lot easier to find anime, the best place to watch it was still anime conventions and your local anime club. Thanks to fansubs, tape trading, and pooling resources, clubs often had access to the newest shows and a vast library of titles they would routinely lend out to members. And because they already had experience booking venues for screenings and communicating with other clubs, it made sense that clubs all over the U.S. would eventually arrive at the same conclusion—let’s start an anime convention.

  A few weeks after Anime Expo 1994 hosted a 2,000-attendee convention in Anaheim, all the way in Pennsylvania, a much smaller fan gathering was taking place. Started by four guys from the Penn State anime club, it was held at the Penn State Days Inn, in State College, Pennsylvania from July 29-31, 1994. They called it [Sparkling]… Otakon! Guests included comic artist Robert DeJesus, a handful of professional and fan translators, and notable members of the local anime community. Like most anime conventions, it also included screening rooms, panels, a dealer’s room, model competitions, and other now standard events. By official count, it had about 350 attendees. They weren’t going for a huge, record turnout, though. They just wanted to go to an anime convention that was efficient, well-run, and had stuff that they liked. Prior to planning Otakon, the founders had just attended a different convention, and on the way home, got to talking.

  Monroe: They went to the convention, and I can’t remember which one it was, it’s on the website somewhere, and it was the four fathers, the four guys in the car. It was Bill Johnston, Mitch Hagmaier, Dave Asher, and Todd Dissinger. And the convention they went to was very, very small, but it was also apparently very badly organized, and as they were driving back from the con, they were saying “you know, we could do a better job,” and then they decided to do it.

  That voice you hear is Sue Monroe. She wasn’t at the first Otakon, but she heard about it from her cousin Matt Pyson, who did go. She ended up going the second year, and she liked it so much, she asked to be on the staff. She’s been on the staff ever since, and even served as Otakon’s first female president and Con Chair in 2002.

  After that first year, Otakon just kept getting bigger and bigger. 

  Monroe: Every year, the whole plan was “we can do better.” So we would sit down after the con and we would talk about all the things that hadn’t worked out and how could we fix it so that that wasn’t going to happen again? And by the time that I was Con Chair, we had 17,000 people, we were at the Baltimore Convention Center.

  Monroe: For a while there, we were increasing at an exponential rate, because each group took something that they were interested in and just focused on making that better. Every year, it was something else that they were going to do to fix things, make them more efficient. And the whole idea was that it’s by fans, for fans, so we looked at what we would want if we were going to a convention, and we tried to make it as much like that as possible. 

  In 2001, Otakon surpassed 10,000 attendees. By 2004, that number had shot up to almost 21,000. Which is fucked up.

  Monroe: We didn’t have enough staff to handle everybody. We had to make sure we had enough people, and since we’re an all-volunteer staff and we’re a little picky about who we bring on to staff, we just couldn’t handle that many people. We also had no room. People were very, very- well, that was also around the time that yaoi paddles came out.

  Oh, okay. Yeah. Right. Yaoi paddles. Cool. Look… bro, if you know, you know. I don’t know what to say. They’re umm… they’re kinda like umm… fraternity initiation paddles- you remember the paddles they had at frat houses they would hit you with? It was that, except they said “YAOI” on them in all caps, which is a call-out to a popular genre of manga and anime featuring romantic and oftentimes sexual relationships between men. It’s gay anime, why are we saying… it’s a lot, why’re we saying it like we’re Republican Congressmen?

  They were sold and popularized by a doujinshi vendor, Hen Da Ne, but if you follow the Internet crumbs back far enough, you’ll find the actual source, a woodburning artist named Mike who goes by the online handle Akicafe. In a Cosplay.com thread from 2004, he posted the origin story of the paddle. He said it started out as a joke between himself and the owner of Hen Da Ne, since a big chunk of the company’s business relies on the sale of yaoi manga and doujinshi. So he crafted the very first yaoi paddle, with nice wood burned letters, and a high gloss acrylic finish. Apparently Hen Da Ne liked it so much, they decided to mass produce them, much to Akicafe’s dismay and without his final consent. [Sarcastically] Haha, ain’t that fun, how that works?

  So the paddles took off. They were sold at every convention that Hen Da Ne was at, and for a while, everyone was happy. Until people started misusing their powers. Unruly fans ran around, smacking strangers with wooden paddles, and throwing them at each other. This was around the same time “glomping” was a popular thing— and glomping, if you don’t know, is when fans would just run at each other and tackle people with bear hugs. Very violent practice. It all came from a good place, or course—it was genuine fan excitement and love for their fellow fans—but it also got to be too much. People were getting slapped and hugged without consent, and it became kinda a problem. Like, a big problem.

  Monroe: We had a lot of glomping going on back then, so you’d have people running through the hallways, well not running because you couldn’t run, it was too crowded, and throwing themselves on other people. It just became very… it wasn’t fun, and if it’s not fun, why do it? When I was Con Chair in 2002, I’m the type of person who reads all of the reviews, so after 2001 I read all the reviews and I marked all the things that were problems that people had complained about in the reviews. And we used to do that every year. And then we tried to fix them, tried to make things better. But we were getting to the point where we couldn’t do that because the absolute problem was we had too many people there. It was just too full. The downtown area liked us, although it got to the point where the people at Burger King didn’t want to work on our weekend anymore, because we always shut them down. 

  By 2005, Otakon started capping their audience at 22,000, which is a good problem to have. The year after, they raised it to 25,000, and it just got to be too big. But despite some grumblings here and there about crowding and wait times, fans still loved it. Anime conventions had gone from being local gatherings to bucket list fan destinations. They were even hosting music concerts for legendary acts like Yoko Kanno, T.M. Revolution, and L’Arc~en~Ciel. Even Japanese fans started coming to America, just to check out these conventions.  

  The industry was happy, as well, and Japanese guests loved having a reason to come to the U.S., and they loved being able to meet their American fans in person. Guests like Madhouse co-founder Masao Maruyama liked Otakon so much, he’s been back 15 times since his first guest appearance in 2001. He’s even listed as an honorary staff member, which is insane. Although that origin story is kind of wild. We’ll let Sue tell that one.

  Monroe: In 2002, which was my year, was his first year as a guest. And it was a wonderful time and he was a wonderful guest, but at one point somebody stole his pack that had all of his electronics in it. They just walked in while he was doing a panel and walked off with it. And his passport was in it. And it had been such a really excellent con, and here was the most terrible ending we could think of to it. And Maruyama-san voluntarily came to the Dead Dog-

  For reference, the “Dead Dog” she’s referring to is slang for an informal party on the last day of a convention. It’s not quite as bad as it sounds. Maybe worse.

  Monroe: We were trying to get the Japanese guests to be a part of the Dead Dog after the con, so that the staff, who worked throughout the entire convention and didn’t get to see all of stuff that the fans, the rest of the members, did, that they would have an opportunity to interact with the Japanese guests. So he was at the Dead Dog, and we discovered that this had been stolen. So a number of us went back to the BCC and it was like one of those Keystone cops things, we drove back to the BCC and we had 35 minutes that we were allowed to be in the building before our contract ran out. And we searched and searched and we went in to the- you know that wall that moves to close off a room? Well that’s where we found his bag. They had taken the electronics, but they left his passport and his tickets because they didn’t find it. So we found that five minutes before we had to be out of the building.

  Luckily, no one else needed to lose their passport to be convinced to keep coming back. They just liked it. And the American market was growing really fast in the early 2000s. It was at its highest around 2002/2003, when the anime-related market in North America was valued at about $4.84 billion. Home video sales hit a high of $415 million, and fans could even buy anime at mainstream retailers like Walmart, or watch it on Cartoon Network. 

  Even with all that, they still kept going to anime conventions. And where the fans were, the U.S. anime distributors were, as well. Companies like Geneon, Bandai, Tokyopop, Viz, and ADV were setting up massive booths at shows like Anime Expo, which hit 25,000 attendees in 2004. Its enormity stunned long-time fans like Fred Patten, who wrote that the event seemed to “flood and overflow the Anaheim Convention Center.” He blamed the “unexpectedly poor management” as much as the crowds, lamenting that registration lines the first couple of days were four to five hours long.  

Even more surprising for fans who had grown up in the era of tape trading, 2004 was the first year that anime distributors started publicly cracking down on pirated and unlicensed anime DVDs. During their Anime Expo panel, Bandai announced that they were bringing legal action on four dealers caught selling bootleg DVDs. Several other exhibitors were given warnings to remove all their counterfeit merch, and those who didn’t were kicked out and banned from the dealer’s room. 

  In just a decade, Anime Expo had gone from a dueling Bay Area fan convention to the largest anime con in America. [Convention music fades in] American distributors started jockeying for power, building bigger and louder booths, hosting mini concerts, and holding autograph sessions of their own. Part of it was advertising to attendees, but part of it was just to impress their business partners in Japan. [Music ends] Because so many business licensors also attended Anime Expo, it kinda turned into a… what’s the word? A pissing contest. A contest for piss.

  Heiskell: It’s all Anime Expo, that’s all it is. I mean, if you go to Otakon, no one has big booths there. And then if you go to- it’s just Anime Expo is the only dick measuring contest now. And it’s gotten to the point where it’s two levels. The first of them, and then the second tier.

  That’s Lance Heiskell. He was at Funimation for 13 years, first as a Senior Brand Manager, then eventually the Director of Strategy.

  Heiskell: And you know, Anime Expo just makes money off of that, because to be within the corporate liensors, if you have a big booth it means that you are a, to them, you’re a big anime company. And we didn’t have a big booth until I kind of forced the issue of Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s like this is a huge show, we need to bring our- we had a corporate booth, but it was more for licensing show. So we retrofitted it for Otakon, and that was in 2004 whenever Lark and Show was there, and then our booth was- I mean, sorry, our first episode was the opening act. The first dub. And then you had all of this Japanese press there, covering Lark is Dale, covering Fullmetal Alchemist, we had like Aniplex there, and we had to have a booth. And so that was the first time that we had a big booth. Then the next year after that, I think that’s when Adam started doing the conventions, because Anime Expo we had our first like big boy booth, and that was Tsubasa was that first big booth for Funimation. I think the big booth era, I think the height of it was probably 2004, because I know that it was- yeah, it was probably 2004, 2005, because I just remember Tokyo Pop’s Monster House booth, and then it was right next to Bandai, and I remember Jerry Chu just blaring noise from speakers towards Tokyo Pop’s booth, and Tokyo Pop doing the same, that when you would walk through, your ears would just be kind of garbled. And then every 30 minutes, you’d hear the drum, they’re throwing stuff off. I do have video of that, of the drum and the throngs of people. I have video from 2005, because the Funimation booth was on the far right side, and ADV’s was on the far left side, and they gave ADV the biggest sighs because their booth was really kind of quiet until the drum. And then you just saw everybody swarming due to the them, with the big drum. So, they invite the press to throw stuff out, or just anybody to throw stuff out. I mean, that would be fun. And then, I mean ADV’s booth served two purposes, because the second level was meeting rooms, meetings with the Japanese licensors. This was before the Marriott, so it wasn’t really a good space to have meetings.

  The Adam he mentions is our very own Adam Sheehan, Director of Events at Crunchyroll, who prior to coming over here worked alongside Lance at Funimation for 10 years. They know a lot about anime conventions, because they’ve both been to a LOT of them.

  Sheehan: Hi, I’m Adam Sheehan, I’m Director of Events here at Crunchyroll. We do about 12 to 13 events- we attend- Crunchyroll, on a regular basis. Back in the day, when I was young and gungho at Funimation, we did up to about 25, 30. I remember like one month, I was doing one every single week for four or five weeks in a row, and I was a shell of myself at the end of it. So I was like “I’m getting too old for this, so I basically need to figure out a better way to do it,” and also, we actually focused on doing more at less, so instead of basically doing the same thing over and over again at multiple cons of different sizes. We pick or choose our ones, and then do a LOT at it, like a bigger activation. More guests, larger panels, and things like that. 

  Looking at Anime Expo’s attendance numbers, you wouldn’t guess that there was actually a period of time where the anime industry was kinda shaky. Right around 2006. Anime companies were launching 24-hour on-demand video channels, they were partnering with Japanese companies to directly license and distribute anime, they were expanding into more and more retail locations, and then… the bubble popped. The home video market went from $375 million in 2005 to $316 million the next year. By 2010, it would only be $200 million. Lance pins the exact apex of the bubble to the first ever North American Anime Awards, hosted in February 2007 by ADV.

  Heiskell: That’s when ADV had all the Sojitz money. It’s 2007, and that’s when ADV spent so much money on that event, because it’s New York, you have to hire union camera people, that was just this big thing, and their network was really popular, they had all the Sojitz titles.

  And then came the music store closures. 

  Heiskill: Like 2006, around September, because Funimation launched the anime online website in 2006. In 2006, Suncoast and Sam Goody had major store closures, and that was like the first cripple, because that was Tokyo Pop and it was also Pioneer, with a lot of returns. And then February was American Anime Awards, then one month later, it was- Geneon closed one month later. I mean, the bust was the music industry. The music industry crippled the anime industry. A lot of manga, and a lot of anime, was in- this was in the era when Suncoast was the number one anime retailer. It wasn’t Best Buy, it wasn’t Amazon, it wasn’t WalMart, it was Suncoast. And Suncoast was built on music. And Suncoast was Suncoast and Sam Goody and FYE and it was all the malls. And so this is when malls were still popular, but then you had some of the department stores kind of teetering where malls were still popular. And all the Suncoasts were in the malls. But then when you had the iPod, and you had iTunes, and then you know, you had just everybody shifting to digital on their music, that’s when all these stores kinda needed something else. And so they brought in- they always had anime, but they brought in anime more. And whenever manga got popular, they brought in manga. It’s very similar to when Gamestop brought in toys. Because Gamestop brought in anime around the same time, too. Because they thought it was cool. I mean even Hot Topic- and also they had Fafnir T-shirts at Hot Topic around this time. Fafnir. I saw it with my own eyes, I should’ve taken a picture for evidence. But yeah, so whenever the music- whenever Sam Goody would close a store, then everything in the store would have to be returned. And so this was a lot of manga, a lot of anime, and if you’re closing half your stores and all the anime companies would sell in a lot of product, and it was all- you could all be returned. So if you sold in 10,000 units to Suncoast, and then around that same time their stores closed, then they could say “hey, I need a refund on 8,000 of these,” and if a company just doesn’t have the money, then the anime company is on the books for it. So they owed a lot of debt to Suncoast, and Suncoast and Sam Goody and all of those kept a lot of stuff in their warehouses that they would just do these random returns. And so it was capital, it was cash. And it was the music industry that really hurt the anime industry. It wasn’t streaming, it wasn’t digital downloads, it was the music industry. 

  Over the next several years, the anime industry went through a lot of changes. Companies like Geneon Entertainment and Central Park Media closed, while others, like ADV, restructured and completely rebranded. Publications like Newtype USA and Anime Insider shut their doors for good, followed a few years by the closure of Borders, which is literally where I used to buy ALL of my manga. Any manga I ever read as a child: Borders. That’s where it happened. Even Best Buy, once a mini-haven for anime fans, slashed their inventory across the country. Now they got that little DVD section that’s only there to sell TVs and Playstations.

[Lofi music]

Somehow, throughout all the chaos, anime conventions kept going strong. Anime Expo kept getting bigger and bigger, hitting nearly 50,000 attendees the same year Bandai Entertainment announced it would stop producing and distributing new titles. The American anime home video market had taken a nasty beating, but fans still wanted their anime, and they still wanted to go to anime conventions. By the late 2000s, it was no longer about marathoning anime in video rooms—fans could already stream anime online, both legally and uh… less legally. Anime was everywhere. The rise of online retail meant that fans didn’t even have to go to dealer’s rooms anymore to get their merch.

  What the internet couldn’t provide, though, was all that stuff that’s brought fans together for decades, even back in the early sci-fi days. Just hanging out, meeting people who share a common interest, and also cosplaying. 

  Okay now, I know what y’all’re thinking. Y’all’re probably thinking “Hey! Hey- hey but, isn’t- isn’t cosplay from Japan? Everybody knows that the world ‘cosplay’ comes from the Japanese portmanteau for ‘costume’ and ‘play.’” But people have been going to conventions and dressing up as their favorite characters as early as 1939, when science fiction editor, writer, and superfan Forrest Ackerman rolled up to the first World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon for short) in what he called “futuristicostume”, a VERY dumb name.

  Everyone was presumably delighted and not weirded out, because the next year, WorldCon had its first ever official masquerade, a tradition that has kept up even until now. The idea of dressing up rippled through different fandoms, from the earliest Star Trek conventions, to San Diego Comic Con, which began hosting its first official masquerade in 1974. Whether or not American science fiction cosplay inspired Japanese fans is up for debate, what we do know is that the word “cosplay” itself was coined by a Japanese writer named Nobuyuki Takahashi in 1983.

  But by then, dressing up had already been a popular part of Comiket and local Japanese community gatherings and conventions since the 70s. Whatever the origin, though, the word “cosplay,” it blew up. It’s in this podcast, it blew up. Y’know, this podcast, the pinnacle of fame. Everyone knows what it means, regardless of anime fandom or even comic book nerding, at all. Everybody knows cosplay.

  These days, you can hear it on mainstream TV shows, or as the punchline to late-night talk shows. It’s so popular, you can go to your local JoAnn Fabrics, turn the aisle, and see entire displays devoted to cosplay, complete with commercial patterns that look suspiciously like Sailor Moon and Vash the Stampede. Fans who don’t want to sew can even buy entire costumes from overseas retailers or wigs pre-styled for a certain character. Because as I said earlier; these kids are spoiled. They don’t work for shit. Make them do stuff. They all on TikTok. Tiktok? Doin’ the dances.

  To get some insight on the ever-evolving cosplay scene, we talked to Charlene Ingram, who’s worked in the industry for 10 years as a marketing director for companies like Funimation, Viz, and Capcom. But some fans may actually know her by another name: Tristen Citrine, a celebrated cosplayer whose impeccable handiwork and love for the craft made her a frequent guest at anime conventions around the world. Her first anime convention was Anime North in 1998, in Toronto.

  Ingram: I didn’t even know, honestly, at first, like I heard that they had a masquerade, and I participated in it, but I didn’t know it would be like, such a stage production. And I had from my internet browsing, and this was I mean, this was early late 90s. I had seen some of the earlier cosplay postings and message boards. I remember American Cosplay Paradise was around way back then, Tokyo Cosplay Zone, all of the almost UseNet-looking boards that the Japanese cosplayers would use, I remember looking at their pictures and seeing what they were doing and seeing how they posed and everything like that. But there was nothing like just being there and seeing it. That was… that was the real epiphany that not only were people dressing up, there was the beginnings of kind of a stage production. And it was very, very rudimentary back then. It was a lot of “walk on this stage, and pose” and the MCs back then were more akin to things like something out of like Vaudeville, where they kinda riffed with you and it was very tongue-in-cheek. There wasn’t a lot of huge theatrics, like sometimes people would maybe try to recreate a little bit of a sword fight, or something from a scene of their favorite shows, but it’s close to unrecognizable to what we have today, how much it’s grown and how much it’s matured. 

  Competitive by nature, she was drawn to the world of masquerade contests. Her turning point was Anime Expo [crowd cheering] where she experienced for the first time fans cosplaying and singing from the Japanese Sailor Moon live action stage plays.

  Ingram: There was a Sailor Moon skit, and it was based on something that I hadn’t even heard of at that time. I didn’t know that Sailor Moon had musicals in Japan, and they’d had them since like 1994! And that was amazing, like I didn’t even know it, and these girls were on stage and they were dancing to one of the theme songs from that, and they had all the Sailor Guardians, well not all of them, they just had a few of them, but it was like nothing else in that masquerade. In that Anime Expo masquerade, it was a lot of like what I had seen at Anime North, but to see that singing and dancing, and then all of that glitter and splendor, I knew. I was like “This is the type of masquerade I want to be in, I want to be- like I want to perform, I want to have these big, bodacious things, and I gotta meet these girls.” And I didn’t get to meet them until it was a month or so later, at San Diego Comic Con. I met them, and we started chatting on the internet, and we started laughing and sharing our interests and our love for Sailor Moon and my love for anime and being this new girl on the West Coast because just like moving to Los Vegas, I was very much like a fish out of water, and I was very intimidated by folks from California because growing up, California was this magical wonderland where the best and the brightest and the most beautiful hung out, and I would never be good enough for that. So, just seeing this, just hanging out with these girls and eventually, them inviting me to be a part of the group and learning that I have this sewing ability and all these dreams that I had, it was really, that was really a game changer like I really bonded with these girls and I wanted to do something great and celebrate Sailor Moon together. 

    Before long, her talent and craftsmanship were being recognized, and she was getting invited to anime conventions as a special guest. 

  Ingram: Because I really took the bull by the horns, I was very passionate about it and I really wanted to show off my sewing ability with this new genre I was really into. And it started in 2000, and I remember that was my first time I had a guest appearance was AniMagic 2000, and it was in October of 2000. And this was a convention that happened at the end of convention season, when there was still a convention season, and it was a place for everyone to kind of chill and it was out in the middle of nowhere, it was in Lancaster, California, and it took place at this hotel that all the rooms were centered around this pool. And they did the masquerade poolside, so it was very nice and casual, it was kinda like anime camp. And that was the first time I was a guest at a convention. And then I was a guest at Anime North, and then Project A-Kon, and the list goes on and on. But really starting in around ‘98, like actively with cosplay, to get to that point was probably really unheard of by today’s standards. 

  Busy as she is with work, Charlene still tries to find time to cosplay, though she says that some things haven’t really changed.

  Ingram: If you look at a lot of the costumes from back then, the really well made ones, and some conventions now even have exhibits for cosplayers’ costumes, especially from the past and currently. Good sewing techniques have not changed all that much over the years. The process for making things and making things well, especially with fabric craft, hasn’t really changed all that much. Your fundamentals are still your fundamentals, you just have the advent and introduction of a lot of materials, especially your themal plastics and your EVA foams and stuff like that, that have been invented that make different types of things easier. And that’s really cool, I do have a lot of fascination with the new materials as they come out, I always like to buy them and play with them and see what they’re all about, and I do like working with EVA foam, but I just feel like… I almost feel like a soul bond when I’m working on something that is fabric-based. 

  One thing that has popped up in the last several years, though, is the advent of the professional cosplayer. If you just Google “professional cosplayer,” you’ll get a torrent of hits. Everything from cosplayer influencer salaries, to dozens of “what is it like?” articles, to message boards filled with fans wondering how to break into the career. It’s another side effect of conventions—and cosplay—reaching a high point in mainstream culture. But for Charlene, it’s all signs that we’re living in a magical time.

  Ingram: And it is very wonderful that some cosplayers can actually make a living at dressing up and going out and doing events and working events, that’s really rather magical and I really love that side of things. And I’ll say that I love all sides of professional cosplay, be it the spokesmodel type, the event worker type, the just the person at just like you go to Comiket or Tokyo Game Show and there’s a line forever and they have to bring extra security. I love that person. I love the professional cosplayers on Patreon that do pictures and chats and stuff with their fans, and they make their living that way. I even love the cosplayers that are cam girls. I love them, they’re doing- they’re living their passion, they’re living their best life. 

Cosplay is now more accessible to everyone than ever before, but it also means that conventions have needed to step up in another way—by making it safer for people to be in costume. In 2014, New York Comic Con became the first major convention to publicly post signs with four simple words: Cosplay is not consent. One of its primary pleas: “Keep your hands to yourself.” No touching, no groping, and please, no gross propositioning in elevators. Basically, don’t suck, don’t be a shitty dude, and remember that under every costume is a fan just like you and me. At its core, the Cosplay is Not Consent movement is about the basic tenets of respect and personal safety. Luckily, it’s grown over time, with more and more conventions adopting their guidelines and declaring their support by posting information around the venues and in guide books. It’s hard to know for sure exactly how much it’s helping the cosplay community—only time will tell—but convention organizers hope it will at least embolden cosplayers to speak out for one another.    

  Ingram: But the cool thing is now, we have these signs at conventions that say “cosplay is not consent,” and we have this culture where people will say “No!” or people will call it out, or like people will correct each other and that’s really cool. And people will ask for hugs, which is also really cool. Or people will ask what your name is, and not just talk to you like you’re the character. There’s this understanding that there is a human underneath the costume that wasn’t always there before. And I think in that way, that’s also making cosplay a lot more welcoming for folks. 

[Lofi music] And she is right. We’re growing and evolving, and so is fandom. As the convention scene gets bigger, our expectations for them are growing, too. Like demanding safer environments for attendees, purging counterfeits from dealer booths, and just holding everyone to higher standards. Anime fans have become a global powerhouse-- driving a market worth $18 billion worldwide.  So it’s no surprise that anime conventions have grown with it. What once was just a chance for fans to cluster around a TV and watch Star Blazers is now its own ecosystem, with thriving cosplay scenes, world premieres of brand new anime titles,, concerts with the kinds of mega-stars that sell out baseball stadiums in Japan, dealer rooms the size of those stadiums, and fans who will cross continents and oceans just to hang out with their friends at these events. 

  There are so many anime conventions that now, instead of just going to the nearest one, fans can even decide which one they want to go to based on their vibe. Like… Anime Weekend Atlanta if they’re really into anime music video contests, or Dragon Con if they want to see some really intricate costumes across different geek genres. Or local hidden gems like Anime Los Angeles, where all the California-based cosplayers debut some of their newest builds. Or… Crunchyroll Expo, shameless plug, where you can be amongst the first fans in the world to check out new titles. From Crunchyroll. By the way, Crunchyroll Expo. Gang? Gang, gang. Squad. Yes. Do it.

  Anime has also carved out increasingly large spaces at comic book conventions like San Diego Comic Con and New York Comic Con. There are video rooms that run around the clock, giant publisher booths, autograph sessions, and cosplayers galore. What once was a space carved out at these conventions by dedicated fans, is now a draw to pull in more attendees. There’s even a cosplay contest at South by Southwest, which most people probably know more for its film and music programming. 

  That’s not to say that anime conventions have fundamentally changed over the years. They haven’t. We just expect more from them now. Here’s Adam Sheehan again, who’s been doing this long enough to really track all the little, subtle changes. 

  Sheehan: Yeah, the expectations have definitely changed in that, as I mentioned when I found out AnimeCon, I had no idea what it was or that it even existed. But now it’s like you have your shopping list. You got the schedule ahead of time. If you’re looking for something new, you’re aware before you walk in. You’re like “oh, there’s a premier of this show I’ve heard about, I want to show up for that because that sounds neat.” It’s not about walking through the door and going “there’s a bunch of rooms, a bunch of people, let me figure it out.” Because of that, the expectations of what people want are different, almost based con by con. You bring DragonCon up. They do panels, they have what are called dealer’s rooms there, too; but what they’re mostly known for is the cosplay, then evening events. Everyone gets their own theme about it. Expectation for an event level is almost along that line. It’s like Anime Expo, San Diego Comic Con, you know you’re going to get some big news, some big guests showing up. Local con in Florida, you’re maybe not as much, but maybe you were expecting to go and buy stuff. And see, they’re friends, so that basically is almost an event level what people are expecting, so the exploring, if anything, basically has changed from “I don’t know anything, walking in the door, surprise me” to “I have expectations, but there’s still a chance to blow it out of the water by who’s the guest? How good’s the show? How much fun do they have with their friends?” So all those things mixed together is basically what some of the big changes are. It also helps now that anime’s mainstream, it definitely was not mainstream in the 90s, us nerdy little kids in the corners in the clubs had to basically educate other people and say “no, this exists!” Where now it’s like it’s either mentioned like on the Big Bang Theory, or there’s movies about cons, or it’s mentioned like that, so people get the general idea that a convention exists and people go there and that they buy stuff and they meet people and they dress up. So that base knowledge is good for the casual goer, even if it’s just a parent bringing a kid to their first con, they’re like “oh, this is generally what they’re going to walk into.” But you never quite know what you’re going to see. The trends I’m seeing across that since AX’s growth has been just around the overall trends of the anime world. Merch getting better, technology getting faster, or I guess more easier access to, as well as just the overall growth of anime. Like almost every single convention around the nation over the last five or six years has had either stay the same or an increase, there’s been very few that have actually gone down, because anime fandom has just been growing. And we joked at one point--God this must’ve been like four or five years ago, at one point?-- that we were looking like, we did the math and said “oh, if you take every convention around the country, small, large, no matter what size the event, there’s a con every single weekend of the year, including Christmas and New Year’s that you can go to.” So basically if you want do the full otaku livestyle, you could be at a con every single weekend for a straight year, and never stop.  

    Where are anime conventions going to go from here? Only time will tell. But even during the short history of anime in America, they’ve changed so much that it’s hard not to be excited about their future. So the next time you go to a convention and you’re just standing around, waiting for an autograph from your favorite director or voice actress, take a moment to look around and think about the humble origins of anime conventions. And how it all started with Star Blazers.

  Peace.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[elizabethrobertajones]

I stumbled across my own old post from when I ranked all spn seasons in order of my favorite to least and realized I need to figure out where to add s12... was wondering if you had such a ranking and what it is?

Oh no :P That’s a tough one. I’m still thinking about what @k-vichan said on @superspecpod about liking the emotional/motw stuff of season 12 a LOT but ranking the overall plot really really low. (And I just watched 12x15 so I’m freshly annoyed about this exact thing because Perez tried SO MUCH HARDER than he needed to to make the Crowley and Lucifer stuff interesting and to make it go somewhere - anywhere other than 2 more episodes of Lucifer sitting around chained to a chair in a boring room exchanging the same old samey dialogue - so the rest of the Buckleming episodes after just make it like a lesson in not trying so hard because you can coast by on about 3% of the effort >.>)

Maybe it’s time to start getting more nuanced because it’s really hard to decide and there are other seasons which aren’t so starkly split but still have an imbalance in my eyes. I’ll rank them out of 10 for those categories.

So I guess season 12 is 10/10 for motw, probably like 9/10 for emotional arcs and 1/10 for plot, no offence to Berens and Dabb but… Yikes. 12x13 retroactively ruined 6x04 and somehow 9x21 as well and I didn’t think 9x21 was a strong episode to start with… Other plot episodes in the same season don’t stand a chance. I’m putting the good work into “emotional arcs” from those episodes and backing off, although I’ll allow stuff like the good parts of the plot stuff that affected the emotional arcs some leeway into being enjoyable, like all the times the BMoL were used WELL for family drama. (I did also just watch 12x16 after all.) Overall 20/30

Season 11 I thought had some great motw but also some more average ones… Nothing terrible but there were several which were quite rote, so maybe like 8/10, average lifted by Robbie and Nancy Won specifically for 11x04 and 11x19 :P The emotional arc was fairly simple and stretched waaay too long and some parts not resolved, and the whole ikkiness of 16 year old looking Amara hitting on Dean which even when I didn’t think they’d use it as a proper romance arc was horrendously off-putting for the things we SHOULD have cared about, so maybe 5/10. The plot I think was good despite the emotional arc it created being a drag so 9/10 because I really enjoyed watching along with it for the basic drama and twists like Casifer and the hands of god to fill space with decent pacing in the middle, because it generally tied into interesting episodes, and bringing Chuck back and wrapping up was a nice way to raise the stakes and finish the story. Overall 22/30

Season 10 didn’t have any stellar motw except 10x05 - the rest were mostly tolerable-to-good but I can’t give it over 5/10 for the experience because many were plagued by… The emotional arc, which through sheer attrition ends up at like 2/10 and the only redeeming episodes on that were 10x14 for the plot and 10x22 for remembering Cas had a point to be in the season even if it was horrific to watch. But this is the plot that “went where the story took them” so ick, 3/10. Also, the demon!Dean stuff is great but in a bang your fork on the table and yell for more way, which means it’s the only reason I changed this from a 2 to a 3 because I literally forget 10x01-3 aren’t a mini season all on their own, but they still had Cole in them so it’s not going higher than that :P 10/30

Season 9 I literally quit watching over the MotW and the sort of sticky, itchy feeling they have is even worse than season 10 throughout the season, buuut 9x06 and 9x19 are in there. But Bloodlines was a motw. Let’s call it 4, give Berens a consolation cookie, and move on >.> The emotional arc is very strong and I love it a lot even though it’s all angsty and miserable, mostly because I skipped from 9x05 to 9x18 with a quick easy marathon through the Gadreel fight instead of watching along, and then read all the meta on it at once, and it’s got an excellent Destiel plot which a huge amount of the season rides on, so 10/10 because I said so. The plot, as well, flounders in the middle a bit for the angel wars but I think the Mark of Cain is a GOOD part of THIS side of the season and the demon!Dean build up and reveal was excellent, so I’d say 9/10 because once you apply the “Metatron wrote everything the angels do” theory it mostly all scrapes by. Ignoring the MotW, I usually put this as one of my favourite seasons despite the fact I ragequit it once. Overall 23/30

Season 8 has good MotW for the most part but there’s some eh ones and there’s ones I skip so hard I forget they’re part of canon, like the other weird dog episode, so maybe only 6/10. Robbie has another good year. I like Bitten, fight me :P Emotional arcs are much more painful - I’ve read all the meta on the Sam hit a dog fight but unlike the Gadreel one which I find interesting and complex, it bums me out AND feels manufactured, so 8x17 has got to prop the whole thing up to 5/10. The main plot is good. I love Kevin and the trials and Metatron’s introduction and Crowley as a main antagonist. 9/10 with a point deducted for letting Abaddon out and leaving the hell/purgatory portal open. Overall 20/10

Season 7 is a sneaky fave of mine as well because I’m awful :P Buckleming return and write MotW but Robbie arrives on the scene and I think bats a perfect game on his first try. So 7/10 because the other writers also weren’t awful and Plucky’s happened this season. I also think the emotional arc is harrowing but because I mostly remember this season through rewatches where it was all okay and I never knew Cas wasn’t supposed to be gone for good so his return seems waaay more Destiel to me than it might if you didn’t think the entire season was just manufactured to make Dean sad about Cas then give him back, 8/10. And the Leviathan plot was really nicely handled as a season-long big bad who caused a serious and damaging effect to their lives but then they scrounged up all their resources and killed Dick and also the main plot was a series of Dick jokes. so 10/10. 24/30

Season 6 on the other hand… 2/10 for MotW because this was just a resounding failure to make the MotW part of the main plot on the Eve arc but then make it all low budget dragons and spider dudes and mannequins and what have you. UGH. But there IS the fairy episode and it’s the one dang episode with no relevance to anything at all that season except Sam happens to be soulless in it which just adds to the fun. I am a bit uncertain about the emotional arc - it’s miserable for the most part and I am sad about Dean and Lisa being a disaster and going through all the steps of it being terrible. Dean is *buried* in everyone’s angst and problems and it doesn’t even really serve a purpose or let him break. The light in the dark is 6x20 which is going to haul this all the way up from what would have been like a 2 to 5. The plot is also a disaster and VISIBLY a disaster and even 6x20 has some tiny holes and stretches that can’t make it ALL work, though Edlund gives it his best. On the other hand “plot episodes” include Weekend at Bobby’s, Appointment in Samarra, The French Mistake, My Heart Will Go On, and Frontierland, and I am DYING for another season which delivers its main plot through crack episodes of utter gold star nonsense quality. I begrudingly give 7/10 but it’s marking up from like… 3 or something, instead of down from 10 :P Overall 14/30

Season 5… has awful MotW. I’m sorry, it does. All the ones that look like MotW but then turn out to be plot episodes are great (well, except for 5x09), but all the ones that stay MotW are like… Curious Case of Dean Winchester. Swap Meat. Blaaaaah. 3/10. I skip everything that isn’t about the apocalypse properly when I watch - thankfully there aren’t a whole lot of them. Emotional arc is the pay off of 5 years work and it doesn’t make me cry but it is a pretty great heaping of good emotional arc tying up and probably why a lot of the following seasons are wonky or go for manufactured drama to boot up the story properly. 10/10. Plot is almost omnipresent, mostly well-delivered, and although it is too melodramatic for “we literally knew we had a season 6 lined up” with a side order of “it definitely was meant to look like this all the way through and we didn’t cram in any last minute retcons or deuz ex machinas ha ha” *sweats nervously*, at least the original watch was a MEMORABLE JOURNEY so I give it 9/10 with a side-eye for rewatching and also with hindsight attempting to finish the story 1 or 8 seasons and counting from a reasonable place. Overall 22/30

Season 4 is my favourite but it has 4x11 aka “we want to intentionally write an episode so bad they’ll never air it and no one will watch it haha isn’t this a lark” right in the middle, so 9/10 for motw, 10/10 and 10/10 for everything else. Can you even explain season 4 to people who don’t get it? :P 29/30

Season 3 has the best motw to plot episodes ratio aside from season 12 probably. A WHOLE bunch of classics and only really 2 I dislike in it so I’d give it 8/10 because it is allowed to coast on those, and it’s about to take a hammering for emotional arc, because like season 10 it’s got a simple purpose that Dean Is Not Okay And Sam Wants To Save Him, which combines the same angry, reckless Dean and desperate miserable Sam, only then gets a writers’ strike bang in the middle so they’re even more frustrated and miserable and to no good end so 1/10. And I have a personal grudge against the show for ending forever after sending Dean to Hell because it got cancelled after the strike and I had to live with that for nearly 3 years before it turned out this was not, in fact, what had happened. 1/10 for the inevitable tanking of what looked like a strong start and just no way to salvage it but admit defeat and wait for season 4. Overall 10/30 

Season 2 is just 10/10 for motw, 10/10 for emotional arc and … maybe like 8 or 9 out of ten for plot. Let’s go with 8 with hindsight that season 4 and 5 trashed Azazel’s hard work so hard I see all the time people wondering “why did he have to go to SO MUCH trouble” and the only conclusion I got is “for shits and giggles” or to waffle about how no one knew anything for certain. (The other problem is that so much of what happens isn’t explained, and it saves a point because Croatoan finally got an answer *3* years later.) But I love season 2. Simple and gets the job done and hollows you out along the way and the much stronger follow up to the first season to really explore the characters and their trauma with a much better understanding of them. Overall 28/30.

Season 1 is more mixed for motw. They’re almost all of the episodes but Bugs and Racist Truck deserve the slamming Word of God keeps giving them in the story because they ARE racist and poorly plotted and relying on chance resolutions. I like the urban legends and the different feel it has to any other season as they find their feet with easy hunts but I don’t think a lot of them are classics in the same way season 2 episodes feel much more firmly covered in the show’s fingerprints because these are the patterns they go on to subvert or explore in much more abstract ways. Maybe 8/10. Characterisation is shaky and one note compared to later on some things, and the emotional arc is simple but also relies on John just not talking to them to the point of frustration and Sam and Dean are so isolated it’s claustrophobic at times. 7/10. But plot is simple and works and is the best hook to watch all the rest so 10/10. Overall 25/30

…

and yeah, adding up reasons I like the season against reasons I don’t, season 12 is way more watchable to me than season 10 even though they literally committed the same off-putting crime in the 21st episode both times. Other seasons score much worse for just being kinda meh or having two out of the three main reasons I enjoy something be really bad, like season 3 or 6, so even though there’s stuff I love in them, I think they’re worse overall seasons… 

I don’t know why I spent so much time on this. :P Lack of will to do anything else. Thanks for letting me ramble at you if you read this far :P

[sharethisgemwithme]

“Dewey Wins” instant reaction

It's about damn time.

Steven's back and, well, who's to say where we go from here?

PREVIOUSLY ON STEVEN UNIVERSE: A bunch of humans were abducted by Aquamarine and Topaz, the last of them Connie. As they attempted to find Greg ("mydad"), Steven instead gave himself up as diamond-killer Rose Quartz, and was taken to Homeworld. Lars accidentally tagged along. The two escaped and were found by an assortment of off-color Homeworld gems, but an attack resulted in Lars's brief death. Steven brought him back to life as a Lion-like pink being with wormhole hair, which he was able to use to get home. And now...

Tonight: "Dewey Wins". Right. I have nothing against townie episodes, and I understand the need to go back-and-forth with the heavy stuff, but this is a bit awkward of a followup. Potentially. Somewhere in this batch of six episodes, we're definitely making more progress on the gems telling us stuff, but this episode seems to be packed enough, that I don't know if it will fit here.

My predictions: First of all, disclaimer. I've seen the commercials, and the NYCC preview (which is as far as I know, the first two minutes), so I know Connie's sullen and Steven is unjustifiably smug (seriously, having just watched Wanted again, he is in tears for large portions, but I guess he found time in the last five months to once again convince himself he's just too tough to cry). I also sorta saw the episode titles, but I didn't really pay attention to them, or note their order (and I did my best to avoid the synopses of future episodes). So my predictions are colored by all that, but... If this is not a "Dewey Defeats Truman" joke, I am seriously baffled by the choice of episode title. So, that means that Nanefua is gonna become the new mayor by the end of the episode. Insert joke about an old person with a history of harassment winning an election in a stunning upset. As to the Connie plot, I think there will be a further conversation either about or with Connie, but I do think that Connie being upset with Steven for his actions will continue for a little longer. What he did was reckless, and for him to not even reflect on how he hurt those around him is cold and, frankly, a bit out-of-character.

All this intro is long, and for the benefit of those on mobile who can’t blacklist, the rest is below a cut.

All that out of the way, time to watch the episode! I'm watching via on-demand, and will start the clock with "We!" As always, first time I'm watching straight through with no pauses or rewinds.

[pre-start] I do notice the new episodes are marked as TV-G rather than TV-PG. Don't know if that means anything (or is a mistake). Also, LOL at the pre-show ad being for Match.com.

0:00 - And it's not in HD. Boo, Optimum. 0:20 - Lamar and Jeff for this one. 0:31 - They all look so glum. And they're right too. 0:40 - But Connie is the most pissed of all of them. 0:53 - None of this is stuff that should be said so happily. 1:09 - "But..." 1:18 - Massive missing of the point there, Steven. 1:30 - Regardless of Stevonnie, everyone was willing to work together. 1:44 - "Except for Lars", little bit flippant there, buddy. 2:00 - Didn't seem like a tough decision. 2:10 - Lion disapproves of your shenanigans. 2:22 - Sadie's not happy. Shockingly enough. 2:33 - "Also, he's kinda dead." 2:48 - THAT'S KINDA IMPORTANT TO DO. 3:04 - Here comes a new candidate. 3:28 - What the hell, Steven. This is not more important. 3:45 - This is a weak chant. 3:57 - THIS IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT. 4:05 - WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU GOING TO TALK TO DANTE AND MARTHA? Come on, dude! 4:24 - No! That would not have made things better! 4:40 - Why are you supporting him anyway? 5:06 - Have... you... have you told the parents yet? They're right there. 5:28 - "Everyone is safe." NO. Thanks, Sadie. 5:45 - Way to go, Sadie! 6:02 - OH YOU FUCKING IDIOT. 6:25 - Well deserved tomato to the face. 6:44 - Seriously, why are you supporting him?! What's wrong with Nanefua? 6:58 - Let's remember how well that book worked for Steven. Oh wait, it didn't. 7:20 - Jesus christ, this dude. 7:44 - "Speech-a-palooza". I chuckled. 8:22 - Do you have somewhere you're going with this? 8:40 - OK. And now Nanefua with the killshot? 8:58 - Oh boy, she's gonna blame Steven. 9:13 - "I will point them at Steven" 9:29 - Oh. That was surprisingly... nice. 9:55 - But what will we call Mayor Dewey if he's not Mayor anymore? 10:24 - This is not the thing to invest your energy in, Steven. 10:37 - Oh! You're making progress, without meaning it. Much like "Political Power" 10:54 - Thanks, Dewey. 11:05 - This leaves something to build on.

IMMEDIATE THOUGHTS: So this ending reminds me of "Political Power", obviously. In "Power", Steven makes the connection between Dewey lying to the town to make them feel better, and the Gems lying to Steven to make him feel better. Here, it's the analogy of Steven letting Connie down and... ok I'm not gonna lie, it's been three minutes since I watched the episode, and I can't quite place what the analogue in the Dewey situation was. There's a reason Dewey was able to say "Yeah I don't know what you're talking about", I guess. The other episode this ending reminds me of, right around the same time, is "Full Disclosure". Here, instead of Connie repeatedly calling and being ignored by Steven (the most callous he'd ever been until now), it's Steven trying to call Connie to ask forgiveness, and getting the cold shoulder. And given that he blew off her concerns, and then was flippant as all hell about "Oh hey, the mayoral election I didn't know was happening until just now is more important, can't hang out today", I don't blame her!

Second watch notes:

In the most recent episode of the official podcast, Matt or Ben mentioned how Connie and Lion have had an unspoken connection between them from the beginning, as they specifically brought up them working together to save Steven at the end of "Ocean Gem". That comes back here, as they ride off together without Steven. Does Lion just hang out at her place now?

Steven's most important power has always been reading the emotional temperature of the room. Him being so bad at it in the opening scene is painful.

There have been complaints of late about weak animation, and I think there's merit to those arguments (like the crowd at Nanefua's speech remaining frozen in place for a bit), but I do like the "camera" "focusing" on Steven and then "refocusing" on Connie during the last lines of their conversation.

Kate Micucci putting in a solid performance in this episode. Just want to throw that out there.

I might not have immediately noticed this if GC-13 of The Lunar Sea Spire podcast hadn't mentioned it, but the avatar of Ian JQ being present to cheer on Nanefua (modeled after his grandmother) is amusing.

Given the apparent outrage at Dewey for not doing anything, how is Steven not instantly a pariah when he says "Oh yeah, totally my fault." Does everyone just already dislike Dewey?

By the way, what a rift this must be causing within the Cool Kids. Is Sour Cream being forced to choose sides? Or is even Buck all "yeah I hope he loses"?

The economy of Beach "City" has always been baffling. The notion that the mayor thinks he can hire a new employee at a chain donut shop is an impressive amount of silly.

Ronaldo at the debate on his phone. Clearly typing up another KBCW post.

Nanefua will make a great mayor. She's already got the "emotional-sounding, and absolutely content-free speech" thing down pat.

OK, reaching the end I have now refreshed my memory on the Dewey-Steven analogy. Steven was taking the role of Connie, thinking that he was in a partnership that could do great things together, but the other member just gave up. The reason I forgot the analogy the first time around was because it doesn't make any fuckin' sense for Steven to have this level of devotion to Dewey (compared to Connie's belief in Steven), but that's where we were going with this, I guess.

Credits: No one credited for the generic townspeople, including the red-haired Southern-sounding woman at Dewey's first speech.

[movienotesbyzawmer]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

December 18: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(previous notes: Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Source: UK 3D Blu-ray (this was much easier to come by than a US release, for some reason)

This movie is only 2 years old, a relative infant babe in arms. And I unambiguously loved it when it came out, both times I saw it in theaters and again when it was first released on video. But there have been dark whispers, haven't there. Snobs and haters started flooding the information superhighway with poorly supported condemnation of this perfectly entertaining sequel. Was I wrong? Was I missing some smear of shit on the screen that everyone else could see? Or is Putin up to his old tricks? Excuse me while I pop on my rose-colored 3D glasses and jot down some fresh observations.

Cool first shot, zipping through a bunch of ships that's like some kind of convoy.

Then a bad guy ship shows up and whoa is it neat in 3D.

This first exchange between Poe and Hux is funnier than anything in the prequel trilogy, my goodness was that a refreshing way to start this movie! Love it!

BB8 thunking down into the guts of the X-wing! That's the right kind of gadgety roboty attitude for a Star Wars movie, I tell you.

Bombers, there are bombers. How do bombers work in space? I ask like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm sure there's a Lucas-y explanation. And yes I know that Lucas isn't doing this movie, of course I know that, it's like you don't even know me.

Jeez, those bombers are getting totally wasted. Probably because they're full of bombs. BOMBS, see.

This tense scene where the bomber pilot has to kick down the remote control from a precipice, this is great suspense. The pilot sacrifices herself. The first 12 minutes of this movie have a hell of a lot going for it. But also, the look of it is different from all of the others. Stark closeups for instance. Nothing wrong with it, but feels like it's very committed to this director's personal stylistic preferences.

Now we're on Hidden Skywalker Island to find out how this plot thickens. It's a cool contrast from the space battle. And it's got Rey. And Porgs!

0:16:40 - Snoke's proper throne room. With Actual Snoke because it turned out the other one from the last movie was pretend-like. This throne room was put together by a visionary interior designer who really likes red.

Luke drinks some green milk from a plump creature who looks at Rey like she's saying "have some, it's pretty good, seriously you gotta try it, it comes from my nipples".

The scene with Rey and Luke in the book cave, it's good, I think. It's ever so slightly witty, but it makes sense as a way to get past the stubborn impasse the two were in before.

Kylo hesitated to blow up his mom because he's not too happy with his Dark Side family rn. But she's blowed up anyway and it's a pretty visceral image when that happens. Fortunately she is kind of Jesus so it's fine, she's fine, we're all fine here now thank you, how are you?

Hah, the Porgs are shaming Chewy into not eating a dead Porg! Porgs are way less in-your-face in this movie than Ewoks are in that other movie.

Enter Laura Dern! Conveys intelligence and confidence. I bet internet dicks hated her for no good reason. Other than that they are working in a non-descript office building in central Russia. Anyway, her friction with Poe is cool because she's being rational and it's just hard to argue against her points.

0:39:00 - Enter Kelly Marie Tran! Rose! Of course Sergei and Boris are social media bullies about this character. But even though she's coming into this story a little late, she's already gotten some solid character development.

So this is something I'm only realizing because I just watched Empire Strikes Back, but the two movies have similar structures in addition to being middle-of-the-trilogy movies. They both go back and forth between two subplots; one about a Jedi training a rookie on a planet, the other about just the good guys desperately trying to outrun a dauntingly large space fleet of bad guys.

Hah, Porgs getting pesky in the Millennium Falcon, I'd forgotten that.

Not so much with the wipes between scenes in this one but that one at 53:55 was neat.

And now we're in an actual casino! It's the Star Wars universe's version of Monaco. Lots of fun creatures and robots, but shot with a very flashy style that seems more obtrusive than how Lucas just peeks around in the Cantina.

The Master Codebreaker is literally Errol Flynn circa 1925.

1:00:50 - The first flashback of The Luke/Ben Incident. Kinda Rashomon-esque.

Benicio Del Toro. I love the guy, but there is often a sense in his movies that he had a very persuasive conversation with the director to let him do odd quirks with how he talks, and the director just grimaced and hoped it would turn out okay.

They break out of the stables with the racing animals, and stampede their way through the casino, satisfying!

But also, this whole Monaco planet is so like Monaco, so specifically, that it's not very galaxy-far-far-away.

First time we see Luke in the Rashomon flashback with the 'bout-to-kill-Ben look, that is a mighty fine facial expression from Mark Hamill.

1:14:35 - We're at the highly abstract Nightmare Cave sequence. This is a little indulgent, I bet Lucas did not like. He probably didn't like the equivalent sequence in The Force Awakens, but for what it's worth, I super like that one.

Rey and Kylo having a connection, I think we're not supposed to like it, and maybe that's the point? I'm okay with that. As long as it doesn't turn out that they are twin siblings separated at birth and gee what a shocking twist that would be <eye roll>.

I bet it took some discipline to have the Finn/Poe/Rose subplot be relatively simple.

1:29:00 - Weird little coffin craft Rey gets in to go to Kylo's ship. Oh, and the shot of coming out of lightspeed facing the bottom of the Destroyers! Cool!

1:30:55 - Hah! You thought they'd forgotten how to be funny, but then they do that clothes-iron gag. I like it. Reminds me of the coat hanger gag in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"I know where the nearest escape pods are" "Course you do". Hah.

Snoke telling Rey "I connected you because I knew Kylo was weak" sounds like an internet troll. Am I hung up on that? On internet trolls?

Big hanger full of troops and even flying TIE fighters inside the hanger, looks great.

Very grim situation now… the intended plan completely fell apart, and now the escape transport plan is completely screwed, and Rey is just helpless it looks like. Or is that just what it LOOKS like.

Snoke death is neat. Also neat are his guards' variable, flexible sword things. Also also neat is how the one guard gets tossed into an electro-processer and shoots out red flakes!

1:50:42 - Oh, my favorite thing, a magic battle. As Rey and Kylo try to out-Force each other to Force-get the light saber, it all comes down to who Force-gets better.

But then! Then it DOESN'T suck because they equally Force-get so hard that it just breaks, and then the neatest of all the parts of this movie, LD lightspeed-spearing the master bad guy ship! Awesome visuals and sound.

"You're a bug in the system" "Let's go chrome-dome". That's a pretty Lucas-y dialogue exchange.

As they fly away from the destruction, I love the look, how much detail there is to the wreckage.

Yeah, this final planet has those ice fox things! It feels like this Episode has slightly less zeal for "delightful new creatures", but it's not NO zeal.

Also this is the planet where the surface is salt, but under the salt surface is a mineral that is very red, for reasons of it looks cool, I guess. There's even a mechanic which can't possibly make sense, where these crafts NEED to drag on the surface just a teeny bit. But so what, I like to look at it. I'd rather look at that than look at YOU.

The underground blood crystal cave is a damn fine sight to see.

Not sure I care that much about the quick drama about Finn trying to Kamikaze the big gun and Rose stopping him. Although Rose saying "saving what we love" makes it kinda sweet and now I'm sorry I pooh-poohed it. But she gives him a little kiss, which is the only remotely romance-y thing in this new trilogy so far and do we need that? Whatever, I root for both of these characters.

We just saw the gold dice from Solo. But this movie came out before Solo, so I guess we were all like "dude what the hell is THAT". I wonder whose idea the dice was.

"Do you think that you got him". So, this reminded me when I first saw it of an early Mark Hamill movie called The Big Red One. A war drama with him and Lee Marvin, probably right around the same time as Empire. In that movie, MH shoots again and again and again at a definitely-already-dead German soldier. He just keeps shooting the corpse. Lee Marvin walks up to him as he's doing it and whispers in his ear, "I think you got him". Gotta be a deliberate reference, right? Pretty obscure one if so

Hah, Poe and Rey hadn't met yet, that wasn't obvious until now.

Okay, the final scene. It's a cool final scene, but… okay so the first time I saw it, I definitely didn't notice that the kid levitated the broom all casual-like. But I noticed it in later viewings and was like "oh, how did I miss that". Well I'LL TELL you how, because it is super freaking subtle! It's like it changes every time or something. It is FREAKING  me OUT.

But I still really like this movie. It is full of tons of great qualities, and only minor issues. It's surprisingly witty, and has a lot of non-Lucas style to it, which would be a problem if it didn't feel so genuinely inspired. So nice try, Anatoly! Go fuck yourself, Fyodor! You can turn neighbors against each other, Yuri, but you can't make me hate The Last Jedi!

(next: The Rise of Skywalker)

[muggle-writes]

WIP Masterpost

(last updated March 30, 2019)

The formatting got all screwed up on mobile, so here’s a template of the summaries below, so you can tell what should go together. Title (link if published) Premise approximate length and other publishing notes

Partially published

Fandom: 17776

Patience Ten isn’t as patient as she hopes Nine can be. It all works out in the end Short, multi-chapter

Fandom: Harry Potter

The One I’ve Been Looking For (formerly Colors) Soulmate au: You see in black and white until you first see your soulmate, then you can see in color. Harry/Ginny with other canon pairings (but not all couples are soulmates and not all soulmates get romantically involved for a variety of reasons) Meant as a one-shot, became definitively multi-chapter, will probably wind up fairly long. Even if it’s short, it’ll contain vignettes of scenes over at least the first four years Harry attends Hogwarts

(Series) The Star’s Journey An Astoria Greengrass-centric series featuring a friendship and later relationship with Ginny Weasley. Canon compliant (so far) Originally written for PurimGifts 2019 (which is why it’s a series of one-chapter fics, rather than a single ongoing fic). Currently has three installments, at least two more are planned

Fandom: Detective Conan

Eavesdropping Hakuba Saguru is sure Tokyo’s littlest detective is too close to a certain irritating classmate phantom thief. His investigations uncover secrets that are deeper than he could have imagined. Long, multi-chapter (was once regularly updated, hoping to get back to at least bimonthly updates)

Begin Again Trans!Shinichi, begins nearly-canon and explores how the plot would be different if Shinichi were a trans guy Long, multi-chapter, no defined ending (irregular update schedule, which is not helped by being written out of order)

Sphygmoid Soulmate AU (mainly platonic, multiple connections per person) reimagining of the early series. Stripes on your arms, in different colors, represent different people that love you. They turn black if that person has died, so what does this half-and-half stripe mean? Multi-chapter, probably 4-6 chapters total when it’s done. Character-driven

Crossover with Kri – The Unseen Essence Awakening Begins basically canon, but is also set in the Kri universe, so upon a traumatic event people begin to see their Kri – the external half of their souls. (mildly self-indulgent, likely to wildly diverge from canon because the Sleeping Kogoro gag is much harder to pull off when Kogoro’s Kri is not sleeping) Short, multi-chapter. Open/ambiguous ending Marked complete on AO3, because the three chapters I initially drafted are all published, but I keep writing more so they may eventually be added ...Someone remind me to update the link in the fic header from the Kri website (which is no more) to the google drive folder containing all the official content

Fandom: Magic Kaito (Despite the frequent overlap, I do tend to write these separately)

Reunion Kaito comes home to find his father in the Kid Room Originally done as a writing exercise in the KaiShin discord, experimental (writing bot) style 1-2 more chapters before it’s complete Might be “completed” in a “choose-your-own-adventure” style with an angst ending and a happy ending

Stripes of Fate Soulmate AU: everyone has a stripe of color on their wrist that matches their soulmate’s hair color. It changes when the soulmate changes their hair color by any mechanism so it continues to match. HakuKai, starting a few years before they meet each other Published for DCMK Secret Santa 2017 but has placeholder chapters that I intend to eventually fill in because I wanted to post a “complete” story (or at least get to the happy ending) in time for the gift exchange (lol the previous version of this WIP list predicted this to end up as 2-3 chapters) Currently 7 chapters including placeholders, perhaps as many as 10 or 12 when it’s truly complete

Not at all published

Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaito

(no title yet - affectionately known as Angst 1) Angst: the wrong person gets their hands on the Apotoxin, and things get worse before they get better (no character death, mostly light-hearted ending?) Long, multi-chapter (will be posted all at once because I’m not cruel enough to publish it partially and leave readers hanging… or worried about my state of mind. Also it’s harder to write now that I’m in a better headspace, but writing it was therapeutic for a while)

(no title yet - affectionately known as Angst 2) Angst: the aftermath of DC Movie 17 if any of a few things had gone a little differently at the climax of the movie. (major character death). In later chapters, canon-typical gambit pileup (which is basically crackfic in comparison to my usual style). Mostly outside perspective of the events. Short, multi-chapter (as with Angst 1, will be published all at once so I don’t leave readers with angst-cliffhangers with my irregular posting schedule. This one is mostly written except I’m several scenes beyond the original intended ending and the story keeps coming so who knows when it’ll be done and ready to publish). On the other hand, I might publish the first part as serious angst, and the later part as a separate piece due to the difference in tone. Still probably all at once

(no title yet) Heiji and Shinichi come out (from prompt) One-shot (delayed because of a mild twist, of the sort that I want to make sure I’m writing it well and that takes a lot of thought and proofreading)

Crossovers:

Crossover with A Girl and Her Fed (no title yet) Rachel and Hope meet Conan and Jodie at a coffeeshop. Hope confuses Conan. Jodie asks Rachel to contact Josh about a case they once worked together (a case that she’s still on). Rachel watches Conan solve a case. Short, 2-4 chapter (delayed until I finally read Greek Key, in case something Hope does or experiences affects how I want to write Rachel here)

Crossover with Natsume Yuujinchou (no title yet) Heiji and Conan find Natsume early in the events of (Natsume) season 6 episode 1 and assume that Natsume has the same problem Conan does Short, 1-3 chapter

Crossover with Harry Potter (no title yet) Hakuba Saguru is actually Harry Potter in disguise (from prompt, expanded to: Harry, being The Harry Potter, has been given special permission to chase criminals across country lines. Harry is investigating a notorious criminal, known to Muggles as “the last wizard of the century”, and who wears white robes as though he once went to Mahoutokoro but got caught doing illegal magic) Short, 1-3 chapter

Fandom: Undertale

An Arm and a Leg Sans begs Papyrus to take Frisk for the evening, so he can take Toriel out on a date at the last minute, and Papyrus agrees despite having already arranged to go on his first date with Mettaton the same evening One-shot (originally from prompt with the premise above, delayed embarrassingly long because I mis-remembered while planning and wrote half of another story and then having to start over (plus college life) was hell on my motivation)

Fandom: Harry Potter

(no title yet) Dudley is the Chosen One (slightly modified prophecy, fairly divergent events once they get to Hogwarts) Long, multi-chapter (being written out of order and the first chapter isn’t ready yet - I do have a good beta on standby though)

Crossover with DCMK (see DCMK section)

Crossover with the specific already-a-crossover universe of Love Is All You Need To Destroy Your Enemies (no title yet) Hermione and Julie become friends. Wonderful chaos ensues. Short, multi-chapter (the background is established but the actual fic is pending a real plot. Tentatively approved by @davetheshady despite not yet having a plot)

Crossover with MCU (no title yet) Tony Stark turns out to be Harry’s biological father, and finds out near the end of Harry’s fourth year. Character driven Longer by wordcount than Eavesdropping despite nothing being posted yet. I’m waiting on posting it until I have a clearer idea of whether this is going to have a plot arc or be solely character driven. Currently in the form of a lot of disconnected scenes

Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou

(no title yet) Touko-centric, the truth comes out (fluff, mostly) Short, 1-2 chapter

Crossover with Detective Conan (see DCMK section)

Not WIPs (published and complete)

Fandom: DCMK

The Truth Ran confronts Conan about being Shinichi one more time, and Shinichi, after some hesitation, decides it’s time for the truth (from prompt) One-shot

Movie Night Sato/Takagi fluff: enough said. (inspired by a screenshot of a pair of YikYak posts actually), 100% canon-compliant One-shot

Memory Conan is injured and Kaito has never been less interested in keeping a promise (gen, not angst) One-shot

Stripes of Fate arguably complete - see above 7+ chapters

Crossover with Kri – The Unseen Essence Awakening arguably complete - see above 3+ chapters

Fandom: Harry Potter

Distant As a Memory A glimpse into Hermione’s mind as she prepares to erase her parents’ memories Originally written for PurimGifts 2019. One-shot. Arguably complete, may add a follow-up chapter or two because I had to cut several ideas to stay within close to the event’s maximum wordcount

Dayenu Pesach is hard, the year Luna is 10. Jewish Lovegood family. Grief/mourning and a path to recovery Originally written for PurimGifts 2019 One-shot

Fandom: Dragonriders of Pern

Flights and Fights (and Happy Endings) (title subject to change) Rearranging characters’ Weyr assignments before the double mating flight in Dragonquest, leads to averted tragedy Minor character-centric (Varena, rider of gold Ralenth, yes her name shows up in the text at least once outside of the DragonDex at the end of the book) and throws out some of the more problematic word-of-god “truths” about mating flights. One-shot. Originally written for PurimGifts 2019. Lol what’s a maximum wordcount

Other/No Fandom

The Twins The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission through the eyes of Opportunity, written shortly after the news that JPL was sending their last commands to Oppy. Vaguely poetic One-shot. AO3 “corrected” the “Mars Rovers (Fandom)” tag to “Space Exploration RPF” so this is probably the only “RPF” I’ll ever write.

Related: I posted a timeline of real events, for comparison so people could easily check which events Oppy mentioned in The Twins, since the history of Curiosity and Opportunity aren’t as neatly condensed into a “canon”

[amanda-teaches]

Amanda, talk to me about Dean and what you love about him throughout the seasons? I need to gush over Dean with someone!

Oh my gosh, Lynn, you came to the right place! I’m going to spend another 30 minutes gushing about my man. YES!!!!!!!!!!!

What do I love about Dean? EVERYTHING! But, since you asked throughout the seasons, I’ll go through specific episodes that stand out (we already went through Skin, lol). I could honestly talk about all of them, but that’d be longgggg.

Spoiler alert: it got really long anyways. I can’t shut up about Dean. So, if you’re in to read a novel, head below the cut. Sum up reasons for everyone else:

I love Dean because he’s strong, protective, caring, funny, smart, and loving. He’s willing to sacrifice himself to save his loved ones AND complete strangers. He is great with kids and kind to every victim he meets. He’s a family man at heart. He’s quirky and fun and sweet and just overall wonderful.

Get to know me more about me about sending me questions about myself or SPN (or Dean, lol)

Novel about Dean under the cut:

Ok, first off, Faith, where Dean crushes my heart by being willing to die. But, what I want to focus on is his connection with Layla. This is where we really see that Dean puts others lives above his. He’d die for complete strangers (something he almost/actually does two episodes later in Nightmare). He’s selfless, which is incredibly brave. We know he’d die for his loved ones, but the fact that he’d die to protect anyone innocent is really amazing.

I can’t move on without mentioning his scenes with Cassie in Route 666 (cough, especially the steamy one, cough). So loving and caring! This episode really shows me that Dean’s a one woman guy at heart.

Alright, now I’m going by random episodes: Season 2- Nightshifter. I love Dean in this episode. He is nice to the bank robber (Ron?), even though some people might write off the crazy. He listens to him, and not condescendingly, and he tries to save him. Shows what a great guy Dean is. Plus, when they escaped from the SWAT team, Sam and Dean didn’t kill anyone. They don’t kill innocents if they can help it.

Season 2- What is and what should never be: his connection with his family and how strong that is. His perfect life is a family-centered life.

Sam’s death and his subsequent deal showed how much he loved his brother. He goes to Hell for him. Enough said.

Season 3- The Kids are Alright. I’m not the biggest fan of Lisa, but I loved Dean and Ben. His relationship with Ben is just precious. More proof he’d make an amazing father.

Season 4- In the Beginning. I love his relationship with his parents here, especially his mom. I love family man Dean.

Monster Movie. His relationship with Jamie is amazing. He is sweet with her, while still being funny and protective. He’d be a very caring partner.

Heaven and Hell- The Impala scene. Enough said.

Season 5- The Curious Case of Dean Winchester. Yet another example of Dean sacrificing himself to save his loved ones. Plus, old Dean is hilarious.

Changing Channels- We learn Dean loves Dr. Sexy. That’s his quirky side that I’d love to just hang out and watch Netflix with.

Abandon All Hope- The scene with Jo. The love and longing he showed there was beautiful. They never officially got together, but Dean would love with all his heart.

Season 6- Exile on Main Street. I LOVE domestic Dean. Not a big fan of Lisa, but domestic Dean with his cooking and gentle sex and barbecue throwing and salt/shotgun under the bed. I’m so in love with that.

This whole season with Sam Soulless shows a great side of Dean’s love for his brother. Plus, Cowboy Dean.

Season 7 is just a lot of good case episodes that show Dean’s personality. Plus, introduction of Charlie, who I love with Dean and 1940s suit. The loss of Bobby hurts like crazy though.

Season 8. I love post-purgatory Dean. He’s so layered. His relationship with Benny is great, just like his relationship with Cas. He’s a strong friend. Plus, Medieval Dean. And, Dean trying to support Sam during the trials gets to me. More of him being an amazing man.

This is also where the Bunker comes in. I love Dean having a home. Although, Baby is his home. Oh, his relationship with Baby! He loves and cares for that car so much.

That continues into Season 9. The depth of his relationships with his loved ones gets to me: Sam (obviously), Cas, Charlie, Kevin. Anyone he considers family gets 110% of him.

Season 9 and 10 Dean- the Mark of Cain. He is so strong trying to fight against it. His strength and character is amazing to me, even as he keeps losing people.

I love the mature Dean in 11 and 12. He’s battle-hardened and wiser, but he still retains some of his trademark humor. He is less carefree, but he still loves just as deeply and he’s just as strong and protective.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Roman Numerals, 8s, 10s, Xs, and Beth’s Return

Good morning and Happy Saturday! So as I’ve been saying the past few weeks, @wdway and I have been doing re-watches and finding some interesting things. A lot of these insights come directly from her research. Thanks so much for all your hard work and eagle eyes, Hon!

The biggest problem I ran into while writing this was what order to present everything in. Some much of it is so intertwined, if I start talking about one, I’ll have to talk about the others. So I’m gonna try really hard to keep from confusing you all.

It was @wdway that first turned me on to look for the X symbol. Once I did, I started seeing them everywhere. Let me start by giving you some examples.

We’ve seen them all the way since S1 in license plates, but I’m not going to talk about license plates today. They’re super important, but they’re getting their own post later.

We’ve also seen them quite frequently on signs, such as railroad crossing signs (RXR) and we all know the train tracks are an important symbol all their own.

We see them as notches in both Beth and Maggie’s belts, Beth’s starting in S3 and Maggie’s starting in S4. (I’m not going to talk about the belts today. They’re important, but again, that’s another post.)

In S5, we saw them on the trees around Morgan. With the circle around them, they also happen to be an electric symbol for lamps (X) and also look like a modified coda. Which is interesting given that we saw them in 5x08.

Also in S5, we saw them near Sasha in the dry creek bed (near the frogs) in 5x10:

We also saw them on Crazy Boxcar Dude’s face at Terminus.

And then here, in FG’s church while Maggie, Sasha and he pray together.

Interestingly, we actually see them around Grady in a few ways. When Rick discusses the plan with everyone, he draws a floor plan of Grady in the dirt and uses Xs to show where each person will be. So X = a person. 

Of course we get a sea of Xs in the chain link of this shot:

(And yes, I know we see a lot of chain link in the show. I don’t think you could point to any random instance of chain link as a symbol. But when there’s a lot of it, when it’s emphasized, etc., it’s probably important. This was a specific decision to show this tragic, iconic shot through chain link rather than put the camera on the other side of it for a clearer view.)

Moving into S6, we saw them around Morgan again on rocks and on the porch of Eastman’s house.

We saw Sasha emphasize an X in Daryl’s last name when she wrote it on the door.

In 6x16/7x01 we saw the Saviors mark the Librarian guy they hung with an X. In the S7 premiere, Negan went back to that spot with Rick and Rick actually climbed the corpse to get away from the walker horde. They really emphasized it, in other words.

(Which btw I think may support my theory about the Captain Hanson backstory at Grady pointing toward Beth helping Rick through something.)

We saw them around Sasha and Rosita in 7b as well.

(Understand that these are only a few instances. I’m sure they’re all over the place, chilling in the background of scenes and such. But these are ones that stood out to us.)

And of course, as @wdway points out, turning an X results in a cross and vise versa. (A tactic employed in the recent Logan (wolverine) film.)

So, what does this all mean? What do the Xs represent? I bet you can guess what I’m gonna say. Yup, I’ll say it: we think they represent Beth. Or things to do with her. It’s hard to say exactly how this realization formed, other than just seeing Xs all over having to do with her. But I’ll get to some stuff that @wdway has found recently that really confirmed our beliefs.

First, let’s talk about Tara.

Remember in 7x06, when we saw some lines of Roman Numerals on her arm, but we couldn’t see the bottom line? 

@wdway noticed two more instances when we see this tattoo, though they’re much subtler than this one, and I found yet another. While doing the re-watch, she noticed that in this scene in 4x07, you can see the tattoo. 

We just didn’t realize it was visible before S7. I also found it here 

but it’s VERY hard to see. I don’t think from either of these shots in S4, we would have been able to tell what the tattoo said. But still, this was something obviously planned since S4, when Gimple took the reins.

The other instance @wdway noticed was here in 7x10:

And the interesting thing in this case is that you can see the bottom line that was hidden in 7x06. Can you tell what it is? Yup, that’s right. It’s an 8. So these are the lines we have, all in roman numerals

26: XXVI

13: XIII

22: XXII

9: IX

8: VIII

I don’t know what the top four numbers mean. I’ve played around with them somewhat–counting episodes Tara is in and trying to multiply or divide them in various ways. Nothing ingenious has come to me. They may have to do with Tara’s arc herself (rather than Beth) and they may foreshadow something to come. If that’s the case, we can’t possibly know what it is yet.

The 8 is suspicious, of course, to TD. And it’s made even more so in my opinion because it was hidden in that close up shot. If they really wanted to hide it, they wouldn’t have shown it to us a few episodes later. And remember Glenn’s theme from 5a: “There’s nothing worth finding in this world that isn’t hidden.” I believe he even said that to Tara.

But there’s more. Again, this is an insight from @wdway. The clock in Still, which we first saw at 8 minutes before the hour, and then chimed, showing that 8 minutes had passed before Beth “made it” had roman numerals, rather than numbers. 

As far as we know, there are only two other clocks with roman numerals on the face rather than numbers or other marks. The first is—once again—at Grady. In 5x07 Crossed, there’s a clock in Edwards’ office with roman numerals. The weird thing about this clock is that it changes mid-scene. This may be hard to see, but in this top picture, the hands point at the 8 and the 4. 

In otherwords, episode 8x04. Then, 30 seconds later and in the same scene, it changes to the 8 and the 10. 

Perhaps something this scene foreshadows will be an arc that goes from 8x04-8x10. That actually makes all kinds of sense given the rest of this theory but I’ll come back to it. The final clock is the one Cindy looks at here at Oceanside.

As you can see, it also reads 8:20, which would point to episode 8x04.

Could it be that Beth will appear in 8x04? Or that she’ll show up at Oceanside in that episode? Perhaps both.

Three clocks = Rule of Threes. All wrapped up in Beth symbolism. First in Still, then at Grady, then at Oceanside.

We’ll have to look for other clocks as we go, but I even checked watches and the ones in WHAWGO to be sure. They either have regular numbers or just lines in place of numbers. In some cases, they’re too blurry to tell for sure. In those cases, we certainly don’t see roman numerals.

So we have Xs that are wrapped up in TD symbolism, with ties to Tara, Oceanside, and Still. It certainly looks like they were trying to tie the clocks in 4x12 and 6x07 together, which is awesome!

A couple more facts about Xs. In roman numerology, the X = 10, right? We do see some 10 stuff around Beth. Not as much as 7 or 8 stuff, but a bit.

Every season, episode 10 is significant in some way to Beth.

(No episode 10 in S1).

S2x10: 18 Miles Out (suicide arc)

S3x10: Home (Talks to Carol about Daryl)

S4x10: Inmates (Dairy voice over and backward story progression.)

S5x10: Them (Music box wakes up.)

S6x10: The Next World (Rickyl/Bethyl parallels, meet JESUS on the road.)

7x10: New Best Friends (Daryl says goodbye to Carol, Carol reads novel with a serious piggyback on the cover.)

Plus, I might add, we’ve seen a lot of 100s, which 10 is an obvious factor of. And episode 100 is 8x01.

So given these 10s, the 8:50 on Edwards’ clock makes sense. I wonder if Beth will show up at Oceanside in 8x04, but we won’t see the entirety of how she escaped until 8x10. If 8x10 mirrors 4x10, Inmates, at all, we might even hear more voice overs or see flashbacks.

I’d also like to point out that right after talking to Edwards, Beth walks into the hallway and we have some definite Dark Tunnel Symbolism there. (X, X, X).

She’s heading into her dark tunnel as we head into Coda, but there’s a light at the end, showing that she’ll come out the other side eventually.

Buuuutt, there’s one more thing you all ought to be aware of concerning the letter X. @wdway and her ingenious research uncovered something more. Put roman numerology aside for a moment. We’ve seen both that and the Greek alphabet symbols used in the show. She looked up Hebrew. And guess what? The symbol for the number 8 in Hebrew numerology is an X. The word for it is “chet” and it means “New Beginnings.”

(Source)

On that subject I’m sure this has probably been said before, but I was thinking about it in more detail yesterday. In Christian symbolism, 8 is the number of baptism. Baptism, by definition, is a spiritual rebirth. So (and this is what I was listening to the other day that made me think about this) the baptismal font, full of water, is a likeness of the grave. One comes up out of it, newly baptized, as though being resurrected and beginning life anew.

(P.S. Doing re-watches, I’ve found a lot more 8s than I would have thought. I’ll do a post showing all of them, but I don’t want to make this theory any longer.)

Given all of this, it just makes all kinds of sense that Beth will come by water (greenroute) in S8.

So…Tara’s roman numerals? Important.

8s? Important.

10s? Important.

Xs? VERY important.

So I’ll let you go back through the list of Xs at the beginning of the theory and figure out how they relate to Beth. Some are obvious. Others aren’t but we still have theories about them (*coughs Dude at Terminus*).

And can I just add that I love that the X, a symbol for 8s and Beth’s return was put BY SASHA in the middle of Daryl’s name. Love that. ;D

So everyone keep your eyes out for Xs as you re-watch. (Not that we need tons more evidence, but it’s just fun. ;D)

Thoughts?