#get out of the music scene and go find a cult to join

[weezardthewizard]

That post about how you guys can't even handle, like, a lesbian is forever relevant huh

[decoy1]

Had a dream I was watching season 3 of Rottmnt, it was so vivid and now I’m sad that it isn’t real. So I’m writing some highlights from the dream before I forget.

Draxum and Casey focused episodes on what they were doing during the movie. There were really cool action sequences with original music and everything. It was so cool. There was one scene where the screen divided in half to show both battles.

Music during action scenes. There was a lot of it. I suspect it might have been because I watching Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur before going to sleep tho.

An episode premise: April finally had a good stable job. She was going steady for a whole 2 weeks setting a new record. The turtles got a little suspicious since April can never keep a job for long. Cue investigation, it turns out the job is a front. A front for a cult. April accidentally joined a cult. By the end of the episode April accidentally destroyed the cult in the same way she usually ends up losing her jobs. Alas the curse of April losing her job was too strong.

Another Episode Premise: Splinter and Draxum go undercover for an intel mission at a fancy club. The cover story being that they’re two friends who are trying to reconnect. They’re kinda bad at it since both argue like a married couple. This actually works in their favor tho as the person they’re trying to spy on to get info on is a huge romantic who is super invested in trying to get the two to “reconnect”. Both are forced by the turtles to play along for the sake of the mission. By the end of the episode Draxum and Splinter have performed a proposal, a wedding, a divorce, another re proposal, alongside with a remarriage, but not another divorce because they have to book it away because the turtles got captured. Which meant by the end of the episode Draxum and Splinter were still married.

Over Arching Story: Bishop was hunting down the remaining Foot Clan members. Which included trying to find former Foot Clan members for any information. Of course leading Bishop to Casey. Casey sends him on a wild goose chase as she goes on her own mission to find her former bosses. Being the B plot for a lot of the episodes. In one instance she teams up with Piebald in a gambling ring to win some info.

Running Gag: Casey Jr tries going into the dating world but has trouble since most people who are his age now, were adults during the apocalypse. So if he does find someone to date who he doesn’t recognize they usually end up being some form of “not real”. Highlight examples being: an alien who assumed a human persona to lure specimen to experiment on their ship, a demon with similar motives to the alien except it wanted to eat Casey Jr’s soul, an ai made by Bishop made to find potential Foot Clan members. What was funny was how obvious a lot of them were, like the alien wore a “I believe” shirt but with sharpie added “don’t”, changing it to “I don’t believe” (real master of disguise right here). The demon’s “flirting” was something along the lines of “if souls were edible and had taste, I bet yours would be a delicious meal that would amplify my demonic powers. If I had demonic powers, which I don’t because I’m a perfectly normal human. But in the hypothetical where I do-”. The ai when asked it’s favorite hobby responded with “breathing and being human”.

Bishop had an entire episode where he beat up different clans in his attempt to find the Foot Clan. Making some leave their old clans to join Bishop since he bested them in battle. But Bishop didn’t want a bunch of ninja (idk why not, that sounds incredibly useful) so he sent them on a wild goose chase but every time he did they came back having accomplished the goal. (Again I don’t understand why he kept acting like they were an annoyance when they were getting him things like THE GOD DAMN ELIXER OF EVERLASTING LIFE)

That’s all I have the energy to write. If I remember anything worth adding I will but I think these were all the highlights.

[xxdespairfactionashtonxx]

I also have an announcement:

I am no longer a fan of Black Veil Brides. I hate that Andy is doubling down defending Ronnie Radke. I refuse to support a band that defends transphobia and racism. This was never about the outcasts, it was all a marketing ploy. Andy was a pretty white boy raised in a well off family that actually was wealthy enough to pay for him to go to acting school in high school and pay for him to live in Los Angeles in his teen years to pick up gigs in commercials. He always sought out fame, rather than being for the passion of CREATING, the writing was on the walls from the beginning. The gimmicks, constantly saying his goal was to be the "biggest band in the world", distancing himself from the scene despite the scene influencing him and bringing up his career, PURPOSEFULLY creating a fan base of scene kids that would form para-social bonds with him and riding off of a "savior complex" (quite literally, HE LITERALLY WROTE A SONG CALLED SAVIOR). He has been writing the same song for 15 years. There is never a creative risk, it ALWAYS is manufactured to what is popular on the radios at the time. Late 2000s-early 2010s was metalcore, so they made metalcore. Now its whatever plays on Octane XM. Also we are lying to ourselves here about Andy's connection to Scientology. You can cope all you want with using Catholic symbolism in his music or his Catholic tattoos, but its not hard to find that the Cult of Scientology allows its members to also practice other religions. Covering up the L Ron Hubbard tattoo doesn't mean he's leaving. It is just to bury the truth. If Andy was truly separated from the cult, he wouldn't still be married to Juliet. He would have denied his connections HIMSELF (not his dad!!!) if the rumors weren't true. HE CAN'T. Cause if he does, he will be exiled from the cult, and lose all of his connections. People often join the church to take courses on marketing one's self and enhancing skills, as well as to form connections with powerful people in the entertainment industry. Marrying into the cult was calculated and intentional. It would not even surprise me if Andy starts to ride the conservative grift, he will chase dark money to get what he wants. At least that's what I believe. I know I am going to piss off so many BVB fans with this post. I am not sorry, and you cant change my mind so don't even try. I want nothing to do with BVB anymore. This is my final word on the subject.

[moonchild-in-blue]

who is this sleep token band?? i am interested and would love to know about then 👀

this is also a bad ice breaker of trying to make friends on here

Hello friend! 💙💫 Thank you so much for this question - you have no idea what can of worms you just unlocked! So you want to join our cult uh? Welcome, there's no way out hehe (kidding. well, half-kidding).

This is just an introductory post, and by no means comprehensive. I'll point you to THIS POST by our lovely resident band archivist/librarian @sleepanonymous for a more in depth and full-fledged explanation on who are they, their story, etc. A long, but very worthwhile read!

So, Sleep Token are an alt/experimental metal band from England. They fuse a lot of heavier rock/metal elements with pop, jazz, funk, the most beautiful piano ballads - even some rap ! Genre is unimportant - the music is great!

They are anonymous, and wish to remain so, which is something we are very serious about, using masks and body paint to conceal their identities, and go by the names of Vessel, ii, iii, and iv (like the roman numerals).

From left to right, in order: iv, ii, Vessel, iii.

Vessel - The frontman, vocalist, pianist and composer/writer. He uses a white and red mask, different from the rest of the band, with a matching shoulder piece. His mouth and tits are always out, you'll get used to it. Vessel composes and writes all of the songs, sings, and plays most of instruments on the albums, with the exception of drums, and bass on occasion. He's a musical genius, and has just the warmest, most beautiful voice ever. Vessel never talks, but has giggled like, 3 times already and it's adorable. He dances a lot on stage, like a 5 yo kid on a massive sugar rush. I love him a normal amount <- lies.

ii - our short king, our boba-eyed bean, the best drummer in the scene and I'm not even exaggerating. He is the only one aside from Vessel who is part of the studio recordings, and has composing credits as well. He has the most beautiful round, sparkly blue eyes ever 🥺

iii - TALL AND LANKY, he's the bassist. The most chaotic creature you'll ever meet - he can be seen dancing and twirling, kicking his feet, and being just extremely goofy at all times (except when he's kissing the homies). Sometimes he shouts to the audience and is just hilarious. He's usually on the stage right (our left) in front of the choir. Like iv, he takes no part in the album recordings, but has been with the band since day one.

iv - the fuckboy. The cuddler. The guitarrist. iv is the second shortest of the group, and he's usually on stage left in front of ii (drummer). While he's usually more chill than Vessel and iii, he's also a smooth mofo. It's common to see him fiddle with the mask to tease the fans, or be dragged around stage by iii. He's constantly being kissed by everyone and honestly? Valid. Aside from guitar, he also does the live screams with Vessel, and just like iii, has no part in album recording. iv is actually the 3rd "iv" - he joined them around 2020/21 if I'm not mistaken - but it's safe to assume he's here to stay.

The Vesselettes/Choir - including them because I love our queens. They are the 3 backing vocals/choir who accompany the band on tour. They have been on/off since not too long ago, but they seem to have a more permanent presence lately. They are the only ones who have their personal identities disclosed to the public. They are the Espera group, who are also association with the band Exploring Birdsong.

They have a bit of lore, but most of what you find is fanmade, based on their lyrics, some messages from the band, and just general vibes. According to the band, Vessel (the frontman) was visited in a dream by an ancient deity called Sleep, who dwells within dreams. Sleep promised to bring glory and fame, in exchange for Vessel's worship (which is a tag line used by band and fans alike!). The band serve as living vessels for Sleep, with Vessel being the "main one" (the others are technically called Vessel 2/3/4 but they just go by their roman numerals). Each song is a "token", or offering to Sleep, hence "Sleep Token".

There are many, many people here who do song analysis and connect them to the lore, or offering different perspectives. The songs, mostly romantic/sad in nature, have really no set meaning - everyone's free to interpret as they wish! There are some really amazing posts around here (some by me even oop), if that's your thing!

They have 3 albums - Sundowning, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, and Take Me Back To Eden - who form a story trilogy, Sundowning being their official debut and the start of the story. There are many recurring themes and references, especially in the last album. Before that, they released 2 eps, One and Two, and 2 singles, Jaws and The Way That You Were.

I always reccomend you start with Take Me Back To Eden, their most recent album, as its a perfect showcase of all the different genres and musical artistry they incorporate. After that, you can either start with the albums (the trilogy) and then the eps, or go back to beginning with One (which is how I did it). Either way is perfectly valid! You can also just listen to random songs and then go from there, but I strongly advise you to listen to the albums in full for the best experience possible.

There's really only one rule in the fandom so to speak, that I really need to mention, which is do not reveal or mention any of the members' irl identities. Unfortunately, it's increasingly impossible to not come across their names and faces on the internet - Google and Pinterest are not your friends. Twitter is also not the best. If you do see something, or stumble upon any side-projects of any of the guys aside from Sleep Token, do not mention it. Just pretend you didn't see anything, and leave it be. The band has been very adamant in their wish to remain anonymous, so as fans it's our responsibility to respect their one request.

This is a bit to take in, but hopefully it can point you in the right direction! If there's anything at all that you wish to know, or are confused by, do not hesitate to ask!! I'm always glad to help more people get into our favourite cryptics, and there are plenty of lovely, lovely people around here who do too! Tumblr is usually pretty chill and friendly, so don't be afraid to interact with people. Everyone is welcomed in the Tumblr Creechur Corner 😚

And of course, above all, have fun!!! Worship 🖤

[ben-talks-art]

I have so many mixed feelings about season 2 of Arcane...

I'm sure many people loved it, many people may not have loved it, but can we all at least agree that there were way too many ongoing plot points constantly fighting for screen time in season 2?

Like, if we look back at season 1, what did we have going on?

We had the main plotline between the two sisters

The discord between topside and underground

The discovery and exploration of Hextech

And the stuff with Silco trying to take control while exploring his past and new relationships

That was about it. We had other stuff going on in the background but these were the main things we would focus on and that would carry the show.

Now, about season 2:

We still had the ongoing plotline between the sisters

We have growing tension with topside wanting to retaliate and underground waiting to start a revolution

Hextech's progress leading to a future disaster

Ambessa wanting to take control of things

Jinx got a fanbase

Jinx got a kid to look after

Mel is turning into Jean Grey and got access to the Phoenix Force

Vi and Cate become characters in a "Punk Rock Loser" comic

Viktor starts a cult

Jayce and Ekko travel through the Spider-Verse

Warwick

Vi becomes a cop even though her parents got killed by cops

Vi becomes a street fighter

You get the idea...

It's not that season 2 has more plot than season 1, a lot of stuff happens in season 1 as well... But that just felt like it had a tighter focus, there were certain things that were clearly being given time to breathe and be processed.

In season 2 everything feels important, everything feels relevant, everything feels big. We have so much stuff going on at the same time and only nine episodes to go through that we keep speedrunning through character developments and storylines.

Like, for example, I remember how hyped people were to see this image of Vi wearing an enforcer suit because there was so much potential for good drama to make out of it.

Imagine Vi walking through the streets she once played at as a kid and having her own people look at her terrified and realizing she now has become one of the monsters she used to fear.

Or the fact she got a new friend that looks like Vander, imagine what they will talk about, what their chemistry will be like.

Or the fact she is a fighter that relies on using those massive gauntlets that can punch through walls. Imagine her having to learn to hold back her strength so she won't be another culprit of police brutality.

There is so much we can do with this!!

But we just get three scenes with cop Vi. One where she tries to find Jinx in their old hideout, one where we get a (admittedly pretty cool) music clip, and that's it. Next thing we know, we're already heading to the big siblings' fight.

Also, the not-Vander guy barely has any lines in the whole season and I wonder why he was even added.

The season has a lot of that. A bunch of ideas that could possibly fill an entire act, maybe an entire season, but get squeezed between other ongoing storylines and don't get the chance to do all you can with it.

Me, personally, I would have just scrapped the whole thing with Viktor and the Arcane starting to glitch and keep the focus on Vi and Jinx, maybe have Singed as the final boss and have the two need to join forces to save Warwick from him. Spare all the stuff with Mel, Ambessa, the black rose, and so on for future spin-offs.

I can't be the only one who feels it's weird that this show started with Vi and Powder and ends with Ekko and Jayce being the ones that save the day (does Vi even do anything besides Cait in the last episode??), and how weird it is that our starting conflict was rich people vs poor people and that just kinda gets sidelined so we can stop a not-Dr. Doom from creating a not-Secret Wars.

I'm also not happy with the way they started to work a lot more depth into Sevika's character and then just have her be removed from the story until the final battle.

And yes, I'm aware that they probably worked with lots of production notes that said "Add this plot point so we can do more with it in future shows" or something like that, or the fact they probably can't give all the story beats all the time it needed because making a single episode of this show is probably the equivalent effort of bringing a human being back from the dead.

I'm sure they must have had all the reasons in the world for why things turned out the way they did. This looks like a very difficult show to make and it's impressive that they made as much as they did at all.

That said... While this is an impressive show with a lot of things to praise, I do think it's worth discussing if the way plot points and story beats were handled isn't something that can cause some valid dislike.

[pxnsneverland]

Hellfire Lost | Eddie Munson x oc (part 1)

plot summary: Juliet Henderson has had her fair share of excitement fighting otherworldly monsters in the Upside Down with her brother, Dustin, and his friends. She's ready for her senior year to be a peaceful and pleasant time spent cheerleading and hanging out with her best friend Chrissy. However when Chrissy mysteriously turns up dead and her unlikely outcast crush Eddie Munson is suspect #1, she finds herself back in the fight along with the rest of the Upside Down squad facing their biggest threat yet. Will Juliet and everyone be able to stop dangers of the world below Hawkins and clear Eddie's name? And what happens when the monster starts targeting someone a little closer to home?

pairings: eddie munson x oc

word count: 949

warnings/notes:

  Chapter 1

“Dustin! Hurry up! If you’re not ready in 5 minutes, I’m leaving without you!” As I walked through the house, I yelled at my younger brother.

While my mother was petting the cat that was sitting on her lap, she addressed me, saying, "Juliet, don't yell at your brother."

“I’m not yelling at him. But this is my last time cheering for Hawkins High before I graduate and I can’t be late.” I took a quick look at the clock that was hanging on the wall. The basketball game was scheduled to begin an hour from now. Dustin burst into the room at full speed, and I let out an exasperated groan.

He put his hands above his head as a sign of surrender after I gave him a hard stare. “What? I couldn’t find my character sheets for Hellfire.” 

I really didn't want to hear it. I took the car keys from the table, kissed Mom goodbye, and walked out the door, Dustin close behind.

Even though we didn't live too far from Hawkins High School, I wish we'd arrived at least half an hour earlier. Hawkins hadn't won a championship in several years. However, the team was stronger than ever before, and everyone was optimistic. Anyone who was still paying attention. Before getting out of the car, I found a parking spot and turned off the engine. As we were getting out of the car, a well-known van pulled up next to us, and loud music could be heard coming from inside. Eddie Munson, the Hellfire Club's leader, jumped out of the vehicle, carrying a box full of items with him. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Dustin and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Henderson, are you ready to perish at the hands of the cult of Vecna?” he asked Dustin in a low, sinister voice. He finished the question with a demonic tone.

Dustin's laugh was as wide as his grin. “Please, I was born ready. We’re going to beat your campaign tonight and I’ll do a happy dance on Vecna’s grave.” 

“Watch yourself eat your words, kid.” Dustin accepted the box that Eddie had handed him. “Here, go start set up. I have more stuff in the car.” 

“Sure.” He tried to make a quick exit from the scene.

I yelled after him. “Meet me back at the car at 10, Dustin! 10!” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Good luck with your cheer thing.” He was already inside the school after that.

I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms over my chest. I had a lot of affection for the kid, but he could be very narrow-minded at times. He hadn't kept quiet about the end of this Dungeons & Dragons campaign for the past week. I couldn't understand a word he said, but I was relieved that he had found a place for himself at this school. Tomorrow was the start of spring break, and before long, it would be graduation, at which point I would no longer be able to care for him.

“Don’t worry. The campaign will be done and finished by 10.” 

I had completely forgotten Eddie was still standing there because I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts. Eddie Munson was typically referred to as "the freak" by everyone. We never really had much of a conversation before Dustin joined his club. As I got to know him better, I discovered that he wasn't nearly as intimidating as everyone had made him out to be.

“Oh, it’s fine.” I made a casual gesture with my hand to show that I was unconcerned. “It's just our mom will freak out if we’re not home by at least 11. She’s a little neurotic sometimes.” 

“I don’t blame her with a kid like Henderson. He’s got way too much energy for one person.” 

At that, I couldn't help but chuckle. “Yeah, you’re right.” 

He scratched the back of his neck and coughed to clear his throat. “Um, I didn’t get to thank you for, um, those math notes you let me borrow. I’m coasting a solid D+ in…” 

I raised a brow. “Sounds like the notes weren’t very helpful.” 

“Trust me, that has nothing to do with your Olympic level note taking. I’m just a dumb ass when it comes to numbers. I wouldn’t even be at a D without your help so…thanks.” He chuckled nervously. 

I'm not sure why I felt the need to blush. “You’re welcome.” I turned around and observed the people entering the gym. “I should go. Good luck with your Vecna cult or whatever.” 

“Yeah, have a good…cheer.” He made a motion with his hands that could have been interpreted as a cheer.

I laughed again and dashed off to the gym.

When I walked into the gym, the band was already playing and the seats were nearly full. The other cheerleaders were huddled in front of the stands, and the energy was high. I went to join them.

Chrissy Cunningham, the captain, greeted me right away. “Jules, where have you been? I was starting to get worried. The game is about to start.” 

“Sorry, Chris. My brother also had his club thing tonight and he had to come along with me and he was taking forever.” I noticed she had a strange expression on her face and dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept. “Are you okay?” 

She smiled as brightly as she always did. “Yeah I’m fine. I guess I’ve just been paranoid lately.” 

I had no choice but to trust her because it was time to form up. So I let it go, and the game started.

Stay tuned for part 2!! Click HERE to view!

[weneverlearn]

Aaron Lange, Peter Laughner, and the Terminal Town of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland-based artist, Aaron Lange, tackles his first graphic novel, Ain't It Fun -- a deep dive into the oily depths of the Rust Belt's most influential music town, it's most mythological misfit, it's oft-forgotten artistic and political streaks, and beyond...

Aaron Lange and his book, 2023 (Photo by Jake Kelly)

--------------------------------------

There’s a recurring line in Aaron Lange’s remarkable new graphic novel, Ain’t It Fun (Stone Church Press, 2023), that states, “Say the words out loud. The River isn’t real.” The river Lange was speaking of is the Cuyahoga, that infamously flammable mass of muck that dumps out into Lake Erie.

Peter Laughner (the ostensible topic of Lange’s book) was an amazing artist who probably could’ve ditched the banks of the Cuyahoga for more amenably artistic areas back in his early 1970s heyday. Aside from his frequent pilgrimages to the burgeoning NYC Lower East Side scene (where he nearly joined Television) and a quickly ditched attempt to live in California though, he mostly stuck around northeast Ohio.

While desperately trying to find his sound and a workable band, Laughner smelted a post-hippie, pre-punk amoebic folk rock, and formed the influential embryonic punk band, Rocket from the Tombs, which later morphed into Pere Ubu. All of which – lumped up with other rust-belted oddballs like electric eels, Mirrors, DEVO, the Numbers Band, Chi-Pig, Tin Huey, Rubber City Rebels, and more – essentially helped formed the “proto-punk” template.

Laughner was also a rock writer of some regional renown, and contributed numerous amphetamine-fueled articles to regional mags like The Scene and Creem -- mostly concerning where Rock'n'Roll was going, colored as he was by the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, David Bowie, and Roxy Music playing in Cleveland a bunch of times around his formative years.

Sadly, in June 1977, Laughner died of acute pancreatitis at age 24. Aside from the first two seminal Pere Ubu 7-inch singles, the rest of Laughner’s recorded output was just one very limited self-released EP and, posthumously, a great double-LP comp of demo and live tracks, Take the Guitar Player for a Ride (1993, Tim Kerr Records). A surprisingly large batch of unreleased lost demos, radio shows, and live tapes appeared on the beautiful and essential box set, Peter Laughner (Smog Veil Records, 2019), that brought Laughner’s legend just a few blocks outside of Fringeville, as it received universally great reviews��.

The Dead Boys became the most well-known act of that mid-70s Cleveland scene, though that only happened once they high-tailed it to NYC. Aside from DEVO, Chrissie Hynde, and the Waitresses (all of whom did their own versions of high-tailing it), nearly every other act in that fertile Cle-Akron proto-punk vortex soon dissipated, eventually getting the cult treatment at best.

Cleveland is indeed right there with NYC and London as punk ground zero, but Americans tend to equate buyable products as proof of import, so shockingly, the Pagans and The Styrenes just aren’t the household name they should be.

Decades of tape-trading stories, sub-indie label limited releases, and fanzine debates kept the mythology of those acts barely breathing underneath the end of the milennium’s increasingly loud R'n'R death knell. And as that mythology slowly grew, the fans and even the musicians of the scene itself still wonder what it all meant.     

Which, as you dig deeper into Ain’t It Fun, becomes the theme not just about the legendary rocker ghost of Peter Laughner, but of Cleveland itself. Ala Greil Marcus’ classic “hidden history” tome, Lipstick Traces, Lange interweaves Laughner’s self-immolating attempts at Beatnik-art-punk transcendence with a very detailed history of Cleveland, with its insane anti-legends and foot-shooting civic development.

Like much of the dank, rusted, and mysterious edges of the one-time “Sixth City,” the Cuyahoga has been cleaned up since, though I still wouldn’t suggest slurping up a swallow if you’re hanging on the banks of the Flats. I grew up in Cleveland and visit as often as I can because it’s an awesome place, no matter what they tell you. Or maybe, because of what they tell you.

If you are keen to swim down through the muck and mire of Cleveland’s charms, you don’t just get used to it, you like it. As for the “Cleveland” that the City Fathers have always tried so vainly to hype, us hopelessly romantic proto-punk fanatics say to those who would erase Cleveland’s fucked-up past and replace it with that weird fake greenspace underneath the Terminal Tower: ��The City isn’t real.”

-------------------------------------

Give us a quick bio.

Born in Cleveland, 1981. We moved to the west side suburbs when I was six. My parents didn’t listen to much music, and I don’t have older siblings. So I didn’t really listen to music at all until I was in high school, and I didn’t listen to any of the grunge or ‘90s stuff that was popular. I got real into the Beatles when I was in ninth grade, and at some point I got the Velvet Underground’s first album from the library because I saw Andy Warhol’s name on the cover. I didn’t know anything about them, so that was a real shock. I probably first heard Iggy Pop via the Trainspotting soundtrack, and pretty soon after I started getting into punk and generally more obscure stuff. Now I listen to more electronic stuff, ambient stuff. I also like most anything that falls under the broad “post-punk” umbrella. I really hate “rama-lama ding-dong” rock and roll.

What came first – music or drawing interest?

Drawing. I was always drawing… I’ve been a semi-regular contributor to Mineshaft for many years, which is a small zine/journal that features a lot of underground comix related stuff, but also has a beatnik vibe and includes poetry and writing. I’ve done the odd thing here and there for other zines, but I don’t really fit in anywhere.

Don’t really fit it – I feel that phrase describes a lot of the best / more influential Ohio musicians / bands. Did you feel that kind of feeling about Peter as you researched and wrote the book?

Peter was well liked, and he knew a vast array of people. If anything, he fit in in too many situations. He was spread thin.

When you lived in Philly, did you get a sense of any kind of similar proto-punk scene / era in that town? I sometimes, perhaps jingoistically, think this particular kind of music is almost exclusively confined to the Rust Belt.

I lived in Philly for nearly 11 years. As far as the old scene there, they had Pure Hell. But back then, anybody who really wanted to do something like that would just move to NYC.

So, is there a moment in time that started you on a path towards wanting to dig into Cleveland’s proto-punk past like this?

It was just something I had a vague interest in, going back to when I first heard Pere Ubu. And then later learning about the electric eels, and starting to get a feeling that Cleveland had a lot more to offer than just the Dead Boys. The Rocket from the Tombs reunion got things going, and that’s when I first started to hear Laughner’s name. A few years later, a friend sent me a burned CD of the Take the Guitar Player for a Ride collection, and I started to get more interested in Peter specifically.

Despite any first wave punk fan’s excitement about a Laughner bio, this book is moreso a history of Cleveland, and trying to connect those odd underground, counterculture, or mythological connections that the Chamber of Commerce tends to ignor as the town’s import. Was there a moment where you realized this book needed to go a little wider than only telling the tales of Laughner and the bands of that era? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

Very early on I realized that none of this would make sense or have any true meaning without the appropriate context. The activities of the early Cle punk scene need to be viewed in relation to what was going on in the city. I think this is just as true with NYC or London – these were very specific contexts, all tangled up in politics, crime, rent, television, and also the specifics of the more hippie-ish local countercultures that preceded each region. You’ve got Bowie and Warhol and all that, but in Cleveland you’ve also got Ghoulardi and d.a. levy. Mix that up with deindustrialization and a picture starts to form.

So when did you decide on doing this book? You’ve mentioned this was your first attempt at doing a full graphic novel – and boy, you went epic on it!

I did a short version of Peter’s story back when I was living in Philadelphia. But upon completing that version – which I now think of as a sketch – it became clear that there was a lot more to say and to investigate. I spent about a year just thinking about it, forming contacts with some people, and tracking down various reference materials like records, zines, books, etc. Then my wife got a new job at Cleveland State University, so we left Philly. Once I landed back in Cleveland I started working on the book in earnest.

Page from Ain't It Fun -- all book images courtesy of the author.

By any chance was Greil Marcus’ book, Lipstick Traces (1989), an inspiration, as far as the “hidden history” factor, the trying to connect seemingly unconnected and lost historical footnotes into a path towards the culture’s future?

Yes. I read Lipstick Traces when I was around 19 or 20, and I’d never seen anything like it before. It really blew my mind, all the stuff about the Situationists and Dadaists and all that. Later on, I read Nick Tosches’ Dean Martin biography, Dino, and that was another mind blower. Another major influence is Iain Sinclair.

Ah Dino, another Ohio native. So, Laughner’s one-time partner, Charlotte Pressler’s book is mentioned, and I’ve seen it referenced and talked about for years – any inside word on if/when she might have that published?

Charlotte never wrote a book, though she did co-edit a book that collected the work of local poets. As far as her own writing, she’s done all manner of essays and poetry, and probably some academic writing that I’m not familiar with. As far as her completing “Those Were Different Times”— which was intended as a total of three essays— I’ve got some thoughts on that, but it’s not really my place to comment on it.

Pressler sounds like a very serious person in your book, as you say, she was kind of older than her years. But how was she to talk to?

Charlotte is serious, but she’s not dour. She’s got a sense of humor and she’s very curious about the world, always looking to learn new things. She’s an intellectual, and has a wide array of interests. We get along, we’re friends.

The fact that the town’s namesake, Moses Cleveland, left soon after his “discovery” and never came back – that’s like a template for how people envision a town like Cleveland: nice place to grow up, but you want to get out as soon as you’re legal. Even the musicians of the area might’ve agreed with that sentiment, even if many never left.  Do you think that has changed?

I’m glad I left Cleveland, but I’m also glad I came back. First off, my family is here. Second, the cost of living is still reasonable. I don’t know how people live in New York. I never have any money. I’d make more money if I had a full-time job at McDonald’s. That’s not a joke, or me being self-deprecating. How do artists live in New York? How do they afford rent and 20 dollar packs of cigarettes? I’m just totally confused by the basic mechanics of this. So yeah, I’m in Cleveland. It’s not great, but what are my options? I can’t just go to Paris and fuck around like a bohemian. I would if I could.

In Ain't It Fun, you reveal that one of the seminal Cleveland scene dives, Pirate's Cove, was once a Rockerfeller warehouse  – these kind of enlightening, almost comically perfect metaphors pop up every few pages. Not unlike the mythology that can sometimes arise in musician fandom, I wonder if these are metaphors we can mine, or just an obvious facts that the town drifted down from a center of industry to relative poverty.

“Metaphor” might be at too much of a remove. These facts, these landmarks — they create a complex of semiotics, a map, a framework. The city talks through its symbols and its landscape. If you submit to it and listen, it will tell you secrets. There is nothing metaphorical about this.

Is it a sign of privilege to look on destitution as inspiration? I’m guessing the sick drunks at Pirate’s Cove in 1975 weren’t thinking they were living in a rusty Paris of the ‘30s. Though I will say a thing I really loved about your book was that, for all its yearning and historical weaving, you still stick to facts and don’t seem to over-mythologize or put any gauze on the smog, like “Isn’t that so cool, man.” You capture the quiet and damp desperation of that era and Laughner’s milieu.

Poverty, decline, decay, entropy – these things are real. By aestheticizing them we are able to gain some control over them. And once you have control, you have the power to change things. This is not “slumming.” “Privilege” has nothing to do with it.

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Do you know why the Terminal Tower (once the second tallest building in the world when it opened in 1928) was named that? It seems somewhat fatalistic, given the usual futurist positivism of the deco design era.

Terminal as in train terminal. It really pisses me off that there was once a time where you could go there and catch a train to Chicago or New York. It’s infuriating how this country dismantled its rail systems. And the Terminal Tower isn’t deco, but I think it is often confused with that style just by virtue of not being a gigantic rectangle. In that sense it does have more in common with a deco structure like the Chrysler building. Honestly, if you are looking for deco you might find more notable examples in Akron than you would Cleveland.

I notice a kind of – and bear with my lesser abilities to describe illustrative art – swirly style in your work that kind of aligns with art deco curves, maybe some Gustav Klimt…? In general, who were some illustrative inspirations for you early on?

That “swirly” style you describe is art nouveau. Deco came after that, and is more angular and clean. Additionally, a lot of underground comix guys were also poster artists, and there was often a nouveau influence in that psychedelic work – so there’s a bit of a thread there. As far as Klimt, I came to him kinda late, but I love him now.

The music of many northeast Ohio bands of that era has been generally tagged as “industrial” (the pre-dance industrial style, of course), cranky like the machinery of the sputtering factories in the Flats, etc… My guess is maybe the musicians were already finding used R'n'R instruments in thrift stores by that time, which would add a kind of layer of revision, turning old things into new sounds. Did you hear about of any of that? Or were there enough music stores around town? I know DEVO was already taking used instruments and refitting them; or electric eels using sheet metal and such to bang on…

I’m not a musician, so I don’t know anything about gear or stuff like that. I do know that Allen Ravenstine made field recordings in the Flats, and utilized them via his synthesizer. Frankly, I wish more of the Northeast Ohio bands had taken cues from Ubu and early Devo, because an “industrial” subculture definitely could have formed, like it did in England and San Francisco. But that never really happened here.

That kind of music was pretty popular on college radio and in a few clubs in Cleveland, though not many original bands with that sound arrived, aside from Nine Inch Nails who quickly took his act elsewhere… So in the book you mention local newsman, Dick Fealger. My memories of him are as a curmudgeon whose shtick was getting a little old by the time I was seeing him on the news, or his later opinion columns. Kinda your classic “Hey you kids, get off my lawn” style. You rightly paint him as a somewhat prescient reporter of the odd in his earlier days, though. I once had to go to a friend’s mother’s funeral, and in the next room in the funeral home was Dick Feagler’s funeral. I always regret not sneaking over and taking a peak into it to see who was there.

I like Feagler in the same way that I liked Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes. These were people that my grandparents liked. So I suppose my appreciation for Feagler is half nostalgia, half irony. I like cranks, grumps, letter-writers, street prophets. I like black coffee, donuts, diners, and blue plate specials – that’s Feagler’s world, the old newspaper world. Get up at 6 am and put your pants on, that kinda thing.

Yeah, I still found Feagler kinda funny, but like Jane Scott, while respect was always there, by the later ‘80s/’90s, both were set into almost caricatures  who were kind of resting on their laurels. 

Yeah, I remember seeing Jane at some random Grog Shop show back in the ‘90s, and I was kinda impressed. But no, she was never really cool. Jane was pure Cleveland, her career couldn't have happened anywhere else.

I remember seeing her sit right next to a huge house amp at the old Variety Theater for the entire duration of a Dead Kennedys show, taking notes for her review. Pretty impressive given her age at that point.

You also make a point of carving out an important space for The Damnation of Adam Blessing, a band that seems to get forgotten when discussing Cleveland’s pre-punk band gaggle. I find that interesting because in a way, they are the template for the way many Ohio bands don’t fit into any exact genre, and so often people don’t “get” them, or they’re forgotten later.

Damnation worked as a good local example for that whole psychedelic thing. They were very ‘60s. While the James Gang on the other hand, was more ‘70s— the cracks were starting to show with the ‘70s bands, they were harder and less utopian. Damnation feels more “Woodstock,” so they were useful to me in that regard.

I must add – for years I thought it was pronounced Laugh-ner, as in to laugh, ha ha, not knowing the Gaelic roots. Once I learned I was pronouncing it wrong, I still wanted to pronounce it like laughing, as it seemed to fit so darkly correct with how his life went, and Cleveland musicians’ love of bad puns and cheap comedians and such… Of course when I learned that it was an “ethnic” name, it made it that much more Cleveland.

Yeah, everybody says his name wrong. I used to too, and had to really force myself to start saying it as Lochner. But everybody says Pere Ubu wrong as well – it’s Pear Ubu.

I hate any desecration of any artwork, but I always loved the blowing up The Thinker statue story, as it seemed such a powerful metaphor of the strength of art, and Cleveland itself – the fact that The Thinker himself still sits there, right on top of the sliced-up and sweeping shards from the blast. It’s still there, right? And isn’t it true that there are like three more “official” Thinker statues in the world?

Yeah, I don’t condone what happened, but it is kinda cool. As a kid, the mutilated Thinker had a strong effect on me — I couldn’t have put it into words at the time, but I think it gave me a sense of the weight of history. It’s almost like a post-war artifact in Europe, something that is scarred. And yes, it’s still there outside the museum. And it’s a cast. I think there might be five official ones, but I’d have to look that up. If you are ever in Philadelphia, swing by the Rodin museum and check out The Gates of Hell.

I have only become a bigger fan of Laughner’s as the years pass. But there is something to the critique that perhaps he never really found his singular sound; that he was copping bits from Lou Reed and Dylan, and couldn’t keep a band together to save his life. And there was supposedly a feeling among some in the NYC scene that he was a bit of a carpetbagger.

Everybody has their influences, so Peter wasn’t in any way unique in that sense. I know he has a reputation for doing a lot of cover songs — which is true — but he also wrote a lot of originals, and there are some damn good ones which are still unreleased. “Under the Volcano” is just one such unheard song which I mention in my book, but there are others. As far as finding his own singular sound, he probably came closest to that with Friction. That group borrowed heavily from Television and Richard Hell, but also drew upon Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention. And when you think about it, those were really unlikely influences to juxtapose, and it created something original. Frustratingly though, Friction never achieved their full potential, as Peter was already losing it.

Yeah, Friction is kind of way up there with the “What if” bands… It’s interesting that for all his legend as a proto-punk figure, perhaps Laughner’s signature songs – Sylvia Plath” and “Baudelaire” – were gorgeous acoustic numbers. Though of course those early Pere Ubu songs were proto-punk and post-punk templates, somehow...

I honestly don’t know what happened with Ubu, as it is pretty distinct from Peter’s other work. Thomas isn’t really a musician, so we can only give him so much credit with how that sound developed. I honestly don’t know. There just must have been some sort of alchemy between the various players, and Thomas understood it and was able to encourage and guide it in the projects that followed over the years.

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You also didn’t really detail Pere Ubu’s initial breakup – was there just not much to say?

Yeah, I think I mentioned it, but no, I didn’t really get into it. Pere Ubu is kind of a story unto themselves. But it might be worth mentioning here that Home and Garden was an interesting project that came out of that Ubu breakup. And Thomas also did some solo albums, but I’m not as familiar with those.

Yeah, I saw Home and Garden a few times way back, good stuff. You’ve mentioned to me that there were some people that didn’t want to talk to you for the book; and that people were very protective of Peter’s legacy and/or their friendship with him. To what do you attribute that?

It has everything to do with Peter’s early death. Some people are very protective of how Peter is remembered. And I think some people weren’t exposed to Peter’s dark side, so when they hear those descriptions of him it strikes them as untrue. I think Peter showed different sides of himself to different people.

I kind of felt as I was reading that you might say more about Harvey Pekar, as not only is he an interesting figure, but the most famous graphic novelist from Ohio, and I assume an inspiration of your’s.

Pekar’s great. Especially the magazine-size issues he was doing in the late ‘70s up through the ‘80s. It was important to me to include him in the book. But Pekar was a jazz guy, and that’s a whole other story, a whole other tangled web.

So, Balloonfest! Hilarious. I almost forgot about that. But I do remember Ted Stepien owning the short-lived Cleveland professional softball team; and for a promotion, they dropped softballs off the Terminal Tower, and if you caught one you won $1,000 or something. Do you recall that? It’s one of my favorite fucked-up Cleveland stories. Balls smashed car roofs, and cops immediately told people to run away.

Yeah, I’m aware of that baseball stunt. I generally try and stay away from anything even remotely related to professional sports teams — it gets talked about more than enough elsewhere. Oddly, I am interested in athletes who work alone, like Olympic skiers. I’m attracted to that solitary focus, where the athlete isn’t competing against other teams or players, but more competing with the limits of the human body, competing with what the physical world will allow and permit, that whole Herzog trip. I’m also interested in the Olympic Village, as this artificial space that mutates and moves across time and across continents.

As far as Balloonfest, I still watch that footage all the time. I use it as a meditation device. I’ll put it on along with Metal Machine Music and go into a trance.

A few years ago, as I am sure you are well aware, noted British punk historian Jon Savage put together a Soul Jazz Records comp of Cleveland proto-punk called Extermination Nights in the Sixth City. I grew up in Cleveland, lived in Columbus for awhile, and I never heard it called “the Sixth City.” Have you? If so, what does it refer to?

Nobody calls it that anymore. It’s an old nickname back from when Cleveland was literally the sixth largest city in the country.

I’d guess Ain’t It Fun was a tiring feat to accomplish. But do you have another book in the works? And if someone wanted to option Peter’s story for a movie, would you sign on? I personally dread rock biopics. They’re almost universally bad.

Yeah, I’ve got an idea for another book, but it’s too early to talk about that. As far as biopics, they are almost always bad, rock or otherwise. Rock documentaries are often pretty lousy too. A recent and major exception would be Todd Haynes’ Velvet Underground documentary, which is just goddamn brilliant. A film about Peter in that vein would be great— but there’s just no footage to work from. He didn’t have Warhol or Factory people following him around with a camera. So unless somebody like Jim Jarmusch comes calling, I won’t be signing off on movie rights any time soon.

Unless there is more you’d like to say, thanks, and good luck with the book and future ventures!

Stone Church Press has a lot of projects planned for 2024 and beyond, and I encourage anyone reading this to support small publishers. There is a lot of very exciting stuff going on, but you have to work a little to find it. Amazon, algorithms, big corporate publishers — they’re like this endless blanket of concrete that smothers and suffocates. But flowers have a way of popping up between the cracks.

Aaron Lange, 2023 (Photo by Jake Kelly)

[firestarter91]

Dead and Buried - episode two

Colin looks particularly pretty in this scene, the way the light plays off his lovely face and makes his eyes sparkle, like Cathy I wanted to stare for a bit but unlike Cathy I don't want to ruin this guy's life.

Spoilery musings below.

We pick up the pace this week as Cathy carries on her campaign against Michael and things start getting serious. Half way through this series, I don’t feel much sympathy for Cathy, because the writers haven’t given me enough reasons to do so. Michael comes over as a decent family man grappling with his own internal struggles, he’s trying to get on with life and gain some personal freedom from a suffocating family environment.

The fact he did a bad thing many moons ago doesn’t change that. May be it’s partly because I’m still none the wiser what exactly happened with her brother and how did Michael end up in the situation he’s in now? Although I’m not sure it would make much difference to my feelings as he’s clearly rehabilitated himself. I’m planning on keeping my weekly viewings going rather than binge watching, I just hope this doesn’t go off the rails like The Killing Kind, the previous drama Colin did involving a guy with a dark past.

“I can explain” Cathy tells husband Raymie after being caught outside the front of the McAllister house. Well she does and it sounds exactly as bad as it looks, even her excuse that she's not fucking him but fucking WITH him, doesn’t win her any brownie points. She says she wants revenge, yeah we know. It’s funny how she goes from being all regretful about her actions to offended he’s followed her, like how dare you impinge on my private time whilst I stalk this dude and snoop in his house!

Cathy is also annoyed at her therapist, yeah so am I, I liken them to snake oil salesman. They make you pay good money to do nothing but ask bleeding obvious questions that any sensible person would ask, they supposedly listen, nod their head whilst you talk and then let you go without offering you any advice on what you should do and promptly book you in for another consultation. I just don’t get how that’s a job? You might as well chat to a friend and pay them, they’ll be about as much use and they might just offer you some sensible suggestions, like Cathy’s friend. Not that Cathy is listening to anyone about Michael.

Oh that explains the son’s reaction when he saw Raymie outside the bedroom window, I must have missed that he’s Andrew’s teacher and he thinks he’s in trouble for bunking off, Raymie now realises he’s got McAllister’s son in his class, what a handy coincidence. 😉

Uh oh trouble at home, his wife has found the lace panties that Cathy planted and she demands to look at his phone. He’s in a spot of bother here because whilst he’s not technically been cheating, the messages she finds (unless he's already deleted them) will be enough to condemn him as flirting (literally) with the idea of it. Oh that’s smooth and kind of a shit thing to do, blame the lad for the knickers lol, he even walks away leaving the phone in her hand until she asks does he want it back, that was a disaster well dodged (for now) but the son isn’t so happy, he’s heard them talking.

I love a bit of drunken dancing in the living room and Michael sure as hell needs a release, and that’s found in the bottle and music, he’s clearly unhappy. Next day he’s off with his son to attend a cult Brothers of Caleb meeting and singalong. Cathy is following them, turns out they’re going to initiate a new member as a ‘disciple’, he’s another repentant ‘sinner’ who by joining the brotherhood will have his life tied to serving the cult leader Michael’s father in law, Jack.

Cathy's friend Sally realises she's is out on the prowl again whilst on the phone to her and meets up with Cathy to ask why she’s on a stake out with her son in the back of the car. They can hear singing from outside so Cathy runs up close to take a look, “it’s worse than I thought they’re born again christians!’😂

Poor Michael is sitting there during the ceremony looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, he’s had well over a decade of this shite, having to listen to the ‘we are all sinners’ mantra trotted out by Jack and I don’t blame him for wanting to escape. Worse he can see his son being indoctrinated without having a chance to think or explore the world for himself and that scares him.

Sally tells Cathy she’s almost feeling sorry for Michael, it’s as if Cathy wants him off still killing people the way she’s behaving when the worst he’s done is seemingly join the God squad. Cathy doesn’t care she’s deaf to reasoned argument, at least Sally realises this and walks away. She’s had enough and wants to stay out of it, but in driving off she gets spotted by Jack, Michael and his son as they examine his car which Cathy has scratched with the words ‘cheater’ whilst she was outside the house. I know this is bad news for the friend as she’s going to be fingered as the culprit.

Cathy meets up with Sally a few days later at school, she tells Cathy she looked into his eyes and he seems ordinary, ‘you were caught in his tractor beams’ Cathy jokes (well who wouldn’t he does have such pretty eyes😊), she’s had a long talk with her husband, it’s all out in the open, and everything sorted and done and Michael is buried (not literally obviously), we know of course this is a load of bull.

Therapist again: “how does it end?”

“An eye for an eye” that’s her dream of how it goes, she wants every aspect of his life destroyed. She's on a revenge mission pure and simple, the therapist meanwhile simply pockets some more cash.

Another flashback and we discover that Michael was with a group of teenage boys, one of which was chasing after her at school and after an initial rejection she decides that kind of action is too good to ignore and they have a bit of a kiss and fumble in the back of his car one night, only to be caught by her irate brother Terry and they have a spat. First off I thought it was Michael who was kissing her but I think he was in the front of the car watching them and he tried to break up the fight? It’s rather confusing which one of them is actually Michael during the kissing scene and its aftermath.

Cathy arranges a heart to heart with Michael’s wife at the coffee shop (I just realised it’s called ‘Coffee and Crime’), I like how she manages to coax the wife to sitting down and talking about her own recent issues with Michael, ‘do we stick or do we twist?’ she asks the wife.

Whilst Cathy plants the seeds of further discontent, Michael is having an equally discomforting time with Raymie at school being taken to task about his son’s increased truancy, it’s clear he doesn’t really know what to do about it or say, his wife usually handles this stuff, he had no clue what was going on.

Michael tells Raymie he wants his son to look up to him, he admits that when he was younger he messed up, he was on the periphery of something, got involved and was punished for it. He makes it sound like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time not that he’s some cold blooded killer. We also discover that his son has no clue about his past and Michael doesn’t want to tell him until he’s older, well jesus the kid looks plenty old enough, he needs to tell him before everything goes to shit.

Meanwhile, Michael’s father-in-law is calling in a favour of a reluctant disciple, asking him to check up on the car they spotted driving off after the meeting and find out whatever else he can about her whilst he’s at it, God he’s such a dick.

Michael looks SO GOOD in that blue shirt and suit, wardrobe continue to do the most excellent work with Colin, it's simple but effective.

Is singing a big thing in Irish schools? I can’t remember ever doing that when I was at school, only at morning assembly.

Meanwhile dad has come around to poke his big fat interfering nose into his daughter’s private life and cause yet more trouble, now I’d tell him to bugger off and mind his own business and let me sort my own marriage out but she’s not that type. She’s as much under his control as Michael is and after a heart to heart, daddy says he’s going to find out what’s going on, leaving her all tearful and upset, thinking Michael’s up to no good even though she's convinced he would never have an affair. ‘He’s been straying away from the true path for some time now’ he warns, bloody hell what a nightmare, on the surface her family looks fine but it’s not.

Cathy has messaged Michael and offered a calming shoulder to cry on, he’s told her things are difficult at home but they agree to meet up for coffee, Michael’s wading into increasingly murky territory here, some flirty texting he may just about get away with if he plays his cards right but actually meeting up with that person is crossing yet another line. He knows this of course when he sits down and says ‘but we’re not doing anything wrong..ish?’ 😏 He looks so tempting.

I’m transfixed too much by the pretty to remember much of this conversation but Michael tells her about the knickers. It’s clear he still has no clue who she is but I can’t say that’s odd. She looks so different from those flashbacks, hair was long and dark, and she’s got twenty odd years on her face to grow and fill out as a woman and in any case if you’re not looking for something you tend not to see it. Why should he think it’s the same girl from when he was in his late teens whose now the woman sitting opposite him in a coffee shop intent on trying to destroy his life?

Michael gets a visit at the office from Jack who confronts him about his apparent infidelity, what a nasty git, the not so subtle threat is voiced, 'da' can take everything away from him if he misbehaves. He’s a murderer who got given a second chance by this family, no wonder he drinks, he’s so trapped and fucked he might as well be back in jail. Michael naturally has no clue who the woman was they saw at the house when dad shows him the picture, it’s kind of funny that he’s toying with doing something whilst being accused of actually already having done the deed.

We see Andrew is at home going online to search on Sally.

Is there anything worse than an overbearing, control freaky parent? Yes there is, an overbearing, control freaky religious zealot of a parent, no wonder Michael keeps a bottle of booze in his office desk at work.

Cathy is at a bar, drinking and dancing with Sally, they’re having a gals night out, she walks home afterwards to have drunken sex with her husband, they probably haven’t done it in a good while so he’s a happy bunny. Meanwhile Sally is staggering off to her house, fumbles with the keys outside her door, looks up and gets attacked by a bloke in what looks like a hoodie, he slams her head against the wall. She falls to the ground.

Michael comes home late and obviously drunk to be greeted by his wife, he says why did you tell your dad about the knickers, right then and there you see how suffocated and unhappy he feels with his home situation and I really felt for him. He sounded so broken and upset, her telling Jack their personal issues just piled on the emotional pressure.

His wife is okay but she’s too much under her dad’s influence, she notices he has cuts on the back of his hands, he says he fell over, ‘your dad is such a supersilious wanker’, he’s dead right. He also tells her he’s not having an affair and he’s not a murderer, they both head up to bed and their son appears suddenly from the lounge(?) downstairs (although wearing his black hoodie up he looks like he's dressed for outdoors) where he’s heard everything by the looks of it. Guess it’s a bit late now for Michael to have that talk Raymie suggested.

So the credits roll and we’re left with an interfering dick of a father in law convinced Michael’s having an affair, a strongly suspicious wife, his son realising his dad has a darker past than he thought, a seriously injured/possibly even dead best friend and two possible suspects in Andrew and Michael.

Despite the ending, I continue to feel sorry for Michael, I get Cathy’s upset about her brother’s early demise and seeing his apparent killer has set her spiralling but it's frustrating that two episodes in we still don’t really know what happened back then which is not making it easy to sympathise with her behaviour decades later.

Cathy’s coming over not as righteous but purely vindictive and unhinged, meanwhile Michael is struggling with an oppressively religious zealot of a father-in-law, a cowed wife and a suspicious angry son.

Religion at its worst can be like a cult, it sucks people in, steals their will power and self determination. There’s a price to pay if you try to escape, usually it means you're ostracised from family and friends, Michael was caught up in this "Brotherhood of Caleb" fairly early on by the looks of things and he’s being slowly suffocated by it.

Looking forward to catching up on Monday for the next episode and hopefully by then I'll find out some more about what Michael did to Terry.

[an-odd-idea]

Tumblr ate it before, here is the full narrative in all its fanficcy glory, except it was an actual dream that I actually had. Unintentional Succession and figure skating rpf fanfic about Ilia Malinin (the guy who skated to music from the show)

At the beginning of the dream, I somehow find myself in The Wilderness, I Guess, with no idea how I got there or what I was previously doing, as dreams tend to go. Some rich people bring me onto their boat and are sorta nice to me but the vibes are also way off, especially this one old guy, he reminds me of my impression of the dad from Succession, I think, and he starts acting like he thinks I was there to spy on him and not just hopelessly confused after getting lost and being invited onto his boat. I’m starting to get a little concerned about this whole situation, which I should have been a long time ago but my brain wasn’t working, but Ilia shows up out of nowhere like “no it’s cool, I know her” and invites me to come home with him and his family (the rich people on the boat)

I accept this impromptu invitation because in the dream, he and I go to the same college and kind of know each other but aren’t really close, and it still seems like a smart and wise decision at the time. Also I’m still confused in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of kinda intimidating strangers and at least I know who he is.

Immediately it becomes even clearer, his family is rich, like filthy, disgusting rich, he doesn’t even have any idea how rich they are, and half of them don’t either. Also, there is Tension afoot. I don’t know any details, of course, but I know #FamilyTension when I see it. Something about the grandfather getting old and who he’s going to pass the company on to, and everybody wants it, and everybody’s kind of an asshole about it and also just in general. Except Ilia who just seems a little lost in he middle of it all, like he’s not quite sure how he got there either. They’re kind of awful to him, but they’re just awful all the time.

“Like Succession,” I think. What a distressingly personal music choice. I wonder if they know.

I have not seen Succession, but I have seen a gif of the scene where the guy laughs and the other guy says “laugh at the same volume as everyone else- we didn’t adopt you from the hyena farm.”

Immediately, that happens. Verbatim.

Am I- are we- I look at Ilia. He looks back at me, frightened? Pained? Silently pleading with me to understand something a human mind can hardly be asked to comprehend?

I keep my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open.

Now, not only is the family kinda fucked up and, well, Succession-y, they’re also weird. They’re just weird. They’re weirdly quiet, like they’re tiptoeing around everyone all the time. There’s this weird, almost cult-like devotion to the grandfather who currently owns the company and who we only rarely see- they all hate him, but they also fawn over him, and he almost never leaves his office, a place that begins to hold such inexplicable dread for me that I can hardly stand to walk past the door.

They’re also weird about me.

“Just a friend,” Ilia said, but I don’t think the family got the memo because they’re acting like we’re getting married. Or… no, that’s not really the vibe, do they think he like “Congratulations, you’re my sister now, I just have to get the fam to approve” because that IS the vibe especially after they just sort of picked me up like a stray cat from the edge of the lake but like- what. Or do they think I’m trying to join their weirdo secret society grandfather-worshipping cult thingy, because I can assure them- anyway, whatever, they’re weird and I don’t think they like me.

His aunt is always scribbling notes whenever she’s around me and passing them on to the grandfather. I sneak a look once- “fidgets with hands too much while speaking; smiles too big” which were things I had just done as we spoke a second ago. For some reason, I’m less self-conscious and more… maybe starting to fear for my life. Just a little.

Maybe it’s just normal weird family stuff, but somehow it feels way more serious than that. It’s all giving me vibes of at least two movies and a music video where the guy brings a girl home and his family tries to like sacrifice her or something, except instead of some ritual I’ll be sacrificed on the alter of family image, I guess, also known as murdered for being a little awkward. I’ve been trying really hard to be polite and act like it’s all normal and stuff, but finally I have to ask, and finally there’s a moment with no family members creepily taking notes on my every muscle contraction.

“Ilia, be honest. On a scale of one to ten, how worried should I be about your family?”

And he’s like, “They’re not my family. They think they’re my family, and as long as they do, I’m- not safe, but safe-er. I can’t really protect you, but if they think I’m someone to them and you’re someone to me, I mean, I can probably keep you from mysteriously turning up missing?”

And I’m like, “Ilia.”

And he’s like, “You know Succession? You recognized the hyena farm line, at least. We’re in the show. We need to play along, and then we need to get out.”

And I’m like. I don’t know what I’m like. I’m just. Like.

And he goes on, “I’ve never fought anyone, but I’m a figure skater and they’re all oldish and don’t do anything except worry about inheriting the company and sabotaging each other- I can take them, hopefully. But seriously, they don’t want to hurt me, same for you as long as you don’t seem like someone who’ll hurt the family image, but if they find out I’m not actually family, now we know all this stuff about them and the company, and we’re not even supposed to be in this story… things happen. We’re just characters.”

“I’d like to get out right now.” I have grand plans of climbing out a window and making my escape that very night. I take another look at him and try to find my real memories, the ones that aren’t part of the show Succession, apparently. “We’ve never met in real life, have we. That’s okay, you get me out of here, and I’ll give you a ride to wherever your actual family is.”

“We can’t escape that way. We have to get to the right point in the story.”

“Well how did we get stuck in this stupid show in the first place?”

We’ve been whispering together in the darkened kitchen, but like a bolt of lightning, we’re illuminated by the light from the hall as his “aunt” stands silhouetted in the doorway.

“Dad wants to see you.”

I woke up shortly thereafter and didn’t get to find out what happened, but when I tell you I was scared

[eclipsewarrior101]

Thought process for Hatchetfield reverse with a twist

@toringo is my co maker and the artist for the au

I was thinking of how the au would effect the guy who didn’t like musicals black Friday and Nerdy prudes must die.

Wellll……this one is tricky.

For Black Friday:

there is no wiggly doll. There could he a Webby doll ( but I need to be careful cause I have seen other tumblr accounts already do this. Sooo….i need to not accidentally steal an idea. ) I’m thinking that it looks like a creepy little girl doll with spider eyes and a spider pet on her arm.

Things happen the same way except storylines aren’t in there or are different.

One idea I have is that Lex is trying to earn money to maybe find her sister. The idea basically is she knows she had a little sister cause her mom let it slip but refuses to tell her what happened. ( this will be dark later on story wise) Lying saying she gave her up in California. Ethan does still exist cause he’s was funny.

Another fun idea is that Wiley goes with Linda to go get these dolls cause he’s trying to help her with Christmas. ( I’m still debating whether he is immune to the dolls charms or not)

Linda won’t be The cult leader sooo I need to think of who to replace her with.

The scene with made in America I’m thinking is replaced with a very special person lol. Not John…. But John the ass will be in the story.

I feel Linda would get corrupted but Wiley is able to snap her out of it.

Becky I kinda want to replace Linda cause it would be funny. Maybe Tom joins her the webby doll promising to help Tom make Tim happy with Becky as a replacement for Jane ( I have no idea lol)

I don’t know if the president should be corrupt or he wants to use webby to have more power over the USA butttttt that’s fails cause “ webby is a manipulative bitch lol”

The lords especially wiggly has to go to the mall and try to stop the madness. He and webby get to have a fun sibling fight.

Nerdy prudes must Die:

This one I really have to think about

I kinda want the same thing to happen but the kids accidentally unleash webby. OR webby was the one who brought max back from the dead. ( she’s a bitch like that. And the other lords gave to stop her from messing things up.

It would be cool if Wiley came to help the kids explaining things.

Also. This is @toringo headcanon but Ted and Wiley are cousins. Sooo that makes Peter and Wiley first cousins once removed. So Wiley will want to help Peter and keep him safe.

Grace still gets a villain arc at the end.

Max either goes to webbys drowsy town or gets his soul sent to heaven by the lib ( still up to debate lol)

This is all I have right now. I need to chat with my friend to figure things out. Lol

( these ideas are not canon yet. Just ideas)

[valya-dudycz-lupescu]

A Little Goncharov for Thanksgiving

I learned about Goncharov the way I learn about most memes and pop culture, from my teenagers. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, we had a group chat spring up on Discord that included two family friends who were going to be joining us for the holiday from out of town. One of the topics of conversation turned to Goncharov, the imaginary film around which an active Tumblr fan community had sprung up, as if it had been a real, little-known cult classic from 1973 made by Martin Scorsese. 

It became a fun creative exercise—in the middle of the day, one of the kids would send a question about Goncharov: “What do you think about the relationship between Katya and Sofia?” or “What did you make of the clock tower imagery?” or “Goncharov… iphone or android guy?” To which someone else would playfully answer. 

This same kind of thing was happening on a massive scale on Tumblr, where artists created movie posters and promotional materials, composers posted songs and soundtracks, people posted deleted scenes and script fragments. There are reviews and academic papers, fictitious Wikipedia and IMDb listings, and A LOT of fan art.

Lynda Carter posted a photo on her Tumblr with Henry Winkler that she captioned, “Me and ‘The Fonz’ at the premiere of Goncharov (1973) at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.”

Discussions popped up about the characters and who would play them in the reboot. Posts were shared hundreds, then thousands of times. A Goncharov (1973) Lore Google Doc and Discord server were created to help keep the content organized.

Our family’s fan-favorite character was Ice-Pick Joe, so I wrote “Musings on Ice-Pick Joe” in between chopping veggies for stuffing and waiting for the sweet potatoes to roast, complete with some AI-generated art. That was four days ago, and the post has been liked and shared more than I anticipated, and I keep thinking about why that is.

Conversations around Goncharov have continued, and I find myself wondering what it is about this moment in time and this type of activity that continues to capture so many people’s imagination and engagement?

Tumblr is a hub for public fandom culture and community in a way that the other social media platforms are not. It’s where you can find discourse and fanfiction/fanart for almost anything.

Still, this is a little different and on a much larger scale. At a time when people are looking for Twitter alternatives, with the stress and joy of holidays approaching, what is drawing so many people in?

We talked about this over Thanksgiving: the way Goncharov allowed people low-stakes permission to create, to play to their particular strengths, to connect with other people, to escape reality for a moment, to build a new community. We talked about the shortcomings and challenges we saw: power dynamics, issues of race, etc.

It’s an evolving experiment, and as such, it has been shaped by the many variables involved and course-corrected each time someone notices a gap or opportunity: What would a musical look like? What if some of the actors had gone on Sesame Street or the Muppet Show? What if Gonzo played Goncharov and Miss Piggy played Katya? What would the remake look like set in 1980s NYC? What recipes might be created for the Goncharov cookbook? (I remember how much fun we had making the Forking Good cookbook.) There really is no end to what people can come up with. I’m waiting to see if Goncharov gets a Tom Gauld comic or a mention on Saturday Night Live. 

It seems relevant that role-playing games, both online and tabletop, have recently increased in popularity. Dungeons and Dragons was the cornerstone of Stranger Things, and 50,000 people attended Gen Con (tabletop game convention) in 2022. It’s not my world, although I’ve watched the joy my kids take in it. My energy goes into writing, but I can absolutely appreciate the fun of playing together. 

As a writer, I walk around with worlds in my head, but I don’t get to share them until they get published. Something like Goncharov, which was not an intellectual property “owned” by anyone, gives people permission to imagine and play.

I think it speaks to a need we have an human beings to experience connection, joy, wonder, and hope. We've always had those needs. People have been gathering around fires or tables, telling stories, for thousands of years.

Today, the hearth may be a computer or a phone, but the desire is not that different. My November began with the publication of Mother Christmas, my graphic novel, the secret origin of the Santa Claus story which is rooted in the ancient Muses, whose gifts inspire humanity. One of the questions my story attempts to answer is: Where does inspiration come from?

If we look at Goncharov we can see that inspiration comes from so many places. So much is possible when people given themselves permission to play, to shrug off the inner critics and outer trolls, and to imagine for a moment a different world that they have a part in creating. That is such a powerful and compelling idea.

Stories remind us that we are not alone, that we share struggles, and that we can overcome obstacles. There are so many challenges in the world right now.

Maybe Goncharov is a lens through which people are seeing themselves and each other, reminding us how much fun it is to make-believe and how powerful it can be to have a shared image of the world.

The first step in creation is imagining. Exercising that muscle, allowing ourselves to play and tell stories and make art is a worthwhile one, and I think it's one that we need to survive.  The Goncharov phenomenon gives me hope, because if we can have this many people put their energy into creating a whole world around Goncharov, just imagine what else is possible?

[plethomacademia]

Uhhh can I get 🔴, 🔮, and ⚽️ for Maeve?

Answering this meme while I pretend I am writing. Pre-emptively throwing in a jump because there's three and we know how this will go.

🔴 Red- What is a trait your OC has that those around them don't see very often? Is it seen by a rare few or completely overlooked?

Boring trope, but she is very insecure in relationships, especially when it comes to being loved/liked for who she is, not what she is. And she is terrified of asking for it.

Her cult loves her as the flesh of their god. This is her nightmare scenario.

I think Enver sees this insecurity on occasion. I am still deciding what he does about it but it's coming up soon! When she was insecure about her place in the alliance, he told her to stop pouting, so I expect it will go well! But I know deep down she never tells him she loves him because she expects to be rejected, that's why just saying he's her friend is scary enough.

Jaheira sees right through her bullshit for sure. Immediately. The second she joins the camp she pegs Maeve for the giant softy she is.

Astarion sees it only through sheer exposure to her. The night before they go to fight Orin when she thinks she's going to die to Bhaal is the only time she's open about it. That's why I'm going to write that scene one day because it's angstyyyy.

I think most of the party figures it out, she's a lot like Astarion after all and they see right through him. I could see Karlach missing it, only because they butt heads in act 3 so much and I think Karlach suffers from black and white thinking to a degree. She probably sees that brave front Maeve projects and takes it at face value only because Maeve truly is very blunt with Karlach and once Karlach finds out she worked with Gortash, I expect that colored her perspective on Maeve quite a lot.

🔮 Crystal Ball- What kind of future does your OC want to have? What would they do to make it real?

In the short term, she desperately wants to be a traveling story teller. I think she would love finding some kind of traveling circus gig and just being a side act. Like those people at renn fairs that heckle people when they walk by. She just wants to have small moments of human connection and make enough gold to live on.

She doesn't know it in game, obviously, but she did truly love running her cult when it came to the performance aspect. She was created to be convince people to kill, after all. She just wants to not run things for a while. She has been a leader her entire life.

To make it happen, I head canon that she and Astarion do the canon "travel the world" ending but she starts picking up small gigs to get started. Astarion thought it would be all cool stealing and being little goblins, but now he's partnered up with an aspiring Volo. He's a little shit about it.

Even longer term, there's that bard you can talk to that owns the music shop in Baldur's Gate and I think she would love to do something like that when she's ready to pick a city. Just work somewhere she can talk music all day, then play some random shows as she wants.

High elves live so long and she is still really young. Maybe she'll want more, but just getting to exist and experience the world on her own terms, share joy through story and song, that's the dream.

⚽️ Soccer Ball- Who is someone that your OC believes in and roots for? Are they private about their admiration or do they make it well known?

She rooted for Gort so hard she got stabbed in the head. She thought she was being slick about it, but when you aren't allowed to socialiize, well.

For in game, the obvious one is Astarion. Their relationship starts out very shallow but she ends up so impressed by how he sees a problem and just sets to solving it, even though he's usually out of his league. Even his act 2 "hey uh i think i'm falling for you whoops" episode, she thinks he is so brave for just saying that? She would have dumped him if she were in his shoes. That said, she would rather eat rocks than compliment that man to his face.

The real answer is Shadowheart. Maeve thinks Shadowheart is amazing. She talks about how Shadowheart is amazing. She thinks she is so strong, so resilient, so brave, so beautiful. Shadowheart also stood up to a god and she just did the thing. If the game let us do third act romances, Maeve would romance Shadowheart, but act one Maeve does not think she deserves Shadowheart (she deserves no one but she'll play with the fuckboy elf lol). But Maeve is a Shadowheart #1 fan very quickly and EVERYONE hears about it. In the end, Shadowheart is her first real friend.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, June 25

WILLOW: Hi, um, Tara, how are you? W-well, I-I was wondering, maybe, you would wanna go out sometime? For coffee ... food ... kisses and gay love?

~~Normal Again~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Little Vampire (Xander, Spike, M) by RebeccaHaskell

Checking In (Giles/Ethan, G) by sillybeagle

Seemed Easy At the Time (Giles/Etha, T) by sillybeagle

Trick or Treat (Buffy/Angel, M) by Scribes1015

It's Angel and Spike, nuff said (Angel, Spike, T) by Bl4ckHunter

Missing (Xander/Spike, M) by RebeccaHaskell

Faith's night in (Faith/multi, T) by JamesTheIceQueen

Firsts (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by EllieRose101

[Chaptered Fiction]

Epitaph, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Giles, G) by thisismyplayground

Heaven's Help., Chapter 13 (Ensemble, T) by IAmMattis

Gemini, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Angel, T) by BuildMeUpButtercup-x

Best Wishes, Chapter 30 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Kanita

Spiderwebs, Chapter 28 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Willow25

Inner Demon = Literal Cat, Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Desicat

Aspectus, Chapter 23 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Kirinin

The Suite, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by hulettwyo

A Slayer's Fortune, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, R) by VoronaFiernan

Xanderpocalypse, Chapter 7 (Multiple crossings, FR15) by AxelBlade

Seeing Clearly, Chapter 189 (Multiple crossings, FR13) by JoeB

The Littlest Bit, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, R) by violettathepiratequeen

The Grapevine, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by ClowniestLivEver

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Sunnydale After Dark First Anniversary Collaborative Banner by Various Artists

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Video: RAPPER REACTS to "Let Me Rest in Peace" from Buffy Musical by Rob Robbie

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King (GBA) Longplay [536] by Diamond Longplays

[Reviews & Recaps]

GILES IS FINE!!!! - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reaction - 7x8 - Sleeper by TheLexiCrowd

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 4X03 REACTION I First Time Watching by EvilQK

Buffy the Vampire Slayer S1 E12, Fezzelwhig's Reaction by Fezzelwhig's Forum

Buffy The Vampire Slayer | S01 E11 Out of Mind, Out of Sight | Blind Reaction by Vic

Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Season 7 Review and Analysis by your cult boyfriend

BUFFY vs ANGEL: WHICH IS THE BETTER SERIES!? by Elie Moses

PODCAST: The I in Team by Buffy the Vampire Straya

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[Community Announcements]

August Fic A Day Challenge Discussion by Twisting the Hellmouth

[Fandom Discussions]

Question What if? Hybrid creatures by multiple authors

What If: Hank Summers? by multiple authors

Unpopular Opinion: s6 is the best season by multiple authors

Why didn't Cordelia retain her previous memories in the alternate universe she went to in "Birthday"? by multiple authors

Rewatch, Season 7... god I hate Kennedy by multiple authors

What is your favorite Buffy episode? by multiple authors

Anyas death by multiple authors

Do you think Buffy wants her cake and eat too with regard to Spike by multiple authors

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[direwombat]

Got any deets on the rare happy ending AU for Syb? 👉👈

al;fjkaldfkj YES! It's her No-cult au, or as l call it in my googledocs, the "jakesyb country song romance au" that was born entirely from a day at work spent listening to country music. it exists squarely in the same genre as all those "cowboy romance" mass market paperback smut novels you find in the book/magazine section of grocery stores and i don't mean this as any kind of knock to it, i genuinely love those kinds of books they're so fun

under the cut because this got longer than i thought it would lmao

BUT. premise is that jacob is the head hand on john's ranch (which is an actual ranch and not just a ranchion), and by head hand, i mean jacob is the only person who actually keeps the place running because we know john does fuck all when it comes to any kind of manual labor. joe is still a preacher, but he's just a regular one. no cult at all. syb is still the new girl in town, she still moves in with her brother (who is a member of joseph's congregation), and she still joins the sheriff's department. but things are just. normal.

she sees jacob around town -- at the spread eagle, the general store/farmer's market, at the occasional VA meetings joey drags her to at St. Francis -- but she never really interacts with him other than the occasional eye contact or nod. until human remains are discovered somewhere on the ranch property. nothing like a romance that develops over the course of what turns into a murder investigation :)

there's a bit of drama where jacob is arrested under suspicion for the murder, but they don't have enough evidence to hold him, so they end up letting him go. but also at that point, the reputational damage is done and there's one scene i have where he gets into a fistfight at the spread eagle, and it's syb he calls to pick him up after mary may kicks him out.

of course, he's innocent and syb ends up apprehending the actual culprit (don't ask me who it is idk i haven't gotten that far d;lfakjsdf) and there's some dramatic climax where one or both jacob and syb nearly die but they're fine and they get a nice happily ever after

[thathermitweirdo]

More songs I think fit with The Silver Sun because I actually did update a chapter of my Grumbo vampire AU and now I want to feed into the brainrot of TSS

Also, another huge thank you to @sweetest-honeybee ! First, they clarified a TON on the song lyrics of ‘Evelyn’ by Kim Tillman and Silent Films because my brain was far too tired to examine it in detail and point out everything. And a SECOND huge thank you to them because uh they drew MORE TSS art (like how do I deserve this I feel like a creepy stalker cause I have all the art you did for TSS saved in my phone 😭) but please if you haven’t already, GO FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE TO THEM ON EVERY PLATFORM YOU CAN GOGOGO

Alright now to the actual songs

Hello World - Louie Zong

The first half of the song feels like Xisuma at the start of his life, when he was dropped off on the Hermitcraft server with nothing and no one (besides Ex but let’s be honest he isn’t much help for existential crises)

The second half, referencing the ‘creator’ feels more like Xisuma arguing with himself before eventually giving in to his mother’s will, giving himself up to join the cult of the silver sun.

Two Time - Jack Stauber

The first bit of the song really just feels like Xisuma in the beginning of the book. “We could leave the lights on, sun tan” haha you get it because it’s the silver sun, and it’s the sun, and..ha..ha….yeah okay moving on.

“Something bugs me ‘bout the way you lick your envelopes” The hermits start to realize something is wrong with X, something isn’t right. Like he’s hiding something.

“So hopped up that I can’t pretend” he’s terrified for the server, his friends, family, making it hard to pretend things are okay.

“Whose heart could I break today?” Feels like Sylvia almost taunting X, this line mostly reminds me about the scene when Xisuma rushes to Ex, who put on the mask and was now brainwashed, before sobbing in his brother’s arms.

I can go on, but I’ll stop here for now

Fighter - Jack Stauber

The first time the chorus plays, I imagine Ex is the fighter, as he’s the first to be brainwashed. Xisuma is referred to as the ‘lover’ (not in that way) as he prefers not to fight his only family member. Of course the next line ‘And maybe then you’ll feel some control’ refers to Sylvia/the watcher and her control over Ex.

Then the next time the chorus comes around, the two siblings have switched. Now Xisuma is the fighter, on his mother’s side, willing to kill his brother. While Ex is now the ‘lover’ (still not in that way) and must find a way to save his brother.

Icicles - The Scary Jokes

Another song reminding me of the lovely silver Xisuma. The first part of the song sounds like his mother singing to him, praising him as her perfect creation. “Get in your zone, don't even look at them at all. Their shallow observations will only stall the transformation. You've become art, how could they even start to see. Beyond your presentation when they've got no imagination?”

The next part is Xisuma singing to his brother as they fight. “But I admit it would be easier to be relieved of all this shame and not have to wear it on my sleeve. I imagine it's quite nice for you To have so many chances, oh-so-many ways To be redeemed.”

I don’t want to write out this whole song, but I highly suggest you listen to it. I believe this one might be one of the lesser known songs on this list, so you kinda need to hear it to see the vision-

Separate Ways - CentaurWorld

I can’t believe I forgot this one in my original list, but this is actually what inspired the ending of TSS! Yeah. An original Netflix musical series about a war horse and colorful centaurs. Inspired a fanfiction ending.

Mostly the lines “I was searching for you, and now, I am afraid, I have a purpose here, And we must go our separate ways

But I have faith in you” mostly this is Xisuma talking to his brother, telling Ex he needs to stay behind to help the other players who have been freed from the cult. And he has faith that Ex will be able to lead the hermits in the meantime

Two Birds - Regina Spektor

I think this one doesn’t need any comments lol

Alien Blues - Vundabar

It’s the entire song. I can’t even describe it. It’s just. It’s TSS. And also the line “the sun is fun” gET IT CAUSE ITS THE SILVER SUN

Okay I’ll stop

But seriously, it just feels like the perfect mix between Ex and Xisuma in the song lyrics. It’s hard to truly point out, because it’s a very short song with about eight lines of lyrics, but it’s still there.

Turn the lights off - Tally Hall

“To see how bright the fire inside of us burns” woah do you get it because of fire and there’s silver fire

I’m sorry, I will actually stop. That’s just my two last brain cells laughing at anything with sun, silver, or fire now because TSS broke me

“But all good devils masquerade under the light” this line reflects how Sylvia presents herself as a god, a savior to players, when in truth she is very much evil

There’s not much that reminds me of TSS in this song, but I still really like it lmao

Alright, now it’s your turn! I wanna hear any songs you all think fit with TSS, and your explanations! Truthfully if the song just has the word ‘silver’ in it, it’s good with me 👍

I would love to expand my music taste and see some of your suggestions, so go right ahead!

[gayest-non-canon-showdown]

Khatha from Midnight Museum. (Spoilers Ahead) (Also Very Long I'm So Sorry)

Look first he brother-zones himself when he meets this strange guy (Chan) with magic powers that he's obviously into but instead of kissing he asks if they can become sworn brothers instead

Then Chan's pwoers get discovered by their village and he basically becomes a god to them and is thus alienated from Khatha. They get in a fight, Khatha tries to join the army after being told it is a way to "win one's beloved," unintentionally leads the army to go execute Chan who curses Khatha to immortality.

Khatha does not cope with this at all and spends literally a hundred years just holding Chan's corpse and crying. Eventually he's found and starts a museum of cursed items, etc, etc. Then about 200 years after he met Chan, he's just walking down the street when he passes this guy who looks exactly like Chan. Like carbon copy the same. And he chases after him and sees him leaving a flower shop with a bouquet of Lily of the Valley (which is like a recurring symbol of the return of a beloved throughout the series). Romantic music is also playing with slow motion and everything (except they're not canonically a couple).

Long story short, Chan-look-a-like is actually a guy named Dome with zero memory of Khatha and ends up working at the museum and other plot things happen. Khatha discovers that Dome actually has no memories at all until a few months back, where he apparently came from the sky and took over this guy's life without realizing it. He's also spent multiple scenes now just like watching security cam footage of Dome and crying. Khatha then buys Dome a crystal anklet that he paid a couple billion dollars USD for, in order to protect Dome from his own power (Dome's magic). He puts it on Dome's ankle in like the most romantic way except it's "technically" not romantic.

Long story short, Dome ends up in a coma and trapped in limbo. It turns out that Dome isn't Chan but someone completely different (they're like some angelic beings/probably part of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse). Khatha gets told by the embodiment of Death that he needs to focus on what he has now (Dome) instead of focusing on the past (Chan). Khatha tries everything to bring Dome back. The apocalypse happens. Chan is resurrected into Dome's body via a cult's ritual. Chan kills Khatha. Khatha ends up on a meteor with Dome in front of the dying corpse of God. They talk about wanting to stay together (but also with the rest of the gang too) and Khatha is then convinced that he needs to go back to the world to save it and allows God to send him back but not before a hug (also Khatha might be God now).

Plot stuff happens. Khatha has to kill Chan and they have a soft moment together. Dome is sent to another universe where he's a soldier in WWII. Khatha is like determined to find him and rejects an offer from Death to simply forget about Dome and become God (in the way that Death wants him to do at least). He embarks on this whole quest to "find his missing piece" and that "there's someone waiting for me." He finds Dome and they run off together into the sunset in the middle of a battlefield.

All of this, with zero confirmation of their relationship beyond subtext (as far as I'm aware they're not even word of God canon. like the show is 100% marketed as a bromance and technically remains as such and the creators afaik haven't even teased them being romantically together). This is despite their two main narrative parallels being Adam and Eve and a gay couple. Also despite the fact that the actor playing Chan/Dome is like very well known for all of his queer roles and is like super famous for that. AND YET................

Thank you for your submission!