#for one all the names coming from tgwdlm

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

Just now realizing that 'Inevitable' is the apotheosis straight up toying with Emma, bragging that it won. The chorus stating "it's inevitable" and the song literally starting with "Emma I'm sorry, you lost."

[kmesons]

tumblr user kmesons will ask if anybody's made one of their favourite rarepairs try to kill each other yet and not wait for an answer

(there is context for this) (it is under the cut if you're interested but don't feel obligated to read my excessive rambling)

essentially, this is part of an AU I've come up with regarding these two and their respective lords. if I was able to write efficiently I would definitely write this but I cannot (on account of The Perfectionism) so I will relay a condensed version here.

wiggly is, for petty rivalry reasons, looking to mess with his dear brother pokotho. crucially, he knows that one timeline is set to undergo the apotheosis, as per pokey's wishes. presumably, this isn't the tgwdlm timeline, but we don't know yet whether that is the only timeline where this occurred, so I'll assume not unless this is confirmed as canon. it really doesn't matter to the AU, as its events take place before tgwdlm could occur.

if there's anything pokey despises, it's things not going his way, his perfect spectacle being meddled with. wiggly knows this, and he wants to capitalise on it using the soon-to-be-apotheosised timeline.

thus, wiggly sends his disciple, wiley, to this timeline, with the instructions to kill a certain paul matthews and introduce the singular voice's leading man early. paul doesn't know emma's name yet and the meteor will not be coming for several months, at least. pokey's contagion doesn't exist in any timelines at this point. however, by drawing on a little bit of the black and white's (and specifically pokey's) power, the apotheosis can be incited in a corpse (this isn't canon, just a concept I came up with to supplement the AU). importantly, pokey won't notice the stealing of his power or the addition of infected!paul to his consciousness, since this timeline is already saturated with his interference. the hive mind always embodies pokey's will, and it was always his will to apotheosise this timeline, so, though the stage is not yet set, the hive mind will not hesitate to go through with the overtaking of humanity.

wiley obeys wiggly (there isn't a choice, really) and expects to leave after the apotheosis has been kickstarted. however, with no new orders from wiggly, against his better judgement, he sticks around after infected!paul stirs.

on the lords' side, pokey finds out about wiggly's "gift" fairly quickly, and is predictably furious that his show has been ruined. with no heroic journey for his protagonist and the hive mind's brain leading the apocalypse, there can be no climax, no victorious narrative. hatchetfield is quickly overtaken as pokey and wiggly have an eldritch sibling standoff in the black and white.

eventually, they come to a tense agreement: pokey won't interfere with wiggly's apocalypse as revenge as long as he gets to remold the ruined timeline to his liking.

the events of tgwdlm are enacted by the infected in hatchetfield, "resetting" the narrative (although not infected!paul's memories), and pokey's contagion spreads across the world in the way he was originally planning. wiley finds themself visiting this timeline often, mostly to see paul. the two cause chaos together and just generally make each other worse (affectionate).

after the hive mind has succeeded, tensions once more rise between wiggly and pokey. this timeline, in wiggly's eyes, has no uses, as not only is it "imperfect", but the apocalypse has taken place and pokey has gotten what he wanted. pokey wants to hold onto it just to spite wiggly. important to this part of the plot is the idea that there are limited timelines, and an adjacent (and likely canon-divergent) idea that new ones can be created only as long as the limit has not been reached. in this case, the maximum number of timelines exist, which means that one must be destroyed (again, all of this likely does not make sense in canon, which is why I'm calling it an AU) in order for the lords (wiggly) to have a new one to play with.

in order to convince pokey to get rid of the timeline, wiggly reasons that he must ruin this one. permanently. and what better way to do so than to kill the hive mind's brain, pokey's prophet?

only the black blade can eliminate those imbued with the lords' power (I am. making this up. this is not canon), and so, once again, wiley kneels before wiggly, and once again, wiggly's directions are clear: kill paul matthews. or rather, this time, kill what used to be paul matthews. and if anything—some inane attachment, perhaps—gets in the way, wiggly will finish the job for him.

wiley obliges, entering the apotheosised timeline for the last time, by which point pokey has learned of his brother's plot. cue Epic Battle between wiggly's forces (the sniggles? I suppose? I'm not entirely certain) and the hive mind as wiley makes his way towards the starlight theatre, where he knows paul will be waiting.

this is the part where they try to kill each other

as much as infected!paul is undead and the prophet of a deity, his true strength is in the hive. he does not win this fight. wiley doesn't really win either, but paul's the one who dies.

if you read all of that (or just scrolled past it, which is fine too), then congratulations (I am so sorry)! here's an alternate version as compensation

[fencecollapsed]

I love musical theater. I may not be a theater kid stereotype, but I always found it as an interesting way to tell a story. But despite the fact I personally don’t think it’s that big of a deal, a lot of my relatives seem to take me as “the musical girl”. My mother made my 17th birthday musical themed. A lot of my Christmas presents were musical related, I’m sure you’d get it. A couple of weeks back though, my cousin in Michigan, who I don’t really know, suddenly sent me a DVD with blue sharpie on it, simply reading “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” in all capital letters due to how much of a mouthful that name is, I’m going to refer to it as TGWDLM for the rest of this. The DVD itself was rather normal looking. She didn’t send me the box it came in, which is probably the reason why it was labeled in sharpie, cause without it, god knows what it could be. It could be a musical or a gore video, so thanks to her for that.

As for the contents... Well, it was a Pro-shot of a musical! The story was about a man named Paul, a guy who... didn’t like musicals! The opening song seems to portray this as a huge deal but to be honest, it isn’t. One day, on the opening night of a Mamma Mia! production in the real-life ghost town of Hatchetfield, Michigan (but populated, obivously), a meteor hits, carrying alien spores of a musical hivemind. One interesting fact is that the zombies are the only ones who sing, and dear god, some of their songs are so camp, but I guess that’s the joke. Also, I can definitely see an influence from Invasion of The Body Snatchers, hell, they even reference it. The musical itself had more laughs than scares for me, but the curtain call gave me fucking chills. The unusual parts though, come from not the musical itself, but what comes after it. There’s a behind-the-scenes, with a lot of content. There were audition tapes, director's commentary, easter eggs... I personally found it as fascinating as the musical itself! There was some mentions of a earlier version of the script, with some interesting parts that weren’t in the original, for example; Paul, Ted, Bill, and Charlotte all worked at a review site similar to IGN or Buzzfeed, or that Alice, in a strange trance, spouts out a bible quote. I began to feel like these random people, from an obscure theater company, were people I knew. But as fun as the behind the scenes are, that is not why I’m here. After the behind-the-scenes, there was just... A black screen. For like, 4 or 3 minutes… Then a blue screen with white text, with a font that looks like those fonts in analog horror, with one word. “APOTHEOSIS”.

There’s more after this too. The following is a very different feeling compared to the behind-the-scenes. It appears to be the night the pro-shot was recorded. It shows footage of the curtain call, when Emma was dragged backstage. Then, it cuts to security footage backstage. Immediately Emma’s actress, who I think I’ll just call Lauren, since that’s her real name, goes out of character. The others don’t let go of her, instead ejecting her out of the crowd. She lands on her ass and says “Ow.” in a tone that says “What the fuck dude? Why’d you throw me?”. The others are silent. Lauren gets up and after a moment looking at the others, decides to take off her bandage, revealing a real scar underneath. Lauren seems unsettled by this, but it’s made worse when everyone else approaches her, talking to her as if she IS Emma Perkins, despite her insistence. They then got closer, and closer. Lauren tried to back away, but they got closer. Eventually, Lauren was completely surrounded, and they... I... I can’t say it. I just can’t. All I’ll say is that audience members found the room covered in blood and mysterious blue goo. The blue screen appears again, the text now saying “THEIR RETELLING SUCKED ANYWAYS.”

After whatever the fuck that was, I kinda had to dig deeper? I had this mix of morbid fascination, horror, and an urge to somehow bring all this to light. Well... That and how at first I assumed it was a performance act, only to find out via a google search that it was all real, Lauren Lopez was presumed dead, and the rest of the cast are missing to this day.

So I talked to people who were at the closing night show. When it was recorded. They reported being genuinely convinced in some segments, like when Emma quote unquote “Looked at Ted’s eyes in horror, like she saw nothing there” and praised the “practical effects”. They also said that the few who lingered after the curtain call heard screaming. Those who checked backstage saw... Well, you know.

I didn’t find much about it though. Only this weird cult website when searching for random tag words related to the musical. It was talking about “His singular voice” or whatever and was saying that, like, all voices needed to be eradicated, for His is the only one that should exist, or whatever. Weirdly enough, there was musical theming in there. And... A page about the musical. I can vaguely recall the contents but it’s really hard to. It had a synopsis of the musical kinda biased in the favor of the zombies, with the implications that He caused the musical apocalypse over there. Me and my friends looked at the site once in a discord call and laughed at it. But then I found the actors' faces and how they all were brought to an “apotheosis”. Like... Like in the fucking musical.

It was just a rabbit hole I found myself in at the end of the day though. I easily tucked it into the back of my brain and went on with my life. But then stuff started getting weird. With me, I think. I’ve been more scatterbrained than usual, prone to zoning out for long stretches of time, wandering off conversations to talk about something else entirely, and I’m beginning to hate the sound of other people’s voices and I don’t know why, I was never a social butterfly but I didn’t hate other people talking... Everyday when I brush my teeth I notice my eyes getting... Bluer? I don’t know how, but my eyes have gone to a dark brown, to a light brown, to a hazel, to green, and now it’s getting closer and closer to blue. My friends online have been safe at the time from my sudden hatred of other voices but I can’t really go on voice chats anymore. And my fixation on musicals has only grown as of late. I can’t help but fight the urge to spontaneously sing a show-tune. I hate it.

I’d try to see a psychiatrist or something but I can’t bear to hear another voice, it’s so grating. And I know I should just grin and bear it but the last time I tried that I yelled at them. Not many people like me much anymore. I see why, I must’ve become an asshole to them, but they don’t get it. My eyes have become blue by now, and I think it’s glowing too.

I can’t help but play the songs over and over. I called it camp but I think it’s growing on me. I like Let It Out the most. I relate to Paul a lot right now. And then I noticed a split second shot of... His actor... Being... I can’t say it. I had to vomit. Why wouldn’t I? That was so fucking disgusting. And when I puked, I froze pale at what I just pushed out of my body.

It was blue, viscous sludge. It felt disgusting looking at it, even worse when you hold it. It smelled like ammonia. I ran out of the bathroom. I couldn’t stand to look at it any longer. And that’s when I decided to write this. I’m scared, to be honest, who wouldn’t be? I’ll most likely either be dead and have my corpse puppeteered, or go missing, for another poor soul to inevitably find the DVD and end up like me. I can hear the chimes and hymns of The Singular Voice. I know He wants me to become one with Him. He says it’s inevitable for me. And what choice do I have in the matter anymore?

I’m sorry, I lost.

[the-9th-genderfluid]

I finally got the digital ticket and bonus features of TGWDLM!

I got the digital ticket and bonus features for TGWDLM and will be putting realizations and stuff I like in this post so its gonna be a long one. A really long one. I'm sorry if this monstrosity of a post happens to cross your feed.

During the small bonus stuff:

I did not realize that the cast is truly that unhinged until the Kickstarter blooper real.

I do wish they had time to keep the clickbait/ top ten news site plot. It seems fun.

The Lipschitz name is from the landlord that was cut from the musical what? IDK what to do with this information.

The fact in the OG script, the meteor landed in a football field ( If Mariah's audition tape is to be believed) meaning the fan theory I once saw that the reason the hive mind sings is because its first victims were theater people so they were doing musical stuff so the spores thought that was how ppl acted on this planet would not work if the script had not changed that detail.

The Dracula arms becoming dabbing is great, I'm surprised but happy that it was not cut.

As a techie, the non actors dancing along in the corners is so accurate.

During the main musical stuff:

(Mostly not new things that the digital ticket version taught me, just me pointing out things I like, funny lines, etc.)

Paul and his autism face during the ted introduction scene

The small dialogue changes between the potshot on Youtube and the digital ticket are all very interesting. The first one I realized was Emma saying "please no come back." instead of "so mean." when man in a hurry says he will never buy there again.

Why does Paul look so awkward while Emma rants about her job.

Right as Lah Dee Dah Dah Day ends, you can hear a character saying "quick change quick change" as they run off stage. Cute and fun detail, I love it.

Legally required to mention the "think about the implications" scene. It is truly iconic. Are you frightened?

I feel like Emma would have a tumblr.

Kind of off topic, but they mention boardgames in the shrub scene, and specifically settlers of catan. I want to announce this is a settlers of catan hate blog, I would rather die than play it ever again. I am Paul hating musicals levels of hatred for that game. If you write anything positive about it, i will actually block you.

The entire alley/ trash can scene is amazing and I love it.

Paul constantly reeks of neurodivergent.

I may be ACAB, but god is Show Me Your Hands amazing and catchy.

Jeff struggling with props is my spirit animal, I am also chronically clumsy

As someone who was raised Christian, Ted's different denominations comment is so accurate to how some people act.

Iconic lines like kick your......head and fuck Clivesdale.

Paul and Emma's whole deep conversation about their childhoods and dreams takes place like two meters from Bill and Ted, and I always forget that because of the way it's cut but like it's funny to think about because it feels so personal, but the two guys are just... there.

Join Us (And Die) is horrifying. I feel like we need a musical where Jaime is the lead? I hear she is pretty vital to the Me and My Dick musical, I will have to watch that later I guess?

While Hidgens is pitching working boys, Ted is so invested, this is why you need to see both unedited and potshot of the musicals.

I love the references that aren't even references yet that the musical makes to NPMD and nightmare time.

I actually love the crack ship of the working boys polyamory theory.

The "should I take the chair?" "yeah and I will take the piano." bit is peak comedy.

I am not the first person to mention this at all, but Ted saying "I bleed red, white and..." *background turns blue* is so smart, bravo team Starkid.

I always cry at let it out, poor Paul.

I love the meta crowd thing the bows do, with Emma seeing the audience, even if its a repeat from Trail to Oregon, it's still good.

As a techie, I want to do lighting for TGWDLM sooo bad.

It's 2 am right now, and I have to decide if I finish this post tonight by watching the commentary video and editing the spelling errors, or if I decide not to fuck up my sleep schedule.

I decided not to completely fuck my sleep shedule, so it sadly took me a couple days.

The commentary video:

I actually don't have many comments after seeing the commentary video, but the things I do mention are long rants, mostly my own similar stories from the high school musical I did tech for.

Lauren hiding from her performance with a eye mask and earbuds is a mix of sad and funny. I hope she has more confidence now, because she is absolutely amazing.

Robert had tonsillitis?! God being sick while doing a musical sucks, half our cast and me had a cold or something for the show. I was right next to the camera because of the location of the tech booth, and so in the recording you hear me trying not to cough and failing for most of the show. I felt so bad.

People saying stuff about Melissa and obnoxious teen/hot chocolate boy surviving as a joke has me thinking thoughts because the actor that played Melissa played Steph, and hot chocolate boy ended up being Pete. IDK what thoughts I'm having, but I'm having them.

Jaime making props, without being asked, is so nice of her.

Omg, Jeff was sick too! That really sucks. The closest thing to a actually accident that would make us end the show was when we had a stage fall turning into a real fall because the actor was too dramatic. Damn theater kids!

Omg the megaphone stories are giving me flashback to the fucking piece of shit mics we had. Half of them would not actually work, one had to be constantly re adjusted and turned back on, the main girl's mic had way too much feedback, the other girl sang way too quiet and had a not great mic meaning you could never hear her, and for one performance, two of the actors somehow got mics mixed up and I had to spend so long switching channels to fix it. No one actually knows how it happened. I literally made jokes that someone must have walked the mic boxes under a ladder, opened a umbrella inside, and said Macbeth around them for how much of a pain they were.

Jeff despising the brain prop is great. Sometimes a prop is a stupid nightmare that you want to light on fire at the end.

What was Jeff doing to forget the main character's name? How did he land on Steve? He literally wrote some of the songs? I have so many questions.

Them not having the meteor prop until the opening day is terrifying to me, I would cry if that happened to me.

I want to reiterate my want to do tech, specifically lighting for this musical.

Ok that's all I have to say, I am going to go watch the musical again, bye babes, boys, and boomerangs

[crazyw3irdo]

THAT FUCKING RULED

Nerdy Prudes Must Die come out on YouTube today!!

Also they've finished making Workin' Boys, and they've scheduled performances

sooooon !!!!

[musicaltrash]

why I can't relate to tgwdlm songs

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals: I like musicals

La Dee Dah Dah Day: contrary to popular belief, I am not having a la dee dah dah day

What Do You Want, Paul?: Idk what I want also my name isn't paul

Cup of Roasted Coffee: I don't like coffee

Cup of Poisoned Coffee: I don't like coffee

Show Me Your Hands: I am a law abiding citizen

You Tied Up My Heart: I'm single

Join Us (And Die): people usually exclude me from things

Not Your Seed: my parents aren't divorced also I don't have a girlfriend

Show Stoppin Number: I can't write good musicals

America Is Great Again: this one should be obvious

Let Him Come: I'm not a part of an alien hivemind

Let It Out: I have no issue bursting into song whenever I want to

Inevitable: ok actually I relate to this one, I try and get my friends into musicals all the time and it usually scares them

[iamdispleased]

Hatchetfield & the Real Musical References

That theory of ‘the plays-within-plays foreshadow the next musical’ got me thinking about the real musicals referenced in the Hatchetfield Series and how they could connect to the story. That led to these findings.

CW: Relgion (Godspell), spoilers for the Hatchetfield Series, Godspell & Brigadoon

(I know there are more details I’m missing, as I haven’t seen either musical, but I’m just excited and wanted to share. Wikipedia is my ride-or-die.)

So. Godspell. Or, ‘God-awful’. Or, ‘Gotdamn That Was Bad’.

Y’all…

First, Godspell is mostly based on the Gospel of Matthew. Like Paul Matthews, the very guy who did not like musicals himself.

Skipping to Act II for a moment— there is a scene where…

“Jesus returns to his followers to find them all asleep. He begs them to stay awake, but they all fall asleep again, and Jesus warns them that they will all betray him three times.”

Remember in Act II of TGWDLM, after the song ‘Not Your Seed’, when Alice, Deb, and Hatchetfield Bee are talking to Paul after they killed Bill? And remember when they said:

“Bending countless civilizations to our will, yet, you, Paul, have defied us thrice!”

Insert The Incredibles’ (2004), “Coincidence? I think not!” meme here.

Godspell includes the tale of The Parable of the Prodigial Son, also known as the Parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father.

“The parable begins with a man who had two sons, and the youngest, who is impatient and greedy, asks his father to give him his share of the estate immediately. The father is like, “Y’know what? Fuck it. I’m feelin’ kinda funky today,” and agrees, dividing the estate in half.”

“Upon receiving his portion of the inheritance, the younger son travels to a distant country, where he squanders his wealth through reckless living.”

The younger son gets humbled, he comes back home in shame, blah, blah, blah, lesson learned.

If that’s not Emma Perkins, then I don’t know what is, especially considering she literally inherits land. I’m looking at you, Nightmare Time episode Perky’s Buds!!

And I admit, this is a reach, but the Parable of the Prodigal Son starts in Luke 15:11. Emma’s favorite band is 311. In military time, 3 pm = 15. So, 15:11 = 3:11 pm. This is either a happy accident or an intentional tidbit that managed to work out well.

Similar to the beginning of TGWDLM, it begins with God and the characters breaking the fourth wall and explaining shit via song.

At the end of Godspell, Jesus is crucified, and he is carried off stage by the cast. There has been a lot of controversy over the ending, because the musical does not mention Jesus’ resurrection at any point.

Almost like how in TGWDLM, Paul sacrifices himself, and when we thought Paul was resurrected at the end, he wasn’t. (To put it simply.) And we can’t forget how the cast carries a screaming Emma off stage, and the show ends on a (good) controversial note.

Brigadoon!

Brigadoon starts with these two New Yorkers, Tommy Albright and Jeff Douglas doing that fancy kind of hunting white people do when the men hear music coming from a village nearby. But wait a hot second! There is no village on their map! And yet!! Turns out that village is a special place called Brigadoon. Why is it special? Here’s some WIKI for ya’.

“200 years ago, the local minister prayed to God to have Brigadoon disappear that way it would remain untouched by the outside world, only to reappear every 100 years. All citizens of Brigadoon are forbidden to leave the town, or it will disappear forever.”

Kind of reminds me of the whole ‘no one can ever truly leave Hatchetfield’ thing. So, could Hatchetfield be seen as a mirror of Brigadoon in some sense?

Hm.

There is literally a character named Tommy who ends up falling for Fiona, a lass from Brigadoon. The issue is, he’s engaged to a woman named Jane who he isn’t really that into. Even after he leaves Brigadoon, Tommy still thinks about Fiona.

Tommy is Tom. Jane is Jane. Fiona is Becky. Of course, this isn’t to be taken as they are the Hatchetfield equivalent to that character.

And it turns out, Emma Perkins hates Becky Barnes. Why? Sisterly principle. (Emma knows Tom always viewed Becky as ‘the one who got away’, even after marrying Jane.)

Going back to Paul and Emma!

After after meeting Fiona, Tommy asks the Brigadoon schoolmaster, Mr. Lundie, if outsiders were allowed to stay. He replies:

“A stranger can stay if he loves someone here – not jus' Brigadoon, mind ye, but someone in Brigadoon – enough to want to give up everythin' an' stay with that one person. Which is how it should be. 'Cause after all, lad, if ye love someone deeply, anythin' is possible.”

In TGWDLM, Paul and General MacNamara have that Iconic Conversation which has a similar vibe.

MacNamara: I follow a higher law than any institution could decree, and that is the universal truth of love and the strength of the human heart.

&

Paul: I can’t leave without Emma.

MacNamara: Who’s Emma, Paul?

Paul: A friend of mine.

MacNamara: Friends don’t move my heart, son. Is there a chance at something more?

Paul: […] I’d like there to be. I want there to be.

Shout out to Mamma Mia, and Bill wanting to see a feel good musical with his daughter about a daughter and her three possible fathers.

I stand behind the idea that Alice is Bill’s biological daughter, she’s just white passing. I’d also like to appreciate the fact that Alice’s favorite restaurant is Red Lobster.

I plan on actually watching these musicals soon, that way I can make more in-depth posts, but like I said— this just made me really happy and excited, and I wanted to share it.

Feel free to reblog and add onto this post! Seriously! I love when that happens! Okay, bye!

[whyisstarkidfollowingmeshoo]

I'm reading a lot of things about Hidge's sexuality canon wise. So taking account on what Nick and Matt Lang said (as much as I remember it without rewatching the video proof lol) my argument on why the canon sexuality of Prof. Henry Hidgens is that he is bisexual and Objectumsexual.

Well I think canon wise he is not polyamorous. I can accept that (i have no problem with him being poly canon wise. I am not anti-poly, just faithful with canon) but I remember Nick Lang or even Matt did not specify it. They said, within along the lines/paraphrasing: Henry loves his six boy friends, they are special to him, but Chad IS the apple of his eye. The last sentence they meant romantically.

So why bisexual and not gay? To make it clear, I have no problem with him being gay. I'm willing to be corrected. But since I'm arguing that he's bisexual, well let me start. Of course we haven't seen Hidge talk about or falling in love with specific women characters in the saga so far, however he did say in TGWDLM " Alexa, I love you like every woman flesh and bone", so there ya go. If he can find a woman that is subordinate to him like Alexa and Siri, then he can have a relationship with a woman. Come to think of it, i think he loves Chad the most because I hypothesize Chad always goes along with his plans/ideas. Yes I believe if I were to analyze his relationship personality, he wants to be the dominant in the relationship. He's very controlling and spirals when he doesn't get his way. Which why this is a good segway to...

And with the mention of two famous AI virtual assistants, I think it's enough to say that Hidge has objectophilia. More so in NMT episode Time Bastard where he shared his sexual rendezvous with either one of them to Ted and implied how he did it (some imagination and a little elbow grease or any lube lol). Not to mention that he talks to Alexa and Siri like they're humans. Fun fact, I read somewhere that people who have this sexual orientation cant handle keeping a relationship with another human because they're too controlling hence having a relationship with an object is easier because it has no thoughts, no opinions to consider. Also, this can also be a result of a trauma. Him losing his friends, especially Chad, during a lightning strike attack did not just lead him to isolation and practicing survival instincts, but also drove him to loving objects instead cause at least they won't experience terrible human deaths. Here is the source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/sex-and-relationships/decoding-objectophilia-5-reasons-why-people-fall-in-love-with-objects/story-LMvWWzhs257dD47yxNGC9H.html UPDATE: these facts are more connected to the character that is Prof Henry Hidgens whose personality reflects the generalizing views of the orientation better. Real life Objectums are a lot more complicated than that and can act against stereotypes/generalization. Thanks @fork-bork for reminding me.

Also further explanation:  ur friends can be ur life partners (hence there are old people living with friends in their twilight years) and some people like calling their friends as boyfriends or girlfriends. Hidge is just comfortable with his sexuality and closeness with his friends that he can call his male friends as his boyfriends. I think that's just Jeff's word play and humor going on as he wrote the song. And according to the song "it takes balls": Steve was a priest, Leighton was in a relationship with a person named Gary, and Greg was seeing/dating Steve's mom. Plus all of the boys, sans Chad and Henry, were attracted to females while at college based on their locker room talk acted by the Workin Girls cast.

I'm not like Unhidge Hidge, so tell me about ur thoughts/opinions/rebuttals as long as ur taking account of what I wrote here. Especially proof from the Langs with ur rebuttal. Of course in head canon or fan fic world, anything is free reins and you can experiment with Hidge's sexuality there. Just make sure to specify if it's canon or head canon so to avoid confusion and arguments.

Update:

I have the urge to check my HHP Working Boys screen recordings where Nick and Matt discussed Henry's relationship with the boys if it's poly or not. Update 2: Okay I watched it and Nick just says that Chad is his favorite so get out of that as you wish. But since the boys did their locker room talk about girls without Henry and Chad, I don't think the boys were making out with each other unless maybe just Henry and Chad if it's not unreciprocated from Henry's side.

I can understand if most fans think Henry is gay and not bi since Nick and Matt have not given more concrete proof of his attraction to human females. My only arguments with him being bi is that he loves and has done sexual acts with Alexa and Siri, AI virtual assistants with female names and voices. (NMT episode: Time Bastard).

[grape-jucie-dog]

Hey, I like you! -tells you about all of my personal Melissa headcanons-

I love Melissa with all my heart, she's my favorite background character ever. However (to me personally, don't come at me with the black dagger), I don't count "Hey Melissa!" canon in my personal universe. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a murderous woman with a blazer, but I don't like the idea of Melissa being a murderer in EVERY universe 😭 breaks my heart. SO. HERE ARE ALL OF MY MELISSA HEADCANONS!

Name: Melissa Riley-Faith

Pronouns: She/Her

Gender: Cisgender female

Sexuality: Unlabeled

Mental illness: Depression

Family: Shitty mom she doesn't talk to named Alison, and her cat Cassie

Height: 5'6

Age: 31

- Melissa loves doing photography, mostly of nature

- She's been best friends with Charlotte for 15 long years, because I refuse to think they aren't close friends

- She has a lot of candles. I can just see it-

- Melissa doesn't drive, so she walks to work with Charlotte. Even when she's not going to work, she mostly walks everywhere. She loves going for walks

- Passive Aggressive Mel my beloved

- As a little nod to "Hey Melissa!", She makes a lot of dark jokes, just has a dark sense of humor

- She isn't exactly a light weight, but don't give her too much to drink either unless you wanna deal with either a very emotional Melissa or a very energetic Melissa

- She has two different colored eyes, mostly because when I first saw her I couldn't tell if her eyes were green or brown. SO SHE HAS BOTH (you can see it in my artwork actually)

- 100% listens to Lady Gaga, prove me wrong I dare you

(TW for the next few HCs, talking about depression, abuse, and self harm)

- Melissa has self harm scars from her past, and she isn't afraid to show them off

- Her father died when she was 14, and because of this she was mentally abused by her mother. She moved out when she was almost 20 years old, and hasn't really spoken with her mom since

- Melissa tends to go through depressive episodes, having times where she can't even get out of bed. Charlotte has known about this for a long time, and is always looking out for her

- She used to be friends with Sam, but after seeing how he treats Charlotte, she despises him

- Call me crazy for this, but I can see her and Mr. Davidson having a father daughter relationship. It's the same with Bill and Mel, but it's more commonly seen with Mr. Davidson

- She used to have a crush on Paul (much like in canon), but when she learned that he loved Emma, she eventually lost feelings, and now they're all friends

- Melissa, Emma, Charlotte, Piper (OC), Alexa (OC),Harper (OC), and Sawyer (OC) are all a girl group because it's funny to me and my bestie

- She doesn't have a strong opinion on coffee, but she normally has a lot of milk in it

- While she isn't BIG on musicals, one of her favorites is RENT

- Melissa is pretty expressive, like if you tell her the most out of pocket shit you can tell she's shocked

- She loves talking to her cat, Cassie, as if she were an actual person. She does this with all of Charlotte's cats too (Charlotte has cats. If you disagree, fight me [I'm kidding please don't.])

- She has a lot of videos saved on her phone, and most of them is just chaos happening around the office

- While we don't see her on screen long enough to see how she got infected in TGWDLM, I do have an idea: She was originally going to escape with Charlotte, Bill, and Ted, but she was found by Mr. Davidson before she could get away

- Shocked I haven't mentioned this one, but she has an upsidedown heart shaped birthmark on her thigh

- Melissa is 100% ambidextrous, and I refuse to think otherwise

[agentravensong]

hello, fellow hatchetfield fans! here are my stray nerdy prudes must die thoughts, which i'm going to try to keep brief (she said, before spending an hour writing this)

the production level of the show as a whole really blew me away. the lighting; demon!max's costume and makeup; even the way it was shot and edited felt even more electric than past shows

this is the only one of the full-length hatchetfield musicals to have one consistent antagonist throughout (black friday has linda but half the leads don't know about her at all until the climax, plus there's wilbur and wiggly). and i gotta say, max's actor really killed it. hilarious, terrifying, and even with moments of nuance. he repeatedly stole the show.

some of the songs are already stuck in my head. off the top of my head i can't think of any that stood out in a bad/unmemorable way (though i could just be forgetting them, lol). ruth's song in particular i think is gonna really stick with me once i listen to it a few more times.

and i love the way the "i'm not a loser" motif gets used throughout the show. the closest any of the songs got me to having the visceral reaction i have to "did you know that i wanted to live with you" in "not your seed" and the bridge + ending of "let it out" ("i've never been happy...") was when richie sings that line right before... well.

speaking of richie: as a paul stan, what this show proved to me more than anything is that when jon matteson plays a sympathetic lead (or side character - hi daniel/stopwatch), he will always break my heart. he's just. really good.

thinking about how in the last of the originally planned 3 hatchetfield shows, initially conceptualized as the first, jon's character is the first one to sing, whereas in the first of those shows, conceptualized as the last, the whole crux of the musical is him refusing to sing, the audience essentially waiting for the moment he breaks and does it. thinking about how the opening of npmd tells us richie is going to die, already dying, already dead, while the opening number of tgwdlm tells us paul is the target, the Doomed Hero, the "star of the show" "destined to go viral" [read: get infected], whose story is going to be told, already written.

thinking about how singing dooms paul, and how richie singing "i'm not a loser", reigniting max's ire, is the final nail in his coffin.

...i'm normal.

there's a lot of meta jokes and nods of that sort throughout the show. maybe a few too many? like, at a certain point, as a fan, i do feel like i'm being pandered to a bit.

i liked the lords in black's scene, it was a lot of fun! it's always great to see jon get to let loose with crazy characters, and the others were great too. but i do wonder how it plays for people who haven't been following nightmare time stuff. like, i get that in one world this was our introduction to these characters, but even in that world, i wonder if including all five of them with their specific names and allusions to their individual deals is a bit too much for what the plot of this show needs. there's something to be said for not showing all your cards right away.

on the other hand, i feel like the paulkins coffee scene actually fully earned its inclusion: because when pete comes in asking for his hot chocolate, it reads differently when we're coming at it from having followed his perspective up to this point versus having been following paul in tgwdlm, in a way that strengthens both scenes. it's a nice reminder that emma and paul can be... rude, i guess. assholes, even (she really didn't need to spit in it). that idea of perspectives affecting how we categorize people arguably even plays into the themes of this show! how about that.

ah, yes, Themes. there are Themes to be drawn out of this show about the experience of high school, especially in an intertextual comparison to how tom and becky talk about their time in high school in black friday. something about how the two of them see it as this idealistic time they want to go back to, whereas the teens (the nerds/outcasts) in npmd sing that they'll "still despise it when [they're] gone". something about how in ruth's solo number, the fantasy future she imagines for herself (even in the context of it being a performance for an audience of no one) is of a standard, arguably dreary, middle-aged existence. there's definitely stuff there to be dissected.

and also there's arguably a theme of continuing cycles of cruelty, brought into focus by the ending, but also implied with the way the adults failed the kids (see max referencing his dad belittling him).

...but also, i feel like they could have done more with that.

that's my one big thing with this show, and it could very easily just be that the genre of this show isn't as much my jam, but i'll say it anyway: i wanted more from the characters, and more emotional weight in regards to certain things.

like, between this and tgwdlm, i think tgwdlm is still the better written show. there's just, a subtly to the characters there, a grounded human-ness, that i didn't quite get from all of the teens here.

as much as i clearly have a soft spot for richie, that's mostly on jon; as written, there really isn't much there, beyond "anime nerd" and "generally nice kid who wants to be liked". the scene right before he dies is comedic in how obvious it's setting things up, but its obvious-ness also makes it feel kind of cheap in terms of pulling on the heartstrings. similarly, ruth is initially just a gimmick (though hers at least ties into a deeper insecurity) and only gets her real moment of depth right before she dies. neither of them feel like they have much affect / haunting presence on the surviving teens once they're dead, past the initial shock of the reveals of their deaths.

and steph and pete are good, but... idk. i wanted a bit more from each of them. if they got to have a talk like paul and emma before "join us and die" - not even for the sake of the romance, but just for the sake of giving us more on each of them outside of their basic stereotypes and the romance - that would've helped, i think.

grace was great, though, no qualms. initially there was a part of me that was disappointed that the stereotype max was pushing on her about her being secretly repressed and horny was in fact true, but the way it gets used makes up for it, and in between max's death and when that specific thing comes up again in the climax, she gets to do a lot with the two conflicting sides of her personality, wanting to be good but having a capacity and arguable instinct for scheming and ruthlessness.

(also, as i mentioned earlier, max has a surprising amount going on, especially once you get into the Implications)

it could just be that i see those depths in the tgwdlm cast because i've had more time to chew on that cast, and that in time i'll see these teens in the same light. but i don't think it's just that.

i think part of it is how there are so many jokes about the teens being nerdy prudes (really, mostly just nerds). and like, that's part of the point, obviously, that they were being forced into those boxes and that they were still people with the potential to be more. but... i don't know if the show does enough to really make that point. again, richie doesn't really get to be more (and it's not for lack of time - there's a good amount of show before max comes back as the demon and kills for the first time).

in tgwdlm, the mains are all arguably based on stock characters, but they have more depth through their relationships. look at ted, the stock asshole sleazeball, who's shown to feel genuine remorse when he loses people he loves, in a way that contextualizes his bitterness. and there's a lot less highlighting of the stockness of them in their show than there is of the teens in npmd.

and the thing is, i think the cast of npmd at their foundations are more likable than the cast of tgwdlm (see the earlier point about emma and paul being assholes at times). they had a lot of potential. but i don't think enough of it is realized for the majority of them. the edges the tgwdlm cast has are part of what makes them compelling, and it's something the teens (minus grace) are largely missing.

the thing is, i know the fandom is going to see that potential and run with it. i know that they're gonna develop the teens' characterizations and relationships. i know they'll get into the trauma and the implications from everything that happened to them in the show. i know they'll get into... pete's survivor's guilt, and steph losing her dad(!!!), and what richie and ruth could have been, and all that. i know that they'll fill in the gaps. because that's what fans do. i guess i just wish there weren't so many gaps to fill. or, that the gaps wouldn't take so much effort from them to fill.

again, i acknowledge, maybe i'm expecting too much from the genre of show this is. it doesn't need to have A Point, i guess, it can just be fun, a comedic horror slasher in musical form. and it is fun, a lot of fun! ...but, tgwdlm was also a lot of fun. not as bombastic, for sure, but i'd say just as humorous. and it was also incredibly tightly written, and satisfying, with strong character arcs for multiple leads. it had commentary on musicals, on what makes a protagonist and what it means to be one, on conformity and institutions of authority, on romance even (you could do a very interesting aromantic reading of this show, trust me). and with a show that's titled nerdy prudes must die, that is About high school, there's, similarly, a lot you can do. and there's a fair amount of seeds planted there. but i don't think it all quite coheres. and it could've, if they really wanted it to.

...i did not keep that brief. ah well. i might disagree with half of this by the time i wake up tomorrow, i just needed to get it out of me. tl;dr, in my opinion, this show is stronger than black friday, but tgwdlm is still my favorite. all the cast and crew put a lot of love into this production and it really shows. i had a great time! :D but i'm always going to overanalyze things i care about as much as i care about the hatchetfield universe, and hence, here we are.

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

The stormlight archive but it's starkid/tcb

this is basically all hatchetfield, solve it squad, and a little avpm and spies are forever. I am copy and pasteing from my notes app so it's not very well explained. I can explain more if need be.

Hatchetfield:

What if tomorrow comes- Renarin Really nearly anything Hannah that is Renarin

The musical zombies from tgwdlm as the Fused, especially "Join us and Die" ending.

"Hey kaladin want to join the company softball league" "no." "Oh well it'll be fun" "yeah… I don't want to though"

"Feast or Famine" and "Hatchettown" the Thrill and Alethi

hatchettown is also that one coalition meeting in Oathbringer

Solomon Lauter as Gavilar

"I am trying to have an intelligent conversation with you. In other words, shut up."

Cursed thought: "don't be friwtened you're my bestest buddywud!" Odium to Dalinar

I really want to have "kick my head" somewhere in here. Thinking Adolin or Shallan and Kaladin pre friendship??

the very brief fight between Adolin and Kaladin on the training grounds or Shallan and Kaladin in the chasms.

Lift trying to grab the Kings Drop as Hannah in Do You want to Play

Bridgemen having to search the chasms : "it's like I have another shitty paying job on top of my already shitty paying job"

"Oh I've met God. He had nothing nice to say about you" Moash with Elhokar

If I Loved You - Dalinar and Navani in the Way of Kings

"sure I'm a sapiosexual you're an intellectual but I cut my lover losses when I can" Dalinar

Shallan as that Grace Chasity line "Me and Kabasl [what's his name] / Adolin? In carnal embrace? I'd never think of it"

wait better "kabasl asked if he could hold my books for me" jasnah: I didn't know ardents did that sort of thing

Avpm "So you came back?" "I came home" Dalinar and Navani.

"Turns out killing people doesn't make them like you. It just makes people dead" Moash.

Or Amaram, considering his whole "I made you!" fight/ conversation with Kaladin in Oathbringer.

Spies are forever: Not hatchetfield but torture tango and Moash and Kaladin. Owen's lyrics don't quite fit Moash but Curt's lyrics Mostly fit Kaladin.

Alt - DMA's Vyre and Curt's Moash in the ending section "I've been waiting so damn long for this" "it's not supposed to go like this" do you see what I mean

more on that the part where the dma and curt's lines over lap- Moash's different views of what he's doing in ROW "To show you the horror of staying alive" at the same time as "doesn't even matter if I killed my best friend" do you understand.

Shallan and Kaladin - "so we're just" "Friends?? :)"

Solve it squad- Shallan as Gwen trying to ask if Keith (Adolin) will be at the reunion

Renarin explaining visions as Esther's monologue about information.

also at the end with "Uh oh here come the neurons!"

that monologue also applies to other truthwatchers

Adolin as Keith saying he killed the demonic apostle (Sadeas) a while ago "Oh I killed Sadeas months ago… He was jaywalking and I hit him with my car. Accidental manslaughter not a big deal! Besides he was jaywalking so two crimes at the same time kind of cancel each other out . . . So! He was laying there dying and bleeding out in my arms and he told me everything. . . and then he died and I put him in my dad's yard."

The whole Esther intervention scene with scraggs as bridge 4 talking to teft and or Navani talking to young Dalinar "Ambien! I'm on it!" Teft Also the "nice to meet you I'm addicted to drugs" collapses with Kaladin or Rock as Scraggs trying to grab him as he falls.

Esther's "a boyfriend with a girlfriend" - is this Shallan/Adolin/Kaladin or Navani/Dalinar/Evi. Better idea!! It's actually a "girlfriend with a boyfriend" so Raboniel with Navani and Dalinar Yeah I like the Raboniel idea better.

"I am a scholar at Urithiru. I have a routine, [don't know what to have for home with a refrigerator], girlfriend with a husband, and enough void light to last me through a desolation. And I am happy, alright?"

"It's all going to go the way those 3 writers in the sky demand it!" average rosharan finding out that there's 3 shards on the planet (line is paraphrased)

[little-ladynightshade]

The Lords in Black X The Fears (TMA)

I've seen many attempts to cross these two, but never a complete list. I think this is because Smirke's 14 are inherent to us. We fear them because they are familiar. The Lords, however, are eldritch and unknowable. We fear them because they are alien to us. That said, imma give it a shot:

Collective: the Dark, the Extiction

Come on, they're literally the Lords in Black. They also have a marked penchant for causing apocalypses.

Pokotho: the Stranger, the Corruption, the Lonely

While the plastic sterility of the Stranger and the Corruption's rot may seem a strange combination, it makes sense when you look at TGWDLM. It's a hive mind that takes familiar people and makes them something else. As for the Lonely, Pokey is "the singular voice." He literally hates every voice except his own. Lonely behavior.

Bliklotep: the Eye (duh)

I think this is fairly self-explanatory.

T'noy Keraxis: the Spiral, the Desolation, possibly the Buried

Again, I think Tinky's Spiral vibes are fairly obvious. However, he seems to take special joy in destroying hope and possibility. He specifically chose Ted because he had a chance at happiness. Which entity loves destroying potential? If you said the Desolation, you win a prize. The Buried is more of a vibe I get from the whole entrapment part.

Nibblenephym: the Hunt, the Flesh

Very animalistic fears for something that takes the form of an animal, kind of. The Flesh seems obvious to me, what with the whole body-made-of-pigs thing, but the Hunt is more subtle. The Honey Queen is the one who wants to win the most, who will do anything to reach her goal. Honestly the Honey Queen pageant could just be a Hunt ritual, if it ever wanted one.

Wiggog Y'rath: the Slaughter, the Vast

"Wiggly wants his wrath." Considering what his influence did on Black Friday, I'd say the Slaughter is an apt description. I did consider putting the Vast for the collective, as they are all unknowable and beyond human scale, but Wiggly is really the first one to inflict that fear on the characters and the audience.

If one wanted to include Webby, hers is in her name.

[indigos-shits-and-giggles]

Charlie the Unicorn is Paul Matthews coded: An overly long analysis

So, I've rewatched the entire series of Charlie the Unicorn multiple times, and with it has come a whole lotta brainrot. Not only is it just a great series in general and I love the absurdism of it all, but there's also something else I love about that I just... could not put my finger on. Well, that's until I listened to the song "Everyone is Smiling", and the reprise Charlie later sings. Charlie the Unicorn (both the series and the character) is incredibly Paul Matthews coded and I feel things about it.

(the rest is under the cut because I kinda made this waaayyyyy too long than I meant to)

First, let's talk about Charlie the Unicorn. Charlie, as a character, has no control over his life. He has to follow along with whatever his tormentors, two other unicorns by the name of Pink and Blue, decide would be fun, and it seems like he exists only to follow along with what they want. If they want to steal his kidneys or drag him to the moon, there is nothing he can do about it.

Well, nothing except complain.

See, there is one thing he CAN control, and that is his emotions, and how he feels about all the fucked up shit he has to deal with. The antagonists of the show constantly are shown to be annoyed by Charlie's negative outlook, and they make desperate attempts to strip him of the tiny shred of autonomy he has. The most obvious of these attempts, of course, being the somg song "Everyone is Smiling", where a dolphin wonders how Charlie could still frown and be so depressed when everyone around him is having a fantastic time, and tries to get him to join in and ignore the horrible shit that's going around him. The final lyric of the song before the dolphin leaves is literally "Just stop feeling dread, so there can be good times ahead." Then, there's the reveal that both Pink and Blue, the people that have been torturing our protagonist since the series began, are just corpses puppeted around by literal demons, where you can really start to see the similarities.

Then, there's other half of this comparison, that being Paul Matthews himself. In TGWDLM, there are many signs pointing to the fact that Paul's fate was sealed the moment the show began.

For example, there's the opening of the show, which has the entire cast of actors all onstage already singing and dancing, including Emma who only gets infected by the very end, or the entire existence of the finale and how it's literally just Paul singing about he was doomed from the start and the fact that the song is LITERALLY TITLED INEVITABLE, or the little detail you see even before you watch the show: the title of the musical. What is it called again? Oh, right, The Guy Who DIDN'T Like Musicals, "didn't" being in past tense. He has no control over what will happen to him, his fate is set from the moment the show began.

However, there is one thing he does have control over, that being how he feels and reacts to the apocalypse, his strong dislike of musicals, and his strong lack of a "want". The infected zombies see all of this for what it is; the one thing standing between them and complete control and power over him. Paul's lack of strong desires especially means that they don't have something obvious to exploit, and they can't trick him into accepting apotheosis by making him sing an I Want song.

That leads us to "Let It Out", where the infected zombies all wonder how Paul could possibly not accept apotheosis yet, how he can still refuse to listen to call of the singular voice when he'd finally feel happy (wouldn't that be nice?) and get what he wanted. In this moment, he is surrounded by corpses of his friends puppeted around by an eldritch god, trying to strip him of the small shred of autonomy he has.

This is where their stories start to kind of diverge.

See, Charlie succeeds in defeating his tormentors, shaking off their control over him and his world for good. He does this by singing a reprise "Everyone is Smiling", a direct response to the passive aggressive tune claiming that it's his fault for being miserable, that everything would be easier if he decided to smile instead. In this reprise, he asks why he has to smile, even as the world ends and it withers and dies. He accepts a world that is dead and through his negativity he manages to banish the demons that have been ruining his world. Paul, meanwhile, succumbs to the Apotheosis with a smile. His tormentors succeeds in stripping him of his autonomy, in removing his dislike of musicals and forcing him to accept apotheosis and the withered and dead world that comes with it. This is made increasingly easier by the fact that Paul has a want now, he wants to make a world where he and Emma can be happy together. Where Paul fails to save his world, Charlie succeeds.

In a way, the stories of Charlie the Unicorn and TGWDLM are kind of different versions of the same core premise. One where the protagonist manages to not only cling to their teensy shred of autonomy but also use it to defeat the demons that have been sucking the life out of their world, and one where their small amount of control is not just ripped away, but they're convinced to throw it away themselves.

[its-short-for-jackalope]

Some Of My Favorite Cool Staging Choices in NPMD: a ramble, by me!

(is "staging" the right term? idk I wasn't a theater kid)

this will contain spoilers, which you can probably guess since it will be tagged as such.

When we see Richie getting attacked in the cold open, he's facing the audience; when it happens again (haha whoops) he's facing away from the audience & we get to see his attacker. idk man I just think the change in perspective is rad lol

Richie and Ruth taking the stage first for "High School Is Killing Me" because they're the ones who... y'know. (rip 💀)

when that first curtain thing lifts and reveals the rest of the stage 👌🏻

when Steph is trying to get Pete to help her cheat on the test the spotlight on them also lights up Grace before she butts in and gets them in trouble (foreLIGHTENing eh? eh?)

the rotating nerd huddle in "Literal Monster" brings me so much joy like Yes, put those nerds on a giant Lazy Susan and watch 'em go

the nerds sneaking along in the background when Max is singing

the bit with Miss Tessberger (sp?) leaving and returning to the stage from the opposite side

just everything about Pete & Steph's phone call. everything.

the stage going almost completely dark at the end of "Cool As I Think I Am" is fucking epic ok it's such a cool transition. also Max's "I bring light to darkness" and the lighting changes for that. they're both so cool

the bathtub prop. it just looks like it was fun to make. :)

when Steph is talking to Ruth & Richie and then she just turns and they're sneaking into the bathroom. it's like a movie transition in my brain. (also Mariah's little jump like she's trying to look into a stall is adorable)

NERDY PRUDES GOING TO THE WAYLON (sp?) PLACE MY BELOVED 💙 1. walking around the orchestra pit is cool & it's a fun, slightly-more-distanced throwback to when they walk thru the audience in TGWDLM & BF; 2. cool blue lighting + silhouettes, need I say more; 3. the tattered background descending as they walk is fucking magical

it's technically not part of the show at all but i have to give a shoutout to the person near the camera who goes "oh? oh?" when Pete & Steph exchange their cute lil looks in the Waylon House 😂

Richie moving behind the tattered curtains with the camera. also I know it isn't visible but the knowledge that the skele'on costume glows in the dark gives me life. (and Steph giving Ruth a thumbs-up when she's scaring Max??? adorable)

did they blur the npmd logo and put it over Max as he's dying? i fuckin love it no joke

that row of lights onstage just silently clicking off before Max shows up to get Richie 💀💀💀 and then they slowly come back RED

wHEN THE REST OF THE CAST LINES UP TO SILENTLY STAND WITNESS FOR RICHIE'S DEATH 💀💀💀💀💀

the pauses in Jeff's announcement to let everybody groan after their name is called (Joey's "ouhh noo" gets me every time)

I haven't really mentioned choreography because idk how to talk about dancing but... "Hatchet Town" my beloved <3 (all of the choreography in the show is so fun & cool)

BBQ monologues!! the stage is a stage! (whoa, is this tgwdlm???) Love the brief single spotlight on Ruth when she goes on, and bonus points for the red, white, & blue lighting bc barbecues are intrinsically linked to the 4th of July in my brain (🇺🇲🔥)

when Grace is talking to Detective Shapiro I love how gray the stage goes, especially after how colorful the BBQ monologue was, like ugh <3 it makes it feel more serious and important like shit's about to get real (it is)

Officer Bailey (I think that's his name? i do not trust my ears) just angrily moving the chairs after Grace steals his gun and escapes custody 😂

obligatory Beanies Paulkins & HCB scene 2.0 mention <3

Pete sweetie you were just at a football game how did you mix it up with baseball you fuckin nerd (affectionate)

The Chair Mishap™ (I'm not sure but I think all 3 of them broke there, to varying degrees)

Max chasing Solomon off the stage is fun, loved that. (oh shit if he gets you next make it thr... four. you'll be four. or five, technically...? are we still counting Max? this point got derailed.)

the squad car! the lights up top, the brake lights, and also I love when the car turns and everybody just leans to the side (SiS is my favorite for this). also Max just nyooming by as Shapiro takes off is hilarious.

HOLDING COURT WITH THE VOID!!! the increasing whispers, the lighting, the LORDS APPEARING, holy SHIT

the white lights & fog during the slow-mo bullet scene idk it just makes it for me

the homecoming disco ball and the different spotlights are great :D

the group pose at the end of "Best of Me"

the colored lights & Lords laughing at the beginning of "Dirty Dudes" 🤩

okay! that's everything that caught my eye on my fourth watch, lol. obviously there are many many many more awesome little details and funny bits but I wanted to focus more on the set & staging type stuff. it's really cool and interesting to me, especially after Black Friday's glorious secret Wiggly.

if you read all of this I hope you had fun!!

if you didn't have fun, feel free to keep that fact to yourself! 👉🏻👉🏻

[ella-ashmore]

asking about the hatchetfield inside your brain????

YIPPEEEE here r more silly facts. been curating this place for thre e years now its like its own organism <3

paul and becky are cousins on their fathers sides. ted exclusively calls becky 'pauls cousin' because he thinks its funny

he also calls emma exclusively 'pauls girlfriend'

hidgens runs the hatchetfield highschool theater department. nobody knows what happened to miss mullberry she just disappeared one day and he was there to take her place

he also owns the starlight theater. for some reason. same case as with miss mullberry the lady that ran it before just fuckin vanished and he was there the next day taking over the responsibility

hidgens and officer bailey are related through marriage (bailey married hidgens' brother(hidgens has two siblings))(baileys first name is mason)

hidgens' brother is a trans man named lucas and he had twins with a guy that left him the first time he tried to come out. their names are alexa (she/they) and avery (he/him) and they r so so annoying with each other. and then lucas had 3 more kids with mason named levi (he/it) reese (she/her) and trevor(he/him) before he came out again this time more successfully. he loves all of his children and his husbandso much

teds dog tumour regularly steals his sons glasses off his face and stashes them

tumour also regularly eats only part of a dead bird and then leaves the rest under the couch

max is the jerries son (as evidenced by the use of dirty girl) and the whole family has the worlds strangest dynamic

in the tgwdlm style world weve got paul brought ted a necklace, a pocket knife, and a pair of glasses when he came back from the school (from teds kids. he knew ted would want them to remember them by)

[lady-loveluck]

my best friend whom watched tgwdlm a while ago said she liked it, but in my futile attempts to get her to watch more of the hatchetfield universe like NPMD she kept asking if paul was in it and when I said he isn’t the main focus but makes a few cameos here and there she said she’ll think about it aka meaning that she won’t.

knowing her if she did she would just skip everything to the part where he appears, her favourite character in any media is always the main character to the point she won’t consume content or fics if her blorbo isn’t the main focus, and i’m pretty sure she only remembers paul’s name beside ted who she really really hates

nonetheless i’m not giving up and during my very futile attempts both in text and real life, i have created a few headcanons along the way and want somewhere to rant about it

Paul had a bit of the gift when he was younger, a bit more powerful than the average person, part of a fic i wanna do

his powers were a combination focusing on the mind and emotions along with foresight that later developed into a strong intuition when he grew older, one of it was being able to influence people around him whenever he gets emotional making them feel the same thing as he does and make them do the things he wants to do in that moment

another was being able to trigger emotions onto people and send them into a frenzy, making them panic and such but limited to a range but also being able to calm them down and have them to relax

Paul never was aware much about what his powers can do beyond make the lunch lady at school give him an extra cookie (the warm fresh out the oven type and not the cold ones yknow) and getting to experience the relaxation and hype of weed without ever actually doing it, never tried to figure out more and was just content with it

Paul likes disney movies but groans everytime a song comes on, holding on to the belief that “Disney movies would be more well-liked if they just didn’t add the random songs in. I mean, the girl is singing in a snow storm!”

Emma was park of the smoke club in highschool, participating in Brigadoon the musical was never her choice but Jane had somehow convinced her to do it because she too was in it and snidely commented things that she couldn’t handle it which lead her to auditioning and getting the part which emma later found out was part of Jane’s plan to get her out there and stop wasting awake smoking pot. although she dreaded it, the moments between her and Jane after rehearsals making fun of the other kids while getting shitty snacks from the 7-11 nearby were one of times she and Jane had gotten along

After the performance of Brigadoon, Paul had complained about how awful and shitty it was. Emma overheard it, may or may not have threw stale popcorn at him, and complained to Jane about the star wars shirt-wearing bean-pole of a geek afterwards.

Alice has different rankings of her dad’s coworkers and friends, most of the time Uncle Paul’s at the top next to Charlotte since she likes them the most whenever they take care of her though Charlotte is a rare occasion

Pete, Richie, and Alice were all friends as kids cause of their guardians being coworkers/friends with Richie being Paul’s nephew

Paul takes Richie to anime cons with his only knowledge of it being from 2 episodes from sailor moon and lain’s experiments that traumatized him, Richie tries to get him to cosplay with him everytime and sometimes he does

Once they did a duo cosplay of Richie as Shinji and Paul as Gendo, everytime Richie wanted to take a picture that was canon accurate he couldn’t because Paul kept smiling and doing a thumbs up acting nothing like Gendo. later he told him that he should have gone as Yui instead

No one in the CCRP technical department knows how computers since the company doesn’t really care if their workers are even eligible for the job cause they’re just guinea pigs for experiments and the LIB, Paul’s the only qualified guy with an actual degree in computer science and they go to him for help. Everyone else either has a degree in anything but computer science or doesn’t even have a degree at all, CCRP doesn’t really do background checks or give a shit.

The other Paul clones got offed by Paul 23 because they too wanted to have the og’s life, on the chance one of them escaped they would’ve been hunted down by paul 23 and android emma

CCRP was walking on eggshells after the revolution of the paul clones, they side-eyed paul 23 whenever they see him smiling or just doing work, doesn’t stop their business of sending clones to a secret mining facility on the moon even if some of them wanted to choose another guy to clone

No one knows what CCRP actually does, they have no idea what their company at all and all of them have completely different ideas on what the company is

Paul watches horrific world war movies to relax, he suggests watching Come and See with his friends, after that no one ever takes his recommendations

”Why don’t any of you wanna watch my movies?” “Uh, no one wants to watch any of that horrific shit? It’s all sad and makes us feel shitty, we don’t want to feel shitty on a friday at 8pm paul.”

He likes sweeter drinks like a caramel frappe but still keeps ordering a plain black coffee just because of how fast he gets it

at the beginning paul had a slight very short-lived crush on melissa that was mostly based on the fact she was pretty nice to him and was a bit cute, when bill said she was like a daughter to him, paul couldn’t get the image of alice outside his head and poof! his lil crush was gone and forever forgotten

Melissa would actually tweak the fuck out if she finds out about that

that headcanon was purely created because i thought it would be funny if Melissa actually had a chance and it got ruined by Bill who is their biggest shipper

— 🥮

SO MUCH FOOD DUDE THANKS FOR ALL OF THIS