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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Porky Pig Black and White Birthday Special!

H-h-hello you happy people! And it’s time for my first birthday special for Looney Tune! While I covered some with Tex’s birthday last week, this is the first of these specials i’ve done to cover one of their stars.. and it’s apporirate it starts with their first big one: Porky Pig!

Yes for those of you who didn’t know, and until a few months ago that included me turns out Porky wasn’t always a second banana who still had an iconic habit of closing out shorts with his signature “T-t-that’s all folks!’. He was Warner Bros first big star and mascot. Like Daffy would do in Porky’s own shorts he started out as a sidekick in shorts for Beans the Cat

No one Brak, that’s why eventually Beans, who was a diet Mickey outside of his first short, which we’ll get to in a moment, got the boot while the stuttering adorable pig got the starring role instead. Porky was the studio’s big headliner for years and years.. but most wouldn’t know it. Outside of Porky in Wackyland, none of his shorts without Daffy or Sylvester really got a lot of play on Cartoon Network or other repackages, likely because most were black and white and for whatever reason they didn’t mix them in. But after seeing oh so many in the menu for Looney Tunes on max I was super curious, and thus super excited for this day to come so I could take a look and see how they held up, holding off watching them so they’d be fresh. And outside of three shorts: his first appearance, one suggested by my friend Blah and one picked by my Patreon Emma, as one of the perks for my patreons is getting to pick a cartoon when I do one of these 10 cartoon specials, I just went with my gut, what sounded interesting or what have you, avoidnig the ones where he was Daffy’s sidekick and what not to focus soley on porky hamself to see how he stacked up alone.

How’d it turn out? Well join me after the cut for a nice pile of ham, bacon, sausage and other pork products as we dig into everyone’s favorite pig. Well almost everyone I have my own favorites.

Yes yes you are sweetie. Reviews of 10 Porky Shorts, all but one in black and white, under the cut. Trigger warning: One of these shorts involves attempted suicide Yes really. So if that’s a trigger for you, please avoid this review entirely or if you want to just avoid that specific entry, the one on Porky’s romance. Thank you.

1. I Haven’t Got A Hat (1935): Bope A Dope A Dope Dope

As I mentioned Pre-Porky, Warner didn’t have a star to compete with Disney, and given Disney was so character based, and a lot of these shorts were coming out at the same time Disney was spinning Donald off into his own series giving them TWO huge stars, it was clear Warner needed at least one to complete. So they came up with a plan: a knock off of Our Gang, aka what would later be dubbed The Little Rascals, starring a bunch of animal kids to see if one or all caught on. As you can tell one did but as the intro made clear it took them a few shorts to realize it.

The short is about a school recital to raise money for the teachers, just in case you thought them being underpayed was a new thing. So it’s really an excuse for four diffrent segments of hyjinks following a diffrent kid or kids each. Our first is the reason this one is here, porky’s introductoin where he stutters, and struggles throught he midnight ride of paul revere. It’s alright mostly do to his animated actions like the above seen simulating hi mriding his horse. Not bad but like a lot of Porky jokes it relies on his stutter which wasn’t funny to me as a kid or now as an adult, and comes off pretty inesnitive in hindsight, especially as the stutter was a medical condition of his voice actor that forced him to retire and be replaced by Mel Blanc after “Porky’s Romance”, which we’ll get to.

The other three bits are likewise decent: Kitty, a small cat, nervously makes her way through mary had a little lamb next, whic is fine enough. My faviorite is after here, Ham and Ecks, two puppies performing the title number, which is mostly funny because they sing like normal kidddies.. except after saying the title name with Ecks suddenly going in very low. it’s not bad.

Finally we have Beans and Oliver Owl. Beans wants to get back at Oliver for not sharing Candy so he puts a dog and cat in his piano. It’s colossal, it’ stupendous.. it’s mediocre! As is the whole short, not bad bits, but only the title track is super memorable. It is easy to see why Porky stuck out the most though with his stutter and neat design. As mentioned it would take warner a few shorts to realize his appeal but once he did he was off to the raises and the next three shorts are all from the very next year.

2. The Blow Out (1936): Insert Silly Jig Music Here

This one is simple but it works: A mad bomber, what bombs in broad daylight, is setting up time bombs and being hammy. Meanwhile Porky, whose still a kid in this one, wants a big old soda float and only has half the money, but after helping a guy pick up his cane on relflex, starts helping people pick up their items. You can see where this is going and the climax is damn fun as you’d expect from Tex Avery. The runner of Porky doing a silly little dance with a catchy musical sting as he trops the pennies he gets in his pocket is also pretty neat. Not the best he’s done, given I did a whole birthday special last week he’d get much better, but still some fun silly stuff.

3. Plane Dippy (1936): Spin It! Even better, with a simple premise: Porky joins the army, we get some hyjinks as he does the tests and then he’s assigned to dust a remote plane that Kitty ends up accidently directing when talking to her dog. There’s some really fun screwball stuff here, though the ending is a bit weak, everything else is pretty strong. The pattern for the last three holds: not the best thing i’ve seen from Disney, Warner or MGM, but pretty neat.

4. Porky In The North Woods (1936): Turtle Paddlin

This one’s a disney style picture as Porky sets up an animal refuge, only for an egotistical hunter to outright ignore his signs and presumed legal right and set up traps then try and kill Porky for daring to. undo his traps.. in an area outright labeled as an animal sanctuary. I’d say just hunt somewhere else but as the modern republican party has proven Stubborn assholes afraid of change won’t just go away or obey the law. The animals return Porky’s kindness by kicking hte guys ass, the best bit being some turtles grabbing some paddles and giving him what for, to the point I screencapped that bit specically.

But other than the Climax it’s just alright, but the hammy villian does help elevate this one.

5. Porky’s Romance: I made a Huge Mistake

This one was one I picked out I knew wasn’t on Max but curious about Petunia’s first apperance, I added it to the rotation anyway.

I’m not sugarcoating it because this short dosen’t deserve it: This is the worst of the shorts i’m covering here today. It is pure awful distlend into 7 LONG minutes.

As some of you may recall, back when I did my first shortravaganza for Donald Ducks birthdy, I reviewed Donald’s Diary, the last Daisy short and one with some pretty cute Donsy stuff but ends with him reconsidering proposal like a jackass because he asasumes marriage will be terrible and she’ll turn abusive and “GASP” make him do chores like a responsible partner. It’s one half a good short, and one half a really bad short.

You want to see the truly terrible version of that done years earlier, on less of a budget and only satisfying at hte very end? No. Well I didn’t either but that’s what I got. The short starts okay, with a bit introducing Petunia in am eta way. But the short itself after that little meta bit?

The short has Porky lovingly picking out choclates and a ring for Petunia. Petunia in this short.. is a horrible monster who dismisses him out of hand and only lets him court her to get his choclate, her dog barks at him trying to get some, so their all assholes, and she outright laughs at his proposal.

It’s here where I needed a trigger warning, as Porky tries to kill himself over it. So we have a woman using a prospective partner for finacials and her real intentions driving him to suicide. I.. why would you put this in here. How is this funny? or entertaining? Or anything I want to watch in a looney tune? I don’t want to watch Porky get depressed and try and hang himself. No one wants that and if you do, please get some help.

He hten has a dream, hence the comparison, of an awful wedded life with Petunia where he does everything, and she GASPS puts on weight.. even though...

youtube

He wakes up, finds Petunia likes him now but leaves, takes the choclates and kicks the dog. Haha he’s sitll not a good person.

As you can tell, this short is throughly miserable. It’s not funny, it’s not tearjerking, it uses sucicide for some reason and takes a dark tone, and is VERY sexist saying “Well women be like this you know” it feels like. It also makes VERY light of domestic abuse, and while that was the style at the time it dosen’t make it any better. Tackling either suicide or domestic abuse is fine, their very important issues.. but don’t put them in your looney tune, for god’s sake. I do not get the tone they were going for but I hate it. I HATE THIS ONE. Do not watch it it bad. Let’s please move on.

6. Porky’s Garden (1937): It’s A Me! An Itallian Sterotype!

My good friend Emma, whose now one of my patreons, picked this one mostly because it popped up on youtube when she did a youtube search. ironically she herself is itallian and i’m 100% convinced she had no idea what this cartoon contained: Porky versus an itallian sterotype for a county fair prize. Now is this the worst thing Looney Tunes has done? Nope the censored eleven exist, Porky’s Romance exists and Loontics unleashed exists, so i’ts not the worst but it’s still just very cringe inducing that the only joke the guy has is “laugh at the evil foreigners funny accent” It’s not very good, not worht your time, and has weird popeye joke for some reason.

7. The Case of the Stuttering Pig (1937): The Creampuff in the Third Row This one could’ve been done for Halloween, as Porky deals with a lawyer turned into a monster stalking him and Petunia.. whose possibly his sister here which somehow makes Porky’s romance even worse but given the unviersal adaptor cast of the looney tunes, i’m assuming it wasn’t. That short is horrible enough own without that little chesnut. The short is dripping with atmosphere but on the whole is just okay, though the runner about the villain insulting a guy in row three only for that guy to get even at the end and save the pigs is pretty great not going to lie.

8. What Price, Porky? (1938): Daffy!

I purposefully chose not to have as little of other looney tunes as possible, in order to make this Porky’s day. As you can tell for the most part that’s been a mistake but even the one with Daffy is just okay, but at least has a creative premise. Porky is a farmer, a surprisingly common theme, and some local ducks are stealing his Chicken’s corn. So while he tries to ask them nicely not to, the general, played by daffy, attacks. Sadly he’s barely in it but we do get some neat gags and it’s far more of a ride than the last few. The ending is bad, the ducks win despite being the antagonists, but still pretty fun. Thankfully we’ll be getting more Daffy in April.

9. Porky’s Hare Hunt: Halfway To Bugs

As you can tell this day ended up being kind of a disapointment: Porky just isn’t the most intresting leading man and ended up working better as a straight man. I still genuinely love the character, but it’s clear there was only so much you could do with him in the lead and by the end here, he was either being sidelined so Chuck Jones could do something else like the last one or made the foil to someone goofier often daffy but our last two, and today’s two best, this one being secon dbest, prove whyt hey’ve stuck to that since.

This one has him hunting a Rabbit whose a bit nuts and utterly delightful, a prottype for bugs.. and for woody woodpecker, whose va he shared, and Screwball Squirreel. THANKS...FOR...THAT... but unlike screwy, this rabbit at least is being hunted, so we get a fun breezy short with some goofy antics and a loveable protgangsit going up against Porky as the antagonist. Good stuff.

10. Porky in Wackyland: Ending on a High

As I said this ended up being kind of a slog. I wanted to honor Porky by showing his solo career and instead found it dated with a few good shorts.. but only a few really held a candle to the disney stuff going on at the time or the warner stuff to come later like Porky’s Hare Hunt and the Blow Out. Otherwise it’s pretty standard outside of the previous entry.. and there’s only one true masterpiece. This one. Porky in Wackland.

Porky in Wackland is just Bob Clampett going nuts for 7 minutes and it’s glorious to watch. Porky is hutning for the last Dodo and ends up in the utterly deranged and wonderous wacky land. The only bit that does not work in this entire 7 minute orgy of weirdness is a refrence to the jazz singer with a creature screaming mammy that’s a slight caracture of a black person. I’ve seen much worse but i’ts still eesh. But unlike some shorts, that dosen’t slow it down for long and it’s almost etnirely just fun, utterly batshit stuff and a great chase with the dodo himself at the end and one hell of a warner brothers logo gag. Check this one out, it’s admired for a reason. Tremendous stuff. Should be on max with.. that bit.. edited out.

So that was a look into Porky’s solo career and yeah, I can see why he’s better as a straight man. I still love the guy though and he has lasted as long as his brothers while others from this time were forgotten> He’s still a good character.. he’s just better paired with Daffy or someone else, part of a team. As a solo act.. he’s just okay but as part of a group.. he’s sensational.

If you liked this review, reblog it, follow me for more and join my patreon. Until then...

#looney tunes #porky pig #porky pig's birthday #petunia pig #daffy duck #what price porky #the blow out #haven't got a hat #plane drippy #the case of the stuttering pig #porky's romance #porky's hare hunt #porky in wackyland #porky's garden #porky in the north woods

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lovinlikeloki · 3 years ago

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The Lone Wolf

Masterlist // 05

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 4.2k

I was in my wolf form when my cage was being opened, I looked to the twins' cells, Wanda nodded to me ever so subtly, flickered her hands slightly and I knew. It was time. The guard opened the barred door and I took my chance, I dug my claws into his chest, he began bleeding and I pushed harshly past him. I turned back to my human form and knocked him over the head hard enough to knock him out.

I took the keys to the twins' cells from his unconscious body and swung them around my left index finger. I smiled to the twins and they smiled back.

"So..." I smirked at them, "Who wants to escape from some science Nazis?"

I shoved the key into the lock of Wanda's cell and turned it, opening the door and she smiled at me, she ruffled my hair as she left the cell and we moved onto my beloved's cell. I put the key in and turned it impatiently, wanting to see him free. When the door opened he spared no time running over to me and engulfing me in his arms.

"I knew you could do it mi prințesa," he said into my hair and I pulled back from the hug.

(My princess)

"Of course, mo chroí, have I ever failed you yet?" I quirked an eyebrow at him.

(My heart)

"Enough," Wanda interrupted his answer, "You'll have time for all that when we are gone."

"She makes a point, a stór," I looked in my love's eyes before turning away.

(Darling)

"Wanda, you got the cameras in here, you have to do that before every room we enter, even then they probably know that we're escaping. Piet, I need you to get me a gun, as quick as you can, without getting caught. I'm busting us out of here and I don't care how many people's blood I spill as long as we get out alive," I order, I may be younger than them, but our escape was mostly my plan and they don't have any less respect for me because of my slight age difference.

"Got it," they replied before doing as asked. Wanda fucked with the camera in the next room and we took down the guards, Pietro picked up a gun and threw it to me, I caught it and felt the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I fiddled with the trigger.

I nodded to them and we began moving through the base. We made quick work of the guards that tried to capture us, a bullet shot here, some telekinetic intervention there, all in all it there didn't seem to be any problems.

We made it to the back exit and began leaving. That was when it happened. When we failed. When we were split up. We were running as fast as we could, leaving the god forsaken place when I turned around, just for a second, and saw Wanda missing.

"Mo ghrá, I said, "Where's Wanda?"

Pietro looked behind him and saw her gone as well, "I will find her," he told me before giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"Be quick," I told him, "Be safe. Come back to me."

"Always, malen'kaya Volchitsa."

And with that he turned and ran back to find his sister while I kept running away.

I jolt awake, sitting up and gasping for air, eyes wide. It was just a nightmare... no, not a nightmare, a memory. That day was the last I saw of them. The last I saw of him. I didn't even get to say a real goodbye. Now he's gone.

My panting and shaking awakens Wanda, she sits up slowly before taking my hands in hers. She smiles sadly at me as tears stream down my face.

"Este în regulă draga mea, ești bine, totul este în regulă," she comforts me.

(It's okay my dear, you're okay, everything's fine)

"Níl sé, níl gach rud i gceart. Tá achan rud ag titim as a chéile arís. Ní thig liom thú a fhágáil. Fuair duine againn bás an uair deirneach," I sob to her.

(It's not, everything's not okay. Everything's falling apart again. I can't leave you. One of us died last time)

"Nu, nu este. Ultima data a fost diferită. De data aceasta vom rămâne în legătură. Mi voi fi niciodată mai mult decât un telefon depart."

(No, it's not. Last time was different. This time we will stay in touch. I will never be more than a phone call away)

Phone call. Phone call. My mind sobers as I realise what must've happened back home and I haven't even taken the time for a phone call.

"I- I have to go," I say, slipping out of my mother tongue and into English, stepping out of bed and grabbing my phone.

"Where are you-" I cut Wanda off.

"I need to make a phone call."

"Fianna, it's late."

"I have to."

With that I leave the room, I don't know where to go and so I just kinda linger in the hallway, pacing back and forth. I unlock my phone and go to my contacts, I scroll until I hit it, 'Eo' it's my contact for Eoghan. It's not what I would want my father figure's number as, but I try to keep it professional so...

I hit call and wait as the phone rings. Once. Twice. And on the third he picks up. I let out a breath as he greets me.

"Hello? Fianna? Are you okay?" he asks me.

"Ye-yeah I am," I say before biting the drawstring of my hoodie, "That's a lie. I'm, I'm not okay Eoghan," I confess to him.

"Talk t' me. What's wrong?"

"I uh, I had a nightmare," I tell him, shoving my spare hand into the pocket of the hoodie.

"Okay, nightmare," he repeats and I can practically see him nodding in understanding, "Do you want to talk about it Fi, or do you just want someone to talk to?"

I shake my head, knowing he can't see it, "Talk to someone. I actually called you to, um, to apologise. I know that you probably got dragged into my mess and I wanna make sure that you and Orlaith and the rest of you are doing alright."

There's a slight hesitation before Eoghan speaks again, "What are you talking about?"

"I mean when the feds showed up... right after I busted out of the Raft," I say slowly, confused by his confusion.

"No one showed up here Mactíre," Eoghan assures me, slipping in my merc name. "I haven't a clue what you're on about. What do ye mean busted out?"

"Okay, look, when Wanda called me I was gonna fight a couple of her friends, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well basically it all went down in this airport runway. To be honest with ye there was like twelve of us all together and it looked more like a scrap between a few chavs in a Tesco car park than a fricken civil war between the Avengers."

"Okay," Eoghan laughs at that, which was my intention, because he won't be laughing in a second.

"Basically there was this thing called the Sokovia Accords, it basically bans the Avengers from fighting without their ma and da, a bunch of governments, saying they can. Mister America and his old bestie broke that rule and so they became criminals, I and some others helped and that made us all criminals."

"Heh, I'm sorry, what the fuck?" Eoghan asks in a slightly higher octave than usual, yeah, he's pissed at me.

"Yeah... and so we were sent to this superhero jail that was in the middle of the fuckin' ocean. After a couple o' days Stars and Stripes teamed up with some Emo Hello Kitty looking fella and the freakin' Black Widow to bust us out. We're staying in Wakanda right now."

"Okay... let me get this straight," Eoghan says, exasperatedly. "You, and some of America's little mascots, fought the other half of America's mascots. Then you were thrown into a jail cruise ship-"

"It wasn't quite that luxurious Eo, I had a shock collar on," I interrupt with a deadpan tone.

"You fucking what?! Let me continue, you were thrown into a submarine jail, with a shock collar on. Couple o' days later you get broken out of said submarine jail. And now you're staying in a third world country?" Eoghan questions, clearly regretting emotionally adopting me. I don't blame him either, I'm a real problem child.

"I- technically yes. But I'm not coming home is the main point here."

"Why? Why not? Fianna this place is your home, we're you family."

"You are," I agree, fiddling with the zipper of my hoodie nervously. "But if I show up back home then word will get out where I am. I don't want to endanger my family and their jobs. Trust me. Besides, I have a place to stay."

"Where? Where the hell are you staying that would be safer than here?"

"Listen, I hate it as much as you do... probably more. I'm going to New York to stay with... Stark," I sigh, stopping my fiddling.

"Stark? Why would you do that?" Eoghan asks incredulously.

"Because it'll keep us all safe. Me away from that floating ocean pokey and the feds away from you. Trust me, it's for the best."

"But Fianna, you hate him. What about what he did? Don't you remember the pain it caused you? The pain that you caused? Mactíre," he says dangerously.

"Eoghan," I say in a low voice, laced with anger, "Don't go there. I don't want to do this, but it's for the best, if it were up to me I'd be going home... or Madripoor."

"Jesus Christ," he whispers, "Right, well you'll stay in touch, that's for sure. And you'll call Orlaith in the morning, she's worried about you... Tommy too."

I perk up at that, "Tommy? How is he? Is he okay? Have they done anything to him? I swear I'll kill them if they touched a hair on his head," I fire question after question.

"Tommy's fine, he just wants to know how you are, what you're doing etc. They haven't done anything to him, not that I know of at least. Look, I'll get Orlaith to call you in the morning, she'll have Tommy with her and you can talk to them both, okay? It's getting late."

I sigh and look to the ground, "Alright, I have to go back to sleep anyways."

"Oíche mhaith, m'iníon. Go mbeadh aisling aláinn agat."

(Goodnight, my daughter. Have sweet dreams.)

"Oíche mhaith daidí, go raibh míle maith agat."

(Goodnight dad, thanks a million.)

And with that I hang up. My eyes fog over with tears and I simply let them fall. I've been crying a lot more lately; I feel like a fricken crybaby. A lot of emotions have been stirring up and I hate it, I hate the weakness that's overcoming me. I can't let myself feel so deeply, especially negatively... not after last time.

I go back into the bedroom and get into bed. I hug myself and shrink into the hoodie as best I can. It used to be Eoghan's, this hoodie, he gave it to me when I first moved into St. Marie's. I barely had anything and he just gave me the hoodie, it's definitely not perfect, it has burns around the cuffs and the zipper always gets a bit stuck halfway up, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. It's like a safety blanket for me, it makes me think of him and feel safe. After a few minutes I eventually drift off to sleep.

° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ ° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆°

I stayed in the bedroom most of the morning, on my phone messaging a tumblr mutual. Her URL is FriendlessGhost17, mine is Coilean07. We met last year, round abouts when a week into me living at St. Marie's. She lives in NYC and so it might be a good idea to talk to her in case we end up running into each other. We've facetimed and called many times but we've never actually met in person.

I say my goodbyes and sigh. Life just sucks a lot at the moment, but what can I say? That's what happens when you go down the road of off-the-books illegal experimentation, I guess.

I hear a knock on the door, "Come in," I say, not looking up from my scrolling.

"You gonna join the land of the livin' today?" I look up and see Sam, arms crossed, leaning in the doorway.

"Uh, yeah, I just- I was messaging a friend," I tell him.

"Nothing revealing though, right?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Of course not," I dismiss, "I'm not an amateur. I told her I was with my sister but have to leave her again. I don't always tell the truth, but I'm always honest. It's a fine line to walk but a good loophole to have."

Sam ventures further into the room, "So you're good at what you do, that's reassuring... I think. Look I know this isn't gonna be fun for you, staying with Stark, but sometimes that's just how it is, that's how life is."

"Not gonna be fun? You really don't know me, do you?" I laugh humourlessly.

"No, no I don't," Sam admits, shaking his head and sitting on the edge of the bed next to me.

"Well, essentially Stark has hurt everyone I love and, I can hold a grudge like nobody's business. It's not just gonna be 'not fun' it's gonna feel like a betrayal. But I don't wanna focus on that, I wanna enjoy my time before I go to that stuck-up, narcissistic ass."

Sam smiles for a second, "You know, Steve would be disappointed if he heard that kinda language out of you."

I raise an eyebrow, "He was in the army and from the 40s, I'm sure he has no room to talk. I bet people make assumptions and he just doesn't dispute them. I bet his birthday isn't even the fourth of July, someone assumed it was and now he lives in fear of anyone finding his birth certificate."

Sam laughed out loud at that and I had to join him, I've been on tumblr long enough to have to many thoughts about America's favourite boy scout. Sam and I talk for a while, about Steve, about Wanda, I even get some stories about his old days in the army. He tells me about the missions he flew and I learn more about his wings. Then he tells me how he met Steve and Natasha.

"So he, he lapped you how many times?" I ask incredulously.

"Thirteen. He lapped me thirteen times! And he kept saying 'on your left' to like warn me he was lapping me, like it felt like he was doing it on purpose," Sam scowls.

"He probably was, I mean I read about him a bit in school and apparently he was always a little shit, he just got away with it since he was a stick and had like every illness to ever exist in the 30s," I tell him.

"Maybe," Sam says, "But yeah, that's how we met. And then a few days later he shows up at my house with Natasha and tells me 'everyone we know is tryna kill us' like no hellos, no 'how are you's, just straight to the point."

"And you just let them in?" I cock an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, Captain America shows up at your door, what are you not gonna let him in?"

"It would make a pretty funny story don't you think? 'Captain America and Black Widow showed up at my house and I turned them down.' I think that'd be hilarious. But naw, I'd let them in surely."

Then there's a vibration from my phone. I look at the screen as it lights up and see that Orlaith sent me a snap.

I look back up to continue the conversation with Sam but he shakes his head.

"You can talk to your friends, don't worry. I just talked your ear off for the last hour or so, you can get back to your friend now," he tells me.

I smile at him softly, "Thanks Sam. And this talk was good, by the way, you didn't talk my ear off. You distracted me and I appreciate it."

He gets off the bed and turns to me, "That used to be my job you know, helping other Vets with PTSD. I thought you'd prefer to be distracted than reminded of what's happening and so I just catered to that rather than pushing you."

"Really Sam, thank you. But now I gotta have a difficult conversation about what's happening so... I guess I can't put it off any longer," I sigh.

"Good luck, Fianna, you can do this," Sam tells me before leaving and closing the door.

I open the message from Orlaith.

I find Orlaith's number in my contact list and hit call.

It only takes one ring and she picks up, "Hiiii, how did it go?"

"It went good Orlaith," I tell her, a smile already on my face from hearing her voice. "And I got to see Wands again which has done me wonders, really."

"That's great to hear, oh and you're on speaker," Orlaith tells me.

"Hey Fi," I hear Tommy's voice and I nearly start crying.

"Mo dearthair bheag Tommy, ta sé ar dóigh le do guth a cloisteáil arís. Cad é mar atá tú, coiléan bheag?" I ask, slipping into my first language after hearing my baby brother's voice for the first time in a couple weeks.

(My little brother Tommy, how amazing it is to hear your voice again. How are you, little pup?"

"Táim I gceart, Mactíre," he mocks, "Agus an miste leat gan ag cuir sin orm? Ní páiste mé níos mó!"

(I'm fine, Mactíre. And do you mind not calling me that? I'm not a kid anymore!)

"Ach is páiste thú dom. Bheul, ar a laghad is dearthair bheag s'agam thú. Má chuireann sé isteach ort an méid sin, stadfaidh mé."

(But you're a kid to me. Well, you're my little brother at least. If it annoys you that much I'll stop.)

"Hey! Is grá liom go bhfuil sibh in ann labhairt le chéile ach tá mise anseo fostaaa!" Orlaith butts in.

(Hey! I love that you're able to talk but I'm here toooo!)

"Ceart go leor, sionnach," Tommy says, "Cad é ar mhaith leat a labhairt faoi?"

(Fine, Fox. What would you like to talk about?)

"First of all, that nickname is so old, like first year old. And that was like four years ago. Anyway, let's start with where your big sis is? Huh, how about that?" Orlaith begins, slipping back into English.

"Well... I may or may not be in the palace of Wakanda," I reveal. I can trust them, they won't tell.

"You're where?" Tommy questions.

"Wakanda."

"Get de fuck!" he exclaims.

"I'm not messing Tom. And I'm not staying here much longer either."

"You're coming back home again?" Orlaith asks.

"Not- not exactly, Orls," I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to figure out a way to tell them, to tell Tommy that I'm not coming home. "I'm going to New York, I'm going to New York, a thaisce, and I have to stay with Stark."

(Love {term of endearment})

"With- With Stark as in Tony Stark?" Orlaith asks.

"As in the one who you despise with a burning passion?" Tommy adds on.

"Yeah, that's, that would be him," I sigh.

"How are you- How will he survive that?" Tommy asks.

"Why do you have to go to that cunt?" Orlaith questions at the same time.

"Orlaith!" I hear Eoghan scolding her in the background, they must be at St. Marie's.

"Sorry Eoghan, sorry Tommy," Orlaith apologises.

"Hey Eoghan," I say into the phone.

"Hey Fia, I'm just making sure these two got through de ye. I still think ye should be here, but never mind me, keep yer chin up, I'll talk de ye later," he tells me, his parental feelings slipping through the professional mask he tries to wear.

"Of course Eo, we'll talk later," I reassure.

"I have de leave now, Liam's looking another pint," he tells me.

"Bye Eoghannnn," I sing.

"Goodbye Fianna."

"Well, back to our conversation," Tommy says, "Why are you going de Stark of all people?"

"Essentially I might have accidentally made myself an international criminal when helping Wands," I say, my voice raising octaves as I speak.

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey they rode in on. How did ye manage that Fianna?" Tommy asks incredulously.

"Tomás Ronan McConnell!" I reprimand. "What have I tol' you about blasphemy?"

"Not to," he grumbles.

"Exactly, so would you like to rephrase that?" I raise an eyebrow and I know he can feel it through the phone.

"How did you manage de be a criminal helping your sister?" he rephrases the question.

I smile at Tommy calling Wanda my sister, he might never have met her but he still considers her my sister, and even his in a way.

"Look, it was just a job gone wrong. It's not even... it's not my choice, I have de go t' Stark because he can protect me from the Feds. But... I won't be with him for long," I lie. I don't want to lie, but I need to protect them, if they think I'm coming back then they won't take it so hard.

"Right, well ye better get back soon okay? I miss my bitch of a big sister!" Tommy tells me and tears prick my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be back soon," I nod, tears falling as I keep my voice steady, "And when I get back we're spending the whole day together, I don't care what Erin and Shéa have to say about it."

"All three of us," Orlaith adds, "And we're gonna have the best time, right? We'll go to The Amusements and we'll go de the cinema and we'll go to Foyleside and just spend the whole day together.

"We will," the tears falling with ease but I keep my voice level, "God, I can't wait to see you two again. When I get back yous'll be sick of me, clinging de yous like a wane."

There's a beat of silence as we think about that day... the day that won't come for a long time. Not that they know that. It still hurts though; I miss my brother and my best friend. But no more tears, I wipe them away and clear my throat.

"We have to go," Orlaith says guiltily. "Mam is looking me back in ten minutes and Tommy needs to get back before they realise how long he's been gone."

"Okay, okay," I inhale sharply "Slán Tommy, slán Orlaith. Is grá liom sibh béirt le mo chroí iomlán. Feicfidh mé sibh gan mhoill, yeah?"

"Slán Fianna, is grá liom thú. Feicfidh mé thú níos moille," Orlaith says.

"Slán Fianna, chonaic mé thú níos moille. Is grá liom thú," Tommy says and I laugh a little.

"Bye," I say and I hang up.

I hear a knock at the door and wipe my tears quickly, erasing any evidence of my crying. I tell them to come in and it's Bucky. We haven't really spoken much, between not knowing each other and wanting to stay close to the ones we're leaving we haven't had the time to bond, I guess.

"Hey," he says timidly, staying in the doorway.

"Hey," I reply, just as timid.

"The others are discussing their plans, I think everyone's moving out tomorrow," he informs me.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know," I say, putting my phone in my hoodie pocket before standing and making my way to leave the room.

#peter parker x oc #peter parker x reader #spiderman x oc #spiderman x reader #peter parker #fianna macbhfloscaidh #the lone wolf #the lupine saga #nyx writes #jynx writes #pyre writes

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dimitrescus-bitch · 5 years ago

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Mad (Danielle van de Donk x Reader)

Being traded sucked. It sucked especially hard whenever you got traded from your dream club where you played happily with your girlfriend to a team that you didn’t like one bit. Arsenal was the perfect place for you, they were your favorite team growing up and you had always been so happy playing there. Now, you could kiss all that goodbye as you made your way to Manchester. You liked Manchester City, if you had to pick a Manchester team, it was City, but you didn’t get to go there. No, you were being welcomed to Manchester United, a team you had never really liked in your entire life.

Danielle wasn’t happy about your transfer and for the last bit of your stay at Arsenal, she had been switching between touchy and distant. Sadly, when you left, she was in a distant mood. She sent you a text goodbye, but didn’t leave her bedroom when you moved out the last box of your stuff. You were upset when you arrived in Manchester and for the first bit of your training and your first few games, but you eventually got over it and fell into a nice routine.

“Are you excited?” Mary asked you as you put your shin guards on. “We’re playing Arsenal.”

“I know and either I’m getting a card or Danielle is,” you said and Mary frowned at you. “I won’t try to foul her, no, if I foul one of my old teammates, it’s gonna be Jill, she ate my cookies once.”

“Dumb American,” Mary said and you shrugged it off. You did your normal secret handshake/hug with Jackie and then got in behind Mary to walk out. Your mascot was a very hyper little boy that reminded you of Danielle. He talked your ear off about all sorts of things and funnily enough, ended up being an Arsenal fan.

“I think you guys are gonna lose,” he said and you nodded.

“Yeah, so do I honestly,” you said and he chuckled. “Don’t tell anybody though, wouldn’t look too good.”

The game was scoreless pretty much the entire way through until Danielle got subbed in. She was a force to be reckoned with and a defense’s nightmare. She worked her way through everybody and got her goal, winking at you as she walked back. You clenched your fists in frustration, not because Arsenal was ahead, but because that was the first time she’d looked at you since before you were traded. You were gonna lose the game, which you were fine with, but you were also gonna stop Danielle from getting another goal.

She came back for another goal and you managed to make her look a bit like an idiot as you took the ball from her. You winked at her as you sent it up to the midfield. In the process of you getting the ball from her, she had tripped, so you walked over to help her up. She swatted your hand away with a slightly playful, “Fuck you” and got up on her own.

“Mad?” You teased her and she looked like she was gonna shove you. She went back to where she needed to be and you refocused yourself. Around the 89th minute, you managed to get the ball and were running it towards Arsenal’s goal. You were certain that you’d get the goal. You had dribbled past pretty much everybody, but before you could shoot, you were laying flat on your face, which was buried into the grass. “What the fuck Danielle?”

“Mad?” Danielle asked as a ref came over. Jackie glared at Danielle as she helped you to your feet. She obviously thought this was all funny until the ref gave her a straight red. The game ended shortly after that and she quickly found you after the game as you were walking to your locker room. “Hey, are you mad at me?”

“For that dirty tackle, I’m not happy about it. For ignoring me for a month and a half, I‘m pretty pissed about that. So, yes, I am mad at you Daan,“ you said and she nodded slowly. “You seem unaffected by this all, so that’s nice.”

“I’m very sad that you left and I miss you. I would like to stay in your apartment tonight instead of my hotel room if that is okay with you. I do not want sex, just to hold you again so I can sleep. I’m sorry I made you mad,” Danielle said and you couldn’t stay mad at her after that. She was being honest with you and with a closer look, you could tell that it had been quite some time since she had last slept throughout the night.

“Yeah, come on, let’s get out of here. We can shower at my place, maybe even pick up something to eat on the way,” you said and Danielle smiled. You put your arm around her and walked out with her hugging your side. It felt nice to not be mad at Danielle for the first time since your arrival at Manchester United and even better to have her actually with you.

#danielle van de donk x reader #danielle van de donk imagine #danielle van de donk imagines #arsenal imagine #arsenal imagines #arsenal wfc imagine #arsenal wfc imagines #nedwnt imagine #nedwnt imagines #woso imagine #women's soccer imagine

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techouspeaks · 5 years ago

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Star Twinkle Precure: Final Thoughts

Just some quick final thoughts of what I thought was a fairly decent series.

First, I apologize for not doing Precuruary this year and other years I’ve skipped it. It seems like whenever February comes, I’m just either not in the mood to do full reviews of Precure stuff or I have been busy with other things or even both and this year was definitely on the both side, but more so on the busy side. I just moved to my new place and it has been one of the hardest moves we’ve ever endured. Just now did we get all of our stuff and we moved in here weeks ago, back in late January. So, I apologize greatly for not being as active in Precure. I do love Precure and I do want to keep up with Precuruary because this is the one subject besides Hazbin Hotel and Winx Club, that I have a lot of passionate theories and thoughts on. Until my passion comes in Febuary, Precuruary is gonna be a little bit late and inconsistent in the dates.

With that being said, I’m gonna be quick or try to be quick about my overall thoughts of Star Twinkle Precure. Overall, I think I enjoyed Star Twinkle more than Hugtto, even though, I do think Hugtto did a better job at morals and story, Star Twinkle has been more of an enjoyment to watch. Perhaps is because the characters are just more likable, not that Hugtto’s wasn’t, but I got more into the side characters than the main characters in Hugtto. The only Cure I really cared about in Hugtto was Cure Etoile, but the other cures did seem more of stereotypes or caricatures we’ve seen a million times. The side characters were also just more interesting than the main characters.

Star Twinkle, we do get more of variety, though I do agree that Madoka doesn’t seem any different from the soft, but firm feminine anime type. What I mean is Madoka reminds me too much of characters like Hime, Karen, (Aikatsu Stars and Aikatsu Friends) and pass cures like Cure Beauty and Cure Rhythm. She’s an elegant lady who works hard, is rich,is from a strict noble family and her out bringing changes with the help of her friends. I do rant on about using archetypes we’ve seen a million times. Like it is hard to be 100% original, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of these types and unless they do something new with it, it’s really hard for me to care about said character.

(I do ADORE her design though.)

We also have another happy go lucky lead and yes, ultimately everyone grows with her, I think it would have just been nice if she was more of a nerdy shy type, with a strong passion to help and still have a great imagination. I mean, you can be helpful and be full of imagination without being the clumsy, hyper stereotype that is Hikaru. It would have actually made more sense if we had gotten a nerdy girl over Hikaru.

Hikaru developed I think the least of the cures. She didn’t go through anything that life changing and her back story, as someone from Angryanime wrote, wasn’t that realistic or relateable. If I had a dad that went around looking supernatural creatures, instead of taking care of the family, there would definitely more family strain than just the grandfather hating him.

Hikaru is not a bad character and she does go through some bullying, but so did many characters in the passed, including Haruka/Cure Flora. A bullied character can be fine, but they need to be interesting too and she’s just another happy go lucky character. She doesn’t necessarily have the charm as Hikaru nor the realistic, understandable back story that Nodoka/Cure Grace has. She’s just another Hana and Ichika.

The Princesses were also disappointingly dull in personality. There’s actually no excuse on it either. They could have easily based the personality of the princesses on their respective Zodiac. Like have Scorpio be moody or stern but emotional inside. Have Aries be easily angered and want things done her way. Leo a hot shot like Cure Gelato that she was obviously inspired from. Taurus like gardening and be the gentle one. That was another reason why the Zodiac was made. To understand people’s behavior and how to deal with someone that you may clash with or are more compatible with. I guess because the Cures don’t spend enough time with them, they just made them with a dull personality, but they could have. Like the Zodiac is basically not only a way to tell your fortune, but to learn from in terms of learning about yourself and others.

However, we do get characters like Lala/Cure Milky and Elena/Cure Soleil. I know people kept saying Elena was under developed and her development came way too soon. For me, personally as someone who has Autism that caused my growth to be slow. Like mentally, I’m younger than my physical age, I felt Elena’s development to be fine. Not perfect, but not everyone grows the same way, the same speed and like I said, for a while, I didn’t know what she could possibly learn being she is the most mature and responsible already.

Compared to the development of other characters in the passed (Mirai/Cure Miracle, whom, while I relate to somewhat in that child likeness of hers, I agree I don’t think she developed as much as leaders in the passed did and most of the characters in KiraKira Precure, especially Akira and Yukari!), Elena at least developed and was the most realistic of the cures. I relate to her wanting keep others happy but hiding your own feelings and pain in doing so. I do that even now, though I do try to be more open when something is really bothering me.

Lala, by far definitely grew a lot and is my second favorite of the Star Twinkle Team. Though, I dunno, both Elena and Lala I like pretty equally. I guess I do relate to Elena just a bit more though.. I think in truth, Lala was more of the main character than Hikaru because it seemed like the creators really liked her the most. There was a lot of focus on her and she seemed to develop the most than the other girls .I guess that does give a bit of a negative feel towards her for some people, which I can see, but Lala is pretty likable enough, that I kinda let it slip like most people seem to. She’s just a real nice, likable character!

As for Cure Cosmos, I honestly don’t know how to feel about her. I like her design and character, but I can’t say I like or dislike her. Pretty much on middle ground when it comes to her. She didn’t really leave a huge impact on me, negative or positive. I love the police puppy girl, Mary Anne, that was following her and I love their overall chemistry together! XD

The story did get a bit clunky towards the end and I would even argue a bit confusing. Like, okay, these princesses gave all their power to the pens, the cures, Fuwa and the rest of the world, it kinda made it seem pointless in reviving them anyway. The Notraiders and their story was touching and I like how they did touch upon issues like racism with Kappard and his people and an example of someone being born different from others like Tenjo and her people.

I will agree though, Eyewarn was the most annoying and hard to deal with. Her voice even got on my nerves! I didn’t care if they redeemed her. Her sudden change in attitude didn’t make sense and I think they would have done us all a favor and offed her somehow. I mean shoot, they weren’t afraid to full on kill the fairy mascot, they could have done so with Eyewarn easily. Who actually cared about the cyclops Trollz reject? I sure didn’t and I know a lot of people didn’t either!

Overall, I know this is review is all over the place, but I’ll do more of proper review later but I will rate Star Twinkle 7 1/2 stars out of 10. It’s not perfect but it’s been an enjoyable ride in the spaceship. Now we’re headed back down to earth and our usual stick with Healin Good Precure!

#star twinkle precure #healin good precure #precure

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posedmodern · 5 years ago

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Review: “The Tatami Galaxy”

Masaaki Yuasa’s distinct set of stylistic and thematic tendencies were in many ways perfect for The Tatami Galaxy (2010). The animator blessed us with a welcome departure from the high-school-male-who-can-do-no-wrong trope that is recycled throughout legions of anime. The Tatami Galaxy provides viewers with a rare collegiate perspective that is flawed, human, and deeply relatable.

I struggle to think of a more significant transitory period in my life than the one I experienced during my switch from a high school senior to a college freshman. All of university’s oft-associated social conventions were byzantine and unfamiliar to me, and I don’t recall feeling properly “adjusted” until my third year of undergrad at the earliest. There were numerous instances before that where I would become broodingly introspective, wondering if the choices that I’d made up until a given moment had been the right ones.

If any of the above is even somewhat relevant to viewers, then they will likely find a small bit of themselves in the unnamed protagonist of The Tatami Galaxy.

Director Masaaki Yuasa’s break-out hit was the surreal, offbeat anime Kaiba in 2008. In addition to The Tatami Galaxy in 2010, his resume also includes Ping-Pong: The Animation (2014), Devilman Crybaby (2018), and most recently Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020). He has also made guest contributions to similarly quirky shows such as Adventure Time and Space Dandy. His style is especially recognized for its resistance of typical conventions found within the anime medium, i.e. slice-of-life, harem, Mary Sue-isms, etc. His dialogue is welcomely wordy but always thoughtful. His visuals, especially in Tatami, are delightfully loose and seem to become be whatever he needs them to be from scene to scene.

The central perspective of The Tatami Galaxy follows an unnamed, emerging third-year college student who can’t rid himself of the notion that he has somehow wasted his past two years. His missed opportunities include ventures with various student clubs, film-making, secret societies, and romantic pursuits. The narrative format of the series is somewhat unconventional: each episode is a condensed retelling of the protagonist’s first two years in college. Each iteration functions as a hypothetical vignette in which the protagonist made a distinct choice that he feels that might reward him with a “rose-colored college experience.”

Of course, each episode ends with what’s best case lingering melancholy or worst case complete disaster. The protagonist winds up dissatisfied no matter what he does, which necessitates the narrative “rewinding” to a fresh start that serves as the end of each episode before the final three entries. There’s no explicit fantasy element to the series, as the whole implied time travel occurs in the hyper-introspective protagonist’s internal considerations of hypothetical revisions of a collegiate experience that he feels was underwhelming and wasted.

The Tatami Galaxy is especially charming thanks to Yuasa’s expert characterization of college students. You have the jock-y yet pseudo-intellectual Jogasaki, who acts as a foil to the more introverted protagonist. There’s Ozu – the schemer – who often takes advantage of the protagonist’s jadedness. There’s romantic interest Akashi that works at the bookstore and collects mascot keychains, and there’s romantic interest Hanuki that the protagonist has to fight with Jogasaki for in a fratty drinking contest. There are also silly moments where the object of the protagonist’s affection is a life-like porcelain doll or Ozu in disguise.

However, as the protagonist comes to learn, college students don’t always act entirely within their tropes – this is where the tenderness of Yuasa’s writing really shines. The Gollum-like Ozu is revealed to be more sensitive than the protagonist initially thought, and is in fact just as insecure about his collegiate experience as his friend. The supporting cast is incredibly well fleshed-out, with dimensionality and nuance that could easily surpass that which is found in the “well-written” anime giants like Neon Genesis Evangelion. In convention-defying fashion, Yuasa delivers a heartfelt rendering of the collegiate experience in all its romance, chaos, and occasional serendipity.

posedmodern score: 9.2

postmodern because: A collection of similar, but different narratives – the majority of which occur in the protagonist’s mind as ventures into hypothetical experience. Stylistic choices help it stand out from other work in its medium.

images courtesy of Funimation, Masaaki Yuasa

#the tatami galaxy #review #masaaki yuasa #anime #9

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mrultra100 · 5 days ago

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And here we are, folks! As of this coming out, we're only two week away from the start of the new year (along with Christmas being just a week away), so why not come with me on a little walk on memory lane, and discuss not only the progress that I made this year, but also the progress that I've made as an artist in general so far?

While it hasn't been stated much before, I started doing digital art in general back in 2019, more than 5 years ago. And ever since then, I've been steadily making art and improving my skills. The pieces that I made back in '19 were hella rough, as I was just a newbie at the time who didn't knew what he was doing. But over time, I started to get my footing; making new friends that shared the same interests as me, my interests changing and maturing over time, and just generally slowly improving my craft. And that can't be more prevalent than this very year. I mean, think about it; Fakemon design, an art trade, experimenting with different brushes and art styles, having your work featured on a Youtube channel (twice on two different occasions), and especially working on TWO different monthly drawing challenges in the same year. I usually don't wanna toot my own horn, but looking back at the input for 2024, I can certainly say that it's been my most successful and experimental year yet (despite how long it can take between releases).

So with all of that said, what's next for me as an artist? While I can't fully say right now (mainly due to how I'm still trying to brainstorm ideas atm, along with maybe coming up with a secret project or two? I'll need to get that figured out in due time), what I CAN say is pretty neat, as I got a few things to share and tease for the future.

More Maryanna: At this point, Mary has basically become her own character, gradually evolving from what she was originally. As much as I wanna continue with the JT stuff, I've been getting kinda less and less interested about it atm. Not only due to how there's not really much an audience for it, but also due to how Johnny Test, as a franchise, is likely dead in the water for real this time (Wildbrain using the episodes as content farming doesn't really help). This... wasn't easy for me to come to terms with in the slightest, as I did admittingly grew up with the show during Cartoon Network's CHECK IT era back in the early 2010's, but given that the series itself has faded in the public eye after it became the target of so much ridicule due to how the actual series itself has gotten worse with time, it left me thinking on what to do with the original ideas presented with Primal Eternity. Keep in mind; I still LOVE what I suggested for JT: PE so far, but I feel like it could be put on the backburner for a long while. Maybe I could return to it in the future? Perhaps. But, as it stands now, Maryanna (along with Susanic) are going in their own path. What started as me drawing and rambling about the vampire versions of a couple of characters from a 2000's flash cartoon has resulted in them becoming their own distant characters by now, and given that Mary herself is basically ONE of my mascot OCs now (more on that later), it stands to reason that her own adventure is about to begin...

Fakemon Design: As many of you might remember, I tried experimenting with my ideas for a whole Fakemon region based on the Pacific Northwest back in 2022, mainly inspired by the announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. While the steam on that series has long since ran out, I still kept the thought of making Fakemon in the back of my head, as some of my earliest memories on the web involve looking up all sorts of Fakemon designs on places like Tumblr and Deviantart. And as such, I wanna get back to making Fakemon next year. Will I get back to my region-making idea? I'm not sure, but I'm down for it if I get enough ideas to fully make it work. I also wanna experiment with redesigning certain Pokemon as well, so stay tuned for that too.

More Paleoart: Between the few one-off pieces and the second May-strichtian Madness challenge, I really made alot of paleoart this year, haven't I? I'm happy to announce that I'll planning to make more of it in 2025, as it's gearing up to be a MASSIVE year for paleomedia, mainly due to yet another Jurassic World movie coming out next year, but also two big paleodocs in the form of Survivng Earth and the upcoming Walking with Dinosaurs reboot. We just need PHP season 3 to complete the trio of high-quality paleodocs in 2025. And not only are we seeing those projects come out in the new year, but there's also plenty of other forms of paleomedia that are not only coming as well, plenty have already been released in this paleomedia resurgence (Amber Isle, both the Dinosauria and Sauria series made by David James Armsby, the aforementioned PHP already having 2 seasons released, and even TUROK of all franchises coming back next year, along with many others). Needless to say, it's a very good time to be a paleonerd, and I'm hoping to make more art to show off my love for the ancient past.

Art Rebranding + New Look!: Time for the biggest reveal of all! Recently, I've been thinking about updating my current look and style to keep up with my ongoing progress as an artist. The look that I've been having has been around for 6+ years now, but I feel like I should do some spring cleaning to keep up with my work, especially after getting inspired by @space-dragon14 and his recent rebranding. While I can't fully share every detail that I've got cooking in the oven as of right now, I've got some big plans in mind for the future. New look, new logo, same nonsense, and ESPECIALLY a new OC/persona in the works, as you can see up above. Just who exactly is this odd-looking hammerheaded newcomer? You'll just have to wait and see. Just know that soon, you better get ready to take the plunge and experience the madness for yourselves...

And with that, we are fully done with this update+ recap, folks! After a crazy years both in terms of art and real-life stuff, it just fees nice to kick back and to relax for a bit (also went on a quick weekend trip to Atlanta recently, so that was fun). While I'll remain to be active on the web as always, keep it mind that art will slow down for a while, as I wanna get my plans fully figured out first. While the world is gonna be a bit more rough for the next few years, which I'm not looking forward to, I'll always continue to keep making art and other sorts of weird things. If 6 years of being on the internet has taught me anything, it's that making folks’ lives just a bit better with my work will always be my main drive in life.

Hope you all have a very good Christmas, and a happy new year (assuming that the world doesn't go down the crapper by then), and stay tuned for what'll be rising from the depths soon...

#ultra ramblings #my artz #art recap 2024

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frida--y · 5 years ago

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open your heart for the finale of faiz

i dont know why i did this to myself again, watching another inoue rider, after how much kiva made me boil. i think faiz frustrated me more than kiva tbh, you cant really change up kiva since it was soap-opera-ish in its presentation.

however faiz??? like you could of done SO MUCH more with it’s characters and it just fails.... yuka especially, she was the most interesting orphnoch for the fact that she gave into the killing and yet was still attached to her human self. You could of have her resembled teruo’s mother and shown the complications between yuka’s own relationship with her family and this new one with also dealing with teruo’s grief... instead of having teruo pull yuka skirt up or even when he was shown to be the sleeping king, you could of had the ‘resembles mother trope’ happen too, but we didnt get that...

kaido as well, like i got his character, the type who runs away from himself and growth (for what happened to him), but i just didnt like him, making his shitty actions and attitude play in a comedic light just sucks, i cannot take this fragile man seriously, i just think he has ulterior motive for everything does when he doesnt.

^this seriousness and self awareness is what i wished he expressed more than that episode and the god tier episodes (7&8) and few later ones. kaido’s inner emotions are interesting!! USE THEM!!!! ive said it before, i felt like he just wanted the righteousness from others to help him become a better person than he was b4 he became an orphnoch (even when its shown he still has that when he saved teruo and felt guilt when he didnt save his parents) he dared to keep his humanity when he was the most likely to throw it away

i love yuji, i love characters like him, characters who get the the most awful roll of the dice in life. parents die in car crash, he awakes from a coma to find his gf stopped visiting him and is now dating his cousin who’s family terminated his father company leaving him with literally nothing (and no one was there when woke up), they even talked behind his back how him waking up from his coma is bothersome now... and!!! throughout the show he is hunted and is “betrayed” then has his close friend murdered by humans (or so he thinks) and i know he still tries to love humans, but ultimately... even in his evil phase he still is human.

god takumi... is the best huh, his character arc is some of- if not, the best ive seen in kr. a really solid built up from hearing how little self confidence he has, to seeing why he feels that way and his growth from it, he’s up there with my personal favs: eiji and shinji.

dare to fight a evil cooperation with a fantastic mascot

anyways, monster designs were sick, i love mr. j, takuma (the monster not the man), and murakami’s the most.

suit shout out that prob doesnt get much love, but i love it:

and ultimate bastard shout out, fuck you you piece of shit 💕:

p.s. why was mari not allowed to transform

p.s.s. faiz good/bad ;) i honestly see how this is japan’s favorite, i just wish it wasnt lmao

#text #kamen rider faiz #*hissing and growling on all fours* what i feel after talking about inoue's writing for longer than 3 mins

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vintagereveries · 3 years ago

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A Brief History of the St. Louis Municipal Theater Association (as written in 1943)

This entry is part 2 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

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These pages from the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera program include the Municipal Opera Productions Directory (from 1919-1942), and a brief history and facts about the Municipal Theatre Association.

Advertisers in these pages included:

Marlboro Cigarettes

Cook’s Champagne and wine

Mrs. Frederick Nussbaum personal training

Oldani’s Restaurant

St. Louis Band Instrument Co

Miss Julia’s Cafeteria

Acme Flower Shop

Karl Bissinger French Confectionaries

Embro Popcorn

New Hussman Stamp Co.

Senor Martinez Beauty Service (at the Congress Hotel)

Castilla

An ad for upcoming performances at the Muny (the rest of the planned shows for the 1943 season)

Rose Exterminator Co.

Krummenmacher’s Vital Food Stores & Russel’s Vital Food Stores (“simple as ABC to make your precious Rationing Units go farther, see our complete line of non-rationed foods”)

Akron Truss Appliances

Kris-Art Letter Service

I’ve posted the scanned pages below, and below that I’ve attempted to extract text with help from the NewOCR.com (the best free online optical character recognition program that I’ve found yet, but excuse any typos that I didn’t catch).

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Municipal Opera Productions Directory (from 1919-1942)

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In 1919: ”Robin Hood,” “Bohemian Girl,” “El Capitan.” “The Mikado,” “Wizard of the Nile,” and “The Chimes of Normandy.”

In 1920: “The Firefly,” ”Robin Hood.” ”The Waltz Dream,” “The Mikado,” ‘Tho Mascot,” “The Gondoliers,” “Babes in Toyland,“ and “Katinka.”

In 1921: ”The Chocolate Soldier,” “Fra Diavolo,” “The Fortune Teller,” “San Toy.” “‘I’he Beggar Student.” ”The Pirates of Penzance,” “The Chimes of Normandy,” and “Sari.“

In 1922: “The Highwayman,“ “Sweethearts,” “Sari,”The Yeoman of the Guard,“ “The Geisha,” “The Spring Maid,” “The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief,” and “Miss Springtime.”

In 1923: “Naughty Marietta,” “Wang,“ “The Fencing Master,” “The Prince of Pilsen,” ”Die Fledermaus.” “Sweethearts,” “The Gypsy Baron,“ “The Merry Widow.” “Gypsy Love,” and “The Spring Maid.”

In 1924: “Princess Chic,” “Firefly,” ”Florodora,” “Chinese Honeymoon,” “Bohemian Girl,” “Prince of Pilsen,“ “Fortune Teller,” “The Lilac Domino,” “Naughty Marietta,“ and “The Beggar Princess.”

In 1925: ”A Night in Venice,” “Mlle. Modiste,“ “Rudigore,“ ”Her Regiment.” “Rob Roy,“ “Dolly Varden,“Erminie,” “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “H. M. S. Pinatore,” “Count of Luxembourg,” “Martha,” ”Naughty Marietta,” and “Mary Widow.“

In 1926: ”Eileen,” “The Red Mill,” “The Chocolate Soldier,” “The Spring Maid,” “The Pink Lady,” “II Trovatore.” “Sweethearts,” “Iolanthe,” “The Count of Luxembourg,” “Woodland,” “Fro Diavola,“ and “Babes in Toyland.”

In 1927: “Robin Hood,“ ”Princess Pat,” “Sari,” ”The Song of the Flame,” “The Red Mill,“ “Rose Marie,” “The Mikado,” “The Dollar Princess,” “Katinha,” ”Serenade,” “Gypsy Love,” and “Tales of Hottman.“

In I928: “The Princess Flevia,“ ”The Merry Widow,” “The Vagabond King,“ ”No, No, Nanette,” “Rose Marie.” “The Student Prince,” “The Lady in Ermine,“ “The Song of the Flame,” “Countess Maritza,” “The Love Song,” “Mary,” and “Aida.”

In I929: “The Love Call,“ “The Student Prince,” Castles in the Air,” “I’he Chocolate Soldier,” “The Bohemian Girl,” “Rose Marie,“ “The Prince of Pilsen,”The Enchantress.” “The Vagabond King,“ “Babes in Toyland,” and “Golden Dawn.”

In I930: “Nina Rosa,” ”The Circus Princess,” “The Desert Song,” “The New Moon,” “Blossom Time.“ ”Alone at Last,” “The Red Robe,“ “Maytime,” ”Madame Pompadour,” “The Student Prince,” and “Show Boat.“

In I931: “Three Little Girls,” “The Street Singer,“ “Music in May,” ”Nina Rosa,” “Rose Marie,” “The Countess Maritza,” “The Three Musketeers,” “A WonderfulNight,” ”Irene,” ”The Circus Princess,” and “Rio Rita.”

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In 1932: “The New Moon.” “The Riviera Girl“ “‘The Last Waltz,” “Blossom Time,“ “T he Desert Song,” “The Rose of Stomboul,” “The Honeymooners,” “The Blue Paradise,” “Sari,” “The Land of Smiles,” “The Love Call,” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

In 1933: “Bitter Sweet,” “Florodara.” ”White Lilacs,”Rip Van Winkle,” “Nina Rosa.” “The Student Prince,”The Nightingale,” “Naughty Marietta,” “My Maryland,”Beau Brummell,” “The Cat and the Fiddle,” on: “The Desert Song.”

In 1934: “Sweet Adeline,” “Sweethearts,“ “Cyrano de Bergerac,” ”Yhe Last Waltz,” ”East Wind,” “Mlle. Modiste,” “Music in the Air,“ “Rose of Algeria.” “Sally.” The New Moon.” and “Show Boat.”

In 1935: “Teresina,” “Rio Rita,” “Madame Sherry,“The Chocolate Soldier,” “Good News,” “The Vagabond King,” ”Sunny,” “The Beloved Rogue,” “The Cat and the fiddle,” “The Desert Song,” “Roberta,“ and ”Whoo-pee.‘

In 1936: ”Kid Boots,“ “The ‘l’hree Musketeers,” “No, No, Nanette,” ”Sons 0‘ Guns,” “The Bohemian Girl,”Oh Boy,“ ”The Merry Widow,” “The New Moon,“ “A Connecticut Yankee,” “Bitter Sweet,” “The Red Mill,” and “Glamorous Night.”

In 1937: “The Great Waltz,” “The Fortune Teller,”Music in the Air,” “Louie the 14th,“ “The Mikado,“Salute to Spring,” “The Prince of Pilsen,” “The Bartered Bride,” “The Pink Lady,” “Robin Hood,“ “Babes in Toyland.” and “Wild Violets.

In 1938: “Gentlemen Unafraid,” ”Of Thee I Sing,“ White Horse Inn,” “Roberta,” “Virginia,” “Lost Waltz,”“Chimes of Normandy,” “Rosalie,” “Knights of Song,”Gingerbread Man,” and “Show Boat.”

In 1939: “Rose Marie,” “Queen High,“ “Lost Waltz,”Katinka,” ”Waltz Dream,” “On Your Toes,” “Firefly.”The Battered Bride,” “Mary,“ “Babette,” “Song of the Flame,” “Victoria and Her Hussar.”

In 1940: “The American Way,“ “Naughty Marietta.”Apple Blossoms,” “Rio Rita,“ “The Chocolate Soldier,“Good News,” “Knickerbocker Holiday,” “Anything Goes,” ”East Wind,” ”Rosalie,” “Babes in Arms,” “The Great Waltz.”

In 1941: “New Orleans,” “Sweethearts.” “Too Many Girls,” “Firefly,” “The Three Musketeers,“ “Irene,” “Nina Sosa,” “The Merry Widow,” “Bitter Sweet,” “The Desert Song,” “The Red Mill,” “Balalaiko.”

In 1942: ”Glamorous Night,” “Sally,” “Song of the Flame,” “Hit the Deck,” “No, No, Nanette.” “New Moon,“Girl Crazy,” “Wildflower,” “Roberta,” “Wizard of Oz,” and “Show Boat.“

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A Brief History of the St. Louis Municipal Theatre Association

St. Louis Municipal Opera history as of 1943

To many it comes as a surprise that the world’s foremost summer theatrical enterprise is not a part of New York’s Broadway. nor even situated in Chicago’s Loop district. It is not to be found in Hollywood. The once-gay population centers of Europe have long since been counted out. To find this. the No. 1 summer footlights venture of all the world. one has but to go to the heart of St. Louis’ spacious and beautiful Forest Park. There Alone in Its Greatness” . . . stands the Municipal Opera.

It is truly the realization of a dream-the cul- mination of years of planning. effort and civic attainment. The sweep and size of the great sky- canopied amphitheater. the vastness of the stage with its panoramic expanse of massive and skillfully wrought settings. the number and size of backstage facilities. the tall and architecturally beautiful towers flanking the stage-all these. and many other aspects of the Municipal Theatre’s physical plant. yield a persuasive clue to the Municipal Opera’s status as an institution meriting such a designation.

Yet physical considerations in themselves do not necessarily imply true greatness. It is upon the loyalty and enthusiasm of the people. and the artistic integrity with which each season’s productions are invested. that the Municipal Theatre has built its reputation as the world’s outstanding starlight sum- mer entertainment. That claim. by and large. has gone unchallenged.

Night after night through the summer. overflow. capacity or near-capacity crowds fill the great amphitheater. Production after production wins the acclaim of critical and popular judgment. And season after season. rolling by with sureness and steadiness inherent to time. leaves the Municipal Opera’s legion of friends with the firm conviction that “this year, the Opera was better than ever before.”

The 1943 season, marking the Municipal Opera’s Silver Jubilee. is certain to be thus received. As befits the twenty-fifth anniversary of any enterprise. this summer’s shows are being contrived with studied effort to excel anything ever achieved in the past. That is a broad statement. especially in light of the fact that the theatre’s past has been so richly successful.

Consider these facts: In the past 24 summers. 13.738.966 persons have witnessed 1.806 perform- ances. In 267 weeks of operation, it has presented 262 separate productions. ranging in scope from grand opera to light musical romance. Among them were eight notable world premieres, and seven American premieres. The productions have been professional in the highest degree. and have fea- tured outstanding stars of the stage. screen and radio.

Let us. then. take a retrospective view of what has gone before:

In 1919. when a group of St. Louisans gathered on a hillside in Forest Park in an incompleted. unused theater. the Municipal Opera was launched- And with that first performance was born a new era in entertainment. one which was destined to be Alone in its Greatness.” From that time on. the beauty and success of subsequent seasons at the Municipal Opera have. in crescendo fashion. blazed the trail for one of the greatest advancements in the history of the theatre. with its fame known throughout the world.

But much has happened. the ambitions of many persons have been tested since that first night in 1919. The years which have passed have enabled the Municipal Opera to equip uniquely the theatre with every resource for brilliant production of re- markahle musical masterpieces.

Ten thousand seats are available nightly at ticket prices within the reach of all. Of these 10.000, 1700 seats at the top of the auditorium are free. This means that almost 150.000 seats are to be available. free of charge, for this season’s 88 performances. Also. approximately 30,000 reserved seats are distributed annually to the underprivileged through more than lOO welfare agencies.

The stage toward which these many thousands look. is 90 by 115 feet. flanked by two 70-foot oak trees which frame a background of sylvan beauty, On either side of the stage are two beautiful archi- tectural towers. illuminated and illuminating. A permanent structure of recessing cubicles provides a reflective surface for indirect lighting.

But these are only a few of the wonders of the Municipal Opera. These are only a few cogs in the wheel which has rolled steadily on since those experimental days in 1919. And experimental days they were. in every sense of the word.

The Municipal Opera was brought into being by a group of civic leaders under a charter which foreswore any possible profit to themselves.

Their decision to undertake the formation of the Municipal Opera was reached because of their experience in leadership during the \Norld War.

Out of those trying days had emerged a compact group of civic, industrial. professional and business leaders who had devoted themselves unsparingly to war work. They recalled that remarkable demon- stration of July 4. 1918. when. in a Pageant of independence created at the request of President Wilson. 1.700 foreign~born St. Louisans had reo dedicated themselves to the United States and its ideals.

That remarkable ceremony had taken place in what is now the Municipal Theater. before an audience which overflowed the hillsides. What had been a great focal point for patriotic endeavor in war time might become a common meeting ground for all St. Louisans. a rallying place for ciwc spirit in times of peace so those leaders thought. And they planned to create a theater where melody and drama and pageantrv and rollicking fun could be made available to all St. Louisans.

A fitting introduction to the glamour that was to follow had been provided in 1914 with the presentation of the epochal. ”St. Louis Masque and Pageant.” on Art Hill with which the city celebrated its 15oth birthday. with a cast of 7.500 and audiences which numbered 180.000 persons.

Out of that civic celebration. which paid its own way and had a surplus. grew the observance of the Shakespeare Tercentenary. when “As You Like It” was presented with a company of distinguished stars.

The success of such enterprises and the en- thusiasm with which they were received by St. Louisans oiiered an impetus to those leaders who on ]une 19. 1919. started the Municipal Theatre Association on its glorious way with the presenta- tion of ”Robin Hood.” That first season. threat- ened by many elements besides a raging river and many rains, finished with a small loss-as has one other Municipal Opera season-~but the guarantors

who had advanced money to make possible the beginning were repaid from the first surpluses there- after.

Never in Municipal Opera’s history has any guaro antor ever lost a single cent by his faith in the Opera and in St. Louis’ appreciation of beauty. Originally in 1919. 60 guarantors put up an aver- age of $462 each to finance the season. Now. however. almost l.000 guarantors put up “00.000 to insure each season against any financial loss that might be incurred.

The guarantors knew. as did St. Louis in gen. eral. that Municipal Opera was something extraoradinary. something of which to be proud. something which would assist in making St. Louis one of the country’s leading centers of beauty and of art. The formation of this enterprise was. in reality. the culmination of several civic traditions-love ol St. Louis for the theater. love of music by its citizenship. and the city’s importance in the de- velopment of Western America which had found its expression in that mammoth masque and pageant in 1914.

So arrangements were made. directors and technical men were contacted. and stars of the stage were hired to join their talents in providing St. Louis with the cream of entertainment. But in spite of everything. that first season found the road was not a smooth one. It was only through executive efficiency that the Municipal Opera was enabled to start on the path to fame. In 1920 its repertory was extended. 32 professionals were brought from New York and a chorus of 40 St. Louis singers was added. Those St. Louis singers performed so well that never again since that time were choristers imported. They performed so well. in fact. that St. Louis determined to secure as rapidly as possible an all-St. Louis chorus.

And in line with the Municipal Opera’s progress. in keeping with the trend of improvement. the 1920 season’s presentations were witnessed by 114.000 persons who paid $139,732.50. to allow a profit of $3,819.25. But the profit. of course. was profit for St. Louisans. for it went back into the theater for improvements. That was its creed. as it is today; that was the code which enabled a growth of al- most inconceivable proportions.

lt is the policy which enabled the erection of the attractive new stone pergolas. and which eventually will provide a completely reconstructed and mod- ernized al fresco theater.

The third season. 1921. showed a profit of 321.312.87. with an increase to 151.363 paid admis» sions. In 1922. the paying attendance was 196.092. The trend was still in progress. And with 1925. grand opera entered into the repertory when Cavalieria Rusticana” was presented in English. with “11 Trovatore” following in 1926. Then in 1928. St. Louisans heralded their success with a tenth anniversary jubilee. But iubilees. even though they be brilliant and colorful and the occasion for hand-shakes all around. were not to make the Municipal Opera feel it had attained its greatness. It was still progressing. Improvements had been made in the assembling of scenery. in the mechanical details on the stage. under the stage. in back and in front of the stage: the seating arrangements had been improved.

Now. however. with the twenty-fourth season here. those improvements are regarded merely as steps toward fame. for from that time on. the Municipal Opera has risen and grown in every manner and means. its greatest advancements having been page when business conditions were at their lowest

Although Nature first designed the auditorium in which the opera is presented. man has added his touch to make the Opera what it is. The .natural hillside in the heart of beautiful Forest Park slopes 253 feet from the top of the colonnade at the rear of the auditorium to the orchestra pit at the foot of the stage. It covers an area 255 by 256 feet. The concrete bowl is arranged in a series of steps of varying levels so that every person has an unobstructed view of the stage. Splendid natural acoustics are reinforced by a flawless system of amplification developed especially for the Municipal Opera.

At both sides and at the rear of the auditorium are the beautiful new pergolas. roofed in to shelter 15.000 persons in case of a summer shower. The huge stage is built to facilitate the moving of massive settings required for Municipal Opera productions. and 8.000 feet added to its area provides a space for action which the audience never sees. It is one of the largest stages in an open air theater anywhere, and in its center is a revolving stage. electrically operated and capable of making an en- tire revolution in ninety seconds.

Beneath the stage and in what was once the river bed before the River des Peres was harnessed under- ground by man, are carpenter shops. paint shops. property studios-all necessary in the spectacular program of productions. Farther back are spacious dressing rooms with showers. required for the more than 100 members of cast and choruses employed in every Municipal Opera production. A roofed-over rehearsal stage is used in preparing the succession of musical triumphs. and a costume studio through which. in the course of a single season. more than 5.000 costumes will pass. is at the rear.

In back of all this is an executive staff without a peer. and guarantors whose faith has been bolstered by the advent of every season. Also there is a Board of Directors. no member of which receives pay for his services. yet which includes some of the most active and able business and financial execu- tives in St. Louis.

The Opera has no ”angel.” It has no subsidies. It doesn’t owe a dollar to anyone. It is entirely divorced from the old aristocratic ideal that a season of musical productions must be supported by gifts from the state. or from the rich. It is truly a people’s theater. a triumph of democratic ideals, the result of St. Louis’ vision and faith.

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A Brief History of the St. Louis Municipal Theater Association (as written in 1943) was originally published on VintageReveries - Vintage Fashion and Ephemera Blog

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kurtty-drabbles · 6 years ago

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Lovecraft au (Clifford)

N/A: Well, it wasn´t just loving that make Clifford so big.

@djinmer4 @dannybagpipesarecalling @discordsworld @sailorstar9 @look-ma-no-hands336

Mary Elizabeth is a girl normal as any girl can be. She´s living in a good neighbour, have friends and get good grades, however, Mary wanted a dog more than anything even if her parents don´t believe their little Mary can hold such responsibilities.

Most kids would try the classic tricks, beg, bargain or bring a dog and expect the puppy´s cuteness overtake their poor judgement, however, Mary is a tenacious girl and if her parents won´t give her a dog...she´ll get a dog in another fashion.

Elder gods are real and you are free to choose who to worship. No age restriction, in some cults, as long you´re honest about your intentions. The Crawling God is not suitable for a small child much less anyone who wants to remains sane, the Pheonix seems something out of a bad lemon fic and Mary is sure she´s far too young to enjoy what the grown-ups enjoy.

But Zaorva? Is safer for all ages. And Mary enrols in the cult, to earn favour from the goodness you need to perform 100 tasks and in a perfect condition(No murder is required here) and Mary accepts the challenge.

Mary has a nice agenda and is a very organized girl, so, fulfil the 100 tasks were easier(well, not easy, per se, but it was easy to make to fill her quote without her family founding out)

100 tasks complete and Zaorva will keep her word, the deity is wearing a form that is far too akin to that character of "Fantasia 2000" and Mary loves it(tales of the Fire Bird cross her mind and Mary is smart enough to know this form has a symbolic meaning, but, is not smarter to know the real meaning)

"Mary Elizabeth, you´ve earned your reward, be wise in your decision, child" Zaorva speaks in such melodic tone and again, flashes of that character comes to her mind "Yes, that is a lesser form of me, child, but don´t let your mind travel on meanings beyond humanity"

Mary Elizabeth nods not fulling getting what she just said, but, she´s not here to philosophy with Zaorva. She makes a bow(is always important to show good behaviour to your elder, her mother always speaks, and Zaorva is aeons older than anyone else, so, Mary must be polite) "Lady Zaorva, I want a puppy!"

Zaorva blinks one, two, three and fourth times until she speaks again "Child, any dog I create won´t be the normal dog you´re imaging, are you sure this is what you want?"

Mary Elizabeth ponder for a moment "I don´t really care if he´s a normal dog or not, as long he doesn´t bite me, my friends and family, I´m ok with a strange dog"

"Very well, this dog won´t attack ...unless you give the orders," she finishes the speech and a red puppy born into the ground that Zaorva´s finger touched. The dog is a puppy, too small, and Mary loves the little fellow as the dog and Mary knew each other since the begin.

"Thank you, Lady Zaorva" Mary catches the small dog and as the puppy licks her face recognizing who Mary is, the girl gladly speaks "Your name is Clifford, welcome to the family Clifford"

Mary´s parents would like to say they never intended to have a dog, but, now they can their daughter is far too tenacious. No one is dumb enough to refuse a present from a God, especially from Zaorva, so Clifford stays and he grows, grows and grows to the point he´s bigger than their house.

Thankfully, some companies of dog food are interested in helping to feed Clifford if the giant dog accepts to be their mascot, in the end, they signal with "Good Paws" as Clifford seems to enjoy this mark the most.

Vets and the problem with his "number 2" were resolved in a matter where Mary´s parents won´t be living under the bridge. And Mary is pleased to have her new dog, Clifford, a giant red dog that grows because of how much she loves her dog.

#lovecraft au #clifford #mary elizabeth #zaorva #a good dog made by eldritch abomination

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terra-writes · 6 years ago

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Mystic Messenger Pokémon AU

This wasn’t a request, but it’s something I’ve thought about off an on for almost a year and a half now. I might expand on this more one day but if any of you guys have suggestions about this feel free to send them in! Also I didn’t include MC in this because I left it open for you guys to interpret and determine how your own MC falls into this AU! Anyways I hope you enjoy! Also sorry to everyone wanting Vanderwood but I don’t feel comfortable writing for him as I don’t feel like there’s enough content with him in the game for me to get a handle on his character and do it confidently.

Also big thanks to my friend Mary @maruthor for helping me out with this AU! And putting up with my shit but

Warning: Spoilers for character’s routes below, read at your own risk

Yoosung:

This boy

This sweet boy

Of course, he ends up running his own Pokémon clinic

It’s not a Pokémon Center, they’re weirdly ornery about having to have a Nurse Joy run those

But it’s a small clinic in a more remote area of the Kanto region and it suits him just fine

He probably ends up doubling it as a mini Pokémon daycare service after and incident with Seven’s ditto and two of his own Pokémon

And the fact that Seven gifted him a ditto of his own after said incident because he’s “just trying to help his friend continue to earn a living”

Yoosung doesn’t have a lot of Pokémon of his own, but he’s acquired a few that were given to him or left behind by patrons who couldn’t keep them anymore for whatever reason

Those Pokémon include: a Glameow from Jumin, Blissey, Noctowl, Pikachu, Glaceon, Lillipup and Rattata

The Blissey came from a Nurse Joy as a Happiny as a thank you for his help during an outbreak of a Pokémon illness that had shown up one day

His own personal partner for his clinic was an Audino from the Unova Region where he went to study Pokémon medicine and care

Occasionally he’s called out of the clinic to care for a sick or injured Pokémon

So he does travel some, but not as often as other members of the RFA

He’s the only one Jumin trusts to care after his many cat Pokémon and precious Elizabeth the 3rd

Not that he himself is too thrilled about that

He even takes the overflow from a nearby Pokémon Center occasionally and probably most often travels out there to help out when needed

Zen:

Zen is obviously still an actor

But instead of just doing musicals, he now does full-fledged Pokémon movie productions

He has two partner Pokémon he’s had since before his career that appear on stage with him

One is his Milotic, and the other is his dusk form Lycanroc

He’ll never forget the day his feebas evolved

He credits his Milotic as one of his biggest inspirations to keep going

Since it was his Feebas at the time that helped keep him positive during the time before and after he ran away from home

It was one of his days that he was feeing more down than usual

It was a complete accident that he had come across a prism scale

And at first he didn’t know what it was, let alone that his Feebas could even evolve

But he had thought it was pretty and wanted to give it to his friend as a thank you for being there for him

When his Feebas started to evolve to say he was surprised was an understatement and he was blown away by the sheer beauty of its evolved form

But seeing his now Milotic in front of him gave him a new sense of hope and self confidence

He didn’t meet his other partner until after he was running with the biker gangs

He had come across the little Rockruff at the time digging through some trash cans in an alley

Remembering the hard times he faced while still living on the streets, he decided to take the Pokémon home with him without a second thought

He was once again awestruck when his Rockruff evolved

He decided to do some research about his new friend, and so he was aware of the two evolutionary forms of Lycanroc, and the rarer third evolution form

He had been visiting his favorite spot up in the mountain with his two Pokémon

Trying to clear his head, and train his Rockruff to help it evolve

When it started to glow and change form, he thought it was going to be the Midday form, he didn’t realize how low the sun had gotten during the time he had been up there

When the evolution light faded and he saw the Dusk Form staring back at him

He was over the moon with excitement

Since that day he worked harder on his acting career, and with the three of them on stage he was quick to draw the eye of many fans across the regions

Occasionally he is propositioned to work with other Pokémon as is partners, but he always refuses

His dream was to preform yes, but he would never abandon his two closest friends who helped get him where he was today

Occasionally he takes his two partners to compete in Pokémon Showcases in and around the Region

It helps keep him and his team in top shape for the cameras, and it allows him to enjoy friendly competitions with his friends

Once he joined the RFA, Jumin had gifted him an Eevee for one of his birthdays

When it evolved into an Espeon, Zen was a mix of emotions

Even though he knew that Espeon was a fox Pokémon, the fact that it still vaguely looked like a cat was enough to set his allergies on edge

He refused to give it away though, he’d never abandon one of his Pokémon, but he swears that the trust fund kid planned it

And though Jumin would never admit it, in a way he knew that it was a likely outcome given Zen’s personality which was why he did it

Jaehee:

She currently runs a Pokémon Café in Lumiose City

She needed a break from all the stress working under Jumin brought to her life so one day she just turned in her resignation letter and opened up a café

With a little help from Jumin

He felt a little betrayed at first, but he got over it fast and offered to open it up under his company

As a parting gift he gave her a shiny Swirlix as well as it’s needed evolutionary item

Only after he tried to give her a cat Pokémon for the mascot on several occasions with which she had to put her foot down

Eventually she decided to use her Lucario as the café’s mascot, since it was with her since before her parents passed away

It took some time, but eventually she was able to make the business take off with the help of some of her Pokémon who also worked as staff

Some of her Pokémon include: Leafeon, Shuckle, Miltank, Mienshao, Stufful, Kirlia, Vespiquen, Chesnaught, and Lurantis

Jumin:

He’s the Ceo-in-line of his father’s company

Which produces a wide variety of Pokémon items as well as things for their trainers as well as regular citizens

C A T D A D

He has so many cat Pokémon

It’s probably why Jaehee quit tbh

The main problem, is his Skitty, Elizabeth the 3rd who was gifted to him by none other that Jihyun one year after his Delcatty had an egg

Elizabeth is a hyperactive Pokémon with an eye for destruction whenever Jumin isn’t around

I like to think that his Skitty is like May’s from the anime

Other than Elizabeth, he has: Persian, Alolan Persian, Purugly, Liepard, Luxray, both genders of Pyroar and Meowstic, and Incineroar

He also has an Espeon which he adamantly refuses to admit looks a little like a cat to Zen in order to keep messing with him

And to further mess with Zen (partly) he has a statue of Elizabeth the 3rd on display in the park near C&R, which so happens to be a park Zen has to walk by every day to get to work

He also has a Dragonite, an Urasring and a Kindra for extra protection

Is habit of trying to make cat-related projects is still a big thing with him

He one day wants to open up an entire island just for cat Pokémon

Jaehee had been able to narrowly keep avoiding that disaster every single time, but his new assistant is going to have some work cut out for them

Probably inadvertently the reason Mewtwo exists

He heard Mew being described as “the pink cat Pokémon” and that was all it took

He often travels to watch Jihyun compete in contests when he can

Especially if he hears that he’ll be using his Delcatty

He’s also seen quite a few of Zen’s showcases but he’ll never say anything to him

Also keeps trying to use his position to get really rare Pokémon and Mega Stones/Z-Crysrals for the other members of the RFA because he knows he can be quite hard to get along with, but he does care about the other members whom he considers his friends and in some cases family

Saeyoung/707:

Since Saeyoung loves space so much, he works at an observatory or at the Space Center in Mossdeep City in Hoenn

His Pokémon have a lot to do with Space and technical work, so he ends up with an interesting mix of Pokémon

He used to work initially as a Professor’s assistant studying fossil pokemon, but the work proved too much for him

He left amicably to work at the space center, so he could still be involved with the RFA and his brother more

Still has an Aerodactyl and a Tyrantrum from that time whom he bonded with and was allowed to take with him

He was also gifted a Torchic from the professor when he first started working there

Also owns a Chatot for the sole purpose of playing pranks on his co-workers and the rest of the RFA much to their annoyance

His Pokémon include: Clefable, all 7 colored Minior plus a shiny Minior, Starmie, Lunatone and Solrock, Beheeyem, Porygon-Z, Reuniclus, Vikavolt, Ditto, Castform, and Rotom

Absolutely won’t stop asking Jihyun if he too could have a Skitty, to which Jihyun always finds a way to politely avoid answering the question and changing the topic

He also owns an Espeon, which is from his childhood and is part of a set of twin Eevee’s him and his brother had befriended before they were rescued from their home

It’s his ultimate goal to one day own a Deoxys and maybe a Jirachi

Ends up owning a Poipole for research after a trip to the Alolan Region to help investigate Ultra Wormholes ends up going haywire

Jihyun/V:

He definitely travels a lot across all the regions

He’s still an artist, so he often takes pictures to paint later on in his studio

He was a nature photographer, so his Pokémon are a lot of grass types supplemented by a few other types of Pokémon to even things out

His starter Pokémon was a Bulbasaur, and it’s his most trusted companion that he takes with him everywhere

He probably shed a few happy tears each time it evolved

The first thing he did when he learned about Mega Evolution was to get a Venasaurite for his most trusted companion

Jumin probably offered to acquire one for him, but Jihyun declined, wanting to make the journey himself

He also participates in Pokémon Contests

His Pokémon definitely reflect that artist side of him

Some of his Pokémon are: Florges, Delcatty, Beautifly, Bellossom, shiny Sylveon, Alolan Ninetails, Togekiss, Gallade, Altaria, Roserade, Cherrim, Gastrodon, Leavanny, Whimsicott, Lilliagnt, Cinccino, Sawsbuck, Volcarona, all patterns of Vivillion, Riombee, Smeargle and Bewear

Definitely has every single grass type starter

And probably a Primarina

Jumin does worry about him though, so he made sure to gift him some pseudo-legendary Pokémon for his own piece of mind over his friend’s safety

especially after hearing about some of the more dangerous areas Jihyun tends to end up in for the sake of his art

Not that he thinks Jihyun’s Pokémon are weak

So from Jumin, his Pokémon are Aggron, Tyrannitar, and Metagross

He was also gifted an Amaura from Jumin, who thought it would be enough to fit his aesthetic while still being a somewhat powerful Pokémon

And Jumin just likes spoiling his friend with cool Pokémon when he’s allowed to

Since Jihyun is rich, he definitely has a house with a lot of land around it so that he can keep so many Pokémon

They’re some of his biggest inspiration for his art, and he likes capturing them in their natural element when he’s not traveling or competing

Definitely has seen and befriended a Celebi on one of his trips and visits as often as he can

Seven also gifted him a Bruxish one year as a joke knowing it was an eyesore of a Pokémon

None of them were expecting Jihyun to absolutely fall in love with it and make it the subject of his art for the next 8 months

No one has the heart to tell him how they really feel about it

He’s just so happy to share everything about his splotchy fish someone please save him

Saeran:

He used to be an admin under Rika

But he ended up leaving

He was persuaded by Saeyoung to become the regional professor’s assistant

He was skeptical at first, but he found the job surprisingly rewarding and healing after everything he had been put through with Rika and his past

The Pokémon didn’t judge him for the deeds he had done, and it allowed him to work through his own issues as well as atone for all the misfortune he caused under Rika

While still pursuing a greater cause that would benefit everyone

Ends up as they kind of person who befriends Pokémon really easily, so he ends up with a lot more than he started out with

Which makes it even better that he works for a Pokémon Professor who is more than willing to help house and care for all his Pokémon

The Eevee he had from his childhood evolved into an Umbreon, which is the only reason Rika had allowed him to keep it

He also had befriended a Swirlix while he was working for Rika, but had to keep it a secret lest she think it made him “weak”

He was able to evolve it after joining the RFA with the help of Jumin and Jaehee

He absolutely adores his Slurpuff and will fight anyone who tries to talk shit about it

He has quite a few Pokémon from his time as Rika’s admin

Most of them were ones she gave him to make him look “strong” and keep him in the mindset of the Saeran she created

She wouldn’t tolerate him having any Pokémon she deemed “weak” that might bring out Ray

His Pokémon include: Shiny Charizard, Nidoking, Arcanine, Alolan Marowak, Rhypherior, Granbull, Weavile, Houndoom, Staraptor, Sharpedo, Krookodile, Bisharp, Braviary, Hydreigon, Pangoro, and Midnight Form Lycanroc

Has a Magikarp and a Wimpod he raised in secret because he related to how people perceived it as being weak and useless

He may have shed a few tears when they finally evolved into a Gyarados and a Golisopod respectively

Jihyun probably also gifted him another Eevee at some point to help him reconnect with his brother and he absolutely cried when it evolved into a Sylveon because that’s only possible if there’s a strong bond of love between trainer and Pokémon

And it helped him prove that he was on the right track to healing all the lingering wounds from his past

After he joins the RFA, Jihyun probably gifts him several Flower Pokémon knowing how much he loves flowers

So he ends up with a Megainum, a Sunflora, a Florges, a Bellossom, a Roserade, and a Comfey

Eventually befriends a Zoroark on the professor’s grounds that he uses to get back at his brother and his Chatot

He eventually stumbles across a Mimikyu during one of his business trips to Alola

He absolutely falls in love with it and relates to it

Eventually with permission he grows a field of flowers that Shaymin need to switch forms and absolutely loves watching them all migrate, and that time is always one of his happiest

This boy just needs a lot of love in his life and he probably ends up with so many Pokémon because he can’t just abandon any Pokémon he finds that are hurt or struggling

Rika:

Founder and leader of Team Mint-Eye

Which also operates under the name “Magenta” in some instances to avoid authorities

This is still mostly the same Rika from the game that we see

Someone who wasn’t able to find a healthy way to cope with her past trauma and mental illness

And only got worse through the unhealthy relationship her and V had with one another

She uses Pokémon that she thinks represent the darkness and her “devil” within her and some that she uses to help control and manipulate her Believers and Admins

Her Pokémon include: Delphox, Gengar, Hypno, Honchkrow, Mismagius, Girafarig, Solrock & Lunatone, Sableye, Cacturne, Seviper, Banette, Dusknoir, Haxorus, Musharna, Cofagrigus, Gothitelle, Chandelure, Malamar, Dragalge, Trevenant, Salazzle, and Nihilego

Used to have a Darkrai and a Cresselia captured for her own use but Saeran ended up freeing them on his way out

Has plans to add more Ultra Beats to her lineup and the lineup of her Believers

She also has a Wigglytuff that Jihyun had given her when they were still together to try and help her stay on the right path but she doesn’t like using it and keeps it far away from her in the other end of her base

Not to say she’s abusing it, because despite everything Rika has done she’d never, but she just doesn’t like being reminded of that time

She operates largely out of the Alola Region but before she was in Sinnoh on account of Darkrai and Cresselia

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gwensparlour · 6 years ago

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Some time ago I posted an H/C about Yuuri being given his chance to shine while in high school. Now I wrote a quick and dirty ficlet on the concept. Have I already said I love outsider POV?

"What do you mean you had a bike accident and broke your leg?"

"Exactly what I said ... I'm sorry!"

"You better be. Damn, the Sport Festival is tomorrow. Where do I find a new player now?"

"I am sure you'll manage. Bye"

That damn ... Kenichi snaps his mobile closed, freezing in the middle of a deep breath, mouth clenched in the effort to not scream in frustration in the middle of the courtyard.

It's not Sport Festival day yet and his dreams of demolishing A-F in a football match he plans to be everything but friendly are already crashing down.

His best friend, his best player, gone. Things like this should happen only on TV. But usually on TV the protagonist always find a new player in the end, maybe at the very last second, maybe choosing someone out of desperation, but he finds someone.

Kenichi hopes very hard he is the protagonist of his own storyline.

There are thirty people in his class, twenty-three boys, seven girls. Excluding the ten who signed up already for the football team, it makes thirteen boys from which choose. At least one must be available.

He prints a list of names.

The kids he knows being in some sports club are the first to whom he asks. It doesn't go well. The more names are crossed on his list, the more his voice becomes pleading, his hands clasp in the mock of a prayer, his knees seems growing interested with the floor.

All the athletic competitions overlap with the match hour and the volleyball team isn't going to let one of their play before a match, especially not for a stupid football match. With a second thought, asking the volleyball team captain exactly while in the middle of practice wasn’t the best idea. Eight possibilities out, five to go.

With them, Kenichi is even less lucky. Some have no interest in a friendly football match, one has some kind of important exam and will not even come to the Festival, all the others would sooner kiss a frog than being caught playing.

As the "no" keep accumulating on Kenichi's list, so do the messaging to ...., now threatening, now desperate, overall crying in outrage for the mess he put him into.

"We'll have to play with one player less and we're going to lose," he types as if crushing the keyboard.

"You asked everyone?"

"Everyone. Every-single-one."

"You sure?"

Alright, there is one name Kenichi hasn't crossed yet, but he would rather pretend it doesn’t exist.

“I’m not gonna ask Katsuki.”

“Why not?”

“He is … strange. And fat. And a crybaby.”

“And your last chance.”

*** Here’s the thing. In all months since the beginning of high school, Kenichi hasn’t yet managed to frame Katsuki Yuuri. He isn’t exactly handsome, his grades aren’t excellent, his family isn’t rich, and yet both boys and girls swoon at his passage. Once time Kenichi approached the Katsuki fan club president to enquiry what he has of so special, only to obtain the stinkiest of the stinky eye.

Ok, he has been on television a couple time and won some trophies, but a fan club seems truly an exaggeration.

Needless to say, Katsuki is completely oblivious of the path of broken hearts he leaves behind, immersed as he is in his Victor Nik-something fan club.

"Are you free tomorrow at three?" Kenichi blurts out. He realises a second too late the sentence sound too damn ambiguous.

Katsuki doesn't even rise his eyes from the magazine he is reading. "I am not interested in a date," he answers in a blunt voice, flipping a page.

"Not for a date, dumbass," maybe calling dumbass your last hope isn't the best way to turn them to your side, “It's about tomorrow football match. We are short of a player."

"I heard.”

“I was wondering if, if you …”

Damn if the word doesn’t want to come out of his throat. Nevermind, he is a good enough player to supply for lack of another.

“Can help you?” Katsuki supplies. What follows is an excruciatingly long pause. “I guess I could.”

“Wonderful.”

“I’ll ask Mari to record Ice Stars Night,” he continues, dragging the voice on purpose to make the favour appear bigger than what it is. “Yeah, whatever.”

“And I’ll tell Yuuko-senpai I found her a mascot for the Ice Castle Children Event.”

It took a moment for Kenichi to realize the implications of Katsuki’s affirmation.

“No way I’m gonna wear a stupid mascot costume for a stupid skating event.”

“Then I guess tomorrow you’ll play with only ten people.” Yuuri rolls his magazine and gets up. “Good luck!”

Kenichi grits teeth. The thing is he shouldn’t be so concerned with a friendly match between classes, but A-F team captain’s just so irritating the simple idea of losing to him is just unbearable. And while they are short of a player, A-F has even backups

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Ok, I’ll do it. But please, I need a player!”

He prays there is no one around, no eyes or prying ears, or he will be screwed for all of high school. Then, Katsuki smirks.

“Wonderful. What time is the match, again?”

***

Kenichi can't stop looking. He can't really stop and watch, there is still a match to win, but damn if his eyes keep returning onto Katsuki.

Katsuki isn’t particularly fast and his shots aren't that powerful or precise, but his stamina … oh, his stamina is all on another level. Eighty-five minutes of match in, a 1-1, and he is still fresh as a rose, his eyes a terrifying shade of pure determination. He almost committed foul on a player from the opposite team in his thirst and pursue to hog the ball and snarked against the coach when called out.

“Myamoto!”

It’s only for some kind of sheer luck and muscle memory that Kenichi manages to not being knocked out by the ball Yuuri has just thrown at him at full speed and probably thinking murder if the passage fail. It doesn’t. Kenichi is a good enough player to hit the ball with a header.

Right into the team’s goal line. Right into the keeper’s hands-

Two minutes to go. Yuuri’s is already speeding toward the ball, now opening shouting at the other player to get the fuck ready. And, Kenichi be damned, the ball returns in Katsuki’s possession, without much of him breaking a sweat.

Thirty seconds to go. By now Kenichi has no doubt he must be living into some kind of sport anime, there is no other explanation. He kicks the ball without thinking in what he prays to be a good enough assist.

This time the ball flows past the keeper, right into the goal’s line.

***

“So how did it go? Did we won?”

“Yes. But listen, I won’t have Katsuki on my team ever again.”

“Is he that bad?”

“That’s the problem. He isn’t bad. He isn’t even that good, but …”

“But?”

“He’s terrifying. I tell you. I have never seen someone so willing to win.”

“Katsuki? Soft Katsuki?” “Soft? Oh, no. He’s a devil. A thirsty beast of determination. I could barely stand and he asked me if I wanted to try some skating right after the match.”

“Did you accept?” “Od course I didn’t. It’s already enough I’ll have to play mascot at one of his stupid ice skating events … what is that sound?” “Just typing to some friends.”

“You joking!”

“It’ll be fun. Bye!”

***

It isn’t fun. It isn’t fun at all. It’s goofy and humiliating and Kenichi is sweating like a pig inside the costume. It isn’t fun, but Katsuki twirling on the ice for the public’s delight is quite a show. Not at the level of Yuuko Miyamura - the Ice Castle Madonna - but still a show.

He starts to understand why Katsuki Yuuri’s has a fan club of his own.

From that, to ask them if they need a new member, the step isn’t that long.

#yuri!!!on ice #yoi #ficlet #yuuri katsuki #h/c

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lipsyncforyourlife · 3 years ago

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Maddy Morphosis Gives It To Us Straight + "Menzeses" Recap (Issue #9)

The RuPaul's Drag Race Official Newsletter

In this week’s newsletter, it’s raining “Menzeses” as we gush over one of the best lip syncs of the season and share an exclusive interview with Maddy Morphosis. Don’t forget to subscribe so you can stay tuned for all of the latest Drag Race updates!

While some Drag Race episodes ask the queens to do utterly ridiculous things (for example, creating rhyming PSAs), others challenge them in ways that put their real-world skills to the test. “Menzeses” is the latter type of episode, with a DragCon Panel Maxi that helps ready the girls for their post-Drag Race world of interviews, public speaking, and, well, DragCon Panels; these credits transfer! But there’s still plenty of time for ridiculousness— including a silly Mini Challenge—and a ridiculously good Lip Sync that feels like one for the herstory books. My name’s Cameron Scheetz, and I’ll be your newsletter moderator for another thrilling week of Drag Race. Sometimes I get a good feeling…

The Mini

“Reading Is Fundamental” was an all-timer, so I’m thrilled Season 14 kept the Mini Challenge train running with a quick-drag photoshoot. The Ruse (I italicized “Ru” so you know I’m attempting some weak RuPaul wordplay)? The queens are tasked with photobombing snapshots of famous men, subtly hinting at the theme of the Maxi Challenge to come. Daya went straight for Lil Nap X’s nipples, Angeria served extra bootyliciousness, Lady Camden learned she could put her leg over her head, and DeJa looked like some sort of wacky ‘90s cartoon mascot, scoring immediate laughs just for peeking out from behind the folding screen. Truly everyone rose to the occasion, but Willow Pill earned the win by bringing a full character concept to the shoot, serving Mary Lou Retton realness as she mounted a headstand on top of Jake Gyllenhaal’s dog. Bless this show for encouraging me to write nonsense sentences like that.

The Set-Up

DragCon makes its long-anticipated return to Los Angeles this spring, and the occasion has inspired the revival of the DragCon Panel Maxi Challenge, last seen back in Season 10. That go-around, the queens had to present three informational panels on hair, body, and face, but this time they were tasked with driving two titillating conversations around one topic: Men Menzeses. As Ru explained, their discussions would need to be both “real and real enter-taint-ing,” and the encouragement for the girls to bring their personal experiences to the panels actually reminded me more of Pink Table Talk from last year’s All Stars 6. Calling on emotion, thoughtfulness, a sharp sense of humor, and quick conversation skills, it’s a challenge that asks everyone to step up in a big way.

As the Mini winner, Willow was granted the power to select her own team, opting for DeJa Skye, Angeria Paris VanMicheals, and Lady Camden—girls she hadn’t worked with as frequently (unlike Bosco and Daya Betty, her teammates for the last two episodes). That left us with Bosco, Jorgeous, Jasmine Kennedie, and Daya Betty, which is dubbed #TeamLeftovers. Daya can’t fight the face crack, as DeJa—and surely all of us at home—noted, she didn’t look too thrilled about working with Jasmine.

Team Willow’s chemistry was there from the jump, unanimously electing DeJa as their panel moderator and fine-tuning their topics with a strong emphasis on the roles their fathers have (or haven’t) played in their lives. Pageant queen Angeria revealed she’s had her fair share of panel experience (just not at DragCon—yet!), and Ru singles out Camden for her tentativeness, reminding the girls to just treat the challenge like they’re having a conversation with their friends. Over on #TeamLeftovers, Daya bristled when Jasmine volunteered to moderate, and sweet baby Jorgeous didn’t even know what moderating was, so Bosco ultimately stepped up to lead her group, which felt like the right call, especially given her experience as an “extremely salty barista.” My body tensed up when Ru asked Daya and Jasmine if they got along, but the girls both seemed eager to prove their frequent spats were just a product of their loving drag sisterhood.

The Challenge

Finally, it was DragCon time, and the first panel came from Team Willow, which they wisely dubbed “Men: A Work In Progress.” There was a real effortless flow to this group, giving everyone a fair share of the spotlight, and DeJa brought a professionalism to her role directing the conversation. Angeria oozed her usual charm (outing herself as a “drag lesbian”), and Lady Camden overcame an early slip-up by embracing her funny side, keeping from fading into the background like last week (though I’d say that Blake Lively is definitively the hotter Blake). But Willow really was the star, showcasing her natural gift for joke delivery with lines like, “I’m an anarchist who believes men should be punished for their crimes against the world, but I do find them very attractive.” And, beyond the humor, she always found a way to underscore the themes of the conversation, honing in on the teachable lessons while never coming off as preachy.

Then it was time for #TeamLeftovers, who kicked things off with a shriek of laughter from Ru thanks to their hilarious panel name, “Men: Electric Boogaloo, Part 2 - Now With More Men.” It was clear that Bosco did not come to play, putting the right amount of polish on her salty barista schtick with an engaging and always funny presence—you could practically see Ru jotting down, “Note to self: Book Bosco as an actual DragCon moderator.” In comparison, her teammates faltered a bit, with Jorgeous tripping over her words and Jasmine letting herself ramble just a touch too long. Still, they made some great points about male privilege, toxic masculinity, and even the rock-hard nipples of WWE wrestlers (lot of nipple talk from Daya this week!). Despite some shakiness, this was far from a panel trainwreck.

The Looks

On the runway, the Shoulder Pads category had the girls giving us the hot shoulder. First out was DeJa in a dragged up nod to a classic Chanel look—certainly one of her strongest runways to date. Lady Camden looked Nutcracker sweet in a sparkling red gown and a gorgeous mug underneath that mask (the white hair works really well for her, too). Then Willow strutted out as punk businessman of the future, which might’ve been light on shoulder, but really strong in terms of concept and execution.

Angeria dazzled in a black-and-white houndstooth number—her second outside-the-box look in a row—and Bosco looked amazing in what she perfectly described as “the Morton Salt Girl, Dick Tracy, and a villain from Power Rangers all rolled into one.” Jorgeous brought her usual sparkle, complimented perfectly with a curly pompadour wig, and Jasmine was striking in a streamlined neon look with some sharp-ass bangs. Finally, Daya marched out in Tank Girl couture, assembled from safety pins, football shoulder pads, and more than a few pairs of camo pants.

The Critiques

From super-fan to guest judge extraordinaire, we’re always thrilled by Nicole Byer’s presence on the Drag Race Judges Panel, especially because the comedian reliably turns it out in the looks department (sporting a hairstyle that Kandy Muse noted looks a lot like the wig she and Liv Luxe Miyaki-Mugler sported in Season 13).

She joined Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and a sickeningly silver-sequined RuPaul for the week’s critiques, which started off by announcing the tops and bottoms—leaving Lady Camden and Angeria in the safe zone. Both DeJa and Bosco were rightly hailed for handling their moderating duties with aplomb, and Willow’s brilliant panel bantering scored her high marks. In the end, top honors went to Bosco, who now matches Angeria’s track record for wins (both have one Mini and two Maxi wins under their belts), solidifying her as a real competitor for the crown. Daya’s performance landed her with the low-scorers—Ru said she was interesting but not the best—though it never felt like she was in any real danger. That narrowed us down to Jasmine and Jorgeous who both struggled to infuse their panels with the electrifying energy they normally bring to the stage. And on that note…

Was anyone else beaming the entire way through that Lip Sync For Your Life? Oh, it must be love!!! Ever since their premiere—when Jasmine and Jorgeous both proved they could perform the house down—we’ve been anticipating a LSFYL match-up between the two dancing titans, and it did not disappoint. When you pit two performers like this against one another, there’s a sense that it’s going to be a tense, thrilling smackdown. And while it certainly was both tense and thrilling, it was also an exuberant Lip Sync brimming with pure joy, both queens clearly having a ball doing what they do best. Etta James’ “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” was an unexpected but inspired pick, and I love the way it brought Jasmine and Jorgeous to life—I squealed when they synced up for a few of the songs many “Oh, oh, ohhhh’s.” They really delivered the energy, and this will surely go down as one of the best Lip Syncs of the season. I already can’t wait to watch it again (mostly so I can gawk at that wild split Jasmine pulled off).

And Ru kept those good vibes coming with a rare double shantay, leaving both Jasmine and Jorgeous to gag us another week! I really can’t imagine how you could pick a favorite between the two, so the outcome feels exciting and fully justified. “Ladies in the back, please take note: This is how you Lip Sync For Your Life,” Ru advised, and good luck to anyone who has to go toe-to-toe with these two in the future. Hope you’ve got a cool, dry, temperature-controlled place to keep those chocolate bars, because you’ll need to save them for another week!

Burning Questions

Assassins

Jasmine has now survived three LSFYLs and Jorgeous two, meaning both are well on their way to Lip Sync Assassin© status—or is it not too soon to bestow that honor on them already? Together, they’re responsible for half of the eliminations of the season thus far. We’ve got a talented crop of queens left in the competition, but I have to imagine any of them would be at least a little nervous to face off against either of these fierce performers. This appears to be a big talking point at the top of the next episode, so we’ll see if anyone else feels differently. (And more on that episode teaser in just a second!)

Oy, Mista! You Me Dad?

One of the biggest laughs from the DragCon Panels was when Willow said that, out of drag, she looks like a “sad Victorian doll,” which really has me eager to see the queen pull off a drag tribute to the “Oy, Mista! You Me Dad?” doll meme. Willow, how soon can this happen? You would kill it!!

On a more serious note, Willow Pill took to social media recently to announce that she is trans femme, goes by Willow in and out of drag, and uses they/she pronouns. In the previous week’s Untucked, Willow discussed her complicated relationship with gender, especially because of the way her illness has impacted her mental and physical health over the years, so it’s amazing to hear that she’s finding happiness and has gotten to a place where she feels comfortable sharing her story post-Drag Race. As she acknowledges, the “experience isn’t linear,” but we’re so thrilled she’s found the strength to open up about it. We love you, Willow!

Next Week: Let’s Get Snatched

At long last: Snatch Game! The beloved (and often highly scrutinized) signature Maxi Challenge is back, and we can’t wait to see how this hilarious group fares. Considering this email hits your inbox a few days after the teaser first aired, I’m sure the internet has already zoomed in on every detail, but let’s quickly run down who’s playing who, just for fun: We’ve got Lady Camden as “The Bard” William Shakespeare, Jasmine as reviled former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Angeria as unforgettable All Star Tammie Brown, Jorgeous as Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, Willow as Hollywood royalty Drew Barrymore, DeJa as a yaasified Lil Jon, Bosco as Goop goddess Gwyneth Paltrow, and Daya as heavy metal patriarch Ozzy Osbourne. That is quite the selection of characters, but who will claim the Snatch Game win? Also next week: Dove Cameron joins in on the fun, and—somehow—Daya Betty does not sound too impressed with the Jasmine/Jorgeous Lip Sync.

The Other Half Of The Story

You know the drill: If you’re not watching Untucked, well, you’re missing out, babe! Let’s shout out a few of the most notable moments form this week’s episode.

I feel like I find a way to sneak some Camgeria ‘shipping into every newsletter, but it’s just so hard to resist! With Lady and Angie are our only two safe queens of the week, they got some quality one-on-one time on the Untucked couches before the others joined in. It’s fun to hear these two kiki about anything, but my favorite part was the quick exchange where Angie joked, “Don’t you fart!,” to which Lady deadpanned, “Too late.”

It was pretty clear to everyone who was in the Bottom Two this week. Jasmine—there for the second episode in a row—seemed more at peace with it (“it’s whatever!”), but Jorgeous was a little shaken, feeling like she’s letting the judges and herself down once again. DeJa comforted her with a helpful reminder that all the queens should keep in mind moving forward: “Nothing on that runway was said to get under your skin, it was just to simply help you.“

The DragCon Panels had the girls reflecting on their fathers, which was the perfect segue to our first video message of the season: Angeria’s mom and dad, who I choose to refer to as Mrs. and Mr. Paris VanMicheals. These two were adorable—you can really see the family resemblance—but even more adorable was Angeria’s emotional reaction to seeing them. Truly so wonderful to witness what a lovely support system Angie has behind her.

Everyone was ecstatic when Nicole Byer popped into the Werk Room, especially Willow, who said she listens to Nicole’s podcast every morning when she’s mopping the ramen shop (Taste!). While judges like Taraji P. Henson and Ts Madison came to Untucked to share advice and inspirational stories, Nicole just wanted to gossip (first question: “OK, so who’s the bitch?”), which I fully relate to. She’s just so damn funny, and I’ll never get over her turning to Bosco and asking, “What do you have to say to me that’s nice?”

With the double shantay, it was cute to hear both Jasmine and Jorgeous totally buzzing post-Lip Sync, ending this Untucked ended on a much ecstatic note that usual.

The Serve-ey w/ Maddy Morphosis

Each week, we’ll get to learn more about one of the queens of season 14 when they take our brief questionnaire, a.k.a. The Serve-ey. They’ll all get the same six questions, and then we’ll throw in one final “wildcard” question just for fun. This week: Maddy Morphosis gives it to us straight!

1. In keeping with the season promo’s board game theme: What was your favorite game growing up and why?

I think growing up I, for some reason, really loved Connect Four—I don’t know what it was, but Connect Four really did it for me. I played a lot of Monopoly also, but I learned that it’s not because I actually liked Monopoly, it’s just my cousin always wanted to play Monopoly. And, in hindsight, I really spent way too many hours of my life wasted playing Monopoly. It’s not fun, it’s not a fun game. [Laughs.]

As a kid, I see how there’s a novelty to it. But, as an adult, when you’re actually worried about money, it just stresses you out more!

Yeah! And when you’re playing with your older cousin, you get to pick your piece last, and then you end up with the boot or the thimble. It’s like, if I’m not the dog or the car, I don’t want to play!

So this is maybe starting to paint a picture of why you like Connect Four so much. It’s a little more simple—the only choice is Black or Red.

Connect Four is a strategy game—don’t sell me short. [Laughs.] It’s just like vertical chess; that’s all it is, more or less.

Fair, fair. So what’s your strategy then? If you start first, do you go right in the middle? Or off to the side?

I like to start off, like, a piece away from the middle. I feel like right in the middle is too predictable, too blasé. Don’t let my drag fool you, I’m very intelligent. Big brains!

2. How would you say the city you’re from helped define your drag?

I think the city that I’m from really allowed me to grow my drag. I’ve heard from a lot of other people that their cities [can be] one note, like they expect you to be a certain kind of queen everywhere you go, or they don’t allow certain styles to really develop and blossom. And the area I’m from in Arkansas is a super pageant-heavy area, but they do allow other styles to prosper. Like, we have AFAB queens, we have bearded drag, we have alternative drag. And, you know, me doing camp and comedy, there’s not a lot of people in the area that focus on that, but they have allowed me to kind of grow and given me opportunities to develop, [given me] advice and help. I’m really blessed to be in the area that I’m in, just in the fact that—maybe it’s because we’re so isolated from the rest of the world. [Laughs.] But it really is almost like a drag village, where we’re all just kind of helping each other out and building each other up. And, yeah, that’s how I would say that’s helped define my drag—by just allowing me to be myself.

And hearing that there aren’t too many comedy queens in your area, do you see that as a benefit to you then? In the sense that you’re bringing something different than anyone else? Or do you think it makes it harder to find your way into certain spaces?

No, I think it’s definitely helped because, you know, when people are booking shows and they’re like, “Oh, let’s do something a little different,” or they want to do like a comedy show, “Who do we know?” And so I’m always the first person they think of. You know, they’ll be like, "Oh, we want to do a theme night,” or, “Who’s someone who can put together a random, very oddly specific look?” It’s like, “Oh yeah, Maddy!” I’m never going to show up to the show in a fringe-y dance costume doing “Work Me Down,” but, if you’re doing something slightly different, then I’m first pick.

3. With this season’s candy bar twist, I’m curious: If you were a piece of candy, what kind would you be?

I would say that, if I could be a piece of candy, it would be a breath mint. Because I may not be what you asked for, but I’m what most people need.

Okay, but there are a lot of different kinds of breath mints—are we talking an Altoid in a classy little tin, a chewy Mentos, or what?

Just anything! Anything’s better than nothing—dealer’s choice. [Laughs.] Actually, I remember I used to really like the—I can’t remember what they’re called. I think they’re Icebreakers? They used to come in a small, little circular tin, and they had little specks in them. I always liked the sweet ones though. I remember when I was young, I could never afford candy on my own, you know? So Halloween was the time because I grew up poor. I’m pretty sure one of my cousins just, like, brought them one day—and she probably shoplifted it because, again, we were poor. So I’m just like, "Where’d you get Icebreakers?” She’s like, “Don’t worry about it.” And that was my first taste of luxury: Icebreakers. [Laughs.]

4. What can you tell us about your “confessional” interview look? How did you decide what to wear? What do you think it says about your style out of drag?

I really didn’t put way too much thought into it. I had my regular clothes I was going to wear, and the confessional look was just like an afterthought. So, I just looked in the closet and I was like, “What’s just something that might be kind of fun?” And then I just had this random plaid shirt I got from a Goodwill a long time ago, and I was like, “Oh, that’s whatever, it’s a fun shirt. Grab it, we’re good.” And then looking back and watching it on the show, I realized how “yeehaw” it looks, especially paired with it saying “Arkansas” under me. [Laughs.] I’m just like, “Oh, no.”

Prior to Drag Race, I didn’t buy a lot of clothes for myself. A lot of shirts that I had were either things that were given to me, or just things I had for work. Like, you’ll notice I wear a lot of red shirts… because I worked at Target right before I went to the show! And so, for confessional looks, I was like, “What do I have?” I used to work at a store selling women’s shoes, and so I had so many dress shirts, and I was like, “I don’t want to wear a dress shirt to Drag Race.” So, again, that was just one shirt that I had, and I thought it was kind of fun, it has a little personality, and it’ll do fine. And watching it back, I wish I would have gone to a store and gotten a nicer shirt or jacket or something.

I like it! I mean, I think it was a better option than wearing a red polo.

Yeah, if it had my little Target name badge on it with a piece of tape of the logo. [Laughs.]

5. What’s a fun fact you can share about one of your season 14 sisters that might surprise the fans?

I can’t think of anything super juicy that people haven’t already said in other interviews and stuff. But I think one surprising thing—I don’t know if people know—but whenever Orion got eliminated, she actually left everybody a wig of hers. So, yeah, it was a really sweet moment. And I think she was actually just freeing up space in her suitcase for some of the goodies she could take with her. [Laughs.] But I think she tried to match a wig up to people’s personalities—which is a little shady, and I’ll tell you why in a moment—because she was giving people wigs, like, some nice little lace front wigs, some styled pieces. She gave DeJa this, like, lace front, super colorful hair, which is very DeJa. And the one she gave me was like—one, it was a hard front, which is fine, whatever. [Laughs.] But also it was like a brown, mullet wig—a hard front brown mullet. And I’m just like, “I mean, thank you.” But at the same time, like, “What does this say about your view of me?” You’re just like, “Oh, she’s cheap and she’s from Arkansas. I’ll give her the Party City mullet!” [Laughs.] Well, I’ve worn it for a lot of looks because it’s got little bangs and can’t even see the hard front, so I’m not complaining. But it’s like: What do you really think of me?

And I don’t know if she gave Kerri a wig or not, but Kerri wears, like, human, long units herself. So, if she did, Kerri probably tossed it aside like, “Thank you but no thank you.” I would assume. Like when a baby gives you a wet Cheeto, and you’re just like, “Oh… thank you.”

6. Here’s a chance to shout out another drag performer, designer, hair & makeup artist, etc… who really helped inspire you or prepare you for your journey on Drag Race.

Yeah, if I could shout any one person out, it would be Ella Rosa, and she’s from Fayetteville, Arkansas. She’s an amazing performer, does stunning, amazing makeup, but she’s also a hairstylist. She does hair for her company, Hella Wigz. She made so many hairs for me, even before the show, and she never charged me an arm and a leg for it. A lot of the hair that I took with me was styled by her, and then, like, leading up to the show for a lot of my looks, she helped me get ready and styled a bunch of hair for me, and she didn’t charge me in the moment. I couldn’t have got a lot of like the looks done the way I wanted to if it wasn’t for her help. So big shout out to her. If it wasn’t for her I’d probably be wearing just like little pot-scratcher, bus-driver wigs.

Or Orion’s mullet wig!

Yeah, or Orion’s mullet wig. [Laughs.] My Plan B, my insurance policy wig.

Now, I also wanted to ask about your girlfriend, who you’ve talked about on the show—I know she does drag as well! Do you two share wigs, or outfits? Do you ever argue over who gets to use what?

Actually we have very different styles of drag. So, like, the stupid stuff that I do—she would never wear one of my performance outfits. But, like, her performance outfits I wear all the time, for meet-and-greets or tip arounds, things like that. It’s not something I would do a number in because our performance styles are different, but I’m just like, “That’s a nice outfit,” you know? And we share a lot of hair and stuff. Even the look that I wore from my RuVeal—the big headpiece thing—that was actually an outfit that she had bought, and we were trying to find out like, “What are we going to wear for the reveal?” And she was like, "Oh, we can wear this because it’s kind of like an arcade carpet, you know?” And so that was actually one of her looks that I wore for the reveal just because we needed something!

I think we definitely help each other, but, aside from that, we really are our own individuals in drag. I think, too, because we have two very different styles, we don’t like to impact each other’s drag too much. I don’t want to put too much influence on what she does, and I think vice versa. But, you know, we’re here to help. We just want to do our own thing… just with each other’s hair.

7. Wildcard: You walked into the Werk Room announcing yourself as a camp queen, a comedy queen, and I definitely think you showed that on Drag Race, but you’re also such a funny presence online. Who were some of the comedic voices that inspired you growing up, and who do you think are some of the funniest people working today?

When I was growing up, I was an ugly duckling. I was very ugly in, like, middle school, high school—I had awful hair, wore these glasses. It wasn’t cute. And so I think I really worked on, like, just trying to just be funny. [Laughs.] I’d watch a lot of stand-up comedy. And then the YouTube era came around, and I was watching a lot of, like, sketch shows, which are super cringe nowadays. Stuff like Smosh and things like that. But I mean, my biggest influence was always my dad, just because he was always the funniest person in the family, just always making people laugh. And when I was younger, I wanted to grow up and be just like him. Just in that aspect of being, you know, the life of the party. So he was probably my biggest inspiration, just wanting to be like my dad. And I deviated in some regards to that. [Laughs.] But, you know…

So what you’re saying is that your dad wasn’t also doing Guy Fieri drag?

Yeah, no. [Laughs.]

The Looks You Didn't See

It’s practically tradition that eliminated queens will take to social media to show off the stunning looks they didn’t use on the runway. Every week, we’ll reserve this space to shout out our favorite “unseen looks.“

Orion Story

@TheOrionStory

🌟 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 🌟 https://t.co/Z6e3uZamWX

9:44 PM - 4 Mar 2022

I’m living for Orion Story‘s Rainbow Brite fantasy, serving sparkling super-queen. It’s fun and playful (my favorite detail is the plastic buckling across the chest) with just the right touches of glamour, plus the little video she put together to show it off is super cute. Also don’t miss: June Jambalaya’s luxurious gold shoulders, Alyssa Hunter’s glittering glamazon, and Maddy Morphosis’ queenly quarterback look.

Gagatrondra! It's The Tweets Of The Week

We wrap up every newsletter with a rundown of some of our favorite reaction tweets of the week, so use #DragRace and you may find yourself here!

ʎɹɐɓ ✨ (𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆/𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺)

@thegaryfuqua

The Chocolate bars after that double Shantay #DragRace #DragRaceClubHaus https://t.co/XE9F6q0st5

9:38 PM - 4 Mar 2022

Kat 彡

@janlovebot

The producer who decides to let her keep coming back deserves a RAISE. #DragRace https://t.co/MDOc0gDHcq

9:55 PM - 4 Mar 2022

DesignDork

@designdorky

Willow and Bosco on tonight's runway #DragRace https://t.co/ZIFhNVUsHH

12:14 AM - 5 Mar 2022

yolanda fister

@yolandafister

rupaul is giving me beverly hills housewife confessional #dragrace https://t.co/VROE5zfuY3

11:42 PM - 4 Mar 2022

Want More?

The Pit Stop gets a heaping helping of Canadian Bacon when Brooke Lynn Hytes joins host Monét X Change in a discussion of DragCon Panels, shoulder pads shoulds and shouldn'ts, and this week’s double shantay. Watch it below:

The Pit Stop S14 E09 | Monét X Change & Brooke Lynn Hytes Talk Menzeses! | RuPaul’s Drag Race

#RuPaul's Drag Race #Newsletter #Maddy Morphosis #Menzeses #Monopoly #Connect Four

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